Chapter 8 Part2 (1/2)
My Darling (我的曼达林) — Chapter 8.2
by
Prior to that moment on the phone when he had begged her to let him try one last time, Jian Bianlin had actually tried once to “ask” Chu Jian to give him a chance. Can you think of when that was? (I admit it. My heart went out to Jian Bianlin when I found out about that, and I choked up a bit.)
Chapter 8.2 — Your Smile that is Even More Enchanting (2)
That night, the people downstairs caroused away until past three in the morning.
Lying on the bed, Chu Jian watched him remove his top and pants. As he lifted up a corner of the quilt to slide underneath it, she was terribly anxious. This was unlike last night. Last night, she had not known what would happen and therefore had been fearless out of ignorance. Now, though… Chu Jian squeezed herself closer to the wall. When he pulled her with one arm against his bare chest, her entire mind was filled with s.n.a.t.c.hes of images from the previous night and how he had tired her out for several hours and not let her sleep.
Out of reflex, her heart began to pound against her chest, and she was a little breathless. ”This bed is too loud…”
Jian Bianlin: ”I'll be more gentle.”
Those words were simply too provocative. Gentle? How was he even going to be ”gentle”? Jian Bianlin's hand was fumblingly caressing her back, and though he tried to control himself, it was completely without success. However, he had only just s.h.i.+fted his leg before the bed had let out a couple of cries of creak, creak, like it was trying to join in with the spirit of the moment. Jian Bianlin could not hold himself back, and pressing his forehead beside her ear, he felt around on the table for the television remote control. His finger slid several rounds around the remote control until he finally found the red b.u.t.ton and turned on the television.
Chu Jian protested, ”You're turning on the TV in the middle of the night. Isn't that just 'covering your own ears while stealing a bell[1]' [only able to deceive yourself]?”
The television was turned off again. The surroundings slipped back into stillness.
Afraid that she would get angry, Jian Bianlin dared not make any rash moves and could only slowly use kisses to torture her. From her lower lip to her upper lip to her tongue, he silently tormented her lips. Gradually, they became sore from his nibbling. Chu Jian s.h.i.+fted, gingerly trying to evade him. The bed once more gave squeals of creak, creak…
How could Jian Bianlin possibly curb himself at this point? But unexpectedly, Chu Jian, whose ears had been p.r.i.c.ked up the entire time, suddenly broke out into giggles. ”Oh man, I can't. I really want to laugh.”
Jian Bianlin brushed his face across her lips, his kisses trailing down along the curve of her arched neck while his hands did not so much as pause. ”Be good… be good.”
In the end, though, they were still interrupted by the creaking of the bed. Chu Jian shoved at him frantically. ”Think of of a way to deal with that first…”
Deciding to simply yank the quilt onto the floor, he lifted her off the bed and then lay down with her on top of the quilt. After nuzzling for only a while, Chu Jian felt achy from the top of her head to her back from being pressed into the hard cement floor, and when her elbow slipped down and knocked against the ground, it hurt, too. Anyway, even with the quilt cus.h.i.+oning them underneath, it still was not good enough. The floor was just too hard… Jian Bianlin tried to accommodate her, but switching through a variety of different positions had no noticeable effect. Eventually, with nothing he could do about it, he held her in his arms and kissed her for a long time, from top to bottom. Then, lifting her back up onto the bed and wrapping her snugly in the bedsheets, he sat by himself on the edge of the bed, his head propped in his hands as he composed himself for a dozen or so seconds.
Under the lamplight, Chu Jian leaned in close and looked at him. ”Jian Bianlin?”
She brought a smile to his face with this action, and in soundless mirth, he bit down hard on his lower lip. After a while, he heaved a sigh. ”The blanket is dirty. Just wait.”
From the bedside, he grabbed his pants back over, slipped them on, and did up his belt. His upper body still bare, he put on his down jacket and walked out the door. Before long, he returned with a clean quilt in his arms.
Just go to sleep. Don't think about anything.
Seven days later, filming out in the boonies finished, and the Lantern Festival[2] also happened to be drawing near.
The lead actress had requested a three-day leave to shoot a commercial and go on a talk show program. On Jian Bianlin's end, Xie Bin had also arranged to have the rehearsal and actual event for his birthday celebration during this time. This year, Jian Bianlin's birthday had been spent in the hospital. In the end, he had actually been the one to suggest that, no matter how busy he was, he needed to have a makeup celebration for his fans.
