What Should I Do If the Aloof Movie Queen Is Too in Love With Me? - Chapter 1

March, early spring, late at night. Hengdian was still shrouded in a coldness like crushed snow. In a hotel room near the film city, the windows were wide open.

A cold wind blew in slowly, lightly swaying the wind chimes hanging on the window, accompanying the non-stop pitter-patter of keyboard typing.

After a long time, the typing stopped. Ji Youyi relaxed her stiff neck and shoulders, lifted her head from the screen, and reached for the half-full water cup on the desk.

The water in the cup had been poured before she threw herself into work. The ice cubes she added to stay awake had now melted completely.

Since it was poured, it shouldn’t go to waste.

Ji Youyi simply drank it all in one gulp and stood up to close the window.

The wind chimes swaying in front of the window were of the most ordinary Yiwu small-commodity style, but they were a gift from a young fan. For six years, she had carried them with her.

She took down the wind chimes, used a tissue to carefully wipe away the moisture, and only then put them back into her coat pocket. Picking up her phone, she headed toward the bathroom.

The revised script had already been sent out. Ji Youyi clicked on the chat box to compose a message:

“Filming starts at nine as usual, but the scene sequence needs to change. I’ve marked everything. Organize it as soon as you wake up and send out the new call sheet.“

Ji Youyi glanced at the time; it was 5:30 AM. She continued writing:

“I’ll be at the set at 6:30 to oversee the leads’ makeup. Contact me anytime if you have questions. I’ll make time to head out for a meeting this morning. If it goes well, I’ll explain the scenes to several supporting roles at noon; I’ll try not to delay your lunch break. But tell everyone to be prepared for an all-nighter. Work hard these few days; I’ll treat everyone to late-night snacks when we wrap up tonight.“

Exiting the dialogue box, Ji Youyi squeezed out toothpaste. Brushing her teeth with her left hand, she used her right hand to select one message from over a hundred unread notifications.

“Director Ji, I am really, really sorry. It’s my lack of ability that made the investors so angry. When I first wrote Male Character Four, he was just a plot-device villain; I didn’t expect someone to take an interest in him. I can’t even stand myself. I’m a professional, yet I still can’t manage to obediently add scenes for him, and I’m too stupid to make him stand out no matter how I revise. Director Ji, I’m so guilty. You appreciate and promote me like this, yet I keep making you clean up my mess [Wailing].“

The message was sent three hours ago, from the screenwriter of her current film.

Great. Her little screenwriter was so stressed by the ‘investor-backed scene-stealer’ that they couldn’t even sleep.

Ji Youyi put her toothbrush in her mouth and tapped out a reply with both hands: “It’s nothing of the sort, baby! The reason I took this film was because of your script. Being a newcomer is definitely not your weakness. On the contrary, it is your refusal to be restrained that gives you such unbridled imagination, allowing you to construct such a magnificent fantasy world. I cherish this point very much, and you must realize your own worth. So please keep this aura of inspiration; I will handle the rest…“

Before the paragraph could be sent, a sharp, piercing pain suddenly radiated from her heart. She lost consciousness.

5:30 AM. Most of the city was still deep in slumber. The prosperous neon lights stood still in the cold silence, appearing slightly dim.

In the northeast part of S-City’s center sat the city’s top luxury residence, Changfeng Bay No. 1. Bordered by the business district to the west and overlooking the river to the east, its high price of 600,000 per square meter and minimum area of over a thousand square meters kept people away.

The developer of this real estate was the leader of China’s property industry, Changfeng Group. Twenty years ago, the Chairman of Changfeng Group, Meng Yuting, chose the piece of land with the best feng shui here to serve as the Meng family estate.

At this moment, the lights in the main villa building were brightly lit, but the doors and windows were tightly shut. Heavy curtains blocked all light, hiding all traces within the night.

The people in the building were gathered in a silent room.

The room was not powered by electricity. Illumination was provided by long candles. The deep, eerie candlelight cast flickering shadows of the people inside, projecting twisted shapes onto the walls covered in talismans and feng shui compasses.

In the center stood an altar. The interior was pitch black, though one could vaguely see what seemed to be a human figure. In the incense burner on the altar, expensive agarwood was burning quietly.

Meng Xingshu knelt before the altar, her fair neck slightly bowed. Long candles formed a circle around her, points of firelight falling on her expressionless face.

Behind her, people were conversing.

