Transmigrated as the Black-Bellied Film Empress's Live-in Alpha (GL) - Chapter 17

The air felt like a hazy, lingering sea breeze, pushing heat waves toward the distance between them. Chen Qingying’s face held a smile, her misty pupils reflecting Bai Nian’s blushing face.

The Omega’s praise made her cheeks flush. Imagine being genuinely complimented by a beautiful woman with such earnest eyes; anyone would feel embarrassed.

As she dodged, the person in her peripheral vision still stood there, watching her every move. Her deep, well-defined features always made people mistake her gaze for a profound affection.

The cabbage, just taken from the refrigerator, was warming up in her hands. Bai Nian kept peeling it, inexplicably feeling a desire to show off, not daring to let her eyes wander.

A hand suddenly reached over, taking the cabbage from her.

“Peel any more, and you’ll only have the heart left,” Chen Qingying said.

Bai Nian lowered her head, noticing the scattered leaves strewn across the cutting board. Caught off guard, her throat felt like it was stuffed with water-soaked cotton, unable to utter a single syllable.

She casually wiped her hands, then turned Chen Qingying around and gently pushed her towards the outside: “Ms. Chen, you can just sit outside. I’ve got this.”

Touching the other’s slender shoulder blade, Chen Qingying subtly straightened her back, moving forward by herself. Their contact lasted only a brief moment.

The sliding door closed. Chen Qingying stood outside, slightly bent, her knuckles curled as she knocked on the glass: “I’m not that old yet. ‘You’ (formal) isn’t appropriate, is it?”

Her muffled voice sounded damp and stuffy. Bai Nian puffed out her cheeks, remembering how, in her urgency just now, she had inadvertently used formal language.

Ignoring the other party, she turned to marinate the chicken br3ast, seemingly hearing laughter from behind her.

Honestly, this Chen Qingying, why did she enjoy teasing her so much?!

With a knife’s swift motion, Bai Nian grumbled to herself, displeased with her performance just now, feeling utterly useless.

She was the one who initiated things, so she should be the one in control. Yet, every time Chen Qingying spoke, she found herself willingly led by the nose. Any young woman with little worldly experience would be utterly captivated by her.

Beauty truly leads one astray.

She worked quickly, spreading diced carrots and corn kernels underneath, and adding plenty of marinated cooked chicken and peeled shrimp, afraid Chen Qingying wouldn’t eat enough.

She pushed open the door and saw Chen Qingying leaning on the sofa, on a video call with someone. Seeing her approach, the other party said a few words and closed her laptop.

“Dinner’s ready,” Bai Nian leaned against the doorframe, “Did I interrupt you?”

“Not really, I was just about to hang up.” To outsiders, Chen Qingying was a gentle and thoughtful person; her words always made people comfortable.

She got up and walked to the dining room. Both of them completely forgot their earlier incident. Bai Nian pushed the plate to her seat, but saw Chen Qingying standing by the kitchen’s baking pan, arms crossed.

“What’s this?” Looking at the sizzling baking pan, and a small dish next to it, she reached out to touch it.

Fresh out of the pan, it would be scorching hot. The ceramic dish wasn’t insulated. Bai Nian, quick-witted, swiftly reached out to stop her.

“Put it down, don’t move! I’ll! Get! It!” She spread her arms, like protecting her little chick, her face full of nervousness.

The cheese on the baking pan had melted, clinging to corn kernels and sliced mushrooms. The edges of the cooked bacon were a fragrant, crispy brown, making one’s mouth water.

Seeing the infused oil and cheese, Chen Qingying apologized, “Sorry, I thought it was for me.”

She thought Bai Nian had prepared this for her. To be honest, she wasn’t entirely wrong. Unexpectedly receiving an apology, Bai Nian’s mind raced.

“I’m not possessive of food! It’s because you were burned before, and I was afraid you’d get splashed with oil again…” Bai Nian’s eyes drifted to the window, not daring to meet her gaze, her two index fingers circling each other.

“Hurry and eat,” this time she was smart. She spoke first, poured a dish of vinaigrette for Chen Qingying, then put on heat-resistant gloves and carried her own dish out.

During the meal, Bai Nian felt completely uncomfortable. She curled her legs, picked up a fork to poke at the warm cheese, and secretly observed Chen Qingying’s expression.

Chen Qingying’s face remained calm, showing no expression.

“Was there any accident at the set today?” she asked, intentionally trying to find a topic to bridge their relationship.

“Everyone was careful this time, no incidents occurred.” Most of the time, accidents were rare. This didn’t rule out malicious individuals sneaking onto the set to damage props and equipment.

A long time ago, an actor was filming a martial arts scene on a wire, and an accident happened, leaving them hospitalized for a month.

Having received an answer, Bai Nian didn’t know what else to ask. Chen Qingying seemed considerate of others, yet she always managed to kill conversations.

At this point, shouldn’t she ask in return: What about you, how was your work today?

Or perhaps, she deliberately used these words to shut Bai Nian up, not wanting to communicate with her. But subconsciously, Bai Nian dismissed this negative thought.

“You don’t need to be so cautious, just act normally,” Chen Qingying suddenly broke the silence. She was drinking beef brisket soup and didn’t look up at Bai Nian.

That may be true, but you’ll send me to jail later. Even if she was harmlessly gentle now, Bai Nian didn’t dare to lower her guard.

The two were like a loveless arranged marriage. Even more so, the original owner’s chat history with He Kun subtly revealed thoughts of eating up her inheritance.

How to plan, how to quietly transfer assets, how to take Chen Qingying’s life without being discovered… It made her bl00d run cold.

