Chapter 50.1

In the photo, someone’s fair face was covered in wet hair, and water was dripping down her face. The edges of the wet hair were green, while the deeper parts were black, like an unexplored forest, dark and densely colored, with a mysterious depth.

She held the lower half of her face, her mouth and cheeks twisted into a strange expression, but her eyes looked fierce. Within those blue-purple eyes, it was as if planets were about to fly out, recklessly wanting to shatter everything in front of them. Her gaze was defiant, fierce, and arrogant.

The fans who initially wanted to make fun of her hair color fell silent. Someone muttered softly, and their words followed suit on the keyboard.

“Why… the fierce look!”

“Exactly, so what if you dyed it green!”

“Right, just because you’re green, big deal!”

“Still making a funny face, huh, Little Pearl? You’ve gotten rich and dyed your hair green, so you don’t need Mama anymore. Who do you rely on to water you so green?”

Xu Heran leaned back in her chair, messaging while having her hair blown dry by the hairstylist.

“How is it, good-looking or not?”

The mothers immediately crowded around.

“Good-looking! Our baby is the most good-looking in the world!”

“Wet and shiny Green Pearl~”

Xu Heran said, “Well then, let Nuo Nuo be the most good-looking in the world today, and I’ll settle for second place.”

“No no no, you’re both good-looking! I declare that you two are the most good-looking Pearl and the most good-looking Nuo Nuo in the world! Lock it in!”

Xu Heran secretly liked the comment and was about to reply when a big hand “whooshed” from behind, “smack,” snatched her phone away, and “click,” locked the screen.

The hairstylist tactically retreated.

A gloomy voice sounded behind Xu Heran, “Xu Heran, you don’t rest properly and still dare to stir things up online?”

Xu Heran stuck out her neck and said, “I didn’t!”

“You didn’t? Just when I was ordering your food, now people are starting to guess that the actress who scared Mu Yiyue is Xin Nuo! I was wondering why we hadn’t released news about Xin Nuo auditioning, turns out it’s you…”

Cui Qi raised her hand and pressed it against Xu Heran’s neck. “There’s no room for you at home now, and you still dare to mess around online?”

“I’m innocent!” Xu Heran said calmly and composedly, “I didn’t do anything! Please don’t falsely accuse Little Pearl’s innocence. I was just weeding out Weibo, complimenting Xin Nuo’s beauty. Can’t I compliment my sister for being good-looking?”

A few people who had finished blow-drying their hair gathered around, each holding a phone. Cui Qi made space.

Xin Nuo was the first to put her hand on Xu Heran’s semi-wet head and rub it. “Is it ugly?”

Jian Yueyin pinched her left ear. “Is it ugly?”

Song Fenghua cautiously held her right earlobe. “Is it ugly?”

Lin Weining and Haya stood side by side in front of Xu Heran, both smilingly asking, “Is it ugly?”

Jiang Qiong on the sofa was laughing “hehehe,” while the just-awakened Laurel was still eating melon, trying to understand the whole situation.

Xu Heran: “…”

“What’s wrong? Weren’t we saying that Nuo Nuo isn’t ugly?” Xu Heran’s voice grew softer. Behind her, Xin Nuo leaned forward slightly, placing her chin on Xu Heran’s head, her purple hair hanging down and overlapping with Xu Heran’s green hair, covering them both.

Xin Nuo had just washed her hands, and the water in the restroom was cool. She extended her cold fingers, landing them on Xu Heran’s snow-white neck, feeling the gentle pulse of a certain pearl beneath her palm. With a smile, Xin Nuo asked her, “Is it ugly or not?”

“Not ugly! Our Nuo Nuo is drop-dead gorgeous!” Xu Heran exclaimed loudly. “A peerless beauty in the mortal world!”

“Then why didn’t you just directly compliment your sister’s beauty? Hm, you mischievous Little Pearl?” Xin Nuo smiled playfully.

