Superstar Assistant [GL] - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Li Ziyu answered the phone, her voice becoming extremely caring and joyful. She asked with a smile, “Chong Ying, are you joining the crew too?”

Zhou Tiantian had heard the name Chong Ying. Before joining the crew with Li Ziyu, she had done a lot of research and knew that Chong Ying was playing the second female lead in the TV series. She had previously thought that Li Ziyu and Chong Ying were just colleagues, but hearing Li Ziyu’s tone now, she felt their relationship must be very good, as Li Ziyu’s gentleness wasn’t something she directed at just anyone.

Li Ziyu continued, “What? Your assistant took leave, so you have to handle your luggage alone after getting off the plane?”

Zhou Tiantian suddenly had a bad feeling. Sure enough, Li Ziyu then said, “Then I’ll have my assistant pick you up. It’s really inconvenient to handle it alone.”

After hanging up, Li Ziyu told Zhou Tiantian, “Go pick someone up for me. She’s the second female lead of this TV series, and she’ll arrive at the airport in two hours.”

The sky was getting dark, and going out wouldn’t be very convenient, but Zhou Tiantian did not refuse Li Ziyu’s request. She knew she was Li Ziyu’s assistant, and as an assistant, she was obligated to help Li Ziyu complete many tasks, including agreeing to Li Ziyu’s request to pick up her good friend.

Because Zhou Tiantian couldn’t drive, she ended up taking a taxi to the airport. When she arrived, there was still half an hour until the flight landed, so she stood at the arrival gate waiting for Chong Ying. The plane landed, and she waited another half an hour before seeing Chong Ying emerge from the gate.

Chong Ying was a classmate of Li Ziyu’s, but Li Ziyu debuted one project earlier, so Li Ziyu’s popularity was slightly higher than hers. Chong Ying was wearing ten-centimeter high heels, paired with denim hot pants that reached her upper thighs and a large, boyfriend-style T-shirt, making her legs look long and slender. However, Zhou Tiantian was confused by her wearing heavy makeup and sunglasses late at night.

The makeup at night was understandable, but aren’t sunglasses worn during the day? Even if she was a celebrity who didn’t want to be recognized, wouldn’t wearing sunglasses at night attract even more attention?

Zhou Tiantian was only confused, not critical of Chong Ying, and immediately ran up to her and said, “Hello, Teacher Chong, I’m Li Ziyu’s assistant.”

Chong Ying’s expression was not good. After Zhou Tiantian walked up to her, she scrutinized her carefully. Seeing that Zhou Tiantian was very soft-spoken, she let out a cold snort, her tone somewhat sharp. “Why haven’t I seen you before? Are you the new assistant?”

Zhou Tiantian quickly said, “Yes, I am Ziyu’s newly hired assistant. My name is Zhou Tiantian.”

Chong Ying’s expression grew even worse, and her voice became colder and full of accusation. “I was wondering why you were so clueless! So you’re the new assistant. But even new assistants have training at the company. And yet, you just stand outside here waiting for me. You know I don’t have an assistant to help me with my luggage, but you let me struggle alone to push my bags out. Why did I even ask you to pick me up?”

Zhou Tiantian hadn’t expected that her failure to go inside to meet her would provoke such anger from Chong Ying. This was only her second time at the airport; the first time was flying from B-city to S-city with Li Ziyu. She used to travel everywhere by train, so she didn’t know if she was allowed to go inside the airport to meet people. Since everyone else was waiting outside today, she waited outside too.

The pressure from her family and the 30,000 yuan monthly salary forced her to lower her head. Moreover, Zhou Tiantian knew that if she entered this industry, she must accept the anger of some big-name celebrities. She couldn’t talk back to Chong Ying, because if she had a conflict with Chong Ying, it would embarrass Li Ziyu.

So, Zhou Tiantian immediately lowered her head and apologized, “I’m sorry, Teacher Chong. It was my fault this time. Next time, I will definitely go in and help you with your luggage.”

(Later, when she realized that airport personnel were not allowed to enter the baggage claim area to pick up luggage, she understood how unreasonable Chong Ying’s anger was tonight.)

