Chapter Eighteen: The Trophy Actress of Modern Society’s Fake Heiress (18)

Because the film crew was filming in isolation, few outsiders came by.

So when Jiang Xiuwen arrived, everyone’s attention was drawn to this unfamiliar face.

Seeing Jiang Xiuwen return alone and drive off, and with Xiandu still not back after a long time, everyone immediately suspected that Xiandu’s weak appearance during today’s shoot had something to do with it. They hurriedly sent people to look for her and also dispatched someone to catch up with Jiang Xiuwen to inquire about Xiandu’s whereabouts.

But when they found her in the snow beside the valley, her lips were pale.

Everyone scrambled to warm her with hot water bags and ginger tea, flustered and anxious.

After quite a while, Xiandu slowly regained consciousness, her breath faint as she whispered, “...Clothes.”

The director leaned close to her lips to hear clearly, then waved off concerns magnanimously: “It’s alright, if your clothes are dirty, they’re dirty. You won’t have to pay for them!”

Xiandu closed her eyes and silently rolled them, barely holding back a grimace as she struggled beneath the heavy coat.

A considerate female crew member gently pushed the director aside and removed a layer of the military coat from Xiandu, allowing her to breathe more freely.

“Thank you,” Xiandu said, sitting up and accepting the ginger tea, taking a sip.

“Xiandu, have you been overexerting yourself with the shoot? Today’s scenes were really demanding physically. You should rest now and recover for a while,” the director’s wife, also the assistant director and a crew member—trying to save on wages—suggested kindly.

The assistant director guessed that Xiandu had fainted after arguing with her brother, but since it was a family matter, she didn’t press it, only using the heavy workload as a reason for Xiandu to rest.

“Honey...” the director wanted to protest about the schedule, but the assistant director shot him a sharp look and covered his mouth, forcing him to swallow his words obediently.

“All right.” A paid leave was naturally welcome to Xiandu, who indeed needed time to calm herself and was unsuitable for acting in her current state.

People gradually left, though they occasionally glanced at Xiandu, making sure she was alright.

“Host, are you okay? I was so scared just now!” Wangcai’s voice trembled with tears.

“I couldn’t find anyone to save you, I just watched you collapse in the snow helplessly. I’m useless! Wah—”

“I’m fine, just an emotional upheaval,” Xiandu comforted Wangcai in her mind, though exhaustion colored her words.

Wangcai knew Xiandu needed rest, covering his mouth with his paw:

“Host, hic! You rest well. I won’t bother you anymore. Call me if you need anything.”

“Mm.”

Xiandu was very tired—tired like never before.

She didn’t understand why, when she retrieved the memory of the original owner’s kidnapping, she lost control so completely.

It was as if she had been a mere bystander but was suddenly pulled into that life, becoming Jiang Xiandu herself.

The pain and despair felt as if she had truly lived through it.

But at least now she understood what the original owner had regretted during her first kidnapping:

She regretted trusting Jiang’s father too much to rescue her, had no chance to tell the kidnappers she could synthesize N-39 before being knocked unconscious, and later was too weak to speak or save herself.

Even more, she regretted creating N-39, unleashing Pandora’s box...

Xiandu shook her head and took another sip of ginger tea.

Now was not the time to dwell on these things.

N-39 had brought such profits to the Jiang family, but they showed no gratitude to the original owner, instead recklessly wasting money stained with her blood.

The Jiang family must pay the price!

Just as Xiandu was preparing to figure out how to take down the Jiang family, a commotion from the director’s side caught her attention:

The director was wiping equipment and saw from afar the young man sent to stop Jiang Xiuwen running over.

“Are you slacking off? Took so long to come back!”

The filming location was very remote, deep in the mountains—land was cheap, but vehicles could only reach the foot of the mountain; beyond that, they had to proceed on foot.

As the young man approached, the director noticed his clothes were soaked in blood. Pointing at him, he stammered, “You... you killed someone?”

