After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The King of the Women’s Kingdom

Ling Qiu had initially assumed that after rejecting Fang Ziyue, the atmosphere between them would become awkward and stiff. But in fact, Fang Ziyue was much more mature than she had imagined. Whether she was faking it or truly didn’t care, she acted very naturally in front of the camera, allowing the show to continue filming.

Furthermore, being around her had become surprisingly comfortable. Coupled with Fang Ziyue revealing her impressive carpentry skills, Ling Qiu’s full attention had been drawn in. Holding a palm-sized wooden cat carving Fang Ziyue had made for her, Ling Qiu marveled once again.

She already had one of these small carvings; the previous one was a lifelike white fox made from the scraps left over from making the table. Now, this kitten was carved from the wood remaining from making the chair. Fang Ziyue’s hands were skillful and her work was fast. More impressively, her furniture required no nails, relying entirely on mortise and tenon joints.

The live comments were currently flooded with phrases like “knowing ‘a little’ billion,” “adding ‘a little’ billion details,” and “Master, are you taking disciples?” At first, many anti-fans were cursing Fang Ziyue for being pretentious and nitpicking her work a bunch of “armchair carpenters” likely hired as internet water army trolls.

It wasn’t until several certified, well-known master carpenters came forward to praise Fang Ziyue that the tide was turned. With the wind changing direction, Fang Ziyue’s manager happily bought a positive trending search spot, drawing significant traffic to their live stream.

Seeing things going better and better for Fang Ziyue and Ling Qiu, Lin Mengyan and Lin Mingcheng, who had been idling away their time, could no longer sit still.

“Mengyan, go over there and see if they need help.” Lin Mingcheng used the motion of drinking tea to hide his displeasure. He had come to this show intending to gain fans, but who knew a Fang Ziyue would appear out of nowhere and divert all the traffic!

Lin Mengyan had long been annoyed by the situation over there; in her eyes, seeing Ling Qiu doing well was worse than killing her. However, because of Lin Mingcheng’s command, she didn’t dare go over there to find trouble. But now…

Lin Mengyan felt a secret joy. She really should thank Fang Ziyue for showing off; otherwise, Cheng-ge certainly wouldn’t have let her go over. Thinking this, Lin Mengyan changed into a magnificent outfit and stepped out of the door, full of fighting spirit. Pity poor Ling Qiu, suffering with Fang Ziyue, while she lived a life of leisure thanks to Cheng-ge’s choices. Oh my~ comparing oneself to others is truly infuriating~

Like a peacock with its tail spread, Lin Mengyan strutted through the door, turning Fang Ziyue’s courtyard into a grand stage. When she saw the two of them covered in sawdust, she immediately let out a haughty laugh, adopting a superior stance as she prepared to open her mouth for mockery.

“Tsk, no knocking?” Fang Ziyue, catching sight of Lin Mengyan out of the corner of her eye, clicked her tongue impatiently. “Best Actress Lin is certainly straightforward just pushing the door and walking in.”

Fang Ziyue spoke without any mercy, stopping just short of slapping the words “no manners” onto Lin Mengyan’s face. The reserved pride Lin Mengyan had just built up was instantly shattered.

She secretly gritted her teeth, maintaining a stiff smile: “Ziyue, wasn’t I just anxious to come see you that I forgot to knock? It just so happened your door was open, so I…”

Lin Mengyan gave an embarrassed smile, her delicate act making the commenters scream that they were charmed.

“I’ve heard of ‘halting the horse at the edge of a cliff,’ but I’ve never heard of someone being so anxious to jump when they see a cliff.” Fang Ziyue patted the wood dust off her hands, narrowed her eyes, and let out a long sigh. “Best Actress Lin, you are well-traveled and knowledgeable. Tell me, have you ever seen such a thing?”

How was Lin Mengyan supposed to answer? That Fang person was implicitly calling her out for dodging responsibility. Lin Mengyan clenched her fists, her breath caught in her chest. It was their fault for not closing the door properly; was she wrong to just walk in?! Besides, she was a Best Singer what was there in this broken courtyard she couldn’t enter?

Lin Mengyan also felt a surge of ruthlessness. She smiled beautifully and said, “Ziyue, you know I’m not like you. I’ve been busy writing songs, releasing albums, attending banquets, and filming endorsements. I’m running around winning so many awards I can’t even keep track; how would I have time to experience the things you mentioned?”

“I just came out of a film set recently. Ziyue, you really have a way with words; since my transition to acting, you’re the first to say I’ll become a Best Actress.” Lin Mengyan clapped and laughed delicately. “I’ll take that as a good omen; my next drama will surely win an award.”

Lin Mengyan’s words made Ling Qiu’s stomach turn. She had to admit, the woman’s ability to be disgusting was always top-notch, especially in terms of pretending not to understand human speech.

“Then you’ll definitely win an award.” Fang Ziyue handed the small wooden donkey she was holding to Ling Qiu and chimed in with a smile to Lin Mengyan, “Don’t mind how competitive the ‘Green Cucumber Awards’ have been lately; with you going, Best Actress Lin, the ‘cucumber’ will surely fall into your hands.”

“Pffft…” As soon as Fang Ziyue finished, Ling Qiu burst out laughing.

Haha, the Green Cucumber Awards—a famous award for garbage acting. In the words of the elders who established the award: “Every single one of their acting skills is like an unripe green cucumber from the field raw, bitter, and hard to swallow. How do they have the nerve to plague the audience’s eyes?”

Lin Mengyan hadn’t expected Fang Ziyue to dare to tear off the facade so openly and insult her acting in front of the cameras.

