Villainous Movie Star (12)
Song Xuyi is already numb.
Every time she sees Zhao Qingyu, she can’t help but embarrass herself.
In the morning, with the temperature low, Song Xuyi dressed warmly. When she fell down, it wasn’t really a big fall, but when Zhao Qingyu suppressed her laughter and helped her up, Song Xuyi’s face involuntarily turned red.
The smile on Zhao Qingyu’s face is really annoying!
“Xuyi, how did you end up here?”
Zhao Qingyu dressed very simply, tying her hair into a ponytail without any makeup. She wore a sporty outfit. After Song Xuyi explained her purpose and mentioned that she would also stay in the village for over a month, Zhao Qingyu smiled even more brightly.
“I’ve been here for a few days already, planning to go for a run. Would you like to take a run around the village with me?” she asked, but before Song Xuyi could respond, Zhao Qingyu had already grabbed her and started running.
The two bodyguards insisted on following them, so Song Xuyi had no choice but to jog with them. Over the past year, she had been immersed in her studies and hadn’t had much time for exercise. Naturally, she couldn’t keep up with the year-round fitness of the female celebrity and professional bodyguards. After running for a short while, Song Xuyi started to feel out of breath, while the other three seemed completely unaffected.
Song Xuyi quickly fell far behind. She looked around and planned to sneak back halfway, but Zhao Qingyu stopped and turned to look at her, waiting ahead with a smile that seemed both teasing and genuine. “Xuyi, come over here quickly!”
Song Xuyi gritted her teeth and reluctantly ran up to Zhao Qingyu.
“Wipe off the sweat.”
Zhao Qingyu looked at Song Xuyi, who ran over with flushed cheeks, and her eyes dimmed. She took out a wet tissue from her pocket and leisurely tore open the packaging. She lowered her head and carefully wiped the sweat off Song Xuyi’s forehead.
——Song Xuyi’s hand, reaching out to take the wet tissue, froze in mid-air.
She never expected Zhao Qingyu would wipe her sweat for her.
The distance between them was too close, close enough for Song Xuyi to feel Zhao Qingyu’s shallow breath. Zhao Qingyu’s expression appeared incredibly focused, with long lashes like butterfly wings. In that moment, there was a hint of strange tenderness in her gaze.
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Song Xuyi was taken aback, feeling a sense of inexplicable nervousness. She pursed her lips, lowered her head slightly, and with a dry throat, she spoke, “I… I can do it myself!”
“Don’t move,” the villain chuckled lightly. Her voice was soft, barely audible to anyone except Song Xuyi. The tone was still gentle, but the words she spoke sounded extremely malicious to Song Xuyi’s ears. “Are you sure you can handle it on your own?”
“A kid having two parents watching over during a simple run…”
Song Xuyi widened her eyes.
The previous villain at least pretended a little, but now… Was she giving up the pretense in front of her?
What’s even more infuriating is that she was the one who caused the trouble in the first place, yet she has the audacity to turn it around!
Song Xuyi’s eyes widened, fully aware that the villain was intentionally trying to provoke her, yet she couldn’t suppress the anger welling up inside her——
So infuriating!
If it weren’t for Zhao Qingyu’s beautiful face, she would really want to punch that detestable face of hers!
……
However, the villain seemed completely oblivious to Song Xuyi’s embarrassment. Seeing the two bodyguards turning their heads, she slowly wiped the sweat off Song Xuyi’s forehead, gently touching the head hidden under the hat as if petting a small animal. She then resumed her caring older sister demeanor and continued jogging alongside Song Xuyi.
“Xuyi, you’re going to be a doctor in the future. How will this petite body handle a surgery?”
“You should exercise more to strengthen your body…”
With a blank face, Song Xuyi couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the hypocritical advice from the villain. She silently took out a pair of small Bluetooth earphones and plugged them into her ears. With a surge of anger in her chest, she pushed forward without a second thought…
Perhaps due to her anger, Song Xuyi performed exceptionally well and quickly completed a lap, returning to the entrance of the courtyard.
