The Movie Queen’s Secret Stand-In Lover [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 22

Early the next morning.

The first thing Zhou Ning did after waking up was check her phone for any calls or messages from Sugar Daddy. Nothing! Good. After washing up, changing clothes, and putting on her wig, she grabbed her mini camera and two Peace Talismans before heading out.

The courier station was nearby. After mailing her package, Zhou Ning planned to stop by the supermarket for some nutritional supplements before visiting He Family Village to deliver the talismans to little Songyin and check on her sick mother.

It was Saturday. Little Songyin should be home, right?

Zhou Ning couldn’t afford to splurge on taxis anymore, so she rented a shared bike and followed her phone’s navigation to He Family Village. The rural scenery was all the same, but luckily, the village had a century-old giant Chinese toon tree. She rode straight toward it and soon found He Songyin’s home from her previous visit.

“Sister Ning?” He Songyin was washing clothes under the outdoor faucet, her small face and hands red from the cold. Though the weather wasn’t chilly anymore, the water in the countryside was still icy. She brightened and hurried over. “Are you here to buy vegetables again?”

Zhou Ning took the nutritional supplements and snacks hanging from the bike’s handlebars and handed them to He Songyin with a smile. “Not today. I just came to see you and your mom. And this…” She pulled out the talisman pouches from her pocket. “I got these Peace Talismans from a temple out of town. They’re said to be very effective. Wishing you and your mom safety and health~”

“Thank you, Sister Ning.” He Songyin accepted the gifts gratefully and led Zhou Ning inside. “Mom’s over here.”

The house was dimly lit. Zhou Ning stepped carefully until He Songyin turned on the light, revealing the path and the emaciated woman lying on the bed ahead.

“Mom, this is Sister Zhou Ning, the one who bought our vegetables before. She came to visit us.” He Songyin placed a stool by the bed and beamed. “Sister Ning, please sit. I’ll get you some water.”

“Auntie, are you feeling any better?” Zhou Ning moved the stool closer.

He Mama smiled weakly. “How could I be? Just passing the days. It’s just hard on poor Yin’er—lost her father long ago, and soon she’ll…” Her eyes glistened with tears as she stared silently at the doorway where her daughter had disappeared.

Zhou Ning’s heart ached. “What illness is it? Is there no chance of recovery?”

“Br3ast tumor. Malignant.” He Mama’s tone was flat.

He Songyin returned with water, and Zhou Ning thanked her with a tender smile. After chatting a bit more with He Mama, she went to the outdoor faucet and crouched beside He Songyin to help wash clothes.

*Yikes—*this water was almost as cold as Sugar Daddy’s attitude toward her last night.

“You don’t have to, Sister Ning.” He Songyin flustered, trying to pull Zhou Ning up.

Zhou Ning lifted her face with a bright grin. “I want to move around a bit. Besides, they’re just girls’ clothes—what’s there to worry about?”

He Songyin gave the only small stool to Zhou Ning and squatted herself, head bowed low as she murmured, “Thank you, Sister Ning.”

After washing and hanging the clothes together, the washing machine Zhou Ning had secretly ordered online arrived.

He Songyin stood frozen as the delivery workers connected the machine to the faucet. Suddenly, tears spilled uncontrollably down her face. She turned and ran inside, only emerging much later with red-rimmed eyes—though the tears were gone.

“Song Yin, don’t blame your sister for taking matters into her own hands. Hand-washing clothes is too difficult—things like bedsheets are impossible for a young girl like you to wring out, and the auntie really can’t help much either.” Zhou Ning hugged He Songyin and said, “If you have any other difficulties in life, you can always tell Sister Ning~”

Returning from the He family, Zhou Ning stared blankly at the pile of potatoes, eggs, cabbage, bean sprouts, smoked chicken, and cured meat filling her entryway.

Little Sister Songyin had insisted she accept them, and she couldn’t refuse such generosity. These items had been delivered by a family uncle of Songyin’s using a small truck.

