Transmigrated as the Top-Tier Alpha's Secretly Married Ex-Wife - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

A dim, noisy bar booth.

The introducer smiled at the managers. “These are the best catches recently. They are all very promising and professional for entering the entertainment industry.”

Seeing the managers unmoved, the introducer randomly called a person, who answered and stood up timidly.

Bai Xue wiped the wine from her lips, pressing down on Su Tuantuan next to her, staring intently at the managers.

“That old man won’t give up until he signs us today. I’ll keep drinking later; I’ll sign your contract along with mine. If I get drunk, don’t let them take advantage of me.”

Su Tuantuan, huddled in the corner of the sofa, nodded quickly.

She watched Bai Xue rush out, ingratiating herself with the managers, drinking glass after glass. The world she was in seemed to turn into a surreal dream.

She lowered her head and picked up her phone. Seeing the bright, beautiful face on the screen saver, she took a deep breath. An artist next to her leaned in. “Do you like Mo Xian?”

Su Tuantuan quickly flipped her phone over, flustered. “…Yes.”

“That’s good. Having an idol you like makes it easier in the industry. How many times have you participated in this kind of event?”

The person wanted to light a cigarette, but since the introducer was present, they could only peel a mint candy and offered one to Su Tuantuan.

Su Tuantuan declined. The person ate one themselves and laughed. “This is my fourth time. If no one takes a liking to me again, I’ll have to keep auditioning for film crews and being an extra. But that’s fine, at least it’s freedom.”

Su Tuantuan didn’t speak. She sat awkwardly, clutching her knees, clearly out of place here.

The person saw she wasn’t talking and stopped bothering her. Soon after, Bai Xue walked over, holding a manager’s arm.

The manager she was with looked at Su Tuantuan, his eyes lighting up. His gaze was sticky as he approached, about to speak, when another voice interrupted. “I’ll sign this artist.”

Su Tuantuan was stunned. She saw a middle-aged woman at the door, carrying a bag and looking tired from travel. The woman smiled. “Sorry, picking up my kid delayed me a bit. I hope I’m not too late?”

Bai Xue was also taken aback. She was already slightly drunk but hadn’t expected Su Tuantuan to be so lucky, getting picked up without doing anything.

Su Tuantuan looked at the woman. The woman extended her hand to her, but without much warmth. “I’m Zhou Yang, a manager at Star River International. You can call me Sister Zhou. If you agree, you can come to my company tomorrow to discuss the signing details.”

Su Tuantuan blinked hard before confirming that everything happening was real.

She smiled, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked at her friend. Bai Xue was also smiling at her, but the smile was somewhat distracted.

Su Tuantuan signed the contract.

She officially became an artist.

Although resources were scarce and she mostly only got small supporting roles.

She was content.

Truly content.

She entered the entertainment industry to get closer to Mo Xian.

That wish had been fulfilled.

Whenever Su Tuantuan closed her eyes, she could recall the first time she saw Mo Xian.

It wasn’t on TV, nor at a concert.

It was on a rainy day at a convenience store.

She was hiding behind the counter, eating instant noodles while reciting vocabulary words.

Few people walked outside in the sparse rain. The condensation on the glass separated a whole new world.

A person suddenly walked into the convenience store.

The glass door let in the damp air from outside.

The person had their hoodie up, with a few drops of rain on their clothes. They rubbed their shoes on the non-slip mat, looked up, and met Su Tuantuan’s fixed gaze.

They were indescribably beautiful, unforgettable even without makeup.

Su Tuantuan even forgot to blink. She only knew that her youth, previously immersed in study, gained a new color from this fleeting glimpse.

Then—

The woman smiled at her.

She wasn’t critical of Su Tuantuan’s openly admiring gaze. After selecting items and paying, before leaving, she placed a lollipop on Su Tuantuan’s counter.

Su Tuantuan pushed up her thick, black-rimmed glasses, her eyes surprisingly confused.

“It’s a treat for you.”

Mo Xian was smiling, and the smile held no trace of contempt or disgust, unlike the looks Su Tuantuan encountered at school.

Su Tuantuan saw her sincerity.

Su Tuantuan’s voice was a whisper. “Thank you…”

She looked down to grab her umbrella. “I’ll take the umbrella…”

But the person had already left.

Coming and going like the wind. When she looked over, all that remained was the empty doorway with rain pouring down, and only the lollipop on the counter proved that the person had truly been there.

Su Tuantuan picked up the lollipop. It had pink packaging and was peach flavored.

She rotated the stick between her fingers, unwilling to eat it.

From then on, Su Tuantuan would always wear her favorite little dresses when working part-time at the convenience store.

She hoped the person would visit a second time.

She was too young then to understand that hopes are often dashed and regret is often the norm in life.

Until she saw her again later.

But this time, it was on TV.

The woman on the TV smiled the same way she had during their first meeting, talking and greeting the camera as if it were a long-lost friend.

That was when Su Tuantuan learned her name.

She was called Mo Xian.

Later, Su Tuantuan filled in the application for an art academy for her college entrance exam. Her grades were good, so putting in the effort always led to some path. Her grandmother scolded her for a long time over this choice but eventually yielded to her wishes.

She took off her black-rimmed glasses and learned to dress up, but in terms of learning to act, she was clearly less adept than she was at grasping academic knowledge.

Later, after signing the contract, she fulfilled her wish to become a real artist.

After that came Bai Xue, who had also entered the entertainment industry, sharing “good news” with her.

