After Differentiating into an O, Pampered by an A - Chapter 18

“Pfft—”

What the hell was “you can’t mark me”?

Ding Ling stood there, holding her phone, struggling to maintain a neutral expression as she recorded the second half of Ye Xing’s natural-born acting.

In the footage, Ye Xing had instantly disguised herself as yet another victim of “hidden rules.”

Fei’en’s team rushed into the room immediately. Seeing their own artist lying in Li Guan’s lounge gasping for breath, they understood the situation in an instant.

Fei’en’s manager, Zhou Shuyun, had been called away by the assistant director to discuss the afternoon’s shoot. She never imagined that such a heinous thing could happen in that short span of time.

Fei’en wasn’t in her natural rut, but anyone looking at her current state could tell someone had induced it. After applying an inhibitor, an assistant took Fei’en back to her trailer.

Zhou Shuyun stood her ground with a cold, sharp expression. Without hesitation, she pulled out her phone to call the police.

Seeing her call the police, a flicker of panic finally appeared on Li Guan’s originally calm face. After a two-second reaction, she immediately pointed at Ye Xing, who was still sitting on the floor.

She tried to bite back: “Miss Zhou, you didn’t see it just now, but this Ye Xing was bold enough to try and mark Fei’en! Fortunately, I happened to arrive in time to stop her, otherwise Fei’en would…”

Holy crap, Li Guan is truly mixing ink with milk—confusing black and white!

Ding Ling had finally seen through Li Guan’s dog-like nature. Tucking her phone away, she was about to step forward to back up her artist.

Unexpectedly, Ye Xing suddenly stood up, her face full of grievance. A few crystal tears instantly hung from her long, curled lashes, looking utterly heart-wrenching.

“Director, you’re framing me! Clearly, it was you who wanted to eat both ‘A’ and ‘O’! I came here in good faith to talk about the new variety show and waited for you for a full hour. I never expected that when you called me over, you actually wanted to…”

Ye Xing looked like she was about to cry her heart out. As she spoke, pea-sized tears pattered down.

Ding Ling was once again dumbstruck.

Fine, she doesn’t even need to go on variety shows. Ding Ling suddenly discovered a new career path for Ye Xing. With acting skills this good, it would be a pity not to enter the film and television industry!

Zhou Shuyun naturally recognized Ye Xing—a actress who was glorious for a time a few years ago but had been plagued by negative news ever since. No matter how beautiful she was, she hadn’t made much of a splash lately.

If she hadn’t smelled that there were no Alpha pheromones at the scene, she might have actually found Li Guan’s words somewhat credible. After all, compared to a famous director, a woman with a reputation for being a “player” like Ye Xing was generally less liked.

Zhou Shuyun was anxious to check on Fei’en, so she didn’t say much and ultimately chose to let the police handle the matter.

Half an hour later, all filming at the scene was suspended.

On Weibo:

“Famous Variety Director Fails to Mark Actress on Set, Arrested by Police!”

The topic, marked in bold red and “Explosive,” instantly surged to the number one spot on the hot search list in the middle of the scorching afternoon.

The “melon-eating” public began their feast.

[Read the prompt carefully: ‘Famous Variety Director.’ Secretaries, narrow down the scope.]

[There are only a few hit variety shows in the last two years. The famous, massive ones include ‘Let’s Fall in Love’… Wait, hold on, no way!]

[Crap, why did the official Weibo for ‘Let’s Fall in Love Season 2’ suddenly delete everything? Am I behind on my internet gossip?]

The internet was in an uproar, the public’s thirst for gossip burning hot. Very soon, Li Guan’s name was pushed to the number two spot on the hot search.

Ye Xing sat in the car, scrolling through her phone, her eyes unreadable. Ding Ling, on the other hand, had finally processed everything. Leaning back in the passenger seat, she let out a long sigh toward the ceiling.

“Ye Xing, I reckon the ‘Let’s Fall in Love’ show is finished.”

Ye Xing gave a faint “Mm” and twitched the corner of her mouth. “Good. No need for everyone to fight over it anymore. The world is peaceful and beautiful, Amen!”

A breath caught in Ding Ling’s chest before she slowly exhaled.

