This Best Actress is a Bit Annoying - Chapter 47

This was Yu Lan’s first time visiting Nie Zhuying’s place. She had been questioned by security for so long that she almost felt like she was entering a police station rather than a residential complex. She stepped through the door tentatively and was struck by the luxurious British-style decor. Like Grandma Liu entering Prospect Garden, she didn’t know where to look—whether it was the abstract painting on the wall that she couldn’t understand or the exquisite fireplace.

“Xiao Yu, come, change your shoes here.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

“Nuonuo!”

While Yu Lan was cautiously eyeing the house she likely couldn’t afford in a lifetime, a white figure streaked out, affectionately pawing at her legs and nuzzling her like an old friend. Yu Lan was pushed right onto her backside by the dog’s enthusiasm; she simply scooped up the little guy’s head and gave it a firm rub.

“Nuonuo, it wasn’t for nothing that I looked after you for a while. You actually remember me!”

“Woof! Woof!”

“Nuonuo, come here.”

Nuonuo played with Yu Lan for a bit longer before wagging his tail and running back to Nie Zhuying.

Having seen Nuonuo and Nie Zhuying, the sense of inferiority and the fear of getting the house dirty were greatly relieved for Yu Lan. “Sister Nie, Sister Xia asked me to bring these scripts over.”

Nie Zhuying sat on the sofa and beckoned her. “Come here, let me see them. She’s resting right now. If you’re not in a hurry, sit here for a while and wait for her to wake up before you go in.”

Yu Lan didn’t have anything urgent, but seeing that sofa—which probably cost a fortune—she felt exceptionally constrained and didn’t dare sit. Remembering that she had just sat on the floor, she patted her butt. “Sister Nie, why don’t I go outside and play with Nuonuo for a bit?”

The moment he heard “go outside,” Nuonuo’s beautiful ears perked up. He had been lying down, but now he stood up automatically, let out a whine, and looked at Nie Zhuying.

“Go ahead, but the layout here is a bit complex. If you get lost, just let Nuonuo lead you back,” Nie Zhuying instructed.

“…”

Yu Lan had noticed it when she arrived; the roads here were irregular, and the spacing between the villas had no pattern. To make matters worse, all the villas looked the same from the outside. If no one led the way, she really might not find her way back. “Nuonuo, I’m counting on you this time.”

Once the others had left, Nie Zhuying reclined lazily on the sofa with her legs crossed and began flipping through the scripts. She finished one and tossed it aside, then another, looking puff-cheeked with anger. It was hard to tell if she was mad at herself or the scripts.

Mrs. Nie happened to come downstairs at that moment. “Who was here just now?”

Nie Zhuying had been quite irritated, but the moment she saw her mother, her expression shifted. “It was Qingqing’s personal assistant bringing scripts for her. Mommy, from now on, you should spend less time dragging Qingqing into chats; she needs to read these.”

Mrs. Nie looked at the scripts scattered on the coffee table and said dismissively, “I just didn’t want Qingye to be bored alone. Besides, her company is too inhumane—the poor girl is stuck in bed and they still want her to sacrifice her recovery time for work?”

Nie Zhuying’s eyes darted around. “Mommy, you don’t understand. This is called ‘planning ahead.’ By the time Qingqing is well, the script will be chosen, and she can start work immediately. Oh, I can’t explain this well to you, but it’s for Qingqing’s own good.”

Mrs. Nie truly didn’t understand the workflow of a star. She just felt that being a celebrity was hard work—three hundred and sixty-five days a year spent either on a plane or on some remote film set. “She’s lying in bed; how can she read scripts? She’ll ruin her eyes.”

“Mommy, I’ll read them to her. We have the same line of work; I’ll explain the scripts to her. Don’t worry.”

Mrs. Nie thought about it and found it quite reasonable. She finally compromised. “Alright, alright then.”

Nie Zhuying fought to keep her expression neutral, but the corners of her mouth curled up uncontrollably. She could finally play “kissing games” with her wife again.

Xia Qingye didn’t know about Nie Zhuying’s little scheme yet, but she was a bit confused when she saw her come in with a stack of scripts. “Yu Lan brought all those?”

Nie Zhuying gave a soft hum. “She went out to play with Nuonuo. I’m here to discuss scripts with you.”

Xia Qingye had been bored anyway. “Sure.”

Actually, Nie Zhuying had already skimmed them and wasn’t satisfied with any, but it was better than nothing—especially with Mrs. Nie watching. She reluctantly pulled one out. “I’ve looked through these for you. Do you want to hear about the literary-focused ones or the comedies first?”

“Either is fine.”

Mrs. Nie quietly opened the door to check, saw Nie Zhuying seriously discussing a movie plot with Xia Qingye, listened for a moment, and then retreated.

The moment Nie Zhuying heard the door click shut, she dropped the act. Like a hungry wolf pouncing on prey, she leaned over the bedside. “Qingqing, you’ve spent all your time with Mommy lately and haven’t thought about me at all. Tell me, how are you going to compensate me?”

Xia Qingye blinked, realization dawning. “So you didn’t actually want to talk about scripts.”

Nie Zhuying flared up. “Are scripts more important than me?”

