The most beautiful space

45. Ghost Face Mask

Hearing that they had gotten in the car, the driver turned around and called Xie Chengjing "Second Young Master," then smiled and said to Su Tong, "Su Tong, you've finally arrived in the capital. Once we're done with this busy period, we'll take you out to have some fun."

Su Tong took one look and realized that the smiling driver was none other than Wang Lu, the man she got along well with in the city who even called her "God is playing around"! Su Tong laughed too, "Okay, then I'll eat and drink Wang Ge's food until he's bankrupt."

Wang Lu laughed heartily, "Don't worry, don't worry, even if I eat myself out of house and home, we still have our Second Young Master here."

Wang Lu is like that, good in every way, except that he always likes to steer the conversation toward Xie Chengjing. When Su Tong heard this, she could only chuckle awkwardly. What she didn't know was that Xie Chengjing was originally going to pick up where Wang Lu left off, but Su Tong's awkward laugh made him swallow his words.

Su Tong and Xie Chengjing sat side by side. She was practically pressed against the car door on her side, listening to the playful calls from Kongkong and Erduo in the back. She tried her best to sit up straight like Xie Chengjing on the other side. By the time they arrived, she was almost stiff from sitting so long, her whole body sore and weak that she could barely move. It was almost like standing at attention for an hour during university military training. Xie Chengjing glanced at her indifferently, as if he had just realized how tired Su Tong had been sitting, and said coldly, "We're here."

The car was facing a gate to a residential complex. It didn't appear particularly luxurious or imposing; there wasn't even a sign indicating the complex's name. Looking back along the road leading into the complex, there was a constant stream of traffic. The eight-lane street was bustling, and the complex was surrounded by high-rise buildings, dozens of stories high. But inside the complex, separated by an electric gate, were several detached villas with gardens and winding paths, offering a tranquil escape from the hustle and bustle. Upon closer inspection, I noticed two security guards standing at the entrance to the guardhouses on either side of the gate. Their demeanor and bearing were completely different from those of security guards in typical residential complexes; they stood ramrod straight, their eyes bright and focused.

Wang Lu blew his horn, and the electric gate opened.

Then Xie Chengjing suddenly leaned over and rolled down the car window on Su Tong's side. He pointed Su Tong out to a slightly older security guard in the guardhouse on the left. The guard nodded, and Xie Chengjing rolled down the window again, and the car drove into the residential area.

Xie Chengjing's villa was located in the very center of the community, completely unaffected by the surrounding high-rise buildings in terms of sunlight. It was a villa with a large yard, painted entirely in blue and black. Erduo's large and beautiful kennel was in a separate yard. On one side of the yard were some very easy-to-care-for flowers, plants and trees, and on the other side of the kennel were some dog toys and exercise equipment. As soon as Erduo and Kongkong were let out of the car, they ran into the yard and started running around. Kongkong wagged its tail and ran over to Su Tong while playing, barking happily. Erduo also looked at Xie Chengjing and barked, wanting Su Tong and Xie Chengjing to join them in playing.

Xie Chengjing walked up and touched Kongkong's ear, then rubbed it a couple of times, saying, "Ear, you can play by yourself, I have something to do."

Then, at the villa entrance, Xie Chengjing placed his hand on the rectangular recognition area at waist height on the door. The recognition system scanned Xie Chengjing's palm print, and the door opened inward. Xie Chengjing led Su Tong and Wang Lu into the house. The large living room was clean and quiet. Xie Chengjing leaned Su Tong's suitcase against the wall, and Su Tong, under Wang Lu's warm hospitality, put her backpack on the sofa. The two sat on two sofas facing each other, and Wang Lu quickly made a cup of tea for each of them before making a quick exit.

Su Tong held her teacup, mentally encouraging herself as she sipped half a cup. She was about to begin talking to Xie Chengjing about how he had helped her twice and now offered her a place to stay at his place when she finally started, "Second Young Master Xie, thank you so much for your help at my cousin's wedding reception in the city, and thank you so much for helping me leave C City. Regarding the secret you mentioned..."

Then Xie Chengjing, who was staring intently at her with increasingly cold eyes, waved her hand to interrupt her. He gestured for Su Tong to follow him, then led her to the door and said, "Put your right hand on the door's recognition area."

After Su Tong placed it as instructed, he showed her the keypad next to him and had her operate it for half a minute, making her dizzy, before saying, "Alright, you can now enter and exit the main house of the villa." Then he took out a small, elongated remote control from his pocket, similar to a car door lock but even smaller, and handed it to Su Tong, saying, "This is the key to the villa's gate."

