After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Losing Face

#Internationally Renowned Jewelry Designer Fang Ziyue# #Fang Ziyue Counters After Years of Frame-up, Becomes Internationally Renowned Jewelry Designer# #Designer Z# #Designer Z and Best Actress Ling#

On this day, the trending searches were almost entirely dominated by Fang Ziyue.

Specifically, those who had been clamoring that Fang Ziyue wasn’t good enough for Ling Qiu now had minds full of “WTF?”, “Who is she?!”, and “What the hell is Z!”

“Designer Z?!” The variety show director backstage nearly fainted.

While pinching his own philtrum to stay conscious, he frantically reminded the host, “Ask her! Fast!”

Never mind what the questions were this was the mysterious Designer Z whose whereabouts were normally unknown. No matter what she said, their show was guaranteed to be a massive hit!

Unfortunately, Ling Qiu didn’t want to disturb Fang Ziyue’s work any longer. After saying her goodbyes, she hung up the phone.

The show’s director had a look of grief as if he had just lost billions. After all, although this variety show remained popular after many years, anyone with a discerning eye could see they were on a downward trend. Fang Ziyue’s identity exposure was a golden opportunity for traffic, but Best Actress Ling was unwilling to let her show her face any longer.

Then again, it was obvious which was more important: Queen Victoria on one side, and an ordinary variety show on the other.

That Fang Ziyue was Z was something Ling Qiu had never expected. She knew the bracelet Fang Ziyue wore on her left wrist was Z’s work, but she had never connected the dots that they were the same person.

Ling Qiu stroked the feather on the bracelet, her heart itching. Previously, a newcomer had torn Fang Ziyue’s bracelet off. After the filming ended, Ling Qiu had snuck back and searched through the mud for a whole day before recovering all the components.

Her hands weren’t as nimble as Fang Ziyue’s, yet she didn’t want anyone else touching this bracelet. In the end, she followed video tutorials and re-strung the black bracelet herself. The result, however, wasn’t great. The craftsmanship was quite crude, making Ling Qiu too embarrassed to show it to Fang Ziyue.

Forget it, I’ll just hide it as my own little secret.

Ling Qiu sent a message to Fang Ziyue with a beaming expression: “The little leather whip is ready. Swish-Crack.jpg“

“???” came the immediate reply.

Fang Ziyue was holding her luggage in one hand and typing with the other so fast her fingers were a blur. “Playing that wild? Cat blushing.jpg“

Ling Qiu, who was snickering while waiting for a reply, suddenly turned beet-red. She… she meant that since this person didn’t tell her about the “Z” identity, she was going to whip her with a leather whip.

She meant a real hit! What is this woman doing!

Ling Qiu tossed her phone aside in shame, vowing never to talk to this bastard again.

“Hmm? Why aren’t you talking? Wifey, wifey, talk to me~”

The phone screen flickered incessantly. The popping notifications were like a cat teaser wand, making Ling Qiu’s hands itch. She couldn’t help but want to check the messages, yet she gritted her teeth in frustration at the other woman’s constant lewd jokes.

It… it wasn’t that she didn’t allow them. But a woman who only cracks jokes and doesn’t come home is a hooligan!

Ling Qiu huffed and rolled up her sleeves. While bulging her cheeks in a sulk, she headed to the kitchen to cook something delicious for Fang Ziyue. She didn’t know if the woman had eaten properly during those few days abroad.

Every time Ling Qiu went abroad, she would suffer from jet lag and environmental maladjustment, often lying in a hotel for a whole day, feeling dizzy and nauseous, needing medication.

Ling Qiu nimbly chopped vegetables. Her hands, which had filmed jewelry endorsements and been forced into insurance by her manager, were well-accustomed to manual labor.

Light, sweet and sour… Fang Ziyue didn’t like spicy food, so Ling Qiu had slowly changed her own palate to match. She used to think that if two people were together, their tastes and habits had to be similar. Otherwise, if one liked spicy and the other liked bland, neither could accommodate the other.

