After Reuniting with My Aloof Movie Queen Childhood Friend - Chapter 14

March 20th was the Spring Equinox, a day of balance between Yin and Yang, and a date hand-picked by a master at Meng Yuting’s request.

Early that morning, after praying to the deities of fortune and prosperity, Meng Yuting called Meng Xingshu.

After two consecutive calls went unanswered, she turned to Meng Xingshu’s assistant, Fang Ruohan.

Once the call connected, Meng Yuting’s voice crackled with suppressed fury. “Where is Meng Xingshu? Xiao Xiao is returning to the country today. Tell her to get over here immediately and take the Meng family car to the airport.”

“Oh my god!” Fang Ruohan cried out in mock alarm, her tone frantic. “But Teacher Meng is currently filming in Country A. What should we do?”

“What do you mean ‘what should we do’? Xiao Xiao’s return was scheduled ages ago. She ran off to Country A on such an important day?”

“President Lin forced the arrangement. Teacher Meng didn’t want to go either. Chairman Meng, what do you think is best? If it’s convenient for you to arrange a private jet to pick her up…”

Before she could finish, the line went dead. Fang Ruohan rolled her eyes and went back to her work.

Lin Shan, leaning against the sofa while signing documents, tapped her slippered foot against the solid wood floor. She asked with an amused glint in her eye, “What ‘blame’ is President Lin taking now? This is the Boss’s big villa, since when did it become the territory of Country A?”

Fang Ruohan clicked her tongue. “President Lin is a busy woman and must have forgotten, today’s episode is titled ‘The Return of the True Heiress.’ The inner circles of the entertainment industry are about to explode.”

“Meng Xiao?” Lin Shan let out a scoff, her gaze shifting from the paperwork to observe Meng Xingshu’s expression.

Meng Xingshu was the adopted daughter of the Chairman of Changfeng Group. Her adoptive mother, Meng Yuting, had a biological daughter named Meng Xiao, who had just finished her graduate studies abroad and was due back today.

Changfeng Group was the earliest real estate developer in S City. Having seized the first mover advantage, it had accumulated twenty years of wealth and appeared, on the surface, to be at the peak of its power.

However, while the public remained in the dark, Lin Shan knew the truth, the industry had been in decline in recent years. Changfeng was showing clear signs of stagnation, and Meng Yuting was frantic to find a way out.

Coincidentally, her precious daughter Meng Xiao wanted to enter the entertainment industry as a star, which caught Meng Yuting’s attention.

If Meng Xingshu could become famous at sixteen, Meng Yuting believed her biological daughter was a thousand times better and had no reason to fail.

To ensure a rapid rise to fame and profit, the mother and daughter sought out top talent in the industry and decided on the trendiest and fastest route, aggressive marketing.

With a titan of the business world for a mother, a superstar “sister” in the film industry, and a top-tier celebrity “boyfriend” to boot, the persona of the “True Princess of the Entertainment Industry” was finalized.

Thus, in her eleventh year in the industry, Meng Xingshu’s family background was finally “revealed” to the public.

Late last year, when Meng Xingshu was “invited” to attend the Changfeng Group’s annual meeting for the first time, she was “accidentally” photographed by the media, and the title of “Heiress of Changfeng Group” was tied to her name.

In January of the following year, the headline [Changfeng Heiress in a Passionate Relationship with Top Star] hit the trending searches. To amplify the noise, they used ambiguous descriptions to lead the gossip-hungry public into believing the protagonist was Meng Xingshu. On the day the news broke, Weibo crashed completely.

This grand drama had been performing since March, and now everyone was waiting for the “True Heiress” to return and harvest the spotlight.

Under the Meng family’s arrangement, Meng Xiao’s rumored boyfriend would go to the airport to greet her with 9,999 red roses under the guise of being a “close friend.”

In the original plan, Meng Xingshu was supposed to appear for a scene of “sisterly affection,” but she never had any intention of going.

Meng Xingshu was currently reading a briefing, remaining silent as if she hadn’t heard the conversation at all.

Lin Shan observed her for a long while but couldn’t detect a single ripple of emotion.

Lin Shan knew that Meng Xingshu was a woman of few words.

Ever since she met Meng Xingshu, Lin Shan felt there was an inexplicable “aura of stillness” about her. Over the years, no matter what happened, Lin Shan had never seen her display emotional volatility off-camera.

In recent years, Meng Xingshu’s mental state had been deteriorating. Upon returning to the country this time, Lin Shan vaguely sensed a change something positive but she still couldn’t put her mind at ease.

After hesitating for a long time, Lin Shan finally couldn’t help herself and asked playfully, “Boss Meng, what are your plans for today?”

Meng Xingshu glanced at her indifferently, her fingertip sliding across the tablet as she moved to the next briefing. “Staying alive.”

Lin Shan and Fang Ruohan stared at each other across the coffee table for a few seconds. Fang Ruohan winked and gestured with her chin.

Lin Shan ignored her. She couldn’t boss Meng Xingshu around.

Fang Ruohan had no choice but to mouth the words: [You go first, I’ll cover the rear!]

Fine, she’d go.

