After Being Dumped by the Film Empress, My Acting Skills Soared - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Shao Niannian sat in the corner, her laptop screen split between the script and the reference template Mo Yu had provided. She was meticulously revising her work, bit by bit.

The BBQ stall was a classic “sparrow” shop—small but fully equipped. Most of the people coming and going were locals from the neighborhood, many of whom looked familiar to her.

Oddly enough, the noisier the environment, the better Shao Niannian could focus. In this regard, she was quite different from others. Ever since her school days, she had loved a bustling atmosphere; the livelier, the better. She didn’t even need to participate; simply sitting in the middle of the chaos was enough to make her happy.

Shao Niannian always felt she was a bit of an oddball, and Gao Hui agreed. When looking for a place to live, there had been a much better option—more private, more secure, with better facilities. But Shao Niannian had dragged Gao Hui along, following Baidu Maps through winding alleys until they stood before this BBQ stall that was just getting ready for business.

Back then, Shao Niannian had skillfully picked out food for both of them, ignoring the fact that she was wearing expensive designer clothes provided by a sponsor. She sat on a plastic stool under the dim lights, unbothered by potential grease stains.

Gao Hui had tried to convince her that the other place was safer, but Shao Niannian was already enchanted. Her frayed nerves, taut from a long day, seemed to settle back into the human world along with the smell of charcoal and the rowdy chatter. Twirling a pair of disposable chopsticks, she had said seriously, “I don’t see anything wrong with it. Let’s stay here. Noisy and messy—that’s what life is supposed to look like.”

Gao Hui couldn’t win the argument, especially since she signed Huo Lülü shortly after. Lülü chose the same area, so the two of them had each other for company. Gao Hui eventually gave up on persuading them and focused instead on pushing her “little ancestors” to make money, figuring that once they were rich enough, they’d naturally lose interest in this “earthly fire and smoke.”

 The spot Shao Niannian chose was dark and secluded. A single yellowish bulb hung overhead like a useless ornament, barely reaching her. The light from the laptop screen hit her face directly, making her look deathly pale—so much so that it actually startled passersby. No one dared to share a table with her.

Shao Niannian didn’t care. It was a minor thing.

This corner was tucked away, but those who lived here long enough could find it just by following the scent of food. The BBQ stall, the rice noodle shop… even the sweet smell of corn boiled in milk in the morning would drift toward the bus station. The first sound in the alley was always footsteps, followed by the birds.

Jiang Yan, wearing a mask and a simple coat, had driven here following her GPS, only to find she had to park and walk. As soon as she stepped out of the car, her manager called. She raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You’re not at home?”

“No, I’m out for a late-night snack.” Jiang Yan toyed with her car keys. Taking advantage of the call, she paused to survey her surroundings.

This part of the old town had a heavily aging population. It lacked the neon lights of the new city center, exuding a sense of tranquility instead. There was a slow-motion urgency to the place, a feeling of being pushed forward by life, but it didn’t come from the elderly—it came from the office workers burrowed away in these narrow streets.

Her manager’s voice was cold. “Since when did you have the habit of eating late-night snacks? How come I didn’t know?”

Jiang Yan was notoriously strict with herself. Aside from her fondness for alcohol and her complicated romantic history, she was the epitome of discipline. In all the years her manager had worked with her, she hadn’t so much as eaten an extra bite of salad, let alone a midnight snack.

Jiang Yan strolled deeper into the alley, in no hurry to explain herself. The alleys branched out in every direction. It wasn’t so much that shops were opened in the alleys, but that the residents lived by their shops; almost every business was a family workshop.

Jiang Yan had never eaten in a place like this before. While she didn’t look disgusted, she was clearly uncomfortable. The person on the phone was still ranting, and Jiang Yan, finding it tedious, simply hung up. When the phone rang again, she blacklisted the manager’s number and, for good measure, deleted him from WeChat.

In the end, only a red exclamation mark remained to tell her manager: “Blocked. Talk later.”

Jiang Yan stepped onto a bluestone slab. The slightly slippery stone sank into the earth with a squelch—leftover rainwater from that morning. The BBQ stall was incredibly lively, and the person on the other end of the message hadn’t specified a table.

Jiang Yan wasn’t sure what Wen Jing was playing at, but she had chosen to show up anyway. Not for any sentimental reason, but simply because it had been a long time since she’d encountered someone so determined to get revenge. Moreover, Wen Jing held a small, private secret of hers that she couldn’t risk being leaked.

Jiang Yan couldn’t refuse.

She seemed to carry her own unique magnetic field, entirely unaffected by her surroundings. With an expression as casual as if she were walking in her own backyard, she scanned the small stall several times before walking straight in one direction.

According to Miss Wen Jing’s tormenting demands, she had to stay here until 1:00 AM. It was currently forty minutes past midnight; she just needed to find a place to sit and wait. Who knew if Wen Jing had been petty enough to hire someone to watch her?

Shao Niannian had started with her hair down, but as she wrote, she grew warmer. Eating BBQ while analyzing the script, her brain was working so hard her cheeks were flushed crimson. When she paused to scroll back up, her confidence took a nosedive.

“This doesn’t match Director Mo’s requirements at all,” she muttered, comparing her writing to Mo Yu’s example. She felt a wave of despair. “I can’t even hire a ghostwriter… if I get caught, I’ll definitely be paying that penalty fee.”

“But this d*mn thing… who can actually write a character analysis that reads like a self-dissection? It’s psychopathic!”

Shao Niannian took a huffy sip of her peach resin coconut milk. The sweet coconut meat and silky peach resin felt refreshing, but the icy drink only made her face feel hotter by contrast. She knew Mo Yu wanted her to understand the multi-layered construction of the Mute Girl, but honestly, her personality was worlds apart from the character. She could understand the words, but she couldn’t feel them, and thus, she couldn’t write them.

As she was brooding, the dim light above her was suddenly blocked. Her survival instinct made her snap her head up, only to lock eyes with Jiang Yan, who had just removed her mask.

The newcomer smiled radiantly. “If this seat is free, would you mind if I sit here?”

“Jiang… Jiang, Jiang…”

Shao Niannian stuttered the name for several seconds. Terrified that she might actually shout it out and cause a riot, she clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide as she stared at the woman. Her breathing slowed to a crawl; it felt like she was holding her breath. In the middle of the noisy stall, Shao Niannian could swear her heart was beating so hard it might burst through her eardrums.