We Are Filthy, Born From Mud - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Yes, She Deserves It.

The day for the variety show recording quickly arrived.

Zong Liangu was sitting down, with a fully disguised Zong Yougu next to her.

Initially, she hadn’t planned to bring Zong Yougu along. Zong Yougu insisted repeatedly and promised not to cause any trouble.

And it was true that Zong Liangu had only participated in one scene of the film and was still unfamiliar with many people on the crew. Zong Yougu could be useful.

Thus, Zong Yougu successfully came along.

“Sister Yougu, please wait in the lounge for a bit. I’ll come call you later,” Hu Yinghua instructed.

Zong Liangu smiled and nodded.

Clack—

The door closed. The heavy door blocked out the noise outside. In the lounge, only Zong Yougu and Zong Liangu remained, and all they could hear was the subtle sound of each other’s breathing.

“Have you read this script?” Zong Liangu asked with a smile.

“Why would I read it? It’s not like I’m the one going on the variety show,” Zong Yougu replied with a tone of confusion.

Zong Liangu chuckled twice and threw the variety show script in front of her.

“Take a look? Aren’t you curious?” Zong Liangu’s voice carried an indescribable hint of playfulness.

She watched the other person lower her head, her eyes following the lines of text dictated by her finger. She then saw Zong Yougu’s eyebrows slowly furrow, a small roll of soft flesh gathering at her brow.

Zong Yougu’s hand unconsciously rubbed the ends of her hair, an identical habit to Zong Liangu’s.

Watching Zong Yougu seriously read the script, Zong Liangu suddenly wondered if she looked like this when she read scripts herself.

“Why should I play the clown?” Zong Yougu shouted angrily.

Zong Liangu raised an eyebrow. She didn’t correct the other person but went along with Zong Yougu’s sentiment. She said, “Yes, why should I play the clown?”

“I am so perfect, so flawless. Why should I be played as so stupid? Why?”

A muffled voice came through the mask.

Zong Yougu seemed genuinely furious. Her fingers gripped the script, leaving creases on the paper.

“Yes, why is that?” Zong Liangu laughed, but there was no amusement in her eyes as she stared intently at Zong Yougu.

The moment her gaze met Zong Yougu’s, she noticed the other person’s evasion.

“I originally thought this was all because you were lazy, but it seems that’s not the case.”

She stood up. Zong Yougu was pinned down in the seat, and her face was forcibly turned toward the mirror.

Zong Yougu felt her heart beating wildly, and her blood was forcefully pumped out.

“During the two days off, I watched many of your works, mostly from a few years ago. You were an extra back then, only visible in the corners, but even those small roles were carefully studied. Moreover, I could sense your undisguised ambition.”

Zong Yougu didn’t know what expression to wear, so she simply stared blankly into the mirror. Both she and Zong Liangu were reflected there.

“But what happened after that? You clearly filmed fewer roles. I originally thought it was a company resource allocation issue, but—”

Zong Liangu lowered her eyes, giving Zong Yougu a deep look.

“Later, Su Tongguo told me that you once made a promise to her: you promised her you wouldn’t obstruct her progress. In other words, you did this on purpose.”

Zong Liangu reached out, pointing her finger at Zong Yougu in the mirror.

“You are truly contradictory. On one hand, there is extreme self-confidence; you look down on everything. You also got angry about this script, believing you have the ability to step on everyone. On the other hand… you are so unenterprising, stalling and remaining stagnant for such a childish promise. What exactly do you want to do? Why is this?”

Zong Yougu clearly felt the hand gripping her jaw tighten.

She lowered her eyes and began to ponder. She shouldn’t have hidden anything from Zong Liangu, after all, Zong Liangu was her.

But she subconsciously resisted confessing.

She looked up, meeting Zong Liangu’s eyes.

Was she supposed to tell Zong Liangu that she used to steal and pilfer?

Was she supposed to tell Zong Liangu that her cowardice had caused someone else’s death?

She didn’t want to do that, because this was the dirty past she continuously tried to hypnotize herself into forgetting but couldn’t.

She looked up and saw Zong Liangu’s gaze still fixed on her.

She didn’t know what Zong Liangu could decipher from her expression. For once, she felt panic.

“Do you have a crush on Su Tongguo?” Zong Liangu suddenly asked.

“Huh?”

“You clearly have ambition, yet you willingly serve as Su Tongguo’s stepping stone. Such a contradiction—I can’t think of a second explanation besides you liking her.”

Zong Yougu was still puzzled, but she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Zong Liangu grinned. She said, “I told you, you are not me, and I am not you. I would never be like you, letting redundant emotions tie my hands. You should thank me, because only I will make ‘Zong Yougu’ go further.”

“Is that so?” Zong Yougu finally smiled.

“The higher you climb, the more attention you’ll draw. Do you know how many people will try every way they can to pull you down from the top? Zong Liangu, what if I’m not clean? What if I have unerasable stains on me? Your timing is very unfortunate, but it’s perfect for helping me clean up my mess.”

