The Movie Queen And Her Rival Just Went Public! - Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Unable to resist the elderly woman’s enthusiasm, Su Cancan finally signed a three-month lease with a monthly rent of 9,000 yuan and no deposit.

The contract amount was amended, and both parties signed and stamped it under the witness of the real estate agent. The elderly woman trusted Su Cancan very much and did not impose many detailed conditions on her. She only paused before opening the door to leave.

“How many of you are living here? Is this little boy also staying with you?”

Everyone followed the elderly woman’s gaze toward Xiao Wu. Xiao Wu first froze, then shook his head and waved his hands, his face turning red.

Liu Yimin stepped forward to explain: “Grandma, this is our colleague. He drove us to view the apartment. He has his own place to live normally. Only the three of us will be staying in your apartment. Please rest assured, we will absolutely not mess around or damage your home décor.”

“That’s fine then,” the elderly woman said, satisfied, and left in the company of the real estate agent.

…

The metallic entrance door closed, and the electronic lock beeped. Liu Yimin’s expression instantly collapsed. She pulled a nearby chair and sat down.

Liu Yimin rubbed her throbbing temples: “Xiao Wu, you’ll still stay in the apartment we rented for you before. Contact you in advance when Cancan needs a ride.”

“Understood, Sister Liu.”

She was shrouded in a huge dark cloud, looking extremely gloomy. Her fingers kept moving, and she sighed: “It will take a few days for the luggage to arrive. You take Xiao Ke to a nearby mall to buy some daily necessities and instant food first.”

Xiao Ke understood Liu Yimin’s implication and obediently left with Xiao Wu for shopping. Only Su Cancan and she were left in the apartment.

Su Cancan slowly walked to the living room sofa and sat down. She folded her arms across her chest, her right leg crossed over her left. The light shining into the room through the floor-to-ceiling window hit her cheek, creating a mix of light and shadow.

Liu Yimin couldn’t stay calm. Her hand, which was resting on her forehead, dropped and hit the table, causing a red mark. She didn’t even flinch her brow: “Tell me, what exactly happened.”

The distance between the buildings in the high-end community was large, allowing sunlight to shine equally into every room. Su Cancan found it blinding. She slightly shifted her eyes, turning her head to look at Liu Yimin as she calmly recounted the magical events that had transpired within two days.

“How can you be sure they slept together?”

Su Cancan paused, putting down her arms and continually rubbing her nail beds with her fingertips: “I can’t be sure. They might have, or they might not have. But none of that matters to me. I just can’t accept that someone who is clearly on the same side, who even asked me for help the day before because of Viky’s harassment—and I helped her—would still willingly engage with Viky again. Just like Qian Yiyi.”

Qian Yiyi was no longer “General Manager Qian” in her heart. By drawing this analogy, Liu Yimin momentarily understood Su Cancan’s feelings.

“What I can’t stand is offering a genuine heart, only for the other person to accept it insincerely, then throw it on the ground, and not only throw it but stomp on it a few more times.”

Liu Yimin pinched her brow: “I understand. Then, for the time being, let’s focus on the post-production voice dubbing for Nian Qing. For FOR U, if there’s recording needed, you go; otherwise, you rest here. I won’t accept any new scripts for you in the near future, and all long-term work will be postponed.”

Su Cancan looked up, her questioning gaze meeting Liu Yimin’s. In a flash of eye contact, Su Cancan instantly understood Liu Yimin’s plan and gave her a thumbs-up.

…

Close to dinner time, Xiao Ke and Xiao Wu returned with large shopping bags. Since none of the four of them cooked, they could only rely on takeout to satisfy their appetite. Su Cancan needed to take care of her voice recently. Liu Yimin chose the lightest and least greasy restaurant nearby and ordered the plainest dishes, adding a note for less oil and less salt.

Half an hour later, facing a large table of green vegetables, none of them wanted to start eating first.

Su Cancan looked around and enthusiastically invited everyone: “Don’t be shy, eat.”

Xiao Ke looked troubled: “Sister Cancan, you should eat more. You have work this afternoon. I’m not very hungry yet.”

“Alright, eating plain is healthy. You all are too picky,” Su Cancan said in confusion. Liu Yimin couldn’t stand it. She picked up a piece of green vegetable and placed it in Su Cancan’s bowl. “If they won’t eat, you eat.”

Su Cancan was used to boiled vegetables and diet meals and didn’t find it difficult to swallow. She picked up the vegetable with her chopsticks and put it into her mouth. As she chewed, the fresh aroma of the vegetable filled her mouth, and she suddenly missed the delicious food Shen Luoyan had made in the past few days.

It was light but nutritious and flavorful, and she truly liked it.

Thinking of Shen Luoyan, the food in her mouth suddenly tasted bland. Su Cancan swallowed the vegetable whole, regardless of whether she had chewed it thoroughly, along with her anger toward Shen Luoyan.

“Eat these if you want. If you don’t want them, I’ll order something else for you. How can you go hungry when you’re with me?”

With that, Su Cancan unlocked her phone, opened the takeout app, and pushed it towards Xiao Ke. Xiao Ke’s face brightened. Just as she was about to take the phone, Liu Yimin quickly put it away and handed her own phone instead.

Liu Yimin pouted and offered her own phone, saying helplessly, “Use mine to order, to minimize the chance of exposing Cancan’s information.”

“Thank you, Sister Liu!” Xiao Ke realized her mistake and took the phone with a radiant expression.

Su Cancan mimicked Xiao Ke, holding her phone: “Thank you, Sister Liu. Sister Liu is mighty!”

