Your Aloof Persona Has Crumbled - Chapter 59

Wen Shike glanced at Lu Jingwei again. “Should I ask the front desk to send up another blanket?”

“Sure.” Although the weather was gradually warming up now, they still needed a blanket to sleep.

Wen Shike quickly ran off.

Originally, Wen Shike hadn’t planned on going to sleep so early, but because of the awkward incident, she crept into bed ahead of time, hoping to fall asleep before Lu Jingwei got in.

However, whether it was because she had already slept her fill in the bathtub or for some other reason, she lay in bed without a shred of sleepiness. Her mind was incredibly sharp and clear, and by the time Lu Jingwei finally came to bed, she was still wide awake.

She could hear the friction between skin and fabric as Lu Jingwei carefully lay down beside her.

The bed was clearly massive, yet she somehow felt it was tiny, as if she could brush against Lu Jingwei just by lifting her hand.

Wen Shike didn’t quite know why she was pretending to be asleep, but since she had already started, it felt awkward to suddenly “wake up.”

Lu Jingwei let out a yawn.

Wen Shike lay perfectly still, not daring to move an inch, which only made her feel more uncomfortable.

She wondered when Lu Jingwei would finally fall asleep.

Lu Jingwei knew Wen Shike wasn’t asleep. If the other girl were truly asleep, her body wouldn’t be lying so stiffly and rigidly. Having shared a room with Wen Shike for so long, she had never seen her sleep perfectly straight like a board.

She felt a bit amused.

She wanted to tell her she didn’t have to force it, but she felt that saying it out loud would only make Wen Shike more uncomfortable.

Lu Jingwei turned onto her side and yawned again. She figured this young miss wouldn’t be able to relax until she herself fell asleep.

She recalled the scene in the bathroom just now.

Am I really that fierce and terrifying?

She felt she hadn’t been fierce at all.

Wen Shike finally couldn’t hold out any longer. She moved a tiny bit, slowly turning onto her side. Slitting her eyes open a fraction, she discovered that Lu Jingwei was actually facing her, and immediately shut her eyes tight again.

The corners of Lu Jingwei’s lips curved into a smile.

Wen Shike didn’t know when she had finally drifted off. When she woke up the next morning, her back and waist ached, and she felt like she hadn’t gotten enough sleep.

She checked her phone. Sure enough, it was only a little past five in the morning.

Wen Shike glanced at Lu Jingwei beside her.

Lu Jingwei was still asleep, but her expression was far from peaceful. She seemed to be having a nightmare, her brow was furrowed tightly, making her look incredibly stern and pained.

Wen Shike watched her for a long time, debating whether she should just wake her up since she looked so miserable in her sleep.

While she was hesitating, Lu Jingwei opened her eyes. A lingering gloom remained in her gaze, and she froze for a few seconds when she unexpectedly locked eyes with Wen Shike’s worried stare.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Jingwei rubbed her eyes and checked her phone. It was still very early.

“What did you dream about?” Wen Shike propped herself up against the headboard.

“Did I wake you up?” Lu Jingwei sat up as well.

“No, I woke up naturally. I just saw you looking so pained the moment I opened my eyes,” Wen Shike said. “So, what did you dream about?”

Lu Jingwei was quiet for a few seconds. “Nothing much. Just dreamed about my hometown. I’ve already forgotten the details. Let’s get out of bed.”

“Okay,” Wen Shike responded, letting out a sigh. “When a vacation turns into a filming assignment, a lot of the fun gets sucked out.”

“Mainly because the schedule is too tight,” Lu Jingwei noted.

“True.” Wen Shike nodded. “But it’s almost over anyway.”

She stretched her arms.

The remaining two destinations involved experiencing an amusement park. They flew directly to Ning City, and their flight landed only about ten minutes apart from the main crew’s flight.

Since Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei arrived first, they found a corner to wait in after exiting. Wearing black caps and face masks, they stood there looking like a pair of absolute fools.

“Do you think they’ll recognize us?” Wen Shike lowered her voice.

Lu Jingwei didn’t understand why she suddenly needed to speak in a whisper, but she matched her tone anyway. “Probably not…”

Both of them were wearing clothes they hadn’t worn before, and they were completely covered up.

Yet a minute later, Ming Wangxue emerged from the exit and ran straight toward Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei.

“I knew it! I spotted you two from all the way over there.”

Wen Shike: ?

Lu Jingwei: ?

