After Redeeming the Female Lead, I Faked My Death and Escaped - Chapter 13.3

Ying Xu stood by the sink, patiently using toiletries to clean Sheng Qiuyu’s bow.

The Omega stood beside her, hesitating for a moment before saying, “Ying Xu, is this not very appropriate of me?”

Ying Xu: ?

Is it raining red from the sky? Even the young mistress is reflecting now.

“Should I have called someone else to wash this for me?” Sheng Qiuyu frowned. “If I called them, they could get paid. But calling you, giving you money seems weird.”

Ying Xu:

Ying Xu took a deep breath and lowered her eyes. “No, it’s no trouble at all. No need to overthink it, Ms. Sheng.”

Sheng Qiuyu nodded, though it was unclear how she interpreted those words, and then asked, “Then do you know how to wash skirts? I have a lot of skirts”

Ying Xu:

Ying Xu wanted to clip the bow onto Sheng Qiuyu’s lips.

She turned off the water and placed the bow on a paper towel under the hand dryer.

“It’ll be fine once it’s dry,” Ying Xu said.

In truth, Ying Xu was also at her wit’s end.

It was just a bow, couldn’t Sheng Qiuyu wash it herself? Or at least leave it to Liu Sui but she had to pester Ying Xu, acting as if she couldn’t perform today without this bow.

If she couldn’t perform, the shoot would be delayed, and delays meant overtime.

Fine, just endure it.

Ying Xu cheered herself on.

Once she got to the party, she’d meet a new young mistress.

Surely, there would be one with decent manual skills.

When it came to pinning the bow, Sheng Qiuyu didn’t trouble Ying Xu again.

Ying Xu watched as she stood in front of the mirror, adjusting it from every angle. The bow seemed like a screw, if one went missing, Sheng Qiuyu’s entire mental system would short-circuit, leading to all sorts of nonsense.

Once the screw was tightened back in place, Sheng Qiuyu regained her usual haughty demeanor.

She finally realized the impropriety of her earlier words and pursed her lips, feigning nonchalance as she said, “Ying Xu, you seem… to really enjoy acting?”

This wasn’t hard to notice.

At least in the “Redemption” crew… aside from Ying Xu, Sheng Qiuyu hadn’t seen another actor who studied the script so diligently.

Ying Xu didn’t exactly enjoy acting.

She just had nothing better to do, so she did what she could.

However, she had already thought of an answer to this question long ago. Now, she simply copied and pasted it, replying with effortless ease: “Actually, acting, has always been my dream.”

“However, because my abilities were always limited, it wasn’t until this time that I” Ying Xu paused at this point, her lips curving into a sincere smile. “But in life, we all have many dreams. It’s okay if we can’t achieve them all. What matters is the effort we put in.”

Ying Xu’s words were immediately filled with motivational platitudes. Taken at face value, they might easily come across as tiresome clichés.

But when considered in light of the original host’s experiences, her “dream-chasing” journey in the entertainment industry had been so tragic, yet she had persisted until today.

The fading sunset cast its glow on the Alpha’s face, giving her an indescribable aura of solitude and quiet elegance.

For a moment, Sheng Qiuyu unconsciously clenched her fists, her hatred for Gu Qingzhu deepening once again.

In her ear, the system chimed in: 【Sheng Qiuyu’s favorability increased by 5. Current favorability: 24.】

Ying Xu silently relaxed her posture.

On set.

Almost as soon as the two arrived, a staff member emerged from the side and quietly handed over a bouquet of flowers.

Thanks to prior experience, they naturally passed the flowers to Sheng Qiuyu.

Before Sheng Qiuyu could even snap out of her irritation, she was suddenly met with this pleasant surprise.

She glanced at the flowers, then at Ying Xu.

Meanwhile, Ying Xu seized the moment to check her messages.

Sure enough, Cheng Jun had sent a text ten minutes earlier: 【The flowers have arrived. Today, it’s calla lilies. Do you like them? 】

Beside her, Sheng Qiuyu hugged the bouquet tightly and suddenly leaned closer to Ying Xu.

Caught off guard, Ying Xu, still holding her phone, found herself embraced by Sheng Qiuyu separated only by the bouquet.

“How did you know calla lilies are my favorite flower?” The fragrance of the bouquet was intoxicating, and a snowflake had landed on it, melting into droplets that glistened on the petals. Yet, the Omega’s eyes shone even brighter. “Ying Xu, I love them so much. Thank you”

The sunset burned like molten gold.

Through the half-open car window, from a distance, Gu Qingzhu silently observed the scene on set.

The bouquet was radiant, and Sheng Qiuyu was overjoyed, holding Ying Xu’s hand with complete ease.

The two stood close together, looking like a passionately entwined couple.

Beneath the car window, the woman’s grip on her phone tightened with increasing force.

After a long pause, Gu Qingzhu spoke: “When she’s done, tell her to come here.”

The assistant hesitated, wanting to say something.

In the end, she simply lowered her head and replied, “Understood.”

Perhaps the surprise of the flowers had been too sudden.

Sheng Qiuyu was so excited that she flubbed several takes in a row.

…Fortunately, this was a scene between her and Ying Xu, with only the two of them acting, so no one else had to suffer.

As for the crew, Liu Sui had already deployed her financial prowess, thanking everyone for willingly staying overtime with Sheng Qiuyu.

