Turns Out Seducing the Movie Queen Can Break the Plot - Chapter 42

“Honestly, I never thought Jiang Chi would be afraid of this. She always seemed fearless.”

“The other two couples went in ages ago, haha. These two are still at the entrance. Given Jiang Chi’s state, she’ll probably give up, right?”

“Jiang Jiang might have given up before, but now probably not.”

“Agree with the comment above. Jiang Chi is still Jiang Chi, but she feels different somehow.”

“I’ve liked her ever since I learned about her. She feels so genuine! She even had staff compensate the florists afterward! I went back to read old comments, and many called her dramatic but I think she’s adorable (fidgets fingers).”

“Her past drama and current drama aren’t even comparable! Though her past antics mainly revolved around Su Jing, small scandals every three days, big ones every five, as if she wanted to announce to the world that Su Jing was hers. So annoying! Come to think of it, there haven’t been any scandals for over two months now!”

“Now Jiang Chi’s name is tied to, Wen Wen.”

“Right? It’s hilarious. Every time they trend, people go wild shipping them. Feels like someone’s deliberately ‘fanning the flames’!”

The theme park’s haunted house attraction occupied an entire building.

From the outside, the six-story structure appeared ordinary grayish-white walls, windows dark as black holes. Normal at a glance, yet undeniably eerie.

The show’s selected theme was on the second floor. At this moment, Jiang Chi and Wen Wen remained at the main entrance on the first floor.

Jiang Chi stood facing the pale wall, rhythmically bumping her forehead against it while muttering unintelligibly.

She’d maintained this state for six minutes.

Wen Wen waited patiently beside her. Before beginning this ritual, Jiang Chi had explained: “Sister, I want to try overcoming this, but give me some time to mentally prepare.”

After countless deep breaths, Jiang Chi raised her head to knock it against the wall again, only for her forehead to meet a warm, soft palm instead.

Dazed, she followed the hand up to Wen Wen’s face. Her confused expression instantly crumpled into a pout: “Sister scared.”

After being rescued from three days and nights of darkness during her kidnapping, the once cheerful little girl had become silent for an entire month.

Nightmares plagued her. Sleep paralysis trapped her. Midnight awakenings startled her. Sudden screams escaped her. She feared every stranger’s approach.

Daily sessions with child psychologists gradually brought improvement.

A sudden involuntary twitch. A sharp pain flashed through her mind, followed by unfamiliar memory fragments.

She excitedly shared something with a little girl, though the girl never responded, often expressionless yet she chattered tirelessly, undeterred.

She pulled the little girl into the room, taking out each Barbie doll from the overflowing wardrobe and holding them up against the girl’s face. Her eyes darted back and forth as she muttered, “So strange, none of them are as pretty as you.”

“Will you be my Barbie doll from now on? Stay with me forever!”

She saw the little girl nod magically, saw herself jumping onto the bed in excitement, bouncing around.

She stood in front of a little girl, pushed the boy who was bullying her to the ground, and sternly made him apologize.

Jiang Chi’s entire face involuntarily scrunched up.

The fragments felt both unfamiliar and familiar. She wanted to see them more clearly, but couldn’t grasp them no matter how hard she tried.

Were these forgotten childhood memories?

Wen Wen thought she was hesitating out of fear. Placing a hand on the back of Jiang Chi’s head, she pulled her close and gently stroked her hair: “If you’re really scared, we don’t have to push through it now. I’ll help you overcome it slowly in the future, okay?”

The sharp headache came and went quickly. Jiang Chi didn’t pay it much mind, it was normal to forget childhood memories, and these didn’t seem particularly important anyway. She buried her face in Wen Wen’s neck and shoulders, taking a deep breath: “Sis, you’ll stay with me, right?”

The warm breath tickled her skin, making Wen Wen instinctively tilt her head slightly. Still stroking Jiang Chi’s hair, she answered without hesitation: “Yes.”

“Even if a ghost jumps out of the darkness, you won’t abandon me and run away, right?”

Wen Wen laughed at her question: “Have you been watching too many short videos?”

Jiang Chi wrapped an arm around her waist and pouted: “Answer my question first.”

Wen Wen replied indulgently: “Yes, even if the apocalypse comes, I’ll definitely drag you along to escape. If I only had one last sip of water, I’d give it to you first. Does that convince you?”

Words spoken aloud are usually the cheapest and least trustworthy things, but coming from Wen Wen’s mouth, they felt inexplicably reliable and comforting.

“I believe you.” Jiang Chi nuzzled against her neck. “I believe you the most.”

“Shall we go in then?”

Jiang Chi took a deep breath and suddenly lifted her head, brimming with determination: “Yes! I’ll do my best to overcome this!”

Wen Wen was being so good to her, how could she hold her back?

