Shrine - Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Yuanxin Road was brightly lit, the signs of one shop after another like eyes opening in the dark night, gazing upon the clean street. On both sides were flower baskets of various shapes and crowds of onlookers. Security guards in suits and ties, wearing communication earpieces, held back the surging sea of people.

The High Jewelry Exhibition was being held in a 19th-century European-style hotel at the corner of Yuanxin Road, its exterior resembling a church. The brand had lavishly booked two floors of the banquet hall for guest check-in, photoshoots, and the jewelry exhibition itself.

The commercial vehicle stopped at the hotel entrance. Ruan Ruan, dressed in a white one-shoulder gown, stepped out. An oval pink diamond adorned her ring finger. Her face was ethereally clean, her superior bone structure complemented by a girlish updo, making her resemble a rarely seen heiress from a prestigious family.

She lifted her eyes to the logo on the photo wall inside and took a deep breath.

Like a ray of moonlight, she swam into the glittering world of fame and fortune.

Having spent the last few days cramming knowledge about business collaborations, she knew that the battle for brand partnerships also had its strategies.

A team had different connections for different brands. Some could directly reach the brand's senior management, some were recommended by the brand's long-term PR firm, and still others climbed their way up through regional agents.

An artist's loyalty to a brand was also very important. If a brand belonged to a competing group, one had to choose a side and couldn't engage with both simultaneously. Therefore, the brands her team had chosen for her were the ones whose image aligned best with hers and were also the most accessible.

This was her first time attending a brand event alone. She was already luckier than many artists, climbing the very vines that Shi Ran's team had cultivated.

After the High Jewelry Exhibition, there was also an after-party.

She had asked Shi Ran what she needed to do and how long she should stay. Shi Ran said she didn't need to deliberately socialize with industry insiders; photos of artists together, aside from generating a bit of buzz, didn't offer much of a boost.

Nor did she need to think about getting to know the brand's decision-makers. They would be the center of attention, and it would be difficult to find an opportunity to chat with them. A few sentences wouldn't leave any lasting impression on them anyway.

"Then who should I look for?"

"At the very center of the long table, next to the executive director, where there are three or four empty seats, if you see a young girl of sixteen or seventeen, not an artist, with no title, whom the other guests don't seem to know—then you go and get to know her."

"She is..."

"I don't know. She was there when I attended an event before," Shi Ran said, glancing at her dress. "I think she might be a family member of some high-level executive. She frequently attends these business galas, so she must be quite doted on. And, she's at an age where she loves to talk to people."

"You're very good at making friends and making people like you. Perhaps this little girl will give you a piece of candy."

Shi Ran said coolly.

Ruan Ruan pulled her gaze back from the glass display case of jewelry and glanced to the side. Like a predator searching for prey, her eyes swept past the PR staff, looking for a young, somewhat immature-looking girl.

Waitan No. 1 was as quiet as an island floating in from the sea.

After finishing her skincare routine with her beauty device, Shi Ran drank a bottle of anti-glycation drink and a bottle of collagen as usual. Then she leaned back on the sofa, gazing at the half-moon hanging outside the massive floor-to-ceiling window. It wasn't very bright, looking as if its battery had died—not nearly as radiant as the gown Ruan Ruan was wearing.

The word "longing" could actually be personified—tugging at her thoughts, hanging in her heart. Fine and small, swaying back and forth.

Was she doing okay?

She glanced at her phone, which was even quieter than Waitan No. 1.

It was past eleven when Ruan Ruan finally returned, bringing with her a chill and a faint scent of alcohol. The first thing she did was run to the bedroom to change into cotton loungewear. Then she pattered "da-da-da" to the bathroom to get water. A few minutes later, she carried a steaming foot bath to the living room sofa, sat down, and began to soak her feet.

As her fair legs sank into the water, she didn't feel comfort, but rather a belated shiver ran through her.

"Cold?" Shi Ran only spoke after she had completed this series of actions.

"Freezing." Ruan Ruan's lips trembled. Her face was pale as she looked at Shi Ran, but her eyes were sparkling, the small mole beneath her eye like a tiny grain of sand in the snow.

Freezing? Shi Ran glanced at her rising and falling collarbones. "Isn't the event indoors?"

Did they move it outdoors? Was the team's coordination work not done properly?

Ruan Ruan nodded, her voice trembling. "It was indoors."