Chong Ying saw that her apology was very sincere and didn’t make things difficult for her anymore, but she made another request: “Forget it, I won’t hold this against you. We’re not in a hurry to go back yet. Take your phone and snap a few photos of me. Make sure they look good, then post them on Weibo to promote, and find a few marketing accounts you know to help repost them.”

Zhou Tiantian quickly pulled out her RedMi phone. When Chong Ying saw her phone, her anger flared up again. “What kind of phone is that? Are you joking? Can you take good photos of me with a RedMi?”

Zhou Tiantian was a little flustered, her face flushed crimson. “I apologize, Teacher Chong, I only have this phone.”

Chong Ying suddenly came to her senses and sneered coldly. “I really didn’t realize you were quite scheming. On the surface, you’re submissive, and your apology seems sincere, but secretly you pull out a phone like that to try and make fun of me.”

Zhou Tiantian replied, “Teacher Chong, my family is poor. I only have this phone.”

Chong Ying rolled her eyes, pulled out her own phone, and handed it to her. “Take some nice pictures, and find a few marketing accounts to repost.”

Zhou Tiantian didn’t dare to take her phone. After a moment of thought, a line was suddenly drawn in her mind: She was Li Ziyu’s assistant. Ziyu only asked her to pick up Chong Ying, not to agree to Chong Ying’s other requests. Moreover, she really didn’t have the contact information for Weibo or marketing accounts. If she rashly agreed to Chong Ying, posting on Weibo would be easy—she could just register a new account—but how would she handle the marketing accounts? She couldn’t possibly pay for Chong Ying’s promotional drafts herself.

Finally, Zhou Tiantian looked at Chong Ying and explained, “Teacher Chong, I just started working and don’t know any marketing accounts, and I don’t have a Weibo account either.”

Chong Ying’s face instantly turned cold again. This time, she didn’t say anything, but quickly walked out of the airport in her high heels.

When they reached the designated pickup area, Chong Ying hailed a taxi and got into the back seat. Zhou Tiantian pushed the luggage trolley over, struggling to lift the extremely heavy suitcases into the trunk. The driver quickly got out and helped Zhou Tiantian put the luggage into the trunk. Zhou Tiantian repeatedly thanked the driver, who replied with a kind smile, “Don’t mention it. I can see you’re a weak little girl. What’s lifting luggage for big, strong men like us? Hurry up and get in.”

Throughout the ride, Chong Ying didn’t say a word to Zhou Tiantian, sitting in the back seat with a cold face that seemed to emit frost, and even the usually talkative taxi driver remained silent.

When they arrived at the hotel, Chong Ying got out of the car and walked straight into the building, leaving all the luggage for Zhou Tiantian. Fortunately, the driver and hotel staff came up to help Zhou Tiantian take the luggage out of the trunk and push it into the hotel elevator.

Zhou Tiantian returned to Li Ziyu’s floor and pushed the luggage to the door of Chong Ying’s room. She gently knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Chong Ying’s voice came from Li Ziyu’s room next door. Zhou Tiantian, dragging her exhausted body, opened the door to Li Ziyu’s room and heard Chong Ying talking to Li Ziyu about what had just happened.

Her voice was much gentler than when she spoke to Zhou Tiantian, carrying a hint of a spoiled girl’s petulance as she complained sweetly: “Your assistant is really something else. Not only did she refuse to carry my luggage, but when I asked her to take a picture of me, she pulled out a RedMi phone to make fun of me, and then claimed she didn’t have a Weibo account! Honestly, how can anyone not have Weibo now? Really, your assistant is not as good as Little Liu was. She needs to be properly trained.”

However, Li Ziyu’s reaction this time was slightly different from before. In the past, Li Ziyu had lent her former assistant, Little Liu, to Chong Ying. When Little Liu was careless, and Chong Ying complained to Li Ziyu, Li Ziyu had harshly scolded Little Liu.

