After Being Dumped by the Film Empress, My Acting Skills Soared - Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Jiang Yan didn’t want to get into a tangle with a drunkard, but the person holding the glass wouldn’t listen. Niannian stared at her with bright, unblinking eyes, the desperate anticipation in her gaze making Jiang Yan’s resolve to just brush her off waver.

Like coaxing a child, Jiang Yan told Niannian to close her eyes. In reality, she just used her fingers to shield the rim of the glass, letting it lightly touch Niannian’s lips while pressing her palm over the girl’s eyes—worried the drunkard might suddenly snap awake and regain her senses.

After drinking the water, Niannian finally calmed down. Exhausted, she leaned her head against Jiang Yan’s shoulder like a puppy tired from play, her cheek rubbing softly against the fabric.

Fortunately, the makeup artist had been subtle today; the light, breathable makeup didn’t leave any residue on Jiang Yan’s shoulder.

But just as Jiang Yan breathed a sigh of relief and tried to shift the weight so Niannian could lie properly on the sofa, the peace shattered.

The “well-behaved” facade vanished. Niannian’s gaze was still hazy, but her slender, beautiful fingers reached up to touch Jiang Yan’s earlobe. Her fingertips toyed with the dangling silver butterfly earring. She wasn’t pulling, but Jiang Yan instinctively held her breath.

She was terrified the drunkard might lose her grip on reality and accidentally yank it off.

“This is pretty…”

“Yes, it’s pretty,” Jiang Yan coaxed, matching Niannian’s tone. She raised her hand to steady Niannian’s arm, stealthily trying to adjust her posture to move her from her lap to the cushions.

The moment she moved, Niannian—who was straddling Jiang Yan’s lap—snapped her head up. Her free elbow pressed lightly against Jiang Yan’s collarbone, while her other hand stayed fixed on the butterfly earring. “What are you doing! We’re still outside, you can’t mess around!”

“…”

Jiang Yan took a deep breath, resigned to her fate. She gently moved the arm pressing into her collarbone. “Alright. Tell me, what do you want to do now?”

“The earring. It’s pretty.”

Niannian hooked her finger through the butterfly that was swaying slightly in the air, repeating her statement with dead seriousness.

Only then did Jiang Yan notice Niannian’s own ears. She offered a hesitant compliment: “Thank you. Yours are very beautiful too.”

But the person sitting on her lap had no intention of stopping there. Receiving a compliment didn’t seem to bring her much joy.

Jiang Yan was puzzled, but she knew she couldn’t waste more time. Although she knew most of the people outside and didn’t need to suck up to socialites, she was the brand spokesperson; it really wouldn’t look good if she spent the entire night in a lounge doing nothing.

So, Jiang Yan just gave up. She relaxed her neck, leaning back against the soft sofa cushions and raised an eyebrow at the drunk Niannian. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”

“When you’re done, you sleep here. I’ll come back to get you later.”

Jiang Yan couldn’t fathom a drunkard’s logic, but Niannian reacted instantly. Her hand on Jiang Yan’s ear moved like a well-oiled machine. She unfastened the butterfly earring—specially chosen by the stylist—and forced Jiang Yan’s hand up, pressing the earring into her palm.

Niannian paused for a moment as if her consciousness had briefly glitched, then dazedly unfastened the earring from her own ear.

“Exchange.”

“Exchange?” Jiang Yan looked at the diamond earring in her palm, stuck between laughter and tears. “If you do this, don’t cry later when the studio tries to take promotional photos.”

“Put it on!”

The drunk girl was beyond reason. She focused entirely on putting on the swapped earring. Once it was in, she seemed to run out of batteries. Like a machine losing power, she furrowed her brow, leaned against Jiang Yan’s shoulder, and fell fast asleep.

She didn’t even give Jiang Yan time to react.

“You’ve got quite a temper. If things don’t go your way, you bite or sulk. Were you a puppy in your past life?”

Jiang Yan grumbled, but her hands were honest. She put the earring Niannian gave her into her earlobe. Suddenly, the other side with the butterfly felt much heavier—after all, it had far more diamonds than the single stud.

After settling Niannian, Jiang Yan crouched by the side of the sofa. Looking at the person who had caused her so much trouble, she couldn’t resist taking out her phone and snapping a few photos of Niannian’s sleeping face, her cheeks squished and lips slightly pouted.

