Transmigrated as the Future Movie Queen's Arch-Nemesis - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 

Su Mi weighed the USB drive in her hand, tossed it into the air, and caught it quickly and accurately.

 

As the old saying goes, problems that can be solved with money aren’t problems at all.

 

When she reached the security room at Shengxing Entertainment and used two thousand yuan to loosen the guard’s tongue, obtaining a backup of the recording, she discovered that Xia Lei actually knew better than to sit and wait for death. Xia Lei had already given the guard some money and cigarettes to delete the footage.

 

However, that guard didn’t act with integrity; he took Xia Lei’s money but didn’t do the job, which ended up benefiting Su Mi later.

 

It’s great to have money.

 

In the real world, a corporate slave like her wouldn’t have the status to throw around a thousand gold pieces on a whim.

 

Let us thank the original owner once again.

 

Su Mi carefully tucked the USB drive close to her body. Just as she zipped up her bag, her phone vibrated again.

 

It was a message from Xin Keke.

 

The cow-cat profile picture had sent her a line: “I’ve reached home. Thank you.”

 

The tone was polite and distant, as if their interaction tonight had been nothing but a dream.

 

Su Mi scratched her head.

 

Well, although she had certainly put in a lot of effort over the past two days, the conflict between the original owner and Xin Keke wasn’t something that could be resolved in a day or two.

 

As expected of herself—to achieve this much in just a few days was already quite impressive.

 

Su Mi smiled gently. She took out her phone and quickly replied to Xin Keke: “It’s good that you’re home. Tidy up and get some rest soon. You worked hard today~”

 

After the message was sent, Su Mi watched as Xin Keke’s name changed to “The other party is typing…”, but eventually reverted to her nickname.

 

After that, no new messages appeared in their chat box.

 

Well, some things simply cannot be rushed.

 

Su Mi was quite open-minded about it.

 

Tucking her phone back into her pocket, she hummed a song and hailed a taxi home.

 

The next morning, as soon as she woke up, Su Mi prepared to take the initiative.

 

She knew that Xia Lei and those girls from the original work who always liked to hover around the original owner usually stayed in Dressing Room No. 3. Consequently, she got up very early, dragged a stool over, and sat waiting inside.

 

Every girl who entered was startled by Su Mi, who sat in the center with her legs crossed. After all, her expression made it clear she didn’t come with good intentions. They whispered among themselves, wondering who the unlucky person would be today.

 

However, they didn’t dare ask Su Mi anything directly, and Su Mi was under no obligation to explain anything to them.

 

Su Mi wore a faint smile, twirling the USB drive back and forth between her fingers.

 

It wasn’t until Xia Lei was the last to push the door open, laughing and chatting with a girl beside her, that her expression turned terrible the moment she turned and saw Su Mi.

 

Su Mi, who had been sitting for an hour, finally spoke her first words of the day: “Girls, I have something to discuss with Teacher Xia. Please leave us for a moment.”

 

Her tone was gentle, but her words carried no hint of politeness.

 

The girls looked at each other, their gazes eventually landing on Xia Lei. Xia Lei’s face was also ashen; she didn’t look at the other girls but stared only at Su Mi.

 

No one dared to defy Su Mi, because just by sitting there, saying nothing and doing nothing, she exerted a massive sense of pressure on everyone present.

 

Xia Lei swallowed with difficulty. It was then that the last girl gently closed the door.

 

With a click.

 

Xia Lei looked at Su Mi and took a step forward, attempting to seize the initiative: “Teacher Su Mi, why do you have time to come over today? I…”

 

“My request is simple.”

 

Su Mi tossed the USB drive in front of Xia Lei, cutting her off directly.

 

Rarely, the moment Su Mi looked at Xia Lei, all the smiles vanished from her face, and even her gaze held a hint of ruthlessness.

 

“First, compensate Xin Keke with an identical dress, or pay her back in full.” She held up one finger between them, making her stance clear. “Deliberately damaging someone else’s property—this is what you ought to do.”

 

Quickly, the single finger became two: “Second, Teacher Xia, I want you to apologize to Xin Keke face-to-face.”

 

Su Mi looked into Xia Lei’s eyes. In those eyes, she saw many fleeting emotions.

 

Surprise, resentment, even a bit of malice and curses. Finally, like a great wind blowing through, everything turned into a desolate ruin.

 

Xia Lei suddenly laughed.

 

At first, the laughter was low, a small sound caught in her throat.

