The Movie Queen And Her Rival Just Went Public! - Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Shen Luoyan was still pondering how to respond to those words when a sudden ding echoed in her ears. The sound ceased, the elevator came to a steady stop, and the metal doors slid open.

“Hurry, don’t let anyone snap a photo.”

Without waiting for Shen Luoyan’s reply, Su Cancan poked her head out to check the hallway. Seeing no one, she stepped out and urged Shen Luoyan to follow.

Shen Luoyan shook off her daze and gathered her wits, following closely behind until they reached the door of their suite. She waited for Su Cancan, who was standing in front, to open the door.

Warm orange light flooded the corridor. In the surveillance feed at the end of the hall, a long-haired lady could be seen patting her pockets and rummaging through her bag, busy as a bee. Behind her, another lady stood unhurriedly with her hands in her pockets, watching the search with a soft gaze.

“Phew.” After a bit of rustling, Su Cancan pinched a card between her fingers, tapped it against the sensor, and murmured, “Finally found it. Not tucking it there next time; it’s more annoying than losing it.”

The door clicked open. She pushed it inward and stepped aside to let Shen Luoyan in, her hand holding the doorframe. “Quick, quick.”

Knowing Su Cancan was terrified of unscrupulous tabloid reports, Shen Luoyan pulled her hands from her pockets and stepped quickly into the suite through the gap. As the heavy door swung shut, she cast a glance toward the far end of the hallway, almost as if possessed.

The deep night had long since blanketed the city, but looking through the window, she could only see a small patch of darkness. Even that darkness wasn’t clear; it was obscured by wisps of drifting smoke.

Peer closely, and the creator of that thick mist was a woman. She had a graceful figure and an elegant posture. Through the white smoke, her face was a blur, with only a spark of crimson glowing between her fingers. Shen Luoyan felt an odd sensation—as if the woman were watching her, as if she wanted to say something.

“Whoa, why is the carpet bunched up? You didn’t trip, did you?”

The exclamation from behind cut through her doubts, instantly pulling her attention back.

Su Cancan noticed the abnormality in the carpet, and her grip on the door loosened. The mahogany door shut quickly, severing Shen Luoyan’s line of sight. Hearing the question, Shen Luoyan instinctively rubbed her injured elbow but acted as if nothing were wrong while swapping into her indoor slippers.

“No, just be careful as you walk over. I’ll handle it.” As she spoke, Shen Luoyan finished changing her shoes. She turned to find Su Cancan already squatting on the floor, using her palm to push down the bulge in the carpet.

Feeling Shen Luoyan’s gaze, Su Cancan didn’t rush to reply. She applied a bit more pressure until the bulge was smoothed out. Standing up, she said, “It’s a small thing; I can handle it.”

No matter how clean a hotel claims to be, there’s always dust on the floor. Su Cancan held her hands away from her body and continued walking toward her room. “I’m going to wash my hands and get ready for bed. If the crew brings the mission card for tomorrow’s schedule, knock on my door. If they notify via WeChat, I won’t come out—I’ll just sleep. I’m a bit tired today.”

“Okay. Remember to cover the cameras and don’t set the AC too low.”

Concerned greetings always bring a touch of warmth. Su Cancan gave a soft “mm,” took two steps, then stopped and turned. “You too. If you need anything, find me directly.” She paused for two seconds. “If you’re bored and want someone to kill time with, chatting is fine too.”

“We’re friends now, after all,” she added.

Shen Luoyan’s gaze was deep. Hot blood surged through her veins beneath her snow-white skin, racing straight to her chest.

She wanted to be more than just friends.

“Dirty” thoughts from the past and “sordid” actions from her history suddenly surged up together. The Su Cancan before her was pure and flawless, with even her hair seeming to shimmer with light. Whereas she…

She clasped her hands behind her back, pressing her thumb hard against the swollen bone of her wrist. “Yes. We are friends.”

As her body instinctively responded to the pain, a layer of cold sweat broke out on her back.

They looked at each other in silence.

