Psychiatric Hospital

Qin Qingyan said goodbye to the people behind her and stepped out in high spirits. At a glance, she spotted the black car that had come specially to pick her up.

She opened the door and got in, fastened her seat belt, and the car started moving.

On the way home, Qin Qingyan chatted about amusing things from the shoot. Yan Yue responded now and then, but Qin Qingyan could clearly tell something was off in her tone. Fixing her gaze on Yan Yue, she said in a drawn-out voice, “You’re acting weird.”

Yan Yue spared her a quick glance before looking back at the road. “No... Earlier you said the actress who played your sister was younger than you?”

“Yeah, but only by a month,” Qin Qingyan said.

“A month is still enough to play your older sister,” Yan Yue said seriously.

Qin Qingyan still felt that Yan Yue was off. Why was she suddenly asking about that actress? Thinking back to today’s scenes, she suddenly guessed something.

“Did you wait for me in the car the whole time?” Qin Qingyan asked on purpose.

“Mm.” Yan Yue said.

So she had gotten out of the car.

“You didn’t come into the film crew to watch me act?” Qin Qingyan asked again.

“No,” Yan Yue said.

So she had gone in.

The answer formed in Qin Qingyan’s mind. She looked at Yan Yue with a knowing smile. “Don’t tell me you happened to walk in on one of my intimate scenes? Are you jealous?”

“Intimate scene?” Yan Yue asked. Were there other intimate scenes?

“Of course. A hug barely counts as anything; there was a fake kiss, a scene where we shared a bed, and even one where we bathed together,” Qin Qingyan said, listing them one by one with complete seriousness.

Yan Yue’s expression grew darker and darker. In that case, what she had seen today really was nothing much.

“Qin-laoshi’s life really is rich,” Yan Yue said with a cold laugh.

Seeing the annoyed look on her face, Qin Qingyan couldn’t hold back and laughed. Leaning back against the car seat, she tilted her head to look at Yan Yue; the laugh still lingered at the corners of her mouth and in the depths of her eyes.

“I was teasing you. You were jealous, weren’t you?” Qin Qingyan said.

Yan Yue kept her expression natural. “No. I wouldn’t.”

“Really?” Qin Qingyan leaned closer, closing the distance between them.

Their faint scents became even more noticeable in the confined space. Qin Qingyan stared at Yan Yue, her eyes full of tenderness and anticipation.

Yan Yue lifted a fingertip and made a small gesture. “A little.”

When they got home, after dinner and washing up, the two of them lay back on the bed, each busy with their own things. Qin Qingyan was stretched across Yan Yue’s lap, holding up her phone and chatting with Su Yan; after a while, she shifted into a prone position.

Su Yan: Rare. Even President Yan gets jealous? Sister Qingyan, the timing is perfect; all the conditions are in place. If you don’t go all the way now, when will you?!

Qin Qingyan naturally understood what Su Yan meant by “go all the way.” Her cheeks warmed slightly as she glanced at Yan Yue, who was working. They always said focused people were the most attractive; right now, she especially agreed.

Under the amber light, Yan Yue’s features seemed gentler. Her thin-rimmed glasses were as alluring as their owner; her slightly damp hair was tucked behind her ears, with a few loose strands at her forehead standing up lively, making her look much more vivid.

This was the woman she loved; was she not supposed to want to go all the way? She had long had the thought. But one had to endure a little to avoid ruining the bigger picture; she couldn’t let Yan Yue think she was frivolous.

Qin Qingyan: Endure a little to avoid ruining the bigger picture.

Su Yan: ...

Qin Qingyan: You don’t understand.

Su Yan: ...

After putting down her phone, Yan Yue was still busy, her brows faintly furrowed. Qin Qingyan turned toward her, her smile soft.

Soon Yan Yue had mostly finished, took off her glasses, and rubbed the center of her brows. Qin Qingyan seized the opportunity to sit on her lap, her legs hooking shamelessly around her waist. She leaned in to rub her head against Yan Yue’s neck, then pulled back and looked into her eyes.

Qin Qingyan’s hair was a mess on her forehead. Yan Yue reached out to help straighten it. Qin Qingyan obediently lowered her head and unintentionally caught sight of her own collar having been nudged askew, exposing an enticing collarbone. Qin Qingyan swallowed, wanting nothing more than to bite it.

“Seeing me jealous seems to make you very happy,” Yan Yue said, her fingertip sliding over Qin Qingyan’s nose.

Qin Qingyan nodded solemnly, then nodded again. “More than just happy. Extremely happy!”

“Actually, I do have possessive feelings toward someone I care about. They just weren’t obvious before; maybe it was because you did so well,” Yan Yue said.

She had done so well, so Yan Yue hadn’t even had a chance to be jealous.

Qin Qingyan leaned in affectionately and rubbed the tip of her nose against Yan Yue’s. “Do you know? That line is more moving than any sweet talk.”

Yan Yue suddenly let out a soft laugh. They looked at each other, then closed their eyes and kissed.

Qin Qingyan pulled her closer and kissed her back with feeling, unhurriedly, savoring the softness of her lips. The hand resting on her shoulder tightened; Qin Qingyan took it as encouragement, yet beyond kissing her she couldn’t do anything else. A breath slipped from her mouth, sounding both dissatisfied and a little sulky.

The kiss drifted to Yan Yue’s neck. Qin Qingyan lightly bit the fair skin there, then buried her face at the crook of her neck and steadied her uneven breathing.

One day, just as usual, Qin Qingyan arrived at the film crew early in the morning. It wasn’t until their lunch break that Zheng Jingteng asked to see her. She knew what it was about, so she went to meet him.

