Superstar Assistant [GL] - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Chong Ying and Li Ziyu were both outstanding students in their class. As soon as they entered their freshman year, they were spotted by some brokerage and advertising companies, which hired them to shoot some commercials.

Following this came offers for TV dramas. During her freshman summer vacation, Li Ziyu filmed a drama, playing the second female lead, and this drama gained her a small fan base.

In her sophomore and junior years, she took on two more dramas, one supporting role and one leading role. The leading role was in a youth campus drama, which made her moderately popular, and she now had 1.5 million followers on Weibo.

Chong Ying had one less drama than Li Ziyu. Although neither of them had major status, generally speaking, Chong Ying was not as famous as her, with about 800,000 Weibo followers currently.

Although Li Ziyu and Chong Ying were essentially only C-list celebrities in the entertainment industry at this time, in their class, they were already considered highly successful students.

Both Li Ziyu and Chong Ying were considered relatively distinctive among the newcomers in the past two years. Li Ziyu had a more impatient temper and was decisive. If people around her were too slow, she couldn’t help but get angry. However, no one in the industry accused her of being a diva, as she was very serious about her work and never lost her temper for no reason.

Chong Ying was the opposite. She smiled and flattered those who held a higher status than her, but was sharp-tongued and put on celebrity airs with those below her in status. Furthermore, both her family and friends praised her highly for starting to act and becoming a celebrity, which made her feel inflated and genuinely believe she was a big star. She was clearly only C-list but insisted on presenting herself as A-list.

Li Ziyu happened to be the one whose status was slightly higher than hers, so Chong Ying was mostly reserved and friendly when in front of Li Ziyu.

And Li Ziyu, like most people, was generally more tolerant of friends or people she had certain feelings for. For example, if a stranger committed infidelity, most people would despise it. But if that person was a close friend, after learning about her “bitter emotional journey,” many people would choose to selectively understand her or gradually downplay the infidelity. After all, humans are emotional creatures and are never entirely rational when dealing with people they care about.

These reasons combined led Li Ziyu to gradually develop a certain liking for Chong Ying, sometimes being so blind that she couldn’t see her flaws.

Chong Ying’s nitpicking of Zhou Tiantian, in Li Ziyu’s eyes, might have been residual effects from Little Liu, making Chong Ying subconsciously believe that Li Ziyu’s assistants were all careless and insensitive. Or perhaps it was because Chong Ying’s own assistant wasn’t around, forcing her to be hands-on with many things, which made her temper flare. Li Ziyu was also a hot-tempered person, so she could better understand Chong Ying’s impatience.

After all the morning scenes were shot, Zhou Tiantian had already bought lunch and returned. Chong Ying grabbed a boxed meal from the crew’s catering and walked with Li Ziyu to the nearby rest area. When she saw Zhou Tiantian had brought back only two meals, she couldn’t help but smile. “It seems your assistant finally learned her lesson after being reprimanded! She even knew to buy a lunch for me, too.”

Zhou Tiantian’s hand paused as she picked up her rice bowl, and she looked helplessly at Li Ziyu. Li Ziyu hadn’t instructed her to buy lunch for Chong Ying, so she had only bought two portions: one for herself and one for Li Ziyu.

Seeing Zhou Tiantian’s uncomfortable expression, Chong Ying’s smile gradually became awkward. She lightly snorted, “What, wasn’t this meal bought for me? Did I misunderstand?”

In Chong Ying’s view, she was already giving Zhou Tiantian a way out. She could tell from Zhou Tiantian’s expression that the meal was not meant for her, but if Zhou Tiantian just said it was for her now, she wouldn’t pursue the matter any further.

Li Ziyu saw Zhou Tiantian looking at her helplessly and immediately felt that she had made a mistake by not telling Zhou Tiantian to buy an extra portion for Chong Ying. She also remembered promising that Zhou Tiantian would eat whatever she ate on set—there would be no scenario where Li Ziyu ate takeout while Zhou Tiantian ate the crew’s boxed meal.

