CH 33.2

Do You Still Hate Her? 23 – Cross-dressing as a male and playing the female lead’s white moonlight

On the other side, Jiang Jing returned home and opened the door to find the familiar figure of Xia Yuan sitting on the sofa. Xia Yuan hadn’t actively come to see her for a long time.

He was wearing an all-black hoodie, with a stubble on his chin that he hadn’t carefully shaved, looking haggard and distressed.

When Xia Yuan saw Jiang Jing, he looked at her and forced a smile, saying, “I’ve been waiting for you. You finally came back.”

Jiang Jing asked, “What are you doing here?”

“All of that was a misunderstanding, and I’m here to explain it to you,” Xia Yuan quickly stood up. He looked at Jiang Jing and said, “We’ve been together for seven years. Don’t you trust me?”

“How can I trust you?” Jiang Jing took a deep breath and then looked at him coldly, “I’ve listened to that recording many times, and every word was spoken by you.”

“Yes, I lost my mind, so I confessed to her,” Xia Yuan walked up to Jiang Jing and said, “But it’s not solely my fault. Shang Lu seduced me, she hinted at me. Otherwise, how could I have done such a thing? What she said was not everything. Please believe me.

“She was the one who recorded it, and she posted the recording online. That’s why she acted so kind at that time, because she wanted to share that recording. She is malicious and crazy; she wanted to ruin me! Now everything has gone as she wished. Netizens are scolding me, and even you don’t want me anymore.”

As he said this, he appeared to be affectionate, then he grasped Jiang Jing’s hand helplessly, his voice softened, and he continued, “Sister, do you still remember when we first got together? You told me not to care about what strangers online think of us. It’s because of you that I persisted until now and have everything I have today.”

Jiang Jing looked at the person in front of her, a familiar face but with unfamiliar eyes. She asked, “Is it because of me that you have what you have now?”

“Yes,” seeing Jiang Jing’s attitude seemed to improve, Xia Yuan continued, “Without you, there wouldn’t be the me right now. Otherwise, I would always be just a trainee who no one notices. Besides you, no one loves me, and without me, no one would love you. We should always be together.”

Jiang Jing lowered her eyes, looking at Xia Yuan holding her hand, but then she slowly pulled away.

She murmured, “I wish I had never appeared. It would have been better if you were still that trainee.”

That young man who had once given her sincere love, not the ugliness of manipulation and scheming as he is now.

Jiang Jing is an award-winning actress, and she knows what acting is.

Things that she couldn’t see through before, at this moment, finally became clear to her.

Jiang Jing looked at Xia Yuan and asked, “So, what do you want now?”

Xia Yuan looked at her with anticipation and proposed, “Let’s go public.”

Since there was no denying that he has a girlfriend, so why not let everyone know that his girlfriend was Jiang Jing? Compared to the shock of ‘him actually confessing to Shang Lu,’ the fact that ‘his girlfriend was Jiang Jing’ would have more impact, and with time, people would forget the former.

Many fans couldn’t accept their idol having a girlfriend, feeling that the other person was not worthy of their idol. But Jiang Jing had few flaws apart from her age; her status and identity were more than suitable for him.

They could guide public opinion and create an image of them as the model couple like on a romance variety show.

As for that recording, since Shang Lu released it, they could manipulate it in a way that many fans and onlookers will accept.

Jiang Jing closed her eyes. For the past seven years, she had been waiting for Xia Yuan to say these words to her. Then she said, “Xia Yuan, I did love you.”

Xia Yuan didn’t notice the past tense and quickly held Jiang Jing’s hand again, saying, “I love you too, so let’s go public and even get married.”

They locked eyes.

After a long while, Jiang Jing finally said, “It’s impossible now.”

Saying this, Jiang Jing lowered her head and one by one, she untangled Xia Yuan’s fingers, saying, “Because of loving you all these years, I’ve become easily jealous, insecure, and weak. I even started blaming innocent people just because they were involved. I tried to follow your advice and put all the blame on Shang Lu. I thought if I hated her and treated her as the enemy, I could return to your side and love you again, as if nothing ever happened.

