I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 4

I have accepted your friend request. We can now start chatting.

There was only an automated system message. Although Huo Wu had accepted her request, she showed no intention of talking to her.

Bai Feifei’s eyes moved, and she suddenly noticed the time the message was delivered.

5:14 PM.

“Am I going to die?” Bai Feifei muttered. “How unlucky.”

“Who’s going to die?” This time, Fu Xiaoxiao heard her correctly and looked up blankly. “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing.” Bai Feifei pushed her face away.

Fu Xiaoxiao was reassured and continued to lie down, quietly complaining about her unfeeling mother, Xi Rong. “Ms. Xi Rong froze my bank card and forbade my dad from seeing me or giving me money. She said if she sees us together, she’ll beat us both—don’t you think this domestic violence should be reported? I’m her biological daughter, and she chased me around the yard with a fire poker in broad daylight. Meanwhile, the old man and old lady across the street are cheering for my mom with their binoculars…”

“…Who told you to keep ruining their persimmon tree when you were a kid?” Bai Feifei’s lips twitched.

Fu Xiaoxiao wilted again and said absentmindedly, “But their persimmons are delicious. If I hadn’t gone to steal them, that old man would’ve passed out from his kidney stones at home and no one would have found him.”

She finished with a cultured sigh: “Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda!”

Bai Feifei had already opened Huo Wu’s Moments.

There was only a single dash separated by a dot.

She had been blocked by Huo Wu and couldn’t see anything.

Bai Feifei pouted, feeling wronged and with nowhere to vent her anger.

“Xiaoxiao,” Bai Feifei called out to Fu Xiaoxiao.

“Hmm?”

“Listen,” Bai Feifei said, carefully choosing her words. “If there was a person who was abducted as a child, grew up abused in an orphanage, and then, at school, someone suddenly offered to sponsor her, to take care of her for life, and be her best friend…”

Fu Xiaoxiao interrupted, “What a great person! I would be so grateful to them!”

Bai Feifei slowly finished the second half of her sentence: “…After a long time, the two of them developed some kind of ambiguous feelings for each other. But then this person suddenly disappeared for a year, and one day, she reappeared. Not only that…”

Fu Xiaoxiao blinked, waiting for Bai Feifei to finish.

Bai Feifei said, “She also has a bunch of other people on the side… What would you do?”

Fu Xiaoxiao smiled at her.

Then Fu Xiaoxiao said, “I’d choose to send her to meet her next life’s dad ahead of schedule.”

Bai Feifei was speechless.

Fu Xiaoxiao then asked, “Did you watch some dramatic TV series’ marketing clip?”

“Nothing, just shut up,” Bai Feifei said blankly.

While she was worrying over her phone, Huo Wu wasn’t doing any better.

When Ji Meng walked in, she saw Huo Wu sitting on the sofa with styling clips covering her entire head. A stylist was carefully working on her hair, so cautious they seemed to be holding their breath.

Ji Meng waved to the makeup assistant behind her, signaling them to leave, and sat down next to Huo Wu.

“Still mad?” Ji Meng asked.

Huo Wu didn’t look up or say anything.

The phone screen had long since gone dark. There was no particular emotion on her face as she sat there, wearing a thin, delicate camisole that looked like it could snap at any moment. It fell loosely over her body, with ambiguous light and shadow shifting with the rise and fall of her chest, like a lazy cat.

Ji Meng looked away, her eyes on her.

“The director is rushing us,” Ji Meng said. “You’ve been staring at your phone all day. Guan Ziyao said you got even more upset after she accepted Bai Feifei’s friend request?”

Huo Wu didn’t respond, instead looking at herself in the mirror.

She was currently filming a period drama, playing a courtesan in a brothel. The director was a perfectionist. To highlight the retro feel and the beauty of that era, her costumes were almost all cheongsams.

The one she was wearing now was the character’s nightgown, which was needed for the next scene.

The nightgown was revealing and thin, a rich, dark red like fine wine. Made of silk, the light and shadow on her body changed with every slight movement. The waist was cinched, but the area around her chest was loose, draping down just enough to cover the most provocative parts.

Huo Wu looked away nonchalantly and said, “Let’s film the B team’s scenes first.”

Ji Meng thought she misheard. “What?”

Huo Wu’s face showed some fatigue. She stared at her fingertips, lost in thought.

That day, Bai Feifei had been crying nonstop. She was so out of it that she couldn’t tell the head of the bed from the foot, but she kept saying “I’m sorry.”

However, “I’m sorry” was the most useless phrase in the world.

The next second, she stood up from the chair, a tired expression on her face. “Please ask the crew for a few days off. I need to rest.”

Ji Meng stood up with her, thought for a moment, and nodded. “Alright, I’ll go talk to them.”

Huo Wu hadn’t slept for two days and a night. Her only rest was the brief moments she had while traveling in the car. If she had to pull another all-nighter, something bad would surely happen.

The director had actively sought her out for this role. Huo Wu had read the script. Although the character had some similarities to a previous role, her personality was different. She knew it was a good film and agreed to help out. She accepted a low price, but her one condition was that her schedule had to be flexible.

There were many actors in the industry, but very few had good acting skills, a captivating face, and could convincingly portray a young student’s innocence while also embodying a courtesan’s patriotic heart beneath a flirtatious exterior.

Since Huo Wu had joined the crew, she had never asked for a day off. Filming was nearing its end, and her parts were not that many. The director agreed without hesitation.

