On the way to the hospital, Zheng Gege started throwing up. At the hospital, she was admitted to the ER immediately, where her stomach was pumped. After that, she was brought to a ward where the doctor asked her what she ate before her stomach began hurting.
“Is she alright now?” Ah Sha asked.
The doctor looked at Ah Sha in surprise. Clearly, the doctor had recognized Ah Sha as Mei Jing. The doctor recovered and said, “She’s fine now. At the moment, our preliminary diagnosis is that she has food poisoning. But we’ll only know the main cause after the test report comes out.”
Ah Sha nodded and thanked the doctor. The young doctor had asked to take a selfie with Ah Sha, which she agreed to. Before the doctor left, he requested Zheng Gege to get more rest.
“What do you think caused your food poisoning?” Ah Sha asked, taking a seat beside the bed.
Zheng Gege shook her head. “No idea,” she said. “I had some buns this morning. After that, I drank my fruit tea, then your cookies—” She paused all of a sudden. “Ah, I wasn’t accusing you… I mean I don’t think it’s the cookies—”
“I know,” Ah Sha said, cutting her off. “I ate the cookies too.”
“Could it be my tea?” Zheng Gege wasn’t an idiot. It couldn’t have been the stuff she ate for breakfast since she had them every day. Ah Sha never drank the fruit tea. She was the only one who drank it.
Ah Sha patted Zheng Gege’s hand. “Hey, just rest for now, okay? You’ll know once the test results come out tomorrow.”
Ah Sha told Wan Qingsi everything when she got home that night. For the past few days, Wan Qingsi had been spending all his time during the day at Stars Entertainment, only dropping by Ying’s residence at night. Not a single one of those days did he pick up Ah Sha from the movie set. That alone had put him in a foul mood for a few days straight. His mood worsened when he heard about the food poisoning incident at the movie set today.
“You don’t think it’s an accident?” Wan Qingsi was holding Ah Sha in his arms, kissing the skin of her arm.
Feeling ticklish, Ah Sha pushed him away. “I keep having this feeling that I was the intended target.”
“The tea was meant for you. If you drank it, you’d be the one in the hospital right now,” Wan Qingsi said, pulling Ah Sha back into his arms. “But what can they achieve by giving you food poisoning?”
“Tang Yue and Wen Pinyu had been quiet for a long time,” Ah Sha said. “I think they’re probably going to make a move soon.”
Wan Qingsi frowned. “I’ll look into it. But yeah, they’re most likely to be the ones behind this.”
“What about the fake Ying Xin?” Ah Sha said, snorting. “She isn’t sleeping in my room, I hope.”
“No. She wanted to do so!” Wan Qingsi pinched Ah Sha’s b.u.t.t. “Mother had locked your room a long time ago. The cover story is that there’s a leaking pipe in your room that hasn’t been repaired.”
“Does she look exactly like me?”
“We can already tell that something’s wrong from a photo, let alone in person.” Wan Qingsi lowered his head and kissed her. “Why, are you still jealous? Hm?”
“I just feel disgusted, that’s all,” Ah Sha growled. “Some random person pops out of nowhere wearing my face every day? It’s disgusting.”
“Guess what mother told me yesterday in secret? She said that the fake has terrible table manners. My mother thinks she looks ugly when she eats. She is definitely not as cute as you are!” Then Wan Qingsi looked as though he’d just thought of something. “You know, when Chengcheng came back, we didn’t tell him about the fake Ying Xin. Guess what happened? After a while, he went to Ying Qingcang and told him, ‘Father, why does sis look so weird all of a sudden?"”
“So, you guys told him already?”
Wan Qingsi nodded. “The impersonator will feel even more confident if Chengcheng plays along. She’d think that she had successfully fooled everyone.”
“It’s been days already. She didn’t say she wanted to come to Stars Entertainment?” Ah Sha frowned. “Also, didn’t she try to do intimate stuff with you?”
“Haha!” Wan Qingsi touched her forehead with his. “Don’t worry, babe. I never let her touch me.”
Ah Sha hugged Wan Qingsi and let out two sounds, which, to Wan Qingsi, sounded way too sulky. “If she never tried to make any moves on you,” Ah Sha said, “it means that she has no intention of entering the s...o...b..z. Which means that her target must be Xin Enterprises.”
“See? I’ve said from the start that she’s targeting Xin Enterprises,” Wan Qingsi said, pausing in thought. “At first, I was hoping that she’d come to me. But now, it’s clear that she’s trying to enter Xin Enterprises. Mother will be p.i.s.sed for sure…”
When he saw the frown marring Ah Sha’s forehead, Wan Qingsi tightened his arms around her. “Hey, it’s going to be alright,” he said. “Your daddy wouldn’t let your mommy get hurt!”