 

But soon, Xia Lei’s shoulders shook uncontrollably. She covered her face with her hands, laughing in a way that looked like crying.

 

Su Mi watched her quietly, not saying another word.

 

“Su Mi…” Xia Lei looked up abruptly. She took a deep breath and moved her hands away from her face. “Su Mi, oh Su Mi, I really don’t know whether to praise you for being fickle or something else.”

 

The eyes she turned on Su Mi were filled to the brim with resentment.

 

“You were the one who said you hated Xin Keke before. So many people living by watching your every move could only make things difficult for her.” As she spoke, a look of sorrow appeared on her face. “Did we have a choice? If we didn’t make things hard for Xin Keke, the next pathetic soul would likely be ourselves.”

 

“…”

 

Su Mi said nothing.

 

With that expression, Xia Lei laughed: “And you, now you withdraw completely as if nothing happened, acting like a good person in front of Xin Keke… ha.”

 

“In the end, the ones being played are just us ordinary people.”

 

Su Mi was silent for a moment, then spoke with difficulty: “People… they change.”

 

She didn’t know what else she could say.

 

If the original owner were still here, perhaps many things wouldn’t have turned out this way.

 

But when she thought about how, if the original owner were here, Xin Keke would still be getting bullied and the people in front of her would all be accomplices, such a future made her feel depressed just thinking about it.

 

She merely wanted to set the original owner’s derailed tracks straight. Such an action would inevitably hurt some people who once followed the original owner.

 

It was inherently difficult for her to achieve a perfect outcome for everyone.

 

She was no saint.

 

Xia Lei seemed to dismiss Su Mi’s answer with contempt. She let out a scoffing laugh, turned around, and waved her hand at Su Mi.

 

A moment before the dressing room door closed against the last sliver of light, Su Mi whispered: “I’m sorry.”

 

But she knew better than anyone in her heart that if she continued to be like the original owner, it would absolutely not work.

 

Change always brings labor pains.

 

As long as she endured through it, it would be fine.

 

The news of Xia Lei’s resignation reached Su Mi’s ears at noon.

 

At that time, she was eating hotpot with Xin Keke—the meal Xin Keke had promised to treat her to last night. During the meal, both had their own thoughts. Even after the red oil pot had been boiling for a while, no one picked up their chopsticks to fish out the fresh duck blood first.

 

It was then that Xin Keke’s phone vibrated.

 

She glanced at the screen, her face neither sad nor happy, and said to Su Mi: “Xia Lei resigned.”

 

Su Mi’s first reach with her chopsticks paused awkwardly in mid-air. After a second, she dipped them into the pot and fished out a piece of duck blood: “…Is that so.”

 

“She came to find me this morning to apologize.” Xin Keke looked at Su Mi. “And she compensated me for the cost of the dress.”

 

Su Mi nodded, for the first time not looking Xin Keke in the eye: “Mm, isn’t that pretty good?”

 

This abnormal behavior caught Xin Keke’s eye. She hesitated for a moment, tilting her head to look at Su Mi: “Did you make her resign?”

 

Though it was a question, the tone was certain.

 

“…” A slight pause. “Am I really that lacking in virtue?”

 

Su Mi used her usual joking tone.

 

But this was indeed Su Mi’s mental knot at the moment.

 

That hadn’t been her original intention. Since Xia Lei had gone to apologize and compensate Xin Keke, she wouldn’t have troubled Xia Lei again.

 

But thinking about it, a person with self-esteem like Xia Lei probably couldn’t bear being treated that way.

 

In the span of a night’s sleep, a once familiar person had changed completely, and the future Xia Lei had gambled on that person was no longer clear.

 

If Xia Lei left, then she left.

 

Su Mi couldn’t satisfy everyone: “Probably because I have the surveillance footage in my hands, Xia Lei felt she couldn’t make it here anymore, so she left.”

 

Xin Keke wanted to say something else, but seeing Su Mi’s heavy expression, the words reached her lips, circled, and were swallowed back down.

 

“By the way, you haven’t told me about the audition last night?”

 

Su Mi didn’t want these extra matters to disturb her mood. She raised a smile again and looked at Xin Keke.

 

Now her expression looked much more normal, and Xin Keke felt slightly relieved: “I think… it was pretty good.”

 

“Does that mean it’s definitely going to work out?”

 

Su Mi raised her drink, wanting to clink glasses with Xin Keke: “Cheers!”

