TGSS - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Same Mother, Different Father

When Chu He arrived at the shoot location the next morning yawning, Liang Zhouyi was already there. She wore only a gray sweater, a sheaf of papers rolled into a tube in her hand, and was speaking with a serious expression to the assistant of the oil paper umbrella intangible heritage inheritor.

"Xiao Liang, in our view there is a problem with your script. Look, our master's shots and the earlier production segment are so short, it's all Miss Wen's shots, and there is far too much material afterward. This is not good for our image..."

Liang Zhouyi said nothing, looking extremely fed up with this kind of haggling. Suddenly she spotted Chu He standing beside a green bamboo and smiling at her through the crowd. Her tense shoulders instantly relaxed and she walked straight across the dirt toward her.

"Where is Wen Xiaoying's assistant?" Chu He straightened up and picked a leaf off the top of Liang Zhouyi's head. "Stop doing work outside your job description. No one will thank you for it."

Liang Zhouyi curved her lips. "I know. It's just habit."

Chu He sighed helplessly, took the scarf from around her own neck, wound it haphazardly around Liang Zhouyi's neck, and tied it in a rough knot.

The soft fabric, still warm from Chu He's body, covered her face and Liang Zhouyi could barely breathe. She tugged the scarf down a little, and a familiar scent slipped into her nose. Chu He looked at her handiwork with satisfaction, hands in her pockets, and said to her, "If you're afraid of the cold, wear more. You look so sleep deprived I feel like you're about to faint."

Liang Zhouyi said, "I won't freeze to death. I'm actually pretty healthy. Maybe working these past few years has worn me down."

Chu He rather agreed. Luckily she had been young when she started her business. Those dark, hectic years must have taken years off her life, which was why she had spent the years since pursuing health and wellness. Seeing Liang Zhouyi like this, not making much money and ruining her health, Chu He made up her mind that in the future she would definitely take her to work out properly and get a few training packages. Oh, she almost forgot, presumably there would be no such chance.

Watching the woman's expression shift through a thousand changes in just a few seconds, Liang Zhouyi gave her a suspicious look, then walked back into the depths of the bamboo forest with the scarf still around her.

The instant she turned, Chu He subconsciously lifted her arm as if to grab something, but forcibly suppressed the impulse and only smiled as she watched Liang Zhouyi run toward the crowd like a nimble little deer.

Although this was a business trip, there was actually very little Chu He had to do herself. When Tan Qing was on a break he even handed his camera to Liang Zhouyi to look at, and the two of them looked at the photos together. In that moment Liang Zhouyi shed all her confusion and seemed to shine from head to toe.

Tan Qing yielded his shooting position to Liang Zhouyi, signaling for her to give it a try. Liang Zhouyi reached out and cradled the camera, and when Wen Xiaoying's figure appeared on the screen, a dizzying palpitation shot straight to the top of her head. She barely steadied herself and stepped back half a step. A churning nausea surged up from her stomach, the area below her eyes went white and hazy, and even Tan Qing's shouts beside her ear did not sound quite real. Liang Zhouyi's legs went a little weak, and she only came back to herself after bracing against a bamboo stalk beside her.

"Are you okay?" Chu He had run to Liang Zhouyi's side without her noticing, worriedly putting an arm around her waist, her face pale and her expression panicked.

Liang Zhouyi shook her head and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. It seemed she simply could not do it. A strange restlessness rose in her heart. Meeting Chu He's amber eyes, she suddenly could not help feeling self-loathing and grievance. She suppressed the sourness, stepped back a few paces, and returned the position to Tan Qing.

Seeing this, Chu He half held and half supported her as she led her toward the resting area. She asked, "Is it because of Wen Xiaoying?"

This was the first time she had asked Liang Zhouyi so directly. Chu He rarely asked about Liang Zhouyi's past. She always treated her with boundless indulgence, which sometimes gave Liang Zhouyi the illusion that Chu He was not curious about her affairs at all.

"Not entirely," Liang Zhouyi's voice was a little hoarse. "But I hope to solve the problem at its root."

"Liang Zhouyi, then give yourself some time," Chu He said. Her hand gradually slid to her waist. Liang Zhouyi was very thin, so thin there was almost no flesh on her body. It was not obvious when she was dressed, but when Chu He touched her she could even feel the bones of her spine.

"But I want to be faster," Liang Zhouyi suddenly smiled brilliantly. Her dark eyes looked deeply at Chu He, as if trying to draw her completely inside. "You want that too, don't you?"

It was as if that gaze pricked Chu He. She quickly looked away, her thoughts in chaos, and forced a comforting reply. "You're overthinking it. What do I have to be anxious about?"

Liang Zhouyi did not press further. Yes, she did not know what Chu He was anxious about either, but she just knew Chu He very much hoped she would untangle her heart sooner. As long as Chu He wanted it, she would grant her wish. She took the hot water Chu He poured for her and obediently leaned against her shoulder on the low stool.

This scenic shooting location was in a bamboo forest inside a tourist area. After they finished the morning's work, Wen Xiaoying looked very tired, but still forced a smile and said she would treat everyone to an outing, covering all the expenses herself.

Chu He closed her laptop, draped Liang Zhouyi's clothes over her, picked up her computer bag, and said leisurely, "Let's go, time to eat."

"What about me?" Tan Qing ran over anxiously with his equipment on his back.

"What about you?" Chu He laughed. "Stop following us around."

By rights, after that Tan Qing should have had enough sense not to follow them, but thinking of the fiance Chu Ze had mentioned yesterday, he looked at Liang Zhouyi with worry. He could feel that Liang Zhouyi really liked Chu He now. Precisely because of that, he was even more worried, and the listless, unfamiliar way Liang Zhouyi had looked when they had just reunited not long ago was still vivid.

