After I Picked Up the Movie Queen Who Was Pretending to Be an Alpha - Chapter 15

Pei Suyuan didn’t know how long she had been staring at the screen when someone suddenly spoke in the group chat added that afternoon. Lin Ling asked everyone to gather in the meeting room in an hour.

It seemed Qiao Yaning had arrived.

There was still plenty of time, so Pei Suyuan took a quick shower. After a moment of hesitation, she decided to apply some products. She put on foundation and lightly filled in her eyebrows. Just then, the doorbell rang.

It was Mu Xinyi.

When they left that morning, Mu Xinyi had noticed Pei Suyuan’s bare face and specifically came over to remind her to apply some light makeup. Although it would be redone later, she needed to look like a “polished Alpha” for now. After all, Pei Suyuan was a bit too unrefined.

Sure enough, seeing that Pei Suyuan had only done her eyebrows, Mu Xinyi frowned slightly and took a lipstick from her bag. The color was very light, almost natural, but it made her lips look more hydrated.

This promotional video was mainly to tease the content of the first episode. Pei Suyuan’s character was actually a villain in the original script, so she donned the villain-standard black robes, with her hair tied back with a red silk ribbon.

The makeup was a bit exaggerated, but it matched the outfit well. She thanked the makeup artist and turned to leave, only to see Qiao Yaning standing there in flowing white robes, looking ethereal and fairy-like, smiling at her.

Actually, she had already seen Qiao Yaning in the lobby earlier. They had exchanged simple greetings, and the sense of awkwardness had lessened significantly. Qiao Yaning was naturally beautiful, with clear eyes that made her look pure and lovely. She was the type of Omega many Alphas would adore.

But that did not include Pei Suyuan.

Pei gave Qiao Yaning a faint smile and lowered her head to continue adjusting her clothes. However, the moment she looked down, she felt someone step closer to her. Surprised, she looked up to see a flash of shyness on Qiao Yaning’s face. Before she could react, Qiao Yaning reached out to help her.

Without thinking, Pei Suyuan turned her body away.

Qiao Yaning froze in place, her face flushing red. She whispered, “I just saw that your belt wasn’t tied properly…”

“I can do it myself, no need to trouble you,” Pei Suyuan replied softly. At the very least, no one else could hear them. After all, she was at best an 18th-tier artist; if people heard her treating a popular “starlet” like this, either she would become a laughingstock or Qiao Yaning would. She didn’t want to see that.

Qiao Yaning had her pride; she didn’t say anything else to Pei Suyuan. Once she walked away, Pei Suyuan let out a soft sigh. Her relationship with Qiao Yaning was really… very average. Why, after not seeing each other for two years, was she suddenly so proactive in talking to her?

Mu Xinyi, standing not far away, had seen everything clearly. She walked over to Pei Suyuan, leaned against the fitting room door, and clicked her tongue. “You really don’t know a blessing when you see one.”

Pei Suyuan was already in a bad mood. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but retort, “If this is such a blessing, do you want it?”

To her surprise, Mu Xinyi curled her lips, looked toward Qiao Yaning, and said quite seriously, “If it’s for me~ then I really would take it!”

Pei Suyuan never expected that response; she looked at her with a speechless expression.

Filming for the promotional video lasted until past 11:00 PM. Pei Suyuan hadn’t had much work lately, so she felt sleepy by this time, but she couldn’t sleep yet. They had to film the “waking up” and “breakfast” scenes early tomorrow morning, and she had to go over the process with her PD (Producer-Director).

By the time she returned to her room, it was nearly 2:00 AM. She took a shower and crashed. Having been idle for half a month, she was no longer used to pulling all-nighters. She didn’t film variety shows often; she had only done a group show back in her idol days, but she had been a background character then, and being younger, she hadn’t felt the fatigue. Now, she was starting to feel the exhaustion.

It was particularly obvious the next morning. She woke up twenty minutes early, washed her face, and applied some foundation. This was per Mu Xinyi’s repeated instructions from the night before. Even though they were filming a “just woke up” look, who actually films without makeup? Only Mu Xinyi knew that Pei Suyuan actually would!

The official filming began with “face-to-face” wake-up calls. Aside from Wang Pei and Zhai Linna, Pei Suyuan was the first to be “woken up,” followed by Jiang Zhan, Qiao Yaning, and finally Wang Shiming. This was the production’s arrangement, though Wang Shiming had actually woken up long ago, while Qiao Yaning was the last to get out of bed.

