Mistakenly Married a Substitute Wife, Falling in Love with the Movie Queen - Chapter 31

Sang Baili gripped the iced pear and rock sugar drink tightly. After a few moments of silence, she said reluctantly, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Shen Shuangjing replied, her smile open and sincere as she met Sang Baili’s gaze.

Sang Baili didn’t mention that a few bottles of the drink wouldn’t be enough to quell her internal heat. Unable to resist the temptation of Shen Shuangjing’s proximity, she had taken matters into her own hands. Under the guise of a business trip, she had made a last-minute trip to Iceland, where temperatures remained below freezing year-round, hoping the extreme cold would help cool her down.

Perhaps it was the bland food she ate there, or perhaps the cold therapy worked, but the pimple that had erupted on her chin due to internal heat vanished with lightning speed.

Her work schedule was packed, with back-to-back meetings and appointments that left her barely able to catch her breath. Yet, remarkably, she still managed to carve out a sliver of time each day for video calls with Shen Shuangjing.

Several days later, Sang Baili finished her business and returned to China, arriving just in time for Shen Shuangjing’s filming schedule to begin the next day.

Shen Shuangjing had prepared several of her signature dishes and a newly learned dessert at home to welcome her back.

“Did you get to see Black Sand Beach?” Shen Shuangjing asked, scooping a spoonful of chocolate-crusted pistachio cake with a creamy filling, straightening her posture slightly.

Beside her lay a sleek, matte black perfume with a metallic sheen, its scent described as “lava snow”—a gift Sang Baili had chosen for her at the airport’s duty-free shop.

Sang Baili calmly ate her blanched bok choy, replying, “I came straight back after finishing work. I didn’t have time for sightseeing.”

“That’s alright. There’ll be other chances,” Shen Shuangjing said, her tone tinged with regret.

“We can go together next time,” Sang Baili suggested.

“When?” Shen Shuangjing asked instinctively.

“Whenever you’re free,” Sang Baili replied. After a moment’s thought, she added, “If you’d like to travel, you could come with me on my next business trip.”

Her work trips often took her to tourist destinations, ranging from bustling cities to natural wonders. While she was busy with meetings and work, Shen Shuangjing could explore the area, and they could travel together and return home together.

Shen Shuangjing had always longed to visit Iceland, but other places held little appeal for her. Hearing Sang Baili’s suggestion, she replied, “We’ll see when the time comes. If we both go, who will take care of Wuyun at home? I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone.”

She hugged Wuyun, who had jumped onto her lap, drawn by the aroma of food. Stroking his sleek, glossy black fur, she said, “Mommy’s biggest worry while filming is you, my helpless little kitty. While I’m away, Mommy will take care of you. Be a good boy and don’t cause any trouble.”

Wuyun: “Meow~”

Shen Shuangjing leaned back in her chair, Wuyun squirming restlessly in her arms, stretching his paws to try and reach the dried fish on the table. Misinterpreting his actions, Shen Shuangjing thought Wuyun was missing her already and hugged him tightly, saying reluctantly, “Mommy will miss you so much!”

If she hadn’t worried about Wuyun adjusting to the unfamiliar hotel environment, she would have brought him to the film set without hesitation.

Daily cuddles!

Sang Baili chuckled softly. “Only him?”

Shen Shuangjing’s hand twitched, pulling out a few strands of cat fur without hurting Wuyun. “What do you mean by that?”

Sang Baili: “Heartless! I was video-calling you every day from Iceland.”

Shen Shuangjing pursed her lips. Sang Baili had mentioned the Iceland project before. It was something her managers could handle without her personal involvement, yet the day before she left, Sang Baili suddenly announced she had to go on a business trip, showing no signs of reluctance.

Shen Shuangjing: “I’ll video-call you every day too.”

“No need. We’ll talk when I have time.” Sang Baili stood up, walked over to her, bent down, and plucked the cat hair from Shen Shuangjing’s hand. She rolled it into a ball and said, “Focus on filming.”

Film sets were full of uncertainties, and as a newcomer, Shen Shuangjing had to follow the director’s schedule, leaving her with little freedom.

Shen Shuangjing: “Okay.”

She tilted her head back, her cheeks flushed with a healthy glow after the meal, and asked, “Sister, do you have any advice for me? I’m really worried about messing up my lines or movements during my first shoot.”

Sang Baili leaned against the edge of the dining table, her posture relaxed and languid. She paused briefly, surprised. “You’ve never acted before?”

Shen Shuangjing: “No.”

Sang Baili: “Have you memorized your lines?”

Shen Shuangjing nodded.

Her screen time was minimal, her lines sparse compared to the lead actress—practically negligible. Yet even so, she worried that she would stumble on set, unable to meet the director’s expectations.

Hoping to gain an advantage, she sought advice from the experienced Sang Baili.

