Chapter 79

"See you tomorrow."

After saying goodbye, Ranlong was still reluctant to hang up the phone.

Watching the call timer increase little by little, she wondered if Qiu An missed her very much after not seeing her for several days.

As if guessing what she was thinking, Qiu An's soft voice came from the other end of the phone:

"I miss you so much, Ranlong."

But her voice was so soft, as if she was holding the phone far away and speaking carefully.

Fortunately, she was paying close attention and heard it.

Ranlong's face turned red. She leaned closer to the microphone and said to Qiu An, "I, I miss you too."

She was still wondering if there was a little bit of ambiguity between them now. Beyond the friendship between ordinary friends, but also beyond the friendship between ordinary sex partners, the kind that would make pink bubbles appear.

She was still thinking, she liked Qiu An so much, did Qiu An actually like her too?

Otherwise, you see, people like Sister Hou and Xixi, although they were also worried about her disappearance, after receiving her call that she was safe, they just scolded her harshly, and were not reluctant to hang up the phone, nor did they say that they missed her very much.

Also, if Qiu An likes her, then is Qiu An's liking the same as hers?

Is it the kind of relationship where you want to be lovers, the kind where you want to spend the rest of your life together?

Ranlong held the phone in her hands, her eyes full of piety, as if she was expecting a miracle to happen, waiting for Qiu An to guess her thoughts again and respond to her.

Unfortunately, three minutes passed and nothing was heard except the faint sound of breathing.

Does she have too many questions?

Although she wanted to continue listening, it was already early in the morning and Qiu An was still outside alone, which seemed unsafe. She said reluctantly, "Okay, you better drive carefully first. I'm hanging up now."

"Well, hang up."

Ranlong raised his finger and stared at the red hang-up button, still hesitating. A thin, white finger flashed by beside him and pressed the button quickly and accurately. The call ended in the blink of an eye.

Ranlong: “…What are you doing?”

Yao Ling took back the ruthless finger and, without changing his posture, directly put it into his ear and started digging: "I'm a living person listening here, don't you find it disgusting?"

Ranlong said angrily, "You're the one digging your ears with your fingers, you're disgusting!"

"Don't you see how dirty your ears are? You're even more disgusting!"

As the two primary school students pointed at each other's noses and cursed at each other, the yellow words on the ticket gate display screen flashed and turned green "Ticket Checking".

When the announcement sounded, the two of them immediately stopped what they were doing, swiftly put on their small backpacks and pulled up their small suitcases, and walked onto the empty and deserted platform.

Mosquitoes danced beneath the lights. If it were daytime, looking down from above, the open-air platform would be the only gray spot amidst the rolling hills. The scent of green grass filled my nostrils, and in the distance, the jungle glowed with light. Just as I strained my eyes to see, a gentle breeze whipped through fallen leaves, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished.

There are treasures everywhere here that you can’t smell or see in big cities.

The landscape here is beautiful, and the people who grew up here should be beautiful too. They should be beautiful.

Autumn is here, and the temperature in the mountains is always lower than in the city. I forgot about this when I came here and didn't bring enough clothes.

Before the train arrived at the station, I could hear the rustling of leaves in the distance, followed by a gust of strong wind.

Ranlong closed her lapels and tightened her collar in time, but her thin clothes could not withstand the cool breeze, and she still shivered.

The air conditioning temperature on the train was always set very low, but Ranlong felt the warmth on his face the moment the door opened.

She and Yao Ling bought tickets for the high-rise bunk bed. As soon as they entered the compartment, Yao Ling looked at her tall figure and long legs, and considerately chose the upper bunk, climbing up in no time.

I thought it would be convenient to reach Ducheng after a good sleep, but Ranlong tossed and turned in bed and couldn't fall asleep.

The breathing sounds coming from the upper bunk gradually calmed down, so Ranlong tiptoed out of bed, opened the curtains to a place where Yaoling could not be shone through, and curled up on the small sofa.

The moon was very bright that night, even though it was missing a tooth, it was still dazzling.

The moonlight shines all the way from Beiji to Ducheng, and then to Zhilin.

It was very far from Beiji to Zhilin, and the moon was high in the sky, making it unreachable. But at this moment, looking at the bright moon hanging high in the sky, she suddenly felt that the distance between her and Qiu An had shortened a lot.

It's incredible.

She and Yao Ling could have slept in a nearby hotel for one night, then taken the high-speed rail to the nearest Zhilin Airport the next day, and then flew directly to Beiji from the airport.

Unfortunately, Zhilin's flight to Beiji was only available the next afternoon. Ranlong wanted to go back early, so he dragged Yaoling along.

Fortunately, Yao Ling also had a strong desire to go home, so he agreed to her request without much hesitation.

Of course, if Yao Ling rejected her, she would have to travel alone.

The next day, they arrived in Beiji and parted ways with Yao Ling. Ranlong then rushed back to Caihui Huating without stopping.

She is not a good cook, so if she wants to serve a table full of dishes, she naturally has to prepare them early.

As soon as I put down my suitcase, I ran straight to the supermarket downstairs without even having time to drink a sip of water, for fear that the fresh vegetables would be sold out if I was late.