Ye Xing peeked at her, thinking she would be blamed for today’s behavior. But Ding Ling said nothing; deep down, she probably felt Ye Xing hadn’t done anything wrong either. After all, in that situation, she couldn’t have just stood by and watched that Omega be ruined by Li Guan, even if the price was her own career.

After all, there isn’t much difference between being a “flop” and being an even bigger “flop.”

Ding Ling sat in the passenger seat and made a call to Ning Youyou, who was still at the scene assisting with the investigation. After her expression softened, she began frantically scrolling through WeChat.

Ye Xing felt a trace of guilt and tried to comfort her: “The phone didn’t provoke you!”

Ding Ling shot her a glare, a wry, ugly smile spreading across her lips. “Sigh, you really are my ancestor. Fine, don’t worry. I’ll handle the follow-up for this. I’ll ask some friends and see if there are any other variety shows needing guests lately.”

She had, after all, made many artists famous in the past; she wouldn’t allow her career to crash and burn with Ye Xing. With Ye Xing’s incredible conditions, Ding Ling refused to believe they couldn’t make it.

Once Ning Youyou returned to the car with a stack of investigation materials, the three of them left the estate and headed to the office.

As time passed, Li Guan’s name began to drop down the hot searches. However, on the Zhihu forum…

An anonymous post appeared: #BREAKING: The Ten Deadly Sins of the Beastly Scumbag Director!!!#

A Workday.

Kong Zhen was lounging at home in a silk robe, keeping Ruan Nian’an company while she tended to flowers, fed the fish, and wrote scripts. It was incredibly cozy. Suddenly, Ruan Nian’an’s phone, which was sitting by Kong Zhen’s leg, vibrated incessantly.

Curious, Kong Zhen picked it up and entered the password with her pearly fingertips. She saw that a screenwriter gossip group chat had reached 99+ messages.

Kong Zhen shook her head with a helpless smile. “Wife, do you think the brain-holes of you screenwriters all come from this kind of dog-blood gossip?”

Ruan Nian’an was leaning by the sofa, working on the hand-written wedding invitations. Hearing this, she looked up at Kong Zhen. In the play of light and shadow, a gentle, tranquil smile appeared on her lovely face. Her voice was soft and pleasant: “Mhm, why else? Art comes from life, after all.”

Kong Zhen let out a sigh of admiration. Her finger accidentally clicked on a leak post within the group chat.

It was a post with both text and images. After Kong Zhen understood it, she couldn’t help but curse: “This director is a real piece of scum. You don’t think that Director Zhang Yi you’re working with is like this too, do you?”

Ruan Nian’an gave her an exasperated look. “Honey, Director Zhang Yi is a Beta.”

“Oh, then it’s fine. I’ll keep investing in her.” Kong Zhen’s eyes crinkled. She continued scrolling down, but suddenly, her gaze froze on a photo.

In the image, a woman’s hair was spread across her slender back, and she was slumped on the floor like a broken rag doll. Although she was turned sideways and the camera focus was blurry, one could still feel the woman’s extreme, vivid beauty from her silhouette.

Kong Zhen froze, finding the figure familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Scrolling further, she found a video link.

She clicked it. In the video, a woman swung a stool and smashed it against a door without hesitation. It was a blurry video of only 5 seconds, but Kong Zhen stared at it for a long time.

Inside the quiet villa, Kong Zhen suddenly let out a startled cry.

Shen Group Building, CEO’s Office.

Shen Yushu and the Vice President were discussing project progress. Suddenly, her phone vibrated violently. Shen Yushu ignored it and continued listening to the market analysis, but the phone rang again immediately.

Seeing it was Kong Zhen calling, Shen Yushu hung up without hesitation. But a few seconds later, the phone rang again. Seeing this, the Vice President paused and signaled that he would step out first.

Once she was alone, Shen Yushu answered the phone with an icy tone. “If this isn’t something important enough to justify me spending a minute to answer, you are actually going to die.”

Kong Zhen: “…”

Having received a death threat, Kong Zhen froze for two seconds. But she quickly remembered the purpose of her call.

Her voice was urgent: “Shen Yushu, look quickly! Your ‘little lover’ is being bullied!”