"Huai ge, calm down, Huai ge!"
Jing Huai paused in his motion of lightly cutting his finger with a fruit knife and turned to look at his assistant, who was trying to persuade him, "Then how about you give it a try?"
To prove his loyalty and to ensure that the medicine he bought was fine, a few seconds later, a shallow cut appeared on the assistant’s arm.
At first glance, it seemed even deeper than the one on Jing Huai’s arm.
Seeing the blood about to seep out, he quickly squeezed some ointment onto it.
The sting from the wound was instantly replaced by a feeling of coolness.
Jing Huai eagerly asked, "How is it?"
"It doesn’t itch, not even a little," the assistant said, his gaze falling on the few large beads of sweat on Jing Huai’s face. He hesitated before guessing, "Huai ge, do you feel itchy because of psychological reasons? Like I know someone who always says they have a headache and sometimes even bangs their head against the wall, but there’s actually nothing wrong, it’s purely psychological."
Jing Huai was somewhat doubtful. Could it be that he was overthinking it?
But the increasingly itching feeling from the wound quickly deprived him of the ability to think. He couldn’t bother with anything else and was almost running when he went to the bathroom to wash off the ointment from his arm.
Strangely, as soon as the ointment was washed off, the itchiness disappeared just as quickly.
He had to temporarily place a band-aid on it, trying to keep his arm still to allow the wound to heal faster.
A few minutes later, the wound looked scabbed over again. Jing Huai felt slightly relieved and got up to fetch his newly card-replaced phone to check online trends and contact the person he had previously arranged to secretly film in the recording studio.
The hot search arranged by Xu Qingmei was still steadily on the trending list. Nearly a day had passed, and it had only dropped one place, with the clicks and discussions increasing.
But when he clicked into his profile, he saw he’d lost quite a few followers, and his previously upturned mouth slowly straightened.
This time he had really taken a gamble; if the effect did not meet expectations, it was really hard to accept.
Simply closing the profile page for peace of mind.
Just about to call that person.
Jing Huai looked over impatiently, "What’s it now?"
"Your, your arm, the wound on your arm..."
Facing his assistant’s eyes, mixed with surprise and a hint of fear, Jing Huai’s heart skipped a beat. He stiffly lowered his head to look.
The wound which had scabbed unknowingly broke open again without him noticing any peculiarities.
He stood up suddenly, "Let’s go, hurry to the hospital!"
The hospital doctors could only be so speechless upon seeing a pale-faced male actor coming in for a wound that might no longer be a concern if handled carefully. Meanwhile, Xu Qingmei had already arrived at home.
It was not the villa that Jing Huai had visited before; that villa was just a place to occasionally have someone spend the night.
And this villa, except for the assistant and the driver, no one knew where it was located.
The assistant wanted to follow her inside but was just about to get out of the car when Xu Qingmei stopped him, "Alright, you don’t need to follow. If there’s a schedule tomorrow, send me a message; I’ll call you if I need you."
"Uh, alright. Xu jie, we’ll head off then."
Watching her nanny car drive off into the distance, Xu Qingmei unlocked the gate and went inside.
She even slid on the slightly slippery ground without missing a step due to her haste.
After walking through the front garden and entering the villa, she didn’t even take off her shoes or put down her bag, heading straight for a bedroom in the corner on the first floor.
Opening the wardrobe door in the room, instead of clothes, there was a small hidden elevator.
The elevator descended to the second basement floor, and Xu Qingmei seemed to instantly relax, kicking off her high heels, tossing her bag, and stepping barefoot onto the crimson soft carpet.
She then headed towards a room at the end of her view where a faint light glowed.
Upon reaching the doorway, she stopped, and the expression on her face transformed entirely from the gentle and ruthless persona she showed others to one of genuine submissiveness and humility, and softly called out, "Master."
"You’re back." The voice came from behind her, having slipped unnoticed until now. The breath on her back was icy and lingering, making her hackles want to rise uncontrollably, yet she held it in with all her will.