After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 27

Is there a problem? There indeed is, but… I can’t quite untangle it…

Whatever Beautiful Master arranges is good; I’ll listen to it all…

If only I could have one more piece of candied fruit, it’s really so bitter.

Master is truly so fragrant, aaaaaaah…

Master’s hands are so white, so soft; even the thin calluses left from years of holding a sword are so beautiful. Though, Master’s calluses are quite thin…

That’s not important.

The topic didn’t linger on Ning Songwu for too long; it quickly shifted to Li Ke’er’s gossip. As they chatted, they eventually reached a romantic affair Li Ke’er had recently been involved in. Mentioning that person seemed to fill Li Ke’er with resentment, and she tapped her chopsticks lightly against the table.

“You have no idea, that woman’s technique was terrible!”

“White, Black, or…?”

“Chinese, and an older sister type. Even at that age, her technique was so bad.”

“…What do you mean by ‘bad technique’?”

Little Pure-Hearted Ran also put down her chopsticks, her face written with a hunger for knowledge.

“Ran Fanyin… aren’t you straight?”

“I’m just building up my knowledge base; it’s better to be prepared.”

“I only have experience being a ‘Pillow Princess’ (receiver) here.”

“Hmm… is it not… okay to do that?”

Li Ke’er looked at her suspiciously for a moment, then solemnly patted her shoulder. “Young lady, has your heart started to stir? Do you want to be a ‘0’ (bottom) for the sake of love?”

“…I wouldn’t refuse being a ‘1’ (top) either.”

“Who is that dog-woman?”

“There isn’t one, I’m just curious.”

“Do you think I believe that?”

“I swear”

Ran Fanyin raised her hand to say “I swear there isn’t,” but then she thought about how ghosts and gods actually exist in this world. A casual oath might be taken seriously by the gods above. She quickly pulled her hand back and said righteously, “Friend, believe me, I really don’t have anyone right now. I’m truly just curious!”

Li Ke’er rolled her eyes and picked up her chopsticks again. “Hurry up and eat. I’ll show you the ‘good stuff’ afterward.”

Ning Songwu’s promised week in Xincheng was coming to an end. She had booked a flight for Saturday morning; today was Thursday, leaving only Friday.

She didn’t ask Xu Yueping any further questions. After all, those who cultivate the path of destiny have their own judgment on what should and shouldn’t be said. If someone would rather face heavenly punishment than speak, then so be it.

She couldn’t actually let the lightning strike the child to death.

Early that morning, Fang Qing had pulled together a group chat named “MV Filming Squad.” The group included the director, the screenwriter, the singer, Ran Fanyin, and her.

When the sun was high estimating that everyone was awake—Fang Qing tagged everyone to notify them of an online table read this afternoon, where they would also discuss the action choreography.

This disrupted Ran Fanyin’s plans. She could only apologize to Li Ke’er and cancel the shopping trip scheduled for the afternoon.

Li Ke’er’s eyes flickered. “Fanyin, can I sit next to you and listen? I promise I won’t make a sound!”

“I just want to hear Ning Songwu’s voice in a private setting.”

“Information cannot be leaked.”

“You don’t trust my mouth? It’s absolutely sealed shut!”

“You cannot make a sound.”

“Mm-hmm, I’ll go get some tape and stick it over my mouth.”

Seeing the woman actually run to get tape, Ran Fanyin laughed and stopped her. “No need. Just sit here quietly.”

Her workspace was in the study. Li Ke’er moved a chair to sit behind the computer, wearing one earbud and propping her chin on her hand.

When Ran Fanyin joined the meeting, people were already chatting. Once the connection stabilized, Ning Songwu’s clear and sharp voice, mixed with a light chuckle, fell into her earbud.

She suddenly regretted only wearing one; otherwise, that voice should have wrapped around her 360 degrees before fading. How beautiful that would have been.

Ran Fanyin looked at the person opposite her. Li Ke’er hadn’t quite realized who that light chuckle belonged to yet; she looked a bit dazed and blinked. A moment later, she reacted, tightly covering her mouth to suppress a scream.

