I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 58

Since they weren’t familiar with each other, Fusang and Wuling didn’t have much to talk about. Fusang didn’t know what Wuling was thinking, but she herself had run out of things to say. She hesitated, said “thank you” to Wuling, and then turned to walk downstairs. With a goal in mind, her steps were steadier than before. She pursed her lips and headed toward the teachers’ office. But Wuling didn’t leave. She stopped at the staircase, leaned against the railing, and rested her loosely clasped hands on the banister. She looked bored, her eyes slightly squinted at the sun hidden behind the clouds, as if she knew she would see Fusang again soon.

The next scene was all dialogue: Bai Feifei in the classroom with a teacher. The actress playing the teacher was a woman in her fifties named Zhou Yun. She had a naturally serious and proper face and had been moderately famous for a time. Netizens joked that seeing her was like seeing their homeroom teacher, always peeking through the small window on the back door of the classroom. She was well-known for her great acting and reputation. In reality, Zhou Yun was a very kind person. When she smiled, her seriousness disappeared, and she looked very amiable. This contrast was why she often topped “face-changing” competitions.

“That’s all for fooling kids,” Zhou Yun said, waving her hand when someone teased her. She wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses with a very intricate pattern on the arms that looked very expensive. She had brought them herself after talking with the prop team and Li Ke. She pushed them up and said, “That kind of ‘face-changing’ doesn’t show even one percent of an actor’s skill.” Li Ke just laughed and agreed. Instant face-changing wasn’t hard; using it as a gimmick just made the shots look more dramatic. After a brief chat, they started filming.

This was an indoor scene. The teachers’ office had air conditioning, and on the hottest days, filming there was a blessing. You could even feel a cool breeze from the doorway. Fusang had originally planned to go home and change, to avoid being seen in such a pathetic state. But as she was about to go downstairs, her feet turned, and she walked toward the office with her body covered in dried blood.

Inside the teachers’ office, the camera was placed at the entrance near the railing, filming a desk inside. This angle also captured Bai Feifei, who was standing at the door, about to knock. This scene would require several angle changes to get close-ups of different characters, but it wasn’t overly complicated. Zhou Yun played the homeroom teacher. She had half-length hair tied back in a neat little bun. Her bangs were parted and held in place with gel, a look that perfectly fit the character of a teacher.

At the moment, she was chatting with other teachers in the office, smiling as she exchanged pleasantries. “Oh, no, it’s not a sure thing yet. It all depends on what the higher-ups decide,” said Chen Yanfang, but the way she smoothed her hair and her confident expression didn’t match her words. “The competition is fierce. Many teachers are waiting.”

“Oh, come on, Teacher Chen, who can compare to you?” a male teacher said. He had a decent face and his hair wasn’t too thin. He spoke in a very flattering tone, walking over to Chen Yanfang’s desk. He gave her a shoulder rub and said, “I heard you’re going to Li Mingming’s house for a parent meeting tonight, right? Why don’t you use this opportunity to ask around? Li Mingming’s dad is a deputy director of the Bureau of Education. If you say a few words, all the promotion spots that we’re all fighting for will be ours, won’t they?”

Chen Yanfang lifted her head with an air of superiority, smiled slightly, and took a sip of coffee from her mug. The male teacher’s flattery continued. “The people who hang out with Li Mingming are all in your class, and they all have incredible backgrounds. Why don’t you put Xiao Cheng in your class, too? Let Xiao Cheng get to know them. Later, when he’s in college and graduates, he’ll have more connections, right?”

“Oh, forget it.” Seeing him mention her son, her smile faded. “He’s not cut out for that kind of thing.” Seeing that she didn’t want to say more, the male teacher looked at her with a hint of interest, then in a corner where no one could see, he pursed his lips and rolled his eyes before changing the subject.

“Oh, what’s this? A new transfer student at this time of the year?” Noticing the file on the desk, the male teacher flipped through it. His eyes quickly skimmed the “Parents’ Occupation” line. When he saw that it was blank, he looked again and saw “Father” was listed as “Deceased.” He immediately lost interest and moved his gaze away.

Chen Yanfang couldn’t help but sigh in annoyance. “Who knows? The principal told me she needs a lot of care. There’s been some talk about her online… Xiao Cheng just came to tell me that she and Li Mingming’s group were causing a scene in class.”

“What’s a little girl doing causing trouble?” The male teacher said, uninterested and without asking for the full story. “Just tell her to apologize to Mingming and the others, and it’ll be over.” He leaned closer to Chen Yanfang and whispered, “We can’t afford to offend either side. It’s better to just let it go.”

Fusang’s raised hand quietly fell, then clenched into a fist. She left as silently as she had arrived. She didn’t know what a deputy director was, or what a “promotion spot” meant, or understand the complicated human relations. But the rest of the conversation was easy for anyone to understand. The people in that room couldn’t help her at all. No wonder Wuling had that expression when Fusang had mentioned telling a teacher.

But the transfer paperwork had just been completed and had already passed through many people’s hands. Trying to transfer again now would be a fantasy. But what could she do if she didn’t go to school? Go to work? At her age, what could she possibly do if she went out? The confidence Fusang had just built up crumbled again. She barely had the strength to walk. She held onto the wall and slowly made her way down. When she looked up, she felt a sense of unreality. “You… you haven’t left yet?”

“You’re back?” Wuling turned her head and looked at Fusang’s face. “Faster than I thought.” Usually, a girl who went into the office to complain, vent, and cry would take about half an hour to a whole class period. But then again, Bai Feifei’s character was the first to not go home immediately and instead went to find a teacher. She probably hadn’t reached the “endurance” step yet, and the state of her clothes was enough to get to the point quickly without a lot of preamble.

