Turns Out Seducing the Movie Queen Can Break the Plot - Chapter 22.2

“Fine, but tell me when you’re coming back! I’ll pick you up!”

Another pitiful sticker followed.

Wen Wen smiled slightly: “Okay.”

“If you keep it from me, I’ll cry so much I flood your house! Then you’ll be homeless! Hmph!”

A fierce-looking sticker immediately followed.

Wen Wen laughed softly, touching the mischievous sticker as she replied: “That’s fine. You can just take responsibility for me then.”

Would she really be willing to take responsibility?

Reading this, Jiang Chi couldn’t help but resent her inability to actually flood Wen Wen’s house with tears.

If she could, wouldn’t they have a perfectly reasonable excuse to live together!

Wait! Not live together! A perfectly reasonable excuse to take responsibility for Wen Wen!

No, that somehow sounded even stranger…

She shook her head vigorously, trying to dispel the chaotic thoughts. It was all Wen Wen’s fault for always saying things that made her imagination run wild!

“Mean sis, I’m not talking to you anymore. I really need to wash up and go to bed.”

Wen Wen quickly replied: “Goodnight.”

Jiang Chi hugged her phone and rolled around on the bed a couple times before immediately jumping up and rushing to the bathroom.

She needed to take a shower quickly to calm down, otherwise she felt she might drown in happiness.

After finishing her shower and lying in bed, Jiang Chi picked up her phone and replied to Wen Wen with a goodnight message.

Ever since her awakening, she had been waking up from nightmares every night. But strangely, when she stayed with Wen Wen during the variety show recordings, not only did she not wake from nightmares, she didn’t even have any bad dreams at all.

Tonight, she had such a pleasant conversation with Wen Wen she hoped she wouldn’t dream at all, or… maybe have a good dream.

But reality had other plans.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Stop!”

Jiang Chi jolted upright from the nightmare, clutching her chest as she gasped for breath.

It was that nightmare again, Bai Yuetong standing before her with five or six men, threatening to slash her face and ruin her innocence.

Trembling, Jiang Chi hugged her knees.

What could she possibly do to escape all this…

Before she could even recover, a familiar sensation began spreading through her body, seizing control of her limbs.

Against her will, she got out of bed, walked to the closet to change, grabbed her car keys, and drove out.

Outwardly, Jiang Chi appeared normal, but inside, she was shaking.

It was already midnight, where was this damned plot control taking her now?

Wen Wen.

If only her sister were here.

But right now, she couldn’t even make a phone call on her own.

Meanwhile, in a small house outside the city, the once-white walls had long yellowed and darkened. The living room was cluttered, and a shattered liquor bottle on the floor made the already cramped space feel even more suffocating.

Bai Yuetong curled up on the grimy fabric sofa, a red handprint on her cheek, tears streaming as she stared fearfully at the woman standing across from her.

Bai Liang, disgusted by her pathetic crying, grabbed another beer bottle and hurled it to the ground. She wasn’t drunk, just used to venting her anger by smashing things.

“Look at you, worthless! No wonder you can’t make any money. Asking you for a little cash is like pulling teeth. I raised you, fed you, clothed you, paid for your education and you dare talk back to me? You’ve got some nerve!”

But Bai Yuetong had been earning her own tuition and living expenses since high school, even helping with household expenses. Still, she only dared to think these words, never speak them.

In this situation, all she could say was, “I’m sorry.”

She had lost count of how many times she’d said it.

Normally, Bai Liang wouldn’t hit her only when she resisted. If she didn’t apologize immediately, the beating would get worse.

As long as she kept apologizing, she’d be safe. Bai Liang would just keep smashing things until her anger burned out.

Just as Bai Liang was about to say more, a knock at the door interrupted her.

“Who the hell knocks this late at night?” Bai Liang grumbled as she walked to the door. But when she opened it and saw the visitor, her expression instantly brightened. “Xiao Jing! What brings you here?”

Back in college, Su Jing often came to the house to see Bai Yuetong, so Bai Liang had known him for a long time. The reason she treated him so well was, first, as a woman, seeing a handsome young man naturally softened her attitude. Second, she thought this boy was particularly considerate, every time he visited, he would slip her some money.

What she didn’t know was that Su Jing’s every visit was actually at her daughter’s request for “help.”

With a smile as warm as spring, Su Jing said, “Hello, Auntie. It’s been a while. I’m here to see Yue Yue. There’s a last-minute reshoot scheduled for tonight with both of us, and the director asked me to find her. She wasn’t at her rented place, so I thought she might be here with you.”

