Chapter 5
Three days later, Ye Xiaoxiao and Ren Zeyu met with a director.
Soon afterward, the director announced the cast of the highly anticipated drama Fragrant Notes. Ye Xiaoxiao’s name appeared prominently on the list.
She was not the leading lady, but she would play the heroine’s close friend, an important third female lead who appeared in nearly every scene with the heroine and ultimately died saving her.
It was an immensely likable role guaranteed to make audiences cry.
Ren Zeyu had treated Ye Xiaoxiao very well. By choosing this role for her, he protected her from accusations that she had bought her way into the cast, while giving her a character audiences would adore. She would probably gain a huge wave of fans.
After the official announcement, her follower count soared.
The polished, beautiful selfies on her account quickly drew intense discussion.
[Ah! Has anyone else noticed that she has the same face as that gorgeous woman from the hospital?]
[There are tiny differences, but overall they look so much alike!]
People flooded the comments to declare us sisters.
Ye Xiaoxiao busied herself controlling the narrative, ordering people to bury every comment about me.
She did not want anyone’s attention drawn to me.
Unfortunately for her, I did.
I leisurely posted the short video I had prepared.
With my system’s help, I had organized every incident since childhood in which Ye Xiaoxiao enjoyed good fortune while I suffered disaster and arranged them in chronological order.
[Age ten: she found money; I fell into a mud pit.]
[Age eleven: she bought a winning lottery ticket for Dad; a cyclist knocked me unconscious.]
[Age twelve: she replaced me as the outstanding student delivering a speech; a ball hit me in the face and covered me in blood.]
[Age thirteen: she found a gold bracelet while swimming and got a leg cramp; when I saved her, she clung to my throat and nearly drowned me.]
[Age fourteen…]
[Age twenty-four: a famous director chose her as his leading lady; I was hospitalized after a car accident.]
[Age twenty-four: a famous director officially cast her in a supporting role. Who will suffer this time?]
[Stay tuned…]
At first glance, these incidents looked like ordinary memories. But when coincidences piled up, even Sherlock Holmes would have said something suspicious was afoot.
I trusted that someone would become curious.
Sure enough, after seeing the video, the enthusiastic fans who had demanded DNA tests immediately sensed fresh gossip.
[I smell a juicy scandal.]
[Isn’t this the premise of a novel? Two sisters—one blessed with impossible luck, the other possessed by the god of misfortune. In the end, they tear each other apart and fight to the death over a man.]
[Sunflower seeds ready, stool in place. Please continue…]
[Is she shading Ye Xiaoxiao? What’s their relationship? Are they sisters?]
There were too many comments for me to read.
I put away my phone and went straight to the hospital.
Inside, Ye Mingchen was groaning through gritted teeth.
I watched quietly until the nurse finished changing his dressings, then walked in.
The sight of me put him instantly on guard. “What are you doing here?”
The corner of my mouth lifted. “I came to share good news. Ye Xiaoxiao was just officially announced as a cast member in a hit drama.”
“What are you implying?” It took his sluggish mind a moment to understand. His face darkened. “You can’t stand seeing Xiaoxiao succeed. She earned that announcement through her own effort. Unlike you, who has no ability and blames everything on feudal superstition.”
She had earned it?
That was the greatest joke of the year.
I could not help laughing.
“The day the billboard crushed you, Ye Xiaoxiao had just won the favor of Ren Zeyu, the crown prince of domestic entertainment. She vaulted straight to the top by latching onto him, and you call that talent? Do you honestly believe it, Ye Mingchen?”
His gaze darted away. Clearly, he found it unbelievable too, but he had no argument. He could only roar with a cold face.
“Get out! I don’t want to see you!”
“Ye Shengsheng, who told you to come here?”
My mother entered carrying a food container, Ye Mingchen’s girlfriend behind her.
She did not tear into me like a wildcat in front of an outsider, but there was no hiding the look of someone who wanted to stab me. Her face hardened as she spoke through clenched teeth.
“Leave. You are not welcome here anymore.”
My heart was bleeding, yet I still kept a smile on my face.
I said calmly, “Understood. When you can’t endure it anymore, don’t think of me then either. I only came today to enjoy the spectacle.”
“Get out!”
Ye Mingchen became so agitated that his girlfriend hurriedly pulled me into the corridor.
Outside the ward, she looked at me, her tone turning cold.
“I don’t know what happened between you, but your brother is a good man. Don’t come back and upset him.”
“You should break up with him soon. Anyone who stays close to him will suffer.”
“You’re beyond saving!”
Furious, she strode back into the room.
I scoffed and left the hospital.
My stomach growled. I reached into my pocket and found ten yuan.
My phone wallet held only a little over thirty.
The system sighed. “It has been a long time since I saw a human this poor.”
Thanks. I felt personally attacked.
I took out my phone to see whether any of my group chats had work available. I had joined countless groups—for extras, print models, commercial performances, and anything else I could find.
My illness had cost me too much time. My most urgent task was to find a job that paid quickly enough to keep me fed.