The Security Guard Who Won the Heart of the Unattainable Actress - Chapter 42.1

Chapter 42.1

“You heartless little thing.”

Ran Mingyue spoke with an intimacy that made Li Guang momentarily drift off.

“I won’t look anymore,” Li Guang whispered.

“The driver is my employee. He’ll safely take Auntie to her destination and then take her to the station,” Ran Mingyue’s finger traced around and lightly poked Li Guang’s cheek. “Still don’t trust me?”

“No, I don’t.”

Li Guang turned to look at her. “I told you to go back first. Why did you come out?”

“I came to look for the cat,” Ran Mingyue raised an eyebrow. “The cat ran out. It’s so cold, I was afraid she’d freeze outside.”

“The Calico? I didn’t see her just now.” Li Guang was about to look around, but Ran Mingyue’s hand gently draped over Li Guang’s shoulder, conveniently cupping her cheek.

When Li Guang turned her head, her baby-fat cheeks were slightly squeezed, causing her lips to pout a little.

Sure enough, a child’s attention is so easily diverted.

“I just wanted to tell you,” Ran Mingyue made her look at herself. “Don’t force yourself, and don’t feel down, okay?”

If you’re unhappy, vent it out. If you’re hurting, tell me you’re hurting.

Li Guang shook her head, and her cheek was squeezed three times in a row.

The moment Ran Mingyue appeared, not a single bit of disappointment remained in Li Guang’s heart.

“When you called out to me from behind, I was already happy,” Li Guang’s eyes curved into crescent moons. “It was really awkward at first. I didn’t even know what to say to my mom.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ran Mingyue said softly. “It was your first time dealing with a situation like that.”

“But I don’t think I handled the first time very well,” Li Guang touched her pocket. The photos had been given away, but Ran Mingyue’s were still there.

“You handled it well,” Ran Mingyue said. “I thought you were going to cry.”

Li Guang pinched her nose, indicating she wouldn’t do such a thing, her voice sounding muffled. “In the end, you were the one who talked to my mom.”

“Since I could help you speak, why should you have to do it yourself?” Ran Mingyue said. “Isn’t there a new term young people use called ‘mouthpiece’?”

Li Guang burst out laughing. Ran Mingyue said it so matter-of-factly that Li Guang didn’t find anything wrong with it.

“So you even know the term ‘mouthpiece.'”

“Why wouldn’t I know?” Ran Mingyue looked at her oddly.

Li Guang blurted out, “Your fans in the super topic all say so.”

Ran Mingyue paused, then realized, “You go to my super topic?”

“Occasionally.” Li Guang felt like she’d exposed herself. “You’re so popular, the super topic posts just pop up constantly.”

She stammered an explanation: “I just check yours while I’m looking at my own super topic.”

“Is that so?” Ran Mingyue’s heels were quite high, and she still had to slightly lower her head to talk to Li Guang. “I see.”

Ran Mingyue then asked, “But your super topic hasn’t been updated.”

Li Guang: “?”

How do you know that, too!

Li Guang felt a bit embarrassed.

After participating in that web variety show where she called Ran Mingyue, her modest little super topic had taken a severe hit and naturally didn’t survive. The former super topic hosts were gone, and it had naturally fallen into disuse.

Talk about something else, quickly talk about something else.

Whenever Li Guang encountered something that made her self-conscious, instead of dwelling on it, she quickly looked for another topic to change to.

She skipped two steps forward and immediately noticed Ran Mingyue was pushing the suitcase herself.

“I’ll take it, I’ll take it!”

Ran Mingyue watched the person in front of her.

That was Li Guang. When she was happy, she was bright and radiant from head to toe. Her emotions came and went quickly. One moment she looked genuinely on the verge of tears, the wetness in her eyes clearly visible to Ran Mingyue.

The next moment, captivated by a shy feeling, she started pushing the suitcase for herself.

“Happy now?”

Li Guang shouted, “Super happy!”

