Chapter 1704: Still Taking It

Because this year's Spring Festival came early and tickets were hard to buy, Lin Luoxue only stayed with Wang Yan for two days before returning home.

No matter how disappointed she was in her parents, no matter how many complaints she voiced or how resolutely she spoke, she still craved warmth. Because she was a person of deep feeling, and in this regard, she would always be the one to suffer losses.

She might claim she didn't care about her younger brother or ignore her parents, but if they truly cried and begged her, she wouldn't have the heart to be ruthless. In fact, given the emotions she had suppressed over so many years, she might even feel a sense of being needed when faced with their tears and pleas, as if she had finally integrated, finally obtained the affection she had always desired...

This Spring Festival, of course, Wang Yan spent alone. However, speaking truthfully, in the over one thousand years he had roamed the myriad heavens, spending the New Year alone was truly a rare occurrence. His heart might feel lonely, but he was never truly solitary by side.

On New Year's Eve, Ye Jiping, who was far abroad, called him. After asking about the current state of their classmates and showing concern for the wine and dishes on Wang Yan's table, he mentioned that he had recommended Wang Yan's documentary to teachers and students there. Upon learning that Wang Yan was still only a sophomore, everyone offered high praise for his documentary.

Their praise was hardly necessary, because back in December, Wang Yan had already won the Best Student Documentary Award at the Documentary Academy Awards, which certainly carried weight.

Furthermore, when Wang Yan attended the event in person, he heard that he would be nominated for Best Series Documentary in next year's Top Ten Excellent Works. Whether he would actually win remained to be seen, but even a nomination brought significant benefits, as this was the most authoritative hall of domestic documentaries...

After the New Year passed, the classmates went off to participate in various activities. It was around this time that an unexpected person appeared in Wang Yan's studio.

On the third floor, Li Shuci sat obediently, a cup of plain boiled water placed before her.

"Drink some water," Wang Yan said.

"Thank you." Li Shuci nodded, picked up the cup and took a sip, then nodded solemnly, "Delicious!"

Wang Yan shook his head with amusement: "School doesn't start for a long time; the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month isn't even over yet. What are you doing running here? I recall you signed up for a charity event to help children."

"Yes, but I changed my mind again. Filming a documentary with you counts as well; I want to be with you."

Seeing the confusion on Wang Yan's face, Li Shuci said, "Ever since we were in the ancient town, I have been thinking about what exactly I like about you and why I like you. I have figured it out, Wang Yan!"

A brilliant light shone in her eyes, filled with fervor, longing, yearning, and a trace of resolve.

"Wang Yan, what I like is simply you! No matter what you are like—poor, rich, sick, or even if you are a scumbag—I like you. Because these things constitute you. If you weren't a scumbag, you wouldn't have such thoughts or such ways of behaving; this is you, the real you.

If I wanted a version of you who was devoted and faithful, that wouldn't be you anymore. To like someone means to like everything about them. To love someone means to love everything about them. Everything is you, and you are everything; they cannot be separated. Therefore, if my liking and my love are genuine, I should accept all of you, everything about you."

She remained so dignified and solemn; she leaned forward slightly, smiling as she spoke, yet her words were fervent. She had very lovely dimples, and as the sunlight filtered in, it coated her in a layer of radiance.

It made it seem as though she had attained the Dao or something...

Under Wang Yan's gaze, which was invasive and penetrating, Li Shuci did not flinch or look away.

She said, "I haven't gone mad, Wang Yan; I am very clear-headed right now. I understand what I am saying, and I understand even better what I am doing. Some say youth should be passionate and unrestrained; I may not be able to be passionate and unrestrained, but I cannot bear to feel regret later in life."

In the original drama, Li Shuci liked Xiao Haiyang, but Xiao Haiyang liked Zhong Bai, ignoring Li Shuci and never giving her a chance to speak her mind.

Now she liked Wang Yan, this scumbag, and having had their previous conversation in the ancient town where she had already declared her feelings and laid everything out plainly, she lacked that initial awkwardness of ignorance, making her speech more simple and direct.

Li Shuci was a person who stuck stubbornly to her principles; she had her own persistence, though she often did not express it, and she likewise possessed a rich inner world.

Wang Yan nodded and said, "You really need to think this through. I might as well have the words 'not human' written on my face. If you regret it now, there's still time; otherwise, you won't even have a place to cry."

"Weighing pros and cons is neither liking, nor is it love!" Li Shuci declared with absolute firmness. She stared stubbornly at Wang Yan, tears beginning to sparkle in her eyes.

Perhaps it was due to her own sense of humility.

