Chapter 10: A Minor Incident

"Yiyi, I'm so sorry." Gu Yanyue's petite face looked pure and innocent, her eyes brimming with apology.

"Oh." Gu Lingyi just wanted to brush her off as quickly as possible. "It's fine."

Receiving this response, Gu Yanyue flashed a happy smile. "Then I'll go to my shoot now!"

She turned around with a bounce in her step. Immediately after, she let out an abrupt shriek, as if she had tripped over something, and fell backward.

After a moment of chaos, two staff members scrambled to steady her. A loud 'rip' echoed through the room as the hem of her fan-shaped lace dress tore from the bottom all the way up to her waist, the delicate fabric drooping to the floor.

The staff couldn't help but gasp, "Oh my god!"

The commotion quickly drew the attention of others, and within moments, the makeup area was swarmed.

Amidst the confusion, Gu Yanyue's voice rose, filled with a mix of grievance and disbelief: "Yiyi..."

Her hesitant, unfinished sentence led those around her to immediate conclusions. Their gazes toward Gu Lingyi shifted from suspicion to scrutiny, and finally, to righteous indignation.

Gu Lingyi: "..."

Such low-end tactics, yet people always fell for them.

"What's going on here?" Huo Qi had just finished a phone call, his voice still edged with the coldness of business negotiations. The crowd spontaneously parted to make way for him.

Gu Yanyue looked down, gently stroking her ruined skirt, her sense of grievance clearly displayed.

When no one answered immediately, Huo Qi shifted his gaze from Gu Yanyue’s feigned strength to Gu Lingyi.

"What is going on?" This time, his tone was dark and his gaze icy. When there was no response, he called her out directly. "Gu Lingyi!"

Meeting Huo Qi's eyes in the mirror, Gu Lingyi gave a brilliant smile. "Actually... I'd like to know that myself."

She stood up, leaning slightly against the vanity, and tapped her index finger on the table. "Gu Yanyue, what kind of performance is this?"

Gu Yanyue bit her lip in frustration. The two makeup artists behind her were standing there like wooden statues, unable to even say a word!

"I, I just wanted to apologize..." Gu Yanyue looked up, large teardrops falling one by one. "Yiyi... I know that our costumes and styling have... quite a bit of a gap..." She sobbed, "You... you were feeling unbalanced because..."

"Stop!" Gu Lingyi interrupted impatiently. "Get to the point."

"I..." Gu Yanyue was on the verge of a breakdown.

At that moment, one of the makeup artists beside her seemed unable to hold back any longer and condemned, "Ms. Gu! Stop pretending!"

"It was clearly you who tripped Yanyue and ruined her dress!"

After speaking, the two makeup artists exchanged a glance and nodded firmly toward Huo Qi. From their angle, although they couldn't see the details, they had seen the two skirts almost touching. Combined with what Gu Yanyue had just said about Gu Lingyi feeling unbalanced due to the difference in their styling, it was highly likely she had acted out of spite.

Such tricks were not uncommon in the entertainment industry. Gu Yanyue was kind-hearted; even when bullied to her face, she was unwilling to point fingers.

With a definitive "answer," the discussions grew louder.

"I was almost fooled by Gu Lingyi just now!"

"She's so brazen, it's shameless..."

"She only dares to do this because Yanyue is kind. If it were someone with a hot temper, she wouldn't even dare to squeak!"

The crowd’s pity grew, and their favor toward Gu Yanyue soared.

Huo Qi pulled Gu Yanyue into his arms, patting her soothingly, his sharp gaze fixed on Gu Lingyi’s indifferent face. "Gu Lingyi! Apologize to Yanyue!"

"But..." A barely audible voice came from the corner. A young girl raised her hand tremblingly. "I was helping Ms. Gu with her hair just now, and I didn't see her make any move."

It was one of the stylists responsible for Gu Lingyi. She had gathered the courage to raise her hand, looking like an obedient student.

"You..." The makeup artist looked at her colleague’s clear eyes in the corner, and her conviction wavered. She lacked confidence as she retorted, "Maybe you just couldn't see clearly from your angle!"

"If her angle wasn't clear, then mine certainly was!" The other stylist stepped forward, gesturing in front of Gu Lingyi. "I was right here the whole time. I saw everything Gu Lingyi did from head to toe!"

The makeup artist was left speechless, looking to her partner for help, but the other woman was deep in self-doubt and ignored her.

The young stylist pressed on. "And!" She lifted the work badge hanging around her neck, which had a mini-camera attached to it. "My vlog camera has been on the whole time!"

Taking vlogs was a monthly task assigned by the studio to the staff, and a edited video had to be submitted at the end of each month as a report. Many staff members wore these mini-cameras. Without being adjusted, the camera naturally hung at a forty-five-degree angle, which perfectly captured Gu Lingyi’s lower body.

Hearing the word "camera," Gu Yanyue’s body trembled slightly. The movement was subtle, but Huo Qi felt it.

He looked down, hearing her suppressed sobbing, and for a moment, he thought his own suspicions were too absurd.

The stylist spoke righteously, "I can pull up the video right now!"

Gu Yanyue looked up from Huo Qi's arms, still holding onto a glimmer of hope that the camera wouldn't have captured the moment so conveniently. However, as she met Gu Lingyi's composed gaze, a bad premonition arose.

Sure enough, the next second, Gu Lingyi spoke up: "Not only was her camera on!"

"My camera was on too!" Gu Lingyi straightened up, pulled out her phone, opened the video, and turned the screen toward the crowd.

In the footage, Gu Lingyi’s feet were visible under the hem of her dress, perfectly still, wearing loose disposable slippers. The video captured Gu Yanyue’s voice: "Then I'll go to my shoot now!"

Immediately after, there was the clatter of the fall, and then Gu Yanyue’s pointed, "Yiyi..."

From start to finish, Gu Lingyi’s legs were rested leisurely on the ground; she had made no move at all.

The video ended in complete silence.

After a long while, Gu Yanyue, her face pale, blamed herself: "It... it was me who misunderstood Yiyi..."

"What is this..." someone whispered. "Regardless of anything else, you can't just frame people like that..."

"Don't talk! You were the one who called her shameless just now!"

"Well... it was Gu Yanyue acting like a victim, who knew it would turn out like this!"

Listening to the shifting tide of the crowd's discussion, Gu Lingyi lowered her eyes and gave a mocking smile. She patted the stylist on the shoulder and thanked her.

As the crowd dispersed, Gu Yanyue’s delicate palms were left with red nail marks. The system echoed in her ears:

[Public favor -1, -1, -1...]

In the end, her overall favor rating had actually dropped by several points!

Gu Yanyue was filled with resentment, forced to bury her face in Huo Qi’s chest to hide her twisted expression.

"Brother Qi... I didn't mean to misunderstand Yiyi..."

Her muffled, unhappy voice sounded from his arms. Huo Qi patted her shoulder.

"I know," he comforted her. "If Gu Lingyi didn't always make trouble for you, you wouldn't have thought that way..."

Hearing Huo Qi naturally excuse her, Gu Yanyue curled her lips in satisfaction. "No matter what, I still misunderstood Yiyi. I will apologize to her properly..."

Gu Lingyi, treated as if she were invisible: "..."