After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Injured

“Best Actress Ling is making quite fast progress over there. By the way, she’s not only investigating how Lin Mengyan enticed you back then, but also looking into your past abroad.”

Having finished a long day’s work, Chen Yueyu gulped down two large glasses of water before finally feeling like she had come back to life.

“Mm.” Fang Ziyue nodded, showing no intention of stopping her.

Seeing this, Chen Yueyu nodded in satisfaction. Good, this person had finally given up on those damn plans of hers. As her private doctor, Chen could finally relax.

On the other side, Ling Qiu’s studio was a hive of activity.

“Are you sure about this? If you do this, you’re essentially tying yourself to her. If anything happens to her in the future, you’ll be implicated,” Ling Qiu’s manager warned her.

Clarifying the drugging incident from years ago wouldn’t be easy. Even with evidence, if Ling Qiu was the one to help Fang Ziyue clear her name, it would highly suggest a close relationship between the two. Otherwise, why would Ling Qiu be the one to do it? Couldn’t Fang Ziyue provide the evidence herself?

“I’ve made up my mind.” The loose rope Fang Ziyue had left around Ling Qiu had slowly tightened; it was too late for Ling Qiu to run. During this period, she had even worried whether Fang Ziyue would wake up early and have another extreme emotional breakdown if she didn’t see her. So, she had left a note for her before leaving.

At least there was Dr. Chen staying by Fang Ziyue’s side, which was somewhat reassuring but only somewhat. Ling Qiu was still deathly worried. Consequently, she had been having a recurring, strange dream lately.

In the dream, she saw another version of herself, except that version was like a robot cold and rigid.

“Supporting character Ling Qiu, positioned as the ‘Deeply Affectionate Female Support.’ Responsibility: Obsessed with the male lead Lin Mingcheng, sacrificing everything for him. Character must immediately cease sabotaging the main storyline and fulfill her duties,” the woman with her own face said in a mechanical tone.

Ling Qiu listened in total confusion, eventually waving her hand to try and erase the dream image.

“What duties? What a strange dream. Stop disturbing me.” Ling Qiu felt miserable enough; she was busy dealing with Lin Mingcheng during the day, and now she couldn’t even get a good night’s sleep. Her hand passed right through the phantom, which continued to repeat the same lines. But Ling Qiu was too tired; she let it talk, and as her consciousness sank, she could no longer hear anything.

The next day, she discussed with the program team and Cang Jinyu that Jinyu should go back to recover from her injuries first. The public reason given for the hiatus was that a guest (Lin Mingcheng) had left due to personal matters and the show needed time to find a replacement.

Even if Lin Mingcheng’s fans were furious at the program team, Director Chang wasn’t worried; he held several explicit photos of Lin Mingcheng. It was Lin Mingcheng who had to worry about his fans making things too big.

As for Lin Mengyan, perhaps having caught wind of something, she began to lay low and became much more obedient for the time being.

Having arranged everything in an orderly fashion, Ling Qiu finally found time to see Fang Ziyue. It had been nearly two days; she hoped the other was feeling better. Sitting in the car, Ling Qiu looked at the scenery outside, but her gaze eventually focused on “herself” reflected in the window—a cold, inhuman monster.

Ling Qiu closed her eyes, not wanting to see it. Her heart was a mess; she didn’t even know what to say when she saw Fang Ziyue. The journey to Chen Yueyu’s studio was smooth. Someone led the way, but just outside the studio door, Ling Qiu suddenly heard a scream from within.

“You took the wrong medicine again?! Do you want to go get your stomach pumped?!” Chen Yueyu’s voice was earth-shattering.

Fang Ziyue’s ears rang from the volume; Chen Yueyu said this almost every day. But she was truly wronged; she had only gone to the medicine drawer to get a hawthorn pill to help her digest a large lunch.

Yet Chen Yueyu was like a firecracker, popping off a long list of scoldings. Fang Ziyue could only beg for mercy: “I could only eat… just now, I just opened the drawer and ate one.”

Ling Qiu didn’t even know what she was thinking as she suddenly kicked the door open. Amidst Fang Ziyue’s shift from joy to surprise and then to a “not sure whether to laugh or cry” expression, Ling Qiu helped Chen Yueyu pin Fang Ziyue down.

With her arms twisted behind her back, Fang Ziyue looked back at the two “Death Gods” and said amusedly, “I just ate a hawthorn pill, is this really necessary?” What was with the “catching a criminal” maneuver?

However, the two people holding her were stone-faced and believed nothing. Chen Yueyu even grabbed a nearby IV tube and, together with Ling Qiu, tied Fang Ziyue up securely. Only then did Chen Yueyu let go and say to Ling Qiu, “Best Actress Ling, toss this thing onto the bed first. I’m going to count the pills to see if any are missing.” After speaking, she pointed at Fang Ziyue’s numb face, her eyes full of warning: Dare to lie to me, and you’re dead!

