Chapter 22: 21

Press Conference

“Everyone in our family is good-looking.” Su Shen placed her glass down and smiled.

At that, Jiang Yin didn’t say anything and just chuckled. He then returned to playing on his phone.

Actually, Su Shen really wanted to ask him why he recommended her but in the end, she didn’t ask. It’s still not too late to ask when they were more familiar with each other.

As before, there were sounds of glasses clinking from time to time in the room. It was always women who suffered at these kinds of gatherings. The couple of newcomers were incessantly coerced to drink all for the sake of socializing. There was even a middle-aged man leaving with a newcomer, as for what, it went without saying.

This industry had always been so messy. People like Su Shen with a little background had also suffered harassment before too. But, Liu jie blocked it off for her. On that day, the original Su Shen had been coerced to drink two bottles of alcohol. If it wasn’t for Liu jie aggressively demanding to take her away, the fate of the original Su Shen would be ineffable.

Although Liu jie often told her to do this or that, Su Shen knew that Liu jie wasn’t wrong. It was just that she still had her previous life’s thinking and couldn’t accept those excessively intimate scenes. In the entertainment industry, it was nearly impossible to find a popular actress which hasn’t filmed a kiss and sex scene. 

“Later, take a taxi and go back by yourself. I have to rush to Zhejiang* tonight. Li Xiao is in talks to sing an OST for a TV drama. The martial arts instructor I hired for you is at Family Squad. Their team has even been certified for having the best martial arts instructors. Go over there when you have the time, you only need to learn and familiarize yourself with the fundamental framework and position.” Liu jie leaned over and said.

Zhejiang – province in east China

The room was noisy filled with screams and shouts. Li Xiao was a singer also under Liu jie, his songs were always popular yet he wasn’t. Nevertheless, his singing was quite nice.

“I will go, but I want to make some time to learn how to drive.” Su Shen didn’t want to always get chauffeured around. For future private activities, it would be better for her to drive.

Upon hearing this, Liu jie frowned, seemingly checking through her itinerary and ultimately, she insipidly said, “Up to you, it will take a while to get a driver’s license though. Afterwards, you have to join the set. You still haven’t met the director for Road to Immortality and The Song of Troubled Times is wrapping up with filming. The production crew is going to hold a wrap-up press conference afterwards, you have to go and show your face. But if you can find the time, then do it.”  

Su Shen also knew that she didn’t have much time. For those in this line of business, time was money. Most barely had the time to rest, going to and fro everyday. It was already quite lax for her. If it was a popular artist like Jiang Yin, then he would certainly be more exhausted. After all, it’s money.

“I will see at that time.” She looked down, seemingly in thought.

Liu jie didn’t say anything else. After the dinner was over, Su Shen signed the contract with the producers, only then was everything finalized and set.

Liu jie had to go and catch the plane. Su Shen wanted to take a taxi back by herself but Su Ruan insisted on having the chauffeur drive her back; Su Shen didn’t decline.

The car sped through the night with the city being mysterious and bustling under the neon lights. She looked out at the changing scenery and momentarily was in a trance.

“I heard that Jiang Yin also recommended you, you guys knew each other?” Su Ruan, sitting in the front seat, suddenly asked.

Su Shen returned to her senses and couldn’t help but look at her: “Plus today, I only met him twice.”

She was also curious but it would be too abrupt to ask now. It might be better to ask when they’re more familiar with one another.

“If you guys don’t know each other, he’s still willing to recommend you?” Su Ruan turned around and looked at her meaningfully, “The relationships between men and women in this industry were messy as hell, you can’t just wantonly trust others else you’ll be the one suffering at that time.”

Su Shen smiled helplessly as she saw her mind wandering off to something else, “He’s worked with so many beauties, do you really think I’m Mary Sue?”

There were no lack of beautiful women in this industry. Su Shen didn’t consider herself to be beautiful to the point of being loved by all.

“You can’t be sure, what if he’s interested in you? The relationships between men and women in this industry aren’t so prudent like ordinary people. If there’s even a slightest bit of interest, it’s normal to just pursue after them. Moreover, my little sis is so pretty too, it’s not wrong to say that you can one shot kill all those Four Dan actresses!”

Su Shen laughed and didn’t say anything as the more she said, the more outrageous it was. But her sister was not wrong. The relationships between men and women in this industry were indeed quite casual. For example with Qu Wen, he’s hooked up with more than one female artist for sure. 