Xia Qingye toyed with the curls falling around the other’s face. “Then how do you want me to compensate you?”

Nie Zhuying pouted her lips and leaned in.

Xia Qingye was moved to laughter by the blunt gesture. She thought for a second, but just as she lifted her head to lean in, she heard Mrs. Nie’s voice: “Xiaoying, Qingye, you must be tired from talking about scripts. Come, I’ve just sliced some fruit.”

Xia Qingye frantically tried to push Nie Zhuying away, but in her panic, things only got messier. Nie Zhuying ended up pinned directly against Xia Qingye’s body.

Mrs. Nie pushed the door open to see exactly that. Xia Qingye’s face went white with fright. As for Nie Zhuying, her forehead had slammed into Xia Qingye’s chin; she was currently rubbing her own brow in pain.

Mrs. Nie’s eyes widened. She set the fruit plate down and scolded, “Xiaoying, what are you doing? You’re a grown woman—how can you just sprawl on top of Qingye? Do you know how heavy you are?”

Nie Zhuying saw that Xia Qingye’s chin was red and countered righteously, “Mommy, why didn’t you knock before coming in? We were rehearsing a script, and you startled us! Look, Qingqing’s chin is all red because of the bump.”

Mrs. Nie leaned in to look; it really was a large red patch. “My fault, my fault. I was just worried you’d have nothing to eat and prepared some fruit. Who knew… Qingye, is it bad? Should I get some ointment for you?”

Xia Qingye’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest. “Ma’am, don’t blame yourself. The skin isn’t broken or anything; no need for ointment. Besides, it was just because we were too immersed in the script.”

Mrs. Nie was full of self-reproach and left the fruit plate behind as she hurried out.

Once she was gone, Nie Zhuying leaned in distress to kiss the spot twice. Xia Qingye hurriedly pushed her away, fearing Mrs. Nie might make a sudden return. Nie Zhuying grumbled, “What’s the rush? If you hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t have bumped you.”

Xia Qingye was utterly impressed by Nie Zhuying’s ability to shift the blame with a straight face. “You were so harsh to your mother; she’ll be sad. When we eat later, make sure to serve her the dishes she likes and coax her a bit.”

Nie Zhuying huffed, picked up a slice of apple, and started munching loudly.

From then on, whenever Mrs. Nie came to Xia Qingye’s room, she would knock. It served as a safety guarantee for the two to have their private moments.

Having reclaimed her time from Mrs. Nie, Nie Zhuying wanted to show off on WeChat. However, she poked at her chat history with Jin Manxi and saw those three words—”old virgin”—and started grinding her teeth. “You eternal bachelorette. At least I have a wife; you don’t even have that.”

Nie Zhuying didn’t actually snap back at Jin Manxi on WeChat. Instead, she took a detour and started searching on Weibo and other sites. She actually managed to find quite a few “goodies.”

There was a blogger with about ten thousand followers who was a web novel writer. She didn’t write heteronormative romance; she specialized in love stories between two women. Naturally, some “indescribable” content was posted on her Weibo as per her fans’ requests.

Nie Zhuying hadn’t noticed this person before. She only paid attention because someone had tagged her in a post. She followed the trail to find this blogger, who had used a character Nie Zhuying played in a drama as a prototype to write a “Yuri” fan-fiction novel.

Nie Zhuying nearly exploded with rage on the spot. She almost rolled up her sleeves to start a war with the blogger, but whether the blogger didn’t see the message or for some other reason, she received no reply. To pass the time, she clicked into the “indescribable” fan-fiction.

“Ah, Liuliu, I can’t take it anymore~”

“Little baby, be good. Open your legs a bit wider and let Big Sister kiss you.”

…

(The following 3,000 words of indescribable content are omitted.)

A thunderous sound echoed in Nie Zhuying’s mind; a door to a new world had swung wide open. She stared at the description with a fierce gaze. The more she read, the angrier she became, her face flushing deep red. Yet, as she fumed, she kept reading. “Outrageous! Truly outrageous! How could Liu Xu fall for that ‘White Lotus’ Bai Xinrui?”

Liu Xu was the name of the protagonist she had played in a drama, while Bai Xinrui was the vicious female supporting character—a “White Lotus” fighter, basically a “green tea b*tch.”

Nie Zhuying felt her thoughts being led into a ditch by this blogger. While she grit her teeth thinking about settling scores with the writer, she also secretly copied those three thousand words of indescribable content.

Don’t ask why she copied it.

After copying, Nie Zhuying very cleverly replaced the names of the two protagonists with Xia Qingye and Nie Zhuying.

Then, the original text became like this:

“Ah, Zhuzi, I can’t take it anymore~” Xia Qingye lay beneath the other, her face full of passion.

“Little baby, be good. Open your legs a bit wider and let Big Sister kiss you.” Nie Zhuying leaned down wickedly and captured a certain softness in her mouth.

“Mmm, ah~~ Zhuzi, don’t… don’t do that~”

“Qingqing, tell me what you want. Tell me and I’ll give it to you.”

…

(The following 3,000 words of indescribable content are omitted. Author “…”)

Nie Zhuying looked at it. It seemed much more pleasing to the eye than before. “Hmph, that’s more like it.”