Fake Love with the Movie Queen - Chapter 14

Zhu Ningyue glared at him. “You owe me an apology!”

“An apology? Why should I apologize?” The man showed no fear, his attitude arrogant. “How can you prove it was me who bumped into you?”

He took a few steps forward, smirking when he saw Zhu Ningyue instinctively retreat. “If you can’t prove it, then get out of my way, understand?”

Zhu Ningyue wasn’t one to be easily bullied either. She stared back defiantly. “Everyone around here saw it!”

“Oh?” The man scanned the crowd. “Who saw it?”

A few onlookers who had been watching the commotion shrank back under his fierce glare, too afraid to speak up.

Just as the man was reveling in his triumph, a cold voice came from behind Zhu Ningyue. “I saw it.”

Gu Nanxian stepped in front of Zhu Ningyue, her light eyes coolly assessing the man before her. “So, can you apologize now?”

“I won’t apologize!”

Seeing yet another woman, the man adopted a shameless stance. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Is that so?”

Gu Nanxian asked again, her tone calm. “You really won’t apologize?”

The man opened his mouth. “No—”

Before he could finish, Gu Nanxian kicked him square in the knee.

“Ah—”

The man let out a piercing, pig-like squeal.

Forced to his knees, he struggled to stand but couldn’t.

Gu Nanxian looked down at him, her eyelids slightly lowered as if regarding trash. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just apologize? Did you really need to kneel like this?”

Gasping for breath, the man looked up at her, his face a picture of humiliation. “I—I’m calling the police!”

His earlier bravado was gone, replaced by sheer cowardice.

“Do you need me to lend you my phone?”

Gu Nanxian held out her phone between two fingers, offering it to him.

The man instinctively reached for it.

Gu Nanxian suddenly withdrew her hand, spinning the phone deftly on her fingertip.

“Never mind. I think you’d dirty my phone. Better not lend it to you after all.”

“You—!”

Humiliated, the man’s face flushed red with anger.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, he finally managed to stagger to his feet. Pointing at Gu Nanxian, he spat out a threat. “You just wait!”

With that, he limped out of the barbecue restaurant.

Watching the man slink away, Zhu Ningyue felt a surge of satisfaction.

She smiled at Gu Nanxian. “Thanks.”

“Next time you meet someone like that, don’t waste words on them.”

Gu Nanxian’s expression remained indifferent as she turned and walked back to her seat.

Zhu Ningyue followed, puffing her cheeks in frustration. “How was I supposed to know he’d be so unreasonable?”

Gu Nanxian sat down beside Qiu Qing’an, the cold aura around her dissipating as her demeanor softened.

Qiu Qing’an asked with concern, “Everything settled? Are you both okay?”

“It’s fine.”

Gu Nanxian speared a piece of fruit and popped it into her mouth.

“Thanks to Nanxian, I got some payback.”

Zhu Ningyue grinned, miming a few punches into the air.

“You should’ve seen how fast he ran off.”

Qiu Qing’an chuckled. “We saw.”

From their seats, they had a clear view of the scene. Otherwise, Gu Nanxian wouldn’t have intervened so quickly.

Ge Jiang had also witnessed the whole thing and was impressed by Gu Nanxian’s decisiveness.

But she couldn’t help voicing her worry. “Will there be any trouble?”

That man clearly wasn’t the forgiving type. After being humiliated like this, he’d surely seek revenge.

Gu Nanxian remained unruffled. “There won’t be.”

Zhu Ningyue also chimed in, “What could possibly go wrong? Even if he calls the police, we’re not afraid.”

A sly smile played on her lips. “I have my own way of handling it.”

Seeing their confidence, Ge Jiang felt slightly reassured.

Qiu Qing’an glanced at the time on her phone. “I think it’s almost time to regroup. Let’s head back after we finish eating.”

None of the three had any objections, so they stood up together and prepared to settle the bill at the counter.

The shop owner approached, rubbing his hands apologetically. “I saw that troublemaker earlier but didn’t get a chance to intervene. I’m really sorry. This meal is on the house today.”

“It’s fine. Running a business isn’t easy,” Qiu Qing’an replied.

She understood the owner wanted to avoid further trouble and didn’t see it as a big deal, so she insisted on paying.

The owner, still feeling guilty, escorted them all the way out before returning to the shop.

By the time the four left the barbecue restaurant, it was already past 6:30. They had less than half an hour before the scheduled regroup time.

Ge Jiang suggested taking a taxi to save time on the way back.

Zhu Ningyue, however, wanted to walk. She had eaten too much barbecue and felt queasy, afraid she might vomit if she got in a car.

Gu Nanxuan also didn’t want the four of them crammed into a single vehicle.

Qiu Qing’an said, “Then let’s walk together. We can treat it as a stroll.”

Since they had been checking the navigation on their way here, it had taken longer. Now, retracing their steps without needing directions, they could easily make it back in about twenty minutes.

Seeing everyone leaning toward walking, Ge Jiang put away her phone, which she had been about to use to hail a cab.

“Alright, it’s been a while since I last took a walk anyway.”

They were technically on “vacation,” so there was no need to rush.

Though they called it a stroll, the four still picked up their pace slightly.

When they arrived at the regroup point, they realized they were the first ones back.

“You’re back so early!”

