Dating My Drama Queen Girlfriend On A Slow-Paced Variety Show - Chapter 16

Li Yue slowly lowered her hand and turned toward the living room. Luo Mingzi followed closely behind, persistently asking, “Do you want to? Do you want to?” She chased her all the way to Li Yue’s room, her eyes blinking with excitement as she watched Li Yue pick up some clothes.

To her surprise, Li Yue merely gave her a calm glance and walked straight past her, exiting the room. She pushed open the door to the room opposite, and before Luo Mingzi could react, Li Yue closed the door. With a soft click, the Bichon Frise ornament hanging on the door swayed; the guest had locked the door from the inside.

Luo Mingzi huffed: “Hmph.”

Crossing her arms, she paced back and forth outside the door, muttering, “How can the guest lock the owner out? How am I supposed to take a nap?” She tapped on the door and raised her voice, “I’m going to go sleep in your bed then!”

The room remained silent. Luo Mingzi pressed her ear against the door, trying to catch a sound, and held up her fingers. “I’m counting to five! Five… four…three…two…one!”

She rushed through the last three numbers, practically bounding toward Li Yue’s bed. She kicked off her shoes, jumped happily onto the mattress, pulled the quilt over herself, and closed her eyes.

“Sleeping!”

The entire sequence took less than five seconds. The camera focused on Li Yue’s bed, two minutes later, the person on the bed was breathing steadily, fast asleep.

Twenty minutes later, Li Yue, having finished her shower, pushed the door open softly and stepped inside.

A breeze blew through the screen window, hitting the curtains and casting slanted shadows of the mesh in the afternoon light. In this guest room, a long desk sat flush against the wall next to the bed. As Luo Mingzi slept, her head had tucked itself under the edge of the desk. Li Yue chuckled softly and left with light footsteps.

Luo Mingzi woke up to the rumbling sound of a vehicle. When she opened her eyes, a giant question mark seemed to float over her head as she stared at the wood of the desk above her face.

Where am I?

She slowly crawled out from under the desk and scratched her head.

Ah! It was Li Yue’s room! Li Yue had come to “Late Village” to film the show with her!

Where is Li Yue?

Luo Mingzi lifted the quilt to look. No one. Where is Li Yue? She lifted the pillow. No one. Where is Li Yue? She peered under the bed. No one.

Wu Xuezhen came upstairs, knocked, and saw her hanging upside down off the bed. Unable to suppress a smile, she asked, “Looking for your shoes?”

“Li Yue,” Luo Mingzi said, pulling her long hair behind her as she waddled off the bed. She looked around, muttering, “Where did Li Yue go?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her. I thought you two were napping together.” Wu Xuezhen checked her watch and smiled. “It’s already 3:30. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight if you stayed down longer, so I came up to wake you.”

“Oh, thanks, sis.” Luo Mingzi scratched her hair, looking puzzled, her lips pouting instinctively. She thought to herself: Refusing my shower invitation was one thing, but I was waiting on the bed and she didn’t even come!

Hmph.

“Go comb your hair; I’ll help you find Li Yue,” Wu Xuezhen said. “I woke up at three and haven’t seen her since. I’ll check the backyard.”

Just as Luo Mingzi was about to speak, she heard a clack. The Bichon Frise ornament with the pink bow moved, and her own bedroom door opened from the inside, revealing a tall figure.

Li Yue was wearing loose, forest style short sleeves and long pants. Her open collar revealed elegant collarbones. Her long black hair was draped over the creamy-white fabric like fine satin kissing snow white skin. Her eyelashes were half-lowered, and her voice was deep with sleep as she murmured, “Morning.”

“…”

Luo Mingzi swallowed hard, hurriedly averted her eyes, and squeaked, “Morning.”

“Sorry, I woke up late.” Li Yue raised a hand, sliding her well-defined fingers through her dark hair down to the nape of her neck. She massaged her neck slightly and curled her lips into a smile. “I’m a bit drowsy.”

“Still sleepy? Why don’t you rest a bit more?” Xuezhen said quickly. “There’s not much to do anyway, just splitting some firewood for the evening. Mingzi and I can handle it.”

Li Yue shook herself awake and shook her head. “Together.” As she spoke, she casually gathered her hair, slipped a pink hair tie from her wrist to pull it back, and followed Wu Xuezhen downstairs.

Luo Mingzi stood there staring blankly at the air. As Li Yue passed her, she paused, leaned down, and whispered in Luo Mingzi’s ear, “Teacher Luo, why don’t you dare look at me?”

