After Kissing the World-Weary Female Supporting Character [Transmigration] - Chapter 40

Starting over once more, Gu Zhu’s anger remained unchanged, and she slammed a palm onto Song Xingzi’s face with force.

Crap, so painful! Is her face made of stone? Why does it hurt so much! My hand is going to swell up.

Gu Zhu instinctively pulled her hand back, feeling a tingling numbness in her palm. Song Xingzi’s face was still red, and Gu Zhu looked down at her own hand, which was just as red as Song Xingzi’s.

Song Xingzi smiled: Fooled you, right? I’m not an ordinary person!

“Cut! Gu Zhu, don’t make any unnecessary movements. What is wrong with you today? Why are there so many retakes (NGs)?” Zhao Yu said sternly. “Don’t play petty tricks on set. If you have a problem, resolve it privately. If this continues, you can go home and rest for two days.”

“Sorry, Director Zhao, I’ll adjust,” Gu Zhu rubbed her reddened hand. How odd. Why did it suddenly hurt so much?

Song Xingzi: Don’t even think about bullying people. There’s no good end for a vicious female supporting character! You wouldn’t listen even if I told you, and you wouldn’t believe it even if you heard it, so all I can do is fight back.

Gu Zhu signaled to the camera that she was ready, thinking: One more time. I’ll forgive her after just one more slap.

The slap came whistling through the air. Song Xingzi stubbornly lifted her head, waiting for Gu Zhu to cry out in pain. But suddenly, the scenery before her seemed to freeze, and she could hear nothing. She blinked, and saw Ji Ruyue, who should have been at the hotel, grasping Gu Zhu’s neck, her expression dark, cold, and cruel.

What is going on? How did Ji Ji appear here? Song Xingzi was utterly bewildered, watching the plot rapidly shift toward a suspense thriller.

Ji Ruyue had arrived earlier. She came to find Song Xingzi to discuss something, but saw Gu Zhu calling for retakes repeatedly, clearly using the opportunity to vent her anger.

She stood frozen for a while, her mind wandering, suddenly unable to distinguish whether the person slapping Song Xingzi was Gu Zhu or her own past self. Was she the one standing there watching, or was she the one bullying Song Xingzi?

The scene was too familiar. The demon in her heart leaped out, the demon cultivated by a repeating story controlling her. She knew this was wrong, but she still rushed out, gripping Gu Zhu’s neck, tightening her hold.

You deserve to die. How are you still alive? Why is this still happening?

“Ji, Ji, Ji Ji,” Song Xingzi easily broke free from the extras’ restraints, standing beside Ji Ruyue, and said, trembling, “Ji Ji, what are you doing?”

Ji Ruyue’s dark, cold, and cruel gaze fell upon Song Xingzi. She instinctively shivered.

“As you can see, hitting someone,” A flicker of confusion crossed Ji Ruyue’s expression, turning back to coldness as she looked at Gu Zhu, whose eyes were watering with physiological tears. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

“I, I am, Gu, Zhu,” Gu Zhu struggled to breathe, trying desperately to pull Ji Ruyue’s hand away from her neck.

Song Xingzi ignored her fear, stepped forward to pull Ji Ruyue’s hand away, and held Gu Zhu’s hand, subtly giving her some spiritual energy to ease the pain. “Ji Ji, Ji Ji, calm down. I’m fine. If you use any more force, you’ll kill someone.”

“I am calm. Why did you allow her to hit you like an idiot?” Ji Ruyue pointed at Gu Zhu, who was sprawled on the ground gasping for breath. “She was just using the acting as an excuse to vent her anger and hit you deliberately, and you just let this viper-hearted, vicious woman hit you! Are you an idiot, or do you think this kind of ‘goodness’ is noble?”

Hearing Ji Ruyue’s assessment of her, Gu Zhu was both angry and hurt, and her tears wouldn’t stop flowing.

“No, I didn’t. I was just joking with Gu Zhu earlier, saying you liked tasty food, which is why she tried so hard. She just got mad when she found out I lied. Besides, she really didn’t use much force, it didn’t hurt at all, so let it go. Ji Ji, don’t be angry, it’s bad if you get photographed.”

