After Failing To Win Over the Yandere Best Actress, I Got Marked - Chapter 34

Su Jin shivered inexplicably as she watched Ye Qinglan’s expression.

【She’s blackening! She’s definitely blackening! System, what do I do now?】

【Calm her down first,】 the System reminded her. 【Smooth her ruffled feathers. You need to coax her into a good mood before the next mission arrives.】

【How?】

The System hissed and suggested: 【How about… you also post a Weibo and make her “official”?】

【Will that actually work?】 She expressed her doubt.

But currently, giving Ye Qinglan a sense of security seemed to be the only way.

Su Jin pursed her lips, turned her head to give her a kiss, and said pleadingly, “I’m hungry, can we go eat?”

Ye Qinglan’s eyes narrowed, as if trying to see right through her.

Su Jin straightened her back and smiled as naturally as ever. “I’ll go wash up first and be downstairs in a bit.”

After a long silence, Ye Qinglan leaned in and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

“Okay.” Su Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed her phone, and headed into the bathroom.

She locked the door, sat on the toilet, and opened her phone, only to find that Sister Li had sent her a barrage of messages.

We’ve discussed it, we think you can release a relationship statement in your own name. For the sake of your future career, you’d better speak up quickly, or I will post it on your behalf. Requesting voice call… Requesting voice call… Are you listening?

Worried that the other party would keep messaging, Su Jin immediately replied: “I got it, I’ll take care of it right away.”

She opened Weibo, muttering to herself before hitting send: “This isn’t because I want to, it’s the company’s idea.”

Despite saying that, the smile on her face was impossible to hide.

With that huge burden lifted, Su Jin even hummed a little tune while washing up.

When she finished getting ready and went downstairs to eat, Ye Qinglan was sitting at the dining table scrolling through Weibo.

Hearing the noise, Ye Qinglan looked over at her. Her gaze was burning, and the brightness in her eyes was unmistakable.

Su Jin’s footsteps faltered; she suddenly felt a bit shy.

She gripped her phone tightly before finally walking down.

“What’s for lunch?”

Just as she walked over, she saw Ye Qinglan hold up her phone. On the screen was the Weibo post Su Jin had just drafted.

“Posting a relationship statement… why didn’t you tell me?” Ye Qinglan asked playfully.

Su Jin bit her lip. “It was just a sudden thought. You… you don’t have to respond.”

“How could I not? If I don’t respond, you know the consequences, right?”

Su Jin knew, of course she would be torn to shreds by the fans.

Ye Qinglan laughed, pulled her down to sit, and placed the phone between them. “We’ll post together.”

“Are we really doing this?” Su Jin’s voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, her throat slightly raspy from the “overuse” of the night before.

Ye Qinglan looked up, her dark eyes reflecting the cold light of the phone screen. “What, you don’t want to?”

“No!” Su Jin denied it hastily. “I’m just afraid…”

“Afraid of what?” Ye Qinglan took her hand and pressed it onto the phone.

The Weibo post was sent instantly.

Ye Qinglan: Let me introduce you all this is my girlfriend @SuJin. [Attached: A photo of their fingers intertwined.]

Su Jin’s breath hitched, and she swallowed with difficulty. “I’m just… afraid your fans will eat me alive.”

Ye Qinglan chuckled low, her fingertips brushing against the pulsing vein in Su Jin’s neck. “With me here, who would dare?”

Her fingers slid slowly upward, gently stroking the gland at the back of Su Jin’s neck.

Su Jin froze. Ye Qinglan’s fingertips felt like they were carrying an electric current, making her gland throb.

A specific sensation instantly flooded her body, leaving her limp in Ye Qinglan’s arms.

“Don’t!” She stopped Ye Qinglan’s hand from going further, her voice strained. “I want to eat.”

Ye Qinglan kissed the corner of her mouth. “Mhm, let’s eat first.”

The meal was handmade by Ye Qinglan, featuring all of Su Jin’s favorites.

Su Jin’s gaze shifted from the food to Ye Qinglan. She pursed her lips and smiled. “It smells so good! If I’d known you were this good at cooking, I would have coaxed you into doing it more often.”

“Taste it and see how it is.” Ye Qinglan used her chopsticks to place a rib in Su Jin’s bowl, her eyes full of smiles. “If you like it, I can cook every day from now on.”

Su Jin took a bite, and her eyes lit up. “It’s delicious! I like it. Do it more.”

Hearing this, Ye Qinglan’s eyes rippled with intent as she deliberately misinterpreted her words. “I can ‘do it more,’ but I’m afraid you… won’t be able to take it.”

Su Jin’s eating motion stalled, and the tips of her ears turned red. “Just eat! Why are you talking about those… things?”

“Didn’t you bring it up first?”

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

The two locked eyes. Su Jin could see the desire in the other woman’s gaze—like a starved wolf waiting to tear her apart and devour her.

Su Jin lowered her head, avoiding her gaze, and stammered, “Eat… eat first. We can… do the other things later.”

Her voice got smaller and smaller until it was barely a whisper.

But Ye Qinglan heard her anyway. She smiled and said nothing more.

Without the pressure, Su Jin’s mood for eating improved significantly.

While chatting with Ye Qinglan, she kept glancing at her phone to monitor the online reaction.

Only ten minutes had passed since Ye Qinglan’s post, and the trending searches had already exploded:

#YeQinglanAnnouncesRelationship

#YeQinglanSuJin

#YeQinglanGirlfriend

“Have some soup.” Ye Qinglan pushed a steaming bowl of soup toward her, her voice incredibly gentle.

Su Jin took a sip; the savory flavor spread across her tongue.