“She’s here,” Bai Liang replied, heading inside. “What drama has she been filming lately? She keeps saying she’s busy shooting, but I haven’t seen her send much money home. If I press her, she even talks back to me.”

“I can’t share the details right now, but I’ll be sure to tell you as soon as the show airs,” Su Jing replied with a forced smile, pulling an envelope from his pocket. “Auntie, please don’t be upset. This is for you.”

Bai Liang happily took the envelope and grinned. “Then you two should hurry along. Don’t waste any more time.”

Su Jing nodded. “Of course. Auntie, you should rest early and take care of your health.”

Once they were a distance away from the house, Bai Yuetong collapsed into Su Jing’s arms, her silent sobs shaking her body as she broke down.

Su Jing held her tightly, gently stroking her back. “Just hold on a little longer. Everything will pass.”

At that moment, the screech of brakes pierced the night. Su Jing froze when he saw the familiar red sports car and immediately pushed Bai Yuetong away.

Jiang Chi flung the car door open and slammed it shut with a deafening bang, storming toward them.

Though shocked by Jiang Chi’s sudden appearance, Su Jing quickly regained his composure and whispered to Bai Yuetong, “No matter what she does to you, just endure it. I’ll make it up to you later.”

A cold glint flashed in Bai Yuetong’s eyes, but she nodded meekly.

Su Jing stepped forward, pretending to intercept Jiang Chi. “Sweetheart, what are you doing here?”

Jiang Chi shoved him aside and marched straight to Bai Yuetong, delivering a sharp slap that echoed through the night.

Coincidentally, Jiang Chi’s hand landed exactly where Bai Liang had struck earlier, turning the faint red mark into a vivid, painful welt.

Bai Yuetong trembled uncontrollably from the blow.

Jiang Chi’s heart trembled too with fear.

To her, the woman before her wasn’t the fragile, pitiable Bai Yuetong of the present, but the monstrous figure from her dreams who had threatened to scar her face and ruin her innocence.

She wanted to run.

But she couldn’t escape, and every action she took only dragged her deeper into the abyss.

She raised her hand and struck Bai Yuetong again.

Under the script’s control, Jiang Chi embodied the cruel heiress persona perfectly. “How disgusting can you be?” she sneered. “Sneaking around at night, clinging to someone else’s boyfriend? Are there no other men left in the world for you to seduce mine?”

“Did your mother never teach you basic decency? Have you no shame?”

No sooner had she spoken than the locked door of the house burst open.

Bai Yuetong’s eyes filled with genuine terror as she glanced pleadingly at Su Jing behind Jiang Chi, begging him to stop her mother.

But Su Jing only met her gaze briefly, feigning ignorance, and stayed rooted in place.

Bai Liang hurried out, her eyes lighting up at the sight of Jiang Chi, completely oblivious to the tension. She rushed over and grabbed Jiang Chi’s hand. “Jiang Chi, you—”

Before she could finish, Jiang Chi yanked her hand away and snapped, “You must be Bai Yuetong’s mother. Control your daughter and stop her from stealing other people’s boyfriends!”

With that, Jiang Chi turned on her heel and strode back to her car. She flung the door open and glared at Su Jing, who still hadn’t moved. “Are you coming or not?”

Bai Yuetong stared at Su Jing in horror, shaking her head slightly.

“Get in.” Jiang Chi’s voice was icy.

After only a second’s hesitation, Su Jing turned and got into the car.

Bai Liang snapped out of her shock and slapped Bai Yuetong with such force that the latter fell to the ground.

Bai Yuetong immediately looked toward Su Jing in the passenger seat.

Unfortunately, Su Jing averted her “pleading” gaze without hesitation.

Realizing something, Bai Liang turned and rushed toward Jiang Chi, but Jiang Chi only cast a cold glance at the mother and daughter before driving away without a word.

The streets were empty in the early hours of the morning, the road unobstructed, with only a desolate moon hanging in the sky.

The red sports car sped down the avenue, the atmosphere inside stifling.

Su Jing stole several glances at the person in the driver’s seat, wanting to say something but unsure how to begin.

No matter how you looked at it, this could be considered catching someone “in the act”, even though they hadn’t done anything, and he had only gone to rescue Bai Yuetong. But clearly, Jiang Chi wouldn’t see it that way.