“…Qianzhang Construction definitely has problems too. Last year, Changfeng’s IPO being halted was related to them. This year, they reported me for illegal land acquisition to snatch my project! Master, help me calculate what tricks they’ve played; we must find a way to break it. This is a crucial year for Changfeng; there must be no mistakes.“

“Chairman Meng, rest assured. I will do my utmost.“

The middle-aged woman changed the subject, her heavy voice carrying a tone of respect. “However, my daughter is entering the entertainment industry this year. Are the rituals and offerings needed different? And the layout of this room—do you think it needs to be changed? Money and ‘nourishment’ are not an issue. You must ensure my Xiao-xiao becomes incredibly famous and the company opens smoothly!“

The conversation gradually stopped. In the quiet room, only the rustling sound of a brush writing talismans remained, followed by the sizzle of burning.

The scent of incense and candles was so thick it was stifling, but Meng Xingshu had already grown used to it. She merely fluttered her long lashes, her tall and slender frame remaining motionless.

She had been kneeling for nearly an hour. Her expression remained calm throughout, as if the pain in her knees and the redundant affairs behind her had nothing to do with her.

Outside the main building, a woman dressed in a light grey business suit set hurried up the stairs, only to be stopped at the door by several security guards.

“Why are you stopping me? You think I’m eager to go in!” Fang Ruohan stood firm at the door, her left arm holding a coat while her right hand crossly adjusted the handbag on her shoulder.

Even though she wished she could swing her bag and smash through the door, she could only keep a cold face, lifting her wrist to show the watch to the guards. “I said there’s a shoot at six o’clock. Look at what time it is. Does travel time not exist? If we’re late, tomorrow’s trending searches will be all about Meng Xingshu acting like a big shot. Chairman Meng will have to spend money to help us take it down, right?“

The security guards looked troubled.

They couldn’t afford to offend Meng Xingshu’s management agency, but tonight the Meng family had a major event that absolutely could not be disturbed.

While they were at a stalemate, the main door opened from the inside. Strands of agarwood suddenly mixed into the bone-chilling cold night, and a woman dressed in black walked out.

Seeing the newcomer, Fang Ruohan’s nerves, which had been tense all night, finally relaxed. She quickly reached out to pull Meng Xingshu, fearing that if she were a beat slow, that tiger’s maw of a door would swallow the person back up. “Teacher Meng, let’s go quickly, we’re almost late.“

Her gaze quickly swept over Meng Xingshu from top to bottom before she shook out the coat on her arm and draped it over Meng Xingshu.

Meng Xingshu took her personal belongings back from the guards, followed Fang Ruohan out of the building, and got into the car.

The car door closed. Fang Ruohan started the vehicle without a moment’s pause, asking: “Teacher Meng, I lied to her and said you had a shoot today. She shouldn’t dare to do anything this time, right?“

“No. She just let me out after I drank a bowl of talisman water.“

“That’s only because you’ve been following her wishes in everything this year, otherwise it wouldn’t just be this much!” Fang Ruohan sneered, cursed under her breath, and continued: “I’ve already contacted the doctor. We’ll do a gastric lavage as soon as we arrive.“

In the early morning, the area outside the villa district was empty. Fang Ruohan drove extremely fast.

Meng Xingshu sat in the back looking out the window, her calm face appearing as if it were frosted over in the night: “No need.“

“What do you mean ‘no need’! If it wasn’t needed, would you have suffered acute poisoning before? She uses cinnabar to write those talismans—that’s mercury sulfide! Can that be drunk? If it’s so good, why doesn’t she drink it herself? Why doesn’t she give it to her own biological daughter?“

The more Fang Ruohan spoke, the more agitated she became. If it weren’t for the seatbelt, she would have jumped up while grabbing the steering wheel. “Meng Xiao returns to the country next week. That gossip from January has been dug up again for hype. Usually, she won’t even let you into the main building, but now she uses you for hype every day. They just want to step on you to become famous overnight. If you weren’t still useful and they couldn’t let something happen to you, she’d wish she could just…“

Her voice grew louder and louder.

Meng Xingshu glanced at Fang Ruohan and asked calmly: “Do you need me to drive?“

The cold voice, like icy jade, smoothed over Fang Ruohan’s heated brain. She calmed down mostly in an instant and pouted: “No need. Teacher Meng, you rest.“

She drove obediently, looking at the road. After a moment of silence, she added: “We should still go to the hospital for a check-up, just to be safe.“

In the final moment before dawn, the night sky was dark like a pitch-black net. It extended infinitely toward the distant horizon—cold, long, and without a visible end.

Meng Xingshu watched for a long time before replying: “Okay.“

Actually, it didn’t matter.

Whether she got a check-up or not, no matter the state of her body, it didn’t matter. Anyway… it was almost over.

Exhaustion finally surfaced in eyes that had stayed awake all night. Meng Xingshu closed her eyes, not noticing that far behind the car, at the junction of the grey horizon and the black night sky, the red indicator lights of an ambulance were flashing incessantly.

