After Exchanging Shadows Chapter 11

⇔  ⇔ 

"Ruan Ruan, don't joke around." Feng Tangtang did not move from her spot and spoke with a stiff smile.

She was timid and scared of things like ghosts and demons the most. She never dared to try to watch a horror movie, she was unwilling to even glance at a scary image, and when faced with listening to a scary story, she would cover her ears.

Xi Mo stopped the movements of her hand, and a.s.sumed a very solemn att.i.tude as she told her the truth that couldn't be any more truthful, "I am not joking."

Feng Tangtang rarely ever see this kind of look on Ruan Yesheng, fear instantly set in as a slight chill went up her back. Her gaze went to the living room and swept all over, "Don't… don't lie to me."

Xi Mo looked at Feng Tangtang, easily making her expression more sincere as she spoke, "Tang Tang, when have I ever lied to you?"

Everything else cannot be guaranteed, but Xi Mo was rather sure what would happen after she told her that. According to Ruan Yesheng's character, lying and cheating people was just a piece of cake for her. And Feng Tangtang, this round cotton candy was really too sweet. Calling her pure was nice, but one could also call her stupid. In any case, with Feng Tangtang's IQ and her h.e.l.l-bent loyalty to her friend Ruan Yesheng, she one hundred percent cannot tell that Ruan Yesheng had told her lies before.

As such, in Feng Tangtang's point of view, Ruan Yesheng has an image of not lying to her. This point cannot be wrong.

As expected, Feng Tangtang paused, then stammered out, "Uhuh, you never lied to me before."

Xi Mo: "……"

Ruan Yesheng, you truly sinned gravely.

Queen Xi forgot that she was the one that was actually sinning gravely, and continued to deceive the pitiful block of sugar, "Actually, I can't really say that it's haunted. After all, ghosts are so vague and imaginary, who can actually see one? To be exact, this apartment is a little strange; I would never sleep well when I go to bed at night and always have nightmares. My luck has also gotten a bit worse living here. I mean, look at what happened earlier, didn't I go through a fire at a hotel and almost die?"

Feng Tangtang felt that the room became a lot chillier after hearing the reasonable argument.

Xi Mo sighed in a solemn manner, "Living here, I feel like I have become quite unlucky, like I have become a G.o.d of pestilence."

Ruan Yesheng, you G.o.d of pestilence.

Feng Tangtang hurriedly spoke, "Since you don't feel comfortable here, then move and live somewhere else. It would be a good change of pace. Have you picked any places? Where you plan to move? Anything?"

Xi Mo answered, "I contacted a real estate agent, and they let me take a look at a couple of houses, I already decided. I will go take a look again in these two days and move in once I'm satisfied with it."

Only now did Feng Tangtang feel relieved, "Hm, as long as you like it. However, Sister Xi has just left the hospital, so there might be a lot of things I have to do, and I probably won't have much time to help you." She walked past her and helped Xi Mo organize the things in her suitcase.

"There are moving companies; it's simple. You can just do what you need to do." With the situation forcing her, Xi Mo was becoming more and more familiar with the role of Ruan Yesheng in front of Feng Tangtang.

She thought back to what Ruan Yesheng had told her. There were still some things she needed to take from the room, so she went into the bedroom.

Ruan Yesheng's bedroom style was immaculate and elegant. Although due to an accident, the homeowner had not returned for an extended period, the room was very neat and tidy besides the usual layer of dust. It was methodically arranged, and it was clear that Ruan Yesheng really liked cleanliness.

An extremely large portrait of Ruan Yesheng hung in her bedroom.

This portrait was taken back in the days when Ruan Yesheng was popular, at that time, she had just finished filming 'The Sound of Performance,' the box office exploded in popularity.

The portrait captured her once youthful years, compared to now, the her back then was still immature, yet her att.i.tude was still as charming as before. This portrait was from a photo shoot. Her fine soft bangs were just right while the corners of her eyes were gentle downward slopes, giving her a charming look. Her moist lips were faintly open and lightly bit her finger joint.

