This Best Actress is a Bit Annoying - Chapter 55

“Do you have any better ideas right now? Or, Senior, you could just go public with your relationship; after all, she is your loyal fan.” If Xia Qingye hadn’t seen this Senior proactively clear her name regarding their previous photo, and if she hadn’t given Ye Xuan hope yesterday, she wouldn’t bother with this mess at all.

Xie Zhe immediately sat up straight and said seriously, “Junior, don’t joke. I still have plenty of youthful years to squander; how could I waste them on one woman!”

This was a catchphrase of the playboy Li Xian from Trio.

Xia Qingye admired him; even at a time like this, he could still be flippant. “Then either you or Ye Xuan should step forward to clarify. However, with these ambiguous photos, I suspect even if you do clarify, the fans will only feel you are patronizing them.”

The little assistant beside them couldn’t help but say, “Sister Xia, we called Miss Ye, but for some reason, her phone is powered off.”

“Ye Xuan’s scenes officially ended today.”

“Then… then what do we do?”

Xie Zhe commanded, “Do as my Junior said. Go to the hotel and ask for the surveillance. Go back eight days and look for it.”

Xia Qingye’s method was simple. Since the surveillance for last night was broken, the footage from several days ago when the three of them went out together should still exist. Whether they could find a video that matched the environment and happened to have all three of them present would depend on Xie Zhe’s luck.

The little assistant glanced at Yu Lan, as if asking if she was coming along.

Xia Qingye said, “I have some things for Yu Lan to do. She’ll find you once she’s finished.”

With that explanation, the assistant took off immediately.

Xie Zhe said apologetically, “Sorry. This was my business, but Sister Xiang ended up troubling you with it.”

Xia Qingye signaled for Yu Lan to step away for a moment. “Senior, I don’t want to say too much, but regarding matters of the heart, I want to remind you: if you don’t like someone, don’t give them any illusions—not even a shred of expectation.”

Once the two of them left Xie Zhe’s place and returned to their room upstairs, Yu Lan finally asked, “Sister Xia, do I still need to go help?”

Xia Qingye waved her hand. “Go ahead.”

She picked up her phone and sent a text to Nie Zhuying, but after waiting a long time without a response, she decided to take a bath. Her mind involuntarily drifted back to the things Wen Wan had said earlier.

Zong Cong and Fatty Zhao.

Wen Wan and Zhong Ruanqin.

These four people, who originally seemed unrelated, were suddenly pulled together like a tangle of threads, and the end of those threads was in Zong Cong’s hands.

Xia Qingye’s impression of Zong Cong had always been poor. He looked average—not particularly handsome—but his eyes looked like a venomous snake, his gaze gloomy and sinister, always making people feel extremely uncomfortable.

Thinking of him, she lost the mood to bathe. She took a quick soak, got out, and used her phone to search for Zong Cong’s resume. After looking it over, she couldn’t help but give up.

One could say that Zong Cong’s journey from a poor boy to where he is today made him a “successful person.” His personal resume was packaged perfectly: an inspiring, proactive businessman with a head for business, a love for risk, a bit of luck, a philanthropist, and so on.

How much of it was true and how much was fake, who could tell?

Just as Xia Qingye was at a loss, Nie Zhuying’s video call came through.

“Qingqing, I just saw the message you sent. Oh, you’ve already bathed? Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“…”

“Qingqing, didn’t we agree to bathe together in the future?” Nie Zhuying complained unhappily.

Xia Qingye’s slightly dark mood was instantly dispelled by the other’s “unsatisfied” look. She lay on the bed, wanting to tease her girlfriend. “I wanted to take a bath with you, but unfortunately, you didn’t reply. I waited and waited, so I just went ahead and bathed first.”

Nie Zhuying beat her chest in regret. “It’s all Manxi’s fault; she insisted on pulling me aside to talk about all those rules and regulations.”

Xia Qingye could imagine Jin Manxi’s frustrated expression. If she hadn’t known Jin Manxi had a special interest in Qi Jiani, she might have been jealous herself. “Alright, let’s not talk about Manxi. If you keep talking about her, I’ll get angry too.”

Hearing this, Nie Zhuying felt incredibly happy inside. So my Qingqing gets jealous too.

“Zhuzi, I want to ask you something.”

“Tell me, Qingqing.”

Xia Qingye saw her pour a cup of coffee using the mug with their sticker photo on it, then carry it into her office and sit casually at her desk. “I just want to ask, how much do you know about Zong Cong?”

Nie Zhuying’s brow furrowed imperceptibly, and her smile faded slightly. “Qingqing, why the sudden interest in him? Is he still targeting your brother’s company?”

Xia Qingye shook her head. “Thanks to your father stepping in to help last time; I really don’t know how to thank him.”

Nie Zhuying waved her hand grandly. “Look at our relationship; it’s only right for Daddy to help. But Qingqing, if you really want to thank my Daddy, why not just thank me instead?”

