This Best Actress is a Bit Annoying - Chapter 27.1

She had blacked out again. The original owner’s alcohol tolerance was truly pathetic. She had tried her best to control the amount per glass, but she was no match for Nie Zhuying’s unbridled, leading style of heavy drinking.

What was more frustrating was that the other woman always managed to emerge unscathed, while she… she couldn’t even remember how she’d gotten back. This state of being dead drunk was extremely foreign to Xia Qingye; for a female artist, getting drunk to the point of memory loss was a very dangerous thing.

Never drink at the same table as Nie Zhuying again was immediately added to Xia Qingye’s top-tier list of cautionary rules.

As soon as she sat up, her head spun, forcing her to lie back down. She closed her eyes to rest for a while and then endured the aftermath of the hangover to get out of bed.

She fished out her phone and saw several missed calls and a mountain of text messages from Sister Xiang and Yu Lan.

“The PSA shoot is set for the fifth day of the first lunar month. Wear a student uniform; try to look as pure as possible.”

“You successfully fooled two famous directors and me yesterday. From now on, whenever you don’t have an appearance, you’re practicing your tolerance until you can drink Miss Nie under the table. I’ll have Yu Lan supervise you.”

Xia Qingye let out a helpless laugh. Nie Zhuying’s tolerance was truly no joke; ordinary people couldn’t take her down.

“P.S. If you’re up, drink a glass of honey water. It helps alleviate the post-hangover nausea.”

“Sister Xia, Sister Xia! Sister Xiang wants me back for work on the fifth. The tickets for the fourth and fifth are all sold out, what do I do?”

“Why aren’t you answering? ≧≦”

“I booked a flight for the fourth, it was so expensive, waaaa~”

After reading them, Xia Qingye tossed her phone onto the bed, massaged the back of her neck, and walked into the bathroom. She looked up and froze. The person in the mirror was dressed the same as her, but that face… it was a face that defied description.

Clear as day on her forehead was the character ‘Xia’. On her left and right cheeks were two very symmetrical turtles. As for her chin, it took her a long while to decipher those two words: ‘Drunkard’.

Xia Qingye: “…”

If someone didn’t know better, they’d think a mischievous brat had broken into her house yesterday.

A quick thought led her straight to Nie Zhuying. Given their private interactions over the past few days, that personality—which was leagues away from her “cool and aloof” public persona—made it completely unsurprising that she could do something like this.

“Nie Zhuying!”

“You are so finished!”

Outside, Nie Zhuying, who was currently soaking up the sun, let out two loud sneezes. Afterward, she remarked, “The weather is truly cold. Nuonuo, let’s go back!”

Hearing its name, Nuonuo immediately lunged out from the bushes.

“Nuonuo, look at you, where did you crawl into? You’re filthy.” Nie Zhuying looked at him with disdain, picked him up, and headed upstairs.

Xia Qingye happened to be coming down just as the other arrived. When she saw her, she looked perfectly calm, even proactively mentioning yesterday. “Thanks for yesterday!”

Nie Zhuying felt a small twinge of guilt. Her gaze wandered, lingering briefly on the other’s cheeks.

Xia Qingye’s face was a bit red—she had scrubbed it raw to get the ink off. However, the flush on her fair skin actually made her look more radiant.

Nie Zhuying shook her head. “No need to thank me, it was your manager who brought you back.” To make it sound more realistic, she rubbed her forehead. “I was also quite drunk at the time! I don’t even know when she left.”

Xia Qingye gave a quiet “Oh” and continued downstairs. They passed each other as one went up and the other went down, but Xia Qingye suddenly stopped. “Then, Miss Nie, based on your understanding of Director Zhuang and Director Xun… are they the type of people who, when drunk, would… uh, play very mean pranks on people?”

“Very mean?”

“Yes, very mean!”

Hearing the sheer grievance in Xia Qingye’s voice, Nie Zhuying actually began to seriously consider if her impulsive prank yesterday was indeed “too mean.”

“I suppose they might be…” Framing someone else made her feel increasingly guilty.

“Oh.”

Nie Zhuying watched Xia Qingye’s dejected back and smacked her lips in annoyance. Nuonuo, being held quite uncomfortably, also let out a whimper of protest and kicked his legs.

Nie Zhuying could only hold him tighter and go upstairs to give him a bath.

After bathing Nuonuo and blow-drying his fur until he was a fluffy ball of cuteness, Nie Zhuying fed the hamster some cornflakes and changed its water. She had swiped the cornflakes from the kitchen. “Both of you are cowards. One is afraid of Nuonuo, the other is afraid of you.”

“Little thing, let’s give you a name.”

The hamster’s shiny black eyes looked forward as its two pink paws held a cornflake, munching away happily. Once it finished one, it grabbed another.

Nie Zhuying reached out to tease it, and it scurried away slightly. “Mimi?”

Nuonuo and Mimi… combined, they would be Nuomi (Glutinous Rice).

But after saying the name “Mimi” three times, the pronunciation started to sound a bit off—in slang, it could mean something much more lewd.

Nie Zhuying couldn’t stand such a vulgar name and went through several others, only to veto them all. She brushed her finger through the hamster’s yellow-and-white fur. “Hmm, how about… Xia-Xia?”

The hamster continued its crunch-crunch-crunching.

Nie Zhuying pulled out her phone to admire the photo of her prank from yesterday. In the photo, Xia Qingye lay quietly on the bed with two large turtles on her face, looking incredibly pathetic. Looking at the hamster, which played dead the moment it got scared, it was just as pathetic. The two were essentially the same. “Ah, then Xia-Xia it is.”

