The Fake Daughter Want to Be Villainess - Chapter 10

Yu Zhen turned to look at Qu Mei.

She had calmed down now and saw that Qu Mei was still not picking up her pen. She wasn’t angry; instead, she mockingly said, “You write if you want to.”

She lifted her eyelids to look at the sky and coldly laughed, “You’re the reason I can’t have lunch, so I’m definitely going to hold you accountable for this favor.”

“Is anyone confused? Can any fans of these two explain their situation? Does Qu Mei really dislike Yu Zhen this much? Aren’t celebrities supposed to keep their disagreements private and smile on set?”

“Can’t believe there are still people who don’t know about the drama between Qu Mei and Yu Zhen! They used to have a good relationship until four years ago when Yu Zhen posted a Weibo that hinted Qu Mei was a third party ruining her relationship, forcing her to apologize. Qu Mei strongly denied it, and then they both went at each other, leading to their fallout. They’ve never shared a stage since.”

“Wait, Qu Mei was the third party??? How come I’ve never heard of this?”

“The ones mentioning it must be pretty young. A few years ago, marketing accounts often talked about this, but because there was no solid evidence, and Qu Mei’s studio sued those marketing accounts one by one, the matter eventually died down.”

Qu Mei finally turned her head to glance at Yu Zhen. Then she rolled up the pen in the paper and slowly opened her mouth, “There’s no such debt of favors.”

After finishing her sentence, she turned her head back without emotion and continued to sit there.

The atmosphere in the room grew tense. Jiang Shu lightened her movements while eating and couldn’t help but take a sidelong glance at Qu Mei and Yu Zhen.

“Thirty more seconds!” The director, eating his boxed meal, held up three fingers. He glanced at Qu Mei and then turned to the broadcast director, “Oh right.”

He casually asked, “What time is it? Shouldn’t the live stream be ending soon?”

“?????? Wow, director, I just knew you were annoying, but I didn’t expect you to be annoying to me one day.”

“Come on, let me see if Qu Mei has even answered the question! Have they both gotten their lunch? Does the program team seriously think adding another minute will hurt them???”

“Making us wait to see next week’s edited version, huh???””I’ll tell you! Your schemes and tricks! They have succeeded!”

Indeed, the original time had already passed. The broadcast director ended the live stream and reported to the director, “The live stream has stopped.”

The director responded with a smile, put down his chopsticks, stood up from his chair, stretched, turned around, and then reached for the crumpled paper and pen, announcing, “The thirty seconds are up.”

He pushed the meal cart to the staff, turned his head to look at Qu Mei and Yu Zhen, and declared, “You have missed this opportunity.”

Yu Zhen widened her eyes in surprise.

The director placed his hands behind his back and cheerfully hummed a little tune, “Great, the live stream is off, and now no one can point fingers at me for not feeding you.”

Neither Qu Mei nor Yu Zhen spoke. Ren Lishu paused from using her chopsticks, walked over to Lin Hui, whispered something to her, and then the two of them approached the director together. “Can you give us two sets of utensils?”

The director gave them a cheerful glance and waved his hand, “Sure.”

The staff handed over two sets of disposable utensils. Ren Lishu and Lin Hui each took a set, unwrapped it, and divided their food in half.

They exchanged glances before walking over to Qu Mei and Yu Zhen with their packaged meals.

Ren Lishu offered the items in front of Qu Mei, saying, “This is from the untouched side.”

Qu Mei looked up at Ren Lishu and accepted without hesitation, taking the disposable utensils with a smile, “Thank you.”

She was very beautiful; although she was no longer young, time had only added to her charisma rather than diminished it.

Ren Lishu waved her hand and said, “No need to thank me.” Then she complimented, “You really are beautiful.”

Qu Mei smiled down, and Yu Zhen, standing nearby, received her food. Hearing Ren Lishu’s words, she scoffed loudly, holding onto Lin Hui’s hand tightly, and showcased her face in all directions, “Am I not pretty?”

Lin Hui felt a bit awkward from being tugged, quickly nodding, “You’re beautiful.”

Yu Zhen was indeed beautiful; she and Qu Mei debuted around the same time, catching the peak of the entertainment industry’s fierce competition. Without solid skills or looks, one could hardly break into the industry.

Yu Zhen let go of Lin Hui and tilted her head slightly, “That’s just being polite.”

Then she held her boxed meal and suddenly sighed, speaking softly, “Thank you.”

Lin Hui and Ren Lishu returned to their seats, and everyone quickly finished their lunch, handing their trays back to the staff.

The director also returned to the center with a microphone, “Now we will announce the scores for each group.”

“Ren Lishu and Qiao Xian’s group, two points.”

“Lin Hui and Wang Siyuan’s group, two points.”

“Jiang Shu and Pei Wang’s group, zero points.”

“As for Qu Mei and Yu Zhen’s group—” the director glanced at Qu Mei, sitting in her chair, and said slowly, “Your situation is quite special. After discussion within the program team, it has been determined you have a negative one point.”

