The contract really was burnt by Qiao Yichen.
The fire burning in the porcelain basin let off a light that flickered upon Ding Meng's wooden face.
Qiao Yichen waited for the paper to burn into a pile of ashes. Then, he stood and turned around to face Ding Meng, "How about you move into my room?"
Ding Meng, "..."
Was her last front also going to fall into the enemy's hands?
Qiao Yichen noticed that she wasn't responding so he raised his brows slightly and asked, "You don't want to? We're a legitimate, normal married couple now. Sleeping together is the norm, isn't it?"
Ding Meng blinked, "There are married couples that sleep separately too."
Qiao Yichen, "..."
He threw the ashes from the porcelain basin into the toilet and flushed them away. Then, he turned back to her, "We're in our honeymoon phase right now. There's no reason to sleep separately."
Ding Meng, "..."
Why don't you produce a honeymoon trip then?
"Then it's decided." As if he was trying to convince Ding Meng, he added, "The bed in my room is bigger than the one in your room and it's more comfortable to sleep on. You've already experienced it last night."
Ding Meng, "..."
She took a deep breath and faced Qiao Yichen with a smile, "I slept so deeply last night that I didn't feel a thing."
"That's perfect You'll have a chance to experience it again tonight." As he spoke, Qiao Yichen walked towards Ding Meng's bedroom and began to help her pack up her things.
"Screeching alarm devices? Pepper spray?" Qiao Yichen held up the things he had found in the drawer and turned around to look at her, "You were pretty well prepared."
Ding Meng, "..."
She laughed bitterly while frowning, "But they didn't turn out to be very useful. They didn't protect me from perverts at all."
She really wanted to file a complaint to the consumer's association.
Qiao Yichen grinned silently and threw the objects in his hands into the trash.
Ding Meng turned around to see that he had opened the door to her closet. Hastily, she ran up to block him, "STOP! I can move the stuff in here on my own!"
Qiao Yichen leaned his head to the side and looked at her and his lips curved suggestively, "You don't need to be embarrassed. After all, I'll see you wearing everything in here at some point in the future."
Ding Meng, "..."
She picked up the pepper spray that he had just thrown into the trash bin and shook it as though she was ready to spray him.
Smiling silently, Qiao Yichen lifted up the items that he had organized just now and walked out.
Ding Meng packed up the things in her closet and carried them over to Qiao Yichen's room. There, she discovered that he had already tidied up his closet and left half of it empty for her.
She wasn't sure why, but an inexplicable sense of warmth crept into her heart.
While she hung up her clothing one by one inside the closet, Qiao Yichen carried her bathroom supplies into the bathroom.
Two toothbrushes, two towels, and two cups. Qiao Yichen looked at the items neatly arranged on the countertop and smiled.
Ding Meng followed him inside to take a look and placed her own toothpaste on the countertop as well.
Qiao Yichen glanced over at the shelf and saw that Ding Meng's shampoo and shower gel were placed on there. He inched towards the shampoo cap and took a few sniffs. Then, he asked Ding Meng, "Wife, this is the shampoo that you use, right? Why doesn't it smell as good as it does on when it's on your hair?"
Ding Meng, "...Your nose is probably defective."
Qiao Yichen pulled her into his arms and lowered his head to take a few sniffs, "Sure enough, my wife's hair smells the best."
Ding Meng's ears began to turn red. She pushed Qiao Yichen away and chased him out, "That's enough, I need to take a bath."
Qiao Yichen continued to loiter, "Why don't we bathe together. That way we can save time."
Ding Meng, "..."
She pushed Qiao Yichen out and locked the door.
When she came out, Qiao Yichen was sitting in front of computer, fully immersed in writing something. While using a towel to dry her hair, she walked over to take a look, "What are you writing?"
"A song for your album. Jiang Man has really been on my case." Qiao Yichen stopped writing and lightly smelled Ding Meng's black hair which had fallen near the tip of his nose.
"Wow." Ding Meng rubbed his head. "Thanks for your hard work, Dandan."
Qiao Yichen didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he lifted his head to look at her, "Aren't you getting a bit too used to calling me Dandan these days?"
Ding Meng said, "You don't like this nickname? I think it's really cute."
"I think that hubby is quite cute."
Ding Meng said disapprovingly, "Hubby is so ordinary. Dandan is more special."
Qiao Yichen was silent for a moment. Then, he got up to go to take a bath.
Ding Meng seized the opportunity to look at the song that he was writing. Currently, it was still in the draft phase so there were quite a few areas that had been crossed off or changed. There were even annotations using special symbols which probably only Qiao Yichen himself could understand.
She gave a few rough glances. Although she didn't fully understand what was written, no song written by Qiao Yichen would be easy to sing. However, Ding Meng was no longer afraid. Not only was this because her singing skills had improved steadily, but she had also witnessed Qiao Yichen's talent.
Previously while chatting online with Jiang Nanqing, Jiang Nanqing had mentioned that even though I'm Here was undoubtedly very hard to sing, it was still among the top three most popular song to sing at karaoke.
The song was so difficult, yet everyone still dauntlessly chose to sing it. That was enough to demonstrate that the song itself possessed a great deal of charm.
She knew that Qiao Yichen held his work up to very strict standards so his work pace couldn't be that fast. However, Jiang Man was very concerned about time efficiency and had been pressuring him from the start.
Truth be told, she was slightly worried that the pressure on Qiao Yichen was too much. Sigh. Maybe she ought to spend a day making more soup to re-energize him.
While she was still lost in thought about what kind soup would be best, Qiao Yichen came out of the bathroom and hugged her from the back, "Wife, let's go to sleep."
