The Green Tea Actress Has Too Much After-Show Drama - Chapter 6

“I’m not wearing anyone else’s shoes.”

Ran Long frowned, puzzled. Qiu An’s earnest delivery of such a mundane statement made it sound like it carried some hidden meaning.

But what other meaning could there possibly be?

Ran Long didn’t dare dwell on it.

Besides, she had clearly asked, “Do you have athlete’s foot?” What did it matter to her whether Qiu An was wearing someone else’s shoes or not?

Despite her internal grumbling, Ran Long was eager to get home and start streaming to earn money, so she obediently handed Qiu An her shoes.

Qiu An slipped her foot into Ran Long’s shoe, which still retained the warmth of Ran Long’s body, feeling pleasantly warm.

Qiu An drove with her usual steady hand, her skills showing no sign of having dulled over the years.

Watching her expertly navigate the road, Ran Long lost interest in playing backseat driver. She could drive herself, but she hated it because of her road rage.

Shortly after the slapping video went viral, Ran Long had chased down a car that cut her off, cursing the driver relentlessly. Someone filmed her leaning out the window, spewing profanities, and the video ended up online.

Thanks to Qiu An, that incident also became a trending topic.

Thanks to Qiu An’s fans, the label “Super Malevolent Woman” was permanently affixed to Ran Long’s head, and it remains there to this day. Just yesterday, a random passerby entered her livestream, left those four words, and promptly left.

These unpleasant memories, combined with her disastrous audition, left Ran Long in a foul mood.

Initially, she had only wanted to maliciously torment Yuan Chengyin and Qiu An, making them redo scenes multiple times to suffer a little, and then guilt-trip them with the line, “I haven’t gotten a role in two years.”

But by the end, that line had become a genuine excuse for her own subpar acting.

It turned out that a blade left unsharpened would indeed grow dull.

Depressed, Ran Long opened her fan community page. Though it had nearly 60,000 followers, only a handful remained active. At the time of her livestream, only one person had posted a question, garnering two likes and no comments.

As dusk deepened, she pressed her head against the car window, feeling the jolts and bumps of the road beneath.

Meanwhile, Sister Hou and Xi Xi were crammed onto a crowded subway, questioning their life choices.

Sister Hou’s feet dangled in the air, yet her gossipy heart couldn’t resist. She desperately wanted to know why Qiu An doted on her mistress so unconditionally.

She tugged at Xi Xi’s sleeve and whispered, “Xi Xi, do you know why Qiu—” A sea of ears pressed close, so she switched to code: “What’s the real relationship between ‘your person’ and ‘our person’?”

Homosexual affair, love triangle, jealousy, business rivalry, scheming, cheating, mistress rising to power.

Which was true?

Xi Xi glanced sideways at Sister Hou. “Our people are kind. It’s only natural they’d take extra care of yours.”

“Just that?”

“Just that.”

Sister Hou didn’t believe it. She knew Ran Long had plenty of flaws.

Even if Qiu An was the kindest person in the world, without a deeper connection, she wouldn’t dote on Ran Long like a child, never fighting back or arguing, giving her everything she wanted—and even forcing things she didn’t.

Could it be that her mistress wasn’t at fault back then?

Could there truly have been a romantic history between her mistress and Qiu An?

What kind of incredible luck was it to be in a relationship with Qiu An? Had their mistress saved the galaxy in her past life?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

“So, what really happened back then?”

“Just a misunderstanding. It’s all in the past now.”

Oh.

Sister Hou felt thoroughly rebuffed. Xi Xi is impossible to deal with, she thought. I’m done with her.

As the subway train passed over an elevated section, they could see the gridlocked traffic on the ring road through the window. The sea of red taillights stretched endlessly, a concrete manifestation of deep-seated grudges.

Sister Hou imagined what would have happened if she hadn’t refused to ride in Qiu An’s car. The four of them would have been inching along in the gridlock, the car silent except for their mistress’s wild rants and restless fidgeting. She felt immensely grateful she hadn’t become one of those red dots in the sea of traffic.