How could she possibly finish all this? The only one who came to her place for meals was Sugar Daddy. But not only did Sugar Daddy visit infrequently, his appetite was worryingly small. Maybe… she could set up a stall and sell them? The amount of money didn’t matter—the important thing was not to waste Little Sister Songyin’s kind intentions.

Fortunately, she was clever. Zhou Ning smiled smugly. To make grocery shopping easier without taking taxis, she’d bought a special pull-along cart for groceries. It was almost noon now—just in time for the small lunchtime shopping rush.

Hehehe.

Zhou Ning loaded up the perishable cabbage and bean sprouts, along with the potatoes she couldn’t finish. She couldn’t bear to sell the eggs—genuine free-range eggs like these were hard to come by even with money. The smoked chicken and cured meat kept well, so she kept those too.

Yuan Zhi sat on the sofa, frowning at the large pile of items Yuan Xiaoyuan had prepared. “Do we really need this much?”

“These are all essentials. Litter box, cat litter, cat tree, scratching post, cat food…” Yuan Xiaoyuan was in high spirits. Sister Zhi was entrusting Kiki to Zhou Ning’s care during this business trip—it seemed Zhou Ning had successfully avoided disaster last night!

Yuan Zhi hesitated about having Zhou Ning look after Kiki. She’d originally thought that after returning from this trip with only one day off, she’d want to see Kiki, eat Zhou Ning’s cooking, and avoid shuttling between the 8th Ring Road and 2nd Ring Road. The best solution would be sending Kiki to Zhou Ning’s place, but transporting all these items would be too troublesome, and Zhou Ning might not even know how to care for a cat.

“Let’s take Kiki to Xiao Li’s place instead.” Xiao Li was the accountant at her studio. Yuan Zhi stood up and said, “We’ll arrange things at Zhou Ning’s place later. I remember there’s a large supermarket near Zhou Ning’s place? Just two or three stops away?”

Yuan Xiaoyuan nodded.

Yuan Zhi gently handed the obviously elderly tabby cat in her arms to Xing Feifei. “You take Kiki to Xiao Li’s place. I’ll take Xiaoyuan to the supermarket near Zhou Ning’s to get some essentials for Kiki. Xiaoyuan knows what Kiki needs better. After dropping off Kiki, go straight to the airport to wait for us.”

“Understood.” Xing Feifei carefully accepted the feline royalty.

The car drove at a moderate pace, nearing the supermarket area.

Yuan Zhi gazed absently out the window when suddenly she straightened up and said to Uncle Hei, “Slow down a bit.”

Was she hallucinating? The person hawking vegetables at a roadside stall up ahead… why did they look so much like Zhou Ning?

“Potatoes are one yuan per pound. You want all of them? No no, just take what you can eat.” Zhou Ning’s movements became increasingly deft as she shook open a bag for one customer while calling out to another, “Bean sprouts are also one yuan per pound. What? Too cheap? Must be poor quality?”

How dare they say Song Yin’s vegetables were no good! Anyone who tasted them would know better! Cheerfully firing back, she said, “Quality isn’t determined by price. If you really think it’s too cheap, why don’t you auction it off? Bid as high as you want!”

Yuan Zhi closed her eyes in despair. That scattergun mouth—it was unmistakably Zhou Ning, that peculiar girl. She simply couldn’t understand why Zhou Ning, who had just finished working as an extra, was now selling vegetables! To earn money? How much could she possibly make from this?

Fortunately, not many people knew about her relationship with Zhou Ning. Otherwise, they might think she was stingy, only providing food and shelter for someone she was keeping. Well, it was true—she was “keeping” Zhou Ning, in the sense of providing room and board.

Uncle Hei slowly pulled the car to the side of the road.

Yuan Zhi crossed her arms and silently watched Zhou Ning, who was absorbed in her business not far away.

Yuan Xiaoyuan nervously glanced back at her boss. She had guessed wrong! Zhou Ning hadn’t escaped unscathed after all—Zhi-jie had really taken the money back. As for why she hadn’t kicked Zhou Ning out and even wanted her to take care of Kiki, it was probably because Zhou Ning still owed Zhi-jie money!