Ding Meng, "..."
This troublemaker wasn't feeling any pressure at all!
A bit of steam was still coming off Qiao Yichen's body and it carried a light fragrance. After Ding Meng took a whiff by chance, she frowned, "You used my shower gel?"
"Yep." Qiao Yichen replied brightly.
Ding Meng, "..."
"You're crazy! That's clearly a woman's shower gel!" She roared, not bothering to hold back at all.
Qiao Yichen chuckled, "It's just shower gel. Is there really a point in calling it a man's or woman's? Also, isn't this the shower gel that Mo Zhen endorses?"
Ding Meng, "..."
Even though it was endorsed by Emperor Mo, she was sure that Emperor Mo had absolutely never used it himself...
"This scent typically appeals more to women..." She really didn't understand how he had used that shower gel on himself so calmly.
Qiao Yichen said, "But women also use this for men to smell. It's just like lipstick. At the end of the day, doesn't that get eaten up by men? Therefore, what the manufacturers produce are actually scents that men like."
What kind of logic was that?! Ding Meng ran out of energy, "Not everyone is as horny as you, geez..."
Qiao Yichen hugged her and laughed softly, "This shower gel's scent is very light. It smells like you."
Ding Meng, "..."
He made a move as soon as she let down her guard. She felt as though her HP bar had dropped by half.
After forcing her way out of his embrace, she threw the towel in her hand onto the table and said, "I'm going to bed."
Qiao Yichen walked over to touch her hair, "Has your hair dried?"
"More or less."
Qiao Yichen felt that her hair was still wet so he pulled her to stand up, "Sleep after blow drying it. Otherwise, you'll get a headache."
After Qiao Yichen helped her blow dry her hair, he turned off the hair dryer and rubbed her hair. "Go to bed."
Ding Meng stared blankly for a moment and then blinked, "You're not going to bed yet?"
"I still have to work on the song, but I'll make sure to not disturb you."
Ding Meng stared at him for a bit and then wordlessly crawled under the covers. Qiao Yichen turned off the room light, leaving only the table lamp on.
As Ding Meng laid on her side while watching him, she couldn't help but laugh, "Goudan, if you had burned the midnight oil like this when you were a student, I would have laughed myself awake from my dreams."
"Huh?" Qiao Yichen turned around to look at her, "So you actually dreamed about me back then?"
Ding Meng grimaced, "Don't get so cocky. Did you know that I also got lectured by the teacher if you didn't score well?"
Qiao Yichen smile, then said, "Alright, go to sleep. You still have to wake up early tomorrow."
"Ok." Ding Meng agreed and then shut her eyes to drift into dreamland.
After an unknown amount of time passed, a warm chest nudged over and pressed up against her back. Then, a pair of hands wrapped around her waist. Ding Meng's eyelids moved a bit. As if she was talking in her sleep, she asked, "Goudan?"
"Mhm, you still haven't fallen asleep?"
"No..."
Ding Meng had already fallen asleep and merely responded to his question subconsciously. Qiao Yichen kissed the edge of her ear and asked softly, "How much longer until your collaboration with Gu Xin ends?"
"Soon..."
Qiao Yichen wrapped his arms around her tighter and then whispered, "Good night, Wife."
"Night..."
Ding Meng and Gu Xin's collaboration entered it's final stages before the end of the month. In the MV, Ding Meng tried out a new style, which, according to the stylist, was described as Sexy Little Wild Cat..
The makeup was bolder than Ding Meng's usual style, and the outfit was a short, fluffy miniskirt which was white in the front and red in the back. On top she wore a shoulderless blouse with red and white stripes, and her outfit was paired with a pair of red high heels.
Ding Meng needed a bit of time to get used to this look. Even though her clothing exposed her shoulders, her hair provided a bit of coverage when it was let down. Even though her skirt was short, it was still within an acceptable range, and she was even wearing spandex underneath. The only thing that was hard to accept was the fact that she had to dance in high heels.
Luckily, the dance did not require any big moves. Otherwise, her legs and feet would have died.
Even though the stylist had told him what the MV's concept would be, Gu Xin was still bit shocked after saw her completed look. Perhaps it was due to Ding Meng's character, but the revealing clothing brought out a sexy and provocative side of her without coming off as slutty or exposed.
He had to admit, the style was a success.
"Looking good."
After hearing Gu Xin's assessment, Ding Meng felt awkward again.
When Gu Xin looked at her uncomfortable expression, he laughed and started to reach over to ruffle her hair but ended up stopping halfway.
He retracted his hand and walked forwards, "Let's start."
The filming of the MV proceeded without a hitch. Because the set was very simple, the MV would be relying on post-production for the most part. Therefore, the shoot finished in two days.
At the end of filming, the workers were especially happy. Everybody was ready to go out and celebrate. As the female lead, it was only natural that Ding Meng participated as well.
Gu Xin changed back into his own clothes and went over to Ding Meng to ask, "What do you want to eat tonight?"
Ding Meng nearly blurted out chuan chuan, but fortunately, she caught herself at the last second, "Anything is fine."
"Anything?" Gu Xin laughed, "You're really easy to please."
Ding Meng laughed with him without saying anything. Off to the side, a worker came over to ask Gu Xin what they would be having. Gu Xin responded, "You guys can decide."
The worker ran back over to the group to discuss the options and they decided on BBQ.
They booked a private room at a well known BBQ shop and began making their way over in a grand fashion.
When Ding Meng sat down in her personal van, she found the time to send Qiao Yichen a text, "Dandan, we finished filming the MV today. Everyone is going out to eat so I will probably be back late tonight."