Shrine - Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Shi Ran was lost in thought for half an hour. She wasn't idle; she went to the desk to flip through the script, then to the bathroom to tidy up her toiletry bag, and finally, she arranged the fruit platter on the cabinet in front of the television. Looking up, she saw her own somber reflection in the dark TV screen, the empty room behind her.
This was the smallest room she had stayed in in recent years. It didn't even have a living room, and the heating was poor. The Gobi wind seeped in through the cracks in the window.
She blinked, tilting her head first to the left, then to the right, looking at her own indifferent eyes and the lips that had been called "very kissable."
How could there be no chemistry? And of all people, with that person.
Her phone lit up. The nightly WeChat message arrived, a single "1". Shi Ran lowered her gaze, picked up the phone, and, as usual, replied with a video call.
She aimed the camera at the slightly dirty carpet, causing Ruan Ruan to stare for a moment before she could make out what was on the screen.
Shi Ran looked down from above at the Ruan Ruan on her phone—delicate and fair-skinned, looking like a little deer in the phone as she tried to discern the image.
"Shi Ran."
The moment her soft voice came through, the sound of the wind from the window cracks suddenly vanished.
"Hm?" Shi Ran cleared her throat.
"Why won't you let me see you?" Ruan Ruan pursed her lips, her voice slightly hoarse. It was clear she was tired, but she tried to widen her eyes to observe Shi Ran's room.
This small gesture so perfectly soothed Shi Ran's heart. She realized she was truly different with Ruan Ruan. The moment she saw her, her emotions could no longer remain rigid. Her eyes, her lashes, her lips, were all pouring hot water for her. Taking a sip, it was impossibly warm and soft.
"Not looking good," Shi Ran said softly, standing in the middle of the room and craning her neck.
Ruan Ruan burst out laughing with a "pfft." "You don't look good? Then is there anyone in this world who does?"
Shi Ran didn't speak, but the corners of her mouth twitched.
Ruan Ruan felt that Shi Ran was a bit strange today but couldn't pinpoint the exact reason. So she asked in a low voice, "Are you tired today? I saw you changed hotels. Is the desert part of the filming done?"
"Yeah."
"So, did it go well? What did the director say?" Ruan Ruan had been wanting to know if her suggestion for Shi Ran to play herself had been effective.
"The director said…" Shi Ran moistened her lips.
Ruan Ruan leaned closer to the camera.
Shi Ran swallowed slightly. "The director said it wasn't very good."
"Huh?"
Shi Ran looked calmly at Ruan Ruan's nervous expression. "She said I've lost that 'living person slightly dead' feeling I had during the audition."
"A living person slightly dead" was a popular internet slang term. The director probably meant to describe the previous Shi Ran as more indifferent to the world, more nonchalant.
She blinked, seeing Ruan Ruan freeze. Her eyes flickered, and she slowly bit her lip.
Clearly, she knew why, otherwise she wouldn't have shown such a complex expression of worry mixed with a hint of sweetness. Ruan Ruan first glanced at the lines on her own palm, then traced them with her index finger before asking Shi Ran in an even quieter voice, "Then… what should we do?"
"What do you think?"
Shi Ran's question was even more pointed, deftly pinning the responsibility on Ruan Ruan.
The goddess had developed mortal feelings, and the culprit was the harmless little deer.
Ruan Ruan glanced up at her, then lowered her gaze, her lashes trembling. "I don't know."
"Then," Shi Ran let out a slow sigh and said softly, "let's not video call every day." Lest she be made even more "alive."
"Huh?"
Ruan Ruan's breath caught in her throat. She wanted to see Shi Ran, but all she could see was the carpet. So she pursed her lips and, after a moment, said, "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Not okay." Ruan Ruan straightened her elegant neck and shook her head.
Through the one-sided video, she heard a fluctuating breath—it was Shi Ran's short laugh. Then the screen turned, the camera focusing on Shi Ran's face, which was like spring water hidden beneath melting snow.