Xia Qingye originally thought Zhong Ruanqin using Xia Yanbo as a threat was just talk. After all, Zong Cong didn’t seem like the type to let a woman’s pillow talk interfere with money. Little did she know that after she and Zhong Ruanqin had their falling out, he truly targeted Xia Yanbo.

Xia Yanbo had kept it hidden from her, always visiting her in a hurry. It wasn’t until she chatted with Mrs. Nie and baited the truth out of her that she learned Zong Cong hadn’t just ruined the cooperation between the two families, but had also suppressed them from all sides. If the Nie family hadn’t injected capital in time, she and her brother might have truly lost everything.

This was truly beyond her expectations.

“Sure, Zhuzi. How do you want me to thank you?”

“Hehe.”

Nie Zhuying’s mind was full of having Xia Qingye lie flat and let her do whatever she wanted—this and that. Hmph, she was going to be the one on top!

Seeing her obviously dazing off, Xia Qingye called out several times. “Actually, it’s about that girl who competed with me for the PSA. When I came back from dinner the other night, I saw her get out of Fatty Zhao’s car. But Sister Xiang told me before that her benefactor was Zong Cong. Some things don’t make sense, so I wanted to ask you.”

“Fatty Zhao?” Nie Zhuying’s voice turned sharp instantly. “That dog.”

“What, you know him too?” Xia Qingye asked curiously.

Nie Zhuying looked disgusted. “That dog took advantage of a chaotic banquet to ruin a young girl. I caught him and beat him up once; I originally wanted to cripple him.”

…And then she was stopped by Xia Tianqing. Xia Qingye silently finished the sentence for her. No wonder when she had lured Fatty Zhao out that time and beaten him with her high heels, Nie Zhuying had charged in so aggressively. It turned out she was standing up for others—very much in character for her.

“Oh, so that’s how it is.”

“Qingqing, in the future, if you see that dead fatty, stay as far away as possible. Never be alone with him. If you happen to run into him, call me and I’ll teach him a lesson for you.”

Xia Qingye wasn’t stupid. From Wen Wan’s words, Fatty Zhao and Zong Cong had always been on the same boat. The question was, when did they get together?

“Zhuzi, you haven’t talked about Zong Cong yet.”

“Manxi told me before that Zong Cong has touched drugs. He’s a very dangerous person.”

“What!”

“That’s why I said your brother is a pig-head! To take you to meet such a dangerous person. From now on, you are not allowed to attend any banquet where Zong Cong is present. Qingqing, did you hear me?” Nie Zhuying’s thoughts were always jumping around; one moment she was talking about Zong Cong, the next she was back to Xia Yanbo’s stupidity, wishing she could call him and scold him again.

Xia Qingye was a bit stunned by the news and offered a weak defense: “My brother meant well; he probably didn’t know Zong Cong’s character.”

Nie Zhuying let out an arrogant huff. “I don’t care. You must promise me.”

After Xia Qingye promised repeatedly, the person on the other side of the video lightened her tone. “Qingqing, let’s stop talking about those annoying things. I brought Xia-Xia and Lazy-Egg over. Look at these two little things.”

The sudden transition from a beautiful face to two cute hamsters didn’t scare Xia Qingye only because she had a strong heart.

Nie Zhuying pointed the camera at the two cages. “Qingqing, can you tell which one is Xia-Xia and which is Lazy-Egg?”

The red mark previously painted on Lazy-Egg’s forehead was gone. The cages were identical, and the hamsters were the same breed. Xia Qingye stared for a long while before rubbing her temples. “I can’t tell. Where’s Yu Lan’s little guy?”

Nie Zhuying paused. “I couldn’t take care of three, so Manxi volunteered to take it home. It’s quite strange, though—didn’t Manxi say she didn’t want to raise hamsters before? Now she’s proactively helping to raise someone else’s. A woman’s heart is a needle at the bottom of the sea; I don’t get it.”

Seeing her puzzled look, Xia Qingye almost blurted out the truth.

“And Nuonuo?”

“Nuonuo can’t be brought over for now. He likes to run around everywhere, and he has a loud voice—he barks at strangers the moment he sees them.”

“Mhm.”

Nie Zhuying teased the hamsters for a bit, then leaned into the camera as if showing off a prize. “Qingqing, let me have Xia-Xia perform a skill for you.”

Xia Qingye looked at her suspiciously. “What skill?”

Nie Zhuying took a long pen and poked at one of the hamsters. The hamster jumped forward with every poke until it was forced into its hideout. Nie Zhuying then used an even longer object to hook the hamster out and continued to tease it.

The scene looked familiar.

Eventually, the hamster was likely driven mad by Nie Zhuying. It lay in the cage, its limbs twitched, and it “died.”

“Hahaha! Qingqing, look! Xia-Xia is playing dead!”

“…”

Truly bringing up the one thing I didn’t want to talk about.

Xia Qingye’s eye twitched. She had nearly managed to forget the stupid thing she had done, yet the woman gave her a live performance of the “hamster playing dead” skill and asked if she was happy or surprised!