“Ziyue, I am your senior after all. It’s inappropriate for you to say that to me, isn’t it?” Lin Mengyan threatened with a superficial smile. “We’re in the same circle; we’ll see each other sooner or later. It’s better to leave some room when speaking and acting.”

If it weren’t for the need to maintain her “sweet, innocent, and kind” persona, Lin Mengyan would have cursed Fang Ziyue until her own mother wouldn’t recognize her. Now that Fang Ziyue was repeatedly snubbing her, even a fool could sense the malice; this gave Lin Mengyan the perfect excuse to fire back as “self-defense.”

“Seeing each other ‘sooner or later’ not necessarily.” Fang Ziyue didn’t indulge her at all. She gestured between the two of them: “At our height difference, you have to look up, so there’s no need to look down on each other.”

Upon hearing this, the smile completely vanished from Lin Mengyan’s face. Even the live stream comments began to flood with messages saying “Fang Ziyue is going too far.”

Having been shamed repeatedly and seeing the audience take her side, Lin Mengyan finally unleashed her big move: “Ziyue, you can’t just talk nonsense, and you can’t just make jokes like that. I came to care for you out of the goodness of my heart, and this is how you treat a senior?”

“Senior?” Fang Ziyue narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “Best Actress Lin must have forgotten that I left the industry long ago. I’ve entered this show as a commoner; you can hardly be called my senior.”

Fang Ziyue had felt a bit dejected after being rejected by Ling Qiu earlier, but she would never be angry with her wife. It just so happened that Lin Mengyan walked right into the line of fire. If she didn’t get blasted, who would?

As soon as Fang Ziyue said this, Lin Mengyan sensed something was wrong. Sure enough, Fang Ziyue’s next sentence brought up her age: “Of course, if you insist on using age as the standard, then I truly must call you a senior.”

Fang Ziyue had wanted to say this for a long time: Lin Mengyan was thirty-five or thirty-six, yet she spent all day calling her wife “Big Sister.” While abroad, she had seen many interviews where Lin Mengyan shamelessly undermined Ling Qiu, calling her “Ling-jie” at every turn. She was really taking advantage of her wife’s good temper to jump around!

Well, sorry about that her wife was a beautiful, kind, and precious darling, but she herself was not. Fang Ziyue’s mouth could make Lin Mengyan doubt her life: “Senior Lin, they say ‘honest advice is unpleasant to the ear.’ I’m saying this for your own good, so don’t be upset by what I say.”

Who doesn’t know how to do a “Green Tea” speech?

“You are seven years older than Ling-jie, and I am two years younger than her. It’s fine for me to call her ‘jie’ normally, but why do you follow suit? Doesn’t that make us the same generation?” Fang Ziyue sighed with extreme innocence. “Being of the same generation as you… I simply couldn’t bear the honor.”

Mainly, she felt it would be embarrassing. But to prevent Lin Mengyan from losing her head and rushing over to scratch her or pull her hair, Fang Ziyue refrained from saying that out loud. Besides, her wife was still watching from the side; if a fight really broke out, it wouldn’t be good if her wife got caught in the crossfire.

Lin Mengyan really hadn’t expected that four years of living abroad could have trained Fang Ziyue to have such a sharp tongue. The relentless talking made her head spin and her body tremble with rage. In the twenty-plus years since her debut, she had never been “Green Tea-d” like this and the key was that she hadn’t managed to out-Tea her!

Fang Ziyue looked at the disoriented Lin Mengyan and said with concern: “Best Actress Lin, your face looks terrible. Even that makeup can’t hide it anymore. You should hurry back and rest.”

“We don’t need your help over here. Besides, those clothes of yours look expensive; if they accidentally got snagged or torn, I really couldn’t afford to pay you back.”

Afford to pay her back, my foot!

Lin Mengyan stared at the black bracelet intentionally exposed on Fang Ziyue’s left wrist, her eyes red with jealousy. The half-finger-wide black bracelet was adorned with metal charms; on one of the metal feathers, there was a tiny dot of red, like the cinnabar mark at the corner of a beauty’s eye that was the second work of the top designer, Z.

Designer Z never showed their face; interviews and awards were always handled by an assistant. At the time, a wealthy person had come to buy this bracelet, but Z had refused on the grounds that it was a gift for a friend. If she hadn’t seen Fang Ziyue wearing Z’s bracelet from the start making her unsure of how much power was behind her she would have dealt with this idiot long ago. How could she allow her to jump around so insolently before her eyes?

Now, Fang Ziyue flaunting Z’s bracelet was a direct threat to her!

Lin Mengyan, who had failed to threaten someone and was instead threatened back, was so angry that even her silhouette as she walked away was shaking.

Having watched the drama between the two women, Ling Qiu sensitively caught onto a point. She turned off the live stream and asked Fang Ziyue: “Since you’ve left the industry, why did you come to this show?”

She didn’t know that Fang Ziyue had invested in the show; she assumed she had just been unable to let go of Lin Mingcheng and had found some way to get in. Her earlier confession had also been rejected by Ling Qiu as nonsense, but now she was curious about this question.

“For you,” Fang Ziyue said, no longer bothering to hide her goal of chasing her wife.

The directness of the strike made Ling Qiu’s ear-tips turn red. Seeing this, Fang Ziyue blinked in a good mood and said, “Joining this show is like Tang Sanzang entering the Silk Tree Cave there are so many demons and monsters, you need someone to help you.”

Caught off guard by the confession, Ling Qiu was momentarily speechless. She gave Fang Ziyue a shamed and annoyed glare and shot back: “Then that makes you the Monkey King.”

“No, no, no.” Fang Ziyue spread her hands and smiled with curled lips: “I’m the reinforcements called in by the Monkey.”

Just an ordinary King of the Women’s Kingdom wearing the skin of Guanyin, nothing more.

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