Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 101

Time seemed to stretch infinitely at the moment their lips met, only to fly by in a blur of fluttering heartbeats. By the time the Ferris wheel completed its slow rotation and was about to dock at the landing platform, Si Xiaoxiao still felt as though she were floating on a cloud, not yet fully returned to reality.

Her fingertips unconsciously brushed against her lips, which still carried the lingering softness and searing warmth of the kiss. Her chest felt like a can of soda that had been violently shaken—brimming with joyful, dancing bubbles, sweetness, and a delight that was nearly overflowing.

Her mind, struck by this massive, surreal wave of pleasant shock, went blank. Only one thought spiraled and amplified in her head, echoing with deafening clarity:

Sister kissed her, so she must like her!

So that means Sister’s secret!! Is that she likes her!!!

Si Xiaoxiao was so excited she felt like performing a full set of military boxing right there.

As the Ferris wheel came to a complete stop and the staff member smiled to signal they could disembark, Si Xiaoxiao snapped her head up. Her kitten-like eyes seemed to hold the light of an entire galaxy, shining with startling intensity. She stared unblinkingly at Li Ting, who had just kissed her, her voice filled with an irrepressible, soaring excitement and anticipation: “Sister, can we go around one more time?”

“Another round?” Li Ting saw right through her little scheme. Her heart softened, but as she looked up at the sky that had now turned completely dark, she shook her head with a sigh. “We should probably head back. It’s getting late.”

Upon hearing this, Si Xiaoxiao’s face instantly fell. However, her eyes soon darted around craftily as she found a new opening. She leaned in closer, tugging at Li Ting’s sleeve and tilting her face up. In a small, tentative, and wheedling voice, she asked: “Then we won’t go on the Ferris wheel, but can we still talk about secrets once we get home?”

She really knows how to seize an opportunity. Li Ting couldn’t help but laugh. Instead of answering directly, she reached out her hand: “From now on, nothing is a secret. It will all be open and above board… fingers intertwined.”

Si Xiaoxiao’s eyes instantly erupted with a brilliance even more radiant than before. She beamed, looking as happy as could be, and practically scrambled to place her hand into Li Ting’s palm. “Hehe, Sister really is more cultured. No wonder you can use such sophisticated words.”

Unlike her—when she confessed, she only knew how to say “I like you.” She’d never think of saying something like “I want to kiss you!”

As expected, Sister is indeed the older sister!!

But just as she thought that, she suddenly grew alert. Wait… come to think of it… Sister didn’t actually say she liked her, did she? She just kissed her. Had she actually given her a “title”?

No! I have to ask!!

Si Xiaoxiao perked up her head like a wary little animal and looked at Li Ting. Her lips moved, wanting to press for an answer, but the words faltered as she hesitated.

But… kissing means liking, right… even without the verbal confirmation, it should… probably… maybe… be the same thing… right?

Seeing the expressions on Si Xiaoxiao’s face changing like a rotating color palette, Li Ting assumed she was still fixated on going for another spin in the sky. She said, “If Xiaoxiao really wants to go another round, we can…”

Si Xiaoxiao lifted her head, her round kitten-eyes darting around mischievously. She was tempted, but ultimately shook her head quite considerately. “It is getting late, and we still have to do the lucky draw. Let’s head back.”

“The time is actually still…” Hearing her say this, Li Ting instinctively pulled out her phone to check the exact time. She was about to say they still had enough time, but her gaze froze the moment it hit the screen.

The screen clearly displayed several missed call notifications.

All of them were from her manager—Gao Mengya.

Is there an emergency?

During the several hours they had been in the amusement park, Li Ting had barely touched her phone because they were moving non-stop between various attractions. Consequently, she had only just realized her manager had been calling.

“Sorry Xiaoxiao, I might have something I need to handle.” A sense of foreboding, like a cold snake, quietly coiled around Li Ting’s mind and slowly began to tighten.

She had clearly taken the day off today. Given Gao Mengya’s working style and her respect for Li Ting’s personal space, she would never call so frequently unless something extraordinary and urgent had happened.

Unless, something major had happened.

Li Ting’s expression involuntarily grew grave. She quickly retracted the lingering warmth of the intimate moment from her face and looked at Si Xiaoxiao apologetically: “Sorry, Xiaoxiao, I might have an urgent matter to handle immediately.”

Though Si Xiaoxiao was simple-minded, she wasn’t ignorant of the ways of the world. She keenly caught the sudden shift in Li Ting’s mood and the gravity in her eyes. She didn’t ask questions; instead, she immediately dropped her playful expression, becoming obedient and sensible. She reached out to grip Li Ting’s hand firmly in a reassuring gesture. “Okay, Sister, let’s find a quieter spot first.”

As she spoke, she pulled Li Ting along. Under the slightly puzzled gaze of the staff, they walked quickly away from the romantically lit Ferris wheel platform toward a relatively secluded rest corner nearby.

The call was picked up almost instantly.

“Li Ting! Where are you right now? Are you with Si Xiaoxiao?” Gao Mengya’s voice carried a rare hint of urgency, and the background noise on her end was chaotic.

