Transmigrated into the Film Empress Sister's Sugar Baby Alpha (GL) - Chapter 9
“Will it affect you?”
“Are you very worried?” Ji Xiangyu crossed her arms, leaning casually against the entryway.
“Worried.”
Shen Yishu was genuinely worried. Worried that if Ji Xiangyu’s Omega identity was exposed, a furious Ji Xiangyu might come after her.
“No,” Ji Xiangyu turned and walked into the living room, “Most likely they just want some money.”
“How much money?” Shen Yishu thought about it. She felt that since she was involved in causing this trouble, she should reasonably share some of the burden.
Ji Xiangyu stated a figure.
Shen Yishu: …
Never mind.
No wonder they say the entertainment industry is a money pit. Even in her previous life, working normally, it would take her years to earn that much. Paparazzi could take two photos, threaten a celebrity, and get it just like that.
She frowned slightly, deep in thought. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that even if she sold herself, she couldn’t afford that price.
“You don’t need to pay this money,” Ji Xiangyu saw the change in her expression and was somewhat amused. She didn’t take this matter seriously. If it weren’t for Shen Yishu, she wouldn’t have even noticed someone staking out her door. Even if they didn’t get photos today, they would get photos of her and Lin Luosheng in a couple of days.
“…I didn’t say I wouldn’t pay, I just can’t afford it right now.”
Shen Yishu had looked at the original owner’s savings. Monthly expenses were in the hundreds of thousands, but there were practically no savings. She basically spent whatever her family gave her.
“No need, let’s talk about the main topic.” Ji Xiangyu listened to Shen Yishu’s words but dismissed them. Every year she gave a large sum of money to her public relations team. She had been extra careful these past two years, so there was a considerable surplus.
“I’ll write you an IOU. Half each. I don’t have money now, but I’ll have money for you after I film two more shows.”
On the coffee table, there happened to be a blank sheet of paper and a pen that Ji Xiangyu used for her thoughts. Shen Yishu squatted down, pulled over a blank sheet, unscrewed the pen cap, and wrote the IOU word for word.
After writing the first sentence, Shen Yishu suddenly looked up: “Sister, do you want interest?”
She hadn’t had time to take off her mask. The baseball cap pressed tightly against her long hair, covering her ears. Her pupils were pure black. The crystal chandelier in the living room shone brightly, but it couldn’t compare to the faint starlight in her eyes. From Ji Xiangyu’s perspective, she could only see herself reflected in that starlight.
“Sister?”
“Film Empress Sister?”
Shen Yishu called out twice before Ji Xiangyu came back to her senses, frowning to mask her distraction: “What?”
Shen Yishu didn’t notice her distraction, thinking her voice had been too quiet for her to hear clearly. She repeated the question, and then quietly asked, “I think we don’t need to, right?”
The principal amount was so high; with interest, she would have to repay a large sum. Shen Yishu wasn’t a miser, but the feeling of earning money and not seeing a single penny enter her pocket, like working for a boss for free, was very irritating.
“No need.”
Ji Xiangyu didn’t expect her to repay the money anyway. After this show was filmed, she would say goodbye to Shen Yishu, and with their respective statuses, they wouldn’t meet again. If they didn’t meet, and she couldn’t smell the pheromone scent, she wouldn’t feel restless.
After writing the IOU, Shen Yishu felt a pang of pain. This meant she had worked on this drama for nothing. She held the paper up to the light and squinted at what she had written. In her previous life, as a top student, she wrote beautiful characters, thin and sharp, just like her.
“I’ve signed it. I’ll redeem this paper when I’ve paid you back,” Shen Yishu handed the paper to Ji Xiangyu.
“…” Ji Xiangyu held the paper in her hand, feeling a deep sense of absurdity.
“Now let’s talk about the main topic,” Shen Yishu didn’t notice Ji Xiangyu’s small gestures. In her mind, she only wanted to quickly clear herself of yesterday’s incident and use Ji Xiangyu’s situation to uncover the truth as soon as possible.