Ruan Ruan tilted her head and watched her for two seconds, faint brackets forming at the corners of her mouth. Her voice was still a little hoarse. "You were tricking me?"
"Which part are you referring to?"
"Did the director really say you acted poorly?" Ruan Ruan was very concerned about this.
"No."
"Ha!" Ruan Ruan wrinkled her nose and playfully jabbed at her with a smile.
Shi Ran sat under the bedside lamp, bathed in its yellow light, feeling a little happy. Ruan Ruan's expression was so lively, more intimate and adorable than any of the pictures taken by proxy photographers.
Seeing that her mood had been soothed, Ruan Ruan relaxed and asked, "Why were you unhappy just now?"
Shi Ran thought for a moment. "I searched for our CP online."
"Huh?" Ruan Ruan suspected she hadn't heard correctly, squinting as if she were nearsighted.
"Someone said that you and I are hard to ship."
"'Hard to ship' means…" Ruan Ruan pondered it for two seconds and understood. "Me and you? Hard to ship?"
"Mhm."
Ruan Ruan's slender shoulders shook gently, the strands of hair by her face trembling as well. The corners of her mouth curved up, and the whole screen came to life.
With stars gathered in her eyes, she said, "Did you also see my other CPs, the ones they say are super easy to ship?" And then you got unhappy.
Shi Ran didn't answer, just blinked.
Ruan Ruan really wanted to snuggle up to her, but she couldn't right now. All she could do was soften her gaze and let it rest in Shi Ran's eyes. "You know perfectly well that my CP with Zhong Yi has people from the company promoting it. The two of us have no one guiding the narrative, so by comparison, not as many people ship us."
"Also," she paused, "your last big hit CP has very powerful fans. They don't like our CP, so they're always talking it down."
"And your solo stans have fought with the CP fans a few times, so they don't like CP fans and won't be nice to our CP either."
"We're surviving in the cracks. It's so hard," Ruan Ruan finished slowly and methodically, looking at her desk, her slightly hoarse voice soft and sticky.
With every sentence she spoke, Shi Ran's eyebrows twitched. After hearing everything, she fell silent for a few seconds before asking thoughtfully, "You know all this so clearly?"
Ruan Ruan reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, remaining silent.
"During your breaks, you've been searching for me?"
That was why she was so well-versed in the state of Shi Ran's fandom.
Ruan Ruan cupped her face, still not saying a word.
Shi Ran tucked in the corners of her mouth, unconsciously wanting to smile, yet also feeling inexplicably embarrassed. She ducked her head for a moment, her tongue lightly pressing against the roof of her mouth before she spoke. "So, when they say we're hard to ship, it's probably not true."
"Right," Ruan Ruan nodded.
"So we're easy to ship?"
Ruan Ruan looked like she wanted to say something but held back.
"What do you think?" Shi Ran asked again.
What do I think… Ruan Ruan's chest rose and fell. She desperately wanted to kiss Shi Ran, then slide her hand under the edge of her clothes, watching her cool expression and her passionate body at the same time, hibernating in her eyes and brows while awakening against her skin.
Shi Ran was earnestly waiting for Ruan Ruan's response when she suddenly heard her part her lips and let out a moan.
Then she lowered her head, leaving only a sliver of her crescent-moon-like profile in view.
"What's wrong?" Shi Ran's voice had gone hoarse too.
"Xiao Hei suddenly jumped up and bit me," Ruan Ruan said, righting the phone and stroking the disobedient Xiao Hei's head.
Shi Ran gazed at her, her lashes slowly interlacing.
"Is that so?"
"Mhm."
The atmosphere grew heavier, as if water had been poured into the space between their breaths.
"What did you think it was?" A breathy voice, as if covered by the night.
"I don't know." As if blowing out the stars.
"You don't know?" You must have heard something similar before, didn't you make the connection?
"I don't know." It's been a long time since I heard it. I don't know.
The Gobi wind wailed, and the southern waters swayed, both making it too difficult to sleep peacefully. But even so, they had to wish each other goodnight.
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