The Green Tea Actress Has Too Much After-Show Drama - Chapter 31

“Sigh… oh… ah…”

Xi Xi sighed repeatedly as she reviewed the paparazzi’s photos and price quotes.

The candid shot captured the exact moment Ran Long was feeding Qiu An a piece of mutton.

The perfectly blurred image, bathed in the warm glow of the banquet lights, made even Ran Long’s plain attire look… pleasing to the eye, thanks to the paparazzi’s skilled editing.

If these two had a CP fanbase, some wealthy fan would undoubtedly pay a fortune for this photo, making it the profile picture of their fan community for at least a month.

Xi Xi estimated that the official promotional stills for their drama would be released around that time.

Whether they actually had a CP fanbase, Xi Xi couldn’t say for sure. But she knew for a fact that they had a CP fan community called “An Ran Wu Yang.”

How did she know? Because she’d seen Qiu An’s official account browsing it.

During the period when Qiu An and Ran Long were publicly feuding, a group of troublemakers, seemingly eager to escalate the chaos, had briefly stirred up activity in their CP supertopic. Fortunately, none of them had persisted until now.

Ha! Except for Qiu An herself.

“Sister Qiu’an, do you realize how much these compromising photos cost?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Qiu An said dismissively.

Even with money, you shouldn’t waste it so recklessly.

Xi Xi was still strategizing how to negotiate with the paparazzi when Qiu An continued, “We don’t need to buy them. And we don’t need to suppress the trending topics later.”

“Huh? Just let it go?”

What kind of move is this? The main character herself is stepping in to personally hype the ship?

“Well… forget it. These are photos of me and Xiao Ran together, so her team has a say too. Talk to Sister Hou about it.”

“Just Sister Hou? What about Gourd Media?”

“I’ve already had someone take care of the higher-ups. They won’t interfere with Ran Long and Sister Hou’s decisions.”

“Understood. I’ll tell the paparazzi to hold off for now.”

Ran Long slowly lifted her heavy eyelids, her mind blank for a moment before she realized she was sleeping in Qiu An’s room.

She lay perfectly still on the bed, her hands clasped over her stomach. The blanket was tucked in tightly, trapping her body heat evenly within.

This was likely the most composed she had ever looked upon waking up in her entire life.

A faint herbal scent lingered on the pillow. Ran Long massaged her temples, still feeling slightly dizzy from the hangover, but thankfully it wasn’t painful.

She got out of bed, walked over to the window, and pulled back the curtains. As sunlight flooded the room, she noticed that many things were missing.

Qiu An was gone, and her suitcase was nowhere to be seen.

The bottles and jars on the vanity had vanished, and the coat rack was bare again, finally no longer concealing the hidden door to the bathroom.

Ran Long checked her phone. Qiu An hadn’t sent her any messages, but Sister Hou’s profile was marked with a glaring red notification: “43.”

Forty-three messages. The only time she had ever received so many was during the days when her scandal broke, when her previous manager had begged her to apologize to Qiu An.

Sister Hou slept soundly until dawn. When she opened her eyes, she found Xi Xi sleeping beside her. Her first instinct was to check if her clothes were still on.

Thankfully, she was still wearing the same outfit from the night before, though it was a bit dirty. At least her dignity remained intact.

Xi Xi woke up at the sound of Sister Hou stirring. She moved with practiced ease to the bathroom to wash her face, immediately switching into work mode.

When Xi Xi held up the paparazzi’s stolen photos, Sister Hou leaped upright in bed.

“What… what is this?!”

“Photos the paparazzi took last night.”

“No, I mean, what are they doing?! Wait, that’s not important. How much will these cost?”

“Qiu An wants to know if you plan to buy them. If so, you can purchase them through us.”

“What do you mean? Sister Qiu’an wasn’t originally planning to buy them?”

Xi Xi shrugged. “Exactly.”

Sister Hou frowned. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Qiu An yourself.”

“Huh? But if we don’t buy them, the media will get their hands on them! They’ll definitely trend all day, right?”

“Yes, they’ll trend all day, possibly even two days. Oh, unless some major news breaks, in which case we’ll pull them down immediately.”

No matter how Sister Hou argued, she couldn’t understand why Qiu An didn’t want to buy the photos. Uncertain what to do, she sent a message to Ran Long for guidance.

But Ran Long didn’t reply. Sister Hou and Xi Xi went upstairs and rang the doorbell, but no one answered.

Xi Xi messaged Qiu An, who simply replied:

“She’s still sleeping. Don’t disturb her.”

Don’t disturb her, my ass!

Anyone would have recognized this as a crisis requiring immediate action. Who knew if the paparazzi, worried about losing the scoop’s timeliness, might sell the photos to someone else or publish them directly?

Yet Qiu An’s only concern was that Ran Long was sleeping and shouldn’t be disturbed.

Well, that’s the price of playing the game. Sooner or later, you’ll owe someone. Sister Hou owed Qiu An, and Qiu An felt indebted to Ran Long.

This endless cycle of debts and repayments had no end in sight.

When Ran Long finally woke up, she messaged Sister Hou. Sister Hou and Xi Xi took the elevator straight to the penthouse. As soon as the door opened, they were greeted by Ran Long’s impassioned morning rant:

“No! No buying! Why would we buy them? These photos are gold! This is the perfect opportunity to milk this for all it’s worth! It’s a double win—two birds with one stone! I’ve been waiting for this day for ages! Wait, Xi Xi, what are you still doing here? Qiu An’s already left. Why are you still hanging around?”

Ran Long rambled on to Sister Hou for a long time before noticing Xi Xi standing behind her.

