After Cannon Fodder A Accidentally Marked the Cold Film Queen - Chapter 26

Zhu Songning’s heart disgracefully wavered again.

Shen Qingyu was like the beautifully poisonous, vibrant red apple in the witch’s hand, possessing a deadly allure, waiting only for her to take a bite, then striking a fatal blow.

She watched Shen Qingyu with her head lowered, her small teeth pressed against the hair tie, her two wrists resting against each other.

Her teeth were perfectly straight, flanked by two sharp, prominent canines.

They looked a little like the tooth marks tattooed on her wrist.

Listening to her melodious voice, and seeing her favorite white hair behind her, Zhu Songning didn’t need much thought to easily imagine herself pressing her against the wall—no, perhaps lifting her onto the sink would be better for leverage.

Then, she would kiss her until her eyes were teary, and, like in the novels, make her soft from head to toe, letting her be as full and abundant as a spring night’s rain.

Would the cool, white moonlight turn pink then?

Would the rainwater also pour over her as she passed by, drenching her?

Zhu Songning’s breathing suddenly grew heavy.

She looked at her in disbelief: “What did you say?”

The hand that had just released her covered hers again, slipping into the gaps between Shen Qingyu’s fingers until their hands were tightly clasped, fingers interlocked.

However, this movement had little ambiguity because of the excessive force. The pain simultaneously traveled through their nerves, inciting a synchronized shudder.

“Is this your way of coaxing people?”

Zhu Songning moved closer until their bodies were nearly pressed together, seamlessly aligned.

“Are you kidding me?”

Shen Qingyu looked up: “I just thought this was fairer.”

She made her wet once, and then let her do it back—that seemed fair.

“…” Zhu Songning was silenced for a moment by her robber’s logic. “That’s not how it works. Not everything can be balanced so simply.”

“It’s not like if someone slaps me, I have to slap them back.”

“Shouldn’t you?” Shen Qingyu looked at her in confusion. “If someone hurts me even a fraction, I will definitely retaliate. If I don’t teach them a lesson, they’ll dare to do it to me again. The same goes for someone who hurts people I care about.”

Not only would she slap back, but if it were her, she would go even further.

Especially to make an example, to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

To let others know that she was not someone who could be easily stepped on.

Zhu Songning couldn’t reason with her and turned to leave.

Shen Qingyu reached out and grabbed her again.

In the motion, the already loose hair tie completely unravelled, like a falling leaf, gently drawing a zigzag line in the air, inevitably dropping to the floor.

Shen Qingyu’s grip on her hand was slightly trembling.

“Hey,” she called out to Zhu Songning, “then you have to at least tell me, what exactly are you thinking? What is it that you want?”

“I’m not an immortal; how would I know if you don’t say?”

Zhu Songning stopped walking.

At this moment, she gradually realized that she and Shen Qingyu were completely different people.

They had fundamentally opposite foundations.

Shen Qingyu had an intense desire for control over the people and things she designated as part of her territory. She had to obtain what she wanted, even if it took great effort, and once obtained, she would forcefully occupy it, gripping everything tightly in her palm.

Whether using her wealth or her beauty, Shen Qingyu certainly had the capital for this confidence.

Several times, Zhu Songning felt as if she were walking on a marshland, where a slight misstep would lead her to sink deeper into the temptation she wove.

Unfortunately, Zhu Songning was also an extremely proud person.

She hated being restrained.

The two of them were like a natural pair of contradictions, which is why their peaceful time together was always minimal.

Shen Qingyu said to her from behind, “I just hope you can like me.”

Zhu Songning tightened her grip on the doorknob, her knuckles turning white.

Her lips moved slightly, and she recalled what the system had told her earlier.

【Do not develop unnecessary feelings for the mission target.】

001 was right; the world she was currently in was not her reality but the world inside a book.

One day, she would have to complete the mission and leave this world to pursue what she needed to pursue.

