After Being Dumped by the Film Empress, My Acting Skills Soared - Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Yes, or no.

Jiang Yan closed her eyes. Even in her dreams, she was being cornered by Mina to make a choice. She couldn’t help but mutter in her sleep—“Why do such boring things need a decision? Isn’t the answer obvious at a glance?”

The very thing she considered “obvious” in her dreams was something she overthought and hesitated about in reality, layering lie upon lie.

In her dream, Jiang Yan felt an unprecedented sense of panic. The anxiety was so sharp that she woke up with a shiver. Dazed, she reached out for the only blanket on the bed, tugging it toward herself.

It didn’t budge.

“?”

Exhausted and groggy, Jiang Yan forced her eyes open and looked beside her. She discovered that Shao Niannian, who had been sleeping next to her, had somehow managed to cocoon herself in every inch of the bedding. Like a creature preparing for a harsh winter, Niannian had wrapped herself tight.

As for Jiang Yan, her bedmate? Dream-Niannian clearly didn’t care if she lived or died!

Shivering from the cold, Jiang Yan sighed helplessly. She got up to turn up the central heating and rummaged through the closet for a thick coat. She draped it over herself, trying to salvage what was left of her sleep.

Before drifting back into a hazy slumber, Jiang Yan thought: In the future, even if we really date or get married, there must be multiple blankets on the bed. She was young now and could handle Niannian’s midnight heists, but things would be different as they got older. She couldn’t afford to become a regular at the hospital just because she was frozen into a cold every night.

In the early morning, Jiang Yan’s sleep was poor. No matter how high she set the thermostat, the air felt chilly. The coat she used as a makeshift blanket was too short; if it covered her upper body, her legs froze, and vice versa.

The room’s cameras clicked on exactly two minutes before Jiang Yan woke up again.

The viewers who flooded the live stream on time saw a dark-faced Movie Queen sitting up irritably, clutching her coat and staring “viciously” at the person beside her. Before the audience could process what was happening, Jiang Yan flipped over, braced herself on the mattress, and reached out to vigorously pinch Niannian’s cheeks back and forth.

She didn’t stop until Niannian woke up grumbling incoherently. Having exacted her “revenge,” Jiang Yan sighed, tucked the blanket back around Niannian, and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. There was no point in trying to sleep anymore; she’d just be frozen awake again.

—“LMAO, so Niannian stole the blanket in the middle of the night and froze the Movie Queen awake?”

—“Dating Show (X), Blanket Snatching Contest (√)”

—“I’m dying. This is the first time I’ve seen Jiang Yan make such a vivid, human expression. If she didn’t care about Niannian, she probably would have delivered a slap instead of a pinch.”

—“Niannian’s sleeping posture is a bit much… is the AC in that room too cold?”

Jiang Yan called the front desk for a pot of hot red date tea to ward off the cold. She sat cross-legged on a chair, chewing a sandwich while reading her script. The thick pages were already wrinkled, and the lines highlighted in neon were etched into her memory—along with the lines of most of the other characters.

Before she could finish her goal for the day, the person sleeping peacefully on the bed stirred.

Shao Niannian slowly opened her eyes, buried deep within the soft fortress of the thick blanket. Only half of her face peeked out. Her blurry vision scanned the room. Huh, where’s that familiar silhouette?

The central heating was aggressive—this hotel was clearly rich, pumping out cold air like it was free. Niannian had been so cold she had no choice but to wrap herself like a mummy. This resulted in her sleeping a long time but still feeling incredibly groggy.

She didn’t want to get up, but she wanted to find Jiang Yan.

To solve this dilemma, Niannian stayed inside the blanket and began to move like a giant caterpillar, inching her way across the bed.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

After much effort, she only managed to rotate herself from the head of the bed to the foot. She even had to stop for a long break in the middle because it was too exhausting.

Live stream audience: “?”

—“What kind of new performance art is this?”

—“Is she planning to transition into a nature documentary on the Discovery Channel as a silkworm?”

Jiang Yan, sitting near the floor-to-ceiling window, was also a bit stunned. She hadn’t expected Niannian to perform a “caterpillar crawl” on the bed. The heavy quilt encased her slender frame, leaving only her pretty face and messy hair visible.

She looked… well, a bit mentally unstable.

Jiang Yan silently held her porcelain cup, watching the “caterpillar” show. Niannian would crawl, rest, crawl, and eventually get herself stuck while trying to flip over. This caterpillar was a bit dim-witted.

Jiang Yan sat calmly, the corners of her mouth twitching upward.