“Why are you sweating so much?” Su Jing broke the silence, pulling out a few tissues and reaching to wipe the sweat from her temple.

Jiang Chi dodged his hand.

Su Jing glanced at his empty hand but said nothing, adjusting the car’s air conditioning instead. “Is the temperature set too high?”

Only Jiang Chi knew it wasn’t the air conditioning, it was her own problem.

She was afraid.

The plot could control her words and actions, but it couldn’t suppress her body’s genuine reactions.

From the moment she realized where the plot was taking her, she had been trembling uncontrollably, consumed by fear.

The kind of fear that felt like falling into an endless abyss.

After driving for who knew how long, Jiang Chi finally felt the force controlling her body gradually fade. She abruptly turned the steering wheel, a sharp screech of brakes piercing the night as the red sports car jerked to a stop by the roadside.

The moon was cold, the night dark, and the car’s bright red exterior stood out starkly in the gloom.

Jiang Chi buried her face in the steering wheel, struggling to steady her breathing.

The atmosphere in the car was unbearably tense. Su Jing seemed at a loss, hesitating several times before finally making up his mind. He explained Bai Yuetong’s family situation to Jiang Chi, reiterated why he had been with her so late, and concluded:

“Nothing is going on between us. You know my family of origin is similar to hers, living every day under the suffocating pressure of a place called ‘home,’ terrified and struggling to breathe.”

Struggling to breathe from fear?

Wasn’t that exactly how she felt right now? Jiang Chi thought.

“Call it pity or sympathy, but seeing my past self in her made me want to take care of her a little more.”

Always the same excuses. The ridiculous thing was, in her past life, Jiang Chi had believed every word until the two of them walked hand in hand, publicly announcing their relationship right in front of her. Only then did she realize how laughable she had been.

Su Jing leaned closer to Jiang Chi, his voice soft.

“There’s really nothing between us. The only person I like is you, and it’ll always be you. Maybe I’ve never told you this before, but I’ve always felt lucky to have met you.”

“But I think,” Jiang Chi straightened up, meeting Su Jing’s tender gaze with a serious, unflinching expression, her tone eerily calm, “meeting you was the worst misfortune of my life.”

“Su Jing, let’s break up.”

Su Jing’s gentle expression visibly turned to shock: “Chi Chi, don’t say such angry words. Don’t you trust me?”

“You must be very surprised. Since I’m the one bringing this up at this critical moment, it’s normal for you to think it’s just anger talking.”

“But I’m not speaking out of anger, Su Jing. The truth is, I stopped liking you long ago. The only reason I didn’t break up sooner was because of other circumstances, but now I can’t endure it anymore.”

“Anyway, we never made our relationship public. We can each explain the situation to our own parents. As for everything else, this timing is just right.”

“And I want to remind you of one thing: if I ever approach you on my own initiative in the future and say things I used to say, know that it won’t be coming from my heart. Whether you believe me or not, I’ll be acting against my will.”

“Now, get out of the car.”

With every word Jiang Chi spoke, Su Jing’s expression darkened further. By the end, his face was as black as a pot, radiating icy coldness: “What did you say? Say that again?”

Jiang Chi met his gaze directly: “I said we’re breaking up. Now get out of my car.”

Su Jing scoffed disdainfully: “Jiang Chi, you’d better remember what you said today. Don’t come crying with regrets later!”

Twice lowering his pride was already pushing his limits to the extreme. During their worst fights before, Jiang Chi had thrown similar tantrums, but she’d always come crawling back within a day if he didn’t go to comfort her first.

He wasn’t worried at all.

But he failed to notice that Jiang Chi’s state this time was completely different from before.

He opened the car door, stepped out, and slammed it shut with force.

Watching the red car actually drive away, Su Jing irritably ran his fingers through his hair.

Jiang Chi drove straight to Wen Wen’s apartment building.

Standing by her car, she looked up at the floor where Wen Wen lived, only now seeming to realize where she was.

What was the point of coming here?

Wen Wen wasn’t even home.

Yet she found herself walking inside anyway.

When she reached Wen Wen’s door, it was like all the air had been sucked out of an inflatable doll. Jiang Chi collapsed to her knees, her body still trembling uncontrollably.

What should she do?

What on earth should she do?

How could she ever completely break free from this damned plot control?

If she could never escape it.

Resting her forehead against the door, Jiang Chi murmured helplessly: “Sister, what should I do.”

“Chi Chi?”

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