My girlfriend was reborn.

Chapter 118 You can touch me a little more.

night.

Zhou Heming made the braised pork ribs with potatoes that Lu Bai had been longing for, using expensive spare ribs and adding some dried chili peppers that were supposedly from Sichuan for flavor, but Lu Bai couldn't taste the spiciness at all.

In addition, I stir-fried a plate of dace with fermented black beans and romaine lettuce.

"It's delicious!"

Lu Bai picked up a piece of lettuce mixed with bits of dace and put it in his mouth. His eyes lit up immediately.

Zhou Heming also picked up a piece and ate it.

"The taste is about the same."

He tasted another piece.

Although there are still some differences between what his mother made and what Cheng Shuangjiang, who was reborn, made, the taste is already very close.

"Hehe, I knew you could cook well."

Lu Bai chuckled and handed a piece of spare rib to Zhou Heming.

"These ribs are also delicious, they're braised to perfection and the meat is falling off the bone."

Zhou Heming nodded and picked up a piece for her as well.

The two sat at the coffee table in the living room, watching travel and lifestyle videos randomly pushed by a video website on the TV. The air conditioning was just right, and the noisy chirping of cicadas outside was distant.

Why are you suddenly looking at me?

As Lu Bai was eating, she noticed that Zhou Heming was looking at her.

"I was thinking, so this is what it feels like to have a home."

The boy sighed.

When he was with Cheng Shuangjiang, who had been reborn, he didn't yet have that sense of reality. The two of them were often preoccupied with their studies, and their "student-like" feeling was stronger.

Now, in the summer after graduating from high school, Zhou Heming seems to have vaguely grasped what the future looks like.

"Then we both need to work hard for our family."

Lu Bai rubbed his nose and laughed.

"Well, I still need to think about how to earn money for living expenses and tuition after I go to university."

Zhou Heming rarely talks about these things directly, but when facing Lu Bai, he felt there was no need to hide anything.

How much money do you still owe?

Lu Bai only had a vague impression that Zhou Heming was in debt, but he didn't know the specific amount.

"I don't know how much my dad has paid back, but as far as I know, it should be within three million."

They are already the ones who take the blame, but the associated compensation is still prohibitive for ordinary families.

This is the debt that remains after selling the house and other valuables.

"Three million? Damn it, why am I not the female lead in a hit drama?"

Lu Bai couldn't help but grit his teeth and complain.

"I heard last time that a teacher invested some of his own money when he acted in a short drama, and the short drama became a hit, earning him more than two million yuan."

"How much money do you make?"

Zhou Heming had been reading online about celebrities evading taxes, and he felt that everyone in the film and television industry was a big shot earning tens or hundreds of millions of yuan a year. But those kinds of things seemed rather unreal to him.

However, since Lu Bai is someone who can actually access and handle the money, it sounds very real.

How much the world's richest person spends on a meal or how much they earn in a minute has absolutely nothing to do with us.

But when a colleague in the same unit got a new BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or Audi, everyone naturally gathered around to gossip about it.

"Only a few people make big money. Most are like me, or like the guy I saw in the acting training class the other day, just trying to make a living."

Lu Bai gave Zhou Heming a long, detailed explanation of the income of these actors.

Cheap extras only cost a couple hundred yuan a day, and regardless of the weather, very few can get roles with lines.

People like Lu Bai can earn anywhere from a little over a thousand to seven or eight thousand a day, depending mainly on luck. If they can get more roles in a month, they can earn more; if they can't get any roles, they can only sit and eat their savings away.

Some even earn 30,000 a day and can participate in profit sharing, living a very comfortable life.

Even so, and these are just the bottom rungs of the industry. To use the analogy of an ordinary office worker, extras are like oxen and horses carrying bricks under the sun, while Lu Bai and the others are like oxen and horses sitting in an air-conditioned office. Even more impressive are the high-level oxen and horses who direct oxen and horses to work.

Those celebrities who appear on Weibo's trending topics and in entertainment news every day are the real bosses.

