Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After figuring this out, it was naturally understandable where Sun Yuxin’s hostility came from.

Pei Chuzhi didn’t want to cause trouble at the recording site and decided she’d better stay far away from Sun Yuxin today.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as she wished.

A staff member came over to explain the filming notes: “Later you stay in the ‘office’ area. After the guest ‘wakes up,’ you’re responsible for telling her the clues you know.”

“Who Is the Murderer” was a suspense variety show combined with escape room elements. According to the process, at the beginning of each episode’s recording, celebrity guests would be scattered into different rooms, collect clues individually, and then regroup to solve the case.

Pei Chuzhi asked: “Which guest corresponds to me?”

“Sun Yuxin.”

Pei Chuzhi twitched the corner of her mouth.

Was she in Mercury retrograde lately? Otherwise why did she keep encountering such unlucky situations?

·

A few meters away, Sun Yuxin, who had just learned the filming plan, was quite unhappy.

When she had just debuted, in order to create buzz, she publicly confessed to Xing Ye on Weibo, shaping a very down-to-earth fangirl persona. It did resonate with many fandom girls at the time and earned her quite a bit of goodwill from passersby.

Sun Yuxin still remembered that she crashed badly backstage at a large event.

That day, the organizer arranged for someone to do a backstage livestream with a phone.

To carry through her fangirl persona, when she saw Xing Ye being interviewed, she smilingly approached him, pretending to be excited and chattering for a long time about her movie impressions.

—Of course, the impressions had been prepared in advance by her assistant. She hadn’t memorized them completely, so she smartly rephrased the parts she couldn’t remember.

But a tiny difference led to a huge mistake.

In front of the livestream camera, Xing Ye didn’t even look at her, and only coldly said one sentence: “If you didn’t understand it, don’t pretend you did.”

The livestream comments exploded immediately.

For a long time afterward, gossip forums referred to Sun Yuxin as a “fake fan.”

From then on, Sun Yuxin didn’t dare mention Xing Ye’s name on Weibo.

There were many people in the entertainment industry whose hype backfired; normally this matter would have passed.

But Pei Chuzhi had just trended with Xing Ye yesterday. Sun Yuxin wanted everyone to quickly forget her own failed attempt at riding popularity, so how could she accept appearing in the same frame with her.

Thus Sun Yuxin ignored her assistant’s attempts to stop her and went directly to the director.

After hearing her complaints, the director cursed several times internally.

Sun Yuxin’s embarrassment had been two years ago; he hadn’t expected her to be so petty.

This kind of puzzle-solving variety show script emphasized tight logic; every line could affect the plot’s direction and outcome.

They couldn’t adjust the script at the last minute just for Sun Yuxin’s request.

But facing Sun Yuxin’s clear refusal to cooperate, the director had no choice but to call someone to bring Pei Chuzhi over, intending to have her temporarily swap NPC roles with another actor.

Pei Chuzhi was mentally prepared when she was called into the small room.

After hearing the director’s request, she hesitated for a few seconds and asked softly: “Can we not change?”

She had prepared for this role for several days. Changing roles at the last minute would definitely not be as effective as the original.

There were no cameras here and no other staff. Sun Yuxin had no intention of hiding her spoiled temperament.

She sat sideways on the sofa with legs crossed, playing with her newly done nails. “It’s just a small role. Changing it won’t affect filming results. Right, Director Chen?”

“Uh, yes, the role doesn’t have much screen time. The audience won’t care.”

The director was a shrewd person. Compared to the already famous Sun Yuxin, Pei Chuzhi—who only got lucky trending with Xing Ye—was obviously easier to handle. He turned his head, his expression more serious. “Cooperate and finish recording the program. If there’s an opportunity in the future, we’ll look for you again.”

The implication was that if she didn’t cooperate this time, there would be no need for future collaboration.

Pei Chuzhi lowered her eyelashes, the unwillingness in her eyes gradually deepening.

She knew it was a small role, but it was also one she had put effort into.

When she first entered university, a teacher had once told everyone from the podium: “As an actor, you can give way on anything, but you must not give up your role.”

She had always done the same.

She could accept not being famous, but she couldn’t accept her hard work being trampled like this.

Pei Chuzhi slowly raised her eyes, her tone slightly more firm than before: “Sorry, I need a reasonable reason.”

The director immediately pulled a long face.

Sun Yuxin sneered and began fanning the flames: “Actors nowadays have quite a temper. Not even listening to the director. In another crew, you’d be kicked out.”

“You…”

The director pointed at Pei Chuzhi, seeming to think she didn’t know what was good for her. “Fine. There are plenty of extras in the film base. I’ll find someone to replace you right now.”

Pei Chuzhi said “Mm.”

She knew the director didn’t want to deal with this mess either, so she nodded at him and turned to leave.

Just as her fingers touched the doorknob, Sun Yuxin’s voice sounded behind her.

“Why leave? Director Zhou, originally I was just worried that after the program airs, us appearing in the same frame would be compared by people with ulterior motives, so I suggested switching roles. But with her uncooperative attitude, you can’t blame me for acting like a diva, right?”

Pei Chuzhi couldn’t endure it anymore.

She might usually be a bit laid-back, but that didn’t mean she was a soft bun who wouldn’t resist even when people rode over her head.

