Goddess Strategy GL - Chapter 8

Ye Ruoqing said: “Just take me as being stubborn, just take me as being a little chuunibyou, okay? Are you guys American nationals, why do you have to interfere in everything? If you have so much free time, you should represent professionals and go complain about those rumor-spreading films. I represent the vast number of TV drama children and thank you all!”

Xiaoyuan said: “If you’re so stubborn, there’s nothing I can do. Not listening to the advice of the elders will lead to suffering. Forget it.”

“Go well, go well~”

Xiaoyuan returned to the nanny van and repeated Ye Ruoqing’s words unhappily.

“See, I was being kind, but it was taken as ill will. Why bother caring about her?”

Xiaoyuan genuinely didn’t understand why Zhao Xin was so concerned about this girl she had just met. Zhao Xin’s actions were truly overstepping boundaries; whenever that girl was present, Zhao Xin would always stare at her, and if she was in trouble, she would immediately ask Xiaoyuan to step in and resolve it. If Zhao Xin was interested in the girl, she could have easily signed her to the studio. Although the girl’s acting ability was questionable, the studio could afford to keep her on. But Zhao Xin never brought it up, only hinting time and again that the girl should give up her dream and go home.

“Then so be it, let’s stop here.”

Today was Zhao Xin’s last scene. Once finished, she would start preparing for the party happening soon.

This was going to be a tough battle. Although the jewelry and clothing were provided by Brand B, the studio still had to perfect every detail to make Zhao Xin’s appearance flawless. Zhao Xin’s studio team was strong, and Ren Xi’s studio team was certainly not weak either, with their own network of contacts from media to brand publicists to stylists.

Since the loss in the Brand C endorsement competition last time, Ren Xi’s team had not made any further statements. This party was targeting high-end VIP clients. The organizer had rented an entire art museum, and all security was provided by a professional bodyguard team. The doormen and servers were also rigorously screened, striving for strict confidentiality.

The organizer also had their own photographers. By the time all media outlets received the press releases, it would portray a perfect party, with the two major actresses competing in beauty and cherishing each other, and their new works being astonishing and beautiful.

But this didn’t mean Zhao Xin didn’t need to act. In front of a crowd of highly shrewd people, she needed to set aside past grudges and face Ren Xi with peace and a smile.

She felt tired; every time she faced Ren Xi, she felt exhausted. She didn’t know what kind of attitude to use when facing Ren Xi. Everything in the past made it impossible for her to treat Ren Xi like any other competitor, but she also couldn’t treat her with sincerity; the media wouldn’t allow it, and her fans wouldn’t allow it. She should be a goddess favored by heaven, lacking nothing in beauty, luck, and acting skills—a myth and a legend.

“Want to listen to a song?”

Ye Ruoqing picked up her guitar again and returned to the night market. Running around doing extras work for the past half month, other than meeting Zhao Xin, held no other significance. She had no talent for acting and no intention of pursuing an acting career. Being an extra was just like washing dishes in a restaurant or setting up a street stall for her—just to make a living. The extra work was genuinely tiring; after coming home, she had almost no energy to set up her stall at the night market. After some consideration, she decided to give up the extras work.

Spring had arrived, the flow of people at the night market had increased, and more and more people were busking. That night, Ye Ruoqing hadn’t had any business for a long time when she saw a fashionably dressed beauty walking towards her from afar and went to greet her.

But upon closer inspection, she instantly became unhappy.

The creditor had arrived.

When other people’s creditors showed up, they came to collect debt, but when Ye Ruoqing’s creditor showed up, she came to give money.

The two stared at each other through their sunglasses.

Zhao Xin reached into her pocket. Ye Ruoqing stared at her hand, watching her slowly pull out a bank card from her pocket.

The creditor had leveled up!

Zhao Xin slowly said, “There’s about two million inside, the password is…”

Holy crap!

Ye Ruoqing quickly stepped forward and covered Zhao Xin’s mouth: “I beg you, my lady, two million! Are you trying to become my sugar mommy? Blabbing out the password like this, what if someone hears it?”

This was the first time Ye Ruoqing had touched Zhao Xin’s lips. There was no trace of lipstick—they were soft, smooth, and carried a scent of… wine?!

Something major had happened. The great Movie Queen was drunk and causing trouble at the night market.

Ye Ruoqing quickly scanned the surroundings. No one, no cameras.

The stone in her heart immediately dropped. She pulled the slightly confused Zhao Xin into the shadows and offered her a water bottle: “Where’s Little Round Face (Xiaoyuan)? Why didn’t she come out with you? Oh my god, do you know who you are? If something happens to you here with me, your fans would hammer me into the center of the earth if each of them hit me once!”

