After Being Targeted by the Gloomy and Obsessive Movie Queen - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Coaxing – Ah-Yu is so Thin

8:00 PM, North Gate of Xingyu Entertainment.

Zhang Manru, wearing a black dress, had a cigarette dangling from her mouth. The ash was about to drop by her lips. She smacked her lips and muttered, “That shouldn’t be right.”

Finally, she heard footsteps. Zhang Manru’s thin cheeks instantly puffed up, and she moved sideways to block the view of the burly men behind her.

The footsteps ceased. Through the darkness, Zhang Manru traced the outline of the approaching person’s not-so-frail figure. A hint of doubt arose in her heart, but it was quickly overridden by the elation of imminent success.

Zhang Manru made a gesture to “take her down.” The several corpulent thugs behind her instantly forced smiles and swaggered out of the darkness, full of confidence.

But before the smiles could fully bloom on their faces, they froze completely.

The newcomer bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Xu Yinyu, but a long, fine scar marked her handsome, pale face, and her eyes held a fierce, panther-like intensity. Her dark hair was loosely gathered by a headband. She stretched out her long arm, her tone laced with disdainful arrogance, “You are the people Xu Yinyu hired?”

Before Zhang Manru could even react or realize it, the tall, swift woman before her started fighting, delivering solid, bone-jarring blows. The three to five thugs, nearly two meters tall, were forced to retreat under the black-clad woman’s fierce strength.

The thugs didn’t dare to think twice. The pain in their bodies fueled their rage. One thug who had been kicked over struggled to open his red, swollen eyes. Seeing hazy figures, he intended to deliver a heavy blow to this arrogant woman. Zhang Yu silently signaled to his brothers next to him. In an instant, three strong men tightly encircled the woman.

Zhang Yu, gripping a telescopic baton, quietly circled behind the woman in black. Just as he raised the long baton, a loud, clear police siren sounded.

The force of being caught in the act made his body halt momentarily. In that single moment, the black-clad woman’s long leg shot out like a cudgel, kicking his fat face and ruthlessly stomping the man under her foot.

“Such a pathetic coward!” The woman in black spat, stamping his stomach heavily again.

“Ugh!” Zhang Yu beneath her let out a groan of unbearable strain, feeling his internal organs were being grilled on a fire rack.

The other thugs, along with Zhang Manru, were terrified by the sudden sound of the siren and scattered quickly.

Xu Yinyu, hidden in the back alley, stepped out of the darkness. She wore a black hooded sweatshirt and had been following Zhang Manru from the dark end of the alley, her steps neither fast nor slow, not bothering to conceal her footsteps, like a haunting specter coming for a soul.

“Clop-clop—clop-clop…”

Zhang Manru covered her head, forcing herself to walk forward, constantly muttering, “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, I didn’t lay a hand on her, I didn’t commit a crime…”

But the ghostly footsteps continued to cling to her like a shadow.

Zhang Manru walked for nearly half an hour before finally rushing into a bright area. Just as she was about to reach the light, her neck was suddenly constricted, and she was violently dragged back to the end of the street. Despite her undignified struggle, Xu Yinyu simply dragged her forward by her long hair.

In the pitch-black night, Zhang Manru was dragged like a dog to the end of the alley, then yanked up by the neck. Her once vibrant makeup was utterly ruined. She broke down mentally, crying hysterically, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t hit me, I don’t know anything…” She could no longer distinguish between Xu Lianyue (the woman who fought) and Xu Yinyu.

Xu Yinyu’s eyes were dark and gloomy. “You don’t know anything?”

Zhang Manru couldn’t clearly see the face of the person opposite her and assumed the person choking her neck was the same person—Xu Lianyue—who had just fought. Her legs turned to jelly, and she kept begging for mercy, “Yes, yes, Sis, I’m just a nobody who cleans up after the boss. Please don’t make trouble for me with your great abilities. I beg you, I have a sixteen-year-old daughter in high school to raise. I really didn’t mean to hurt Xu Yinyu.”

Xu Yinyu tightened her grip on the woman’s neck again.

The air Zhang Manru could breathe became increasingly scarce. She couldn’t stand up and collapsed downward, her hands gripping Xu Yinyu’s hand gradually weakening.

Just when she thought she was about to suffocate completely, the grip on her neck was abruptly released. Gasps for air racked her body in the relief of survival, and she subconsciously looked up.

“Snap!” The phone shutter pressed quickly.

An unedited, compromising photo was captured and saved in the phone’s album.

Xu Yinyu cleanly shoved the phone in front of Zhang Manru’s eyes like discarding trash. “You can choose not to speak, but this photo of yours will automatically appear to all your colleagues, family, and even on the internet in one hour.”

“Including your daughter,” the eerie voice slid into Zhang Manru’s ear like a snake.

Zhang Manru instantly collapsed onto the ground. She crawled forward twice, trying to hug Xu Yinyu’s leg, but was fiercely shaken off. She didn’t give up and hugged her again, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk, everything I know…”

“It was that bitch Su Qingqing. It was her! She threatened me and made me come and cause trouble for Miss Xu. It was all her conspiracy!…”

Unknowingly, the two were extremely close.