"By the way, my relative, Lu Ban, is the director of 'Goodbye, Pear.' He said he wants you to audition for a role. If you get the part, he'll pay you the same price as me."

Lu Bai ate a piece of potato and said.

"Me? I can act?"

Zhou Heming thought to himself that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe his acting as clumsy.

"It's the episode about the funeral home that I told you about before. Director Lu looked at your information and said that it would be very interesting to have someone like you, who has actually worked in a funeral home, play a funeral home employee."

Lu Bai picked up another piece of bok choy with his chopsticks and added a piece of spare rib to Zhou Heming's bowl.

"Don't be nervous, give it a try, and you'll even be acting opposite me, it's a rare opportunity."

Lu Bai seemed certain that Zhou Heming would be able to pass the audition.

"We're starting filming on the 14th. What if I can't make it? Wouldn't that make things very rushed?"

Zhou Heming was mainly considering the production schedule.

"It's okay, Director Lu will definitely have a way. Besides, he's very good at training actors. There used to be a variety show personality who was trained by Director Lu and is now a hot horror thriller actor."

Lu Bai said casually.

"That sounds a bit scary."

Zhou Heming vaguely recalled that this director Lu Ban seemed to have started out making horror films, and Lu Bai's first film should have been directed by Lu Ban.

"I believe you."

Lu Bai looked directly into his eyes.

"Okay, okay."

Zhou Heming nodded somewhat guiltily.

After dinner, the two tidied up for a while and washed up.

Lu Bai doesn't need to wash her hair today, so she'll use the bathroom first.

When Zhou Heming came out after washing up, he caught a glimpse of Lu Bai examining the unique little box he had bought from the supermarket.

".Ahem."

Zhou Heming cleared his throat, and Lu Bai quickly stuffed it back into the shopping bag.

"I... I was just curious to take a look."

She stammered as she explained, her ears turning a rosy blush.

"No, it's okay. I've already bought it, so I can watch it anytime."

The boy has already read and replied randomly.

Zhou Heming, do you want to hear what you're saying?

"Then, let's go to bed after brushing our teeth."

Lu Bai suddenly stood up and, like a puppet, awkwardly pulled Zhou Heming to the sink to brush his teeth.

The two of them brushed their teeth in front of the mirror and found that their faces were both flushed.

Why is your face so red?

After putting down his cup and toothbrush, Lu Bai poked Zhou Heming's waist.

"You're the same."

Zhou Heming wanted to retaliate, but considering his gentlemanly manners, he refrained from doing so.

The two fell into silence again.

"I haven't hugged him yet today."

Lu Bai spoke up, tugging at the hem of Zhou Heming's clothes.

Zhou Heming pulled her into his arms, placed his hand on her slender waist, looked at the girl who had raised her face, and gently kissed her.

This was a long kiss, one that the two had known each other for a long time, intertwined with love.

"This is today's kiss."

During a brief moment of catching his breath, Zhou Heming pressed his forehead against the girl's and said in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Ah."

Lu Bai murmured, resting her head against Zhou Heming's chest.

Although, in terms of official status, the two had only been together for a few days.

But their actual time together was much longer.

As Lu Bai said, there is no clear dividing line for feelings. There may be a "crack" moment when you clearly realize your inner affection, but this affection is accumulated from ordinary and mundane daily moments.

"It's getting late, go to sleep."

Zhou Heming gestured for Lu Bai to go to bed first, while he stayed outside to turn off the light.

As he turned off the lights, he glanced at the supermarket shopping bags without realizing it, then quickly looked away.

The lights were turned off, and only the sound of the air conditioner remained in the room.

As Zhou Heming crawled into the blankets, he felt a warm, soft, and petite body leaning against him.

Zhou Heming wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Lu Bai was acting a little differently today, unusually proactive.

Although Lu Bai is a very proactive person, she has always been a little shy and girlish when it comes to things like hugging and kissing.

Zhou Heming's thoughts were captured by the girl's soft lips; he was so engrossed in them that he seemed to forget the time.

A moment later, warm breath landed on his ear.