But she was still scared. Tilting her head to peer at the dark entrance of the house, she gulped and tugged at Wen Wen’s sleeve: “Sis, you have to protect me.”

Wen Wen glanced at the hand clutching her sleeve, then lifted it to hold it firmly in her palm: “As long as you don’t let go of me, I’ll never let go of you.”

Strictly speaking, a sense of security is a mysterious thing. It doesn’t require special conditions sometimes it’s just a phrase, sometimes just a gesture.

With their palms pressed together and warmth shared between them, Jiang Chi felt it in every way, the overwhelming sense of security Wen Wen gave her.

Jiang Chi flexed her fingers slightly, slipping them between Wen Wen’s to interlock them tightly. She shook their joined hands playfully: “So, sis, how did you know I was afraid of the dark anyway?”

When asked earlier, Wen Wen had only mentioned sensing her emotional shift in an instant. At the time, Jiang Chi had been too nervous to think much of it, and since she could immediately perceive Wen Wen’s mood changes, it made sense that the other could sense hers too.

Yet for some reason, those fleeting fragments from earlier inexplicably reminded her of this question.

Thinking back now, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Wen Wen hadn’t been entirely truthful just now.

“Never mind my emotional changes earlier, I remember the first time at your place.” Jiang Chi glanced at the camera before leaning in to whisper by Wen Wen’s ear, “When we slept together at your place, you already knew. So, tell me the truth.”

She genuinely wanted to know.

She wanted to know if Wen Wen had actually been curious about her, if she’d quietly paid attention to her before.

Wen Wen narrowed her eyes. “You really don’t know?”

Jiang Chi blinked. “Should I?”

Had she accidentally let something slip that she couldn’t recall?

Wen Wen studied her seemingly genuine expression, her gaze darkening. Just how much of their shared past had Jiang Chi forgotten?

She remembered every single detail.

But forgetting was understandable, wasn’t it? After all, Jiang Chi had once devoted herself entirely to Su Jing alone.

“If you don’t know, then forget it.” Wen Wen masked the emotions in her eyes, speaking lightly. “It’s not important.”

But Jiang Chi wanted to know.

She was about to press further when she clearly sensed Wen Wen’s shift in mood. The curious question on her lips circled once before being swallowed back. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on the hand in hers, cautiously murmuring, “Jiejie, you promised you wouldn’t let go of me.”

Wen Wen: “Mm. As long as you don’t let go either.”

[Ahhh, I love watching this couple navigate horror rooms together hehehehe]

[Yes! Or rather holding hands forever, never parting!]

The passage leading to the main area was long and pitch-black, so silent that the only sounds seemed to be their synchronized breathing.

Interlaced fingers weren’t enough Jiang Chi pressed herself flush against Wen Wen as they moved forward, nearly seamless. Though surrounded by utter darkness with nothing visible to the naked eye, Jiang Chi’s gaze still darted around nervously.

She swallowed unconsciously, almost hearing the gulp in her throat.

Her grip tightened reflexively.

The hand holding hers seemed to sense her fear, immediately tapping lightly on her knuckles before whispering, “I’m here.”

Jiang Chi pressed even closer, her voice brushing Wen Wen’s ear: “Jiejie, didn’t Director Xu mention earlier that there are tools here to light things up?”

“Right. I’ll find them.”

Wen Wen’s steady voice in this environment was like an anchor. Jiang Chi suddenly found a way to ease her fear: “Jiejie, can you keep talking to me?”

“What do you want me to say?”

Fear still dominated most of her mind. Jiang Chi wasn’t sure what she wanted to know about Wen Wen either. Her lagging thoughts strained before she finally managed: “Jiejie, maybe tell me about your childhood or teenage years?”

Wen Wen paused. “Are you trying to understand me?”

“Of course! I’ve always wanted to understand you better, just never had the chance.”

[Aaaaah! If this isn’t a confession, what is?!]

[“Holy crap, how many times is this today? Getting to see such spicy dialogue live were all the recorded ones edited out? Shake it out, production team, give it back to me!”]

In the darkness, Wen Wen’s gaze seemed to merge with the shadows.

Without exaggeration, in her not particularly long but not exactly short 25 years of life excluding the roughly five years before she turned four and the year she studied abroad, the remaining twenty-odd years had been spent with Jiang Chi.

They went to school together, slept together, did all sorts of things together.

Oh, though during those two years when Jiang Chi was with Su Jing, they hadn’t seen each other often. That was when their relationship had begun to slowly change.

Their eighteen years, their three years.

Two lengths of time that couldn’t even be compared.

Yet for Jiang Chi, clearly, 18 was less than 3.

So, was there even a point in holding on to these hands?

The inexplicable silence stretched on too long. Jiang Chi’s unease swelled and fermented in the dark until she finally called out cautiously, “Jiejie?”

Support