After Divorcing the Scummy Alpha Movie Queen, I Became Extremely Popular - Chapter 16

An Ex-Wife Is Better Off Dead

Tan Jizhu clearly hadn’t expected the Omega, who usually specialized in acting cute and spoiled, to reveal such an aggressive side.

“Luo—” She wanted to say something more, but a knock sounded on the VIP lounge door from the outside.

Luo Jingyun sat back down on the sofa as if nothing had happened. “Come in!”

A staff member entered with their head bowed. “Miss Luo, Miss Tan, the plane is about to take off. You may proceed to the boarding gate now.”

“Alright,” Luo Jingyun picked up her shoulder bag and followed the staff member out, not giving Tan Jizhu a single glance the entire time.

Once on the plane, Luo Jingyun adjusted her first-class seat, pulled an eye mask and a small blanket out of her bag, and immediately switched to sleep mode.

After a few hours of flight, the flight attendant came over as they were about to land to remind Luo Jingyun to prepare. Luo Jingyun methodically packed her things back into her bag.

After disembarking, Luo Jingyun and Tan Jizhu went to claim their luggage. When she arrived, she’d had help from Jiang Xian and Lu Qiu; now that she was alone, Luo Jingyun realized just how much luggage she had!

She had two large suitcases that reached her waist, plus a handbag.

In contrast, Tan Jizhu, standing next to her, only had one small, lightweight suitcase.

After lifting her luggage down, Tan Jizhu spoke in a cool tone, “Did the eldest Miss Luo take the wrong flight? Your destination should be Rome. Oh, wait—I forgot you were born in Rome. Even taking a nap on a plane, you’re so particular.”

Luo Jingyun huffed. “If you’re not going to help, then stop with the sarcasm!”

“If you are willing to kindly ask for help from your ex-wife, I would be willing to lend a hand.”

Luo Jingyun retorted sharply, “No need. An ex-wife is better off dead!”

“Humph, I’m giving those words right back to you!” Tan Jizhu pulled her small suitcase and walked quickly toward the exit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luo Jingyun struggling to drag two heavy suitcases behind her. Her footsteps paused instinctively for a second before she immediately sped up again.

At the exit, someone from the Journey of the Cultivating Heart production team was there to meet them. The person recognized Luo Jingyun and Tan Jizhu instantly.

“Hello, you two. I am the director of Journey of the Cultivating Heart, Liu Yuqi.”

Luo Jingyun stepped forward to shake hands. “Hello, Director. I’m Luo Jingyun.”

“Hello. I’ve heard much about both of you,” Liu Yuqi’s gaze shifted between the two. “Did you arrive together?”

“Oh, we just happened to be on the same flight.”

Liu Yuqi nodded noncommittally. “I see, what a coincidence.”

Initially, Liu Yuqi hadn’t believed that Luo Jingyun and Tan Jizhu would actually show up together. Even though the contracts were signed, she had been walking on eggshells. When the day of the official announcement finally arrived—scheduled for 12:00 PM—no one expected it to collide with the news of Luo Jingyun and Tan Jizhu’s divorce.

From a director’s perspective, Liu Yuqi was both happy and troubled. Happy because it brought massive buzz to the show, but troubled because she assumed that since they were divorced, they would certainly refuse to appear together. The show was already planned; a change in the number of participants would ruin the balance, and finding a last-minute replacement would be a nightmare.

However, she waited for a long time that day and never received a notice of withdrawal from either party. Gathering her courage, she messaged both sides and was told that neither was quitting.

Even so, Liu Yuqi wasn’t completely at ease. While proceeding with the normal schedule, she was secretly contacting backup candidates for a Plan B.

Now, they faced the first hurdle.

“Director,” Luo Jingyun asked, “Are we transferring to a high-speed train now?”

Liu Yuqi replied, “To be precise, we are transferring to a green-skinned train (vintage slow train).”

“Huh? Green-skinned? Train?”

“Yes, the kind that goes clackety-clack. It’s better for enjoying the scenery.”

Luo Jingyun blinked, clearly unable to form a mental picture of such a thing.

Tan Jizhu spoke up from experience, “Director Liu, our eldest Miss Luo usually travels by plane. She’s never set foot on a green-skinned train. Explaining it to her is useless.”

Liu Yuqi didn’t catch the sarcasm in Tan Jizhu’s voice and patiently explained, “It’s fine. The train ride is only about an hour, and then we take a car.”

Full of curiosity, Luo Jingyun made a grand promise: “Don’t worry, Director. Since I’ve decided to join this show, I’ll follow the arrangements.”

Liu Yuqi had expected Luo Jingyun to be difficult to get along with, but she seemed surprisingly easygoing.

“You have quite a bit of luggage. Let me help you with one,” Liu Yuqi offered.