To everyone in the original novel, it didn’t matter if the original owner administered the drug or not. What mattered was that Lin Luosheng personally witnessed the original owner trying to humiliate her. As long as the original owner was caught, the main characters, those secretly helping, and the readers would all be happy.
But Shen Yishu was here now. She had to investigate this matter thoroughly. Otherwise, if she was punished for something she didn’t do, that would be truly unfair.
Ji Xiangyu tucked the IOU into her thick script, shifted to the left, and made space for Shen Yishu.
Shen Yishu didn’t sit. She squatted on the floor, tapped her phone, and started the recording.
One squatting, one sitting, they silently listened to Shen Yishu coaxing information from Shen Gaozhuo.
When the recording reached “She’s just an Omega, she can’t cause any trouble,” Shen Yishu clearly heard a cold chuckle from above her head.
Indeed. Ji Xiangyu’s Omega identity had been hidden from the entire entertainment industry for ten years. If she hadn’t happened to stumble upon it, Ji Xiangyu would likely have kept this secret until she absolutely couldn’t anymore. And as for Ji Xiangyu being an Omega, the entire Shen family had no issues with it.
The recording abruptly ended when the call hung up. Shen Yishu hugged her knees, looking up pitifully, waiting for Ji Xiangyu to speak.
“This recording doesn’t prove you did nothing.”
As expected, Shen Yishu didn’t hope this recording would prove her innocence.
“As long as it can prove it might not have been my doing.”
“You need to prove to me it definitely wasn’t you,” Ji Xiangyu said calmly, “Otherwise, neither the Lin family nor the Zheng family will let you go.”
“So, Sister, can I know why I was in your room last night?”
When she asked this, Shen Yishu’s expression was open and honest, as if she were asking Ji Xiangyu how to act in tomorrow’s scene. Yet, her heart pounded like a drum, fearing that exposing the fact that she was no longer the original owner would lead to her being taken for experimentation.
“You don’t remember yourself?” Ji Xiangyu’s gaze was piercing, looking directly into Shen Yishu’s eyes, seemingly trying to discern the truthfulness of Shen Yishu’s words.
“I don’t remember, I drank too much,” Shen Yishu brought out her classic excuse again. She had told the lie so many times, she almost believed it herself.
“Lying is pointless,” Ji Xiangyu shook her head, “You barely drank anything last night.”
Shen Yishu: ?
She had used this excuse to deceive Ji Xiangyu yesterday, and Ji Xiangyu had let her go without saying anything was wrong. Why the change of heart today?
Perhaps her gaze was too startling. Ji Xiangyu also remembered what happened last night.
“I was tired last night and didn’t want to talk much, but you didn’t smell of alcohol.”
“But I really don’t remember,” Shen Yishu could only resort to trickery, adopting a shameless approach.
Ji Xiangyu paused for two seconds before telling her the truth: “You were knocked out and left at my room door.”
Shen Yishu: ?
The situation was becoming even more absurd and strange.
Ji Xiangyu clearly didn’t want to say more, but Shen Yishu’s burning gaze made her so uncomfortable that she wished she could just send her away.
“…” Shen Yishu was silent for several seconds before asking nervously, “Sister, didn’t you call the police?”
Ji Xiangyu lowered her gaze and shook her head.
Shen Yishu realized that Ji Xiangyu’s state last night was not suitable for going to the police station. She was a public figure; if she appeared outside during her estrus, the whole world would know her true secondary gender the next day.
Moreover, if it was true, as Ji Xiangyu said, that she was knocked out and left outside her room, then nothing outrageous happened to her thanks to Ji Xiangyu pulling her inside.
Perhaps what happened last night wasn’t pleasant, which was why Ji Xiangyu was reluctant to bring it up again. Being saved once and given the chance to investigate the truth was fortunate; one shouldn’t be too ungrateful. Shen Yishu knew she shouldn’t press further.