Under his piercing gaze, Su Tong accepted the items. He then instructed, "Apart from the two locked rooms—my bedroom and study—you can use any of the other rooms freely. You can choose any bedroom. If there's nothing else, the housekeeper will come to clean and feed the dog before each meal. If you want the housekeeper to cook, leave a note on the cabinet in the entryway, and she will cook according to your request and schedule. As for your movie role, Director Lin Lili is a decent person." He took out his phone, tapped the screen a couple of times, and then showed it to Su Tong. The screen displayed a page of her contacts, showing the phone number of someone named Wang Hai. Xie Chengjing said, "Write it down. He's a younger brother from Wang Lu's hometown. He's quite skilled in this area. Since you don't have an agency, he'll manage your filming arrangements. He'll pick you up tomorrow morning to go to Lin Lili's hotel. Just leave anything you don't understand to him."

Su Tong was very unaccustomed to Xie Chengjing speaking at such length, especially since he was holding a bright, large-screen smartphone. This made Su Tong feel like the character's persona was being distorted. She gave a faint "hmm," took out her phone to write it down, and then asked, "So, you don't usually live here?"

Xie Chengjing seemed to see right through her, and said, crushing her hopes, "I live here."

Su Tong immediately buried her head in her tea, trying to figure out how to start the conversation. From Xie Chengjing's angle, which was taller than her even while he was sitting, all he could see was her straight black hair.

Wang Lu suddenly appeared again, breaking the silence, saying, "The Imperial Capital Military Region is starting a large-scale, fully enclosed exercise. Second Young Master was supposed to go yesterday, and he's going to take a military plane now. He probably won't be back for more than a month." Seeing the surprise hidden in Su Tong's calm expression, he confirmed with Xie Chengjing on her behalf, "Right, Second Young Master?"

Then Xie Chengjing nodded.

Su Tong was startled. Could Xie Chengjing have waited for her all day on purpose? No, he probably had something else to do. So she smiled and said, "Then, I wish you a safe journey."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xie Chengjing stood up and walked out.

Wang Lu was stunned. He had originally intended to show how good the Second Young Master was to Su Tong, making Su Tong feel guilty so that they could get closer. He hadn't expected Xie Chengjing to leave without saying goodbye to Su Tong, just standing up and walking away. Damn it, it was a military plane specifically sent to take him there anyway; waiting a little longer wouldn't have been a problem! Wang Lu could only follow him out while urgently calling out, "Su Tong! Take care of yourself! You can call me anytime, whether it's anything or not. If there's anything, the Second Young Master can help you. If not, just chat with your brother Wang!"

In Su Tong's eyes, Xie Chengjing walked out in a domineering and arrogant manner, but in reality, the second young master Xie was a little annoyed. How to get along with a woman, especially a very beautiful woman who didn't talk much and didn't try to get close to him, was a real problem for him. He had indeed taken a day off to go to the rehearsal for Su Tong's sake, and even brought Erduo along to pick her up. He was surprised and a little happy to see Erduo and Kongkong getting along so well, but he was still just as awkward with Su Tong.

Regardless, Su Tong believed in being polite to those who had repeatedly helped her. When Xie Chengjing left, she followed him to see him off. She saw him at the door stroking the back of his ear and saying goodbye to his drooping ear with a soft bark.

As Xie Chengjing reached the gate of the villa, a girl named Erduo came over reluctantly to say goodbye. He then saw Kongkong happily running towards the villa gate. He turned around and saw Su Tong also coming out, standing in front of the door waving goodbye to him. Xie Chengjing was stunned for a moment, feeling a little uncomfortable leaving home with someone seeing him off. He only said, "I'll try to come back as soon as possible," and then strode out.

The next morning, Wang Hai called Su Tong first, and half an hour later he knocked on the door. He was a quiet young man who looked very capable. He drove Su Tong to the hotel where Lin Lili and his assistant were staying. After Su Tong and Lin Lili had a long talk and finally decided to participate in the movie, Wang Hai immediately transformed from a silent young man into a talkative and aggressive one. He engaged in a long and uncompromising discussion with the other party about every detail of the actor's contract for several hours. In the end, Su Tong checked the contract herself repeatedly—she had originally planned to ask Yang Yue's husband, who was a lawyer, to do this job, but now calling him Yang Yue's husband would seem like she didn't trust Wang Hai—and then she signed it.

After that, director Lin Lili was busy with other preparations before filming, such as funding, location, actors, and sponsorship. Originally, if an actor was to play a dancer, they would have to do physical and dance training. However, after the physical training teacher praised Su Tong, he couldn't find any way to make Su Tong's figure more perfect. So Su Tong devoted herself to acting training, and before she knew it, the opening ceremony was here.

Wang Lu had called at noon to say that the two of them would be returning to the capital that evening, so Su Tong didn't stay long at the party after the opening ceremony. She returned with the small gift Lin Zhen had just given her. Xie Chengjing and Wang Lu hadn't returned yet. Wang Hai never lingered for a moment after dropping Su Tong off at the villa; he would immediately say goodbye and leave.

