Lady

Silicone can easily magnify imperfections, but with the help of Sheng Qijing, an experienced technician, Ju Hui was able to complete several previously overlooked key muscle lines, significantly improving the overall quality of her work.

"We can get a craftsman to make the mold tomorrow. The studio is still short of silicone and paint, I can have someone deliver them..."

When Sheng Qijing spoke, he had to call her to his side and hug her, as if the closer they were, the more comforted his heart would feel.

“…Ju Hui, don’t look at me like that.” Sheng Qijing pinched her waist, displeased. “If you’re going to pretend, at least make it look convincing.”

"OK."

Ju Hui withdrew her pitiful expression and pecked his lips.

The next day was Monday with an early start date of 8 AM. Ju Hui didn't stay long that night. Before leaving, she stared at the tool table and asked him, "Will you still be in the studio tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yes," Sheng Qijing replied.

He can.

“Then I’ll have the delivery driver come pick up the things tomorrow.” Ju Hui pointed to the heavy canvas bag on the table. “Could you please ask the driver to take that bag with him as well? Thank you.”

By default, she won't come to the mold-making process either. Sheng Qijing will help supervise the work. Tomorrow, the Mo Cun Museum will be closed, and she will be at school preparing for the second human model.

After saying this, Ju Hui left. She didn't act coy when necessary, which was the second benefit she gained from this relationship.

She swept away the summer like a gust of wind, erasing all traces, leaving Sheng Qijing unable to even utter a word to stop her. After she left, Sheng Qijing received a phone call from his sister.

"Hello?"

Sheng Qijing put the call on speakerphone and placed it face down on the table.

"...You've already gone back to Ruobei, why are you in a bad mood again?"

"Really? It's alright."

Sheng Qijing was somewhat absent-minded; he was tidying up the tool table, but the more he tidied, the more there was.

The soft knife belonged to Ju Hui, but he found it useful, so he took it out of the canvas bag; she wouldn't take his portrait with her, nor the sketch under the plaster, which had his writing on it.

"Okay, I was just calling to comfort you anyway." Sheng Jiashu, in her high heels, gestured to her assistant not to follow her and walked towards the balcony.

Shanghai never sleeps at night, with cars constantly flowing downstairs. A golden swamp flows through the steel forest, and the wind from the Bund, carrying the smell of dampness, crashes against the floor-to-ceiling windows. She hooks her foot and closes the door.

“Dad’s decision not to let you participate in the exhibition doesn’t mean your work is bad; it just means he doesn’t need an employee who plays with stones.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end: "I understand."

Sheng Jiashu hummed in agreement, then turned around, her eyes meeting Ding Youyuan's. Ding Youyuan stood amidst a group of people in black suits, her velvet dress adorned with pearls of varying sizes, her makeup light and her smile gentle; she exuded confidence and social grace, simply…

Like Sheng Qijing before he met Ju Hui.

She raised her glass and politely greeted Sheng Jiashu.

Sheng Jiashu smiled and looked away.

"Did Dad find out that you suddenly ran back to Ruobei? Did he go looking for Ju Hui?"

Sheng Qijing responded with tacit agreement, which Sheng Jiashu didn't like.

“I will fire her after the cooperation with Yun Que ends. You know her situation; she's no help to the Sheng family, and Dad won't agree to you two being together.”

The school could find out all of Sheng Qijing's news just by the slightest breeze. Fortunately, this time Sheng Jiashu stopped the rumors in advance, as her father was busy entertaining guests whom Sheng Qijing was responsible for appeasing.

"Are you trying to persuade me not to let the Sheng family's value diminish?"

"You really want to be with her?" Sheng Jiashu clicked her tongue. "You're not good enough for her."

Ju Hui was Bian Jiaping's beneficiary, and their relationship seemed special and close. She had heard the story of how Ju Hui confronted the two senior students, and how Bian Jiaping intervened, resulting in both of them receiving demerits and having their postgraduate recommendation qualifications revoked.

The desktop was temporarily organized, but Sheng Qijing's desk was still a mess: "...If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up."

"I'll go back to Ruobei in a while and help take care of Mo Chen for a period of time—" Before he finished speaking, Sheng Qijing tossed his phone onto the sofa on the first floor and went upstairs to the bathroom.

The news of Ju Hui's battle in Building A reached the ears of her classmates the next day. Some of those who had been grinning at her began to restrain themselves, after all, she was a strong woman who could hold back two adult men and knock Sheng Qijing to the ground!

Rumors circulated that the food was stir-fried with gutter oil, but the truth is that it was stained with grease in the sink, and the stories are varied.

That morning at eight o'clock, she and Yun Aonan were ten minutes late because of traffic. They ran all the way from the school gate and sneaked into the back row of the large classroom, only to find that roll call had just ended.

Yun Aonan regretted it so much that she pounded her chest: "I should have slept for two more hours and come back for the stone carving class!"