“I haven’t turned on my mic yet,” Ran Fanyin kindly reminded her.

“Ning Songwu’s private voice is! LIKE! THIS!” Li Ke’er screamed in a low voice, barely squeezing the words out through the noise.

See? It wasn’t just her who thought Ning Songwu’s voice was beautiful.

They would all eventually fall in love with Ning Songwu—just like her, becoming a loyal fan.

She wasn’t an exception.

Her heart’s stirring was perfectly normal.

Only then did she return her gaze to the screen. Ning Songwu had her camera on, but she wasn’t looking at it; instead, she was leaning back in her chair looking at a tablet in her hand. On the screen, she wore wired headphones, her jet-black hair scattered over her shoulders with a few strands falling beside her face.

There was a smile on her lips, but it gave a sense of slight detachment—different from the day they met at the hotel, and different from the smile she had during their interactions over the past few days.

It was a smile with a heavy sense of distance.

The other person speaking was Fang Qing. It seemed the two were very close, as they were chatting about daily life.

“Is Xincheng fun? Is the grilled meat really as fragrant as they say?”

“Yes, it’s truly not bad. You should come when you have time.”

“Sigh.” Fang Qing let out a long breath. “I just finished a show in the first half of the year, and we start filming Double Dreams in June. It’ll probably be the end of the year by the time we’re done.”

“They say the winter scenery in Xincheng is also very beautiful. When it’s extremely cold, it even snows in the desert.”

“Alright then, I’ll find some time at the end of the year to check it out. I can tell Xincheng is fun; your Weibo update frequency has even gone up.”

“Only two posts.”

“In the past, there would be one every few months. Your fans say they’re afraid if you keep posting, you’ll use up next year’s quota too.”

“Perhaps?” The woman chuckled, teasing back with a question.

“Please don’t. We still have to promote Double Dreams next year. You must post more!”

“Okay~”

Only then did Ning Songwu withdraw her gaze and see the third person in the meeting. She said warmly, “Fanyin, why aren’t you speaking now that you’re here?”

Perhaps because her tone was too soft, Fang Qing let out an “Ooh.” “Calling her Fanyin already? That meal in City B really was with her, wasn’t it? And you lied to me!”

“You didn’t ask me, so how can you say I lied?”

“Tsk tsk tsk, I’ve been abandoned.”

Li Ke’er was stunned by that one word, but she obediently kept her mouth shut to avoid accidentally being recorded when Ran Fanyin turned on her mic.

But Ran Fanyin hesitated.

Because of her dream last night.

After dinner, Li Ke’er had mysteriously pulled her into the bedroom, clicked around on her laptop, entered several layers of passwords, and finally opened a folder.

“These are my sister’s treasures, uncensored and high-definition. Pick one.”

Ran Fanyin… had seen such things before, but only in text and manga. They had no sound, and they weren’t very deep; the explicit ones were always censored. Now, with these laid out before her, even the thumbnails were enough to set her entire face on fire.

She didn’t dare look at the screen, peeking through a slit in her eyes while using muscle memory to change the view from thumbnails to small icons. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. Ignoring the delighted laughter of the person beside her, she focused on reading the titles.

With just one look, she tightly closed her eyes again.

What kind of monsters and demons are these?

You can do it, Ran Fanyin. Just treat it as gaining experience for acting. Doesn’t Double Dreams have scenes like this? Watching this is just for research.

She muttered in her heart, half-opening her eyes to open the one with the most “pure” title.

She rarely filmed such scenes; even when she did, they were finished quickly with camera angles. Her face had spared her from many such tasks, which was a good thing.

As for falling in love…

She didn’t particularly like the idea of a person suddenly intruding into her life, so she didn’t think about it much. At most, it ended with holding hands; there hadn’t even been kissing, let alone…

Now, she watched the screen with shyness, seeing how the two people gradually went deeper—from initial shyness to the point where she actually started thinking. She thought about how the positions and camera angles should be placed in filming to make it look aesthetic.