Changing the subject, Shen Yishu brought the conversation back. She still held a pen, cupping her face, squatting motionless on the floor.
“Film Empress Sister, can I have a few more days?” Her gaze wandered, clearly deep in thought. “I plan to go back to the Shen family in a couple of days.”
Ji Xiangyu nodded.
“You’d best be quick. If the Lin family finds out, the truth won’t matter.”
Shen Yishu nodded obediently.
In sweet romance novels, the female lead is always everyone’s darling, and anyone who harms the female lead is unforgivable. They repeatedly appear, repeatedly court disaster, until they ultimately fall into an abyss of no return.
Shen Yishu didn’t have the good fortune to transmigrate as the female lead, but at least she met Ji Xiangyu right after transmigrating and could listen to her explain things properly, which counted as good luck.
“Then I’ll go back now?” Shen Yishu made to stand up.
“No need. You’ll sleep here tonight.”
“?” Shen Yishu froze, her movements halting, her gaze blank.
“The paparazzi haven’t left. If you go back to your room, their associates might stake out your room number,” Ji Xiangyu said meaningfully, “Then you’ll owe me even more money.”
As soon as Shen Yishu heard about owing more money, she immediately abandoned the thought of “it’s inappropriate for a lone Alpha and Omega to be in the same room” and prepared to stay the night in Ji Xiangyu’s room. It was a suite anyway, with two rooms. If absolutely necessary, she could sleep on the sofa.
Seeing her silence, Ji Xiangyu got up and made a few calls.
Her manager was applying a face mask, and was startled by the call. She jumped out of bed, threw the mask into the trash, and rattled off a dozen questions, leaving Ji Xiangyu unsure which to answer first.
“I’m fine. They got some inappropriate photos. Contact them and have them deleted, right?” Ji Xiangyu stood in the master bedroom, the lights off, shadows enveloping her. From her position, she could just see Shen Yishu still squatting in front of the coffee table, her smooth hair falling behind her, docile and well-behaved.
“Do you know which media outlet it is?” The manager didn’t even ask what the inappropriate photos were. Ji Xiangyu always acted with discretion; the photos would certainly not be too scandalous.
“I don’t know. They’re probably still staking out somewhere,” Ji Xiangyu rubbed her forehead.
“You should go to sleep. I’ll handle this. Get some good rest,” the manager heard the fatigue in her voice and offered some comfort.
“Where will I sleep tonight?” Shen Yishu asked as Ji Xiangyu walked out.
“Sleep in the master bedroom.” Ji Xiangyu remembered not being able to sleep in the master bedroom last night and planned to continue sleeping in the second bedroom tonight.
“What about you?”
“The second bedroom.”
“…Is that alright?”
Shen Yishu didn’t know what Ji Xiangyu was thinking. She just felt that in Ji Xiangyu’s room, for the host to sleep in the guest room and for her to sleep in the master bedroom was extremely impolite.
“You can sleep on the sofa if you want,” Ji Xiangyu glanced at her.
“…I’ll stick to the bed then.”
The sofa couldn’t even seat three people, let alone sleep on it for a night, she’d probably get neck problems.
Ji Xiangyu estimated her hair was almost dry and prepared to go back to her room to sleep.
“Sister, Sister!” Shen Yishu called out loudly to stop her.
“?”
“Give me a hand,” Shen Yishu called out pitifully, “My legs are numb from squatting for so long.”
Ji Xiangyu thought Shen Yishu had some peculiar habit of always squatting there. It turned out her legs were numb and she couldn’t get up, and was too embarrassed to ask for help.
In Shen Yishu’s dictionary, there were no such words as “too embarrassed.”
She had simply been too engrossed in her thoughts and couldn’t stand up immediately. By the time she wanted to get up, her legs were already numb to the point of losing feeling.
Ji Xiangyu extended her hand.
Because of filming requirements, her nails were cut exceptionally clean, revealing rounded nail beds on her slender fingers, glowing a healthy pink in the light.