The young man tried to push the director away, but the director grabbed him tightly.

“No, you have to tell me the truth... you didn’t really kill anyone, right? Don’t... I haven’t finished filming yet, and I still have a 30-year loan to pay off... I’m counting on this show!”

The young man had no time for the director’s words, anxiously scanning the set until he saw Xiandu lying on a lounge chair.

“Teacher Jiang!” The young man waved to catch Xiandu’s attention, trying to speak but realized she was too far to hear.

He pushed past the obstructing director: “No! I saved someone! That’s their blood!”

Before the director could react, the young man ran toward Xiandu.

“Hey, why didn’t you say so earlier?” The director wiped two tears he had just squeezed out, looked up to see many eyes on him, and felt compelled to maintain his image. “Get back to work, all of you! Watch out or I’ll dock your wages!”

“Teacher Jiang!” The young man caught his breath as he reached Xiandu. “Your brother... your brother was caught in a landslide and a chain-reaction car accident. He’s been taken to the hospital. You should go see him!”

Instead of feeling relieved, Xiandu was only coldly indifferent after complete disappointment.

She continued sipping her ginger tea and hissed two words: “Not going.”

[Random Mission Six Activated: Proceed to hospital and rescue Jiang Xiuwen (10 points) (6-hour time limit)]

Hah, here we go again.

What were the Jiang family to her, to be compared with the time and effort she spent filming?

She wasn’t going, no matter what. Seeing them was just bad luck.

[Warning: Task agent is showing negative attitude towards mission. If mission fails, current points will be reset to zero. Please consider carefully!]

“Bang!” Xiandu slammed the table in frustration.

“Please drive... I’ll go.”

...

Xiandu arrived at the hospital, dodging the chaos in the corridors caused by the sudden disaster, and found the ward door but did not enter.

The crew’s remote location offered few nearby towns or medical facilities, and the massive landslide had severely hindered vehicle access. Injured were taken to the nearest township hospital for emergency care.

Because the incident was sudden and injuries were numerous, many patients lacked beds and had to stay in corridors, with nurses only able to attend to the most critical.

Seeing the dense crowd of doctors standing by Jiang Xiuwen’s bedside, Xiandu knew his wounds were severe.

Encountering a landslide in the dead of winter—his bad luck was undeniable.

Suddenly, alarms blared from the monitors.

“Not good! The patient is hemorrhaging heavily and requires a large volume of blood transfusion!”

“But there’s too much demand; our blood bank has run out of type O blood!”

Blood type testing took at least half an hour, and though the hospital’s equipment was limited, this was still possible.

Xiandu turned to leave the hospital.

The original owner had type O blood, but why would she risk her fragile body and life to save Jiang Xiuwen?

Even if Jiang Xiandu wasn’t his real sister and met the transfusion criteria, she didn’t want to risk her life to save such an ungrateful wretch.

If he died today, it meant it was his fate.

She brushed past a nurse rushing to find type O blood.

[Warning: Task agent is showing negative attitude towards mission. Please correct attitude or electric shock punishment will be administered. Reminder: After points reset, a new system will be assigned and the original system destroyed.]

Xiandu’s steps halted.

“...I am type O blood.”

...

After donating blood, Xiandu returned to the crew and resumed filming the next day.

After completing the day’s scenes, she continued searching for a signal to contact Gu Qianxi and advance the first mission.

But just as she got a signal, a call came from the township hospital.

Xiandu had left her phone number and personal information at the hospital as part of necessary procedures after donating blood.

She answered; the line was noisy.

“Hello, are you the person who donated type O blood to patient Jiang Xiuwen yesterday?”

Though reluctant, Xiandu did not want to obstruct their work and answered obediently, “Yes.”

“Don’t you know that blood transfusions between direct relatives are prohibited? The patient is now experiencing an acute hemolytic transfusion reaction!”