Instead of being so blunt with no artistic sense.

When she tried to pull Li Ke’er into a discussion about this, the person who only wanted to be a “Pillow Princess” pushed her aside with one hand.

“Figure it out yourself, I don’t know.”

“…Fine.”

“Ran-er, this isn’t an instructional video.”

“It can be.”

Looking at the person with a flushed face yet a serious expression, Li Ke’er sighed in resignation.

I really give up on this person.

And the result of “thinking during the day” was “dreaming at night.”

The dream happened to be an extension of the two leads in the MV they were discussing today, but Ran Fanyin’s subconscious had swapped the faces for hers and Ning Songwu’s.

And she was the one taking the lead.

The dream scared her so much she sat straight up in bed, gasping for air, her cheeks hot enough to fry an egg.

In the dream, the Senior Sister’s clothes were half-undone, her face flushed with the pink of alcohol. Her long sleeves had slipped down, her pale arm resting on Ran Fanyin’s shoulder, her red lips slightly parted, emitting a few…

Sounds she had never heard from Ning Songwu’s mouth.

Calm down, Ran Fanyin, calm down. It’s just because you’ve been reading the script too much lately and saw such stimulating things. This is normal.

This is normal.

Her fingers curled slightly, inexplicably longing for the sensation in the dream.

Even if it was fake.

“Ran Fanyin? Are you still there?” Ning Songwu’s voice, tinged with confusion, rang in her ear, calling back her consciousness that had long since wandered a hundred thousand miles away. She responded several times in quick succession.

“Microphone isn’t on,” Li Ke’er reminded her in a whisper.

Ran Fanyin patted her own face, took several deep breaths, and then clicked the microphone and camera. Another face appeared on the screen.

“Hello Director Fang, hello Teacher Ning.” she replied obediently, explaining: “I just forgot to turn on my mic.”

“Xiao Ran, do you feel like the role of Junior Sister is difficult?” Fang Qing asked with a smile.

Ran Fanyin was stunned.

Why ask such a difficult question right off the bat?

Then again, she had mostly filmed low-rated dramas over the years. Although she was a rising starlet, she hadn’t reached the level of a lead in a major hit movie. Fang Qing wasn’t familiar with her and didn’t have casual talk to share like Ning Songwu did.

She looked at the screen, weighed her words for a moment, and said slowly: “It is a bit challenging. Most of the period dramas I usually film are very cute supporting roles. This role of the Junior Sister, though only a few segments in an MV, is overall a heroic, bold swordswoman. It’s quite new for me.”

Moderate and irreproachable.

“Look at the screen; why do you keep lowering your head?” Fang Qing didn’t comment on her words but pointed out the problem with her speaking. “I’m not going to eat you.”

Ran Fanyin emboldened herself and looked up, meeting those eyes that were looking at her gently through the screen.

Her breath hitched.

She subconsciously looked away again.

Her heart pounded wildly, making her chest actually hurt a bit.

But she didn’t dare turn back.

She really didn’t dare.

Maybe reading a book can help calm my heart.

The spirit of man loves clarity, but the heart disturbs it; the heart of man loves stillness, but desires pull it. If one can constantly banish desires, the heart will naturally be still; if the heart is cleared, the spirit will naturally be clear. Then the six desires will not arise, and the three poisons will be eliminated.

She was fine at noon, how did she suddenly develop a fever after just one afternoon?

My understanding of how physically weak Master is has truly reached a new level.

[Why does Master always say I’m a “stuffy gourd”? I clearly talk quite a bit, but no matter what, I can’t let her leave this door. If she keeps being sick, it’ll be trouble if it turns into myocarditis or something.

I don’t know what cultivators do when they get these illnesses; I’ll have to ask Elder Qin later.

But I bet Master is the only one on the whole peak who gets sick every few days, right? No, I really need to find a way to reduce these illnesses. This long-term wear and tear isn’t good.

Even the sturdiest body will grow weak if it’s worn down over a long time, right?