After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Two Options

The distance between the starting point chosen by the production team and the final destination a rural field village wasn’t far, but there was a river in between that was wide, albeit with a slow and shallow current.

There was a bridge made of a single wooden plank over the river. When Fang Ziyue stepped on it, she felt it wobbling unsteadily beneath her feet; it was very unsafe.

She scanned her surroundings and spotted a corner of some wooden boards peeking out from a thicket of bushes. Fang Ziyue stepped forward, and the following camera lens captured the pile of long planks.

Those planks were about half a finger thick, very long, and wide perfect for laying on both sides of that single-plank bridge to create a simpler, more stable crossing.

However, these planks were too heavy; this was supposed to be a problem solved by four people working together.

Even though she’s on a team with Film Queen Ling right now, I still want to say it: She deserves it!] [Is “Little Third” Fang waiting here for an opportunity to catch Film Emperor Lin? After all, she used to be such a “Green Tea Bitch” who was so “weak and unable to care for herself” that she even needed an assistant to hold her cup just to drink water.

Upstairs, be more confident and take out the “Is.”Just a passerby here, but you guys don’t have to be like that. Maybe “Little Third” Fang decided to be self-reliant? /Dog face /Dog faceI’m dying of laughter. If she can actually do the work honestly by herself, I’ll livestream myself washing my hair while doing a headstand… Holy crap!

The people betting and swearing in the bullet comments hadn’t even finished their wagers when they saw Fang Ziyue hoist five long wooden planks onto a single shoulder and walk toward the riverbank as if she were flying.

The cameraman following behind widened his eyes in shock. He looked at that stack of planks with suspicion and awe; it had taken three or four sturdy male staff members to move those yesterday, yet Fang Ziyue just… just lifted them and carried them off like that?

The bullet comments erupted into a flurry of “Holy crap,” “Scripted,” and “Fake.”

Fang Ziyue didn’t pay any attention to the comments at all. She briskly laid the planks down, stomped on them with her foot to ensure they felt secure, and then patted the dust off her shoulder before continuing forward.

However, someone in the comments section finally realized something.

Wait? If she could cross that single-plank bridge steadily, why did she waste time widening it?She’s not doing it for Film Emperor Lin, is she? My god, is she some kind of licking dog follower? How disgusting!

Ignoring the comments, Fang Ziyue continued to advance rapidly, but her actions were being reported in full detail by viewers in other people’s livestreams.

Lin Mingcheng expressed disgust and impatience toward this.

Lin Mengyan still wore a pure, innocent smile, appearing as if she didn’t realize anything was wrong with Fang Ziyue’s behavior. However, where the camera couldn’t see, her fingernails nearly dug into the palms of her hands.

Meanwhile, walking behind them, Ling Qiu’s vision was a bit blurry; her cold seemed to be much more serious than she had imagined.

Because he didn’t want to lose face by letting Fang Ziyue beat him, Lin Mingcheng suppressed his concern and abandoned Ling Qiu whom he supposedly still loved deeply to lead Lin Mengyan away first.

Only Ling Qiu was left behind, staggering unsteadily toward the destination. Midway, a staff member asked if she wanted to rest or withdraw from the show to see a doctor, but she refused.

Ling Qiu was stubborn; unless she was about to collapse, she would grit her teeth and endure.

Fang Ziyue understood this all too well.

Therefore, after choosing a house, and despite the verbal abuse in the comments, she immediately turned back to pick up Ling Qiu.

As “Designer Z,” she could stay openly on Ling Qiu’s friend list, lurking in her social feed and observing her every move.

Similarly, she had seen the post Ling Qiu’s manager made two days ago about Ling Qiu filming while sick.

Even though she had reinforced the single-plank bridge to be wider and more stable so Ling Qiu could walk more safely, she still wasn’t at ease.

Just in case…

“Whew…” Ling Qiu, squatting by the riverbank with a heavy chest, pursed her lips tightly.

She looked at the bridge in the middle of the river, which had been sabotaged, and felt a throbbing pain in her forehead.

The bullet comments had already revealed who did it.

To Ling Qiu’s surprise, it was Lin Mengyan who had used such a dirty tactic as sabotaging the bridge first, rather than Fang Ziyue.

Don’t blame her for wrongly suspecting Fang Ziyue; this person, like Lin Mengyan, had too much of a track record. Ling Qiu didn’t trust either of them.

As for Fang Ziyue’s act of building the bridge… a dog can’t change its habit of eating feces; she still couldn’t fix her foul habit of playing the “third wheel” interloper.

Ling Qiu pulled down the brim of her hat, feeling the churning in her stomach grow worse.

“Director, does the production team help handle this kind of emergency?” Ling Qiu was feeling so miserable that she took an unprecedented step back to seek help from the crew.

Director Chang glanced at the approaching Fang Ziyue, thought for a moment, and replied: “Emergencies are also a test of the guests’ chemistry and cooperation. Therefore, the production team will not help you. Guests, please stand united.”

This sentence was broadcast through the microphones into the ears of every guest.

The Lin “couple” sneered in their hearts. A game that determines winners and losers, and they want them to pretend to be united? What a joke—did they think this was still acting? Without extra pay, they wanted them to stomach their disgust and sell a “friendship” narrative? The production team was dreaming.

When Fang Ziyue heard this, her pace quickened. She was certain something had happened on Ling Qiu’s end.

She hurried back, nearly running halfway through. Along the way, she encountered a sweating and panting Lin Mingcheng carrying Lin Mengyan.

She glanced at Lin Mengyan’s swollen right ankle and hands, and her gaze turned cold.

