"You are...?"

A voice drops like a pebble in still water, and Bai Jing turns, confusion rippling. The girl who stopped him looks familiar, a face glimpsed through rain.

"I'm a colleague of Miss Chi Mu. Mm... you can call me Miss Qiao. She asked me to take you off the set," Nana Toki says. It’s not exactly a lie; they’ve worked together. On paper, they’re colleagues.

But Bai Jing’s brows knit like reeds in a breeze. He doesn’t get why Chi Mu would send someone else. It feels like lighting a lantern at noon.

"Miss Chi Mu’s worried you’ll wander here too long and miss school. So she sent me." Nana smiles. Her eyes curve like crescent moons, warmth spilling like sun on snow.

Heat rises to Bai Jing’s cheeks, shy as a spring shoot. He hadn’t expected Sister Chi Mu to care so much. And this Sister Qiao is pretty as a painted fan.

"Then... I’ll trouble you, Sister Qiao."

"No trouble at all." Inwardly, as long as I wedge you from the female lead, I’d carry you to her doorstep, even onto her face.

Nana’s smile stretches, a fox’s tail peeking. Bai Jing’s head is full of Chi Mu’s kindness, a soft fog that muffles warning bells.

"Let’s head out. If I delay you, I can’t report back to Chi Mu."

She doesn’t dawdle. Once trust is hooked like a fish, she guides him toward the female lead’s dressing room. Earlier, she’d watched Chi Mu meet Chen Ke from the crowd’s edge. The female lead loves her harem; today, Nana will feed the fire, let her taste a harem in flames, a battlefield of jealousy.

System: "..."

Host, your taste is oddly wicked.

Thanks for the compliment~

By rights, on this plane, Nana’s only enemy should be Chi Mu. Only the female lead’s persona glitches here. The other three harem males are steady as stones.

If Nana kept her head down and rode the current, she could finish this plane without touching those three at all.

Nana refuses.

She pays back every slight. Chu Jinghe at the start, and Chen Ke later, both gave her faces like cold knives. They left no real wounds, but still—

If you’ll rile one of the protagonist group or rile them all, rake the whole nest. Cut the sprouts before they turn to thorns. Spare yourself branches that snag later.

She intends to pay them back. If she doesn’t wreck a household or two, how’s she worthy of “vicious supporting girl”?

As for Bai Jing... mm, he’s just convenient.

Dragging a pure, spotless boy into a pit of black mud with her own hands is a small, delicious joy.

They’re almost out of the set now, the corridor narrowing like a throat. Near the dressing rooms, Nana picks a corner and stops, as natural as a cloud pausing by a peak.

"What’s wrong, Sister Qiao?" The sudden halt tugs his gaze up, puzzled like a fawn in tall grass. "Did something happen?"

"Uh... not really. I just remembered I need to grab some costumes from the dressing room and send them for alterations for the afternoon shoot." She tilts her head, the picture of mild trouble, an orchid swaying in a breeze. "Could you wait here a bit? I’ll be right back."

"It won’t take long. Just a short moment."

"But if you’re in a rush to get back to school, I can point the way. You can head out first."

Her goal is simple. Guide Bai Jing, step by careful step, into the female lead’s hell-scene. A child like a clear spring only needs a splash of ink. The rest will darken with time. For that, she must grant a little ‘freedom.’

"It’s fine. Go ahead, Sister Qiao. I’ll wait here." He’s even more agreeable than she planned, standing obediently like a pine at a gate. The exit lies just beyond the turn.

"Alright. Wait right here. Don’t be long. I’ll be right back."

She turns to go, then slips back to his side. She leans in, voice a siren over black water. "Since you’re so obedient, I’ll share a little secret. The Miss Chi Mu you adore is changing in that dressing room. If you care... you could sneak a peek."

Mischief glints in her eyes, bright as a knife’s edge. The closeness and bold hint paint Bai Jing’s cheeks red, a peach flushed at dusk.

"Pe—peek at what! I won’t!"

"I’m joking. You’re so young. Where would you find that kind of nerve?" Nana laughs, pats his head like ruffling a kitten, and steps off toward another dressing room. "Tell you what. Go wait by Miss Chi Mu’s door. If she finishes, you two can chat."

"Mm... okay."

He doesn’t refuse. In his heart, he does want to stand a little closer to that older woman.

He watches Nana slip into a nearby dressing room. Left alone by Chi Mu’s door, his heart skitters like a caged bird. He wonders what she’ll say when she sees him.

He pictures her surprise, bright as a lantern suddenly lit. His heartbeat speeds, a drum in rain. He hopes Sister Chi Mu will finish soon.

"Mm... Chen Ke, you’re hurting me. Be gentle... mm... I still have to go shoot later."

Leaning on the wall outside, planning after-evening-study talks, he hears it. A breath he knows, a strand of song threading wood, like a bird calling in spring.

It’s... Sister Chi Mu’s voice?

The sound hits like a thunderbolt from clear sky. Shock floods him like a broken dam. He turns to face the door, stunned, as if a wave pulled the shore from under him.

The girl who was a calm big-sister in front of him—how could she make such wanton sounds in a dressing room? What is she doing in there?

He can’t think before more comes through the door. Gasps, quicker now, a rhythm like drums at a war gate. Each note is a hammer on his chest, thickening his breath.

"This... this isn’t real..."

By now, even he sees the picture behind the door, hot and raw.

Anger surges first, red as flame. Pain follows, cold as rain. Confusion and doubt drift in like fog. The world tilts.

They’d said a proper goodbye not long ago. Now, this scene makes Sister Chi Mu look like a stranger.

Fondness plays back like lantern shadows. He recalls their first meeting, her poise and grace, her gentle calm. He can’t match that memory to the voice spilling from the crack like wine.

"What’s wrong?"

A light pat lands on his right shoulder, a pebble touching glassy water. He startles and looks up. It’s the familiar Miss Qiao.

"Sister Qiao..."

"Look at that blank face. Was waiting out here that rough on you?" Nana teases as she guides him away from Chi Mu’s door, putting distance like a river between them. She lifts the clothes in her hand, on purpose. "Got the costumes. Let’s head out."

"..."

Bai Jing says nothing. He stares and stares, eyes like cloudy glass. After a dozen seconds, he nods with effort, a leaf in weak wind. "Mm."

Nana knows what he heard by Chi Mu’s door. She doesn’t say it. She sticks to the plan, step by step, until she sends him clear of Boss Zhang’s set. Watching his hollow back, she can’t help the curve of her mouth, a smile cold as a knife.

What a lovely expression. Her toil with Chi Mu and Chen Ke wasn’t wasted.

"Qiao Wan, why are you standing here?"

Nana weighs whether to sneak back and spy on the leads, like a cat peeking at fish. Before she decides, Shuyao Qin walks up, business with Boss Zhang done. She eyes the clothes in Nana’s hands. "Huh? Where’d those come from?"

"Ah... some crew asked me to hold them. I was just about to return them."

Nana smooths away her smile, sets the costume props on a crew table, and asks, "President Qin, all done?"

"All done."

"Then we’re heading home now?"

"Mm." Shuyao Qin nods. "The contracts are drafted. The rest goes to the company."

"..."