Luo Jingyun indeed struggled with two. She didn’t refuse. “Then thank you, Director Liu.”

Liu Yuqi walked ahead. “No need to be so polite. I’m a few years older than you. If you don’t mind, you can just call me Sister Yuqi.”

“Alright, thanks, Yuqi-jie!”

With help, Luo Jingyun felt much lighter. She looked back at Tan Jizhu and flashed a triumphant smile.

Tan Jizhu frowned, mentally complaining about how childish Luo Jingyun was.

The three of them arrived early. After checking their tickets, they boarded and sat down. Liu Yuqi and Luo Jingyun sat in one row, while Tan Jizhu sat opposite them. Tan Jizhu asked, “Director, are we not waiting for the others?”

Liu Yuqi said, “The others arrived earlier than you. They’ve already taken an earlier train to the transit hotel.”

Luo Jingyun glanced sideways at Tan Jizhu, scoffing in her heart. Isn’t Tan Jizhu just trying to ask if Chen Shidong has arrived? Since she’s divorcing me anyway, why not just ask openly? Being so indirect is so petty!

As departure time approached, the train became crowded. More accurately, it wasn’t just people filling the space.

A group of villagers boarded, carrying a basket of fruit in one hand and a basket with two live chickens in the other. They placed the chicken basket on the floor and checked their seats. Seeing Tan Jizhu sitting alone, they negotiated, “Young lady, there are three of us. Could we trouble you to move so the three of us can sit together?”

Tan Jizhu didn’t hesitate and stood up to switch seats. Only after she sat down did she realize she was now sitting right next to Luo Jingyun.

Seeing this, Luo Jingyun scooted toward Liu Yuqi, putting on an air of extreme disdain for Tan Jizhu. Tan Jizhu once again silently critiqued Luo Jingyun’s immaturity.

“Thank you,” the villagers said as they sat opposite the three of them, placing the fruit and the chicken basket in the footwell between the two rows of facing seats.

Luo Jingyun had never seen a live chicken before. She leaned down slightly, wanting to get a closer look at this animal she had only ever eaten but never seen “in the feather.”

However, perhaps due to stress, one of the chickens went wild the moment a shadow loomed over it. It flapped its wings frantically, its sharp beak pecking through the gaps in the basket.

“AH!” Luo Jingyun, having never experienced such a thing, was so startled she practically jumped onto the person next to her.

“It… it’s biting me!”

The person opposite apologized profusely, pulling the basket closer to themselves. “So sorry, really sorry.”

Luo Jingyun waited a moment, opened her eyes to observe, and saw that the chickens had calmed down and were further away. She finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hey, how much longer are you going to stay on top of me?”

“Eh?” Luo Jingyun looked down instinctively. She realized that in her terror, her arms were wrapped around Tan Jizhu’s neck and her legs were draped over the other woman’s lap. It was almost as if she were being held in a bridal carry.

“Get off!” Seeing that Luo Jingyun hadn’t reacted, Tan Jizhu took the initiative to place the girl’s legs back on the floor and pushed her hands away. “Luo Jingyun, an Alpha and an Omega should maintain proper distance!”

Luo Jingyun felt rejected. “Che, who wants to be close to you anyway!”

She turned toward Liu Yuqi and said coaxingly, “Yuqi-jie, can I sit closer to you? I’m scared.”

Liu Yuqi had been enjoying the show, but when she was called upon, she didn’t seem surprised. “I’m a Beta; I can protect you.”

“Thanks, Yuqi-jie! You’re the best!”

After that little interlude, the train started moving. Luo Jingyun had never had such an experience. As Liu Yuqi said, the green-skinned train went clackety-clack. Although it was much slower than a plane or high-speed rail, it allowed one to peacefully appreciate the scenery.

“Wow, this is so beautiful! These mountains are so green! I have to take pictures to show my moms!” Luo Jingyun leaned toward the window, snapping photos of the landscape.

“Be careful, don’t fall out.” The windows on these trains were quite large. Worried, Liu Yuqi put an arm around Luo Jingyun’s waist to act as a safety tether.

When Luo Jingyun finished and sat back down, Liu Yuqi started a conversation. “Jizhu, I heard from Shidong that this used to be the hometown for both of you. Why don’t you introduce it to us?”

Luo Jingyun listened to their conversation while picking out photos. She only then realized that this was the hometown of both Tan Jizhu and Chen Shidong. No wonder Tan Jizhu agreed to do her variety show debut just because Chen Shidong asked.

Tan Jizhu replied politely, “The changes here have been huge, and I’ve been gone for a long time. I shouldn’t speak nonsense.”

“There’s been a lot of development in impoverished counties lately. Our show is also aiming for that—using the celebrity effect to accelerate growth.”

