The Movie Queen And Her Rival Just Went Public! - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Xiao Wu, who had just arrived at the car wash, was called back by a phone call.

Su Cancan got in the car and immediately slipped into the back seat. She rolled all the middle windows down, and the draft chilled the few people in the car. She herself was even more drained of color, appearing pale.

Upon arriving at the police station, she put on a baseball cap and a mask, and followed the officer, avoiding all probing gazes, into the mediation room.

The heavy iron door closed. The girl sitting with her head lowered slowly raised her head.

Saying she was mature was only in comparison to her companions; judging by her alone, she was just a slightly naive young girl. Sitting in the mediation room, she was well-behaved and trembling, making it difficult to associate her with throwing bloody objects.

“Ms. Su, please sit.” The police officer responsible for the mediation arranged for her to sit down.

“Sister, I’m sorry, I didn’t know this would happen.”

“I’m really sorry. I’m your fan, I’ve liked you for many years. I didn’t mean anything else, I just wanted to give you a gift that would make you remember me.”

“Wuwu, it’s all my fault. Please don’t arrest me, I really know I was wrong.”

Before the officer could ask about the events, the girl suddenly broke down in tears. Large tears rolled down her full cheeks. She tearfully begged Su Cancan for forgiveness, as if Su Cancan had forced her into this situation.

An uninformed netizen who saw this would surely send her trending, but those present were police officers who had dealt with thousands of cases and witnessed countless bizarre twists, and the other parties involved in this case.

Su Cancan sat up straight, arms folded across her chest, watching her meticulously staged farce, or rather, a monologue, with cold eyes.

Wails passed through the wall. People outside were curious about what was happening inside, and those passing by did not hesitate to cast investigative looks.

Continuous crying was unhelpful for the case’s progress. Seeing the young girl sobbing uncontrollably, the officer took two paper cups, filled them with warm water, and handed one to each person.

As he placed the water cups down, he also pulled out a few tissues and placed them in front of her, comforting her, “Don’t cry. Tell us what happened. If there’s a problem, we’ll solve it. If it’s a misunderstanding, explain it clearly.”

Su Cancan maintained her posture, raising an eyebrow to appreciate her every move and subtle expression.

The cold light hit her face, projecting sharp, angular shadows from her defined features.

“Thank you, Officer Uncle.” The girl stopped crying, holding the paper cup like a treasure with both hands clasped. That “Uncle” made the young man, who was no older than thirty, freeze, unsure how to respond.

He dryly replied, “You’re welcome.”

With both parties’ emotions stable, the questioning could proceed. He opened his notepad and began to ask, “Please tell us what happened, one by one.”

“I’ll speak. It’s my fault.” She seemed very nervous. The paper cup was squeezed out of shape in her grip, and a drop or two of water spilled onto her thumb web. “I’m Sister Cancan’s fan. I heard she was going to be filming here recently. Since I’m in the same city, I wanted to seize the chance to see her with my own eyes. I like Sister too much, so I wanted to leave a deep impression on her. On a whim, I sent that.”

That?

She glossed over the two words with feigned innocence. Su Cancan stared at her eyes, which, when they looked at her, held nothing but provocation and no apology. She truly wanted to stand up and applaud her good acting.

On one side was a timid, constantly apologizing girl; on the other, a cold-faced female celebrity who looked difficult to deal with. The emotional scale in the officer’s mind almost tipped towards one side.

However, he steadied himself, focusing on the facts rather than just listening to one side.

“This isn’t our first meeting, is it?” Su Cancan leaned against the chair back, her right leg crossed over her left, her toe tapping rhythmically. “My little fan.”

As the protagonist spoke, everyone’s attention was drawn to her.

She was so relaxed that she chuckled in front of everyone.

Her lack of seriousness slightly displeased the officer, but she stopped in time, put down her leg, took out her phone from her pocket, quickly tapped a few times, and slid it over.

The officer took it to look. It was a handwritten apology letter. Before he could scrutinize the content, he heard Su Cancan say unhurriedly.

“Should I call you ‘Su Cancan Entertainment Industry Slut’ or ‘Most Loving Can Bao’? Do I need to help you remember?”

Few could utter an insult with their own name as the subject without changing expression. Su Cancan paused and looked carelessly at the girl across from her.