When Ah Sha wrapped up work on the movie set the next day, she took a trip down to the hospital to visit Zheng Gege. This time, the production crew, including Director Lin Dong, tagged along as well. Lin Dong figured that since the reporters had already found out about what happened, he might as well take the opportunity to do some interviews and give their upcoming movie more publicity.
Zheng Gege’s test results came out.
“You told me she only drank fruit tea, right? But how come we detect shrimp powder in her stomach?” said the doctor, handing the report to Ah Sha. “Hawthorns and shrimps don’t mix at all. They’ll cause food poisoning if consumed together.”
“That’s strange…” said a member of the production crew, “How come we’ve never heard of anyone getting food poisoning from that?”
The doctor laughed. “Consuming shrimp and hawthorn together isn’t what normal people would do!” said the doctor, glancing at Ah Sha. Ah Sha nodded at the doctor. She understood what the doctor was trying to tell her. “Thank you, doctor!” she said.
The s...o...b..z was a breeding ground for wickedness and immorality. The doctor was aware that someone had deliberately spiked the fruit tea with shrimp powder. Even so, the truth of the matter was none of his business, instead of dwelling on it further, he reminded Zheng Gege not to consume any greasy foods for the next few days before he left the room to take care of her discharge procedure.
“Zheng Gege made the fruit tea, right?” Hao Yuan suddenly said. “She made it for Sister Mei Jing.”
Ah Sha’s eyes darted to the side briefly to look at her. “Why are you here?” Ah Sha asked.
“Oh, we’re all colleagues. Of course, I should visit her if something happens to her!” Hao Yuan answered with a smile. “Good thing you’re okay. Otherwise, the boss would be worried.”
Zheng Gege, who was in the middle of packing her stuff to go home, suddenly glared at Hao Yuan. “Spit it out if you anything to say,” Zheng Gege said coldly. “Stop beating around the bush.”
“Geez, what’s with the tone?” Hao Yuan said with a scowl. “Why? Is your guilty conscience troubling you?” Hao Yuan smirked. “Well, you tell us then. How come there’s shrimp powder in the fruit tea that you prepared for Mei Jing?”
At that moment, everyone turned their eyes towards Zheng Gege. To them, this was no accident. It was clear that someone had tampered with the fruit tea. But the only one who could do that was Zheng Gege.
Just then, two reporters rushed into the room. They had heard Hao Yuan’s comment from the door — they’d just finished interviewing Lin Dong and was about to enter the room to question the others.
“Mei Jing, this isn’t an accident?” one of the reporters asked. “Is there someone out to get you?”
The other reporter directed his question at Zheng Gege. “Why did you do it? Aren’t you worried about Wan Qingsi terminating your contract?”
“Oh, right!” Hao Yun piped up. “Boss Wan probably knows about this already, right? How come he isn’t here to deal with this matter?”
Ah Sha would bet her life on the fact that Hao Yuan had made that comment on purpose to prompt the reporters to start asking questions about Ying Xin which, much to her annoyance, worked. “Mei Jing, now that the daughter of the Ying family has returned, do you think your relationship with President Wan will last?” one of the reporters asked. Every reporter had been trying in vain to get an interview with Mei Jing for the past few days. She had been so elusive for the past few days and had been keeping a low profile, so they barely even saw her let alone interview her. Now, they knew that their opportunity had come. Sure enough, they would seize at the chance as if their careers depended upon it.
Ah Sha had a panic expression at that moment. However, Director Lin Dong, who had been trying desperately to fight off the smile threatening to form on his lips, already knew that it was all an act. He had long since come to the conclusion that Mei Jing wasn’t a simple girl. What he didn’t understand was the reason behind her act.
“Come on now, guys. This isn’t a good time to be having that interview,” Lin Dong said at the same moment when Zhou Na and Xiao Hua entered the room to escort Ah Sha out.
When Ah Sha reached the door, she suddenly stopped and turned back to face the reporters, who were just about to start interviewing Zheng Gege again. “The truth is…” Ah Sha said. “The truth is that this incident is just a misunderstanding. The shrimp powder didn’t come from the fruit tea, but from the cookie that I made. I added the shrimp power to give the cookies a better taste.”
Then, Ah Sha looked at Zheng Gege guiltily. “I’m so sorry that it made you sick. I really didn’t know it’d have that effect.”
“Uh… Um… It’s… It’s okay.” Zheng Gege was shocked by Mei Jing’s appearance. Mei Jing looked completely different from the woman she’d interacted with when they were in private.
