I Heard I’m the Scumbag Alpha of a Top-Tier Leading Actress? - Chapter 18

Outside the theater, Professor Ma sighed.

“Wrong way. This side.”

Gu Xin abruptly came back to herself. She muttered an apology, then followed behind Professor Ma with furrowed brows, still distracted.

Professor Ma said helplessly, “What exactly is wrong with you? Ever since we came out, you’ve been completely absent-minded.”

As if waking from a dream, Gu Xin said, “Professor, I suddenly remembered I still have a part-time job today. I’ll head off first.”

Professor Ma only had time to call after Gu Xin’s back, “Hey, you never told me you were also working part-time! What kind of work is it? Don’t let it delay your real work!”

Gu Xin waved and ran farther away.

These days, whenever she went out, she chose to take taxis. Since she knew she was directionally challenged, she simply handed the task of recognizing roads over to professionals.

When she got out of the car, she happened to run into the butterfly coming over to open the bar.

The moment he saw Gu Xin, the butterfly automatically switched on his sarcastic mode. “Yo, if it isn’t our great genius. How do you have time to grace our tiny little humble shop with your presence?”

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

The butterfly gave a sour-faced hmph, opened the door, and called to her, “Come in. I don’t need to invite you, do I?”

After going inside, Gu Xin got straight to the point and asked the butterfly about the boss.

Speaking of which, it was a little strange. Back when Gu Xin had looked for a part-time job, she had not thought too deeply about it. She saw that a bar was hiring and suddenly remembered that she had once been a frequent visitor to bars. Perhaps she might find some clues about herself there.

Who would have thought that she would not find her own past, but would instead see the boss paying Ying Lu’s bill? And that day had happened to be when Ying Lu was discussing matters with Yan Shuangshuang.

The butterfly was very wary. “Can the boss’s matters be talked about casually? Do I still want my job or not?”

Gu Xin said, “Let me put it another way. You know Ying Lu, right? The one whose bill the boss paid last time.”

“Don’t casually gossip about things you shouldn’t gossip about.” Seeing that it was not a work-related matter, the butterfly’s expression eased a lot. “I didn’t expect someone as poorly informed as you to actually watch entertainment news.”

“I have some impression of her.” Gu Xin brushed it off vaguely. “Mainly, I’m curious. Such a big director actually knows the boss.”

“It’s nothing major. Mainly, our boss wants to invest in Director Ying’s new film. They’re still discussing it.”

So that was it.

Without showing anything, Gu Xin asked, “Then do you know who the female lead is?”

“I’m not the casting director. What does that have to do with me?” The butterfly dismissed it. “I did hear online that it seems to be someone called… Li, Li Li? That’s the name, right?”

Li Li, female Omega.

She had acted in several television dramas before, without much splash, but had once gone viral for her beauty. This time, the whale fall caused by Yan Shuangshuang’s retirement had, without anyone noticing, benefited her the most.

“Oh.” Gu Xin perfunctorily replied a few more times without much sincerity about when she would end her leave and return to work, then left and went home.

When she arrived home, a cloud happened to pass outside, covering the sun and dimming the sky and earth.

Gu Xin changed shoes and walked barefoot into the bedroom.

Her fingers tapped a few times on her phone screen. Then she made herself a cup of coffee and casually connected her phone to the computer, beginning her daily information cleanup and scan.

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

To her, Yan Shuangshuang had been the last person among those once close to her who had left her.

After divorcing Yan Shuangshuang, Gu Xin had unknowingly gained new friends and new social relationships. It was as if, from the day she woke up, her life had drawn a clear line between itself and the past. Blank as she was, she would walk toward a new future. Yet the name of her “old acquaintance,” Yan Shuangshuang, continued lingering in her mind, unable to be driven away.

Gu Xin knew very clearly that she had complicated feelings toward Yan Shuangshuang, but only recently had she managed to sort them out. They seemed to be some kind of… darker thoughts.

They were too firmly rooted, like grass on a sheer cliff refusing to let go of stone. They were so tangled that Gu Xin could not clear them away, and even if she wanted to pull them out by the roots, she had no angle to do so.

She had given Yan Shuangshuang freedom.

But that false peace had been shattered today.

Gu Xin thought, Perhaps this is heaven’s will.

Some people appeared in one’s life again and again, and always in such heart-stirring ways, yet not once had she turned back to look at her.

Onstage and offstage, in the light and in the dark, at a distance that could be reached with just one stretch of the hand—

Yet it was like an impassable chasm.

