The Villainous Film Empress (4)
A little rich girl dedicated to saving the world X A paranoid, dark, and vengeful film empress
Zhao Qingyu was not yet famous, so Song Xuyi, worried that she might be given a hard time at the banquet, went back to look for her as soon as she finished her social obligations.
However, after searching the entire banquet hall, Song Xuyi couldn’t find her.
“Is Miss looking for Miss Zhao?”
The Old Housekeeper walked over with a smile and handed Song Xuyi a small black velvet box. “Miss Zhao said she had something to attend to and left early. She asked me to pass this gift on to you…”
Song Xuyi accepted the gift and subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
She could face anyone in this world with composure, but perhaps because she knew Zhao Qingyu would become the great villain, Song Xuyi always felt inexplicably nervous around her.
Song Xuyi opened the gift.
She had already received many presents that evening. The guests wouldn’t dare be perfunctory with the Song family’s Little Princess, and the dazzling array of exquisite and expensive gifts was overwhelming. Song Xuyi had thought she wouldn’t be moved, but when she saw Zhao Qingyu’s gift, she was stunned for a moment.
It was a small necklace. The pendant was ingeniously fashioned into the shape of a scalpel. The craftsmanship looked extremely refined, and the emerald-green core of the pendant seemed to glow under the lights.
Song Xuyi had to admit, it was her favorite gift of the night.
Everyone, including her host body’s family, thought her decision to study medicine was just a whim.1 Only Song Xuyi herself knew her true resolve:
She was a Task-doer and might have countless missions in the future. So far, she only remembered her life at eighteen. In such a disadvantaged situation, to increase her chances of survival, Song Xuyi was desperate to learn some skills. And medicine was undoubtedly one of the most practical skills for making a living.
Besides, that had been her eighteen-year-old self’s dream.
Song Xuyi never expected that in this world, only Zhao Qingyu would believe she was serious about studying medicine.
“The villain is terrifying!”
The System spoke up again, interrupting the complex emotions swirling in Song Xuyi’s heart. “This necklace was clearly prepared in advance. She must have been keeping an eye on the Song family’s news, which is how she found out about your major declaration so quickly. Task-doer, you must be on your guard…”
It wasn’t difficult to find out that Song Xuyi had been accepted into medical school. Anyone could have found out by asking around, especially since Father Song and Mother Song wished they could tell the whole world about Song Xuyi’s excellent exam results.
But Zhao Qingyu’s ability to read people and discern their thoughts…
Song Xuyi pressed her lips together, her fingers tightening around the necklace with a complicated feeling.
The System wasn’t wrong. This was precisely what made Zhao Qingyu so frightening—as alluring as a poppy. Even though she knew Zhao Qingyu was not someone to be trifled with,2 Song Xuyi still adored the necklace she had sent.
The summer vacation passed quickly.
Song Xuyi completely changed the original host’s love for excitement, spending the entire time at home diligently studying her university coursework in advance. She didn’t know if it was her imagination or something else, but she seemed to grasp the knowledge in the books almost instantly.3 Song Xuyi even had a feeling she had studied related subjects before, but that seemed impossible. After all, in the memories she had of being eighteen, she had enrolled in an arts college under her talent agency’s arrangement to earn money for her grandmother’s nursing home fees.
Seeing Song Xuyi’s attitude toward her studies, the Song family was slow on the uptake,4 only now realizing that she was truly serious about studying medicine.
Once they understood this, their attitude toward her grew even more cautious, as if Song Xuyi were a fragile and delicate glass doll.
The Song family had originally planned to have a driver take Song Xuyi to and from home every day, but she insisted on “wanting to live like a normal person.” Against her family’s objections, she refused the driver and bodyguards, packed a simple bag, and moved into the school dormitory.
Many people in her year knew of Song Xuyi. After all, her looks were one of the best5 among the medical students. But it wasn’t her appearance that made her famous; it was an incident that occurred shortly after the semester began.
Generally, first-year medical students didn’t work with cadavers in their first semester. It was a time for foundational general education courses. However, Song Xuyi’s year had the misfortune of being taught by Professor Huang Shuo, known around the college as the “Black Mountain Old Demon.”6 Huang Shuo was a clinical medical expert sought after by major hospitals, yet for decades he had remained at the university’s Affiliated Hospital, never budging. Experts of his caliber usually only taught graduate or doctoral students, but for some reason, Huang Shuo had taken the initiative to teach undergraduates this year.