“You could tell with just one look?” Wen Shike couldn’t comprehend it.

“Of course I could, why wouldn’t I? It’s so obvious, you two look the most suspicious out of everyone,” Ming Wangxue said, eyes wide, as the others caught up. “Plus, one look at your postures gives away that you’re professionally trained, especially you, Eldest Miss.”

Wen Shike: ?

“Let’s go,” Wen Shike said expressionlessly.

Ming Wangxue burst out laughing. “No way, did you seriously think we wouldn’t recognize you? We’ve been living together for so long!”

“Ah, I get it. You two probably wouldn’t recognize us!” Ming Wangxue claimed, acting as if she had discovered some grand secret.

“How is that possible?” Wen Shike shot a glance at Ming Wangxue. “I could recognize you even if you turned to ash.”

Ming Wangxue: ?

“Eldest Miss, those are hardly kind words.” Ming Wangxue chuckled, then quickly sidled up next to Sheng Ling.

“Did you guys go see Fu Chunyuan yesterday?” Xu Keke asked curiously. “It even trended on hot search.”

“Why would that trend?” Wen Shike didn’t get it. It was just visiting a friend.

“Probably because there hasn’t been any real news lately,” Zhou Yueran remarked, a trace of disdain on her face. “Lately, the hot searches are mostly about trivial, tiny things.”

“Is that so?” Wen Shike opened her hot search app to check. After a brief scroll, she closed her phone, her face mirroring Zhou Yueran’s disdain. “It really is quite ridiculous.”

As usual, they took taxis to their destination, and Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei shared a car.

“What’s on the hot search? Why do you both have that look?” Lu Jingwei asked out of curiosity. Once she settled into her seat, she opened the hot searches to browse, letting out a speechless laugh.

“Hmm?”

“When my cousin was pregnant, she still cooked all the meals for the family. And she went right back to managing her shop less than two weeks after giving birth,” Lu Jingwei said softly.

She tapped into the hot search titled #Husband Helps Pregnant Wife Cook and saw that the comments were exactly as she had expected.

“Huh?” Wen Shike genuinely couldn’t comprehend it. She wanted to ask more, realizing that Lu Jingwei might finally be willing to share some details about her family life, but Lu Jingwei quickly changed the subject.

Lu Jingwei scanned the other trending topics. “Why does eating an apple get on the hot search?”

“That’s just traffic for you.” Wen Shike felt a breath catch in her throat. Staring at Lu Jingwei’s profile, she realized she could piece together a rough picture of Lu Jingwei’s past life just from these occasional, fleeting sentences.

“Then it really isn’t surprising that our visit to Fu Chenyuan trended,” Lu Jingwei said, opening a photo. She kept her eyes glued to her phone, not looking back at Wen Shike. “Fu Chenyuan looks a bit haggard. People are already pointing it out in the comments, and they’re saying some pretty nasty things.”

“She was bare faced and pulled an all-nighter, so of course her condition wouldn’t look great. You shouldn’t read those kinds of comments,” Wen Shike said, propping her chin in her hand. “Is anyone talking about us? We weren’t wearing makeup either.”

“But we were wearing masks and hats.” Lu Jingwei tapped the photo and passed it to Wen Shike. “Besides, with Fu Chenyuan there, no one is paying attention to us.”

Their hotel this time was located right next to the amusement park. Guests could choose their preferred themed rooms. The prices were higher and actually exceeded their typical budget, but they were too lazy to find another place.

Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei chose an ocean-themed room. To experience what every room looked like, each pair had selected a different theme.

Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei’s room was entirely blue, packed with marine elements like whale, jellyfish, and starfish plushies and decorations. Furthermore, there was an actual tank of live jellyfish sitting on the desk.

The room was spacious, and the bed was shaped like a ship or rather, the bed was nested inside a replica boat.

“Feels pretty nice?” Wen Shike closed the curtains. They were blackout curtains, plunging the entire room into darkness. She decided to test out the lighting.

A mixture of gold and silver lights lit up across the ceiling, looking exceptionally beautiful.

“Is that a starry sky?” Lu Jingwei looked up at the ceiling.

“Looks like it.” Wen Shike tested the other light settings one by one. Once she was done, she drew the curtains open again and sat down on the sofa.

“What a money-maker,” Lu Jingwei lamented.

Wen Shike laughed. “Well, it is right outside an amusement park.”

