After Being Dumped by the Film Empress, My Acting Skills Soared - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Xixi’s presence had, to some extent, softened the relationship between Wen Jing and Jiang Yan—not that they were ever truly at each other’s throats. Wen Jing delighted in watching Jiang Yan get snubbed by Xixi, while Jiang Yan viewed the child as a “buffer zone” between herself and Shao Niannian. The two women tested each other’s boundaries, but because of Xixi, they grew undeniably closer.

Xixi remained jealous of Jiang Yan, finding her “weird” and quite different from the easy-going persona she presented to the world. When she shared these feelings with Niannian, Niannian dismissed them as childish nonsense. Pointing to a dessert Jiang Yan had specially bought, Niannian said, “But Sister Jiang Yan cares about you, Xixi. She worries about you. That’s not just on the surface. We can all feel it, can’t we?”

Xixi opened her mouth to argue, “But…” but before she could finish, a piece of sweet cake was stuffed into her mouth. She instinctively closed her lips around the delicious cream, terrified that such a delicacy might fall out.

“Am I not good to you?” Jiang Yan, who had been standing a short distance away, suddenly drifted over. After feeding the cake to Xixi, she took the girl—who had noticeably put on weight—from Niannian’s arms.

During the hand-off, Jiang Yan’s fingertips accidentally brushed against Niannian’s palm. Like a spark hitting dry tinder, Niannian retracted her hand as if electrocuted. Fortunately, Jiang Yan was quick-witted and caught Xixi firmly; otherwise, the poor girl would have slipped.

Realizing what happened, Niannian reached out to help, but in the confusion, she grabbed the wrong person. Instead of catching Xixi, she pulled Jiang Yan toward her. Due to the stumble, the distance between them closed to a hair’s breadth.

Niannian’s breathing slowed as she hurriedly lowered her gaze. She released her grip as if Jiang Yan’s arm were burning hot and coughed into her hand, feigning composure. “Xixi, are you okay?”

Xixi, caught and “kneaded” between the two: “…”

“I’m a child, yes, but could you please stop acting like I’m invisible?” Xixi made a face. Her stomach, full of cake, felt sour and uncomfortable from being jostled around.

Jiang Yan picked Xixi up and moved away, worried that if the child kept talking, Niannian would turn beet-red. Jiang Yan loved seeing Niannian blush, but she didn’t want anyone else to witness it.

The sight of the adult and child playing was prominent on set, drawing the attention of the crew. Some whispered among themselves.

“When Best Actress Jiang has her own kid, I bet they’ll act just like this. She seems quite patient; being her daughter would be pretty happy!”

The person next to her nudged her with an elbow and whispered, “Are you an idiot? Jiang Yan is a famous ‘woman-killer’; she doesn’t like men at all. She changes girlfriends faster than clothes. Instead of wondering about her kids, you should wonder who her future wife will be.”

“Huh? Does she have a lot of girlfriends?” The first person, clearly not one for celebrity gossip, looked confused.

“Not many…” the second person rolled her eyes. “Maybe seven, eight, nine, or ten. If she had a kid with every girl she dated, we’d be living in a world of Calabash Brothers by now.”

Jiang Yan took Xixi to the side of a pond. Once the girl had settled, Jiang Yan let her stand on the edge. After confirming they were alone, she spoke seriously.

“Have you really memorized how to play the scene? You can’t let anything slip, okay?”

“If you want to see Sister Niannian again, and if you want to go to school and learn to read, your fate is decided this afternoon. If we succeed, you’ll have a new family—a real father, a gentle mother, and the chance to get an education.”

The childish innocence vanished from Xixi’s face, replaced by a coldness and maturity far beyond her years. She understood everything Jiang Yan was saying. For many days now, her worries hadn’t been about the plan itself.

She let Jiang Yan help straighten her clothes. As Jiang Yan leaned in to whisper instructions on when to show certain expressions—cautioning her not to let anger or fear expose their true intent—Xixi looked at Niannian in the distance, who was drinking water.

“Are you sure I’ll see Sister Niannian again?” Xixi asked for the umpteenth time. “Will my new parents hate me? Will they want to throw me away like everyone else?”

