It wasn’t until sparse footsteps and Xie Cheng’s voice were heard outside that she was released. Yuran, completely devoid of strength, nestled in his embrace, gasping, "You’re done for. You’re going to be seen with an eighteenth-tier tiny star."
Bo Yan chuckled, lifted her up horizontally, and walked straight to the rest room.
Yuran inwardly marveled at his audacity, thinking that being high-profile really was sothing splendid.
Look at his rest room—it even had a room specially for resting. It was outrageously extravagant.
"Are you cursing in your heart again?"
Bo Yan set her on the bed and asked with a half-smile.
Yuran rolled over twice, pulled over the blanket, and wrapped herself up, "Not at all. Hurry and attend to your business; I’ll find a chance to sneak out in a bit."
"You could very well sleep here for a while."
"How could I? I still need to get makeup done later. It’ll take over two hours. I’ve got a bit more to do tonight; I can’t slack off."
Bo Yan looked at her serious expression with a bit of amusent, "You could take a break. I think I can handle the responsibility."
"No, I’m dedicated."
Bo Yan: "..."
"Bo Yan, Director Lin is looking for you." From outside the rest room, Xie Cheng’s deliberately raised voice ca in, and Bo Yan, half-bending down, dropped a kiss on Yuran’s forehead, "Then sleep for half an hour. I’ll have Xie Cheng co wake you later, okay?"
Yuran pondered for a mont and nodded, "Alright then. Just rember to tell him that, if you have the ti, you co wake up?"
"Yeah, sure."
...
Speaking of sleeping, in reality, Yuran didn’t fall asleep because Director Lin’s voice was simply... not quiet.
Continuous voices ca from the outer room, "You say change the leading lady, change again—our crew will really make a na for itself."
Bo Yan’s eyelids twitched slightly, "You can also just cut the leading lady’s part; after all, readers prefer Xie Qingcheng’s character more."
Lin Zhan almost jumped up, "Bullshit! No matter what you say, you can’t just cut the leading lady. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. You just want to—just..."
"Want what? Director Lin, go on, I’m not quite following."
Lin Zhan’s face soured, "Stop pretending like you’re innocent. I’m telling you, I won’t let things go your way. If you want to change the leading lady, then change her, but don’t expect to be lovey-dovey with your wife."
Bo Yan, "I would like to, but have you given the chance to be lovey-dovey? You should look at your own script soti. The whole play is about tornting my wife."
Lin Zhan: "... Isn’t that how the original story was written?"
Moreover, when the author wrote the original story, could they have foreseen that the main actor playing alongside Xie Qingcheng would be a married couple?!
Complain my ass.
He was still having his heart and lungs clawed out by Bo Yan’s fuss over changing the leading lady.
At first, Yuran was alert enough to listen to the voices coming from outside, but as ti passed and the debate between the two n continued, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. By the ti Bo Yan ca back in after finishing his discussion with Director Lin, she had already fallen into a deep sleep.
Bo Yan stood by the door and smiled without entering to disturb her. Seeing him turn around, Lin Zhan looked at him incredulously, "Don’t tell Yuran..."
In your rest room, before he could finish his sentence, Bo Yan nodded, "She’s resting."
Lin Zhan cleared his throat as if seeing Bo Yan anew, "Aren’t you worried about affecting the young girl’s reputation?"
Bo Yan countered, "Does Director Lin think dating is sothing shaful?"
Lin Zhan had nothing to say, got up ready to leave, "I just feel sorry for the young girl, finding soone so much older at such a young age."
Bo Yan: "..."
As soon as Director Lin left, he folded back to the makeup mirror. Looking at his flawless face in the mirror, he thought to himself that Lin Zhan must be blind.
Could a person as young as him be that terrible?
Absurd.
...
An hour later, the female lead hastily agreed to head to the set. She ca from a notable background, but the contract she signed with her agency was quite unfavorable.
It was with the infamously exploitative star-making factory—Xusheng.
To put it bluntly, Xusheng was an agency that relied on casting a wide net and focusing on catching a few promising fish. They possessed very few resources themselves, and would sign a plethora of artists at once.
Moreover, they’d sign them for an exceedingly long duration, draining the artists’ youth until the artists couldn’t take it anymore and would initiate contract termination, at which point they’d profit from the cancellation fee.
It was despicable.
Their philosophy was that if among hundreds of people, they could elevate one person to stardom, that was considered a success. And with the millions in breach-of-contract fees, their inco was considerable.
Young and inexperienced drears with aspirations often fell into this trap. It was a trial on life’s path, society demanding experience before growth.
How painful the fall was, only they knew.
So, before the female lead arrived, the crew was already buzzing with all sorts of discussions, each person frowning upon Xusheng with displeasure.
The female lead, nad ng Qiuyan, had won the Magnolia Award for Best Actress twice.
She was one of the few successful actors Xusheng had managed to promote, and nearly all the resources she received were due to her agent’s efforts.
Still, a large portion of her inco went straight to Xusheng, and as for why she couldn’t pay the hefty penalty fees even with her high salary today, it was probably due to the widely speculated reasons concerning her family.
ng Qiuyan had a gentle appearance and was very polite. So crew mbers noticed that even as a Best Actress, she didn’t have a chauffeured car, instead arriving by taxi with her agent.
This discovery led to a reevaluation of their impression of her.
After she communicated with Director Lin about the reshoot and the substantial workload involved, her eyelashes didn’t even flutter; she simply assured everyone that she had no issues.
The crew’s initial perception of her was one of sympathy, yet she didn’t exploit it for attention, focusing diligently on her acting.
ng Qiuyan wasn’t bad at acting.
This beca the mutual consensus after watching her perform several scenes with the grand actor Bo Yan.
In the scene, she gave it her all; off the scene, they maintained their separate lives.
ng Qiuyan kept her distance from Bo Yan at all tis, wary that others might think she was trying to cling to his popularity.
Futhermore, she didn’t believe that Bo Yan would feel pity for anyone. Of course, due to her personality, she also didn’t think she needed his pity.
Life was hers to live, and her dignity hers to earn.
After shooting a few scenes, Lin Zhan called Bo Yan aside to a quiet place. "Are you satisfied with this one? She doesn’t make trouble, and the key is that her salary isn’t high, so my budget won’t be stretched too much," he said.
Bo Yan kept a straight face, "It’s fine. At least it won’t hold up the schedule."
Lin Zhan: "..."
After talking to Director Lin for a few monts, Bo Yan figured it was ti to wake the young girl up and walked away. How could Director Lin not know where he was off to? He watched Bo Yan’s retreating figure and glared in annoyance.
"This kid, really has changed since he got a..."
"Director Lin, what did you say? Sothing about a wife?" The assistant director approached unwittingly, caught only the tail end of the conversation, and out of shock, he asked without thinking.
Lin Zhan observed his expression, ascertaining he hadn’t given it much thought, and brushed it off, "It’s nothing."
The assistant director acknowledged with an "Oh" and quickly brought up official matters, "About ng Qiuyan’s salary, a few of the producers are looking to discuss it with you. They are waiting over there for you."
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