He was truly a madman.
He lowered his eyes and let out a faint sigh, placing his phone aside.
Furrowing his brow, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, trying to clear the unwelcome person and thoughts from his mind.
After a moment, his thoughts slipped into chaos, and then he had a dream.
In it, he bumped into Song Qiuyu in the dressing room while she was changing clothes. Instead of looking away, he stepped forward and took her hand, pulling down the white pants.
Just as he wished, Song Qiuyu’s figure was smooth and beautiful—she truly was a girl.
Not only that, but on the inner side of Song Qiuyu’s left thigh was the same birthmark as Xi’er’s on her inner thigh.
[Xi’er, you never really left me. You just changed identities to stay by my side. Xi’er, it’s been three years. I miss you so much.]
He pressed Song Qiuyu against the dressing locker from behind.
On the ancient-style clothes she had just taken off, accompanied by her enticing moans and silk-like coquettish glances, clear water stains flowed over them, soaking and spreading, but worse than the damp damage were the creases and tears.
The costumes became wrinkled and even had several finger-torn holes—they were definitely unusable now.
……
“Uh…”
Jiang Xiao suddenly woke up, quickly feeling the horror of an event he could only describe as The Collapse of Heaven. He immediately threw off the covers and carefully cleaned up the soiled bedding.
Having seen Song Qiuyu deal with this many times, he handled Little Jiang Xiao’s mess swiftly and efficiently.
Still, no matter how careful he was, the slight rustling of the bed awakened Song Qiuyu in the next bed.
“Heh…”
Song Qiuyu groggily opened her eyes, rubbing her small hands a few times.
The sound of Jiang Xiao getting out of bed next door made her pause, her eyes widening slightly.
Hmm? Jiang Xiao is up again?
Her mind went blank as she simply listened to the faint sounds of footsteps going downstairs, making no other movements.
Only after he finished going down did she dare to slightly lift her bed curtain and peek over.
She saw Jiang Xiao holding a cloth, tiptoeing to the balcony, placing underwear into his own basin, then turning and heading into the bathroom.
Jiang Xiao’s actions overlapped with her own past behavior—and also with that day when Jiang Xiao secretly got up to wash her little underwear.
Song Qiuyu was instantly wide awake, her mind racing.
Her eyes wide open, she was storming inside her head.
It took Jiang Xiao quite some time to come out of the bathroom, this time holding something even she would recognize with her eyes closed.
Jiang Xiao actually got up in the middle of the night to wash underwear?
But Jiang Xiao’s situation was different from hers. She had to sneakily wash in the dead of night to hide her identity as a girl, but Jiang Xiao…?
Could it be…
The three words “wet dream” suddenly shot through Song Qiuyu’s mind.
Immediately, her body excitedly sat up, quietly lifting the covers.
She had been caught by Jiang Xiao sneaking up in the middle of the night several times before, and he had even mocked her!
Song Qiuyu still remembered the smile Jiang Xiao had shown then, and she was certain he was laughing at her embarrassment, feeling joyful because of it.
She didn’t dislike Jiang Xiao smiling—in fact, she hoped he smiled more—but if his smiles came at her shame, she absolutely wouldn’t allow it.
Quietly, Song Qiuyu crept down the stairs, imagining how Jiang Xiao would react when she caught him. A smile tugged at her lips.
What goes around comes around. Ha, Jiang Xiao, just wait for my ruthless teasing!
Her two fair jade-like feet slipped into slightly oversized slippers.
She crouched stealthily, more sneaky than a thief, cautiously creeping forward.
Jiang Xiao was obviously still unaware of her silent approach, focused on scrubbing the mess left by Little Jiang Xiao.
After waking up, the dream scenes seemed covered by a thin fog—not something he could dwell on too much.
The only clear fact was that the person he fantasized about in the dream wasn’t his Xi’er—it was Song Qiuyu!
As if to justify his actions, he cunningly merged Song Qiuyu and Shen Xi into one person in his dream.
Seizing this chance, he behaved like a beast unbound by chains, ruthlessly tormenting Song Qiuyu in the dream.
Still scrubbing the clothes, he frowned and, disgusted with himself, scooped up some cold water and splashed it on his face to calm down.
His face, drenched in cold water, was both desolate and worn out, filled with guilt and remorse toward his lover and brother.
Everyone else was working hard on the business-order short video, but his mind was still filled with these messy, chaotic thoughts!
He stopped scrubbing, gripping the basin’s edge, bowed his head low, and bit down hard on his molars.
This scene was perfectly caught by Song Qiuyu behind him. She froze on the spot, her expression turning somewhat stunned.
She had only planned to catch Jiang Xiao red-handed but seemed to have missed a crucial question: what kind of dream did Jiang Xiao have that made him get up in the middle of the night to do this?
It must be Shen Xi…
It was definitely Shen Xi, wasn’t it?
Song Qiuyu felt tearless sorrow. How many times was she going to be hit by this boomerang from their youth? It never ended.
Watching Jiang Xiao’s remorseful and pained expression, she earnestly tried to interpret the situation correctly.
After all, Shen Xi and Jiang Xiao had only been in a relationship.
Jiang Xiao, such a pure-hearted virgin, was probably just soothing Little Jiang Xiao with Shen Xi’s thigh, which itself must have been a mental struggle.
So what if he did something more improper in the dream…?
