The Green Tea Actress Has Too Much After-Show Drama - Chapter 26

What’s with this woman? She just finished a kissing scene and now she’s acting like she doesn’t know me?

Before Ran Long could gather her thoughts, Qiu An whispered, “Let’s go get lunch together.”

Ran Long’s palms went cold as four icy fingers pressed against hers. Startled, she jerked her hand away from Qiu An’s grasp with a violent swing.

The force of her movement couldn’t help but draw the attention of Sister Hou and Yuan Chengyin.

“Ran Long, what’s wrong?” Sister Hou asked with concern. Just moments ago, her ancestor had secured a promising future for her, so she decided to give the old ghost a good day.

Ran Long glanced at Qiu An, then at her own hand, stammering, “I… I felt a bug. It startled me.”

Damn it, I actually tried to save Qiu An’s face.

“Did it bite you? Some insects are poisonous. Let me check if you need ointment,” Sister Hou said, reaching for Ran Long’s hand to examine it closely. Yuan Chengyin swiftly slapped away her meddling hand.

There was a pair of eyes here a hundred times more venomous than any insect, watching their every move.

“It’s nothing,” Yuan Chengyin said. “This guy isn’t that delicate. We’re not in some remote mountain village—there are no poisonous mosquitoes here.”

“Good to hear. Come on, let’s go get our lunch boxes.” Qiu An, undeterred by Ran Long’s earlier rejection, publicly took her hand again.

Ran Long didn’t resist, silently letting Qiu An lead her away, though she muttered, “Why do you keep saying ‘get our lunch boxes’? It’s such an ominous phrase.”

Sister Hou stared dumbfounded at their intertwined hands, glancing at Yuan Chengyin for an explanation, only to receive a cryptic smile in return.

Well, this is fine too. Ran Long and Qiu An getting along was nothing but beneficial for her. It would save her from having to deal with her client’s constant need to antagonize others, always trying to make shocking statements. If Ran Long ever made a comeback and someone dug up her past, they’d have to spend a fortune on damage control.

Sister Hou startled at this thought, then nodded in satisfaction. I’m really starting to act like a professional manager now, even thinking about risk management! How impressive!

Ran Long didn’t pull her hand from Qiu An’s grasp until they were out of sight of the crowd.

“Why did you hold my hand?” she asked.

Holding hands felt excessively intimate. Even when they were close before, they’d only linked arms like close friends. Since Ran Long had confessed her attraction to women, even arm-linking had become rare.

Instead of answering, Qiu An countered, “Can’t I hold your hand?”

Ran Long retorted, “Are we that close?”

Qiu An fired back, “Don’t you want to hold my hand?”

What kind of weird question is that? Ran Long thought. We’re adults—what’s the point of holding hands?

“No, I don’t. It’s weird. Especially with everyone watching.”

“What about when no one’s around?”

“Still no,” Ran Long said firmly.

“Fine, then I won’t hold your hand.”

Qiu An’s words made her sound remarkably magnanimous.

As if our relationship is close enough for hand-holding! As if our sexual orientations are straight enough for hand-holding!

Is she trying to use me to provoke Yuan Chengyin? He doesn’t even like me—how would that work? Besides, isn’t kissing more provocative than holding hands?

We’ve already French-kissed. What’s the big deal about holding hands?

Wait… how did I end up arguing against myself?

After collecting their lunches, Ran Long took her boxed meal to the RV, hoping to find a quiet spot to enjoy her first meal since surviving the ordeal.

But Qiu An wasn’t joking about “eating together.” Without asking for permission, she boarded Ran Long’s RV and sat across from her.

“We’ve already filmed all the intimate scenes in Crossing City. Why are you still clinging to me?”

Ran Long didn’t push her away, but she couldn’t resist saying something mean.

Qiu An didn’t reply. She placed her boxed meal on the table, opened the lid, and silently began to eat.

Seeing Qiu An’s obvious distress, Ran Long softened and stopped trying to chase her away. She set her own meal on the table and opened it.

Just as she was about to pick up her chopsticks, Ran Long glanced at Qiu An’s meal, then at her own. The more she looked, the more something seemed off.

Although the dishes in Qiu An’s box were the same as everyone else’s, they looked less oily and shiny, and the portions were noticeably smaller.

“Why does your meal look different from mine?”

Ran Long remembered that when they collected their meals, the person distributing them had handed Qiu An a box from a separate table behind them, while Ran Long’s came from the top of a large stack.

“It’s low-oil, low-salt, and smaller portions,” Qiu An explained.

Sounds like cat food, Ran Long thought, not far from the truth.

“So this is special treatment! It looks the same as everyone else’s, but low-oil and low-salt means they have to cook it separately, right?”

“Mm-hmm,” Qiu An confirmed.

“They promote you as being down-to-earth, eating and living with the crew, but you’re actually staying in the most luxurious suite in the hotel and getting your meals cooked separately. Isn’t that just spin and false advertising?”

“Mm,” Qiu An didn’t deny it.

“See? We’re both in the entertainment industry. How dare your fans claim you’re kind-hearted and innocent? You’re probably a scheming mastermind with more tricks than you know what to do with, right?”

“Mm,” Qiu An still didn’t deny it.

“Can you say anything besides ‘Mm’?”

“Yes.”

“……”

Ran Long was defeated by Qiu An’s sincerity.

Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time Qiu An had confessed something like this to her.

She remembered Qiu An saying, “I’ve used a lot of people,” but she had been too angry at the time to truly consider it.

“So, what’s your purpose for approaching me now?”