Xie Er'er and Kongkong were eating the Caucasian Shepherd's nutritional meal and dog food that Xie Chengjing had prepared in front of the kennel in the yard. Kongkong was such a naughty kid. Even though it was eating food more suitable for its age, it wouldn't eat from its own food bowl properly and would always try to steal food from Xie Er'er's food bowl. Xie Er'er would have to slap Kongkong away with its paw from time to time before it would eat properly. Su Tong sighed, it was really hard for Xie Er'er to have managed to keep Kongkong from getting annoyed.

Even when Xie Chengjing wasn't around, Su Tong hadn't become much closer to Erduo. However, since Erduo, despite looking fierce, had never pounced on her or tried to bite her, she dared to give it a nickname and started calling it that. As soon as she entered the yard, she called out to the two animals eating at Hexie, "Kongkong! Xie Er'er!"

Kongkong, a Caucasian Shepherd puppy with a long growth period and still very young, is very attached to its owner. At home, it always sleeps in Su Tong's bedroom, and sometimes even after being bathed, it will run to Su Tong's bed to sleep; this habit hasn't changed. On Su Tong's first day here, Kongkong slept together with its big friend Xie Er'er on the thick carpet next to Su Tong's bed, a carpet that Su Tong had specially dragged over from another room.

Su Tong and Wang Lu had been in frequent contact during the past month and had even exchanged WeChat IDs. His very cute daughter, Wang Ting, actually visited Su Tong at Huali Company, where Su Tong was studying acting, on the weekend.

Now Su Tong knows that Xie Er'er is actually a Caucasian girl who is only a little over a year old, but she is tall. She used to sleep in Xie Chengjing's bedroom, so Su Tong is much more affectionate towards her. Every time she makes something delicious for Kong Kong, she will also make something for Xie Er'er. She pays special attention to not adding any seasonings and trying to make it as fragrant as possible. She also asked for the QQ number of the nanny who is not very old. Every time she finishes making something, she will send pictures and a brief cooking method to the nanny for review before serving it to Kong Kong and Xie Er'er.

Although she did a passable job, she still held onto the ideas of people from small towns when raising dogs. For example, when Su Tong was a child, her maternal grandmother's family lived in the countryside, and the dogs in the village never ate dog food or nutritional meals. They were fed human food with oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili, and they still grew up very well. However, Su Tong is now much more particular about how she feeds her dogs.

She and Kongkong played catch for a while with Xie Er'er. After confirming their palm prints on the door, they went inside. Sitting on the sofa, she opened the gift Lin Zhen had given her. Although the outer packaging was exquisite, inside was an ugly, terrifying, and roughly made ghost mask. Su Tong looked at it, not expecting the elegant Lin Zhen to give her this. She put the mask back in the box and placed it on top of the cabinet next to her.

Pick up your phone and chat with Wang Lu on WeChat:

Wang Lu replied quickly:

Wang Lu had indeed always been very good to Su Tong, so Su Tong didn't need to be so polite when talking to him online. After thinking for a moment, she typed again:

After waiting for a while, Su Tong had already picked a small basket of vegetables before the reply came:

Su Tong: ヽ(ˋДˊ)ノ! She had no choice but to resign herself to typing:

The reply came back with just one word:

Su Tong cursed Wang Lu a thousand times in her mind, but when Wang Lu saw Xie Chengjing chatting with Su Tong on his phone in the mirror, he was incredibly smug, thinking to himself, "What a true bro!"

Knowing that Xie Chengjing and Wang Lu would be returning today, Su Tong took off her long dress and changed into her pajamas. She then took out various ingredients she had asked the nanny to buy from the freezer and prepared a hearty meal. She consoled herself, thinking that at least pleasing Xie Chengjing would make her death a little easier. She didn't know Xie Chengjing and Wang Lu's tastes, but she had heard that most soldiers weren't picky eaters. For the main dishes, she made stewed pork ribs, stir-fried chicken with potatoes, and pickled fish, along with seven or eight stir-fried and cold dishes. However, considering that there were only three people eating, Su Tong made relatively small portions of both the main dishes and the side dishes, each in a small plate, so it didn't take much effort.

As Xie Chengjing entered the living room, he saw the 56-inch wall-mounted TV was on, playing an unknown romance film at a rather loud volume. Su Tong wasn't there, but the lights in the kitchen and living room were still on. This was actually a bad habit Su Tong had developed while working alone; no matter what she was doing, having the TV on and something lively playing made her feel less lonely.

Xie Chengjing glanced around and immediately noticed the half-open gift box on top of the cabinet, which wasn't exactly hidden. He knew it was probably the gift Wang Hai had mentioned Lin Zhen had given to Su Tong that day. He hesitated for a moment before openly taking it and opening it. Inside was a famous African blessing mask. The mask was ugly, but it was made by the chief of an indigenous tribe and blessed by the entire tribe for three years. Its meaning was to protect peace and happiness throughout life.

He remembered that once, the head of state of an African country came to China and gave his father this kind of mask.

Author's Note: Thank you to the author, Mili Anran, for the landmine! (166 Reading Network)