As Song Xuyi and the system criticized the villain along the way, Song Xuyi gradually calmed down. It was for the best that the villain’s pretense was exposed. She no longer needed to pretend to be a fan in the future.
Feeling relieved, Song Xuyi was about to enter the courtyard when unexpectedly, Zhao Qingyu reached over and removed one of her earphones. Zhao Qingyu, who had caught up, still had that annoying smile on her face. “What song had you so engrossed? Let me listen too…”
Before she could finish saying “listen,” she heard the sound of ancient bells and wooden fish from the 《Heart Sutra》 in the earphone. The smile on Zhao Qingyu’s face abruptly disappeared, replaced by a rare moment of stiffness in her expression.
She turned her gaze towards Song Xuyi, who was pouting and glaring at her, her entire face clearly showing anger.
“You… Haha…”
Zhao Qingyu couldn’t help but burst into laughter——
She laughed like never before, laughing so heartily that tears streamed from her eyes. Song Xuyi, gazing at her, went from an expression of condemnation to confusion…
She must think I’ve gone mad, right?
However, Zhao Qingyu didn’t say anything more. Slowly, she returned the earphone to Song Xuyi’s hand and gently hugged her.
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“Xuyi, you’re so adorable.”
You’re as adorable as a persistent and innocent child, making me irresistibly drawn to you yet afraid of defiling you.
That villain is truly detestable!
Song Xuyi felt that her trip here was a mistake.
She was like a pitiful rabbit, foolishly venturing into the territory of a gray wolf. With Zhao Qingyu here, Song Xuyi could almost guarantee that her upcoming days would be extremely “eventful.”
As expected, in the evening, a text message from Zhao Qingyu appeared on Song Xuyi’s phone.
“You need to exercise, so let’s go for a run together tomorrow morning at 7 o’clock!”
Song Xuyi pursed her lips, not wanting to pay her any attention. However, the next text message quickly followed.
“I’ll be downstairs on time, so even if you sleep in, it’s fine. I’ll come upstairs to wake you up ^_^…”
Song Xuyi deciphered Zhao Qingyu’s underlying message: Don’t even think about escaping.
This was a blatant threat!
Song Xuyi clenched her jaw tightly, but she knew too well that the villain always followed through with her words. Reluctantly, she set her alarm clock for 6:30 a.m.
Song Xuyi tossed and turned all night, preparing herself for the teasing she would endure during the run. However, to her surprise, Zhao Qingyu didn’t deliberately toy with her during their run. It seemed as if she had returned to being the seemingly gentle and kind-hearted Zhao Qingyu who kept others at a distance.
The heart of a villain is like a needle hidden in the sea.
Song Xuyi didn’t want to speculate on the reason for Zhao Qingyu’s change. The fact that Zhao Qingyu stopped teasing her was enough, and Song Xuyi was content with that.
Aside from the morning run with Zhao Qingyu, Song Xuyi spent the rest of her days accompanying the elderly gentleman on house-to-house medical visits. She also learned the reason why Zhao Qingyu had come here.
Zhao Qingyu’s presence here was related to her upcoming drama. Her previous two works had been on the big screen, and she wanted to challenge herself with a television drama. She accepted a role in a TV drama about the early years of Emperor Su Qing.
Emperor Su Qing, being a legendary figure, naturally attracted a lot of attention in the film and television industry. Numerous related works had been produced in recent decades. It was a daunting task to bring new ideas to a well-known subject matter, as it could easily spark a wave of public criticism.
For Zhao Qingyu, who was currently in the limelight, it wasn’t a good choice, which explained why she hadn’t made her schedule public.
Moreover, not only Zhao Qingyu but also the director and investors of this film came along. They planned to set up the scenes in this mountain village and shoot the first half of the TV drama here.
