The Movie Queen Always Wants to Kiss Me - Chapter 21 - You Teamed Up with Her to Plot Against Me

Cheng Muye shook her head, forcing the memories back. She took several deep drags on her cigarette. When her agitation finally eased, she resumed her cold, detached demeanor. “I don’t like men. You should know why.”

Shen Si nodded, his voice heavy. “Sis, you can’t keep living in the shadow of the past.”

Cheng Muye gave a short, scornful laugh. “What could you possibly know?”

She had a cowardly father who took a new lover yet never let go of his old one. In the end, not long after hearing his newborn’s first cry, he slit his wrists and followed her mother into death. Before he passed, he even placed the blame on her: “If only you had been a boy.”

From that moment on, though she had not been born with a man’s body, she carried a man’s heart.

She was willing to live as a son, if only it could make them proud.

But alas, it was already too late.

They had left her forever.

A suffocating ache pressed down on Cheng Muye’s chest, her eyes stinging, her nose burning. Yet she was not one to cry. Instead, she pulled a cigarette pack from her pocket, lit one, and took a long drag.

“Stop smoking!” Shen Si frowned. “You’ll only make Aunt Su worry in heaven.”

“Don’t mention them! They were all cowards, and you’re no different!” Cheng Muye’s patience snapped.

Sick of him using her parents as a shield, she flung the cigarette aside and muttered coldly, “Shen Si, don’t try to play the brotherly love card with me. You’re only sticking close because of the Cheng family’s inheritance! Let me tell you, those two old fools never liked me. They won’t leave me a single cent. You’ve miscalculated.”

“I didn’t!” Shen Si, realizing her misunderstanding, tried to explain but Cheng Muye slammed him against the wall, her fist driving hard into his lower abdomen. The blow landed squarely, the force enough to leave his face drained of color.

Fury blazed in her eyes as her voice turned sharp and venomous. “Stay away from me! And don’t you dare show your face near Anhe. Got it?”

The pain stole Shen Si’s breath. When she finally released him, his body instinctively curled in on itself.

Cheng Muye looked on without the slightest trace of sympathy. Her expression remained cold as she turned away. But just then, her gaze fell on someone she least wanted to encounter.

Song Qiluo stood nearby, tall and slender in her red dress, her eyes filled with amusement. “Another fight?”

She had seen everything.

In truth, the moment Cheng Muye left the banquet hall, she had found an excuse to slip out and follow. Not a single detail of this so-called secret sibling meeting escaped her eyes.

Cheng Muye’s expression darkened, her hands unconsciously curling into fists. She said nothing, only striding back toward the hall. Yet as they brushed past one another, she caught the woman’s voice, laced with open provocation.

“Who would have thought that Mr. Cheng was actually the pampered daughter of the Cheng family from Changqing City!”

The Cheng family of Changqing was a household name, much discussed among the city’s residents. Over more than four decades of prominence, the family’s story had grown into a blend of legend and absurdity.

The founder, Cheng Letian, lived up to his name as a man of optimism with a keen and calculating mind. He was among the first civil servants to respond to the national call, diving headfirst into the great “entrepreneurial wave.” At thirty, he began his ventures, first striking gold in the food and beverage industry before turning his sights to real estate. By the time he was forty, he had already become the wealthiest man in Changqing. Now, at seventy-five, he still held the reins of the Cheng Empire.

And therein lay both his legend and his absurdity.

The reason Cheng Letian still remained at the helm instead of enjoying his golden years was simple: he had no true heir. His only son had died young, rumored to have perished in a tragic love suicide, and his only grandson was still a minor.

Song Qiluo thought of those tangled “reasons for suicide” and, for a moment, her fingers itched to press against Cheng Muye’s sore spot. When Cheng Muye had once refrained from challenging her, she had admired her. But now, that goodwill had completely soured. Still, the fragile veil of pretense between them had not yet been torn away. So, she could still mask her intentions, feigning concern as she asked softly, “Miss Cheng, what is your purpose in getting close to Anhe?”

Cheng Muye’s heart thudded in her chest, yet her face remained unreadable. Rather than answering, she countered coolly, “And you? What purpose do you serve by keeping such a tight watch over Anhe?”

