After Divorcing the Scummy Alpha Movie Queen, I Became Extremely Popular - Chapter 33

Where Should I Go to Reason for My Buried Hard Work?

When it was time for music class, the production crew, knowing the piano had been tuned, set up their cameras and officially began recording the lesson.

With the piano accompaniment, teaching became much more convenient, and the children’s singing grew louder and more melodic. After class, two students curiously approached Luo Jingyun and expressed their interest in learning. With a grand wave of her hand, Luo Jingyun pulled them onto the piano bench and taught them a few simple scales.

“Come on, follow the fingering I just used and try it yourselves.”

The two students were clumsy, and after several pauses, they managed to stumble through the notes.

Luo Jingyun encouraged them, “Being able to play like this on your first try is already amazing.”

The two students said shyly, “It’s because Teacher Luo teaches well.”

“Teacher Luo is so impressive!”

If one learns piano and cannot show off later, it would be utterly meaningless. Luo Jingyun fought to suppress the smile curling at the corners of her lips. “Don’t worry, with Teacher Luo’s professional training, I’ll definitely have you playing even more beautiful melodies!”

The two students had to head to their next class. After thanking her, they didn’t linger and left the music room. The crew members, having recorded enough footage, moved on to film other guests.

Park Soo-ah, who had finished tidying the classroom during the break, walked over to Luo Jingyun. “Jingyun, I asked the staff just now, and they said they weren’t the ones who fixed the piano. Then who could it be?” Park Soo-ah asked in confusion. This question had been bothering her since morning. Her sixth sense told her she had to find the answer, or there would be a lot of trouble later.

The smile on Luo Jingyun’s face froze. She played dumb. “It wasn’t them? Then I don’t know either. Maybe another group of staff? Oh, whatever, it’s fixed anyway. Who cares who fixed it?”

Something’s wrong. Luo Jingyun’s reaction was off. If she truly didn’t know, she would be speculating and discussing it, not brushing it off like this.

“Jingyun, you know who fixed it, don’t you?”

Being pressed like this made Luo Jingyun a bit impatient. She waved her hand dismissively. “How would I know? Anyway, the piano is fixed, the kids are happy today, and it’s easier for us to teach. That’s enough. Don’t think about the rest—worrying too much will shorten your life.”

Sensing her own aggressiveness and Luo Jingyun’s irritation, Park Soo-ah said, “Jingyun, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’ll just assume the piano fixed itself then.”

“Yeah,” Luo Jingyun let her agitated tone soften. “My point is, let’s not waste energy on such unimportant things. Alright, let’s stop talking about this. I’m going to the restroom; when I get back, we’ll go feed the pigs together.”

Returning from the restroom, Luo Jingyun saw Chen Shidong walking toward her. She quickly scanned a ten-meter radius around the woman, and only after confirming Tan Jizhu was nowhere in sight did, she greet her.

“Senior Chen.”

“Jingyun, finished with music class?”

“Yes, just finished. Do you have PE today, Senior?”

“One session in the afternoon,” Chen Shidong patted Luo Jingyun’s shoulder familiarly. “You, stop with the ‘Senior’ this and ‘Senior’ that. It’s awkward. Just call me Sister Shidong like you used to.”

Luo Jingyun’s gaze swept over Chen Shidong’s hand, and she quietly took a step back. With a hint of sarcasm, she said, “Forget it, I’ll stick to ‘Senior,’ lest certain people get unhappy.”

“Does this ‘certain person’ refer to Tan Jizhu?” Chen Shidong asked knowingly. “I didn’t expect you to care so much about her opinion.”

“Bullshit! Who cares about Tan Jizhu’s opinion!” Fearing her words would be misunderstood, Luo Jingyun cursed, “I’m afraid of her acting up again and coming to cause me trouble.”

“But Jizhu does care about your opinion,” Chen Shidong said conversationally. “I heard the piano was out of tune, so she got up at four this morning to go out with the crew’s procurement staff to buy a tuner. After returning, she immediately looked up tutorials to learn how to tune it. She rushed through it just to get it done before your music class today.”