“I’m sorry, I can’t fall in love with you.”

The bathroom door was heavily shut.

A loud slam, followed by an empty silence.

When they got off the plane, Zhu Songning and Shen Qingyu walked separately.

Shen Qingyu’s reputation was too big. Even though her flight information was well-protected by staff, it was difficult to prevent her fans from occasionally running into her at the airport.

It wouldn’t be good for Zhu Songning to be photographed with her at the airport.

“Let’s go.”

Shen Qingmu had accepted the task of escorting Zhu Songning back to the filming location of Youth Trainee 2.

She looked up at Shen Qingyu, who was walking far ahead, dressed in a pure black gown, her shimmering snow-colored hair draped over her slender shoulders, a section gently lifted by the wind, fluttering with the hem of her skirt around her pale ankles.

Shen Qingyu seemed truly to possess a magical power.

Wherever she was, everyone around her would become dim and unremarkable, merely hurried, blurry passersby. Only her figure remained eternally fixed in your sight.

“Miss Zhu, wait a moment!”

Behind her, someone suddenly called out to her.

Zhu Songning turned around. It was a staff member from the airplane.

“One of our staff members found this in the restroom. It should belong to Miss Shen.”

The staff member knew they had boarded the plane together and sat next to each other.

Shen Qingyu was walking too fast for her to catch up, so she could only settle for handing the dropped item to her companion.

“This is…”

Zhu Songning took the item from her hand and saw that it was the fallen hair tie.

Shen Qingyu didn’t like using elastic bands to tie her hair; she thought that kind of elastic material would pull and deform her exquisite hair, causing it to fall out.

Therefore, she had a drawer full of hair ties, in various styles and colors.

Today, she wore a white one, embroidered with a subtle pattern in gold thread—golden fish, lifelike, swimming in the clouds.

The fish of the North Sea, capable of blocking out the sky when they flew.

The ancients wrote about it not to praise the powerful strength of the-bird (Kun-Peng) but to contrast the “smallness” of the mundane world.

They scorned the joy of the small fish and the ambition of the small bird, instead longing for the boundless sky and the wind of freedom.

Shen Qingmu leaned in to look at the hair tie in her hand and suddenly sighed with emotion:

“Actually, sometimes I think, no wonder you and Shen Qingyu could become a couple; you really are quite similar.”

“Similar?”

Zhu Songning was confused.

How were she and Shen Qingyu alike?

“You are both people with firm convictions inside, though your ways of expressing or confronting the world may differ.”

Shen Qingmu also looked at the retreating figure and fell into a memory.

“You might not know this, but Shen Qingyu has restrained herself a lot over the years. Long ago, due to the weakness of the main branch of the Shen family, our lineage became virtually non-existent within the Shen family. All decisions were made by several members of the collateral branches. The moment Shen Qingyu was born and later differentiated as an Omega, the Shen family wanted to use her as a pawn for an alliance marriage with other powerful families.”

“Shen Qingyu tolerated it for several years, secretly laying groundwork, and finally found an opportunity to break the deadlock and seize power with just one chance. Afterward, she used an iron fist to suppress the dissenting voices within the Shen family, gradually marginalizing the leading figures.”

Shen Qingmu’s mouth twitched slightly.

“I sometimes wonder how a person’s will can be so strong, silent when dormant, yet capable of erupting with immense power like a volcanic explosion.”

“Until I saw you on the show.”

“An ordinary individual trainee who managed to capture the attention of all the viewers, causing the capitalists who thought they could control the whole game to have their plan disrupted because of you.”

As far as she knew, the lights had been burning late for several nights in the Yuanhe Entertainment building, utterly flustered by the sudden appearance of Zhu Songning.

It reminded her of the several patriarchs of the Shen family’s collateral branches when Shen Qingyu first struck.

She thought for a moment and came to a final conclusion: “Both of you have an antagonistic aura.”