“Guh…”

Xu Heran’s neck slid up and down. She leaned back a bit, chin lifted, her blue-purple eyes meeting Xin Nuo’s pitch-black pupils. “I… I just wanted to have some sense of participation and interaction with my friends.”

Haya snapped her fingers. “Clever.”

“Let the kid go to university soon, this little brain spins really fast.”

Xu Heran immediately said, “Right, I think I’m pretty smart too.”

Cui Qi couldn’t take it anymore. “For the next few days, you’re not touching your phone!”

“Whimper…” Xu Pearl, preparing to fake cry, had her face squished by Xin Nuo, making her words unclear.

Haya, standing in front of her by the table, laughed and took out her phone, pointing the camera at Xu Heran.

“Look here.”

“Snap.”

Haya put down the phone, uploaded the photo of the two to Weibo, and said with a smile, “Just hopping on the popularity of our Little Pearl and the Beauty Nuo.”

Jiang Qiong, flipping over on the couch, said, “Quick, let me join in!”

Others pulled out their phones one after another, getting ready to repost and comment.

Thirty seconds later.

“Haya!” Jiang Qiong was furious. “In the photo, I’m standing in the back with my foot raised!”

“You couldn’t take care of the idol’s image, dog barking and all!”

Haya: “Hahaha!”

Others: “Hahaha!”

“Sorry, I really didn’t notice that.” Haya waved her hand apologetically. “Or should I delete it and put a mosaic on it before uploading it again?”

“Am I supposed to live in a mosaic world?” Jiang Qiong grew angrier and angrily reposted.

SGS Jiang Qiong is not broke: “What had Haya’s eyes deceived by, letting her disregard the camaraderie of teammates? Turns out it was Beauty Nuo’s beautiful face, hm, I forgive you then. We’re Nuo Nuo, enjoying the beauty~”

Fans who came over with baskets to collect vegetables laughed heartily, teasing the red-haired Jiang Qiong in the corner of the photo who had one foot raised and hair flared up, and replied to her: “No, it’s love!”

“Love confused her!”

“It’s love, yeah!!”

“Person up front, please copy the ‘No Early Love’ law for minors a hundred times.”

“Eh…”

While the SGS members reposted Haya’s Weibo post and left comments like “Our Nuo Nuo is so beautiful,” “Nuo Nuo is a peerless beauty,” “So good-looking,” fans who sensed the shift in the wind asked in hushed voices.

“So, in today’s melon field, is it really Nuo Nuo, the innocent rookie artist, who got caught up in this?”

Haya didn’t reply, she just gave it a like.

The previously quiet melon field buzzed and stirred.

Fans were excited and encouraged, grabbing the collars of Mu Yiyue’s fans and asking them, “Who are you calling ugly!”

“Do you have the guts to look at this photo, at this little face, and call it ugly again?”

“Let me hear you call her ugly and see how beautiful you are! I bet you’re drop-dead gorgeous!”

Even Mu Yiyue’s fans, looking at several of Xin Nuo’s viral photos, couldn’t deceive themselves. If they dared to say she wasn’t good-looking, they’d only acidly say it doesn’t fit my aesthetics. Who knows what a real person looks like? Photos can be manipulated into all sorts of nonsense.

As one of the most popular talent shows in China this year, 《Starlight Girls》 had practice contestants who became better-looking and more talented with each round, attracting many fans. Even bystanders couldn’t stand the sour comments anymore and spoke up for the young girls.

Mu Yiyue’s fans knew they were in the wrong and quickly deleted their mocking posts about Xin Nuo’s appearance. They began to criticize Xin Nuo’s acting skills, saying she was just a trainee, an idol who could only sing and dance, how could she possibly act? Therefore, they insisted that Mu Yiyue being scared by Xin Nuo’s acting was definitely fake!

