I Swear I Don’t Want to Be Everyone’s Favorite - Chapter 36

As the recording session ended, Jiang Luoyue still felt a bit uneasy and awkwardly asked, “Did I disturb you?”

“No,” Yu Jingtang replied firmly, shaking her head. After a few seconds, she added, “Was it boring?”

At first, Yu Jingtang had just wanted Jiang Luoyue to keep her company, no matter what they did. But seeing her sit quietly all morning, doing nothing but watching her, Yu Jingtang felt a little unsettled, as if she had imposed too much on Jiang Luoyue.

“Not at all.”

Jiang Luoyue’s answer was just as resolute. Her expression was relaxed, her tone natural. “Listening to your discussions, I learned a lot of things I didn’t understand before.”

Though Jiang Luoyue wasn’t sure yet how this knowledge would be useful, she believed in being prepared who knew, maybe she’d switch to music after leaving the entertainment industry? She was quite optimistic about it.

More importantly, she enjoyed being with a friend. When the world was filled with music, loneliness seemed to vanish, as if it had never existed.

Yu Jingtang blinked, taking a long moment to confirm that Jiang Luoyue’s words were sincere. Then, her eyes curved into a smile, her emotions written plainly on her face.

The day’s recording work was temporarily over, and Jiang Luoyue assumed their “date” had also come to an end. She had just pulled on her seatbelt but hadn’t fastened it yet when Yu Jingtang suddenly asked, “Do you want to come to my place?”

Jiang Luoyue hesitated for a moment. Before she could respond, Yu Jingtang leaned over and buckled the seatbelt for her.

“Isn’t that, a bit inappropriate?” Jiang Luoyue gripped the seatbelt, looking at Yu Jingtang in confusion.

She wasn’t even sure why it felt inappropriate, it was just an instinctive reaction. Only after answering did she realize it was still daytime. Even if she went to Yu Jingtang’s home, nothing would happen. It would just be a casual visit between friends, no different from when Yu Jingtang had visited her place.

Thinking this, Jiang Luoyue suddenly regretted her words. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Mm,” Yu Jingtang said. “I know.”

Jiang Luoyue was puzzled. “Know what?”

Yu Jingtang paused. “The reason doesn’t matter.”

You don’t know either, do you?

Jiang Luoyue was about to laugh when Yu Jingtang asked again, “The important thing is do you want to come?”

Meeting those calm, slightly expectant eyes, Jiang Luoyue hesitated but couldn’t bring herself to refuse. It wasn’t until the car was already moving that she belatedly realized her emotions today had been unusually erratic.

Every move Yu Jingtang made seemed like a prelude to something ambiguous in her eyes. But upon reflection, Yu Jingtang’s behavior was completely normal. The only one acting strangely was herself.

Why? Had she already developed feelings for Yu Jingtang deep down, making her overthink everything after that hug, both afraid of Yu Jingtang getting closer and even more afraid of her staying away?

Shocked by this conclusion, Jiang Luoyue kept stealing glances at Yu Jingtang during the ride, trying to dissect her own feelings.

From an objective standpoint, Yu Jingtang fit society’s definition of “beautiful,” and Jiang Luoyue was naturally drawn to that. But beyond her looks, Yu Jingtang had many other qualities gentleness, talent, sharp intuition… Though she was no longer as reticent as before, she still didn’t speak much.

From their very first meeting, Jiang Luoyue had sensed that Yu Jingtang shared many similarities with her. This sense of familiarity made her instinctively grow closer to Yu Jingtang, even developing a vague fondness.

Or was it all just a misunderstanding?

Jiang Luoyue abruptly cut off her thoughts. At the same time, the car pulled over to the side of the road.

“Are we here?” Jiang Luoyue asked instinctively, only to look up and see a large supermarket outside the window.

Yu Jingtang’s home obviously wasn’t here. But before she could ask, Yu Jingtang spoke first. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“You’ve been looking at me this whole time,” Yu Jingtang said, studying Jiang Luoyue. “And your face is red.”

Was she running a fever?

Yu Jingtang was still haunted by Jiang Lianyan’s illness last time and mentally added another black mark against Fu Yunqing.

The warm sunlight outside was bright and glaring. Jiang Luoyue had been fidgeting the entire ride, her heart unsettled by the journey. Just as she had started to calm down, Yu Jingtang’s words sent it racing again.

She shook her head, but Yu Jingtang reached out to check her temperature. Jiang Luoyue instinctively dodged.

The car fell into silence. Yu Jingtang looked at her empty hand for a few seconds before withdrawing it.

She didn’t ask what was wrong, just kept watching Jiang Luoyue. Under that gaze, Jiang Luoyue felt increasingly awkward. After a few seconds of silence, she blurted out, “Yu Jingtang, does your manager forbid you from dating?”

Yu Jingtang nodded, stunned. She hadn’t expected Jiang Luoyue to ask this let alone for Jiang Luoyue’s long-troubled expression to suddenly brighten as she smiled and said, “What a coincidence, my manager doesn’t allow it either. Then again, you’re still too young.”

What followed was a completely unrelated ramble. The car started moving again as Jiang Luoyue chattered away. Yu Jingtang gripped the steering wheel, listening for a long time but still failing to grasp Jiang Luoyue’s thoughts.

It wasn’t until Jiang Luoyue grew thirsty and Yu Jingtang handed her an unopened bottle of water that she finally commented, “You’re younger than me.”