“Ms. Bai, we’re already married. We can’t terminate our cooperation for now, so let’s get along peacefully, okay?”

“Okay.” Unable to resist Chen Qingying’s face, which seemed to show deep affection even for a dog, Bai Nian inexplicably agreed.

She only knew that a protagonist in a book should be genuinely good and beautiful, but she overlooked the author’s deliberate omission of the darker side when writing, and Bai Nian’s insensitivity applied to any crisis.

Seeing the Alpha in front of her foolishly agree, Chen Qingying quirked her lips, lowering her eyes.

After dinner, as usual, Bai Nian cleaned up the dishes. She had already integrated taking care of Chen Qingying into her routine. After all, Chen Qingying was in the living room right now, and perhaps if she looked up and saw her, she might think: “Oh, this young girl is diligent and quite nice.”

Imagining a short skit in her mind, Bai Nian felt rather hypocritical, like a student who liked to tattle to gain the teacher’s attention.

Having quickly finished all this, she ran into the bathroom. The hotel facilities were complete, not only having a U-shaped space for quick showers but also a bathtub for soaking.

After filling the tub with water, Bai Nian reached in to test it, finding the water temperature just right. She then tossed in a bath bomb. The moment it touched the water, orange-red quickly diffused into it, swirling with fine bubbles like a splendid sunset.

“Ms. Chen, the bath water is ready,” she poked her head out and called loudly.

Chen Qingying was getting her pajamas from the bedroom. She shuffled past Bai Nian in her slippers, murmuring a thank you.

“It’s all something I should do.” Bai Nian saw her go in, then rushed to the kitchen to heat milk.

Though tiring, receiving feedback made the emotional value soar.

The kitchen window was open for ventilation, and the brisk autumn wind carried away the lingering scent of dinner. Bai Nian was focused on the measuring marks when her phone, placed on the island counter, lit up.

Chen Qingying: [I forgot to get a bath towel. Can you help me?]

She freed her hand, put down the glass, and remembered that when she handed the dirty clothes to room service today, she had rolled up the bath towel with them.

Bai Nian: [I’ll get you a new one.]

Chen Qingying: [Okay, it’s on the shelf next to the wardrobe.]

Bai Nian: [OK]

After replying with the emoji, Bai Nian stood outside Chen Qingying’s bedroom door. She first peered inside for a moment, and seeing no private items strewn about, she tiptoed carefully and pulled open the walk-in closet door.

Due to her temporary stay here, there weren’t many clothes in the closet. A few seasonal brand new arrivals hung on the rack, and sparkling jewelry boxes adorned the display cabinet.

She was afraid Chen Qingying was waiting impatiently, so she didn’t dare to waste time. She quickly scanned the shelf and indeed saw bath towels folded like tofu blocks.

After pulling one out, she closed the door. Before leaving, she noticed the open safe next to the bookshelf. Thin folders were spread out, along with a few bank cards.

Honestly, she was so careless with valuables. Luckily, she encountered a person of upright character like herself. Anyone else seeing that stack of black cards would find it hard not to harbor ill intentions.

Bai Nian then recalled the bank card that Chen Qingying had frozen, suppressed the urge to cry, left her bedroom, and closed the door behind her.

“Knock, knock, knock—”

“Ms. Chen, here’s the bath towel.” She stood at the bathroom door. The blurry glass reflected the outline of the vanity.

There was no movement for a long time. She held the bath towel, leaning idly against the wall. After waiting for about five minutes, the door opened a small crack. Hot air wafted out, and a hand rested on the doorknob.

Unable to find it by touch, Chen Qingying was about to open the door wider. Seeing this, Bai Nian shoved the bath towel into her hand: “A new bath towel I just got.”

Chen Qingying couldn’t believe Bai Nian was so stubborn, actually waiting by the door until she finished her bath. She slightly covered the door, her eyebrows lowered: “Why are you standing here?”

“Oh, oh, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hold onto it and the bath towel would fall to the ground, so I waited here,” Bai Nian explained. As she met those wary foxy eyes, the rusted string in her mind finally reconnected.

“I wasn’t trying to peek, really!” Facing the unspoken suspicion from the other party, she nervously swore.

She had simply thought of Chen Qingying’s cleanliness obsession, not realizing it would cause such a misunderstanding.

In this situation, any attempt to explain herself was futile; it would only make things worse.

There was no reply from inside the door, only rustling sounds. Chen Qingying must have been drying herself. Bai Nian nervously bit her finger, brainstorming frantically.

“I’ve already turned over a new leaf, Ms. Chen, I just purely wanted to help, I didn’t know it would cause a misunderstanding…”

Recalling the melodramatic lines from TV dramas, she scratched her head, stating her determination: “You know, it’s my great honor to be able to help you. Never mind small things like getting a bath towel, even if it were serving you a bath, I wouldn’t complain…”

The more she spoke, the more she sounded like a loyal head maid from an ancient noble household.

Chen Qingying choked on her words: “No… that won’t be necessary.”

While Bai Nian was pacing like an ant on a hot griddle, the other party had already opened the door, dressed in her pajamas.

“I believe you.” Chen Qingying was so understanding that Bai Nian felt even more awkward.

The Omega went to the kitchen to pick up her hot milk. Before entering her room, she looked at Bai Nian, who was still standing by the bathroom door, and smiled faintly: “Well, Ms. Bai, good night?”

Once inside her bedroom, she quickly locked the door and went to the open safe, taking out the stack of contracts.

Inside were many of the Chen family’s bidding projects. Although the data was fabricated, it was enough to pass for genuine.

Looking at the marked locations, Chen Qingying carefully checked.

Not a single sheet was missing.