28.
Sitting in Li Mu’s car, Zhuang Qin sent a message to Xiao Lian explaining that he went to Li Mu’s place and would be back at noon tomorrow because his room card got demagnetized.
As a result, Xiao Lian didn’t sleep at all after reading his message. He immediately replied, “Brother Zhuang! That’s not okay. It’s too risky to live with others!”
“Li Mu is not a bad guy. There’s an empty room in his house. Don’t worry, we’re not sleeping in the same room.”
“That won’t work either. Come back quickly!”
Zhuang Qin was about to reply when he heard Li Mu say: “Here we are.”
“So fast?” He looked up from his phone to see a wall with a gate in front of him. The car was parked in the parking lot.
Li Mu turned off the engine and got out of the car. He opened the door for Zhuang Qin and picked up the cat carrier.
Zhuang Qin: “Can I carry it?”
Li Mu: “It’s okay.” It was just a small kitten. It wasn’t heavy.
Zhuang Qin really wanted to carry the cat, but he didn’t argue with him.
The gate was guarded. Li Mu called before he came back so a small door was specially left for him. The two walked in and Zhuang Qin looked at a large paddy field in front of him. There was also a very basic house next to it. He asked, “Is this place regarded as the villa area?”
“Not really.” Li Mu explained to him, “There are only three villas, one is still under construction, and the other one is over there. The owner rents it out as a homestay, and there’s usually no one there during the week.”
So now, he was the only one living here and using the facilities. When he was not at home during the day, a cleaner hired by the management will come to clean and change the bedding every other day. The service was similar to that of a hotel, but it’s an extra cost every month.
Zhuang Qin could vaguely hear the sound of the waves, but he couldn’t see clearly at night, so he asked, “Is the sea over there?”
“Yes, in front of the villa. It’s by the palm tree. You can have a look during the day tomorrow.” In fact, the beach here was not very good and the sand wasn’t fine, but because there were a few tourists, it was okay to watch the sunrise and sunset and to listen to the sound of waves.
Zhuang Qin: “After so many days of filming here, I only went shopping on the first day. I haven’t been to the seaside yet.”
Li Mu: “Do you like the sea?”
Zhuang Qin said, “I’m not very good at swimming, so I don’t dare to enter but I like to watch it.” When he came here that day, he watched the vast expanse of deep blue below from his window as they descended.
After walking for two or three minutes, Zhuang Qin saw a specially crafted building that was different from ordinary villas.
The light was on and the door was open so Zhuang Qin asked, “Is there anyone else here?”
Li Mu said, “I called the housekeeper a moment ago to deliver a new bedding and asked him to leave the light on.” It was already late. Most of the people here go to bed very early. Li Mu saw that the housekeeper was still awake so he asked him to only send it over. The housekeeper’s room was next to the rice field and was very close but Li Mu didn’t ask him to help change them.
Li Mu brought him a pair of clean slippers and Zhuang Qin changed his shoes. Li Mu put down the carrier and went to the kitchen on his left to wash his hands. He opened the fridge and brought him a bottle of yogurt.
Zhuang Qin saw that there was a revolving staircase in the middle. On the right was the living room area. There were sofas, lounge chairs, a rocking bed, and carpets. On one side of the shelf, there were Thai books and all kinds of handicraft artworks. There was also the newly bought cat crawler and litter in the corner.
Outside the large floor-to-ceiling window was a swimming pool. It had floor lights at the bottom and the water looked transparent and light blue.
Li Mu came over and gave him a yogurt: “It’s not been arranged yet. Just sit downstairs for ten minutes. The bathroom is over there, the door is a bit hidden.” He pointed to the area behind the stairs
Zhuang Qin assumed that someone was arranging it. Hearing that, he shifted his attention to the yogurt. He froze when he saw the packaging: “They make this brand abroad?”
Li Mu: “It was sent from China yesterday.”
“It’s from the Daigou again?” Zhuang Qin looked at him strangely, “Do you like this brand?”
Li Mu tasted it yesterday and threw it away: “It’s okay.”
Zhuang Qin thought that no wonder he named the cat that name. It turned out that he liked it himself: “Actually, I have advertised for their family1t/n: family = company before.”
Li Mu said that he knew. He heard Zhuang Qin say that he liked this brand of yogurt in the interview program. Later, he searched and saw that he actually liked it so much, that he ran to endorse it.
Zhuang Qin didn’t drink the yogurt. He said earnestly, “The advertiser sends me a batch of yogurt every month, as well as their new flavors and packaging. They give it to me before it goes on the market. If you like it, I will ask them to send it to you every month when you go back to China.”
Li Mu’s eyes were tinged with warmth as he looked down at him. The faint golden glow fell on Zhuang Qin’s head and face, like a hazy veil.
Seeing that he didn’t answer, Zhuang Qin thought he was being polite: “Don’t be polite with me. Really, you can drink as much as you want. The advertisers doesn’t treat me politely.”
That tone was sincere and carried a sense of impatience.
t/n: yes, I’m sure he’s very sincere and ready to share it, lol
Li Mu, who doesn’t like yogurt: “Okay.”