No matter how clearly she spoke, it could not change the reality that Wang Yan was not a good person. To accept that Wang Yan was not a good person meant she had to endure grievance.

She did not have experiences as rich as Lin Luoxue's; even Lin Luoxue couldn't easily accept such a situation, let alone her...

At this moment, too many words were unnecessary; action was what was needed. Thus, Wang Yan stood up, walked over, sat beside Li Shuci, and pulled her into his embrace.

Li Shuci looked up to meet Wang Yan's gaze, unaware that her pretty face had already turned red, and instinctively moved closer to him.

Finally, the two kissed, and Li Shuci's arms wrapped tightly around Wang Yan's neck, holding on with great force, as if out of nervousness, or perhaps due to her passionate unrestraint, wanting to knead Wang Yan into her very body.

Outside the window, the sunlight was brilliant; inside the room, an early spring had arrived ahead of schedule, casting shadows onto the coffee table that entangled endlessly...

In the morning, as sunlight baked onto her face, Li Shuci opened her eyes.

The fragrant aroma filling her breath made her stomach rumble with hunger; she turned her head to look and saw Wang Yan busy working in the kitchen not far away.

She frowned as she sat up, the quilt sliding down, followed immediately by a startled cry as she quickly pulled the quilt up to cover herself: "You're not allowed to look!"

It was Wang Yan who had turned around upon hearing the noise; obediently, he turned his head back: "I've stewed an old hen soup for you; it's fresh, delicious, and highly nourishing. It will be ready soon, so get up and eat."

Li Shuci shyly put on her clothes; during this time, Wang Yan turned around several times to tease her, causing Li Shuci to jump in surprise repeatedly, followed by more flirting and tenderness, and by the time she was fully dressed, the shy crimson glow on her body had not yet faded.

After Li Shuci tidied herself up, Wang Yan had also arranged all the food on the table and ladled a bowl of chicken soup for her.

The soup was pale yellow, floating with slight traces of oil, containing some shredded meat sediment within, and garnished with green onions and coriander.

Li Shuci admired it for a moment, then leaned in to take a deep sniff; the aromas of chicken, meat, seafood, and medicinal herbs blended together into a unified whole. Finally, she took her spoon and slurped a small mouthful; instantly, an intense savory flavor exploded in her mouth, the layered tastes resembling ocean waves, surging tide after tide, churning between her lips and teeth, rolling over her taste buds.

"Delicious!" Li Shuci's eyes sparkled brightly.

"It's all yours; drink up."

Wang Yan smiled gently; everyone who had drunk his chicken soup praised it, with absolutely no negative reviews.

Moreover, he was constantly updating it; he hadn't used the same recipe for over a thousand years but had been continuously optimizing and iterating. Innovation and development lie precisely in this.

After eating and drinking for a while, Li Shuci suddenly looked up and asked, "You probably don't make this chicken soup often, do you?"

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "It replenishes vital energy; normally it's not suitable to drink, as it easily causes internal heat and requires several days of recovery."

"Then has Gu Yixin drunk it?"

"Yes, she has."

"What about Lin Luoxue?"

"No."

Li Shuci nodded, did not continue speaking further, and simply ate in silence.

Wang Yan asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Now that we're really together, it's not quite what I imagined." Li Shuci pondered for a moment before saying, "I thought it would be like in the movies, full of love and sweetness..."

"You can't just watch the sweet parts of movies, can you? After those come all sorts of affairs, abortions, greed, jealousy, hatred, and so on. Ultimately, it's all fake. In the end, everything must return to plainness.

And of course we have sweetness; don't you feel that the two of us eating together like this right now is itself a warm and sweet thing?"

"I do! But I want it to be warmer, sweeter!"

"Then that's a matter for under the covers."

Thus, Li Shuci's face turned red again as she slurped down the chicken soup.

Having just gotten together and having just entrusted herself, it was inevitable to feel sentimental and sensitive. Li Shuci herself was a sensitive person, and since Wang Yan was inherently not a good person, her lack of security was certainly understandable...

Time always slips away in the midst of busyness; the holiday passed quickly, seeming to end before one even realized it had properly begun.

Wang Yan, leading his team plus Li Shuci as an extra member, filmed two more documentary episodes, and now it was time for school to start.

On this day, Wang Yan was watching the edited footage, picking out flaws.

The workflow was now very familiar; even though he used newcomers from relevant majors each time, they would communicate privately among themselves, helping one another, with predecessors solving problems for successors.

At the same time, through episode after episode of filming, Wang Yan summarized the areas where students tended to make mistakes and produced a manual, enabling everyone to perform their duties well.

