After We Broke Up, She Started Pursuing Me [Entertainment Industry] 17

Chapter 17

In the large room, the only sound was the two of them eating noodles.

Seeing them like this, they must have been hungry. Zhou Jinsi sat to the side, watching the two sisters eat, and couldn’t help but sigh softly.

Her gaze unconsciously drifted to Shi Qin, and her expression dimmed, but in the end, she didn’t say anything.

Shi Qin naturally noticed her gaze. So, after they finished eating and Shi Hua had returned to her room to continue studying, she pulled Zhou Jinsi into her own room.

Closing the door, Zhou Jinsi stood there, looking a bit lost. She had always been this reserved, and Shi Qin was used to it, so she took the initiative to ask, “What were you thinking of saying to me when you were standing there just now?”

Zhou Jinsi paused. She had questions she wanted to ask but didn’t know how to phrase them. After a long struggle, the words that came out were, “You should smoke less in the future… it’s bad for your health.”

Shi Qin didn’t answer directly. Instead, she just stared at her. Zhou Jinsi met her gaze and sensed her seriousness, freezing on the spot.

“Zhou Jinsi, in what capacity are you concerned about me right now?”

Shi Qin was not one to beat around the bush. She knew she couldn’t push the person in front of her too hard right now, but at the same time, she hoped Zhou Jinsi could face her own heart.

When Zhou Jinsi lowered her head without answering, she asked again, “As a former schoolmate? As a friend? Or is it concern for an ex?”

“You said you wanted to end things with me a while ago. What about now?”

By the end, Zhou Jinsi’s brow was deeply furrowed, her eyes fixed on the floor below, lost in thought. Seeing this, Shi Qin sighed inwardly.

Sure enough, this blockhead Zhou Jinsi had misunderstood her. She said sullenly, “I understand. I’ll be careful to keep my distance in the future…”

Before she could finish, Shi Qin shot a cold glance at her. She couldn’t help but step forward, forcing Zhou Jinsi to look at her.

Shi Qin: “Zhou Jinsi, can you please understand what I mean? I mean, can you figure out your own feelings instead of just hiding from me?”

“I don’t know what happened before that might have caused a misunderstanding. It’s fine if you’re not willing to talk about it now, but…”

Shi Qin looked up at Zhou Jinsi, her breathing seeming to grow heavy with emotion.

“I’m telling you very clearly right now, no matter what you think, you are still in my heart. If you don’t like me anymore, then don’t show me any concern under any pretext, and don’t indulge my attempts to get close to you. Can you do that?”

Shi Qin’s gaze was like a torch, making Zhou Jinsi’s heart tighten. Her pressed lips couldn’t form a single word of rebuttal.

Shi Qin didn’t miss a single expression on her face. Her slender fingers pointed straight at Zhou Jinsi’s chest as she asked softly, “Zhou Jinsi, can you say from your heart that you don’t like me anymore?”

Zhou Jinsi’s heart was pounding wildly at this moment, remembering what Shi Qin had just said—”you are still in my heart”…

She opened her mouth but stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence, “I… I…”

Her heart was in a knot. Just as Zhou Jinsi’s mind was racing, trying to figure out how to phrase her words, a noise from outside the door broke the strange atmosphere in the room.

As if grasping at a lifeline, Zhou Jinsi swallowed and reminded her in a small voice, “Um… I think someone’s back…”

Shi Qin stared at her for a long time. Knowing that Zhou Jinsi wouldn’t talk and that pushing her further was useless, she had no choice but to give up for now. She took a step back, turned, opened the door, and walked out.

“Hey, Xiao Shi, why are you back?”

Shi Hua was pleasantly surprised to see Shi Qin come out of the room, and Song Lin, following behind him, was also stunned. After all, Shi Qin was so busy with work that she hadn’t been home in almost half a year.

Shi Qin smiled, walked over to Shi Hua’s side, and took his coat. “I wasn’t very busy today, so I came back for a visit.”

Song Lin happily walked over to Shi Qin and looked her up and down, lovingly stroking her hair. “Sigh, you’ve lost weight again, you child…”

Hearing the noise, Shi Hua also came out of her room. The family reunion made Zhou Jinsi, an outsider, feel a bit awkward.

Shi Hua had noticed her presence earlier and only now asked, “Hey, who is this?”

Shi Hua: “Dad, this is my teacher. She’s here to tutor me.”

Hearing that she was a teacher, Shi Hua and Song Lin naturally came over to greet her politely. Zhou Jinsi returned the courtesy, but she also noticed some details.

Shi Hua and Song Lin were both middle-aged, with ordinary looks. But Shi Hua was practically a carbon copy of Shi Hua, clearly father and daughter. Yet Shi Qin resembled neither Song Lin nor had a hint of Shi Hua in her.

In fact, among this family, Shi Qin’s appearance was almost too stunning and superior…

But this was just a faint doubt. Zhou Jinsi didn’t dwell on it and said her goodbyes, leaving the family to enjoy their reunion.

.

