I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 41

After Huo Wu said the brief words “the ending,” she didn’t say anything more. She just squeezed Bai Feifei’s hand and quickly left the area. Bai Feifei wanted to ask, but Huo Wu seemed to be deep in thought, so she didn’t rashly interrupt her. In the end, Huo Wu left.

After a short break, Huo Wu didn’t show up in the afternoon. Bai Feifei looked around and even made a special detour to the parking lot, only to find that even Huo Wu’s car wasn’t there.

“Baby, what are you looking for?” Fu Xiaoxiao was holding an umbrella for the two of them. “You’ve walked around a few times already.”

Bai Feifei didn’t say anything at first, just walked aimlessly outside. The sun was scorching. She couldn’t stand under the sun for long before getting dizzy. What’s more, it was the hottest time of the day, around two or three in the afternoon. It felt like a steamer between heaven and earth. She and Bai Feifei had already walked around a few times, but they were completely aimless, not knowing what they were looking for, and time was ticking away.

Bai Feifei shook her head when she heard that. She looked far into the parking lot, where the sun had created a mirage. She squinted her eyes, which were a little hard to open because of the stinging sun, and said listlessly, “Nothing. Let’s go back.”

The August weather was unusually hot. Fortunately, there wasn’t much left. Once September passed, October would be cooler.

Fu Xiaoxiao and Bai Feifei walked back into the building arm in arm. The moment they stepped inside, they let out a sigh of relief. The air from the air conditioning brought them back to life.

“Huo Wu didn’t come today,” Fu Xiaoxiao said. “I should have gone upstairs to call her when we left. Did she oversleep?”

A few days ago, she heard that Huo Wu had a bad temper when she woke up and would often be late because of this, so she was rarely scheduled to have scenes in the morning.

Bai Feifei didn’t know that Fu Xiaoxiao had heard these things, so she just shook her head. Remembering how Huo Wu was before she left today, she hesitated and said, “She might be working on the script.” No matter what, Li Ke would say something when they went back.

The two of them went to the public restroom at the corner to wash their hands. To make it feel authentic, the restrooms here were all original, from the old town. It was a long row of stalls with stone walls in between. The restrooms were divided into male and female sides, but at first, there wasn’t even a curtain, let alone a lock. The crew added these things, but to be authentic, they would have to be removed during filming.

However, Bai Feifei must not have checked the almanac when she went out this afternoon. When she entered, she bumped into someone who was walking out with their head down. She was small, and she was knocked back several steps without warning. She finally managed to stabilize herself and didn’t fall. The stairs were not far from her, and she was only a little bit away from rolling down. Even though it wasn’t a long fall, it still made her break out in a cold sweat.

She looked up and saw that it was Li Ran. Li Ran seemed surprised to see her. A half-smile appeared on his face. The smile hung precariously at the corners of his mouth, and it was impossible to tell whether it was genuine or fake.

“You came in the afternoon too?” Li Ran smiled at her again. He seemed to have noticed that Bai Feifei was a little wary of him. He shrugged and said, “Why do you always look at me like that? I’m not a bad guy.”

Bai Feifei glanced at him again, lowered her head, and said nothing.

Li Ran had a very strange temper. Sometimes she thought he was deliberately being sarcastic, but other times she thought he was just a simple-minded young boy. He might have just been genuinely stupid. When she went back at noon, she had also searched for a lot of articles about Li Ran. But since he was a popular idol, under the active marketing of his tens of millions of fans, he was surrounded by the aura of a young master. He was praised so highly that he didn’t seem like a real person. No matter what he did, it would be specially maintained and interpreted as a positive thing.

Bai Feifei didn’t know how she had offended him that he always tried to get close to her whenever he saw her. The only explanation she could come up with was that boys his age were naturally annoying.

So she took a step back, said nothing, and silently went inside to wash her hands. The coolness of the cold water on her hands washed away some of her anxiety. Bai Feifei washed her hands carefully, not missing a beat of Fu Xiaoxiao and Li Ran’s awkward conversation.

“I’m sorry, our Feifei hasn’t been feeling well lately—Li Ran, is it? You should be going back now, right?”

“Mhm, it’s really hot. Do you want some ice cream?”

Bai Feifei turned off the faucet at this time and looked at Fu Xiaoxiao. “Let’s go back.”

The two of them started walking up the stairs. Li Ran, who had been standing there before, now followed them. He had his hands in his pockets and walked up the steps, his head tilted to the side as he looked at Bai Feifei. “Hey, what’s your relationship with Huo Wu?”

Fu Xiaoxiao said, “There’s no special relationship. We’re all colleagues, so we take care of each other.”

“What did she say to you alone outside the building at noon?” Li Ran asked again.

Fu Xiaoxiao replied casually and fell a step behind, getting in between Bai Feifei and Li Ran. “What else could she say? Of course, we were talking about the script. We have to discuss the script together to learn from each other. Brother Ran, you also have a scene with our Feifei. You’ll get to learn from each other then… Oh, we’re here already?”

The door to the script reading room was within reach, and the smile at the corners of Li Ran’s mouth deepened. “You’re so afraid of people finding out?”

With that, he strode past Bai Feifei and Fu Xiaoxiao, opened the door, and went inside.

Fu Xiaoxiao pouted, unhappily puckering her lips at Bai Feifei. Bai Feifei stood at the door, pinched Fu Xiaoxiao’s duck-bill-shaped mouth, and finally sighed, saying to her, “Do you think this person is sick?”