Horns blared incessantly as Ran Long, bored out of her mind in the back seat, scrolled through trending topics on her phone. The homepage was dominated by live updates from the Heartthief Girls’ concert, the hottest girl group in the country.

Feeling the car slow down, Ran Long looked up to see Qiu An resolutely driving onto the most congested, crimson-purple lane.

She knew many people in the entertainment industry were deeply superstitious, obsessed with things that were bright red and purple. But even superstition had its limits!

“You!” Ran Long jumped up in shock. “Don’t you know the Heartthief Girls are performing at Workers’ Stadium tonight? Why did you take this route? Didn’t you see the long stretch of red warnings on your navigation? Have you suddenly gone colorblind behind my back? Colorblind people shouldn’t be driving! Do you have any common sense at all?!”

Ahead, some kind of accident had brought traffic to a standstill. Many drivers got out of their cars to peer ahead, but no one could figure out what was going on.

“My apologies. I don’t follow the Heartthief Girls,” Qiu An said calmly, her expression unchanged, though she sounded genuinely apologetic.

“Are you doing this on purpose? You know I’m live-streaming right now, right?” Ran Long stomped her feet in the back seat, practically ready to jump out of the car.

“I’m aware.”

“I knew you’d be here to witness my humiliation the moment you heard about it!”

“…That’s not how it is,” Qiu An said, her tone urgent but without a hint of defensiveness.

“There’s no one else here now. Stop pretending to be innocent.”

Qiu An lowered her head, refusing to respond, and wrinkled her nose to alleviate the stinging sensation at its tip.

Seeing Qiu An’s reaction, Ran Long rolled her eyes dramatically, thinking, If you’re so tough, try shedding a tear.

“Hmph, too bad for you. I’m killing it with my live streams now. Do you even know how much money I make per minute? Do you have any idea how much I lost by you blocking me all night?”

“How much?” Qiu An asked, lifting her head. The redness at the tip of her nose had faded.

“What’s your point?”

“I can compensate you.”

“Are you insulting me? Don’t you know whose life you stole? What makes you think you can compensate me? What do you even have to offer?” Ran Long’s anger flared, her words growing increasingly reckless.

Qiu An stared silently at Ran Long’s furious face for a long moment. Suddenly, her long lashes fluttered, and a single tear rolled down her delicately contoured cheek.

Ran Long froze, then instinctively reached out and wiped the tear away.

Seeing Qiu An put on a pitiful expression, Ran Long panicked. “Hey, hey, hey! I’ll go! Why are you crying? What are you so upset about?! You’re not the one who lost money tonight!”

Another tear rolled down Qiu An’s cheek, followed by another.

Ran Long wiped one side, only to have another tear fall on the other. She wiped frantically, sweating profusely, her fingers becoming damp and slippery.

Unable to bear seeing Qiu An cry, Ran Long grabbed two tissues from the storage box and pressed them firmly against Qiu An’s face without a word.

Ignoring Qiu An’s makeup, Ran Long pressed the tissues down hard, as if staunching a wound.

Just as the tears seemed to be subsiding, Ran Long’s sharp tongue couldn’t resist. “What a performance! Tears on cue, zero frames of buildup!”

Qiu An’s eyebrows furrowed at the remark, and tears began streaming down her face again. Her usually cold, sharp eyes now looked delicate and tear-streaked, like a waterfall.

As if that weren’t enough, Qiu An lowered her head and began to sob softly.

“Alright, alright, my dear goddess!” Ran Long exclaimed, tearing through tissue after tissue, nearly at her breaking point. “I won’t say another word! Just stop crying, okay?”

The traffic in the distance showed signs of loosening. Seeing that Qiu An had no intention of stopping, Ran Long reluctantly conceded, “If you’re going to cry, go cry in the passenger seat!”

