I Heard I Was the Scumbag Alpha of a Top-Tier Celebrity (GL) - Chapter 18

Outside the theater, Professor Ma sighed.

“Wrong way, it’s over here.”

Gu Xin suddenly came back to her senses, mumbled an apology, then frowned and followed Professor Ma distractedly.

Professor Ma said helplessly: “What is wrong with you? You’ve been spaced out since we left.”

Gu Xin woke as if from a dream: “Professor, I suddenly remembered I have a part-time job today. I’ll take off now.”

Professor Ma only had time to call out to Gu Xin’s retreating back: “Hey, you didn’t tell me you had a part-time job? What kind of work is it? Don’t let it interfere with the important stuff!”

Gu Xin waved her hand and ran off into the distance.

She now chose to take a taxi for all her outings. Knowing she was directionally challenged, she simply handed the task of navigating to a professional.

When she got out of the car, she ran into the Butterfly just opening the bar.

Upon seeing Gu Xin, the Butterfly automatically switched to their sarcastic mode: “Oh, isn’t this our great genius? What brings your highness to our humble little establishment?”

Gu Xin said, “I just took a few days off. If you keep talking like that, I really will quit.”

The Butterfly frowned and grunted, opening the door to welcome her: “Come in. You don’t need me to invite you, do you?”

Once inside, Gu Xin went straight to the point, asking the Butterfly about the boss.

It was strange, but when Gu Xin was looking for a part-time job, she didn’t think too much. Seeing the bar hiring, she suddenly remembered she used to be a regular there. Maybe I could find some clues about myself inside?

Who would have thought, she didn’t find her own past, but instead saw the boss paying Ying Lu’s bill, and that day happened to be when Ying Lu was meeting with Yan Shuangshuang.

The Butterfly was highly cautious: “Can I just casually talk about the boss? Do I want to lose my job?”

Gu Xin tried a different approach: “Let me rephrase. You know Ying Lu, right? The one the boss paid for last time.”

“Don’t casually gossip about things you shouldn’t.” The Butterfly relaxed a lot, seeing it wasn’t work-related. “I’m surprised that someone as out-of-the-loop as you actually reads entertainment news.”

“I have some impression.” Gu Xin was vague. “I’m mainly curious. A big director like her, actually knows the boss.”

“It’s nothing serious. Our boss just wants to invest in Director Ying’s new movie. They’re still negotiating.”

So that was it.

Gu Xin asked casually: “Then do you know who the female lead is?”

“I’m not the casting director, why would I care?” The Butterfly scoffed. “But I heard online it was that person, Li… Li Li? Is that the name?”

Li Li, female Omega.

She had previously starred in several TV series without much impact, but she had gained attention for her beauty. This time, with Yan Shuangshuang’s retirement creating a “whale fall” (a massive opportunity), she was the one who inadvertently gained the most.

“Oh.” After perfunctorily asking when she would be back to work, Gu Xin left the bar and went straight home.

When she got home, a cloud conveniently passed overhead, obscuring the sun and darkening the world.

Gu Xin changed her shoes and walked barefoot into the bedroom.

She tapped her phone screen a few times, then made herself a cup of coffee. She casually connected her phone to the computer and began her routine information cleaning and scanning.

Li Li’s name appeared in the search. The software information kept jumping. Gu Xin leaned back, resting against the chair back, looking at the gloomy sky.

Yan Shuangshuang, to her, was the last of the people close to her to leave.

After divorcing Yan Shuangshuang, Gu Xin unconsciously made new friends and formed new social connections. It was as if, from the day she woke up, her life had drawn a clear line with the past. The blank slate of her new self would move toward a new future, yet the name of her “old acquaintance” Yan Shuangshuang lingered in her mind.

Gu Xin clearly knew she had a complex emotion toward Yan Shuangshuang, but only recently had she sorted it out: it seemed to be a kind of… darker thought.

They were too deeply rooted, like grass clinging stubbornly to a cliff face, so messy that Gu Xin couldn’t clear them, and there was no angle to pull them out by the roots.

She had set Yan Shuangshuang free.

But this fragile peace was shattered today.

Gu Xin thought, Maybe this is fate.

Some people appeared in her life again and again, and in such startling ways, but she never looked back at her once.

On the stage and off, in the light and the dark, a distance so close she could reach out and touch it—yet it felt like a chasm.