“Ahhh… is anyone there? Can someone come save me? The blanket is tangling me… I can’t turn my body!”

Niannian began to cry out piteously. Since she hadn’t eaten breakfast, she had no strength left. She panted as she struggled against the fabric, eventually giving up and wanting to just lie there forever.

Jiang Yan didn’t intervene immediately. Instead, she sat elegantly by the side, waiting to see what other tricks this idiot on the bed could pull.

If you’re here, might as well make the best of it. Niannian decided to perform a “flat-lay.” She had no strength, she couldn’t roll, so she might as well continue sleeping right where she was. Occasionally remembering she was on a variety show and needed to maintain her image, she’d open her mouth to shout a few times before drifting back off.

Her vibe was clearly: “It’s not that I don’t want to get up; the blanket has imprisoned me!”

Jiang Yan leisurely finished her sandwich before walking to the bedside. Like rolling a tire, she rolled Niannian across the mattress a few times to help unbind the tight quilt.

However, after just two rolls, the person inside started screaming.

“Wrong way! Wrong way!”

“Hmm?” Jiang Yan stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re rolling the wrong direction! I’m going to be strangled!”

Niannian’s face was red with frustration. She wanted to glare at Jiang Yan but realized she was powerless. She huffed internally: Wait until I get out of this blanket, then you’ll see!

But Jiang Yan wasn’t purely a Good Samaritan. Seeing the situation, she sat on the edge of the bed and lightly poked Niannian’s cheek.

A gentleman’s revenge is never too late. It was 10:00 AM—just the right time.

“I woke up twice last night from the cold because you hogged all the blankets. Are you aware of this?”

“…” The bound Niannian remained silent. She was fuming. She shouldn’t have been so lazy earlier; now she was caught red-handed and unable to move!

“You certainly slept soundly while I had a terrible night,” Jiang Yan pinched her cheek for catharsis. “You were sleeping so hard you almost drooled. And you won’t even get up properly in the morning, just rolling around. How old are you?”

“Are you younger than Xixi?”

Niannian retorted, “Not quite. I’m still much older than Xixi.”

“Just say what you want! Do you want an apology? Or do you want two separate blankets on one bed tonight?”

“Neither.” Jiang Yan finally rescued her from the quilt, comfortingly smoothing out Niannian’s disheveled hair. Looking at her disheveled state, Jiang Yan laughed softly. “You’ll know once you come with me tomorrow.”

“Go where?” The rescued Niannian instantly became a “Human Encyclopedia of Why,” dying to know where Jiang Yan was taking her.

However, from brushing her teeth to leaving Yunqing, saying goodbye to Mina, and heading to the airport for a late-night flight, Niannian couldn’t get a single answer out of her.

The only thing Niannian knew from the tickets was that their next destination was Beijing. Beyond that, Jiang Yan’s lips were sealed.

Because it was a night flight, the cabin was quiet. A small TV in the aisle was playing a holiday movie. Niannian seemed able to fall into a deep sleep anywhere without any preparation.

Jiang Yan pulled a laptop from her carry-on, opened a document, and began editing. Occasionally, after writing a long paragraph, she would frown, look at it for a few seconds, and then delete it all. Her fingers tapped the backspace key with a sense of urgency.

She was terrified someone might see what she was writing. Even the sleeping Niannian beside her became a subject of vigilance; Jiang Yan would glance at her periodically to ensure she was still safely in dreamland. Only then would she continue working on the document, which was organized into points 1, 2, 3, and 4.

If an acquaintance were to lean in, they would see that this was a tally of Jiang Yan’s entire net worth: annual royalty fees from her films, endorsement contracts, and various investment projects managed by foundations or assistants.

The estimate put Jiang Yan’s net worth at well over one billion yuan. If she wanted to, she could announce her retirement today and live in luxury forever.

Jiang Yan opened a document sent by her wealth management firm and law office, checking items off one by one. After finishing, she added a note next to Item 13: “This transfer is not to be considered part of my personal estate.”

Once everything was ready, she saved the document, planning to back it up and send it to her asset management agency after landing.

Looking at the deeply sleeping Niannian, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but feel envious. People with little on their minds always slept the best. Especially someone like Niannian—after making someone else lose sleep, she looked so blissful that a firework probably wouldn’t wake her.

Jiang Yan whispered under her breath, “Should I call you smart, or just a total idiot? Calling you an idiot feels like an insult to idiots.”

In the few times Niannian actually used her brain, Jiang Yan could probably count them on one hand.