Even saying it out loud, she couldn’t believe herself.
She decided to change the subject: "Are you getting ready to leave?"
"It’s already two." Song Baiyan glanced at his watch on his left wrist: "If I don’t leave now, I might not make it back for supper."
Tang Li felt an inexplicable sweetness in her heart, then said, "If you’re really busy, it’s okay not to go for supper."
Song Baiyan: "It’s not good to go back on a promise."
"Then you better get going."
Tang Li tactfully stepped aside.
Reopening the car door, Song Baiyan paused briefly, then turned around to instruct: "If I get held up, I’ll contact you later."
Watching the jeep drive away, the flush on Tang Li’s face still hadn’t faded.
Returning to the hotel in the evening, after dinner and a shower, she looked at her short hair in the mirror and suddenly didn’t know what to wear to keep the appointment.
In the end, she chose the clothes she wore on any other day.
At nine o’clock in the evening, Tang Li received a call and went downstairs after putting on her shoes.
As she ran out of the front door, she immediately spotted the military-licensed jeep. Song Baiyan, still in his camouflage uniform, had his left arm resting on the window ledge and his right hand on the steering wheel as the driver’s side window rolled down.
The film crew was staying at a budget hotel.
The hotel was located on the street, and the small town’s night was peaceful yet lively. As a tourist city, there were shops selling ethnic handicrafts everywhere. When the jeep appeared on the crowded streets, it was conspicuous, causing a slight surge in her heart.
Suddenly remembering something, Tang Li went back into the hotel.
She used the glass pane as a mirror to check her appearance, making sure she was proper, and then took out a lipstick from her pocket and gently applied it to her lips.
The light pink stick didn’t change the color of her lips much.
In her previous life, she hadn’t learned how to apply makeup, so now, she only knew how to draw eyebrows and apply foundation.
The lipstick she was holding was borrowed from Yu Sui in the evening.
To not appear too androgynous, she tucked her sideburns behind her ears and fixed them with some hair gel - also for the first time, Tang Li was glad that her assistant Yu Sui liked to try different things.
Hotel staff walked by, taking a second look.
She was wearing jeans again, but this evening, it was a denim overall shorts, revealing part of her calves and ankles, paired with a striped, mixed colored shirt with three-quarter sleeves as an inner layer.
She wore a pair of white sneakers, which made her look even more like a high school student.
In the jeep, Song Baiyan waited a while and seeing no one coming out, was about to make a call. Just as he picked up his cellphone from the dashboard, he looked up and his eyes fell on the figure approaching.
Tang Li didn’t bring a bag; she just came out alone, "empty-handed."
As she approached the passenger side, Song Baiyan leaned out to open the door: "Get in."
"Mhm." Tang Li got in cooperatively.
Except for that time in Shangbu, she had never ridden in a car driven by Song Baiyan. Whether in the Capital or traveling elsewhere, it was either Ji Ming or a driver who drove for him. In certain matters, Song Baiyan no longer needed to do things himself.
Moreover, this time, she was sitting in the passenger seat.
Perhaps due to a shift in her mindset, after getting in the car, Tang Li didn’t talk. She casually rested her hands on her legs, her peripheral vision catching glimpses of Song Baiyan’s rolled-up camouflage sleeves and forearm, as well as his large hands turning the steering wheel. The gentle night breeze drifted in through the window, caressing her cheeks with a soothing warmth.
"What’s got you so happy all of a sudden?"
Song Baiyan suddenly asked her.