Chapter 14: Saving the PUA’d Supporting Female Lead (14)

This incident didn’t negatively impact Tang Qi; instead, it catapulted her reputation to new heights, directly crossing from the quasi-first-tier into the ranks of the first-tier.

And because of the contrast with Tang Qi, all the praise Li Chengyu had received turned into ridicule. With a brilliant jewel placed right before them, his fish-eye of a performance was naturally scorned.

Sister Zhou, pleased with how well the matter was handled, even called Luo Xue specifically to commend her.

When Tang Qi returned to her room, Luo Xue had just hung up the phone with Sister Zhou. She smiled, ready to receive the praise she’d earned. As expected, Tang Qi was not stingy with her compliments: “Well done. Contacting so many classmates and the film crew in such a short time, and releasing the information at just the right moment—impressive, very impressive.”

She handed the cream cake in her hand to Luo Xue: “A reward.”

Luo Xue took the cake. When she was with Li Chengyu, she had always been the one belittled. No matter what she did, Li Chengyu would find a reason to mock and berate her.

Later, she finally understood: people who are truly good to you will point out your shortcomings, but they will also praise your strengths.

Li Chengyu’s words, “I’m doing this for your own good, I don’t want you to become arrogant,” were nothing more than an excuse to control her.

Luo Xue spoke in a low voice, “I can’t always let you protect me.” I want to protect you too, to be someone useful to you!

The System wept like a proud mother: “Luoluo has grown up, wuwuwu…”

Luo Xue opened the cake box and said, with feigned casualness, “Oh, by the way, from now on, I won’t be your personal assistant anymore.” Tang Qi, who was about to go take a shower, paused mid-step. Curious about what Luo Xue would be doing next, yet also feeling a subtle sense of loss, like watching a child grow up, she asked: “What are you going to do?”

“From now on… I’m your executive agent.” Having milked the suspense long enough, Luo Xue broke into a smile, her small dimples showcasing her good mood to Tang Qi: “I just asked Sister Zhou for the position. I’ve seriously thought about what you said, and I’ve figured out what I want!”

“I… I want to develop my career, but I don’t want to leave you. And, I also feel that the role of an agent suits me very well, so I want to give it a try.” Luo Xue’s eyes darted around. She knew Tang Qi would agree, but she was afraid Tang Qi would think she was too clingy.

“Amazing. Then I look forward to the day you become my dedicated agent.” Tang Qi couldn’t resist and ruffled her hair. Luo Xue narrowed her eyes in enjoyment and gave a soft “hmph”: “This is nothing. One day, I’m going to open my own studio and sign a bunch of artists to work for me.”

“Alright. When that time comes, please allow me to be your first signed artist.”

“And yours will be a lifetime contract. The kind where you’d have to pay hundreds of billions in damages if you breach it.” Smiling, Luo Xue fed Tang Qi a bite of the cake. Tang Qi ate it and nodded with a smile: “Deal.”

Watching Tang Qi head off to shower, Luo Xue put away her smile. She lowered her eyes to look at the spoon Tang Qi had used, picked it up, and slowly ate the remaining bits of cake on it.

“This cake… it really is too sweet!”

Luo Xue hadn’t expected that just a few days after becoming Tang Qi’s executive agent, Tang Qi would get injured.

During filming, the Second Female Lead fell off a horse. To save her, Tang Qi threw herself off her own horse, wrapped her arms around the girl, and rolled on the ground. The other girl was fine, but Tang Qi crashed into a sharp rock on the hillside.

Holding back her tears, Luo Xue calmly handled the situation. She contacted the company to prepare a PR statement, negotiated the filming schedule with the crew, dealt with the advertising clients, and soothed the fans.

By the time she finished dealing with everything, a whole day had passed. She had stayed awake guarding the hospital for an entire day and night.

The System saw it all and felt heartbroken. It cursed Tang Qi for being careless.

“I’m fine now. You should sleep for a bit.” Looking at the dark circles under Luo Xue’s eyes, Tang Qi also felt a pang of guilt.

Luo Xue sat by the bedside, stubborn as could be: “I’m staying with you.” Tang Qi said gently: “I just have a slight crack in my rib. The rest are just surface wounds. The doctor said I’ll be fine after a few days of rest.”

