The Entertainment Industry's Famous Fraud Couple - Chapter 6

And just like that, she was “officially announced” in the most flamboyant way possible.

“Got the shot, Boss.”

Shen Guai’s body dropped straight down, her lower half slamming into the sofa chair. The impact nearly snapped her lower back in two.

“Qin Chaomu, you!”

“Hmm?” Qin Chaomu flashed her trademark fake smile. With an electronic cigarette pressed to her lips, she slowly sat down.

Her long, slender legs crossed elegantly, the tip of her high heel lightly brushing against Shen Guai’s calf. A long trail of vapor rose, partially veiling Qin Chaomu’s face and making her current expression even more unreadable.

Shen Guai’s large eyes darted around as she calculated her odds right now, I’m alone, and there are two of them. I definitely can’t win a two on one. If Qin Chaomu actually tries to use violence on me in a minute, I’ll just kneel down and cry for mercy…

“Guai-guai!” “Teacher Shen!”

Just as the three of them were locked in a tense visual standoff, Jin Xi and Wu Tong burst through the door one after the other.

“What did you do to Guai-guai?!”

Seeing Shen Guai’s hair soaking wet and dripping onto the floor, Jin Xi’s heart ached with immediate concern.

Suddenly emboldened, Shen Guai stood up straight and slammed her hand on the table. “Qin Chaomu! Apologize to me!”

“Me?”

Qin Chaomu pointed a finger at herself. She took a half-step forward, the heel of her shoe clicking against the tip of Shen Guai’s, closing the distance between them.

“Apologize to you?”

Qin Chaomu’s brow furrowed slightly, her voice dropping to a bone chilling temperature. They were so close that Shen Guai could feel Qin Chaomu’s breath.

Shen Guai felt a pang of intense jealousy even at this proximity, this woman’s beauty was absolutely flawless.

Instinctively, Shen Guai tried to back away. However, because her waist had just been jolted by the chair, she lost her balance and began to fall backward.

It’s over… my lower back is definitely a goner this time…

In the 0.3 seconds of freefall, Shen Guai’s entire 23 years of life flashed before her eyes like a cinematic montage.

But just as she expected to collide with the floor, Qin Chaomu who had been standing right in front of her reached out with a swift “Monkey Plucks the Moon” move and caught her firmly.

It looked like a scene straight out of a movie: the beautiful, gentle female lead catching the cute and charming supporting actress. In that moment, it seemed as if they were the only two people in the world.

Shen Guai, who had never been in a relationship, even started hallucinating a romantic background track in her head.

“Thank you, Qin… ah!”

Shen Guai’s rose-colored filter lasted for exactly two seconds before Qin Chaomu ruthlessly shattered it.

The mid-air Shen Guai, who had just been “rescued,” was suddenly and violently hurled to the ground by Qin Chaomu. She looked as pathetic as one could possibly look.

“Guai-guai!” “OMG! Teacher Shen!”

Qin Chaomu partially covered her mouth with her hand, an expression of shock on her face. “Oh! Little sister… are you alright?”

Shen Guai gritted her teeth, forcing herself to sit up as she hissed, “Qin Chaomu! You just wait!”

“Heh~” Qin Chaomu smiled like a blooming flower. “You should save those villainous lines for when you’re actually acting~”

With that, Qin Chaomu flicked her long hair behind her shoulder and blew a kiss to the foolishly dazed Shen Guai sitting on the floor.

“Aren’t you guys being a bit too much!” Jin Xi said, distressed as she helped Shen Guai up.

“Why don’t you ask yourself if what you did to Teacher Qin was too much?”

Qin Chaomu’s manager wasn’t being polite either. She stood directly opposite Jin Xi with her arms crossed, looking ready for a fight.

“I…”

Jin Xi choked on her words, unable to speak for a long moment.

Shen Guai looked at Jin Xi in confusion, only to realize that Jin Xi actually looked guilty.

She then looked back at Qin Chaomu, who remained in that same infuriating state wearing a half-dead smile that hid daggers within.

Shen Guai’s brow furrowed deeply. For once, she had been professional, getting up early to get her makeup done, only to end up with no makeup and a bucket of water dumped on her head for no reason.

Was Qin Chaomu crazy? Or was she still dreaming?

“Well, we’ll be taking our leave now. See you around~”

Qin Chaomu was a true master of face switching. As long as there was a third party present, she would always maintain that smile like an AI programmed with a specific script.

“Aaaaaah! Dammit, Qin Chaomu!”

Only after Qin Chaomu was far away did Shen Guai dare to slam the table. With her hair messy like a bird’s nest, her angry outburst made her look like a hamster having a tantrum.

After venting her fury, Shen Guai took a long, deep breath. “Calm down, calm down, Shen Guai…”

There is a saying: Hate lasts longer than love.

Just last night, Shen Guai had been thinking about quitting the entertainment industry. But now, her heart was filled with a firm resolve. She swore that one day, she would achieve greater success than Qin Chaomu and stomp her under her feet!

“It looks like… you still don’t know what happened…” Jin Xi said quietly as she closed the door.

“Qin Chaomu lost three million followers overnight.”

“Huh? Pfft”

Hearing Jin Xi’s words, Shen Guai was confused for a split second before she stopped pretending and burst out laughing.

“Serves her right. No wonder she’s acting like a psycho this morning.”

Shen Guai’s mood instantly brightened. She began humming a sweet little song, holding a small hair dryer to the ends of her hair.

“How exactly did that bad woman get her karma?”

Shen Guai’s large eyes sparkled. She spun the sofa chair 180 degrees, cupped her face in her left hand, and grabbed a large apple to munch on with her right, babbling away as she counted off Qin Chaomu’s many sins.

“You gained five million followers in a single night.” Jin Xi spoke with increasing pride, showing the phone screen to Shen Guai as she finished.

