Transmigrated as the Scumbag Alpha of a Cold Movie Queen - Chapter 24

As soon as she got on the bus, Gu Qing adopted a fatigued posture and closed her eyes to rest—successfully shutting down Sun Yingying’s attempt to cozy up.

Aside from the moment when the staff briefly summarized Gu Qing’s assigned task and handed one to Sun Yingying, the bus remained silent throughout the ride.

Forty minutes later, they arrived at the airport in record time.

The drivers handled the timing well, and all three vans pulled up nearly simultaneously.

When the door opened, Sun Yingying and Bai Ming’an were the first to hop off, each positioning themselves on one side of the door, clearly waiting to help Gu Qing disembark.

Qi Siyu’s lips twitched. Finally got rid of Gu Xiaoling on this show, and now I’ve got two more circling around, trying to play caregiver?

And there are still six more people to meet later—please, just let them not be this clingy. Praying.jpg

The nine participants gathered under the temporary tent set up by the production team.

“Welcome to Carefree Vacation! We hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable time here!” said the host, cheerfully. “I’m Dingdong, the host of our show. Let’s all introduce ourselves!”

Under Dingdong’s lead, each guest introduced themselves.

Yu Shanmei and Bai Ziyun were both actresses—Yu a former Best Supporting Actress winner who’d now faded into obscurity as a typecast supporting role; Bai, a variety show regular with no notable work despite being in the industry for five years. She was recently exposed for bullying classmates during her school days, which tanked her popularity.

Yan Xuan was a singer-songwriter whose songs were popular, but she wasn’t—more well-known for people who went viral covering her work. She’d joined the show chasing the mantra: any publicity is good publicity.

Jia Junjie, Lu Hui, and Kou Huaiping were labeled “ordinary people,” but in truth, Jia and Kou had already signed with agencies, and Kou had a modest fanbase as a faceless borderline-streamer.

Jia Junjie was a preschool teacher turned food blogger—pretty, but notorious for getting fired after reportedly seducing the wealthy father of one of her students.

Lu Hui was the most “innocent” one of the bunch, a paper-cutting heritage artist with refined skills and a soft, indecisive personality.

Of course, all this background came from the original novel. On camera, they simply introduced their names, professions, and hobbies.

Finally, everyone’s eyes turned to Qi Siyu.

She flashed a polite smile. “My name is Qi Siyu. Since Gu Qing isn’t in the best condition right now, our company assigned me to take care of her.”

A quick online search would reveal plenty about her—CEO of a talent agency, rising businesswoman, even featured in financial magazines.

The fact that a CEO personally came to care for one of her artists left ample room for speculation.

The host capitalized on the moment to praise Gu Qing’s professionalism, then moved on to the next segment: Luggage Check.

“We’ve already told everyone not to bring prohibited items,” the host said with a wicked grin. “Any contraband found will cost you. Prepare yourselves.”

In Carefree Vacation, guests weren’t allowed to bring anything beyond clothing. All necessities must be purchased using “Leisure Coins,” which they earned by completing missions.

The “fine” meant deducting these coins.

Everyone groaned dramatically and play-acted complaints about the show’s cruelty.

Only Gu Qing remained calm and composed.

“Gu Qing, you really didn’t bring anything contraband?” Sun Yingying sidled up to her again, looking pitiful. “I brought tons of snacks! Last season’s inspection was so much laxer… and they never said we’d be fined!”

Gu Qing replied with a simple, “Mm.”

Sun Yingying’s smile almost cracked. She’d heard Gu Qing was as talkative as a robot, but still—getting a one-syllable reply after a whole spiel was almost soul-crushing.

Qi Siyu saw her deflate and nearly laughed out loud. Finally, she wasn’t the one getting the cold shoulder.

“I packed Gu Qing’s luggage myself, along with another assistant,” Qi Siyu added with a smile. “Only medicine and clothing.”

Not even toiletries—they had to earn coins to buy those too.

“I really need to learn from Gu Qing,” Sun Yingying forced a grin, playing up her “loyal fan” persona.

“Maybe start with ‘silence is golden,’” Qi Siyu said sweetly.

Sun Yingying’s smile froze. “I’ll go check out the set decorations.”

And off she went, click-clacking away.

Gu Qing tilted her head slightly to glance at Qi Siyu, who looked very pleased with herself—finally getting rid of a clingy nuisance on Gu Qing’s behalf.

In a great mood, Qi Siyu wheeled Gu Qing over to the rest of the group, where everyone’s luggage had been opened on the ground, awaiting inspection.

“Let’s check ours first,” Qi Siyu offered. “If there’s a fine for prohibited items, is there a reward for those who didn’t bring any?”

“Of course!” the host replied. “We’ll rank by quantity. The fewest contraband items gets 10 Leisure Coins, second fewest gets 5, and third gets 1.”

“But,” he added, “if a reward-winner also brought prohibited items, they still get fined accordingly. For example, if someone brought 3 contraband items and ranked second from last—that’s position 8 of 9—they earn 5 coins, but get fined 3. So they net 2 coins.”

In other words, even if you had the least contraband, if that “least” still exceeded 10 items, you end up in the red.

Qi Siyu could only admire how devious the showrunners were. Still, if she were directing a reality show herself, she wouldn’t go easy either.

Luckily, she knew the plot—she hadn’t packed a single unnecessary item.

Gu Qing and Qi Siyu’s luggage was opened. One half was medicine, the other neatly folded clothing and undergarments.

The veteran entertainment folks all rushed over to gawk, adding drama—either praising Gu Qing’s discipline or marveling at her frugality. Some even started asking about the medication.

Clearly, Gu Qing’s injury and its surrounding controversy would be the biggest hook in the early episodes.

Then came the inspection of the others’ bags—and chaos ensued.

Sun Yingying shrieked, “What?! That’s just one big bag of shrimp crackers! The supermarket sells them like that! How can you count it as ten items?!”

The host grinned wickedly. “Well, the packaging had been opened.”

“If I’d opened each individual pack, would you have counted by the cracker?!” she howled. She’d only ripped the bag open because she wanted one—and then didn’t even eat it.

“We wouldn’t go that far. We count by the smallest sealed package,” Bai Ming’an chimed in smugly.

Sun Yingying shot her a glare, then huffed over to Bai Ming’an’s suitcase, pulled out a big tub of fruit and veggie powder, and popped it open with a snap.

“There are a hundred tiny packets in here!”

The host burst out laughing. “Alright, alright! We’ll count every last one!”

Bai Ming’an’s face turned green.

Guests began inspecting each other’s bags like they were wielding magnifying glasses, thus kicking off the season’s first drama battle.

The host finally stepped in to tally the results:

• Gu Qing: +10 Leisure Coins

• Lu Hui: –24 Leisure Coins

• Yu Shanmei: –33 Leisure Coins

• Jia Junjie: –38 Leisure Coins

• Kou Huaiping: –52 Leisure Coins

• Yan Xuan: –54 Leisure Coins

• Bai Ziyun: –77 Leisure Coins

• Sun Yingying: –94 Leisure Coins

• Bai Ming’an: –125 Leisure Coins

Most guests had brought loads of jewelry, makeup, and toiletries. In that sea of negatives, Gu Qing’s positive score stood out like a beacon.

Qi Siyu could immediately sense the shift—tension was building. Gu Qing was becoming the one everyone would be gunning for.

But it was fine.

She was here.

And this was just a small problem~