Her Rose – Chapter 72

The events that followed were a matter of course. After dancing together that night, Gu Qingsheng and Xin Ze went to a hotel. After a night of passion, they became lovers.

She didn’t know much about Xin Ze—his job, address, or family. The connection between them was both intimate and distant, guarded.

Most of the time, Xin Ze would call her, they’d go to a hotel, share a night of tenderness, and then go their separate ways.

Gu Qingsheng didn’t think there was anything wrong with this. She was immersed in the joy of being in love. Xin Ze was a wonderful Alpha, just as she had imagined. And this way of “loving,” which couldn’t really be called a relationship, felt exciting and interesting to her.

This part originally had several bed scenes in the script, but they were mercilessly cut by Yan Zhi. In his mind, 《Return》 was Gu Qingsheng’s one-woman show. Xin Ze, as a catalyst, wasn’t important. Filming so many erotic scenes would only distract the audience and dilute the original heavy theme, offering no benefits.

Although Yan Zhi was an Alpha, as a forward-thinking artist, he had always kept a respectful distance from so-called worldly morals. In his view, Gu Qingsheng hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Those behaviors, which would seem extremely promiscuous to an ordinary person, were what Gu Qingsheng wanted. As long as a person pursues what they want without harming others, even if it’s considered depravity, it’s not for others to point fingers and condemn her.

The greatest tragedy of this character wasn’t her fall from grace, but that she thought freedom was what she wanted, when in fact, it wasn’t.

After paying a great price, she found her answer and also met her death.

Whose life doesn’t involve chasing a few phantoms, only to be greatly disappointed after obtaining them?

At the very least, Yan Zhi hoped that in the future, when people mentioned this character, their attitude would be one of contemplation and pity, not of exchanging winks and snide glances and letting out disgusting, strange laughs.

Therefore, the character of Xin Ze, who was meant to highlight Gu Qingsheng’s promiscuous side, had most of his scenes mercilessly cut. Apart from the encounter at the bar, he only appeared in a few brief shots—mostly a chin holding a phone or a back view in front of different hotel doors, indicating that he had come to meet Gu Qingsheng again. As for what happened, there were only a few shots of Gu Qingsheng waking up, leaving the audience to figure it out for themselves.

Yan Zhi had long planned to make this change, which was also why he agreed to let Cheng Ying replace the original actor for the role of Xin Ze. If Xin Ze’s role had remained so significant, no matter how punchable Cheng Ying’s acting was, he would never have let a complete amateur play the part.

But now it was fine. Since it was just showing a chin and a back, Cheng Ying’s figure and looks were quite fitting for Xin Ze’s image.

Gu Qingsheng and Xin Ze’s parting was as abrupt as their meeting. One day, after their usual encounter, a dressed Xin Ze held the doorknob with one hand, smiling just as he had when they first met. He turned his head and said to Gu Qingsheng, “I won’t be coming to see you anymore. I’m planning to go to another continent to try my luck.”

The current world was divided and ruled by continents, with each continent governing itself. Although they weren’t isolated, the cost of traveling from one continent to another was not insignificant.

Gu Qingsheng thought he was just joking. It wasn’t the first time Xin Ze had said something like this. Every time she made him unhappy, he would threaten her this way. Three years had passed like this, long enough that she felt it would never end.

So she just shrugged nonchalantly. “Whatever you want. Then I just won’t answer the next time you call.”

Xin Ze didn’t respond to her provocation, just turned back to look at her deeply, his eyes holding both reluctance to leave and a hint of teasing.

And just like that, he left. Gu Qingsheng never saw him again.

When Xin Ze hadn’t appeared for three months, she finally began to panic.

For the first time, she took the initiative to call Xin Ze, only to hear the cold notification that the number was no longer in service.

Only then did she finally realize how little she knew about Xin Ze, so little that apart from this number she knew by heart, she had nothing else.

Every night, she went to the bar where they had met. Walking down the street, she would freeze in a daze whenever she saw a hotel they had once stayed in.

But no matter how much she missed him and prayed, Xin Ze never appeared again.

To fill the immense void left by her lost lover, Gu Qingsheng began to drink more heavily and started changing lovers frequently.

Once some things start, they are destined to spiral out of control.

She became a famous “social butterfly” in the underground circles and was inevitably dragged into an even more irredeemable abyss.

One of her lovers was a drug addict, so she, as a matter of course, also got addicted to drugs.

Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and a nocturnal lifestyle quickly hollowed out her body, which was already over-indulged.

Until a serious illness brought an end to all the madness.

What started as a minor fever became the last straw that broke the camel’s back for Gu Qingsheng’s already overburdened body. She stayed alone in her small house for a month, and even gathering the strength to get the takeout food at her door required all her effort.

On the day she could finally get out of bed and walk without crutches, Gu Qingsheng looked at the emaciated woman in the mirror. There was no longer any trace of the good girl she once was.

She had become the kind of person her former self most envied—an Omega whose every glance was filled with allure, making every Alpha who saw her both love and hate her.