Dream Entertainment and Mu Yiyue suddenly went quiet. In Universal Entertainment’s hands, they had the voice recordings of Mu Yiyue harassing Xin Nuo earlier. Dream Entertainment’s PR immediately contacted Cui Qi, suggesting that they replace the female assassin character they had chosen with Xin Nuo, letting Xin Nuo join the cast and advising her not to pay attention to the fans’ words.

Cui Qi gave a cold smile and asked him, “What, did Emperor Mu of Shadows not get enough from falling once? Want to fall a few more times?”

The PR from Dream Entertainment was shot back at, smiling in concession. He didn’t dare to mention the matter of Xin Nuo joining the drama crew anymore. But even if he didn’t bring it up, others did.

First, an actress from a small company spoke up on Weibo, saying that in order to compete for a role, she had brought a fake sword for demonstration. Unexpectedly, Xin Nuo had brought a real Emei dagger, and she was really skilled. It was obvious she had trained hard. She admired Xin Nuo and hoped to learn the Emei dagger from her if she had the chance.

She also mentioned that due to Xin Nuo’s unexpectedly outstanding acting skills, she knew she would be eliminated. However, when she saw Dream Entertainment’s cast list today, why wasn’t Xin Nuo cast as the female assassin role? Instead, it was Dream Entertainment’s own artist who didn’t even audition for it?

She tagged Dream Entertainment, 《Rustling in the Wind》, and Director Li You in her Weibo post. However, she deleted the post after only two minutes. The likely reason was that the young artist acted impulsively without thinking, but then realized that those were a big company and a well-known director. For her future, it was better to “endure humiliation and bear the burden.”

However, while this move might have offended Dream Entertainment to some extent, it did attract quite a few fans and garnered attention for herself. Fans reassured her that she was fine and they would support her in the future. Screenshots of her deleted Weibo post were also circulating under Mu Yiyue’s and Dream Entertainment’s official accounts, along with questions.

Soon after, a second-tier male actor, known for his straightforward and righteous character, posted a picture on Weibo and said, “Hahaha, is this how it happened?”

Late at night, continuously refreshing his phone and trying to reach his manager and PR for a solution, Mu Yiyue stumbled upon this post. His blood pressure skyrocketed.

“How can photos be taken at the audition site?” Mu Yiyue shouted in anger, “When did he take a photo of me?”

The photo on Weibo was taken at an angle, capturing everything clearly. Behind a table, a tall man’s face and limbs were sprawled on the ground, clutching a table leg. In front of the man, a girl in a black sportswear looked indifferent, eyes cast downward, expressionless, staring at him.

This movie star’s Weibo followers increased by over five hundred thousand within an hour. Sensing the heat, the second-tier movie star consulted with their manager and then consecutively posted several gifs.

Nine gifs in total. Xin Nuo flipping and soaring, Xin Nuo falling from the table, Xin Nuo wielding the Emei dagger in her hand and thrusting down, Mu Yiyue falling, Xin Nuo turning the Emei dagger toward Mu Yiyue… All captured clearly.

“Nest… you’re telling me this is an idol? An idol who’s so skilled with the Emei dagger?”

“Even without unsheathing the Emei dagger, he was scared into falling by Emperor Mu of Shadows from tens of thousands of miles away. And he’s still considered an emperor of acting?”

“He’s an emperor of acting because these two dramas he’s in have excellent scripts and are well-directed. Didn’t you notice that even though Mu Yiyue is the hot topic this year, the dramas are even hotter? Even if it wasn’t him, others would make them just as popular!”

“Exactly, look at how many people these two dramas have attracted. The lead actress, supporting actress, supporting actor – can’t this prove the point?”

“But Xin Nuo’s acting skills… truly astonishing. Could it be that she’s naturally cold and composed, so she can perfectly portray a female assassin?”

“Oh, if you put it that way, let me present you with 100 pictures of Nuo Nuo beating someone up, and 50 pictures of Nuo Nuo smiling gently at someone. Our Nuo Nuo can show emotions really well, right?”

