Chapter 74: Schemes

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Schemes

Lynn Miller said Renee Morgan could identify wild vegetables because she often went into the fields with her grandma to pick them as a child. She’s very likely to have grown up in the countryside—her family background must be pretty average.

Wendy Aldridge had seen plenty of poor rural girls whose parents emptied their savings for them to enroll in all kinds of art classes, and in the end, bankrupted themselves just to get their daughters into art college.

These girls generally lack affection, are extremely materialistic, and start doing all sorts of part-time jobs while still in school; they date all kinds of men, looking glamorous on the surface, but behind the scenes it’s as messy as you can imagine.

"Oh." Renee Morgan still kept that indifferent expression, no emotion visible.

Wendy Aldridge knew Renee was deep-minded and didn’t want to show any weakness, so she just smiled quietly. She didn’t mean anything else—it was just to remind Renee of the gap between them.

The class divide is a massive chasm; no matter how hard Renee Morgan tries, she’ll never surpass her.

Wendy Aldridge smiled and said, "Why don’t you teach me how to climb trees later?"

Renee Morgan glanced at her, not sure what Wendy was up to. After all this time together, she had some sense of Wendy’s nature: she looked gentle, but was actually highly purposeful. She fawned over Zara Chapman because Zara was a senior, had resources and connections. She got close to Renee because they were both newcomers to the acting world—Wendy could use her to set off her own persona, get noticed on the show. Put simply, she saw Renee as a stepping stone.

"Alright." Renee Morgan didn’t know what Wendy wanted, but agreed for now. If Wendy dared to scheme against her, she wouldn’t let her off easy.

Wendy Aldridge was as happy as a little kid, her face blooming with a sweet smile: "Wow, that’s great! Let’s pick more wild apples this time..."

"What wild apples?" Suddenly someone popped out from the bushes beside them, voice booming and startling them both.

Renee Morgan saw it was Kyle Beckett and asked, confused, "Why were you hiding in the bushes? Aren’t you itchy?"

Kyle Beckett grinned, "There was nowhere else to walk, just bushes everywhere. Saw some people over here, so I pushed through to this side. Anyway, you guys were talking about wild apples—did you find something to eat?"

Renee Morgan turned to Wendy Aldridge: "They found an apple tree. We were just about to head over."

Wendy spotted Kyle and frowned, suddenly not so pleased. This opportunity was once in a lifetime—if Renee really fell in, she’d be eliminated for sure. If things got worse, she might even die...

Wendy looked at this unexpected troublemaker and forced a smile: "Yeah, it’s right up ahead. By the way, can you climb trees?"

Climb trees?

Kyle Beckett couldn’t remember if he ever had, and said, a bit uncertainly: "I probably can’t..."

Wendy Aldridge quietly breathed a sigh of relief and replied, pretending to be casual: "Then better let Renee do it later—she’s got more experience."

Kyle Beckett, ever chatty, looked at Renee Morgan: "Morgan, did you use to climb trees a lot as a kid?"

Renee grew up in the south; her family had a fair bit of farmland and hills. They didn’t plant rice like others in the village, but grew all kinds of vegetables. Whenever the veggies were ripe, her grandma would take them to the city to share among families. As for the hills, those were planted with fruit trees—anything you could think of: lychee, longan, olives... Every harvest, they’d go home and help grandma collect the fruit. So climbing trees was never a problem.

Renee Morgan nodded, adding, "We have lots of orchards back home."

Wendy Aldridge scoffed, laughing but saying nothing.

Kyle Beckett stared enviously: "We don’t have anything like that—we have to buy all our fruit."

"When we get back home, I definitely want to check out your family’s orchards, hehe."

Renee Morgan knew he meant nothing by it—just pure friendliness between friends. She smiled and nodded, "Actually, I haven’t been back for a long time myself."

After graduation, with endless trivial stuff—signing with a company, hustling to drama sets—even though she only played small roles, extras, it still took up a lot of time, so gradually she just didn’t have the chance to go home.

And after those dream sequence events, Renee always felt like the last time she went home was a whole lifetime ago.

Wendy Aldridge saw the nostalgia on Renee’s face and sneered inwardly. She’d never seen anyone come from the countryside who still longed to return. Renee’s expression was just for the cameras—a performance.

The three quickly reached the spot. Zara Chapman was sitting under the tree, already losing patience. But she couldn’t climb—those fruit trees were too tall, and if she tried, she could easily fall and get hurt. As a female artist, she was extra careful about her own safety.

Seeing Wendy arrive with Renee and Kyle, Zara raised her chin: "You finally made it. Any later and it’ll be dark."

Kyle’s attention wasn’t on her, but on the bright red apple tree not far away. Confirming they really were apples, he swallowed hard.

Wendy blocked his way: "You don’t have tree-climbing experience, so let Renee pick them. If you fell, what then?"

Kyle glanced at Wendy’s gentle face, feeling a bit baffled. He was a guy—guys are born knowing how to climb trees, aren’t they?

But he knew women could be tough to deal with, so he nodded in agreement. Seeing Wendy and Zara talking, he darted out and shouted, "I’m Sun Wukong—here I come!"

Wendy cursed under her breath and whirled around—Kyle was already sinking into the mud trap. She looked as if she’d just realized the ground was a quagmire, covering her mouth in fright and screaming.

Renee Morgan saw Kyle sinking fast. He was so panicked he couldn’t even shout, just kept struggling upwards, but the more he struggled, the deeper he sank. His feet were already submerged up to his knees and he couldn’t pull them free. All he could do was watch as his body slipped deeper and deeper—his eyes were filled with despair. Even people watching online could feel it through their screens.

[This is terrifying—the ground in front of the apple tree is actually a swamp. Kyle might never get out, right?]

[Quick, Kai-Kai! Blow your emergency survival whistle!!]

[Too late—even if he whistles now, rescue won’t make it in time. He’ll be completely trapped by then.]

Kyle Beckett jolted as if coming back from the dead, grabbed the whistle from around his neck, and blew the emergency survival whistle.

In the blink of an eye, the mud had reached his waist, creeping toward his chest. Once it covered his mouth and nose, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Renee Morgan rushed forward, only to realize Kyle had jumped right into the middle of the mud trap. She couldn’t even reach out to grab him. ℴ

In a panic, Renee remembered there was a hooked rope in her tool kit. She quickly dumped out her backpack, pulled out the rope, and tossed it toward Kyle.

"Kyle, grab the rope!" Renee shouted.

Her aim was perfect; the rope smacked right onto Kyle’s face, and he quickly grabbed hold.