After Being Dumped by the Film Empress, My Acting Skills Soared - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Gao Hui: Niannian, what is going on? Didn’t I tell the organizers to seat you two in similar spots? Why is she sitting so far forward by herself?

Huo Lülü (stuck on a level of Candy Crush, completely confused): Huh? Didn’t you arrange it? Wen Jing brought Niannian up in front of me before the red carpet. When it was time to sit, an usher just led her straight to the front.

Huo Lülü: I thought you had signed Wen Jing and had her look after Niannian.

Gao Hui, who had already sped back to the office, was nearly killed by the rage induced by Huo Lülü’s text. She had to pinch her own philtrum—a DIY pressure point resuscitation—just to stay conscious.

Gao Hui: Is that thing on top of your neck just for decoration?

Gao Hui: Do you have any idea what Wen Jing’s market value is right now? You think I can just “sign her” whenever I want? What kind of track record do I have to offer her? “Oh, my artists can reach Master rank in a month; come to our company and I guarantee you’ll be obscure enough to rot in the dirt”?

Gao Hui: Are your brains just ornaments? I am truly going to be angered to death by you two.

Seeing the situation turning south, Huo Lülü promptly “played dead” and fled the conversation, leaving Gao Hui to vent her fury into the void of the chat. She even treated Gao Hui to the “VIP Blacklist Service.”

The banquet ended quickly. Marginal artists like Shao Niannian and Huo Lülü didn’t get invites to the exclusive PQ after-parties. After listening to the leadership drone on from the stage, the two of them waited together backstage for Gao Hui to pick them up.

Huo Lülü’s mobile game hadn’t stopped for a second. While waiting, she asked: “Are you and Wen Jing close? You’ve got several trending topics on Weibo. Sister Hui messaged me to ask, but I didn’t know anything, so I didn’t dare say much. You’ll have to explain it to her yourself later.”

“I know.” Shao Niannian shivered in the night wind, instinctively tucking her neck in. Her body was cold, but her heart was glowing. Just thinking about her interaction with Jiang Yan made her unable to hide the grin on her face. She actually let out a small, unconscious giggle.

Huo Lülü: “?” Has this kid gone crazy?

“Why isn’t Sister Hui here yet? If I’d known, I wouldn’t have come out to wait; it’s freezing out here.” Huo Lülü wrapped her arms around herself, trying to block the wind from her exposed skin while still fiddling with her phone.

Shao Niannian huddled up as well. “Given the atmosphere in that room, if we stayed, we’d definitely have to play the social game and network. Would you go, or would I?”

“…” Huo Lülü clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “This vanity fair is such a hassle. Can’t everyone just sit down quietly, play a round of Honor of Kings, and wait for their agents? Why the constant competition? It’s meaningless.”

“It’s only meaningless to you.” Shao Niannian smoothed her hair. The wind was picking up, and though minivans were passing by constantly, there was no sign of the one Gao Hui drove. “Countless people would kill for a chance to even step into this vanity fair.”

“Why don’t we stand back a bit?” Huo Lülü suggested, lifting her skirt. “My dress at least has a lining. Yours is all tulle. It’s like wearing nothing in this wind. Don’t you feel frozen?”

Shao Niannian shivered, gritting her teeth. It would be a miracle if I wasn’t frozen.

Shao Niannian had Lülü ask Gao Hui where she was; the reply was “Three minutes, almost there.” Calculating the time, they figured by the time they walked back inside, they’d have to come right back out, so they decided to just tough it out.

The two of them huddled together, hoping Lülü standing in front could block a small portion of the wind. While her body was cold and the night was filled with passing headlights, Shao Niannian’s mind was circling the relationship between Jiang Yan and Wen Jing.

The connection between Wen Jing and Jiang Yan was definitely more than just co-stars or magazine partners. Their relationship far exceeded that of normal coworkers. But if you wanted Shao Niannian to agree with the media’s speculation—that Wen Jing and Jiang Yan were a couple…

That was absolutely impossible.

She was a Jiang Yan “solo-stan”; how could she stab herself in the heart like that? Even if Jiang Yan was an actress, in Shao Niannian’s heart, she was the untouchable “White Moonlight.” But if you forced her to lie… well, she couldn’t ignore the evidence either. She settled on a compromise: They are “developing.” Forever developing.

As Shao Niannian was dodging the wind, a warm coat was suddenly draped over her shoulders. The biting cold vanished instantly.

Startled, she clutched her phone and spun around, thinking Gao Hui had arrived with an assistant. Instead, she saw a complete stranger.

“You…”

Neither she nor Lülü recognized the woman. Shao Niannian grabbed the coat, intending to hand it back, but before she could move, her eyes caught sight of a group of people emerging from the hall. In the center was Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan happened to look her way. Their eyes met, and Jiang Yan nodded with a smile, pointing at the coat on Shao Niannian and silently mouthing words.

At that moment, the stranger explained her presence. She was Jiang Yan’s assistant. Seeing the two of them shivering, Jiang Yan had instructed her to bring over two coats. Having delivered the message, the assistant didn’t linger; she pulled down her cap and ran to catch up with the main group.

Huo Lülü draped her own coat over herself. It still held the warmth of the heated room and a faint scent of jasmine perfume. “A Best Actress truly is a Best Actress. She’s thorough in both her acting and her conduct.”

“Since when did you get so close to Jiang Yan and Wen Jing?” Lülü nudged her. “Niannian, I didn’t see this coming! The New Year just ended and you’re already caught up in Sister Hui’s big plans? Getting ready to break into the A-list today?”

Shao Niannian ignored the “A-list” comment and pulled the coat tighter. “We’re not close. It was purely an apology.”

“An apology?” Lülü’s eyes sparked with the light of a gossip-seeker.

Unfortunately, Shao Niannian wasn’t one to offer her private life as conversation fodder. She stood there silently, with no intention of elaborating. Lülü, being a smart girl, went back to her phone.

“The car’s here. Let’s go.”

Shao Niannian and Huo Lülü climbed into the car. Gao Hui sat in the front, clearly bursting with questions for Shao Niannian but wary of Lülü and the driver.

The four of them maintained a tense silence until they arrived. Once Gao Hui and Shao Niannian hopped out, Gao Hui finally unleashed a barrage of words, desperate for a play-by-play of everything that had happened after she left.

However, just as Gao Hui tried to follow her into the house, Shao Niannian slammed the door shut with a loud thud.

A second later, Gao Hui received a 200-yuan red envelope on WeChat. [Message]: Take a taxi home, haha. If there’s nothing else, just pick me up next week for the “Mute Girl” audition.

Outside was a fuming Gao Hui; inside was Shao Niannian, kicking off her heels and collapsing onto the floor in her gown. The tile floor was covered with a plush carpet for the winter, so it wasn’t cold.

Her Ragdoll cat trotted over from its bed, meowing daintily. Shao Niannian rolled over, pulled the “disobedient daughter” into her arms, and buried her face in the cat’s long fur.

Suddenly, Shao Niannian couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Baby! Mommy talked to her idol!”

“Mommy… talked… to Jiang Yan!”

The Ragdoll cat, held in a tight embrace, meowed and struggled, its paws padding against Shao Niannian’s cheek. It didn’t use much force, keeping its claws retracted for fear of hurting her.