What Should I Do If the Aloof Movie Queen Is Too in Love With Me? - Chapter 5

The vehicle came to a steady stop beneath an office building in Central.

Ji Youyi was about to take off the overcoat and say her goodbyes when Fang Ruohan called out: “Why aren’t you wearing it?”

Ji Youyi said mysteriously: “The scene might get a bit bloody in a moment; I’m afraid of getting it dirty.”

This battle robe was too expensive and didn’t fit the persona she was about to play. Besides, borrowed clothes definitely had to be returned.

“About how long will it take?” Meng Xingshu asked.

The person who had been making faces a second ago immediately straightened her expression: “Not quite sure.”

“Then let us know when it’s over. We’ll pick you up.”

“That’s too much trouble; it’s not necessary.” Ji Youyi replied fluently, “I’m already very grateful that you could drop me off. After I finish my business, I can go back by myself.”

Meng Xingshu looked directly at Ji Youyi, her eyes filled with scrutiny: “Don’t you have no money for a taxi? How will you go back yourself—walk?”

Ji Youyi choked.

There was a subtle atmosphere flowing in the air that Fang Ruohan didn’t notice.

Keeping her work schedule in mind, Fang Ruohan spoke up directly: “Don’t be polite; it’s settled. We have things to do and are leaving now. Just message me when you’re done, and tell me anytime if anything happens in between. Stay in touch.”

“Okay, okay! Don’t worry, I’ll send you the good news.” Ji Youyi closed the car door with a sigh of relief and nodded politely to Meng Xingshu. “Goodbye, Sister Meng.”

Then she blew a kiss to Fang Ruohan, her voice sweet: “Goodbye to you too, Fang-fang! Love you!”

Fang Ruohan waved back at Ji Youyi with a smile. As the window rolled up, she couldn’t wait to lower her voice and speak to the back seat: “Teacher Meng, Teacher Meng, did you guess? She’s the one.”

Fang Ruohan made a gesture of swallowing pills.

Meng Xingshu glanced at Fang Ruohan and turned her gaze out the window: “We won’t make the regular meeting.”

Fang Ruohan checked the time and was too scared to gossip further: “You’re right. The traffic is terrible today; it’s a nightmare. Should we postpone it by half an hour?”

“No need.” Meng Xingshu looked out the window and saw the person dashing into the building like a rabbit. “I won’t go in person; change it to online.”

“Understood, I’ll arrange it immediately.”

After Fang Ruohan finished the work call and hung up, she suddenly heard her boss say: “She seems to like you quite a bit.”

“What?” Fang Ruohan didn’t understand, suspecting she had misheard.

“Nothing.” Meng Xingshu looked at the materials she had just received on her phone without looking up. “I need you to go buy some things and withdraw 20,000 in cash.”

On the 22nd floor, in the CEO’s office of Wantao Entertainment, Ji Youyi met Li the Fourth.

Li Niantao was the standard middle-aged male executive: round face, balding with a toupee, plenty of jowls, and small eyes. His bloated figure filled a slightly wrinkled blue shirt. Although he was quite ugly, he’d still be hard to distinguish if thrown into a sea of greasy old men.

Wantao Entertainment often participated in the production of period dramas, and the boss’s taste leaned toward the Chinese style. The office desk was wooden, and on the left stood a Money Tree plant, lush green and upright, clearly well-maintained.

Li Niantao leaned back in his armchair, his posture very relaxed, as if he were certain Ji Youyi had no power to strike back.

He gestured for Ji Youyi to look at the contract on the desk and spoke leisurely: “Ji Youyi, you’ve seen the things online. Everyone hates you, and Wantao is being dragged down with you. Now netizens are demanding the company fire artists with bad records. We can only terminate your contract. The termination fee is eighteen million. Sign it.”

The entertainment industry is a place where money is easily raked in. Since some can rake it in, someone has to spit it out.

Stars and popular people are best-selling commodities, but even 18th-tier obscure stars are not necessarily without value.

Facing ignorant teenagers in their teens, they paint a picture of a non-existent “Starry Path,” lay out an unfair contract with an excessively long term, and use meager wages to turn them into the company’s ATMs.

And when the little “leeks” finally wake up and want to leave, some “Manager X” will sit in front of you, shaking his jowly face, and pull a short clause out of a tiny corner of a dizzyingly complex contract, saying smugly:

“Here, look. You promised this with your own signature.”

Unless you pay several or tens of millions, can you really walk away unscathed?

That passerby sister was right; going to court was the best choice.

But a lawsuit is a war of attrition.

As the battle lines lengthen, the debt and interest increase month by month, and the snowball grows larger.