I completely forgot that there were no elderly people living in this community, and the supermarket was empty at ten o'clock in the morning.

I couldn't control my hands from grabbing the vegetables, so I bought two very heavy bags again. After carrying them home, I found that the only electric cooker in the house was broken.

There is no gas stove in the kitchen, and Ranlong seldom cooks at home. The only things that can heat up food at home are an electric cooker, a microwave, an electric rice cooker, and barely a kettle.

Ranlong looked at the fresh food in his hand and felt worried.

She had done many feats like using a kettle to boil shrimps, eggs, and instant noodles, but she was going to entertain Qiu An after all, so she couldn't just make do with this.

In fact, shopping is so convenient now, it is not that difficult to buy a cooking pot and induction cooker on the spur of the moment, but she somehow sent a message to Qiu An:

My pot at home is broken. Can I have dinner at your house tonight? That way, you can go home and have dinner right after work.

On this side, Qiu An is shooting an advertisement, and her mobile phone has been handed over to Xixi for safekeeping.

Xixi opened her phone and saw the message. Without thinking, she replied: "This is Xixi. Sister Qiu An is filming and doesn't have time to reply. Just go ahead and don't worry. She won't mind. I'll let her know when I'm done."

Ranlong happily replied "OK, thank you" and suddenly fell into deep thought.

Sister Hou told her that Xixi had asked many people for help in order to find her, and not only had she spent a lot of overtime pay, she herself also stayed up all night.

It would have been fine if Xixi didn't know, but now that she knows she's going to cook for Qiu An, shouldn't she be polite to her and invite her to eat together?

Although she knew that Sissi would most likely refuse, she was afraid that it would be bad if Sissi agreed on impulse.

Xixi watched the dialog box flash "typing" several times before returning to calm. Fearing that she was about to say something sticky and disgusting, she quickly typed:

[Sister Qiu An isn't here right now. If you have any emotional needs, wait until she's done with her work before you two get involved. I don't want to hear it.]

[What are you talking about?! This is Qiu An's phone! Take it back now! Take it back now!]

Why did Sissi say such a thing?

Could it be that she found out about what they did on the set?

Ranlong's face turned red and green, and she pressed Xixi to withdraw the money. After that, she showed no trust in her and asked her to take a screenshot and send it to him.

After taking the screenshot, she was worried that Xixi would not remember to withdraw the screenshot record, that she would forget to delete the screenshot photo, or that she would forget to empty the album recycle bin after deleting the photo...

Before going to Qiu An's house, Ranlong took a bath at home.

Because she was worried about Yao Ling saying her ears were dirty, she rubbed and picked them for a long time, and only stopped when her ears, which had been washed thinly, turned red and were about to break.

I carried the food to Qiu An's house and opened the door with the room card I left last time.

As soon as the door opened, the familiar aroma of grass and trees that I had been preparing to greet was dashed. Instead of that scent, the room was filled with a nauseating, acrid smell of cigarette smoke, so strong that even the ventilation system couldn't get rid of it.

Ranlong frowned and pushed open all the windows in Qiu An's house, then turned on the air conditioner in every room and switched them to ventilation mode in an attempt to quickly dissipate the smoke.

She saw cigarette ashes and butts scattered in the trash can, and there were more than ten of them that could be counted.

Qiu An has always been restrained in smoking, but why did he smoke so many cigarettes yesterday?

Is it because you can't find her and are worried about her...

I went downstairs to help Qiu An take out the trash. When I came back, the smell in the house had dissipated a lot.

Guilt suddenly overwhelmed me and I couldn't relieve it, so I had to focus on preparing food and cooking.

She was afraid that the recipes she found online were unreliable, so she made a video call to Ms. Hu and humbly accepted her guidance.

Ms. Hu saw her busy and frantic dancing, the shrimps jumping around and she screaming, and even taking a long time to put the lid on the pressure cooker. She was very impatient, and while she was teaching her, she wanted to rush over and do it for her herself.

Ranlong tried to persuade her, saying that this was a meal to apologize to your dear Anan, and that she had to make it herself to show her sincerity, and only then did she reluctantly persuade Ms. Hu to eat.

After working for a long time, a few dishes were finally served.

Fortunately, Chef Hu gave proper guidance, and Ran Long was talented and patient. He adjusted the saltiness by adding salt grain by grain and pouring soy sauce drop by drop, and the finished product actually looked quite presentable.

Especially the stewed pig's trotters with kidney beans and the shrimp with vermicelli in garlic sauce, the more you smell it, the more fragrant it becomes, and the more you look at it, the more satisfying it becomes.

Ranlong's tail was up in the sky, and his self-confidence was inflated. He thought that even if he became out of fashion and couldn't get any acting jobs, he would not starve to death by changing his career to become a chef.

Looking at the time, it’s time for Qiu An to come back from filming.

Just after finishing the video call with Ms. Hu, I saw a message from Xixi saying that the brand wanted to add an interview and Qiu An might be back later.

Ranlong put the food back into the pot to keep it warm, took off her apron, washed her hands, and sat on the sofa to rest.

The sudden free time after a busy day made her feel bored. After playing with her mobile phone for a while, a very sudden thought popped up in her mind.

Does Qiu An still have that sexy lingerie?