"It's nothing." Xiang Lan shook her head, looking around anxiously. "Uncle, what are you doing here?"
"My girlfriend lives inside—" Liu Nanyang said with a straight face, peeking out and seeing the wrapper for the small cakes, he reached out to snatch it, "Oh, you bought breakfast, who's it for?"
Xiang Lan dodged, "I queued for ages to buy this, you can't eat it, unless—"
"Unless what?"
"Unless you let me pass my graduation thesis!"
"Naive!" Liu Nanyang, being tall, reached out and grabbed the bag. Xiang Lan, afraid of crushing both, let go tearfully, "Uncle, leave one for me!"
Liu Nanyang took one out, popped it into his mouth, and after a while said, "It's really delicious!"
Xiang Lan looked at the single, lonely bag left in the bag and felt like crying.
"Lanlan, bringing breakfast to your boyfriend?" Liu Nanyang coaxed. "You already have a boyfriend so quickly? You're a quick learner! What's his name? What's the recipe?"
"No way! Don't talk nonsense—" She watched him finish one in a few bites, it was so irritating, "You're a professor, and you're taking food from a child?"
Liu Nanyang handed the bag back to her, clapped his hands, looked her up and down, and said earnestly, "Not yet? Then work hard, pursue it seriously, and strive to complete your graduation project as soon as possible—"
Xiang Lan hugged the remaining small cake tightly to her chest. "I know, you go now."
"What's there to be afraid of? I'll stay and see for myself who's capable of troubling our young lady—"
"Uncle, if you're not afraid, then take me upstairs to see who your new girlfriend is. I'll go tell my mom and ask her to come—"
Xiang Lan glanced sideways at Liu Nanyang. He was barely forty years old, with a dissolute temperament, and since his youth he had only ever dated and resisted marriage. His mother had made a scene many times in an attempt to correct her younger brother's temper and give him an heir. His biggest headache was his mother; he avoided seeing her as much as possible, and he absolutely couldn't let her get him into trouble.
So Liu Nanyang fled in panic.
Xiang Lan waited a while, then dialed Fang Zidu's number. It took a long time for the call to be answered, and his groggy voice came through, "Xiang Lan?"
"Still not up?"
"I didn't sleep at all last night, I was awake the whole time." He yawned slightly. "What's up?"
She looked at the lone little cake in her hand, a little dejected, and said, "It's nothing, I just wanted to remind you to finish reading it as soon as possible, and don't forget to return my USB drive."
After finishing her small cake by herself, Xiang Lan went to the logistics office alone—an old house with only four floors of pure blue bricks and wooden floors, located on the ground floor of an abandoned teaching building.
The office was empty. She threw her bag on the floor, took out her sketchbook and pencil, sat cross-legged, and lazily drew a few strokes.
A little while later, Deng Yifan arrived. Seeing her listless appearance, he sat down next to her and took out a notebook to draw.
"The morning date didn't go well?" Deng Yifan scribbled a storyboard.
"Hmm!" Xiang Lan continued to scribble and draw in the sketchbook.
Deng Yifan peeked at her painting and said, "She's definitely smitten. The beauty she painted today is different."
Xiang Lan picked up the sketchbook and looked at it for a while. The beauty's eyes and brows were filled with spring-like feelings, unlike her previous indifferent and cold appearance. She seemed to have come alive.
She sighed, propped her head up with one hand, tucked a pencil behind her ear, and thought about her erotic dream from last night. She dreamt that Fang Zidu took off his mask, revealing a face exactly like the beautiful woman's, and kissed her.
“I thought about it last night, and Li Xingda’s face is actually very distinctive. Although he’s not the most handsome, he has a special charm when he moves or smiles. It’s very suitable for the scene of spring flowers blooming in full glory when his life is welcoming hope.”
"He was the model student, excelling within the system, an exemplary figure with no transgressions, his every word and action conforming to moral standards. He harbored a wild fire within him, but was bound by his surroundings; he didn't know why he was unhappy, nor why he was in pain. Until he entered this school and encountered a lawless female hooligan who had wandered here—"
"The female hooligan tore up his textbooks, burned his schoolbag, and ran wildly through the streets with him. They drank, stayed up all night, and wallowed in depravity, completely forgetting about going to bed early, getting up early, going to class, and studying—"
Deng Yifan stopped halfway through his sentence, looked at Xiang Lan who was chuckling for some reason, and slapped her on the head, "What are you daydreaming about? Follow my plot!"