“But Xia Yuan, I really tried my best, but I can’t do it. I have received an education, and my parents taught me the right values and how to love someone. I am well aware of how flawed your reasoning is, and I know this is wrong. But it’s just because I wanted so badly to continue loving you that I kept deceiving myself. But I find this version of myself terrifying, and I also find you standing in front of me terrifying.”

Her voice started with confusion and became increasingly firm until she finally said, “I can’t keep making mistakes. I want to separate from you; we’re completely over.”

The next morning.

Shang Lu stood downstairs early in the morning, holding a cup of black coffee, waiting for Meng Zhichuan to pick her up. During this waiting time, she took the opportunity to familiarize herself with the script.

At that moment, she heard the sound of barking nearby.

Shang Lu was drawn to it and saw the familiar and adorable little teddy bear dog. She smiled and looked at the dog’s owner. “Chi Yan, morning.”

“Morning,” Chi Yan said, holding the dog leash in one hand and a sandwich in the other. When he saw the black coffee in Shang Lu’s hand, he asked, “You’re having this in the morning?”

“Yeah, I slept a bit late last night, need to reduce puffiness,” Shang Lu said, taking another sip.

Then Chi Yan opened the sandwich and offered it to her, “Take it.”

Shang Lu refused, “I don’t want it.” She wasn’t usually hungry in the morning.

Hearing her response, Chi Yan just took back the sandwich, “You probably didn’t eat last night either. If your stomach growls during the audition, I’ll make sure to get the footage from Yue Qi and watch it repeatedly. It would be even better if we could post it on Weibo and let your fans enjoy it together.”

Before Chi Yan finished speaking, Shang Lu snatched the sandwich from his hand. Holding the coffee and the script, she took a bite of the sandwich, speaking unclearly, “…gimme.”

At that moment, Meng Zhichuan arrived in a car. He was about to call out to Shang Lu but widened his eyes when he saw Chi Yan.

“I’m leaving now; you can take the dog for a walk,” Shang Lu waved the sandwich at Chi Yan and then walked towards the car.

Chi Yan said, “Good luck with the audition.”

The little dog barked a few times as if cheering her on.

Shang Lu couldn’t help feeling a little better and poked her head out of the car window, looking at the dog. “If I get the role, I’ll buy you some meat.”

Chi Yan lifted the dog and waved its paw towards Shang Lu, with a faint smile in his eyes. “Then it’ll wait for good news from Sister.”

Although the filming for <Salvation Plan> had not started, at Yue Qi’s request, apart from the screenwriter and assistant director, all the main actors had also gathered on set for Shang Lu’s audition.

This is because Yue Qi always believed that sometimes the chemistry between actors could not be changed by acting skills alone. It was like some people just had that ‘CP feeling’ when put together, and these factors were quite mystical; you couldn’t judge it until you saw them in a few scenes together

However, what surprised Shang Lu was that the male lead of this film turned out to be Duan Anguo, whom she had seen in <Love Is Love>. He was a seasoned actor who had won multiple Golden Awards for Best Supporting Actor, but in recent years, he had been more active in variety shows.

“Xiao Lu, we meet again,” Duan Anguo waved to Shang Lu with a friendly smile on his face.

“Brother Duan,” Shang Lu also politely greeted him, saying, “If I could be on the same set with you, I hope you can give me some guidance in acting.”

Duan Anguo replied, “We don’t need to be so formal between us.”

Shang Lu earnestly said, “I’ve always thought you were very skilled in portraying these types of roles. I watched many clips of your performances last night to learn from them.”

Though Duan Anguo made a modest response, his smile clearly showed that he enjoyed such compliments, even if he felt a bit shy to admit it.

Duan Anguo was famous for playing antagonists, but this time, Yue Qi wanted to take a different approach, turning the audience’s usual image of Duan Anguo as a villain into a kind and just male lead, while the real villain of the story would appear gentle and harmless, thus creating a powerful contrast.