Winter nights on the mountain were especially cold.
The filming area wasn’t like the cinema where they could turn on heating. Cheng Lele had to wear summer clothes for filming. Her body was covered with heat patches, and after filming she wrapped herself in a down jacket as tall as a person, but was still tormented by the cold wind until her nose turned somewhat red.
Chen An had prepared a thermos of ginger tea and ordered Cheng Lele to drink it all. Cheng Lele drank until her tongue was full of spicy flavor, but the cold really did subside quite a bit.
The old abbot also came to join the fun. While the crew was filming, he watched while chatting with Chen An, looking very familiar with each other. Because a teacher had provided advance guidance, Cheng Lele filmed more and more smoothly, spending more time waiting for the crew to adjust lighting and set up equipment.
While waiting, Chen An called Cheng Lele over and introduced her to the old abbot: “This is the person.”
“What ‘this person’?”
The old abbot joked: “Do I still have hope for funding to repair half my hall?”
Chen An said: “The crew has come here to film on location. There will be many more pilgrims in the future.”
Cheng Lele didn’t understand. Chen An touched her hair and said: “After we finish filming, we’ll pay our respects here.”
After the last scene ended, the crew presented flowers to the two actors. Liang Yuchao hugged Cheng Lele and said some words of thanks.
The two immediately took a photo together. Cheng Lele also pulled out several exclusive photos Huang Wei had sent over, arranged them in a nine-grid layout and posted to her Moments, carefully crafting the caption: “Big star has outstanding acting skills, is approachable, has a promising future. Thank you for your trust in Xingchen Cinema, looking forward to the movie’s box office success!”
Before long, a pile of people liked it.
The Tongda Cinema colleague group exploded again, everyone inquiring what the situation was. Cheng Lele naturally replied: “The crew just happened to come to the cinema to film, I was temporarily pulled in as an extra.”
She believed the crew wouldn’t leak the secret about the chief producer being coerced, so she felt justified in creating the illusion that they valued Xingchen Cinema.
Several local groups she’d recently joined were also extremely lively, everyone tagging her, wanting her to share her feelings about cooperating with the celebrity. Cheng Lele responded modestly with a couple sentences, then posted the emoji pack Huang Wei had photoshopped, with large glittering golden characters on it: Xingchen Cinema, the Choice of Stars!
The long day ended. Liang Yuchao got into his nanny van and went to a provincial capital hotel, while other staff members stayed overnight in Taixi. Chen Xiaomu was going to find Zhang Ying for a late-night snack. Cheng Lele wanted to follow, but she really was somewhat tired from this day, plus she inexplicably still had to pay respects here, so she didn’t go wild with Chen Xiaomu and the others.
After removing her makeup, Chen An pulled her into the main hall.
Late at night with heavy dew, candle flames flickering, the Buddha’s countenance solemn, Cheng Lele followed Chen An in properly kowtowing three times. After walking out, she said: “Little Brother, nobody comes to pay respects in the middle of the night, right?”
“When business isn’t this busy, people have the energy to care.”
Cheng Lele was convinced and asked: “Where did you park your car?”
Chen An said: “I climbed up together with you, didn’t drive over.”
Cheng Lele said: “Then how do we get back?”
Chen An said: “Let’s sleep here.”
Cheng Lele was startled: “In the hall? Isn’t that a bit eerie?”
Chen An tightened her down jacket collar: “There are single rooms for pilgrims in the back. Did you think monks all sleep in the hall?”
The two stepped through the bright white moonlight, traversing the temple that was so quiet it seemed like a vacuum. After turning two corners, they arrived at a single room.
The so-called single room was a small chamber. In front was a mini courtyard with a wintersweet plum tree blooming alone in the cold. Opening the room door revealed log-colored lattice work. Behind the lattice was a living room of about ten square meters, furnished with two wooden chairs with great design sense. Next to the chairs stood a bent fishing lamp, and beneath the chairs was a huge light-colored cashmere rug. One wall of the living room consisted of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, fully stocked with Buddhist sutras.
Inside the living room was the bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom window faced directly toward that wintersweet plum tree. Someone had come to tidy the room in advance, because wispy sandalwood incense was already burning inside.
The bathroom was stocked with toiletries and pajamas. When Cheng Lele walked in and saw familiar brands of shampoo and body wash, already half-used, she pinched the bottles and walked out to ask: “Little Brother, don’t tell me you’ve rented this room for the whole year?”
Chen An smiled: “You figured it out.”
“Do you come often?”
“When I’m in a bad mood.”
Cheng Lele stood at the bathroom door looking at him and asked again: “So do you come often?”
Chen An looked at her dark eyes and said: “In the future, when I’m in a good mood, I’ll come often with you.”
Cheng Lele nodded with a heavy heart, went in to take a simple hot shower and came out. When Chen An went to shower, Cheng Lele took down a Buddhist sutra to read, planning to heal her heartache. Opening it, she found all vertical text like earthworms—she couldn’t even figure out where to pause, didn’t know how to pronounce several characters, and felt she was so far from profound Buddhist teachings. She thought this wasn’t as good as reading math. After persisting through one page, she immediately lay down on the cashmere rug and fell asleep.