Su Cancan didn’t receive any special signals. In the silence, her thoughts drifted to how she hadn’t contacted home in a while; since today ended early, she could have a call or a video chat with her grandparents. Just as she was about to speak, her phone chirped with a notification.

At the same time, Shen Luoyan’s phone, which was on silent, vibrated in her pocket.

Su Cancan asked, “Could that be the notification from the crew?”

Shen Luoyan let go of her hands and pulled out her phone.

“It really is.” She swiped to unlock the screen.

Su Cancan took two steps forward, intending to lean in and look together. Her movement seemed to trigger Shen Luoyan’s “panic switch.” Shen Luoyan hurriedly tapped into the group chat before Su Cancan could get close.

-_-!

Su Cancan raised an eyebrow. “Quite thoughtful. Filming’s in the afternoon.”

The early summer sun by the sea was brutal during the day. The staff didn’t want to stand under the scorching heat either. Given the choice, the production team decisively scheduled the recording for the afternoon.

Shen Luoyan finished browsing the message and replied with a confirmation. Her thumb unnaturally traced the somewhat blunt edge of her phone.

Su Cancan took two steps back to widen the space between them. “See you tomorrow.”

Shen Luoyan opened her mouth.

She seemed to have misunderstood, but Shen Luoyan couldn’t fix it. She simply didn’t want Su Cancan to see the nickname she had for her in her contacts, fearing her feelings would be seen through, fearing she’d be viewed as a creep.

Su Cancan’s hands were at her sides now, smiling.

Shen Luoyan pressed her tongue against her back teeth and tightened her grip on the phone. “Rest well. See you tomorrow.”

After saying goodnight and returning to their respective rooms in the presidential suite, Su Cancan went into the bathroom to wash her hands. Cool water slid between her fingers, pooling at the bottom of the sink. She was a bit absent-minded. The shallow basin filled to the brim; only when the water overflowed onto the counter and dripped onto her feet did she hurriedly push down the faucet and release the drain plug.

Whoosh. The accumulated water drained away in seconds.

Lately, her emotions seemed to arrive and depart without warning. She sighed, started the bathwater, and went about covering the cameras one by one. After her bath, she took advantage of her skincare routine to have a video call with her grandparents.

The night fell low, stars sparkled, and waves carried sand against the shore. A cool, moist breeze brushed over the land. It was a long, humid night.

With no filming requirements, Su Cancan slept comfortably until she woke up naturally. She checked her phone and saw it was nearly noon, but she didn’t rush. She moved slowly through washing up, de-puffing her face, and picking out an outfit.

Once ready, she walked out into the living area of the suite. It was empty. There were items placed right in the center of the glass coffee table. As she approached, she found the breakfast Shen Luoyan had left for her and a handwritten note.

Su Cancan leaned over to pick it up.

If it’s not quite lunchtime yet, you can have some of the silver ear soup to tide you over. Lunch will be delivered at 11:30.

Su Cancan didn’t know where Shen Luoyan had found the notepad; there was a lazy white cat sunning its belly in the bottom right corner. She scanned the two lines of text, her gaze landing on Shen Luoyan’s neat signature at the bottom.

Her mind is quite meticulous. She’s willing to put effort into things that don’t even really need explaining.

And she’s quite bold, too. Leaving her signature in the blank space… is she that trusting? Isn’t she afraid I’ll use it for something bad?

Pah. She wouldn’t stoop to such low tactics.

Su Cancan casually stuck the note to the side, grabbed her tablet, and began watching her recently aired drama while sipping the silver ear soup.

Though called a “new” drama, it had finished its run on all platforms last month. At the time, she was filming Nian Qing, and with the heavy workload, many promotional events had to be handled by the second female lead and the male lead. Later, she heard that the two had grown close through their frequent joint appearances and fell in love. She had even sent a red envelope as a blessing. Watching it now, she could indeed see the irrepressible love in their eyes.