Finally, Li Ziyu smiled and said to Chong Ying, “I forgot to remind her that your assistant wasn’t here, so I didn’t tell her to bring back a meal for you. How about you…”

Chong Ying picked up her boxed meal, looked at Li Ziyu with a bit of a wronged expression, and then chuckled softly in self-deprecation. “It’s nothing. It’s all my assistant’s fault for taking leave. If I had my assistant, I wouldn’t have to resort to begging someone else’s assistant to buy me things. And if they don’t buy it, I still have to worry about the assistant’s feelings and can’t say anything to her.”

Hearing her words, Li Ziyu again felt uneasy, and the building irritation was hard to suppress. She turned to look at Zhou Tiantian. Seeing Zhou Tiantian blaming herself, Li Ziyu felt even more unhappy. She handed her own lunch box to Chong Ying and said, “Eat this one.”

Chong Ying pushed her lunch box away. “No, you eat it yourself. I know you can’t stand the crew’s food. I’m fine with the crew’s boxed meal. I’ll have my assistant order takeout for me when she gets back.”

Li Ziyu still forced her lunch box into Chong Ying’s hand and said, “It’s fine. Just eat this one.”

Chong Ying put down her boxed meal and took the lunch box from Li Ziyu. Just as Li Ziyu was about to pick up the crew’s boxed meal from the table, Zhou Tiantian quickly snatched it away.

Zhou Tiantian looked at Li Ziyu apologetically and said softly, “It’s all because I wasn’t thoughtful enough. I’ll eat the crew’s boxed meal today.”

Seeing her thin and small frame, how could Li Ziyu bear to let her eat the crew’s boxed meal? She made a gesture to grab the boxed meal back from her. “Why are you fighting with me? I promised that I would provide you with outside takeout every day as my assistant. Look how thin you are. If you don’t eat more and pass out from exhaustion one day, I’ll have to pay your medical bills.”

When Zhou Tiantian tried to say something else, Li Ziyu slightly frowned, and a hint of anger flashed in her eyes. “Enough, don’t argue with me. We only have so much time for lunch. If we keep arguing, I won’t even be able to eat the crew’s boxed meal.”

Zhou Tiantian was a little afraid of her and could only hand the crew’s boxed meal to her. Afterward, she noticed that Li Ziyu hardly touched the dishes in the crew’s boxed meal, so she took some food from her own lunch box and put it into Li Ziyu’s. Her voice was soft and timid, carrying a slight unease. “I haven’t touched this part yet. Try it. The food is really good today, and I… I can’t finish it all by myself.”

In the end, it turned into Li Ziyu and Zhou Tiantian sharing the food from one takeout container, while Chong Ying ate the food from the other takeout container.

Li Ziyu had ordered a fish dish today. The fish had few bones and tender meat. Even though it had been sitting in Zhou Tiantian’s bought container for a while, it was still very delicious. Li Ziyu ate several pieces and couldn’t help but praise, “You chose this fish very well. It’s still fresh now, unlike the stuff in those crew boxed meals that tastes like it’s been stewing for ages.”

Zhou Tiantian blushed from the compliment and said shyly, “I timed it and specifically asked the chef to cook the fish slightly underdone, so that after stewing in the soup for a bit, it would be just right now.”

Zhou Tiantian was indeed putting a lot of effort into this job. She tried her best to consider everything for Li Ziyu, hoping to be the most meticulous personal assistant Li Ziyu could have.

During this time with Li Ziyu, she noticed that Li Ziyu almost never lost her temper at her, which made her feel like she was doing a good job as a personal assistant.

Chong Ying, who had received the meal, was initially happy and triumphant because she had won this small battle; Zhou Tiantian and Li Ziyu were the ones who had compromised.

But when she saw Zhou Tiantian affectionately serving Li Ziyu food, before she could fully understand, the jealousy in her heart slowly seeped out.

She finally noticed that Li Ziyu’s characteristic attentiveness had somewhat shifted onto this assistant. This was something that was almost unacceptable to Chong Ying. It felt like she had a doll she didn’t particularly care for—she didn’t mind where she threw it or kept it—but if another child in the house took that doll one day, she would feel upset.