She stole a glance and found Ye Qinglan staring at her intently, her dark eyes filled with emotions Su Jin couldn’t quite decipher.

“Aren’t… aren’t you eating?” Su Jin asked softly.

The corner of Ye Qinglan’s mouth hooked up. “Watching you eat is enough.”

This sentence made Su Jin’s ears burn. She quickly lowered her head to keep drinking the soup, trying to hide her racing heart.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated wildly. Messages from Sister Li popped up one after another:

Su Jin! Have you lost your mind?! The company told you to make a statement, not a direct official announcement! You didn’t even tell us before going public. Do you really think things aren’t messy enough right now?

Su Jin’s finger hovered over the screen, unsure of how to reply. A slender hand suddenly reached over and took her phone away.

“Don’t look at that.” Ye Qinglan placed the phone face down on the table. “Eat.”

Her tone left no room for argument. Su Jin could only nod obediently, but in the next second, Ye Qinglan’s own phone rang.

Zhao Man’s name flashed on the screen. Ye Qinglan glanced at it and hung up immediately.

“Is it really okay?” Su Jin couldn’t help but ask. “Zhao Man, she…”

“It’s not important.” Ye Qinglan interrupted her. She reached out to wipe a drop of soup from the corner of Su Jin’s mouth. “Nothing is important right now.”

Her fingertips were warm, lightly brushing against Su Jin’s lips. Her gaze was terrifyingly dark.

Su Jin leaned back to avoid her hand, frantically grabbing a napkin. “I… I’ll do it myself.”

“Don’t move.” Ye Qinglan stood up, leaning over to pinch Su Jin’s chin, gently wiping the corner of her mouth for her.

Su Jin froze in place, feeling the temperature of Ye Qinglan’s fingers.

She unconsciously held her breath, afraid to disturb this moment of tranquility.

“There.” Ye Qinglan withdrew her hand, the corners of her lips turning up. “Now it’s clean.”

Su Jin instinctively licked her lips an action that caused Ye Qinglan’s eyes to darken instantly.

“I… I’m full.”

Sensing the shift in the other’s gaze, Su Jin hurriedly stood up and practically fled to the second floor. After bolting the bedroom door behind her, she slumped against the wood.

Her fingertips were still trembling. Thank goodness she ran fast.

【Host, what are you running for?】

The System let out a confused electronic beep in her mind.

“You don’t understand,” Su Jin bit her lip, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor. “The way she looked at me just now… it was like she wanted to eat me alive.”

The System was speechless.

【You’ve already slept together. Why are you worried about that now?】

【That’s different!】

【How is it different?】 the System asked.

Su Jin stammered, unable to find an answer, and finally just acted stubborn. “It just is!”

After speaking, Su Jin ignored the System and sat on the bed to check her phone.

She scrolled through Weibo for a long while. The trending searches were still dominated by the two of them, and their respective comment sections were a battlefield of arguments and fan control.

It was interesting at first, but she soon grew tired of it.

Su Jin tossed her phone aside and flopped backward onto the bed.

The ceiling light made her eyes blur, but she couldn’t shake the image of Ye Qinglan’s bottomless dark eyes from her mind.

The more she thought about it, the deeper she looked into it.

And the more she looked, the more she discovered.

【System,】 she called out softly in her mind.

【I feel like something isn’t right.】

The System replied immediately: 【What does the Host mean?】

【As of now, Ye Qinglan has “blackened,” but she hasn’t actually done anything else. Why is she called the ‘Villainess’?】 Su Jin rolled over, absentmindedly tugging at the bedsheets.

【Also, if Ye Qinglan is the villainess, who is the Protagonist? Why haven’t I seen them yet?】

An eerie silence filled her head.

Su Jin keenly sensed the System’s abnormality: 【What’s wrong?】

【Ye Qinglan… Villainess?】 The System’s voice carried a hint of glitchy distortion.

【She is the villainess…】

【Wait, no… Protagonist… Villainess…】

The System’s voice began to stutter, sounding increasingly distorted and electronic.

Su Jin sat bolt upright: 【What do you mean?】

【Host…】 The System’s voice carried a rare hint of panic.

【The original data is showing an anomaly… I cannot retrieve the complete world line…】

Su Jin’s heart rate accelerated sharply: 【What do you mean you can’t retrieve it? Aren’t you the System?】

【I…】 The System’s electronic voice began to cut in and out. 【I need to… re-scan… there might be… a data error…】

【Wait!】 Su Jin shouted internally. 【First, tell me..is Ye Qinglan actually the villainess of the original story?】

The System was silent for a few seconds. 【Based on existing data… yes.】

Su Jin’s fingernails dug deep into her palms. 【Then why is there no Protagonist?】

The System had no answer.

“Re-scan the plot! You have to find the Protagonist!” She frowned deeply. “If you can’t find them, then find the turning point where Ye Qinglan becomes the villainess!”

The System clearly realized something was wrong and rushed to re-examine the original plot. But no matter how many times it looked, Ye Qinglan was the villainess of the novel.

Except… the novel didn’t mention at all when or how Ye Qinglan became the villainess.

“Was it really not written, or are you lying to me?” Su Jin jumped off the bed and began pacing the room.

“Something this important should have been confirmed at the very beginning! Why are you only telling me there’s a problem now?”

【I…I just realized it too. If you don’t believe me, look for yourself. The original text is right here. I’m not lying to you.】

The System was panicking too. 【Host, don’t worry. I’ll go check. I’ll check right now!】

“It’s not that I..”

Before Su Jin could finish, the System vanished.

She closed her eyes helplessly, turned, and sat on the sofa. She muttered in her heart:

【Check! And if you don’t figure it out, don’t bother coming back!】