Why Did the Top Alpha Suddenly Stop Acting Out? - Chapter 11

The call was quickly answered on the other end, but after the connection, both sides fell into dead silence. Neither spoke first, the atmosphere colder than the fluttering snow outside the window.

Fang Xin watched from the screen as someone who had a mouth but refused to use it, sighing and rubbing her temples. She casually picked up a lotion bottle from the bedside table and threw it to the ground with a loud clatter.

Yi Qian jolted in surprise, turning to the screen with a questioning look: What are you doing?

Fang Xin mimed opening and closing her mouth a few times, urging her to start talking.

Yi Qian swallowed, silently licking her lips before finally speaking in a hesitant voice, “Are you there?”

Fang Xin, hearing this utterly brain-dead opening line, facepalmed so hard she collapsed onto the bed and disappeared from the screen.

On the other end, Ye Shuyi remained silent for a moment before replying bluntly, “No.”

Fang Xin, who had barely sat back up, flopped down again at this response. She couldn’t help but wonder how these two had ever gotten together in the first place had it been a contest of who could be more childish?

Yi Qian: “……”

◎

She glanced at the screen, where Fang Xin had sat back up.

Fang Xin quickly typed something on her tablet before shoving the screen into view.

Ask her if she’s seen the trending topics.

Yi Qian cleared her throat, her voice slightly unnatural. “Have you seen the trending topics?”

“Yeah,” Ye Shuyi replied indifferently.

Hearing her cold tone, Yi Qian stiffly continued, “I handled this situation myself. As my manager, shouldn’t you have something to say about it?”

Ye Shuyi raised an eyebrow, her voice calm and unhurried. “You caused this mess yourself, so it’s only right that you fixed it. Besides, you told me not to interfere.”

Yi Qian choked on her words, pressing her lips together before muttering, “I think you’re right, but… I did such a good job. Couldn’t you at least… praise me?”

“Praise what?” Ye Shuyi’s tone was strictly professional. “Encourage you to cause trouble and then clean it up yourself?”

At that, Yi Qian froze. Even Fang Xin on the screen went still.

“Yi Qian, you’re not a child anymore. It’s good that you can handle the consequences of your own actions after all, no one will always be by your side.”

No one will always be by your side.

The words struck Yi Qian like a thunderbolt, leaving her rooted in place. For a moment, she seemed to go deaf, hearing nothing but that single sentence looping in her mind like a pristine white noose tightening around her throat. She wanted to ask something, but the noose only constricted further, leaving her voiceless.

“If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

Beep! Beep!

The call ended with the cold tone of the dial tone.

Yi Qian collapsed onto the bed as if drained of all strength, her empty gaze fixed on the gray ceiling. A self-deprecating smile tugged at her lips. “Fang Xin, so tell me, why did she even come back? To watch me make a fool of myself up close?”

On the screen, Fang Xin’s expression was tinged with worry. Guiltily, she said, “Yi Qian, don’t be like this. I think she has a point. Given what she’s seen of your usual behavior since returning, her concern isn’t unfounded. I was the one who didn’t think it through.” She paused before adding encouragingly, “But in another sense, she’s also looking out for you, she doesn’t want you to cause trouble and make enemies. So don’t overthink it. Pull yourself together!”

Yi Qian reached for the tablet screen and ended the call.

After repeated attempts to probe yielded no response, perhaps she should recognize her place.

On the day filming officially began for the movie “Unrequited in the Dark,” Yi Qian followed her usual routine waking at seven, washing up, and having breakfast. When everything was ready, she wandered through her garage filled with luxury cars and finally chose a black Lamborghini.

Vroom…

As the sports car pulled out, the roar of its engine split the sky, the vehicle charging forward like a black wolf across snow. It raced recklessly through the community roads, speeding past one intersection after another until, just before the exit, the wolf came to an abrupt halt, tires screeching against the pavement.

From the driver’s seat, Yi Qian stared unblinkingly at Ye Shuyi in the opposite car. At the same time, Ye Shuyi gazed back at her.

A distance separated them as they watched each other, neither making a move. The standoff was eerily silent, as if both were waiting for the other to retreat first.

After about a minute, Yi Qian released the handbrake and reversed, stepping on the gas. Only when she saw Ye Shuyi start her car and follow did she turn around and accelerate back the way she came.

By the time Ye Shuyi arrived in front of Yi Qian’s villa, the latter stood with her hands in her coat pockets, leaning lightly against the wall. The knee-length black down jacket accentuated her slender frame but also made her seem lonelier. Snow and fallen petals settled in her hair, and with a slight frown, she plucked off a pink petal as if resenting even the snow and blossoms for mocking her solitude in pairs.

Ye Shuyi pulled up slowly and unlocked the doors, but the figure outside the window remained motionless, as though the car before her were nothing but air.

With a helpless shake of her head, Ye Shuyi honked twice before rolling down the window and lifting her gaze to the stubborn woman standing in the snow.

Yi Qian glanced over lazily, their eyes meeting amidst the flurry of snowflakes and pink petals.

“Why are you here today?” Yi Qian still didn’t move.

Ye Shuyi arched a delicate brow and replied slowly, “Then why did you back up earlier? You even drove all the way back into the garage.”

Yi Qian watched as snowflakes drifted through the window, landing on Ye Shuyi’s white scarf, but she refused to back down. “Then why did you follow me?”

Ye Shuyi kept her eyes fixed on Yi Qian, letting petals and snowflakes fall into the car as she murmured, “If you knew I’d follow, why won’t you,  get in?”