The answer was obvious…
At first, there might be excitement and a sudden rush of happiness, but after that came endless loneliness.
After loneliness came the guilt of defiling the pure white moonlight, and if worse, self-loathing.
At this moment, Jiang Xiao let out a faint bitter smile.
“Xi’er… I’m sorry…”
It really was Shen Xi!
Song Qiuyu gritted her teeth.
She had barely managed to lessen Shen Xi’s presence, and now Jiang Xiao suddenly dreamed of Shen Xi again, making her presence surge anew.
“Sorry…”
Jiang Xiao’s voice grew even quieter.
Song Qiuyu gasped inwardly, ready to retreat.
Maybe it was better to just go back now.
Jiang Xiao’s mind was too fragile at the moment; she couldn’t deliver another blow, nor mock him.
Jiang Xiao lifted his head and quietly resumed scrubbing the clothes in the basin, his mood sinking even lower.
But after a couple of seconds, he suddenly gave a bitter laugh.
If he kept sinking into this state, it would surely affect filming tomorrow—and it would also worry everyone else, especially Song Qiuyu.
Seeing Jiang Xiao’s bitter smile, Song Qiuyu sighed.
If she left him alone like this, who knew what kinds of wild thoughts Jiang Xiao would conjure up in the dead of night?
She closed her eyes, took a very quiet breath, then suddenly opened them, pressing her lips together and softly saying, “Jiang Xiao.”
“Uh…”
Jiang Xiao’s whole body stiffened.
At this moment, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, blood running backward from his head to his toes.
He had just dreamt it all, and the person he violated in the dream was now silently standing right behind him, surely having seen him washing things.
This…
Could the earth still survive?
“You also got up in the middle of the night to wash the bedding and underwear, huh?”
Song Qiuyu’s slightly large slippers made soft sounds on the floor, her voice gentle, but each word hit Jiang Xiao like thunder.
Jiang Xiao clenched his hands tightly, nervous to the point of struggling to breathe. The blurry images and sounds from the dream sharpened and grew clearer as she approached.
“It’s okay. I’ve done it too!”
Song Qiuyu walked to the sink, tilting her head. Her bright, beautiful apricot-shaped eyes blinked twice.
Jiang Xiao was taken aback by her words. She had always avoided these topics before, never admitting to them, but now—was this a disguised admission?
He couldn’t help but want to look at her, but held back the impulse, silently continuing to wash.
“Having someone you like and then dreaming about them is nothing shameful,” Song Qiuyu gently comforted, making him pause his scrubbing again.
“If someone would hate you for that, then I suggest you stay away from them. After all, dreaming about someone proves you like them.”
She reached out a finger to poke Jiang Xiao’s shoulder. After poking, she felt something strange, so she bent the finger and changed it to a light pat.
Poked and patted, Jiang Xiao was silent for a moment before gloomily saying, “You came over just to give me some chicken soup?”
“Yes, late-night chicken soup. As much as you want,” Song Qiuyu said seriously.
“But too much chicken soup can give you a fever, so just take a sip. You keep washing; I’ll keep watch for you. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about this.”
Jiang Xiao still couldn’t help but turn his head to look at her.
Song Qiuyu faced the room, just as she said, her expression serious, her eyes fixed on Xie Zhuran and Lin An.
But her sleeping state looked really poor.
The little yellow chick pajamas were askew, the oversized collar slipped, exposing most of her left collarbone.
That small red mole came into his view again.
Jiang Xiao’s lips twitched.
A sudden urge welled up in his heart.
He wanted to apologize for what he did to her at the hotel that day, but then changed his mind and just silently accepted her kindness in keeping watch, quickly finishing washing the clothes.
“Done washing?”
Seeing Jiang Xiao hanging the clothes, Song Qiuyu lowered her voice, not forgetting the watch duty.
“Yeah.”
Jiang Xiao followed her gaze toward the other two roommates still lost in sleep.
“All right, then go back to sleep.”
Song Qiuyu yawned, stretched lazily, and headed toward the stairs, climbing up step by step.
Jiang Xiao stood behind her, thoughtful.
If he could just see the inner side of Song Qiuyu’s left thigh and confirm there was no birthmark, then the dream could dissolve on its own.
Unfortunately, such a chance probably wouldn’t come.
Song Qiuyu lifted the bed curtain and slipped back into her own bed. Soon, only two small feet remained outside, slowly pulling inside.
Looking at those two little feet, Jiang Xiao was stunned again. In the dream, she seemed to have her bare feet pointed toward him as if trying to escape.
But, of course, the ending was that he grabbed her ankles and pulled her back.
The two little feet finally vanished inside the bed curtain.
Seeing this, Jiang Xiao steadied himself and climbed the stairs to his own bed.
But just as he was about to climb in, the bed curtain beside him suddenly lifted again. Song Qiuyu’s obedient face appeared with a smile.
“Forgot to say, we need to work harder on tomorrow’s shoot, Jiang Xiao. We’re all really looking forward to your performance!”
Jiang Xiao was silent.
What made him even more speechless was that after saying this random comment, Song Qiuyu immediately pulled back her face and lay down, falling asleep instantly.
Jiang Xiao lowered his eyes, his heart in turmoil.
On one hand was the Song Qiuyu beneath him, with those silk-like coquettish eyes.
On the other was the smiling Song Qiuyu who just spoke to him moments ago…