Xiang Lan clutched her head, "It hurts!"
Deng Yifan was heartbroken, "You promised to help me make the best idol drama in China!"
"I'm listening to you! No wonder you helped him blackmail me, so you were planning to get him to film a short video for you?" Xiang Lan tossed aside her sketchbook, took out her phone, and checked her makeup with the camera. Feeling that her lip color was dull, she touched up her lipstick to darken it. After touching up her lip color, she turned to Deng Yifan and smiled, "Honey, does it look good?"
"Not bad!" Deng Yifan watched her fuss with a cold eye.
"So, what kind of role can you give me in your film?"
"Let's strike a pose first and let the director take a look," Deng Yifan said flippantly.
Xiang Lan shifted her body and sat down by the east-facing window. The morning sun shone through the windowpane, painting the entire office with vibrant colors. Half of her body was in shadow, and the other half was bathed in the orange glow of the morning sun. She adjusted her posture, straightened her back, and proudly raised her pointed chin, awaiting Deng Yifan's inspection.
"The lighting and colors are great. If you could make your expression a little more unrestrained, I might cast you as the female lead—"
"Debauched?" Xiang Lan chuckled. "How so?"
Deng Yifan looked at her carefully for a while, then reached out to pull off her coat, tossed it aside, and forcefully pulled down the collar of her undershirt, revealing her heaving chest. She said, "Your face is etched with the word 'innocence,' perfectly matching my original intentions. A fallen girl doesn't mean promiscuity, but rather, innocently, naturally—" She lifted her chin, adjusting her eyes to the backlight, "unconsciously, like an angel committing devilish acts. She wouldn't actively seduce the male lead; she simply exists. It's the male lead who couldn't control the devil within him and reached out his sinful hand to her—"
Deng Yifan posed Xiang Lan, took her phone, and switched it to original color mode. Through the lens, Xiang Lan had a bewitching quality. Her expression was like that of an angel, yet her red lips betrayed a hint of danger; behind her, wings of light shone through the ancient wooden window frame, but the shadow between her legs seemed to be black wings.
"You let the female lead be herself, and the male lead succumb to his inner weakness, giving up resistance, exchanging everything for a moment of pleasure." Xiang Lan's body stiffened, a smile playing on her lips, her chin resting on her hand, a hint of mockery in her eyes. "In the end, fate molded him into a vulgar adult, and he dared not say, 'I regret it.' This isn't a love story; it's clearly a history of one person's downfall—"
That smile was the effect Deng Yifan wanted to create. Without hesitation, she pressed the shutter button, capturing the image in Xiang Lan's clear eyes. She casually sent the photo to her phone, thinking, "Love, isn't it just about making people willingly fall into depravity—"
"How is it?" Xiang Lan took back her phone and looked at the photos. After looking at them, she smiled and said, "It's alright, so-so."
"I'll use this composition in the film." Deng Yifan scratched his short hair. "I'm also having a tough time. The topic has been approved, but the graduation film has to be made. I'm staying up all night every day writing the script. It's awful!"
"You guys are in groups, so with so many people working together, you always have breaks. You're much better off than me—"
Xiang Lan fell silent when Fang Zidu's text message arrived.
"Are you still waiting for me downstairs? I just saw the text message, I'm sorry."
She smiled slightly; he had clearly seen her first text message. Not bad, he wasn't completely indifferent; he knew to reply with an apology. She put her phone aside and turned to look at Deng Yifan's sketchbook.
After waiting for ten minutes, she picked up her phone and replied with an "Mm".
"You're gone? I went downstairs but couldn't find you—"
"I got up early and bought some highly recommended mini cakes to share with you. I wanted to wait a little longer, but a friend had something to help with, so I had to leave first."
After waiting a while, Fangzi sent a message: "Don't do this again."
