Chapter 15: 15

Lu BaoBao sniffed and gazed at Jiang Se with watery eyes. “What about you? What did your parents say?”

Jiang Se waved her arm up and down, trying to fling her off, but Lu BaoBao was stuck to it like glue. Exhaling loudly, Jiang Se shook her head and resignedly sat back on her seat. She took out a notebook and a pen from her bag before stuffing it under her desk. Up at the front of the room, the class monitor was writing down the day’s schedule for subject review.

Jiang Se paid no attention to Lu BaoBao’s question and laid out the books and notes she would need for the first class. It had been quite a while since she went to high school, and she needed to catch up on all the lessons.

During the weekend, after she and Zhou Hui had that talk, all of the members of the Du family began to treat her coldly. When Du ChangQun returned to the house, he never once looked at her or spoke to her. He treated her as though she were air. The others also blatantly ignored her and started to eat dinner without even calling her. If the Du family wanted to make her feel unwanted and unwelcome, they completely succeeded.

Lu BaoBao opened her mouth and was about to press Jiang Se one more time when she heard the classmate in the seat in front of her excitedly ask, “Lu BaoBao, did you and Jiang Se go to Shen Farms?”

Lu BaoBao immediately came to life, nodding her head vigorously as she happily answered: “We did! Why’d you ask?”

Jiang Se inwardly sighed with relief; her friend’s attention had finally shifted away from her.

Lu BaoBao leaned eagerly forward, letting her grip relax as she prepared to share everything that had happened to her. Jiang Se quickly removed her arm and sighed with relief.    

“Well, we heard that the director of the movie, Zhang JingAn, was going to film there and that a lot of famous celebrities would be going. Did you see them? What time did you go there?”

Lu BaoBao sat up straight, looking pleased with herself; she habitually reached towards her pocket for her phone before realizing it had been taken away. She pouted and frowned for a second but quickly recovered and replied with a giggle, “Oh! You’re talking about that!”

Lu BaoBao covered her mouth with her hand, her smile peeking through her fingers. Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks flushed as she spoke without reserve, “SeSe and I already knew all about it a long time ago, much earlier than you guys. That’s why we went to Shen Farms last Saturday. And, get this, we were hired as extras in the movie! We even saw Liu Ye in person!”

Lu BaoBao grinned, flipped her hair, and looked at her classmate with jubilation. Her bragging not only attracted looks of envy and admiration from the classmate in front of her but also from the others sitting nearby. Lu BaoBao did not shy from raising her voice and successfully attracted those who had been listening. Many of their classmates even cried out in surprise and started to ask questions.

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“Wow! Are you for real?”

“Of course, I’m telling the truth!” Lu BaoBao retorted as she crossed her arms and raised her chin up high. “I even have some photos I took while I was there, but unfortunately my phone has been taken away. My dad said I can only get it back once the college entrance exams are finished. It’s too bad I can’t show you guys.”

At this point, everyone had gathered around their desk, and they all turned to look at Lu BaoBao feverishly, hoping to hear more about her ‘adventure.’ Some of the students also turned to look at Jiang Se, but she quickly turned them away and quelled their fervor with a few words, saying, “If you’re really curious, just wait until the movie comes out. Go to the cinema and watch it for yourself, and you’ll know all about it.”

Seeing that they were not able to get anymore from Jiang Se, they focused on pestering Lu BaoBao and cajoled her into answering their questions.

Lu BaoBao’s sense of vanity was completely fulfilled, and she stopped worrying about the fact that her phone had been taken away.

She shared all that she saw during filming, starting from the location and the indoor and outdoor sets down to the costumes and special effects props she used. She also talked about the production crew and seeing the famous Zhang JingAn in the flesh, as well as working with Liu Ye in the same place. The discussion went on and on until someone mentioned Zhao RuoYun.

“Isn’t Zhao RuoYun the hot topic lately? She’s always on the news and her popularity is on the rise. I heard that she would also be participating in ‘Operation Rescue.’ Wasn’t Gu JiaEr interviewed by The Entertainment Bulletin two days ago? I remember Gu JiaEr mentioning her a few times. He even commended her on her appearance and recent performance. He said that Zhao RuoYun is very dedicated to her work. It almost feels like he’s actively pushing 1 her.”

Jiang Se largely ignored their gossip because she was not particularly interested in this type of news. But she still overheard a lot of what they were saying because they were standing so close to her.

 “Really? All I know is that Gu JiaEr is going to film ‘Fantasy to Reality’ soon, and I saw on Weibo 2 the other day that he wanted Zhao RuoYun as the leading actress!”

“For real?”

“Seriously?”

More and more students began to join in on the conversation, especially when they heard Zhao RuoYun being mentioned. It was true that her popularity recently had attracted both positive and  negative interest, and she was a favorite subject to gossip about. Some of the students actively discussed their admiration and respect for the actress while there were also several who sang the opposite. The two groups of young girls started to conflict and began shouting at each other, disturbing everyone else around them.

