Superstar Assistant [GL] - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Li Ziyu looked at the test tube in Zhong Yanjun’s hand with confusion and asked, “What medicine are you taking from Auntie’s lab for me to test now? Mom, I’m telling you, my attraction to girls is not something that can be fixed by taking medicine. I hope you can understand that fact.”

Zhong Yanjun sneered softly: “Do you think I’m some old-fashioned fossil? Since I gave birth to you, my daughter, I will accept that you like women. It just takes more time than you think. Don’t label me as stubborn because of this.”

Li Ziyu became even more confused. “Then what is this thing you brought me?”

Zhong Yanjun said, “This is a new drug from your auntie’s lab that allows women to have children with women. I brought you one capsule first. Whenever you find the person you want to spend your life with, you can help your auntie test it.”

Li Ziyu rolled her eyes. “So you just want me to be a guinea pig for Auntie?”

Zhong Yanjun retorted, “You know what? Sometimes I really want to strangle you and regret ever giving birth to you! Did I ask your auntie for this drug just for you to be a guinea pig? I’m thinking about you being all alone. Even if you find a partner, the two of you can’t have offspring, and there are no laws to protect your marriage. Compared to ordinary couples, you face more difficulties. But if you two have a child, that changes everything. Although you’re still young, the age for you to get married and have children isn’t far off. I brought this for you so you can start looking around for someone you like and who is suitable to date. If you want to take the next step, have a child. That way, you won’t be much different from other normal families, will you?”

Li Ziyu stared blankly at her mother. “Mom, you’re so suddenly gentle, I’m a little uncomfortable.”

Zhong Yanjun ground her teeth: “Truly, raising you is worse than raising roasted pork. (A common Chinese idiom for disappointment)” She then threw the test tube into her lap. “Anyway, this is all I can do. The rest is up to you. I’m leaving now.”

Li Ziyu asked, “Aren’t you staying for dinner? I recently hired a new assistant, and her cooking is pretty good.”

Zhong Yanjun glared at her. “I’m already full of anger. What dinner? I’m going.”

After Zhong Yanjun left, Li Ziyu pondered where to keep the capsule. She wanted to hide it but was afraid she wouldn’t be able to find it herself. Finally, she put the capsule in the medical box under the TV cabinet, where she kept all her home medicines.

After closing the box, she became slightly afraid that she might accidentally break the test tube when taking out other medicines, leaving glass shards in the medicine box. So, she took the test tube out and put only the capsule into the box. A slight smile curved on her lips. If she could ever use it one day, it would probably be a happy thing.

Two days later, she forgot about the incident. After all, for her, dating was a distant prospect, let alone getting pregnant and having children. After some more time passed, Zhou Tiantian’s training ended, and she followed Li Ziyu to the film set.

Accompanying Li Ziyu to the set were her manager and two other assistants.

In the entertainment industry, there are differences between assistants. The lowest level is a Personal Assistant like Zhou Tiantian, mainly responsible for the star’s daily life, and they aren’t allowed to touch much of the work-related tasks. Next is the Work Assistant, responsible for the star’s schedule, work confirmation, etc. The highest level is actually the Manager’s Assistant, who follows the star, handles their itinerary, and some contract signings, mainly acting as a substitute for the manager when they are absent, essentially being a half-manager.

Upon arriving at the set, everyone got acquainted. Zhou Tiantian noticed that many celebrities had three to five assistants, but they never introduced all of them, and if they did, they only introduced the highest-ranking one.

Li Ziyu also did not introduce Zhou Tiantian to others. Li Ziyu was aware that Zhou Tiantian was currently only her personal assistant, and introducing her too formally would be too eye-catching and could cause trouble. It was better to let Zhou Tiantian quietly integrate into the industry and slowly climb the ranks.

The day after arriving, the manager and the senior assistant left, leaving only Zhou Tiantian and another assistant, Yang Ruoyun.

Yang Ruoyun had witnessed how Zhou Tiantian publicly humiliated Little Wang at the company, so she was quite polite to Zhou Tiantian because she knew she wasn’t a meek person. She also knew that Li Ziyu had personally brought Zhou Tiantian to the company for onboarding, meaning they were likely familiar outside of work, making Zhou Tiantian even less of a person she could bully.

However, Yang Ruoyun was not confident in Zhou Tiantian’s ability. She didn’t believe a former cleaner could successfully transition into this job. Even if Zhou Tiantian had stood up to Little Wang, she still looked soft and weak, not truly like someone who could get things done.