Liu Yimin scrutinized Su Cancan, “Less fooling around. Control your diet. I haven’t seen you for only two days, and why do I feel like you’ve gained weight?” Her words felt like a dagger piercing Su Cancan’s fragile heart. Su Cancan felt wronged and wanted to argue but suddenly felt the flesh around her waist constrained by her clothes. She quietly lowered her head and pretended to be a rabbit eating greens.

“And you two.” Liu Yimin always scanned the entire area, never letting anyone off the hook. She quickly pointed her metaphorical gun at Xiao Ke and Xiao Wu, who were huddled together ordering takeout. “New apartment, if you dare to order luosifen (snail noodles) for the first meal, you’ll eat it downstairs!”

Xiao Ke’s finger, which was hovering over “add a fried egg,” paused. She trembled and moved her finger away, replying without blinking an eye: “Sister Liu, don’t worry. We know our limits.”

Driven by their conscience, they gave up the “fragrant for ten miles” snail noodles and ordered a spicy boiled vegetable dish that was more flavorful than the water-boiled ones—malatang.

…

Having not rested well the night before, Su Cancan left the table after a few bites to rest. The apartment was a large four-bedroom, one-living room flat. She chose the master bedroom, leaving the rest for the two of them to pick.

Closing the room door and drawing the bedroom curtains, she changed into the new bedding and her pajamas. The bedding had been washed once after they moved into the house of “love.” Shen Luoyan had collected it. Lying down, she could faintly smell the woody scent that clung to Shen Luoyan. It was faint, drilling right into her nose, but when Su Cancan pulled the quilt down, the smell was still there.

Tossing and turning, unable to sleep, she opened her phone.

The WeChat chat interface was surprisingly clean, with no unread messages. The conversation box with Shen Luoyan was ranked just below Liu Yimin’s.

Su Cancan considered her options, pressing down on the screen and swiping left. The red delete button appeared on the right side of the chat box.

After struggling, she let go of the screen.

Her heart was filled with frustration. Surrounded by Shen Luoyan’s scent, she couldn’t sleep, so she switched to Weibo to complain to her online friend.

She had been busy with work for a few days and hadn’t found time to check her messages. Logging into her side account, she found that 19970615 had sent her over a dozen messages starting two days ago. Clicking in, the messages really did resemble private messages from fans, treating her as a sounding board to share her daily life.

19970615: I still really like her quq.

19970615: She is really beautiful, kind, and generous.

19970615: I hate socializing the most, but it doesn’t seem so bad when I’m with her (Blush)/

19970615: Is your work going smoothly? You seem very busy. Be careful of your health with the recent seasonal change!

…

Su Cancan found these fragmented bits of daily life very comforting and was glad that her friend hadn’t given up on the girl she liked. Scrolling down the chat box, the latest message was an audio clip sent just two minutes ago.

She and 19970615 were close online friends, but they had never exchanged audio messages or asked for photos. To Su Cancan, 19970615 was the most familiar stranger. Listening to her voice for the first time made Su Cancan somewhat nervous.

She covered her mouth and pressed the audio clip, holding the phone speaker to her ear. Three seconds passed in a flash, and the playback ended.

It seemed to be an accidental recording—a clear sound of shattering glass, followed by a barely audible half-syllable at the end, which sounded like a cry of pain or a wail.

Su Cancan asked her what was wrong, but the message was read, yet there was no reply.

While waiting, fatigue crept in. She couldn’t resist closing her eyes and briefly drifting into sleep.

The alarm she had set went off. She turned it off almost instantly on the second ring. She couldn’t escape Shen Luoyan even in her dreams. She dragged her feet into the master bathroom, turned on the faucet to let the water run for a moment, and then used cold water to wake up her tired brain.

…

The back gate of the community was adjacent to an entrance of the building where the recording studio was located. Accompanied by Xiao Ke, Su Cancan successfully arrived at the recording studio.

Xiao Ke was the life assistant. She sat in the waiting area, browsing online reviews about her, while waiting for Su Cancan to finish. A staff member from the recording studio came to the rest area for water and saw her browsing the CP supertopic for Su Cancan and Shen Luoyan. Curious for gossip, the staff member walked over to talk.

“Young lady, are you Cancan’s assistant?”

Seeing it was a senior colleague, Xiao Ke bowed politely before replying: “Yes, Teacher, is there anything you need? Or does Sister Cancan need me?”

“No, Cancan’s recording is going very smoothly. Although the series is long, keeping this pace, she should finish in about two weeks.” The staff member tightly capped the glass, shaking it until the goji berries inside swirled. “I just came to gossip a bit. Since she’s no longer participating in the dating show, is she in a relationship now?”

Xiao Ke: “…”

Have you ever heard of someone dating their arch-nemesis on a dating show?

Her Sister Cancan almost had her hatred for Shen Luoyan written in her Weibo bio. Dating her would be like Mars colliding with Earth.

Recalling the talking points Liu Yimin had taught her, Xiao Ke replied seriously: “That is Sister Cancan’s privacy. It’s not convenient for us to answer. If there are any new developments in that regard, we will share them with everyone immediately.”

The staff member raised an eyebrow. Although he didn’t get a definitive answer, he had his own judgment. He carried his double-layered glass cup back to the recording studio.

Su Cancan, fully focused on work and earning money, had no idea what was happening outside. She completed her daily work quota as quickly as possible. She had abandoned the idea of finishing early to compensate Shen Luoyan, so she stopped as soon as she was done, being the most proactive worker and heading straight home.

The following days were the same.

Until that person sent her a message after ten days.

Shen Luoyan: Going to the neighboring city for recording tomorrow morning. Are you coming back tonight?