Luo Jingyun wasn’t surprised by this answer; she had guessed long ago that Tan Jizhu fixed it. However, her knowing it herself versus Chen Shidong telling her were completely different concepts.

“Oh, so Tan Jizhu fixed it. So what?”

Chen Shidong brought out her pre-planned argument. “Jizhu went through the trouble of waking up early and rushing around just to fix the piano. If it were me, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Luo Jingyun knew exactly why Chen Shidong was saying this. She asked coldly in return, “Senior, are you trying to sell me a ‘pity story’ for Tan Jizhu?”

Chen Shidong clapped her hands. “So you also think she’s quite pitiful, right! I’m just seeking truth from facts and telling everyone what Jizhu did.”

Luo Jingyun sneered. “Seeking truth from facts? Senior, are you Tan Jizhu’s court historian? You seem to know her business quite well.”

“…” Chen Shidong mentally complained. Since when did this girl become so good at snarky remarks? Where did she learn this biting rhetoric?

“I don’t mean anything else; I just don’t want Jizhu’s hard work to go unnoticed.”

Luo Jingyun sneered. “Then where should I go to reason for my own buried hard work from before?”

“…” Intending to help Tan Jizhu, she seemed to have made things worse. Chen Shidong smiled awkwardly. “Fine, this is between the two of you after all. I won’t meddle.”

Watching Chen Shidong’s retreating back, Luo Jingyun grumbled, “What is wrong with everyone? Are all Alphas sick in the head? No, wait… my Momma Xian is still very good.” Realizing she had generalized, Luo Jingyun quickly corrected herself.

Luo Jingyun returned to the music classroom to mix the pig feed with Park Soo-ah and continued with the day’s work. Near dusk, after finishing her post-interview, she was wandering around the school bored while waiting for Park Soo-ah to finish hers. She intended to ask the other four guests how their classes went, but after only a few steps, she ran right into Tan Jizhu.

Tan Jizhu also saw Luo Jingyun. Her face lit up with joy, and she walked over holding a box. “Jingyun, this is a cake I asked Sister Deng Mei to bring back when she helped me buy the tuner. It was supposed to arrive this morning, but your favorite flavor was out of stock, so I had to wait until the afternoon. It’s still at its peak flavor—please try some.”

Luo Jingyun looked through the transparent part of the box at the cake. The surface was decorated with chocolate shavings depicting a midnight scene, with cherries, peaches, and other fruits laid out. There were even white clouds made of whipped cream floating in the sky.

It was exactly the type of cake Luo Jingyun liked. She loved these fancy, colorful things.

As much as she craved it, Luo Jingyun held her ground. “Oh, since you bought the cake, then you take it and eat it yourself.”

Tan Jizhu was a bit at a loss. “Jingyun, you won’t eat it? I bought it specifically for you.”

“I won’t,” Luo Jingyun continued to be stubborn. “What do you mean ‘specifically for me’? Don’t use me as an excuse. Did I ever say I wanted to eat cake?”

“I remember you saying you wanted some small cake two days ago.”

Luo Jingyun retorted, “You’re talking nonsense. I never said that.”

“It was that day when you and Park Soo-ah were feeding the pigs. I heard it.”

Luo Jingyun thought back for a moment and realized it actually happened. She remembered that right after she said it, Tan Jizhu called out to her to talk about the piano.

“Hah, Tan Jizhu, when did you develop the habit of eavesdropping on other people’s conversations?”

“I… I wasn’t eavesdropping.”

“Forget it, don’t explain.” Luo Jingyun intentionally put on an angry face. “Go away. I don’t want to talk to someone who likes to eavesdrop.”

Tan Jizhu chased after her. “Jingyun, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

Luo Jingyun didn’t stop, walking forward on her own. “I don’t want to hear your explanations.”

“Jingyun,” Tan Jizhu kept chasing. With one large stride, she blocked Luo Jingyun’s path. “Just treat me as one of your fans and accept this gift from a fan.”