“Why didn’t they just have us stay inside the resort?” Lu Jingwei wondered.

“Who knows. Maybe there weren’t enough rooms, or they couldn’t book them.”

They were going to the amusement park tomorrow; today was free time.

No one knew what the others had done yesterday, but every single person chose to… sleep.

“What on earth did they do yesterday?” Wen Shike was genuinely curious, considering even the usually energetic Ming Wangxue was fast asleep.

“They went mountain climbing.” Lu Jingwei opened the photos in their group chat. “Didn’t you check the group?”

“Didn’t they say they weren’t going to climb mountains?” Wen Shike was surprised.

“Apparently, they added the activity themselves,” Lu Jingwei said, finding it equally baffling.

Wen Shike smiled, leaning back against the sofa. “Then what should we do? I don’t really want to go out either. Do you want to study?”

“The teacher told me to rest for a day, so I’ll study later. What do you want to do?” Lu Jingwei asked.

Wen Shike glanced at her. “Play video games?”

Lu Jingwei: ?

Lu Jingwei rarely played games. Although there were plenty of popular games on the market, she had never played any of them. To be precise, she had never even searched for them. She had only switched to a smartphone after entering the entertainment industry, and the one she bought back then was a budget phone that barely managed to load Weibo.

The phone she was currently using had been given to her by Manager Qiu.

“What are we playing?” Lu Jingwei handed her phone to Wen Shike so she could download it for her. “Is it the one Ming Wangxue and the others usually play?”

“Yeah.” Wen Shike nodded. “But I’m not very good at it, and I don’t play often.”

Lu Jingwei peeked at Wen Shike, remembering what Wen Shike had told Ming Wangxue before. “Right, didn’t you say you’d play games with Ming Wangxue after the college entrance exams were over?”

“Yeah, but she never hit me up.” Wen Shike felt a bit disappointed too. Ming Wangxue had actually forgotten about it.

“But are you really not good at it?” Lu Jingwei expressed her doubt. She felt like Wen Shike was just being modest and might turn out to be incredibly skilled.

Wen Shike remained silent. To be completely honest, she wished she was just being humble, but the truth was she genuinely sucked! She just didn’t want to admit it.

She finished downloading the game for Lu Jingwei and handed the phone back. “Pick a username for yourself.”

“Select the QQ server. I use my QQ account to play,” Wen Shike instructed.

“Okay.” Lu Jingwei nodded, staring at the name input box for a few seconds. “What’s yours?”

In order to avoid completely humiliating herself in front of Lu Jingwei, Wen Shike deliberately logged into an account she hadn’t touched in ages. It had all the heroes unlocked, over three hundred skins, and a prestigious VIP 10 status. However, her highest rank ever achieved was only Platinum, and she had currently decayed all the way down to Silver.

Wen Shike looked at her account, glanced at Lu Jingwei, and held her phone out. “Mine is Shi Shi Shi Shi (Time Time Time Ten).”

“Got it.” Lu Jingwei nodded and quickly decided on her own username.

【Lu Lu Lu Liu (Lu Lu Lu Six)】

Lu Jingwei sat to the side completing the novice tutorial with a serious face, displaying the attitude of a humble student eager to learn.

Wen Shike opened the practice mode to practice a hero, taking a deep breath.

She absolutely, positively could not embarrass herself in front of Lu Jingwei.

And to be quite frank, she was already regretting this. Why did she have to invite her to play a game? Wasn’t studying good? Wasn’t studying great? Why did she have to dig a hole for herself?

Wen Shike was bad at the game, yet she stubbornly loved playing heroes with high mechanical difficulty.

By the time Lu Jingwei finished the tutorial, Wen Shike’s Gongsun Li had already been executed by the Overlord lord three times.

“I’m done. What next?”

“I’ll add you as a friend. Then we’ll play a casual match to practice, and after that, we can play ranked together,” Wen Shike said.

“Sure.” Lu Jingwei nodded. Even though she didn’t know the exact mechanics, she knew about casual and ranked matches since Ming Wangxue and the others talked about it constantly. She accepted Wen Shike’s friend request.

“Ming Wangxue and the others seem to be ‘Kings’ or something.”

Wen Shike: ?

Wen Shike sneaked a glance at Lu Jingwei. Great, it looked like fooling her wasn’t going to be easy.

“So, I’m really not good at this,” Wen Shike confessed, feeling a wave of relief that she hadn’t bragged earlier.

