Deliberate Possession [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Heart Stirred

The automatically opened curtains closed, and now the scene was officially over.

The room was silent for several seconds, no one speaking. Jiang Yumian couldn’t stand the atmosphere and finally broke the silence, asking, “What should we do now?”

Jing Xiaoyan sat up from the bed, looked around, and her gaze finally landed on the wardrobe. “Let’s move it aside. There must be another path.”

“It can’t be that low-budget, putting a door behind a wardrobe for real?” That’s what Chu Qianyuan said, but her hands were busy. A few people moved the wardrobe, and indeed, a door was revealed.

Chu Qianyuan exclaimed dramatically, “Lu Zhi, you’re so boring! Can’t you learn from other escape room variety shows?”

“Sister, please be merciful. If Director Lu actually learned from others, we would all be scared to death,” Xie Yunhuan said, then slowly turned his head to look at Chu Qianyuan, his face full of resentment. “I remember when you asked me to join this show, you didn’t say it would be like this.”

Chu Qianyuan turned her head, blinking innocently. “Do I look like I knew?”

The others couldn’t help but laugh.

Their brief exchange successfully dispersed the gloomy atmosphere from earlier, and their hearts felt a little lighter.

Su Mumu nudged Chu Qianyuan, smiling teasingly. “Grab your raincoats and let’s go.”

The corridor looked quite long and had a few turns, but it was lit, so they weren’t afraid anymore. It was all bright.

Moreover, knowing the identities of the people made it less terrifying than they had imagined. So, they were quite relaxed now and could even chat.

Jiang Yumian secretly glanced at Jing Xiaoyan next to her with her peripheral vision. Jing Xiaoyan’s face was under the light, her brow slightly furrowed, and her eyes held a complex expression, as if she was deep in thought.

After waiting for a long time, Jing Xiaoyan didn’t look at her. Jiang Yumian lowered her gaze, reaching out to poke Jing Xiaoyan’s arm.

“What are you thinking about?”

Jing Xiaoyan looked at the people chatting in front, then turned to Jiang Yumian. After some thought, she leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I’m thinking that I should discuss with the director to change the script. In this kind of scary environment, hugging tightly doesn’t create an ambiguous atmosphere. There’s no such feeling at all.”

She had a movie about to start filming, and one scene was like this. She had been pondering it since this morning.

Jiang Yumian’s eyes flickered. She understood what Jing Xiaoyan meant by “hugging tightly,” and her face involuntarily felt hot. She raised her hand to touch her neck, secretly thinking that Jing Xiaoyan was wrong.

She hesitated for a long time, finally saying vaguely, “I think you should just listen to the director.”

After speaking, she quickly walked forward, squeezed past Luo Cheng, and walked with her.

Luo Cheng stumbled, looking at her inexplicably. “Hey, why are you pushing? We’re almost there.”

Jing Xiaoyan looked at her retreating figure, feeling a little confused. Was she wrong?

Before she could think too much, Jiang Yumian suddenly turned back to look at her, then shuffled back to her side. She elbowed her, sounding a little anxious. “Don’t think about scripts right now. Talk about it later. Let’s focus on the main task first.”

“Okay.” Jing Xiaoyan shrugged. She was only trying to distract herself and suddenly thought of that.

Xie Yunhuan looked back at them and laughed. “I told you guys not to be so competitive!”

They were actually still talking about the script at a time like this.

Jiang Yumian nodded in agreement. Exactly.

“Something’s not right…” Jing Xiaoyan followed behind them, her gaze on Xie Yunhuan. Her brow suddenly furrowed.

Her voice wasn’t loud, but Jiang Yumian next to her heard her clearly.

“What’s not right?” she asked softly, wondering what Jing Xiaoyan had thought of this time. She instinctively looked into her eyes, wanting to know what she was looking at.

Jing Xiaoyan turned her head, her eyes flashing. Seeing Jiang Yumian looking at her seriously, a smile instantly appeared in her eyes.

“We’ll know once we find the clue.”

Jiang Yumian was a little bewildered. Why was she suddenly talking about clues? Jing Xiaoyan’s thoughts jumped too quickly. She was just talking about the script, and now she was back to this.

