Superstar's Development Diary
Chapter 168: Scratching the Turtle Shell

Chapter 168: Chapter 168: Scratching the Turtle Shell

He Jinxia hopped to the chair and had just sat down when the doorbell rang again.

She frowned, hopped to the door again, and this time wisely asked first, "Who’s there?"

"It’s me." A deep male voice came through, gravelly and magnetic.

——She felt she could recognize that voice even if she turned to ash!

He Jinxia blinked her eyes and opened the door.

As soon as the door swung open, Sheng Yan’s towering figure came into view, dressed just like she always saw him—in all black.

He didn’t hesitate at all; as soon as the door opened, he stepped in, saw that He Jinxia was moving with difficulty, and took the initiative to offer his arm, escorting her inside. Before leaving, he even remembered to close the door.

By the time He Jinxia realized what was happening, she had already been supported to her chair and made to sit down.

A baffled He Jinxia: ???

Sheng Yan looked around and brought another chair to sit down in front of her, slightly lifting his head, "How does your foot feel?"

He Jinxia blinked her eyes, still a bit confused about what Sheng Yan was up to, and subconsciously said, "Much better."

Sheng Yan mercilessly exposed her lie: "Lying."

He Jinxia: "No, it’s really much... owww!"

Before she could finish, Sheng Yan touched her ankle, causing her to sharply inhale from the pain.

"Feeling much better?" Sheng Yan asked blandly, his gaze calmly fixed on her.

He Jinxia: "..."

"Where’s the medicated oil?" the man asked.

Her mind didn’t catch up, but her body honestly extended a hand and pointed to a spot.

Sheng Yan looked over and saw two bottles of medicated oil on the table.

One bottle was open and had been used; it was brown, while the other bottle was red and unopened.

Sheng Yan’s gaze grew sharper, a hint of obscure darkness flickering across his eyes. He stood up to grab the medicated oil and casually asked, "Did you buy two bottles?"

He Jinxia was at a loss for words.

She felt a bit nervous, her hand clenched slightly, and didn’t hide the truth from him, slowly starting to speak, "No, I only bought one bottle; the other was given by someone else."

Sheng Yan turned around, his gaze deep as he looked at her, "What a coincidence, I also bought a bottle to give to you."

He Jinxia: "..." How was she supposed to respond to that!!

The man calmly took out a bottle of medicated oil from his pocket and placed it among the other two bottles.

The three bottles of medicated oil, each of different colors but the same size, were lined up in front, giving He Jinxia an inexplicable sense of pressure.

Next came the most awkward moment.

Sheng Yan leaned his body against the table, folded his arms across his chest, and looked at her with a grave voice, "Choose one."

He Jinxia was dumbfounded: "Huh?"

"Choose one, and I’ll help you apply."

He Jinxia quickly shook her head in refusal, "No need, my foot is much better now."

Sheng Yan disregarded her words, counterasking, "Is it difficult to choose?"

He Jinxia: "...I don’t want to apply it anymore."

Sheng Yan looked at her calmly, with an indescribable pressure that made refusal not an option, "You have to apply it."

Finally, he added, "If it’s hard to choose then I’ll choose for you. How about we use the one I brought?"

He Jinxia hadn’t given an answer yet when Sheng Yan had already picked up the bottle of medicinal liquor he had brought.

He Jinxia: "..."

"Why aren’t you talking? Let’s just use my bottle." There wasn’t even a questioning tone now.

He Jinxia suddenly felt an itch in her teeth. Did she even have a choice?!

Facing the man’s deep and dark gaze, after a long while, she helplessly said, "Alright, let’s use your bottle."

Sheng Yan slightly tilted his head, hiding the fleeting shallow smile on the corner of his mouth.

*

"Ah, it hurts! Be gentle... Hiss! Why are you so strong..." The woman’s soft and tender cries intermittently reached his ears, causing Sheng Yan to suddenly feel a bit regretful.

He regretted telling Jinxia earlier that if it hurt, she should just cry out.

Now, Jinxia was just letting it out, but it was he who suffered.

He wasn’t the one who was injured, yet it was he who ended up sweating nervously.

Sheng Yan stared at the reddened ankle in the palm of his hand, applying more ointment and continuing to rub for her. His strength did not lessen at all despite the woman’s cries, and he said in a deep voice:

"There’s a bruise on the sprained ankle. By dispersing the blood stasis, it won’t swell up too much tomorrow, and it won’t hurt either."

He Jinxia’s eyes seemed to hold a layer of moisture, ready to be squeezed out into tears at the slightest touch.

"You’re lying to me. You said it would stop hurting after a few rubs, but why does it still hurt so much now!"

Sheng Yan was silent for a moment. His stern face was solemn, as if speaking of a major life event, "It won’t be just simple pain. Once it’s relieved, it should be a mixture of pain and relief."

He Jinxia’s face turned red, and she spit at him: "Pah, rogue!"

Sheng Yan looked up at her and said seriously, "I’m telling the truth."

He Jinxia turned her head away, too pained to keep from drawing breath sharply from time to time.

Unlike before, the woman was no longer emitting those mind-disturbing, demon sounds.

A faint sense of regret arose in Sheng Yan’s heart.

After a long while, feeling that it was about good enough, Sheng Yan let go of her ankle and instructed, "We have to continue this tomorrow. Try not to run around during filming, to avoid causing secondary injury to the ankle."

He Jinxia turned her head back, looked at her ankle which had turned red from rubbing, and frowned, "I’ll try. Sister Hua has already spoken to the production coordinator and the director to arrange for me to do dramatic scenes tomorrow."

Sheng Yan got up, put away the medicinal bottle, and his gaze lingered on the unopened bottle for a moment, he spoke indifferently, "Don’t accept gifts from others so casually. It can lead to owing them favors."

He Jinxia paused, raised her head to see, and caught Sheng Yan staring at a bottle of ointment.

After a moment of silence, she suddenly bent her eyes with a smile, and teasingly asked, "What about your gifts, then?"

Sheng Yan raised an eyebrow, turning to her, "My gifts can be accepted; I’m not an outsider."

He Jinxia gently shook her head, "That’s not how it works. Aunt Rui is Aunt Rui, and you are you. I can’t just comfortably accept your gifts because Aunt Rui is kind to me."

She paused, then looked at Sheng Yan seriously, "Brother Sheng Yan, we’re not relatives. You don’t have to take such good care of me. If you’re doing this because of what happened with my dad—"

"It’s not." Sheng Yan cut her off crisply, looking steadily at her: "It’s not because of your father’s incident."

He Jinxia’s lips curved up slightly, her voice was very gentle and persuasive, "Then why are you so good to me?"

She felt like she was covertly scratching at a turtle, seducing it with all her might on the outside of its shell, urging the turtle not to keep its head tucked in anymore, but to stick it out and let her touch it.

Sheng Yan’s pupils were as black as ink, with a tumultuous undercurrent swirling in his eyes. He Jinxia did not shy away from the gaze. She looked at him clearly and directly.

At this moment, Sheng Yan had an epiphany, taking the most critical step, and in a soft voice said, "Wanting to be good to you is reason enough to be good to you."

He Jinxia’s heart gave a heavy thump. Her eyes widened slightly, feeling something different between her and Sheng Yan.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.