Li Mu went upstairs with the bedding the housekeeper had put on the table outside the door. Zhuang Qin sat down and saw him holding something but he thought it was a bath towel and washcloth.
He quickly went to put the yogurt back in the fridge. As soon as he opened it, he saw the fridge was full of yogurt and instantly, his eyes darkened- there was a clear fear of being dominated by the advertiser’s father.
t/n: 😂
Wouldn’t Li Mu get nauseous drinking so much of this thing?
Upstairs, Li Mu was a little worried about the bed sheets and covers. It wasn’t a difficult task, it was just that he rarely did it.
Because he wasn’t proficient, he changed it slowly. Zhuang Qin thought that Li Mu had already gone to rest in his room and that there was someone arranging his room, so he didn’t go up. Instead, he fed the cat downstairs. He liked the feeling of being alone with animals. Pets are alive but they can’t speak and will look at you very seriously. Their eyes are very blue and clear. And just one look at them will fill your heart with warmth.
“Yogurt ah, yogurt.” Zhuang Qin touched him, but when the cat tried to hide, his movements became more careful, “Don’t be afraid of brother, don’t be afraid okay…”
After coaxing the kitten for a while, Zhuang Qin received a video call.
It was from Xiao Dao.
Zhuang Qin didn’t have his headphones so he could only turn the volume down a little: “Hello? Why did you video call me. Let’s text instead?”
“Brother, why are you speaking so quietly? It’s evening over there, right? Weren’t you filming on set? Shouldn’t you be resting?”
“I’m going to rest right now, but the others are already asleep. If I talk too loud, I’ll disturb them.” After saying that, Zhuang Qin heard the sound of walking upstairs.
Because of the structure and material of the house, any movement upstairs was amplified downstairs, and the footsteps made a thump thump thump sound.
Zhuang Qin wasn’t sure whether it was the cleaner or Li Mu who was walking but then he immediately thought- he didn’t hear any footsteps when he first came in, the whole villa was very quiet.
Seeing that he began was wandering off again, Xiao Dao called out: “Brother? Brother? Can you hear me? You don’t look like you’re in a hotel. Are you staying with other actors? Brother!!”
His brother finally came back to his senses, “I’ll talk to you later.”
After hanging up the video call, Zhuang Qin quickly went up the stairs. The bedroom doors on both sides were open. There was a total of three bedrooms upstairs. Zhuang Qin followed the sound to an open door.
Truly, Li Mu was really changing the bedding there.
Zhuang Qin stood by the door and asked, “Is this your room?”
Li Mu stuffed a pillow into a pillowcase as he looked up to reply, “Mine is on the other side.”
The phone in his pocket kept ringing, but Zhuang Qin didn’t answer it. He just realized that for these ten minutes downstairs, it was Li Mu who’d helped him clean and change the bedding upstairs.
“I’ll do it. I didn’t know you were changing it for me. It’s embarrassing”
Li Mu: “It’s almost done. You can answer your phone.”
The phone rang and stopped, rang again, and then stopped.
Zhuang Qin was really embarrassed. He was embarrassed and also surprised: “It seems like it’s almost finished, but I’ll do the last pillow myself.”
He picked up the pillowcase: “The next time you want to change the sheets, just call me, I’ll help you… umm, no, I’m going back to the hotel tomorrow. Then I can ask the advertiser to send two boxes of yogurt to Thailand next month? What flavor do you like? The original or the chocolate flavor. There seems to be a new coffee flavor. You seem to like coffee, do you want to try…”
He saw a lot of coffee bean cans in the cupboard. It should be roasted beans from different places.
Li Mu’s expression tightened: “No need to be polite.”
Zhuang Qin didn’t continue to talk about the yogurt. He assumed that he’ll just directly buy it if he wanted it. It wasn’t a big deal. He changed the pillowcase: “I brought a lot of throat lozenges and Malva nuts. I’ll share half of you tomorrow.”
Li Mu: “Malva nut?”
Zhuang Qin: “You infuse it in water, I suppose it can be regarded as a medicinal herb? You haven’t had some, but it doesn’t have a strange taste. It moisturizes your throat. My master likes it very much. I used to have a hoarse throat and drank this every day.”
Li Mu agreed, then told him the direction of the restroom and shower. He showed him which one was the shower gel and which was the shampoo, before saying, “I bought the house before anyone ever lived in it. Qiu Ming lived in the room beside yours before and no one has ever used the bath. I just used hot water and disinfectant to rinse it. You can take a bath and use incense to help you sleep.”
Zhuang Qin said he understood, he thanked him and bid him good night.
Li Mu nodded, and his cold eyebrows were a little warm under the light: “Good night, I’ll call you tomorrow morning.”
The essence of gift-giving was the back and forth that happens, and that’s how a relationship continues. He sends him Malva nuts and next time there’d be a reason to send something else back.
Zhuang Qin took the initiative to share his favorite drink and what he uses, and he even looked forward to receiving it. It’s apparent that he really likes him.
Li Mu felt that he could now understand what Director Guo had said; this was called taking steps to cultivate feelings