Against the Light - Chapter 102
Chapter 102: The Me Who Should Be Playing Along...
The two were in the middle of some playful banter when, out of the corner of their eyes, they saw a private car pull up outside the small building.
Gu Xinran turned her head to take a look. Not many people knew about this place, and most who came were their own artists. This car, however, was a bit unfamiliar.
"Huh?" Bai Yilan let out a soft cry.
"What? Do you recognize it?"
As they were talking, they saw Lu Qing happily coming out to greet the visitor. What was puzzling, however, was that when she had welcomed them just now, Lu Qing had been walking perfectly normally. Now, she was limping, making her way toward the private car with what looked like great difficulty.
When they saw the person getting out of the car, both Gu Xinran and Bai Yilan froze.
It was Jiang Boyan!
"Why is she here?" Gu Xinran held onto the railing, craning her neck to look.
"How strange." Seeing Jiang Boyan speaking to Lu Qing with a serious expression, Gu Xinran's face filled with curiosity. She leaned out even further, trying to eavesdrop.
"Hey, be careful, don't fall." Bai Yilan quickly pulled her back, shooting her a disdainful glance at the same time. When did this woman get so gossipy?
"You don't know. In our past life, those two had feelings for each other, but unfortunately, they never admitted it and couldn't get together in the end."
"Eh?" Bai Yilan was a bit surprised. This was the first time she'd heard this. In her past life, during the period she remembered, those two had never shown any feelings for each other.
"Mhm."
"Why?"
"Because…" Gu Xinran paused. She suddenly remembered that Yilan still didn't know that in their past life, Jiang Boyan had betrayed them, and Jiang Boyan had regretted it for the rest of her life, never managing to move on.
"Because… they were too proud, I guess." Gu Xinran laughed, trying to bluff her way through it.
Bai Yilan frowned slightly and looked into the distance. Jiang Boyan was supporting Lu Qing's arm as they walked toward the small building. Lu Qing was still limping noticeably, her left leg seemingly afraid to touch the ground, with almost half her body leaning on Jiang Boyan.
Bai Yilan thought for a moment, then suddenly chuckled and shook her head helplessly. "That Lu Qing."
"What's wrong?"
"Do you remember when we were on that variety show, 【Wonderful Love】, we invited Lu Qing over as a guest, but she refused?"
"I remember. She said she'd sprained her ankle…" Gu Xinran paused, looked at the two of them again, and realization dawned.
"This girl, don't tell me she met Jiang Boyan at the hospital? Was it love at first sight?"
"Possibly. Sister Yan looks especially cool in a white coat. Even I can't resist."
"???" Was that how you were supposed to use the phrase "can't resist"?
"Oh, is that so," Gu Xinran said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, her tone extremely perfunctory.
Bai Yilan didn't seem to notice anything was amiss. She rested her chin on her hand, watching the two with eyes full of appreciation.
Gu Xinran immediately assumed she was fawning over Jiang Boyan and put her hands on her hips in protest.
After waiting a moment, Yilan didn't even glance at her.
"Bai Yilan, I'm angry. Aren't you going to pay attention to me?"
The corners of Bai Yilan's lips lifted slightly.
"Fine, don't pay attention to me then." Gu Xinran pouted and muttered under her breath, looking like a kicked puppy, which made Bai Yilan burst out laughing.
The two went downstairs. When they reached the first floor, they saw the group of girls had all run to the window, peering outside.
"Xue'er, what's going on with her?" Gu Xinran asked.
"Sister Ran, Teacher Lu is having one of her daily infatuations."
"Hm?"
"She accidentally sprained her ankle last time and met this Dr. Jiang at the hospital, and she's been head over heels ever since. But her constitution is probably too good. Other people need a few months to recover from muscle and bone injuries, but she was fine in just over a week. She was depressed about it for a while. Later, to see Dr. Jiang, she started faking a limp to trick Dr. Jiang into making house calls."
"…Is this something a person should be doing? Isn't the doctor busy? Wasting her time with this nonsense." Gu Xinran pouted. Couldn't this person think of a more sophisticated plan?
"Hey, Sister Ran, you two absolutely must not expose her! You have to cooperate with Teacher Lu and see this act through!"
Gu Xinran rolled her eyes dramatically, exchanged a look with Yilan, and smiled helplessly.
"Fine, you guys act. It'll be a good chance for me to see if your acting skills have improved."
Gu Xinran put her hands on her hips, watching everyone like an outsider.
Before long, Jiang Boyan pushed open the door and helped Lu Qing inside.
When Lu Qing saw Gu Xinran and Bai Yilan, the smile on her face suddenly froze. She frantically winked and made faces at them.
Gu Xinran pretended not to understand and completely ignored her.
Bai Yilan lowered her head, forcing herself not to see her.
"Yilan? Why are you here?" Jiang Boyan spotted Bai Yilan at a glance. The next second, she immediately let go of Lu Qing's arm and went straight to Bai Yilan.
"Hey!" Lu Qing stumbled, barely managing to steady herself by putting weight on her left leg. The moment she was stable, she realized something was wrong. In the split second before Jiang Boyan could turn back, her body went limp, and she sat right down on the floor. "Oww~"
"Pfft…" Gu Xinran couldn't hold it in and let out a snort of laughter. She instantly raised a fist to her lips and coughed twice to cover it up.
The group of girls also nearly broke character, wanting to laugh but not daring to.
Bai Yilan lowered her head, biting the tip of her tongue to suppress her laughter. She had seen Lu Qing's expression and actions perfectly clearly. Mhm, truly worthy of an acting coach. She's demonstrating the 'truly listen, truly see, truly feel' method perfectly.
Hearing the sound, Jiang Boyan paused, turned to look at Lu Qing, and frowned.