Lin Mingcheng also saw her. Before his red, exhausted face could form an expression of disgust, Fang Ziyue swept past him like a gust of wind.

She didn’t even give him a spare glance. Lin Mingcheng’s flushed face turned a shade of purple, and he clenched his jaw.

Lin Mengyan, who was good at reading the room, fearfully gripped her swollen hand and quickly said her foot felt much better, asking him to put her down.

Lin Mingcheng took the opportunity to set her down, feeling very satisfied with how sensible Lin Mengyan was.

Compared to the “lovey-dovey” atmosphere on the Lin couple’s side, things were much worse for Ling Qiu.

Since the production team wouldn’t help, she didn’t want to be a burden.

She simply rolled up her pant legs and decided to wade across the river.

The June weather was hot, and the river water wasn’t very cold, but for Ling Qiu, who had a slight fever, it still made her shiver.

The river was wide, and Ling Qiu struggled while holding her suitcase.

The uneven rocks in the river were covered in green algae; if one weren’t careful, a single step could lead to a slip.

Misfortunes never come singly. Already dizzy and with blurred vision, Ling Qiu stumbled. As she tilted and slipped, she only remembered to protect her head, and then cold water splashed all over her.

“Ugh…” A familiar muffled groan came from the person beneath her.

The downside of slipping in shallow water is that you hit the rocks at the bottom very hard; it hurts.

Cradling the person on top of her, Fang Ziyue shifted her arm that had slammed against a round stone. The dull pain radiating from her elbow made her hiss.

Fortunately, there were no sharp rocks in this part of the riverbed; otherwise, this hit would have certainly drawn blood.

Held in Fang Ziyue’s arms, Ling Qiu felt the warmth from her body, her mind a complete muddle. Much like the bullet comments in her livestream, her thoughts had turned into a mess.

Let alone the audience, even she hadn’t expected Fang Ziyue to catch her and act as a human cushion.

No, she should say… Ling Qiu looked up and asked hesitantly, “Why did you come back?”

Ling Qiu’s body temperature was burning hot; her limbs were weak, and she couldn’t get up. Although Fang Ziyue liked to take advantage of her “wife” in distress, their current relationship was truly not great. Fang Ziyue endured the pain and released her embrace, acting like a “damned” Liu Xiahui (a man of integrity).

She crouched down in front of Ling Qiu in a position to carry her on her back and answered, “The house is chosen. You’re not feeling well, so I came back to get you.”

Hearing Fang Ziyue’s answer, Ling Qiu’s pale fingertips kept tracing the hem of her clothes. Her voice carried a hint of complexity and refusal: “You should get up first. I can walk by myself.”

Fang Ziyue lowered the hands she had positioned behind her back and splashed the water a few times to wash away the irritation rising in her heart.

She tilted her head, her black eyes seeming to shimmer with a faint golden light under the sun. This made her appear immensely pressurized and authoritative, even though she was crouching lower than Ling Qiu.

Her tone left no room for argument as she bluntly gave Ling Qiu two options: “The back, or a princess carry. Choose for yourself.”

Neither of those was what she wanted to choose!

The ill Ling Qiu rarely showed a temper, but she did now. Her relationship with Fang Ziyue was bad; this person clearly knew she didn’t want any contact, so why did she keep hovering in front of her?

The irritable Ling Qiu completely forgot that Fang Ziyue had just helped her. She merely lowered the brim of her hat to hide her reddening eyes and compromised by leaning onto Fang Ziyue’s back.

With one hand supporting the person on her back and the other lifting Ling Qiu’s luggage, Fang Ziyue curled her lips in satisfaction.

But after only a few steps, she abruptly heard the sound of suppressed sobbing near her ear.

A helpless smile surfaced in Fang Ziyue’s eyes.

Her wife always got cranky when she was sick. She was clearly doing this for her own good, yet the woman was feeling aggrieved and sad.

But because of the cameras, Fang Ziyue couldn’t comfort her properly.

She could only start a conversation to distract Ling Qiu. She asked, “I reinforced a second bridge onto that single-plank one; how did it collapse?”

“I’m not sure,” Ling Qiu replied. Aside from her voice sounding muffled, her tone was quite normal. “When I arrived, the bridge was already broken.”

Fang Ziyue, who usually didn’t look at the comments, rarely showed mercy and glanced at them. The bullet comments in the livestream recounted exactly what happened when the bridge collapsed.

At the time, Lin Mingcheng was walking ahead with the luggage, and Lin Mengyan was behind him. However, she had “courted death” by wearing thick-soled shoes. While walking over the part of the bridge where the planks overlapped and protruded, she tripped. Her foot slipped, and she fell onto the bridge.

Unluckily, the single-plank bridge which the crew hadn’t built very sturdily was pushed aside by her flailing hand, and the planks Fang Ziyue had used for reinforcement were kicked into the water by her right foot.

Fortunately, Lin Mingcheng heard her cry and turned back in time to catch her, otherwise Lin Mengyan would have fallen into the river entirely.

Many people in the comments were sighing that Lin Mengyan didn’t do it on purpose and was just unlucky.

Seeing this, Fang Ziyue sneered in her heart. Unlucky?

The one who was truly unlucky wasn’t her; it was Ling Qiu, who was behind them.

Fang Ziyue had reinforced that bridge herself; she knew exactly how much force and at what angle it would take to kick those overlapping planks apart. A normal slip, even if it happened a thousand times, wouldn’t have knocked that bridge down.

Lin Mengyan was as good at acting as ever. It would be a waste of talent if she didn’t enter the film industry.

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