The Movie Queen And Her Rival Just Went Public! - Chapter 54

Chapter 54

After the ordeal of the previous night, Su Cancan was utterly exhausted. She vaguely heard Shen Luoyan saying something, but after a brief struggle for consciousness, she succumbed to a deep sleep.

By the time she woke up, over two hours had passed, and the scenery outside the window was becoming clear and familiar.

“Where are we?” Su Cancan stretched. Having just woken up, her voice was soft and sweet.

Shen Luoyan glanced at the display screen: “One kilometer to go.”

“That was fast.” To Su Cancan, who had closed her eyes upon getting into the car and opened them upon arriving, time had naturally flown by. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to message Liu Yimin.

Shen Luoyan hit the gas, and the streamlined small car crossed the intersection, shifted to the leftmost lane, signaled, and turned. A high-end residential community appeared immediately before them. She slowed down: “Which building?”

Su Cancan was busy typing and didn’t look up: “Building 11.”

The scanner at the gate recorded the vehicle information, and the barrier lifted. Shen Luoyan had never been to this community and didn’t know the layout, so she drove at a crawl looking for Building 11.

Liu Yimin: The landlady just came by to drop off some fruit and is headed downstairs. If you run into her, remember to be proactive and thank her.

Their landlady, Granny Luo, was a fellow hometown native and a truly wonderful person. She had lowered the rent before Su Cancan moved in, and afterward, she would message her frequently to check in. Su Cancan felt a wave of warmth in her heart hearing that the old woman had come to deliver treats.

“We’re here.”

Coincidentally, Shen Luoyan’s car pulled up right in front of the unit building. Through the glass, Su Cancan saw an elegantly dressed old lady walking out of the entrance. Fearing she would miss the chance to thank her, Su Cancan quickly pulled open the car door.

“Granny!”

The old lady looked around at the sound of the voice and spotted Su Cancan. The two met by the flowerbed.

Shen Luoyan didn’t understand the situation; hearing the title, she assumed it was Su Cancan’s biological grandmother. Nervous, she parked the car, went to the trunk to get Su Cancan’s luggage, and walked toward them.

Standing tall and straight, she greeted her respectfully: “Hello, Granny.”

“This is my landlady, Granny Luo. She’s from our hometown and is a very kind person; she just brought me some food,” Su Cancan introduced, linking arms with the old lady. “And this is my colleague. She’s an actress too. We just finished filming and she drove me back.”

Hearing that this wasn’t Su Cancan’s actual grandmother, Shen Luoyan breathed a sigh of relief. Neither of them noticed the old lady’s thin lips pressing into a line, nor her slightly clouded pupils trembling as her eyes reddened.

“I see,” Shen Luoyan smiled obediently. “Hello, I am Cancan’s colleague, Shen Luoyan.”

The old lady’s hand trembled as she reached toward Shen Luoyan’s cheek, pausing for a moment before landing on her shoulder with a light pat. “You’re very delicate-looking.”

Su Cancan smiled sweetly: “Isn’t she? She has so many fans.”

The old lady said “That’s good” several times in succession. Her emotions seemed to spiral out of control as her fists clenched and relaxed. Shen Luoyan looked at the old woman and felt something was strange—a mix of familiarity and strangeness that filled her clear heart with doubt.

“May I ask which district of Ning City you are from?”

“Do I look familiar to you?” The old lady saw through her thoughts, and her expression shifted abruptly. Her speech became scattered. “Many people look alike these days. You shouldn’t have seen me—no, definitely not. My family moved to Hangzhou in the 90s and I haven’t been back to Ning City in decades. How could you know me? You must be mistaken.”

The old lady silently pulled her arm out of Su Cancan’s grasp and walked toward the open space with unsteady steps. “I won’t disturb you further. I have things to do at home, so I’ll be going.”

The more flustered she was, the more suspicious it seemed. As a junior, Shen Luoyan couldn’t very well stop the old lady to question her further. Su Cancan hadn’t seen Granny Luo like this before either, so she tried to smooth things over.

“Forget it. If it really is someone you know, there will naturally be a chance to meet again.” She crossed her arms, watching the elderly woman—who was still wearing wedge heels—disappear around the corner like a gust of wind.

She shook her head; everyone has their little secrets, and there’s usually a reason they aren’t public.

Shen Luoyan took the advice and looked away: “The luggage is all here.”

She only said half the sentence, clearly waiting for Su Cancan to provide the next. Su Cancan didn’t hesitate and took the bags: “No one is making dinner at my place, and Liu Yimin is still supervising my weight loss, so I won’t ask you to stay.”

Shen Luoyan knew it was hard for those words to come out of Su Cancan’s mouth, so she chose to be the proactive one.

“Then…”

“Then… see you at the next recording.”

She actually said it. Shen Luoyan looked at Su Cancan in disbelief. Su Cancan clutched her bag and organized her thoughts.

She stared at Shen Luoyan, sighed, and took a step forward to close the distance between them, making sure her sparkling eyes held only Shen Luoyan’s reflection: “There might have been a genuine misunderstanding about the past, but if you told me everything now, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. So, for this stage, let’s act as if nothing happened. You don’t need to compensate me or be nice to me out of guilt or anything else. Starting from the next recording, you are Shen Luoyan, I am Su Cancan, and we are getting to know each other for the first time today.”

Guilt?

Shen Luoyan hadn’t expected that all her proactiveness would be summarized by that word. However, letting go of the past and starting over was an excellent proposal.

“You’re not willing?” Seeing Shen Luoyan’s dazed expression, Su Cancan thought she was refusing, and her “haughty princess” pout immediately appeared.

