This Best Actress is a Bit Annoying - Chapter 9

Xia Qingye sat on the sofa and flicked her chin, signaling for her to sit as well.

Yu Lan’s heart was like fifteen buckets in a well—up and down, in total disarray. She didn’t even dare to make eye contact with Xia Qingye. She could practically hear the loud thump-thump of her own heart and the sound of her own nervous swallowing. “Sister Xia… did you need something?”

Xia Qingye crossed her legs and leaned forward. She held up her hands, inspecting her deep red nail polish against the light. “Yu Lan, do my nails look good?”

Yu Lan was bewildered. She stared at Xia Qingye, blinking rapidly, looking completely dazed.

Xia Qingye gave a gentle smile. She stood up, walked over to Yu Lan, and tilted the girl’s chin up with a flirtatious finger. Brushing her thumb against the girl’s skin, she smiled. “Such delicate, fair skin… and so supple. To the touch, it feels even better than my own face. It’s truly enviable. Tell me, if I were to lightly graze a line across your face with this nail… would this face still be of any use?”

Though Xia Qingye was smiling, her eyes remained ice-cold.

Yu Lan trembled from head to toe, looking as if she were about to burst into tears. “Sis… Sister Xia, your skin is the one that’s truly good. I stay up late all the time; my skin is rough and dull. I can’t compare to you.”

Xia Qingye let out a soft snort. It wasn’t loud, but it struck Yu Lan’s heart like a heavy sledgehammer. Yu Lan couldn’t stop thinking: It’s over, it’s over. Sister Xia is going to kill me to keep me quiet. Waaa, I haven’t lived long enough!

Sure enough, Xia Qingye’s threat followed quickly: “If you confess everything you know clearly, I might let you live a good life. But if you don’t know what’s good for you, it won’t just be a matter of your face anymore.”

Yu Lan’s heart shivered. She was only in it for the money; she didn’t want to risk her life! She steeled her heart, closed her eyes, and let it all out. “Sister Xia, I’ll talk! I’ll confess everything! Actually, I was sent by CEO Xia to look after you. I report your schedule to him every day, and I have to prioritize reporting any ‘special’ situations.”

A flicker of a smile passed through Xia Qingye’s eyes, making her captivating “peach blossom” eyes curve into little crescents. Yet, she kept her voice low on purpose. “Hmm? What else?”

Yu Lan racked her brain. “Usually, I send text messages to CEO Xia. But these past few days, he’s been worried about your emotional stability, so he requested that I call him every so often.”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been caught so easily.

Xia Qingye crossed her arms, her fingers tapping a rhythmic beat against her shoulder. After a long pause, she turned back to stare at Yu Lan.

Yu Lan feared Xia Qingye’s eyes most. People say the eyes are the window to the soul, but she felt that beneath those endlessly tempting eyes lay a fierce beast. She never knew when this beast would break through its cage and appear unexpectedly before her.

“Sis… Sister Xia, wh-what else do you want to know?”

“Yu Lan, you need to understand one thing.” Xia Qingye sat back on the sofa and reminded her gently, “My brother dotes on me. If one day I tell him that you’re making me feel… ‘uncomfortable,’ what do you think he’ll do?”

Yu Lan didn’t even have to think about the result. She had passed through rigorous screenings to get this high-paying job and didn’t want to lose it so soon. Her reaction was lightning-fast: “Sister Xia, I… I’ll listen to you from now on!”

Xia Qingye reached out her hand. Yu Lan froze for a second, then quickly pulled out her phone and handed it over submissively. “Sister Xia, do I still need to report these things in the future?”

Xia Qingye quickly scrolled through the texts Yu Lan had drafted and was secretly shocked. Fortunately, she had been working hard to make the original body adapt to a celebrity’s life—staying low-profile and strictly moving between work and home. If she hadn’t, her “persona” would have collapsed long ago.

“Yes. In the future, show me your drafts before you send them. You should know by now what should and shouldn’t be said.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Now, send this video to my brother.”

Yu Lan looked; it was the short video she had copied from the prop-guy today. She felt a surge of relief. “I’ll message CEO Xia right away.”

A few days later, while filming a scene where Bai Qinying interrogates a young girl who was passing messages for the Communists, Yu Lan stood on set like a wooden statue, unable to snap out of it for a long time. In the scene, the Japanese officers had taken turns beating the girl without breaking her, but when Bai Qinying volunteered to take over, she was actually trying to pass a secret message to the girl.

Listening to those familiar interrogation lines, Yu Lan felt a chill—Sister Xia was really applying her “real-life” tactics to the screen.

Chu Rou’s “sincerity” post had been slapped so hard by Xia Qingye’s evidence that her face was swollen; she lost countless fans instantly. In contrast, Xia Qingye’s “stupid” behavior—her high-spending receipts and frequent transfers to Chu Rou—along with her “sincere love for her idol,” actually attracted many passersby. Fans were convinced by the luxury bills that she was a “wealthy heiress fan.” The previous trending topic about her using the “casting couch” collapsed on its own. With Wei Xianghong’s careful guidance, the “water army” began exposing how Xia Qingye had actually used her own connections to find resources for Chu Rou.