“Fine,” Ji Ruyue snorted coldly. Song Xingzi’s appearance made her feel as if she was back in the plot where she used to bully Song Xingzi, and Song Xingzi would cry yet still speak well of her. “Then hit her back.”

Song Xingzi was stunned. “What?”

“Hit her. However she hit you, you hit her back the same way.”

Song Xingzi grabbed Ji Ruyue’s hand. “Ji Ji, are you crazy? How can you say something like that casually?”

Even if Ji Ruyue wasn’t in the entertainment industry, as a public figure, saying something like that would definitely bring widespread criticism!

“Are you going to hit her or not!”

“No! I really don’t hurt!”

Song Xingzi was on the verge of tears. Ji Ruyue was acting too abnormally now, truly like an unreasonable villain, completely different from the “openly bright, morally sound” villain in her memory. She was worried about Ji Ruyue’s state while also being frightened of this unfamiliar Ji Ruyue.

“Hit her back. Hit her back for me. Hit her back exactly the way she hit you! Don’t put on this appearance of being long-suffering and deeply righteous, like a white lotus! Does this hypocritical goodness make you feel noble for your sacrifice?” Ji Ruyue was trembling all over. “You won’t hit her, will you? Then I’ll hit her for you!”

Ji Ruyue grabbed Gu Zhu by the collar, lifting the crying, terrified, and disbelieving person like a little chick, and forcefully swung her hand toward Gu Zhu’s delicate face.

Song Xingzi froze. She felt as if the whole world had frozen with her. By the time she reacted, she had already pushed Gu Zhu away, and Ji Ruyue’s slap landed on her arm.

“Ji Ji, don’t be angry, calm down. Let’s go talk somewhere else, okay?”

Song Xingzi signaled to Gu Zhu with a look, then grabbed Ji Ruyue’s arm and half-dragged, half-carried her away from the scene.

Song Xingzi closed the door and said to the furious Ji Ruyue, “Ji Ji, I told you, I was partly wrong too. She really didn’t hurt me. I’m not a saint or anything, so how can you talk about me like that? How can you, how can you look like this?”

Ji Ruyue’s heart was pounding. She was unable to think, completely led by the malice deep within her. “What do I look like? What do you think I should look like? This is how I’ve always been! I’m ruthless, unreasonable, overbearing, and self-serving! I am not the person you imagine! This is me, this is the real Ji Ruyue!”

With every word Ji Ruyue spoke, her heartbeat accelerated, as if a massive, hidden iceberg deep within her heart was emitting a cracking roar, making her head reel.

Song Xingzi was stunned. “Ji Ji…”

“Don’t call me that,” Ji Ruyue pushed her away. “Your white lotus act disgusts me!”

Song Xingzi’s eyes reddened. She didn’t know how things had escalated to this point.

“Ji Ji, you’re truly scary. How can you be so unreasonable?”

Surging anger screamed in Ji Ruyue’s heart. She couldn’t distinguish the object of her fury, only dumping it entirely onto the person closest to her. “I am this unreasonable, I am this scary. If you can’t stand it, then get out!”

“How can you be so mean to me? Boo hoo hoo, fine, I’ll go! Boo hoo, Ji Ji, you big meanie! I never want to talk to you again, you horrible person!”

Saying this, Song Xingzi wiped her tears, pushed the door open, and ran out. Ji Ruyue wanted to chase after her, but the sharp anger in her heart held her back. She closed her eyes, covered her face with her hands, and sank weakly to the ground.

The extreme quiet finally allowed her to slowly calm down and explore the desolate interior of her heart, scorched by anger and fear.

This shouldn’t be happening. I shouldn’t treat her like this. She is not the culprit. She has never even hurt me. I tried to use her, yet I still harshly criticized her. I dumped all my panic and fury over my unchanging fate onto her, and even seeing her resemble the Female Lead slightly made me restless and unbearable.