She hooked her mouth, an innocent expression settling on her face.

“Li Yi, three years ago, when you were 16, we first met. You sent me a mass of bloody shredded meat. I called the police, but your mother mediated for you, using your minor status as an excuse. She knelt and apologized to me, promising you would never do it again. I signed the mediation agreement.”

“After that, you registered the Weibo account ‘Su Cancan Entertainment Industry Slut’ and subjected me to two years of insults and slander. I successfully sued, waived the compensation, and your handwritten apology letter was pinned to the top of your page for half a year. The account name was changed to ‘Most Loving Can Bao’.”

“Today, you threw that into my car.”

That.

Su Cancan frowned. She hadn’t seen “that” yet. Just as she struggled to find the right words to describe it, a few taps came from outside the door.

“Please come in.”

Given the officer’s permission, the person outside quickly opened the door and entered. Su Cancan turned her head and saw a young officer, neatly dressed in his uniform. He froze when he saw Su Cancan, nearly dropping the evidence bag.

It was his flustered movement that drew everyone’s attention to the item inside the evidence bag—a dead infant, palm-sized, with black and purple skin stained with bright red fluid.

Liu Yimin gasped in horror. Su Cancan’s mind went blank at first sight. Then, stomach acid surged up, and she couldn’t suppress the urge to vomit, grabbing the trash can at her feet and retching violently.

Amidst everyone’s shock, the near-hysterical girl slammed the paper cup at Su Cancan. Su Cancan was focused on vomiting into the trash can and couldn’t dodge. Xiaoke stepped forward to shield her, and the water in the cup quickly cooled as it splashed, soaking into her cotton jacket, giving her a chill.

“You’re vomiting?”

It was a question.

“How dare you vomit!”

Seeing her about to rush towards Su Cancan, and fearing she might make dangerous uncontrolled movements, the officer quickly restrained her in place.

“What, does my baby disgust you?” She was held tightly, her eyes bloodshot as if about to drip blood. “It’s you!”

She shrieked, “You killed my child, you killed my mother! If you hadn’t sued me, why would my mother have heart disease suddenly die in front of me after running around trying to find people? If my mother hadn’t left, how would I have gone into labor prematurely and miscarried? It’s all because of you!”

She blamed all her mistakes on Su Cancan. In her mind, she was the victim, and all misfortunes were inflicted by Su Cancan. She hated Su Cancan, hated her so much that she wanted to transfer the pain to her, hated her so much that since Su Cancan couldn’t empathize, she wanted to kill her.

The reversal arrived as scheduled. Su Cancan gave her a deep look, unwilling to say more, unable to say more. She took the tissue offered by Liu Yimin and wiped her mouth.

“The mediation is over. Let’s proceed with the legal process.”

The legal process would take some time. After leaving the police station, Su Cancan took deep breaths. She had genuinely felt suffocated just now. She couldn’t understand the mental state behind these actions.

Evidently, they realized that this person had a problem.

But there was little they could do.

The early summer sunlight pierced through the thin clouds and shone directly onto the ground. She looked up, and a small patch of gloom in her heart was dispelled. On the way back to the hotel, Shen Luoyan woke up and specifically texted her thanks. Su Cancan perfunctorily chatted with her for a couple of sentences.

Perhaps it was her excessive concern that day, or perhaps Shen Luoyan felt a kinship in their shared misfortune, but Su Cancan felt the relationship between them had become somewhat subtle, specifically evidenced by the multiplied care and attention she received after moving into the show’s cabin.

The overall filming of the show was delayed by one day after the sasaeng incident. The scheduled pre-interview and meeting of the various guest pairs on the fifth were postponed to the sixth.

Early on the sixth, the car that would take them to the filming location was parked at the main entrance of the hotel. The area had been cleared. Su Cancan, dressed in sportswear, pushed her suitcase from the elevator, through the lobby, and saw several cameras.

This was her first time on a dating show, but she wasn’t very flustered facing the familiar equipment. Following the directional signs, she quickly found her designated car.

The staff helped her put away her suitcase and put on her microphone. She sat in the back seat. This was her first time traveling without Liu Yimin and Xiaoke accompanying her. She was excited and nervous.

“Ms. Su, can you hear me?”