After the meal, when Zhou Tiantian went to dispose of the trash, Chong Ying asked Li Ziyu, “What exactly is your relationship with this Zhou Tiantian? Why are you so good to an assistant?”

Li Ziyu, drinking her mint-flavored sweet water, said to Chong Ying, “She’s just an assistant. It’s just that she’s very pleasant and easy to work with. She treats me well, so I treat her well too.”

Chong Ying pretended to pout coyly. “I don’t believe you. Why haven’t I seen you treat anyone else that well? You definitely have some other kind of relationship with her.” She then looked cutely at Li Ziyu. “You don’t want to tell me?”

Li Ziyu smiled and finally said, “She’s also my high school classmate. We were quite close in high school. It’s nothing to take care of her a little bit, given our past relationship, since she’s my assistant now.”

Chong Ying thought, Aha, so that’s it. No wonder she was so special to this assistant; they had known each other before.

As they were talking, Zhou Tiantian returned to Li Ziyu’s side, turned on the small fan, and directed it toward Li Ziyu, fanning away the heat.

Li Ziyu shook the cup in her hand and said to Zhou Tiantian, “Did you change the mint? Why does it taste different from the one this morning?”

Zhou Tiantian smiled, blushing. “I have to thank Teacher Chong’s reminder! After Teacher Chong mentioned it this morning, I also felt it wasn’t good for you to keep drinking red date and wolfberry. So I asked around about what’s good to drink in the summer. A production assistant happened to have some mint, so I borrowed some from her. The one this afternoon is one I bought myself outside—it’s a better quality mint.”

Li Ziyu nodded in satisfaction and said to Zhou Tiantian, “Just use the money in the bank card I gave you. Just like today, buy good quality things and eat well. I work hard to earn so much money; it’s not for you to save it for me. If the money in the card runs out or is used up, and I haven’t transferred more in time, just tell me. Don’t feel embarrassed.”

Zhou Tiantian was even happier that her work was affirmed, and her eyes sparkled with joy and shyness. “Mhm, but you put a lot of money in there. It will take us a long time to use it all up.”

Zhou Tiantian never thought of pocketing any money from those cards. She used exactly how much was needed for the purchases, not pocketing a single penny. To her, there were tens of thousands of yuan in there, which should last them a very, very long time.

After chatting for a while, Li Ziyu and Zhou Tiantian went back to filming.

During a break in filming, Chong Ying suddenly asked Li Ziyu, “Aren’t you worried that Zhou Tiantian will embezzle the money you put on that card for her?”

Li Ziyu replied, “There’s nothing to worry about. I didn’t put a lot of money in the card, and she’s not that kind of person.”

Chong Ying said, “I’m not trying to criticize your assistant, but you know that the entertainment industry is very complex and full of temptations. I used to trust my previous assistant completely, but didn’t she still steal my money?”

Li Ziyu put her arm around Chong Ying’s shoulder and chuckled softly. “Zhou Tiantian isn’t like that. She’s quite innocent. She hasn’t changed much since high school. I’m really not worried that she’ll embezzle my money.”

Chong Ying smiled too. “That’s good. I’m happy for you that you found a good assistant. After all, in this industry, it’s really not that easy to find a genuinely sincere person or two.”

Li Ziyu was even happier. “Yes, my luck is just that good, and I was able to meet her again.”

After the lunch box incident, without Li Ziyu having to remind her, Zhou Tiantian always bought a portion for Chong Ying as well. Because she was truly conscientious and meticulous in her work, after two or three days, she generally understood Chong Ying’s dietary preferences. Most of the time, the boxed meals she bought were to Chong Ying’s liking, and Chong Ying stopped complaining about her.

A week after Chong Ying joined the crew, her assistant, Yangyang, also returned.

Yangyang was a very cheerful and hardworking young man. After returning, he immediately showered Chong Ying with sweet talk and thanked her for giving him time off.

Chong Ying gave him an angry look. “You remember to come back! You don’t just have to thank me; you also have to thank Sister Ziyu. If she hadn’t constantly told her assistant to do my errands along with hers, I don’t know how miserable my time would have been!”