Wuwuwu—Zhou Ning was so pitiful! Not only was she struggling to make ends meet with this small business, but she also had to work off her debt to Zhi-jie. What unforgivable thing had Zhou Ning done to make Zhi-jie go to such unprecedented lengths? Could it be that Zhou Ning and that Miss Sun was more than just ambiguously close?

Ah. Zhou Ning still hadn’t grasped the nature of her job!

Yuan Xiaoyuan’s thoughts ran wild. She even considered whether she should, out of moral obligation, help Zhou Ning out a little… But no, offending Zhi-jie wouldn’t be worth it. Wait, no—Zhou Ning had even gone out of her way to get her a Peace Talisman. She couldn’t just abandon her like this.

Ugh! So conflicted! Yuan Xiaoyuan scratched her already sparse hair.

“President Yuan?” Uncle Hei reminded Yuan Zhi that it was getting late—they still had a flight to catch in the afternoon.

Yuan Zhi checked the time on her phone. “No rush, we’ll make it. Let’s stay a little longer. Otherwise, I’m afraid she might get beaten up.”

“Beaten up?” Yuan Xiaoyuan turned back in shock.

Yuan Zhi tilted her chin. “Look at how the other vegetable sellers are glaring at Zhou Ning. She’s probably selling too cheap and disrupting the market price. Not only is their business bad today, but it’ll be worse in the future too.”

She turned to Yuan Xiaoyuan. “I usually have you learn about being an agent, so you know the basics of the industry. For example, if I make a guest appearance in Director Qin’s film, I can do it for free, but I can’t lower my usual rate. If I lower my price and disrupt the market, those who lose out will resent me.”

Yuan Xiaoyuan nodded earnestly. “Thank you for the lesson, Zhi-jie. I’ll remember it.”

By the time Zhou Ning finished selling, over an hour had passed.

“Zhi-jie, are we still going to the supermarket?” Yuan Xiaoyuan knew she was asking the obvious.

Yuan Zhi watched as Zhou Ning dragged her vegetable cart away, her steps light and carefree, then said to Uncle Hei, “Let’s follow her a little further.”

Zhou Ning relaxed in the bathtub as her phone buzzed and lit up.

It was a message from Sugar Daddy—Starting tomorrow, stop selling vegetables.

Huh? Zhou Ning sat up curiously. How did Sister Zhi know she was selling vegetables? Could it be another coincidence?

No, no, no. Even the most coincidental things don’t happen more than three times! Sugar Daddy must have been worried about her and secretly sent someone to follow her!

Zhou Ning warily glanced at the bathroom ceiling, shrinking into herself and burying her cleavage beneath the dense foam.

—Why? Why shouldn’t she sell vegetables? Though, admittedly, she had no vegetables left to sell anyway.

—Go ahead if you don’t mind getting beaten up.

—Huh? Why would I get beaten up? Who’d beat me?

—The people who couldn’t sell their vegetables because you undercut their prices.I’m boarding the plane now. You’re on your own.

Huh? Zhou Ning froze for a long moment.—Thank you, Sister Zhi. I really lack life experience.

Sugar Daddy not only knew she was selling vegetables but also knew the prices she was charging.

That settled it. She was being followed! But since it was someone, Sugar Daddy had sent, they surely wouldn’t harm her—in fact, they might even protect her if she were in danger!

The person wasn’t inside the apartment. She wasn’t blind—if someone had followed her in, she’d know, right? Then again… maybe not. What if Sister Zhi had given the stalker the passcode? Zhou Ning rinsed off hastily, wrapped herself in a bathrobe, and crept out suspiciously to check the living room before peeking into the apartment’s only two rooms.

No one was inside. That meant they must be outside!

Barefoot, she tiptoed silently to the door and, pretending to be natural while actually being painfully obvious, said, “Ah! What a fool I am, offending people without even realizing it. Thank goodness Sister Zhi warned me…” As she spoke, she strained to listen for any sounds outside.

Nothing. But she was being followed. From now on, she’d have to be extra careful—whether in public or private, she absolutely couldn’t do anything to anger Sugar Daddy again.