Blame the Villain – Chapter 16

The Villainous Film Empress (16)

A little rich girl dedicated to saving the world X A paranoid, dark, and vengeful film empress

To star in eight films of different genres within four years.

            

This was Song Xuyi’s demand for Zhao Qingyu.

Song Xuyi knew that Zhao Qingyu was extremely picky about scripts. Eight films in four years, after accounting for the time needed to select scripts and handle necessary business activities, meant Zhao Qingyu would have to be on set almost year-round. For these four years, she would have no spare capacity to go after Song Jun with her full strength.

On the other hand, different films represented different life experiences, different worlds, and different outlooks. Song Xuyi hoped that after experiencing these various roles, Zhao Qingyu might gain a new perspective on life.

            

Song Jun’s father was already dead, and his grandmother now had dementia. The people who had wronged Zhao Qingyu and her mother had, to some extent, already faced retribution. Song Xuyi didn’t want Zhao Qingyu to spend the rest of her life consumed by hatred.

Zhao Qingyu truly deserved a better life.

Perhaps… another opportunity might arise within these four years…

            

And if, after four years, Zhao Qingyu was still bent on revenge, Song Xuyi would persuade her to compete fairly with Song Jun, to not resort to underhanded tactics. They could each rely on their own abilities…

This was the entirety of Song Xuyi’s plan for Zhao Qingyu’s future.

…

            

When Zhao Qingyu saw the message from Song Xuyi, she was stunned for a moment.

She hadn’t expected Song Xuyi to make such a request.

But a moment later, Zhao Qingyu replied with a single word: “Okay.”

            

To star in eight different films in four years—Zhao Qingyu naturally understood the workload involved.

But very few people knew that Zhao Qingyu actually loved acting.

Life on a film set was indeed tedious. Aside from studying the script, there were no other forms of recreation, and one’s schedule was often turned upside down. For many, it was a form of torture.

            

But it was a way for people to remember her.

If she really wasn’t going to live past thirty, then the existence of these films and television dramas would be proof that Zhao Qingyu had once been in this world. Thirty or forty years from now, someone might still look back at these old recordings and remark, “There was once an actress in this world named Zhao Qingyu…”

Initially, Zhao Qingyu had entered the entertainment industry only to fulfill her mother’s wish. But she continued acting because the process brought her joy. The happiness and praise that came with it made her realize that there were so many people in the world who loved her. She was no longer the ill-fated burden despised by her own mother; she, too, could receive genuine and pure affection.

            

What’s more—among the people who loved her performances, there was a Song Xuyi.

Zhao Qingyu understood, of course, that Song Xuyi just liked her face, which happened to fit her aesthetic. That was why, when she was sick, Zhao Qingyu hadn’t even dared to see her, afraid that Song Xuyi would see her haggard, dim-looking face.

Eight films in four years is good, actually…

            

Zhao Qingyu thought, both despairing and blissful, When she watches these films and shows, Song Xuyi’s eyes will be on me. That version of me will be bright and dazzling, bathed in the character’s spotlight—the version of me she likes best.

And if I do leave this world, thirty or forty years from now, on someone’s phone, in an old program on the movie channel… in so many unexpected moments, Song Xuyi will still be able to see me. She’ll remember that a woman named Zhao Qingyu once appeared in her life, a woman who, in her most beautiful years, promised to make eight films in four years for her…

But she will never know with what a cautious and yearning heart that woman named Zhao Qingyu left her mark on her life…

            

---

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Zhao Qingyu to agree so readily.

Zhao Qingyu’s “Okay” had been exceptionally prompt, as if she were agreeing to some ordinary, trivial matter.

The day after Zhao Qingyu agreed, the country’s most prestigious film awards held its ceremony. The winner of the Best Actress award was to be announced. Everyone had long known that Zhao Qingyu was a nominee, but no one expected that a rookie like her​¹ would actually win Film Empress!

            

During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Song Xuyi had just returned to her dorm from the library. She was greeted by her roommates’ cheers, which were loud enough to shake the entire building. On her roommates’ tablets and phones, Song Xuyi saw a travel-worn​² Zhao Qingyu. She was still wearing a coarse linen costume, yet her bearing showed not the slightest hint of awkwardness. She created a strange sense of harmony with the lavish, brilliant awards stage.

“That’s her look for her next film,” Huang Juanjuan happily explained to Song Xuyi, already so excited she was becoming incoherent. “Waaah, I knew our Qingyu-cub wouldn’t let us down! She joined a new set without a word. It seems like she forgot about the awards ceremony and had to rush back in the middle of it…”

“Did you guys see? My wife is a peerless beauty even when she’s draped in sackcloth…”

            

“Cub, don’t work too hard! You’re still gorgeous, but you have dark circles under your eyes…”

…

Song Xuyi ignored Huang Juanjuan’s chatter and looked up at the screen. The Zhao Qingyu on screen was holding her trophy and giving her acceptance speech.

            

Zhao Qingyu had always been impeccable in her dealings with people, and her acceptance speech was flawless. After the customary thanks to the director and the audience, she suddenly paused and smiled at the camera.

“There is actually one more person I have to thank,” Zhao Qingyu said, a trace of softness crossing her gaze. “That person is my life-saving benefactor.”

“She loves watching me act, and her only request after saving me was that I challenge myself. After I finish my current film, I am to shoot eight films of different genres within four years…”

            

“I promised her.”