Pei Suyuan noticed that Wang Shiming looked displeased again. During the meeting and promo shoot, she had realized he was simply very serious and asked the most questions. Pei actually liked people like that and could understand his frustration. Qiao Yaning was the same as she used to be—it wasn’t that she was intentionally acting like a diva, she just had a bit of a “spoiled lady” temperament and bad “morning grumpiness.”

Once everyone was gathered, they filmed the breakfast segment. Wang Pei took the lead, guiding the rhythm as they transitioned into the formal recording. They “traveled” from the breakfast restaurant into the IP script’s world.

The recording lasted two days and one night. At first, Pei Suyuan was a bit out of it, feeling awkward because Qiao Yaning kept cueing her. But once she fully entered the plot, she forgot all that. The difference between playing an app-based game and an immersive one was massive. This script was a “hidden killer” mystery; Pei Suyuan’s role was a villain, which seemed average when she first got the script, but she soon realized the character had a bit of a “God’s eye view” advantage. If the player was experienced enough, the role could be brilliant.

During the game, Pei Suyuan took advantage of her physical stamina to find many clues and had a great time. She still didn’t talk much, but she was serious about every step—serious in her answers, serious in her questions, and serious in deducing the relationships. Even the subsequent plot filming made her feel excited. It was a feeling she didn’t get from regular acting. She quite liked “Script Kill” games; her logic was clear, and she could piece things together once she found the evidence.

The murderer of the first episode was Wang Pei. Pei Suyuan didn’t want to stand out too much, so at a key moment, she let Qiao Yaning take the credit. It wasn’t that she specifically wanted to give it to Qiao Yaning, but rather… she was even less familiar with the others.

When it ended, Mu Xinyi had something to discuss with the director and asked Pei Suyuan to wait for her at the entrance. Just then, Qiao Yaning came out. Citing that they hadn’t seen each other in a long time and that Pei had helped her on the show, she wanted to treat Pei to dinner. Pei politely declined, so they stood at the hotel entrance chatting for a bit.

For some reason, Qiao Yaning kept acting familiar and affectionate with her. Pei Suyuan didn’t like it much and maintained her usual distant style.

But to an onlooker, it looked different. At least, Wei Jinzhi didn’t think it looked like “distant style.”

Wei Jinzhi had come to the Qijiang Hotel on business. Before she even entered the door, she saw Pei Suyuan “entangled” with an Omega. As she walked closer, she took off her sunglasses, her eyes turning cold.

Pei Suyuan suddenly felt incredibly awkward and quickly pulled her hand away from Qiao Yaning’s grasp. Qiao Yaning then smiled and greeted Wei Jinzhi: “Teacher Wei, long time no see.”

Pei Suyuan also mumbled “Teacher Wei” from behind her.

Wei Jinzhi nodded with a cold expression, then smiled at Qiao Yaning. “Long time no see. But our next meeting should be very soon.” Her tone with Qiao Yaning was quite familiar.

Qiao Yaning smiled back. “True! Sister Wei, I’m already looking forward to our next meeting~”

Pei Suyuan didn’t know if it was her imagination, but Qiao Yaning’s tone sounded a bit like… acting spoiled? And though Wei Jinzhi didn’t say much, she kept smiling.

The two exchanged more pleasantries. Once Wei Jinzhi entered the hotel, Qiao Yaning withdrew her gaze and said in an affectionate yet slightly complaining tone, “This isn’t like being in the group where I could speak for you. You really need to express yourself more.”

Pei Suyuan nodded; she knew that. It was just that seeing Wei Jinzhi had made her suddenly nervous. The embarrassment from last time and a feeling of being “caught red-handed” filled her mind, making her forget how to speak.

Then again, she wouldn’t have known what to say anyway. The Wei Jinzhi she saw today, and the one she saw at the office, always made her feel clumsy and at a loss. She was already starting to realize her reaction just now must have looked incredibly stupid.

Pei Suyuan’s face looked a bit dejected. Seeing this, Qiao Yaning assumed she was just nervous about meeting Wei Jinzhi. After all, in her mind, they were both Alphas, and given Wei Jinzhi’s status, being nervous was only natural.

“Don’t be afraid. Sister Wei is a very nice person. You’ll see in a few days when we record the show.”

“Record the show??” Pei Suyuan snapped out of it, looking at her in shock.

“Yeah. Sister Wei is the guest star for the next episode.”