Yu Zhen stood up from her chair immediately, “On what grounds?”

Her eyebrows shot up, and she argued, “We didn’t ask you to exchange points.”

The director shot her a glance, “So you didn’t eat?”

Yu Zhen replied defiantly, “That was divided from Ren Lishu and Lin Hui.”

The director stretched his words, “Oh, you’re right.” He waved the score sheet in his hand, correcting himself, “Let me correct that: both Lin Hui’s and Ren Lishu’s scores are two point five.”

He flashed a victorious smile at Yu Zhen, “Scores are calculated based on how much you ate.”

Yu Zhen was taken aback by the director’s shamelessness.

Since she gained popularity, she hadn’t faced a setback with directors for a long time. Frustrated, she wanted to say something, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Qu Mei and swallowed her words, shooting an irritated glance at the director before returning to her seat.

The director clapped his hands together, “It looks like no one has objections regarding our scores, so I’ll announce the afternoon activity.”

He pointed to a spot not far away, “Do you see that road? Following the small path eastward leads to a small fishing village. This afternoon’s activity is to help the villagers.”

“Helping a villager can earn you one point. However, not all villagers will need help.”

“As for how to identify who does, that will depend on everyone’s keen eyes.” The director waved his hands enthusiastically, as if promoting in a store, “Tasks are one-time only! First come, first served!”

The guests began to stir, with Qiao Xian leading the way, and Jiang Shu quickly following.

The fishing village was indeed not very far; they reached it in just about ten minutes. It was a small village built alongside a river. The village looked quite prosperous, with most of the houses being newly built villas.

It was probably around noon, and there weren’t many people moving about in the village. Qiao Xian stood at the entrance for a moment and suggested, “Since tasks can only be done once, how about we split up?”

Qu Mei and Ren Lishu’s eyes visibly brightened, but the director, holding a loudspeaker, trailed behind and said, “Cohorts cannot split up.”

They both drooped their heads in disappointment.Qiao Xian coughed lightly and suggested cautiously, “Although we have to stay together within the group, what if we split up outside the group?”

No one objected, and Qiao Xian hesitated for a moment before looking at Ren Lishu, “Shall we go then?”

The two of them chose a direction to walk, while Pei Wang turned to Jiang Shu and politely asked, “Shall we go together?”

Jiang Shu tilted her head.

The program team’s rules were clear; how could they not go together?

She nodded in confusion and picked a direction, “Let’s go this way.”

Jiang Shu chose a rather narrow path, with the houses on either side being more dilapidated than those they had seen when entering the village, and further apart as well.

After walking for a while without seeing anyone, she instinctively began to think about what Pei Wang had just said—

What was the point of his question? She couldn’t possibly refuse.

Wait, could it be that Pei Wang was actually waiting for her to say no? Isn’t the Vicious Supporting Female Character supposed to create these face-slapping scenarios for others?

She, as the Vicious Supporting Female Character, should stir things up.

Jiang Shu stopped in her tracks.

Pei Wang brushed past her shoulder, and then he quickly noticed her sudden halt and stopped as well.

He turned back to look at her, his voice soft and filled with curiosity, “Jiang Shu?”

Jiang Shu stood frozen in place as if rooted to the ground. “I still haven’t seen anyone.”

She shook her head and started to sulk, “I’m so tired of walking; I don’t want to look for tasks anymore.”

Come on! Scold me! Give me a serious lecture about how tasks aren’t meant to be carried out alone!

Jiang Shu looked up, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Pei Wang.

Pei Wang heard a “ding” in his mind again, and that electronic synthesized voice buzzed in his thoughts.

He lightly furrowed his brows and then approached Jiang Shu, lowering his voice to ask, “Is your ankle still bothering you?”

Pei Wang felt a bit guilty; Jiang Shu spraining her ankle was partly his fault, but he had forgotten about that. The girl had persevered in walking with him despite the pain, which was already quite unfair, and the tasks weren’t that urgent.

Jiang Shu blinked in confusion.

What ankle? She could jump around just fine three days after her sprain.Just as she was about to firmly deny it, she saw Pei Wang raise his hand to unbutton his jacket and then squat down to lay the clothing on the steps behind her.

He turned to look at her and asked, “Do you want to sit and rest for a while?”

Jiang Shu felt confused by this turn of events and instinctively asked, “But what about the program task—”

“I’ll go find a villager to get the task, and once I find one, I’ll call you back,” Pei Wang replied gently. “Is that okay?”

Jiang Shu couldn’t come up with a reason to refuse.

The Vicious Supporting Female Character could only sit down reluctantly, hugging her knees and saying eagerly, “Then be quick about it!”

Pei Wang smiled down at her and answered, then turned to continue walking ahead.

Jiang Shu rested her chin on her knees, glancing forward a couple of times. Before she could even wait for Pei Wang to be out of her sight, she heard a sound behind her—a wooden door being pulled.

The sound was deep and loud, and in alarm, she turned her head to see nothing but darkness, where a hunched figure appeared at the door.