Shen Yishu also extended her hand and took Ji Xiangyu’s.
Ji Xiangyu’s hand was cool, like her outer demeanor, unapproachable. Her expression was cold and emotionless, even when helping others, like a snow goddess, bestowing favors as a mere convenience.
When her palm met Shen Yishu’s, the coldness and aloofness dissipated, as if a soft fawn had emerged from a snowy mountain, warming travelers with its fur.
The back of her hand was thin-fleshed, and when she exerted force, the tendons slightly protruded, not frightening, but adding a sharp kind of sexiness. Her palm, however, was much softer. When clasped with Shen Yishu’s hand, it was like the easily revealed belly of some proud creature.
Ji Xiangyu exerted a little force, and Shen Yishu stood up, her legs weak, unable to stand steadily, and she landed on the sofa.
As soon as she stood up, Ji Xiangyu quickly withdrew her hand, unwilling to hold it for even a second longer.
“I’ll find you a nightgown I haven’t worn before. You can make do for one night. The ones folded in the bathroom and the unopened ones are all unused. Help yourself,” Ji Xiangyu went to the master bedroom and found a nightgown identical in style to the silk one she wore last night, only differing in color, and handed it to Shen Yishu.
“Okay.”
Shen Yishu held the nightgown in her hand. The silky touch overlaid the sensation of their skin having just met, making it hard to distinguish between them.
When she lay down on the bed after showering, Shen Yishu was still a bit dazed.
She had been here for two nights since transmigrating. Last night was on this bed, and tonight was on this bed too.
She was wearing a nightgown identical to Ji Xiangyu’s, the material silky and very comfortable against her skin, and she could still smell a faint rosemary scent. Even if it had never been worn, it would have picked up the scent from being stored with other clothes.
It wasn’t unpleasant, but it could easily make one feel dreamy and confused.
Perhaps it was because she was sleeping in the bed where the “story” happened last night, or perhaps because of the faint rosemary scent on her, Shen Yishu dreamed of the details from yesterday.
Just as Ji Xiangyu was about to do something to her, a noise from outside the door woke her up.
“How about we change hotels? The security here is too poor,” an unfamiliar voice said.
“No need, it’s too troublesome, and there are no better hotels nearby,” Ji Xiangyu’s voice was faint, with an undetectable hint of weariness.
“I’m worried that next time a sasaeng fan will come up to find you, and this person wasn’t caught this time. We can only see if they’re willing to negotiate with us. Are there any particularly crucial photos among those they took?”
“No, they just photographed a young woman from the same crew delivering something. It’s not appropriate.”
Shen Yishu perked up her ears, all sleepiness gone. She listened carefully to what the people outside were saying, afraid of missing any important information.
“A young woman? Not a young woman who wants to do something to you, right? Be careful, young actors nowadays are very cunning; they’ll do anything to become famous.”
“She delivered the thing and then left,” Ji Xiangyu lied without a blush or a single hurried breath.
Ji Xiangyu lied more casually than Shen Yishu; Shen Yishu felt ashamed in comparison. A film empress truly was a film empress.
“Delivered what…”
“You go to sleep. Get two hours of sleep first, then we can talk. Don’t bother anymore,” Ji Xiangyu mercilessly interrupted her manager, who was about to say more.
“Okay, where do I sleep?”
“The second bedroom.”
Two minutes later, the master bedroom door clicked, and a faint rosemary scent mixed with a light shower gel fragrance drifted in.
The door closed, and Ji Xiangyu turned on the bedside floor lamp.
“Did I wake you?” Ji Xiangyu yawned sleepily. She was tired from the day and encountered this situation at night, so she couldn’t even rest properly.
“I wasn’t asleep,” Shen Yishu lied.
“I told my manager to sleep in the second bedroom. I’ll squeeze in with you,” the sleepy Ji Xiangyu was very accommodating, her voice significantly softer, “Don’t let her know you’re here.”
“Why?”