Her words were so skillfully crafted that the entire crew looked forward to Sheng Qiuyu’s repeated NG takes with eager anticipation.

Thankfully, under constant scrutiny, Sheng Qiuyu eventually found her rhythm.

By the time filming finally wrapped, the moon was already high in the night sky.

Ying Xu checked the time.

At this hour, Gu Qingzhu would usually have returned to the mansion long ago and might even be asleep by now.

Heading back now, there was a good chance they wouldn’t even cross paths.

“Ying Xu,” Sheng Qiuyu called out, still clutching the bouquet and stubbornly following behind her. “Are you really not considering what I said? Let me drive you back”

Ying Xu: “No need, Miss Sheng.”

“Go home early,” she said with a gentle smile. “It’s very cold today don’t catch a cold.”

Sheng Qiuyu parted her lips to say something more, but Ying Xu suddenly froze in front of her.

Following his gaze, she saw Gu Qingzhu’s assistant standing under a nearby streetlight, looking rather grim, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

“Promise” Sheng Qiuyu instinctively looked up.

“I have something else to attend to.” Seeing her assistant, though finding it a bit odd, Ying Xu assumed the other party had something to discuss with her in person. “See you tomorrow, Miss Sheng.”

She waved and walked away. Sheng Qiuyu watched Ying Xu’s retreating figure, showing no trace of reluctance, then glanced down at the flowers in her hand.

“How disgusting!” Sheng Qiuyu spat coldly, tossing the flowers to her assistant before striding off in the opposite direction.

Liu Sui glanced at the two conversing, her gaze lingering on Sheng Qiuyu’s earrings.

Only the dim glow of streetlights remained.

The sound of boots crunching on snow was particularly distinct in the silent winter night.

In her ears, the assistant’s words still echoed.

“Qingzhu is in a very bad state right now.”

“Don’t argue with her. She won’t listen to anything you say, Ying Xu. If anything happens, contact me immediately.”

As for the rest, Ying Xu didn’t want to recall.

It was all just warnings to be careful around Gu Qingzhu.

But hadn’t they just been, intimate earlier that day?

Even if Gu Qingzhu’s mood could shift so drastically, surely she wouldn’t actually do anything to her?

Ying Xu didn’t dwell on it. Following the assistant’s directions, she soon spotted the car by the roadside.

The dim yellow light cast everything in an illusory haze.

“Qingzhu?” Ying Xu tapped on the car window.

The woman’s voice was calm. “The driver is unavailable today. You take me home.”

Ying Xu opened the front passenger door.

A single lamp illuminated the car’s interior. In the rearview mirror, Gu Qingzhu’s eyes were closed, showing no intention of looking at Ying Xu even when she heard the sound.

She did seem to be in a bad mood.

But how could that possibly translate to danger?

What concerned Ying Xu more than Gu Qingzhu was the car itself.

The original owner had a driver’s license, but Ying Xu did not. Yet, once seated in the driver’s seat, the memories of how to operate the vehicle came to her with startling clarity.

Just as her hands gripped the steering wheel and she prepared to press the accelerator.

“Bang”

A sudden, sharp noise exploded in her ears.

Accompanying it was an unprecedented, frantic warning.

[Alert! Alert! Alert]

Almost the instant the sound rang out, a blinding white flash streaked past her vision.

It lasted only a split second so fast it felt like a hallucination.

Until the next moment, when a slender white cloth, gripped with unyielding force, wrapped mercilessly around her vulnerable neck.

Ying Xu jerked her head up.

The car was tiny, its lighting concentrated in a few spots, glaring enough to nearly blind her.

The seats were cramped and narrow. In the next instant, Gu Qingzhu’s face filled Ying Xu’s constricted pupils.

“What is your relationship with Sheng Qiuyu?”

Slender fingers coiled around a white rope, the woman leaned over from the backseat, staring down at her with a cold, silent intensity.

“How long have you known each other? How did you meet? Why were you so close?”

Ying Xu’s neck was trapped. She finally understood what the warning”Gu Qingzhu is dangerous” truly meant.

A madwoman.

Every cell in her body screamed with fear. Instinct drove Ying Xu to struggle, but Gu Qingzhu, no longer in her vulnerable post-heat state, was far from the “fragile” figure Ying Xu had imagined.

The harder Ying Xu fought, the more the woman behind her sensed the threat.

An Omega facing an Alpha alone if the latter gained the upper hand.

Gu Qingzhu never entertained the thought of worst-case scenarios.

She would simply eliminate anything that posed such a possibility before it could happen.

“Did you join this film crew just to meet her?”

“Tell me, when exactly did you get to know Sheng Qiuyu?”

“What exactly is your goal in getting close to me? You all of you”

Her murmurs grew sharper, her words speeding up like a blade, piercing inch by inch into Ying Xu’s mind, nearly severing her awareness of the outside world.

The rope tightened further, leaving deep marks on her neck, as if a blade were cutting through steel.

The rustling of fabric, the trembling breaths of the woman behind her, the crunch of snow beneath footsteps.

At this moment, everything seemed to become tangible. A suffocating sensation invaded every inch of Ying Xu’s body, robbing her of breath.

In her ears, the warning grew increasingly shrill.

Just before her eyes closed, Ying Xu abruptly realized the reason the original owner of this body had become Gu Qingzhu’s lover.

Gu Qingzhu wanted to kill Ying Xu.

That statement had never been a lie.