Nonetheless, Yang Ruoyun assigned Zhou Tiantian her duties: “Unless there are special arrangements, the crew starts at 8:00 AM every day, and wrap-up time is decided by the day’s filming progress. But this doesn’t mean our working hours as assistants are the same as Ziyu’s. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM, you must have breakfast ready in front of Ziyu, or she won’t have time to eat. Lunchtime for the boxed meals is around 12:00 PM. We won’t eat the boxed meals; we’ll eat takeout with Ziyu. But don’t order by phone. It’s best if you go out and buy it yourself. So, you must have all three of our lunches ready before 12:00 PM every day. In a couple of days, if I have to leave for other business, you will only buy lunch for yourself and Ziyu. Remember, you absolutely cannot be late, or Ziyu will miss her mealtime and have to film hungry in the afternoon.”

Zhou Tiantian quickly took out a small notebook to jot everything down. Seeing her work ethic, Yang Ruoyun’s opinion of her improved slightly, and she continued, “Except for the time you are out buying takeout, other times you need to return to the hotel room, collect Ziyu’s dirty clothes, send them for dry cleaning, and prepare nutritious, non-fattening drinks, fruits, and snacks for Ziyu. Filming might seem simple, but the workload is actually huge. Ziyu needs to eat something to maintain her strength when she’s hungry in between takes, but you must remember Ziyu is a celebrity and absolutely cannot gain weight. So, you must strictly control the calories of the food you prepare for her.”

Zhou Tiantian nodded and said, “Okay, I understand everything. I will pay attention to that.”

Following that, Zhou Tiantian moved into the hotel with Li Ziyu. However, Li Ziyu had a suite, while Zhou Tiantian had a standard room.

Fortunately, Li Ziyu was shooting a modern romance drama. Although they were filming in the hot S-city, most indoor scenes were shot in air-conditioned office buildings, so it didn’t cause too much trouble for the actors.

On the first day of filming, Li Ziyu woke up in a bad mood. Thinking about how Little Liu never put any effort into preparing her breakfast, she instantly wanted to fire him.

Wait, she realized she had already fired Little Liu. Li Ziyu immediately sat up, not even bothering to change her clothes, and walked from the bedroom to the living room of the hotel suite. A fragrant smell of sweet seafood congee drifted over. Li Ziyu’s eyes widened when she saw Zhou Tiantian holding a packet of Fuling preserved mustard greens. Li Ziyu immediately started to drool. “Where did you buy this?”

Zhou Tiantian turned and saw that Li Ziyu was awake, and smiled softly. “I bought it at the supermarket yesterday. I thought you might not have an appetite while filming in this hot weather. Although preserved mustard greens aren’t very nutritious, eating them with rice and congee can help you eat more.”

Li Ziyu glanced at her, in a much better mood, and slowly walked over to the table and sat down. She said, “But you know I can’t eat too much as an actress. Are you responsible if I gain weight?”

Although Zhou Tiantian had been reborn for half a year, her personality hadn’t changed much, and she became anxious. “No, I’ll pay attention to the calories in the meals I buy for you. I’ll increase protein intake and control carbohydrates. I won’t let you gain weight. Besides, you’re very tired from filming, so you definitely need more energy.”

Li Ziyu’s gaze softened, and she laughed. “Alright, I was just teasing you. Sit down and eat with me.”

Zhou Tiantian blushed and sat next to Li Ziyu, softly saying, “Don’t tease me. I’m taking my job very seriously.”

Just then, Yang Ruoyun arrived in Li Ziyu’s room. She had deliberately arrived late because she had learned from experience. In the past, if Little Liu hadn’t prepared breakfast properly, Li Ziyu would get angry, and she would have been caught in the crossfire if she arrived too early.

But when she saw the three servings of seafood congee on the table, she was surprised. She looked at Li Ziyu, who was happily eating, and then commented to Zhou Tiantian, “Seafood congee is good. It’s nutritious, high in protein, and doesn’t easily cause weight gain. Oh, and you even have Fuling preserved mustard greens.”

With that, she sat down, had a sip of congee, and a bite of the preserved mustard greens, thinking with admiration, “The preserved mustard greens are really good with congee. Very nice.”

Seeing that both Li Ziyu and Yang Ruoyun were satisfied, Zhou Tiantian smiled, her lips curving upward. She realized that she could actually do this job well. She wasn’t just limited to being a cleaner. She felt that as long as she worked hard, she could really change the destiny of her previous life.

Afterward, Zhou Tiantian and Yang Ruoyun took Li Ziyu to the set. Yang Ruoyun stayed on set to monitor Li Ziyu’s filming, while Zhou Tiantian returned to the hotel to put Li Ziyu’s dirty clothes from the day into the hotel’s dry-cleaning bag. She then looked at Li Ziyu’s discarded underwear and decided it wouldn’t be appropriate to send those to the dry cleaner, so she washed them herself and hung them in the bathroom.

