Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 12 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past

Chapter 12 Part 1

Ye Qiao called Zhou Tingsheng soon after reading his text.

Zhou Tingsheng picked up the phone and heard her giggling with noise in the
background: “Are you alright, Zhou Tingsheng? Do you want to eat the grass
around your burrow?”[1]

“Didn’t you say that I like eating grass.” His tone was brazen, yet innocent at the
same time.

Ye Qiao paused for a moment, then she burst into laughter. He still remembered
that she had ridiculed him for being vegetarian.

She was laughing so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. She used her index
finger to wipe the tears away and had difficulty speaking smoothly: “To tell you
the truth, I don’t have anything to do tonight. It’s a little boring.”

Zhou Tingsheng understood what she meant: “Where do you want to go?”

“En……” Yang City was Ye Qiao’s hometown. It was an artsy city but didn’t have
a thriving nightlife. Ye Qiao thought for a moment then said: “Have you seen
<Sleeping Wind> yet?”

“No.”  Zhou Tingsheng played with his lighter and laughed: “Are you going to treat
me to a movie starring yourself?”

“You’re the one who’s going to treat me.” She laughed in a low voice and seemed
very sure of herself. Then she grew more serious: “I want to see it in a theater
before it’s gone.”

“Oh, then I’m just accompanying you to do research.”

Ye Qiao had finished the last step of removing her makeup for the TV show. She
put down the cleansing cotton: “So, you don’t want to do it?”

He imitated her tone of voice: “The pleasure is all mine.”

Shen Ting walked over just as she hung up the phone. Shen Ting told her: “Ye Qiao
Jie, are you coming to eat a late night meal with the crew? Young master Zheng is
buying. Everyone is getting ready to go.”

“I’m going to pass. Have fun.” Ye Qiao smiled at Shen Ting then moved closer to
the mirror to check the two dark circles around her eyes because she had taken a
night flight and didn’t sleep well. She frowned and called to Shen Ting.

Shen Ting turned around in surprise: “Yes?”

Ye Qiao was still checking her face: “Do I look a bit haggard without makeup?”

“Not at all! You have such good skin, smooth and white. You look good even
without any makeup.”

Shen Ting was now very close to her and wasn’t afraid of teasing her a little.
Shen Ting then happily left with the other crew members for a late night meal.

Ye Qiao received a message from Zhou Tingsheng informing her where and
when they would see the movie. She thought for a while, then decided to put
on the sunglasses from her purse before going out of door.

When she arrived at the lobby, she saw Shen Ting turning back towards her
with a woman.

Shen Ting wasn’t as relaxed as earlier: “Ye Qiao Jie, this lady came here
looking for you. She says she’s your stepmother.”

Through the sunglasses, Ye Qiao saw Cheng Su’s silhouette through a filter.
Her skin tone and features looked unrealistic, but her elegance and gracefulness
was the same. Ye Qiao suddenly felt repulsed. She took off her sunglasses and
looked at Cheng Su as she spoke to Shen Ting: “Got it. You can go with the others.”

Shen Ting probably had sensed the awkwardness between the two and
hesitated to leave until the others rushed her.

Ye Qiao said: “Let’s go get coffee.”

There was a Costa Coffee right outside the building. When Cheng Su and
Ye Qiao walked in, they attracted a lot of attention.

Cheng Su was wearing a suit with a silk scarf meticulously tied around her
neck. Her well cared for skin made her look like she was still in her thirties.
With exquisite light makeup, her demeanor showed that she had come from
a very well upbringing. When she walked alongside of Ye Qiao, they didn’t
look like mother and daughter, but rather liker sisters.  With similar good looks
and dispositions, they attracted attention when they walked in.

Ye Qiao ordered a cup of mocha and sat down, putting her sunglasses next
to her hand. She raised her head and met Cheng Su’s eyes, her eyebrows
frowning ever so slightly.

Cheng Su still talked in her soft yet lecturing tone. She looked at Ye Qiao’s
black circles: “It’s not good to drink too much coffee. It’s not good to your
health. You have to take care of yourself since you’re on your own. Don’t let
your father worry about you.”

Even though Ye Qiao didn’t give a response, Cheng Su could still carry the
conversation with poise. She noticed the bite marks on the back of Ye Qiao’s
hand that was holding the coffee mug: “What has happened to your hand?”

Ye Qiao cracked a laugh, sipped coffee, and lightly tapped on the rim of the
mug with her finger: “You’ve come all the way here just to talk about this?”

“Qiaoqiao……”

Ye Qiao interrupted her with an icy face: “Don’t call me Qiaoqiao. Even my
own mother never called me that.”

[1]: This is from a Chinese proverb (兔子不吃窝边草) which translates to
“the hare doesn’t eat the grass around it’s burrow.”  It’s most similar to the
English proverb: “the fox preys farthest from home.”



Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.