Transmigrated as the Future Movie Queen's Arch-Nemesis - Chapter 19

The alarm on the phone beside the pillow rang out with a harsh, ungentle tone. Awakened, Su Mi frowned, fumbling for her phone to turn off the alarm before opening her eyes and staring blearily at the ceiling.

She had stayed up late last night, leaving her in a state of perpetual drowsiness. Su Mi rubbed her eyes and, remembering there was a shoot today, rolled out of bed. Even though she didn’t have any scenes herself… she still had to observe how they performed. I just hope I don’t mess up when it’s my turn to film.

Just as she was about to call for Xin Keke to wake up, Su Mi noticed that the adjacent bed had already been made, and the duvet was neatly folded at the head of the bed. Thinking Xin Keke must be in the bathroom, Su Mi called out, “Xin Keke?”

No response.

Feeling a bit puzzled, Su Mi got out of bed to check, knocking on the bathroom door: “Are you in there?”

There was no reply, nor any sound.

“I’m coming in then?”

She pushed the door open, but no one was there. Su Mi’s heart sank. She checked the time on her phone once more—it definitely wasn’t a case of her waking up late or some other mishap; Xin Keke had truly already left.

Why? Could it be that I went too far last night?

Su Mi slunk back to bed and threw herself face-first into the duvet, feeling utterly dejected. I must have been too proactive yesterday; I scared Xin Keke away, and she even made sure to leave only after I was asleep…

How much are you trying to avoid me?!

If I see Xin Keke at the studio later, what on earth should I say…?

As Su Mi was lost in her own chaotic thoughts, a sudden beep of a card reader came from the door. Since they shared the room, they each had their own key card to prevent someone from being locked out. So, this sound meant…

Hope suddenly flared in Su Mi’s heart. She sprang up: “Xin Keke…!”

“?”

Su Mi’s exclamation was filled with a sense of grievance. The girl at the door looked over, looking perplexed. Only then did Su Mi notice that Xin Keke was carrying fried dough sticks, soy milk, and other breakfast items.

“Where did you go?”

Even though she had a rough idea, Su Mi decided to ask. She knelt on the bed, crawling toward Xin Keke like an excited puppy.

The girl placed the breakfast on the table: “I bought breakfast. Come down and eat.”

Su Mi, whose heart had just sunk, transformed back into a happy puppy the moment she realized Xin Keke had simply gone to get food: “Yay! Time to eat!!”

But this happiness didn’t last long.

Just as Su Mi got off the bed to eat, Xin Keke started packing her small bag, looking ready to head out again.

“Aren’t you eating?”

If she didn’t ask now, Xin Keke would likely be out the door in a second.

“No, I already ate outside,” Xin Keke said, though her gaze didn’t linger on Su Mi for even a split second. “Take your time. I’m heading over first.”

Without waiting for an answer, Xin Keke walked straight out. Su Mi stared at her back, the plastic straw she had just inserted into the soy milk freezing in place: “…”

Wait. This reaction… is Xin Keke still brooding over what happened last night??

Su Mi felt she had completely unraveled the logic. Because she had helped Xin Keke, Xin Keke bought her breakfast this morning; but because Xin Keke didn’t want to have too much contact with her, she didn’t join her for the meal and chose to go to work alone.

The joy that had filled her heart felt like it had been doused with a bucket of cold water, leaving Su Mi with an unsavory taste in her mouth.

She thought for a moment, hastily shoved a piece of fried cake into her mouth, grabbed the soy milk, and chased after her.

Good heavens, chasing someone is way too difficult! Su Mi really didn’t know what else she could do. She had given almost all her patience and attentiveness to Xin Keke. She didn’t have much romantic experience to begin with and wasn’t particularly good at handling interpersonal relationships. If she couldn’t improve Xin Keke’s favorability even with this, Su Mi really was out of options.

But she couldn’t give up. She had to return to the real world as soon as possible, so no matter what, she had to conquer Xin Keke.

She walked quickly and arrived at the studio before long, but Xin Keke was faster. Su Mi hadn’t caught a glimpse of her back the entire way. Just as she was looking for her, she saw the girl with long black hair standing with her back to her, chatting with Ye Luo and Xiao Ai. They were likely waiting for the makeup artist.

Su Mi hurried over and heard Xiao Ai’s voice: “Keke, good morning! Are you feeling better today? …Huh, there’s a medicinal smell. Did you use a patch?”

Su Mi, the culprit, stopped in her tracks: “…”

She didn’t dare to breathe and slowly inched closer.

“I applied safflower oil last night,” Xin Keke said, remaining quite detached around people she wasn’t very close to. “My body might smell a bit today. Sorry about that.”

Xiao Ai nodded: “Oh! That explains it, no worries. But are you able to reach your back? I saw you got hurt there yesterday; it seems hard to reach around.”

“Su Mi rubbed it in for me.”

As she said this, Xin Keke seemed somewhat reluctant.

Ye Luo, who had been listening quietly to their chat, turned her head only after hearing Xin Keke mention ‘rubbing it in’: “She rubbed it in for you? Did she use a lot of pressure?”

Though surprised that the seemingly aloof Ye Luo would care about such a thing, Xin Keke answered honestly: “Yes.”

Ye Luo laughed.

“In the early stages of an injury, you shouldn’t rub safflower oil in; you should apply it gently. Rubbing it will aggravate the symptoms. You should only rub it gently after two days, which will help reduce swelling and pain.”