"Zhou Heming, you can touch me a little more."

Lu Bai gently nibbled on his earlobe, whispering in a clear and sweet voice.

"Anywhere."

Boom——

Zhou Heming felt that the string that had been taut in his mind snapped completely with Lu Bai's soft, nasal voice.

*
It was midnight. The sound of rushing water filled the room.

Lu Bai was diligently rubbing his hands with hand sanitizer.

Inside the roaring washing machine, the bed sheets and blankets, freshly tossed in, were being tossed into the water.

Zhou Heming sat on the sofa and took the small box out of the supermarket shopping bag.

This thing was almost opened.

He could only sigh that the feeling of liking someone could have such devastating power. When emotions run high, willpower really seems like a joke. Zhou Heming thought he could control himself, but that was because he had never experienced it before.

"Thank you, Auntie."

Zhou Heming put the small box back, clasped his hands together, and sincerely thanked him.

Thanks to Lu Bai's aunt, Zhou Heming realized his own weak will.

"What are you doing?"

Lu Bai blushed and subconsciously rubbed his soft palms, then brought them to his nose to smell them.

"No, it's just that I feel a bit emotional. Ultimately, an individual's will cannot override the instincts that have evolved over millions of years."

Zhou Heming said in a very philosophical tone.

"Are you in your post-coital phase?"

Lu Bai blurted it out.

"After all, just now you..."

"Please, Lord Lu Bai, don't mention it again!"

Zhou Heming immediately slid to his knees, begging Lu Bai to stop talking.

"Well, back then you were quite, um, quite cute."

Lu Bai sat down on the sofa, next to Zhou Heming, and leaned gently against him.

"Can this word be used to describe it?"

Zhou Heming hadn't looked in a mirror, so he didn't know what expression he had just made.

All he knew was that Lu Bai was actually quite proactive and bold.

If Zhou Heming couldn't control himself, Lu Bai was no better.

At times, he even thought he was the trembling little white rabbit captured by the big bad wolf.

"How about we sleep separately?"

Zhou Heming patted the sofa.

"why?"

Lu Bai pouted, quite dissatisfied.

"They're already yours, and now you want to turn your back on them?"

"It hasn't come to that yet."

Zhou Heming scratched his head and explained.

"First of all, with the two of us like this, every night it might take us one or two hours instead of half an hour to get ready, and then we have to clean up afterwards, which definitely affects our sleep."

His reasoning was sound and supported by evidence, stemming from a perspective of physical health.

"Secondly, what if things really go too far someday, I..."

"What? You can't handle it?"

Lu Bai clenched his palms.

"No, I want to cherish you."

After Zhou Heming finished speaking, he looked into Lu Bai's eyes. What he said was true, but in fact, he had even more genuine thoughts.

He hesitated for a long time until Lu Bai leaned in and gently kissed him.

“I’m actually worried that if our love becomes completely intertwined, you will disappear like her.”

Zhou Heming dared not look Lu Bai in the eye.

He knew very well that, up to this point, he had never said "I love you" to Lu Bai.

He was afraid of losing her again, so he dared not express his strongest feelings to Lu Bai. This was not because he didn't like her enough; on the contrary, he restrained himself and suppressed his inner turmoil, simply wanting to spend more time together.

Some say that a person only falls in love once, and in their first love, they exhaust all their heartfelt sincerity without considering the consequences. All subsequent loves are accompanied by calculation and wariness.

Zhou Heming didn't know if that was true.

All he knew was that if he lost Lu Bai at this moment, it would be disastrous.

Then I might never open my heart to anyone again.

No one likes being alone; they're just afraid of getting hurt.

Upon hearing this, Lu Bai pursed her lips and revealed a gentle smile. She gently took Zhou Heming's hand.

“It’s okay. I said I would always be by your side. If words can’t put your mind at ease, then let time prove it.”

Her voice was soft, yet possessed a strength as firm as a rock.

