After Being Targeted by the Gloomy and Obsessive Movie Queen - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Isolation – Back at the Company

After Yu Shujin spent two months pulling all-nighters to finish filming all her scenes, she took Xu Yinyu to Cloudtop Pavilion, a newly opened restaurant in A City, for dinner.

Since her relationship with Yu Shujin progressed, Xu Yinyu suggested returning to work.

Yu Shujin hesitated, utterly reluctant in her heart, but she didn’t want to provoke Xu Yinyu’s dissatisfaction again.

She reluctantly agreed to Xu Yinyu’s request to re-join the company.

After Xu Yinyu returned, she found that her former comic team, except for Group Leader Yang, had all been transferred.

She looked utterly confused. Group Leader Yang forced a polite but distant smile and introduced her to the new team members.

The team members exchanged subtle glances, and the atmosphere became tense.

Usually, in such awkward situations, Group Leader Yang would make an appropriate joke to break the frozen atmosphere.

But this time, until Xu Yinyu picked up her employee badge and walked to her workstation, she did not say another word to ease the tension.

Xu Yinyu slowly sensed Group Leader Yang’s displeasure. She figured that disappearing for over two months without a word, dropping her responsibilities, must have caused huge financial losses to the team.

It was understandable that Group Leader Yang harbored resentment towards her.

Xu Yinyu mused that she would wait until after work, invite them out for a meal, and at least explain the reason why she couldn’t come to work.

Xu Yinyu sipped some warm water, then noticed her phone vibrate. She picked it up and swiped the screen. Yu Shujin’s message appeared.

Yu Shujin: Tada! Look at my diet meal.

Attached was a photo of a low-calorie diet meal.

Xu Yinyu smiled and slowly typed a response.

A-Yu: Looks like a meal full of healthy flavors!

Yu Shujin: I prepared one for you too! Come eat grass with me (smirking cat emoji).

A-Yu: No, I want to eat meat (pouting angry cat face).

Yu Shujin used a fork to spear a piece of cucumber, suddenly finding it extremely delicious. A smile spread across her lips, and she mumbled softly to herself, “If I actually gave you meat, you’d complain it’s too greasy.”

She then remembered Xu Yinyu was busy at the company.

Yu Shujin immediately probed subtly, “How’s your first day of work?”

Xu Yinyu found it difficult to be honest with Yu Shujin. She actually felt a subtle, collective isolation from her team.

It wasn’t obvious bullying or harassment.

It was deliberate neglect and indifference.

Even when Xu Yinyu took the initiative to say hello, no one responded. She had to handle complicated work alone, eat the healthy food Yu Shujin sent her alone, and take breaks or go to the restroom alone. The entire company felt like a playground for robots.

Xu Yinyu was the excluded error code.

No one communicated with her, no one accepted her. She was clearly in a company of a hundred people, yet it felt like she was in a cold hospital room, only able to look at the blinking red monitor.

Xu Yinyu even shed cold tears unknowingly.

When she met the strange looks of others, she quickly wiped her face, composed herself, and slowly typed a reply.

A-Yu: It’s good. The company is quiet, which is perfect for drawing.

Yu Shujin’s eyelid twitched. She chewed on a piece of beef deliberately and slowly, but her hands moved fast.

Yu Shujin: I’m doing well here too. It’s just that the wire harness squeezed my waist just now, and it hurts a little (crying cat face).

A-Yu: (hugging cat face).

This means comfort. Yu Shujin’s eyes brightened again.

Yu Shujin: Then can you apply medicine for me when I get back? It hurts so much (cat face blinking eyes repeatedly).

Xu Yinyu bit her lip. Not realizing this was just Yu Shujin seeking attention, she exited the chat box and opened the browser to search: #What are the consequences of being squeezed by a wire harness?

The browser popped up a heap of bloody photos. Xu Yinyu was startled and quickly exited with trembling fingers.

A-Yu: Take care and protect yourself.

Yu Shujin didn’t have time to read Xu Yinyu’s message when she heard a knock on the commercial car window. She put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth with a soft tissue, and put her phone in Chi Xia’s bag.

She and her assistant walked to the private dressing room, where a makeup artist was already waiting to touch her up.

When Yu Shujin finally took a break, Xu Yinyu’s messages had filled the screen.

Yu Shujin exclaimed in pleasant surprise, her lips pouting high.

Chi Xia stood behind her with the bag, sighing deeply at Yu Shujin’s foolish look.

“Do you look very tired?” Yu Shujin suddenly turned and asked Chi Xia.

Chi Xia was momentarily stunned. She answered subconsciously, “I’m fine today.”

“Oh, A-Yu thinks I’m working too hard today and insists I take time off. Oh dear, how can I possibly ask Director Huang?” Yu Shujin showed a conflicted expression, holding up the phone full of worried inquiries.

The smile on Chi Xia’s face stiffened, and she delivered a heavy blow. “Then tell her you feel awkward asking for leave and she shouldn’t worry unnecessarily.”

“Chi Xia,” Yu Shujin said slowly, word by word, displeased. “You’ve lost your bonus for this week.”

Chi Xia gasped and mumbled under her breath with resentment, sticking out her neck. “Wretched capitalist. You can just sleep on the money you earned with your greedy heart.”

“Say one more word and you’ll sleep with your bed board. I’ll steal your blanket,” Yu Shujin said ominously.

So petty.

After work, Xu Yinyu quickly walked to Group Leader Yang’s independent office, paused, and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Group Leader Yang’s voice came from inside.