She let out a pained sigh, instinctively sucking the air back in as if holding a freshly cooked wonton in her mouth. Only after the goosebumps on her body had subsided did she rub her chilly arms and say, "Didn't you tell me to find that young girl?"

"Yes."

"She only stayed inside for a little while," Ruan Ruan smiled, like a frost-bitten, faded rose, "then she ran out to the garden to listen to someone play the cello. Her assistant brought her a fur coat, but I didn't even bring a shawl."

Ruan Ruan was a little embarrassed. Neither she nor her team had expected to end up in the garden.

Shi Ran's cool face faltered slightly. Winter was setting in, and she had been standing outside in a gown that left her shoulders bare, just freezing?

Seeing Shi Ran's silence, Ruan Ruan quickly added, "I chatted with her for a long time, and we even added each other on WeChat later, though it was her assistant's account."

The chill had seeped into her bones. She could only speak in a breathy voice, the ends of her words floating away.

She thought Shi Ran would be happy to hear "chatted for a long time," but Shi Ran just frowned, her gaze falling on the pink diamond on Ruan Ruan's hand.

Ruan Ruan took off the ring and placed it on the coffee table, saying softly, "I forgot to take it off." She then folded a tissue and placed it underneath the ring.

Afterward, she propped her hands on either side of her body, gripping the edge of the sofa, and fell into silence along with Shi Ran.

She wasn't that happy. She was feeling sorry for her, Ruan Ruan knew. This made her heart feel both soft and bitter, and she didn't know what expression to make.

The foot bath was still heating up, and her calves were already scalded with a distinct red line. The massaging base began to vibrate, making her slender knees jiggle.

She relaxed her stiff spine and sneezed.

Shi Ran reached out, pulled a tissue, and handed it to her.

Ruan Ruan covered her nose and sneezed again. Shi Ran handed her another tissue.

Then she sighed softly and got up to pour Ruan Ruan some hot water. Shi Ran had grown up without siblings and had never raised a cat or a dog. She didn't understand why someone could be so obedient. She told her to find someone, and she went into the winter night with her shoulders bare. This "obedience" was very different from that of her staff. Xiao Lin listened to her because it was a requirement, whereas Ruan Ruan listened to her because of trust.

Her hand touched the glass, and the heat seemed to travel from her fingertips straight into her heart.

Shi Ran handed her the hot water. Even though the cup was scalding, Ruan Ruan didn't test it with her fingertips but grasped it directly. Then she realized it was a bit hot, shifted her shoulders uneasily, and pulled her sleeves down to wrap around her hands, holding the cup through the fabric.

"Still cold?" Shi Ran sat down next to Ruan Ruan, noticing that a thin layer of sweat had already beaded on her neck.

Ruan Ruan took small sips of the hot water, sweating as she drank. The steam clung to her eyelashes, making them look dewy.

After drinking half the cup, she finally shook her head. "A little hot."

She looked at Shi Ran with her damp eyelashes tilted up, handing the cup back.

She could have just put it on the side table, but she still returned it to the person beside her, her soft gaze seeming to wheedle.

As if to say: I'm okay now.

"If you're hot," Shi Ran placed the cup on the table, her voice cool and soft, "then take them off."

A jolt went through Ruan Ruan's lower abdomen. Shi Ran's gaze swept over her rolled-up pant legs. She knew all too well the implication of that gesture. Her heart began to beat wildly and erratically, and the heat from the steam reddened her neck.

"I'm soaking my feet, it's not easy to take them off," she said in a soft voice, staring at the surface of the water.

Well then... Shi Ran's gaze flicked to the reflective object on the coffee table, her voice lighter than air. "Cut them off."

Cut them off?

Ruan Ruan's imagination caught fire, roasting her in its flames.

She could hear the sound of her own reason tearing like silk, being cut away inch by inch. The metallic texture pressed against her vulnerability and helplessness, a clear and distinct threat, a plunder.

Shi Ran cut carefully and slowly. No other action was needed. By the time she was finished, it wasn't just Ruan Ruan's lower legs that were wet.

Then Shi Ran began to kiss her.

Shi Ran rarely used her mouth, but this time she was gentle and direct.

Ruan Ruan lay sideways, one leg still soaking in the water, the other rubbing a wet mark onto the sofa before coming to rest on Shi Ran's back, damp and flushed.

"Shi Ran." It was too rushed this time. Ruan Ruan's fingers weakly combed through the tips of Shi Ran's hair.

"Mm."

Shi Ran felt the sweat in the crook of her knee, her own palm growing damp as well.

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