"Can I come with you, Chu He?" Wen Xiaoying had changed clothes and saw the three of them together, and asked Chu He carefully.

Tan Qing had originally been wary of one-on-one contact with Wen Xiaoying, but when he saw that Wen Xiaoying did not even glance at him and only looked eagerly at Chu He, he turned his head away with mixed feelings.

"No," Chu He slowly spat out the three words, her tone a little cold at the end. Were the four of them supposed to get together to play mahjong?

Wen Xiaoying had not expected to be rejected. Her smile stiffened for an instant and a pitiable expression appeared on her face. She looked at Chu He sadly. "Does Zhou Yi have some opinion about me? I always feel like she doesn't seem to like me very much."

"That shouldn't be it," Chu He denied quickly. "The one who has an opinion about you is me. I haven't liked you much since the first time I saw you."

Tan Qing could not help laughing out loud at the side. It was rare to see Chu He express her likes and dislikes so bluntly. Chu He had always been a rather tactful person. He was just about to think through the basis for this when his mind went blank for an instant.

This short laugh made the expression on Wen Xiaoying's face completely fall apart. She asked pitifully, "But before... before you weren't like this. Did I do something wrong?"

Looking at Wen Xiaoying who seemed especially upset, Chu He said with a trace of impatience, "I'm just saving you some face. We're adults, be more sensible. The earth doesn't revolve around you."

Liang Zhouyi offered no comment, watching Chu He drive each word into Wen Xiaoying's heart. Her mood was unexpectedly calm.

In the end, not wanting the situation to become too tense and affect work, Tan Qing softened and left together with the dejected Wen Xiaoying.

"Let's go," Chu He said, her cold expression fading as she returned to her usual lazy appearance. Liang Zhouyi suddenly felt an unprompted fear. If one day Chu He no longer cared about her, would this same scene happen to her?

Chu He reached out and put an arm around the distracted Liang Zhouyi, firmly leading her outside.

"What are you thinking about?" Chu He asked curiously, only after she had scalded the chopsticks with hot water in the restaurant and handed them naturally to Liang Zhouyi, noticing she had looked grave ever since leaving the bamboo forest.

"It's nothing, I just..."

"Sis!" A spoiled, shrill boy's voice made both Chu He and Liang Zhouyi frown.

Chu He looked up and saw a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy with thick glasses rushing excitedly toward Liang Zhouyi and plopping down beside her, which made Chu He knit her brows.

"Xiao Feng." A familiar figure walked toward them, and upon clearly seeing Liang Zhouyi and Chu He his face instantly fell. He did not dare speak to Chu He out of apprehension, only looking at Liang Zhouyi with a cold gaze. "Zhou Yi, we meet again."

Liang Zhouyi looked at the food in front of her and completely lost any appetite. She gritted her teeth, and only after a long while did she introduce him to Chu He: "This is my maternal half brother, Hu Baofeng."

"Sis, I'm your brother. Why call me your maternal half brother?" Hu Baofeng was a little unhappy with her form of address. He secretly glanced at Chu He's face and lowered his head a little fearfully. Although he was not old and was rather naive, he still had the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, and subconsciously felt Chu He was not someone to be trifled with.

"If I remember correctly, middle school students shouldn't be on vacation right now," Chu He said, her probing gaze sweeping over Hu Baofeng. He shrank beside Liang Zhouyi like a chicken with its throat seized.

Gao Mingchen looked at Liang Zhouyi and explained, "Xiao Feng just had eye surgery and is on temporary leave. Auntie asked me to take him out for a walk."

Chu He tapped her fingers on the table. What a broken, rotten family, too unlucky by far. Just as Liang Zhouyi had said, it seemed too much misfortune had gathered on her. Thinking of what the System had said about luck, the nameless fire in her heart burned fiercely. She always felt Liang Zhouyi was like a person bound by vines and sinking to the bottom of a lake.

Hu Baofeng's naive eyes looked around unrestrainedly, which immediately reminded Chu He of Mother Liang, and a faint disgust rose involuntarily. He was truly a boy spoiled and raised in a honey jar, completely different from Liang Zhouyi, who was like a weed left to grow wild.

"Sis, Brother Chen has been so good to me, you really have to give him another chance," Hu Baofeng said, clinging to Liang Zhouyi's arm and acting spoiled.

With a bang, Chu He slammed her bowl heavily on the table. Her sharp gaze swept past Hu Baofeng and landed on Gao Mingchen, her tone as cold as ice. "Get lost."

"Who the hell are you? I'm looking for my sis. What does it have to do with you?" Hu Baofeng's body trembled subconsciously, then he stood up with false bravado and glared at Chu He.

Liang Zhouyi forcefully pulled her arm free. A sense of suffocation made her a little dizzy. She held her head and said indifferently, "I already sent you the money. Don't come looking for me unless you have to."

"Sis, what do you mean by that? I'm your brother, who else would I look for if not you? After all, I don't have a dad anymore, and our mom is like that. You have to help me out," Hu Baofeng said to Liang Zhouyi as if it were only natural, clearly this idea had been instilled in him so deeply it had taken root.

Chu He stood up abruptly and looked at the half-grown boy in disbelief, lecturing him. "You have hands and feet, yet you just expect to live off your sister's blood? What kind of useless person are you?"

The enraged Hu Baofeng's expression became somewhat abnormal. His body shook unnaturally, his eyeballs bloodshot, malice filling his eye sockets. He looked at Chu He with resentment. "What's it to you? She owes me this in the first place!"

Chu He could no longer endure it and clenched her fist, but Liang Zhouyi grabbed her raised arm. Liang Zhouyi looked at Gao Mingchen with those moist eyes and said in a flat, unruffled voice, "Take him away. Don't make me say it a second time."

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