Xu Yinyu pushed the door open. “Group Leader Yang, I’d like to invite you out for dinner. Are you free tonight?”

Yang Qingyu coldly raised her eyelids and directly said, “No.”

Before Xu Yinyu could finish, she met Yang Qingyu’s impatient gaze. “Xiao Xu, I need to work overtime to catch up these days. I’m too busy. I’ll treat you when this period is over, alright?”

The words were polite and impeccable, leaving no room for complaint.

A typical conversation would have ended here. You don’t ask, I don’t answer, each leaving the other their boundaries.

“Group Leader Yang, have you misunderstood something?” Xu Yinyu asked directly.

Yang Qingyu took a deep breath. She stopped signing and countered, “Misunderstood what?”

Seeing Yang Qingyu finally look up at her, Xu Yinyu bowed deeply.

“I am truly sorry for my sudden disappearance two months ago, and for not giving you proper compensation,” Xu Yinyu placed the card she was holding on Yang Qingyu’s desk. “Please take the salary and bonus on this card as compensation for abandoning my job without reason or notice. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Yang Qingyu looked at the bright, well-behaved young woman before her, her heart aching slightly. “Xiao Xu, you don’t need to apologize to me. I understand these things well; it wasn’t your fault. But the results of many things, while not your intention, still happened because of you.”

“I lost so many colleagues and friends. You can’t possibly expect me to laugh heartily and open my heart to you, can you?”

Xu Yinyu lowered her head in guilt. “I understand, Group Leader Yang. I’ll leave now.”

She closed the door dejectedly. Only then did Yang Qingyu’s brow relax, and her tense back eased.

Xu Yinyu walked down the stairs alone, eyes lowered, pulling down her cap brim firmly. She got into the familiar sedan and chatted briefly with Uncle Li.

“Is work even busier than before? Miss Xu, why do you look so worn out?” Uncle Li asked with concern from the front.

Xu Yinyu subconsciously touched her face. She thought about the very little work she had today—mostly trivial daily tasks; she certainly wasn’t busy.

She smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s quite easy. Maybe it’s because I worked suddenly after resting for so long.”

Uncle Li agreed. “Then take your time adjusting. It doesn’t matter even if you don’t adjust, anyway.”

Xu Yinyu’s eyes instantly froze. She realized with a start the point of confusion she’d had recently.

Yes, work, for her now, wasn’t a necessity.

Because she now relied on Yu Shujin.

So, even if she didn’t adjust, she didn’t have to worry, because everyone who knew their relationship understood that Xu Yinyu didn’t live off her work.

Xu Yinyu lived off Yu Shujin.

Were they respecting Xu Yinyu? When people saw her achievements, would they think it was her own effort?

The answer was screaming in her heart.

Their twisted relationship hadn’t been corrected; instead, it had developed abnormally, even subtly influencing Xu Yinyu until she realized at this moment that she had become Yu Shujin’s kept woman.

Xu Yinyu distractedly washed up and went to sleep. Halfway through the night, she heard small, fragmented movements. She groggily opened her eyes, and the faint, warm lamplight allowed her to clearly see the bruising and purpling on Yu Shujin’s waist.

She honestly didn’t have the energy to get up, but seeing Yu Shujin applying the medicine alone, she forced herself to overcome her sleepiness and crawled over to Yu Shujin. She took the medicine into her hands and said in a hoarse voice, “Lie down.”

Yu Shujin placed the mirror on the bedside table and naughtily pinched Xu Yinyu’s cheek. “Are you that sleepy?”

Xu Yinyu swatted Yu Shujin’s hand away and urged, “Hurry up!”

Yu Shujin smiled indulgently, lay down on the bed, and exposed her slender waist. A swollen bruise stood out prominently on the fair, beautiful skin.

Xu Yinyu picked up the applicator board and gently smeared the medicine on Yu Shujin’s side. Just as it made contact, she heard a cry of pain from Yu Shujin.

Startled, Xu Yinyu froze. “Does it hurt a lot? I’ll be gentler. You… you just bear the pain for a moment.”

She must be half-asleep. Yu Shujin laughed, her stomach shaking.

Xu Yinyu, with hazy eyes, lightened the pressure of her hand. The burning pain was enveloped by the cold medicine, instantly making it much cooler.

Yu Shujin asked, “A-Yu, the medicine is applied. Go back to sleep.”

She sat up and saw Xu Yinyu had already collapsed on the other side, still clutching the applicator board.

Yu Shujin picked her up, laid her flat on the pillow, and wondered in her heart, “So tired, why did she still want to go to work?”

She lay down on Xu Yinyu’s chest, listening to the most moving rhythm in the world.

For two months straight, Xu Yinyu and Yu Shujin could only meet under the lamplight, lingering in heavy sleepiness.

The moment Yu Shujin finished filming, she couldn’t wait to schedule couple activities on their days off.

“A-Yu, I heard the biggest feature of this restaurant is the hot springs. We’ve been working non-stop these days. Let’s go try it and relax while we’re at it.”

Xu Yinyu nodded. The dark circles under her eyes were obvious, and her gaze was dull, like an innocent scholar whose spirit had been drained by a fox spirit.

Yu Shujin used the excuse of helping Xu Yinyu change into a yukata to lead her into the same changing room.

But during the process of changing, Yu Shujin pressed Xu Yinyu against the wall. Damp kisses fell repeatedly, and she asked seductively, “A-Yu, want to try a new scene? It feels super exciting.”

Xu Yinyu’s drowsy head instantly cleared. Her face flushed, teased by Yu Shujin’s words.

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