The Ruan Yesheng in the portrait looked as if it was looking at Xi Mo.

Xi Mo raised her head and looked at it; she felt that the face in this picture was completely different from the one she saw in the mirror.

This was the true Ruan Yesheng, even if it was just a portrait.

Ruan Yesheng's soul was in it.

Being watched by the loving and gentle gaze of the portrait, Xi Mo suddenly felt a bit anxious without reason. When they were young, she had gone to the same college with her before, yet she had never looked at her so carefully as she did today.

And Ruan Yesheng's gaze in the portrait seemed to want to tear into the body that was Ruan Yesheng's like a leather bag and seize her soul out of the body.

Xi Mo turned her face away and continued to tidy up.

There wasn't much in Ruan Yesheng's room, what she needed was even less. The desktop was also organized simply with only a single photo frame. In it, Ruan Yesheng and her parents posed for the photo while behind them was the film college campus.

Ruan Yesheng wore a white dress and stood between her parents. The sunlight that shone on her at the moment brought out her youthful face and gentle smile.

That white dress brought up a memory in Xi Mo's mind that she had almost forgotten like scattering dust of the past.

At that time, because of the situation of her room and the annoying person that her family sent over, she had rushed down the stairs and ran straight into Ruan Yesheng who was wearing this exact dress.

If this were in a movie, this would look like a complete cliche scene starring young romance, but the reality was always ten million times more melodramatic than film.

Ruan Yesheng at that moment had been holding the lunch she had just gotten from the cafeteria and holding a roasted chicken leg.

The hot food spilled all over Xi Mo, including the roasted chicken leg.

Xi Mo was already irritated at the moment, and as mysophobic as she was, she almost peeled Ruan Yesheng of her skin then and there.

This was not a good memory for Xi Mo, so she always threw it in the back of mind.

That woman looks like she has an excellent relations.h.i.+p with her parents, why did they not come to see her? With no contact at all, could it be that they went abroad?

Xi Mo picked up the photo frame and looked at it some more, then placed it back down. She opened the drawer and organized the couple of work-related doc.u.ments that Ruan Yesheng had and then left the room.

As long as one had money, everything would go along very smoothly. Xi Mo quickly found a new place and moved in. About everything was dealt with in the way she liked, and most important of all, the new building was very close to the company building and was very expensive. Ruan Yesheng was currently using her ident.i.ty and living on the twenty-fourth floor of the company.

Monday was for a magazine cover, Xi Mo went to the address on the appointed time, and when she arrived, she was pulled away for makeup and changing clothing.

It was altogether five photos, the theme of each was contrasting color.

The moment Xi Mo sat down, makeup was smeared all over her face by the makeup artist. She was messed around so much that her heart was dripping with blood. In the past, she was a queen wherever she went. Now she was a n.o.body free for someone to mess around with. The arrogant her really couldn't adapt to it fast enough. Sitting upright without a word, the pressure of the room was frightening.

She had naturally done many magazine covers in the past and went on many famous fas.h.i.+on magazines. The date of those magazines depended on her preference and whether or not she had time in her schedule. The photographer, makeup artist and so on were all appointed by her, and they were all the elites of the circle, and each one had a well-known reputation.

How could it be like this makeup artist in front of her? His skill wasn't very graceful or good. He finally asked dispiritedly after turning Xi Mo into a flowery peac.o.c.k of bright colors, "Miss Ruan, how do you feel?"

Xi Mo looked at the mirror, then looked back at the makeup artists. According to her pickiness toward makeup, she was almost unable to push down the irritation in her heart.

What kind of colorful makeup is this?!

The transition of hues was so ugly, if the magazine sells then h.e.l.l would freeze over!

Although this wasn't her face, once she thought of how Ruan Yesheng's nice skin was made into this, she felt it was a bit of a waste. Fortunately, Ruan Yesheng had great skin, and she was naturally very seductive, even after being made into this flowery peac.o.c.k, she was able to pull it off. Xi Mo had to hand it to Ruan Yesheng's skin in the end, so to not put this body through another round of suffering from the makeup artist, she faintly smiled and spoke, "I feel fine, we can start the photo shoot."