This time, however, Li Ziyu didn’t immediately scold Zhou Tiantian. Instead, she frowned slightly and explained to Chong Ying, “She only started work a few days ago. It’s normal for her not to have a Weibo account; she’s not the type of person who likes to scroll through Weibo. Plus, she’s quite short on money. I remember she does use a very cheap phone.”

Zhou Tiantian had been bracing herself for a scolding, but hearing Li Ziyu’s words now, a sense of gratitude gradually rose in her heart. She clenched her hands at her sides, and her nose felt a little sore. In her previous life, she was too timid and had almost no friends, and no one ever spoke up for her when she was in trouble. But in this life, she had met Guo Xiaoqing, and her friends at the cleaning company were all kind to her. Now, Li Ziyu was defending her, making Zhou Tiantian even more grateful for her rebirth.

Chong Ying was immediately unhappy. In the past, Li Ziyu was extremely good to her and willing to defer to her on many things, and she was aware of Li Ziyu’s deeper feelings for her. However, in the entertainment industry, that kind of relationship was impossible to reciprocate. So, she pretended not to notice, but she knew in her heart that Li Ziyu treated her exceptionally well.

But now, Li Ziyu’s attitude didn’t seem to be defending her. She instantly darkened her face and said to Li Ziyu, “Am I being unreasonable? She is simply not qualified to be an assistant! I’m just offering some advice. If she treats you so perfunctorily when assisting you later, won’t you have wasted your money? You might as well bring Little Liu back.”

Li Ziyu looked at Zhou Tiantian standing by the door. Zhou Tiantian was looking at her timidly, her hands clasped in front of her, looking a little lost.

Li Ziyu recalled Zhou Tiantian’s work performance over the past few days as her assistant and couldn’t help but smile. “Then you’re wrong. She is countless times better than Little Liu, and she’s the most satisfactory assistant I’ve had so far.”

Chong Ying felt even more hurt. Li Ziyu’s words were an implicit slap in the face. How could she accept that? So, she let out a cold snort. “Fine. Since she’s your assistant, if you say she’s good, then she’s good. But don’t lend her to me in the future. I definitely don’t like using her.”

With that, she turned around and walked out angrily. However, when Chong Ying walked out of the room and saw her luggage by her room door, she became even angrier. Pointing at her luggage, her voice slightly sharp, she said, “Ziyu, do you call this good work—her just throwing my luggage casually at the door of the hotel room? If someone walks off with a bag, can she take responsibility?”

Zhou Tiantian quickly explained, “Teacher Chong, I’ve been watching the luggage at the door the whole time. No one will take it.”

Li Ziyu slowly walked over, put her hand on Zhou Tiantian’s shoulder, and said to Chong Ying, “Tiantian was watching it for you. Nothing will happen. Don’t be angry. Get some rest early.”

Chong Ying gave Zhou Tiantian an icy glare, opened her door, shoved her luggage into the room, and slammed the door shut heavily.

Zhou Tiantian looked at Li Ziyu worriedly. “Ziyu, Teacher Chong seems really angry. Should I go and apologize to her again?”

Li Ziyu said, “No need. She’s probably just being overly sensitive about this. She won’t remember it when she wakes up tomorrow. You should also go down and rest early. You have to wake up early tomorrow.”

Zhou Tiantian nodded and returned to her standard room, still feeling a little uneasy.

Yang Ruoyun saw her return and asked, “Did you pick her up from the airport? You don’t have anything else to do tonight, do you?”

After spending these two days together, Yang Ruoyun’s impression of Zhou Tiantian was getting better and better. Although Zhou Tiantian was still a little clumsy in handling some assistant tasks, her meticulousness completely made up for those flaws. Moreover, because of her attentiveness, Li Ziyu had been in a very good mood recently, and her temper toward them as assistants wasn’t as bad as before. Yang Ruoyun was happy to have an assistant like Zhou Tiantian.

But Zhou Tiantian told her, “I think I messed things up. Teacher Chong was not satisfied with many things.”