She originally intended to send them to Gao Hui as “evidence.” She knew Niannian was here as the spokesperson for a law firm. But even after selecting the photos and hovering over the “Original” button, Jiang Yan found herself hesitating.

A moment later, Jiang Yan tidied her gown, returning to her initial elegant state. As she walked out of the room, she beckoned a staff member.

“Watch this room. Don’t let anyone in except me.” Worried Niannian might wake up disoriented and get into trouble, she instructed the waiter to check on her periodically. “If anything happens, call me immediately. I’ll be in the hall.”

The waiter nodded. Such requests were common at these banquets and not at all excessive. Standing by a door or running around the hall paid the same, anyway.

Jiang Yan then sent a WeChat to Gao Hui. It was a single, cold line—so devoid of punctuation and full of empty spaces that it looked like machine-generated text.

“Lounge Room 1. Drunk. Pick her up after the banquet. You decide on the rest.”

Not a single one of the candid photos was sent.

Gao Hui sighed and rephrased the message to send to Niannian’s mother and Li Yuan. She was still a while away, and even though Niannian was an adult, her parents needed to know. Gao Hui muttered as she typed, “Managing Shao Niannian is no different from managing a toddler.”

Easy, mostly worry-free, with occasional bouts of rebellion—but nothing major. Most importantly, Niannian was terrified of her mother. Even if she didn’t listen to Gao Hui, she wouldn’t dare cross Mrs. Shao.

Inside the hall, the banquet had begun. Li Yuan finished his pleasantries but couldn’t find Niannian. He panicked for a second until he saw Gao Hui’s message. Before he could head to Room 1, he was intercepted by acquaintances again, and ultimately couldn’t make it to the lounge.

Li Yuan wasn’t the only one worried.

Jiang Yan was too. She rarely spaced out at events, but tonight, her friend Mina noticed she had failed to pick up the conversation sixteen times. Mina watched the drama with interest, sipping a glass of milk. She was far more interested in how Shao Niannian had managed to make Jiang Yan lose her professional edge so quickly.

Fortunately, the business partners noticed Jiang Yan was distracted and didn’t force her to follow them around like a mascot. They waved her off to go stand elsewhere. Jiang Yan, knowing she wasn’t in top form, let her expression turn cold. Several minor starlets who wanted to approach her took one look at her face and immediately backed off.

Mina, dodging her own duties and unable to drink because of her period, leaned against a cushioned railing with her warm milk. As Jiang Yan approached, Mina calmly moved aside to make room.

“What’s the matter? You seem off tonight. Didn’t sleep well?”

“No.” Jiang Yan’s eyes flickered toward Lounge Room 1. The staff member was indeed doing as told, checking in on Niannian.

“Oh, not sleep…” Mina chuckled. “Then it’s because of Shao Niannian.”

Jiang Yan remained silent.

“Honestly, I can’t figure out what you’re thinking,” Mina sighed. “Most of the time, no one can see through you. When we were deskmates, you didn’t seem like the type to be a ‘player’.”

Mina and Jiang Yan had been classmates from primary school through high school at Sanyun. Sanyun was an elite school; most kids were heirs to family fortunes. Except for a few local scholarship spots, everyone was wealthy and beautiful.

Jiang Yan had always been the center of attention. Compared to Mina, the “commoner” student who stayed on the sidelines to watch the fun, Jiang Yan was beloved by all. She had received love letters and snacks since primary school. But back then, Jiang Yan was polite to everyone yet distant from all. Even Mina sometimes felt they weren’t close friends, just two people drifting through school life together.

Yet Jiang Yan was different with her. Mina decided to ask directly.

“Was it that you hid it too well back then, or did you really change? In the ten years we spent as deskmates, I thought you were someone without desires. No matter what happened, everything seemed repetitive, the same, and boring to you.”

“Like nothing in this world could attract you enough to want to live. Like a kite with a snapped string—if someone didn’t catch you, you’d just drift away.”

Mina pinpointed a specific moment.

“But after you went to film that movie during your boredom the summer you were eighteen, you changed.”

“A touch of ‘human’ warmth appeared in your eyes. It was as if something in this world finally made you want to stay.”

It was from that moment on that Jiang Yan gradually became the person Mina no longer recognized.