Shrine - Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Waitan No. 1 was brightly lit. Inside the mansion-like clubhouse, the shimmering light from the night pool scattered through the glazed glass ceiling, looking just like the pool light that used to spill onto the windowsill at Jingyue International.
After removing her makeup, Ruan Ruan changed into comfortable cotton loungewear and sat by the irregularly shaped geometric coffee table to eat takeout with Shi Ran. Their takeout was always brought up by the butler on duty downstairs and left in the elevator lobby. Previously, the name on the order was her manager, Xiao Lin, but this time, when Shi Ran picked up the food, she noticed the receipt said "Ms. Zhang."
She was curious why Ruan Ruan had changed the name for the delivery.
Ruan Ruan patted toner onto her face with the back of her hand. "Piaopiao taught me."
Lately, Chen Piaopiao would sometimes invite her downstairs to play mahjong. Once, while talking about online shopping, Chen Piaopiao mentioned that she used to write her rival's name as the recipient, so that if any private information was ever leaked, the blame would fall on the rival.
Ruan Ruan had an epiphany.
Shi Ran set the takeout bag aside and tilted her head. "So you wrote…"
"Zhang Nuoran." After thinking it over, she realized she didn't really have any rivals.
Shi Ran's lips twitched. "But did you ever consider that the property management and the butler both know I'm the owner of this apartment?"
Hmm… so. If this were to be exposed, the consequence would be that Zhang Nuoran was living in Shi Ran's home.
Ruan Ruan looked like she wanted to say something but stopped herself, biting her lip as she gazed at Shi Ran.
She looked just like an eager little kitten that had been duped by a sly fox.
Shi Ran gave her a cool glance, her lips pressing down into a slight pout. Ruan Ruan moved closer, setting up the tinfoil hot pot as if atoning for her sin, then lowered her head to light the alcohol lamp. Seeing her being so well-behaved, Shi Ran didn't have the heart to tease her anymore. "Don't write her name next time," she said.
"Okay."
"If you saw her, you wouldn't be able to eat. You'd lose weight," Shi Ran said.
Ruan Ruan was tilting her head to light the lamp and let out a "pfft" of laughter. Her breath flickered the flame, and its faint light reflected in her eyes. She knew Shi Ran was coaxing her, and with Shi Ran's unique brand of deadpan humor. She was very happy. "I know," she said softly.
The two of them faced the dark television screen, which reflected their blurry silhouettes. If captured by a camera, their faces would be as vibrant and beautiful as hibiscus flowers. But here they were, sitting casually and naturally on the carpet. The Xiangling who received flowers and applause under the spotlight was gone, as was the top-tier celebrity who made low-key appearances in paparazzi photos.
Ruan Ruan didn't ask Shi Ran how she did. She was too embarrassed. Besides, Dream of the Red Chamber had been significantly condensed for the stage play, and her part wasn't very long, leaving limited room for her to perform.
As she was lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice Shi Ran opening a bottle of ramune soda beside her. The moment the marble was pushed down, a spray of carbonation misted Shi Ran's face. She was clearly not used to opening soda bottles herself. After freezing for two seconds, she calmly turned her head to grab a wet wipe and a napkin, elegantly cleaning herself up.
Ruan Ruan unpacked the food containers. When she turned back, an unopened bottle of soda was handed to her. Ruan Ruan took it, brought it in front of her, tore off the plastic seal, and pressed down on the opener.
The erupting soda shot straight at Shi Ran's face.
Ruan Ruan jumped in surprise and quickly looked at Shi Ran. Shi Ran blinked blankly, her eyelashes drooping. "Why is it still…" she murmured.
She quickly fell silent, skillfully pulled out a wet wipe from the side, and continued to wipe her face.
Ruan Ruan was about to help her, but after hearing her words and seeing her reaction, and then glancing at the already-opened bottle of soda, she thought for a moment and understood.
She pressed her lips together, inserted the straw into the glass bottle in her hand, and stared directly at Shi Ran. "Were you trying to spray me?"
Shi Ran didn't deny it.
"You got sprayed when you opened yours, so you handed one to me, hoping I'd get sprayed too?" Ruan Ruan added.
After wiping her face, Shi Ran didn't deny it.
Ruan Ruan suddenly broke into a smile. She let out a soft "hmph," adjusted the soda bottle, and praised quietly, "You're so considerate."
Shi Ran gracefully put down the napkin. "I just wanted to celebrate."
Spraying beer and soda at a celebration party—hasn't Little Cat Officer heard of that?
"Well, congratulations to you, then," Ruan Ruan said with a smile, biting her straw.
Shi Ran smiled too. "Congratulating me for what?"
"For wrapping up your shoot. I didn't get you a wrap gift. And for your birthday, I didn't get you a birthday gift either." Ruan Ruan clinked her soda bottle against Shi Ran's. She thought for a moment, then said softly, "I wish you grow bigger and bigger, and also smaller and smaller."
Her gaze was so sincere it made Shi Ran's heart flutter.