Gu Xin opened her mouth, looking at the snowy white ceiling, and slowly formed the words with her lips.

[Yan Shuangshuang].

She didn’t want to see this name so easily replaced, smeared, or made into a joke.

She had to do something.

*

The play’s reception was good, but the reviews were highly polarized.

Some found it shallow and vulgar, while others felt the ending was brilliant and profound. But ultimately, all discussion revolved around one person.

Yan Shuangshuang, who had been silent for over a month, appeared again, still pulling in maximum traffic.

Most comments were negative, asking why she broke her word, saying she retired but secretly coming back. Even sit-ups weren’t this fast.

A small fraction were genuine theater audiences who felt Yan Shuangshuang’s acting was excellent. While watching, they hadn’t even recognized her as the former A-list star who had just retired.

Amidst the storm of controversy, Yan Shuangshuang’s social media remained completely silent. She silently followed a few more performances until Ying Lu said: “That’s enough. Female lead, are you ready?”

Yan Shuangshuang suddenly realized it was time to join the film crew.

Yan Shuangshuang couldn’t quite understand the decision to throw her into another crew just before filming began, but Ying Lu had instructed it, and she complied. This was because Ying Lu had told her confidently: Do as I say, and you will be the next Movie Queen.

Yan Shuangshuang packed her bags. She didn’t bring an assistant, following the crew’s car alone as it bumped and swayed toward the mountains.

The male lead and female lead were also in the car. If Gu Xin were there, she would realize that the male lead was the handsome Alpha from the play.

Yan Shuangshuang was not familiar with either of them. The space inside the car was small, so she had to focus her gaze out the window. After watching the clouds in the sky for a while, she turned back and saw the male lead looking at her.

“What is it?” Yan Shuangshuang felt a little awkward. The male lead’s name was Zhao Censu. He had just graduated from the drama academy last year and had won many awards in drama upon entering the industry. He had a promising future.

But lately, she always found Zhao Censu staring at her. When she looked back, he would smile gently, nod, and look away, as if nothing had happened.

Zhao Censu said: “Sister Shuang, I heard there are a lot of mosquitoes in the mountains. I didn’t bring any repellent. Did you bring any?”

“I happened to bring two extra bottles. I’ll share with you then.”

Zhao Censu smiled, his eyes crinkling, and his words were very sweet: “Thank you, Sister Shuang.”

He smiled and added another sentence: “I heard before that Sister Shuang was beautiful. Now that I’ve seen you without makeup, the rumors are true.”

Feeling faintly uncomfortable, Yan Shuangshuang forced a smile with little warmth and turned her head, not responding.

The female lead was originally playing on her phone. Hearing this, she lifted her eyelids and glanced at Zhao Censu. She said: “It doesn’t matter. Once you join the crew, even the most beautiful makeup-less face will turn into a mud monkey, let alone those who put on heavy makeup.”

Zhao Censu’s smile faded somewhat. He was naturally tall, with fair skin and sharp, well-defined features, the standard golden ratio for a male Alpha. Today, he was wearing heavy makeup like a showy peacock, but the weather was truly hot, and rolling beads of sweat had ruined his makeup. He had just had to take out a makeup remover wipe to take it off.

After removing his makeup, he looked less superior.

Yan Shuangshuang said: “The weather is so stuffy. I wish it would rain to cool down.”

The female lead didn’t lift her head: “I heard there’s a weather station next to the set. You can go ask them then.”

Yan Shuangshuang and the female lead quickly shifted the topic. Zhao Censu did not speak again for the rest of the journey, listening like a statue to the on-and-off chat between the female lead and Yan Shuangshuang.

It wasn’t until they got out of the car that Zhao Censu took his luggage out first.

Seeing him walk away, the female lead stopped at the car door and extended her hand to Yan Shuangshuang: “He Xin, Omega.”

Yan Shuangshuang shook her hand in return: “Yan Shuangshuang, Omega.”

He Xin nodded coolly and said: “If he says anything else inappropriate later, don’t be nice to him.”

Yan Shuangshuang couldn’t help but laugh: “Mhm, thank you.”

A beauty’s smile melted the ice and snow.

He Xin looked at Yan Shuangshuang’s smiling face, her cheeks suddenly flushing bright red. She mumbled a couple of “Mhms” and silently helped Yan Shuangshuang drag her luggage into the house.