Yangyang immediately went up to Li Ziyu, bowing and thanking her with a bright smile. “Thank you, Sister Ziyu! If you hadn’t been so thoughtful, I would have really let Sister Chong Ying down this vacation.”

Li Ziyu joked casually, “It’s nothing. It’s just that my assistant is very meticulous and remembers to do Chong Ying’s portion without me having to remind her. Otherwise, your Sister Chong Ying might even accuse me of being stingy and unwilling to lend her my assistant.”

Yangyang laughed heartily and thanked her again. He then found Zhou Tiantian and thanked her as well.

Zhou Tiantian was slightly overwhelmed and shook her head. “No, no. It’s what I should do. I am Ziyu’s personal assistant, and Sister Ziyu asked me to take care of Teacher Chong, so taking care of Teacher Chong is my job.”

Yangyang’s arrival drastically reduced Zhou Tiantian’s workload. Zhou Tiantian suddenly felt much more idle, so she spent more time caring for Li Ziyu.

A month later, Zhou Tiantian received her first salary. She looked at the 30,000 yuan in the text message and was so excited that her hands were trembling.

Li Ziyu sat nearby, watching her, and chuckled softly. “It’s just getting paid. Why are you so dramatic?”

Zhou Tiantian turned to look at Li Ziyu, nearly in tears. “I just never thought that I would earn 30,000 yuan in a month someday.”

In her previous life, besides doing housework at home, she also had to go out for part-time jobs. In that small city, she could barely earn 4,000 yuan a month, but even that 4,000 yuan was higher than her husband’s salary. However, due to her soft personality, even though her income was the highest in the family, she still had no status at home.

In this life, she could earn a year’s worth of money in just one month. How could she not be emotional?

Zhou Tiantian could never forget the day she was reborn.

That day, she was as surprised as she was delighted. After calming down, the first thing she thought of was changing the miserable life of her previous existence.

And now, looking at the text message on her phone, she knew she could do it. She would definitely be able to change the path of her previous destiny and reclaim a life of her own.

Li Ziyu never expected that getting paid would move Zhou Tiantian to tears. She slowly walked up to Zhou Tiantian, bending slightly to look at Zhou Tiantian’s tear-streaked face.

Zhou Tiantian wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, but her features were delicate and meek, and her demeanor was soft. Her 20-year-old face was fair and tender, shining with moisture from her tears.

Li Ziyu raised her hand and pinched her cheek, teasing, “You cry just for a normal salary. If I give you a gift later, are you going to faint?”

Zhou Tiantian was a little confused. Her salary was already so high, why would there be a gift?

Although she didn’t speak the question, the expression on her face made it clear. Li Ziyu couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, what can I do? My assistant’s phone was mocked for being outdated. I feel embarrassed just hearing about it.” Although Li Ziyu claimed to be embarrassed, the amusement in her eyes clearly told Zhou Tiantian that she was just teasing her.

Zhou Tiantian’s face turned slightly red, and she said awkwardly, “I don’t want to embarrass you, but I really couldn’t afford a new one. This phone is enough for me right now, so I didn’t replace it.”

Li Ziyu turned and retrieved a new phone from a nearby table. She handed the phone, box and all, into Zhou Tiantian’s arms and chuckled softly. “I know you’re poor, but I don’t know why you’re so poor that you can’t even bear to replace a phone. However, given your excellent performance this past month, I’m giving you a phone as a gift.”

Zhou Tiantian looked at the new Apple model in her arms and didn’t dare to accept the gift. “This phone is too expensive. I can’t accept it. I should give it back for you to return.”

Li Ziyu used her index finger to tilt Zhou Tiantian’s chin up. The smile on her lips slowly turned very mischievous, and her eyes became much fiercer. “Say that sentence again?”

Zhou Tiantian instinctively flinched her neck and stammered, “Y-you are a public figure. You can’t threaten me like this. If someone takes a picture, it will damage your image.”

Li Ziyu scoffed, “When we were in school, did you see me getting into fights, afraid of the teachers? Afraid of the principal?”

Zhou Tiantian shook her head. Li Ziyu used to have a bad temper, and she was younger then, with even more fiery energy, so she often got into conflicts.

