It was a chaotic day. The poor assistant director and his frazzled team struggled to manipulate the schedule to shift all of Xue Junxie's scenes as far back as possible, to give the director and Mo Chen more time to confirm Yun Zhou's suitability for the role. Accounts normally didn't report in on the set but the manager came running in at a quarter to 1, sweat soaking into his work shirt as he tried to establish how much longer the production team thought they would need to extend the venue rental.
In comparison, Su Qiao, who was the reason why the storm brewed in the first place, remained at the eye of it. She sat in a corner of the set and revised her lines calmly, even going so far as to assist Bai Meixin when she came up to ask for help. Bai Meixin was muted today and Su Qiao couldn't help the frisson of curiosity that ran through her at the sight of her normally chipper stepsister looking like she was mourning a dead pet.
Su Qiao wasn't just gloating. Bai Meixin was the axis of this world. If she were upset, there was a good chance that something terrible was about to happen. Because she was the protagonist, it was most probably an 'adversity' that she would inevitably overcome through the power of hard work or true love or something equally inane that would be insufficient to remedy the situation for anyone else.
It was worth being prepared, just in case that 'adversity' had something or another to do with Su Qiao.
"What's the problem?" she asked casually, flipping her script to the section that Bai Meixin had said that she was struggling with.
Bai Meixin fiddled with the hem of her blouse and her eyes and nose turned an alarming shade of red that would have made anyone else, Su Qiao included, resemble Rudolph the Reindeer. However, since this was Bai Meixin, she just looked like the cutest bunny ever.
"Big Sister," she mumbled. "W-Will Xue Junxie be all right?"
"…" Su Qiao was at a loss for words. What? This was it? She'd spent the past thirty minutes half-teaching Bai Meixin how to act and half-freaking out about whether Bai Meixin had another big one up her sleeve only to find out that Bai Meixin's saintly compassion was the reason why she was moping like someone had cancelled Christmas?
She let out a cold laugh. "You're asking me this?" Su Qiao had thought that there had to be a limit to how much of a white lotus Bai Meixin could be, but every single day, she had to push the bar back and every single day, she stood corrected. "You do realise that he got me into trouble, right? Do you really think I'd care whether he's all right or not?"
Bai Meixin flinched like Su Qiao's harsh tone had struck out physically at her. This was another aspect of her that Su Qiao hated. It was the 21st century, there was no need to keep acting like a meek, timid little lady who had no means of protecting herself. Before Su Qiao could even victimise her, she was already doing an excellent job of it without any assistance.
"I'm not saying that Big Sister should—should sympathise with him or anything." Her frown was tinged with a hint of remorse. "And he made those mistakes and should—should bear the consequences. But I…I can't help but feel that he only behaved like this recently because of me…"
Earlier in the day, Bai Meixin's manager had decided to throw some stones down the well that Xue Junxie had fallen into (1). Bai Meixin had protested weakly but her manager had insisted on showing everyone present the obsessive, desperate messages Xue Junxie had sent to her secretly. To his credit, they didn't contain any explicit content, but some of the things he'd texted were potentially more disturbing.
Stuff like 'you're my goddess, I worship the ground you walk on, please let me kiss your feet and I will kill anyone who stands in the way of your ascent to heaven' wasn't the hallmark of a sane person.
"He seemed so nice," Bai Meixin continued with a morose sniff. "I—I don't know why it turned out like this, I—all I did was tell him that I was feeling disheartened..."
[You poured out your little soul and I had to suffer the consequences of it?] Su Qiao rolled her eyes. "And I suppose you must have told him I was mean to you?" She didn't bother throwing a curveball. It felt good to call Bai Meixin out on it.
Her bluntness succeeded in halting Bai Meixin's tears. She was so stumped by how confrontational Su Qiao was that she forgot to be sad. "You don't have to accuse me like that!" she protested. "I merely said that you seemed to dislike me, was I wrong?"
Su Qiao shrugged. She'd already heard the story from Xue Junxie, she didn't need for Bai Meixin to go into the soppy details. "No, you weren't and no, I still don't care." She held up a hand to stem Bai Meixin's protests, waving the script in front of her to remind her why Su Qiao was even having this conversation with her. "If we're not here to discuss the script, we're not here to discuss anything at all."
"Sorry…" Bai Meixin hung her head low. Her fingers twisted in the fabric of her skirts. "I'm just so badly affected by this…If it weren't for me, maybe he wouldn't have—"
Su Qiao got to her feet. "Right again, Ms Bai," she said without a trace of kindness. She tucked the script beneath her arm and turned to leave this pointless conversation. "Maybe he wouldn't have gotten caught for all his previous transgressions if he hadn't reacted to your 'cry of distress' by lashing out at me. But this doesn't change the fact that he's a disgusting human being that doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy, least of all mine."