“Guess.”

“Not interested.”

“You can’t figure out my purpose, but I’ve already seen through yours.”

“Don’t try bluffing me—”

“You like An He!”

The words stopped Cheng Muye in her tracks. For just two seconds, her steps faltered before she quickly retorted, “Quite the bold guess.”

A guess meant nothing. No proof, only empty speculation.

But Song Qiluo only smiled, her tone laced with mockery. “Miss Cheng, you said it yourself—you don’t like men. Or have you forgotten already?”

With a flick of her wrist, she raised a silver phone and pressed play.

—“I don’t like men. You should know why.”

Her own cold, detached voice spilled from the speaker, cutting off every avenue of denial.

Cheng Muye’s gaze cut to Shen Si, her eyes narrowing to icy slits. “Shen Si… did you join hands with her to set me up?”

Shen Si did not bother to deny it. When he had followed her here, he had already tipped Song Qiluo off, inviting her to watch a spectacle. Then, he had deliberately goaded Cheng Muye into revealing her truth. He knew Song Qiluo would never allow a lesbian to stay at Tang Anhe’s side.

And now, he had exactly what he wanted.

Song Qiluo’s smile was gentle, like that of the elegant older sister next door. But her eyes gleamed with chill, and her voice was colder still.

“I hired Miss Cheng as a bodyguard to protect Anhe only because she received a threatening letter. Now I can’t help but wonder, who was behind it? Miss Cheng, perhaps you have some insight?”

Cheng Muye stayed silent, her eyes weighed down, her expression deceptively calm.

Song Qiluo went on, “Anhe rarely looks at others with suspicion, which is why she lives so simply and happily. But if she were to find out that the ‘good brother’ she so admires only ever intended to pin her beneath her, just imagine how crushed and heartbroken she would be!”

Yes, how crushing the disappointment, how unbearable the pain!

If not for the fear of causing her that pain, why had Cheng Muye held back her confession all this time?

She had thought that if she waited, her steadfast devotion would someday move her. Yet now, even the right to stand before her had been stripped away.

Burying the bitterness from her face, Cheng Muye forced her voice to remain cold and steady. “What do you want me to do?”

“Leave her. I want you to leave her and never appear before her again.”

“You’re ruthless.” Cheng Muye’s fists clenched, her brows knitting tight. “I thought you might prefer cooperation, or at least a deal.”

“No. I don’t want that.”

“Once you mark someone as an enemy, you erase them completely.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Her faint smile carried a prideful, triumphant edge.

Cheng Muye bit back her rage, her fists trembling as she forced out, “If I leave, what will you do to Anhe? She has no one to lean on. She’s already twenty-two—you shouldn’t keep her bound so tightly—”

Song Qiluo cut her off, voice sharp as ice. “That’s none of your concern.”

She was right.

If she left, there would be no further ties between them. She was someone who lived for herself, and she had no reason to meddle in her affairs.

Cheng Muye did not linger. She turned and walked back into the hall.

Song Qiluo cast Shen Si a glance, her lips lifting into a faint smile as she offered a slight nod of acknowledgment before stepping inside as well.

Shen Si was about to return too when, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a swaying hem of pure white fabric at the turn of the corridor. His steps froze instinctively. The next moment, he veered toward the source of that white silhouette.

Superstar Gu Zixiao was, without question, a striking beauty.

Yet her allure was different from Tang Anhe’s lush, voluptuous charm. Gu Zixiao’s beauty lay in her slender, delicate sensuality—the kind unique to models who were always unnaturally thin.

Tall and willowy, she carried almost no flesh on her chest. But that very flatness exuded a pure, untouched allure. Paired with her simple, understated dress, it only amplified her quiet, captivating presence.

“Mr. Shen, what a coincidence—” Gu Zixiao slid off her sunglasses, revealing sharp, narrow phoenix eyes that gleamed beneath long lashes. A sweet smile curved her lips. “Did Ah Ye send you to pick me up?”

When Shen Si saw it was her, he let out a small breath of relief, though his tone remained somewhat distant. “Yes. Miss Gu, please—”

Gu Zixiao merely smiled, slipped her sunglasses back on, and walked into the hall with the poised stride of a model.