Turns Out Seducing the Movie Queen Can Break the Plot - Chapter 22.1

In the luxurious and brightly lit living room, Jiang Chi sat on the sofa, punching the blue stuffed toy in her arms over and over again, venting her frustration.

Yesterday, upon learning that Wen Wen had left, she immediately went to Wen Corporation, only to be told that Wen Wen was away on a business trip.

From the moment she left until now, a whole day had passed! And there had been no contact at all!

“The phone is always busy!”

“No replies to my messages!”

“So you’re just busy, huh?”

With each complaint, she delivered another punch to the blue stuffed toy. Jiang Chi exhaled sharply and flopped back onto the sofa, pointing accusingly at the toy. “Tell me, are you deliberately avoiding me?”

“No.” The thought had barely surfaced before she dismissed it herself. She recalled their interactions during the show, they had gotten along so well. Wen Wen had clearly been completely won over by her charm no, wait, more likely by her ability to whine and act shamelessly.

“Then why aren’t you answering my calls?” Jiang Chi glared at the stuffed toy as if interrogating a criminal. “Don’t you even have time to eat or go to the bathroom? Are you ignoring me on purpose?”

At that moment, Liu Ci emerged from the kitchen with a plate of fruit, rescuing the abused toy from her grip. Worried, she asked, “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Did you have another fight with Wen Wen?”

Setting the toy aside, she sat down next to Jiang Chi and fed her a piece of fruit.

Jiang Chi chewed sullenly. “No.”

“Wait.” She gave her mother a strange look. “Mom, have I ever mentioned Wen Wen to you before?”

“Huh?” Liu Ci paused for a split second before quickly recovering. “You just called her name while pointing at the toy.”

She offered another piece of fruit.

“Did I?” Jiang Chi frowned, opening her mouth to accept the fruit. She couldn’t remember whether she had actually said Wen Wen’s name or not.

“You did.” Liu Ci swiftly changed the subject. “So, who made my baby so upset? Why take it out on a poor stuffed animal?”

“I’m not upset, Mom.” Jiang Chi wrapped her arms around Liu Ci’s waist. “I just miss her and want to see her, but I can’t right now.”

Naturally, Liu Ci assumed the “her” referred to Su Jing. “Is Su Jing really that busy lately? Should we lighten his workload so he can spend more time with you?”

Jiang Chi bolted upright, crossing her arms in front of her in a big X. “No! Don’t bother with him. Let him stay busy.” Suddenly remembering something, she rested her head on Liu Ci’s shoulder. “Mom, is the company currently preparing to select the next star to promote?”

“Yes, why?” Liu Ci smiled warmly. “Is my baby finally willing to join the company and share some of Mom’s burdens?”

“Not that.” Jiang Chi hugged her waist tighter. “What about Bai Yuetong?”

“Bai Yuetong?” Liu Ci searched her memory, matching the name to a face. “That girl with the very innocent look? I thought you couldn’t stand her?”

“No no no, I don’t dislike her.” Jiang Chi had indeed targeted Bai Yuetong to some extent before her awakening, and it wasn’t possible to feel no guilt. She wanted to compensate her where she could. “We were in the same crew for my last drama, and I noticed she’s quite talented. Our company shouldn’t let a pearl stay buried in the dust, right?”

“Mom~ please say yes~”

She hugged Liu Ci and swayed.

“Alright alright, I agree.” Liu Ci cleared her throat. “Ahem, I’d like a piece of kiwi.”

Jiang Chi jumped up, speared a piece of kiwi, and fed it to Liu Ci before planting a kiss on her cheek and running off.

Liu Ci watched her retreating figure: “Where are you going?”

Jiang Chi was already heading upstairs: “To change clothes, I’m going out.”

She intended to catch Wen Wen at Wen Corporation.

But all she caught was thin air not a trace of her to be found.

The staff said Wen Wen hadn’t returned from her business trip yet.

Back home, Liu Ci was just bringing dishes out from the kitchen: “Where have you been, child? Have you eaten?”

Jiang Chi patted her stomach and shook her head, draping herself over Liu Ci: “Mom, hungry.”

Liu Ci pinched her cheek affectionately: “If you’re hungry, go wash your hands. Dinner’s ready.”

At the table, noticing Jiang Chi’s lack of energy her rice barely touched, Jiang Qingyuan exchanged a glance with Liu Ci. He cleared his throat gently: “What’s wrong, Chi Chi? Doesn’t the food suit you? Should we go out to eat?”

“No need, Dad. I’m just not very hungry.” Jiang Chi put down her chopsticks and blew each of them a kiss. “Take your time, I’m going upstairs.”