“I swear, I will make sure you see Shao Niannian. And they won’t abandon you,” Jiang Yan said, a rare flicker of pity in her heart. “But ‘hate’ or ‘not hate’ is too broad a definition for me to answer. What I can guarantee is that you will be the only child in that house. Given their personalities, as long as you aren’t completely lawless, they won’t get tired of you.”

Jiang Yan kept half of her thoughts to herself as she helped Xixi down from the ledge. The girl tugged on her pant leg and looked up. “Are we really not telling Sister Niannian? She’ll be so sad if she thinks I’ve been kidnapped.”

“The more people who know, the more dangerous it is…” Jiang Yan hushed her. “And what we’re doing isn’t… strictly ‘correct.’ If we accidentally involve others, it will implicate them.”

Not really, Jiang Yan thought. With her resources and the meticulously planned details, there was no chance of that.

So why wasn’t she telling Niannian?

Jiang Yan had a suspicion, but she didn’t want to admit it—she was jealous of how much Niannian cared for Xixi. If she separated them, she would be the only one left in the crew to monopolize Niannian’s attention.

But she wouldn’t say that to Xixi. Children were too unpredictable; what if she refused to go?

The afternoon scenes were part of the film’s climax, and Niannian’s performance was reaching its peak. Teacher Chen from the National Film Academy had finished her scenes long ago but remained with the crew to mentor Wen Jing and Niannian.

As she put it: “Since I said I would teach you well, I’m staying until the job is done. How can a teacher leave while her student is still filming?”

Teacher Chen nodded at Niannian’s progress. “Compared to the beginning, your current performance could be used as a classroom example for this character type. You’re a graduate of the Academy too, right?”

Niannian nodded. “Yes, I was four years behind Jiang Yan. I repeated my senior year of high school once.”

“Good, good,” Teacher Chen said happily. “I was just telling Jiang Yan that she should come back to the Academy to give a guest lecture to the younger students. You two should come together.”

Niannian immediately waved her hands. “No, no, I couldn’t. Teacher, with my acting skills, I shouldn’t go and lead them astray. I think they’d just laugh if they saw me teaching a class…”

“Nonsense!” Wen Jing didn’t miss the chance to push Niannian and Jiang Yan together. She pressed Niannian’s hand down and chimed in, “I think it’s a great idea! Jiang Yan going back is a bit discouraging for the students since she’s a ‘genius’—she has no relatability. You, on the other hand, are the perfect ‘inspirational’ example! Show them that with hard work and heart, anyone can shine.”

Niannian smiled awkwardly, unable to refuse Teacher Chen’s invitation. However, Niannian wasn’t a pushover either. She reached out and dragged Wen Jing—who was secretly gloating—into the mess.

“Since we’re going, all three of us should go,” Niannian said with a forced smile, gripping Wen Jing’s arm tightly. “It can be the first stop for promoting our movie.”

Before Niannian could wonder why Wen Jing was being so “helpful,” a commotion broke out among the staff.

“Di-di-director! It’s bad! Xixi… Xixi is missing!” A staff member ran over, drenched in sweat and barely able to speak, clutching a smashed phone. “We were playing nearby… Xiao Jia and I were filming a video of her. But when we finished picking the background music and looked up, she was gone!”

“Did you hear anything?” Mo Yu stood up, her face pale. “Xixi is very vigilant. She wouldn’t just wander off. She must have been taken!”

Mo Yu immediately ordered everyone to check the footage from the cameras on set to see if they caught the direction she went. Since the town had no government surveillance cameras, calling the police wouldn’t provide immediate footage.

Niannian’s ears buzzed. She couldn’t hear a word of what was being said around her. The world felt like it was spinning. For the first time, she understood the script’s description of “being stuffed into a vacuum-sealed jar, unable to breathe, pain radiating through the body as emotion and flesh separate into two different things.”

If Wen Jing hadn’t supported her, Niannian would have collapsed.

In the next moment, she was pulled into a warmer embrace. It smelled faintly of gardenia, heated by a body’s natural warmth. Niannian’s vision was blurry; the ringing in her ears was so loud her head ached.