“…Manager Li, please understand. My daughter still has a high fever at home; I really have to go.

“She hasn’t woken up. The doctor said we found her in time; after the gastric lavage, there won’t be any major issues. But who knows what madness she’ll get into when she wakes up.

“Make her pay again? she’s already buried in debt; she really can’t afford to pay anymore. Plus, her reputation is completely ruined now. In the future…“

Ji Youyi was woken up by the sound of talking. There was only one woman’s voice in her ear, likely on the phone, and her tone was full of anxiety.

She had no strength in her body, and her stomach was burning. Ji Youyi held her head, which felt like it was about to split from the pain, and slowly opened her eyes, finding herself lying in a hospital ward.

Wasn’t she filming in Hengdian? Before she closed her eyes, she had just finished revising the script and planned to wash up and sleep so she could go argue with those wicked capitalists the next day. How did she wake up in a hospital?

Did she fall ill? Then what about her film crew? Oh heavens, how much progress would this delay.

Ignoring her headache, she hurriedly grabbed the phone by the pillow. She intended to check the time but noticed something was wrong.

The phone’s size was wrong. The case was soft and a cute peach-pink. This wasn’t her phone.

The hand holding the phone was pale and tender, with translucent nail polish on the fingertips. This wasn’t her hand either.

Ji Youyi was momentarily stunned.

“You’re finally awake?” Xu Pin’an had been standing by the window on the phone. Hearing movement, she spun around abruptly.

Ji Youyi saw clearly that as soon as the other woman hung up, her subservient attitude vanished instantly, replaced by a raging fire in her eyes.

“The trending searches have exploded! Can you do fewer stupid things and give me some peace of mind? Great, now all the headlines are saying you failed at being ‘the other woman’ and committed suicide for love. Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve caused to the company’s reputation? Just wait to pay the compensation!“

The speaker was dressed in a professional suit with her black hair pinned back, her anger so immense she looked like she could slap someone to death.

But Ji Youyi was very certain she didn’t know this person.

She had been in the film industry for many years. After becoming a chief director, every movie she directed became a hit, making numerous actors and staff famous. Countless people racked their brains to get in touch with her just to enter her crew.

After becoming famous, it had been a long time since anyone had shifted blame onto her like this.

Ji Youyi was naturally unwilling to accept it.

Before she had even figured out the situation, she had already opened her mouth to retort, her hoarse throat stinging: “Did I leave a suicide note beforehand? Or did I post a farewell message?“

“Nothing at all!” Xu Pin’an roared. “You can’t act, you’re just a ‘transparent person’ in variety shows, and you can’t say a damn thing during live streams. You’re useless at achieving anything but great at making a mess—all you do is act on a whim and leave me with the wreckage!“

Ji Youyi gave an “Oh,” breezing past all the other’s attacks and summarized: “So, the company sold my private affairs as news and then turned around to criticize me, the supplier, for not being decent enough?“

Ji Youyi’s voice was gentle, yet her words were very sharp, leaving Xu Pin’an stunned: “What?“

“The news about me was spread by the company, and they must have made a lot of money from it, right?“

There are no new stories in the entertainment industry. Ji Youyi connected the current situation with Xu Pin’an’s words and guessed eighty or ninety percent of the truth.

Mentioning acting and “running gigs” meant she was an artist in the entertainment industry, and the other person was from her management agency.

“Gastric lavage,” “madness,” and reaching the point of suicide meant her recent mental state was quite terrible. Her company knew this well yet took no action.

As for the direct cause of the misery, she just had to check.

Ji Youyi picked up her phone. Sure enough, clicking on any random entertainment news article revealed it was about her. She skimmed through the text.

Zhou Wenchen, a top-tier male star in the domestic industry, was deeply loved by fans for his warm man persona.

Two months ago, he was leaked by paparazzi to be in a passionate relationship with the popular Movie Queen, Meng Xingshu. Later, when participating in variety shows and accepting interviews, although he didn’t directly respond to the dating rumors, his shy, smiling head-bow was better than a confirmation.

The fans wailed. Just as their morale was wavering and a large-scale exodus of fans was occurring, they suddenly saw someone else in a variety show.

Why was that 18th-tier starlet named Ji Youyi chasing after their ‘Brother’ every day?

Didn’t she know Brother has a partner? The other party was the eldest daughter of Changfeng Group, who had everything. Who did this obscure starlet think she was, trying to lean in?

In an instant, the fans’ hearts were no longer wavering, and they stopped leaving. Under the banner of punishing the bitch, they took up their keyboards and rushed into Ji Youyi’s Weibo and Super Topic.

