After Divorcing the Scummy Alpha Movie Queen, I Became Extremely Popular - Chapter 7

Tan Jizhu’s Private Meeting with Chen Shidong

Coming out of the home of Luo Jingyun’s two mothers, Tan Jizhu immediately connected a call to Chen Shidong. “Senior, what can I do for you?”

“Jizhu, have you been busy lately? Do you have any time in your schedule to meet with your senior?”

Chen Shidong seemed to be in a rather noisy environment. Tan Jizhu answered honestly, “I’m not busy. Senior, where are you now? I have time over the next few days; we can meet and talk in detail.”

“I’m in the capital; I just got off the plane. What about you?”

“I’m in the capital too.” A ripple of excitement stirred in Tan Jizhu’s heart. Just then, an airport announcement broadcast could be heard from the other end of the phone. Seizing the opportunity, she asked, “Senior, are you still at the airport? Where I am right now is very close to the airport. Do you want me to come pick you up?”

Chen Shidong wasn’t polite about it. “Well, that’s great! I was just worrying about not being able to hail a taxi. No time like the present—come pick me up and let’s use this chance to meet. I happen to have something to tell you.”

“Okay, Senior, wait for me. I’ll call a taxi right away.”

Calling a taxi in the villa district was quite convenient. In less than twenty minutes, Tan Jizhu appeared at the airport. Walking all the way to the arrival gate, she saw Chen Shidong’s figure from a distance.

“Sen—”

“Eh? Are you Tan Jizhu?”

Before Tan Jizhu could call out, a traveler stopped beside her and shouted her name.

“Ah! It really is Tan Jizhu! Jizhu, I’m a fan of yours. I’ve watched every single one of your dramas!” The traveler seemed to be a fan; upon confirming her identity, she suddenly shrieked, “Ah! Mom, I met Tan Jizhu today!”

Having come in such a hurry, Tan Jizhu had forgotten that she was, after all, a public figure. Showing up in a public place so carelessly without sunglasses or a mask was bound to be a problem if she was recognized.

“Shh!” Tan Jizhu pressed her index finger to her lips, signaling the other person not to be too loud. “I am indeed Tan Jizhu, but today is a private trip. Could I trouble you not to post this online?”

“Okay, okay,” the fan made a gesture as if zipping her lips. “I promise I definitely won’t tell anyone, but Jizhu, could you take a photo with me? I’ll just keep it for myself and absolutely won’t post it on the internet.”

After taking the photo with the fan, Tan Jizhu turned up her collar, barely covering the lower half of her face. She looked toward where Chen Shidong had been standing, but the person was gone.

“Jizhu!”

A hand tapped her left shoulder from behind. Tan Jizhu turned her head in response but saw no one. She immediately turned to the right and, sure enough, saw Chen Shidong wearing sunglasses.

“Senior.”

Chen Shidong teased, “Jizhu is a big star now; fans are even chasing you to the airport.”

“Senior, you’re the big star, don’t make fun of me. That fan just now was just a chance encounter,” Tan Jizhu said. “Senior, do you have any extra sunglasses? Let me cover up a bit.”

Chen Shidong pulled a bucket hat out of the side pocket of her backpack. “Just this. You’ll have to make do with it.”

Putting on the bucket hat, Tan Jizhu and Chen Shidong left the airport. The two found a hotpot restaurant and entered a private room to eat and chat.

“Jizhu, what do you want to eat?” Chen Shidong ordered a clear broth pot and with a wave of her hand, checked off several plates of meat. “I took an international flight this time, and that plane food simply wasn’t fit for human consumption; it was terrible. If they fed me that every day, I’d definitely lose four pounds in three days.”

Having just eaten at Luo Jingyun’s mother’s house, Tan Jizhu wasn’t very hungry and just ordered two vegetable dishes.

Before the dishes were all served, Chen Shidong started eating, even greeting Tan Jizhu to join her.

Tan Jizhu cooperated by eating a few bites then put down her chopsticks, waiting for Chen Shidong to finish.

Having finished the food on the table, Chen Shidong wiped her mouth and sighed. “Jizhu, remember when we used to rent together and lived frugally? We wouldn’t have dared to eat meat in big gulps like this.”

Chen Shidong’s words immediately brought Tan Jizhu back to those difficult years. At that time, Tan Jizhu was still in university. To cover her living expenses, she worked part-time as a model, where she met Chen Shidong, who was also working part-time. Chen Shidong was a year older than her. After becoming well-acquainted, they discovered they not only came from the same university but were even from the same hometown. The many similarities made them best friends, and they would recommend each other for any filming work they found. Later, Chen Shidong graduated a year earlier; she stayed in the city to strive for her career, and the two never lost touch.

During her school years, Tan Jizhu had lived in the dormitory. Her Omega mother, who had come here with her, found a job as a live-in nanny during Tan Jizhu’s freshman year. Living directly at her employer’s house allowed the mother and daughter to save four years’ worth of rent through their frugality.

However, when Tan Jizhu graduated, she could no longer stay in the dorm. Just as she was worrying about where to find cheap rent, Chen Shidong’s roommate stopped renting. The two hit it off and became new roommates.

They introduced each other to work opportunities and looked after each other in life, spending a period that was impoverished but happy.

Later, the first movie Chen Shidong starred in won her the Best Newcomer award, and Tan Jizhu met Luo Jingyun on a film set, bringing their co-renting life to an official end.

Now, Tan Jizhu lived in a room countless time larger than the old one, but she would still occasionally miss those days.

It wasn’t exactly a matter of “recalling past hardships to appreciate present sweetness,” because her life had been even harder in much earlier times.

Tan Jizhu felt that she often missed that period perhaps because of the person she had lived with.