"Even if we're both in our seventies or eighties and have lost all our teeth, it doesn't matter. Think about it, in the book 'Love in the Time of Cholera,' the two main characters only reaffirmed their love for each other when they were in their seventies or eighties."

"Ah."

Zhou Heming nodded.

He responded with a kiss as gentle as he could.

The night was enchanting, and in the intertwined breaths, a certain vow was exchanged silently.

*
The admission results for both individuals were unremarkable and uneventful.

Lu Bai was admitted to the acting program at the School of Drama, Ningjiang University.

Zhou Heming was successfully admitted to the Drama and Film Literature major at Ningjiang University through the bonus points from the targeted examination.

The two students' admission notices will probably arrive at the school around the end of July. At that time, they should still be in Sichuan and will not return until filming is finished.

Compared to the dramatic and eventful senior year of high school, the ending of the story seems rather ordinary.

On the 12th, they spent the whole day packing their luggage.

Because they were going back to stay for at least two weeks, the two packed two suitcases.

On the 13th, they arrived at the airport in Jiangcheng, well ahead of schedule.

It was Zhou Heming's first time flying, so he was a little nervous and seemed flustered when going through security.

Lu Bai handled it much more easily and also helped Zhou Heming with the security check.

While waiting to board, Zhou Heming kept staring at the flights on the tarmac outside, seemingly trying to identify their specific models.

"I heard that civil aviation communications are all on public frequencies, so some people can listen in at any time. If something happens, there will be situations where someone will help make calls."

Zhou Heming recalled many movies about air disasters that he had watched.

"The probability of a plane crashing is very low."

Lu Bai smiled.

"I even watch 'Air Crash Investigation' on those big airplanes that have movie theaters."

"You have a really big heart."

Zhou Heming was still a little unsure.

They were very lucky; in this unpredictable summer weather, the plane was on time and took off without delay.

As Lu Bai said, Sichuan Airlines' in-flight meals are indeed delicious, and they do provide chili sauce.

After eating the airplane meal, Lu Bai leaned on Zhou Heming's shoulder and fell into a deep sleep.

Zhou Heming looked out the window at the sea of ​​clouds he was seeing for the first time. He had imagined giant, translucent whales swimming in the sea of ​​clouds, storms covering the continent hiding islands suspended in the clouds, and a great adventure to the ends of the earth.

His thoughts wandered as he watched the plane descend, break through the clouds, and reveal the winding mountains and rivers on the ground.

With a jolt, Zhou Heming gently shook Lu Bai awake, told her to fasten her seatbelt, and fold up the tray table.

It must be said that Zhou Heming was indeed a little nervous at this moment.

But Lu Bai quickly grasped his hand and gently kneaded it as if comforting a child.

As the plane landed, Zhou Heming felt a slight sense of weightlessness, and soon, only the rumbling sound of the fuselage remained.

Their first flight thus came to an end.

Amidst the commotion of the tour group, the two walked down the aisle from the plane to the luggage carousel.

The panda decorations are everywhere here, which shows how much the people of Sichuan love these cute black and white creatures.

While waiting for his luggage, Lu Bai took out his phone to check the messages he had received.

"Oh, Director Lu asked us if we had arrived yet, saying that if we made it in time, we could still have dinner."

Lu Bai raised his head.

"It's right next to the hotel. By the way, he asked you to get ready for the audition tonight."

"what?"

Zhou Heming felt that he might still be a little airsick.

"So fast?"

"Don't worry, they are very nice people and won't make things difficult for you."

As Lu Bai spoke, he glanced at their suitcases and immediately noticed them.

"Over there, over there, let's go get it quickly. It takes more than an hour to get to downtown Chengdu by subway from here."

She led Zhou Heming to the luggage carousel.

Zhou Heming carried the two people's luggage down and turned to find the way to the subway station.

At this time.

He saw.

At the baggage carousel next door, a girl wearing a floral dress, a long-sleeved cardigan, and sandals was struggling to drag her suitcase off the carousel.

As she turned around, panting, the girl met Zhou Heming's gaze.

It is Cheng Shuangjiang.

*
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(End of this chapter)