Qiu An lowered her head and continued eating, her lips pressed together and eyebrows twitching as if deep in thought.

Ran Long decided to take pity on her and offer some closed-ended questions with easy answers.

“Because Yuan Chengyin chose me as the lead, forcing you to work with me, and you want the filming to go smoothly?”

“No.”

“You want to use me again?”

“No.”

“To atone for screwing me over before?”

“Yes… and no.”

“Are you playing Twenty Questions with me?!”

Ran Long snapped, and Qiu An smirked.

She nearly flipped her bento box over the woman’s head. All day long, she acted so serious while being utterly absurd.

Ran Long had assumed Qiu An had gotten into her car to chat, but Qiu An didn’t initiate a single conversation, even after they finished eating.

“I’m leaving now,” Qiu An said, her only voluntary remark.

“Oh, wait for me to finish these last two bites, then take the trash down for me.”

Qiu An actually obeyed, standing beside her and watching her finish her bento box before taking the trash and leaving.

What a strange woman.

With time left before the lunch break ended, Ran Long didn’t feel like napping, so she opened her phone and started browsing the entertainment section of the forum.

Even though Qiu An was on set, there were plenty of forum threads about her, mostly discussing her joining the project.

Ran Long clicked on a thread titled “Big News, Few Words  Qiu An Goes Lesbian! New Scoop Confirmed!” The poster claimed, through a convoluted chain of informants, that Qiu An had signed a contract with director Yuan Chengyin for a lesbian-themed film.

1L: This thread’s gonna blow up! First dibs on the sofa!

2L: Real or fake? If this comes true, I’ll go vegetarian for half a year!

3L: Who’s playing the other female lead? I bet Yuan Chengyin will direct and star himself! [Winky face] [Smirking]

4L: I’ve already imagined the plot: coming out on premiere night, multiple Golden Phoenix Award nominations, acceptance speech: “Yes, we’re together, and we have a child!” [Evil grin] [Snickering]

5L: [Quoting 4L] I support this with both hands and feet!

Ran Long silently clicked the “Exit” button.

She then opened another thread titled “[Seeking Info] Who’s the Other Female Lead in Qiu An’s Yuri Film?”

Users in the thread were pulling out all the stops, digging up recent schedules of numerous actresses. Unfortunately, those who had flown to Crossing City at the same time either had publicly announced alternative engagements or conflicting schedules in the following days.

By the end of the thread, some even speculated that Yuan Chengyin might cast an un-debuted actress as the lead.

With over six hundred replies, Ran Long stubbornly scrolled through each one, her eyes blurring, yet she couldn’t find her name mentioned even once.

What, am I so obscure that my flight information is no longer being bought and sold?

What a joke! I was on the same flight to Crossing City as Qiu An!

Out of hundreds of people in this thread, not a single one noticed my movements? How could six hundred discussions miss the mark so completely?

Ran Long refused to believe it. She typed her name into the forum’s search bar for a precise search, only to find the most recent result was a year-old thread warning against a terrible film she had starred in.

Ran Long deleted her full name and replaced it with the abbreviation “RL” before searching again.

This time, she finally found something. She saw a post from two weeks ago titled: “[RL] I think I know who the other female lead is.”

1L: Decoding needed: Who is RL?

Ran Long nearly spat bl00d onto her phone screen. Yes, this is how fast progress moves in this era. One day you’re trending as public enemy number one, and the next day people are asking where you even came from.

2L: Super Malevolent Woman, a female artist with the surname Ran.

3L: Uh, are you serious? You’re using abbreviations for such niche terms?

4L: To the commenter above: She’s already a Super Malevolent Woman. Cut her some slack. If she wrote out the full name, what if the person tracked her down online and came to beat her up?

Ran Long didn’t know who to scold first.

5L: So why her? Where’s the OP? Show us the evidence!

6L: Aaaah! The director of this film is Yuan Chengyin! What a chaotic mess! Someone please understand me!

7L: Here it comes! The OP’s classmate has a relative who works as a manager at Gourd Media. They say the manager is currently in Crossing City with the production team, and the timeline matches exactly with what was mentioned in the other thread.

This was the final straw that broke Ran Long’s psychological defenses.

Who could have believed that these people would ultimately track her down through Sister Hou’s itinerary…?

Someone please understand me…

8L: The OP checked the schedules of all Gourd Media’s artists. Apart from RL, none of them had open slots or were in Crossing City. Plus, RL hasn’t been streaming lately.

9L: Nooooo! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear it!

10L: Is there no one else in the industry? Can’t they just permanently blacklist this emotionally unstable actress with a history of violence? People like her should be in jail, not playing a 208 role!

The thread abruptly ended there.

Perhaps because the title didn’t include “Qiu An,” it failed to ride the trending wave. Or perhaps because the hard evidence didn’t deliver the outcome everyone wanted, the post quickly sank into obscurity.

Ran Long felt a strange mix of emotions.

She wondered if Qiu An’s comment section would be flooded with criticism when the official casting announcement came. Would people accuse Qiu An of betraying the fans who had defended her years ago, calling her an ingrate? Would the fans grow disillusioned and abandon her en masse, turning against her?

And when the film finally premiered, would she truly make a comeback? Or would the resurgence only revive the old scandal between her and Qiu An?

She was used to being criticized, but this situation would inevitably drag Qiu An into the fray.

What if I don’t even get famous, and end up dragging Qiu An down with me?

Of course, dragging Qiu An down would be quite satisfying, but…

But what was it again…?