So random, hey…

She tugged at her arm, very curious. “Just tell me first so I can hear it.”

Luo Cheng and Ling Yisong also looked back at the sound.

Luo Cheng asked, “What is it?”

Jing Xiaoyan tilted her head and glanced at Jiang Yumian. Unable to resist a smile, she stopped beating around the bush. She pointed at Xie Yunhuan and explained to her, “Student Xie and Jiang Xiaomian were classmates in the first year of high school, but the year Jiang Xiaomian repeated, he was her deskmate.”

Everyone in the corridor instantly fell silent. They had all overlooked this problem.

“But the teacher said that only Jiang Xiaomian repeated the year!” Lin Xi said, then suddenly felt uneasy. She held Su Mumu’s left arm and Chu Qianyuan’s right arm, keeping herself in the middle for a sense of security.

Jiang Yumian carefully grabbed Jing Xiaoyan’s sleeve. She regretted asking. The ambiguity was too scary.

Noticing her action, Jing Xiaoyan let out a faint chuckle. It was hard not to be pleased by her action.

“Let’s go. There must be some reason for it.” Jing Xiaoyan’s tone was light. Mianmian was holding her hand. She was secretly pleased. She certainly didn’t mean to scare anyone.

The group quickly entered the next room. There was an office desk here. On the desk were Teacher Chu’s work ID and her lesson plans. It looked like a teacher’s office.

Lin Xi found several anonymous notes on her desk.

“This is the anonymous box she set up when she first became a homeroom teacher.” Chu Qianyuan picked up a note on the desk and looked at it, explaining, “My mission card mentioned this. I didn’t know why it was specifically mentioned then, but now I understand.”

She handed the note in her hand for the others to read.

It contained information reporting Jiang Xiaomian for dating and who her partner was.

Jiang Yumian took the note, deep in thought. “So Teacher Chu reprimanded Jiang Xiaomian because of this before the exam?”

They were dating after the college entrance exam. Who would have thought Jiang Xiaomian would come back to repeat the year?

This anonymous report was too much.

Jing Xiaoyan nodded. “That’s probably it. Her math score was consistently above 100 before, maybe not because she liked this teacher.”

Su Mumu sighed heavily. “The sister probably helped her improve her math score little by little. Then, she was hit by what Teacher Chu said, and she started to use this harmful method to anger people. Maybe the earlier low scores in other subjects were to anger her parents, and the later one was to anger both the parents and the teacher.”

Even the teacher who always praised and acknowledged her was now denying her. Sigh…

Lin Xi was completely baffled. “But what good would that do her? Wouldn’t she get scolded even more?”

And she was even called in with her parents.

It really was harmful with no benefit.

“Perhaps that’s the only way she knows how to retaliate.” Jiang Yumian shook her head, her tone helpless. Jiang Xiaomian probably wasn’t capable of hurting people.

Ling Yisong found the class seating chart on the desk and discovered another problem. “Chengcheng is indeed not Jiang Xiaomian’s deskmate anymore, but the class monitor said he switched with Chengcheng. Why did Jiang Xiaomian end up sitting alone?”

Recalling Jiang Xiaomian’s diary, she didn’t have a deskmate in the first year of high school. Could it be because of… in the third year of high school as well?

Another heavy blow. This child was suffering too much without her sister.

Lin Xi turned her head, staring intently at Xie Yunhuan, grinding her teeth. “You brat, did you bully my daughter until she had to repeat the year?”

Xie Yunhuan’s scalp tingled. “Sister Lin Xi, that wasn’t me!”

Why was she automatically adopting this role? This is awful!

They searched this room for over half an hour. Every piece of information they found subtly confirmed their suspicions. They even discovered why Jiang Xiaomian wrote the Olympiad problem on her physics test paper the exact same question had appeared in the competition she had with her sister.

Luo Cheng sighed softly. “She’s still such a romantic.”

She shook her head, feeling that this description wasn’t right either. It should be said that Jiang Xiaomian’s world only had her sister. She had suffered too much injustice, and only her sister loved her.

