After the Black Moonlight’s "Death Escape" Failed [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 52.2

Chapter 52.2: Day One of Living Together

It was strange. This was clearly just giving herself more work to do, yet she felt no burden. Instead… she felt a hint of joy.

Wen Fengyue understood herself less and less.

Meanwhile, the little starlet in front of her had already enthusiastically begun making arrangements for what came next: “Teacher Wen, is there anything on today’s schedule you don’t want to attend? I can speak to the company and cancel them for you.”

Wen Fengyue truly didn’t want to go, especially to the print advertisement session in the morning. That company had a scandalous reputation; no matter how much they paid, she didn’t want the job.

After she told Jiao Qingyin the truth, she watched as Jiao sent a few messages to someone. Jiao then smiled and indicated that everything had been handled. Wen Fengyue’s mind felt momentarily dazed and complicated.

…I feel a bit like I’m living off a little sugar mommy, Wen Fengyue thought.

To prevent herself from actually descending into a state of being a freeloaders, Wen Fengyue pursed her lips and suggested: “What time are you free today? I want to see your level of acting first.”

Seeing that she truly intended to teach her, the smile on Jiao Qingyin’s face brightened further. She replied, “How about this morning? I have a livestream event in the afternoon, but I’m free until then.”

Wen Fengyue nodded.

“Then how about this—Teacher Wen, you sleep at my place for a while first. We’ll start once we’ve both rested well, okay?”

Hearing Jiao Qingyin ask her “okay,” Wen Fengyue didn’t realize she actually had no room to refuse, so she nodded in agreement.

It wasn’t until she had taken a hot bath, changed into a comfortable set of new pajamas, and lay down on the guest room bed that Wen Fengyue realized she had actually stayed the night.

And from her first meeting with Jiao Qingyin until now… it hadn’t even been ten hours.

When Wen Fengyue woke up again, a sliver of sunlight happened to shine through a gap in the curtains, landing on her.

She sat up slowly, realizing that for the first time in a year, she hadn’t woken up with a stomachache.

Is it because of the seafood porridge? Wen Fengyue thought as she got out of bed to wash up.

As luck would have it, just as she pulled back the curtains, she saw a figure in loungewear taking photos in the garden.

The black-haired starlet stood amidst a cluster of red roses. Her skin looked exceptionally pale against them, like snow fallen upon a pile of petals, making it impossible for Wen Fengyue to look away.

Jiao Qingyin must be four or five years younger than me, right? No wonder she has so much energy, Wen Fengyue thought.

Perhaps sensing her gaze, Jiao Qingyin, who had been focused on photographing the flowers, looked up and met Wen Fengyue’s eyes.

“You’re awake!” Jiao Qingyin waved at her. “I made Dragon Beard Noodles. Come and eat together.”

Dragon Beard Noodles? …Hmm, sounds quite delicious.

Wen Fengyue touched her thumping heart, refusing to think about what this strange reaction meant.

The two finished breakfast amidst light conversation. The clothes Jiao Qingyin had bought from the Star-Net had just arrived at the house.

Wen Fengyue had arrived in an evening gown yesterday; Jiao couldn’t let her go to work in that same outfit today, so she had logged onto a shopping site before sleeping.

Thinking of Wen Fengyue’s overly perfect face, she’d had a bit of a crisis of choice. In the end, she stopped being picky and simply added everything she liked to the cart. Consequently, the packages piled up in the garden almost blocked the path.

After hearing Jiao explain what the mountain of deliveries was, Wen Fengyue’s heart felt a mix of complex emotions. She even developed a vague, uncertain suspicion: It seems Jiao Qingyin… intends for me to stay here long-term.

This thought caused her expression to shift. To hide her inner turmoil, Wen Fengyue took the most convenient package into the guest room under Jiao’s expectant gaze.

Then she discovered that the clothes Jiao Qingyin bought were complete sets—not just basic garments, but even accessories were included.

What made it even harder for her to speak of was… the package even contained matching underwear.

At first, Wen Fengyue thought the merchant was just being thorough, but after she began changing, she realized the brand of the underwear was different from the outer clothes.

So, Jiao Qingyin had specifically coordinated them, having them packaged together before delivery…

…With what kind of mood did she pick out these clothes for me?

And—how did she know her size for every part of her body?!

One could explain the clothing size by company records, but even the underwear was picked perfectly, fitting her without the slightest discomfort. This was truly…

Wen Fengyue turned red from her face to her neck. She had never encountered anything like this and was completely unable to cope for a moment.