Jiang Luoyue: “Really?”

She had just turned twenty-six before her death. Even after rebirth, she didn’t feel any younger, nor did she feel any distance from the older guests on the show. To her, they were all peers.

Soul age counted as age too!

But that wasn’t something she could explain to Yu Jingtang. She joked instead, “Last time, you said you’d call me ‘sister.’”

Yu Jingtang thought for a few seconds. “She called you that first, so I did too.”

Relieved that the topic had finally shifted, Jiang Luoyue let out a long breath. Whether her feelings for Yu Jingtang were just anxiety-induced delusions or something real but not yet fully understood, they were still in the observation phase.

Jiang Luoyue didn’t want to recklessly dive into another relationship. Even though she knew Yu Jingtang wasn’t Zhou Ruonian, she still wanted to make her stance clear, if only to convince herself.

She wasn’t sure if Yu Jingtang had understood or if she’d never even considered such things, but for the rest of the ride, Yu Jingtang didn’t initiate any physical contact. The car eventually arrived at a villa complex in the suburbs, surrounded by lush green mountains in the distance.

Jiang Luoyue was stunned. “Is music really that lucrative?”

Was it too late for her to switch careers?

Yu Jingtang smiled, enjoying her expression for a few seconds before saying, “I wrote a lot of songs and bought early. It wasn’t expensive.”

But that was clearly an understatement. Unless the songs were wildly popular, even hundreds of them wouldn’t earn enough for a garden.

Behind the wrought-iron gate stood a three-story detached villa. The garden was meticulously maintained, filled with flowers that clearly required effort. But before Jiang Luoyue could compliment it, Yu Jingtang explained, “The previous owner planted them.”

She didn’t know how to care for them and didn’t want them to wither, so she hired someone to tend to them.

Jiang Luoyue smiled. “You could have afternoon tea here with friends.”

Yu Jingtang glanced at her and shook her head. “I don’t have friends.”

“Huh?” Jiang Luoyue didn’t understand at first.

Yu Jingtang said, “You’re the only one who’s been here.”

This blunt declaration of “specialness” made Jiang Luoyue pause. After a few seconds, she tentatively asked, “Should I say I’m honored?”

Yu Jingtang didn’t shake her head. Instead, she asked, “Was Fu Yunqing the first friend to visit your home?”

Jiang Luoyue: “…” What a familiar question. Why were she and Fu Yunqing both so obsessed with being “first”?

“No,” she answered decisively, throwing Yu Qing under the bus. “My manager was the first.”

Yu Jingtang seemed satisfied. She generously said, “That’s fine. You’re my first.”

Jiang Luoyue immediately tensed and glanced around, relieved to see no one nearby otherwise, she might’ve had to cover Yu Jingtang’s mouth.

Why did Yu Jingtang keep saying such shocking things?

She suddenly understood why some of Yu Jingtang’s fans wanted Hate Me to “bring back the old Xiao Tang.”

Misinterpreting her tension, Yu Jingtang gently explained, “It’s Friday. They’re not here.”

Through their conversation, Jiang Luoyue learned that Yu Jingtang’s housekeeper only came on weekends to clean, while the gardener came daily but only stayed for an hour.

Jiang Luoyue nodded seriously, only realizing a few seconds later that she didn’t even live with Yu Jingtang, why did she need to know these people’s schedules?

The interior of the villa retained the previous owner’s elegant style, but the living room was minimalist just a sofa, coffee table, and a large rug with a huge box of building blocks on it.

When Yu Jingtang opened the box, Jiang Luoyue finally understood why she’d invited her over.

“I can’t finish it alone,” Yu Jingtang said.

“Will two people be enough?”

Jiang Luoyue compared the pieces to the instructions, searching for the right ones. She’d never played with building blocks before as a child, her family never bought them, and if they did, they went to her younger brother, Li Yue. As an adult, she never had the time. Her rare moments of leisure were always occupied by more pressing matters.

Two hours later, they were still only halfway through the first layer. Jiang Luoyue had a feeling that even if they worked nonstop through the night, they wouldn’t make much progress.

Yu Jingtang relaxed. “We won’t finish either.”

“But it’s more fun than doing it alone.”

Jiang Luoyue’s laughter died on her lips. After a moment, she played a song on her phone, the title track from Yu Jingtang’s last album, which had received critical acclaim and won awards.

The warm sunlight streaming into the room made them both feel cozy. The rug was soft and comfortable, and Jiang Luoyue, feeling tired, lay down on it, inexplicably reminded of the peacefulness of sunbathing on grass.

After a moment’s thought, Yu Jingtang lay down beside her and suddenly asked, “Is this how wild people live outdoors?”

Jiang Luoyue thought about rainforest conditions and answered seriously, “The grass is damp and dirty. It’s not comfortable to lie on.”

Yu Jingtang: “Oh.”

Seeing her look disappointed, Jiang Luoyue teased, “Do you want to go?”

Yu Jingtang shook her head, then nodded. “Not alone. But if you come with me, then yes.”

Jiang Luoyue squinted, fitting a block into place before realizing it was wrong. As she took it apart, she distractedly asked, “Why?”

The next second, Yu Jingtang reached over, holding out the correct piece. Their eyes met. Jiang Luoyue smiled and took it, only to hear Yu Jingtang say, “Because I like you.”

Her fingers suddenly loosened, and the block fell to the floor.