Seeing the atmosphere turn gloomy again, Jiang Yumian’s eyes flickered. She looked at Jing Xiaoyan, who was always by her side. Since there was nothing to do right now, she knocked on the table and suddenly brought up, “There are still only three questions left: Why was Student Xie in the same class as Jiang Xiaomian when she repeated the year? Is the sister really dead? What happened to Jiang Xiaomian in the end?”

Hearing Jiang Yumian’s questions, Jing Xiaoyan looked up, a puzzled expression on her face. “Why do you doubt whether she’s really dead?”

The others were also confused. Didn’t the class monitor say so at the beginning?

Jiang Yumian sat down in the office chair, silent for a few seconds. “What if the sister couldn’t handle the insults and pressure and left her?”

“How could that be?” Jing Xiaoyan frowned, wanting to refute but not knowing what to say.

“Why not? Do you trust love so much?”

Jiang Yumian’s tone was sharp. She stared directly at Jing Xiaoyan. “Jiang Xiaomian was the one being bullied, not the sister. If the sister received all those nasty words, what if she couldn’t handle it just like Jiang Xiaomian?”

She added, “Jiang Xiaomian had her sister when she couldn’t cope, but what did the sister have?”

Jing Xiaoyan’s throat bobbed. She turned her head, no longer engaging in the conversation.

Everyone else was stunned. They really hadn’t considered this possibility, but hearing her say it, it seemed quite reasonable. Jiang Xiaomian’s later behavior might have been to provoke the sister who abandoned her.

But Jiang Yumian’s tone sounded like she was defending the sister.

Jiang Yumian pursed her lips, her eyes fixed on Jing Xiaoyan. Seeing that Jing Xiaoyan wasn’t looking at her anymore, she spun the office chair to face her and reached out to tug at her clothes.

“I’m telling you,” Jiang Yumian’s tone softened considerably, completely different from her earlier aggressiveness.

Jing Xiaoyan moved her lips, looking down to meet her mysteriously smiling eyes. Her heart felt like it had been tapped.

Jiang Yumian’s voice was gentle. “In a relationship, blindly giving doesn’t really get you anywhere. If the person doesn’t like you, everything you do is just self-pity. You’ll get tired and sad.”

Hearing this, Lin Xi’s mouth dropped open in shock. She quickly raised her hand to cover her eyes, secretly peeking through a crack to watch the two of them. This is blatant gossip!

The others still thought Jiang Yumian was speaking up for the sister. Her words made sense, and based on the story so far, the sister had indeed been the one constantly helping Jiang Xiaomian.

But Jiang Xiaomian also liked her sister.

Jing Xiaoyan’s heart sank. She knew what Jiang Yumian meant. She lowered her eyes to meet the other pair of eyes, pursed her lips, and her voice trembled. “Jiang Yumian.”

Hearing her call her name, Jiang Yumian nodded, lifted her lips into a smile, and continued, “But a person who constantly accepts one side’s kindness, deliberately pretends to be clueless and doesn’t respond—that person has no heart. Not refusing outright, but not agreeing either, that’s called being heartless.”

Then the topic suddenly shifted. “I’m different. I have a conscience.”

Jing Xiaoyan held back for a long time but couldn’t anymore. Finally, she slapped her hand away with a cold expression.

Yes, you rejected me. You really do have a conscience.

Luo Cheng, completely unaware, rubbed her chin, thinking seriously. “Wait, Jiang Xiaomian didn’t pretend to be clueless and not respond.”

Ling Yisong nodded. “Exactly. I think they were very much in love. Mianmian, what you’re saying is wrong. The sister was so good. She wouldn’t abandon her.”

Everyone had followed the story. The sister was a pure and perfect presence. She wouldn’t abandon Jiang Xiaomian the way Jiang Yumian suggested.

Jiang Yumian glanced at Luo Cheng and Ling Yisong, who interrupted her, and then saw Jing Xiaoyan’s expressionless, low-spirited, wronged, and yet unwilling-to-be-angry look. She quickly pulled the atmosphere back. “So, this is what I was going to say.”

She suddenly lowered her head and sighed. “After being rejected, if the other person still insists on being kind to me, unless my heart is made of iron, it’s impossible for me not to be slightly touched.”

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