Chapter 265 Nearly Idiotic
When Gregory saw the wound on Thalia's hand, he was shocked. A very long gash stretched from her elbow all the way down to her forearm.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
Thalia gritted her teeth through the pain and tugged at her clothes, thinking there would be a tear, but found there wasn't one.
"Looks like something cut me."
Aaron rushed over when he heard the commotion. Seeing the wound on Thalia's hand, his first thought was "This is bad." Even if Thalia didn't say anything, Layla wouldn't let him off the hook for this happening during the final scene.
He had warned Thalia over and over, and still something went wrong.
Thalia stared at the wound on her arm, feeling something was off. She shook her wide sleeves, but nothing fell out. So she simply took off the loose outer robe and let it fall to the ground, searching through the sleeves.
Suddenly, she felt something...
She had just paused when Gregory walked over and ripped open the sleeve.
The wardrobe manager saw this and cried out in alarm: "That costume is borrowed, we can't damage it..."
"A razor blade, sewn into the costume."
Just as the manager finished speaking, another round of gasps erupted.
The outer robe was red, so blood stains wouldn't show easily. Whoever did this sealed the blade in the costume so no one would find it, but they didn't expect that Thalia's first reaction after getting hurt wouldn't be to check her wound, but to search for something.
Most people would just want to finish the scene, change clothes, and go home.
They really didn't see that coming.
"Find out who did this."
"This is outrageous! Sewing razor blades into costumes."
Aaron was furious, yelling at everyone on set, scaring them into scattering—some to find evidence, others to check the surveillance footage.
...
"You need stitches!"
At the hospital near the set, the doctor glanced at Thalia, who was wearing a mask and hat: "You're pretty unlucky, coming to the hospital several times for one production."
Thalia didn't expect to be recognized even bundled up like this, and joked: "I run into you every time. Isn't that pretty good luck?"
"Yeah, pretty good," the doctor laughed at her comment.
"I'll get a colleague from dermatology to give you cosmetic stitches."
After the doctor left, only she and Gregory remained in the emergency room. He stood by the door with his arms crossed, looking at her. After a moment of silence, he spoke: "You've made quite a few enemies, haven't you?"
Thalia answered: "Quite a few."
"I can tell," Gregory nodded.
Thalia pointed at her bag: "Pass me my water bottle, Gregory."
"Does half of Emerald City's entertainment industry have a grudge against you?"
"When you're popular, you get haters. Those who are doing better than me don't have as much money, and those doing worse than me aren't as good-looking. Rich and good-looking—that's definitely going to make people jealous, right?"
Listening to Thalia's nonsense, Gregory didn't know whether to call her unlucky or say she had a good attitude.
"There are plenty of rich, good-looking people in the entertainment industry, but not many who've managed to offend half of it."
"Well, there's plenty of money in the lottery pool too, but not many people win it."
Gregory couldn't win this argument with Thalia, so he chose to shut up.
Looking at Thalia again, her carefree attitude was kind of infuriating.
"Who do you think did this?"
"If I knew, I would've gone to beat them up before coming to the hospital."
If you've got the guts, compete fair and square. What's with these dirty tricks?
Pathetic.
If she found out who it was, she'd make them pay dearly.
Soon, the doctor came in with a colleague. Thalia gritted her teeth through getting stitched up, then got into the van holding her half-useless hand.
"Thalia, Mr. Brown is calling."
John handed Thalia the phone. She reached out to take it, and on the other end, William's voice was steady: "Not coming back?"
"Your wife almost died."
"What happened?" William's tone suddenly tensed, his mind flashing to those people in the capital.
Thalia recounted today's events with resentment. William was both angry and amused. After a long silence, he said: "The entertainment industry is too dangerous. It's not suitable for someone with your level of intelligence. If you can't make it, come back! I'll take care of you."
"What do you mean, my level of intelligence?"
"Nearly stupid," William commented.
"Well, Mr. Brown must be really something! You don't mind sleeping with someone stupid."
John: ...
Isla: ... Should we really be hearing this without paying?
"A husband doesn't mind if his wife is silly."
"Why not say a son doesn't mind if his mother is silly?"
Thalia shot back irritably. William didn't care, pulling down his tie with a deep smile: "Want me to send Finn over to help you deal with this?"
"No need, I can handle it myself."
"How will you handle it?"
"Does Mr. Brown look down on me?"
"Honey, you're the main investor in this production. Whether it succeeds or fails directly affects your interests. Even if you knew who did this, could you openly pursue it? Would Aaron let you openly pursue it? If this becomes news and the show flops, your investment is wasted."
"So you're saying I should just take it?" Thalia had thought about this. Between losing money and being wronged, she'd rather lose money. No one could make her swallow her pride.
"That's not necessary either. William's woman doesn't need to endure anything."
"So? What does Mr. Brown want to do?"
John was driving and didn't know what William said on the other end, but Thalia's expression instantly brightened.
"Head back to the city first."
"What about the set?" Isla was confused. Thalia got hurt and she's just leaving like this?
"Isn't Aaron there? If Aaron can't handle it, there's still Layla."
Back at the set, today was supposed to be Gregory and Thalia's wrap party. Everyone should have been happy, and by now they should be at dinner according to the schedule. But instead, everyone was getting chewed out with their heads down.
"There was a razor blade in a costume on set. Do you know what kind of impact this would have if word got out?"
"Does nobody want to work anymore? Is the entertainment industry boring you? If I find out who did this, believe me, I'll put out a notice blacklisting them in the entire industry."
Aaron was furious. Even though they hadn't found the culprit yet, everyone kept looking at Nora, as if they'd already decided in their hearts that she was the one who did it.
"What do they mean? There's no evidence—why would they think we did it?" The assistant defended Nora indignantly.
But Nora was calm, just curling her lips without responding to her assistant's words.
Why?
Wasn't it because she wasn't famous enough?
Wasn't it because she wasn't as good as Thalia?
In the entertainment industry, what matters is your status.