I Don't Want To Fall In Love With The Heroine [Quick Wear] - Chapter 12

“Bai Qian, you don’t snore, do you?”

“No.”

“What about grinding your teeth?”

“No.”

“Are you going to sleepwalk and start slicing watermelons in the middle of the night?”

Bai Qian gritted her teeth. “Shao Zizhi, tuck away that grin that’s practically splitting your face, and then maybe your ‘disdain’ will sound believable.”

Caught red-handed, the girl didn’t look ashamed at all. Instead, she defended herself righteously. “A girl has to maintain her reserve. I think I’m doing an excellent job!”

“Heh.”

If you only knew that you cry and throw a tantrum in the middle of the night, refusing to sleep unless someone holds you and kisses you, I wonder if you’d still be so thick-skinned about your ‘reserve.’

The lights went out.

The girl lying flat beside her suddenly rolled onto her side, staring at her through the darkness. “But Bai Qian, why did you suddenly want to sleep with me? Did the scenes you filmed today scare you?”

“No. Don’t ask. I’m tired, go to sleep.”

“Fine. Goodnight.”

Bai Qian’s decision proved effective.

At the exact same time as the night before, “Empress Jiang” woke up. This time, she didn’t wander into the living room to kneel on the floor and wail, but her pestering skills had leveled up. She clung to Bai Qian, demanding kisses and hugs. Once satisfied, she turned into a greedy kitten, snuggling into Bai Qian’s chest and softly seeking the “man’s” pity.

“My Lord Han, why won’t you touch me? I am already your wife, so why do you still refuse me?”

Driven to her wit’s end, Bai Qian spitefully replied, “Because I am impotent. That is why I have been refusing you.”

The deadliness of that sentence was apparent; the girl who had been chirping in her ear let out a sharp, shocked gasp. Bai Qian was satisfied with the silence. she rolled over, turning her back to the girl to go to sleep.

But a slender, boneless hand reached out, grabbing the “man’s” warm hand and nervously pulling it backward. Like a person falling off a cliff clutching a life-saving rock protruding from the wall.

“My Lord Han… even like this, is it still impossible?”

Over the past few days, Bai Qian had been teased and provoked more times than she could count. The balance in her heart, which had already been teetering, finally collapsed toward one side the moment she felt that softness.

She stopped restraining herself. Her dark eyes turned deeper than the night. “Shao Zizhi, you just have to seduce me, don’t you?”

The woman’s shy murmurs turned into incoherent whimpers. The sparks generated by friction burned away the calm of the entire night.

Bai Qian had thought about letting Shao Zizhi face the consequences of “falling too deep into character,” but hearing that unchanging cry of “My Lord Han” from “Empress Jiang,” she eventually softened and abandoned the thought. She cleaned everything up to look exactly as it had before the girl fell asleep, and finally, amidst a night breeze blowing through the window, she fell asleep holding the sated “Empress Jiang.”

******

The next day, Shao Zizhi acted as if nothing had happened. She seemed completely unaware of the previous night.

Bai Qian suddenly understood why this girl was so easily deceived by the scumbag in the original plot.

“Bai Qian, when you finish filming tonight, I’ll pick you up and we can go see a movie, okay?”

“No. There are too many people on set. If someone sees me getting into your car, the trending topics tomorrow will be all about us.”

Shao Zizhi had always kept her reputation clean; she had never been involved in a scandal with another celebrity. As the day she would win her Best Actress award drew closer, Bai Qian was being extra careful. She couldn’t let a moment of negligence ruin the entire game.

“We’re not going to a cinema! I turned the top floor of my villa in Liyuan into a private outdoor theater. We’ll go there. You can just take the bus to Zhanlu Station and I’ll pick you up there. I promise no one will see. Bai Qian, can you please say yes?”

Bai Qian: You have many houses, you make the rules.

******

Shao Liangrong, who hadn’t appeared for nearly a week, came to visit the set again. This time, she didn’t just buy milk tea for everyone; she upgraded everyone’s lunch from boxed sets to signature dishes from a famous restaurant, served three to a table.

The male actor who shared scenes with Bai Qian had been hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis the night before, so he took the day off. The afternoon shoot was rescheduled, so Bai Qian enjoyed the crew’s lunch and packed her things to leave early.

Waiting at the bus stop, she didn’t see a bus, but she did see Shao Liangrong preparing to return to her office.

“Bai Qian, get in! I’ll give you a lift.”

Bai Qian never turned down a free ride.

“Why hasn’t my sister come to pick you up? I lectured her last time! Besides, she’s not even filming right now. A jobless person staying at home all day, and she has the heart to watch you work so hard taking the bus back and forth? So irresponsible!”

Bai Qian wanted to laugh at her righteous indignation. She teased, “How about I call your sister right now and you say that to her face?”

The girl immediately chickened out, stammering, “Oh, look at the time, there’s not much traffic today.”

“I told her not to come.”

Shao Liangrong’s interest piqued instantly. “Why? Afraid of being photographed?”

