Chapter 242
Xu Shuangrong bowed deeply, the sea breeze blowing her hair into disarray, yet she stubbornly refused to straighten her back.
The barrage exploded at her single sentence.
[????????]
[What does that mean, did she just admit it??]
[Huh? Admitting she knowingly became the third party?]
[Damn, another big scandal!]
[I’d heard this show was explosive, but I didn’t think it’d be this explosive. I feel like a ferret in a melon field—so many melons, I don’t even know where to start eating.]
While the barrage spammed question marks, Xie Mi stayed relatively calm.
She knew Xu Shuangrong’s temperament well—if nothing went wrong, a reversal was coming soon.
Sure enough, Xu Shuangrong switched her tone.
“If I had known from the start that Jingxi already had a girlfriend, I would absolutely, absolutely never have agreed to a fake CP with him!”
When she lifted her head again, her face was already streaked with tears.
“As a girl myself, I understand too well that feeling of insecurity. You and Jingxi are already in a long-distance relationship, with very little face-to-face communication. That must make you feel very unsafe. And in such a situation, for Jingxi to create a fake CP with another girl—how painful must that be for you…”
“If it were me, even if my boyfriend filmed just a kissing scene with another actress, I’d probably sulk for several days… Sorry, maybe that’s a bit off-topic, but I really would be that petty.”
“Neglecting a relationship because of work is not an excuse at all!”
Suddenly, Xu Shuangrong grabbed Xie Mi’s hands, eyes brimming with tears and indignation.
“Teacher Xie, you must never forgive Xiao Jingxi!”
Xie Mi narrowed her eyes.
Tch…
What kind of angle was this?
The barrage exploded again.
[Wait… where is this even going?]
The system joined in for the third time.
[System: I don’t get it. Studying abroad, be right back.]
[Xu Shuangrong: At this point, Xiao Jingxi has no more use to me. Rather than letting him drag me down, I’d better take another path.]
[System: So what you’re saying is—you’re abandoning Xiao Jingxi? Don’t forget, he’s the male lead.]
[Xu Shuangrong: I’ve figured it out.]
[Xu Shuangrong: He’s dead weight that can’t be propped up. Why should I force myself to tie to him just because he’s the male lead?]
[Xu Shuangrong: Like you said, if I can’t get the male lead’s support, I can’t secure the female lead’s throne.]
[Xu Shuangrong: But by the same logic, if he can’t get the female lead’s recognition, he can’t be the male lead either.]
[Xu Shuangrong: So now, I’m the one discarding him.]
Hearing her words, Xie Mi wasn’t surprised.
Xu Shuangrong’s character setting was always ambitious. For her, lowering herself to curry favor with Xiao Jingxi to get the plot back on track was already a huge concession.
Once she saw the path with Xiao Jingxi was a dead end, ruthlessly kicking him aside to shine alone—that indeed matched her style.
[System: Don’t act all smug, I still don’t get it.]
[System: If you’re abandoning Xiao Jingxi, then what’s your next step? Don’t forget what I told you—your success in the original story was inseparable from his help.]
[Xu Shuangrong: There are plenty of people in the world I can use. Why should I fixate on just Xiao Jingxi?]
[Xu Shuangrong: Isn’t there already a better choice than him right now?]
[System: ?]
Xu Shuangrong’s reddened eyes were dried by the sea breeze, but when she looked at Xie Mi, her gaze was full of sincerity.
“Teacher Xie, I will do everything in my power to make up for what I’ve done to you.”
And another voice of hers, carried by the whistling wind, slipped into Xie Mi’s ear.
[Xu Shuangrong: A transmigrator from another world, knowing all the storylines of the book, convinced she has everything under control.]
[Xu Shuangrong: Isn’t that the best chess piece?]
“…”
Xie Mi looked at her.
Her eyes were red, her tears barely held back, her words hoarse yet full of sincerity.
But layered over it was another voice, brimming with ambition, as if overlooking all.
‘Splash—’
The waves crashed against the reef, roaring behind them.
In Xie Mi’s eyes, an imperceptible flicker of amusement appeared.
So—she’d turned her spearhead toward her.
[So what, Xu Shuangrong really didn’t know after all?]
[She looks sincere, I feel like she genuinely came to apologize.]
[Two girls hurt by a scumbag teaming up to form an anti-scum alliance—that’s actually a pretty good duo!]
[? Obviously she’s twisting things. Who would believe her? From what she said earlier, she already revealed she knew Xiao Jingxi wasn’t single.]
[Wait, you guys are forgiving Xu Shuangrong that easily? Forget whether she knew or not, did you all forget the incident between her and Lai Bingxuan? Or do I have memories you all don’t?]
[Figures—hide behind Xiao Jingxi and Xu Shuangrong gets to whitewash herself?]
[The internet can hate two people at once, FYI.]
“So, you believe everything is Xiao Jingxi’s fault, is that it?” Xie Mi pulled her hands back from Xu Shuangrong’s grasp and asked.
Xu Shuangrong bit her lip lightly. “Of course, I’m also at fault. At fault for suspecting but still being easily convinced. At fault for trusting others too much and losing my own judgment…”
Xie Mi’s gaze lazily drifted past her, lips curving almost imperceptibly.
Xu Shuangrong: “At fault for unintentionally causing another girl such great pain…”
“Xu Shuangrong!!”
A furious roar suddenly broke her words.
Startled, Xu Shuangrong turned her head—
And there, standing on the beach with fury written all over his face, was Xiao Jingxi. “Do you dare claim you’re completely innocent?!”
He was clutching his phone so tightly his knuckles had gone white. That he would show up out of nowhere, this angry, clearly meant he’d seen something.
“Looks like he’s here for you.”
Xie Mi raised an eyebrow, this time not hiding the smile at her lips, “Well then, you two talk. I’ll be off.”
With that, she leapt lightly down from the reef, hands in her pockets, slippers slapping as she strolled away leisurely.
Behind her, Xiao Jingxi rushed forward, erupting into a heated argument with Xu Shuangrong.
His accusations and roars tore through the sky.
“You knew all along I was with Xie Mi, yet you still acted pitiful in front of me, luring me into faking a CP with you!!”
Xu Shuangrong cried hoarsely, “I lured you? How could I lure you?! You were the one who came to me!”
“And you’re still pretending? You clearly already knew—”
“Do you have proof? You can’t slander me like this!”
Listening to the chaos, Xie Mi clicked her tongue.
The supposed sweet and loving male and female leads openly tearing each other apart—was this the distortion of human nature, or the downfall of morality?
As for why Xiao Jingxi suddenly came charging in to confront Xu Shuangrong—
At the gate of Liancha Town in the distance, Shen Moqing stood lazily, waving his phone at her.
[It’s done.]
Xie Mi blinked twice in satisfaction.
[Well played.]
