After Redeeming the Female Lead, I Faked My Death and Escaped - Chapter 6.1

By the time Sheng Qiuyu realized what she had just agreed to, the Alpha before her was already earnestly explaining the audition process.

The woman spoke concisely, her tone gentle. The soothing cadence smoothed over Sheng Qiuyu’s initial reluctance to refuse. Gazing at that face, Sheng Qiuyu listened quietly, occasionally nodding in response awkward yet with a hint of obedience.

Well, it was her misunderstanding in the first place, Sheng Qiuyu justified to herself with unshaken confidence.

If it really didn’t work out, she could always explain later, right?

Noticing Sheng Qiuyu’s nods growing more frequent, Ying Xu knew she had already secured a favorable impression.

She stopped at the right moment, only asking one more question to maintain her persona: “Which role are you auditioning for?”

Sheng Qiuyu replied offhandedly, “The female lead’s friend.”

Having only skimmed the script once, she had no strong impression of any character beyond the leads. Not wanting to risk saying too much, Sheng Qiuyu shifted the topic: “What about you? Who do you want to play?”

Ying Xu had asked about the audition, but the Omega spoke of desire casual and effortless, as if any role Ying Xu fancied would simply fall into her lap.

“Liang Ruoyan,” Ying Xu answered, pausing slightly before lowering her head as if slightly embarrassed. “But the competition is fierce. I’m not sure if I’ll get the part.”

The display of vulnerability was perfectly timed. Coupled with her earlier friendliness, most would perceive Ying Xu as a naturally humble and polite Alpha.

Sheng Qiuyu was clearly among that majority.

Though she seemed faintly dismissive of Ying Xu’s concerns, she didn’t show it outright, merely nodding slightly before asking another question: “What’s your name?”

Ying Xu’s smile remained unchanged. “Ying Xu.”

Sheng Qiuyu stared straight at her face. “I’ll remember it.”

Ying Xu’s lips curved slightly higher. Just as she was about to speak again, the earring on the Omega’s earlobe emitted a faint red glow. The woman’s gaze flickered downward before finally breaking eye contact. “I have some matters to attend to. We’ll meet again.”

As her voice trailed off, she seemed to answer someone’s call. Watching her retreating figure, Ying Xu saw the system pop up with a personal profile,

[Sheng Qiuyu, Omega, 22, eldest daughter of Sheng Changming…]

In Ying Xu’s eyes, character introductions fell into two categories. The first, like Xiang Ling’s, consisted of a name, gender, and a brief identity summary. The second was simply a character name paired with a secondary gender.

Sheng Qiuyu’s introduction became a third type, exceptionally long, covering nearly half the Omega’s life. It detailed her education at the most prestigious foreign university, her major in law, her countless awards, and her dazzlingly rich background.

But Ying Xu had no interest in these past achievements. Her gaze lingered on Sheng Qiuyu’s name.

Both the lead actress and the main character have “Yu” (rain) in their names, Was that intentional?

She recalled the way Sheng Qiuyu had looked at her earlier.

The Omega had clearly never seen this face before, yet the admiration in her eyes seemed genuine. A privileged heiress like her had surely seen it all, why would she be so friendly to an Alpha she’d just met?

Ying Xu sat in place, lost in thought for a long while before suddenly looking enlightened.

Even the system couldn’t resist asking: [Did you figure something out?]

Promise: “Do you think there’s a possibility that Sheng Changming knew his daughter might be a love-struck fool and deliberately wrote this script to warn her?”

System:

The system fell silent, clearly uninterested in this line of reasoning.

Promise didn’t care about the truth. She just hoped Sheng Qiuyu’s interest in her would last a little longer.

If she could jump from being Gu Qingzhu’s “canary” to becoming the “canary” of her “boss’s” daughter through this drama.

Putting herself in that scenario, Promise felt an undeniable surge of pride and satisfaction.

Not long after Sheng Qiuyu left, the other actors began arriving on set one after another.

Most of them weren’t particularly famous, and even those who recognized Promise greeted her politely. However, a few with inflated egos immediately made their displeasure known: “What bad luck.”

The man hadn’t raised his voice, but at that exact moment, the surrounding chatter died down, making his muttered “bad luck” stand out starkly.

Promise believed a person should have some edge. She turned to the utterly unremarkable-looking Beta.

“I think I just heard someone introducing themselves,” Promise said, her smile unwavering. “But I didn’t catch it clearly. Could you repeat that?”

The man hadn’t named names, but Promise locked eyes with him without hesitation, calling him out directly.

All eyes in the vicinity instantly focused on the two of them, a mix of excitement and curiosity in the air.

The man looked up, startled. He hadn’t expected Promise to respond like this and instantly flared up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before Promise could reply, a slow, deliberate whistle cut through the tension. A woman’s voice laughed, “I also find some people bring bad luck. Why haven’t they been kicked out yet?”