“It’s fine, as long as we’re having fun,” Lu Jingwei comforted her.

Though Wen Shike really wanted to lock in Gongsun Li, she decided to play it safe for their first match. She picked Daji, a hero with a much lower difficulty curve.

“Who should I play…”

“Play whoever you want,” Wen Shike said.

Lu Jingwei picked Angela.

“Perfect, we can camp in bushes and ambush people together. It’s really fun,” Wen Shike said.

“Okay.” Lu Jingwei nodded.

Wen Shike had already envisioned a scenario where she and Lu Jingwei pulled off a flawless combo.

However, while imagination was beautiful, reality was cruel. Wen Shike was incredibly thankful that today was free time and the cameras in their room weren’t turned on.

The enemy mid-laner was Diaochan, whose second skill could perfectly dodge Daji’s stun. The enemy jungler was Li Bai, whose second and third skills could completely avoid Daji’s burst. The enemy marksman was Gongsun Li, whose second skill could block Daji’s projectiles entirely.

Wen Shike: ?

She took a deep breath, trying to console herself.

Players at this rank were supposed to be casual scrubs, but… the only scrubs here were her and Lu Jingwei. The enemies weren’t scrubs, they were smurfs looking to stomp beginners.

Wen Shike: !!!

Why weren’t these people playing ranked? Why were they lurking in casual matches? Wen Shike took a deep breath, trying desperately to keep her composure. She couldn’t let herself complain out loud.

She felt incredibly suffocated.

Wen Shike’s heart stun never managed to land on an enemy. Ten minutes into the match, Wen Shike’s score was 0-8-0, and Lu Jingwei’s was 0-7-0.

The two of them stared at their gray screens and their stats, falling into a dead silence.

Their teammates were already typing insults, but Lu Jingwei couldn’t see them because her account level wasn’t high enough yet.

Meanwhile, Wen Shike swiftly turned off the in-game chat, instantly bringing peace to her world.

As long as I can’t see the chat, my teammates aren’t flaming me.

Lu Jingwei’s ultimate was consistently firing backward. She didn’t know why she kept aiming it the wrong way, there just wasn’t enough time to think, and by the time she realized it, it had already flown in the wrong direction.

They lost the match very swiftly.

“The enemies were too good,” Wen Shike remarked.

“True.” Lu Jingwei agreed.

“Don’t lose heart, it was only the first match.”

“Okay.” Lu Jingwei nodded.

The two of them queued up for a second match.

This time, Wen Shike picked Cai Wenji. “This hero provides healing. I’ll protect you later, so just play with peace of mind.”

“Okay.” Lu Jingwei stubbornly picked Angela again, displaying an unyielding spirit.

But reality proved that having a healer didn’t help. Dying was still inevitable. The only difference was that this time, their death counts matched perfectly.

Another defeat.

The two of them fell into silence once more.

A few seconds later, Wen Shike spoke up.

“How about we play against bots?”

“Sure.” Lu Jingwei nodded.

This time, things finally felt right. Although they still died occasionally, they could at least get kills! And most importantly, they finally won!

Slight smiles finally returned to their faces.

When Wen Shike saw the enemy crystal shatter and the word ‘Victory’ pop up, she actually felt a twinge of sorrow.

She firmly decided that she would never play games with Ming Wangxue. If she played with her, the entire world would probably find out how terrible she was.

The two of them played a few more bot matches, successfully stitching back together their spirits that had been shattered in casual queue. They played straight through until dinner time.

Lu Jingwei looked at her phone’s remaining battery, then turned her gaze toward Wen Shike. “You really weren’t being humble.”

Wen Shike: ?

Wen Shike peeked at Lu Jingwei and muttered under her breath, “Isn’t the whole point of playing games to have fun?”

“I’m not blaming you, since I’m terrible too,” Lu Jingwei said with a laugh.

“You’ve only played a few matches. Keep it up, I believe you’ll be able to carry me in the future. I hold high expectations for you.”

Wen Shike patted Lu Jingwei on the shoulder. She was entirely serious, because practically no one was willing to play with her anymore.

Some friendships were just that fragile.

In her heart, Wen Shike silently pointed fingers at Huang Siyun, Qu Zhouxu, and the rest of her old circle.

“Alright, I’ll do my best.” Lu Jingwei nodded.

During dinner, the two of them reached a tacit understanding not to mention a single word about their gaming afternoon.