“Single aristocrats” are often moved to tears by the sweet romance of others. When Shen Luoyan swiped her card and entered the room, she was startled to see Su Cancan curled up in an armchair, sobbing over her tablet.

“What’s wrong?”

Su Cancan turned to look at her. “Waaaaah.”

“What happened?”

Shen Luoyan walked over and saw the scene playing on the tablet, letting out a sigh of relief.

There’s a saying that “a wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as an affair, and an affair is not as good as one you can’t get.” In recent years, novelists have leaned into a specific trope: the wife can’t compare to the first love. If the first love is a “white moonlight” who died young, she becomes invincible. Su Cancan’s drama was a remake of a hit tragic novel from a literary site. She was the wife; the second female lead happened to be that invincible white moonlight.

Su Cancan wiped away her tears, her voice sounding stuffy. “I just feel so bad for my character. If it were me, I wouldn’t have a crush on someone for so many years and even…” She suddenly stopped, tossed the tissue into the trash, and said, “You probably don’t know the plot. I’m just being overly emotional, letting it out.”

With that, Su Cancan turned off the tablet and took another tissue, blowing her nose loudly without any regard for her image.

Shen Luoyan tilted her head, her gaze resting on the black screen of the tablet. Su Cancan thought she hadn’t seen the show and didn’t know the plot. In truth, she had not only seen it, but because her own life experiences overlapped with the female lead’s, she had watched it twice.

She frowned and didn’t respond directly, her voice very soft: “I’ll go get something to help with the swelling.”

“Huh? Are my eyes swollen already?”

Hearing she was swollen, Su Cancan instantly threw her strange emotions to the back of her mind. She threw the crumpled tissue into the trash and bounced off the sofa to go into her room for an emergency fix.

She leaned over the massive glass mirror in the bathroom and pulled at her eyelids. Realizing it wasn’t too serious, she found some essential oils and a beauty device from her makeup bag. When Shen Luoyan knocked and entered, she was leaning against the tiled wall, eyes closed, massaging her face in rhythmic strokes.

It had been nearly a month since Nian Qing finished filming. Aside from dubbing work, she only had the recording of FOR U. Since she hadn’t worn heavy makeup for so long and had been diligent with her skincare, her skin condition was excellent.

Shen Luoyan caught an accidental glimpse, her gaze landing on Su Cancan’s face, her throat bobbing involuntarily.

Su Cancan’s skin was fair and tight, without a single fine line. Her lips were red and moist, her cheeks held a faint pink glow, and her thick lashes trembled like small fans with every breath.

To be honest, the entertainment industry is never short of beauties. But Su Cancan was a truly special existence.

She was beautiful but not vulgar; her features were as exquisite and perfect as a work of art, yet without a trace of artificial “technology.” She was alluring but not seductive; her eyes overflowed with emotion whenever she smiled, yet she never gave off an uncomfortable sense of worldliness.

Ever since her debut, dirty water had been constantly thrown her way, yet she continued to attract new fans and had a massive following of die-hard supporters willing to fight on the front lines for her. This face played no small part in that.

At this moment, Su Cancan’s appearance as she massaged with her eyes closed felt a bit more aloof than usual. Shen Luoyan steadied her heart.

“You can try this.”

Su Cancan turned off the device and opened her eyes. “What is it?”

Shen Luoyan placed a jar on the vanity and pushed it toward her. Su Cancan picked it up and saw the label was entirely in French; her eyelid twitched.

“Perhaps I am not someone proficient in French.”

“Huh? Oh. These three are eye creams that can quickly reduce swelling. I’m not proficient in French either; a makeup artist I know found them and recommended them.”

Su Cancan nodded. “Thank you.”

The jar wasn’t big, but because it was glass, it felt heavy. Su Cancan opened the lid, used her knuckle to scoop out a bit, and massaged it under her eyes. The stuff really did work as fast as Shen Luoyan said; the skin around her eyes visibly tightened.

Ding-dong.

Shen Luoyan lifted her hand to check her watch. Exactly 11:30.

“Lunch is here. I’ll go get it.”