The last word was spoken purely out of habit, her voice trailing off lightly because before she could finish, Yi Qian suddenly leaned in abruptly, closing the distance between them in an instant. Their noses nearly touched, pink petals and white snow swirling around them. In that moment, the world seemed to fall silent, save for the unmistakably loud heartbeat though whose it was remained unclear.

Ye Shuyi tensed slightly, her gaze dropping unintentionally to Yi Qian’s lips, those tempting red lips that had confessed love to her so many times. Fragments of memories flashed through her mind, and she swallowed unconsciously, stammering, “Wh-what’s wrong?”

Yi Qian was snapped out of her thoughts by the soft inquiry. Regaining her composure, she quickly straightened up and calmly brushed off the petals and snowflakes from Ye Shuyi’s scarf, saying nonchalantly, “I just wanted to help you remove these.”

After speaking, she walked toward the front of the car. In her haste, she nearly tripped over something but managed to steady herself. She glanced briefly at Ye Shuyi before turning away, smoothing her hair with practiced ease as she settled into the passenger seat with an air of composure.

Ye Shuyi watched her with suppressed amusement, then picked up the breakfast beside her and offered it to Yi Qian. “Have you eaten?”

Seeing no response, Ye Shuyi calmly withdrew her hand. “Seems like you have.”

But before her words fully faded, Yi Qian snatched the breakfast from her grasp. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

Ye Shuyi looked at her now-empty hand and teased, “Hey, are you a robber or something?”

Yi Qian glanced at the hand still hovering mid-air and reached out to lightly touch Ye Shuyi’s fingertips, her voice gentle. “If you feel uneasy without something in your hand, you can hold mine.”

Ye Shuyi froze slightly, her gaze dropping to their barely touching fingers. She curled her fingers slightly before withdrawing her hand to grip the steering wheel, eyes fixed ahead as she changed the subject. “Let’s get going. We don’t want to be late.”

With that, she started the car and drove into the world of falling snow.

The roads were sparsely populated with vehicles, but the slippery conditions from the snow kept Ye Shuyi from driving too fast, maintaining a steady pace along the snow-dusted asphalt.

Inside the car, Yi Qian finished her breakfast and began stealing occasional glances at the driver’s seat, clearly wanting to say something but hesitating.

Sensing her gaze, Ye Shuyi kept her eyes on the road. “If you have something to say, just say it.”

Yi Qian pressed her lips together before speaking slowly. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?”

“I have plans in the evening,” Ye Shuyi replied without hiding anything.

After a moment’s hesitation, Yi Qian finally asked, “Then until evening, could you stay there?”

Ye Shuyi naturally understood “there” meant the filming set. She glanced sideways at her and teased, “What, do you get social anxiety if I’m not around?”

“No,” Yi Qian feigned indifference. “I just think as someone new to the role, you should get firsthand experience of the filming process and all that.”

“Hmm… I suppose you have a point,” Ye Shuyi tapped her fingers idly on the steering wheel, catching Yi Qian’s eye in the rearview mirror. “Might as well see how my artist’s acting skills really are.”

When they arrived at the studio, Yi Qian got out first to prepare while Ye Shuyi parked the car before entering.

By the time Ye Shuyi walked in, Yi Qian happened to emerge in costume for the scene, a reunion between two protagonists years after their breakup.

In the scene, Yi Qian’s character Qin Le sat calmly in the interviewer’s seat, her expression composed and detached as if she didn’t recognize the applicant across from her at all, asking standard interview questions with effortless poise.

In contrast, Jiang Shiluo’s character Yan Yi wore an expression of disbelief mixed with faint joy, but as Qin Le remained unmoved throughout, disappointment gradually crept into her features.

No wonder she’s an award-winning actress, Ye Shuyi thought, watching her portray every emotional layer with perfect nuance. Having such a skilled co-star like Yi Qian would undoubtedly elevate her own performance.

During a break in filming, Yi Qian sat beside Ye Shuyi, texting Fang Xin on her phone.

Fang Xin: [Yi Qian, I never realized you were so easy to please. A single breakfast was enough to make up with you?]

Yi Qian glanced at Ye Shuyi, who was focused on her work beside her, and a faint smile touched her lips as she typed quickly: [There’s no such thing as a difficult person to appease, it all depends on who’s doing the appeasing.]

Fang Xin: [So you’ve mastered the art of double standards, huh?]

Yi Qian smirked: [Mhm. And I’m happy about it.]

By evening, the indoor scenes were finished, and the crew moved to an outdoor location to film the protagonists’ first meeting.

Ye Shuyi followed the relocation, finding a quiet corner to stand in. She scanned the set to ensure an unobstructed view before settling into a chair.

Just as she opened her tablet, a script was thrust into her line of sight.

Looking up, she saw Yi Qian gazing down at her with a faint smile. Even backlit, the glimmer in her eyes was unmistakable she seemed to be in high spirits.

Ye Shuyi glanced at the script, covered in Yi Qian’s dense annotations, and frowned slightly. “Isn’t this your script?”

“Yep,” Yi Qian shrugged lightly. “Wanted you to take a look at this part.”

Hesitating briefly, Ye Shuyi finally took the script.

Yi Qian tapped a circled section. “Just read this bit.”

With that, she turned to leave, but then, as if remembering something, she glanced back. Her peach-blossom eyes curved into crescents as she pointed toward the filming area.

“After reading, don’t forget to watch me.”

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