After Being Dumped by the Film Empress, My Acting Skills Soared - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The rural scenery along the way was stunning, looking as if someone had ground green minerals into a fine powder, mixed them with water, and scattered them haphazardly across the earth.

From their starting point to their destination was only a thirty-minute drive. However, due to the pace of the horse and ox carts, the vans had gone ahead to assign rooms, leaving a few people to follow the luggage in case of any breakdowns mid-transit.

Shao Niannian sat with her back ramrod straight, feigning indifference toward the person sitting beside her on the carriage. In reality, her fingers were frantically switching between apps on her phone—scrolling here, tapping there—unable to find a moment of peace.

Whenever Jiang Yan made the slightest movement, Niannian would instinctively glance up. Once her gaze landed on Jiang Yan, it stuck like glue, making it nearly impossible to look away. But the moment Jiang Yan tilted her head to return the look, Niannian would snap her eyes back down, cutting off any possibility of eye contact.

Once they turned onto the muddy country road, the crowds thinned to nothing. Aside from the sound of hooves hitting the path, the clearest thing Niannian could hear was the pounding of her own heart.

“The sweet soup that night was actually quite good.”

Jiang Yan was the first to succumb to the awkwardness, tossing out a topic to break the silence. “The one you ordered at the BBQ stall.”

She specifically mentioned the location, fearing Niannian might have forgotten. But Niannian, whose memory of that conversation was painfully vivid, only felt herself wilt further. Her response was lackluster, though her affection was hard to hide—cover her mouth and it leaked from her eyes; cover her eyes and her body language gave her away.

Niannian didn’t follow up.

Jiang Yan frowned slightly. From their few interactions, she could sense an inexplicable closeness coming from Niannian—yet it was a closeness wrapped in distance. It wasn’t that Jiang Yan was pushing her away; it was that Niannian had drawn a line between them herself.

Jiang Yan thought she understood why the line existed. After all, Wen Jing had been the “bridge” for their meeting. Back then, Wen Jing had whispered in Jiang Yan’s ear: “The face you made me lose, I’ll make sure you lose it back. Since you like to play, I’ll give you a well-behaved little puppy to play with.”

“Break her, and maybe if you beckon, the puppy will still run back to you with her heart in her eyes, wagging her tail.”

Jiang Yan’s expression darkened. She looked past Wen Jing at Niannian standing in the distance. You couldn’t say Niannian wasn’t beautiful; under the soft light, that green dress was radiant and made her skin look like porcelain. Unfortunately, she wasn’t Jiang Yan’s type.

With just one glance, Jiang Yan had decided she would never act in the same movie as Niannian, which meant the media’s favorite trope—”falling in love on set”—would never happen. Jiang Yan hadn’t given Wen Jing an inch of face, blunt and unyielding in her refusal to let the socialite treat people like toys, even if she still had to clean up the mess afterward.

At the time, Jiang Yan thought Wen Jing was just picking someone at random to throw a tantrum. Now, it seemed Wen Jing was serious. She wanted to use Niannian to provoke her. And the girl in front of her…

Jiang Yan took a deep breath, trying not to mentally compare the girl to the puppies she’d seen in pet shop windows. It was all Wen Jing’s fault. She could feel that Niannian wanted to be close; as for why the girl was acting cold and indifferent, only Niannian knew. Jiang Yan didn’t want innocent people caught in her feud with Wen Jing, but to protect Niannian, she needed to understand her.

Following that logic, Jiang Yan recalled what Mo Yu had said: “Her debut was with you… The Courtesans of Jinling.”

That movie remained one of Jiang Yan’s representative works. She often saw fans using stills from it for banners and support. She had a deep impression of the film, but the fact that Shao Niannian was in it genuinely surprised her. She had absolutely no memory of her. She couldn’t remember what role Niannian had played at all.

It took nearly forty minutes to reach the “new residence.” It was crudely built, to say the least. The small county where they were filming was economically underdeveloped—merely a hub for several surrounding villages centered around a marketplace. Transportation was incredibly inconvenient.

The filming location, however, perfectly matched the era of the script.

The seventy-plus crew members were divided into two self-built residential buildings. The living conditions were harsh, and the weather was currently plagued by frequent wind and rain. Looking at the aged, weathered building, Niannian thought of the script’s ending and felt a physical shiver run through her.

“Are you scared?” Wen Jing noticed her reaction. “Living in a place like this scares me too. Why don’t you share a room with me?”

Jiang Yan wasn’t far away. Seeing Wen Jing talking to Niannian again, she moved to step in and interrupt, but Wen Jing whispered a few more words into Niannian’s ear. Niannian nodded obediently and followed Wen Jing upstairs.

Jiang Yan narrowed her eyes and jerked her chin toward their disappearing backs, signaling Mo Yu.

“I can’t control Wen Jing,” Mo Yu said flatly. “Her mother is the lead investor. Both mother and daughter are my bosses. As long as she doesn’t ruin my shoot, I’m looking the other way.”

“As for you…” Mo Yu turned to Jiang Yan, curious. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit too anxious? Wen Jing isn’t the first person to try this kind of tactic on you. Others have tried to threaten you with leverage before and failed. Why are you scared of Miss Wen?”

Jiang Yan pursed her lips and shot Mo Yu a look, meeting the director’s gossiping eyes. She silently cursed herself: How could I ever hope for help from someone who just wants to watch the show?

“Forget I asked.” Jiang Yan followed after the two girls, choosing a room nearby. She told the staff to put Mo Yu’s luggage in the same room. When it came to messing with friends, Jiang Yan never showed mercy.

Sharing a room with Wen Jing was something Shao Niannian wouldn’t have dared to imagine in the past. But seeing Wen Jing’s assistant skillfully start scrubbing the room with a bucket and rag, Niannian couldn’t just sit there. She took off her coat, rolled up her sleeves, and joined in.

“Sister Niannian, just find a spot to sit. This is easy, I can handle it,” the assistant said earnestly. The girl had a round, “apple” face—chubby but cute, with a blunt, hardworking energy.

Compared to Wen Jing’s calculated proximity, Niannian much preferred the assistant. She waved her off. “It’s fine, I know how to do this. With two of us, it’ll be faster, and then you can go rest too.”

“Then… thank you, Sister Niannian.” The assistant worked efficiently, wiping the furniture twice and even pulling a full set of tools from a heavy suitcase to sanitize the bed Wen Jing would use.

She even helped Niannian change her bedding. “I only brought one new set for Sister Jing, but these covers and pillowcases are fresh. I couldn’t change the mattress pad or duvet, so if you mind, Sister Niannian, I can go buy a set for you.”

Wen Jing sat on a stool, not even looking up. The young mistress was clearly used to being waited on. The sound of a mobile game echoed in the small room.

Shao Niannian suddenly felt she had made a mistake. She and Wen Jing were not the same kind of people. Why had she bitten the hook just because Wen Jing used Jiang Yan as bait? Now she was trapped, her lip pierced.

“No, this is already great,” Niannian refused quickly.

Looking around this room—which looked like a motel but wasn’t quite—she felt a strange sense of déjà vu. How long had it been since she’d lived in a place like this? Memories she thought she’d long since discarded were still there. They weren’t gone; she just hadn’t remembered them.

Standing with one hand on her hip and a broom in the other, Niannian felt a strange sense of calm. It’s fine. I’ve survived environments like this before.