Huang Shuo was incredibly strict, and in less than a month, he had tormented the new students to the point of misery. Because of his dark, thin frame, he was secretly dubbed the “Black Mountain Old Demon” by the students. Huang Shuo’s teaching style was lively, and he didn’t play by the book.7 Although the anatomy class was scheduled for the following semester, while lecturing on “Histology,” he was struck by a sudden impulse and led a dense crowd8 of students to the Dissection Room.
That day, even the big and burly,9 hearty, tall guy in the class couldn’t help but throw up. Afterward, some of the girls couldn’t even think about eating braised pork for half a year.
Yet there was one delicate-looking, beautiful girl who, while everyone else gave a wide berth,10 stood at the very front of the group with a calm expression, watching Huang Shuo’s demonstration with what could only be described as rapt fascination. She answered the few questions he posed fluently.
That day, it wasn’t just Huang Shuo; almost everyone remembered this girl’s name—Song Xuyi.
How could they not remember the monster girl who not only escaped a scolding from the irascible Huang Shuo but even earned a “not bad” from him?
Later, someone discovered that Song Xuyi’s Gaokao score was among the lowest in the entire college. This greatly stimulated the competitive spirit of these young students. Objectively motivated by Song Xuyi, the group of students, before they even had a chance to experience the “freedom” their high school teachers had spoken of, plunged into a new round of intense study.
Every teacher likes to tell their students, “You’re the worst class I’ve ever taught.” But with this year’s class, the teachers were utterly astonished. They had seen plenty of hardworking third-year students preparing for graduate school entrance exams, but they had never seen a class of first-years study this hard!
Yet even with their collective effort, everyone still lost to the ‘monster’ Song Xuyi on the midterm exam.
“Xuyi, how is your brain wired? How can you memorize so many facts?” The day the results came out, her roommate Huang Juanjuan clung to Song Xuyi’s arm, sighing. “To keep the gap between us from getting too big, the organization has given me a difficult mission. I have to drag you to our group activity tomorrow, no matter what! It’s the first class activity, so don’t you dare stand me up…”11
Huang Juanjuan was the vice class monitor, a cheerful and enthusiastic person who got along well with everyone.
Song Xuyi really didn’t want to go. She cherished the opportunity to learn and was completely immersed in her studies. For her, medicine was not just an academic pursuit but a passion and a joy.
Moreover, Song Xuyi wasn’t just systematically learning foreign medical theories at school; through Father Song’s connections, she had also found an old doctor of traditional medicine to study under. On weekends, she often went to the old master’s apothecary to learn as a little apprentice.
But since Huang Juanjuan had put it that way, Song Xuyi didn’t want to isolate herself from the group. After a moment’s thought, she nodded. “Alright, I’ll call my family and let them know…”
The group activity was set for the weekend.
The class had wanted to go on an outing for a while, but with the heavy coursework and the “Black Mountain Old Demon” keeping watch, they could never find the time. The only reason they could go now was that Huang Shuo was away on a business trip, allowing them to squeeze out a two-day weekend.
Because time was limited, they didn’t plan to go far, just a trip to the Film Base in the neighboring city.
The class took a bus together. Song Xuyi never imagined this body of hers was so delicate. Perhaps because she had never been on a bus before, she ended up vomiting so violently that heaven and earth went dark,12 completely stunning her classmates.
When they finally arrived at the hotel next to the Film Base, the manager, who had been arranged by Mother Song, was shocked to see Song Xuyi’s pale, weak, carsick state. Mindful of Song Xuyi’s wish to keep her family background a secret, he could only use the pretext of caring for a customer to send a pile of medicine and supplements to her room.
This move truly astonished Huang Juanjuan.
Huang Juanjuan felt incredibly guilty the whole way, thinking it was her fault that Song Xuyi had forced herself to come. She had been tending to Song Xuyi meticulously, handing her water and carrying her bag.
Song Xuyi didn’t want Huang Juanjuan to spend all her time looking after her. After much persuasion,13 she convinced Huang Juanjuan to go have fun with the others first. Seeing that the hotel manager was providing impeccable service to Song Xuyi, Huang Juanjuan finally felt at ease and went into the Film City with the rest of the group.
Song Xuyi stayed in the hotel and took a nap. By the time she woke up, the dizziness had mostly subsided. The sky had darkened, and just then, Huang Juanjuan called to check on her. Song Xuyi arranged to meet the main group inside the Film City to see the night scenery.
The manager thoughtfully arranged for a supervisor to escort Song Xuyi into the Film City.
The Film Base was enormous. The spot where Huang Juanjuan and the others were was deep inside. Taking the normal route would have taken a long time, especially since some film crews were currently shooting, which meant taking detours and wasting even more time.
