My Wife Became a Top Star After I Came Back from Quick Transmigration - Chapter 43

Even though everyone had mentally prepared themselves for Lin Mo’s victory, her match against Li Xinling still left the audience in a state of absolute shock. It had been a long time since anyone had witnessed a genuine, high-caliber martial arts exchange; its rarity made it feel all the more precious.

It took a long moment before the live stream’s comment section exploded into a frenzy:

“AAAAAAAHHHH!”

“Lin Mo is so cool!”

“Lin Mo is the GOAT!!!”

“I’m officially a fan.”

At this moment, she wasn’t just “Miss Piggy,” or Su Qixi’s scripted partner, or the Movie Queen’s former classmate. At this moment, she had a name.

It was Lin Mo.

For the first time, she stood before the world as her own person, living her own life.

Sitting below the stage, Su Qixi gazed at Lin Mo with unmasked adoration. Looking at Lin Mo’s dignified posture and confident expression, Su Qixi felt as if she were seeing the high-school version of Lin Mo again—spirited, fearless, and undaunted by the world. She remembered the girl who could effortlessly knock down half the boys in her class and the girl who dared to stand alone on a podium to rebuke an entire room of parents.

That was the very definition of “majestic.”

As time blurred, the silhouettes of the past Lin Mo and the present Lin Mo seemed to overlap. It turned out that Lin Mo truly had never changed. Su Qixi couldn’t tear her eyes away; her heart swelled with pride.

The other guests finally snapped out of their shock and began to applaud. Even Yun Yue, who rarely spoke, couldn’t help but clap in support.

Feng Ye, the director, recovered amidst the applause and stepped onto the stage, shouting, “Congratulations to our champion—LIN MO!!!”

The applause grew more thunderous, and the comments on the screen became even more frantic.

“She earned it!”

“Lin Mo is full of surprises. Consider me a fan.”

Feng Ye was satisfied with the reaction. His gaze toward Lin Mo turned fatherly as he asked, “Since you are the champion, you may now choose one of our eight guests to take on a date tomorrow! You can take whoever you want!”

While the guests were kind-hearted, they were also mischievous. Despite Feng Ye telling Lin Mo to choose freely, Qi Youshan and the others raised their hands and shouted, “Pick me! Pick me!”

Qiu Mingyi chimed in, “Pick me! The director said you can pick from all eight guests—he didn’t say it had to be one of the love interests!”

Jiang Lun laughed and joined the chaos, raising his hand. “Pick me! I’m a singer. I’ll serenade you during the whole date.”

Su Qixi: “…”

Lin Mo kept a smile on her face, unbothered by their teasing. She even played along: “Raise your hands a little higher so I can see who’s who. I’ll make sure to pick them as my partner in a bit.”

Swish! Everyone immediately retracted their hands. Qiu Mingyi couldn’t help but jokingly curse at her, “You’re a real dog, you know that?” (Note: “Dog” is slang for someone who is sly or a prankster).

Lin Mo chuckled. “Thank you for the compliment.”

Jiang Lun was incredulous. “Lin Mo, since you joined this show, your skin has gotten incredibly thick.”

Lin Mo smiled again. “I’m just following your lead.”

Jiang Lun and Qiu Mingyi: “…”

The audience was delighted by her witty retorts. On-site, Wu Qingqing and the others were also laughing. Seeing that the atmosphere was right, Feng Ye urged, “Start your selection. Look, our eight guests cover every field and age group you could want.”

Lin Mo’s smile was gentle. She fixed her gaze on Su Qixi and said firmly, “My choice has been the same from the very beginning.”

With those words, she reached out her hand toward Su Qixi and said softly, “Come here.”

Seeing the hand extended toward her, Su Qixi beamed. She placed her hand in Lin Mo’s, and with a firm tug, Lin Mo pulled her up. As they stood side-by-side on stage, Feng Ye cleared his throat and asked Su Qixi, “As the chosen guest, what are your thoughts?”

Su Qixi was radiant. “I want tomorrow to get here faster.”

Feng Ye coughed. “That’s a bit too direct.”

Su Qixi retorted, “Well, I can’t exactly say I hope tomorrow never comes, can I?”

The guests below burst into laughter again. Feng Ye tried to steer her: “You can talk about something other than the time! Let’s try again. Your thoughts on being chosen are…”

Su Qixi said with total sincerity, “I’m glad I don’t have to work tomorrow.”

Feng Ye: “…”

The faces of the guests below turned stony with envy. This girl… she’s making us so jealous.

Jiang Lun finally seemed to realize the stakes and sighed. “If I’d known the prize was a day off, I would have tried harder to win!”

Everyone immediately turned to look at him. Qi Youshan asked in shock, “Even after seeing that fight, you think you could beat Lin Mo? Are you some legendary hidden master?”

Jiang Lun blinked. “Oh… I forgot about her.”

Qiu Mingyi chimed in, “Wait, what does that mean? You mean Qi Youshan and I are easy targets?”

Li Xinling, having finally recovered her spirits after the loss, looked at Jiang Lun and said, “I may be a woman, but I’m confident I could still beat you.”

Qi Youshan flexed a muscle. “My strength is no less than a man’s.”

Jiang Lun pointed at himself in shock. “Am I really the weakest one here?”

The scene ended in a roar of laughter. Even Wu Qingqing was laughing brightly in the sun.

