Superstar Assistant [GL] - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Li Ziyu’s protectiveness over Zhou Tiantian was noticed and resented by Chong Ying. She even suspected that Li Ziyu no longer felt the same way about her as before, and had transferred all her affection and feelings to Zhou Tiantian. Chong Ying felt as if Zhou Tiantian had stolen something that belonged to her, and she was extremely unhappy.

However, Chong Ying also knew that she couldn’t bully Zhou Tiantian because Li Ziyu was clearly biased towards her now, and any further harassment would result in Li Ziyu openly and subtly protecting Zhou Tiantian. For Chong Ying, this would be shooting herself in the foot.

But she found it hard to simply accept Zhou Tiantian’s existence and Li Ziyu’s change of heart. She had been pampered since childhood, and Zhou Tiantian was completely incomparable to her. Why should she concede Li Ziyu to Zhou Tiantian? Although she had never planned to accept Li Ziyu or become her girlfriend.

Li Ziyu seemed to sense Chong Ying’s inner resentment. After work, Li Ziyu and Zhou Tiantian returned to the hotel room. As Zhou Tiantian was preparing the clothes for the next day, Li Ziyu walked up to her and said, “I still have two months left on set. During this time, you must be careful not to fall into anyone else’s traps, understand?”

The current Zhou Tiantian was no longer a naive simpleton. She knew that Chong Ying disliked her, so she nodded to Li Ziyu and said, “I understand. I will definitely be careful.”

As a result, Zhou Tiantian maintained her distance from Yang Yang during this period, no longer being as close to him as before. Although she felt a bit sorry for Yang Yang, she also knew that as Chong Ying’s assistant, he was sometimes helpless, so it was better to be cautious.

Because of her vigilance, Yang Yang and Chong Ying didn’t cause any trouble or approach her during this time.

Zhou Tiantian’s relationship with her roommate was also getting better. One day, while Zhou Tiantian was eating, her roommate looked at her food container enviously and said, “Call me when you go out to buy food tomorrow. I’ve been eating the crew’s boxed meals all this time, and I feel like I’m about to be corrupted by them. I want to treat myself to something good.”

Zhou Tiantian also knew the crew’s meals weren’t very good, so she agreed to her roommate’s request. Around 11 AM the next morning, she said to her roommate, “I’m going to buy food now. Do you want to come with me?”

The roommate smiled at Zhou Tiantian: “Of course, I want to go with you. Didn’t we agree? Let’s go now.”

The two left the set together. The roommate asked Zhou Tiantian what she planned to buy. When they were almost at the restaurant, the roommate suddenly looked at her wallet and said to Zhou Tiantian with embarrassment, “I don’t have any money on me.”

Zhou Tiantian was also a little surprised, wondering how she suddenly ran out of money.

The roommate sighed, “I’ve used up all the cash I had.”

Zhou Tiantian smiled and said, “It’s okay. Many businesses now accept Alipay and WeChat.”

The roommate looked helpless, “I do have money in Alipay and WeChat, but sometimes I need cash for other things. You know, as a set manager, sometimes the director asks us to buy things that the set doesn’t have, but not all places accept Alipay or WeChat. That’s how I ran out of cash.”

The roommate then looked at Zhou Tiantian apologetically: “I didn’t bring my bank card either. Could you withdraw some money from your card for me? Then I’ll transfer the money to your Alipay or WeChat. You can use Alipay and WeChat when buying food, right? This shouldn’t affect you, should it?”

Zhou Tiantian looked at her with some doubt, but the roommate immediately clasped her hands together and pleaded with Zhou Tiantian: “Please help me today! I only came out because I needed to buy something. Otherwise, the crew wouldn’t approve my leave. But I don’t have any cash now. If I go back without buying this item, I’ll definitely get scolded. You know how hard it is to work now. If I get my salary or bonus deducted because of this, I really want to cry. Tiantian, please help me!”

Her tone was too pitiful and her attitude was very sincere, which made Zhou Tiantian think of her former self. At that time, she also wished someone could come forward to help her, but that person never seemed to appear. If someone had truly helped her, perhaps her previous life wouldn’t have been so miserable.

Thus, Zhou Tiantian was moved by compassion. There was no harm in helping someone else. If she encountered problems in the future, she would have built up some goodwill. And she wouldn’t lose anything; she could use Alipay or WeChat for the subsequent meals, so there was no issue.

The roommate was overjoyed when Zhou Tiantian agreed. She praised Zhou Tiantian profusely, saying that Zhou Tiantian was the person she was most grateful for in this life.

So, before buying food, Zhou Tiantian went to the bank with her, withdrew 3,000 yuan, and gave it to her roommate. The roommate immediately transferred 3,000 yuan to Zhou Tiantian via WeChat. The two then happily went to the restaurant to buy food. Afterward, the roommate went to another place to buy some items the crew needed, and they returned to the set together.

During lunch, Zhou Tiantian told Li Ziyu about the incident: “When I went out to buy food with my roommate today, she didn’t have any cash. She said she needs cash for work, so I withdrew 3,000 yuan from your card for her. But she transferred the money to my WeChat wallet. I’ll use the money in my WeChat wallet first before using the card.”

Li Ziyu chuckled softly: “Why are you telling me this? Are you afraid I’ll misunderstand and think you pocketed the 3,000 yuan?”

When Li Ziyu saw the withdrawal record earlier, she hadn’t suspected anything because she trusted Zhou Tiantian’s character.