When the car stopped at the entrance of her apartment complex, Su Shen asked her sister to go up and sit for a bit. But Su Ruan still had some other matters and could only leave first and in passing, she told her to come by when she had the time. Xi Xi, that little brat, had been talking about her cooking nonstop. Upon hearing that, Su Shen laughed and said that she would drop by when she has the time.

When she got home, Su Shen gave Xiao Zhou a call and had her come over tomorrow to deliver Xie Yan’s jacket back and bring back the script in passing.

The next day, Xiao Zhou arrived very early. When she heard that she was going to deliver a jacket to Xie Yan, the ambiguous meaningful expression on her face was vivid. Su Shen just explained in one sentence and didn’t say much else, it would seem a bit like a cover up.

……

In the dressing room at this time, He Hua was sitting on the sofa with a script and a contract in hand, carefully scanning through it with a frown, seemingly reluctant.

Ultimately, he put the contract down and looked ferociously at Xie Yan who was playing on his phone, “You’re really going to accept Fang Kong’s film?”

The person scrolling through his phone didn’t even look up: “What do you want me to accept then?”

He noticed that he’d like to use his phone more after opening a Weibo. He Hua hmphed and drank a big mouthful of coffee to wake his mind up.

“I want you to take on an idol drama, will you?” He placed his cup down with reluctance written all over his face.

Upon hearing that, the person scrolling through his phone suddenly looked up and said rather seriously, “Have I received any scripts for dramas recently?”

He Hua: “…”

Their eyes met with the person across still looking indifferent and insipid. If he wasn’t sitting here all this time, He Hua would have thought that Xie Yan had been switched by somebody.

“Are you joking with me? Of course, I mean it!” He Hua looked at him doubtingly, as if he would believe that Xie Yan would film those kinds of lovey dovey idol dramas.

Only Zhao Tong, who had been silent in the corner, knew clearly. He wanted to say that his Yan ge was willing to abandon his morals to pursue a girl and would even film his detested idol dramas.

“Do you think I’m joking?” He arched an eyebrow and continued to play on his phone.

“Do you know what an idol drama is?” He Hua thought he didn’t understand. He got up and explained it to him earnestly, “It’s those kinds of drama where it’s all about love. From beginning to end, it’s all about you love me, I love you with misunderstandings come and go. At that time, you can’t just stop shooting else you gotta pay for damages!”

Xie Yan: “You think I haven’t seen an idol drama?”

In the corner, Zhao Tong almost laughed out loud but he quietly kept his head down and continued on with his game.

He Hua felt that the sun must’ve risen from the west today. But he still took out his laptop and logged into his email to see how many scripts had been sent over recently.

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“I’ve looked through it, there’s a total of seven, eight scripts but I feel that only Palace is suitable for you. This is a leading male protagonist drama with an investment of over 100 million. The director and the production team is top-notch in the industry too. They’ve asked for a long time but I thought that you didn’t want to film TV dramas so I’ve kept declining them. But their asking price keeps increasing, seemingly adamant to knock you down. What’d you think, isn’t this drama not bad?” As He Hua said, he held his laptop and showed it to him.

Xie Yan glanced at it and frowned, “The theme is too heavy. Is there something more relaxed? The production team need not be so grand.” 

In the corner, Zhao Tong finally couldn’t help but covered his mouth and had almost laughed out loud.

He Hua’s expression changed once again. He wasn’t a fool and could notice that Xie Yan’s changes were definitely not baseless.

“Didn’t you say that you will never film these kinds of lovey dovey productions?” He stared at him scorchingly seemingly wanting to find something from his face.

“I also said that people have to change and to keep up with the times.” As he said, he suddenly took out a script from a drawer of the desk and threw it to He Hua, “I want to film this.”

Suddenly receiving the script, He Hua flipped through it doubtingly. He wanted to see what idol drama was so appealing to actually have Xie Yan do the unprecedented.

But when he saw the contents, his frown tightened even more and glared at Xie Yan. Then he took his laptop and after chatting with who knows who, his complexion immediately darkened and threw the script onto the table.

“You’re interested in that Su Shen.” This was a declarative statement.

Xie Yan glanced from the corner of his eye, “Are you able to get this drama?”

He Hua: “……”

For such a small production, if the producers knew that Xie Yan wanted to partake then what couldn’t be possible. They would even take the opportunity to pull more investors too. Then this small production would become a big production, just that…

He took a deep breath and stared earnestly at the person across from him on the sofa, “What’s so good about her? Young? Pretty?”

It’s not like there weren’t people younger and prettier than that Su Shen in this industry!

“Knock knock!”