Daring to fight against the injustice of fate, one leaning more towards control, the other being more restrained and reserved.

Zhu Songning was stunned, her hand slowly clenching.

She had never considered that Shen Qingyu had such a past.

That fragile, butterfly-like body could also flap its wings, stirring up a massive storm, and even become more dazzling, brighter, and indestructible through the storm’s cleansing.

She just wondered if the small butterfly at the center of the storm would feel pain when the wind and rain descended.

Or the suffering of being utterly alone.

Shen Qingmu twirled the car key in her hand:

“Let’s go. This is a nice car Shen Qingyu specially lent me. I usually don’t get a chance to touch it. I guess I’m benefiting from your good luck today.”

It wasn’t until they reached the parking lot that Zhu Songning understood how “luxurious” the car Shen Qingmu mentioned was.

A global limited edition of ten purple supercars, with a sleek body, the dark purple and black meeting, giving it a low-key luxury under the light.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Shen Qingmu stroked the car door reluctantly, only getting into the driver’s seat when Zhu Songning urged her. “Sigh, I wish this car belonged to me. It’s a real treasure.”

Next to the driver’s seat was Shen Qingyu’s water bottle.

Zhu Songning recognized it instantly.

Shen Qingmu tossed the water bottle aside and placed her own there.

Watching Shen Qingmu drive, she suddenly recalled the first time she sat in Shen Qingyu’s car.

Shen Qingyu drove the Ferrari with one hand, taking the still-hazy her to register their marriage.

A wave of indescribable irritation was suppressed in her heart. She instinctively reached into her pocket for her playing cards, but what she touched first was the white hair tie.

The color of snow.

The first time they met was also a silent, snowy day.

The first snow of this winter.

Pedestrians outside the car window rushed by. White snowflakes replaced the rain, descending upon the human world.

Zhu Songning’s phone chimed.

It was a message from Shen Qingyu.

【YuYu】: Hiss~ why does Su City feel even colder than Bei City? My scarf is in the car; remember to put it on when you get out.

【YuYu】: On the plane, you said, “I can’t fall in love with you,” not “I won’t,” right?

【YuYu】: The major I studied in college was Philosophy. “Can’t” refers to the subject being stripped of freedom, restricted by some force or rule, unable to break through; but “won’t” means the subject has potential freedom.

【YuYu】: You are not choosing not to love me because you are free to, but because of your subjective self-defense, a denial of free will.

Zhu Songning pondered for a while, then typed a reply.

【Zhu Songning】: You spent all that time just doing a word-by-word analysis of what I said? So boring.

【YuYu】: I’m a professional! Please trust a professional’s analysis~

【Zhu Songning】: Excellent analysis. Do you want to write a thesis on it, perhaps titled “The Linguistic Analysis and Art of Zhu Songning”?

【YuYu】: You clearly haven’t written many papers. We generally don’t name them like that.

【YuYu】: It should be called “Zhu Songning and Shen Qingyu: A Re-Elucidation of Free Will.” You have to include famous people for anyone to take your article seriously.

【Zhu Songning】: Are you implying you’re the famous person?

【YuYu】: (Shy kitten.jpg)

【YuYu】: I didn’t say that. The original intention of starting this conversation was just to remind you to wear the scarf when you get out of the car.

The hair tie in Zhu Songning’s hand was wrapped and unwrapped in circles.

She glanced sideways and saw Shen Qingyu’s Burberry scarf hanging nearby.

It was snowing all over Su City, falling on every piece of obscure land and hillside. The snow that landed in the water would only melt, flowing forward with the surging waves.

【YuYu】: It looks like it’s snowing outside. It’s all this snowy weather’s fault that my Ningning is angry with me.

【Zhu Songning】: No.

She hadn’t seen all the snow that had fallen on Shen Qingyu.

And because of that.

【Zhu Songning】: I will hope all snowy days are gentle.

Support