The makeup artist had a favorable impression of her from the very beginning, because although she looked cold on the surface, she had never moved once and had no objections. This allowed things to be done very conveniently by the makeup artist. In the profession of makeup artists, what they felt most annoyed about was the person who sat on the chair being nitpicky and annoying.

The makeup artist smiled, "Miss Ruan, you're so kind."

Xi Mo: "……"

Have you been knocked silly by the sight of your own colorful makeup? Where do I look kind?!

With the makeup session over, Xi Mo went to the film studio for photos, then went back to the makeup artist. The photographer was not one that held back on his words.

Photographer: "Miss Ruan, could you make your waist a bit softer, please? Ok, down just a bit, and again, a bit softer. Miss Ruan, your waist is slender and supple in the first place, we must bring it out to its full potential, don't be too stiff."

Xi Mo: "……"

In my entire life, I had never had to take such a flirtatious cover!

Photographer: "Miss Ruan, tilt your chin up a bit, open your mouth just a gap, you must bring out your s.e.x appeal. Look over at me, deeply into my camera lens, if your gaze is strong enough to electrocute me to death, it would be great."

Xi Mo: "……"

You can go die!

Photographer: "Miss Ruan, could you place your finger on your lips, your middle one? Your fingers are beautiful, perfect for being photographed and give you another type of feeling."

Xi Mo: "……"

Controlling Ruan Yesheng's hand to touch Ruan Yesheng's lips was already something Xi Mo felt awkward about. After all, although this was Ruan Yesheng's body touching itself, the one that felt all the touches was still Xi Mo controlling the body. It looked like touching oneself, but in fact, it was her touching someone else.

Her perception of touch permeated all four limbs of Ruan Yesheng, when Ruan Yesheng's finger went to her lips, she thoroughly felt the light sensation from the contact.

Xi Mo was annoyed to no end by the photographer, but she was naturally dedicated to her work, so she bore with it. After finally being done with the third photo, the person in charge let them all take a break and returned with tea and desserts. Xi Mo dragged herself along with the third peac.o.c.k costume to the table and sat down, turning on her phone to browse online.

Today was Monday, the day her company was announcing the news.

Ruan Yesheng would take her place in attending the press conference, by this time, the reception should have already happened.

She had just brought up the weibo page when the makeup artist who was doing makeup inside rushed out emotionally and shouted at the photographer, "Matt! Hurry up and look at the news on weibo! My G.o.ddess Xi wasn't disfigured! She's not disfigured!"

Xi Mo: "……"

The makeup artist's effeminate face was full of admiration and hope as tears glistened in his eyes, "In this lifetime, my biggest wish is to do the makeup for my G.o.ddess. Although my skills aren't up to par right now, I will still work hard for that goal."

Xi Mo: "……"

The photographer Matt was also very emotional as he looked at his phone, "I also want to take a photo of the G.o.ddess! Having the G.o.ddess even glance at me is good too!"

Xi Mo: "……"

Weren't you already dead by electrocution earlier?!

While the photographer and makeup artist started to chat happily, Xi Mo was thoroughly tired and annoyed by the two. She decided to ignore them and went back to looking at weibo.

There was a live broadcast playing on weibo. Ruan Yesheng was dressed brightly and neatly in Xi Mo's body. The light shone elegantly on her as she wore a perfect graceful expression.

Lu Qingming was speaking beside her, "I thank everyone for their concerns, Xi Mo is in good condition. We had concerns earlier, so we were unable to alleviate everyone's worries. In addition, we had to think about the recovery of Xi Mo's body, so the company temporary did not release any news, causing some misunderstandings. I hereto represent the company and apologize to everyone who expressed their worries of Xi Mo. As of today, your Xi Mo is back."

Following the end of the conversation, the camera lens pulled in front of Ruan Yesheng and flashed brightly.

⇔  ⇔