The Movie Queen And Her Rival Just Went Public! - Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Upon receiving the message, Su Cancan rubbed her eyes first to confirm the sender was indeed Shen Luoyan before tapping into their chat box with a heavy gaze.

Since the day she left, there had been no communication between her and Shen Luoyan. Aside from this latest message, the previous ones on the screen dated back to when Shen Luoyan first sent her the address for the recording studio.

I’m waiting for you downstairs… I swear… I’m a goldfish with only a seven-second memory…

The memories felt close, but Su Cancan didn’t want to get pulled back in. She shook her head to clear her chaotic thoughts and began editing a reply.

Su Cancan: What time is the recording? If there’s time, I’ll rush over directly tomorrow morning.

Shen Luoyan didn’t reply. A few seconds later, a question appeared in their small group chat, and the staff member in charge of their group provided the answer immediately.

Group A Screw: Teachers, it’s like this: because the temperature is currently too low, the production team discussed it and swapped this episode’s itinerary with the next one. It was a last-minute decision, and we haven’t had time to notify you yet. We are very sorry.

Group A Fatty: Sorry, our apologies again! Since the content has changed, the recording time has also shifted. Our departure time is delayed by one hour to 9:30 AM.

Learning that the departure time was pushed back, Su Cancan breathed a sigh of relief. She was just secretly rejoicing that she wouldn’t have to return to the cottage a night early to endure awkward silences with Shen Luoyan when the next notification left her dumbfounded.

Minnie: @Everyone, tomorrow’s itinerary location has been slightly adjusted, and departure is changed from 8:30 to 9:30. Please arrive on time at the designated spot to take the production team’s bus. Detailed info cards will be sent out around 8:00 PM tonight for supplementary instructions~ remember to check them~

The delivery of information cards meant the production team needed to film their reactions and preparation process. The guests from the other groups replied “Received” in unison. Considering her reputation was already bad enough, Su Cancan feared being accused of “diva behavior” and getting kicked out of the industry, so she followed suit with a bitter face.

After replying to the production team, she had to reply to Shen Luoyan. The top right corner of her phone showed 5:30 PM. After careful consideration, she told Shen Luoyan she would arrive around 7:30 PM. Getting the cameras rolling early would provide a smoother transition when the cards arrived.

Shen Luoyan might have been busy; by the time she replied, it was already past seven. Su Cancan’s nanny van pulled up at the entrance of the Love Cottage just as Shen Luoyan’s van was making a U-turn to leave.

The road was too narrow for two cars to pass at once. Su Cancan hopped out first, letting her assistant Xiao Wu reverse back to the main road. As Xiao Wu slowly backed up, Shen Luoyan’s van moved forward to clear the space.

As the car moved, the breeze stirred the air, blowing Su Cancan’s hair across half of her face. As she tucked the strands behind her ear, the rear window of Shen Luoyan’s van rolled all the way down.

Xixi leaned her head out, leaning against the window frame. The dark circles under her eyes were so deep they nearly reached her chin. In a hoarse voice, she said, “Sister Cancan.”

Su Cancan hadn’t noticed the window lowering until she heard her name. Looking over, she was so startled by Xixi’s haggard appearance that she stammered, “Have… have you been very busy lately? Your state… your complexion looks terrible. You’re young, you should think about your health more. Don’t push yourself so hard.”

Xixi opened her mouth. She saw the lights of the Love Cottage behind Su Cancan flicker on, the soft glow cutting through the darkness and outlining Su Cancan in a golden halo. She swallowed what she was going to say and changed her tune: “Thank you for your concern, Sister Cancan. This busy period is almost over; I’ll get some good rest soon. You take care of yourself too, and be careful not to get hurt while filming the show.”

The first half was polite small talk, but the second half felt a bit ambiguous. Su Cancan assumed Xixi was just talking nonsense due to sleep deprivation and nodded. Watching the two vans turn onto the main road one after the other, she turned to face the Love Cottage.

The wooden door was half-ajar, and the lights inside were on. The fairy lights wrapped around the swing in the small yard flickered faintly. Su Cancan instinctively looked through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room for Shen Luoyan’s figure. Seeing her busy in the kitchen area, Su Cancan stood still for quite a while before finally moving her feet.

She intended to avoid much contact with Shen Luoyan. Feeling the curves of the pebbles under her feet, she kept her gaze low, looking around.

Having been away for half a month, the dandelions had mostly withered. She found one full, round puffball and knelt down. She couldn’t bring herself to pluck it, so she just gently stroked it with her fingertip. Yet, even the lightest touch couldn’t hold back the little umbrellas destined for a long journey; the stem trembled under her touch, leaving only a bald stalk.

…

Despite her lingering, she eventually had to go inside. She prayed she wouldn’t run into Shen Luoyan immediately, but as she pressed the handle and stepped in, she came face-to-face with Shen Luoyan, who was moving while holding a water glass.

There was an indescribable atmosphere in the house—it felt as though it had been thoroughly cleaned or as if the windows had been left open for a long time; the air carried a chill.

Su Cancan shivered under Shen Luoyan’s gaze. Her expression was a bit unnatural, but believing she had done nothing wrong, she gritted her teeth and met Shen Luoyan’s scrutinizing gaze.

Shen Luoyan’s complexion was just as bad as her assistant Xixi’s, but her skin was even fairer, and her lips were devoid of color. She exuded a sense of fragility, like the dandelions and wildflowers outside—silently swept up by the wind and quietly hiding back into the soil when the seasons changed.

“So fragile,” she murmured.

Shen Luoyan sniffled through her stuffy nose. “You’re here.”