The next day, when Zhou Jinsi went to pick up Shi Qin again, neither of them mentioned what had happened yesterday, but her mindset had already changed somewhat.

Shi Qin’s confession-like words from last night were like a brand on Zhou Jinsi’s heart, impossible to erase.

After several years of questioning, to finally have an answer was naturally a joyous occasion for Zhou Jinsi. But she was also a sensitive and suspicious person, and she still had many unresolved doubts about Shi Qin.

But Shi Qin had said so definitively that it was just a misunderstanding… This also made Zhou Jinsi’s heart waver.

Lost in these thoughts as she walked, her steps unconsciously came to a stop at the door of the makeup room. Zhou Jinsi was still holding the breakfast she had bought for Shi Qin; they had been silent all the way in the car, and she hadn’t had a good opportunity to give it to her.

After a brief, futile internal struggle, she pushed the door open and walked in.

Today’s schedule was a solo interview. The interview was a one-on-one format, but Shi Qin wasn’t the only artist present.

Zhou Jinsi looked up. In the makeup room, besides Shi Qin, there was another young woman with a pretty face. Zhou Jinsi found her somewhat familiar; she seemed to be a minor actress.

The two were currently one standing, one sitting. The woman stood behind Shi Qin with a very sweet smile, while Shi Qin sat calmly looking in the mirror, seemingly paying her no mind.

The woman was Wang Ning, currently a third-tier starlet. She had debuted alongside Shi Qin a few years ago in Wang Jingshan’s film. Both were newcomers, but she had been chosen for her outstanding performance in acting class, while Shi Qin had been selected for her stunningly beautiful looks.

The result, of course, was that she became a background character, overlooked by everyone, while Shi Qin successfully made a name for herself with that small role.

To say she wasn’t jealous would be impossible. Wang Ning didn’t think her performance at the time was any worse than Shi Qin’s. After all, without any professional training, Shi Qin’s acting at the time must have been quite amateurish. But simply because she was so beautiful, she had turned Wang Ning into her backdrop.

Wang Ning had always remembered this. Later, when Shi Qin was first being shipped with Yin Chenxuan and was constantly bombarded with negative press, they had, by a twist of fate, ended up on the same web drama set. At that time, their statuses were comparable, and Wang Ning’s public image was quite good, so she naturally took the opportunity to mock Shi Qin behind her back.

And now, the tables had turned. Shi Qin had leveraged the popularity from that ship to gain resources and successfully become an A-list starlet, while Wang Ning was still stuck in the same place. Now that they were in the same place again, Wang Ning could only greet her with a smile.

Wang Ning stood behind Shi Qin, looking at the beautiful person in the mirror, unable to guess her thoughts. She said fawningly, “Sister Shi, how do you take care of your skin? It feels like you barely need any makeup.”

Shi Qin looked at the sycophantic person in the mirror, a smile on her lips. She said directly, “That’s just how it is when you’re naturally beautiful.”

Wang Ning was clearly taken aback by her blunt words, freezing for a moment, but her face quickly returned to its original smile.

Wang Ning: “Haha, that’s true. I’m so envious.”

Shi Qin had no intention of playing along with her. She called her out directly, “Is that so? Why do I remember someone saying that I only got to my position by using this face to form so many connections?”

This time, Wang Ning couldn’t even maintain her smile. It froze on her face.

She had only complained about these things to a few other small-time actresses. How had it reached Shi Qin’s ears?

Shi Qin had no intention of letting her go. She turned her head to stare at Wang Ning’s evasive eyes and asked with a very puzzled expression, “I was about to ask, which powerful people have I climbed up to? I don’t even know myself.”

Wang Ning’s face was ashen. She couldn’t believe Shi Qin wasn’t leaving her any face at all. After being unable to utter a single word for a long time, she fled out the door.

Only Shi Qin and Zhou Jinsi were left in the makeup room. Zhou Jinsi’s gaze toward her was extremely complicated. A thought stirred in Shi Qin’s heart. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“Do you think I was too harsh on her just now?”

Zhou Jinsi shook her head and didn’t answer her directly. She walked over, placed the breakfast she was holding in front of her, and then sat down in a nearby chair.

After a long moment, she asked softly, “Do… a lot of people say things like that about you?”

Although she didn’t know this industry, after occasionally scrolling through Weibo and reading posts, she knew that some people’s words were merciless. They would say all sorts of nasty things. Not to mention the backstabbing from peers… and rumors of unspoken rules in the industry…

Shi Qin sipped her coffee and gave a faint “mhm” in response. She was already used to all this meaningless mockery. She just treated those people as if they had forgotten to take their medication before leaving the house and couldn’t be bothered to argue.

But Zhou Jinsi’s next words made her pause.

She said, “Then… why did you choose this industry? Isn’t it tiring?”

Tiring?

In all this time, this was the first person to ask her that question.

Tiring. Of course, it’s tiring.

The baseless insults from people online, the jealousy and mockery from her peers, the malicious twisting of facts in negative press releases—there was even a time when she worried that her tarnished reputation would affect her family.

But, to achieve her goal, she was willing to endure everything on this path.