Sang Baili shook the fluffy ball in her hand, watching Wuyun’s head sway back and forth with the movement. A smile danced in her eyes. “Many actors think memorizing lines is all it takes to act. But when they get on set, they often struggle. Besides a lack of experience, the real problem is their inability to fully immerse themselves in their characters during filming.”

Casually placing the fluffy ball on the table, Sang Baili clapped her hands together. “Where’s the script?”

Shen Shuangjing retrieved the script from her suitcase.

Sang Baili pulled up a chair and sat down, flipping through the pages for a few minutes before closing it.

“Let’s rehearse a scene first.”

“Which one?”

“Act Three: the part where the Third Female Lead is trying to sell wine and gets harassed by a customer, right before the Female Lead steps in to help.”

“I’m still playing the Third Female Lead?”

“Yes. I’ll play the harassing customer.”

As Sang Baili finished speaking, her demeanor shifted completely, as if she had transformed into a different person. She pulled a cigarette case from the drawer, took out a cigarette, and lit it.

The flame flickered at her fingertips, and the lingering white smoke blurred her striking features.

Through the swirling haze, she stared at Shen Shuangjing, her disdain for the obsequious young waitress palpable. “Anything else?” she asked, her contempt undisguised.

Shen Shuangjing seemed oblivious to the woman’s scorn. She leaned closer, her shadow partially obscuring Sang Baili’s face, and pressed her lips solicitously near the woman’s ear. “Beautiful lady, the bar is having a special promotion tonight. If you recharge…”

Before she could finish, Sang Baili cut her off, her tone dismissive. “Not interested. I don’t want anything else. Just bring me a Macallan 12 Year.”

The hands of the wall clock moved silently. The room was quiet enough to hear Wuyun’s soft snoring. Shen Shuangjing felt her heart racing, bl00d rushing to her chest, making her tongue tingle and her head spin.

She had lost count of how many customers had rejected her tonight.

Being rejected by customers was a common occurrence at the bar, but tonight was the final night for calculating sales performance. Shen Shuangjing had consistently ranked at the bottom, and if she failed to reach 100,000 yuan in sales this time, she might as well quit.

Without choosing a new target, Shen Shuangjing plastered a servile smile on her face and said, “Would you reconsider? Tonight’s promotion is a rare opportunity. We’ll even include a complimentary bottle of premium whiskey with special opening service.”

Sang Baili chuckled, her interest piqued. “Special service? What kind of special service?”

Before Shen Shuangjing could answer, Sang Baili’s hand expertly slid onto the back of her hand, kneading it suggestively. “Does that include spending the night with me?”

As if pricked by a sharp needle, Shen Shuangjing froze.

The bar’s staff operated in a gray area, where casual flirting and taking advantage of customers were unspoken rules between bartenders and regulars. But the woman’s blunt words stripped away Shen Shuangjing’s dignity, treating her like a prostitute.

Despite her years of navigating the bar’s diverse clientele, her practiced charm, and her habit of joking flirtatiously with customers while haggling for wages with her manager, Shen Shuangjing had never relinquished her pride and self-respect.

The woman’s words were like pulling the crucial block from a tower of stacked bricks. The walls surrounding Shen Shuangjing’s heart suddenly collapsed, forcing her to confront the harsh reality: in the eyes of the customers, she was no different from any other server working at the bar.

Lowly, cheap, and without dignity.

Even a dog might be treated with more respect.

Her face burned with humiliation as uncontrollable anger and self-mockery surged through her. Shen Shuangjing yanked her hand back and said stiffly, “We don’t offer that kind of service.”

Sang Baili observed the shift in her expression, sneered disdainfully, and lost interest.

Fake modesty.

No one working in a place like this is clean. Who are you putting on this act for?

Sang Baili tapped the ash from her slender black cigarette holder. “Do you feel insulted?”

“Fine, then.”

She took a drag of her cigarette, exhaling the smoke with languid pleasure. Pinching the holder between her index and middle fingers, she crushed the cigarette against the ashtray before tossing it to the floor. Her wanton voice dripped with malice. “I might consider tipping you after all. If you can finish this cigarette, I’ll cover your entire sales quota for the night.”

The half-smoked cigarette butt, glistening with saliva, lay discarded on the floor, coated with invisible dust and bacteria.

It was predictable, yet unimaginable. This patch of ground, trampled by countless feet, bore the shoe prints of those who had just come from the restroom or other places. Men’s and women’s footprints, wiped away by mops, lay under a day’s accumulation of dust, now intimately mingling with the freshly extinguished cigarette butt.

The mere thought of putting that cigarette butt in her mouth made Shen Shuangjing nauseous. Her upbringing and sense of shame made her recoil from Sang Baili’s words, leaving her paralyzed, unable to take the next step.

After a long silence, Shen Shuangjing picked up the cigarette butt from the floor.

Sometimes, pride is worth nothing.

“May I borrow your lighter?”

Driven by self-abandonment, the corners of her slightly lowered eyes were red, her slender lashes trembling like withered leaves about to fall from a branch—a fragile, poignant beauty.