She remembered a time when she was always running into hoodlums on her way home who would demand her pocket money. But Zhou Tiantian had no pocket money. The money on her was her living allowance earned from part-time jobs. If she gave it to those hoodlums, she wouldn’t have money to eat in the cafeteria every day at noon.

But Zhou Tiantian was very weak back then and didn’t dare refuse. The result was that all the money she earned from her part-time jobs went to the hoodlums, and she herself would sit in the classroom without eating lunch every day.

She knew those hoodlums were also students and that this kind of bullying could be reported to teachers and the police, but she was afraid. She was afraid of retaliation. She was afraid of her stepfather hitting and cursing her, saying she was always looking for trouble.

So every day at noon, she would stay hunched over her desk in the classroom, telling herself to endure it and that things would be better when she went to college.

Li Ziyu was different. Li Ziyu hated trouble, so for the last 20 minutes of the final class every morning, she would skip class to eat lunch in the cafeteria. This way, she could avoid the peak period and wouldn’t have to crowd with other students.

The teachers all knew about her behavior but couldn’t do anything about her.

During that time, Li Ziyu would return to the classroom for a noon nap after eating lunch and would see the “good girl” of the class hunched over her desk, sleeping instead of eating. At first, she was curious but didn’t ask. Then one day, she felt genuinely strange and asked Zhou Tiantian, “Why don’t you go eat? You skip lunch every day. Are you cultivating to become an immortal?”

She still spoke with a bit of energy back then, carrying a slight flair of youthful arrogance.

Zhou Tiantian looked up at her and said timidly, “I’m not hungry.” But immediately after, she couldn’t help but swallow.

Li Ziyu raised an eyebrow, walked out of the classroom, and returned ten minutes later with a floss bun in her hand. She sat in front of Zhou Tiantian, tore open the bag, and began eating the floss bun right in front of her.

The scent of the pork floss was too rich for Zhou Tiantian. Even if she hunched over her desk and didn’t look at Li Ziyu, the smell relentlessly drifted into her nose. Finally, Zhou Tiantian’s stomach grumbled uncontrollably twice, drawing a burst of laughter from Li Ziyu.

After laughing, Li Ziyu tapped Zhou Tiantian. When Zhou Tiantian looked up, she handed the bun over and said to her, “Take it and eat it. I already ate lunch, and I can’t eat this now.”

Zhou Tiantian knew how fierce Li Ziyu was; she wouldn’t dare take Li Ziyu’s bun. Li Ziyu said a few more words, but when she still refused to take it, she became a little impatient and slammed the bun onto the table. “Are you going to eat it or not? If you don’t, I’ll hit you!”

Zhou Tiantian flinched in fear, timidly took the bun, and stuffed it into her mouth. She was scared but also touched, and tears started streaming down her face.

Afterward, Li Ziyu noticed that Zhou Tiantian really wouldn’t go out to eat lunch, so she started bringing her a portion back from the cafeteria after she had eaten. Zhou Tiantian always said no, and only ate the food while crying when Li Ziyu lost her temper at her.

One day, Zhou Tiantian finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. Her voice was thin and small, and she timidly asked Li Ziyu, “Why do you keep bringing me food? I don’t have any money to give you.”

Li Ziyu scoffed, “Pfft, do I need your little bit of money? But you’re kind of fun to watch. Just consider it entertainment payment.”

After Zhou Tiantian finished the lunch Li Ziyu brought back and cleared the desk, she looked at Li Ziyu several times, trying to speak but stopping herself.

“Say what you have to say!” Li Ziyu glared at her fiercely.

Zhou Tiantian restlessly twisted her fingers, and then tears started falling again. Li Ziyu rested her chin on her hand, watching her cry, and smiled sarcastically. “I don’t know why, but I always think you look quite energetic when you cry. Just tell me what it is. I won’t get angry at anything you say, given how energetically you’re crying.”

Zhou Tiantian choked back a sob, gathering the greatest courage of her life, and said to Li Ziyu, “Someone took my money, and that’s why I don’t have money for food. Can you help me?”