After tidying up the room, Zhou Tiantian checked the time and quickly left to buy lunch.

Li Ziyu was exhausted after filming all morning. When the morning shoot finally finished and it was time for lunch, Li Ziyu habitually started to feel irritable, as she didn’t have many good memories of lunch on set before.

When she turned and saw Zhou Tiantian, she immediately recalled the seafood congee from this morning and walked toward Zhou Tiantian, full of sudden anticipation.

Yang Ruoyun stood next to Zhou Tiantian, thinking that while the seafood congee and preserved mustard greens this morning had satisfied Li Ziyu, she wondered if the lunch would be as good. However, Yang Ruoyun didn’t hold much hope. After all, Zhou Tiantian had no experience in this area, and she was only a cleaner before. She just hoped that if Li Ziyu got angry, she wouldn’t direct it at her.

But when Zhou Tiantian placed a huge insulated lunch box on the table and opened it, revealing one exquisite, steaming hot dish after another, Yang Ruoyun was surprised. The food inside the box looked truly appetizing.

Li Ziyu was also very pleasantly surprised. Little Liu used to bring back meals in takeout boxes from restaurants, which had no presentation and looked unappetizing.

Zhou Tiantian’s insulated lunch box looked much better than the typical takeout boxes, and the dishes inside were even slightly plated and smelled fragrant. It was obvious that the restaurant had been carefully chosen.

Zhou Tiantian handed Li Ziyu a small box of rice and said softly, “Eat more vegetables. The online reviews for this restaurant I chose are very good, and all the dishes are delicious.”

She had selected dishes like beef and chicken, which were high in protein. Li Ziyu first ate a few pieces of meat to satisfy her hunger. Finding the meat to be delicious, she continued eating. A moment later, another pair of chopsticks suddenly appeared in her bowl, placing a piece of vegetable there.

Li Ziyu looked up at Zhou Tiantian, who was timidly looking back at her. “Don’t just eat meat; eat more vegetables. Vegetables have a high vitamin content.”

Zhou Tiantian remembered that Li Ziyu didn’t particularly like vegetables unless they were exceptionally well-prepared. Today, she had specifically sampled the vegetables at this restaurant before ordering a serving.

Yang Ruoyun saw Li Ziyu pause for a moment and thought, Oh no, Zhou Tiantian didn’t use serving chopsticks to pick up the food for Li Ziyu, and she picked up vegetables, no less.

But Li Ziyu merely looked at Zhou Tiantian, nodded, ate the vegetable in her bowl, and then exclaimed happily, “This dish is well-cooked.”

Yang Ruoyun also took a bite and nodded slightly. She had truly underestimated Zhou Tiantian. Not only was the meat prepared with care, but the vegetable dish was genuinely delicious. The ginger, garlic, and dried chili were perfectly balanced, masking the grassy taste of the vegetable and bringing out its unique freshness. The leaves were cooked just right, and when she bit into it, the sweet vegetable juice burst out, making her instinctively pick up a mound of rice and put it in her mouth.

Yang Ruoyun sighed and asked, “How did you find this restaurant? I’ve been with Ziyu filming in S-city for so long, and I didn’t know anywhere that cooked such delicious food.”

Zhou Tiantian’s face turned red, and she said softly, “After I learned Ziyu was coming here to film, I looked it up online. This restaurant is very small, but the owner’s cooking skills are excellent, and the food is very authentic and clean, with real, quality ingredients. The locals love to eat there.”

Li Ziyu and Yang Ruoyun finally understood. It was often the case that luxurious restaurants weren’t as good as local, small eateries, but these small, local spots took a lot of effort to find. This showed that Zhou Tiantian was truly dedicated.

Li Ziyu was very satisfied, and her mental state during the afternoon filming was excellent, allowing her to finish her scenes ahead of schedule.

Returning to the hotel, Li Ziyu felt even better when she saw the neat and clean room. She turned to Zhou Tiantian and said, “You cleaned this, didn’t you?”

Zhou Tiantian nodded. “I cleaned it when I came back this morning.”

A smile curled on Li Ziyu’s lips. “Why are you so silly? The hotel has housekeepers to clean. Why give yourself so much extra work?”

Zhou Tiantian replied, “They don’t clean very thoroughly.”

Li Ziyu was about to scold her again, but her phone rang. She took out her phone, paused slightly, and then answered the call with a hint of nervousness.