Acting as the Vicious Second Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 4

After that little interlude, Qin Xiaoxiao quickly tossed her “pro-gamer move” of grabbing the wrong woman and manhandling her to the back of her mind. She decisively acted as if nothing had happened, projecting an aura of calm and serenity.

Mistaking the person? Did that happen? No. It didn’t. It simply never existed.

At the moment, the scene was chaotic, the atmosphere boiling over due to Qu Li’s arrival. Looking at the top idol’s soft profile, her exquisite figure, and the small curls resting on her fair shoulders… Qin Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow and quietly approached the director.

“Director, what is she doing here?” Qin Xiaoxiao asked with feigned nonchalance.

The director flinched, his eyes darting toward her warily. “To film, obviously… Didn’t you read the script? She’s the female lead.”

Meanwhile, he was grumbling internally: Why is she asking? She’s not going to regret her choice and try to snatch the role back, is she?

As it turned out, the director was overthinking it. Upon hearing the answer, Qin Xiaoxiao merely fell into deep thought.

What the hell! Qu Li is the female lead? That’s not how it was in the original book. Even if she had been lazy and ditched the role, it shouldn’t have gone to Qu Li. After all, Qu Li’s market value was astronomical; even “gold-tier” producers couldn’t necessarily book her. Unless… she volunteered.

“Did she ask to play the lead herself?”

As she spoke, Qin Xiaoxiao picked up the script from the table. Sure enough, next to the role of the female lead, the name “Qu Li” was printed.

“Yeah,” the director said, equally surprised. “I didn’t expect her to come. Maybe she read the protagonist’s story, found it interesting, and since we were short on people, she stepped in.”

It was common knowledge that Qu Li was unpredictable; her criteria for acting were based more on personal preference than profit. It wasn’t unheard of for her to take a role simply because a script piqued her interest. Many people had tried to figure out her tastes to get her into their projects, but none had succeeded.

And now, she had inexplicably joined his crew. The director felt as if he had been hit by a winning lottery ticket, and it took everything he had not to laugh out loud.

“Then what about this person…” Ignoring the director’s twitching lips, Qin Xiaoxiao pointed at Xiang Liwei’s name in the script and asked resentfully, “Why isn’t she here?”

“Her?” The director glanced at the name and whispered, “For an insignificant role like that—less than five appearances and barely any screen time—she just needs to show up before 6:00 PM to clock in.”

Qin Xiaoxiao was speechless. Is it really okay for you guys to be this blatant with the double standards?

However, in the original novel, these minor details were usually glossed over. The actual situation differed from the book, making it impossible to guard against; she had to rely entirely on her intuition.

She didn’t want another “car crash” where she caught the wrong person and ended up embarrassing herself instead of playing the bully. After thinking for a long time until her head ached, she gave up on logic and decided to play it by ear.

While everyone was talking, the staff had already set up the cameras. Seeing this, the director waved everyone over.

“Alright, quiet down. Let’s start filming. Scene one: Father and Son’s Argument.”

Hearing this, everyone quickly moved to their positions. Qin Xiaoxiao followed the crowd to the back row, sitting in a corner where the camera wouldn’t reach her.

Two men stepped out. The older one sat on the sofa. They had already finished their styling, and their expressions—varying between grief and rage—showed they had quickly entered their characters.

The director pressed the clapperboard and shouted: “Action!”

After watching for a while, Qin Xiaoxiao lowered her head and opened her script with a lack of interest. Though she had looked at it before, she had only skimmed a few pages, vaguely remembering she was playing a villain.

Now that she took a closer look, she felt like crying. Minutes later, after carefully reading through her lines, Qin Xiaoxiao felt as if she had turned to stone. She sat frozen in her chair, her eyes glazed over, questioning her life.

This was a modern suspense drama intended to promote “positive energy.” The plot involved a father and son who were constantly fighting due to a stepmother. Eventually, the father is found dead at home with a fruit knife—covered in the son’s fingerprints—plunged into his neck.

The evidence was rock solid. All signs pointed to the son.

The case seemed closed, but right before the sentencing, a police officer sensed something was wrong and demanded a reinvestigation. This officer was the male lead of the drama. As he searched for evidence and investigated the stepmother, he uncovered a complex conspiracy—a massive web of greed and desire enveloping the city. However, “the net of heaven has large meshes, but nothing escapes.” The darkness would fade, and the dawn would eventually break.

After reading it, Qin Xiaoxiao felt utterly defeated.

The reason? The stepmother was the villainous role she had chosen. In the drama, she was a girl from the countryside named Liu Mei. Initially, she moved to the city to find work, but she was timid and prone to mistakes. Her boss eventually fired her, considering her “rotten wood that cannot be carved.”

While walking home in despair, a man stopped her and proposed. As it turned out, he had seen her once in the countryside and fallen in love at first sight. Now that his wife had recently passed, it was the perfect time to pursue his heart’s desire.

Liu Mei, knowing nothing of the man’s inner thoughts, only knew that he had taken a liking to her. Being a girl who hadn’t seen the world, she was simple-minded, feeling only panic and inferiority. Eventually, he won her over, and she agreed to the marriage with a flushed face.

