Chapter 13 – Livestream

 

Chu Ying remained silent for not even three seconds, before his lips quirked up.

“Alright.”

…

Even after the Rover’s rear had vanished from the parking lot, Su Yi was still standing there looking like a fool.

“Uh, are you going up?” A woman walked into the elevator, shooting a strange look at the person still holding the door open.

Su Yi finally came back to herself, taking a few tries to get her floor number. “Excuse me.”

After finishing this sentence, she looked down, hiding all of her emotions behind her hair.

Before bringing her hands up and tightly covering her mouth, just in case she made too much of a racket.

…… What could she do? She was almost overwhelmed by these unknown feelings.

Once she got home she hurriedly went and took a cold shower to cool herself down.

Hanging her legs over the edge of the bathtub, she thought about it before making a video call to Wu Xue.

The other picked up really fast. Wu Xue was donning a facial mask; when she saw on the screen the half exposed shoulder of Su Yi’s, she couldn’t help the ‘Damn!’ that escaped from her mouth.

“Little Xue, hurry up and let me know, how did you get Liu Minghao?” Su Yi leant her head against the edge of the tub, the slit of her eyes appearing even sharper at this angle, akin to the seductive vixens of the past.

Though now it appeared that, other than how she wasn’t harming anyone, she wasn’t all that different from the other vixens. Only, the other wasn’t a weak scholar, instead, a strong warrior.

“Are you looking to get punched, your ankle’s already like this and you’re taking a bath?!” Wu Xue first scolded her, before saying, “Who told you I pursued him? He’s the one who pursued me.”

So Su Yi changed her question. “Then how did he get you?”

“What about it? How did I not know that you’re this into gossip before.” Wu Xue thought about it, then said, “He didn’t try too hard. Once my bag was stolen, and he grabbed it back for me. Then he took me out for a few meals, I didn’t really dislike him. He confessed, I agreed.”

Su Yi tsked. “Why are you so easy to get?!”

Wu Xue sneered. “When you’re saying that, you should think about yourself first.”

Su Yi apologised. “Sorry.”

“Right, just nice. I have something to say to you.” Wu Xue took out a book. “As your cover was brought up by a week, the livestreaming was brought forward too, I’m going to write down all the answers you need to give and you need to do your homework later.”

“Got it.” Su Yi asked, “When am I getting the new script for ‘Undercurrent’?”

Wu Xue said, “I haven’t gotten any news yet, go ask Li Min later.”

“Sure.”

After hanging up, Wu Xue quickly sent the file over.

Su Yi spun the pen idly in her hand, thinking that it really wasn’t easy being an actress. Not only did she have to memorise her script, she had to memorise her speeches too.

She quickly skimmed the document and her attention was caught by one question.

“You have some success in your career, how about your love life?”

The answer Wu Xue gave was, “No (quickly shake your head), I’m slower at getting close to people. Currently, I’m more focused on my career, and I haven’t met anyone suitable recently anyway (smile).”

Su Yi clicked her tongue, typing on the keyboard and deleting the answer, cleanly.

….

The livestream was on Sunday at some film studio. The pre-livestream photoshoot went quite smoothly. These few days her leg had mostly healed; though she couldn’t walk too naturally yet, holding some poses wasn’t too much of a problem.

This magazine had a site on some streaming App, releasing a livestream interview for every issue’s cover model.

Before the interview, while she was touching up on her makeup, she was continuously checking her WeChat too.

The few messages she’d sent Chu Ying in the morning had yet to receive a response.

After that night, their chats were really… calm.

How calm? Every message she sent only received a message more than half a day later.

Whenever she thought about this, Su Yi couldn’t help letting out a long sigh.

Wu Xue was standing right behind her. “Why are you always holding your phone nowadays?”

“Hey,” Su Yi didn’t reply, instead asked, “How long does Liu Minghao usually take to reply to your messages?”

“I’m so busy every day, how would I have time to send him messages!” Wu Xue said. “When his shift is over he’ll come find me.”

Su Yi was even sadder.

A staff came over. “Yi-jie, we can start now, are you ready?”

“I am.” Before she got up, she used the eyeliner to draw a mole right beneath her eye, then she followed the staff out of the make-up room.

Wu Xue sat below the stage, looking like a school senior management sitting at the back of the classroom to listen to the teacher’s lecture.

Today, was actually her seventh year anniversary with Liu Minghao, but Liu Minghao was on duty and she wasn’t too reassured with Su Yi, so she followed her here.

An Xuan handed her a glass of water. “Wu-jie, have some water.”

Wu Xue took the glass, asking off-handedly. “Is it settled at home?”

An Xuan said that someone passed away at home a while back and needed a few days of leave.

“It is,” An Xuan said, really softly. “Thanks for the concern.”

Wu Xue hummed in agreement and didn’t say any more. Someone else’s problem wasn’t something she could do much about, so she might as well not ask too much. So long as she expressed her concern, it was enough.

This interview wasn’t too formal – even the host was just some staff in the studio.

The staff set for her a rather cute rabbit effect that included beautifying effects.

Once the livestream opened, a flood of people came on.