Consequently, the night before the Lantern Festival, they hurried onto a plane and returned to Shanghai.
From the rehearsal to the actual performance, there was only three days' time.
On the surface, Jian Bianlin, having very little interaction with his fans, appeared to not be very close to them. Even on his Weibo, he had only ever posted, ”h.e.l.lo, everyone, this is Jian Bianlin,” when the account was first registered and then had never posted again.
However, from many of the little details, it could be seen that, in his heart, Jian Bianlin very much loved his fans but was just not good at expressing it.
For example, this makeup birthday celebration. Or for another example, regardless of his destination, whenever he was coming and going from an airport, he would never use the VIP pa.s.sageway, because he was afraid that the fans who had come to meet his flight would have made the special trip for nothing if they did not see him. Furthermore, the itinerary for each of his work trips was made public to prevent his fans from always having to spend time to investigate and figure out what his schedules and routes would be.
Hence, from when the airplane landed, he and Chu Jian had separated.
With her backpack on her back, Chu Jian stepped out of the exit. Seeing the people standing off on both sides with signs and mobile phones in hand, excitedly waiting for his appearance, she could not help turning around to take a look.
Jian Bianlin was in a spot less than twenty metres away from her. As a way to promote this current drama, he was purposely sporting the khaki pants and military boots that the male lead in the drama usually wore, but because of the cold weather, he was wearing a black t-s.h.i.+rt and a black down jacket. His physique really was just too good for words…
She did not know if Jian Bianlin had spotted her as she watched him pull out his mobile phone, typing swiftly on it with his thumbs. The next second, her own phone vibrated. It was a message from him.
I'll be home once I'm done with the dance rehearsal.
Soon after, he brushed right past her and walked out through the pa.s.sageway.
Chu Jian watched as he and his two a.s.sistants strode into the crowds. After allowing her eyes to follow him briefly, she began making plans. Although this could still be considered the Spring Festival holiday period, since she was back, she would go to the nail salon to just walk through and have a look at how things were doing. By the time she left the airport, took a taxi, and arrived at the nail salon, it was just past lunchtime.
Inside the shop, there were only two or three patrons, all of them regulars, leafing through magazines as they waited for their turns.
”Boss, you're back?” one of the nail technicians lifted her head to ask.
After giving a reply, Chu Jian brought the account book over to the sofa, sat down, and casually flipped through it. But while she was looking through, her mind shamefully began to wander.
The development of her and Jian Bianlin's relations.h.i.+p to date had truly been very remarkable.
They had been too familiar with one another, so at the beginning, it had been extremely awkward. Later, the relations.h.i.+p had not felt the least bit intriguing, mysterious, or romantic. For instance, sometimes when she watched him getting dressed, she would think, Oh, so that's what he looks like when he takes everything off, and would even eye him up and down a couple of extra times with great curiosity. In the most extreme cases, when he was caught up in a moment of pa.s.sion and was fumblingly fondling and stroking her, she would suddenly, for no apparent reason, burst into laughter. ”I can't take it, I can't take it. Jian Bianlin, do you know that sometimes you're just so raunchy? …”
The more she called these thoughts up in her mind, the more caught up she became in them, until she could not hold back a laugh as she leaned back into the sofa. In the process, she accidentally knocked out two dolls from the neatly laid out row of dolls. Offhandedly picking them up, she set each one back in place. All of a sudden, she remembered the box that she had brought here along with these dolls. As she thought of this, she tossed down her account book, went into the storeroom, and dug it out.
Squatting beside a shelf, she opened it…
Inside were two stacks of card stock, each tied up neatly with string. On the first card was a written math problem. Copied in black pen was the original math question while in blue pen was the solution. The writing was fluid and beautiful—it was his handwriting.
Baffled, Chu Jian untied the stack. Looking over a couple of the cards, she realized that these were exercise problems from middle school. Which grade in middle school? She had forgotten.
Spreading out all of the cards, she discovered English questions, math problems, physics and chemistry problems—practice problems from every subject. There were even practice exam questions from the New Oriental supplementary cla.s.ses they had taken outside of school, Mathematical Olympiad problems, Physics Olympiad problems…
The other stack consisted completely of cards with handwritten English words.