Ju Hui was panting heavily, not wanting to be given a demerit for being ten minutes late. Just as she was about to stand up to explain, her left hand was pulled down forcefully, and Ju Hui's buttocks were slammed back into place.

She and Yun Aonan turned to look, and a row of people booed them in unison.

"We've already called out for you," the squad leader whispered.

Yun Aonan's smile was forced; she didn't quite believe it.

But when the second class ended, the teacher called out the names of the students who hadn't answered, and their names weren't among them.

Several people were still absent. The old professor sighed heavily and silently noted them down on the attendance list. Then, as if remembering something, he called out, "Ju Hui."

"Here." Ju Hui was so nervous that her throat tightened.

"Oh, they really are here." The professor lowered his head and continued writing down the list, explaining, "They used to skip classes a lot last semester, but they've been doing well this semester."

Ju Hui awkwardly left class under everyone's gaze; her name had recently topped the sculpture department's trending searches. Students surged towards the door, leaving in small groups from the stairwell. Ju Hui didn't know who to thank, but Yun Aonan pulled her forward quickly, jogging to the class monitor's side.

"Class monitor, who can help us answer? Teacher Liu is calling out names one by one, face to face." The class monitor was one of the few girls in the class. Yun Aonan came over, and the group walked out of the teaching building together towards the open-air classroom.

The class monitor raised an eyebrow, signaling the group of boys in front of them to slow down, and whispered, "They just begged the girls from other departments in front of them for help."

"Ah, why?"

"Because of Ju Hui, they're afraid of being knocked to the ground like Senior Sheng Qijing." The class monitor smiled at Ju Hui, her eyes narrowing into slits in the bright sunlight. "Ju Hui, are you really that strong?"

"Heh, a lie repeated a thousand times..."

Stone carving class requires using steel chisels to carve geometric shapes into stones, creating a dusty environment. Last week in class, Ju Hui tried swinging the hammer and found it much easier than Yun Aonan's...

At 10 o'clock, the group arrived at the basalt square. Next to it was a tin shed, where metal forging and materials experiments were also conducted in an open-air setting.

Ju Hui had excellent eyesight and noticed Sheng Qijing, who was wearing a leather apron and holding a welding torch under the shed, with orange-red sparks flying all around.

"Do fifth-year students still have classes...?"

"No way, it must be my graduation project..."

Ju Hui heard the classmate in front of her secretly pointing in his direction, so she walked faster.

When class started, the teacher said that they had just run out of stones but not enough carts. The students put on goggles and cotton gloves and formed groups of four to carry the 100-pound bluestone slabs by hand. The girls joined the boys' groups.

Ju Hui was assigned to the group of boys who were helping them answer the questions.

The distance from the stone quarry to the carving area was short, but screams of agony echoed all around.

"Thank you for answering our questions in the last class."

Ju Hui's group was unusually quiet. She was holding one of the corners, and her knuckles ached as if they were about to bleed, but her voice still sounded calm.

"Oh, it's nothing." The boy walking in front didn't look at her, his voice squeezed out through clenched teeth.

The group fell silent again. Ju Hui hung her head, beads of sweat rolling down her neck. She followed their steps until her cotton gloves were almost worn through by the gravel. Then the boys called out to her, "Senior!"

She looked up and saw Sheng Qijing and Pei Yao walking towards her, each going in opposite directions.

Sheng Qijing nodded to them, then noticed the small Ju Hui behind him; it really was her taking class next door. Sweat dripped from her temples in the sunlight, and her thin gloves couldn't hide her trembling elbows and wrists.

Ju Hui kept her head down.

She seems ready to cry at any moment.

Almost simultaneously, Sheng Qijing subconsciously took his hand out of his apron pocket and moved his foot a little closer to her.

In the blink of an eye, Sheng Qijing withdrew his foot and walked straight past Ju Hui.

The subtle changes were clearly visible to everyone. When Sheng Qijing saw that the girl behind him was Ju Hui, he immediately gave up on helping her!

Sheng Qijing dislikes Ju Hui.

The silent flow of emotions resonates with the wind.

Ju Hui didn't notice the awkwardness; she only knew that she had walked the last few steps before her arms were about to give way, adding two more pieces of solid evidence to the rumors.

A hundred pounds is no joke, and chiseling is like a large-scale aerobic private training session. Undoubtedly, the stone carving class exhausted Ju Hui's strength, and her palms were even blistered from the tools.

By nightfall, these blood bubbles had swelled into the shape of a red pufferfish.

Not wanting to study or work, Ju Hui just wanted to curl up on the sofa, belly up, arms outstretched until she had completely slept there. That was all she wanted to do tonight.

After an unknown amount of time, Sheng Qijing quietly came over, pulled her pajamas down, and covered her navel again. With his other hand, he gently lifted her waist, helped her sit up, and let her rest her head on his lap.

The burning heat beneath her felt like a soft blanket on a cool night, and Ju Hui was so comfortable that she almost fell asleep.