“It’s not good for you,” Ji Xiangyu sat on the edge of the bed, her profile clean and exquisite, her voice tinged with melancholy.
She didn’t press for the reason. If Ji Xiangyu didn’t want to say, she wasn’t curious either. Knowing too much wasn’t necessarily a good thing; getting tucked in and getting a good night’s sleep was.
“You leave tomorrow after she’s gone. If you accidentally run into her,” Ji Xiangyu sighed deeply, “just say I insisted on you staying.”
Shen Yishu realized that Ji Xiangyu’s helplessness wasn’t just due to what she saw; there were deeper reasons she couldn’t fathom.
But those reasons were too private. Ji Xiangyu kept them tightly sealed. Only in the quiet of this night, when Ji Xiangyu was tired and weary, could Shen Yishu glean a few hints from her unpretentious tone, and even then, without understanding the full context.
“Mhm, you should get some sleep. You have to go to the set tomorrow,” Shen Yishu said nothing else in the end.
Ji Xiangyu found a brand new quilt from the wardrobe and slept on the other side.
On the two-meter-wide bed, they each lay on one side, separated by a vast galaxy, with wandering, bewildered thoughts and the occasional brush of pheromones. Faint, but strong enough to be noticeable.
Even with Shen Yishu’s carefree nature, with a beautiful Omega sleeping beside her, she couldn’t fall asleep for a while. She lay with her eyes open, thinking about how to go back to the Shen family and extract information.
Ji Xiangyu couldn’t sleep even more.
The cedar scent she couldn’t stand, the bed she couldn’t sleep in – the insomnia debuffs were maxed out. She smelled the faint, teasing pheromone scent in her nostrils and could only stare at the ceiling, hoping to get through the night.
When people can’t sleep, they subconsciously turn over.
Like Shen Yishu, and like Ji Xiangyu.
Quantum entanglement says that a particle creates a bond with another particle a hundred million light-years away, influencing each other. Perhaps this could explain Shen Yishu and Ji Xiangyu simultaneously turning over and instinctively facing each other.
Both had their eyes open. When they turned simultaneously, they didn’t have time to turn back, so they just lay under their respective quilts, staring wide-eyed at each other, the atmosphere quite awkward.
Shen Yishu: …
Ji Xiangyu: …
Shen Yishu: “Can’t sleep?”
Ji Xiangyu: “Not asleep yet?”
Both: …
“Tomorrow, I’ll have Lin Luosheng dress up like you were today and upload a selfie. If the worst happens, Lin Luosheng is my close cousin, so it’ll be easier to clarify this matter,” Ji Xiangyu spoke first.
Shen Yishu, however, was thinking that Lin Luosheng had painstakingly hidden her family background. If it was exposed because of tonight’s events, then she would indirectly become a stumbling block in Lin Luosheng’s career, sending her own plotline as a malicious cannon fodder back on track.
A malicious cannon fodder who opposed the female lead would not have a good ending, and Shen Yishu did not want to go down that path again.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Shen Yishu refused.
“Why?”
The floor lamp was dim, and Shen Yishu couldn’t discern the emotions in Ji Xiangyu’s eyes.
“She’s kept it hidden for so long; she shouldn’t give up halfway because of others.”
“Mhm,” Ji Xiangyu responded softly.
“Keeping something hidden for so long must be very difficult,” Shen Yishu carefully considered her words, “I’ll help you both keep it a secret.”
Both Lin Luosheng’s family background and Ji Xiangyu being an Omega.
Ji Xiangyu turned back and said nothing more. Shen Yishu could only hear her shallow breathing, as if she had fallen asleep.
She also closed her eyes.
A few minutes later, Ji Xiangyu said hoarsely, “Can you rein in your pheromones? They’re too strong. I can’t sleep.”
Shen Yishu: …
She was extremely wronged: “Sister, I truly cannot do that!”
Author’s Note:
Film Empress Shu Shu’s first signature was on an IOU to her wife 😀