In the end, while being punished, Ji Youyi swallowed pills.

Perhaps she committed suicide out of guilt, perhaps she was heartbroken by a breakup, or more likely, she was just playing the victim to get sympathy. In short, it definitely wasn’t because she couldn’t handle cyberbullying!

Didn’t you see her agency say she didn’t actually die? It’s just a script! Acting!

Ji Youyi scrolled to the very bottom, glanced at the unbearable comment section, and held the phone up for Xu Pin’an to see: “I’m so obscure, what paparazzi would stake me out? If the company hadn’t leaked the news proactively, who would know I committed suicide?“

“If I had truly died, the news would have to be suppressed. But someone sent me to the hospital and found out a gastric lavage was all I needed, so of course they had to release it to grab attention. To the company, since my reputation is already rotten, they’ll squeeze every bit of remaining value out of me. Am I wrong?“

Her voice was gentle yet carried a hint of hoarseness. Her eyes were calm and clear, as if she could easily see through people’s hearts.

Xu Pin’an looked at the abuse in the comments, then at Ji Youyi’s thin and weak body, and pursed her lips: “Yes, but…“

Her previous anger was like a charcoal fire being doused. Feeling uneasy, she paced a few steps and explained, “I wasn’t the one who sold it. The company took a new script for you. After I sent it to you last night, I never received a reply, so I had to go to the hotel early this morning to find you. After finding out the situation, I did call Manager Li, but it was only to report in.“

After she finished, Ji Youyi didn’t rush to respond. She just watched her quietly. Her emotionless gaze fell on Xu Pin’an, making her instinctively purse her lips again and awkwardly look away.

With the rhythm of the conversation completely in her hands, Ji Youyi finally let out a light laugh, breaking the silence.

She patted Xu Pin’an’s arm: “It’s okay. It’s all for work; I can understand. It’s not easy for you either.“

Her stomach, which had suffered greatly not long ago, was churning. She forced down the nausea, got out of bed, pulled the other woman to sit by the bed, poured a cup of hot water, and handed it over, while she herself pulled up a stool to sit.

The stool was slightly lower than the bed. This way, when she spoke, she would face the other person from a slightly upward-looking posture. The eye contact wouldn’t be offensive but instead made her appear kind and sincere.

Ji Youyi was a director. The profession of a director is much like a head teacher. Students in a class will always have this or that issue; she was very good at choosing the appropriate way to deal with various emergencies.

Ji Youyi spoke persuasively, like explaining a scene, using the guise of chatting to scout her current situation while not forgetting to refute Xu Pin’an’s arguments one by one.

“Sister Xu, you can’t say those things carelessly. It’ll have a bad influence on me if it gets out. I have nothing to do with Zhou Wenchen.“

Xu Pin’an was displeased: “What did I say ‘carelessly’? You liked him to begin with. You listened to everything he said. Haven’t you been like this for all these years?“

“That’s forcing a causal link. He’s the company’s ‘top brother’; would I dare not listen to what he says?“

Ji Youyi slapped her thigh and let out a long sigh. “Let’s not mention those past things for now. Just take that variety show. Don’t you think it’s very strange? Zhou Wenchen is clearly the focus of the show. Why would I, a ‘transparent person’ who can’t say a damn thing, stick to him in front of everyone?“

“Because you like him.” Xu Pin’an took it for granted. “He blocked you as soon as the show ended, and you’ve been crying about it for a month.“

Crying for a piece of trash for a month? Ji Youyi felt helpless inside, though she remained calm on the surface.

She sighed again and shook her head: “Wrong. It’s because I took the script forced on me by the company. When Zhou Wenchen’s relationship was leaked, and it looked like a massive number of fans were going to be lost, they needed a target to pull the fans into a unified front. And I was that target.“

Xu Pin’an’s brow furrowed so deeply it could crush a fly. She was half-convinced: “That’s impossible, right? With your acting skills, could you act that realistically?“

Ji Youyi looked certain: “Well, what else? As a minor artist, do I have any choice other than following the company’s words? Think about it carefully—did my crying happen to be discovered every time? Either you saw it, or someone photographed it.”

“That is true, but…” Xu Pin’an always felt something wasn’t quite right.

Ji Youyi clapped her hands. A crisp “pa” sound interrupted Xu Pin’an’s train of thought, preventing her from thinking further.

“Then that’s right!” Ji Youyi said with grand emotion. “Because it was all my intentional acting. I acted quite realistically, didn’t I?”

What the truth actually was, Ji Youyi naturally didn’t know.

Just as she didn’t know why she had suddenly become another person, nor how long she would need to take over this strange life.

But, since she, Ji Youyi, was a director—

How the script was filmed was up to her.