Li Yue let out a soft laugh. While Luo Mingzi’s eyes went wide, Li Yue shoved her hands into her pockets and sauntered downstairs in her slippers. Luo Mingzi glared at her back, grinding her teeth.

What do you mean ‘don’t dare look’? Who’s afraid? There’s nothing to see! Clearly, someone didn’t dare sleep together and ran off to sleep in my bed instead. Luo Mingzi lifted her chin, stuffed her own hands into her pockets, and marched downstairs with an air of arrogance.

The sunlight flashed through the window, highlighting her bright red ears.

Three seconds later, Luo Mingzi’s hands flew out of her pockets as she bolted back upstairs.

“Forgot to comb my hair!”

In the Backyard

Wu Xuezhen handed a pair of gloves to Li Yue. “Splitting wood isn’t hard, it’s all about the technique.”

“Okay,” Li Yue said. She placed a log on the chopping block, lifted the axe, and aligned it with the log’s grain. Letting the momentum do the work, the axe fell with a sharp crack, splitting the leg-thick log in two.

The staff members watching from behind the cameras couldn’t help but “Wow” and applaud. Li Yue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Thank you for the support, everyone.”

Wu Xuezhen laughed loudly. Seeing Luo Mingzi skipping over, she announced, “This afternoon’s goal: ten logs each! After that, I’ll go wash the rice, and you two can go to the garden to pick vegetables.”

She figured since the master chef was here, picking vegetables should be left to her expertise!

The chef and Luo Mingzi had no objections and followed the plan. As Li Yue bent down to set up the second log, a pair of restless hands reached out, snatched the wood Li Yue had just split, and placed it in her own basket.

“Wild firewood! Finders keepers! Yay!” Luo Mingzi cheered.

One-tenth of the task complete!

Li Yue said nothing. She weighed the log in her hand, comparing its size to the curve of Luo Mingzi’s calf. Luo Mingzi gasped and immediately threw the wood back into Li Yue’s basket, wailing, “You don’t love me anymore!”

“You prefer wood over the young, beautiful, cute, and clever me!”

“Go sleep with your wood then! I’m going to stuff it under your covers tonight!”

The axe-wielding “Goddess Li” remained unmoved. Under Wu Xuezhen’s watchful eye, she continued to split wood with rhythmic, powerful strokes. Wu Xuezhen thought to herself: Oh, Xiao Yue is too honest. She just works, she doesn’t know how to grab screen time! This would be the perfect time to interact more with Mingzi!

Xuezhen felt anxious for her. Looking at the two, the contrast was stark. One was sharp and efficient, the other was swaying around, holding an axe and trying to find the “perfect angle” for ages before shouting “Heigh-ho!” and swinging so hard her backside poked out.

The axe landed with a thud, becoming firmly embedded in the wood.

“Help!” Luo Mingzi planted a foot on the log and pulled with her whole body.

Li Yue rested one foot on her own chopping block, calmly watching Teacher Luo’s battle with the axe.

You Yang came to the backyard to grab tools. Seeing the scene, he joked, “Mingzi is fighting the wood again today? Breaking news! Top-tier star bursts into tears because…”

He was about to burst into laughter when he felt Li Yue’s gaze land on him. It was a light, cool look, yet it made You Yang instinctively shut his mouth.

“Ahem, keep it up!” You Yang raised a fist awkwardly. “I’ll keep it up too!”

Wu Xuezhen laughed. “Are you tired or just silly? You and Uncle Dajun make sure to rest.”

“Not tired! Sis, we rented a concrete mixer!” You Yang suddenly got excited, describing how they were going to fix the road and pour cement.

Nearby, Luo Mingzi finally rescued the axe from the wood. She shook her hands out, exhausted, and let out a long sigh.

“So tired.”

She had technically accomplished nothing, yet she was spent. She rubbed her hands together wistfully and looked at Li Yue.

Li Yue gave her a small smile and looked down at the basket by her feet, which was now overflowing with split wood. Luo Mingzi looked at the basket too and rubbed her hands.

“Hehe…” Oh, how embarrassing.

Luo Mingzi shyly reached out and slowly, inch by inch, pulled the full basket toward herself.

Wood Splitting: 10/10. Luo Mingzi’s task: Completed!

As expected, Li Yue still loved her. Luo Mingzi squatted by the basket, hands resting on her knees. Making sure no one was looking, she raised her hands and secretly blew a finger heart to Li Yue.

Luo Mingzi loves you too.