After all, it wouldn’t sound very dignified if people found out that the two supposedly most serious members of the group had spent an entire afternoon playing against bots and getting stomped by Bronze players.

They had too much dignity to maintain.

The others didn’t ask either, assuming they had spent the afternoon studying since they hadn’t left the room. To them, Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei looked like people with a complete lack of entertainment in their lives.

“Sigh, I don’t know what to do tonight,” Ming Wangxue said, rubbing her eyes. “I feel like I won’t be able to sleep.”

“Then you’re severely underestimating yourself,” Sheng Ling countered.

Ming Wangxue shot her a glance and huffed. “Look who’s talking. You were snoring just now.”

“I just have heavy breathing, that doesn’t count as snoring.”

Wen Shike listened to the bickering around her, peacefully eating the food in her bowl.

“Oh right, Eldest Miss.”

Wen Shike: !!!

“Didn’t you say you’d play games with me?” Ming Wangxue looked over.

Wen Shike had just been praying that Ming Wangxue would completely forget about it.

But reality proved that her prayers had failed.

She actually remembered!

Wen Shike raised her head to look at Ming Wangxue, her brain working at maximum speed. “I haven’t played in a really, really, really long time. I might be incredibly bad. My rank has already decayed to Silver.”

“It’s fine, it’s just a casual lobby. We can custom-make a lobby and split into teams for an in-house match,” Ming Wangxue said expectantly.

Wen Shike: Ahhhhhh!

Sure enough, even with her cold and aloof persona, she still occasionally spoke without thinking! Why?! Why did she have to make that promise to Ming Wangxue in the first place?

“I guess that works.” Wen Shike glanced at Lu Jingwei. “Lu Jingwei is playing too.”

Lu Jingwei: ?

Lu Jingwei raised her head to look at Wen Shike, then turned to Ming Wangxue, saying with utmost seriousness, “I only downloaded the game today.”

“No worries, let’s all play together.” Ming Wangxue laughed, already getting excited. “Then after we eat and shower, we’ll gather in… my room?”

“Sure.” No one had any objections.

“Count me out, I haven’t slept enough,” Wang Simiao waved her hand and yawned, looking thoroughly exhausted.

“Okay.” Ming Wangxue nodded. “Then we have exactly ten people, perfect for an in-house split.”

Wen Shike: ?

Lu Jingwei: ?

Lu Jingwei stared at Wen Shike again, her eyes filled with an intense, silent energy.

Wen Shike calmly shifted her gaze away, pretending not to notice.

After showering that evening, the two of them walked toward Ming Wangxue’s room. Lu Jingwei walked right beside Wen Shike.

“We could have actually rejected it.”

“No, we already promised,” Wen Shike said. Once a promise was made, even if it turned out to be a disaster, it had to be fulfilled. She disliked people who went back on their word, so she naturally refused to be that kind of person.

Ming Wangxue’s room was incredibly lively. She had ordered ten cups of fruit tea, scattering them across the sofa and the table.

“Come, come, come, let’s do rock-paper-scissors to split into teams.” Seeing everyone had arrived, Ming Wangxue stood up to organize them.

Wen Shike: I wonder which unfortunate souls are going to end up on my team.

After three or four rounds, the four unlucky souls were finally filtered out.

Ming Wangxue, Zhou Yueran, Sun Yuexi, and Xu Keke.

Wen Shike looked at Ming Wangxue’s smiling face. “Let’s lay down some ground rules first. I’m really not good. Don’t flame me.”

“It’s fine, it’s not a tournament,” Zhou Yueran said. “If all else fails, just pick Yao and stick to Ming Wangxue. Her marksman is crazy good.”

Wen Shike: ?

Wen Shike turned her gaze to Ming Wangxue.

“What’s that look for? I might look silly in real life, but I’m not stupid when I play games, okay?” Ming Wangxue immediately protested.

Wen Shike: ?

For some reason, she felt personally attacked. She tapped open Ming Wangxue’s profile to take a look. Holy crap, eight gold mastery badges, and every single one of them had over nine thousand hero power.

Wen Shike: Note to self, never judge a book by its cover.

“It’s fine, Eldest Miss. I can hop on a smurf account to carry you anytime. I absolutely love boosting cute girls.”

Wen Shike stared at Ming Wangxue, offering her a deeply benevolent smile. “Thank you.”

“Whoa, the Eldest Miss actually smiled at me!”