After Transmigrating into a Novel, I Am in a Relationship with My Scummy Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother - Chapter 35

The food was indeed very light, but it wasn’t bad. The portions for Shu Yueqing and Huo Qingzhuo were small, and the two of them finished everything.

Huo Qingzhuo tidied up the table and packed things away. This time, Shu Yueqing helped a bit by taking the trash bag Huo Qingzhuo had prepared and throwing it into the bin.

After wiping her hands with a wet wipe, Shu Yueqing sat back down in her chair. “Qingzhuo, I’ve already had people start investigating what happened today. Is there anything you know?”

Old Jiu only had suspicions, but Shu Yueqing had already moved directly to an investigation. After all, as an investor, she did have that right.

Even though Huo Qingzhuo felt it wasn’t a huge deal, being protected like this brought a warmth to her heart.

“Let’s just let this matter pass. If it blows up, it might be used to stir up a narrative. My fan base isn’t stable yet, so it’s not a good time for a controversy.”

Warm as she felt, Huo Qingzhuo still had her own considerations. Whether this accident was intentional or due to poor crew management and faulty equipment, it would definitely lead to a confrontation between two sides. Since they had just “whitewashed” the previous peace, it really wasn’t the right time to pull back this fig leaf.

Shu Yueqing understood her reasoning and nodded. “You don’t need to worry about that. If it turns out someone did this on purpose, I naturally have ways to handle it without involving you.”

Shu Yueqing hadn’t followed up on the last time Huo Qingzhuo was blackmailed for no reason, but since something like this happened again, she absolutely would not let it slide a second time.

“By the way,” Shu Yueqing remembered something else, “my company has several brands under its umbrella that have been looking for the right brand spokesperson. I wonder if you’d be interested?”

Shu Yueqing’s family business involved many sectors, though she currently focused mainly on high-tech industries and rarely managed the others. For Huo Qingzhuo’s sake, she had specifically researched the business operations of all her subsidiaries and finally picked out a few suitable ones.

In truth, Huo Qingzhuo hadn’t taken any endorsements yet—partly because there hadn’t been any suitable ones, and partly because her own company was already on the right track. Although it was still in the startup phase, she had originally intended to save her first endorsement for her own brand.

But now that Shu Yueqing had asked, Huo Qingzhuo felt that a first endorsement didn’t matter much; giving it to Shu Yueqing or keeping it for her own company was the same thing.

“If there’s an opportunity like that, I certainly have no reason to refuse,” Huo Qingzhuo agreed cheerfully with a smile.

“Aren’t you going to ask what I’m asking you to endorse or what the terms are?” Shu Yueqing admired Huo Qingzhuo’s decisiveness and straightforwardness.

“President Shu is being too formal. As long as it’s something you’ve asked for, I’ll endorse whatever it is. As for the terms, President Shu can decide.”

Given Shu Yueqing’s character, Huo Qingzhuo didn’t believe the other woman would mistreat her. And even if she did, Huo Qingzhuo would accept it willingly. Money was, after all, just a worldly possession!

Shu Yueqing was somewhat surprised that Huo Qingzhuo trusted her so much. Realizing the deeper meaning behind it, the corners of her mouth curled up, and her heart felt comforted.

No matter how long the two assistants took to eat, they should have finished by now.

Huo Qingzhuo’s assistant, Xiao Li, was getting anxious looking at Shu Yueqing’s assistant walking slowly down the road. “Assistant Zheng, let’s walk a bit faster. We’ve been eating for half an hour; that’s slow enough.”

Having already had an epiphany and fully understanding her boss’s intentions, Assistant Zheng continued to stall Xiao Li to create more private time for her boss and Huo Qingzhuo.

“Assistant Li, why the rush? Look at the moon at the hospital tonight… Huh? No moon? Assistant Li, why do you think there’s no moon tonight?”

Assistant Li: “…” Is this the legendary all-powerful assistant to a billionaire CEO? As expected, TV dramas are all lies.

It was indeed getting late. By the time the two assistants returned, it was time for Shu Yueqing to leave.

