The Paranoid Film Queen Hooked Me, and I Fell in Love. (GL) - Chapter 26
Over the past few days, Shen Buhui had clearly noticed that Xu Zhiyan was avoiding her.
Xiao Fang looked at the untouched half watermelon still sitting in the fridge and felt a twinge of pity.
“Mr. Xu hasn’t come over these past two days either. If we leave it there any longer, it’ll spoil.”
Shen Buhui replied lazily, “If it’s no longer edible, then just buy another one.”
There were faint dark circles under her eyes. Shen Buhui had been struggling with insomnia recently, and her sleep quality had suffered.
Xiao Fang wrapped the watermelon, still covered with cling film, into a plastic bag and prepared to throw it out along with the rest of the trash.
Just as she was about to leave, Shen Buhui called out to her.
“Don’t forget to buy me another chilled watermelon on your way back.”
“……”
Xiao Fang wanted to tell her that Mr. Xu could absolutely afford his own watermelon, but she dared not say it aloud.
A short silence followed before the closed door opened again.
Zhao Yue walked in from outside, dressed sharply in professional attire, a folder tucked under her arm. A wave of heat followed her in.
Shen Buhui lazily lifted her eyelids and asked offhandedly, “Is it that hot outside?”
Zhao Yue replied irritably, “Well, it’s certainly not as cool as it is in here.”
She tossed the folder onto the table, poured herself a glass of water to cool down, then pulled out a sheet of A4 paper and handed it to Shen Buhui.
“Take a look. These are some recent offers.”
Filming for the movie was already more than halfway complete. In about a month, they’d be wrapping up. After staying with the crew for so long, it was about time Shen Buhui picked up some work to earn a living again.
Shen Buhui straightened her posture and flipped through the pages seriously, quickly getting a sense of the contents.
She clasped her hands and crossed her left leg over her right, exuding a relaxed demeanor.
“Don’t just worry about me. Don’t forget, you’ve got another hungry artist under your wing.”
Zhao Yue burst out laughing. “You think I’m not concerned? It’s just not the right time yet.”
Xu Zhiyan had just finished filming her first movie. It hadn’t even been released yet. No matter how talented she might be, now wasn’t the time to showcase it.
“Speaking of her, why haven’t I seen her around?” Zhao Yue glanced around but didn’t spot the familiar figure.
Thinking of the person who kept stealing glances at her all night, Shen Buhui smiled. “She’s probably busy doing some self-reflection.”
But she couldn’t reflect for too long. What if the breakthrough Shen Buhui had finally found ended up lost in all that reflection?
Zhao Yue shivered at her fox-like grin. “What wicked scheme are you brewing now?”
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t involve you.”
Zhao Yue: “……”
“You didn’t come all this way just to hand me these documents, did you?”
Zhao Yue straightened up, hesitating briefly before saying, “President Xie called again. He wants to meet with you.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she fixed her eyes on Shen Buhui, waiting for a response.
As expected—
“Tell him there’s no need.”
The unmasked coldness in Shen Buhui’s eyes didn’t surprise Zhao Yue.
The “President Xie” she referred to was Xie Ye, the current head of the Xie Group. By bl00d, he was Shen Buhui’s uncle.
But Shen Buhui never acknowledged any connection to the Xie family.
Annoyance flickered in her eyes. “If he ever calls you again with that kind of request, just refuse him outright.”
Shen Buhui knew Zhao Yue couldn’t directly defy Xie Ye, but she could make her own stance crystal clear.
“I understand.”
Now that she had a clear answer, Zhao Yue knew where things stood.
Meanwhile, at the Xie residence—
After receiving the reply from Zhao Yue, Xie Ye’s brows furrowed even deeper. He remained silent for a moment before rising to knock on the door of a room in the middle of the second floor.
“Father, she still refuses to meet.”
The man Xie Ye called “Father” sat with his eyes closed, resting in silence. The silver at his temples revealed that age was already upon him.
The room echoed with a hollow stillness.
