This chapter has been translated by Atlas Studios. All credits belong to them.
Coldness entered Xia Ling's eyes. "Xia Yu, I have no interest in your matters, don't pull me into the mix."
Xia Yu looked up at her with an innocent expression, the hatred that had flashed through her eyes disappearing in an instant. "Ye Xingling, how can you be considered an outsider? Since you've accepted Brother Ziheng's flowers, don't pretend to be all high and mighty here. For an artiste like you with no family or another strong backing, how can you really reject Brother Ziheng?"
It looked like she was well-informed in many aspects. Was it Pei Ziheng who told her, or Chu Chen?
It was more likely Chu Chen... Xia Ling only needed to think for a few seconds before coming to this conclusion. Pei Ziheng was unpredictable in his emotions, he hid many of his thoughts and would not share it with anybody else. Chu Chen, on the other hand, was very good at observing the situation, and it was highly likely that he had offered Xia Yu the information to get into her good books.
This also meant that Xia Yu had higher standing as compared to these women that slept with Pei Ziheng.
Hence, the shrewd Chu Chen knew that telling Xia Yu these things would not incur the wrath of Pei Ziheng.
Xia Ling's gaze landed on Xia Yu, before moving swiftly to the girl beside her, Zhang Suxin. From the sound of it, Zhang Suxin was the lover that Pei Ziheng favored the most now. However, there was a light, red swelling on the girl's face. It seemed that she had been slapped many times by the lady she was filming with under Xia Yu's instructions.
If Pei Ziheng did not condone her actions, Xia Yu would not be so arrogant.
Since when did Xia Yu have such a strong standing in Pei Ziheng's heart?
Xia Ling felt slightly bitter, but she caught herself and thought. Why should I be so bitter? I've already died once, what am I trying to hold on to? There was no way that Xia Ling could return to Pei Ziheng's side, and even if his concubines were locked in battle, what was it to her?
Her phone started to ring again.
Xia Ling collected her emotions and looked down at the phone screen. It was Wei Shaoyin, and the call that she missed because of Xia Yu was also from him. Xia Ling cursed silently, he was really a horrible teammate to have. Every time she wanted to disappear quietly from the familiar faces from the past, he would also appear at the worst of moments to spoil her plans.
She pressed the "answer" button.
He started to scold her as she picked up the call. "Where did you disappear to? Imperial Entertainment has vacated the place for the moment. Come over right now! We are already in position to start filming."
Of course, the people from Imperial Entertainment were not around, the culprit of all the NGs and the mastermind behind it was right here, and she was busy trying to free herself from them. Xia Ling did not explain all of this to Wei Shaoyin, only saying, "Okay, got it."
She hung up and said to the two people in front of her coldly. "Sorry, I'm busy. I need to leave."
"Ye Xingling, stop right there." Xia Yu blocked her path persistently.
Xia Ling started to get annoyed. "Xia Yu, do you think that everyone is like you and would give anything to sleep with Pei Ziheng? Let me break it down for you — it is Pei Ziheng who is harassing me right now, not the other way around! Instead of spending so much time setting up your grand schemes, why don't you just admit to yourself that you have failed to make Pei Ziheng loyal to you!"
Xia Yu faced turned white as Xia Ling's words hit right where it hurt.
Xia Ling side-stepped to go around Xia Yu but saw her white face appear in front of her yet again.
"Ye Xingling, don't be too much." She still looked weak as she shook in anger. "Who is the one who wants to crawl into bed with Brother Ziheng? If you didn't seduce him, why would he send you flowers? You... how can you be so despicable?! Since you've already sold yourself, don't try to pretend to be clean now! Look at you, you're poor and ugly, and you don't even know your place. What in the world did Brother Ziheng see in you? Could it be that you are so wild, so shameless in bed, that he..."
Pa!
Xia Ling gave Xia Yu a tight slap across her face.
Xia Yu fell to the floor from the impact, holding her face in her hands and her eyes brimming with tears. "You dare hit me..." Her eyes filled with accusation and disbelief, looking forlorn and innocent.
Xia Ling was also shocked. She had slapped her out of anger, but given their relationship as sisters for so many years, she had controlled her strength. She knew that there was no way she could have hit her so hard that she would fall to the ground.
Before she had understood what had happened, she heard the clicking of the camera shutter from the side.
Xia Ling turned abruptly and saw that under the shadows of the fake tree behind her, a reporter in full gear had appeared out of nowhere, a camera in hand, and was furiously snapping away at her and Xia Yu on the ground.
Xia Ling immediately understood — Xia Yu must have noticed the reporter and, thus, switched from her usual weak, meek self to insult her. From that distance, the reporter could not hear what they were saying but could take clear photos of them. If Xia Ling had been angered enough to hit her, then she would be the one to blame for anything that transpired.
Her body moved faster than her mind, thus Xia Ling started to run in the direction of the reporter.
The reporter was a veteran tabloid reporter and was highly experienced. The moment Xia Ling turned and saw him, he had already started to run away. The terrain in the film location was complicated, thus it was hard to track him. Even though Xia Ling's stamina was good for a girl, she was no match for a man that had been used to years running around in the sun and the rain for news. After a few minutes, she had lost her target.
Xia Ling stopped running and called Sister Mai Na immediately, summarizing the situation in a few sentences.
Sister Mai Na was dealing with another matter in another city but understood the gravity of the situation upon receiving the call. She did not have time to chide Xia Ling and only said, "I will call all the big newspapers now to get the situation under control. You be careful over there. Get Ah Wei to send a few trustworthy staff to search down that reporter."
Xia Ling responded in agreement and hung up.
She and Sister Mai Na both knew that, in such circumstances, there was but a small possibility of finding the reporter in the film location. Why would he stay here to be caught after capturing such huge news? There was a 99% chance that he had already run back to release the news.
However, she still gave Wei Shaoyin a call to convey Sister Mai Na's message.
Wei Shaoyin was furious and scolded. "Are you an idiot!" He sent out some staff to track the reporter down expediently.
Xia Ling gave a bitter laugh, thinking that she was indeed an idiot. She should have thought that Xia Yu was acting out for a reason. Her little sister had amazing acting skills, she should become a star actress instead of keep singing.
But, even if she was an award-winning actress, this was no reason to let her climb all over her!
There were serious consequences for making Xia Ling angry.
She turned around and started walking from where she came from.
Returning to the same place, she found Xia Yu still weakly curled up on the floor, like a willow branch quivering in the wind, her face white. There were many Imperial Entertainment staff around her — the director, production head, cameramen, and Chu Chen.
Chu Chen saw Xia Ling appear and his expression darkened. "You still dare show your face here?"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Xia Ling lifted her head high and said with an arrogant and cold tone.
The ten or so people in the area were all from Imperial Entertainment, and they all stared at her with animosity in their eyes. Yet, she seemed to not see them at all and had the arrogance of a queen descending on her citizens.
She walked right in front of Xia Yu and said, "Stand up."
The two staff next to Xia Yu carefully helped and half-carried her into a standing position.
Pa!
Everyone stared in shock. Xia Ling's movement was so quick and, this time slapped Xia Yu with all her might such that Xia Yu went to the ground again!