Lu Qing held onto the doorframe, "struggling" to stand up.
"Ahem… Sister, aren't you going to hurry up and help her?" Bai Yilan said kindly.
Jiang Boyan let out a heavy sigh, turned back to Lu Qing's side, and was about to help her up.
"It's fine, I can do it myself." Lu Qing had a determined expression, raising a hand to stop Jiang Boyan from helping her.
Jiang Boyan straightened up, looked at her for a moment, and nodded. "You can do it." After saying that, she turned and walked towards Bai Yilan.
"…???" You devil, you're really not going to help me?!
"Pfft…" Gu Xinran lost it again. This time, she simply turned her back and laughed to her heart's content.
"Yilan, why are you here?"
"Ahem, um… Sister, I… this is Xinran's company. I came with her to take a look."
Jiang Boyan was startled and looked at Gu Xinran.
Gu Xinran turned around and gave her a slight smile, seemingly casually looking her up and down. Her figure is about the same as mine. It's just a white coat. I'd definitely look even cooler in one than she does!
"This is your company? Then she is?" Jiang Boyan glanced back at Lu Qing.
"Ah, she's my friend, and also a shareholder in my company."
Jiang Boyan understood.
"Eh? You know each other???" Lu Qing was a bit dazed.
"Mhm, this Dr. Jiang… is Yilan's sister."
"!?" Lu Qing was completely dumbfounded!
What, what, what? Dr. Jiang was Bai Yilan's sister? Not only did they have different surnames, but they didn't look alike either!
Wait! I actually asked her sister to play along with my act to deceive her own sister??
At this thought, Lu Qing's heart was completely calm, except for a slight urge to laugh. She looked at Bai Yilan sheepishly, and while Jiang Boyan wasn't looking, she quickly put her hands together in a pleading gesture.
Bai Yilan glanced at her and gave an imperceptible nod.
Lu Qing was immediately overjoyed. She composed herself and didn't let any inappropriate expression show.
"Um, Sister, why don't you check on Teacher Lu's foot first? We can have a proper chat later."
These words went straight to Lu Qing's heart. She secretly gave Bai Yilan a thumbs-up. Now that's what I call sensible!
Jiang Boyan turned her head to look at Lu Qing, frowning slightly. "Logically speaking, her foot should have healed long ago. I've seen the X-rays; there's no major problem."
"Oww…" Lu Qing slowly squatted down, clutching her ankle.
Jiang Boyan raised an eyebrow, looking slightly helpless. "Then wait for me a moment. I'll go take a look at her."
"Okay, go on."
Watching Jiang Boyan help Lu Qing away, Bai Yilan finally breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but laugh. She had almost lost her composure just now!
The group of people also started chuckling, thoroughly amused by Lu Qing's recent "performance."
"Honestly, that woman. Wouldn't it be better to just tell the truth? She insists on faking an injury. She can pretend for a while, but she can't pretend for a lifetime, can she?"
"Ehehe, Teacher Lu said that as long as she can see the beautiful doctor every day, she wouldn't mind living in the hospital."
"…" She's a ruthless one, huh.
"But speaking of which, this Dr. Jiang has a pretty good temper. The moment Teacher Lu said her foot hurt, she came to see her personally."
"That's not her having a good temper, she's just responsible. Once your Teacher Lu's foot is actually better, she wouldn't come even if you invited her with a sedan chair carried by eight men." Bai Yilan indicated that she knew her well.
The girls exchanged a look. "Then it's over. Teacher Lu was hoping to capture the beautiful doctor's heart."
Bai Yilan shook her head helplessly.
Outskirts, the manor.
Ye Nan looked at the Weibo trending topics, her brow deeply furrowed.
The top three trending topics were all about last night's film festival. Although Bai Yiyue's name wasn't in the headlines, all the topics were related to her. For example, the number one topic was 【Go Back to Your Fashion Circle】.
Many people were discussing how the authoritative film festival awards had been secretly manipulated. And with the fashion industry mogul, who was also a sponsor, appearing at the venue so inappropriately, it just didn't seem right no matter how you looked at it.
The melon-eating masses, who always loved a good conspiracy theory, naturally connected the two incidents. They unanimously concluded that Bai Yiyue had manipulated the awards from behind the scenes, but because she was unfamiliar with the people and the ways of the industry, she had spectacularly crashed and burned.
At this point, Bai Yiyue's reputation in this circle was ruined. By extension, Wei Yi and Shi Qing were also being criticized. Many netizens said Shi Qing was a poor judge of character, and that handing such a huge company over to someone so brainless meant it would be finished sooner or later.
"Sister Qing, because of Bai Yiyue's actions, Wei Yi's situation isn't looking good. Some business partners are intending to terminate their cooperation with Wei Yi."
"What is Bai Yue's reaction?" Shi Qing asked.
"None yet. After all, she was the one who strongly advocated for Bai Yiyue to take power. Now that it's become such a mess, she can only reap what she sowed. The person she chose, she has to support them even if it brings her to tears."
The mere mention of Bai Yue made Ye Nan's blood boil.
Bai Yue was the only sister of the former family head, Bai Chengli. When Bai Chengli was alive, she didn't involve herself much in business. After his death, although she didn't participate in the company's operations, the collateral branches of the Bai family held her in high regard. She was the one who had always refused to acknowledge Yilan's identity and had pressured Shi Qing, stating that Bai Yiyue was the only heir recognized by the Bai family.
Now, seeing that the heir she chose was about to ruin the company, that old woman was probably furious enough to die.
"Sister Qing, Bai Yiyue's failure was so complete this time. I'm a little worried she might burn her bridges. Could she do something to harm the Young Miss?"
"Mhm, we should be on guard."
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