Ran Mingyue smiled. “Good. Then let’s go back reassured. Do you remember what we talked about?”

“I remember,” Li Guang nodded, as if reciting. “No matter what others think, don’t let others control you.”

Ran Mingyue was satisfied. “Mhm. It applies to everyone.”

Li Guang was momentarily stunned, and a thought immediately popped into her head: No, it doesn’t.

It didn’t apply to Ran Mingyue.

She suddenly recalled what Hua Yuzhi had told her: “Liking has standards, but love does not.”

Love does not…

Li Guang was momentarily lost in thought and was walking backward again, stumbling. Fortunately, her body reacted quickly, and she regained her balance before Ran Mingyue could reach her.

“Walk properly when you’re walking. What are you thinking about? What if you fall?” Ran Mingyue was a little serious. “Didn’t you promise me you wouldn’t worry? Why are you thinking random thoughts again?”

“I’m not thinking random thoughts, and I’m not thinking about family matters,” Li Guang was very honest, blinking her eyes and clearly seeing the concern in Ran Mingyue’s eyes.

“Then what are you thinking about?” Ran Mingyue said. “Don’t walk backward anymore.”

Li Guang was reluctant, but Ran Mingyue indulged her, just watching her more closely.

“Thinking about you,” Li Guang felt her words sounded ambiguous, so she quickly added the second half of the sentence: “I mean, I was thinking about you and realized you’ve been taking care of me all this time, both on and off the show.”

Ran Mingyue looked at her.

Li Guang felt a little guilty. “I’m supposed to be your accompanying security guard. I should be the one protecting you.”

“Who says? Everyone has fragile moments,” Ran Mingyue said. “Also, I’m protecting you because I want to. No one is forcing me.”

Li Guang murmured, “No one is forcing me either.”

Ran Mingyue heard her. “You became my accompanying security guard because the production team assigned you to participate.”

Li Guang said, “It was a kind of coincidence. Even after the show ends, I’ll still be your accompanying security guard.”

“After the show ends?” Ran Mingyue stared fixedly at her. “I’ll be the same way, too.”

Li Guang stammered for a bit. “But you just called me a heartless little thing.”

“Then why didn’t you hear the next sentence? I told you to look at me more,” Ran Mingyue laughed. “And now you’re bringing this up to me.”

She wanted to pinch Li Guang’s face, but Li Guang ran off, taking a few bounding steps to the villa’s entrance.

The security system at the main door loudly announced, “She’s here! She’s here!”

The voice sounded a bit like a parrot. Li Guang looked at the doorway in surprise. “What is this?”

“It’s broken,” Ran Mingyue subtly pressed her phone. When the door lock scanned Li Guang’s face, it changed to “Unable to identify.”

Unable to identify.

When Ran Mingyue approached, the door opened. She led Li Guang inside and said, “I’ll set up facial recognition for you too. That way, it’ll be convenient later.”

“Okay…” Li Guang agreed subconsciously, only realizing something was wrong after she’d agreed. “Set up facial recognition for me?”

“Yes,” Ran Mingyue’s face showed no sign of anything amiss.

Li Guang said, “But I…”

“No buts,” Ran Mingyue said, leaving no room for refusal. “You’ll need it sometime in the future. This makes things easier.”

Li Guang said “Oh” and obediently went over. She waited for Ran Mingyue to open the identification system. “Look at the camera.”

But Li Guang’s gaze never fully settled on the identification system, and her head was tilted slightly.

Ran Mingyue leaned in, helping to straighten Li Guang’s head. Li Guang saw Ran Mingyue’s smiling eyes appear on the screen and said shyly, “You’re laughing at me!”

“How dare I? I’m here to teach you,” Ran Mingyue straightened her lips and guided her through the identification process until the system announced, “Identification complete.”

“All done,” Ran Mingyue said. “Well done.”

Li Guang: “…” She didn’t know what she did well, when Ran Mingyue had guided her through the whole thing.

