A Scummy Alpha and An Award-Winning Omega Actress Fell in Love After an Arranged Marriage - Chapter 24.2

The motion left Lu Xueyin feeling insecure, instinctively wanting to retreat.

But no matter how she squirmed, only her toes touched the ground, leaving her unsteady.

Her proud softness was helplessly pressed, becoming an invisible fuse.

Had her phone not kept ringing, they wouldn’t have stopped today.

Sheng Lan was furious, but Lu Xueyin was grateful.

She also knew when to yield.

Too weak to flee, she let her waist go limp, tilting her head to rest on Sheng Lan’s shoulder. Still seated on her lap, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, trying to erase traces, only to leave irregular smudges of lipstick on her skin.

Breath slightly ragged, body temperature rising.

Sheng Lan hushed her, “Broadcasting, sister?”

Lu Xueyin’s rationality had nearly burned away.

Sheng Lan’s irritation clearly wasn’t about that, yet Lu Xueyin felt inexplicably wronged.

So she slowed and softened her breathing, gaze fixed on the curtains.

Not entirely light-blocking, they revealed patches of golden sunlight.

Outside, the weather was perfect, bright and clear.

One patch even displayed a distinct electrocardiogram.

A broken heart pattern, with a tiny figure beside it splat dead.

A metaphor for their fractured CP bond.

Also for their failed attempt at connection.

Distracted, by the time Lu Xueyin refocused, she only caught Sheng Lan saying, “Here already? Then bring Meng Chan in. Contact Director Cheng have him shut off the cameras for this stretch. I’ll cover the lost engagement. I’ll toss up two more trending topics later.”

Xiao Tao giggled, “Lan-jie, you make trending look so easy.”

Sheng Lan wasn’t in the mood for pride. “Gotta go.”

She tossed her phone onto the table, then, in a motion mimicking an embrace, lifted Lu Xueyin by the thighs and deposited her onto the bed.

Ruthless, devoid of tenderness, not even bothering to cover her, Sheng Lan turned and left, heading to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. She had no intention of coming out before Meng Chan arrived.

Lu Xueyin belatedly realized, she’d been played.

Furious.

Yet powerless.

And the memory of her own boldness forcing a kiss, demanding a mark made her curl inward.

She wanted to hide, to vanish into the earth, to escape this planet altogether.

These twenty minutes were sustained by the show’s crew hastily editing a clip of Sheng Lan climbing through windows to maintain the hype.

To drive traffic to the live stream, only a shorter, more polished version was posted on Weibo. The official main live stream looped this same clip.

Starting with Sheng Lan opening her own window, she then climbed into two different rooms, sending the scrolling comments into a frenzy.

[According to the captions, little sister went to Lu-jiejie’s room first, then Meng Qing’s after coming out. She even double-checked before climbing the second time. So the one she really wanted to see was Qingqing.]

[Time-wise: 15 minutes in jiejie’s room, 38 minutes in Qingqing’s room. Clearly went for some intimate time with Qingqing (though so short!)]

[Though so short]

[Though so short]

The video was brief too, edited without lingering shots.

After a round of heated discussion and a few “Who cheated on whom?” trending topics, the audience’s focus returned to Sheng Lan and Lu Xueyin.

Wasn’t Sheng Lan’s comforting the wife time a bit too long? Aren’t they just acting?]

[Can’t fake feelings turn real?]

[Oh, you’re the one who said “go with the flow,” right? How do you ship everything?]

Mid-chat, the live stream suddenly went black.

Collective confusion ensued.

When it came back, other streams had crashed too.

Thus, amidst the chaos, the hashtag #TryLove Live Stream Crashed broke through.

Five minutes later, when it reconnected, viewers were quick to criticize.

[Trash servers]

[Forget the rest, just turn on the camera in Lu-jiejie’s room. At least let us hear something.]

[Wasn’t there supposed to be a task card today? I dragged my whole family to vote, and this is what we get??]

In those three minutes, Sheng Lan had already slipped back to her room. Once the live stream reconnected, she resumed her act.

Her grumpy face in the morning was real, and so was her current frustration, making her words hardly believable.