“I’ll be going then.” Shu Yueqing stood up. This time she didn’t say she would come to see Huo Qingzhuo next time; she knew that even if she came tomorrow, Huo Qingzhuo would likely have been discharged.

“Alright, be careful on the road. See you next time, President Shu.” Since Huo Qingzhuo had difficulty moving, she had her assistant see Shu Yueqing out.

Having heard Huo Qingzhuo say “President Shu” so many times, it didn’t feel as awkward now. Though it was polite, the way “President Shu” sounded coming from Huo Qingzhuo’s mouth was, after all, different from everyone else.

The next day, just as Shu Yueqing expected, Huo Qingzhuo was discharged at noon and returned to the film set.

When Shu Yueqing heard the news, she was on her way to A University. Since she had used that as an excuse, she had to go, even if it didn’t really matter to her assistant.

When Huo Qingzhuo returned to the set, the director’s gaze toward her changed again. Previously, he had taken extra care of her because of Xu Lan, but since yesterday, after someone from the investor’s side personally came to inquire about Huo Qingzhuo, the director realized this newcomer’s background wasn’t limited to Water Wood Entertainment.

“Teacher Huo, you’re in too much of a hurry. We could have waited; you should have recovered from your injury first.”

Yesterday, Huo Qingzhuo had agreed to settle the matter quietly, which gave the director a sigh of relief. But immediately after, the investor sent people to take away all related equipment for investigation and took all the surveillance footage, which instantly made the director’s heart leap into his throat.

Seeing Huo Qingzhuo so dedicated now, he felt as if he were hosting a great deity.

“It’s fine. I don’t have any more fight scenes anyway. This minor injury won’t affect anything.” Huo Qingzhuo only had a week planned for this shoot, and four days had already passed. How could she afford any more delays?

The director couldn’t sway Huo Qingzhuo and could only proceed with the original filming schedule. However, as Huo Qingzhuo said, it didn’t affect her; her performance was as stable as ever, which was the only thing that gave the director any comfort.

After filming two scenes, it was time for a scene between the male and female leads. Huo Qingzhuo sat to the side, opened her phone, put on her headphones, and began watching a livestream playback.

Even though she wasn’t at school these days, she couldn’t let her studies fall behind. She was injured yesterday and busy with discharge this morning, so she had missed two major classes and had to watch the replays.

Huo Qingzhuo was focused and wearing headphones, completely unaware of her surroundings until her assistant nudged her arm. Huo Qingzhuo took off her headphones and looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“The female lead fell.”

The assistant was dying of anxiety because of her boss. Such a big commotion and she hadn’t heard a thing—everyone else had run over to check, while she was still here looking at her phone.

Huo Qingzhuo turned her gaze toward the scene. It had been another wire-flying scene, but something wasn’t secured properly, causing Wei Yingying to fall from a height of about one meter. It looked like she had sprained her ankle.

Even from a distance, Huo Qingzhuo could see Wei Yingying looking pitiful in the crowd, which was indeed heartbreaking. However, her years of intuition as an actress gave her a sense that something wasn’t right.

Wei Yingying’s assistant left to take her to the hospital, and filming was forced to stop once again.

What annoyed Huo Qingzhuo most was this kind of situation. Falling from a meter onto such thick soft padding—a sprain there probably wouldn’t hurt as much as a sprain in high heels. Yet, with this trip to the hospital, another full day of filming was wasted.

However, she was only a guest star and couldn’t say much, so she simply put her headphones back on and continued her class.

An hour later, Huo Qingzhuo received a call from Old Jiu.

“You’re on the trending searches again,” Old Jiu said in a helpless tone.

Hearing that tone, Huo Qingzhuo guessed it wasn’t anything good. She sighed as well. “Did I buy a house on the trending searches?”

After hanging up, she checked the trending list. Her name was indeed there along with Wei Yingying’s. The headline was: Solid Evidence of Discord Between Wei Yingying and Huo Qingzhuo.

The link led to a marketing account with a photo of Wei Yingying falling from the wire. A crowd had gathered around her, while Huo Qingzhuo was the only one wearing headphones and looking at her phone, appearing completely indifferent.

