Volume One, Chapter 13: One Moment Close, the Next Spreading Rumors—Who Allowed This?

“Stab—”

Hearing this, Su Nianxi slammed on the brakes and stopped on the spot. “You’re coming down yourself?”

This sister was quite bold.

She had originally thought it was the agency behind her causing trouble, but it turned out to be the person herself.

Interesting, very interesting.

“Besides, I heard her agency is pretty powerful. The second female lead in ‘Yun Li’ is definitely hers,” Xiao Qu nervously reminded her.

The role hadn’t been finalized yet, and she was already acting up like this. If she joined the crew later, who knew what underhanded tricks she might pull.

“Whatever,” Su Nianxi said indifferently, speeding up again to slide into the boarding gate just before the plane door closed.

The flight from S City to A City was only an hour.

Su Nianxi felt like she had barely caught her breath in her seat before the plane was already descending.

Xiao Qu kept reciting the MV shooting script to Su Nianxi relentlessly. “This time, our MV will mainly be shot indoors. Once we arrive, we’ll head to the recording studio first. We aim to finish before six, and start makeup and filming around eight.”

Upon hearing the schedule, Su Nianxi raised her hand in protest. “Don’t I get any independent meal time?”

“Forget meal time, you don’t even get your own sleep time today,” Xiao Qu said affectionately. “Considering we have to rush back to the show crew tomorrow afternoon, tonight… it’s basically an all-nighter.”

Su Nianxi’s spirits immediately deflated.

In her previous life, she had worked herself to the bone just to achieve the freedom to slack off. Now, after this reincarnation, she had to start the grind all over again—forever.

Su Nianxi felt utterly defeated, and this feeling only intensified after the plane landed and taxied.

She glanced at the buttocks less than five centimeters from her beautiful face for the first time understanding the phrase “hot face pressed against hot buttocks.”

“Do you think they believe if we don’t stand up, the captain won’t know someone’s getting off at this stop?” Su Nianxi muttered quietly to Xiao Qu with a crooked smile.

“Hang in there,” Xiao Qu sat further inside and gave her a thumbs-up. “Once the company covers expenses, I’ll book you business class.”

At this, Su Nianxi was completely hopeless.

With Xinglan’s stinginess, it was already lucky she wasn’t driving eight hours straight to A City.

Just as she sighed, she saw Xiao Qu rummage through her bag and pull out a vlog camera from the very bottom.

“What are you doing?” Su Nianxi braced herself.

“Filming daily life. You’re at least a female celebrity, aren’t you? Are you really just going to rant on Weibo without posting anything else?” Xiao Qu glared at her and clicked the power on.

---

Alright then.

Su Nianxi had no energy left to argue. If anyone loved work more, it was definitely Xiao Qu.

After getting off the plane, Xiao Qu arranged a car that took them straight to the recording studio.

This studio in A City was the most expensive and well-equipped, so most singers preferred to record here.

When Su Nianxi arrived, another group was still recording.

She wasn’t in a hurry and casually started playing a match-three game on her phone.

Five minutes later, she began to notice the staff’s whispers growing louder nearby.

“Isn’t the one recording Teacher Xiao? She’s so pretty in real life! And so gentle; she brought milk tea for every one of us,” a young girl excitedly said.

“Yeah, didn’t expect her to be so nice. I always thought famous stars like her wouldn’t bother with people,” another chimed in. “But she’s got plenty of drama. Didn’t she get scolded yesterday by another star for getting too close?”

“Shh, be careful what you say! That ‘devil’ is here today too. If she hears you, she’ll probably curse us online,” the first girl quickly covered her mouth and lowered her voice.

Xiao Qu, hearing the clear and pleasant echoes in the studio, coughed twice to remind them to keep quiet.

The two girls glanced over, then hurriedly pulled each other out of the room.

Once the room quieted down, Xiao Qu looked at Su Nianxi, who was silently staring at the wall, lost in thought. “Nian Nian, don’t take what they said to heart. They don’t really understand you…”

“No, I was just reflecting,” Su Nianxi interrupted, raising her hand thoughtfully. “Actually, they weren’t wrong. My life philosophy is: those who confront the sovereign’s faults with a stabbing face shall have their entire clan executed. Those who admonish the sovereign online shall face the severest punishment. Those who slander the sovereign in public shall be granted the mercy of suicide.”

“So?” Xiao Qu was baffled by her sudden classical Chinese speech.

“So, I’m not a devil; I’m an emperor,” Su Nianxi said solemnly.

Xiao Qu…

Xiao Qu wanted to pry open her forehead to see whether it held brains or tofu.

Fortunately, they didn’t wait long before Xiao Yueqing and her assistant came out.

Seeing Su Nianxi, Xiao Yueqing seemed somewhat surprised but kept smiling as she greeted, “Teacher Su, good afternoon. This is our first meeting, right?”

“Yep,” Su Nianxi’s automatic reply kicked in, “first time.”

“I’ve looked you up before and always thought you were beautiful. Didn’t expect you to be even more attractive than your photos online!” Xiao Yueqing smiled. “I heard we might collaborate later. If so, we should have a meal together sometime!”

“Yes, I know I’m beautiful,” Su Nianxi continued with auto-reply.

Xiao Yueqing: “…” She was running out of things to say.

Her assistant raised a phone and came up to her, but Xiao Yueqing waved her off. “Ah, I was just live streaming. Teacher Su, do you mind being on camera?”

“I do,” Su Nianxi nodded emphatically.

Xiao Yueqing was speechless and could only laugh awkwardly as she and her assistant stepped aside.

With Xiao Yueqing’s harassment over, Su Nianxi finally entered the recording studio with Xiao Qu.

The sound engineer in charge came over and briefly explained the process.

“If everything’s okay, we’ll start recording. If you need to stop, I’ll notify you through the earpiece outside.”

After speaking, the sound engineer turned to leave but, perhaps exhausted from the long day, staggered and fell to the floor.

“Ah—” Xiao Qu at the door watched in horror and screamed.

Outside, several staff members rushed over upon hearing the noise, anxiously debating whether to call an ambulance.

Su Nianxi frowned slightly and was just about to remove her headphones and approach when a fake-sounding voice came from nearby.

Then she heard a familiar voice she didn’t want to hear at all.

“Teacher Su, what did you do to the sound engineer?”

Looking up, Su Nianxi saw the feigning panic Xiao Yueqing rushing over with her assistant, her eyes wide with shock.

Seriously, what did the sound engineer falling have to do with her? She hadn’t even touched the guy’s clothes.

Yet Xiao Yueqing’s voice trembled as she pointed at Su Nianxi on camera, accusing her, “Teacher Su, I understand if you have grievances against me, but you shouldn’t take it out on the sound engineer. He’s been helping me record songs all day and is already exhausted. We’re all hardworking people; it’s too much for you to vent like this.”

Su Nianxi didn’t say a word and was already nailed to the pillar of shame as the hot-tempered shrew.

She watched the theatrically dramatic Xiao Yueqing with a blank expression and couldn’t help but sneer coldly.

Good. The acting was just too real.

One moment they’re all smiles, the next they’re slandering—who put up with her?