Gu Xin opened her mouth, looked at the snow-white ceiling, and slowly formed a silent shape with her lips.

【Yan Shuangshuang】.

She did not want to see this name so easily replaced, smeared black, or even turned into a laughingstock.

She had to do something.

The theater’s reception was quite good, but the reviews were extremely polarized.

Some felt that it had no substance and was clichéd, while others felt that the final ending was extremely brilliant and meaningful. But in the end, every discussion circled back to one person.

Yan Shuangshuang, who had been silent for more than a month, appeared once again, and as always, she brought traffic to the limit.

Most of it was negative. People thought she was going back on her word. She had said she was retiring from the industry, yet now she was secretly creeping back. Even sit-ups were not this fast.

There was also a small portion made up of genuine theatergoers who felt that Yan Shuangshuang’s acting was good. While watching, they had not even recognized that she was the recently retired leading actress.

Amid the bloody storm, Yan Shuangshuang’s social media showed no movement at all. She silently followed the production through several more performances, until Ying Lu said, “Feels about right. Female lead, are you ready?”

Yan Shuangshuang was startled. So it was already time to join the crew.

Yan Shuangshuang did not quite understand the practice of throwing her into another production when filming was about to begin. But since Ying Lu had said so, she did it. Because Ying Lu had directly and boldly told her that if she followed what she said, she would become the next film queen.

Yan Shuangshuang packed her luggage. She did not bring an assistant. Alone, she followed the crew’s car as it swayed its way into the mountains.

The second male lead and second female lead were also in the car. If Gu Xin had been there, she would have discovered that this second male lead was the handsome Alpha from the stage play.

Yan Shuangshuang was actually unfamiliar with both of them, and the space inside the car was narrow, so she had no choice but to turn her gaze out the window. After looking at the clouds in the sky for a while, when she turned back, she saw the second male lead looking at her.

“What is it?” Yan Shuangshuang felt a little awkward. The second male lead was named Zhao Censu. He had just graduated from drama academy last year, and the moment he entered the industry, he had already received many awards in theater. It could be said that his future was limitless.

But recently, she kept noticing Zhao Censu staring at her. When she looked back, he would gently smile, nod, and shift his gaze 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 mosquito repellent this time. Did you bring any?”

“I happened to bring two extra bottles. I’ll give you some when the time comes.”

Zhao Censu’s eyes curved with his smile, his words very sweet. “Thank you, Sister Shuang.”

Still smiling, he looked at Yan Shuangshuang and added, “I heard before that Sister Shuang was beautiful. Now that I’ve seen you barefaced, your reputation is truly deserved.”

Vaguely feeling a little uncomfortable, Yan Shuangshuang pulled out a smile without much warmth, turned her head, and did not respond.

The second female lead had originally been playing on her phone. Hearing this, she lifted her eyelids and glanced at Zhao Censu. “It’s fine. Once we join the crew, even the prettiest bare face will turn into a mud monkey, let alone those with carefully applied makeup.”

Zhao Censu’s smile faded a little. He was naturally tall and broad-framed, with pale skin and firm features—the standard golden ratio for a male Alpha. Today, he had applied heavy makeup like a peacock spreading its tail, but the weather was truly too hot. Sweat had rolled down and ruined his makeup terribly, so just now, he had no choice but to take out makeup remover pads and wipe it off.

After removing his makeup, he did not look quite so superior anymore.

Yan Shuangshuang said, “The weather is so stuffy. Can’t it rain a little and cool things down?”

Without lifting her head, the second female lead said, “I heard there’s a meteorological station beside the crew. You can go ask them when the time comes.”

With just a few words, Yan Shuangshuang and the second female lead shifted the topic away. Zhao Censu said nothing more for the rest of the journey, listening like a statue as the second female lead and Yan Shuangshuang chatted on and off.

After they got out of the car, Zhao Censu was the first to move his luggage down.

Seeing that he had gone far enough away, the second female lead stopped at the car door and reached out a hand toward Yan Shuangshuang. “He Xin. Omega.”

Yan Shuangshuang shook her hand. “Yan Shuangshuang. Omega.”

He Xin nodded coolly and said, “If he says any more nonsense after this, you don’t have to give him face.”

Yan Shuangshuang could not help laughing. “Mm. Thank you.”

When a beauty smiled, ice and snow melted.

Looking at Yan Shuangshuang’s smiling face, He Xin was caught off guard and blushed over a large area. She made a few random sounds of acknowledgment, then silently helped Yan Shuangshuang drag her luggage into the house.