“No, I’m willing.”

Su Cancan pulled back her pout: “It’s not good to stay in a public place for too long. You should go, I’m heading up.”

“Okay.” Shen Luoyan paused for a few seconds. Just before Su Cancan closed the unit door, she put her hand on the handle and whispered through the narrow gap: “See you at the next recording!”

See you next time. Once a promise is made, they will definitely meet.

Su Cancan covered her face and ducked into the elevator, only letting her hands down once she was home. Liu Yimin was in the living room handling work. When the door opened, she didn’t even move, simply commanding: “Pour me a glass of honey water.”

“Once you’re the one making money to support me, I’ll pour it for you.” Su Cancan kicked off her sneakers and wiggled her toes freely before putting on slippers, not forgetting to retort.

Liu Yimin put down her laptop and pretended to throw a cushion at her. Su Cancan stood her ground and waited.

“Fine, you’re the boss. Whatever you say. Little Liu here will go pour the water—what would you like to drink, Your Majesty?”

After relaxing her toes, Su Cancan slid her feet into her slippers: “Mineral water is fine.”

“I thought so. You gained two pounds after just one episode of this dating show. If this keeps up, I’ll have to hire a staff member specifically to watch you.” Liu Yimin got up and went to the kitchen. As she tilted the kettle, a scream came from the other room. Her hand jerked, and water spilled all over the counter.

Xiao Ke’s voice arrived before she did: “Sister Liu, this is bad!”

The puddle of water reflected Liu Yimin’s grim face. Lately, she couldn’t stand hearing those three words.

“It’s bad! Sister Cancan has more anti-fans…” She burst through the door, not realizing Su Cancan was back. The last two words practically floated out of her mouth: “…on the trending searches.”

Liu Yimin abandoned the water and rushed to the sofa to unlock her phone and check Weibo.

Two days ago, the hashtag #SuCancanDivaBehavior# had dropped off the trending list after being given the “cold treatment.” Now, what else could be sitting at the number ten spot but that?

Frustratingly, misfortunes never come singly. Closely following the “black” hashtag was another: #SuCancanDoesntFitIn#.

“Did you snap at someone on the show again?”

To know Su Cancan was to be Liu Yimin. Su Cancan nodded, unlocking her phone as she spoke: “It was that 18th-tier starlet again. She has a backer and changed the game rules on the fly. My acrophobia was triggered, and today she was rolling her eyes at me while the cameras were on, so I didn’t hold back. But Shen Luoyan stepped in to settle it how am I the villain again?”

Su Cancan’s Weibo interface lagged for a while because of the sheer number of people flooding in. She found the hashtag and clicked in expressionlessly. Sure enough, it was that “Little Fox” making a move against her.

The top post under the hashtag was from a marketing account. When she clicked the video, a voice suddenly filled the room.

“Sister Cancan? Well, I saw everyone saying she acts like a diva… um, I think she probably doesn’t mean it on purpose.”

“She’s freaking slandering me!” Su Cancan couldn’t help but burst out with a curse at the screen where Viky was posing provocatively.

The “fox” continued: “Oh, she’s a senior and a top star. We’re either newcomers or fringe figures in the industry. It’s normal for her not to play with us; after all, we aren’t in the same social class. Plus, it doesn’t help her career. Playing with us would just be a waste of her time.”

The bullet comments (danmu) were flying by, but a few were particularly piercing:

I’m faint. She really thinks she’s all that? Looks like the diva rumors are true!

They’re all just actors, what makes Su Cancan so noble?

Poor V-baby, you’re so cute. She must be jealous of you, that’s why she’s isolating you guys.

Su Cancan sneered.

Jealous? Isolating?

With a face that thick, why didn’t she just say she was a “lickspittle” biting back at people?

“Teacher Shen? Teacher Shen is very kind. She looks after Sister Cancan a lot. As far as I know, Teacher Shen does the cooking between them. I had the honor of tasting it once—it was delicious!” Viky was wearing heavy makeup and a camisole, her chest nearly spilling out. The fawning expression she made when mentioning Shen Luoyan made Su Cancan unsure whether to focus on her chest or her face.

However, she lost interest in both shortly after, as Shen Luoyan’s army of fans arrived on the scene.

Dead woman, is she really that awful?

Heavens, our treasure (Shen) is just a tool to her! Get the ‘vase’ out of the industry!

With people like this, the domestic entertainment industry is doomed.

Su Cancan was brimming with rage: “Did she swap her brain for her ass before she left the house today? Her big mouth is just opening and closing to talk out of her rear. ‘Honor of tasting it’? What is she, an audience member for a mukbang? Does smelling it count as eating it now?”

Seeing how righteous she was, Liu Yimin knew she wasn’t the one at fault: “Calm down. Let’s see what else she said.”

Su Cancan clicked play, but the rest of the video didn’t have any more slander; it was just Viky doing a suggestive dance to background music. She couldn’t stand it for another second, exited the video, and lunged toward Liu Yimin.

“I can’t take this! She’s crapping all over my head!”

Liu Yimin pushed her head away with a look of disgust: “It stinks, get away from me.”

“Is this the time for jokes? Are you still my manager? Is this the right attitude toward your boss?” Su Cancan pressed back and pinched the skin on Liu Yimin’s face.

Xiao Ke stood there dazed, watching them play around, unable to tell what their actual stance on the situation was. After the two “mature women” had messed around enough, they finally remembered they needed to manage the public narrative.

Five minutes later, a new hashtag rocketed to the number one spot.

Clicking in revealed the posts from the parties involved:

Su Cancan: Photographer @ShenLuoyan

Shen Luoyan: Model @SuCancan