A voice came through the earphone. She subconsciously nodded, then remembered they couldn’t see her and said, with a slight blush, that she could hear.

“Good, good. We don’t have a host present. Everything is for the guests’ comfort. There’s a box on your right. It contains some questions we’ve collected. Please answer them during the transfer.”

“Mhm.”

There were only her and the driver in the commercial van. Six or seven small cameras were stuck in the back. Su Cancan picked up the gift box tied with colored ribbon. As if this were a command, the driver looked in the rearview mirror, put the car in gear, and started driving.

A lace ribbon was tied in a bow in the center of the box. Su Cancan pulled the ribbon hard, and it instantly fell apart. She gently lifted the lid to reveal a stack of question cards and a key.

She showed the closest camera the contents, her heart pounding. She pulled out the question cards.

“What is your ideal type?” Su Cancan read the line in the middle of the topmost card.

Ideal type?

This question stumped the contemporary independent female star Su Cancan.

She could proudly say that she had been single since birth. At twenty-six, she hadn’t been in a single relationship, and so far, she hadn’t fallen for anyone. All her time and energy were invested in her career and the life she loved. When asked about her ideal type, her mind was blank.

But she knew she absolutely couldn’t answer that way. It lacked punch, and viewers would definitely call her fake or pretentious.

“Hmm.” She drew out the sound, pretending to think, but actually drafting a fabricated answer. “I’m relatively lively in private, so my ideal type is someone who is more steady. Getting along well and having compatible personalities are more important to me. I have no requirements for looks.”

Without a host, she still tried to keep the atmosphere from cooling.

See how hard she was trying, she thought to herself, then gave a playful smile, “Hehe, after all, no matter how good-looking they are, they won’t be as pretty as me.”

Actress Su tried her best to find points that the audience would enjoy. After the jest, she spoke seriously, “Oh, right, I also like smart people. I’m quite a beginner in life, so if I find someone else like that, we won’t be able to get by~”

After rambling, Su Cancan silently refuted. She wasn’t a dumb beauty. It was just a persona arranged by the company.

Having answered this question, she put the card at the back, revealing the second question.

[Which do you prefer: love at first sight or love that develops over time?]

That was a good question. Su Cancan bit her lip, thinking for dozens of seconds. This time, she didn’t lie; her answer came purely from her heart.

“Love that develops over time, I guess. Frankly speaking, I don’t believe in love at first sight at all.” She looked at the camera, which was only slightly bigger than her thumb, and said earnestly.

“The first time you meet, almost everyone focuses on appearance. A beautiful face or a hot body might stimulate the body to secrete dopamine through visual cues. A temporary infatuation cannot guarantee longevity. Aging and changes in body shape constantly threaten the relationship. I don’t like walking on a tightrope. In love, I prefer to be down-to-earth, taking one step at a time, slowly, to go further.”

……

After answering several questions in a row, Su Cancan suddenly felt very tired. This journey to an unknown destination had begun. She looked out the window, and the city landscape gradually receded and disappeared behind her.

She rolled down the car window to gaze outside. The transition between spring and summer brought large expanses of green that seemed to drill into her eyes. The red and purple flowers, some just bloomed and some not yet faded, and the fresh air accompanied by the scent of flowers made her feel refreshed and at ease.

The vehicle sped on the highway. Su Cancan’s keen eye spotted a large patch of dandelions. When her grandparents took her on outings in her childhood, she loved these unassuming dandelions the most.

The small white fuzzy umbrellas. Pick one and gently hold it in front of you; even a slight breath could scatter them. Puff out your cheeks and blow hard, and it looked just like falling snow.

Likewise, she also loved snow very much.

“Excuse me, could we stop for a moment? I want to take a picture for my family.” She held the microphone, speaking to both the staff and the driver.

Static crackled briefly, and the staff’s voice came through the earphone again: “Of course. Driver, please find a safe place to pull over and stop.”

The car did stop, but the patch of dandelions was gone from this area.

Su Cancan put her hands in her pockets, feeling the immersion in nature.

She was not a traditional optimist. After experiencing many unfavorable things, she slowly learned to adapt and accept.

Without dandelions, she still had wild roses. Without a lover, she still had family.