“Song Fenghua feels you’re insinuating something and gives you a cold glare.”

“Hahaha, so it’s all us SGS sisters!”

“You can feel the murderous intent even from the pictures! No wonder Mu Yiyue got scared. Even through the screen, I was frozen by Xin Nuo’s gaze! Oh my god, you don’t choose her, and instead, pick a vase? This is how good scripts get ruined!”

“Trash Dream Entertainment, I want to see what you can produce!”

“But that’s Li You’s team. If they choose the cast well, the movie will surely be good…”

“So, Emperor Mu? Can we call him Teacher Mu now? Teacher Mu, who remains pure as jade!”

“Keep up the good work, Teacher Mu!”

“Teacher Mu with the gold medal in hand, pure and clean, a snow lotus in the mortal world!”

“Still an emperor? How embarrassing, psh!”

In Dream Entertainment’s meeting room, the lights were bright even late into the night. The PR department was actively reaching out to their online marketing teams, flooding comment sections to counter the negativity.

Mu Yiyue’s face was ashen as he sat on a chair in the meeting room.

The PR manager of Dream Entertainment glanced at Mu Yiyue’s expression and whispered, “Now, we’re worried that Universal Entertainment might expose the… audio from before. Right now, being mocked for acting is just a minor issue.”

“Minor issue?” Mu Yiyue slammed his hand on the table with a loud thud, his face contorted. “They’re ridiculing the acting skills of a movie emperor, and you call that minor?”

But the truth is that your acting was overshadowed by Xin Nuo’s.

The PR manager felt helpless, as he had presented three options back then. One was admitting he accidentally fell, the second was genuinely being astonished by the new actor’s performance and getting distracted, and the third was adamantly denying. Mu Yiyue had chosen the third.

He whispered, “Compared to an emperor harassing an underage girl… this can indeed be considered a minor issue.”

The air in the meeting room suddenly became suffocating, with an eerie silence prevailing.

Mu Yiyue’s lips twitched, his eyelids fluttered. Through clenched teeth, he uttered in anger, “Aren’t I doing this for the company? For recruiting new talents for the company!”

“Yes, that’s true, but…,” the PR manager’s forehead was sweating. Mu Yiyue had personally handed over the leverage to Universal, a sword of Damocles hovering over the Dream Entertainment building, just waiting to fall.

Mu Yiyue was the pillar of Dream Entertainment. If his reputation suffered, what about the endorsements he was tied to? Who would pay the breach of contract fees? If Dream Entertainment faced heavy damage, how could it maintain its status among the top three entertainment companies?

“Why isn’t Universal Entertainment publicizing this matter?” someone whispered, “If it were us, we’d probably release it immediately to make sure they can’t recover.”

Some nodded, but they all felt Mu Yiyue’s sharp gaze, yet the question lingered in their minds.

Universal, what do they want?

“Let Dream Entertainment peacefully terminate contracts with Li You,” Xin Nuo whispered softly to Cui Qi, “We’ll secure the rights to 《Rustling in the Wind》.”

Cui Qi was surprised, “Is that what you’re thinking?”

Xin Nuo stood by the doorway, wearing a coat. He spoke softly, “Dream Entertainment and Mu Yiyue have lost this round. There’s no need to engage in a futile struggle with them now.”

A starved camel is larger than a horse. Universal Entertainment was still in its early stages and there was no need to go all out. The current surge in popularity of 《Rustling in the Wind》 was unexpected, and with Universal Entertainment taking over, not only did they save on promotional costs, but they also gained Li You!

With directors Li You and Liu Youshu on board, the future of Universal Entertainment’s film and television department was poised for brilliance!

Cui Qi took a light breath and instinctively held onto Xin Nuo’s wrist. “How did you come up with this idea? I only wanted to use this opportunity to strike a blow against Dream Entertainment and incidentally promote your good acting. You’re even deeper than I thought… But in that case, I’m sorry for putting you through this.”