Li Shuci was cleaning up nearby, diligently mopping the floor and wiping the windowsills, taking out the washed and dried clothes, folding them one by one, and placing them neatly into the wardrobe. She seemed like a housewife; in the less than a month they had spent together day and night, she had rapidly adapted to their current relationship.

They truly seemed to be living life together, warm and sweet.

What shattered all of this was the sudden opening of the room door.

Without any preparation, Lin Luoxue appeared at the doorway, still wearing that same beaming smile.

However, upon seeing Li Shuci dressed in casual home attire, her smile froze.

After locking eyes with Li Shuci for a few breaths, Lin Luoxue closed the door and walked in.

"It seems I've come at an inconvenient time. Shuci, I truly never expected you could take things this far."

Li Shuci did not back down: "You used to change boyfriends frequently, with different guys chatting with you and calling you every single day."

Her meaning was that Lin Luoxue no longer sought boyfriends, that the number of different men chatting with her and calling her had decreased, and that her entire heart had grown attached to Wang Yan; she too had "taken things this far."

It was just that she did not want to speak the subsequent words aloud; she could not bring herself to say that another girl liked the man she loved...

"Shuci, actually, what you are sacrificing is even greater." Lin Luoxue laughed coquettishly, showing understanding for Li Shuci's difficulties and expressing her admiration for her.

Yet Li Shuci did not appreciate this sentiment; she simply looked at Lin Luoxue in silence.

After a short while, Lin Luoxue broke the silence: "Shall we talk?"

"Alright!"

Neither of them looked at Wang Yan; they went out and downstairs to speak their private words.

Wang Yan had not said a word from beginning to end; at such a moment, playing dead was the most suitable course of action!

After more than half an hour, the two returned upstairs; Li Shuci had changed her clothes and packed her luggage.

"Wang Yan, I'm heading back to school first to get settled."

Wang Yan looked into her eyes; she seemed to have been crying, yet her condition was still acceptable. Looking at Lin Luoxue, her eyes were also red, yet she still met his gaze with a beaming smile.

So he nodded: "Good, we'll eat together tomorrow."

Li Shuci hummed an affirmation and left.

Lin Luoxue walked with a cat-like stride to stand behind Wang Yan, wrapping her arms around his neck and rubbing cheek to cheek: "Old Wang~ Aren't you even a little curious about how I communicated with Shuci?"

"As long as the result is friendly toward me, why should I bother being curious about so much?"

"Truly an irresponsible scumbag."

"That statement is incorrect; in fact, I am the most responsible. Otherwise, I wouldn't have told her these things, you wouldn't be appearing so openly, and if I were even more of a scumbag, our fate together would have already ended."

"Although what you say is the truth, hearing it is truly heartbreaking; I have sacrificed so much for you, my entire heart tethered to you, all in vain."

Lin Luoxue gave a coquettish snort to express her dissatisfaction, then said, "I told Shuci that she is your public girlfriend, while I am the shameless mistress hiding in the shadows. Who asks me to be such a fickle woman? My lower limit is simply too low."

"You shouldn't speak of yourself that way; you merely had more boyfriends in the past, but you are also a person with your own principles. I have never viewed you in such a light. Our relationship never began with the intention of becoming a couple; you merely wanted to conquer me, to toy with me, just like you did with those boyfriends of yours in the past."

"This is exactly why I find you annoying; why must you state things so clearly? Is 'feigning ignorance when it is advantageous' not something you know of?"

"I fear you will move yourself to tears and eventually mistake it all for reality; when that happens, you will suffer greatly."

"I am already suffering greatly..."

She believed she had the chance to become Wang Yan's legitimate girlfriend, not merely engage in a deeply friendly exchange relationship during both parties' Kong Chuang Qi. However, in truth, it was only after engaging in even deeper exchanges that she desired to be with Wang Yan even more; she deliberately ignored the sequence of events, for otherwise, her pain would have been intensified further.

Wang Yan stroked her cheek: "Actually, the result would be the same; after all, I am no good person. By then, you might think even more, leading to yet another kind of suffering."

"In the end, doesn't it all just benefit you?" Lin Luoxue made a playful exhalation, her voice soft and gentle, "Do you know what the other important reason was for persuading Shuci?"

As she spoke, she circled around to stand before Wang Yan and voluntarily squatted down...

"You are too strong; one person cannot handle you. She had no concept of this matter, so I was the one who educated her. I said we could do it together, ensuring you wouldn't go flirting with other flowers and grass. Then she agreed, mmm..."

Wang Yan continued watching the finished film, looking for problems, while Lin Luoxue diligently provided targeted assistance at the mouth, which then naturally evolved into a great battle.

After all, a winter break had passed; expressing such intense longing was only proper...

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