With that, Ran Long opened the door and stepped out. Her bare feet kissed the asphalt, and only then did she realize she wasn’t wearing shoes. Small pebbles pressed into her soles, but she endured the discomfort, yanked Qiu An out of the driver’s seat, and slid in herself.

After slamming the door shut, she saw Qiu An still standing motionless outside. Ran Long’s road rage flared instantly. She rolled down the window and unleashed a torrent of curses: “What are you standing there for? Can’t you see the traffic’s moving? Get in the car before you end up as tomorrow’s headline news!”

Qiu An circled around the front of the car and settled into the passenger seat, returning Ran Long’s flats. She had stopped crying.

Ran Long took the shoes with a grimace and slipped them on. She flipped the middle finger at the honking cars behind them before finally stepping on the gas.

Glancing sideways, Ran Long noticed that Qiu An had already composed herself during the brief stop, even touching up her makeup. It belatedly dawned on her: had she been played?

They had agreed that Qiu An would drive her home, so how had she ended up behind the wheel instead?

Irritated but afraid of making Qiu An cry again and having to comfort her, Ran Long held back her anger.

“Did paparazzi see you get out of the car?” Ran Long asked.

“No. There was one following me earlier, but I lost him by walking toward Workers’ Stadium. Xi Xi will handle the rest.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? Do you enjoy getting yelled at or something?”

“……”

“I’m sorry, I won’t raise my voice again. Please don’t cry.”

Qiu An smiled faintly, her tears subsiding. She lazily relaxed, her bare feet sinking into the plush floor mat, ignoring the dust and dirt clinging to her delicate, pale skin.

Ran Long stood at a respectable 1.72 meters tall, and she usually wore flats, as she did today.

During the audition, Qiu An, in heels, had been slightly taller, which irked Ran Long.

“You’re already tall enough,” Ran Long remarked. “Why wear heels?”

“To be a little taller than you.”

“Why? Do you have to one-up me even in height?”

“No, it’s because the Painter is supposed to be taller in the character design.”

Mentioning the role, Ran Long’s mood darkened again. She would have cursed up a storm if she’d encountered any shady dealings, but this time, it was simply her own lack of skill that kept her from reaching the part.

She wasn’t embarrassed about losing the role, just deeply disappointed.

“So, am I holding you back after all? Fine, I’ll have Yuan Chengyin find a shorter actress to replace me.”

Feeling her genuine concern, Qiu An smiled sweetly to herself.

Ran Long sensed Qiu An’s radiating happiness, leaving her utterly bewildered.

Well, at least laughing all the way home is better than crying, she thought.

After blasting her horn several times and angrily cursing out a few rude drivers, Ran Long finally pulled up to her apartment building.

Just as she was about to open the door and head upstairs, she glanced over and saw Qiu An standing by the car, silently watching her.

“What are you doing? Want to come up? Not today, I have a livestream to do.”

“I won’t disturb you.”

“Do you even understand what I’m saying? This is a polite way of saying no. I don’t want you coming up, got it?”

Rejected, Qiu An stood silently in place, not uttering another word.

Ran Long glanced at the time, ignored her, and rushed upstairs without looking back.

Ran Long’s livestream channel didn’t have many followers, and even buying traffic didn’t help much. She had pondered this repeatedly, researching and trying various content categories in depth, but nothing seemed to improve her situation.

She was quite good at gaming, so since all content categories yielded similar results, she figured she might as well stream while providing paid gaming services. This way, one job could generate two streams of income.

However, the number of viewers willing to donate remained small, and her monthly income relied heavily on a single “Top Big Brother” who consistently topped the donation leaderboard.

Tonight was one of the nights when the “Top Big Brother” would typically visit and make a large donation.

Times had changed. Ran Long was no longer the precious pearl, pampered by her parents and nurtured with money and love.

Now, with the weight of life’s pressures and her parents’ debts on her shoulders, she couldn’t afford to miss out on any donation.