Sang Baili reached out, not to offer a lighter, but to snatch the cigarette butt from Shen Shuangjing’s hand and drop it into the ashtray.

The scene was over.

Now came the pivotal moment: the female lead’s entrance to defuse the situation.

Sang Baili rose gracefully, wagging a finger. “Your line delivery, pace, and enunciation were all good, but there’s a minor issue.”

“The Third Female Lead has long been accustomed to working in bars, with all its diverse characters and smells. If I were her, I wouldn’t instinctively frown at the sudden whiff of smoke. You might not even realize you’re frowning, because you’re not used to the bar environment. Without that experience, you can’t fully grasp every nuance of the character’s actions and expressions. Once you’re on set, if you have time, try visiting bars that stay open until dawn. Besides familiarizing yourself with the environment, observe what the staff do—whether they sneak out back for a smoke, take secret naps, or banter with regulars. Observe and analyze their behavior.”

Shen Shuangjing rubbed her chin, suddenly enlightened. “I understand now.”

She and the Third Female Lead had grown up in different environments. Though certain independent experiences had made them similar, allowing her to empathize with the character, Shen Shuangjing had been luckier. The hardships she’d faced in the past paled in comparison to the character’s harrowing ordeals.

Therefore, she couldn’t fully comprehend the weight of the decisions the character made when disillusioned with humanity and despairing of fate.

To truly embody her character, Shen Shuangjing needed to immerse herself completely, to experience and internalize her world. Only then could she uncover the subtle yet crucial behaviors and emotions that might otherwise be overlooked but felt entirely natural to the character.

“I really want to spend the night at a bar tonight,” she muttered.

Sang Baili’s comment struck Shen Shuangjing like a bolt of lightning. She felt as if she were still galaxies away from mastering the role, and she desperately wanted to cram all night, to bridge the gaps in her understanding before filming began.

As she imagined tomorrow’s first day on set, Shen Shuangjing swallowed hard, her throat dry and her body inexplicably hot with nervous tension.

Noticing her unease, Sang Baili touched her slightly swollen lips. “Are you having an allergic reaction?”

“Allergic reaction?” Shen Shuangjing echoed, confused.

Could it really be something other than her pre-shoot anxiety?

Within minutes, Shen Shuangjing confirmed that the tightness in her throat, difficulty breathing, and swelling in her cheeks were no illusion. “I think I need to go to the hospital.”

After allergy testing at the hospital, the doctor glanced dismissively at Shen Shuangjing’s face, now covered in small red bumps. “You didn’t know you were allergic to pistachios?”

Shen Shuangjing was beyond tears. “No, I didn’t.”

If she had known her impulsive baking project would trigger an allergic reaction, she would never have chosen pistachios for the filling.

The doctor adjusted his glasses. “That’s odd. According to your records, you had a severe allergic reaction to pistachios before and came to the hospital for allergy testing. It hasn’t even been a year since your last visit. How could you forget you can’t eat pistachios?”

Damn it.

She genuinely hadn’t known.

Shen Shuangjing realized something and glanced at Sang Baili, who was also looking at her, her expression thoughtful, a flicker of doubt in her eyes.

Shen Shuangjing coughed to cover her embarrassment and quickly offered a plausible explanation: “I thought the allergy might have cleared up after so long.”

The doctor accepted her explanation. “Allergies are linked to your constitution. To prevent future reactions, exercise regularly and eat foods that boost your immunity. For now, avoid pistachios. I’m prescribing a seven-day course of antihistamines: three times a day, three to four pills each time.”

Shen Shuangjing nodded earnestly, promising to follow the instructions. She stole a glance at Sang Baili, wondering if the other woman had bought her explanation.

Having transmigrated so long ago, Shen Shuangjing had always acted according to her own nature, doing whatever she pleased. If Sang Baili were to become suspicious and investigate, it would be easy for her to discover the stark differences between Shen Shuangjing’s personality and that of the original host.

While a change in personality could be explained away by claiming to have been altered by traumatic experiences, failing to answer questions about the original host’s past would leave her teetering on the brink of exposure.

Shen Shuangjing desperately wanted to avoid being exposed. If Sang Baili were to learn that the contractual wife she had chosen had been replaced by Shen Shuangjing on the very day the agreement was signed, she would undoubtedly refuse to let the matter rest.

Shen Shuangjing couldn’t afford to take that risk.

A shiver ran down her spine. She raised her hand to rub her face and calm her nerves, but then remembered her face was covered in pustules that could scar if scratched. She pulled a disposable mask from her pocket and put it on, glancing at Sang Baili, who had been lost in thought ever since they left the hospital.

Bathed in the soft light, Sang Baili’s eyelashes seemed dusted with gold, and the depths of her eyes beneath her pale lids remained unfathomable.

Gritting her teeth, Shen Shuangjing asked, “Sister, what are you thinking about?”