The host, holding her small flag, emerged from the crowd of production staff to greet them. Nearby, a cameraman was adjusting his equipment in preparation for the evening shoot.

Zhu Ningyue, the most outgoing of the group, was the first to speak. “It’s already seven. Of course, we’re back.”

The host checked her phone. “Oh, it really is seven already.”

“Qianxue and Yuanyuan haven’t returned yet. I’ll go contact them. You all take a rest first.”

With that, the host went to find the staff member responsible for coordinating the guests.

“I should make a call too.”

Qiu Qing’an opened her phone and saw several messages from her manager.

She walked a short distance away, stopping in a quieter spot to dial the number.

Gu Nanxuan’s gaze followed her, eventually settling on her profile as she spoke.

The evening breeze in City G was refreshing, gently tousling the strands of hair by Qiu Qing’an’s ears.

She tucked them behind her ear, revealing her flawlessly sculpted profile.

Whatever the person on the other end of the call said made her frown slightly. She glanced back toward Gu Nanxuan.

When she saw Gu Nanxuan looking at her, her expression softened, returning to its usual gentle, faintly smiling demeanor.

After briefly updating her manager, Qiu Qing’an walked back to Gu Nanxuan’s side.

“Guess what Zhou Mei just told me?”

Zhou Mei was Qiu Qing’an’s manager—and also Gu Nanxuan’s.

However, she usually didn’t contact Gu Nanxuan much, and if there was anything, she would go straight to Qiu Qing’an.

Qiu Qing’an asking this now meant that the content of their recent call was most likely related to Gu Nanxuan.

Gu Nanxuan: “I don’t know.”

She actually had some guesses, but she just didn’t want to recall that disgusting person.

Qiu Qing’an said, “The person who bullied Zhu Ningyue today went to the police station to file a report.”

As expected, Gu Nanxuan wasn’t surprised at all: “What did Sister Zhou say?”

“She said she’s already had someone suppress the matter for now.”

Qiu Qing’an looked at her, “But a lot of people saw it today, and some even recorded videos. If you’re concerned, she can also have someone handle that.”

“It’s fine, no need to trouble her.” Gu Nanxuan knew Zhou Mei was busy—just dealing with Qiu Qing’an’s matters was enough to keep her up late every night.

She had already planned to leave the entertainment industry, so whether this was handled or not made no difference to her.

“Alright then, I’ll let her know.”

Qiu Qing’an understood her thoughts and took out her phone to message Zhou Mei.

“Actually… maybe we should have someone handle it after all?”

Gu Nanxuan suddenly remembered they were currently on a dating show. If their relationship was exposed, it would definitely affect Qiu Qing’an.

“And that previous matter… never mind, I’ll endure it for another month. After this, I should probably keep my distance from you.”

Thinking about how Zhou Mei had complained to her about how busy she always was, Gu Nanxuan couldn’t bear to see her show up with dark circles under her eyes.

When she first entered the entertainment industry and asked Zhou Mei to be her agent, it was partly because they were familiar with each other, and partly because she wanted Zhou Mei to glance over her contracts to make sure she wasn’t being scammed.

After all, she was just a newcomer—she might not even get a single script offer in a whole year. At most, she’d receive minor shooting gigs from small studios.

Zhou Mei only needed a quick look to handle things properly.

But the turning point came with Zhu Ningyue.

Without telling anyone, she secretly poured a ton of money and resources into Gu Nanxuan, claiming she wanted to give her a surprise.

Gu Nanxuan’s inbox was instantly flooded with offers, shocking Zhou Mei to the point of nearly fainting on the spot.

After pulling several all-nighters and still seeing an endless stream of offers in her inbox, Zhou Mei simply gave up and told Gu Nanxuan to contact Zhu Ningyue and return them all.

Zhu Ningyue refused, insisting that Gu Nanxuan try out for every single one.

With no one to oversee things properly, Gu Nanxuan ended up signing quite a few exploitative contracts.

Fortunately, Zhu Ningyue played the “good person” to the end and simply used money to resolve everything for her.

Just like that, the two of them—completely inexperienced—somehow managed to push Gu Nanxuan onto the screen, turning her into a hot new star in the entertainment industry.

If not for the emergence of the scandal, Zhu Ningyue might have even made a fortune off it, leaving Zhou Mei—a seasoned agent—questioning her own professional competence.

Qiu Qing’an waved her phone in front of her: “Really not handling it? The message just went out. If you regret it, there’s still time to recall it.”

“Yeah.” Gu Nanxuan nodded firmly. “Don’t handle it.”

Qiu Qing’an put her phone away and reached out to touch her face, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“You don’t need to worry too much about these things. Zhou Mei might say she doesn’t want to deal with your matters, but she still keeps an eye on them. When I went to see her before, I caught her secretly checking up on you several times.”

Otherwise, Gu Nanxuan wouldn’t have made it this far so smoothly.

In fact, some people were even willing to overlook the scandal and offer her gigs, inviting her to audition.

“If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have troubled her in the first place.”

Gu Nanxuan was aware of all this, which made her even more eager to leave the entertainment industry—a place rife with drama and complications.

Qiu Qing’an also knew she was feeling guilty and comforted her, “Since she took it on, she must be capable of handling it properly.”

Meanwhile, Zhou Mei, the subject of their discussion, took a sip of strong coffee when suddenly her eyelid twitched violently, as if sensing something bad was about to happen.