She dawdled in the guest room for a long time but eventually put on the clothes Jiao Qingyin had hand-picked—every single piece, from the inside out.

In a simple silk white shirt and a long pleated skirt, Wen Fengyue nonetheless displayed an extraordinary temperament. The cobalt blue gem embedded in her necktie added a touch of nobility and elegance.

In short—”It suits you very well. You look beautiful,” Jiao Qingyin evaluated.

“…” Wen Fengyue turned her head away gloomily, not knowing how to speak to her.

Jiao Qingyin suppressed her smile and suggested with mock seriousness, “Teacher Wen, if possible, shall we start the screen test now?”

“Mm…” Wen Fengyue forced herself to calm down. After all, Jiao Qingyin was acting as if nothing had happened. If she were the only one obsessing over it, wouldn’t she seem overly self-indulgent?

She cleared her throat, opened the script saved on her device, and said, “Then let’s start with the high-difficulty ‘lost’ segment.”

The “lost” segment was the turning point for the two female leads’ relationship in the middle to late stages of Satellite.

The female lead, Cheng Xing, who has a hearing impairment, is extremely dependent on her hearing aid. Except for bathing and sleeping, she must wear it at all times. The second female lead, Wei Ling, is a university professor. While she appears noble and pure on the surface, her actual personality is extremely twisted. After an argument during a trip, she takes away Cheng Xing’s hearing aid.

Cheng Xing cries and begs for her to return it. Wei Ling gently takes her hand and leads her into the alleys of an ancient town. She types a message telling Cheng Xing that she placed the hearing aid at a house deep in the alley; as long as Cheng Xing follows her closely, they can retrieve it.

Cheng Xing believes her. But after entering the alley, Wei Ling lets go of her hand, and she becomes lost in a panic.

Wei Ling is a professor of psychology. Feeling that Cheng Xing doesn’t love her enough, she wants to use this extreme method to “train” Cheng Xing into a state where she loves her with her entire soul.

This segment is entirely a solo performance by Cheng Xing. It requires expressing a layered emotional shift from panic to fear, fear to anger, and anger to pleading and despair. It is highly difficult.

Jiao Qingyin had already memorized the script. Upon hearing Wen Fengyue’s words, she understood what she needed to perform.

“Alright, Teacher Wen,” she agreed, winking at her. “If I start crying in a bit, remember to wipe my tears for me.”

Wen Fengyue’s breath hitched. She squeezed out a few words: “Stop fooling around.”

Jiao Qingyin chuckled inwardly, then closed her eyes to adjust her state for acting.

“How much further?” Cheng Xing asked apprehensively.

She received no response. She turned to look beside her, but the usually gentle and considerate Wei Ling now revealed a side completely opposite to her normal self.

She let go of Cheng Xing’s hand.

“Hand.” Cheng Xing reached out blankly, wanting to grab her again.

But Wei Ling smiled, turned around, and vanished into the pitch-black alley.

Cheng Xing froze for a few seconds before realizing Wei Ling was gone.

She had deprived her of the ability to hear the world, and now she had obscured her eyes from seeing the path ahead.

Jiao Qingyin had intended to act casually according to the original host’s ability, showing a stiff expression. But after a few lines, she unconsciously fell into the role.

She thought of the scene when she had faked her own death. At that time, was Al as desperate as Cheng Xing in the play…?

This matter had always been a sore spot in her heart. She had never told Al how much she regretted it. Now, that emotion arrived late, enveloping Jiao Qingyin’s heart.

“Where are you? Where are you—!”

Her hearing impairment caused Cheng Xing to speak much louder than a normal person every time. Especially without her hearing aid, no matter how she made a sound, she couldn’t hear her own voice, so she could only try to be loud, and louder still.

It was as if as long as she was loud enough, Wei Ling would hear her and turn back to get her.

Tears burst from her eyes. Jiao Qingyin pleaded hoarsely toward the empty air. Cheng Xing’s character design meant her enunciation couldn’t be perfectly clear; her crying drowned out her words, and scattered, broken syllables made her look helpless and desperate.

Wen Fengyue nearly crushed the wristband of her device.

After agreeing to teach Jiao acting, she had specifically watched Jiao’s previous works. She discovered that Jiao’s words weren’t modest—her acting really was bad.

This had prepared Wen Fengyue. she had already decided that no matter how poorly Jiao performed today, she would maintain a calm attitude and control her temper to avoid hurting her.