How strange, she thought. Qiu An packed up and left early this morning, clearly for work. Why didn’t she take Xi Xi with her?

“What do you mean by ‘killing two birds with one stone’ and ‘achieving two goals at once’?” Xi Xi asked.

“It just means I’m riding the wave of attention…”

Qiu An had finally revealed her first-ever scandal.

Ran Long dared not share her true thoughts with Xi Xi.

“This is also good publicity for The Sound of Falling Leaves, right?”

“Seeing you put aside personal grudges and focus on your career makes me feel so relieved!” Sister Hou adopted a maternal tone. “Xi Xi, let’s not buy anything. We’ll just wait for this sudden surge of attention!”

Xi Xi nodded. She had a pretty good idea of the ulterior motives behind Ran Long and Qiu An’s actions. Fortunately, as their assistant, her job was simply to relay orders and observe from the sidelines.

Working for Qiu An was remarkably stress-free, as long as you could accept the bizarre as normal.

“So why didn’t you leave with Qiu An? Does she have some private schedule? And why would a private schedule require such a rush?” Ran Long asked Xi Xi.

“Sister Qiu’an left before dawn. She asked me to stay and take care of Xiao Hou.”

Hearing this, Sister Hou immediately grabbed Xi Xi’s hand, her voice trembling with excitement. “Did Sister Qiu’an really say that?”

Xi Xi countered, “What do you think?”

Seeing the gleam in Sister Hou’s eyes, Ran Long suddenly recalled Sister Hou’s drunken ramblings from the night before—something about emperors, concubines, and Su Peisheng.

Her mouth moved faster than her brain. “What are you up to? Plotting to seize power and usurp the throne?” she blurted out.

Xi Xi shot Ran Long a sidelong glance. “What power could she possibly seize? What throne could she usurp? The position of concubine?”

Ran Long scratched her head awkwardly, while Sister Hou, the instigator of this mess, seemed to have completely forgotten the incident. “What does ‘concubine’ even mean?”

“You were drunk last night and told them Qiu An was the emperor and Ran Long was the concubine. Don’t you remember?” Xi Xi reminded her.

At Xi Xi’s words, the memory of her drunken antics flooded back like maple syrup, sticky and overwhelming, filling every crevice of Sister Hou’s brain. She curled her fingers and toes in mortification, unsure how to react, and desperately wanted to dig a grave and bury herself alive.

“Remember now? It’s okay, no one’s blaming you. They were both too drunk to remember clearly anyway. See? Ran Long just claimed the concubine title herself,” Xi Xi reassured her, patting Sister Hou on the back.

“Who claimed the concubine title? Who wants to be Qiu An’s concubine? If I were going to be anything, it would be…” Ran Long trailed off, her throat catching.

“Empress?” Xi Xi teased.

“Emperor!”

“Yes, yes, yes. I’ll go report to the emperor right away. The audacious demon concubine is plotting rebellion!”

Ran Long rolled her eyes. “Report it then! As if I’m afraid of Qiu An.”

Film crews embody the saying “time is money” more concretely than almost any other industry. Location rentals, hotel stays, and labor costs are all calculated by the hour. For example, they had just finished filming yesterday morning, held a wrap party that night, and were scattering in all directions today.

Ran Long wasn’t as busy as Qiu An, who always had another project lined up the moment one ended. Sister Hou couldn’t arrange a last-minute gig for her, so after working non-stop for so long, Ran Long suddenly found herself with a full seven days of vacation. The sudden leisure left her unsure how to relax.

She considered finding Yuan Chengyin to ask if he planned to stay in Crossing City to explore and unwind, but a passing housekeeper informed her that the room’s occupant had checked out early this morning, and the room had already been cleaned.

How strange. Qiu An having business was one thing, but what could Yuan Chengyin possibly be up to?

Could Qiu An have lured him out on a date?

Even though Yuan Chengyin claimed to have someone he liked, rejecting Qiu An wouldn’t be easy, would it?

Whatever, Ran Long thought. It’s none of my business anyway.

Qiu An, as a generous investor, had booked the hotel rooms until tomorrow, allowing everyone to pack and leave at their own pace.

But seasoned crew members, accustomed to constant relocation, had already booked their flights and train tickets. Only a few planned to stay until tomorrow, and the hotel echoed with the rumble of luggage wheels rolling across the floors.

When Ran Long started university, she rented an apartment right next to campus. Most of the residents in the building were students from the surrounding university town.

During holidays and festivals, the apartment building would be filled with the clamor of luggage being moved, like a mass animal migration.

Ran Long knew Qiu An had no home to return to, and she herself didn’t enjoy going home either.

Back then, Ran Cheng hadn’t yet disappeared, though he rarely stayed at home. Even during Lunar New Year, when he did return, he would either argue with Ms. Hu or give her the cold shoulder every day.

Ms. Hu would ask him, “You never come home all year. Why not just spend the holiday with your women outside?” Ran Cheng would retort, “This is my home, and I’ll come back whenever I damn well please.”

Ran Long would seize the opportunity to interject, “Why haven’t you two divorced yet?” To which they would both snap, “Fine, let’s get divorced!” But since the civil affairs bureau was closed during the holiday, the matter would always fizzle out.

Later, when Ran Long brought Qiu An home, Ms. Hu and Ran Cheng, adhering to the traditional virtue of “keeping family scandals private,” temporarily became somewhat more harmonious.

Thinking back, Ran Long suddenly realized a problem.

If she and Qiu An were going to trend on social media with a scandal, Ms. Hu would definitely see it!

What’s worse, Ms. Hu preferred reading sensationalized public accounts even more than checking trending topics…