 

Perhaps she was too enthusiastic, as it made Xin Keke a little awkward: “…The results aren’t out yet.”

 

She looked at Su Mi, clearly somewhat reluctant to clink glasses, but due to Su Mi’s enthusiasm, she picked up her glass and gently touched it against Su Mi’s.

 

In the eyes of outsiders, they probably looked like “friends.”

 

Since they could already eat together, Su Mi thought about it and decided to tell Xin Keke about the production crew.

 

“By the way, don’t you really like acting? I… over here…”

 

Why did she get tongue-tied as soon as it came to serious business?

 

“It’s just, on my end, my grandmother knows a director. Two days ago, she told me to join the crew… I thought, if possible, would you… want to go with me?”

 

The words were out.

 

But Xin Keke didn’t react.

 

Su Mi looked up and saw that Xin Keke had put down her chopsticks, her expression very serious.

 

“Su Mi.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Regardless of whether you are serious or not, I have to thank you.”

 

Being thanked, Su Mi nodded appreciatively.

 

Even though the two of them had experienced quite a bit together, Su Mi felt that Xin Keke was still somewhat wary of her.

 

It was no wonder; after all, the original owner had done so many inhumane things before. It was difficult to expect Xin Keke to let down her guard all at once.

 

“I do want to act very much, but I feel that if a role isn’t obtained through my own hard work, I would probably have a guilty conscience.”

 

Su Mi: “…”

 

Sigh, this stubborn person.

 

She wanted to persist a bit more: “It’s okay, we can just go to the director for an audition first to see if you’re fit for the role…”

 

“Su Mi.”

 

Xin Keke’s voice was soft, but it interrupted Su Mi’s words. Su Mi seemed to sense something and looked at her with a bit of panic.

 

“I have to thank you for yesterday’s matter and for Xia Lei’s matter.” Xin Keke’s expression could even be described as solemn. She placed her hands on her lap and looked Su Mi in the eye. “I know this meal today actually doesn’t pay back much of the favor, but I still want to say—the two of us cannot be friends.”

 

“The feelings you’ve conveyed to me… over these past few days, I can feel them. But unfortunately, given your previous actions, I don’t quite believe them. Nor will I like you.”

 

Xin Keke’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was very firm.

 

“After this meal, we shall go our separate ways. Let’s not have any other intersections in our daily lives. If you feel I still owe you, please name a price; I am willing to pay it back.”

 

“…”

 

After this speech, all Su Mi could do was give a bitter smile.

 

To push Xin Keke to the point of speaking so plainly—perhaps she was the only one in the entire book capable of doing so.

 

What a pity, what a pity. Because of the person she transmigrated into and her mission, it was impossible for Xin Keke to get her way.

 

‘Su Mi’ was destined to entwine with ‘Xin Keke’ until the day she was certain Xin Keke no longer loathed her.

 

The boiling sound of the hotpot, which should have been a happy noise, now sounded irritating.

 

Su Mi shook her head. She used a slotted spoon to fish out a piece of duck blood and placed it in Xin Keke’s bowl: “If you don’t eat it now, it’ll get tough.”

 

Xin Keke bit her lower lip: “I…”

 

“It is your freedom to reject whoever you want.” Facing Xin Keke’s forceful words, Su Mi only gave her a smile. “However, it is also my freedom to like whoever I want.”

 

“Xin Keke, you can choose not to accept my feelings, but you have no way to interfere with them.” She picked up a fish ball and put it in Xin Keke’s bowl. “I’ll be joining the crew soon and will be away for a while. When I come back, I will continue to be good to you like this.”

 

“…”

 

Looking at Xin Keke’s ever-changing expression, Su Mi laughed: “Eat while it’s hot.”

 

This newly opened hotpot restaurant had an authentic Mountain City flavor, using a generous amount of chili. The air was filled with a pungent, spicy fragrance.

 

Amidst the rising steam, Su Mi’s face also became blurred.

 

In this delicate and awkward atmosphere, Su Mi’s phone suddenly rang.

 

She waved her phone at Xin Keke to signal her, then answered: “Hello? Butler?”

 

“Miss, it’s me.” The butler’s voice sounded clearly from the other end. “Director Song just called. He said you should pack up this weekend; he’ll take you to the crew on Sunday. They’ve finalized the last of the cast and are ready to start work immediately.”

 

They were going this Sunday?

 

Su Mi glanced at Xin Keke.

 

That meant the time left to spend with Xin Keke was only two or three days.

 

Sigh.