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Elspeth was startled for a moment. The next instant, she unlocked her phone and searched for the
news article. Its title read, ‘Callum Winthrop bristled at Elspeth Lynwood’s daring provocation on set
while defending Emma Walker.’
What an ironic news title, she thought to herself.
The photo attached to the news article showed Elspeth alone confronting Callum and Emma in an
apparent standoff. In fact, it was pretty well taken; Emma looked all submissive and aggrieved in it as if
Elspeth had really bullied her.
At this moment, Yelena came over for a short break while having a drink. Noticing that Elspeth looked
kind of surly, she leaned over to read the news article as well. “What’s the matter?” she asked. Then,
seeing the article’s headline, she instantly let loose a torrent of abuse. “This has got to be that Emma
woman’s idea with the purpose of undermining you! How dare it say that you provoked Emma? It was
that woman who came up asking for trouble in the first place!”
Elspeth tugged at her sleeve. “It’s okay, just let them say whatever they want. What the article says
isn’t true, anyway.”
“You’re so big-hearted. I’d never put up with that if I were you,” Yelena said before pointing at Callum in
the photo with visible disgust in her eyes. “Callum was snubbing you on purpose by defending Emma in
front of so many people, no? What the hell was he doing?!”
She was ready to explode when she saw Callum like this, but it pained and exasperated her to see
Elspeth looking like she didn’t mind this at all. “What about we post a statement first, saying that you
and Callum have broken up? That’s better than being mocked by netizens asking whether you’ve been
dumped.” How unmanly of Callum to avoid taking on responsibility for this!
Elspeth shook her head. “That’s not necessary.”
Yelena asked, “Then how are you gonna handle this? Surely you can’t let everyone get the wrong idea
that you provoked Emma on purpose?” She was boiling with rage at the thought that Emma must be
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtgloating over this from a safe distance at this moment.
Elspeth’s eyes narrowed. “I already have an idea.” There’s no surveillance camera on the set of filming,
so it’s certainly impractical to look for surveillance footage. Suddenly, she seemed to recall something,
and a smile spread on her lips. “Yelena, do you still remember the few people who were standing
beside you at the time?”
Yelena thought about it for a moment. “I think I do. There was one next to me who looked super ugly
with very heavy makeup on. The instant she saw you act, she got awestruck and even took out her
phone to take pictures…” she replied before suddenly realizing what Elspeth was up to. She exclaimed
with a smile of surprise, “You’re so smart, Elspeth!”
Elspeth stood up and stretched. “Alright, don’t worry about this. Just focus on your acting. I’m going out
and will be back in about half an hour if nothing crops up.”
Confident in her friend’s resourcefulness, Yelena immediately nodded before going back with a spring
in her step.
No one other than Yelena knew where Elspeth had gone. In the afternoon, however, a video was
uploaded to the internet, showing Elspeth in that particular scene in ultra-high definition.
No sooner had the video been uploaded than it caused a huge stir in the entire entertainment industry.
It was watched by an endless stream of netizens, many of whom left their comments.
A netizen commented, ‘How can such great acting by Elspeth be called provocation? It should be
called outshining, no?’
Another commented, ‘I’ve watched Emma Walker’s performance before, and her acting was mediocre.
So what if Elspeth was provoking her?!’
The third commented, ‘I’m one of the crew members on set. Elspeth is not only pretty but also a skilled
actor; even the lead actor had difficulty keeping up with her.’
Some even revealed Elspeth’s identity right away. One commented, ‘You know what? Elspeth is
Professor Payton Schwartz’s only protégé. No wonder she’s so skilled in acting!’
Another commented, ‘Payton Schwartz is a rare bigwig in the industry, and his protégé has to be at
least a master at acting. There should be nothing wrong with Elspeth advising on Emma’s acting, no?’
A third netizen commented, ‘How affected of Emma Walker to look all hurt like a phony goody-two-
shoes at being criticized.’
Seeing how the tide immediately turned against Emma on the internet, Yelena laughed and tapped
away at the keyboard, following the crowd in tearing Emma apart.
Timothy’s lips twitched at the sight of this. “Let’s not get involved in this, alright? You’re a public figure,
after all.”
Yelena gave him a disdainful look. “How boring! Who told you that public figures don’t like engaging in
gossip? I have four other alt accounts, any of which I can switch to if this account gets banned. I have
to avenge Elspeth!”
Both Timothy and Blake were rendered lost for words by her reply.
Elspeth came back soon after that. Seeing how the two men froze in stupefaction while Yelena tapped
away at the keyboard in high spirits, she couldn’t help but smile in amusement. “What are you all
doing?”
Yelena replied, “You’ve got no idea, Elspeth. Emma has really shot herself in the foot. So many people
are criticizing her now!” Having gotten the anger and resentment off her chest, she was filled with pride
and exaltation.
Elspeth replied, “We’re all slaves of opinion, so you can’t be too careful. We have to be even more
careful from now on, especially you. Once you become an object of hatred, your reputation will be
finished.”
Yelena was already sick of hearing the same thing countless times. “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Say, Elspeth,
what do you think Emma is doing at the moment?”
Elspeth didn’t even frown at the mention of the woman. “I don’t know.”
Meanwhile, in the hotel room…
Emma had hatred written all over her face. After dialing Callum’s number, she poured out all her
grievances, saying, “Callum, Elspeth bullied me again—”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmCallum replied, “She wouldn’t have done so if you hadn’t messed with her in the first place.” He knew
Elspeth very well. She was the kind of person who would never offend anyone unless she got offended,
in which case she would root out the person who had offended her.
“But I really didn’t do anything this time. I’m being targeted for no reason. Now the internet is full of
news articles lambasting me. I dare not even go out anymore…”
Callum only felt his head throbbing as Emma expressively poured out her grievances. “Alright, I got it.
I’ll come up with a solution.”
After hanging up the phone, Emma clenched her fists and gnashed her teeth in hatred. Elspeth and
Yelena, that buffoon… I won’t let off anyone who tries to undermine me! At the end of her thoughts, a
sinister smile suddenly appeared on her face.
In the end, the incident didn’t bubble for long before it got overshadowed by other news articles and
caused its headline to be pulled out of the list of trending topics.
Yelena looked displeased. “I seriously don’t understand why someone could be so meddlesome as to
pull this out of the list of trending topics on purpose. Say, could it be Callum’s doing?”
Elspeth fanned herself with the fan in her hand without even looking up. “It’s got to be him.”
“I’ve got to hand it to him. Just hurry and break up with him instead of letting him keep you dangling,
will you?”
Elspeth knew Yelena was saying that for her own good. She was also particularly disappointed with
Callum, but there had to be a reason for his sudden about-face. If she were to break up with him hastily
without finding out the reason, she would definitely regret it. “Alright, that’s enough. There’s no way to
bring Emma down for the time being, anyway, so why don’t you concentrate on your acting instead of
worrying about this? Your show and Emma’s will probably be aired at the same time. If you end up
embarrassing yourself, you won’t be able to do anything about it.”
The instant Yelena heard this, she couldn’t help having a look of frustration. “You’ve got no idea how
pure and innocent Blake is. He said this would be his first time filming a kissing scene. We’re talking
about his very first on-screen kiss, you know? And it’s gonna be spoiled by me, so he’s really reluctant
to do it. The director told me to break through his psychological barrier and get the scene done in two
days.”
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