“Senior, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh right, the actual business.” Chen Shidong took a sip of water and asked, “Jizhu, do you have any schedules lately? I have a variety show here that wants to invite you to participate.”

“A variety show? What type?”

“Agriculture assistance, reality show, live broadcast. It’s called The Journey of Cultivating the Heart.”

As she heard each keyword, Tan Jizhu’s brow furrowed tighter, until her beautiful eyes were creased into a “frown” shape. For the past few years, she had been focusing deeply on her acting skills. Reality shows and live broadcasts were the types of variety shows most likely to consume an actor’s sense of mystery. If one participated too much, the audience would become familiar with the actor themselves rather than the characters they portrayed.

Shouldn’t Senior also be honing her acting? Why is she participating in this kind of variety show?

Tan Jizhu answered truthfully, “My last project just wrapped up, and there are currently no subsequent arrangements. Oh right, I’m going to attend the Houtu Awards ceremony in a while. Senior, you were nominated today too, so you should be going.”

“Yes, I’ll be going. Speaking of which, I haven’t properly congratulated you yet.”

Tan Jizhu smiled. “Senior not only was shortlisted this year, but last year you actually won the Best Actor award, becoming the youngest actor to receive that prize. I’m the one who should properly congratulate you.”

Chen Shidong waved it off. “Winning that award was also the result of the hard work of the entire crew. I consider myself lucky to have received it.”

“Senior is being modest.”

“I’ve seen the film you were nominated for; I think you have a great chance this year,” Chen Shidong continued. “And I remember your birth month is later than mine. If you win the award this year, you should replace me as the youngest winner.”

“Thank you for the affirmation, Senior.” In this year’s competition for the award, Chen Shidong was Tan Jizhu’s biggest rival. Whether from the perspective of a good friend or an opponent, receiving praise from Chen Shidong was an affirmation for her.

“Aiyoh, what are we doing with these empty, formal pleasantries between us!” Chen Shidong took out her phone and sent several messages to Tan Jizhu. “Here, I’ve sent you the information about the variety show. Take a look. I know you haven’t participated in any variety shows since your debut, so you certainly wouldn’t be willing if I just called you out of the blue. When this project first found me, I didn’t really want to go either. But I looked at their promotional materials; the location for the agriculture assistance is our hometown. If we can participate together, it will be a form of promotion for our home. If we can do the project well, it can even drive the local economic development.”

The last few reasons truly moved Tan Jizhu. Although her hometown brought back painful memories, it also held beautiful ones. If she participated, she believed her mother would support her decision.

“Okay, I’ll participate.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Chen Shidong was very happy. “That’s great! Then I’ll tell the program staff.”

Tan Jizhu asked, “Senior, besides the two of us, is there anyone else on this show?”

“There are,” Chen Shidong replied while tapping on her phone. “But I don’t know who everyone is yet. They should all be girls around our age.”

Tan Jizhu joked, “This is my first time on a variety show. If there are team tasks later, Senior must be on my team.”

“No problem!”

Back at home, Luo Jingyun changed into soft pajamas and lay on the bed, searching for information about Chen Shidong on a webpage. After the phone reacted for a few seconds, a photo of her quickly popped up. Luo Jingyun looked at it; in all honesty, Chen Shidong was very good-looking. She had a cool, elegant appearance and an excellent height—the type that makes one feel stunned at first sight.

However, compared to her Jizhu, she was still just a tiny bit lacking.

The text beside the photo introduced Chen Shidong’s main experiences. She was 28 years old, a female Alpha. During her university years, she worked part-time as a model, and was later recommended by a photographer during an advertisement shoot to audition for the movie Distant Mountains. She did not disappoint, standing out among a crowd of candidates and winning the role. As Chen Shidong’s first work, Distant Mountains became a dark horse that year, with not only high box office returns but also a great reputation. It was nominated for many award ceremonies, and Chen Shidong won that year’s Best Newcomer award for her outstanding performance.

From then on, Chen Shidong gradually made a name for herself in the film industry. Last year, she also won the Best Actor award at the Houtu Awards, becoming the youngest actor to receive it.

As someone also in the entertainment industry, Luo Jingyun searched her memory after reading the profile and confirmed that she had never had any dealings with this Chen Shidong. Since entering the industry, the other party had been filming movies, while she mostly participated in television dramas.

Luo Jingyun opened the webpage again and looked through the person’s information very carefully. Finally, she found the reason why the woman looked familiar.

This person won the Houtu Award last year and also had a work nominated today. In other words, this person was currently Tan Jizhu’s competitor and the biggest stumbling block on the road to a lifelong marking between Tan Jizhu and herself.

Luo Jingyun curled her lip. No wonder she felt very unpleasant at the first sight of this person; so that was the reason.

But if Chen Shidong and Tan Jizhu were competitors, then why did Chen Shidong contact Tan Jizhu? And she contacted Tan Jizhu herself rather than her manager or assistant. Could it be that they knew each other?

Luo Jingyun was a bit unhappy. Why hadn’t Tan Jizhu ever mentioned knowing Chen Shidong to her?

Combined with Tan Jizhu leaving early today, Luo Jingyun grew even more displeased, planning to demand an explanation once Tan Jizhu returned.

As she was exiting the webpage and closing the search engine, the big data automatically recommended some related trending topics based on the search keywords. Luo Jingyun had intended to just swipe them away, but after a quick glance, she clicked into those trending topics with immense anger.

#Chen Shidong Meeting Tan Jizhu Privately

#Chen Shidong and Tan Jizhu Actually Know Each Other

#The Past Story of Chen Shidong and Tan Jizhu

#Tan Jizhu and Luo Jingyun Have Been Married for Three Years

#Tan Jizhu and Luo Jingyun Marriage Status