However, Song Xuyi didn’t have this concern. The Film Base happened to be a Song family property. Led by the supervisor, who knew the routes well, Song Xuyi moved through the complex almost completely unimpeded.
Along the way, Song Xuyi did see many film crews at work, including some big-name actors. The supervisor, having heard that the Song family’s Little Princess had once been a fan of a certain actor, intentionally slowed her pace. When she saw Song Xuyi’s lack of interest, she set aside her other ideas and focused on leading the way.
But as they neared the end of their walk, Song Xuyi suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Following Song Xuyi’s gaze, the supervisor saw a brightly lit film set.
It was an action scene: a woman in a soaking wet period costume was fighting several men in the water.
The set lights illuminated the woman’s stunningly beautiful face. Her fighting movements were clean and sharp. Even without speaking any lines, she perfectly conveyed a stubborn and cold temperament through her actions…
The supervisor unconsciously stopped as well. She had passed several film sets on the way, but she had never seen anyone who, like this woman, made people want to stop and stare…
In the supervisor’s eyes, the scene was already flawless.
But for some reason, the director seemed dissatisfied. He frowned and yelled ‘cut’ five or six times in a row, yet he never pointed out what exactly the woman was doing wrong.
The extras fighting the woman had already been swapped out for a fresh batch, but the woman remained standing in the pool, her dress clinging to her, soaking wet…
Looking at the woman in the water and the smug-looking director, Song Xuyi frowned.
It was already mid-December, and the weather had turned cold. The temperature at night was only a few degrees. The supervisor, afraid Song Xuyi would get cold, had thoughtfully prepared a down jacket and a hand warmer for her. And yet, that woman was standing in the water the entire time…
If it were a normal shoot, Song Xuyi could understand the demands of being an actor. But what was happening before her was blatant workplace bullying…14
Moreover, that person was Zhao Qingyu.
Song Xuyi took a long look at Zhao Qingyu, then took a deep breath to calm her complicated feelings. Her expression hardened as she walked up to the director and blocked the camera.
Seeing that things were about to get ugly, the supervisor quickly made a phone call…
“Where did this wild girl come from…” The director was about to lose his temper when he took the phone from the supervisor’s hand. His eyes widened bit by bit…
Zhao Qingyu had no idea how long she had been standing in the ice-cold water.
She had always known the director had other ideas about her. But previously, he had heard that the Song family’s Little Princess adored her, so he had reined in his filthy intentions and focused solely on directing her.
However, in the six months since she joined the production, the Little Princess had gone off to university and seemed to have forgotten all about Zhao Qingyu. Seeing this, the director began to drop hints, both subtle and overt…
Naturally, Zhao Qingyu would not agree.
The director laughed it off publicly, but in private, he began to torment her in every way he could.
Her vision started to blur. The cold seemed to seep through the frigid water and into her very bones. But Zhao Qingyu felt a sense of relief. She had always lived in a dark and demonic world; such schemes were commonplace to her…
This time, Zhao Qingyu was deliberately not backing down.
She was making a gamble. A gamble that the director wouldn’t dare let things get fatal.
Besides being lecherous, this director was also grandiose.15 Although Zhao Qingyu was a newcomer with a shallow foundation, she had accumulated a large number of fans from the talent competition. The director definitely didn’t want to be known for ‘tormenting an actress until she collapsed with a serious illness.’ After this incident, he would probably stop bothering her…
Everything was going exactly as Zhao Qingyu had predicted. Seeing that she wouldn’t yield, the director made things difficult for her again and again.
It was time.
In a daze, Zhao Qingyu heard someone on the shore calling her name. She blinked her blurry eyes and took two steps forward—
Just as expected, a wave of dizziness washed over her.
But…
Zhao Qingyu didn’t fall to the ground as she had anticipated. She fell into a warm, fragrant embrace.
“Zhao Qingyu!…”
Why was there an anxious voice?
Zhao Qingyu struggled to open her eyes. A familiar scalpel-shaped pendant dangled before her…
So it was her!
All the strength left Zhao Qingyu’s body, and she let the darkness swallow her. But the corners of her lips curled up unconsciously—
That child… who’s clearly afraid but still approaches me, so delicate and cute, as innocent as a blank sheet of paper!
The author has something to say:
Note: The information about medical students is from the author’s Baidu search and may differ from reality. Please treat it as a fictional setting.
I was dragged away on a business trip and had no time to write ~~(>_<)~~
I should be able to update daily for the next week.
Mwah~
LP: Re-translated on December 1, 2023
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