Lin Shan tossed the documents and pen onto the coffee table and squeezed onto the sofa next to Meng Xingshu, bracing herself for rejection. “The weather is nice today. Why don’t we wander around D City? Look at some flowers, watch the clouds, that sort of thing?”

Meng Xingshu’s finger paused, as if remembering something. “Are the cherry blossoms at the Film City in bloom?”

“I think so,” Fang Ruohan interjected. “I saw Little Ji post a photo of a huge cherry blossom tree on her WeChat Moments this morning. It was beautiful. It must be in the Film City.”

The air fell silent for a few seconds.

“Is that so?” To Lin Shan’s astonishment, Meng Xingshu stood up. “Then let’s go take a look.”

On the film set.

As a shot finished filming, Li Zhulan hurried over to hand over a thermos. “Little Ji, can you really hold up?”

Ji Youyi was currently directing and acting in this drama herself. She had just finished a scene as the supporting character Ning Li. Her costume was thin, and a layer of goosebumps had formed on her arms.

Ji Youyi took several large gulps of hot water before finally feeling a bit better. “This workload is nothing.”

She stuffed the thermos back into Li Zhulan’s hands, preparing for the next take.

“But you haven’t slept for seven days!!”

Ever since the original director abandoned the set and the new director took over, Ji Youyi hadn’t left the studio.

Li Zhulan was the screenwriter, she could rest once the script was finished. But Ji Youyi couldn’t.

As the director, she had to be present for the entire shoot. Before filming, she had to communicate with the cinematography, lighting, and wardrobe departments, and she also had to coach the actors.

Li Anran, playing the second female lead, Princess Qingyan, was someone Ji Youyi had personally auditioned. Having been an extra in the Film City for years, she had a decent foundation. However, the female lead, Wen Yang, was starting from below zero.

Wen Yang was beautiful, but her intuition was poor. Even if you broke the scene down into tiny pieces, she wouldn’t necessarily understand.

Ji Youyi spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to make her “click,” wishing she could split her own brain open to show her how it was done.

In the end, Ji Youyi had no choice but to demonstrate every single shot for Wen Yang, making her copy it one to one. Even then, it required constant, repetitive correction.

On top of all that, even after the filming ended and the set was packed up, Ji Youyi still had to check the footage, confirm the next day’s schedule with each department, and finalize all matters big and small. Whenever she had a spare moment, she dragged Li Zhulan along to keep polishing the script until the set opened for the next day.

But Ji Youyi refused to admit it. “That’s just your limited perspective. I just slept during the location change this morning.”

Li Zhulan was speechless. “You mean that fifteen minutes nap in the director’s chair? Besides, ever since you got out of the hospital last time, your fever hasn’t gone down.”

“Go, go, don’t delay the shoot,” Ji Youyi said, shooing her away.

The next three takes required Ji Youyi to be on camera.

As usual, she reviewed the scenes with Wen Yang twice beforehand. Once she confirmed everyone was in position, she ran to Ning Li’s spot.

Her serious expression vanished instantly. In the blink of an eye, the decisive director became the lively and adorable “Little Pear” under the lens. Her bright smile was incredibly infectious, putting everyone on set in a good mood.

Lin Shan’s gaze was also drawn to her.

She had originally come to accompany Meng Xingshu to see cherry blossoms, but since they stepped out the door, the other two women hadn’t mentioned blossoms once. They had headed straight for a specific soundstage.

Lin Shan was bewildered. She asked Fang Ruohan, who was leading the way, “Didn’t you say we were coming to see a giant cherry blossom tree? Did they plant it inside the soundstage? Is that even easy to maintain?”

Who’s looking at a tree? We’re looking at the person filming the tree! Fang Ruohan shot Lin Shan a look.

After coming back from that barbecue with Little Ji last time, Fang Ruohan had been reprimanded.

At the time, she thought Meng Xingshu was just lecturing her on not being professional or composed enough.

It wasn’t until she accidentally discovered that her boss, who never used to look at social media was checking a certain person’s status updates eight hundred times a day that she finally caught on. Her boss would watch without messaging or liking, silently exit, and then click back in a short while later.

Fang Ruohan smiled mysteriously. “Think about it carefully, was the ‘cherry blossom’ the point of my sentence?”

Lin Shan carefully parsed the original words.

She recalled the day she returned to the country when Fang Ruohan mentioned having dinner with a friend. She understood now.

They were going to accompany Fang Ruohan to visit her friend Little Ji first, and then go see the cherry blossom tree Meng Xingshu wanted to see.

Meng Xingshu was actually willing to walk a few extra steps today, she really was getting more active lately. Could it be she had developed a love for walking?

The set was simple. The soundstage was so cheap it couldn’t compare to the ones Lin Shan invested in, but it gave Lin Shan a much better impression.

Over the past week, Lin Shan had visited all of Lingxing’s sets and observed several high-budget productions from other companies. Her eyes had been traumatized.

In contrast, the set before her was like a breath of fresh air. The dialogue was meaningful, and the cast and crew were performing their duties in an orderly fashion.

Specifically, the one in the yellow dress caught Lin Shan’s eye immediately.