But now…

Ling Qiu shook her head and grabbed a large handful of chili peppers from the side. No, she was going to make an all-spicy meal today!

Who told that woman to break her word? She said she’d be back in three days, but it had been a whole week without a sign of her.

Fang Ziyue, who had no idea her wife was unhappy, was on the phone with Chen Ermao.

“How is it? Is everything ready?”

“With me handling things, what are you worried about?” Chen Yueyu let out a yawn. Good lord, she had pulled several all-nighters to set up the wedding venue for this old dog; she was nearly losing all her hair.

“I’m telling you, if you don’t give me a raise, you’re inhuman, cold-blooded, heartless, soulless…” Muttering away, Chen Yueyu’s head tilted, and she fell fast asleep. Her phone hitting the floor didn’t even wake her.

Seeing this, Fang Ziyue hung up and sent a text: “Hard work. Year-end bonus is doubled.”

She hadn’t planned on marrying Ling Qiu so soon, but she hadn’t expected Ling Qiu to come out first and give her such a big surprise. Fang Ziyue naturally refused to be left behind.

During this week abroad, besides the three days spent at the banquet, she had buried herself in the studio to design the rings, the necklace, the entire wedding set, and the venue layout. If she calculated carefully, she probably had less rest than Chen Yueyu. Right now, she was only sustained by the excitement of seeing her wife.

Still kept in the dark, Ling Qiu sat in the kitchen eating the extremely spicy dishes she had cooked, feeling more aggrieved with every bite. This was what they called digging a hole for oneself.

Every time she got angry, she wanted to make super spicy food to make Fang Ziyue cry from the heat, but every time before the food left the pot, she regretted it, and it all ended up in her own stomach. This had resulted in her becoming increasingly capable of eating spicy food, and her manager becoming increasingly prone to nagging her.

“Chili causes acne, my ancestor!” Her manager was nearly bald from stress. Could a grand Best Actress please have some professional image? To this, Ling Qiu could only nod—yes, yes, yes, okay, okay, okay—otherwise she’d be lectured for a whole day.

With her lips swollen from the spice, Ling Qiu rubbed the mosquito bites on her neck, her small face set in a very displeased pout. Fang Ziyue wasn’t home, so even the mosquitoes bullied her!

Because Fang Ziyue hadn’t told Ling Qiu which specific flight she was on, Ling Qiu couldn’t pick her up. She could only cook a table full of food and huddle on the sofa waiting for her return. But that one mosquito kept buzzing in her ear. Ling Qiu couldn’t catch it, and in a moment of inattention, she was bitten several times.

At home, Ling Qiu liked to wear pajamas with a wide neckline. That damn mosquito bit her right above the collarbone and on the side of her neck. Ling Qiu couldn’t stand the itching and scratched a few times. Looking in the mirror, she started to worry.

Why do these look more and more like “those” kinds of marks the more I scratch?

Plus her lips were slightly swollen from the spice. Hiss… Ling Qiu quickly pressed an ice pack to her mouth. The bone-chilling cold made her teeth ache. Ling Qiu shivered while holding the ice pack but didn’t dare let go.

This was terrible. She had “snacked” on the sly, but she’d snacked on chili, not a person!

The ice bag had soon melted halfway. Just as Ling Qiu wiped the water from her lips, Fang Ziyue finally entered the house, looking travel-worn.

“Honey, quick, give me a hug. I’m dying.” Fang Ziyue had slept a little on the way back, but because she had stayed up for too long, a short nap made her feel even worse. If she hadn’t wanted to see her wife, she would have loved to sleep until she was old and never even get off the plane.

The dark circles under Fang Ziyue’s eyes were heavy. Ling Qiu tossed the ice pack aside, stepped forward heart-broken, and hugged the woman who was a head taller than her, letting her lean her weight against her.

In the short distance from the living room to the bedroom, the woman leaning on Ling Qiu had already fallen into a deep sleep. Ling Qiu changed her clothes and wiped her face clean before burrowing into the woman’s arms, closing her eyes while breathing in the familiar scent.

