Chapter 3
Zoe Young quickly changed into a new outfit, and everyone tacitly agreed not to mention the incident again.
While making dinner, Zoe Young came over cradling a bowl of rice. “Lucas, let’s make rice together!”
When she smiled, there was a small dimple at the corner of her mouth, sweet enough to melt hearts.
Back when I used a secret account to vote for her, Zoe Young was still an unknown little actress. Now she had finally made it to the big screen and caught everyone’s attention. I felt gratified.
Before I could answer, the number of comments suddenly skyrocketed.
“Oh my god, has Chloe Quinn gone crazy? What is she doing?”
Seeing the comments, my heart skipped a beat and I turned to look.
I saw the curvaceous beauty holding a knife in her right hand and a rack of lamb in her left, raising it high and bringing it down hard.
Accompanied by the sound of the cleaver hitting the cutting board, blood and bits splattered everywhere.
My ribs ached in sympathy.
Viewers: “Run! She’s a real butcher!”
Chloe Quinn’s true fans: “Chloe, I genuinely like you, please stop embarrassing yourself.”
The show’s crew, never ones to miss drama, pushed the camera in closer, capturing my full face.
In those black pupils, the shattered lamb was reflected. Her expression was cold, extremely serious and confident.
“She’s pretty efficient at this.”
“Putting everything else aside, this girl’s skills are legit. She takes her acting seriously too.”
Zoe Young cleared her throat.
“Sister Chloe, I remember you were on a show last year where you didn’t know how to cook at all. Lamb is pretty expensive, won’t it go to waste?”
With one sentence, she instantly turned the tide of opinion.
“Yeah, don’t forget how she used to slack off.”
“She’s just putting on an act, don’t take it too seriously.”
That was when I got the most hate ever.
I went with some seniors to gather firewood in the mountains. The path was slippery from rain, and I sprained my ankle.
The firewood I had carried all the way down from the mountain was handed to another senior before the cameras started rolling.
Everyone thought I hadn’t done anything.
That night when we made dinner, my foot was swollen like a steamed bun. I could only watch everyone busy at work while I couldn’t help at all.
Later, for the sake of ratings, the show editors cut things randomly.
Plus I was naive then and spoke without filters, so I got labeled as “lazy and useless”.
Zoe Young kept stirring the pot. “Lucas, why don’t you talk some sense into her?”
I looked at Zoe Young sadly, thinking this daughter I had invested real money in all these years didn’t seem like a good person.
What a waste.
While Zoe Young turned her head to look for a bowl, I crouched down by the stove, hiding from the cameras as I tugged on his skirt hem, whispering: “Please save me some face…”
With a thud, Lucas Mitchell stabbed the cleaver into the cutting board on the other side, smiling coldly at Zoe Young:
“If I stop chopping, what will you all eat for dinner? Why don’t you take over?”
After a brief moment of silence, the comments suddenly had someone cautiously post: “Why does she seem… kind of cool?”
“I know right… this is totally girl boss energy.”
My fans popped up again: “Ahhh, Chloe, just keep looking at me with that disgusted expression… I’m screaming, I’m melting…”
“Someone call the psych ward, we’ve got a crazy one here.”
Lucas Mitchell snorted and lowered his head again, chopping away at the lamb.
I opened my phone and watched helplessly as a new trending topic slowly crawled up from the bottom, inching its way into the top 10, before finally reaching the peak.
#CholeQuinn #ButcherBeauty#
The carefully cultivated image of a refined celebrity actress that I had worked so hard on was ruined in an instant. The delicate female lead role I had fought tooth and nail for was probably going to fall through now too.
At dinner, Zoe Young kept pouring me drinks and chatting with me.
She talked about how difficult her journey had been all these years.
As I listened, my eyes unconsciously welled up with tears.
It’s true, as her top fan, of course I knew how much she had suffered.
The show’s crew, never ones to miss drama, might as well have shoved the camera in my face.
The comments all started egging us on.
“Look, real feelings are developing.”
“Mr. Mitchell is crying.”
Little did they know, sitting across from us, “Chloe Quinn” cutting the lamb had darkened her face, coldly watching me.
During the show’s intermission, I staggered out to the yard to get some air, fighting the effects of the alcohol.
Lucas Mitchell was wrapped in a blanket, sitting in a wicker chair reading financial reports.
The light cast my shadow onto the paper, and Lucas Mitchell paused his reading to look up.
“Come here.”
I reluctantly stood in front of him. “What?”
Lucas Mitchell looked me over for a moment, then asked:
“Have they always criticized you like this?”
What is this? Sticking up for me?
