Falling for the Married Movie Queen - Chapter 4

The shriek was so piercing that An Ji, who was just about to sit down, nearly jumped right out of her chair in a start.

She could tell the sound came from very close by likely next door. The room next door appeared to be Yu Junye’s dressing room; they had just finished shooting their promotional stills and walked back together, and she had seen Yu Junye head inside just moments before.

An Ji immediately stood up and rushed out. Just as she rounded the corner to the adjacent doorway, she collided head-on with someone sprinting out of the room.

With the same familiar instinct to reach out and dodge, a dark shadow plunged straight into her arms. The momentum was too great, forcing An Ji to stagger backward several rapid steps until her back slammed squarely against the hard corridor wall.

With a heavy thud, An Ji drew in a sharp breath. A dull ache bloomed in her chest, and little stars flickered in her vision. She tightly knit her brows, clenched her teeth, and forced back the cry of pain that threatened to escape.

Shaking her head slightly, An Ji lowered her gaze to look at the person who had once again hurled herself into her arms. The young scholar’s costume was still unswapped, prompting a helpless, resigned sigh.

What kind of situation is this? Twice in a single day, and with the very same person!

They say it takes five hundred glances in a past life to trade for a single brush in this one. But to crash into each other’s arms twice in one day was this special bond forged because, after missing each other by a hair’s breadth in a past life, both of them had moonwalked backward just to make it happen?

An Ji felt a flush of embarrassment. This clumsy, frantic kid was really something else…

Her chest still ached dully from the impact. She wanted to reach up and rub the spot, but the dark figure in front of her was buried entirely against her chest.

She raised her hands and gently pressed them onto Yu Junye’s shoulders. The moment she made contact, however, she realized that the person in her arms was trembling slightly all over, looking remarkably weak and unsteady.

Instantly, An Ji exerted a bit of strength, supporting Yu Junye as she helped her stand up straight.

Yu Junye’s long, disheveled hair was currently cascading forward, entirely obscuring her face. In the dark of night, it would have been easy to mistake her for a wandering spirit from a horror film.

Though it made An Ji’s scalp tingle slightly, her intuition told her something was wrong. She reached out and began carefully gathering Yu Junye’s hair, sweeping it strand by strand behind her ears. Only then did she notice tiny beads of sweat glistening across Yu Junye’s forehead and the tip of her nose. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes dazed and unfocused, completely devoid of light.

An Ji’s delicate brows furrowed together as she asked with deep concern, “Teacher Yu, what’s wrong?”

Staring blankly, Yu Junye gave no response, drawing in ragged, heavy breaths.

Seeing this, An Ji slid her hands from Yu Junye’s hair down to her back, patting her gently in soothing reassurance.

“Oh my god! What happened?” Hearing Yu Junye’s scream, Eileen whose costume buttons were still left half-unfastened flusteredly sprinted over.

The sight that greeted her as she emerged was An Ji and Yu Junye both still clad in their period costumes, with Yu Junye buried deep in An Ji’s embrace while An Ji braced her back against the wall, one hand resting on the back of Yu Junye’s neck. Had it not been for Yu Junye’s earlier scream, Eileen might have suspected the two were secretly entangled in a clandestine embrace, given the lingering ambiguity of the posture.

“There’s a snake in the room!” Amidst the crowd gathering around the commotion, someone shouted at the top of their lungs. Hearing this, the surrounding onlookers nervously scurried back a few paces. Yet curiosity clawed at them, making them desperate to catch a glimpse of the action, though none dared to step closer; a few of the more timid individuals had already shrieked and scattered in all directions.

At the mention of a snake, both Eileen and An Ji turned solemn-faced. Finally understanding the root cause of the chaos, they shared a tacit, knowing look and collectively dragged Yu Junye a safe distance away.

Even without seeing it firsthand or accidentally brushing against it like Yu Junye had, just hearing that there was a snake loose in her room was enough to give both of them goosebumps, leaving a lingering, creepy chill in their chests.