How did she know to ask that?

“What’s wrong?” Li Ting frowned, answering with a question of her own.

“Ugh, haven’t you seen Si Xiaoxiao’s interview? Did you really go to the amusement park with her? What exactly is your relationship? Is everything she said actually true?!” Gao Mengya fired off questions like a Gatling gun.

Li Ting immediately toggled out of the call screen and tapped on her social media app.

She didn’t even need to search. The splash screen was already a push notification for the trending topic.

Ranked number one on the trending searches, in bold letters, was #SiXiaoxiaoInterviewDareToSpeak, followed by a bright red “Explosive” tag.

With slightly chilled fingertips, she tapped the hashtag. Her heart felt as though an invisible hand had clamped down on it, making it nearly impossible to breathe as she skimmed through the program clips and captions posted by marketing accounts.

In the footage, the contrast between Si Xiaoxiao’s pure, innocent eyes and her earth-shattering “brutal honesty” produced a nuclear effect.

The comment section was a total disaster zone: CP fans were celebrating, casual bystanders were shocked while “eating melons,” anti-fans were mocking them with cold irony, and of course, solo fans were having meltdowns and posting rebuttals. There were even homophobic individuals expressing their protests… in short, it was a chaotic mess.

Through the phone, Gao Mengya’s voice momentarily pulled Li Ting back from the skin-crawling storm of public opinion: “You two get ready to come back immediately. I’ll start working on a PR draft right away. We’ll clarify that you’re just very close friends traveling together privately. How does that sound?”

Gao Mengya’s tone suggested that the PR handling itself wasn’t the biggest challenge—after all, the boundaries of close intimacy between women are often blurred and hard to strictly define. What she worried about more was her artist’s safety. “What I’m most afraid of right now is that if you’re still at that park and haven’t left, you’ll be cornered by over-excited fans or paparazzi who caught the scent. That scene… wouldn’t be pretty.”

“Okay, we’ll drive back immediately.” Li Ting forced herself to calm down quickly. She took a deep breath, her mind racing as she entered crisis-management mode. “Contact Xiaoxiao’s manager, Yan Guan, first. Sync your stories and see which PR approach is the safest to minimize the impact.”

After hanging up, before Li Ting could even process this massive wave of information, she felt a gentle tug on her sleeve. She turned to find Si Xiaoxiao’s eyes filled with unease and guilt.

The girl had clearly seen the alarming headlines and images on the phone screen. She bit her lower lip slightly, her voice carrying a faint, undetectable tremor of regret: “Sister, I’m sorry… did I… cause trouble for you again?”

Her memories hadn’t fully returned, but the hazy impression of “messing up” combined with the hard evidence before her made her realize instantly that she had likely become the center of a storm once more.

Seeing her like this, the irritation Li Ting felt from the sudden situation was instantly replaced by heartache.

She softened her voice, making her tone as calm and certain as possible: “It’s not a big deal.”

She then began to analyze the situation, partly to soothe Si Xiaoxiao and partly to organize her own thoughts: “At the end of the day, what’s circulating right now are just vague, suggestive interpretations. It’s an interview program; anything can be dismissed as hype for the sake of the show. If applied to inseparable best friends, it’s not entirely nonsensical. Other than the CP fans taking it seriously, at most we’ll lose some popularity with the general public, but it’s not a substantial ‘black mark’ that we can’t wash away…”

However, she paused, her brow furrowing as she pointed out the core dilemma: “…The only tricky problem now is how we’re going to get out of here unscathed.”

The concern Gao Mengya had expressed in her repeated calls was the security risk posed by frenzied fans and omnipresent media. Yet, strangely, inside the amusement park, though they could feel a few lingering gazes from the shadows, the expected chaos and blockades had not materialized.

In the entertainment industry, what you owe others must always be repaid.

Just then, a well-dressed staff member appeared quietly from around a corner as if they had been waiting for a long time. With a practiced, perfectly measured smile, they bowed slightly to the two of them:

“Distinguished guests, you have now completed all the attractions in the park. Please follow me to the VIP lounge for the lucky draw.”

Si Xiaoxiao was in no mood to think about a lucky draw. She instinctively gripped Li Ting’s hand tighter, as if it were her only lifeline, and was the first to refuse, her voice laced with obvious urgency: “I’m sorry, we won’t be doing the draw. We want to head back now.”

However, the smile on the staff member’s face didn’t change at all. In fact, it grew a bit friendlier. Their tone was gentle but carried a strange, reassuring power: “Would you two care to reconsider? It’s just a lucky draw; nothing bad will happen.”

Li Ting took the hint. Realizing the other party seemed friendly—perhaps even a fan, given how they had facilitated such an ideal environment for their visit—she nodded: “Alright, we’ll go.”

Following the staff member deep into the administrative area of the park, Li Ting and Si Xiaoxiao finally met the mysterious, wealthy individual who had rented out the entire park for a fan meet-up. It was none other than the director, Wen Xiuzhen, who had crossed paths with Si Xiaoxiao before.

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