After Flirting with the Wrong Stand-in, I Overturned (GL) - Chapter 30

Lin Shuyan stood up and casually opened the door. Without even looking to see who it was, she said directly, “I’m fine, you didn’t need to come back specifically.”

“Was something wrong just now?” Catching the keyword, Ren Xuan asked with a frown.

“Miss Ren…” Lin Shuyan’s hand froze on the door handle, failing to pull back.

“Who did you think it was?”

She thought it was Song Tang. Lin Shuyan hurriedly opened the door wider and smoothed the hair at her temples. “Miss Ren, why did you come over?”

“Just to see you.” After overthinking Shuyan’s abrupt departure earlier, Ren Xuan wanted to come try her luck. Sure enough, Lin Shuyan had no intention of rushing back to the set tonight; she could tell that much from a single glance at the room.

A messy room meant the owner had no plans to head out.

“I…” Lin Shuyan remembered the uncleaned food and the clothes she had tried on at noon scattered across the bed. She was instantly mortified.

“I’d like to use the restroom.” Ren Xuan quickly retracted her gaze, politely asking if it was convenient.

“It is, it is!” Lin Shuyan couldn’t wait for Ren Xuan to step inside. The moment the bathroom door closed, Lin Shuyan lunged into the room. She scooped up the messy clothes—no time to fold them—and shoved them directly into the closet. She smoothed the bedsheets, folded the duvet in a few quick motions, and tidied up the stray knick-knacks. However, she was stumped by the table full of food.

“You didn’t eat?” Ren Xuan walked out and finally asked the most important question. Seeing that the utensils hadn’t even been unwrapped, she knew the lids had been taken off, but not a single bite had been taken.

“I… I did.” Lin Shuyan felt guilty; she was not a good liar. Lying in front of Ren Xuan was even harder. To make it more believable, she added, “I ate with a colleague downstairs.”

“What did you have?”

“I had… rice noodles.”

“Is there a rice noodle shop downstairs?”

“Yes, just turn east.” This was a question she actually knew the answer to. Lin Shuyan felt secretly lucky; she had noticed a rice noodle shop nearby when she arrived at the hotel. She answered convincingly, as if it were a hard fact.

“To the left?” Ren Xuan raised an eyebrow, a half-smile playing on her lips. “How strange, I didn’t see one. I think it’s to the west; I just came from that direction.”

Did I remember it wrong? A giant question mark seemed to hover over Lin Shuyan’s head. Just as she was about to say something, she heard the woman’s low chuckle.

Miss Ren was tricking her!

Lin Shuyan had never been more aware of it than at this moment. Her memory was not wrong.

“I’m laughing,” Ren Xuan said, trying to hide the smile at the corners of her mouth by lightly covering it with her hand, though she couldn’t help herself, “because someone is lying!”

“No, I’m not.” Having been exposed instantly, Lin Shuyan was like a cat that had its tail stepped on; she practically jumped up to deny it. But facing the calm and composed Ren Xuan, she lacked any real conviction.

“Oh?” Ren Xuan’s voice tilted upward slightly. “Then why don’t you tell me how much a bowl of rice noodles costs?”

“Or, to save time, perhaps Shuyan could show me her payment record? Don’t tell me you used cash!”

“Miss Ren—” Lin Shuyan couldn’t keep up the act. She turned away awkwardly, making it clear she didn’t want to continue the topic.

Ren Xuan stopped while she was ahead, no longer teasing the bristling girl. With her back to Ren Xuan, Lin Shuyan’s mind flashed between the shame of being impolite and the embarrassment of being caught in a lie.

“Lin Shuyan,” Ren Xuan took a step forward. “Do you know that you are very real like this?”

“Real?”

“Yes.” Ren Xuan nodded. “Have you noticed that in front of me, in many situations, you are very stiff and formal?”

“I am not your superior, not your boss, and certainly not your teacher. You aren’t an employee or a student being scolded.”

Ren Xuan sat down at the table, the untouched food right in front of her. “You intentionally said you ate because you were worried I would overthink things if I saw this?”

“If you don’t like it,” Ren Xuan shook her head and said softly, “you can tell me. Next time I’ll order something you like, okay?”

“It’s not that.” Lin Shuyan shook her head gently.

“Then what is it?” Ren Xuan took the opportunity to ask.

“It’s just that I’m frustrated,” Lin Shuyan gritted her teeth. Since she couldn’t hide it, she might as well say it. “I’m thinking about things.”

“Can I know what they are?”

Lin Shuyan remained silent.

“No?” Ren Xuan nodded and bit her lip. “I understand.”

“Do you want to eat now?”

Eat? Lin Shuyan blinked, having no idea how Ren Xuan had jumped to that.

“Wasting so much food is not a good habit,” Ren Xuan chuckled. “And not eating dinner isn’t a good habit either.” Her fingers nimbly pressed a few buttons on her phone as she put the lids back on the containers. A few minutes later, a hotel staff member knocked, and Ren Xuan handed over the packed food.

Lin Shuyan watched the whole process. She saw Ren Xuan skillfully packing the food; this Eldest Miss, who looked like she’d never touched chore-work in her life, handled these small tasks with surprising efficiency. And she, the actress, hadn’t even known the hotel offered this service.

“It’ll be ready in a moment.” Ren Xuan thought for a second and added, “As an actor, your schedule is often upside down, and occasionally you can’t help missing meals. But your body is your own. No matter what’s on your mind, you must eat first.”

“Mhm.” Lin Shuyan nodded hard. “You too, Miss Ren.”