If she wanted to repay the debt, she had to earn money. To earn money, she had to take private gigs. Taking private gigs would leave a paper trail, making her the party truly in breach of contract.

Furthermore, she was a transmigrator. She didn’t know how long she could stay. If she left, no one would be able to help Little Ji.

Imagine: surviving more than half a year on scraps while working like a slave, and just as the court date arrives, Ji Youyi leaves, leaving Little Ji alone to face the company’s siege and lose the case. How desperate she would be.

Ji Youyi sat opposite Li Niantao, her eyes downcast throughout. Her voice was low and slow: “I won’t terminate.”

Li Niantao had long expected this answer and smiled triumphantly in his heart—he didn’t actually want to terminate the contract either; he just wanted to use the high termination fee to force her into submission.

He shifted into a comfortable sitting position, victory in his grasp: “You’ve caused such a huge loss to the company, but considering you’ve served Wantao for five years, we aren’t ungrateful. How about this: you don’t have to terminate, and you’ll pay less this time—eighty thousand is enough. Then tonight, go to Manager Zhang…”

“I won’t terminate.” The hoarse voice interrupted Li Niantao.

Li Niantao felt it was strange and shouted: “I know! I said we won’t terminate, I’m telling you tonight to—”

“Manager Li, I won’t terminate! I don’t want to leave the company!” Ji Youyi’s slow voice suddenly became frantic. She stood up abruptly, and her downcast eyelashes finally lifted.

Only then did Li Niantao discover that Ji Youyi’s eyes were filled with blood-red veins. Coupled with her incredibly eerie expression, his mind went blank, and he instinctively shrank back into his seat: “What do you want to do! Don’t move!”

“I don’t want to do anything.” Ji Youyi’s face was deathly pale. She gave an incredibly weak smile, yet that smile was somewhat hideous.

Her body swayed as she lunged forward, her hands reaching out as if to grab Li Niantao’s hands, but she caught only air. “I just want to stay. Manager Li, you know how I joined Wantao back then; I have nowhere else to go.”

The person in the hospital gown looked haggard, her hair disheveled. To reach Li Niantao, her body kept leaning forward until she was crawling across the office desk.

Her skeletal hands gripped the desktop tightly, her nails making a scratching sound. She looked like a vengeful ghost who had died with a grudge, appearing somber and eerie, scaring Li Niantao into retreating repeatedly.

Ji Youyi, however, chased after him relentlessly. Her blood-suffused eyeballs looked as if they were about to fall out of their sockets, and her tone became increasingly bizarre:

“I know the netizens want you to fire me. It won’t work, Manager Li! You tell them for me, I am Wantao’s person! I realized it the moment I woke up today—in life I am a Wantao person, in death I am a Wantao ghost. As long as the contract isn’t terminated, I can stay in the company even as a ghost! Manager Li, I have no home; the company is my home, so I won’t leave, I won’t leave…”

“Don’t come over! Don’t come over!” Li Niantao grabbed the landline to call security, but Ji Youyi kept approaching him. He could only retreat while holding the phone, his fingers shaking so badly he misdialed several times.

At this point, the acting was almost enough. The only flaw was that the large pool of dark blood had been vomited too early.

Ji Youyi worked hard to recall the sensation of inducing vomiting, brewing it while playing the scene, until she finally forced a spasm in her stomach, and blood pumped into her mouth.

The quantity was small, so she used it cautiously, letting the blood slide very slowly from the corner of her mouth, but the visual impact was still a bit lacking.

She had no choice but to use another method to add more fuel to the fire.

She aimed and lunged toward Li Niantao, slapping the telephone out of his hand with one palm.

The landline accurately struck the Money Tree beside the desk. The lush green leaves shook violently, and several branches at the top were snapped.

Li Niantao was both pained for his precious tree and rushed to grab the phone, but his arm was dragged outward by the phone cord.

He couldn’t watch both ends at once. His waist slammed hard against the sharp corner of the desk, causing him to howl like a pig. His body lost its strength and he slumped down, also crashing into the Money Tree. Then, both he and the tree fell to the ground.

The jowls on his face were scratched by the branches. The potted plant tilted, and freshly applied fertilizer and soil covered Li Niantao.

But Li Niantao was no longer able to focus on the dirt or the pain. His mind was filled with the image of Ji Youyi approaching him while vomiting blood.

His heart pounded wildly, leaving only fear. Li Niantao scrambled up from the ground, wiped his bleeding face, and stumbled toward the door, shouting: “Security! Security!!!”

Li Niantao knew Ji Youyi’s situation all too well. It was precisely because he knew she had no one to rely on that he dared to manipulate her so brazenly—he had done so for the past five years. He never expected that Ji Youyi would actually go crazy!