Dragged several paces away by the pair on either side, Yu Junye gradually came to her senses. Her gaze finally regained focus, though she remained somewhat dazed and unsteady on her feet. Glancing sideways to see Eileen right beside her, she lunged forward in a tight bear hug, burrowing entirely into Eileen’s arms.

Since Yu Junye stood roughly seven or eight centimeters taller than Eileen, the sight of such a massive bear hug looked rather comical.

Yet nobody had the leisure to mind that; both Eileen and An Ji could still vividly feel Yu Junye’s lingering panic and tremors.

“It’s fake, it’s fake. It’s just a prop!” Hearing the shouts about a snake, the young prop assistant froze for a second before snapping to realization. Rushing straight into the dressing room to investigate the truth, he raised his voice and yelled, “Don’t be scared, everyone, it’s just a prop! I’m so sorry, I left it lying around in there earlier and forgot to take it with me.”

The crowd stared at the prop assistant with lingering suspicion for a long moment. It wasn’t until his face flushed a deep red and he nervously took the hyperrealistic prop snake in his hands, casually twisting and folding it into various silly shapes, that everyone finally patted their chests in lingering fright and believed him. A few bolder souls even stepped up to poke and prod at it. Only then did the crowd exchange amused glances at Yu Junye’s expense before dispersing to resume their respective duties.

“It’s okay, it’s all over now.” Eileen wrapped her arms around Yu Junye, holding her by her slender waist with one hand while gently stroking her back with the other.

Meanwhile, standing right beside them, An Ji took hold of Yu Junye’s icy wrist and coaxed her in a soft, gentle voice, “It was just a fake prop. Don’t be scared, it’s alright.”

Perhaps the dual comfort worked its magic, as Yu Junye slowly began to calm down. After a long while, she finally released Eileen. Her face remained hauntingly pale, and her eye rims were red, bearing the faint traces of recent tears.

Having rushed over upon hearing the news, Han Deyu took one look at the trio clustered together especially at Yu Junye’s disheveled, utterly frightened state and felt a surge of white-hot fury.

He had explicitly patted his chest and sworn to his sworn brother, Guo Nianhong, that Yu Junye wouldn’t suffer even the slightest grievance under his watch, enjoying absolute queen-tier treatment. Yet here they were, facing such a chaotic mess even before filming had officially commenced. It gave him an instant splitting headache.

He knew very well how fiercely protective Guo Nianhong was of his young girlfriend. Though the two had known each other for seven years and been together for four or five, they showed no signs of weariness whatsoever; their bond only grew more stable by the day. Putting that aside, Yu Junye herself was an undeniable heavyweight in the film industry over recent years. If she decided to throw a tantrum and walk away over this, his troubles would multiply tenfold.

After getting to the bottom of what happened, he immediately unleashed a furious dressing-down on the prop assistant and resolved to fire him on the spot.

“Let it go, Producer Han! It wasn’t like he did it on purpose.” Having taken a long while to recover a sliver of color back into her cheeks, Yu Junye looked as though she had returned to normal as she spoke weakly.

“But…” Han Deyu opened his mouth to argue, but before he could finish, she cut him off.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” Yu Junye forced out a smile. “Filming officially starts tomorrow. Let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill and hurt the progress over this.”

An Ji remained silent throughout, standing quietly by the side to soothe Yu Junye. Hearing those words, a natural, approving smile curved the corners of her lips. This kid really is sensible and broad-minded.

“In that case, why don’t you head back to rest for the evening? We can postpone the welcome dinner and treat you separately another day,” Han Deyu offered tentatively, his expression fraught with gratitude and caution.

Yu Junye glanced at An Ji and Eileen, who had both been caring for her just moments before, and rejected Han Deyu’s proposal with a smile. “No need, I’ll be fine. Let’s just all go together!”

The stone hanging in Han Deyu’s chest finally dropped back into place.

As the group was talking, Yu Junye’s young assistant, Shi Ruirui, hurried over holding a continuously ringing phone.

“Yezi, your call!” Shi Ruirui panted slightly from the run.

“Slow down next time, there’s no need to rush.” Yu Junye reached out to ruffle her assistant’s head and took the phone.

Glancing at the glowing screen, her expression shifted subtly.