However, the son left behind by the first wife did not welcome the stepmother. Friction defined their lives. Later, the once-innocent country girl, washed in vanity, transformed into a “tacky” woman who wore bright red lipstick and spoke with a heavy rural accent. The man’s love for her remained, but the son grew more and more unable to stand her.

This led to the opening scene of the drama: the father and son’s relationship collapsing.

As for who the actual killer was, Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t care anymore. Her mind was a blank mess. She knew how to play a bad person, but a rural wicked woman? What the hell? She had zero experience in this department!

But the contract was signed. Changing roles was out of the question; the producer would likely sue her for breach of contract. Not wanting to cause more trouble, she had to “drive the duck onto the perch” and just do it.

She resigned herself to her fate, paying the price for her earlier laziness.

Behind her, Qu Li raised her eyes to watch the girl’s back. Seeing her so focused on studying the script, the corners of her thin lips curled upward. She felt a faint sense of anticipation, wondering what she would look like later—wearing heavy makeup and a bright red gown to act.

The image… will surely be beautiful.

Time passed. Finally, it was Qin Xiaoxiao’s turn to debut.

Her makeup was done, her hair was meticulously pinned up, and she wore a skin-tight red cheongsam with high heels. As she walked out the back door, she looked like a walking sausage.

The moment she appeared in this outfit, the set fell silent. Everyone wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, so they held it in.

Ahem. Qu Li coughed lightly and looked away.

The director’s lips twitched as he suppressed a smile. “It’s your turn. Get out there. When you pass the son, give him a disdainful look.”

“Oh.”

Qin Xiaoxiao responded and forced herself to walk onto the set with feigned composure. Everyone focused their attention on her. The director leaned into the camera monitor, watching closely for any errors.

She surprised them all; her acting was better than expected.

On screen, accompanied by the “clack-clack-clack” of her heels, the woman in red walked toward the young man with an air of noble coldness and arrogance. When she reached him, she stopped and turned her head.

Her eyebrows arched, and her eyes seemed to speak—they were vivid and full of charm. Her lips were coated in a crimson gloss, vibrant and translucent like jelly. Under the close-up shot, even with her face magnified, there were no flaws.

The disdainful, slightly mocking micro-expression perfectly fit the character. It was as if the stepmother, Liu Mei herself, was standing before them—vain, glamorous, and full of scorn. Like a rose with thorns.

Staring into her eyes, the young man—the actor playing the son—was struck with awe. His mouth hung slightly open. His mind went blank; the lines he had memorized were suddenly forgotten, completely defeated by her sharp gaze. He looked like a young boy facing a formidable woman, stuttering and wishing he could find a hole to crawl into.

“Cut!”

“A-Pei, what are you doing?” the director scolded. “Why are you just standing there? Say your lines! You’re making a mistake even a rookie wouldn’t make. Are you… shy?”

“No, no, no,” the boy said quickly. “Sorry for the trouble. Let’s go again, I won’t mess up.”

He apologized with a smile, but only he knew it wasn’t shyness—it was fear. He felt chagrined; he was a veteran, yet he had been suppressed by her powerful aura. He had been thrown off his rhythm. At the same time, he wondered if he had taken the wrong medicine or if it was real… He felt a dangerous aura coming from her, the kind that made his palms cold and reminded him of his high school dean.

The second take went perfectly.

Qin Xiaoxiao’s scenes for the day were over. She immediately ran to the dressing room to remove the makeup and change out of that ridiculous cheongsam.

The filming had gone unexpectedly well, and the director was relieved.

“Miss Yin, is this your first time acting?” During the break, he ran over to her, handed her a bottle of water, and struck up a conversation. “You’re so skilled! I couldn’t tell you’re a newcomer at all.”

Qin Xiaoxiao took the water. To avoid revealing her identity as a “transmigrator,” she deflected. “Oh, you flatter me. I need to head back.” She checked her phone and complained, “It’s already five o’clock.”

“Eh,” the director paused. “To save time, we usually require actors to stay at a nearby hotel. It’s stated in the contract. There’s only an hour left, just wait a bit.”

Qin Xiaoxiao sat back down and huffed. “How troublesome.”

Seeing that the “little ancestor” wasn’t making a scene, the director breathed a sigh of relief and went back to supervising the set.

A while later, the door opened. A girl slipped inside.

It was Xiang Liwei. She closed the door and scanned the room. When her eyes landed on the glamorous woman in the chair, she suddenly flinched. Like a fawn encountering a predator, she lowered her head timidly. Grabbing her backpack, she hurried toward the changing room.

However, in a place where no one could see, her round face quietly turned red.

To the onlookers, her head-down sprint looked like she was terrified and hiding from a certain “demon.” Even Qin Xiaoxiao thought so.

She watched the female lead’s panicked back and narrowed her eyes. Putting her phone in her pocket, she stood up slowly and followed her. The corners of her mouth curled into a mischievous, wicked arc, as if a prank were about to succeed.

Running so fast…

Do you really think you can escape?