The more time they spent together, the more Ruan Ruan liked this side of Shi Ran—so alive, childish, mischievous, and fond of joking. It was adorable, a thousand, ten thousand times more adorable than the version of her in front of the camera or in the media. Sometimes she thought, What a pity. If those people could see this adorable Shi Ran, they would surely be even more captivated by her. But in the next moment, she would think that perhaps it was precisely because these parts of her were unseen that they were so precious and so vibrant.
Shi Ran raised her soda bottle and gently clinked it against hers.
After they finished eating, Ruan Ruan "requested permission" from her boss to see the online feedback for her play. Her boss tacitly approved, so Ruan Ruan sat down next to her and opened Weibo.
She hadn't been on Weibo since Shi Ran's birthday. Her last post was a repost of the official cast announcement for the play. She and several other "Jinchai" were announced in the third Weibo post, which had now been reposted two or three thousand times. She clicked on it and saw that the proportion of real users was high.
She then browsed her own Super Topic. Fans who had attended posted their photos, all of which were beautifully shot, clearly edited, and taken with professional equipment. Ruan Ruan selected a few to save. Scrolling down, she discovered she actually had a Station Sister who was posting reminders for everyone before the play started. The number of replies wasn't low either.
She clicked to take a look. The account had a lot of followers, and its main page had photos of other young actresses it used to follow. It seemed like they had jumped ship.
They had skillfully established a fansite, organized support activities, and were telling individual fans how to support her career.
Ruan Ruan was a little puzzled. She didn't have any works to her name yet, and when they came, the play hadn't even premiered.
But then she thought about it and understood: they were buying shares.
After the news broke that Dianxing Entertainment had signed a new artist, some people had been observing the potential newcomers to join their fandoms, wanting to get in on the "initial stock offering." In other words, they were betting that she would become famous.
Ruan Ruan felt inexplicably encouraged. Whether they were career fans, acting fans, or so-called appearance fans, she felt a sense of gratitude.
She searched her own name again. There weren't many reviews of the play. The top results were all filled with "insider information" about her signing with Dianxing and leaks about her future resources—(none of which were reliable).
She then searched for "Xiangling" and found a few scattered comments from audience members about the play. She read them word by word, seriously taking the feedback to heart.
Shi Ran ate while watching her. The way she held her phone with such focus made her look like a squirrel holding a nut.
Even cuter than a squirrel.
Ruan Ruan shielded her phone screen slightly. She wanted to search for Shi Ran to see if the paparazzi photos had spread online, but a trending topic suggestion suddenly appeared in the search bar: "Shi Ran Dream of the Red Chamber."
Her heart leaped. She clicked on it. It had already climbed to 13th place. The internet was instantly flooded with candid photos and videos of Shi Ran. She was walking out with her head down, holding her jacket. In the videos, you could hear the commotion as audience members quietly called out, "Shi Ran, Shi Ran." She didn't turn back, but her superior figure was unmistakable.
Ruan Ruan found it strange. When she had searched for herself just moments ago, everything was calm. There were barely even a few people in her Super Topic asking if Shi Ran had gone. But now, marketing accounts were all working in concert, and videos and photos were popping up like mushrooms after rain.
The general gist was that Shi Ran had attended the premiere of the Dream of the Red Chamber play, followed by production stills and official promotional materials for the show.
She turned her head to look at the person in question beside her. Shi Ran was leaning back on her hands, glancing at the screen.
Then she brushed her hair back and said to Ruan Ruan, "Refresh."
With a look, she gestured for Ruan Ruan to open the real-time trending topics list. Two hashtags were pre-heating, waiting to climb onto the entertainment chart.
One was: "Shi Ran Ruan Ruan." The other was: "Ruan Ruan."
Ruan Ruan's hand trembled a little. She had never been on the trending list before. She clicked on it. The marketing accounts were ready and waiting, all saying that Shi Ran had gone to see the debut performance of her company's artist, Ruan Ruan. It was still the same fan-taken videos and photos, but the show's introduction that followed had been replaced with Ruan Ruan's personal profile.
Ruan Ruan mechanically refreshed the hashtag's page, a thin layer of sweat forming on her palms.
She felt like she was in a battle, with invisible smoke rising behind her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why, or what was wrong.
She couldn't help but wonder if Shi Ran's talk of "managing an artist" included promotion like this. Was it premeditated, or did they just decide to add fuel to the fire and redirect the heat onto Ruan Ruan after seeing Shi Ran and the play trending together?
If it was the latter, then the PR team's reaction speed was breathtaking.
"Can you handle it?" Shi Ran asked her.
This sudden burst of attention—can you take the pressure?
Ruan Ruan said, "I became an actress precisely to be seen."
Shi Ran smiled, then asked, "Still eating?"
"To be honest, I've kind of lost my appetite," Ruan Ruan said quietly, looking down.
Shi Ran's smile widened. This time, her gaze wasn't cold. Her eyes seemed to say, "How interesting."
Ruan Ruan blushed and silently scrolled through Weibo. Suddenly, her thumb stopped. She blinked and looked up at Shi Ran.
The fourth trending hashtag had arrived—Zhang Nuoran Ruan Ruan.
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