The filming was in its final stages, and the atmosphere on set was relaxed. Many supporting actors hadn’t finished their parts yet, so they could film others first. Since Huo Wu had never missed a single day of shooting, taking time off was not difficult.

Huo Wu left the dressing room. Ji Meng called Guan Ziyao into a small, empty room.

“What exactly happened today?” Ji Meng asked her. “What’s the situation with Bai Feifei?”

Guan Ziyao pushed her thick glasses up her nose. She was a little nervous around Ji Meng, and her words were a bit clumsy. “Nothing, nothing special… It’s just that Miss Bai couldn’t walk very well this morning, so I got a wheelchair to push her back…”

Ji Meng’s eyes widened. She muttered, “It’s been so many years, and Bai Feifei seemed to be suffering so much. Why is she still mad?”

Guan Ziyao shook her head.

Ji Meng knew that talking to her was useless. After a moment of silence, she let her go.

Before she left, she called out to Guan Ziyao again, thought for a moment, and said, “It’s raining hard outside. Remember to take an umbrella.”

Guan Ziyao had been working with Ji Meng for a while. She nodded in understanding and went to catch the car.

“Why doesn’t this wretched rain ever stop? It’s getting even heavier,” Fu Xiaoxiao muttered.

“How should I know?” Bai Feifei said, her face full of frustration.

“Oh.” Fu Xiaoxiao watched Bai Feifei for a moment, then leaned over and asked, “Babe, what are you planning to do now?”

Bai Feifei glanced at her, an idea already forming in her mind.

She said slowly, “I’m going back to the entertainment industry.”

She had one foot in this industry before, and she still did now.

The original owner had signed with a company six years ago. Before she gave up on herself, she was a minor celebrity with hundreds of thousands of followers. Her family had also paid a lot of money to buy her roles, but her performances were mediocre, and most of her fans were just there for the gossip.

Bai Feifei turned off her phone screen, tilted her head, and examined herself. This was her original body, and she knew it better than anyone.

“Can I work with you?” Fu Xiaoxiao whined, scratching Bai Feifei’s arm. “I’ll be your assistant, your manager… Well, maybe not a manager. I can’t bring in business; I can only ruin it.”

Bai Feifei was skeptical. “Assistant? You? What can you do?”

Fu Xiaoxiao puffed out her chest, her face full of pride. “My family isn’t bankrupt. My mom has a lot of connections. I know a bunch of regional managers for luxury brands. You won’t have to worry about not having clothes for the red carpet! And I’m strong! I can carry your luggage!”

Bai Feifei thought about it and decided Fu Xiaoxiao had a point. “Deal.”

Fu Xiaoxiao immediately hugged her, planting a kiss on her cheek.

After the kiss, she watched Bai Feifei wipe her face and finally realized where the strange feeling she’d had since she walked in came from.

She looked Bai Feifei up and down, her face filled with questions. She asked curiously, “Babe, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you ever since I got here.”

Bai Feifei was still idly scrolling through her phone. Huo Wu wasn’t talking to her or letting her see her Moments. She could at least look at her Weibo. If not, she could add Guan Ziyao as a friend.

She would definitely have firsthand information about Huo Wu.

Then she felt someone rub her arm with their thumb, and she heard Fu Xiaoxiao say, “Where did your tattoos go? What about your full arm sleeve? And your yin-yang symbol that was supposed to symbolize your eternal spirit?”

Bai Feifei’s mouth fell open.

Her entire body was as white and smooth as a peeled egg. A light pinch would leave a bruise, which was an important reason why Guan Ziyao had asked her if she needed a wheelchair this morning.

Not only that, but when she got dressed this morning, she had checked herself and found that her limbs and torso were her original body parts. Even the heart-shaped birthmark on her thigh was still there.

As for the tattoos…

They had definitely been there before she met Huo Wu last night.

Bai Feifei looked up, her mind in a state of wonder, but her tone was calm. “…I had them removed.”

They had indeed been removed.

Last night, Huo Wu had pushed her into the bathtub and sat on the edge, staring at her with a blank expression as she soaked in the water for about ten minutes, until her entire body turned pink. When the tattoos floated off her skin and onto the surface of the water, Huo Wu tried to rub her arm.

All her tattoos had been rubbed off, completely.

Bai Feifei’s little finger twitched on the sofa. She didn’t have to think twice to know that this was probably the system’s doing to make the plot progress and match the original book after she transmigrated.

The tattoos couldn’t exist, but they had to, so a logical way had to be found for them to disappear.

Fu Xiaoxiao didn’t doubt her. “Oh, you had them removed? The artist must be good. I don’t see any scars or laser dots.”

The technique was indeed good.

And there were truly no scars.

But her entire body was bruised from where Huo Wu had rubbed her, and some places were even raw.

Bai Feifei felt a little wronged again. She reopened WeChat, intending to see if Guan Ziyao had accepted her friend request.

Guan Ziyao had.

She sniffled, just about to chat with Guan Ziyao to build some rapport and hopefully get some firsthand information about Huo Wu, when another message popped up.

[Bald Old Pan: Feifei, find some time to come to the company. Let’s sign the termination contract. Don’t worry, the company won’t mistreat you.]

Fu Xiaoxiao was the first to start cursing. “That guy Guo is such a scumbag! Uncle just passed away, and he’s already turning around to sell you out? Uncle was so good to him back then!”