“How was my time coaxing my wife too long?” I had to do the same things with Meng Qing all over again with jiejie.”

Pointing to her lips, “See? She kissed them swollen.”

[Who was it that said they’d be in jiejie’s room when the stream started this morning? /eyeroll]

[You sound so serious, we’ll reluctantly believe you.]

[Why did you remove your makeup? Did you cry hard after being brutally rejected?]

Sheng Lan: “She kissed it all off.”

The scrolling comments erupted in laughter.

[We’ll believe you if you get Lu-jiejie to go live right now.]

Sheng Lan scoffed, “If I’m like this, do you think she’s any better? She won’t even be able to get out of bed today!”

The bold claim had its effect.

Fans laughed all morning, but by lunchtime, something felt off.

When Sheng Lan went alone to pick her horse and riding gear after the meal, they were baffled.

[WTF, why are you acting like it’s real?]

[Is Lu-jiejie playing along or genuinely bedridden?]

[@LuXueyin stans, you there? Your girl’s gone missing.]

Sheng Lan found them amusing. “Why won’t you believe me when I’m telling the truth?”

[Stop being so wild, Lu-jiejie can’t handle it.]

[No one can rein you in now, huh?]

[Is there even a shred of truth left in your words?]

Sheng Lan said there was.

“Everything I just said was true.”

The more she insisted, the less they believed.

A few fans got overly excited, saying they’d gone too far, while most just wished they’d stick to some “Artificial Sweetness.”

[How did you go this hard in just one day? We can’t even tell what’s real anymore.]

[Hard to promote like this, messing with people’s moods like that, I don’t even feel like working on the data anymore.]

Despite the heated discussions, she managed to climb several trending lists in the afternoon without pulling any stunts.

Director Cheng exclaimed that the money was well spent.

“The gap between top celebrities is just too big.”

Within the industry, those who can be called unshakable “traffic mountains” are few and far between. Every year, several names drop from the list, but Sheng Lan has remained at the top since her debut.

After her last persona collapse, her fanbase actually surged.

Old interactions with fans on Weibo were dug up, with comments saying she must have worked hard to maintain that facade before.

She wielded an Alpha’s innate ability to command attention to the fullest never controlled by the camera, but controlling it instead. From the moment she entered, she became the center of attention, adapting quickly and playing along effortlessly.

Sheng Lan asked Lu Xueyin to teach her horseback riding, so she avoided the horses in the afternoon to hide her actual riding skills.

Just sitting around chatting would be too passive for a publicity event.

Instead, she watched the other guests ride and offered unsolicited commentary.

Ji Xinlan had already accepted that she wouldn’t get the usual couple popularity with Meng Qing this episode. After camping outside Sheng Lan’s door all night and seeing her ranking at the bottom in the votes, she slept through the day and skipped selecting a horse or riding outfit.

Whatever was left would be hers anyway, so choosing didn’t matter.

Thus, Meng Qing was also left alone.

Sheng Lan observed the horseback interactions of the “Bing Tang CP” for a while and felt their chemistry was even more artificial than hers with Lu Xueyin. Without the drama’s filter, their interactions lacked the rare charm of carefully scraped sugar moments. Spending too much time together, Yan Bing was too cold, while Tang Yingyue struggled to maintain her talkative sunshine persona, leaving no room for playful banter.

Their prolonged interactions lacked the sexual tension expected of adult romance, making them dull after a while.

Sheng Lan told Meng Qing, “You should thank me. Otherwise, you and Ji Xinlan would be worse off than them.”

She turned off her mic, and Meng Qing did the same.

Glancing back at the cameraman, who was far enough away, Meng Qing unleashed a torrent of curses. “My reputation is ruined!”

Sheng Lan was baffled. “It was so obviously fake. If people actually believed it, shouldn’t you reflect on your usual behavior?”

Then she boasted, “Even if I told them straight up it was me, no one would believe it.”

Meng Qing’s usual behavior wasn’t particularly outrageous.

Her biggest mistake was joking about having an AA relationship with Sheng Lan.

That was truly playing with fire.

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