Against the Light - Chapter 2
Chapter 2: A Ruined Reputation
She closed her eyes and slept again. When she woke up, she was still in the same hospital room, still lying in the same bed. The only difference was that the sky outside had turned a dusky yellow; nothing else had changed.
She sat up, tried getting out of bed, and took a few steps. Her body felt light, and walking was effortless. She didn't need anyone to support her, let alone a cane. This long-lost feeling of ease made her want to walk a few more laps around the room, to slowly reacquaint herself with this vibrant, youthful body.
She walked to the window and pulled it open. A warm breeze rushed in, instantly refreshing her. She took a deep breath. For some reason, even the air felt incredibly sweet.
Below, there was a small pavilion where many patients were sitting and chatting. As she looked down, she suddenly spotted a pair of beautiful girls. One, dressed in a patient's gown, was slowly practicing walking with a cane. The other girl stood nearby with her arms outstretched, as if to catch her if she fell.
After a short while, the girl in the patient's gown stopped. The other girl immediately took out a tissue to wipe her sweat, then stood on her tiptoes and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, as if in encouragement.
Gu Xinran's heart skipped a beat. She raised a hand to cover her eyes, feeling as guilty as if she'd been caught doing something wrong herself. She quickly shut the window and drew the curtains.
She returned to the hospital bed and sat down obediently.
She was having a hard time wrapping her head around it.
In the garden just now, with so many people around, those two girls were being openly affectionate, yet no one criticized them. No one even gave them a strange look. In fact, some people looked on with envy.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, utterly perplexed.
This was something she had always wanted to do with Yilan—to make their relationship public, in front of everyone.
But in her era, a same-sex relationship was the biggest taboo, even more reviled than the unspoken rules of the entertainment industry. Although things had improved decades later, it was nowhere near as open as this!
It felt like she had arrived in an incredible era.
She calmed herself and noticed the corner of a phone peeking out from under the pillow. She quickly grabbed it to check.
In her past life, she had lived in seclusion for decades, completely cut off from the outside world. She wasn't very familiar with operating a smartphone, but luckily, this one used facial recognition to unlock. The moment she held it up, she heard a click.
The phone was a similar model to the one she had seen Xiao Ye use. It had a dazzling array of icons, a few of which she recognized.
Weibo, WeChat, Contacts, Browser, and so on. Xiao Ye used to tell her interesting stories she found on Weibo, so she was relatively familiar with that app.
Just as she was about to tap on Weibo, her finger paused. She tapped on the browser next to it instead. Recalling how Xiao Ye used it, she typed Lin Yuqing's name into the search bar.
Her finger trembled as she hit search, her eyes glued to the screen.
When the search results appeared, her breath caught in her throat. Her hand shook violently, and the phone fell onto the bed.
The search entries only showed a few irrelevant people who happened to share the same name as Lin Yuqing. There was absolutely no trace of the Lin Yuqing she knew!
Xiao Qing had entered the industry at sixteen and had won the Movie Queen award. In her time, she was a superstar. There was no way her information wouldn't be in the search results!
Unless!
At that thought, she felt a massive stone pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe.
Unless, this era wasn't the one she had originally lived in!
She hadn't been reborn at twenty-four, but had transmigrated! Transmigrated to another era, becoming a twenty-four-year-old Gu Xinran who had taken over someone else's body!
Unwilling to give up, she picked up the phone and continued searching. She searched for Bai Ye, for Fang Yi, Heart Entertainment, Qinchuan City—she searched for every person and every place connected to her in that era. But without exception, there was no sign of the people she was familiar with, only strangers who shared the same names.
She typed the character "Bai" on the screen, then her fingers paused. She gave up.
When Qu Qi came in, she saw Gu Xinran sitting on the floor, clutching her phone, her face stained with tears, looking completely lost and heartbroken. She was startled.
"What kind of trouble are you stirring up... now?"
Gu Xinran looked up at Qu Qi. Her eyes were red and brimming with tears, and the tip of her nose was flushed. She was a picture of sorrow.
Qu Qi felt a little flustered. She glanced out the door, then back at Gu Xinran. Did I... scold her too harshly just now?
"Alright, what's the use of crying? Will crying solve anything? You think they'll stop cursing you just because you're crying? Wipe your tears, get changed, and get ready to go. I've already handled your discharge papers." In the end, Qu Qi couldn't bear it. She took a tissue from her bag and stuffed it into Gu Xinran's hand.
Gu Xinran thanked her, took the tissue, and covered her face, crying even harder.
"..."
If death was the end of life, she could have faced it calmly. As long as she knew her daughter was living happily and her friends had all found their own paths, she would have had no lingering attachments.
But now, she wasn't dead, and the memories of her past life were still deeply etched in her mind. Yet in this life, she had no daughter, no friends, no lover. She felt like her life had been a joke. She had lived a whole lifetime, only to end up with nothing. She hadn't even managed to leave behind a single photograph, not even a small memento.