She was crazy! She had been driven mad by them, and now she was here to take their lives! She even dared to swallow pills to commit suicide; what else was she incapable of!

Terminate! The contract must be terminated! He had to coax and trick her into terminating it! Immediately! Right now!

Once the contract was terminated, he would never let her step through Wantao’s door again. Whatever way she chose to die outside would have nothing to do with their company!

An hour later, Ji Youyi walked out of the building feeling refreshed, deeply impressed by her own acting.

She stood by the roadside tidying her hair. Having just sent a message to Fang Ruohan to report her safety, she saw a car stop in front of her.

The window rolled down, and Fang Ruohan gestured to her: “How was it so fast? Did the talk go poorly?”

Ji Youyi’s eyes lit up instantly. She flashed a smile, opened the back door, and sat inside.

“It went well, it went well.” After sitting down, she held up the termination contract to hide her face, her giggling voice still a bit hoarse. “They didn’t make me pay a single cent.”

Through the thin sheets of paper, Meng Xingshu’s voice came: “What happened to your eyes.”

Uh-oh, I was caught.

Ji Youyi put down the contract and sat up straight: “I accidentally bumped into something.”

Actually, for the sake of the performance’s effect, she had given herself two punches.

Meng Xingshu looked at her for a moment, her fingers flipping her phone: “Why are your clothes dirty.”

“Ah, are they? I might have accidentally brushed against some dust.” Intentionally accidentally.

“And your hand.”

Ji Youyi touched her bruised left hand, still keeping a straight face: “I accidentally took a fall.”

Fang Ruohan remarked in wonder: “You didn’t go in there to pick a fight, did you?”

“How could I? I’m a civilized person!” Ji Youyi was like a bad student caught and questioned by the head teacher. Finally finding an opening with Fang Ruohan, she immediately shared with a smile, “I just had an argument. You should have seen it—that Wantao boss was so angry at me his toupee went crooked, revealing half a Mediterranean bald spot, and not a single person beside him dared to tell him.”

Fang Ruohan was amused. She glanced at Meng Xingshu’s expression through the rearview mirror.

After leaving the hospital, Meng Xingshu had her secretary look up Ji Youyi’s information, and during the meeting just now, she paid special attention to the situation regarding artist management.

Fang Ruohan guessed that she was considering signing the girl. As an assistant, it was only right for her to scout the situation. She asked: “Now that the contract is terminated, what are your plans for the future?”

“I’m not a completely free agent yet. The company took a script for me last night; I have to go film it.”

Ji Youyi stuck out her tongue harmlessly, acting pitiful. “According to the old management contract, it’s another drama where I work for the company for zero pay.”

Actually, that was just Wantao’s original plan.

With today’s scene, Wantao didn’t want to give her this role at all. It was only during the signing of the termination contract that Ji Youyi refused to let go of the “cookie,” grabbing it by acting crazy.

It didn’t matter if she didn’t get paid; she had her eye on the Film City where the series was being filmed.

Wantao was stingy to death and wouldn’t cough up a cent. With this script, she could at least demand travel expenses to the Film City and conveniently have Wantao help her handle the actor’s certificate used for finding work there.

A mosquito’s leg is still meat; she wasn’t picky.

“That trashy company is truly disgusting!” Fang Ruohan felt pained that Ji Youyi was being squeezed like this. She spat in disgust and asked: “What drama?”

“It seems to be called something like ‘If Life Were Just Like First Sight.’ I’m playing a supporting female role. It probably isn’t a good project.”

“Never heard of it.”

Meng Xingshu listened quietly and typed the title into the search bar.

From production to manufacturing to the creative team, everything was unfamiliar; it truly was not a good project.

Fang Ruohan was still chatting.

“Is there a company you want to sign with?”

“Not signing.” Ji Youyi’s rejection was very blunt.

“Then if you’re on your own, it’ll be hard to get good roles. How will you develop in the future?”

“It’s okay.” Ji Youyi’s tone remained relaxed. “I have a way.”

The midday sunlight was very warm, quietly spreading over her, illuminating her certain smile.

Meng Xingshu’s gaze moved back, seeing a pharmacy sign outside the car window.

“Pull over for a moment,” she said to Fang Ruohan. “Go buy something.”

Fang Ruohan responded, parked the car, and hopped out quickly.

Only two people remained in the car.

Breathing.

Ji Youyi was breathing.

Under normal circumstances, a person has an even breathing rhythm—natural and unnoticeable.

But Ji Youyi had noticed the fact that “she was breathing” several times today. She didn’t understand why, only thinking it must be because it was too quiet.