Xu Yinyu silently saved the recorded video on her phone. Her round, bright eyes were calm and unreadable, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

A sensual woman in a red dress was clinging to Xu Yinyu with her clothes slightly disheveled, while Xu Yinyu was looking down, tapping her phone, before coldly turning her head to look in a certain direction.

Xu Yinyu also noticed the strange gaze, and when she looked over, it was Yu Shujin.

Before Zhang Manru finished her tearful complaint, she felt her body lighten as she was lifted by a strong hand and carried to a trash can at the end of the street.

A flicker of doubt crossed Xu Yinyu’s eyes. She wasn’t sure how Yu Shujin found this place, nor why Yu Shujin had come here. But deep down, she didn’t want to encounter Yu Shujin here.

Their first reunion was humiliating enough, and she hadn’t expected the immediate second one to expose her despicable side again.

Sparse passersby occasionally stopped but quickly walked away.

Yu Shujin’s expression was complicated, a hint of violence flashing in her eyes. She seemed to be desperately suppressing the agitation within her.

Chi Xia quickly closed the car door, walked up to Xu Yinyu, suppressed her dissatisfaction, and said politely, “Miss Xu, my artist has something to discuss with you. Why don’t we find a place to sit down and talk?”

Xu Yinyu’s eyes fell upon Zhang Manru.

Yu Shujin scoffed coldly.

Chi Xia instantly understood, feeling miserable inside but maintaining a professional facade. “The other person, the other matters, I will handle everything. Don’t worry.”

Xu Yinyu shook her head coldly. “I can handle my own affairs myself. I don’t need anyone else to interfere.”

Yu Shujin’s eyes were icy, but her tone was gentle and soft. “Ah-Yu, don’t make things difficult for yourself. Everyone has limited energy. The matters you’ve encountered recently are truly complicated and messy. Let me help you, just as you used to try your best to help me.”

Although Yu Shujin’s words were full of tenderness and consideration, her direct tone left no room for discussion.

Xu Yinyu looked at Yu Shujin, a dark shadow crossing her eyes.

People unfamiliar with her always assumed she was soft-natured and yielding, but when she truly made a move to deal with something, it was often a decisive, single-strike approach.

Even if it meant killing eight hundred enemies but losing a thousand of her own, she would brace herself and push forward.

But Yu Shujin couldn’t accept that. In Yu Shujin’s memory, Xu Yinyu was always the untouchable academic goddess sitting high on a pedestal, her slender fingers always tightly grasping a black pen, her eyes filled with composed determination, and her expression naturally carrying an unrestrained honesty.

Yu Shujin would never forget the chaotic scene in the alley when she was bullied and tormented because of her status as an illegitimate daughter, and Xu Yinyu, wearing her simple, clean school uniform, spread her arms to shield her back.

That figure was thin, but it held a toughness that went straight to the heart.

Yu Shujin had traversed so many dark mountains and treacherous waters, yet she still lacked the courage to admit that the lover she constantly idolized was not that strong after all.

She wasn’t that strong, yet she had rooted, sprouted, and grown robustly in Yu Shujin’s heart. Even though the nourishment wasn’t pure love, and even carried enduring resentment and hatred, it couldn’t stop Yu Shujin from constantly elevating Ah-Yu, from distancing herself from Ah-Yu, yet never stopping the thought of missing Ah-Yu.

Yu Shujin proactively walked up to Xu Yinyu and held Xu Yinyu’s left hand in hers as if offering a sacrifice, gently rubbing her own cheek against it.

No one could resist the charm assault of the “Succubus Saint Body” Yu Shujin. Xu Yinyu blinked as if in a daze, her attitude instantly softened, and her boundaries lowered repeatedly. She was completely unaware of what she was agreeing to.

Yu Shujin instantly brightened, immediately pulling the person into an embrace. “Alright, hand the matter over to me, Ah-Yu.”

Yu Shujin’s first feeling when hugging Xu Yinyu was how thin she was.

Too light and bony.

Her whole body was so thin only bones remained. There was no soft flesh to grip, just dry, skinny skin and bones. When she was pressed against a person, it felt like a wooden stick against the body.

There was no sense of pain, just a light, bony stiffness.

Even within the entertainment industry, where aesthetic standards are rigorous, Yu Shujin was momentarily shocked.

Xu Yinyu’s face flushed slightly. Yu Shujin was tightly clasping her waist, and she remembered someone was still watching nearby. She struggled shyly, but Yu Shujin hugged her even tighter. She wanted to open her mouth to warn her, but a voice that made her melt came to her ear, “Ah-Yu is so thin.”

When Zhang Manru recovered from the pain, she struggled to open her eyes. Through the black mist in her vision, she only saw two unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar women embracing the culprit who had harmed her and entering a car.

Zhang Manru had just stood up and taken two steps when she heard a rustling of footsteps. Four or five bodyguards emerged from the adjacent car and walked toward her. Her eyes widened, and she quickly turned to run towards the depths of the street, but she was easily captured by the bodyguards.

Zhang Manru was outwardly aggressive but internally weak, saying, “Who are you? Do you know who I am? Huh! Who gave you the guts to offend me! Get away!”

But no one listened to her words.

Chi Xia looked at her, sneered, put on black sunglasses, and gave the bodyguards a dismissive nod. The bodyguards then used a hand chop to knock Zhang Manru unconscious.

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