No wonder the village chief attached such importance to Zhao Qingyu and her team.
Once the project was finalized, even if the film crew left, the built practical sets would remain. Coupled with the fact that this village was Emperor Su Qing’s hometown, along with its natural landscapes and culinary offerings, it had great potential for tourism development.
Now that Zhao Qingyu and her team had been here for almost ten days, the investors were highly impressed after staying for a few days. They had already signed a contract with the town to set up the scenes here and were even considering building a small-scale film and television city.
However, despite having confidence in Zhao Qingyu’s script selection, Song Xuyi still had some doubts. She felt that Zhao Qingyu had other motives for choosing this drama. Unfortunately, Zhao Qingyu had once again switched to her hypocritical mode, and Song Xuyi couldn’t get any information from her. However, it was evident from Zhao Qingyu’s busy schedule, leaving early and returning late every day, that she was truly devoted to this project.
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Song Xuyi no longer tried to inquire further. After all, it was ultimately a good thing for the local people.
Days passed one by one.
Soon, it had been nearly half a month since Song Xuyi arrived here.
Song Xuyi had tanned a bit, and the villagers kindly started calling her “Little Song” the doctor. Although she no longer checked in with Zhao Qingyu, Song Xuyi and Zhao Qingyu still met every day for their runs.
Most of the young people in this area had gone out to work, leaving behind mostly the elderly, women, and children in the village. While they knew Zhao Qingyu was a big star, perhaps due to not having watched her movies, they didn’t have much concept of her profession. Zhao Qingyu lived here very contentedly, and to Song Xuyi’s surprise, she discovered that Zhao Qingyu could actually understand the local dialect and even sing the local folk songs quite well.
When Song Xuyi heard Zhao Qingyu singing folk songs during their run, she was astonished. She knew Zhao Qingyu was dedicated to her craft, always using her own voice in films, but she never expected that Zhao Qingyu would learn the local folk songs so authentically.
And Song Xuyi wasn’t the only one amazed. An elderly lady in the nearby vegetable garden squinted her eyes as she listened to Zhao Qingyu’s folk song. It seemed she found it hard to believe, and she uttered a sentence that Song Xuyi couldn’t understand. Zhao Qingyu, however, lowered her head and after a long while, shook her head at the old lady.
“What did she ask?”
Zhao Qingyu glanced at Song Xuyi and smiled meaninglessly, saying, “She asked if you’re my sister.”
Song Xuyi furrowed her brows, feeling that Zhao Qingyu was just messing around with her. But at this moment, Zhao Qingyu appeared somewhat downcast, and Song Xuyi tactfully didn’t delve further into it.
A few more days passed, and the second batch of supplies donated by Song Xuyi’s parents arrived in the village. On that day, Song Xuyi didn’t accompany the elderly gentleman on his medical mission. Instead, she and two bodyguards rode on a tractor driven by a local guide to go out and pick up the supplies.
No one expected that halfway through the journey, a strong wind suddenly blew, accompanied by heavy rain and hail. The temperature dropped by nearly 20 degrees Celsius in an instant. Fortunately, Song Xuyi’s parents had donated down jackets among the supplies. After putting on the jackets, they felt some relief from the cold.
Due to the rain, darkness fell quickly, and by the time they returned to the village, it was already dark.
The first floor was in chaos. Many people had caught a cold due to the sudden severe weather, and they were seeking medical treatment from the elderly gentleman. After taking a hot bath and wrapping herself in two blankets, Song Xuyi had just begun to relax when she suddenly heard a cry of alarm from the next room. While she didn’t understand the local dialect very well, she clearly heard the words “Qingyu” in it. Instinctively, her heart trembled:
Zhao Qingyu hadn’t returned!
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Rubbing hands together, twinkling eyes: “Darlings, are you really not considering giving the author a few bottles? (*^_^*) ~
LP: Re-translated on December 22, 2023