After Being Marked by the Popular Female Lead O (GL) - Chapter 28

Hu Li’s expression of speechlessness lasted for a long time. She silently digested certain facts; she truly couldn’t understand why Zhou Que insisted on adopting the persona of a “charming little O.” If she was already planning to go head-to-head with the Bai family, why stir up this as well?

Nevertheless, she followed the instructions to clarify most of Zhou Que’s scandals.

“Do you think President Zhou might be in love?” The assistant, trying to survive while keeping her worldview intact, was forced to speak up.

Hu Li’s first instinct was to refute it. She hadn’t even considered that possibility. In her eyes, saying Zhou Que was “destined to be single for life” was an understatement. “What are you talking about…”

The assistant, unaware that Zhou Que was faking her secondary gender, analyzed the situation logically: “President Zhou never used to care about her comments before. She must have an Alpha she likes to start caring about these things now. After all, it doesn’t feel good to be misunderstood by the person you like.”

It had to be said, there was some truth to it.

Hu Li inexplicably thought of Xie Qingshu. She shook her head; forget it, she’d better just get on with the arrangements.

On the set, several staff members who had been discussing things heatedly suddenly went silent, becoming visibly cautious.

“Hello, Sister Zhou. We… we didn’t mean anything bad about you…”

Before the explanation was even finished, they realized that Zhou Que’s attention wasn’t on them at all. Instead, she was staring fixedly at the two people not far away.

Although she had a smile on her face and looked unbothered, her stride and aura suggested something entirely different.

The staff members exchanged glances. Why did they suddenly feel like they were witnessing a “catching a cheater” scene…?

Xie Qingshu had noticed Zhou Que’s arrival long ago, but she didn’t know why the other woman had dawdled for so long before coming over, keeping her head down to message someone. Hu Li? Or some other Alpha?

A trace of an indescribable emotion gradually rose in her heart, but she quickly suppressed it.

“Sister Qingshu, I really can’t understand this part of the scene. If you have time, could you give me some guidance…?” Su Hui was truly the “Dream Omega”; even her voice carried a hint of coquettishness. One look at those watery eyes made it hard for anyone to say no.

But Xie Qingshu was no ordinary person. She actually shrank back. She originally thought she would bump into Zhou Que, but when she turned her gaze, she found that Zhou Que had already stepped in front of her.

Neither too much nor too little, she stood just right to block most of Su Hui’s line of sight.

Su Hui narrowed her eyes. As a fellow “Little Flower” in the industry, she naturally knew Zhou Que’s reputation for being “alluring” and “seductive.” The pure and innocent Su Hui naturally looked down on her, but seeing her in person, she realized things weren’t as she imagined.

Zhou Que was undoubtedly beautiful, but not in the way she had expected. She was even a bit sharp—a blatant, dazzling beauty. Standing next to Xie Qingshu, she projected an indescribable sense of possession.

It was as if she were declaring: This person is mine.

Deng Yue, who was about to come over to discuss the scene, sensed a subtle tension in the atmosphere and watched from a distance without approaching.

“Didn’t Sister promise to explain the scene to me?” Zhou Que turned her head back to look at Xie Qingshu.

When did that happen? But Xie Qingshu wasn’t stupid. She immediately understood Zhou Que’s intent and nodded repeatedly.

“It’s been so long since I last worked with Sister Qingshu…” Su Hui pouted. She shot a resentful glare at Zhou Que and reached out to grab Xie Qingshu’s arm. The thought had just formed and her hand hadn’t even reached out when the other person acted for her.

“Sister, there are too many people here. Let’s go talk somewhere else.” Zhou Que pressed close to Xie Qingshu. She even looked back “carelessly,” her slightly sharp but not mean eyebrows raised in a taunt.

Su Hui: “…” She was definitely being provoked.

Su Hui exhaled, feeling a surge of annoyance, but more so a sense of panic—as if Zhou Que had looked right into her heart with that one glance.

Their career paths were too similar; the market could only sustain one of them. Therefore, regarding the scandals about Zhou Que that appeared online—while she wasn’t directly responsible—she had certainly added fuel to the fire behind the scenes.