Xia Qingye had no idea Nie Zhuying had given one of her beloved pets her name. If she knew, she would probably have the urge to murder her.

Lunchtime arrived.

Nie Zhuying headed downstairs. During her stay at the Xia house, she basically only came down for meals. If she was free afterward, she’d take Nuonuo for a few laps around the villa grounds—usually when Xia Yanbo and Xia Qingye weren’t around. Otherwise, Nuonuo wasn’t allowed to appear. So she spent most of her time in her room playing with the dog and hamster, browsing Weibo, and gaming. Life was quite carefree.

The three sat at a table full of delicious food. Nie Zhuying was eating happily when she heard Xia Qingye speak.

“Brother, I seem to remember you weren’t home last night?”

“A friend asked me to go singing. I had nothing else to do, so I went.” At Xia Yanbo’s age, he should be out having fun, but to stay home with his sister, he had turned down many social engagements, making himself look like an old homebody. “It was close to midnight when I got back. I saw your shoes were there, so I knew you were home.”

“Did the dinner go smoothly?”

“It was alright.”

It was just casual small talk, no different from usual, but Nie Zhuying felt as if Xia Qingye was trying to get to the bottom of last night. Having done a “bad deed,” Nie Zhuying felt exceptionally guilty during the meal.

After lunch, Xia Qingye murmured, “Ah, I should probably ask Sister Xiang about this.”

Nie Zhuying panicked. Wei Xianghong was there the whole time and had personally sent them back… Plus Xia Yanbo just said he came home at midnight, which meant the only remaining possibility was—her.

“Uhm.”

“What’s wrong?”

Xia Qingye was clearing the table and found Nie Zhuying following her like a little shadow again. This scene looked familiar; wasn’t this exactly how it was when she’d tricked her about poisoning the hamster?

Xia Qingye saw that the other woman clearly lacked confidence but was trying to act righteous. She suddenly felt like teasing her again.

Nie Zhuying’s mind was racing. She had originally intended to just admit it, but she couldn’t find a good opening. The words that blurted out were: “My pot of narcissus seems sick. It’s looking withered. Can you help me take a look?”

Xia Qingye thought of the nickname fans had given Nie Zhuying: [Bamboo the Flower Destroyer]. This name came from the fact that during every live stream, a plant would be in the shot, but the plant was different every single time. Orchids, peace lilies, money trees—different plants in different places isn’t a big deal.

However, eagle-eyed netizens had posted photos showing that the plant in the same spot in her house was always different. They realized that whatever plant Nie Zhuying raised, it died.

The corners of her mouth curled up slightly. She replied casually, “I’ll go check it for you in a bit.”

Nie Zhuying nodded vigorously and fled upstairs. Once the door was closed, she patted her chest. That was close; she almost self-betrayed again. But then another problem arose: as soon as the girl called Wei Xianghong, the secret would be out.

What a headache.

Xia Qingye enjoyed seeing her look so guilty yet defiant. It was funny. So, after tidying the kitchen and sitting in the hall for a while, she unhurriedly went upstairs and knocked on the door.

As soon as Nie Zhuying opened the door, she reached out to pull the other in, but the Samoyed trotted out behind her. It sniffed around and, seemingly recognizing a familiar scent, affectionately circled Xia Qingye’s ankles.

Xia Qingye immediately backed up several steps, looking wary. “Put… put it in the cage.”

Nie Zhuying let out a laugh and knelt down. “Nuonuo, come to Big Sister~”

Hearing that address made Xia Qingye’s eyes twitch. Seeing the white dog, she couldn’t help but think of the other little creature that gave her nightmares. “Put your hamster in the cage too. Don’t let it out, or I really will find some medicine to feed it.”

Nie Zhuying rolled her eyes. “Why are you so cowardly? Nuonuo and Xia-Xia don’t bite.”

“What?”

“Ahem.”

Xia Qingye thought she’d misheard. “This one is Nuonuo, what’s the other one called?”

Nie Zhuying hugged Nuonuo tighter. She hurried into the room, her eyes darting around as she quickly changed the subject. “I keep them in the corner by the bed. Go look at that narcissus on the desk; I feel like it’s about to die.”

The pot of narcissus was only a few days old, but it looked different from the day they’d brought it home. The buds were yellow and shriveled, and the soil was bone-dry.

The first thing Xia Qingye felt upon entering the room was that the temperature was too high and it was a bit stuffy. She picked up the narcissus and touched the bottom; there wasn’t a trace of moisture. “The temperature in here is too high, and you haven’t let it see the sun these past few days.”

Nie Zhuying clearly didn’t know. Her expression was a bit blank. “Do narcissus need sunlight?”

Xia Qingye nodded slightly. “Five or six hours a day. And you need to water it, preferably morning and evening. Also, the temperature in this room is too high; it can’t take it.”

This narcissus was completely shriveled because it hadn’t been watered and was essentially being steamed to death.

Nie Zhuying, who knew absolutely nothing about this, looked enlightened. “Oh, so that’s how it works.”

Xia Qingye was rendered speechless by her dazed look. She finally understood why the internet said she was a flower destroyer. “I’ll take it out to get some sun for you and bring it back tonight to see if it can be saved.”

Since someone was taking this “hot potato” off her hands, Nie Zhuying said repeatedly, “Great, great!”

Xia Qingye carried the narcissus away. As she left the room, she reminded her, “The temperature in your room is too high. Try to keep it between 15°C and 25°C, or it’ll just wither again.”

Nie Zhuying: “…”