She used to live alone for a long time and didn’t feel lonely. But after Fang Ziyue went abroad this time, even though it was only a week, Ling Qiu missed her terribly. She even had two nights of poor sleep; as soon as she closed her eyes, she saw a pale Fang Ziyue maybe she was sick, maybe she wasn’t eating well or sleeping well.

With her makeup removed, Ling Qiu’s dark circles were only slightly less pronounced than Fang Ziyue’s.

Likely sensing the warmth beside her, the sleeping woman instinctively tightened her grip around the slender, soft waist, burying her face in the other’s fragrant hair and sleeping like there was no tomorrow.

It was six or seven o’clock and the sky hadn’t darkened yet. A feast sat on the dining table, while the two owners slept soundly in each other’s arms.

It wasn’t until Chen Yueyu made over ten “life-threatening” calls in a row that the two, who had lost track of time, were jolted awake.

“Mmm…” Fang Ziyue frowned deeply, unwilling to open her eyes, looking ready to have a standoff with the phone. Anyway, the phone would eventually run out of battery, so she wouldn’t open her eyes.

Ling Qiu grabbed Fang Ziyue’s arm to cover her ears and buried her face deeper under the covers. She wasn’t getting up; she refused to, because the bed was holding her back.

“Old dog, get up! Old dog, get up!” Chen Yueyu, who had worked until she was delirious, had sacrilegiously changed Fang Ziyue’s ringtone before she returned. Ling Qiu’s gentle singing had been replaced by Chen Ermao’s howling.

Fang Ziyue gnashed her teeth and whined with her eyes closed, “Wifey, she’s yelling at me~” The subtext was: Wifey, answer the phone and scold her for me.

“Then scold her back.” Unfortunately, Ling Qiu was also unwilling to get up. She nuzzled into her arms and mumbled incoherently.

“No~ I’m sleepy…” Fang Ziyue’s voice carried the rasp and laziness of someone just waking up; it was magnetic and alluring, teasing Ling Qiu’s nerves and making her drowsy.

Seeing that the person in her arms had gone still, Fang Ziyue resigned herself to feeling for the phone, though her eyes remained stubbornly shut. No matter who it was today, they weren’t getting her to open her eyes!

Fang Ziyue groped fiercely under the covers for the phone. It was strange—she clearly heard the sound coming from under the blanket. The more she searched, the more she couldn’t find it. Fang Ziyue simply spread her palm for a “carpet search.”

Past the pillow, the edge of the quilt, the hem of the clothes, soft flesh… wait, soft flesh?!

“Where are you touching!” Her wife’s cry of shamed indignation gave Fang Ziyue a jolt that woke her right up.

She opened her eyes, bypassed her wife’s face which looked ready to die of embarrassment, and looked down to see her hand resting right on her wife’s chest.

She instinctively retracted her hand and gave a squeeze.

So soft…

“Fang Ziyue! Nosebleed!” Ling Qiu shrieked again. She scrambled up in a panic, fearing the nosebleed would drip onto her pajamas.

The woman with pink-flushed cheeks and misty eyes set her face and huffed, “Go wash up, don’t get it on the quilt.”

Fang Ziyue climbed up feeling quite humiliated, head tilted back, not daring to look at her wife. Help, this was mortifying! Just a touch Fang Ziyue, can’t you have some backbone! Why a damn nosebleed!

After Fang Ziyue vanished into the bathroom, Ling Qiu bit her lip and quietly pulled a set of fluffy clothes from the wardrobe. The tips of her ears were red enough to drip blood.

She had seen this online the other day; they said wearing this could soothe a lover’s fatigue and make her happy. Who knows if it’s true… anyway, anyway, I already bought it!

Ling Qiu grit her teeth, changed into the outfit that pushed the boundaries of her acceptance, huddled back under the quilt, and waited for Fang Ziyue’s return with a heart full of trepidation…

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