Beautiful.

Daily applause for the bizarre ways she got slandered. Huo Qingzhuo rubbed her brow, feeling that these things were simply a waste of her time.

Then, Huo Qingzhuo received a call from Shu Yueqing. The video data taken yesterday had results.

Before Huo Qingzhuo’s scene started, the surveillance captured one of Wei Yingying’s assistants approaching the equipment. Furthermore, after careful inspection, the cotton padding where the equipment had cut Huo Qingzhuo’s waist did indeed show marks of being slashed with a knife. It was basically determined to be intentional.

“Something’s not quite right…” Although everything seemed to line up, Huo Qingzhuo still felt something was off, not to mention how coincidental today’s incident was. “Wait for me to check further.”

Putting her phone away, Huo Qingzhuo couldn’t focus on her class anymore.

After greeting the director, she re-watched the footage of the filming just now. It was very clear. At the moment Wei Yingying fell, the direction she looked was exactly where Huo Qingzhuo was sitting. Her gaze was filled with a certain resentment—it didn’t look like she was intentionally framing someone.

Her own accident, the trending search, Wei Yingying’s accident, and then the trending search about her discord with Wei Yingying… What was next?

Wei Yingying clearly thought that today’s incident was Huo Qingzhuo’s retaliation. But Huo Qingzhuo hadn’t done it. However, with the new equipment and the crew being extra careful after her incident, such a mistake shouldn’t have been possible. Therefore, it had to be intentional.

Excluding herself and excluding Wei Yingying acting it out herself, what else was there? Could it be related to Wei Yingying’s inexplicable hostility toward her from the very beginning?

The comments online were growing more intense. Huo Qingzhuo found that the more she stepped back, the more absurd things became.

But what Huo Qingzhuo didn’t expect was that the more absurd parts were still to come.

#Wei Yingying’s Team Rejected After Contacting Xu Lan

Soon, this trending search also began to rise. It didn’t matter if the general public didn’t know who Xu Lan was; the marketing account’s leak explained Xu Lan’s identity and status in great detail, noting how Xu Lan had previously rejected Wei Yingying on the grounds of retirement, only to turn around and take over Huo Qingzhuo’s affairs.

This explained the origin of the grudge between Huo Qingzhuo and Wei Yingying and made people even more convinced of the rumors of their discord.

Taking this opportunity, a large number of marketing accounts began to drive the narrative, using conspiracy theories to ask if Huo Qingzhuo’s injury yesterday was related to Wei Yingying—is that why the crew was so eager to suppress it? And then, when Wei Yingying had an accident today, Huo Qingzhuo was so cold.

Everything seemed to make sense. Without the parties involved saying a single word, netizens already “knew” the entire history of the incident. Some had even written long essays analyzing the cause and effect more clearly than the people involved.

At this, the fans on both sides completely exploded. They argued incessantly on Weibo, creating a chaotic mess. When the famously rational fans of both houses started fighting, the situation became even more out of control.

Clearly, Wei Yingying’s side didn’t want to see this situation either. Her studio came out to try and appease the fans, and Wei Yingying followed Huo Qingzhuo’s lead from yesterday, posting a selfie to tell fans she was fine and would return to the set immediately.

As it turned out, the tactic that worked yesterday backfired today. The similar posts from both women were singled out by marketing accounts, claiming that Wei Yingying was making a “shaded” reference to Huo Qingzhuo. Suddenly, Weibo became even more toxic.

Some fans even began attacking the production crew, asking why accidents kept happening and why they couldn’t guarantee the actors’ safety. In short, it was total chaos.

With the situation spiraling out of control, Wei Yingying’s team immediately contacted the crew, and the director contacted Xu Lan. The three parties began an emergency discussion for a solution. At this moment, the truth wasn’t important; solving the problem was.

After Huo Qingzhuo finished reading everything, she finally understood. Yesterday’s incident had nothing to do with Wei Yingying, and today’s incident had nothing to do with herself. As for the leaks online, they were definitely not done by either of their teams.

Everything was being driven by a mastermind behind the scenes.