Zhao Xin held her thermos bottle and tried to unscrew it for a long time without success.

“I give up on you.” Ye Ruoqing sat down beside her, helped her unscrew the thermos, and said with a distressed look, “Can you tell me where exactly I’ve offended you? I’m just a nobody, I have no money and no power, and I don’t want to get involved with you… although you are indeed quite good-looking… No, no, no, what I mean is, please stop looking for me, I’ll return the money to you, you go your merry way, and I’ll go my own lonely path, okay?”

Zhao Xin took a sip of water and didn’t speak.

The thermos was trembling in her hand. Ye Ruoqing felt bad for her thermos, afraid that the Movie Queen might accidentally break it, so she carefully reached out and took the thermos back.

She put the thermos into her bag. When she looked back, Zhao Xin was sitting motionless on the seat, and there seemed to be water streaks on her cheeks beneath the large sunglasses.

“You’re the Movie Queen, a goddess! How can you get drunk? Not only are you drunk, but you even got water all over your face while drinking?” Ye Ruoqing sighed, pulled out a handkerchief to wipe Zhao Xin’s face, but then, just as the handkerchief was near Zhao Xin’s face, she suddenly remembered something, pulled out her phone, and took a few quick photos.

“Okay, now I have leverage over you. If you keep bothering me, I’ll send the photos of you drinking water all over your face to the gossip tabloids.”

Ye Ruoqing contentedly closed her phone and put it in her pocket, then sat down to wipe Zhao Xin’s face. As she got closer for a careful look, she realized something was wrong.

Why was the water on Zhao Xin’s face increasing? She was crying!

Ten thousand cao ni ma (grass mud horses – a Chinese Internet meme for “F***”) roared through Ye Ruoqing’s mind.

What should she do, what should she do????

Ye Ruoqing was completely dumbfounded. For a moment, she wanted to call the police ($=$), and for another, she wanted to run. After all the frantic activity, she still honestly sat down next to Zhao Xin, reached out and put her arm around Zhao Xin’s shoulders, and wiped her tears.

“Be good, don’t cry. What grievance can’t be told? Tell me, I’ll help you solve it…”

It was completely the tone she used to comfort Zeng Jie before, perhaps even several times gentler.

Ye Ruoqing took off Zhao Xin’s sunglasses and saw a few crystal tears hanging on her long eyelashes. Her heart instantly began to race.

She felt her face flush.

Zhao Xin always managed to throw a bucket of cold water on her at the critical moment. Just as the atmosphere was building up to rival the moment a man and woman meet on the Sky Bridge, Zhao Xin softly asked her: “Why don’t you go back?”

Ye Ruoqing swore she desperately wanted to hit someone.

Never mind that she was a Movie Queen and a goddess, never mind that she looked like a celestial being… never mind that… never mind that she had leaned her head on Ye Ruoqing’s shoulder…

Ye Ruoqing was nervous again, her hands shifting around, not knowing where to put them.

Then, another sentence from Zhao Xin struck her heart.

Zhao Xin said, “Why don’t you go back? Let’s go back together.”

“…”

Was this a confession? Although she already had someone she liked, being confessed to and relentlessly pursued by such a national goddess made Ye Ruoqing undeniably giddy.

As for why Zhao Xin had been giving her money all this time, there was now a reasonable explanation—because the Movie Queen wanted to ‘sleep with her for favors,’ two million after all, tsk tsk.

Calling it a tender trap was truly an understatement. To ‘sleep with her for favors’, she was giving her money, leaning her head on her shoulder, and… and wrapping her arm around her.

Little Miss Ye felt like she was acting in a romantic blockbuster at this moment, except for Zhao Xin repeatedly asking, “Why don’t you go back?”

Ye Ruoqing was conflicted. On one hand, she was screaming internally, “Holy crap, if you want to go back, don’t try to talk me into it. I haven’t found my girlfriend yet, I love my girlfriend very much, don’t even think about being the other woman,” while on the other hand, she also hugged Zhao Xin.

Zhao Xin was almost hanging on her. She was afraid Zhao Xin would fall.

The two were like in a competition, each dragging the other into their embrace. However, drunk people always have surprising strength, and Ye Ruoqing was also afraid of hurting her. In the end, they were pressed tightly against each other, even feeling each other’s breath.

Ye Ruoqing was speechless: “Dear, can you not hug me this tightly, dear? Don’t you know how pretty you are?”