“Mmh. If we’re caught, the impact would be bad.”

Shao Liangrong couldn’t understand. “Then why did you dare get into my car? Aren’t you afraid of being photographed with me?”

“It’s fine if it’s with you. Besides, you wouldn’t just sit by and watch, right?”

“You two are such a pair of wicked women!”

“Let me ask you something,” Bai Qian said.

“What?”

“When your sister prepares for a role, if she accidentally falls into character, when does she usually snap out of it? Does she have to wait until filming starts?”

“Huh?” Shao Liangrong looked baffled. “What are you talking about? ‘Falling into character’? You mean my sister? Bai Qian, first you use me as a tool, and now you’re making such a hilarious joke?”

Bai Qian’s eyelid twitched. Her voice shifted from slight anxiety to a cold calm. “What do you mean?”

Shao Liangrong explained, “Every actor who has worked with my sister says the same thing about her. Do you know what it is?” Without waiting for Bai Qian to answer, she continued, “They call her a ‘natural-born actor.’ The moment the director calls ‘Action,’ no matter what emotion she was feeling a second ago, she enters the character perfectly. The moment they call ‘Cut,’ she adjusts her emotions back immediately.

She has filmed so many dramas and has never had an accident where she couldn’t get out of a role. Honestly, instead of saying she’s a natural actor, I think she’s more like an acting robot.

Last time I visited her on set, I saw her doing a life-and-death scene with a supporting actor. Everyone watching was in tears, grabbing tissues left and right. But as soon as the director—whose voice was hoarse from crying—called ‘Cut,’ my sister instantly dropped that face of agony and calmly asked someone for a tissue. If her makeup hadn’t been ruined from the crying, you’d never link her with the person from a second ago.”

After saying all that, Shao Liangrong reacted belatedly. “Wait, why are you asking me this? Oh, here’s the address. Hey, isn’t this near Liyuan? Did you and my sister move?”

Bai Qian took a breath. Her slightly upturned lips held no trace of a smile. “No. I am moving.”

“Huh? Does my sister know? Where are you going?”

Bai Qian: “I hope you won’t tell your sister about our conversation today. Otherwise, next time Zhao Tong asks me for a photo, I might ‘accidentally’ kiss her. Got it?”

Shao Liangrong nodded frantically. Current Bai Qian is terrifying!

******

Bai Qian took several buses back to the house in Xiangjiang. Shao Zizhi’s script was lying openly on the coffee table. She flipped through it. When she closed the script, she snapped the black pen the woman had used to mark pages right in half with her bare hands.

Wonderful.

“Empress Jiang losing her child and slaying her husband”?

“Empress Jiang’s kiss of despair”?

She couldn’t find a single word related to any of it in the script—not even the “wedding night.”

Shao Zizhi shouldn’t be an actress; she should change careers and be a screenwriter.

To think she was actually worried this brat would become the next “Bai Yao.” She wanted to drag her back and give her a good beating. This girl hadn’t just grown up; she had mutated. She even knew how to lie now!

Bai Qian went out again. She acted as if she knew nothing and went to the meeting place they had agreed upon. They spent half the day in the villa’s gaming room. When they were tired, they went to the kitchen for a simple dinner. Finally, they went to the top floor for the final item: a private movie screening.

At night, Bai Qian drove the girl home. Shao Zizhi was very satisfied with today’s “date” and sweetly bid Bai Qian goodnight, closing her eyes to sleep.

The calm mask Bai Qian had maintained all day finally came off. She went to the guest room with a cold face, pulled a deep red silk tie from the closet, and returned to the master bedroom. She didn’t lie down. Instead, she knelt on the edge of the bed, leaned over, and lightly tapped the girl’s delicate cheek.

“Ning’er. It is time. You may begin your performance.”

Shao Zizhi didn’t respond. She was fast asleep, her face peaceful. Bai Qian’s pity had vanished the moment she learned the truth. She continued in a cold voice: “Jiang Ning’er. Do you still refuse to wake up?”

“Very well. Yesterday’s Ning’er was delicate, and I was afraid my clumsiness would hurt you. But today is not yesterday. The wedding night you have been longing for every day… I think it is time to fulfill your wish.”

The silk tie was ice-cold. When it touched the woman’s wrist, the slender limb flinched, but she quickly acted as though she were still in a “deep sleep.”

Bai Qian’s dark eyes narrowed dangerously. She didn’t care about the prey’s momentary slip-up. She took her time, slowly and meticulously binding the woman’s hands with the silk tie.

Finally sensing that the atmosphere was wrong, Shao Zizhi didn’t dare pretend any longer. She snapped her eyes open and met the woman’s cold, sharp gaze. Her heart shivered as she asked softly, “Bai Qian… what are you doing?”

The woman ignored her. Only after she had tied a knot that couldn’t be escaped did she curl her lips into a smirk.

“I, of course, am doing what Ning’er likes. Ning’er… you should have a thorough cry tonight.”

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