But no one disliked praise.

“You always praise me.” Li Guang’s eyes curved. She tested her facial recognition feature once, and it worked.

Ran Mingyue said, “If you do well, shouldn’t I praise you?”

“I love hearing it,” Li Guang said. “But I praise you much less. You get less joy than I do.”

Ran Mingyue said, “The joy you feel, I feel double. Alright… come over here first.”

Li Guang followed Ran Mingyue to the kitchen and said, “I saw your super topic before. Your fans didn’t say you praise people so much.”

Ran Mingyue hummed and poured water for Li Guang. “What else did they say?”

Li Guang said, “Five years ago, they often said you must focus on your career. Five years later, it changed to advising you to also sort out your personal life while you focus on your career.”

“So you’ve been watching my super topic for quite a while?” Ran Mingyue looked at her amusedly.

“Of course! I…” Li Guang paused, taking a tactical sip of water. “I… No, it’s because, at the time, your CP with Teacher Xiang was very popular, so I was frequently shown the posts.”

“Xiang Que and I never deliberately created a CP. There’s nothing going on between us,” Ran Mingyue explained. “Truly.”

Li Guang said, “I know. The fan wars over billing were serious back then. Everyone felt like it was a New Year’s miracle that you and Teacher Xiang could appear on the show together this time.”

“How are you so familiar with the CP fans of me and Xiang Que?” Ran Mingyue frowned. “What are you looking at online all day?”

“Nothing! It’s just gossip that the platform pushes,” Li Guang immediately clarified. “Isn’t it because the CP fans all came back to life after the show aired? Sister Mingyue, I absolutely don’t ship randomly.”

“Then who do you ship?” Ran Mingyue asked.

Li Guang said, “I don’t ship anyone!”

Ran Mingyue said, “When the rumors between Hua Yuzhi and Yingzhi came out, I remember…”

Li Guang immediately leaned in: “What, what? Hurry! Give me the gossip!”

Ran Mingyue said, “I don’t remember.”

Li Guang: Angry Birds launch at you.jpg

“You sit here for a while. I washed your clothes when I went out this morning. I’ll warm them up a bit before you put them on,” Ran Mingyue said. “I’ll get you a cake.”

The clothes were already clean, but it was winter. Ran Mingyue felt it would be more comfortable to wear them slightly warmed. And this way, she could keep Li Guang in her house a little longer; Li Guang wouldn’t leave so quickly.

Li Guang forgot the gossip she didn’t get: “Sister Mingyue, woo woo woo, why are you so nice?”

“That’s just common sense in winter,” Ran Mingyue said. “Are you hungry?”

“I am hungry,” Li Guang rubbed her flat stomach. “I haven’t eaten all morning. Thankfully, I had the early breakfast and the milk tea you made me later, or I’d be starving right now.”

After clocking out, she went to deliver the photos to Ye Cailan, and then delayed a bit, and now it was already this late. If Ran Mingyue hadn’t asked, Li Guang would have forgotten she hadn’t eaten lunch yet.

“Seriously, thank goodness Director Wang said she’d give me a raise, or I wouldn’t want to do this at all. I can’t eat enough, and I can’t sleep enough, even though it is fun,” Li Guang sighed.

“You have a good heart,” Ran Mingyue asked casually, “How much did Sister Wang say she’d increase your salary by?”

“Huh? How much? Oh, right, how much?” Li Guang was taken aback. “I actually forgot to ask!”

“If you ever get conned, you might even count the money for the one who conned you,” Ran Mingyue said helplessly. “What did she tell you that scared you so much you forgot about your money?”

“The director asked if I was interested in joining the show as a guest who shows her face,” Li Guang said. “I refused, of course. I’m doing perfectly fine as a security guard right now.”

“Good, you have resolve,” Ran Mingyue said impartially. “…Just a little scatterbrained.”

“I know,” Li Guang also admitted that her brain was a bit slow. “I forgot because Director Wang found out I was a Xiguang artist, and that shocked me.”