Yang Ruoyun frowned slightly, but couldn’t do much except advise her, “For us assistants, to put it nicely, we’re assistants. But some people even call us servants. This term isn’t unfounded. Celebrities in the entertainment industry may earn money easily, but they also endure more pressure and public scrutiny than other professions. Many celebrities don’t have the best tempers, especially those like Ziyu and Teacher Chong who have only recently joined the industry and haven’t adapted to this high-pressure lifestyle, so their tempers can be volatile and impatient. We’re getting paid to do the job, so we just have to be more understanding of them.”

Zhou Tiantian, of course, understood this logic. In fact, compared to the abuse and domestic violence she suffered from her stepfather and husband in her previous life, she could completely handle these kinds of work incidents now. But she was worried about something else. “I know this, and I can handle it. I’m just worried that Teacher Chong will create a rift and ill will between herself and Ziyu because of this incident.” After all, Zhou Tiantian could tell that Li Ziyu really cared about her relationship with Chong Ying.

Yang Ruoyun sighed. “You look so soft and weak, I thought you wouldn’t be able to handle the high-pressure work environment of the entertainment industry. I didn’t expect you to be so understanding and even worry about the relationship between Ziyu and Chong Ying.”

Yang Ruoyun then added, “Don’t worry. Given Ziyu’s temperament, as long as she didn’t blame you just now, she hasn’t taken it to heart.”

Hearing Yang Ruoyun’s words, Zhou Tiantian felt a little relieved. The fatigue of the day made them fall into a deep sleep shortly after.

However, Li Ziyu did take the matter to heart. Chong Ying was Li Ziyu’s classmate, and their relationship had been good since the beginning of school. Li Ziyu also held a faint affection for Chong Ying. But Zhou Tiantian was not only her high school classmate but also her high school first love.

This was why, when she saw the conflict between Little Liu and Zhou Tiantian, she didn’t hesitate to side with Zhou Tiantian and avenge her. Because the moment she saw Zhou Tiantian, she recalled her sweet high school first love with her.

They were so innocent back then. Their relationship wasn’t like the love of many people in society now, mixed with many other things. They were together simply because of pure liking. They hadn’t even kissed, only lightly touched each other’s lips. That pure feeling still makes Li Ziyu feel warm and sweet when she thinks about it now.

So today, when Chong Ying spoke negatively about Zhou Tiantian in front of her, she instinctively spoke up for Zhou Tiantian. Because in her eyes, whether in high school or now, Zhou Tiantian was so good, so gentle, and so considerate. It wasn’t that she completely disbelieved Chong Ying’s words; she just preferred to protect Zhou Tiantian.

Li Ziyu sighed deeply. Perhaps she didn’t even realize that the scale in her heart had already begun to tip.

The next morning, when Li Ziyu woke up and walked out of the bedroom, seeing Zhou Tiantian arranging breakfast in the living room, she felt even more convinced of her thoughts from last night. How could such a caring and gentle person like Zhou Tiantian bully Chong Ying? It must be some kind of misunderstanding from Chong Ying.

On this day, Yang Ruoyun also had to leave the set for other work. Before leaving, she instructed Zhou Tiantian, “Although you need to return to the hotel every day to organize and wash the dirty clothes, you must pay attention to managing your time. The weather is so hot now, and the filming conditions on set aren’t particularly good. You need to spend a lot of time by Ziyu’s side, constantly meeting her needs, and at the same time, ensuring her three meals a day are properly arranged. All in all, this period will be hard work for you.”

Zhou Tiantian nodded and said, “Sister Ruoyun, don’t worry. I will take good care of Ziyu.”

In Zhou Tiantian’s view, taking care of Li Ziyu was her duty. Li Ziyu gave her three times her former salary, so she had to put in three times the effort to work for Li Ziyu to be worthy of that pay. After the torment and abuse from her husband and stepfather in her previous life, the current work intensity was not too tiring for her.

Moreover, she saw and remembered Li Ziyu’s kindness to her these past few days, and she was a grateful person. Since Li Ziyu treated her this way, shouldn’t she work harder and take good care of Li Ziyu?

Back on set, Zhou Tiantian prepared chilled red date and wolfberry water. The moment the director yelled “Cut,” she brought the water over and fanned Li Ziyu with a small electric fan.