After burying herself in bed for a while, Jiang Chi threw off the covers and grabbed her phone to call Wen Wen.

[“The number you have dialed is busy. Please try again later…”]

The same monotonous, emotionless automated voice as always.

Jiang Chi switched to the WeChat chat interface, a sea of green bubbles with no replies from Wen Wen.

Her rounded fingertips tapped angrily on the keyboard, typing out: [Sis! You meanie!]

Meanwhile, Wen Wen had just stepped out of a three-hour meeting and settled into her office chair when her phone’s special notification tone chimed. Rubbing her temples, she picked up her phone to check the message.

Seeing the words “meanie,” her lips curled slightly. Who was the real meanie here?

She scrolled up through the messages.

[Sis, why did you leave without me? Wuwuwu]

[Sis, where are you on business? Can I come find you?]

[Sis, are you avoiding me on purpose? Aaaah!]

[Sis, why is your phone always busy? Did you secretly block me?!]

…

A faint smile lingered on Wen Wen’s lips as she read these messages. To her, they were no different from Jiang Chi standing before her, transforming from a pitiful, drenched puppy into a bristling little dog.

Utterly adorable.

Until she reached the last message. Her smile faded slowly.

She turned the phone face down on the desk, leaning back in her chair as the memory of their heated argument surfaced.

Her eyes opened gradually, fixed on the ceiling, their depths shadowed.

Before she could gather her thoughts, the special notification tone chimed again.

“Wen Wen! I even called you by your full name! You know how serious this is, right? If you don’t reply to my messages soon, I’ll…”

One could easily imagine the little puppy in an utterly ruffled state right now.

Wen Wen stared at the screen, waiting for the rest of the message. The chat box kept showing “I’ll…” over and over, but nothing followed.

She chuckled softly and shook her head, her fingers lightly tapping: [You’ll what?]

Seeing this reply, Jiang Chi immediately jumped up from her bed. She stared at the screen with a serious expression for a moment, confirming that she had indeed received a response, and finally let out a sigh of relief. Pouting, she replied earnestly: [I’ll cry so hard I’ll flood your house! You’ll be homeless, boohoo!]

Wen Wen’s pinky twitched as she tapped the “+” icon, hovering her finger over the [Video Call] option. After hesitating for a long while, she finally pressed it.

For some reason, she genuinely believed Jiang Chi might actually cry over this.

When the video call request popped up, Jiang Chi’s bright, dark eyes widened in surprise. She blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, then turned to check herself in the mirror, ensuring she looked presentable before answering.

Wen Wen’s exquisitely beautiful yet visibly exhausted face appeared on the screen. Jiang Chi had initially planned to sulk and stay silent, but seeing her like this, she couldn’t help blurting out, “Are you still on your business trip? Have you been working since yesterday?”

Perhaps even Jiang Chi herself didn’t realize that her words carried no trace of resentment only deep concern and heartache.

“Yeah, there was an issue with a project, so I had to come back to handle it yesterday,” Wen Wen replied, her voice equally weary. “I have another meeting soon.”

“Are you the boss or some kind of indentured laborer?” Jiang Chi frowned. “With so many people in the company, why does everything fall on you?”

“What’s with that look? Feeling sorry for me?” Wen Wen teased.

Jiang Chi turned her face away. “Who’s feeling sorry for you? I’m feeling sorry for myself sending messages that vanish into the void, calling only to hear endless busy tones.”

At those last words, Wen Wen’s eyes darkened momentarily, as if shadowed, but she quickly masked it and continued teasing, “What can I do? Someone keeps using Wen Corporation as leverage against me. I have to manage it well, can’t afford to lose the only thing that makes me worth keeping.”

Why did it sound like Wen Wen was the one who couldn’t live without her?

When it was clearly the opposite.

Come to think of it, her attention had been completely captured by Wen Wen’s exhaustion earlier. Jiang Chi hadn’t even registered that someone like Wen Wen would actually make a video call to someone else?

Based on her current understanding of Wen Wen, she wouldn’t.

So, was it possible that Wen Wen actually wanted to see her too?

Jiang Chi cleared her throat and asked nonchalantly, “Why did you suddenly decide to video call me?”

Wen Wen’s mind was still foggy, so she didn’t immediately catch the underlying meaning and answered truthfully, “I only have half an hour to rest. Typing takes too long this is faster.”

Jiang Chi watched Wen Wen. Despite the other woman’s tired expression and matter-of-fact tone, her own heartbeat inexplicably quickened.

Even in such a situation, she still thought about replying to her. Did this mean… Wen Wen also cared about her a little?

Jiang Chi licked her lips, hesitated for half a second, and then asked, “You could’ve waited until you were completely free to reply to me. With such little time, why not rest first?”