“…Anyway, it doesn’t matter what you and I say or think. There must be a reason why Zhao RuoYun was chosen as the female lead!” one of the young girls remarked, clearly a staunch fangirl of Zhao RuoYun.

“You’re right about that! She must have been chosen because of some unspoken rules,” another girl countered, her voice thick with overtones.

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Hearing this obvious affront to her idol, the young fan angrily yelled back, “Then doesn’t that just mean she is capable? Hmph! You need to be attractive enough in order to be favored, you know.”

“Attractive? I don’t think she’s that pretty at all. Look at Jiang Se; her face alone wins by miles.”

Inexplicably, the flames of gossip somehow burned their way to Jiang Se, and attention was drawn back to her.

The female students turned to look at Jiang Se in unison. Their gaze swept her from head to toe. Fortunately, no one said a mean word to her. After all, it was hard to refute the truth.

Jiang Se was very good looking. So good looking in fact that she could stand on the same stage as those xiaohuadan 3 in the entertainment industry—maybe even outshine them.

“W-well it doesn’t matter if she’s prettier; Zhao RuoYun is already the leading lady and Jiang Se isn’t,” someone grumbled not so quietly.

Lu BaoBao turned towards the voice with a look of disapproval. She had already forgotten how she had ardently praised and defended Zhao RuoYun just a few seconds ago and was adamant on setting the record straight: “SeSe just hasn’t had the right opportunities, that’s all. If she were to audition, who knows if she could get the role or not?”

The classmate seated in front of their desk recalled her earlier conversation with Lu BaoBao and brought up another issue, “I just remembered something. There’s a production crew that is planning to go to the Imperial Academy of Film and Television 4 to look for prospective actors!”

Jiang Se was dizzy from all the shouting the students were doing and had long wanted to stand up to restrain them until she heard this little tidbit.

“I also saw the same thing on Weibo last night! The article mentioned that Gu JiaEr will go to the IAFT in two days to recruit. It’s possible that he is looking for people to play extras or even small roles with short lines.”

“Ah! Gu JiaEr has always been known for his movies about pure love and romance! I really, really like his directing and style the most! His previous movies like ‘Secret Love,’ ‘Love in the East,’ there is also that—” the young girl continued as she listed all of Gu JiaEr’s films off the top of her head.

When she was done, she sighed in admiration and added, “He is well-known for daring to use newcomers in his movies, and they are all filmed so beautifully, too.”

 “We’re not that far from IAFT; why don’t we go there and take a look?” Lu BaoBao suddenly blurted out, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

It was plain to see that the short excursion to Shen Farms and the subsequent events had bolstered Lu BaoBao’s courage and confidence. Having personally tasted a little bit of the entertainment scene made Lu BaoBao greedy for more.  

Despite the fact that she was exhausted after the filming and had numerous bruises all over her body, it was a fact that it had been a rare experience for her. Moreover, she was also able to see famous celebrities like Liu Ye and Zhang JingAn on the set, although not quite up close, but it was enough to whet her appetite.

“Ma JingJing, did the news article say anything about how many people Gu JiaEr is going to hire?” Lu BaoBao asked.

Ma JingJing hesitated for a moment, thinking back to what she read, then shook her head and said, “The article didn’t mention anything like that.”

“Oh…” Lu BaoBao uttered with a disappointed look.

Jiang Se, on the other hand, looked down pensively at her open notebook in thought. She still had little to no understanding of the entertainment industry, but she could infer a thing or two from all that she heard. From what she gathered last Saturday at Shen Farms, the average person was either eager to become a star themselves or enthusiastic about meeting such people. If there were any kind of gossip, plot spoiler, or juicy tidbit, it would be almost impossible to hide from the media or even the dedicated fans’ eyes.

Once the location is leaked, interested parties will definitely swarm there.

The best example was what happened at ‘Operation Rescue’s’ film site. The place had been crawling with fans and people looking for work alike. Everyone was scratching their heads, looking for ways to go inside the crew.

The news about Gu JiaEr’s interest in hiring actors at the Imperial Academy of Film and Television had not yet been verified, but this information was already doing the rounds. Although the specific time and place would probably never be disclosed to the public, people like Lu BaoBao would not give up so easily—it was not in her nature.

“Let’s all go and see for ourselves! Even if we don’t get in, at least we can get some information if we personally go there,” Lu BaoBao loudly proposed to the crowd.

Nearly all the students stirred with excitement, and there was a brief moment of exclamations of agreement. They were very tempted and considered going for a visit, but then they saw the words written in chalk on the board: Four days until the college entrance exams!

“Never mind, we only have four days left. If I don’t do well in the exams, my parents are going to kill me!”

“Me, too!” another chimed in. “They’ve been on my case lately.”

 

Footnotes

捧 peng – Literal translation is to clasp or hold up with both hands. In c-entertainment it means to be pushed and promoted by external means (It could be another star, the star’s signed company, a brand, a person or a group of people, etc.)  微博 wei bo – Twitter of China  小花旦 xiao hua dan – The most bankable young actresses of a generation.  帝都影视学院di du ying shi xue yuan – abbrev. IAFT 

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