Whether it was a second or twenty minutes, Ju Hui felt her palms were icy cold in her dream. She opened her eyes and found that Sheng Qijing's upper body was stiffly tilted.

Ju Hui's head was close to his waist and abdomen, and she could clearly feel his oblique abdominal muscles stretching and rising and falling.

Sheng Qijing sat in the middle of the sofa, his thighs fixed in place by Ju Hui. He leaned his body towards Ju Hui's hand, and cotton swabs and medicine were lightly swept across her palm, leaving a thin mist, just the right amount.

After the medicine was applied, Sheng Qijing slowly straightened his body, only to see Ju Hui staring at him with her almond-shaped eyes.

Sheng Qijing was taken aback, her ears burning instantly. She told her to pull her arm back: "Why aren't you saying anything when you're awake?"

Sheng Qijing bent down and placed the medicine on the table. The plastic bottle made a soft thud as it hit the table. The corner of his shirt brushed against Ju Hui's face, bringing with it the same pleasant fragrance.

Ju Hui was stunned for a moment, then her neck stiffened immediately. She raised her head and carefully sniffed his clothes. After confirming that he was right, she slammed her head back down.

"You stole my laundry detergent!"

Ju Hui didn't stop. She stretched out her ten fingers, her belly wide open, and threatened to grab his clothes, wanting to get him dirty!

Sheng Qijing grabbed her waving hand: "It's right next to the washing machine, how would I know if it was the aunt or you who bought it?"

He pulled up her pajama pants, accidentally touching her ticklish spot. Ju Hui lost her composure, rolled over on his lap, and rubbed her hands against his thighs to pull herself back. Sheng Qijing quickly pressed her arms down.

If your belly is showing, just leave it showing; don't move around too much.

His large hand caressed her forearm; the slight roughness and thin calluses on his palm were the result of his neglect. Ju Hui didn't mind; every sculptor develops these over time.

"Thank you," Ju Hui said, her gratitude sounding less natural than before. "Actually, it's not serious, don't worry about it."

Sheng Qijing gave a soft hum, like an "hmm".

"But I don't want to be touched by rough hands."

Ju Hui propped herself up with her wrists, and Sheng Qijing leaned back, his legs suddenly empty. The two stared at each other for a long time.

Even if she was pretending, she had to make it convincing—so, Ju Hui lowered her gaze; she had to do something to repay him.

“Qi Jing…”

"Let's go see a movie."

Sheng Qijing turned his head and licked his lips.

Ju Hui chose a Norwegian film.

Nordic cinematography is known for its location shooting and minimalist aesthetics, often featuring cool tones reminiscent of gloomy cities. Sheng Qijing stared at this award-winning film, which resembled a documentary, and felt drowsy.

His eyelids drooped, and he would glance at Ju Hui in his arms every now and then.

She rested her head on his arm, her soft hair curled into small waves, silently reciting her lines, her expression pained like a child who had mistaken coffee for water.

Sheng Qijing: "You want to learn Norwegian?"

Before Ju Hui could repeat a couple of sentences, Sheng Qijing suddenly asked, "Do you want to study abroad there?"

Sheng Qijing wasn't asking very seriously, but it still startled Ju Hui. She looked up, her hair shaking like a rattle drumstick, and said with an exaggerated expression that she hadn't considered going to such a cold place, and then questioned him in return: "Why did you ask that?"

"Since you've already taken the IELTS, it means you've had plans to study abroad before. Now you also want to learn Norwegian, so you want to travel or live in Norway for an extended period."

Sheng Qijing raised his hand to support his head, then, drawing out his words, changed the subject.

“You said you wanted to be a contracted artist for Mo Chen (墨皴) and wouldn’t go to Norway.” He smiled at her, “It’s not cold in China.”

Whether it was her imagination or not, Sheng Qijing's smile seemed threatening, as if he could make things difficult for Ju Hui if she really went to study abroad. Ju Hui laughed it off and snuggled even closer to him.

In their feigned intimate scenes, Sheng Qijing's acting was superb, leaving Ju Hui utterly inferior. She was genuinely afraid of what he might do after learning about her study abroad plans...

Ju Hui would only stay out overnight on the nights when Yun Aonan didn't return to the apartment. She didn't ask where he was going, and Yun Aonan didn't know that she would go to the loft to work on her projects after finishing her work at the school workshop.

The school's sculpture workshop is very large, equipped with basic sculpture stands and turntables. Reusable waste materials are randomly refreshed in various corners every morning, and there are senior students who can be consulted at any time. The creative environment is no worse than that of a loft.

The only downside is that it's only open until midnight, which makes it difficult for Ju Hui, who has classes during the day, to catch up on her studies.

Ju Hui usually comes when she doesn't have classes, and Yun Aonan sometimes comes along to keep her company. However, her only role is to urge her to go home quickly to avoid the curfew; she can't really help much.

That morning, before class started at eight o'clock, Ju Hui rushed over from outside the school with her textbooks. In the empty room, there were two more people on either side of her workstation.

Sheng Qijing and Pei Yao.