“Yeah.” Su Cancan hesitated over whether to put on her little cat slippers.

Shen Luoyan saw through her thoughts and said softly, “She never wore them.” After speaking, she began to cough violently.

Su Cancan’s “mother-hen” instincts almost took over to nag her, but she remembered their current relationship. She silently put on her slippers and walked to the sofa, sitting upright while avoiding the area where Viky and her belongings had once been.

“The sofa is clean. I had the previous one hauled away.” Shen Luoyan followed her into the living room, consciously sitting as far away from her as possible. She set down her glass; glass clinked against glass.

Su Cancan used action instead of words, leaning over to grab the remote and turn on the TV. The nightly news had just ended. Lacking interest, she held down the channel button, cycling through until she stopped at the Mango Channel.

Long advertisements were playing. As an insider, she appreciated the sponsors’ generosity, but as a viewer, Su Cancan found it extremely annoying. She listened to the slogans she could almost recite by heart, her eyes hooded with laziness. Her long lashes fluttered as she cast an occasional glance toward Shen Luoyan. Her pupils suddenly constricted when she spotted the white gauze wrapped around Shen Luoyan’s right palm.

In the days she was gone, Shen Luoyan hadn’t just caught a cold—she had been injured?

Sensing Su Cancan’s gaze on her hand, Shen Luoyan awkwardly tried to hide it behind her.

Su Cancan couldn’t help herself. “How did that happen?”

Shen Luoyan brought her hand back, instinctively squeezing it. The stinging pain in her palm flowed through her blood toward her heart. She let out a small hiss. “A glass broke. I got cut while cleaning it up. The stitches were removed today; it’s no big deal.”

“You should still be careful during filming. Your fans have eight-fold magnifying glasses. If they find out, it won’t just be the production team—even I’ll suffer for it. Besides, you’re the one in pain. Protect yourself…” Su Cancan was soft-hearted by nature; her grandparents had taught her to look out for her companions. As she rambled on, the commercials on TV abruptly ended. The show’s preview featured Viky’s affected, flirtatious voice. Su Cancan immediately fell silent and switched the channel.

Returning to “filming mode,” the two shared a tacit understanding, never mentioning that nauseating couple again.

Su Cancan leaned back lazily on the sofa, flipping through channels. When she saw the face of the person beside her on the large screen, she paused for a few seconds to identify the drama title in the corner before decisively switching away.

Rising Sun—a role that once belonged to her.

Shen Luoyan’s attention was unusually distracted from Su Cancan. Her gauze-wrapped hand pressed against her abdomen. Despite the room temperature being in the teens, beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She did her best to suppress a groan of pain. Catching Su Cancan looking her way out of the corner of her eye, she stood up, pretending everything was fine.

“You keep channel surfing. The info card should be arriving soon. I’ll go turn on the cameras.”

As Shen Luoyan spoke, Su Cancan could only see her thin, gaunt back. Her pace was steady as usual, so Su Cancan didn’t think much of it and returned her gaze to the TV to find a movie she liked.

Without a front-facing shot, she had no idea how difficult those few steps were for Shen Luoyan or how agonizing her expression was.

Away from Su Cancan, Shen Luoyan swallowed two painkillers dry. Her primary physician had considered her condition and refused to prescribe anything too potent or fast-acting. The wait for the medication to kick in was excruciatingly long. She braced both hands against the table, waiting for a while until she felt the pain points start to dull. Only then did she slowly straighten up to check the cameras one by one.

By the time the lens caps were off and the red lights were blinking, Shen Luoyan sat back down, the pain nearly gone and her complexion much improved.

Su Cancan had settled the TV on the Children’s Channel. It wasn’t just for background noise; she was seriously watching the cartoon pigs jump into mud puddles.

“Did you like watching cartoons when you were little?”

Under the gaze of the cameras, all unpleasantness was set aside. Su Cancan initiated conversation to provide material for the show.

Shen Luoyan shook her head at the pink pig. “Not really. I was raised by my grandmother. She hadn’t retired yet back then, so she had to take me to school with her. Every day I sat in the office playing with the older students, or teachers who didn’t have classes would help me read books and learn characters.”

Su Cancan let out a long “Oh.” “I was raised by elders too, but my grandmother was quite idle. She usually just took me out to play or watch dramas. If I had a grandmother like yours, maybe I wouldn’t have been the top provincial student, but at least getting into a top-tier university would have been easy.”

“No, you are very excellent. You passed the art exams and your college entrance score exceeded the top-tier line. You’re a role model for many.” Shen Luoyan’s mouth was dry; she picked up her water glass and took a few sips to soothe her throat.

“That’s true.” Su Cancan gave a playful wink and added, “But one must remain humble.”

The actors were back in their positions. Once they both entered their “roles,” the atmosphere in the cottage was perfectly calibrated. Anyone looking in would never guess that a massive conflict had occurred just before.

The staff members watching the monitors finally got a taste of “sweet content” after a week-long drought. Their eyes welled with tears. In their excitement, they didn’t forget to head to the couple’s fan forum to wave the flag and shout that Shen Luoyan and Su Cancan were the real deal.

Su Cancan and Shen Luoyan, of course, had no idea they had such rabid “shipper” fans on the crew. A knock sounded at the door. They exchanged a glance. Shen Luoyan, the “professional errand runner,” took the lead to pick up the box.

“A task card from the production team.”

Shen Luoyan opened the box and pulled out a hard card. Su Cancan jumped off the sofa in surprise and leaned in beside her to look. She truly acted as if she hadn’t been notified in advance, her curiosity tinged with a clumsy cuteness.