“I think he is. Why doesn’t he understand what I’m saying? What do you mean, ‘afraid of people finding out’? What I said was the truth! It’s a loving and helpful colleague relationship, a friendly and kind work environment, and a selfless senior actress guiding a newcomer. I said so much, but why did he not hear anything?”

Bai Feifei shook her head.

Fu Xiaoxiao blinked along with her.

The two of them looked through the crack in the door and mouthed to each other, “He’s an idiot.”

Bai Feifei didn’t let Li Ran’s antics ruin her mood. In fact, she was a little excited—Huo Wu had sent her a message in the afternoon. She held her phone. She had just finished her part and had been praised by Li Ke, so she was openly using her phone to rest.

【Huo Wu: Read well this afternoon. This afternoon’s section is very important.】

【Bai Feifei: Okay, I’ll do my best! Director Li just praised me.】

【Huo Wu: I heard.】

【Huo Wu: Good job.】

Bai Feifei was so happy that she couldn’t stop smiling. Just as she was about to find a cute sticker to reply with, a new message popped up at the top.

【Li Ran wants to add you as a friend.】

Bai Feifei ignored the notification. Just as she was about to continue chatting, she heard Li Ran, who had sat across from her, shout directly, “Bai Feifei, add me as a friend—is there anyone else I haven’t requested? Wu Qingying, have I added you? Please accept it too.”

Wu Qingying, who was randomly mentioned, looked up in a daze, picked up her phone, did a few things, and said, “I accepted it.”

“Okay.” Li Ran looked at his phone, then looked up at Bai Feifei. “What about you, Bai Feifei? Did you accept it?”

Bai Feifei glanced at him and said in a dull, flat voice, “I accepted it, but I don’t use WeChat much.”

“Oh, that’s not important,” Li Ran had already lowered his head, his fingers constantly sliding on the phone screen as if he was browsing something. After a while, he smiled and said, “As long as you see it, that’s fine. I don’t have the pretentious habit of getting upset when people don’t reply to me.”

Bai Feifei didn’t either. But it depended on the person. If Li Ran didn’t reply to her, she didn’t care. But if Huo Wu didn’t reply to her, she would be sad, very sad.

Bai Feifei finally found a cute sticker and sent it to Huo Wu.

【Bai Feifei: (Holds up a big face)】

After she sent it, Bai Feifei put her phone away. Her face was flushed. She whispered to Fu Xiaoxiao, who was sitting behind her, “I used to think that people in love were so cheesy that it gave me goosebumps. Now that it’s me, I realize it’s true…”

Fu Xiaoxiao lowered her head and saw the overly cute sticker. She nodded in agreement and said, “It is. It’s been so long since you used a sticker like that.”

Her phone vibrated again. Bai Feifei thought Huo Wu had replied to her. She calmed herself down, put the back of her hand against her hot cheek to cool it down, and then lowered her head to open her phone. The moment she saw the message on the screen, the warmth and color drained from Bai Feifei’s face, and she frowned.

【Li Ran: Hello? If you don’t want to talk in person, we can solve it privately.】

【Li Ran: At noon, I saw Sister Wu call you out alone. What did you two do in the room? After you came out, you kept looking for chances to bump into her? That doesn’t look like something ordinary friends would do, right?】

【Li Ran: (Picture)(Picture)】

Li Ran sent two pictures. One was of Bai Feifei turning to turn off the lights, and the other was when Huo Wu suddenly got an idea and stopped, and she bumped into Huo Wu’s back, her hands around her. If an uninformed person saw these, they might really think the pictures were just as Li Ran described.

Bai Feifei pursed her lips. Her thumb hovered over the screen, hesitant to press down. She looked up and saw Li Ran’s malicious face. The smile at the corners of his mouth looked so uncomfortable, as if she was being watched by a snake, full of ominous and gloomy intent. It seemed it wasn’t her imagination. Li Ran’s attitude towards her was indeed very shady.

Bai Feifei’s smile disappeared. She pursed her lips. Just as she was preparing what to say, a new message from Li Ran popped up.

【Li Ran: Also, are you pretending you don’t know that Sister Wu has a boyfriend? The whole world knows they’re about to get engaged. It’s not appropriate for you to come out and be the third party, Miss Bai, is it?】

Bai Feifei had just typed out the words “How is that possible?” but she deleted them before she could send them. Replying to him that way was inappropriate; it would make it seem like she knew nothing and was trying to pass the blame.

Bai Feifei took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing her emotions, and replied as calmly as possible: 【You misunderstood.】

Li Ran didn’t reply. After seeing those four words, he crossed his arms and sneered from the other side, his expression full of disdain. But he didn’t seem like he wanted to make a scene.

Bai Feifei put her phone back on the table. Fu Xiaoxiao, who was behind her, looked at her curiously, feeling that something was wrong. She asked, “Baby, are you tired of sitting? Do you want to switch?”

“No,” Bai Feifei replied, coming back to her senses. She lowered her head and said, “It’s almost over. After it’s done, help me find Li Ran. I have something to say to him.”

Given the special circumstances, Fu Xiaoxiao didn’t ask any more questions and just said, “Okay.”

Her phone vibrated again. Bai Feifei’s eyelid twitched. She instinctively looked at Li Ran, only to see that he had leaned back in his chair, his face up, resting with his eyes closed. The few text prompts on the screen hadn’t disappeared. Bai Feifei leaned closer and couldn’t help but smile.

【Huo Wu: (Pats head)】