“No, I really didn’t take anything else.” Fang Ziyue turned her head, trying to appeal to Ling Qiu’s reason. “Chen Ermao has a problem; Ling Qiu, you have to help me.”

“I can’t help with that,” Ling Qiu refused unexpectedly. She simply patted Fang Ziyue’s shoulder and gripped her arm like she was escorting a prisoner to the bed. She added, “I have to listen to Dr. Chen. One must never hide things from the doctor.”

Fang Ziyue was speechless. She could only stare blankly, trying to tell the other two: This is too much! I’m going to get angry! Naturally, no one ignored her.

Feeling utterly wronged, Fang Ziyue twisted her body to struggle out of Ling Qiu’s grip, turning to face her to argue. Unfortunately, that “idiot” Chen Ermao had left a mess of items on the floor last night; she had stopped halfway through tidying to go eat and forgot about it. The servants, following Chen’s orders not to disturb Fang Ziyue, hadn’t dared to come in and clean.

Furthermore, Fang Ziyue’s eyes were entirely on Ling Qiu, hoping to use this chance to get closer to her, so she didn’t watch her feet. She tripped directly on a rope, and since her hands were tied behind her by that “dog” Chen Ermao, she couldn’t balance herself and fell straight toward Ling Qiu.

Seeing the woman lunge toward her, Ling Qiu was knocked over unexpectedly. Before hitting the ground, she didn’t forget to use one hand to protect the other.

“Hiss!” “Mmph…”

Two groans sounded as the sharp corner of a plastic box pierced into flesh, causing Ling Qiu’s open palm to suddenly clench into a fist. Meanwhile, fearing her solid weight would crush Ling Qiu, Fang Ziyue forced her legs to hit the floor first. This resulted in her knees landing right on the sharp edge of that damn long plastic box.

The intense pain in her knees left her unable to speak; she gritted her teeth as a layer of cold sweat immediately broke out on her forehead. Both boxes were the outer packaging for gifts Zhao Mumu had sent to Chen Ermao; since the gifts were expensive, the boxes were naturally of high quality.

Great. One moment there was only one patient in the room, and the next there were two.

Ling Qiu endured the pain to pull the box away and got up to help Fang Ziyue: “Are you okay?”

The pain in her knees was suffocating. Fang Ziyue had no energy to answer; she just rested her head on Ling Qiu’s shoulder, her body shivering from the pain.

Chen Ermao, having heard that things sounded wrong, turned back and grabbed her medical kit. Her face turned white with guilt, and she shouted to cover her conscience: “Let me see how badly you’re hurt!” My god, if she had known she’d cause this trouble today, she would have stopped being lazy and cleared the boxes yesterday. Chen Yueyu’s procrastination was terminal and beyond cure, and it was this delay that had injured both people in front of her.

Fang Ziyue was in too much pain to move. When Chen Yueyu tried to help her up, her body gave a violent jolt. Being so close, Ling Qiu could even hear her teeth grinding together.

“Slowly, slowly!” Ling Qiu’s voice rose uncontrollably out of anxiety.

Chen Ermao’s lips twitched; her ears were nearly damaged. This cry from Best Actress Ling was almost a crack in her voice and she still claimed she wasn’t “anxious due to care”?

Originally, that old swindler Fang had already built up a lot of goodwill with Best Actress Ling. The reason their relationship couldn’t progress was the drugging incident and the shameful title of “the other woman.” Now, Best Actress Ling was voluntarily helping to clarify the past, specifically to strip that title off Fang Ziyue. To say she didn’t care about Fang Ziyue was impossible.

On that show, Fang Ziyue’s offensive against Ling Qiu used both soft and hard tactics; she had even conditioned the Best Actress to feel that she couldn’t handle many things without her. Coupled with the “lethal weapon” that was the Designer Z persona, Ling Qiu’s defenses had been shattered. After tossing and turning for a long time, she finally decided to follow her heart in treating Fang Ziyue.

The drugging incident had originally left Ling Qiu’s life and career in a mess, so she naturally had no time to investigate the truth. Fang Ziyue had taken the blame voluntarily, so Ling Qiu had hated her as a matter of course. Now that the truth was out, Ling Qiu and Chen Yueyu helped Fang Ziyue up slowly.

Ling Qiu reached out to wipe the sweat from Fang Ziyue’s forehead. She pursed her lips, her gaze filled with countless worries and a trace of heartache. Over these few days, she had seen a different Fang Ziyue a fragile, pale person who needed protection.

At the end of the day, she was younger than her, yet she was so mature and reliable on the show that she provided peace of mind, while simultaneously holding her own heart and tentatively testing her. Perhaps, she could treat Fang Ziyue a little better.

Support After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead’s Love Rival