“Me? I have a regular routine.” This company had its set plot to follow. Ren Xuan was working hard now just to give herself something to do and to better understand this novel world.

After months of observation, Ren Xuan fully believed that the power of the “plot” was indeed immense. Otherwise, a massive enterprise like the Ren family wouldn’t decline as quickly as described in the novel. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse.

The doorbell rang again. “Looks like it’s heated up.” Ren Xuan turned around.

“I’ll get it.” Lin Shuyan opened the door, but it wasn’t the staff.

“Shuyan!” Song Tang burst in before Lin Shuyan could speak. She shut the door behind her and said excitedly, “I just did the math. We really can’t compare to the Ren family, but just because we can’t compare doesn’t mean there’s no hope!”

“You can marry up! It’s called marrying into a wealthy family.”

In the entertainment industry, such stories were a dime a dozen. Although the Ren family was a bit “wealthier” than most, precisely because they stood at the top of the food chain, Ren Xuan would have to look “down” no matter who she picked. Maybe she wouldn’t care about status at all—after all, she wasn’t lacking for wealth or family background.

Lin Shuyan used all her strength to cover Song Tang’s mouth, only managing to muffle the final words: “marry into a wealthy family.”

The person whose mouth was covered was completely defiant. She assumed Shuyan was just embarrassed and struggled to break free from her hands to continue her well-thought-out theory, completely failing to see Lin Shuyan’s frantic winking.

As the two of them struggled by the door, Song Tang only managed to blurt out a few incoherent syllables—until a person appeared in front of her.

“Hello there!” Ren Xuan walked over slowly, greeting Song Tang with a smile. “Are you Teacher Song?”

The moment Ren Xuan approached, Lin Shuyan let go. At this moment, she wanted nothing more than for the floor to open up and swallow her whole.

Song Tang was equally mortified.

A hallucination. It must be a hallucination. Song Tang pinched her own cheek. She wanted to cry; it hurt so much. It was real.

“Are you… okay?” Ren Xuan looked with concern at the person who kept pinching her own face.

I’m great. Song Tang screamed internally. If Ren Xuan stopped talking to her, she’d be even better.

“I,” Song Tang opened her mouth, her tongue tripping over itself several times, “I’m fine.”

Unable to cry or laugh, Song Tang wanted to kick herself. In her panic, the only solution she could think of was to hide behind Lin Shuyan. But Shuyan had already retreated. Song Tang didn’t have time to care about Shuyan’s expression; she awkwardly raised her hand, cold sweat beads forming on her forehead. “Hello… President Ren.”

“Hello.” Ren Xuan was about to say more.

“President Ren, I just remembered! I… I have a brain problem. I need to go see a doctor right now. I… I’m leaving!”

Before anyone could react, Song Tang fled with incredible speed. Opening the door, closing it, and running away was one seamless motion. Within seconds, she had vanished from their sight.

She escaped. Lin Shuyan could not.

Lin Shuyan silently stood on her tiptoes, leaning against the wall, shifting backward bit by bit. She moved very slowly, terrified of being noticed.

There were only the two of them in the room; it was impossible for Ren Xuan not to notice her movements. Ren Xuan silently watched Lin Shuyan’s “ostrich” behavior.

After a long time—or perhaps very quickly, though to Shuyan the time felt infinitely stretched—she heard Ren Xuan say, “Lin Shuyan, can you explain that to me?”

What needed explaining went without saying. Lin Shuyan’s fair face turned crimson. She wanted to bury her head under the floor tiles; how could she possibly answer Ren Xuan’s question?

“Hello, your food is here.”

This time, Ren Xuan opened the door and brought the food in, placing it on the table. She called out to the person who looked ready to bury herself in the sofa, “Eat first.”

Lin Shuyan slowly rose from the sofa. Without looking up, she picked up her chopsticks and began to shovel rice into her mouth. She took several large bites in a row, chewing without tasting anything.

“Cough, cough!” After a moment, she couldn’t hold it in.

“Careful.” Ren Xuan was in front of her in a flash, lightly patting Shuyan’s back with her palm before handing her a glass of water. “Slow down.”

Lin Shuyan’s cheeks grew even hotter as she continued to push through the meal.

Ren Xuan had ordered enough for one person. When she ordered, she didn’t know Song Tang knew of her presence, so she hadn’t dared order more. Even with a single person’s portion, Lin Shuyan dragged the meal out for nearly half an hour.

Ren Xuan’s gaze stayed on her. She seemed very leisurely, as if she would remain this calm even if the meal were stretched out forever.

Finally, Lin Shuyan couldn’t procrastinate any longer. A horizontal cut is one death, a vertical cut is another. (She might as well get it over with.)

Lin Shuyan tried to look up.

“Finished?”

“Mhm,” Lin Shuyan responded softly, half-raising her head.

“You have a grain of rice.” The woman’s fingers brushed across Shuyan’s lip. The warmth from the touch made Shuyan’s heart tremble even more violently.

“I… I’ll do it myself.”

Ren Xuan let her.

Once Lin Shuyan had tidied herself up, Ren Xuan finally asked, “Now, can you tell me what Song Tang meant by those words?”

The meaning… The meaning of Song Tang’s words was…

“I,” Lin Shuyan’s head felt feverish as she covered it in a gesture of apology. “Miss Ren, I was wrong. It’s my fault.”

“Where were you wrong?”

Lin Shuyan looked up blankly. Where was she wrong?

“I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have…” Everything that happened today was wrong. She should never have discussed those topics with Song Tang.

“I shouldn’t have been so vain as to want to… marry into a wealthy family.”