But once Jiao Qingyin actually began, she realized she was wrong.

How could this person not know how to act? She was acting too well. Though she was in a softly lit living room performing a solo piece without props, Wen Fengyue felt herself standing in that dark, deep alley with countless forks in the road because of her performance.

Jiao Qingyin had brought Cheng Xing to life. And those overly real tears were like a metallic wire, strangling Wen Fengyue’s neck and making it hard for her to breathe.

This helplessness of being abandoned by a lover, this despair of finding no way out—was this truly just acting?

Wen Fengyue didn’t dare think too deeply, but her actions were one step ahead of her brain as she grabbed Jiao Qingyin’s arm.

“—It’s okay now.” She held Jiao Qingyin tightly, saying each word clearly.

Wei Ling grabbed Cheng Xing’s hand and gave her her usual smile: “It’s okay now.”

She smiled so gently, like a flower bud in spring, like a bird’s song at dawn. Sunlight flowed across her face; she was such a good lover.

Cheng Xing looked at her in a daze and began to reflect. How could she only love Wei Ling’s surface? She should love Wei Ling a bit more!

She must love Wei Ling’s obsession, love Wei Ling’s darkness, love the harm Wei Ling gave her, love everything about Wei Ling!

“…I love you.” she said.

Without her hearing aid, her voice was much louder than a normal person’s, like a vow and like a curse, echoing above the alley.

Jiao Qingyin looked at Wen Fengyue with vacant eyes. “I…”

Wen Fengyue had a cold face, but her fingers were so stiff they seemed unable to move. “I said ‘it’s okay now’—your acting is good, but don’t get too immersed.”

“…” Jiao Qingyin’s eyes slowly focused. She took Wen Fengyue’s words to heart.

This was her flaw. She played different roles in different worlds. To prevent the natives from noticing anything amiss, she would often fall into the characters’ lives.

In the past, tasks and points kept her hanging on, allowing her to stay awake at all times. But ever since meeting Al, this clarity often lost its effect, trapping her in emotional exhaustion.

She was always punishing herself with what happened back then. It was like a double-edged sword; it had stabbed Al, and every time Jiao Qingyin remembered it, it sank a bit deeper into her own flesh.

Especially… after Jiao Qingyin discovered that Al had come to this world with her and had lost her memories due to soul damage, that hidden pain in her heart became even more intense.

She was afraid Al wouldn’t remember their past. She was afraid the love between them… would become a one-sided wish of hers alone.

Looking at the silver-haired, blue-eyed lover before her, two lines of clear tears slid down Jiao Qingyin’s eyes.

Wen Fengyue panicked. She clearly saw Jiao Qingyin come out of the character, so why was she still crying?

She had zero experience comforting others, and Jiao was seemingly made to cry by her…

Wen Fengyue’s heart felt sour and swollen, as if someone were poking her with needles. This feeling made her unable to watch Jiao’s tears any longer—she raised her arm and somewhat clumsily hugged the person in front of her.

“Don’t cry… it’s my fault.”

Jiao Qingyin bit her lip hard and shook her head. Wen Fengyue hadn’t done anything wrong and shouldn’t apologize to her. She—

A slightly cool hand was placed on the back of Jiao Qingyin’s head. Wen Fengyue, doing this for the first time, was a bit dazed. Her movements of stroking Jiao’s head to comfort her were a bit clumsy, the only effect being that she messed up the latter’s hair.

Remembering Jiao saying she wanted help wiping her tears, Wen Fengyue raised her hand somewhat slowly and wiped away the teardrops on the other’s cheeks.

Her fingertips became wet. Seeing Jiao staring at her, Wen Fengyue thought for a long time about words of comfort but only managed to say something quite hollow: “There’s no tissue… I can only use my hand.”

Her actions couldn’t be called comforting, yet Jiao Qingyin strangely calmed down because of them.

She leaned against Wen Fengyue’s shoulder, smelling a faint sweet fragrance on her. In this scent, her state gradually leveled out. She stopped crying and sobbing.

“…Orange flavored, right?”

Wen Fengyue froze. She had brushed her teeth after smoking and changed her entire outfit. How could Jiao Qingyin still smell it?!

But, but… it was indeed orange flavored.

“Didn’t you give the orange flavored one to me? How is there more?” Jiao Qingyin asked in a low voice. With every word, the voice that was too close made Wen Fengyue’s waist feel a bit softer.

