Reborn! Entangled with the Obsessive Best Actress - Chapter 14

Serious people possess an inherent charm, and when they’re beautiful, that charm becomes infinitely more captivating, utterly mesmerizing.

Xie Jingcheng gazed intently at Song Qingxing, watching her slender fingertips dance like a fluttering butterfly as she patiently changed her dressing.

The burn wasn’t particularly severe; Xie Jingcheng planned to be discharged tomorrow, ensuring minimal disruption to the filming schedule.

After all, most of her scenes were already completed. She only needed to occasionally help Song Qingxing rehearse her lines.

“What are your plans after this film?” Xie Jingcheng asked, reaching out to gently lift Song Qingxing’s chin with her fingertips, still mindful of her duties as the “sugar daddy.”

What should I do?

I’m starting to want more than just kissing her.

But remembering the confident words she had sworn earlier, Xie Jingcheng wanted to slap herself.

Xie Jingcheng… Xie Jingcheng.

Are you just pathetic?

Seeing how soft and easily bullied she is, you’re already trying to take advantage.

Though her heart churned like a stormy sea, Xie Jingcheng maintained an impassive facade. A true actress, she could conceal her emotions so completely that even audiences couldn’t detect them—and sometimes, not even she herself could discern her true feelings.

“I want to star in a web drama,” Song Qingxing said, wiping her fingers with a wet wipe. Some ointment had inevitably gotten on her hands during the application, and the strong medicinal scent lingered. She needed to clean up.

“Why? Someone of your status shouldn’t be interested in web dramas, right?” Xie Jingcheng had never acted in a web drama, considering it beneath her dignity. Of course, she didn’t care much about status; she only took roles she genuinely liked.

“Don’t look down on web dramas. It’s 2024 now. How many young people still watch TV shows on actual televisions?”

Only movies still had the support of theaters, but even moviegoers were dwindling, mostly couples or those seeking casual entertainment. That’s why popcorn flicks and family-friendly films were becoming increasingly popular.

Xie Jingcheng instinctively went to cross her arms, but then remembered the burn on one of her arms and had to lower her hands.

“This isn’t like you,” Xie Jingcheng said.

“I remember before, your temper was like an Angry Bird.”

Xie Jingcheng’s memories were hazy, but she vividly recalled Song Qingxing’s arrogant and flamboyant personality—even more ostentatious than her own.

Hearing this, Song Qingxing frowned slightly.

An Angry Bird? What does Xie Jingcheng think I am?

Still, she offered a casual explanation: “People change.”

“Fine. What kind of web drama do you want to act in?” Xie Jingcheng asked, reaching for her phone.

“I’ll arrange it for you. Also, get your Shanghai apartment cleaned up and move into my place.”

Song Qingxing immediately tensed. Hadn’t they agreed to a purely “lip-friendship relationship”? Why the sudden push for cohabitation?

Regardless, she had no choice but to see this through. Having boarded the pirate ship, she had to sail to the bitter end.

Returning to her former life as an obscure, eighteenth-tier nobody was simply not an option.

“Limes are sour.”

Song Qingxing carefully recalled the drama she was about to star in. The first half focused on their school days, with only hints of romance between the male and female leads.

That part should be relatively straightforward.

The second half depicted their professional lives and eventual reunion.

Overall, it was a tragic ending.

After all, tragic endings tend to leave a lasting impression, while happy endings are often quickly forgotten.

“A school drama?”

Xie Jingcheng tilted her head, closed her eyes, and Song Qingxing appeared in her mind, dressed in a blue-and-white school uniform.

Her black ponytail swayed with each movement.

Not bad at all.

“School dramas always have a steady audience. We won’t lose money on this.”

Xie Jingcheng turned off her phone and sank into the hospital’s soft pillows, her gaze softening—a stark contrast to the cold, detached look she wore in magazines.

“Song Qingxing, you don’t need to save money for me.”

As a member of the family, Xie Jingcheng had been receiving dividends from her family’s shares since she turned eighteen, but she wasn’t a lavish spender.

Compared to her cousins who flaunted garages overflowing with luxury cars, Xie Jingcheng spent modestly on her passions, like renting an entire apartment building.

The ground-floor storefronts of the apartment were leased at rock-bottom rates to veterinary clinics dedicated to rescuing stray cats and dogs.

“I’m not trying to save you money,” Song Qingxing said earnestly. “I genuinely want to act in this drama.” She had been feeling drowsy earlier, but the cool breeze on the balcony had invigorated her.

“As for the cohabitation…” Song Qingxing hesitated before asking, feeling it might be impolite, but she needed to know how Xie Jingcheng truly saw her—whether their relationship was limited to kissing or if she expected them to sleep together.

“I could move in, but Xie Jingcheng, didn’t you say sleeping with me would be a disadvantage for you?”

“Why have you changed your mind now?”

“Have you finally tasted my irresistible charm?”

If anyone else had said something so shameless, it would have been dismissed as a joke. But when those words came from Song Qingxing’s beautiful face, they were no joke. They were simply stating a fact.

“No, I just think you’re beautiful and want to see you every day.”

Even now, the renowned actress stubbornly refused to admit the increasingly base desires rising within her.

“Alright, wherever I live is just a place to live anyway.”

Song Qingxing had bought a mansion after achieving fame, but it was quickly sold off at a low price as her popularity plummeted. If she had sold it a few years earlier, before the housing market crashed, she might have made a profit.

That’s what I should have done, Song Qingxing thought.

When Xie Jingcheng tires of me in a few years, I can buy a house at the reduced prices. Wouldn’t that be perfect?

“Where do you live?”

No paparazzi dared to follow Xie Jingcheng, so Song Qingxing didn’t know her home address.

“I’ll have my driver pick you up. As for the address, you’ll know it after one visit.”

Only the final scenes of the film remained. Song Qingxing had been working tirelessly these past few days, acting with all her might, leaving her back aching and sore.

Yet, watching her acting skills rapidly improve in post-production, she couldn’t help but laugh with delight.

Especially since she had even persuaded the director to reshoot several disaster scenes.

It wasn’t too late to turn back now; getting ashore was the most crucial thing. If only she had been reborn to the time when filming for this movie had just begun.

Then she could have honed her acting skills even further.

As filming wrapped up, the truth behind the coffee-splashing incident finally came to light. Peng Zhi’en’s incriminating text messages to the woman were also revealed.

But Xie Jingcheng and Song Qingxing faced a dilemma.

If Peng Zhi’en’s scandal were exposed, the film would inevitably suffer.

Reshoots were out of the question, given their tight production schedule.

So, for now, they had to suppress the matter.

However, Xie Jingcheng was not one to be easily bullied. She would find ways to slowly torment Peng Zhi’en, but only after the film’s theatrical run had ended.

Otherwise, all of Song Qingxing and Xie Jingcheng’s hard work would be for nothing.