“You still say that? You scared me to death! Don’t be so reckless in the future.” Luo Xue was still shaken. That rock had been so sharp. Every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was the image of Tang Qi covered in blood.

As she spoke, a hint of anger and complaint crept in, laced with a jealousy Tang Qi didn’t notice: “It’s been a whole day, and the Little Junior Sister you saved hasn’t even come to visit you once. But online, she’s been marketing the incident like crazy.”

Tang Qi rubbed her nose guiltily. In truth, her injuries had been severe. She’d spent 500 Points for the System to heal her. She gave a dry laugh: “I couldn’t just stand by and watch a young girl get hurt.”

Luo Xue reached out as if to hit her, but her hand feigned the motion and ended up pulling the blanket over her instead: “Go to sleep, quick. I’ll make you some soup tomorrow morning.”

She had intended to keep watch over Tang Qi, but as she relaxed, she unconsciously fell asleep. Seeing Luo Xue slumped over the bedside, Tang Qi stood up, lifted her gently, and placed her on the bed.

In the moonlight, Luo Xue’s face looked as if veiled with a layer of pure white gossamer. Even in her dreams, she didn’t seem entirely at peace, her brows furrowed as if thinking about something.

“Not every girl is like Luoluo, who remembers your kindness,” the System huffed. Tang Qi shook her head; she hadn’t needed anyone’s thanks in the first place. She had helped the Second Female Lead and Luo Xue simply by adhering to her principles. It was just that Luoluo always repaid kindness, and so the two had grown closer.

She had also come to see Luoluo as her best friend—her first friend in the millions of years she had lived, one made without the World Line’s interference.

Looking at Luo Xue’s exhausted and pained expression, she felt a moment of confusion. Had she done something wrong?

Should she make her friend suffer because of a stranger?

After lying in the hospital bed for five days, Tang Qi insisted on returning to the film crew. Luo Xue reluctantly agreed to complete her discharge procedures the next day. But after agreeing, she immediately regretted it and went to find the Doctor to ask about her condition. Only after the Doctor said she could be discharged did she breathe a sigh of relief. She thanked him and walked back to the ward with light steps.

But before she could reach the ward, a strong force grabbed her wrist. The momentum nearly sent Luo Xue tumbling over.

“Who is it?” Luo Xue looked up. The person wore sunglasses and a mask, a baseball cap pulled down very low, obscuring his face. Yet Luo Xue still recognized him immediately.

“It’s you!” She flung his hand away, as if touched by something foul, a strange nausea rising in her heart: “What are you doing here?”

Li Chengyu chuckled, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes: “Of course, I’m here for you. Got a little something to discuss.” He glanced around. Although it was night, the hospital was still packed with people: “Let’s talk outside… Of course, you can choose not to come. But then, I might just release some dirt on Tang Qi.”

Luo Xue was completely unfazed. After knowing Tang Qi for so long, she wasn’t aware of any skeletons in her closet. Seeing her disbelief, Li Chengyu added: “That business with her grades before? That was just a warning… For example, after she became famous, she abandoned her Eldest Uncle’s family, the very people who raised her.” Li Chengyu leaned close to Luo Xue’s ear and enunciated every word: “Might just be enough to ruin her reputation, completely.”

“We’ll just stay in the hospital courtyard, won’t go far.” Seeing Luo Xue’s guarded demeanor, Li Chengyu’s fake smile quickly faltered. His gaze turned venomous, revealing a dark malice: “What’s wrong? Scared?”

“Dealing with scum like you, isn’t being scared the normal reaction?” Luo Xue took out her phone and dialed Tang Qi’s number: “Let’s go.”

Tang Qi received Luo Xue’s call, but all she heard on the other end was a chaotic noise. The System popped up: “Host, Li Chengyu is here.”

The System used to monitor Li Chengyu, but because it hated watching him posture, it had switched to observing Luo Xue instead. As long as Li Chengyu wasn’t contacting Luo Xue, he could do whatever he wanted.

Sure enough, the moment Luo Xue met Li Chengyu, the System detected it.