I am treacherous and malicious, cowardly and weak, projecting the fate I cannot attack onto her. But, Song Xingzi, what did she do wrong?

Ji Ruyue couldn’t figure it out. She had never met anyone who could be as innocent and passionate as Song Xingzi, possessing a pure heart that never changed despite experiencing many trials; Song Xingzi was free, like the wind in the woods, the mist on the mountain. Song Xingzi was kind, but also clear-headed.

This Song Xingzi was not, and should not be, the object of her venting.

As Ji Ruyue realized this, the suppressed emotions in her heart, following the iceberg’s explosion, turned into a lake, and then, as if the floodgates had opened, they poured out in a rush. Warm liquid flowed out from between the fingers covering her eyes, tracing down the back of her hands, dripping onto the ground one drop at a time.

When did these long-suppressed emotions turn into caring and love?

She didn’t know, but it seemed she had learned how to regret and cry again.

Song Xingzi ran out, wiping her tears, but where could she go?

She had never imagined arguing with Ji Ruyue. She had never anticipated such a major disagreement with her. It was as if she had fallen in love with a phantom under a halo, using love as nourishment to slowly solidify the phantom, only to find that the person under the halo was so ordinary, so common, and her personality and moral values were completely different from her imagination.

“Boo hoo hoo, Ji Ji, Ji Ji, you meanie!”

Wiping her tears, Song Xingzi ran a long distance before looking around blankly: the staff were busy with their tasks, people in the distant studio were still filming the next scene, and angry shouts from the director next door could be heard…

No one noticed her. She seemed to have fallen into a time gap, invisible to everyone.

She suddenly recalled the momentary freezing of the world earlier, when Ji Ruyue rushed over and was about to hit Gu Zhu. The people around seemed completely unaware of it.

Song Xingzi blinked, tears falling again. She ran to the storeroom, squatted on a stool, wiping her tears while thinking about her argument with Ji Ji.

This world is just a narrative, an absurd and incomplete narrative that often has illogical errors. Even the world can freeze. Ji Ji is merely a few lines of words by a writer. The Ji Ji in the book is fake, and the Ji Ji by my side is the real one. But this Ji Ji doesn’t even know her life is a written script.

In places the author can’t see, this Ji Ji slowly grew, becoming vivid and real. From the very beginning, the female supporting character I met was this Ji Ji, not anyone else, not a paper cutout, not a phantom. The person I wanted to protect is actually the Ji Ji I just argued with.

Ji Ji doesn’t know my thoughts, and she doesn’t know I have spiritual power or mind-reading. She was just caring about me. How could I hurt the real Ji Ji for the sake of the paper cutout in my head?

Thinking this, Song Xingzi began to cry loudly again. She wanted to go back and apologize to Ji Ruyue, but she felt that her words were too harsh just now, and Ji Ruyue would surely hate her.

Although Song Xingzi was insightful and easily moved on, she was also prone to excessive nervousness when it came to people she cared about.

She stood up and paced back and forth in the small space.

Knock knock

Was it a staff member coming to get something?

Song Xingzi opened the door and saw He Ya smiling gently, offering a packet of tissues.

“I think you need these.”

It’s just as I predicted. How could the bond between an innocent girl and a selfish businesswoman be unbreakable? The chasm in moral values alone is enough to tear them apart. Gu Zhu didn’t take those insults for nothing. It was only one slap, and they’re already arguing in front of everyone.

“You?!”

Song Xingzi’s eyes widened, staring at He Ya in disbelief.

This gentle sister, who always harbored a mix of pity and malice towards her, had rarely come to see her since the filming started, instead focusing on perfecting her acting. He Ya also had good relationships with people on set, so Song Xingzi hadn’t suspected her at all.

“It’s me. Is it convenient for me to come in? Perhaps you need someone to listen.” He Ya didn’t know that Song Xingzi had already heard her thoughts and knew she was the culprit, and she smiled gently at Song Xingzi.

But why would she ruin my relationship with Ji Ji? What benefit is there for her?

Song Xingzi, confused, invited her in and offered her a cardboard box to sit on.