After I Got a Script with My Ex, the Movie Queen

[Back then, I thought I could leave behind everything in that rental room, except you.]

Just as her acting was beginning to attract attention, she received an offer for a steamy, S-tier literary film starring two women. On the night of the script reading, she smiled at the woman seated at the head of the table.

"I heard that when you first graduated, Teacher Xu spent some time living in a small county town."

"I don't remember."

The newly acclaimed Best Actress lowered her eyes and turned to the next page as if she didn't care. Beneath her thick lashes, her peach-blossom eyes seemed to shimmer with unshed tears.

-

But she remembered.

That year, Xu Qing had curled up in her arms and quietly asked if they could be together forever.

To get into character quickly, Xu Qing laid down three rules: They would never mention what had happened between them. They would keep their past relationship completely secret. Outside of filming and rehearsing scenes, they would never spend time together.

She quietly watched the woman who had once been her lover and smiled, though there was not a trace of amusement in her eyes. She was only supposed to act, to forget everything that came before. For her, that was difficult.

Then, on the night before the final breakup scene, a blurry photo went viral online. Beneath the trees, the young lovers held hands, fingers entwined. She turned to look at Xu Qing, who held a cheap ice cream, with tenderness and affection.

That night, the usually composed Best Actress cornered her. Her ever-sentimental peach-blossom eyes were rimmed with red, filled with disgust and contempt.

"I worked so, so hard to get where I am today, to leave that damp, dark rental room behind, to get away from you. Why did you have to show up again? Did you have to humiliate me and make me remember that place?"

At that moment, she felt her heartbeat and pulse gradually grow still, her body slowly losing its warmth.

Her existence, everything she treasured, was a stain to Xu Qing, a past she never wanted to remember.

After filming wrapped, she was engulfed by online abuse. Her hard-won fame, earned one bit part at a time, was slandered as a case of her leeching off someone else's popularity. Threatening letters arrived in the middle of the night. Extremists disguised themselves as fans. The film's release was delayed again and again.

Later, she really did forget everything about being in love with Xu Qing.

When she met those beautiful eyes again, she only glanced over with a puzzled frown. Her gaze didn't linger for even a moment on that unfamiliar face.

Leaving everything else aside, Xu Qing really wasn't her type. She liked people who were sweet, bright, gentle, and doted on their girlfriends. Xu Qing was none of those things.

But one day, someone who had once had nothing to do with her began cornering her on set again and again, asking in a broken voice if she could please not be the only one who remembered.

-

Later, one day, when she saw Cen Yu going in and out with another woman, she suddenly remembered a night in that damp rental room. She had held someone in her arms, wiping away tears as the girl curled into a trembling ball with a stomachache after eating spoiled food.

Back then, she'd secretly thought that if they ever made it out, she would never again let Cen Yu keep things that had gone bad because she couldn't bear to throw them away. She would give her the very best of everything.

-

The groveling arc will be brutal and long.

People who betray their lovers should pay back every tear they've caused.

Theme: Cherish what you have