Warming up the atmosphere was something she was very good at. She was great at reading expressions and then proactively bringing up a topic the other person liked to close the distance, thereby becoming one with a new acquaintance.

But she didn’t know what to say to Meng Xingshu.

Ask about her work? Praise her looks? Or thank her for her kind help?

Breathing.

There was a light fragrance at her nose—elegant, soft. A faint sweetness mixed with a slight cold, soapy scent. Smelling it for a long time made her suspect her tongue was turning slightly bitter.

Maybe ask what perfume she was using?

Before Ji Youyi could make up her mind, the other party spoke first.

“What’s going on with your eyes?” Meng Xingshu tilted her phone screen toward her. “The doctor said to ask about the symptoms.”

It turned out she had sent Fang Ruohan to buy medicine just now.

Ji Youyi answered half a beat late: “I just bumped into something. It’ll be fine in a few days; it’s nothing.”

Meng Xingshu gave an “Mhm” but was still looking at her eyes.

Ji Youyi simply took a big step to the left, propped her hands on the seat, leaned forward, and brought her face close to Meng Xingshu to show her: “Look, really, nothing’s wrong.”

A narrow slit was open in the left window. A clever breeze slipped through the gap, lightly blowing the stray hairs on Ji Youyi’s forehead.

A shallow smile hung on the corners of her lips, and her eyelashes naturally fluttered occasionally. On her fair face, the red mole on the tip of her nose was vivid and charming.

The light was ample. Meng Xingshu could clearly see the redness in the whites of her eyes and the pair of amber-bright pupils in the middle of her eyeballs.

After a long time, Meng Xingshu spoke, her voice very soft: “Does it hurt?”

Ji Youyi shook her head: “Just a bit itchy.”

“Did they hit you?”

Ji Youyi shook her head vigorously again: “No.”

“With their hands?”

“Uh, no.” Not their hands.

But Meng Xingshu had reached a conclusion in her heart. She didn’t press further, lowering her eyes to type.

Ji Youyi looked down and saw her replying to Fang Ruohan’s message, so her gaze circled back up from below, landing on Meng Xingshu’s face.

Receiving a direct “beauty strike” at ultra-close range, the topic she had weighed several times naturally came to her lips: “Sister Meng, you really are good-looking.”

Meng Xingshu lifted her eyes to glance at her, then lowered them again. Her raven-like long lashes silently stirred a few ripples.

“Really!” Fearing Meng Xingshu wouldn’t believe her, Ji Youyi leaned back with a serious face. “Specially good-looking—better looking than everyone I’ve ever seen. You know, I’m in the film circle. Although my results aren’t great, my professional eye can discover that you have great talent for being an actor!”

“Is that so?” Meng Xingshu closed her phone. “I feel like I can’t compare to you.”

“I’ve been in the industry for a few years after all.” Ji Youyi encouraged, “If you’re interested, you can try acting if you have the chance. You’ll definitely be famous.”

Meng Xingshu was non-committal: “How to try?”

Ji Youyi thought that made sense too.

The entertainment industry was a pool of muddy water; there was no need for a well-off girl to get stained. If she ran into a garbage crew, it would just be a terrible memory.

“How about this: others can’t be relied on, but I definitely can.” Ji Youyi sat upright, her expression incredibly solemn. “I, Ji Youyi, repay my debts of gratitude. I promise you: if I become a director in the future, I will definitely find you to film a movie. I won’t stop until I’ve made you a ‘Triple Gold’ Movie Queen!”

These words were spoken with resounding force. Fang Ruohan had just opened the car door and was stunned.

Ji Youyi’s attitude was so earnest that it even made her start to doubt—uh, maybe Meng Xingshu wasn’t that famous? She only had a whole wall of awards; was it actually… normal for someone in the industry not to recognize her?

She didn’t say a word, carefully closed the car door, and started the car slowly, fearing even the slightest bump would break this heavy awkwardness.

Ji Youyi’s tone had been too intense. After finishing, she couldn’t help but cough lightly, her thin shoulders hunching slightly.

She had swallowed pills in the early morning, had a gastric lavage in the morning, vomited blood in the late morning, ran, was shoved around, played three scenes, and spoke a lot. Her throat had been uncomfortable for a while.

But she only quickly wiped her nose and adjusted her state. She was still smiling, her pupils shining as if a vigorous life force were growing wildly in the sunlight.

Meng Xingshu looked away, gazing out the window. All the materials she had browsed earlier flashed through her mind one by one.

The vehicle was smoothly crossing the river bridge. In the distance, the river surface shimmered with ripples, floating light like leaping gold.

A faint voice fell into the strands of the breeze, making it impossible to tell its temperature:

“Then I’ll look forward to it.”