When Chen An carried her to bed, Cheng Lele woke up. Remembering the Buddhist sutra she’d read before sleeping, she curiously asked Chen An: “Have you finished reading all those books?”
Chen An said: “No, those books were placed by the old abbot. When I can’t sleep, I flip through them and can sleep much better.”
Cheng Lele rarely found common ground with the academic achiever: “I was just thinking, if you finished reading all that, wouldn’t you reach six senses purified, almost the same as becoming a monk? What would be the point of dating then?”
Chen An turned off the light and asked: “Aren’t you sleeping?”
Cheng Lele said: “I was very sleepy earlier, slept for a bit and now I’m okay. I feel like this day was very unreal. I even acted in a scene with a traffic celebrity.”
Saying this, she opened her phone and scanned various local news pieces. Her Moments post had actually been screenshot and reposted to public accounts, and even appeared in Liang Yuchao’s super-topic on Weibo.
Cheng Lele remembered—Huang Wei was one of Liang Yuchao’s super-topic moderators. Looking at the style inside, it was quite harmonious. Not a single person paid attention to her… everyone was singing praises about how handsome their brother was.
Just as she was browsing with focused attention, Chen An suddenly reached out and snatched away her phone.
“What are you doing?” Cheng Lele turned to look at Chen An, only to hear Chen An ask in her ear: “Cheng Lele, are you still watching porn?”
Unlike Liang Yuchao, when Chen An spoke in her ear, Cheng Lele found it very ticklish.
Cheng Lele’s brain was still lingering on Liang Yuchao’s fan economy when she was suddenly hit with this plot twist, letting out a very brief “Huh?”
After two seconds, she reacted: “Little Brother, how did you eavesdrop on other people’s conversation? Chen Xiaomu forcibly sent it to me unilaterally. She insisted I was frigid.”
“Mm, she also called me a little virgin.” Chen An rolled over in one motion to hover above Cheng Lele, his eyes burning as he looked at the person beneath him. “Should we prove she was wrong?”
Cheng Lele caught on and swallowed: “Little Brother, this is a sacred Buddhist site, let’s not, okay?”
“Buddha manages so many families’ fertility issues. He encourages this activity.”
Hearing about fertility, Cheng Lele stuttered: “I, I don’t want children at this stage right now.”
Chen An could respond to anything: “We won’t have any. I brought condoms.”
Cheng Lele was shocked: “Why did you bring those to a temple?”
Chen An honestly confessed: “I bought them on the spot.”
“Out in the wilderness, where would you buy them?”
Chen An felt the fault wasn’t his: “You kissed me dizzy at the cinema. When we changed locations, I went to a convenience store in passing.”
Cheng Lele suddenly understood, completely unaware of the danger as she smiled mischievously: “No wonder you insisted on keeping me here to worship Buddha in the middle of the night. You had ulterior motives all along.”
Chen An stared into Cheng Lele’s eyes, his gaze focused yet tender, his voice low and bewitching: “Is it okay?”
Cheng Lele hesitated: “Let me think first.”
Chen An then leaned down to kiss her, first kissing her eyes, because after her shower Cheng Lele possessed a pair of dewy eyes like a lost little deer, very seductive. Next was her nose—the small mole on the tip of her nose was very faint, but this was her unique mark, very clear even in his dreams over these years. Then her lips, rosy and delicate like a flower, no matter how much he gathered them he wouldn’t tire of it. He patiently kissed her, giving her enough time to think it over.
While receiving Chen An’s kisses, Cheng Lele rationally analyzed three points:
First, since childhood she hadn’t been very good at making very close friends. After growing up, she was even busier with no time to meet new friends. If not for Little Brother, if she wanted to resolve life’s major matters, she might only be able to go on blind dates. The afternoon’s tortuous filming process proved she was especially sensitive to physical contact with strangers. So, if not for Little Brother, she would most likely be destined to die alone.
Second, the intimacy in the office showed that both mentally and physically she had prepared for this aspect.
Third, the two loved each other and were familiar enough with each other that they didn’t need to go through the long adjustment period ordinary couples required.
From the above three points, a clear conclusion could easily be drawn: doing this was natural and proper, a matter of course.
Just as every leap forward in this relationship had been almost simultaneously summarized and advanced by her, this final step was the same. After careful consideration, she put her mental analysis into action with her hands, quickly untying the waist belt of Chen An’s blue bathrobe and saying decisively: “Let’s do it.”
The action was so swift that even Chen An had to pause in surprise. However, he only paused for that instant. Immediately after, Chen An seized back the initiative. Because he had rehearsed very thoroughly and meticulously in his dreams, everything progressed very smoothly. It might also be because his partner was much more cooperative, proactive, and brave than in his dreams.
The air seemed to be mixed with faint wintersweet fragrance. The moonlight shining through the gauze curtains was also hazy. Only the two people on the bed were so intense they almost melted like dissolved sugar.