The two stood side by side, their gazes both fixed on the distance, though what they saw was not the same.

“I guessed it long ago; I’d just been deceiving myself,” Zheng Jingteng said. “But I still want to hear you answer me yourself. What exactly is your relationship with Yan Yue?”

“You really do like deceiving yourself,” Qin Qingyan said. “Yan Yue and I are dating, or to be more precise, we’ve been together for more than two years.”

Zheng Jingteng gave a bitter, self-mocking laugh. “If I wanted to interfere, there would always be some chance, wouldn’t there?”

Qin Qingyan looked at him and answered with finality, “No.”

Zheng Jingteng turned to stare at her. “Qin Qingyan, I still won’t accept it. I don’t like her any less than you do. Why should she not like me?”

“Why don’t you deal with your own private mess before talking about sincerity? Don’t forget, Yu Qingyan is still your girlfriend,” Qin Qingyan said.

“She’s not! We’re only using each other. She’s not my fucking girlfriend,” Zheng Jingteng shouted.

Qin Qingyan waved a hand and turned away. Before leaving, she said, “Got it. I’ll remember how deeply in love you two are.”

“Qin Qingyan!”

An angry shout rang out behind her. The mocking smile on her face faded. She really couldn’t understand how someone could be dating one woman while thinking about another, and then call it mutual benefit, as if that made it noble. It was nothing but a hypocritical trick to whitewash their own ugliness and filth. Someone like that didn’t deserve anyone’s sincerity.

After Qin Qingyan left, the anger on Zheng Jingteng’s face gradually vanished. A man emerged from a concealed corner nearby and handed him a phone. Zheng Jingteng flipped through the carefully taken photos, a cold smile appearing on his face. He put the phone away, slipped both hands into his pockets, and looked dreamily toward the distant high-rises.

When he returned to the Xu Family, as expected, Xu Changlan was already waiting for him, a folding fan in hand and two men in black standing beside her. Judging by the setup, she was furious; and that was exactly the effect he wanted.

He hesitated as he walked up to her, watching her expression. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you asleep this late?”

“You think I could sleep after this?” Xu Changlan’s eyes were ice-cold as she smiled.

Zheng Jingteng tightened his cuffs and said nothing.

She lifted his chin with the tip of her whip, forcing him to meet her eyes.

“What... what is it?” he asked.

A sharp slap landed on his face. The pain was hot and stinging; he looked at her in disbelief. In the past, no matter how angry she got, she had never laid a hand on his face.

Xu Changlan’s hand gently brushed over the fan. “As expected of an actor; you probably even rehearsed the lines for coming to see me.”

A bad feeling flickered in Zheng Jingteng’s heart.

A phone was thrown at him. He caught it and looked down; the photos showed him standing together with Qin Qingyan. That was exactly the evidence he had wanted to make Xu Changlan misunderstand. But very soon, his expression changed drastically. In the last few photos, he saw the scene of that man handing him the phone.

Xu Changlan knew everything.

“You wanted to deliberately make me misunderstand that you and Qin Qingyan were involved, so I’d handle her for you, didn’t you? Zheng Jingteng, the entertainment industry’s petty tricks aren’t enough for you to play with me. I warned you; I don’t lack pretty men,” Xu Changlan said, patting her clothes. “You’ve been with me this long and still don’t know that what I hate most is being played for a fool?”

She turned and patted one of the black-clad men on the shoulder. “Yan Yue likes women. Since you want to pursue her, of course you have to keep pace, don’t you? Go ahead and have fun with them. Don’t waste all my painstaking efforts.”

Zheng Jingteng trembled all over and tried to run, but it was too late. The two men in black had clearly been trained; their speed and strength were far beyond his reach.

Screams rose one after another. Xu Changlan listened from the backyard, leisurely sipping tea. This had only just begun; the order she had given was for the whole night.

The next morning, the two men in black tidied their clothes, reported to Xu Changlan, collected their money, and left. Passing through the living room on their way out, they looked at Zheng Jingteng, lying naked on the filthy floor with only one breath left in him, and exchanged lewd, malicious smiles. They said something in low voices, and the words drifted away.

Zheng Jingteng stared blankly at the ceiling. His position was uncomfortable, but he had no energy to care. His entire body was nothing but pain; the pain had gone numb.

Not long after, a group of people cleaned up the area and moved him like a dead thing. Someone covered him with clothes, but he couldn’t say a word. Later, he was put into a car; as for where it was going, he didn’t know.

Yu Qingyan and Zheng Jingteng had taken a couple-themed variety show. Yet she couldn’t get through to him no matter how long she called; afterward she called his manager instead. After several tries, the call finally went through. Just as she was about to lose her patience and curse, she seemed to hear something and froze, staring blankly until the call was hung up.

The phone slipped from her hand and hit the floor with a clatter, jolting her back to her senses. She shuddered uncontrollably.

Online discussion about Zheng Jingteng grew more and more intense. It started when a netizen photographed Zheng Jingteng being sent into a psychiatric hospital. Many people cursed him and said he deserved it, though a small number of fans still defended him.

The incident became heated quickly, and it died down quickly too.

Within three or four days, most of the discussion had already faded. After another two or three days, there was basically nothing left to search.

Of course Qin Qingyan saw that hot search too. From the last time she saw Zheng Jingteng to the moment he was exposed as having been sent to a psychiatric hospital, only two days had passed. In just two days, she felt certain something must have happened to him.

Most likely, he had offended the person behind him.

And that person, Yan Yue had told her, was Xu Changlan.