Feeling refreshed, Su Cancan unlocked her phone and took several landscape photos. Sitting back in the car, she bundled them up and sent them to her most beloved Lao Su.

After sending the message, she continued to answer the questions. The thick stack was finally completed in the latter half of the journey. When the line [What is your ideal type?] appeared in her line of sight, Su Cancan felt a sense of relief and great release.

The driver said they would arrive at the destination in about ten minutes. She gave herself this time, holding her phone to enjoy the last moments of solitude before the show.

[Shen Luoyan: You are beautiful.]

The screen lit up. Seeing such a random sentence before unlocking, Su Cancan was stunned.

Could this be her card mission?

Rubbing her itchy nose, Su Cancan unlocked and entered WeChat, opening their chat box.

Oh my heavens!

Who could understand?

She had accidentally sent landscape photos to her arch-nemesis, and mixed in was a selfie of herself, and she had cheekily asked, which is prettier, the wild flower or this delicate flower?

It was too late to unsend. It had been over two minutes, much less twenty minutes.

Su Cancan confirmed Shen Luoyan’s reply time. It was just one minute after she sent it.

So, she had been making fun of herself for twenty minutes?

A sudden wave of shame made Su Cancan toss the scorching phone aside, ignoring the three-hundred-sixty-degree five-four-angle cameras, and pressing her face against the car window to cool down.

She hadn’t gone completely crazy, though. She pulled a few tissues to wipe the glass and reached out to cover a few cameras with tricky angles.

Female stars couldn’t have ugly photos!

The ten-something minutes passed quicker than expected. The vehicle stopped in front of a rural guesthouse. Carrying the key, she pushed her suitcase, looking for the “home” that belonged to them, one by one.

Besides the two of them, the other three pairs were real couples. They all set off and arrived together. Walking on the concrete path, she passed by a few doors and occasionally heard blurry conversations.

Y&Z, X&C. Su Cancan constantly checked the carvings on the door plaques. She passed two houses, neither of which was theirs.

Walking a few steps further, a sudden indescribable sound came from a courtyard with an open gate.

A woman’s moaning, intermittent and fluctuating.

Su Cancan, who hadn’t eaten pork but had seen pigs run, instantly realized the situation that would produce those sounds.

There were only two possibilities at the moment—

One, this was her and Shen Luoyan’s house. She had set off an hour later. Shen Luoyan was messing around with another woman while she was absent and was about to be caught red-handed.

Two, this was someone else’s house, and what people did in their own home had nothing to do with her.

The fifty-percent possibility made Su Cancan very frustrated. It was true she disliked Shen Luoyan, but she didn’t think Shen Luoyan would disregard her reputation and mess around on the show. However, she didn’t know Shen Luoyan well and couldn’t vouch for her character.

The door plaque added to her dilemma.

The rectangular wooden block mischievously flipped over, completely hiding the characters on it.

Su Cancan swallowed with difficulty, set down her suitcase, and with a trembling hand, reached towards the final mystery.

“You’re here?”

The moaning sound was still lingering in the air when Su Cancan’s uniquely clear voice came from the front.

Thank goodness, Su Cancan sighed in relief, withdrawing her gaze and hand. When she looked up again, Shen Luoyan had already reached her side and naturally took her suitcase.

The service of an actress carrying her suitcase wasn’t available every day, so she chose to let go and enjoy it.

“Our house is at the far west. There’s a small stream behind the house. We can watch the sunset later.”

The wheels grinding on the coarse concrete road made a rolling sound. Shen Luoyan led the way and spoke.

Su Cancan looked at Shen Luoyan, who was slightly taller than her and coincidentally wearing the same style but different color sportswear, a style neither her team nor herself had planned, and inwardly thought, no way am I watching the sunset with her.

At the same time, her mouth wasn’t idle, and without thinking, she blurted out, “Why aren’t you wearing a hoodie?”

Hearing this, Shen Luoyan paused. Su Cancan, who hadn’t stopped, took another step and walked alongside her.

“What?” A cold sentence, highly characteristic of Shen Luoyan.

“Nothing!”

Su Cancan regretted her repeated mistakes today. First, sending the wrong message, then asking a brainless question, completely losing face in front of Shen Luoyan. Clutching the key, she rushed straight towards their house.