They were too busy talking to notice Su Mi behind them.

But hearing Ye Luo’s words, Su Mi froze.

What? You’re not supposed to rub it?

But my grandparents have been teaching me since I was a kid that you have to rub it in hard for it to heal fast?!

Su Mi felt her worldview take a massive blow.

Next, Xiao Ai added a final dagger: “You should really listen to Ye Luo when it comes to this stuff! Her family has a lot of doctors.”

Another invisible blade pierced Su Mi’s heart.

Oh dear… give me a chance to explain…

This…

Her standing in Xin Keke’s heart wasn’t high to begin with. After hearing what Ye Luo and Xiao Ai said, wouldn’t Xin Keke think she had been messing with her, deliberately rubbing it in hard?!

No, she had to explain this clearly to Xin Keke.

However, Xin Keke’s back seemed to stiffen, frozen in place. Just as Su Mi took a step forward, she was spotted by Xiao Ai: “Oh, Su Mi!”

“Hi…” Cold sweat broke out across Su Mi’s back. She didn’t have time to explain to Xiao Ai and Ye Luo, and stepped up right beside Xin Keke: “Wait a second, Xin Keke, I…”

“I know.”

The person beside her moved away without a trace. Xin Keke looked at Su Mi and even flashed a smile that was hard to interpret: “You don’t need to explain.”

Though she was smiling, that expression absolutely meant she had misunderstood!

Su Mi was about to lose her mind: “I didn’t know! My grandparents have been telling me since I was little that you have to rub safflower oil in—the more it hurts, the faster it heals!”

The sting of being misunderstood was the hardest to resolve, and Xin Keke looked like she wanted to leave as soon as possible. Ignoring the fact that Xiao Ai and Ye Luo were watching, Su Mi hurried to say: “I’m sorry! I really didn’t mean to!! I just wanted you to get better quickly…”

Who could have guessed that her good intentions would lead to such a bad outcome?

Xin Keke shook her head, her tone sounding no different than usual: “It’s fine, I know.”

Su Mi felt like crying. She would have preferred Xin Keke to hit her, scold her, or throw a tantrum, but like this, it was clear Xin Keke was even angrier.

“Teacher Xin Keke, Teacher Ye Luo, time for makeup~”

While Su Mi was still racking her brains for an apology, wishing she could disembowel herself to prove her sincerity, the makeup artist had already started calling people over to change and get ready.

Su Mi wanted to disappear into a crack in the floor, but she was now forced to trail behind Xin Keke like a lackey: “I’ll go with you, I can help you hold your clothes and stuff…”

“Su Mi!”

Her opportunity to curry favor was stolen by Director Song’s voice. Su Mi looked over to see Director Song and He Xiao standing together, waving at her.

“Hold on, Director Song is calling me, I’ll be right over…”

When she turned back to inform Xin Keke, the girl had already entered the makeup room without saying a word to her. Xiao Ai, having witnessed the whole thing, walked over and patted Su Mi on the shoulder: “I pity you, Da Mimi, you have to be strong. Explain it to Keke properly when you get back, okay? If you need Ye Luo or me to help, just let us know.”

“Ugh… okay… thanks…”

Su Mi wailed in despair. But since the director had spoken, she couldn’t pretend she didn’t hear. She forced herself to jog over: “Director, Assistant Director, what is it?”

He Xiao smiled mysteriously and shook the script in her hand. Director Song was also smiling: “I have good news for you. After discussing it with Xiao He and the screenwriter, we’ve decided to add a few scenes for Bo Xiaoling.”

Su Mi: ???

Something this good actually exists???

Everything she had heard before was about cutting scenes; this was the first time she’d heard of someone proactively adding scenes for her. For the original owner, this might be good news, but she was clueless about acting! She hadn’t actually acted in anything herself after watching for so many days—who knew if her eyes had learned it but her hands hadn’t?

“There, right here.” He Xiao unfolded the newly printed script, flipping to the page with the added scenes.

Su Mi looked; large chunks of dialogue were marked with red checkmarks, making them quite conspicuous. Su Mi scanned them roughly; they were all scenes between Bo Xiaoling and Yuan Yuan. Summarizing them, they were mostly lines about comforting her to focus on her career instead of men, and vowing to stay by her side as her best friend.

Thinking of what just happened with Xin Keke, the corners of Su Mi’s mouth twitched: “Director, is it really necessary to add these scenes?”

“What’s wrong, you think it’s too little?” Director Song smiled, eyes narrowed.

In an instant, the pressure unique to a director descended upon Su Mi.

Su Mi was terrified: “No, no, no, I don’t, I wouldn’t dare!!”

Think it’s too much—was that something she could say?

“We have enough staff here this afternoon; go back and memorize your lines.” Director Song patted Su Mi on the shoulder. “You and Xin Keke will film this section tomorrow morning. You two are good friends, aren’t you? You should be able to get it in one take.”

“Ah… haha… alright… I’ll do my best…”

Su Mi gave a polite, awkward smile. He was clearly saying she was in the way on set and was chasing her off.

But these were minor matters. The real issue was that she would be collaborating with Xin Keke for these added scenes tomorrow. Thinking of Xin Keke’s attitude just now, Su Mi’s heart was already shrouded in a giant dark cloud.