“Mo Xian, you know Mo Xian, right? You used to have her as your screen saver? In just over six months, it’ll be her tenth debut anniversary. Our manager really hates her. Our company’s artists used to have some market share, but Mo Xian’s style is similar to theirs, and she took a lot of our resources. Now our manager is sending me to seize this opportunity.”

Bai Xue sounded clearly drunk over the phone. “After all these years, I’m finally going to make it. Tuantuan, we graduated from school together, how long did it take us to get signed? We’re both going to be twenty-five soon. If we don’t get famous now, we’ll be too old.”

Bai Xue cried and fussed over the phone, but Su Tuantuan’s mind was a mess.

The next day, Su Tuantuan secretly snuck into the hotel.

She saw Bai Xue helping Mo Xian walk. Mo Xian was already unconscious. Seeing the two about to enter a room, she called Bai Xue, claiming she was being bullied and asking Bai Xue to come out and save her.

When Bai Xue came out to find her, Su Tuantuan knocked out her best friend, brought her back to the room, stole her room card, and took Bai Xue’s camera memory card.

Bai Xue didn’t have time to take many photos, but even a few pictures of Mo Xian with her eyes closed and a drunken red face, even if her clothes were only slightly disheveled, were enough to fuel people’s imagination.

She took Mo Xian to another room, completely unmoved by any commotion outside.

That night was the first time she had seen Mo Xian so close.

She carefully wiped the lipstick smudge off Mo Xian’s face with a damp towel.

She looked at Mo Xian lying on the bed, sitting on the carpet, tracing Mo Xian’s eyebrows and eyes with her fingers again and again.

She said, “Let me be selfish this once. God will forgive me.”

Just touch this star once.

Just once.

She leaned forward, moving closer to Mo Xian.

Her lips were almost touching Mo Xian’s.

She suddenly stopped.

Her body went weak. She fell to the floor, weeping uncontrollably. She held Mo Xian’s fingers, her tears falling onto the tips. She lifted them and, very gently, placed a kiss on them.

Su Tuantuan heard a weeping voice in her dream.

—”I’m sorry. No matter what I do, I can’t make you like me. I might have hurt you, but I couldn’t control myself.”

—”Mo Xian, I tried my best. I don’t want to continue.”

—”Su Tuantuan, it’s time to let go. Accept reality and just leave.”

Su Tuantuan’s dream involved endlessly chasing black cars. In her rental apartment, several men in black splashed paint on the walls, tearing apart her little room looking for photos and the memory card.

After half a year of marriage, the girl who gave her a fleeting glance at the convenience store had long stopped smiling at her.

She flattered and blamed herself, humbling herself into the dust, but this love received no response.

She knew she was wrong.

She shouldn’t have lied, shouldn’t have threatened, shouldn’t have used such means to tie down this loveless marriage.

She knew she was wrong.

She shouldn’t have been persistent, shouldn’t have forced herself, shouldn’t have traded her mermaid tail for legs that danced on blades of grass in front of her.

She was hurting so much.

But Mo Xian couldn’t see it.

She was hurting so much.

She hoped Mo Xian would never know.

Su Tuantuan was woken up by her alarm clock. When she woke up, her pillow was soaked with tears.

Jiang Zhizhi knocked on the wall of her capsule room. “Tuantuan, Tuantuan! We’re going to be late! Hurry up and get breakfast!”

Su Tuantuan pulled open the door with a whoosh. Jiang Zhizhi was cheerful, smiling at her. “Today’s breakfast is very hearty! There are chicken drumsticks, egg tarts, beef noodles, and bread, cake, and milk!”

Su Tuantuan quickly pulled the door shut again. “I’ll change clothes first.”

Su Tuantuan had little appetite for breakfast. Perhaps affected by the dream that lasted all night, her mood was low. Even Jiang Zhizhi noticed and kept trying to cheer her up.

After breakfast, they had to choose the theme, and the live broadcast began.

Their phones had no signal here and could only be used for taking pictures and writing sticky notes.

Su Tuantuan frowned when she drew the theme. Many people in the comments were guessing what her theme was.

But spoilers were forbidden. The rehearsal live stream would only show them through glass, without the specific content being audible.

Jiang Zhizhi looked troubled when she saw the content. Su Tuantuan rubbed her head and told her not to worry.

In the past, netizens would have considered Su Tuantuan arrogant, but her performance in the audition yesterday had shown her real ability. Even the netizens who complained that Su Tuantuan cheated were quickly dealt with and clarified by the production team.

If news of cheating spread, the most affected parties, besides Su Tuantuan, would naturally be the production team.

The production team certainly wouldn’t allow their authority to be questioned.

During the day’s rehearsal, the other groups were busy with their own work. Only Su Tuantuan and Jiang Zhizhi were lying on the floor, heads together, doing something unknown.

There was still quite a bit of malice in the comments.

: “So, is Su Tuantuan going to slack off now? Was the last performance just a flash in the pan?”

: “At least let us hear the sound. When you can only see the picture and not hear anything, what’s the point of the live stream?”

But that’s how the production team ran the daily live stream—to let netizens see the actors rehearsing and eating, not to let them actually dig into the rehearsal content. Otherwise, what would be broadcast on Saturday and Sunday?

Su Tuantuan and Jiang Zhizhi stayed in the rehearsal room until the afternoon before going for a walk in the back garden.

Their leisurely life was more relaxed than being in their own back garden.

The distance was too far to hear their conversation, but seeing the look of admiration on Jiang Zhizhi’s face, netizens began to speculate wildly.

Could it be that Su Tuantuan and Jiang Zhizhi are dating?!

An OO romance!?