Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1692: Chapter 1686: Underhanded Tactics

Hearing the woman’s words, Li Youyou’s heart skipped a beat, her face turned pale as she hurriedly turned around.

Being a star in the entertainment industry, she was naturally more cautious about such matters. She thought there might be some paparazzi reporter hiding in the bathroom taking sneak shots, so she quickly ran over to check.

She checked each stall and looked around in the corners of the walls, found no one, and saw no pinhole cameras or anything like that. It was only then that Li Youyou felt relieved.

”There’s no one here. I think you’re just being paranoid. Have you done so many guilty deeds that your mind wanders?”

Li Youyou cast a cold sidelong glance at the woman and sneered, ”All right, stop looking. There’s no one in the bathroom. I’m leaving now, you’d better go back quickly too. I can’t stay here too long, otherwise, people will get suspicious. Once this matter is done, I’ll transfer the money to you. Until this blows over, let’s not contact each other.”

Saying this, Li Youyou didn’t give the woman another glance and walked straight out of the bathroom.

After Li Youyou walked away, the woman threw the mascara in her hand into her bag and gave Li Youyou’s departing figure the middle finger from a distance, sneering,

”What’s so arrogant about starring in a TV drama and becoming popular? Didn’t you still need my help to come to Venice? What’s there to be proud of! Sooner or later, I’ll step on you, make sure you can’t rise again!”

With that, the woman walked out the door.

Huo Sining stood behind the woman, feeling a bit shocked.

These two women were just acting like best friends, and now they’ve turned faces faster than flipping a book, isn’t this too exaggerated?

Huo Sining couldn’t tell what the relationship between Li Youyou and this woman was, but from the woman’s behavior, the two definitely weren’t true friends. From the woman’s tone, if something went wrong, this woman would absolutely stab Li Youyou in the back without hesitation.

You can see a person’s character based on whom they befriend, birds of a feather flock together. At this point, Huo Sining’s impression of Li Youyou had hit rock bottom. People who pull tricks behind the scenes in such situations are definitely not good people.

Huo Sining felt like digging deeper, so after the woman walked out, she didn’t hurry back to the event and instead followed the woman all the way to the backstage.

They ended up in a control room, where someone greeted the woman in Italian, which Huo Sining didn’t understand. But that person pointed to a stack of samples on the computer desk, and then Huo Sining saw the woman adjust some program. Shortly after, Huo Sining saw through a TV in the control room that a new movie had started playing on the big screen at the venue.

Seeing this, Huo Sining vaguely understood something.

It turns out this woman is actually responsible for playing clips at the award ceremony, playing the film samples according to the rhythm of the host.

This made Huo Sining increasingly sure of her suspicions.

Combining what Li Youyou said in the bathroom earlier with this woman’s work, Huo Sining was convinced this woman was planning some sort of sabotage.

Scandals are generally things Huo Sining knew even if she wasn’t in the entertainment industry, like ”photo-gate” type incidents.

This woman must be planning to replace Zheng Lixiang’s film sample submitted to the festival with something else, then play it in front of everyone. At that time, she will deny her fault entirely, claiming it was a hacker attack or that the sample was switched, thereby shirking her responsibility.

Huo Sining’s expression wasn’t good immediately. She checked the time; there was still some time before Zheng Lixiang’s film screened, but she couldn’t figure out how to help Zheng Lixiang immediately.

Hacking the control room’s computer is not impossible, but Huo Sining only knew one hacker, and that was Gu Xu’s subordinate, Yu Fei. But Yu Fei was recently sent on a secret mission, and even Gu Xu might not be able to contact him immediately, let alone Huo Sining.

The situation was urgent at this moment, and Huo Sining couldn’t delay this for long. After thinking it over, she hurried to the venue, pretending to have come out of the bathroom. Once in front of Zheng Lixiang, she whispered,

”Lixiang, I have something to tell you. Don’t panic, and don’t show any signs of being startled. Be careful not to let anyone notice.”

Zheng Lixiang didn’t know what Huo Sining was going to say but nodded seriously at Huo Sining’s earnest manner.

Huo Sining told her what she had overheard between Li Youyou and that woman in the bathroom. As expected, when Zheng Lixiang heard it, her face changed instantly, and she was about to stand up.

Seeing this, Huo Sining quickly stopped her, glancing at Li Youyou’s position, and smiled,

”Stay calm, don’t rush. I have acquaintances in Venice who can help you sort this out. But now, what you need to do is quickly get me another official copy of the sample you submitted to the Venice Film Festival. I need it urgently.”

Zheng Lixiang nodded upon hearing this and anxiously searched through her bag. She quickly found a USB and placed it into Huo Sining’s palm. ”This is a backup I intentionally made when I came, meant for attracting other investors.”

Huo Sining nodded, took the USB, and left. Passing by Li Youyou’s seat, Huo Sining deliberately looked over, but Li Youyou, who didn’t recognize Huo Sining and only saw her wearing sunglasses, assumed she was just an employee from Zheng Lixiang’s crew, paid her no mind.

Returning to the backstage, Huo Sining once again silently chanted the Invisibility Spell and stealthily slipped into the control room. With only two staff members in the room, it wasn’t difficult for Huo Sining to handle the situation.

Fortunately, the control room had a screen synchronized with the front stage, so Huo Sining could clearly see what stage the front was at.

The movie Zheng Lixiang made this time was a domestic reality film called ”Kite Angel,” which tells the story of child trafficking in the country. This kind of film has no heroes, no myths, and is basically detached from commerce. Such films are praised but not popular in the domestic market, needing heavy edits to be shown, but they’re quite favored at the Venice International Film Festival.

However, even if favored, Zheng Lixiang is a newcomer director, famous neither internationally nor domestically. So her movie being nominated for something like the Best Film Golden Lion would be impossible; she’d be up for consolation prizes like the Horizon’s Special Prize and the Exchange Award.