"Hey, hey, that's enough."
Qu Qi squatted down and poked her on the shoulder.
"Crying so miserably. You finally realize you were wrong?"
Gu Xinran shook her head. After Yilan passed away, she had rarely cried. She knew tears were the most useless thing in the world. But right now, her tears were like a bursting dam, unstoppable. It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to cry her heart out.
Qu Qi had been about to say that since she knew her mistake, she wouldn't scold her anymore. But seeing her shake her head, all the pity she felt vanished in an instant. She shot to her feet and pointed at her. "Let me tell you, you're going to solve this mess with Luo Bing yourself. Don't think you can do whatever you want just because I have your back. Forget it! I'm not getting involved in this anymore. If you can't handle it, you can take a long vacation and go home to reflect on your actions."
"Get a taxi home yourself," Qu Qi said with a cold face, then left again.
At the doorway, she glanced back one more time, shook her head, and sighed.
She felt an immense sense of regret.
Gu Xinran had entered the industry at eighteen and shot to fame right after her debut. With her exquisite face, she quickly became a sensation. In the entertainment circle of that time, where looks were everything, she could get away with anything, regardless of her acting skills. She had a spiritual aura about her that even Qu Qi, a veteran manager with ten years of experience, couldn't help but marvel at. She was simply a born idol!
At eighteen, she was still a bit naive. With her sweet and fresh "first love" face, she became the nation's first love. It just so happened that youth dramas were all the rage, so she received many film and television opportunities, and her popularity skyrocketed!
Three years later, with her team's packaging and her own naturally outstanding temperament and powerful presence, she quickly transitioned to the trendy "cool sister" persona. Two consecutive workplace dramas were both critically and commercially successful. Her transformation was a huge success, earning widespread acclaim!
In the same year, her relationship with a famous director was exposed. After a whirlwind three-month romance, they had a flash marriage, which once again put her in the spotlight.
But after that, whether it was because her early fame made her arrogant, her married life was unhappy, or her wife had too many admirers, her temperament gradually became erratic. She often threw unreasonable tantrums, openly acted like a diva, and clashed with other artists multiple times. The paid online trolls latched onto her, and her lack of acting skills was infinitely magnified, leading to endless scolding from trolls and anti-fans...
In the two years after her marriage, she was like a completely different person, desperately seeking attention, lowering herself to fight with those who coveted her wife. She certainly established the persona of a wife-protecting fanatic, but to outsiders, she just looked like a mad dog, snapping at everyone she met.
Her wife was also implicated by her childish behavior. Her wife's fans even attacked and insulted her, hoping they would divorce, hoping she would stop pestering her and let them both go. Some even said she should see a psychiatrist.
Later, under the pressure of public opinion, the two divorced.
After that, her popularity plummeted, and she couldn't even land a decent script.
Out of old sentiment, Qu Qi hadn't wanted to give up on her. She had managed to get her a spot on a lukewarm variety show, but who knew that one of the guests would be Luo Bing, one of her ex-wife's pursuers. The moment she saw Luo Bing, she started giving her attitude and even hit her, causing a huge, unmanageable scene.
Qu Qi slipped out through a side door of the hospital. In the distance, she could see that the main entrance was still surrounded by reporters. She clutched her phone and sighed. Perhaps it was really time to give up on her.
Meanwhile, in the hospital room, Gu Xinran had slowly calmed down. From Weibo, she had learned about the original owner's life experiences.
She put down her phone and sniffled, feeling a little fortunate.
Thankfully, the owner of this body was already divorced. Otherwise, she really wouldn't be able to face a wife she had never met.
Whether in her past life or this one, her heart belonged to only one person, until death.
She silently folded the quilt and changed her clothes.
She looked at herself in the mirror again. Her eyes were a little red and swollen, but her skin was truly amazing. After her burns in her previous life, she had never looked in a mirror again.
Once she was ready, she picked up her bag and left the hospital room.
As she neared the hospital's main entrance, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Qu Qi, reminding her to leave through the side door to avoid the reporters at the front.
She immediately changed her route and slipped out discreetly from the side. She didn't take a taxi but walked slowly along the sidewalk, reflecting on her past life and contemplating her present one.
She had often heard Xiao Ye talk about novels. In the stories Xiao Ye told, transmigrators would usually receive all of the original host's memories and live a better life in their place. However, she only seemed to get corresponding memories when she saw a specific person. Even the life story of this body was something she had pieced together from what others said on Weibo. How much of it was true and how much was false, she had no way of knowing.
But one thing she could feel was that the original owner must have loved her ex-wife very much. Just by vaguely picturing her ex-wife's image in her mind, she felt a strange stirring in her heart. She just didn't know why her personality had changed so drastically. And cheating? Was she really the scumbag the rumors made her out to be?
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