Luo Xue stopped as soon as she exited the inpatient building: “We’ll talk right here!”

Li Chengyu didn’t bother with pleasantries and made an outrageous demand: “Give me two million.” Luo Xue’s eyes widened: “Are you sick, or am I?”

Li Chengyu didn’t see anything wrong with his request. He let out a few dark chuckles, thinking himself quite magnanimous: “I know your parents gave you quite a bit of money. All the cash has to go to me. I’m being kind and leaving you the house.”

Luo Xue felt Li Chengyu had lost his mind: “Tang Qi’s Eldest Uncle never raised her in the first place…” She trailed off mid-sentence. Over the years, Tang Qi’s Eldest Uncle had never appeared. Could it be…

“This two million is what you owe me. It should have been mine all along. As for the dirt on Tang Qi, give me the money, and I’ll do a good deed and throw it in for free.” In his heart, Luo Xue had wronged him, let him down. Speaking these words, Li Chengyu felt absolutely no psychological burden.

“Actually, you were right about one thing in the past.” Luo Xue took a deep breath: “Li Chengyu, I really do look down on you.”

She regretted misjudging him, but she didn’t want to say anything more to him: “I won’t give you any money. Instead, I’m going to get back everything you owe me.”

The disgusting smile on Li Chengyu’s face vanished completely: “Don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.”

Luo Xue turned to leave but didn’t notice a spider dangling from a tree branch above her. By the time she realized, it was too late; the spider dropped directly onto her.

“A spider, a spi…” Luo Xue’s pupils dilated, filled with pure terror. She was deathly afraid of big black spiders like this. In an instant, she felt goosebumps erupt all over her body.

She jumped and writhed, trying to slap the spider away, her movements grotesque like a comedic dance. But she couldn’t see where the spider was, relying only on instinct.

“Help…” Luo Xue kept clawing at her back.

“Here, here, let me help you.” Li Chengyu walked over to Luo Xue, grabbed her clothes with a light shake, and flipped the spider—which had been sitting on the outside—right into the inside of her clothes.

“Oh dear, it crawled inside!” Li Chengyu was brimming with glee. Watching Luo Xue’s panicked state, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’ll help you take your clothes off. Once you’re stripped bare, you’ll be able to find the spider.” Saying this, he reached for the buttons on Luo Xue’s clothes. Luo Xue was too terrified to stop him. In a few moves, he had undone three buttons, revealing fair skin.

“The spider crawled onto your chest. Tsk tsk, I gotta say, you’ve got a nice figure.” Li Chengyu stepped back to admire his handiwork, and even pulled out his phone to record Luo Xue’s current misery: “How much do you think Tang Qi would pay for this video?”

With one hand clutching her clothes together and the other trying to grab the spider, Luo Xue was overwhelmed. In this state of extreme fear, all she could feel was the phantom sensation of the spider crawling all over her entire body. She had no idea where it actually was.

Just when she felt like she was about to die right there, a pair of hands grasped her wrist.

Tang Qi had easily caught the crawling spider. She dangled it in front of Luo Xue’s eyes: “Luoluo, look, it’s right here in my hand!”

She carried the spider back to the tree, calming Luo Xue: “See, I’ve sent it back home. It’s okay now, it’s okay.”

As she spoke, she soothingly patted Luo Xue’s back. Luo Xue was trembling all over, her eyes brimming with tears. She asked in a shaky voice: “Really, you really got it?”

“Have I ever lied to you?” Tang Qi held Luo Xue: “The little bug has been sent away. It just looked a bit scary, it wasn’t trying to frighten our Luoluo on purpose.”

Li Chengyu had wiped the smile off his face the moment Tang Qi arrived. The person he hated most was, without a doubt, Tang Qi. If Tang Qi hadn’t appeared, Luo Xue would still be obeying his every word.

He looked at Tang Qi and couldn’t find a single thing about her that was better than himself.

But Tang Qi simply extended her hand, effortlessly snatched the phone from his grip, and smashed it forcefully onto the ground. The screen exploded and the phone shattered into two pieces. Tang Qi’s tone was flat: “Sorry, my hand slipped. I’ll have my assistant transfer you the money for ten phones when I get back.”