Having said that, Tan Jizhu didn’t give Luo Jingyun any time to react. She directly looped the ribbon of the cake box over Luo Jingyun’s arm and then turned to walk away.

“Tan Jizhu! I don’t want your cake! Take it away!”

With her back to Luo Jingyun, Tan Jizhu fled quickly. “If you really don’t like it, just throw it away.”

“You…” Luo Jingyun stomped her feet in place. “Tan Jizhu, this is forced buying and selling!”

If it had been a few days ago, Luo Jingyun wouldn’t have hesitated to throw the cake into the trash. But after experiencing the hardships of farming, she had personally felt how difficult it was to obtain food. She could no longer bring herself to be wasteful.

After a moment of thought, Luo Jingyun suddenly had an idea.

“Jingyun,” Park Soo-ah came out after finishing her interview and happened to see the tug-of-war between Tan Jizhu and Luo Jingyun. She hurriedly asked, “Was Tan Jizhu bothering you again?”

Luo Jingyun didn’t answer that question. Instead, she said, “Soo-ah, go help me call the others over.”

Though confused, Park Soo-ah followed Luo Jingyun’s instructions and called the other guests over, including Chen Shidong.

Luo Jingyun called out, “Everyone, come quickly! Let’s eat cake!”

The group approached and asked in confusion, “What? There’s cake?”

“Mhm, there really is cake. Everyone, come and share.”

The others had been eating the food prepared by the show’s chefs since the start of recording. For nearly a month, they had been eating mostly the same dishes, and unlike Luo Jingyun, they hadn’t found opportunities at the market to buy snacks to change their taste. Hearing there was cake, they all hurried over to join the fun.

Park Soo-ah brought over a small table from nearby. “Put the cake on here.”

The other four looked at it and asked, “Jingyun, did you buy this cake? Where did you buy it?”

Chen Shidong had witnessed everything from a corner just now and knew the whole story. As she was figuring out how to phrase it, she heard Luo Jingyun lay it all out.

“Actually, I didn’t buy this cake. Senior Tan Jizhu bought it for everyone and asked me to distribute it. If you want to thank someone, go thank her.”

The group looked at each other. They didn’t know which version of the story between Luo Jingyun and Tan Jizhu was currently playing out. Should they eat this cake or not?

Luo Jingyun took out a knife and plates from the box and sliced it into six pieces with a swish-swish. “Here, this one’s for you, and for you… Soo-ah, come get one. Senior Chen, you eat some too.”

In the end, the others couldn’t resist the temptation of delicious food and accepted the plates.

“Hey, where’s Senior Tan? Let’s go thank her.”

“Yeah, should we save a piece for her too?”

“Senior Chen,” they asked, “do you know where Senior Tan is? Call her over to eat with us.”

“Jizhu had things to do and got up very early today; she should be back in her room resting. No need to save any for her. As for the thanks, wait until tomorrow.” Chen Shidong, holding her cake, made the decision for everyone.

Ever since she heard Luo Jingyun’s plan to send small cakes via helicopter last time, Park Soo-ah had been craving a bite. She hadn’t expected to eat it today. The temptation of food made her stop thinking about the deeper logic of the situation as she gulped down more than half of it. Only then did she notice Luo Jingyun wasn’t holding a piece. She asked, “Jingyun, aren’t you eating?”

Luo Jingyun shook her head. “No.”

Chen Shidong, who knew a bit about the truth, held up her piece of cake and asked, “Why isn’t Jingyun eating? Is it not to your taste?”

Luo Jingyun smiled brightly. “Actually, I love cake, but I once ate too much of it and got sick. Since then, I’ve had bad memories of this specific kind of cake. If you ask me to eat it now, I can’t stomach it.”

Hearing this, the others stopped being polite. Only Tan Jizhu, inside the pitch-black classroom nearby, knew that Luo Jingyun wasn’t talking about the cake—she was talking about her.