“Don’t be afraid. She probably just wandered off while playing. we’ll find her,” Jiang Yan said, naturally taking Niannian from Wen Jing. Jiang Yan said nothing to Wen Jing’s searching gaze.

A child going missing on a film set was a PR nightmare. Irrational netizens wouldn’t care about the facts—they would tear the crew apart. Mo Yu had been through it before, but the staff and actors would be caught in the crossfire. She could already see the “Internet mob” photoshopping funeral portraits and sending wreaths.

Mo Yu didn’t dare take it lightly. She had the assistant director call the police and organized the crew into two groups: one to pack up the equipment and the other to search for Xixi.

Niannian and Jiang Yan formed their own group. In Niannian’s current state, she wouldn’t listen to anyone but Jiang Yan anyway.

Every step Niannian took felt like walking on air—there was no sense of reality, as if she were stepping into cotton. Her legs were weak; if she used even a little force, she stumbled. Fortunately, Jiang Yan was there to hold her up.

“You have to calm down,” Jiang Yan said, her voice steady and warm. “If you can’t stay calm, how can we find her? You’re scared, but she’s more scared than you.”

Niannian was wearing a thin dress—her costume. Out of terror and extreme worry, she was shaking. She instinctively leaned into Jiang Yan’s warmth. Jiang Yan took off her jacket and draped it over Niannian’s shoulders, pulling it tight. She took a flashlight from a staff member and said, “Don’t be afraid. We will find her. Believe in everyone, and believe in Xixi. She’s a clever girl; she won’t let anything happen to her.”

After about ten minutes of searching, Niannian’s brain finally started to function. She suddenly thought of a key person: Xixi’s father, Tang You. This thought was like a lifeline to a drowning person.

“I… I might know where she is,” Niannian whispered, her voice trembling as she gripped Jiang Yan’s clothes.

Jiang Yan and Niannian split from the search party and asked for directions to Tang You’s house. Along the way, many locals learned of the disappearance. Naturally, they pointed the finger at Tang You. After giving directions, several neighbors followed behind the two women.

Jiang Yan stood beside Niannian, catching the crowd out of the corner of her eye. She felt a surge of relief that she had changed the “transaction” location to the middle school instead of Tang You’s home. The school was one of the few places with high-definition, dead-zone-free cameras—cameras Jiang Yan had personally ensured were installed as a “gift” for Tang You’s future.

The crowd reached Tang You’s house, but no one answered the pounding on the door. Finally, a neighbor opened their door and barked, “What are you doing? Why are you knocking so loud? Is it the end of the world?”

“Is Tang You home?”

“No,” the neighbor snapped. “He’s been making a racket lately like he’s dying. He left early this morning and hasn’t come back. If you’re looking for him, you’ll be waiting a long time!”

“He hasn’t been home all day?”

“Where else would he go? Probably under the bridge playing cards and drinking with his low-life friends. God knows how he has the heart to keep gambling with all the debt he has.”

“Xixi is missing! That bastard must have taken her! He wanted to trade her for money!”

The surrounding murmurs made Niannian even paler. She couldn’t imagine what kind of life Xixi would face if she were truly sold. The noise and tension made it impossible for her to think clearly. If she had been thinking straight, she would have noticed Jiang Yan was far too calm. The tension Jiang Yan showed was a performance for the crowd, and Niannian—who had studied Jiang Yan’s acting a thousand times—should have been the first to see the cracks.

But care breeds chaos.

Jiang Yan’s phone buzzed with a message from an “accomplice”—a photo.

— “I’ve picked up my daughter~ She’s very cute, and there’s a little dog too. Thank you. I’ll treat you to dinner next time.”

Jiang Yan’s lips curved slightly. The fish was in the net. Then, a message from Mo Yu: “The police caught the person who took Xixi. Where are you? Come back quickly.”

She grabbed Niannian’s hand. The palm was damp and cold; the girl was truly terrified. Jiang Yan helped straighten Niannian’s messy makeup, staring at her dry, red lips for a moment before forcing herself to look away.

“Let’s go back. The kidnapper has been caught.”

Niannian didn’t care about the proximity; she grabbed Jiang Yan’s arms. “Where is Xixi?”

Jiang Yan lowered her eyes and didn’t answer.