“So, for the next few years, I’m destined to be a permanent resident on film sets. If any directors have good scripts on hand, I hope you’ll consider me…” Zhao Qingyu said, bowing again.

“Winning this award is a pleasant surprise for me, an affirmation of my last film.”

            

Amid the audience’s good-natured applause, Zhao Qingyu smiled again. In the industry, she was famous for her gentle and good-tempered nature, but this time, something seemed different. Her smile was as gentle as ever, but the words she spoke were confident and resolute. “But this is just the beginning! I still have many films to make. In the future, I will win many more trophies…”

“Heavens! Who could be so cruel as to ask my cub to shoot so many films?” Before Zhao Qingyu had even finished speaking, Huang Juanjuan had excitedly thrown her arms around Song Xuyi. “Eight films in four years!! Waaah, my cub will be so exhausted! But… I also feel like that person did a beautiful thing! My cub is so gorgeous, she should act more. Anything else would be a reckless waste of a God-given gift!”​³

The “cruel” Song Xuyi lowered her head.

            

She hadn’t expected Zhao Qingyu to go this far.

In truth, if Zhao Qingyu had failed to do it, Song Xuyi wouldn’t have blamed her, because the request was indeed extremely difficult.

Yet Zhao Qingyu had announced it at such a major public event.

            

It was equivalent to signing a military pledge,​⁴ handing a weapon for the world to use against her.

Countless eyes would be on her from now on. If she failed to deliver, with her rivals deliberately fanning the flames, she would face endless attacks and criticism…

Zhao Qingyu was so smart; she couldn’t possibly have been unaware of this. But she had still chosen to make it public…

            

Song Xuyi sighed with a complicated feeling in her heart. She felt she was truly finding it harder and harder to understand Zhao Qingyu.

But compared to the gentle and peaceful facade she used to put on, Song Xuyi much preferred the Zhao Qingyu on the stage right now. This confident, even slightly arrogant Zhao Qingyu, truly shone brighter than any pearl…

---

As far as Song Xuyi was concerned, the matter with Zhao Qingyu had come to a close for now.

            

Although Zhao Qingyu still contacted her from time to time, just as Song Xuyi had predicted, she was often on set and didn’t have enough time to expand her business empire.

For at least four years, Zhao Qingyu and Song Jun would remain at peace with each other, at least on the surface.

With a great weight lifted from her heart, Song Xuyi threw herself back into her studies.

            

In her second year, after the semester began, Song Xuyi discovered that the “Black Mountain Old Demon,” Huang Shuo, was no longer teaching her class. Upon asking around, she learned that he had recently begun his retirement procedures.

Although Huang Shuo was strict, his presence had helped this class of students quickly adapt to the medical profession, instilling in them the rigor and sense of responsibility a medical student should have. Though everyone had been quite afraid of him during his classes, most of them felt a little reluctant to see him go upon hearing the news of his retirement.

Time flew by, and soon it was the Double Ninth Festival.​⁵ At everyone’s request, Huang Juanjuan organized a mountain-climbing activity for the class and invited all their professors to join…

            

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected the busy Professor Huang Shuo to take the time to go mountain climbing with their group.

Huang Juanjuan whispered in Song Xuyi’s ear, “I heard the professors chatting when I went to the student affairs office to pick up some materials. It turns out Professor Huang has had a pretty pitiful life…”

“He used to be completely focused on saving patients and rarely paid attention to his family. He always thought there was still time, that he was still young. But one day, his wife fell asleep and never woke up. Only then did he find out she had ‘Sleeping Sickness.’ Professor Huang was filled with regret. For nearly thirty years since, he never remarried, remaining a lonely bachelor…”

            

Sleeping Sickness again!

Song Xuyi sighed softly.

Sleeping Sickness was the most torturous disease in this world. No one who contracted it lived past the age of thirty.

            

Some patients inherited it from their families, while others would suddenly fall ill and die one day, with no discernible pattern.

People with the disease showed no physical abnormalities and appeared just like normal people. Existing instruments couldn’t detect whether someone had it. Yet, on some random day before their thirtieth birthday, they would pass away suddenly in their sleep, which was why it was called “Sleeping Sickness.”

To this day, no one in the world had figured out a way to prevent or test for it.

            

Song Xuyi lowered her head. She felt she was beginning to understand why Huang Shuo had given her a zero on that final exam question.

---

Song Xuyi never expected Huang Shuo to approach her.

Halfway up the mountain, Song Xuyi’s delicate constitution gave out. She couldn’t climb any further and could only sit by the roadside to rest. To her surprise, Huang Shuo walked over to her.

            

“How has life been recently? Is there anything you don’t understand in your coursework?” Outside of class, Huang Shuo was actually very calm and gentle.

Song Xuyi answered his questions one by one. Huang Shuo nodded, then looked up at her. “Do you plan to take the postgraduate entrance exam? Have you thought about which field you’d like to pursue?”

“I plan to take the postgraduate entrance exam,” Song Xuyi said, smiling as she met Huang Shuo’s suddenly widened eyes. “I’ve already planned out my research prospects. I’ve been preparing for it ever since my first year started…”

            

“I want to study medical genetics. To be more precise, I want to research Sleeping Sickness…”

---

The author has something to say:

Mwah~

            

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~

---

LP: Re-translated on January 14, 2024

---

---