Zong Yougu’s gaze swept up and down Zong Liangu’s face.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Both were frowning, facing each other. Both felt like they were looking into a mirror.

“Sister Yougu! You can come out now!” Hu Yinghua’s cheerful voice came through the door.

Zong Liangu responded but wasn’t in a hurry to leave.

She squatted down in front of Zong Yougu, her long fingers pinching the zipper.

She gave a mischievous smile.

Swoosh—

The zipper slid down smoothly, and the jacket on Zong Yougu was stripped off.

The jacket was now on Zong Liangu. Zong Liangu skillfully put on the wide hood and took a new mask from her pocket.

She smiled with her eyes: “Teacher Zong, why don’t you demonstrate for me? Please tell me what I should do.”

Zong Yougu froze in place.

“Sister Yougu, hurry, hurry! The production team is rushing us.”

Hu Yinghua burst through the door, grabbing the stunned Zong Yougu who was sitting in front of the mirror, and dragged her out.

Zong Yougu was pulled into the makeup room. She didn’t have a stylist. Her costume was simply hung on a chair.

It was a childish assassin costume. The fabric, with loose threads at the edges, reflected cheap, greasy light under the lamps.

She saw the costumes of Su Tongguo and Yu Zhao, which were almost one-to-one replicas of their looks in the show.

She stared at the costume for a long time, then resignedly put it on.

She was tall and slender, and the costume was a bit small.

As soon as she sat down, the pant legs rode up, exposing her ankles and a section of her calf, looking somewhat non-mainstream.

The shoulders were also ill-fitting. She felt restricted whenever she moved.

Alas, what could she do? She was the clown.

“I won’t be trapped here forever. I will climb up sooner or later and make everyone regret it.”

She declared grandly to the mirror.

She stared for a long time and then amused herself.

“Sister Yougu, are you ready?”

“Almost.”

She took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

“Lights ready!”

“Camera in position? No tripod, shoulder mount gives a better effect.”

“Have you communicated with the artists?”

There was a lot of noise outside. This was the first time Zong Yougu had entered a studio in a month.

The set design was very thoughtful, with props of all sizes meticulously placed.

The dazzling lights made the place bright, and the temperature here was quite a bit higher than outside.

Zong Yougu felt her cheeks flush unnaturally. She was excited.

Even though she acted indifferent in front of Zong Liangu, she couldn’t deny that she still longed for the stage, for every moment surrounded by lights and cameras.

So what if she was guilty? She was not far from being completely innocent.

By then, she would be kind, she would be flawless.

The filming started half an hour later.

She had to play the clown well. She smiled.

“Hello, audience friends! Welcome to Hello, Who Am I on Thursday evening. Today, we have several new friends on the show. A round of applause! Could our guests please introduce yourselves to the audience?”

“Hello everyone, I’m Su Tongguo. I play a police officer in The Rumor. In the show, I am upright and kind, punishing evil and promoting good. In reality, I’m also a kind and optimistic person.”

Su Tongguo bowed slightly. Her voice was sweet.

“I’m Yu Zhao. I’m also a police officer in the show, both Tongguo’s partner and her lover.”

A timely chorus of cheers erupted. Su Tongguo and Yu Zhao both smiled without speaking.

The microphone was passed to Zong Yougu’s hand. After several passes, the microphone felt a little greasy. Zong Yougu dry heaved silently in her mind.

“I’m Zong Yougu. I play the assassin.”

She kept her introduction brief because the focus of the promotion was on Su Tongguo and Yu Zhao. She shouldn’t say too much.

“Just from their introductions, you know they’re here with a mission: to promote the show The Rumor. Tongguo, is there anything else you can reveal about the show?”

“As I just said, I play a police officer in the show. Because of this role, I tried many new things, and everyone will see a brand new Su Tongguo. If you want to know more, tune in every Wednesday starting next week on the drama channel.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Zong Yougu saw the curtain in front of her pull open.

“To fit the theme of The Rumor, the production team thoughtfully recreated a scene from the show. As you might guess, our theme today is decryption.

Can our two detectives lead us to unlock the mystery? Let’s wait and see.”

Although there were three people for the promotion, Zong Yougu stood to the side like a transparent person.

The cameras rarely pointed in her direction.

She pursed her lips, viciously cursing everything in her heart.

She hated the overly bright lights that made her sweat profusely. She hated the camera’s overly noisy drip-drip sound that annoyed her.

She hated being looked down upon. She hated being just a clown.

After she finished cursing everything, her mood finally improved, and she expertly put on a smile.

Her gaze swept around unintentionally. In a corner not far away, she saw Zong Liangu.

Zong Liangu clearly sensed Zong Yougu’s gaze.

Zong Yougu saw Zong Liangu take off her mask. She seemed to be saying something.

Zong Yougu carefully discerned the words. There were only two:

“You deserve it.”