“Su Yi, do you know that you got the bento tonight* (it’s a way of saying that the actor/actress has received their ‘bento’ as the role they play in the show is over before the show itself is over, for their character is dead) hahaha.”

Talking about Su Yi’s character in the currently trending imperial-harem show.

The interview hadn’t even begun when the live commenting had started.

Su Yi said, “Is the number of times I’ve gotten the bento very few?”

There was a whole series of ‘hahahas’ floating across the screen.

The live commenting was split into three factions. One was attacking her personally, saying that since she can act out these evil women so well, it must be because that’s how she was in real life. One was praising her for her acting skills, saying that every time they saw the lady essaying her role, they’d be so angry they’d hammer down the walls if they could. The last faction was talking about her looks, showering praise upon her face and her make-up artist’s skills.

The host got the script and finally started asking questions.

“Welcome, Su Yi, we’re very grateful you were willing to be on the cover page of our magazine.”

Su Yi smiled. “It’s my honour.”

The host clearly wanted this to go in the direction of an easy-going, heart-to-heart chat, posing questions as if it’s an everyday conversation. “Are there any shows going recently?”

Su Yi’s answer was very cut and dry. “Yes, Qing Tao Weishi “XX legend”, two episodes every night at eight pm, if you’re a member of the Hunting Rabbit App you can watch the whole show before it’s completely released.”

…

At the airport.

A guy was dressed leisurely in pure white with sunglasses that covered most of his face, his hulking figure attracted plenty of attention from the passers-by.

Of course, the other part of the reason was that behind him, there were a few guys decked out in suits, so the whole lot of them together were really eye-catching.

Beneath the sunglasses his eyes were completely red; Chu Ying rubbed at his temples, asking tiredly, “Is this the last flight?”

“Yes,” the assistant said. “The conference is tomorrow morning at nine.”

“Alright,” Chu Ying strode out of the airport. “Book a flight back for tomorrow afternoon.”

The assistant quickly agreed. They’d been spinning around like a beyblade for the past few days, he was almost completely spun around from just the plane rides they’d been on, nevermind Chu Ying, who has to go for all sorts of conferences on top of this. He was probably almost dizzy from just listening to the reports.

It was something they couldn’t help; Chu’s family had numerous business deals in all sorts of industries and his boss had to take over it all, right after he’d just left the army. Of course he had to be busy for a long while, so long as he managed to make it past this time it would be good.

As Chu Ying walked he opened his phone, immediately seeing a lot of messages.

He picked out Su Yi’s name from it.

[Goddess Su Yi: I fell asleep yesterday, is it really busy for you recently?]

[Goddess Su Yi: Eating breakfast, picture]

[Goddess Su Yi: Going out for work, today’s weather is really good.]

Then there’s one that had just been sent.

[Goddess Su Yi: Getting ready for the interview for XX magazine, and it’s a livestream. I’m really tired, I can’t help yawning [picture], do you have time tomorrow? I really want to eat at that Mala soup restaurant again.]

Chu Ying moved his fingers, sending a message back.

A few days ago, Su Yi had… half-confessed to him.

Her cheeks were all red, he remembered that the ears were red too, but she insisted on appearing to be really imposing, as if, if he’d said no, she could simply shrug, say goodbye and leave.

He coughed gently, asking the person in the shotgun seat. “Where can I watch a livestream?”

The assistant there immediately turned around and said, “Use your phone or tablet and you can watch it, which one do you wish to see? I can get it for you immediately.”

Chu Ying told him the magazine’s name.

His assistant immediately found the livestream and handed him the tablet.

In the screen, the woman’s make-up was detailed and there was even a mole beneath the corner of her eye, adding to her beauty. She was wearing a pair of bunny ears, her eyes curving into a beautiful arc when she smiled. Her smile was extremely infectious.

Chu Ying watched for a little while more before looking away and down at the comments.

“If I’d had her looks, I’d walk sideways even outdoors.”

“A proper vixen’s face.”

“Cute, would love to fuck.”

Chu Ying looked at this last comment, his eyes darkened.

The host asked, “Yi Yi, you have some success in your career, how about in your love life?”

Chu Ying’s attention went back to the livestream.

The lady’s smile deepened as she pushed aside her long hair.

“Yes.” She said, the edge of her lips quirking up as she continued unthinkingly, “I have someone I really love.”

The live commenting immediately got really lively.

“Mama, I think I’m in love!”

“Want… want to marry!”

“Who’s luck is so rotten as to be someone she wants to pursue?”

The host was rather surprised as she asked, “Really? Is it convenient to let us know who?”

Chu Ying was watching very attentively when a few banners appeared at the top of the screen.

[Liang Bo Lb sent the host a UFO]

[Liang Bo Lb sent the host a UFO]

[Liang Bo Lb sent the host a UFO]

On the screen Su Yi clearly had seen the gift as well.

The host’s jaw dropped, forming an O. She hadn’t expected Su Yi to answer this way, and definitely didn’t expect Liang Bo to be so open, even coming onto the show at this point and sending her the most expensive gift.

Su Yi’s brow lifted a little, the curve to her lips dropping a little but remaining as a smile.

“It’s not convenient,” she said. “Because he’s not from this industry.”

 

edited by Anne, and further by Larkspur 🙂