The terrifying thing was, at this very moment, she felt weary again. The pain in her body was like a powerful sobering agent, awakening her self-preservation instincts and making her understand her current situation.

She had already reached the point of death.

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When Jiang Hanguang came down from the filming platform, the deliberately applied pale, sickly makeup made her look extremely haggard. Even the wrinkled pink nightgown she wore seemed to have lost its original bright color, taking on a hint of decay.

Cheng Ying took off her own coat, draped it over the Omega, and escorted her into the dressing room.

The makeup artist still adhered to her principle of having no one else around while she worked, so Cheng Ying and Xiao Xiao could only wait outside.

“I’ve found the person you asked me to find.” Cheng Mantou’s voice rang in her mind. “After that supplier died, his only daughter hid in the countryside and hasn’t made any further comments about her father’s death. I think she must know something.”

Previously, Cheng Ying had asked Cheng Mantou to investigate the strange death of a supplier for Feng’s Food Group. The information about that case seemed to have been deliberately sealed away. Even an intelligent brain like Cheng Mantou could only find out that the person seemed to be planning a lawsuit against Feng’s Food Group before his death.

To find out more of the inside story, the only way was to contact the supplier’s family.

Cheng Mantou wasn’t skilled in this area, so she came to inform Cheng Ying.

“Send me her daughter’s information.” Cheng Ying pressed her brow, mentally pondering how to get information out of the daughter—who had clearly become as frightened as a bird startled by the twang of a bow—without revealing her own identity, but a commotion at the studio entrance interrupted her train of thought.

Following the crew’s gasps of admiration, she looked toward the entrance and saw a beautiful woman in a low-key, luxurious dress, a thin trench coat draped over her shoulders, walking this way surrounded by an assistant and bodyguards.

Bai Ruo?

By the time Cheng Ying had dug the name out from the depths of her memory, the other woman was already standing in front of her.

The woman had a reserved smile on her lips, looking down at the seated Cheng Ying with an expression that held a hint of pity and mockery. “Boss Cheng, long time no see?”

“Uh…” Cheng Ying stood up, choked by the pungent perfume on the other woman and taking two steps back. Her expression darkened, and her tone was unfriendly. “What are you doing here?”

Her memory of Bai Ruo now consisted of only two fragments: one was the pitiful way she had begged Cheng Ying to save her when they first met, and the other was the image of her tumbling in bed with a rich second-generation heir.

Since the latter had left her with quite a bit of psychological trauma, her impression of Bai Ruo was fixed as—”that idiot who was already engaged to someone else but hid it from her agent and acted all self-righteous about it.”

This impression was a far cry from the low-key, luxurious woman before her, but it didn’t stop Cheng Ying from treating her with the attitude she deserved.

Bai Ruo had retired from the entertainment industry after marrying the rich heir. She wasn’t an actress in 《Return》, so for her to be wandering around here with nothing to do definitely meant trouble.

Bai Ruo put on an affected, hurt expression and shrugged. “I’m here to make a guest appearance in a drama. I heard my old boss was nearby, so naturally, I had to come and pay a visit.”

Cheng Ying retreated again. “Don’t. I can’t bear the honor. And can you stay away from me? I find you filthy.”

This sentence must have really hit a sore spot for Bai Ruo. A crack appeared in the woman’s noble expression for a moment, but she quickly recovered her composed and unruffled demeanor. “I thought that after all this time, you would have forgiven me.”

Cheng Ying’s reply this time was heartfelt. “Oh, I did forgive you. If you hadn’t popped up, I would have just assumed you were dead. One should respect the dead, so of course, I had to forgive you.”

Bai Ruo: “…”

She was so angered by Cheng Ying’s words that she let out a cold laugh. Just as she was about to speak, the dressing room door suddenly opened, and Jiang Hanguang, changed into her regular clothes, walked out. “Let’s go… eh?”

She also saw the Omega standing in front of Cheng Ying, surrounded by a group of people. And her memory was much better than Cheng Ying’s. Bai Ruo had been a famous actress in the industry before she retired, so she naturally recognized her. “Miss Bai?”

Bai Ruo’s gaze also fell on Jiang Hanguang’s face. The woman was indeed beautiful enough to make one jealous, but she didn’t let that distract her from Cheng Ying’s suddenly frozen expression.

Bai Ruo had always thought Cheng Ying was a person without a weak spot. Only now, upon seeing Jiang Hanguang, did she understand that it was just that her own importance wasn’t enough.

But so what if she likes her? Can an incomplete Alpha really satisfy someone? What’s the difference between Jiang Hanguang and herself?

She hadn’t forgotten the purpose of her visit. Smiling, she looked at Jiang Hanguang. “Miss Jiang, I’ve heard so much about you. I’m an artist that Boss Cheng used to manage. We… could be considered disciples of the same master.”

Jiang Hanguang: “…You’re too kind.”

She could hear the deep-seated disdain and mockery hidden in the woman’s seemingly flawless words. She also saw Cheng Ying’s gloomy expression, so she naturally wouldn’t be foolish enough to think the woman genuinely wanted to get close to her.

An uninvited guest, and one who comes with ill intent.