"I'd love to!"
Deng Yifan watched her flirting on her phone and asked, "What are you talking about? You can't stop smiling."
Xiang Lan smiled and said, "Chatting with my beauty!"
"Isn't it boring?"
“How is this boring? This is to get to know each other better.” Xiang Lan happily held up her phone. “Honey, go wait for Li Xingda to bring the boards over. I’ll chat with my beauty here.”
"Take it easy, don't go too far."
Deng Yifan walked away, and Xiang Lan tossed aside her sketchbook. She then pulled up the photos she had just taken, examined them for a while, and, unable to find any faults, sent them over. "I came to the student council office with some friends today to make display boards. If you don't have class, come over and hang out."
"We need to visit a few professors first."
Is this a rejection? But he used the word "first".
She thought for a moment, smiled, and replied, "I'll wait for you in the logistics office."
"OK."
Xiang Lan gave a small cheer and continued, "Was the photo I just sent you nice?"
There are only two words: "Very beautiful".
Xiang Lan's heart skipped a beat, and her face flushed. She looked up and saw Deng Yifan standing at the classroom door talking to Li Xingda.
She was in a good mood, smiled at Li Xingda, and waved. He paused for a moment, but didn't reply. She indifferently lowered her head and continued replying to text messages.
"Thank you. The photographer was very skilled—"
Xiang Lan waited a long time before the text message came back: "In the photo, your eyes look so alive that they will attract everyone who appreciates them."
Fangzi always seemed so cold and aloof, yet she could be so eloquent at times; her heart was about to break.
The wicked thoughts in her heart were stirred up more and more by the person on the other end of the phone, and a raging fire was burning within her. She said, "I'll be waiting for you here. See you there."
Chapter 7
"Hey girl, stop flirting and come help me," Deng Yifan called out from the gate.
Xiang Lan put away her phone and walked over briskly. Several young men, looking like green onions, were standing behind Li Xingda, holding up several boards. She quickly stepped aside to clear her way, then cleared away the clutter against the wall to make room for the display boards.
“The paper, paint, and brushes are outside—” Li Xingda put the board down, his arm muscles bulging. “Xiang Lan, go and get them for me.”
"Okay." She ran outside the classroom. Deng Yifan was carrying a large roll of white paper and no paintbrush in his hand. She took it with a smile and then grabbed the paint can.
"You finally decided to come out? You've finished talking with the beauty?"
"Not yet!" Xiang Lan placed the paint on the floor. "Is there any more?"
"There are a few more boards outside. Once we move them, we'll be done." Deng Yifan carefully wrapped the white paper to avoid getting it dirty.
Xiang Lan turned her head to look and saw that Li Xingda had gone out with those boys again, and a moment later he brought the board back in.
"I can't quite accept that the leader is being so considerate all of a sudden," Xiang Lan whispered to Deng Yifan. "All I can still remember is how he made that junior student cry. It was so scary."
"That's called leadership—"
Xiang Lan shook her head, "I'm most afraid of this kind of thing. My brother is like that, one word to describe him."
"What?"
"unreasonable--"
"Tsk!" Deng Yifan shook his head.
"The moment I saw him, I was reminded of how my brother scolded me, and I got a headache, so I ran away as fast as I could."
Li Xingda put down the display board, noticed the two whispering, clapped his hands, pulled a stack of papers from his bag, and said, "This is the text for the display board; you can choose the font and colors accordingly. As for the artwork on the main board—"
The two stopped their conversation. Deng Yifan took the paper, glanced at it, and said, "This is Xiang Lan's forte. I'll let her handle it."
Li Xingda glanced at Xiang Lan and then invited her, "Let's have lunch together after class, as a personal thank you gesture—"
"Shall we go?" Deng Yifan asked Lan.
Xiang Lan shook her head, "No, I have things to do later. Besides, this is official business, how can I express my gratitude personally? Chairman, you always say that we can't mix public and private matters, we can't accept this meal from you."
"Maybe next time," Deng Yifan said, offering a way out as he saw Li Xingda's expression was about to change.
Li Xingda glanced at Xiang Lan, said goodbye, and left with his men.