Late Night Confrontations

The martial arts competition was a massive success, breaking viewership records and trending on five different hashtags. Feng Ye was in high spirits; the production team even held an emergency meeting to plan the follow-up activities.

Back at the Moke Residence, the group finished dinner. Lin Mo asked, “Should I prep tomorrow morning’s cakes for you all tonight?”

Zhuo Zitao waved her off. “Just go. The shop won’t collapse without you.”

“Exactly,” Qiu Mingyi added. “The fans saw the match. They know you’re out tomorrow. It’s fine to skip the cakes for a day.”

Wu Qingqing also encouraged her, “Go enjoy yourself, Lin Mo. You’ve been busy every second since the show started.”

Even the quiet Yun Yue smiled. “Lin Mo is truly a very diligent person.”

With her teammates’ encouragement, Lin Mo felt at ease. After helping clean up, she headed upstairs, where she inevitably crossed paths with Li Xinling in the hallway.

Li Xinling had changed into loungewear. Seeing Lin Mo, she motioned her over. “Were you a hoodlum before?” Li Xinling asked, her usual mockery replaced by a serious scrutiny.

Lin Mo gave a wry smile. “You don’t necessarily have to be a hoodlum to know how to fight.”

Li Xinling lowered her eyes. “During the fight this afternoon, your movements felt more like you were… instructing me.”

Lin Mo neither confirmed nor denied it.

“Qixi and I are very close,” Li Xinling continued. “We debuted together and supported each other through everything. We aren’t ‘plastic sisters.’ I would never betray her for resources.”

“Thank you,” Lin Mo said.

Li Xinling was exasperated. “What does that have to do with you?”

Lin Mo apologized with a smile. Her temperament was so soft that Li Xinling felt like her verbal “punches” were hitting cotton. She took a deep breath, retracting some of her hostility.

“I don’t know what happened between you and Qixi in high school, but I heard a bit about you from her manager, Sister Jing. Tell me the truth: in these eight years you were gone, did you really rack up millions in debt from bad investments?”

Lin Mo felt a bit of a headache. She never expected that winning over Su Qixi would be the easy part—the hard part was dealing with the many “overprotective mothers” Su Qixi had acquired.

“Yes,” Lin Mo admitted.

“Heh.” Li Xinling still couldn’t get over it. “I just don’t get it. Qixi isn’t stupid. When we talk about actresses who get cheated out of their money and hearts by men, she analyzes them so rationally. So why, when it comes to her own life, did she do the exact same thing?”

She looked at Lin Mo. “You disappeared for eight years, no contact, no meetings, and you only come back when you can’t pay your debts. I still can’t understand you. I’m still going to try and win Qixi back from you.”

Li Xinling left. Lin Mo sighed and went to her room. Some things she couldn’t explain—but she could resolve them.

A Secret Plan

Meanwhile, Su Qixi had been faking a phone call until Lin Mo went upstairs. She quickly slipped out to find the director.

“Director Feng! Director Feng!” she called out before even reaching his office.

Feng Ye was alone, sipping tea. Hearing her voice, his hand shook, spilling tea onto the table.

“Director Feng!” Su Qixi burst in, looking happier than he had ever seen her.

“Yes, yes! I’m here, Movie Queen Su! What is it?”

Su Qixi closed the door and whispered, “The show covers the expenses for our date tomorrow, right?”

Feng Ye felt a bit nervous. “Yes, but only for a ‘normal’ date. You can’t spend a million; I can’t afford that. Let’s say… 30 or 40 thousand yuan is the limit.”

Su Qixi’s smile didn’t fade. She hid her hands behind her back and said shyly, “The amount doesn’t matter. But for tomorrow, I’ll pay for anything extra myself. Just… don’t tell Lin Mo.”

Feng Ye was stunned. “How much extra are we talking about?” Was 40,000 yuan not enough for one day?

Su Qixi thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I want to take her to nice places—places she’s never been. It might cost a lot.”

Feng Ye was shocked. How much was she planning to spend to “woo” her lover? “Is this really necessary? It’s just one date.”

Su Qixi waved her hand. “It’s fine. I have the money.”

As a senior in the industry, Feng Ye couldn’t help but advise her, “Lin Mo seems like a good person, but you should think things through.”

Su Qixi replied happily, “I have thought it through. Since the moment I earned my first paycheck, I knew exactly who I wanted to spend it on. Hehe!”

She skipped away, leaving Feng Ye sighing. “No wonder her manager is worried. If this were my daughter, I’d never agree to this. She’s completely under a spell!”

When Su Qixi returned to the residence, the others were still in the living room. Qiu Mingyi teased her about her secret errand.

“It’s a secret!” she chirped.

She was visibly vibrating with excitement. After she went upstairs, Qiu Mingyi remarked, “She’s truly in love. To be this excited over just a date…”

Zhuo Zitao nodded. “She is.”

Jiang Lun felt a pang of envy. “There’s such a huge rift between them. How did they cross it so easily?”

In a relationship, it is rare for people to make it to the end after such a long separation. Lin Mo had been gone for eight years without a word. By any standard, that was a massive deal. Yet, the show had only been filming for a week, and she had already “wooed” Su Qixi back.

How did Su Qixi forgive her so quickly?

Upstairs, Su Qixi didn’t care what they thought. She proudly messaged her manager, Xiong Jingjing, to tell her about the date and to have the team ready.

Receiving the text in the middle of the night, Xiong Jingjing was speechless, but she got out of bed anyway to start making arrangements.