“…There are two of every flavor,” Wen Fengyue said through gritted teeth. She wanted to push Jiao away but for some reason felt reluctant. She could only act tough with her words: “Such a sensitive nose. Are you a puppy?”

Unexpectedly, Jiao Qingyin laughed because of this sentence. The muffled laughter made Wen Fengyue’s waist go completely numb.

Just as she was about to lose her hold on Jiao because of the sensation in her waist, Jiao suddenly hugged her back. Her lips almost touched the shell of Wen Fengyue’s ear.

She whispered: “You’re the puppy.”

“You…!”

Wen Fengyue was both ashamed and angry. She let go of Jiao to snap back, but saw that although Jiao still had tear tracks on her face, she was smiling beautifully. Jiao said, “I like puppies the most. If I have the chance, I’ll definitely raise one.”

This made Wen Fengyue instinctively ask: “What breed?”

“Hmm… a well-behaved dog… white fur, blue eyes, likes to wag its tail, likes to be carried…”

Wen Fengyue first followed her words in her imagination, then suddenly realized something. She was so angry she wanted to pinch the face of this little starlet who didn’t respect her senior: “You dare call me a dog!”

Jiao Qingyin dodged nimbly, jumped onto the sofa, and chirped happily: “I didn’t! You associated yourself with it!”

Wen Fengyue pridefully told herself she was older than Jiao and couldn’t do something like jumping onto a sofa. She could only glare from below. “Don’t you dare come down!”

As if saying this was slightly less childish than jumping onto the sofa.

In the afternoon, Jiao Qingyin’s team arrived at her home with livestream equipment as planned.

While the logistics staff began installing various props and adjusting lights and sound cards, Manager Ji stood by the makeup artist, telling Jiao the points to note for the livestream.

“Little Jiao, the theme of this livestream is to promote Satellite, so mention things related to Wen Fengyue… Teacher Wen more. Here is the script. If you can’t think of what to say, just read the teleprompter.”

Ji took out a thick stack of papers. Jiao looked at the top page; the content consisted of completely fabricated experiences of her and Wen Fengyue getting along.

Seeing her reading the script, Ji explained: “For a same-sex drama, CP (couple) hype must be grabbed early. These are all fake ‘sugar’ moments the company had people write. Act like you accidentally let it slip and mention them in the livestream.”

After reading the first “fake sugar” point, Jiao couldn’t help but smile.

[(Pretend to read a comment) What flavor of nutrient solution does Teacher Wen like? (Answer immediately) Lemon flavored.]

[(Wait ten seconds, then pretend to reminisce) Teacher Wen lived at my house for a period of time, so I know what flavor of nutrient solution she likes.]

“She doesn’t like nutrient solution,” Jiao Qingyin said to Manager Ji, putting down the script.

“What?” Ji was stunned, then waved it off. “Oh, it’s fine. It’s all fake anyway. Teacher Wen couldn’t possibly live at your house. As long as the fans believe it.”

At this moment, Ji noticed the microphone sound quality wasn’t great. She turned to call someone to change it, but just happened to see—

Wen Fengyue, wearing fluffy slippers, was walking down the stairs from the second floor.

Wen Fengyue met her gaze but acted as if she hadn’t seen her. She walked straight to Jiao Qingyin and said, “I’ll be back late today. You sleep first, don’t wait for me.”

Originally, seeing Jiao’s superb acting, she thought Jiao didn’t need her guidance at all and wanted to refuse the request. But the moment she showed a hint of that intent, Jiao’s eyes—which had just cried—turned red again, leaving Wen Fengyue unable to say a single extra word.

She clearly wasn’t the type to be soft-hearted, yet she always fell for Jiao’s tricks, to the point of agreeing to continue practicing the script with her tomorrow.

“Okay,” Jiao Qingyin ignored the wide-mouthed Manager Ji and the others who recognized Wen Fengyue. “Record your fingerprint into the system before you leave so you can enter directly.”

Wen Fengyue fell silent. The surrounding crowd also suddenly went quiet, as if Jiao Qingyin had thrown a bomb.

A few seconds later, Wen Fengyue’s slightly teeth-gritted voice came: “We’ll talk about it next time.”

She blew away like a gust of wind. The stunned Manager Ji finally snapped back to reality. She slowly lowered her head and asked: “Little Jiao, do you know that what you just said… is equivalent to a marriage proposal?”

The hand Jiao Qingyin used to hold the script paused.

Now she knew.