After a pause, a long sigh broke the quiet as Xie Jinnan gently pushed aside a black chess piece on the board before him. His expression betrayed no emotion.
“It was I who wronged her.”
Xie Ye loosened his collar and asked, “Should we wait a little longer?”
“Mm.”
Only after his younger son had left did Xie Jinnan finally lose composure. He coughed twice into a handkerchief.
When he looked down, the center of the pale gray fabric was stained faintly with bl00d. He tossed it aside with a flick of his hand, his face shadowed by fatigue and melancholy.
It had been his doing—he was the one who had torn Xie Yang and Shen Luohui apart. And because of him, Shen Luohui had died in a car accident.
More than that, it was his fault that Shen Buhui had grown up in hardship, wandering and alone through a bleak childhood.
He had already expected that she would refuse to meet.
Ever since Zhao Yue mentioned the Xie family, Shen Buhui’s mood had visibly plummeted.
After Zhao Yue left, she rose and went into the bedroom, returning with a box of slim ladies’ cigarettes.
She lit one. The delicate thread of white smoke rose slowly into the air.
Shen Buhui sat motionless on the couch, the cigarette pinched between her fingers but untouched. The curling smoke blurred her features, casting a faint and indistinct haze over her expression.
It was at that moment that Xu Zhiyan pushed open the door, carrying a watermelon in her arms.
What she saw was exactly that scene.
She hesitated. “Jiejie?”
The soft voice caught Shen Buhui’s attention. She turned and saw Xu Zhiyan standing there, and instinctively stubbed out the cigarette.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Only then did she realize her own voice was hoarse.
Xu Zhiyan noticed as well. Without a word, she set down the watermelon and poured a cup of warm water, placing it in front of her.
“I saw Xiao Fang standing outside your door with a watermelon just as I was about to leave. I happened to have something I wanted to talk to you about, so I came up.”
She glanced briefly at the ashtray, where the cigarette had burned halfway down.
The smell in the room wasn’t overwhelming, but since Xu Zhiyan wasn’t used to it, her brows furrowed slightly.
It was the second time she had caught Shen Buhui smoking.
After a moment’s thought, she decided to speak up. “Smoking is bad for your health. It damages your lungs. Jiejie, you really should stop.”
Shen Buhui looked like a child caught misbehaving, her lashes lowering as she tried to explain, “I wasn’t really smoking it… I just let it burn.”
Which meant she was just sitting there, breathing it in.
Xu Zhiyan’s brows shot up in disapproval. “Secondhand smoke is even worse!”
She stretched out her hand, palm open before Shen Buhui like a stern housekeeper. “Since you don’t really smoke, that means you’re not addicted. For the sake of your health, Jiejie, hand them over to me!”
Shen Buhui, who had been feeling a bit gloomy, couldn’t help but laugh at her antics.
“Alright, alright—here, it’s all yours.”
She pulled out a box of cigarettes from her pocket and handed it to Xu Zhiyan.
Xu Zhiyan raised an eyebrow slightly. She opened the box and counted the remaining cigarettes. Seeing that only two or three were missing, she finally nodded in satisfaction.
“There aren’t any more, right?”
“Nope. That’s all of them.”
Satisfied, Xu Zhiyan smiled and slipped the slim cigarette box into her own pocket without hesitation.
“Did something happen? If it’s something you’re comfortable talking about, I can be a good listener.”
She had caught Shen Buhui smoking twice now. The first time was when she was drunk—still, Xu Zhiyan could sense that something was off with her mood. And now, this was the second time. When she walked in earlier, she had clearly noticed the crease between Shen Buhui’s brows—another sign that something was troubling her.
Shen Buhui was about to say it was nothing, but then she saw the undisguised concern and warmth in Xu Zhiyan’s eyes.
The words changed direction on her tongue.
“A little, yes. I remembered some unpleasant things from the past, so I’ve been feeling a bit down.”
Xu Zhiyan leaned forward slightly, adopting the posture of someone ready to listen.
“When I was young… things weren’t very good. I didn’t keep in contact with any of my relatives… but recently, some of them showed up again, saying they want to reconnect. I turned them down.”