The Beta seemed to think she was siding with him and reflexively agreed, “Yeah, why do some people lack self-awareness ”

But the moment he saw who had spoken, his face twisted in dismay.

The woman wore her hair in a loose ponytail, tall and casually dressed in rare designer pieces. The watch on her wrist had recently sold for nearly ten million.

“What?” Noticing his stare, the female Alpha finally deigned to glance his way. “Aren’t I talking about you? Why are you looking at me?”

Her status seemed to carry weight. The man flushed red but didn’t dare retort, hastily making his exit.

This time, when the system introduced the female Alpha, the details mirrored those it had provided for Xiang Ling.

[Cheng Jun, 23, Alpha. Stepdaughter of Fen Ningxin, a shareholder of Qinghong.]

Another “nepo baby.”

But unlike Sheng Qiuyu, Cheng Jun had acted in numerous films before, making her a solid third-tier actress.

Promise wasn’t sure where this sudden goodwill came from but responded politely, “Thank you.”

Her wariness was obvious, which only deepened the amusement in Cheng Jun’s eyes. “No problem. I also can’t stand people who judge others by their status or lack thereof.”

She paused briefly, not waiting for a reply before smoothly continuing, “If you really want to thank me, the director just messaged about a script discussion. Do you know where it is? Take me there.”

As she spoke, Cheng Jun pulled up the chat log, the director’s message had been sent an hour ago.

Promise instinctively glanced at the screen.

Gu Qingzhu had been with the crew the entire time and would’ve known about the meeting long before Cheng Jun.

Even if she knew, she had never thought to inform Ying Xu about the upcoming plans.

Despite being well aware that Gu Qingzhi only treated the original host as an accessory, indifferent to her presence after all, no matter what, the original host would always wait for her, Ying Xu couldn’t help but find Gu Qingzhi’s promise of “wait for me” bitterly ironic.

Ying Xu shook her head and asked softly, “How long does a meeting usually last?”

Throughout the exchange, Cheng Jun had been watching Ying Xu from the side.

Before the Alpha could turn around, Cheng Jun smoothly concealed the excitement in her eyes and replied nonchalantly, “Anywhere from two to six hours.”

“You don’t know the location either?” Ying Xu said casually. “It’s fine. We’ll just wait, someone will come to take us there.”

Ying Xu noticed that Cheng Jun had said “us.”

She hadn’t introduced herself or explained her presence here. Under normal social etiquette, most people would have asked about the role she was playing, exchanging pleasantries like “looking forward to working together.”

But as a background extra in just a few scenes, there was no way she should have been involved in a script discussion meeting.

Yet, because of Cheng Jun’s words, everyone around them tacitly accepted that Ying Xu had the right to participate.

The car window was cracked open slightly.

A breeze slipped in. For the first half of the ride, Cheng Jun remained silent, and the backseat was quiet, save for the occasional whisper of wind brushing past their ears.

It wasn’t until Ying Xu unconsciously glanced at Cheng Jun, curiosity flickering in her eyes, that the latter finally curved her lips and met her gaze directly.

The Alpha seemed naturally adept at smiling. Even from this distance, her striking features appeared even more captivating, her brown pupils holding a depth of emotion that could quietly stir hearts.

“I’ve long heard of Miss Ying’s reputation,” Cheng Jun said leisurely. “I’ve wanted to collaborate with you for a long time, I just never found the right opportunity.”

In the entertainment industry, everyone knew how to exchange pleasantries, but only if the person in question held value.

Cheng Jun came from a good family. The system had described her personality with words like “unruly,” clearly marking her as someone not to be trifled with.

In the ABO world, an Alpha’s nature was to admire strength. They often looked down on weaker Alphas, dismissing them with contempt.

So why would an unruly Alpha be so courteous to another Alpha?

Did Cheng Jun know about her relationship with Gu Qingzhi?

Countless speculations flashed through Ying Xu’s mind, yet her expression betrayed nothing. She simply followed the original host’s character, offering a stiff smile, as if unaccustomed to such sudden flattery.

“Speaking of which, Miss Ying is quite different from how you appeared on the show.”

Cheng Jun’s tone remained light, but her words took an abrupt turn, her gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny as she studied Ying Xu.

A cold sweat broke out on Ying Xu’s back. In an instant, countless possibilities raced through her mind.

Did Cheng Jun suspect she wasn’t the original Ying Xu? But they had only exchanged a few sentences, how could she have been exposed?

And if she had been exposed, how should she handle it?

Hijack the car and threaten Cheng Jun into silence? That would be impulsive and illegal, potentially backfiring and giving Cheng Jun grounds to spread the truth everywhere.