“Sorry?” Xin Nuo tilted her head, a gentle smile gracing her exquisite features. “I’m not sorry at all. From the very beginning, from the moment Mu Yiyue came to find me, he brought this upon himself, weaving his own web of consequences.”

And I, am destined not to lose.

Cui Qi patted Xin Nuo’s shoulder, telling her to go and rest. As for herself, she immediately turned and hurried to Universal Entertainment’s building in the early morning.

A meeting!

In the early morning, before dawn, Director Li You and Director Liu, their faces flushed, were dragged up from the sofa by Director Liu’s wife and sent off in Universal Entertainment’s car. As the first rays of light touched the earth, Universal Entertainment, Dream Entertainment, and 《Rustling in the Wind》 simultaneously released statements.

Dream Entertainment: “Regrettably, there were disagreements with Director Li regarding the concept of our film. Dream Entertainment and 《Rustling in the Wind》 have agreed to terminate their contract peacefully. Dream Entertainment will retrieve its funding and cancel the original casting choices. Dream Entertainment deeply regrets this decision and hopes to have the opportunity to collaborate with Director Li again in the future!”

Universal Entertainment: “Throwing confetti, throwing confetti~ Our first film is about to start shooting. Thank you 《Rustling in the Wind》 for choosing Universal Entertainment. Thank you, Director Li You, for trusting Universal. We hope that the collaboration between Universal and Director Li will create amazing works~ Flowers, flowers, flowers~”

“Rustling in the Wind: ‘The sharp edge of a treasured sword is forged through honing. Despite setbacks, our determination remains unwavering. This choice, once made, carries no regrets! We thank Universal Entertainment for their support and Dream Entertainment for their understanding, allowing us to meet again within our film.'”

Fans stared dumbfoundedly at this sudden turn of events.

Wait, after a night of uproar, 《Rustling in the Wind》 switched to Universal Entertainment… Doesn’t that mean—

Xin Nuo had a chance to play the female assassin!

Ah, ah, ah!

Would they get to see Nuo Nuo performing with the amazing ‘Emei Daggers’ on the big screen?

In their excitement, someone secretly posted on Weibo.

SGS Xin Nuo: “That’s right, Nuo Nuo is that awesome!”

“…”

“…Xu Heran, come out, Xu Heran!”

“Sister Cui! Sister Cui, look, someone took sister’s phone!”

“I thought someone had hacked into Xin Nuo’s account, but then I saw the tone… Hm, it’s Xu Pearl!”

“Xu Heran!” Cui Qi roared.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Little Pearl wrapped herself in a towel, pretending nothing had happened, and strolled towards the pool. “Can I go swimming first?”

“You better get ready to be smacked!” Cui Qi fumed, “Did you mess with Xin Nuo’s phone?”

Xu Pearl defended herself, “Well, you took my phone, didn’t you?”

“Why would I take your phone, don’t you know?”

Xu Pearl widened her lavender eyes and put on an innocent and pure expression. “I have no idea~”

Cui Qi: “…Xin Nuo!”

“Alright, Sister Cui, you calm down first.” Xin Nuo walked over, grabbed Xu Heran’s collar, and guided her towards the pool. “Leave the task of smacking Pearl to me.”

Xu Heran chuckled mischievously, turned her head, and nonchalantly scanned Xin Nuo’s body from head to toe. She exclaimed, “Wow—”

After a moment, feeling that the initial exclamation wasn’t enough to convey her inner astonishment and inexplicable stirring, she took a deep breath.

“Wow!!”

Xin Nuo: “…”

“Really craving a smack, huh?” Xin Nuo chuckled, holding her hand.

“Nuo Nuo, you look so beautiful.” Xu Heran leaned closer and whispered softly, “Yeah, it’s just… why not that kind, you know, that style of swimsuit?”

Xin Nuo pulled her over to the edge of the pool. “Speak nicely.”

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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Sinensis

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