Silence fell on both ends of the call, but their thoughts were entirely different.

One was nervous about what kind of response she would receive, while the other was thinking about how to answer in a way that would make Jiang Chi’s heart flutter.

“Why?” Wen Wen paused teasingly, “Afraid someone’s tears might flood my house?”

Jiang Chi: “…Then you should rest now. And you can rest assured, I absolutely, definitely, will not flood your house.”

“Wait.” Wen Wen stared straight into her eyes through the screen. “You seem quite dissatisfied with my answer.”

“Who’s dissatisfied? No one’s dissatisfied! I’m not talking to you anymore, I’m going to shower and sleep.”

With a “click,” the video call ended, returning to their chat interface.

Wen Wen savored Jiang Chi’s shy expression at the end. It seemed her efforts these past few days had finally had some effect.

Her index finger tapped rhythmically against the edge of her phone. After a moment, her fingertips landed on the keyboard:

[Video calls do save time, but the main reason was that I wanted to see you.]

[I feel much less tired now. Seems like seeing you is more effective than actual rest.]

[Good night.]

Jiang Chi didn’t head to the shower right away. Instead, she flopped onto the bed, clutching her chest, waiting for her racing heartbeat to calm down.

The special notification tone rang twice, and her barely settled heart began pounding wildly again.

She immediately scrambled for her phone, took a deep breath, and opened the chat.

Reading the messages, Jiang Chi let out a silent scream and excitedly pounded the bed.

It was true! Wen Wen did care about her!

Did this mean she could cling to Wen Wen even more shamelessly from now on?

So happy, so happy, so happy!

After rolling around on the spacious bed for a while, Jiang Chi sat up and replied with mock seriousness: [Since you wanted to see me, you just called me directly and I answered immediately, without hesitation, super quickly. So for fairness, when I want to see you, can I also call you anytime, and you’ll answer immediately, without hesitation, super quickly?]

[I’ll try my best to answer.]

[Why “try”? That’s not fair! If you called me, I’d answer without hesitation, even if I were showering!]

[You’d answer my video call while showering? What exactly are you implying here?]

Jiang Chi’s eyes widened at this, her ears turning bright red. She typed furiously: [What implication?! What am I implying?! You’re the one trying to change the subject! Answer me! Why just “try”?]

[Don’t panic. I won’t force you if you don’t want to say it.]

[Who’s panicking?! You’re the one overthinking things!]

[Then tell me, what exactly am I overthinking?]

[Sis, I was right all along! You’re such a bad woman! Hmph! Answer me, why won’t you answer my video calls?]

Wen Wen curled her lips. The puppy was completely riled up now; any more teasing and it might bite. She obediently answered the question: “Well, I’m afraid you might miss me too often. If I’m in a meeting, I might not be able to answer, and I can’t promise something I can’t guarantee.”

Afraid you might miss me too often.

Out of that entire long sentence, Jiang Chi only registered this one line. Her fair cheeks quickly flushed crimson. Since they parted yesterday afternoon, she seemed to have really been thinking about Wen Wen nonstop…

She wanted to hear her voice, wanted to see her, even… wanted to touch her.

Tossing her phone aside, she slapped her cheeks hard.

“This is normal. After all, it’s no exaggeration to say Wen Wen is the only person in this world who can make me feel at ease.”

A drowning person would naturally grab any rope thrown to them.

Having convinced herself, Jiang Chi picked up her phone again and replied without restraint: “Yeah, sis, I really miss you so much! When are you coming back from your business trip?”

When Jiang Chi didn’t reply for too long, Wen Wen thought her words might have been too forward. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she tried to explain, but before she could finish typing, this message suddenly appeared on her screen. Her moving fingers froze on one key, the letter “e” multiplying endlessly in the input box as veins stood out on the back of her hand.

With a clatter, her phone fell onto the desk. Wen Wen exhaled and chuckled helplessly, “Chi Chi, you really… could be the death of me.”

If Jiang Chi had said this to her face, she truly, didn’t know what she might do.

Thank goodness Jiang Chi wasn’t here.

Perhaps because she took too long to reply, another message popped up: “Sis~ why aren’t you replying? Don’t you want to see me?”

Followed by a pitiful-looking sticker.

Taking a deep breath to suppress the restless agitation surging through her body, Wen Wen picked up her phone again: “Coming back the day after tomorrow.”

“The day after tomorrow, that’s so long! Sis, where are you? Can I come see you?”

The words in the input box appeared and were deleted. Wen Wen still didn’t let her come: “Don’t come. If things wrap up early, I’ll return sooner.”

If Jiang Chi really came, she probably wouldn’t be able to get any work done.

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