“Mmm~~~”

Shen Guai’s small face was puffed out, stuffed with apple. She coughed twice, stretched her arm out as far as it would go, and solemnly took the phone with both hands.

“Then let me have a look~”

Shen Guai spoke in a long, milky drawl. She hadn’t even swallowed the apple in her mouth yet, and she was holding back laughter so hard she nearly choked.

Jin Xi watched Shen Guai, lost in thought. She remembered when Shen Guai first entered the industry; she had gone viral purely because of her sweet looks and was dubbed the “Number One Sweetheart” of the entertainment circle.

It was precisely because of Shen Guai’s cuteness that fans had “betrothed” the award winning actress Qin Chaomu to her. After all, the “Ice Queen and Sweetheart” trope was an eternal winning combination.

“Shen Guai Fails Confession to Qin Chaomu, Gets Drunk at a Bar Late at Night… Shen Guai’s Unrequited Love for Qin Chaomu Leads to a Mental Breakdown? Shen Guai Pursued Qin Chaomu for Eight Years, Quitting the Industry for Love?!!!”

Shen Guai struggled to lift her head, staring at Jin Xi in disbelief.

“I quit the industry?”

“It’s just a tactic to gain sympathy from the fans.”

Jin Xi took the phone back and patted the bewildered Shen Guai.

“The video of you and Qin Chaomu on the street last night was caught on camera, so the company took the opportunity to handle the PR. We turned the discord between you and Qin Chaomu into a story of your unrequited love for her.”

“That sounds amazing!”

Shen Guai clapped obediently. Although she didn’t understand PR or why they had to do this, Jin Xi was an ace manager in the industry. Whatever Jin Xi said, Shen Guai would follow.

“So after this… what do I need to do?”

Shen Guai took another huge bite of the apple, looking completely dazed.

“Since your confession to Qin Chaomu failed, your ‘CP’ (Couple) can be disbanded later.”

Jin Xi ruffled Shen Guai’s hair. She thought about Shen Guai being slapped on set by Qin Chaomu, being forced to drink, being splashed with water…

Granted, Shen Guai had provoked Qin Chaomu first, but aside from having a bit of a sharp tongue, Shen Guai hadn’t actually done anything truly wicked. On the other hand, Qin Chaomu’s actions toward Shen Guai were ten…no, a hundred times worse.

Jin Xi was Shen Guai’s manager, after all. Even if no one else felt bad for her, Jin Xi had watched Shen Guai grow step by step; she felt for her.

“Once this drama finishes filming, you won’t have any more interaction with Qin Chaomu. You won’t have to endure her anymore.”

Given the massive momentum of the “CP fans,” if Qin Chaomu were to clarify her relationship with Shen Guai on social media now, it would be a “lose-lose” situation. After all, Shen Guai and Qin Chaomu still had a high budget, S-tier hit drama in the works, plus a fan base of tens of millions of shippers.

No matter how annoyed Qin Chaomu’s company was, they wouldn’t dare release a reckless statement. So, in this move, Jin Xi had won. Qin Chaomu was forced to “swallow a bitter pill” she suffered in silence and couldn’t speak out, which was why she was so furious earlier.

“Really?! We don’t have to work together ever again?”

Shen Guai held her lower back, her smile widening until she couldn’t close her mouth.

“Yes.”

Jin Xi adjusted her rimless glasses, a rare smile appearing on her cold face.

“Wait… wait a second, Teacher Jin!”

Wu Tong tugged at Jin Xi’s sleeve, carefully avoiding the scar on Jin Xi’s arm.

“What is it?” Jin Xi didn’t look at Wu Tong, intentionally avoiding eye contact.

For some reason, Shen Guai felt that Jin Xi and Wu Tong were acting strange today, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. The slow-witted Shen Guai hadn’t even noticed the scar on Jin Xi’s wrist.

“Teacher Qin Chaomu… she… she posted a Weibo…”

Shen Guai finished her apple in one go and grabbed a wet wipe to clean her hands. Hearing Wu Tong’s voice, she chimed in, “What kind of Weibo? A retirement announcement? Hahaha…”

Wu Tong sucked in a breath, paused, and said, “Teacher Qin… she said you guys are together…”

THUD!

Shen Guai fell right off her chair. She pushed back her bangs and stared blankly at the phone screen Jin Xi was showing her.

Qin Chaomu: Thank you all for your concern regarding my status with Shen Guai. There are rumors that Shen Guai confessed to me and was rejected; those rumors are false. There are rumors that Shen Guai and I are together, those rumors are true.

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The attached photo was the one Qin Chaomu had taken of a drunk Shen Guai squatting on the street last night.

“AAAAAHHHH! DAMN YOU, QIN CHAOMU!”

The first thing Shen Guai did after scrambling up from the floor was to go find Qin Chaomu.

She held her aching lower back, enduring the pain as she half-walked, half-ran the whole way.

“Congratulations, Teacher Shen!” “Ahhh, Teacher Shen, you guys are actually together!” “When’s the wedding?”

The distance from the dressing room to the set was about one kilometer. It was the longest kilometer Shen Guai had ever walked. Every person she passed on set had an “I’m witnessing real love” look on their faces. The non-stop stream of congratulations made Shen Guai want to chop her own ears off.

On the newly built beach set, a woman in a swimsuit with a slender waist and long legs was leisurely swirling a glass of orange juice.

Hearing the hurried footsteps, the woman took off her sunglasses, revealing eyes as enchanting as peach blossoms atop a delicate nose. The midday sun was warm, spilling over the woman’s milky-white skin and giving her a warm glow. The woman tilted her head, and seeing Shen Guai, a faint, devastatingly beautiful smile appeared on her face.

“Good morning, my… official girlfriend.”