Furthermore, a video of Chu Rou’s arrogant behavior—yelling at her little assistant on set—was leaked online. Within moments, she was trending again for all the wrong reasons.

The “pure maiden” persona Chu Rou had spent three years building was completely destroyed. Scandal after scandal dominated the trending charts for over half a month.

“All you do is drink! Think of something!”

“I warned you from the start not to get too close to fans,” Fang Xiang snapped, popping open a beer. He loosened his collar, exposing half his chest, and took a huge gulp before smashing the can onto the floor with an ear-piercing screech. “That ‘wealthy brain-dead fan’ set you up on purpose. She likely set the trap long ago and waited for you to jump. Stupid! You fell for it and didn’t even know. Dammit, that woman Wei Xianghong is a mad dog; she bites anyone she catches.”

Chu Rou was startled by his outburst, but upon reflection, she realized he was right. “Wait, I remember the day you drove me home—I saw Xia Qingye downstairs at the apartment. She asked for a signature and a photo, then @-ed me on Weibo.”

Chu Rou’s eyes widened in disbelief. “She was already a company artist then! Otherwise, how could she just happen to be at the apartments? She was already plotting against me! No, I have to go demand answers!”

Fang Xiang rolled his eyes dismissively. “Are you crazy? Anything you say now is just giving them more leverage. The priority is to wait for the public’s attention to shift. Once people forget, your new drama will premiere and your popularity will return. For now, just focus on filming.”

Chu Rou was unwilling. “Are we just going to let her go?”

Fang Xiang’s eyes narrowed, and he let out a vicious laugh. “Of course not. I might not be able to handle Xie Zhe, but I refuse to believe I can’t handle a newcomer.”

Three days later, Xia Qingye learned from Yu Lan that her obsessive brother was coming to visit the set. She proactively asked Director Xun Guang for leave, moving her scenes for the day to be before Film Emperor Lu Yu’s. After finishing early, she went back to her room to tidy up.

Chu Rou had been watching Xia Qingye the entire time. Seeing her leave with her assistant right on schedule, she immediately wanted to follow. However, she had scenes to film that day. In The Twin Flowers, she played Bai Qinying’s younger sister, Noriko Arima—a crucial role. Both sisters were spies for different countries, choosing to fight their own battles: one providing info for the Communists, the other leaking info to the Japanese. After multiple secret clashes, they set layers of traps to lure each other out.

“Cut, cut, cut! Chu Rou, what on earth are you doing? Where are your lines?”

“I—” Chu Rou looked weak and fragile. In the past, people might have felt pity for her, but since her persona crashed, everyone on set avoided her like the plague to avoid being “targeted”—Xia Qingye being the prime example of what happens when you get too close.

With Xia Qingye’s “cheat-code” level acting and Lu Yu’s powerhouse performance, the two would often “clash” and elevate each other’s scenes. The sheer thrill of their performance made even Director Xun feel he had found the perfect cast, wishing he could finish all their scenes in one go.

As the saying goes, “There is no harm without comparison.” Compared to them, Chu Rou’s acting as a “traffic starlet” was unwatchable. They simply weren’t on the same level.

“I’m sorry, Director.”

“You’re here to film, not to cause trouble,” Xun Guang scolded with a stern face. “If you can’t memorize your lines, spend more time on it at night. Don’t spend all day on useless nonsense.” Everyone else on set stayed quiet, but many were stifling laughs.

Chu Rou was so angry her nose nearly went crooked. The phrase “causing trouble” was clearly aimed at her—he might as well have said her name.

Xia Qingye was unaware of the drama on set. She tidied up in her room and received a call from Xia Yanbo. When she went down, she saw him already waiting in his car.

“Brother.”

“Qingye, I’m starting to regret it.”

“Hmm?”

Xia Yanbo got out, took her light luggage, and put it in the trunk. He then affectionately pinched her cheek. “I regret our three conditions. Look at you—you’ve lost weight. Have you been suffering?”

Xia Qingye was consciously controlling her weight, as it was vital for a female artist. She wasn’t fat, nor had she lost too much, so she just smiled at her brother’s blatant “nonsense.”

“Brother, you know about me trending, right?”

“I know. What, is that Chu Rou still giving you trouble?” Xia Yanbo frowned his handsome brow and started the car, considering if he should have someone dig up Chu Rou’s secrets.

Xia Qingye leaned against the window and glanced around, saying nonchalantly, “She’s currently too busy with her own mess to bother me. But… if someone sees me getting into a luxury car like this, I think I’ll probably be trending again.”

“Why?”

“Brother, don’t you think the headline ‘Xia Qingye is being kept by a Sugar Daddy’ is catchy enough?”

“…”