“She knows? … But since you’re working in the industry, people will find out who you are eventually. Don’t worry too much when others bring it up again,” Ran Mingyue added. “You can tell me if anything happens.”

“I know! Thank you, Sister Mingyue!”

Despite saying that, Li Guang was incapable of hiding things. She clearly had more to say.

Ran Mingyue was heating something for her in the kitchen, and could tell even from a distance.

She asked, “What else is going on?”

Li Guang was already familiar with Ran Mingyue’s house.

She took off her shoes and curled up on the sofa in her favorite cross-legged position. “My former manager also saw me and called to find me.”

“Xie Yunfei?”

“Mhm,” Li Guang thought about it. “Later, I checked my phone. He only called me twice and didn’t message me on WeChat, so I didn’t call him back.”

“Don’t worry about it. If he really needs to find you urgently, he’ll come find you himself,” Ran Mingyue said. “But don’t be affected. I suspect…”

Because Xie Yunfei was Li Guang’s manager, Ran Mingyue kept a slight eye on that side.

Xie Yunfei had two other artists who debuted around the same time as Li Guang. Resources had always been allocated toward those two artists. Rumor had it that their situation wasn’t great recently.

She had also seen cases where a manager would try to re-sign an artist they previously overlooked after seeing them gain fame.

It happened often. There were many unscrupulous things in the entertainment industry.

“Don’t think about that,” Ran Mingyue said. “You have a little cake to eat.”

When Ran Mingyue brought the cake, she also brought Li Guang a small box of shortbread cookies.

“Just a little bit. I didn’t buy them. Yingzhi brought them back when she was filming here last time. Have them with the cake.” Ran Mingyue also poured Li Guang a glass of milk, hot and rich, with a layer of skin on top.

So warm. Li Guang narrowed her eyes happily.

She had many, many things she wanted to ask Ran Mingyue, and many questions she wanted to be answered quickly, but she also wanted to take things slow.

Haste makes waste. Was that what applied to her relationship with Ran Mingyue?

Li Guang thought while eating the melt-in-your-mouth cake. Ran Mingyue went off to be busy again.

She didn’t know why Ran Mingyue seemed to be busy ever since they returned.

The bonfire crackled in the living room. Ran Mingyue asked, “If you want to watch TV, turn it on.”

“Ah, okay.”

Li Guang was used to having some noise when she was alone, but she didn’t have her own place, so she usually just played music or listened to the radio.

Ran Mingyue turned on the TV and put on an American drama for her. The people inside were eating McDonald’s.

She was also eating, but she also wanted to eat duck neck, marinated food, ice cream, watermelon, or Mala Tang!

Why was Ran Mingyue still busy?

“Sister Mingyue?”

Li Guang looked up and saw Ran Mingyue tending to her clothes on the utility balcony.

“Yes?”

“I want ice cream,” Li Guang said.

Ran Mingyue said, “There’s still some in the fridge.”

Li Guang started to move, but Ran Mingyue said again, “Wait.”

She went and got it for Li Guang. “Eat a little. It’s winter.”

Li Guang grabbed her. “Why are you leaving again?”

Ran Mingyue said, “Drying the shoes.”

Her shoes…

Ah, she remembered.

Li Guang said, “Sister Mingyue, did you even wipe my shoes before you went to sleep last night?” She paused, then whispered a small, “Thank you.”

“It’s a casual habit,” Ran Mingyue said. “I have a shoe-shining machine. Technology changes life.”

“Then why are you still busy?” Li Guang asked. “You’re doing too much. It makes me feel like I’m completely idle.”

“Isn’t this exactly what you needed?” Ran Mingyue said.

“Huh?”

Ran Mingyue said, “You just said it yourself. You wanted to sleep enough and eat enough. This is the life you wanted.”

“It’s very easy to achieve.” Ran Mingyue couldn’t resist stroking her hair. “It seems genuinely easy to take care of you.”