And Sun Yuxin had been yapping nonstop. People who spoke sarcastically should just be shut up first.

She took a deep breath. When she turned around, a contemptuous smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

“Compared?”

Sun Yuxin froze, not expecting an eighteenth-tier to dare talk back.

Recalling yesterday’s trending topic, Sun Yuxin’s mind wavered for a moment—could this girl really have something with Xing Ye…

No, impossible.

Sun Yuxin quickly denied the guess.

The eight-centimeter heels clicked lightly on the floor.

Pei Chuzhi walked to Sun Yuxin, lowered her head slightly, and looked down at the woman sitting half a head lower on the sofa. Her tone was sincere but mocking: “Do I need to compare with you?”

Her makeup today was already seductive. Combined with her careless posture, her natural beauty became even more obvious.

Sun Yuxin froze, then became furious. She slapped the sofa armrest and pointed at Pei Chuzhi’s nose, raising her voice: “Who do you think you are, daring to—”

Before she could finish cursing, there was a knock outside.

A staff member cautiously pushed the door open, pretending not to notice the tense atmosphere between the two actresses. “Director Zhou, Xing Ye is here.”

·

Xing Ye had no idea about the conflict at the recording site.

He was currently on vacation. Today he happened to visit a crew at the film base. After chatting with a familiar director, he was about to leave.

Song Shiqing called just in time to remind him that Pei Chuzhi was also recording a variety show here today. Their popularity hadn’t died down yet, so visiting the set was a good opportunity to spark discussion.

When arriving at the studio of the program team, Xing Ye asked his assistant Xiao Zhou to go in first to greet relevant staff, but for some reason he didn’t come back for a long time.

Xing Ye grew impatient and simply got out of the car to find him himself.

Wearing sunglasses, two staff members outside the studio didn’t recognize him for the moment and were squatting by the wall chatting.

“Wasn’t Pei Chuzhi called away?”

“Yeah, I heard Sun Yuxin didn’t want to cooperate with her. She was probably called to switch roles.”

“Sun Yuxin is too unreasonable. Do her fans know she’s like this?”

Xing Ye’s steps paused, and then he saw Xiao Zhou coming out with the program’s producer.

The producer looked pleasantly surprised. As soon as he saw him, he warmly came forward, first expressing enthusiastic welcome, then unable to hold back curiosity, asking whether he came to find a certain celebrity guest.

Xing Ye took off his sunglasses. “Is Pei Chuzhi here?”

“…Who?”

The producer was in his forties and had long passed the age of paying attention to Weibo gossip.

“My friend. She’s recording here today, so I came to take a look.”

Xing Ye’s gaze drifted toward the two stunned staff members by the corner. “But I heard she was bullied?”

The producer was confused, leading Xing Ye inside while hurriedly telling someone to call over the so-called Pei Chuzhi.

Pei Chuzhi was equally confused.

When she was called outside and looked, Xing Ye really was sitting in the studio, chatting with another celebrity guest.

If the surrounding gazes could turn into text, Pei Chuzhi believed they would all be filled with exclamation marks.

【Holy crap, am I dreaming? What’s going on!】

【Xing Ye actually came to find her!】

【Didn’t their scandal get clarified? Are you kidding me! This looks unusual at a glance!】

Amid that atmosphere of surprise and astonishment, Xing Ye seemed to sense her and raised his eyes.

His gaze carried a bit of warmth, gently settling on her face.

Then he lifted his chin slightly and curved his lips, signaling her to come over.

Pei Chuzhi heard the synchronized gasps around her.

She pressed her lips together, stepped across the set in high heels, and when she got close asked, “Y-you… why did you come?”

You can’t just ambush like this—if they were going to hype things, shouldn’t both sides agree on time and place first and maybe plan the plot direction?

“Just wanted to take a look.” Xing Ye lowered his eyes, his gaze sweeping over her white blouse and black skirt professional outfit, frowning meaningfully. “What role are you playing?”

He sounded somewhat unhappy.

Pei Chuzhi’s role today wasn’t a positive one, so the costume design emphasized frivolity. The thin, fitted fabric outlined her figure, and the black short skirt was shortened, revealing her well-proportioned fair long legs.

Her mind worked quickly, guessing Xing Ye was acting.

From his tone, was he setting himself up as a domineering boyfriend?

What kind of girlfriend suited a domineering boyfriend?

Her brief hesitation was quickly interpreted by the director, who had rushed over, as suppressed grievance.

He hurriedly wiped sweat from his forehead, afraid Pei Chuzhi would complain, and answered before she could speak: “A secretary.”

Pei Chuzhi turned her head and saw in his eyes the pleading meaning of “help me out, don’t expose it.”

She had worked with this director several times before and knew he had tried to replace her out of helplessness, so she didn’t intend to make things difficult.

So she nodded and smiled. “Yes, and a bad secretary who seduces the boss. Impressive, right?”

Remembering the important task of hyping CP, she deliberately softened her tone, sounding a bit coquettish.

In the eyes of onlookers, imaginary comment barrage almost filled the entire studio.

They just wanted to take out their phones and leak the news online.

Xing Ye glanced at her and laughed softly.

When he spoke again, he emphasized his words slightly, revealing a trace of anger: “But why did I hear someone wants to replace your role?”