Bai Meixin scrambled up too. Her gestures were always so effortlessly cute, managing to portray a mix of young lady charm and adorable scatterbrain. But of course, they were wasted on Su Qiao, who couldn't even bring herself to spend time in her presence without getting the urge to scrub her skin raw in the shower after.
"I understand where you're coming from," Bai Meixin said quietly. "But don't you think you're being a bit too harsh? He was our colleague too and I remember that he respected you a lot—"
"Then clearly you've remembered wrong." Su Qiao took a step forward before pausing. Her face remained impassive as she turned to regard Bai Meixin seriously. "Just so we're on the same page, do remember that you're my colleague too, Ms Bai."
Before Bai Meixin could ask her what she meant by that, she left.
Director Ma was currently working on Mo Chen's scenes with the actress playing the role of his character's fashionable mother. She was a veteran in the drama industry and had won several awards too, although she had never switched over onto the silver screen. Su Qiao debated watching them for a while before she dismissed the idea. She had a good two hours before she had to start filming and she was feeling too antsy to remain on the set for the whole duration.
Not to mention, Bai Meixin was like a persistent shadow that dogged her steps. Making up her mind, she headed back to the hotel to hang out in a quiet corner of the lounge with a flat white. Peng Lili, who had insisted on accompanying her back, could recognise that she wanted a bit of space for herself. Instead of cramming herself onto the same sofa, she chose another table nearby and started working on her laptop.
Su Qiao pulled her phone out and fiddled with it. The edges of its case were scratched. She reminded herself absentmindedly to find some time to order a new model. This spare was so outdated that it was starting to lag every time she opened any apps.
Like now. Her WeChat froze for a good three seconds before she could open her conversation with Lesser of Two Evils.
Idly, she wondered what Lin Zixun's reaction would be if he found out that that was his contact name in her list. The shameless bastard would probably consider it a compliment.
She scrolled through the chat. Despite his earlier frivolous attitude, he'd been surprisingly serious lately. Well, except for that ridiculous nickname he'd started using with her.
'Little girl'. The way he used it made it feel more like a pet name than a nickname, in fact. It should grate on her nerves like how most of his personality did, but she couldn't bring herself to dislike it.
Maybe, just maybe, it was because it had been a long time since she'd been anyone's little girl. Once upon a time, she'd thought that she'd lost her father's affections after Bai Meixin had stolen them from her. But now, she knew that she was no one's little girl after her mother had died.
Even if it was just a silly joke to him, Lin Zixun had made her remember, at least for a while, what it felt like to be protected. It wasn't the same as how Manager Yu and Peng Lili cared for her. It felt…more indulgent somehow. Like she truly was still the spoilt child that didn't know any better than to rely on her family's love to shelter her.
Qiaoqiao: Lin Zixun?
Not two seconds after her message was sent, Lin Zixun's status turned to 'typing'. She blinked. It was the middle of the afternoon, didn't CEOs have better things to do than loiter on their social messaging platforms?
Lesser of Two Evils: Wow, what a rare guest lol what can I do for Ms Su?
Qiaoqiao: I wanted to thank you for your assistance.
What she really wanted to ask was why he'd assisted. But the same directness she'd shown to Bai Meixin earlier wavered into a troubling hesitation.
Lesser of Two Evils: Oh? How does Ms Su intend to thank me?
…her gratitude was starting to waver too. Why she'd expected him to politely accept or dismiss her thanks, she wasn't sure. Of course, his skin would be thick enough that he would expect a favour in return.
But she did owe him. And considering that one ambiguous phone call and Mo Chen's appearance on set, she believed that there was something that he wanted from her.
If it were within her power to give it, she didn't mind negotiating.
Qiaoqiao: I would be happy to meet Lin Zong after filming is over to discuss terms.
Lin Zixun took longer to reply. When his message came in, it was short and Su Qiao assumed that he'd left to handle work.
Lesser of Two Evils: Then I'll hold Ms Su to it.
Qiaoqiao: No need, I'll keep my word.
After hitting the 'send' button, she locked her phone and leaned back against the soft cushions with a quiet sigh.
This incident with Xue Junxie was just a reminder that she was truly powerless without the Su Family to back her up. But she didn't want to go crawling back and begging for forgiveness, would rather die than accept that man as a father after he betrayed her mother.
It looked like she really had no choice but to form new alliances then. In high places, the higher the better, and it didn't get much better than the Lin Family's acting CEO.
Even if she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was walking right into a trap.