Precisely because there was a contrast, Su Hui appeared “purer.”

Su Hui’s footsteps went stiff. She felt an inexplicable fear and ultimately chose not to follow.

Xie Qingshu finally managed to rid herself of the other girl and let out a sigh of relief. She actually started explaining the scene to Zhou Que. Suddenly looking up, she realized Zhou Que was staring at her.

In those watery eyes, Xie Qingshu saw her own slightly flushing face. She lowered her head, pretending to be unmoved, though her heart was pounding. “What are you looking at? If you have something to say, say it.”

As expected.

“What is your relationship with Su Hui, Sister?” Zhou Que asked directly.

Xie Qingshu didn’t even need to look to know how intense the other’s gaze was. She steadied herself, trying to keep her voice neutral. “We just played together when we were little. We haven’t seen much of each other since growing up.”

Zhou Que’s eyes sparkled. “That’s nice.”

There was a hint of longing in her tone. This was different from the response Xie Qingshu expected. She asked in confusion, “What’s so nice about it?”

Zhou Que only smiled. It was a faint curve, but even without intense emotion, it carried a psychological impact; looking away for even a second felt like a loss. “I’m a bit curious what Sister was like in the past.”

She really wanted to see. Did she look as cold as she does now, but once you cut through the surface, she’s all milky fragrance—a sweet, sugary candy?

Xie Qingshu choked for a moment, subconsciously suppressing the emotions rising in her heart. Right now, she just wanted to escape and didn’t want to analyze things too closely, so she said in a relaxed voice, “What’s there to see? Day after day, it was very boring.”

She had always been well-behaved, completely lacking a sense of “self,” living strictly by standards. Even after entering the entertainment industry, it was the same. The only major accident, perhaps, was Zhou Que.

Xie Qingshu saw the same reflected emotion on Zhou Que’s face. She took a sip of water as a cover, suddenly not daring to stare at her. But this had nothing to do with pheromones—it seemed to have nothing to do with anything physical at all.

“Sister is beautiful; there must be many people who like you.” Zhou Que’s voice was firm. Her tone made it seem like a casual remark, entirely without the intent of testing her.

This was a redundant statement; Xie Qingshu’s tens of millions of fans weren’t just for show.

But Xie Qingshu understood her underlying meaning. It wasn’t the liking of a fan for an idol, or any other kind of liking, but the pursuit of intense, unconcealed love. “…There weren’t.”

“Hmm?” Zhou Que was quite surprised. She desperately wanted to know everything—the things not in the files, the things fans didn’t understand, the things that belonged only to her.

Xie Qingshu rubbed her nose and repeated herself, though it sounded like a lie no matter how one heard it. “They didn’t really like me. They thought I was too dull.”

She truly didn’t understand why, in the middle of winter, people would expose their scent glands to sway in front of her, or why they would “happen” to fall right in front of her on the red carpet.

A trace of a smile surfaced in Zhou Que’s eyes. “Then they have no taste.”

Xie Qingshu felt her face flush under that gaze, a crimson tint staining her fair skin. She parted her lips, wanting to ask what Zhou Que was like when she was little, but the thought of the girl’s experiences made her unable to say it.

She instinctively felt that her current state was a bit dangerous.

“Time to film…”

Her wrist was gripped firmly. As their skin made contact, a tingling sensation was produced in that spark-filled instant. Xie Qingshu was caught off guard as the tight string in her heart reached the point of snapping—she was only one step away.

“Actually, it wasn’t as bitter as Sister imagines. At least, I was quite happy,” Zhou Que said. “Back then, your dramas were airing on TV, and I didn’t miss a single episode.”

She had little expression, but she made one feel that she truly was happy then.

In a daze, Xie Qingshu saw a vision of a young Zhou Que sitting obediently by the television, watching.

But Zhou Que didn’t say the rest. That simplest form of happiness had been stripped away, leaving almost nothing behind. She watched Xie Qingshu’s retreating back; after pondering for a moment, her pupils were filled with obsession when she looked up again.

She was no longer that child whose things could be easily taken away.

Since this “milk candy” had landed in her palm, she would hold onto it with a death grip. No one else was allowed to touch it.