Zhou Tiantian smiled shyly, “It’s your money. I should always tell you how I use it.”

What made Zhou Tiantian quite comfortable during this lunch was that Chong Ying didn’t come to eat with Li Ziyu again, nor did she beat around the bush to complain that her food wasn’t good and that she wanted Zhou Tiantian’s boxed meal.

After the meal, Zhou Tiantian collected the leftovers and went to the trash can to dispose of them, where she happened to run into Yang Yang.

Yang Yang saw Zhou Tiantian, then looked back in Chong Ying’s direction. Seeing that Chong Ying was listening to the director discuss the scene, he approached Zhou Tiantian and said, “Tiantian, be careful recently, and be prudent in everything.”

Zhou Tiantian paused slightly. She was about to ask him what he meant, but he had already left.

Zhou Tiantian became even more cautious. She believed that her work was flawless until Li Ziyu told her that filming would wrap up in another week. Zhou Tiantian suddenly felt that time had passed too quickly. It had been more than three months since she became Li Ziyu’s assistant, and she had never felt time fly by so fast.

It was time for Zhou Tiantian to send money to her mother again. Although she had a new job now, Zhou Tiantian hadn’t told her mother, Han Ping, about it because she wasn’t sure if Han Ping could truly keep the secret. She was afraid that Han Ping might carelessly reveal to her stepfather that she could earn 30,000 a month. Zhou Tiantian was certain that if her stepfather knew she was earning 30,000 yuan a month, she wouldn’t be able to keep a single penny, and her stepfather would even demand she earn more.

She transferred 8,000 yuan to Han Ping and then called her.

“Mom…” Han Ping was as timid as in her past life, but she was still Zhou Tiantian’s mother, so Zhou Tiantian was still very happy when talking to her.

But this time, the person who answered the phone was not Han Ping but the stepfather she disliked: “Tiantian, you’re making big money out there!”

The memory of her past life lingered in Zhou Tiantian’s heart. Hearing that voice, Zhou Tiantian involuntarily flinched and said softly to the person on the other end of the line, “Uncle Zhao…”

Zhou Tiantian’s stepfather, Zhao Zhonggang, said: “Tiantian, since you can make money out there, and your mother and I raised you for so many years, shouldn’t you be repaying us now? Helping us share the family burden?”

Zhou Tiantian had a bad feeling and frowned slightly, asking, “Uncle Zhao, is something wrong at home?”

Zhao Zhonggang said: “You know your brother is starting high school this year. He’s going to attend the private high school in our city. You know the tuition there is very expensive, 10,000 yuan per semester. Your mother is sick now, and we can’t be short on money for her, so you should pay for your brother’s tuition.”

A burst of anger immediately flared up in Zhou Tiantian’s heart, but having been oppressed for so long, she couldn’t immediately resist. Furthermore, Han Ping was with Zhao Zhonggang right now. Zhou Tiantian knew that if she angered Zhao Zhonggang, he would definitely take out his anger on Han Ping through domestic violence.

Zhou Tiantian took a deep breath and said softly to Zhao Zhonggang, “Uncle Zhao, I don’t have any money left. I only keep a few hundred yuan for food each month, and the rest is all sent to Mom.”

Zhao Zhonggang said, “That’s impossible. You work in the capital. I know the salaries in the capital are very high. Even a street sweeper can earn tens of thousands. Aren’t you just a cleaner?”

The more Zhou Tiantian insisted, the weaker her tone became, sounding almost no different from before, but her eyes were firm: “Uncle, I really don’t have any money left. I only keep a few hundred yuan for food each month. I’m just a house cleaner for someone else. How can I earn that much in a month? I’m not some university graduate, only a high school graduate.”

Zhao Zhonggang sneered: “What, are you blaming me for not letting you go to college? Anyway, your brother must go to school. I’m just asking you to send money back for your mother’s medicine. Since you’re so unfilial, if your mother doesn’t have medicine, she’ll just have to suffer.”

Zhou Tiantian took a deep breath, thinking of her disappointing younger brother back home. The color in her eyes deepened, but she didn’t relent: “Uncle, I really don’t have any money left. If you make me send more money back, I’ll only be able to send you my living expenses. But then what will I eat?”

“You can just eat with other people!” Zhao Zhonggang said lightly, “Send it back. Since you still have a few hundred yuan for living expenses, send it all back. We can’t let your mother go without medicine, can we?”

Zhou Tiantian was silent for a moment, then finally agreed to her stepfather’s demand, “Okay. I have work tonight and will be working overtime. I’ll transfer the money to you tomorrow.”

Her stepfather, Zhao Zhonggang, then smiled: “That’s right. We raised you; you need to be grateful. If you run out of money, go out and take on a few more part-time jobs. I know you can earn a lot from part-time jobs in the big city. You can’t just be cleaning all day!”

Zhou Tiantian didn’t say anything more. Zhao Zhonggang laughed once and hung up the phone.

Zhou Tiantian stood on the balcony for a long time, constantly recalling what her disappointing younger brother did in her past life. Then her heart slowly calmed down. She walked into the room from the balcony, preparing to tidy her belongings and then sleep.

She had always had this habit of cleaning her things before going to sleep because she used to be too poor and couldn’t afford to lose anything.

However, as she was tidying up, Zhou Tiantian discovered that the bank card Li Ziyu gave her was missing. Zhou Tiantian searched for a long time but couldn’t find the card.

Meanwhile, Li Ziyu’s phone suddenly received a text message: 83,200 yuan had been withdrawn from that card.