The Rise of the White Lotus

The next day at the set of Taming Hearts…

In the scene, Chang'e was tending to her forever companion, the jade rabbit. However, due to the drastic change of the world that Chang'e could not recognize it anymore, she was perceived as a deranged person. Hence, she was targeted to be the next victim the moment she arrived in the next town.

Fortunately, Rika's character as Xu Yingyue followed her when she realized the direction she headed. When Xu Yingyue caught up with her, she had witnessed the scene where Chang'e was being surrounded by malicious men. Xu Yingyue wasn't surprised because the village Chang'e walked into was not like any other town as it was known to be a lawless town.

Hence, someone as heroic as Xu Yingyue started a fierce brawl to save innocent beauty. Unbeknownst to Xu Yingyue, her action only saved the fiend scoundrels from the terrifying power Chang'e was about to unleash earlier.

During the fight, Chang'e remained where she stood without any change of expression while the female lead was fiercely battling against the villains. Since Chang'e could not understand what was happening around her and the reason why Xu Yingyue followed her, she decided to leave.

However, although Chang'e could easily dodge the stray bullets and flying daggers, she was tripped because of the small rock underneath. She didn't notice it as her focused was on the sick jade rabbit that rests on her laid out palms.

"Cuuuut! Pass!" Arnold Shen shouted over the microphone. The moment Lexi and the rest heard him, they could finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Need a hand?" Rika, one of the leading actresses of the movie Taming Hearts offered her hand to Lexi who was sitting on the ground while her palms were placed side by side; just like her position when Arnold Shen saw her a month ago.

"Thanks," Meekly smiling, Lexi reached out to Rika's hand and with her help, she managed to get back on her feet easily. Lexi then dusted off the little grass and dirt that clung on her ancient clothing.

"You should prepare me some rabbit costume for me since I'm playing as your jade rabbit~" Churu suggested as she landed on Lexi's shoulder. Apparently, she was forced to act as the invisible jade rabbit that only Chang'e could see.

"Lexi Yang… hmm," Suddenly, Rika muttered Lexi's name as she slightly nodded her head upon understanding something.

"Hmm?" Raising her eyebrows in curiosity, Lexi hummed a questioning tune as she finished dusting off the dirt on her grand ancient clothing.

"I heard a lot about you, I just didn't expect that you'd be uh…" Rika contemplated what to say next as she realized what she was about to blurt out. 

Despite Rika being a senior in the industry, she was known to be an understanding and humble A-list artist. Therefore, she knew that mentioning about Lexi's reputation would be very insensitive.

"It's fine, Senior. It was me who built that bad image for myself after all -- though I regret doing so." Guessing what conflicted her senior, Lexi reassured while raising both her eyebrows and a subtle smile on the side of her lips.

Upon hearing her, Rika grinned and she let out a slight chuckle. She had heard that Lexi was frank and a straightforward person, but, she didn't expect that she'd also admit this kind of stuff. Well, Rika was not to blame as her first impression of Lexi was an unreasonable diva that thinks too highly of herself.

She wouldn't be surprised if Lexi still acted that way because Lexi initially came from a wealthy family and her acting was impeccable which made things easier. Thus, what's important to Rika was, as long as Lexi wouldn't trouble her, the actress wouldn't meddle with her.

Alas, who would have thought that Rika liked the girl after observing her in the past two days? Hence, after their scene just now, she approached Lexi.

"Haha, I see… I really can't believe anything in this industry unless I see it myself." Rika faintly muttered in between her chuckles. Turning her gaze back to Lexi's ethereal beauty that suited the ancient clothing really well -- displaying a beauty of a goddess, Rika grinned before she spoke.

"Wanna eat dinner with us?"

Her sudden invitation made Lexi furrowed her brows. She didn't see it coming as she was satisfied to get her work done and rest afterward. Moreover, Lexi somehow remained distant from everyone except Arnold Shen. Therefore, this sudden friendliness Rika was showing made her suspicious about her intention.

"Come on, let's be friends." Seeing that Lexi's expression tells her to scram, Rika blurted out her genuine intention but to no avail, Lexi was unconvinced.

"Wow, she's rather nice~" Churu commented as she scrutinized the delicate beauty in front of them.

In her eyes, although Rika was wearing a simple white dress that had dirt all over because of the fight scene, it wasn't enough to conceal her beauty. Also, unlike Lexi's sharp facial features that make her look like a snob, Rika, on the other hand, had this kind of vibe that she could be approachable and also not.

"Tsk tsk, are you going to reject your senior's offer?" Pouting, Rika showed a disheartened expression seeing that Lexi's expression didn't change a tad bit.

"Uh, no. I'm sorry, I'm just a little cautious towards that word friendship." Drawing back from her curious mind, Lexi cleared her throat as she uttered her blunt opinion.

Indeed, aside from the friends that left her hanging in the air months ago, the first human that offered her friendship since the start of her second life confessed to her last night that he had an ulterior motive and now, he was her half suitor half friend. Thus, Lexi didn't want to go circles with Rika. After all, this is the entertainment industry.

"I knew it. Don't worry, I like you." Instead of being offended, Rika's inkling towards Lexi rose even more. Since Rika was an established and famous actress that was free from any scandals since the beginning of her career, she was well respected. 

So, it was obvious that Rika was surrounded by tons of different people that it was hard for her to discern who were genuine to her and not. She resumed with a bright smile,

"I will be treating everyone to dinner at XX restaurant and since we are staying in the same hotel, let's go together alright?"