“I’ve heard much worse than this.”
Our company was poor and couldn’t afford to hire PR teams. Plus with my unique way of becoming famous, they were extremely tolerant of haters.
At first, I would hide under the covers and cry. Later, after being insulted so much, I felt like no one in the world liked me, so I simply stopped reading comments to avoid upsetting myself. As time went on, I grew numb to it.
I sat next to him as we enjoyed the breeze.
“The Mitchell family can afford good lawyers,” Lucas Mitchell said.
Actually, I had looked into it before. When Lucas Mitchell wasn’t around, I was shut down in two or three sentences by his partner Victoria Xu -
“Miss Quinn, the Mitchell family and someone from your entertainment background are simply not the same type of people. If Lucas gets involved in your affairs, it will only bring trouble to him and the Mitchell family. Please know your place.”
I lowered my head, swinging my legs as I sat in the hanging chair.
“There will always be people who find fault from angles you can’t predict. You can’t please everyone, so I just close my eyes and get through it…”
After all, I’ve been on my own since I was little, relying only on myself for everything.
If I had counted on Lucas Mitchell to stand up for me, I would have been finished long ago.
The atmosphere fell into silence.
Lucas Mitchell didn’t speak, but turned his head to carefully study me.
I was the one who couldn’t stay quiet.
“Mr. Mitchell, can I ask you for a favor?”
I had never said the word “please” before.
But tonight, I really couldn’t hold back anymore. As soon as I opened my mouth, I couldn’t help but start crying.
“I don’t want to be the Butcher Beauty. Can you please not chop things tomorrow? I still want to play gentle female lead roles…”
On my phone, the “Chloe Quinn Butcher” topic had already reached #1 on the entertainment rankings.
“Why are they so fast…” I was a snotty, teary mess. “I’m supposed to be delicate and weak…”
Lucas Mitchell pressed his lips together, his voice tight. “Stop crying. I’ll have them take down the trending topic.”
He unlocked his phone and skillfully entered the first few digits of a number. The search bar popped up with “Victoria Xu”.
“Hello? What is it?” Victoria Xu’s slightly arrogant voice came through the speaker.
Lucas Mitchell froze for a moment, looking at me.
I had tears streaked across my face, hiccuping as I used my own phone. It was a miracle I could even make the call.
Lucas Mitchell frowned. “The #1 trending topic, please have it taken down as soon as possible.”
After a brief silence, Victoria Xu’s light laughter suddenly came through the phone.
“I’m sorry, Chloe Quinn. Even though you’re married to Mr. Mitchell, you don’t seem to have the authority to ask me to do anything.”
With that, she hung up without hesitation.
The night breeze blew freely, rustling the plastic vines overhead.
The dial tone beeped mockingly.
Lucas Mitchell furrowed his brow and asked: “Has she always treated you like this?”
I wiped my face, stammering, “Not always. Sometimes I curse at her too.”
“What do you call her?”
I hung my head guiltily, like I had done something wrong. “Old duck…”
“…”
“She can’t out-curse me…”
Seeing Lucas Mitchell’s inscrutable expression, I hurriedly added, “I’m sorry, I know I was wrong. I won’t curse anymore.”
Lucas Mitchell slowly spoke: “It’s not that I’m against you cursing. I hope next time something like this happens, you’ll tell me.”
Tell him what?
Hello Mr. Mitchell, I’m about to start cursing?
I absent-mindedly replied “Oh” and said, “I’m going to bed.”
The show had prepared two rooms - one for the men and one for the women.
Numbed by the alcohol, I pushed open the pink door without thinking.
The scent of shower gel wafted over.
“Oh my, Mr. Mitchell, what are you doing in here?”
Zoe Young, wearing a bathrobe, bumped right into me, her little face quickly turning red.
I came to my senses, my heart instantly leaping into my throat.
Comments: “Whoa, what kind of plot twist is this?”
“Mr. Mitchell, do you remember there’s a whole country watching on camera?”
“Someone call the marriage registration office.”
Alarm bells went off in my head. This is bad!
“I’m so sorry, I went to the wrong room…”
I tried to push Zoe Young away, but my tie suddenly tightened - Zoe Young’s hair clip had gotten caught on my tie clip.
She clumsily fell into my arms, coyly resisting yet yielding as she clung to me saying, “Mr. Mitchell, let’s talk about this…”
Things started developing in an uncontrollable direction.
The show staff were also dumbfounded. The director was about to cut away when suddenly someone kicked open the door behind them.
Lucas Mitchell, wearing my face, walked in exuding a chilling aura. “You dare to cheat on me?”