Tan Jizhu’s gaze lingered on Luo Jingyun’s waist for a moment. In her mind’s eye, a pair of hands still seemed to be wrapped around that waist.

Shaking her head, Tan Jizhu’s vision cleared. She glanced at Luo Jingyun’s phone screen. The scenery inside was indeed beautiful, but she had no heart to appreciate it. To her, these endless mountains felt like a boundary—like a cage.

The place she hated most was, in Luo Jingyun’s eyes, a beautiful view.

Two people with such a massive gap between them perhaps should never have met in the first place.

For the rest of the trip, Tan Jizhu closed her eyes to rest. The rhythmic clackety-clack and the familiar yet slightly foreign local accents filled her ears, reminding her of the time she decided to flee with her mother.

The only difference was that she could still faintly hear Luo Jingyun’s voice.

“Luo Jingyun, can you please be quiet!”

Luo Jingyun, who was sharing skincare tips with Liu Yuqi, was stunned. “What? I’m being so quiet and you can still hear me?”

“Of course! Just because you don’t want to rest doesn’t mean others don’t!”

Luo Jingyun realized Tan Jizhu was targeting her. She rolled her eyes. “Heh, my deepest apologies. If you want it quiet, why don’t you go lie down on the tracks?”

Liu Yuqi didn’t dare say a word. She knew there would be conflict between these two, but she didn’t expect it to be this intense. Then again, it made sense—they were divorced.

“Jingyun, we still have a way to go. Why don’t we rest for a bit too?”

“Okay, I’ll just send you the link.”

After receiving the link, Liu Yuqi tilted her phone away and opened a chat box to vent about everything she had just witnessed.

After getting off the train, they transferred to a car. When Luo Jingyun saw the “Gold Cup” van—the kind that only appears in TV dramas during kidnapping scenes—she nearly had a breakdown.

“Yuqi-jie… is this the car we’re taking?”

Before Liu Yuqi could answer, Tan Jizhu piped up, “You’re lucky to have a van. If they made you ride a donkey cart, would you just quit the show on the spot?”

“…” Liu Yuqi smiled politely. “The production team wouldn’t go as far as making guests ride donkey carts.”

Luo Jingyun’s level of disgust rose exponentially, but she endured it. She worked with Liu Yuqi to move her two suitcases into the van and then sat cramped inside a vehicle she would normally never even look at.

Whether it was because the car was poor quality or the road was too bumpy, Luo Jingyun became motion sick and nearly threw up several times.

Finally, they reached the transit hotel. The rest of the staff were already waiting. Liu Yuqi walked over with two room cards. “Here, one for each of you. We start filming at 9:00 AM tomorrow. Get some good rest today.”

Luo Jingyun didn’t take hers. She asked, “Yuqi-jie, isn’t this the transit hotel?”

Liu Yuqi nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Then why are we staying here?”

Tan Jizhu explained, “Luo Jingyun, did you even read the materials the team sent out? A transit hotel means we stay here today to transition. Once filming officially starts, we will be staying in the village.”

Luo Jingyun asked innocently, “Is the hotel in the village like this one?”

Liu Yuqi hesitated. “Uh…” How was she supposed to explain to this young miss that there were no hotels in the village?

Before Liu Yuqi could find the words, Tan Jizhu spoke for her, delivering the harsh truth.

“There are no hotels in the village. This is the best hotel in the area, and it certainly can’t compare to the five-star hotels you usually stay in. If you can’t handle it, you should probably quit early.”

Luo Jingyun thought Tan Jizhu was trying to trick her into quitting. She turned to Liu Yuqi for confirmation. “Is that true?”

Liu Yuqi nodded. “Yes.”

Luo Jingyun leaned her head against her hand, unable to believe her ears.

Liu Yuqi felt that instead of a slow torture, it was better to be blunt.

“Jingyun, once filming starts tomorrow, we won’t just be helping villagers farm and feed pigs; we’ll be living in the local houses with them. Those houses are quite dilapidated, and life there isn’t very convenient…”

“Dilapidated is an understatement,” Tan Jizhu added the final blow. “Some of those thatched huts leak in the wind. It’s even common to have people living on the upper floor while the pigs live on the lower floor.”

Liu Yuqi patted Luo Jingyun on the shoulder. “Jingyun, when I heard, you were coming to this show, I was very surprised. I don’t know if you understand the significance of this program, but since I’ve decided to make it, I won’t allow any guest to get special treatment. If you can’t accept it, it’s not too late to back out now.”

Tan Jizhu had a different motive, but she said the same thing: “Yeah, it’s not too late to quit now, rather than quitting halfway and causing trouble for everyone.”

“Jingyun, what is your decision?”