Hao Yuan still wanted to say something but then she was stopped by the dark look that Ah Sha was giving her.
After a moment, Ah Sha put on her sungla.s.ses and left the room. Only then did Hao Yuan felt relieved. “Phew… What was that?” Hao Yuan patted her chest. “So terrifying… Nah, it’s impossible that Mei Jing is capable of that kind of look. I must’ve been mistaken.”
Ah Sha was surprised to see Wan Qingsi’s car parked at the corner of the street when they stepped out of the hospital. When Zhou Na was sure that they were alone, she spoke to Ah Sha in a quiet tone: “I called the boss. Hao Yuan is behind this incident, I’m sure of it. I’m worried that she’s trying to smear you name.”
“It’s okay! You guys should head back as well!” Ah Sha waved at them and climbed into Wan Qingsi’s car.
Wan Qingsi buckled her seatbelt for her, then kissed her until she was out of breath.
“Are you okay? I saw a couple of reporters entering just now,” Wan Qingsi asked worriedly, his fingers caressing Ah Sha’s cheek.
Ah Sha leaned her head against Wan Qingsi’s shoulder and shook her head. “It was Hao Yuan behind this.”
“Ah. She’s jealous of Zheng Gege,” Wan Qingsi said with a frown, then started the car. “I think it’s best if we terminate her contract.”
“I don’t think it’s all about Zheng Gege. I think she’s coming after me,” Ah Sha said, replaying her interaction with Hao Yuan back at the hospital. “It’s like she’s testing something.”
Wan Qingsi turned his head to the side to look at Ah Sha. “Do you think she’s trying to test how much I care about you?”
“That’s it!” Ah Sha said, clapping her hands together. “I was trying to work out what is it that she was testing, but what you said makes total sense!” She grabbed Wan Qingsi’s arms and leaned in to kiss him. Wan Qingsi stepped down on the accelerator and growled. “Gotta get home quickly. I can’t wait any more!”
“Hahaha!” Ah Sha laughed at him. “You should change your name to Wan Qinshou!” (T/N: Qinshou literally means ‘animal’ in Chinese; depending on the context, it could be used to refer to someone who is a pervert or constantly thinking about s.e.x; it could also refer to an ‘brute’ or ‘savage’; the first case is more common)
“I’m only a Qinshou when it comes to you,” Wan Qingsi said, kissing Ah Sha’s cheek.
Ah Sha pushed him away. “Eyes on the road!” They drove in silence for a while until Ah Sha broke it. “You haven’t been to the set to pick me up recently. A lot of people are speculating that you’ve dumped me. I think Hao Yuan was trying to give me food poisoning so that she could gauge how much you actually care about me. That’s why she slipped the shrimp powder into Zheng Gege’s fruit tea.”
“What do you think she’d do if I made no moves to show that I care about you?” Wan Qingsi mused. Wan Qingsi released a derisive laugh. “Hah! In that case, I should give her a chance!”
Ah Sha chuckled, her eyes glinting deviously…
The next day, when Wan Qingsi pa.s.sed by the lounge, he saw Hao Yuan and Sun Hui chatting with each other in a soft voice. Hao Yuan’s back was to the door, so she didn’t see him there.
“See? I told you she’d been dumped! President Wan hasn’t even been in touch with her for days! Look at the news today. Even the reporters are talking about it!”
People were now spewing all kinds of nonsense on the internet about Mei Jing trying to ruin Zheng Gege because she was jealous of the latter’s acting skills. Those people thought that Mei Jing had deliberately poisoned Zheng Gege and then pretended to take responsibility for her actions, claiming that it wasn’t deliberate. All of a sudden, Mei Jing found herself surrounded by a lot of negative publicity.
“I pity her though…” Sun Hui had always been timid. “Maybe she really didn’t do it on purpose.”
Hao Yuan snorted derisively. “Are you an idiot? Who would put shrimp powder into cookies? She must have done it on purpose! I think she was trying to draw President Wan’s attention, but her plan backfired. Even so, President Wan doesn’t seem to care about her.”
Before Sun Hui could say anything else, she caught a glimpse of the door of the lounge. She gasped and covered her mouth. Hao Yuan was still rambling on, talking bad about Ah Sha, so she didn’t notice the look of shock on Sun Hui’s face. When Hao Yuan finished speaking, she realized that Sun Hui hadn’t been responding to anything she’d said. She lowered her head and shoved Sun Hui a little. “What’s the matter? You think I’m wrong?”
“Hey, what’s the matter with you?” Hao Yuan noticed Sun Hui’s pale expression. She followed Sun Hui gaze.
“P-pre-president Wan?”