“You knew all along?” Fusang asked. Her lips were pale. In the summer heat, the bright red liquid on her clothes had dried, and the fabric was stiff against her skin. She looked up at Wuling, and their eyes met unexpectedly. This eye contact wasn’t in the original script. But Bai Feifei thought that at this moment, Fusang should feel a faint sense of helpless anger. More helpless than angry. She even felt too tired to be angry. The anger wasn’t directed at Wuling; it was just a small feeling piled up by many other emotions.

Wuling nodded at her. With her hands in her school uniform pockets and her slender body leaning casually against a pillar, she said in a very relaxed tone, “You want to know why I didn’t tell you?”

Fusang, her face white, took a step back. She forced a smile, and a ridiculous answer came to mind. “You’re not… in on it with them, are you?” Based on the conversation in the teachers’ office, the homeroom teacher knew what was happening in the class. Even if she pretended to be clueless, she had been teaching the class for so long. Fusang didn’t believe no student had ever reported it to her, telling her every single detail. But the bullies had never been punished. The homeroom teacher even relied on these students with powerful connections to advance her own career. Not only that, she knew how terrible the class was, so she deliberately transferred her own son out from under her nose. The class sounded like a quagmire and a den of evil. If she had finally escaped those people, and the only person who offered her help was one of them, it would make Fusang feel truly ridiculous, absurd, and horrifying.

“No, I’m not,” Wuling said. “It’s just that some hopes have to be personally shattered before you know they’re truly broken.”

After Wuling said this, a gentle breeze suddenly blew, rustling the trees in the distance and carrying away a bit of the summer heat. After a while, Fusang said, “If the teachers are like this, what about the police? Is there really… no one who can stop them?” This time, Wuling looked at her for a long time. It wasn’t until Fusang pursed her lips and felt the urge to leave that Wuling suddenly said something out of the blue, “Class is almost over. Come to my place and change.”

This act of kindness came so suddenly and felt so foreign. Fusang had been through so much today that she didn’t know what to believe anymore. But for some reason, she still followed Wuling and left the school building. The first class of the day was usually a main subject. The schoolyard was huge, but there wasn’t a single person in it. Fusang didn’t know how many students who were slacking off in class might see them through the windows, but she figured from this distance, even if they saw two figures, they wouldn’t be able to make out their faces.

This was a long, continuous shot that was filmed many times. They would also need to film from different angles in different classrooms later to add in the “students in class” shots. Bai Feifei’s legs were so numb from walking. The fake blood on her body dried and got wet again, being touched up over and over. She felt like she was being “marinated.” Everyone’s exhaustion was visible after a whole day of work.

Bai Feifei cheered herself up and continued filming. There was only one last scene for the day, which was her and Huo Wu walking to Wuling’s apartment. Wuling didn’t live at school; she lived in a rented room. The area wasn’t great, but it was one of the few quiet times of day. The neighborhood was silent. There was hardly anyone around; they must have all gone to work or school. In the story, Wuling started school late and was two years older than Fusang. One was sixteen, the other was a young nineteen. Downstairs, they ran into an old woman sitting in the sun. Her gaze fell on them, seeming to represent countless people. Her eyes were calm and surprised, but she didn’t show any intention of helping or getting involved. Fusang thought, Maybe this is how ordinary people react in a situation like this. Just as there were very few truly evil people, there were also very few people who were kind, willing to lend a hand, and not afraid of getting into trouble themselves.

The scene ended when they entered the building. Bai Feifei was so tired she sat down on the steps, not caring that they were dirty. She thought that her step count for the day must be right up there with Huo Wu’s—one first, one second.

Fu Xiaoxiao, who had been gone all day, suddenly rushed over from who knows where, holding a white wet towel. She came closer, her heart aching. “My baby, you must be so tired. Look at all this sweat, and how dirty your body is. It’s so dirty, it’s stiff… Here’s a warm towel. Wipe yourself down, then we’ll hurry back and get you cleaned up…”

Huo Wu clenched her fingers into a fist, then slowly tightened her grip. Her teeth involuntarily rubbed against each other. Bai Feifei took the towel, only using it to wipe her eyes because they were so uncomfortable. She then offered the still-warm towel to Huo Wu like a gift. “Ah Wu, you should wipe yourself, too!”

Huo Wu, with Fu Xiaoxiao looking like she wanted to kill her, smiled and took the towel. Like a winner, she folded it and gently wiped Bai Feifei’s face. “Close your eyes.” Bai Feifei obediently closed her eyes and tilted her head back. She was probably too tired; as soon as she closed her eyes, she felt dizzy and started to sway. Huo Wu was practically holding her as she wiped her face. When she was finally clean, she threw the towel to the side, toward Fu Xiaoxiao, who was biting her hair in frustration. She said with a touch of reluctance, “You did a good job this time.” Fu Xiaoxiao went crazy. “I don’t need your praise!”

Bai Feifei opened her eyes, which were a little dazed. She hadn’t heard what they were arguing about at all. Huo Wu didn’t wait for the makeup artist to remove her makeup. She knew the crew wouldn’t disperse if she didn’t leave first. She took her phone from Ji Meng, said goodbye to Li Ke, and pulled Bai Feifei into her car. It wasn’t until she was pushed into the car that Bai Feifei realized what was happening. “Ah, Ah Wu, you got in my car.”

“I’m in, so I’m in,” Huo Wu said, completely unfazed.