They were filming indoor scenes during this period. Although there was air conditioning inside, the set was crowded with people. Also, Li Ziyu’s scenes required intense emotional shifts, and even with air conditioning, she was sweating a bit.

Li Ziyu had just taken two sips of the red date and wolfberry water when Chong Ying walked over from the side, speaking to Li Ziyu with a slightly complaining and spoiled tone: “Ziyu, you’re so lucky! You get water and a fan as soon as you finish filming. I wonder when my assistant will come back. If my assistant were here, I would probably have water and a breeze too.”

Li Ziyu handed over her cup and said with a gentle smile, “If you don’t mind, have some of my water.”

Chong Ying smiled slightly. “Thank you. You’re so thoughtful.”

But when she took a sip of the water, she frowned, glared at Zhou Tiantian, and said to Li Ziyu, “Your assistant is so clueless! Giving you red date and wolfberry water in this heat? Aren’t you afraid of getting internal heat (shang huo)?”

Li Ziyu didn’t mind at all and was quite happy. “I like drinking it myself.”

Chong Ying returned the cup to Li Ziyu, her eyes full of surprise. “Ziyu, is this assistant the daughter of one of your company’s executives? Why are you defending her so much?”

Li Ziyu took the water back and drank another sip. “I’m not defending her; I genuinely like drinking sweet water.”

Chong Ying couldn’t help but roll her eyes, her tone carrying a hint of sarcasm. “Even if you like sweet water, you shouldn’t be drinking red date and wolfberry in this heat.”

After saying this, Chong Ying left, and the smile in Li Ziyu’s eyes slowly faded. She watched Chong Ying’s retreating figure, deep in thought. A moment later, the director called them to continue filming.

Zhou Tiantian took the cup from Li Ziyu, feeling a bit dejected with her head lowered. She heard every word Li Ziyu and Chong Ying said. Although Li Ziyu hadn’t blamed her at all, she inwardly blamed herself for being too careless. Even though Chong Ying was targeting her, Li Ziyu felt that Chong Ying was right. Li Ziyu liked drinking this sweet water, but that didn’t mean she should drink red date and wolfberry in the summer, as it could cause internal heat, which could affect her filming and her diet. As Li Ziyu’s assistant, she should have considered these things.

After the next scene was finished, Li Ziyu didn’t see Zhou Tiantian. Chong Ying looked around with her and asked with a smile, “Where did your assistant go?”

Li Ziyu checked the time. “She must have gone to buy me lunch.”

Chong Ying replied, “Ziyu, I think your assistant, although she looks soft and gentle, is actually quite scheming. I just said a couple of things about her, and now she’s hiding. Isn’t it too early to buy lunch?”

It was almost 11:00 AM, so it wasn’t too early for Zhou Tiantian to buy lunch. But for some reason, Chong Ying’s words made Li Ziyu feel a little uncomfortable, yet Li Ziyu vaguely knew that her discomfort wasn’t because of Zhou Tiantian.

Just then, a script supervisor suddenly walked up to Li Ziyu and handed her the cup that Zhou Tiantian had been holding earlier. She said, “Teacher Li, your assistant asked me to give you this.”

Li Ziyu nodded her thanks, took the cup from her, unscrewed the lid, and was about to drink. Chong Ying stopped her. “Ziyu, you really shouldn’t drink too much red date and wolfberry in this heat. If you get internal heat, it will affect your filming.”

Li Ziyu had just unscrewed the cup, and a faint, refreshing scent suddenly wafted into her nostrils. She raised the cup, sniffed, and a smile spread across her face. “This isn’t wolfberry and red date anymore. She changed it to mint.”

Li Ziyu took a sip. The cool mint flavor was infused with a subtle sweetness. Although she could tell that the mint leaves and sweet water ingredients were slightly inferior, her heart still felt sweet. She couldn’t help but say to Chong Ying with a hint of pride, “I told you she was very thoughtful! See, she listened to what you said. I like sweet things, and she knows to give me some cooling mint water in the summer. She really is very considerate.”

Chong Ying gritted her teeth slightly at the remark, let out a soft snort, but said nothing more.