She said it simply, in just a few sentences, but she could clearly see the sympathy that rose in Xu Zhiyan’s expression.
Shen Buhui smiled faintly. Her pale fingertips brushed against the warm glass of the water cup, thick lashes falling to veil her eyes.
She could’ve taken advantage of Xu Zhiyan’s pity, used the moment to share more of her past and stir her compassion.
But she didn’t want to.
The past—for Shen Buhui—was both a wound and a sweetness.
And her dear Yan Yan was happy now. She didn’t need to look back.
Shen Buhui lifted her smile, her tone light and unbothered. “I was just momentarily affected. Honestly, I stopped caring about all that a long time ago. My life now is good. I don’t need any of it anymore.”
Xu Zhiyan listened intently and nodded seriously at her words.
“We should look forward, not dwell on painful memories. Jiejie, you made the right choice.”
Shen Buhui smiled again. Perhaps it was exactly because of this outlook that Xu Zhiyan’s memories of the past were slowly fading.
But Shen Buhui was different. She revisited the past often—not only because of the pain but because, in those moments, there was also her.
She shifted the conversation. “You mentioned earlier you had something to tell me. What is it?”
Prompted by the reminder, Xu Zhiyan lightly slapped her own forehead. “Oh right! I’m due to report back to school the day after tomorrow, so the director gave me permission to leave early tomorrow afternoon. He said I should head home to prepare. That means the scene scheduled for tomorrow afternoon might be moved up to the morning. The director asked me to let you know.”
“No problem.”
Shen Buhui took a sip of the now lukewarm water and smiled. “Is that all?”
A faint smile curved at her lips. Even without lipstick, they were already beautiful. Xu Zhiyan tried to suppress the unease rising in her chest and hesitated before speaking.
“But, Jiejie… the scene we originally scheduled for tomorrow afternoon is… a bed scene.”
Shen Buhui: “……”
Lately, her poor sleep had affected her daytime focus too—she’d completely forgotten about that.
Despite having acted for years, this was Shen Buhui’s first time filming a bed scene.
“You’re not here to ask me for experience, are you? I’m just as clueless.”
Xu Zhiyan coughed twice from the shock of that line. “The director… The director just thought we should get into the right state ahead of time, so things don’t go haywire on set.”
Cheng Xu knew very well that neither of them had any experience, which was why he wanted them to spend some time together beforehand to get used to the idea. Once the emotional rhythm was there, he’d guide them during the shoot—it would significantly reduce the chances of mistakes.
“Get into the right state, huh…”
You couldn’t exactly pull that out of thin air. Shen Buhui frowned, thinking.
Xu Zhiyan poked her lightly and said, “I have a suggestion.”
“Go ahead.”
Recalling some advice she found online, Xu Zhiyan replied with a straight face, “Watch a movie.”
Shen Buhui: “……”
Her face flushed red in an instant.
It was the first time Xu Zhiyan had seen Shen Buhui blush in front of her. She was momentarily stunned.
And that moment of distraction was all it took—she didn’t notice the flicker in Shen Buhui’s eyes as she mulled it over, then finally made up her mind and disappeared into the bedroom.
When she came back out, Xu Zhiyan saw her holding a DVD in her hand.
“What kind of movie is that?”
“The one you were talking about.”
Shen Buhui’s face was still red as she avoided her gaze and handed the disc over.
The cover was clearly printed, with lifelike photos and bold lettering.
Xu Zhiyan glanced down—and was instantly stunned.
“This… this isn’t really appropriate, is it…”
In broad daylight, just the two of them watching that kind of movie? It felt… a bit much.
But the most pressing question was—why did Teacher Shen have this kind of disc in her hotel room to begin with?!
And it clearly wasn’t provided by the hotel either. Don’t ask her how she knew—she just did. After all, her room didn’t have anything like that.
Which brought up a rather troubling question: where did Shen Buhui get this movie?
She looked up, her gaze suddenly complex as she stared at Shen Buhui.