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Zhao Tong, who had been silent, immediately went to open the door. As soon as the door opened, Xiao Zhou stood outside with a pink bag in her hand. 

“Zhao ge, is Xie lao shi inside? This is his jacket and it seems like our Su jie’s script was left behind here.” Xiao Zhou didn’t go inside but stood at the door and asked.

But there was nothing that the people inside weren’t able to hear. Upon hearing that she was here to return clothes, He Hua couldn’t help but took a second look at Xie Yan. It seemed like the two of them had progressed that far behind his back and had even concealed it so well too! 

“Ah? I’ll go get it for you!” Zhao Tong immediately took the bag and placed it on the table. Then, he grabbed that script and handed it to Xiao Zhou.

He Hua got up and looked inside the bag, only to see a black jacket. He shook his head helplessly and placed his laptop away: “I’m leaving. I’ll help you get your idol drama.”

After receiving the script, Xiao Zhou was about to leave. When she saw He Hua coming out, she shrank to one side and allowed him to go first.

……

It was noon when Xiao Zhou brought back the script. From what Xiao Zhou said, the production crew was about to wrap up with everything, most likely finished by the end of the month. That meant that she still had to attend the finale wrap-up press conference.

For the next few days, she went to see the director for Road to Immortality. That Director Wang didn’t seem to display much optimism about her and just mentioned that there was a role very suited for her, just that it had only an episode’s worth of scenes.

It was the role of an immortal’s daughter but was later killed by the antagonist which shifted the blame onto the heroine. The director said that her appearance was more in line with that role. Liu jie’s opinion was to just think of it as a cameo, an episode is still an episode. Conveniently, it would form a positive relationship with Director Wang.

Su Shen naturally agreed because even if there were a lot of scenes, she didn’t have the time to film for it.

Afterwards, she didn’t have the time to learn driving regardless. Instead, she learned martial arts for a while since the instructor said her strength wasn’t enough so she had to keep practicing.

It was not until the first day of wrap-up for The Song of Troubled Times that the official Weibo for the film finally released the character posters as well as a ten second trailer. Although it was only ten seconds, it still reached the number one trending spot on hot search.

Netizen A: The CGI’s pretty good, it really does look like it’s burning. Looking forward to it!

Netizen B: AHHH! I can finally watch my hubby’s film!

Netizen C: Am I illusioning? Although it’s only a second, why do I feel that glance from Su Shen was so imperious???

Netizen D: Dang! Is that really Su Shen? What did she go through?!

Netizen E: So it’s not just me who also thinks that. Although it was only a sec, I actually felt that her acting was even better than Fan Meng. Should I go see the optometrist?

Netizen F: The water army of the 18th-tier is out here washing the ground again. What’s with you guys praising bad acting? Please go and see an optometrist. [smiley face]

Netizen G: Su Shen’s poster is so pretttyy. I’m hoping that Su Shen improved this time, otherwise it will be a waste of her pretty face. [covers face]

Originally, it was just a release of the trailer but it eventually resulted in Fan Meng’s fans tearing apart her acting. Ultimately, it overwhelmed the enthusiasm of the trailer and turned into a catfight between their two fandoms.

Su Shen had fans, she had gained a lot of superficial fans who liked her appearance these past few days. Although they couldn’t be a match against Fan Meng’s fans, they were sufficient to not be kept under. Liu jie said that although the situation wasn’t great, it could increase her popularity. The more the hype, popularity would then come and one day, attain influencer status.

Su Shen ignored Liu jie’s marketing strategy. Tomorrow was the finale wrap-up press conference and many reporters would surely be on scene. She heard that there was also a live broadcast of the whole press conference. Liu jie also told her to dress better and had even specifically borrowed a dress from the new season from a brand. No matter what, she had to overwhelm Fan Meng in terms of appearance.

There was nothing much to be seen from a ten second trailer. Su Shen also did not expect her reputation to be instantly reversed, everything could take its time.

Early the next morning, Liu jie brought a makeup artist over to apply her makeup. She also took a white one-shoulder dress over. The cut of the one-shoulder was very low and if she looked down, she would probably be completely exposed.

“This dress suits your complexion fabulously. For now, you got to walk the attractive route. This dress is already conservative enough, I didn’t even bring the one with the deep v cut over.” Liu jie stood at the door speaking to her while waving her hand to the makeup artist to do her hair.

Su Shen sat in front of the vanity and when she looked down, she felt that the one-shoulder would fall off at any time. She immediately felt like changing into another dress.

But Liu jie looked at her watch from time to time and urged, “Quickly, we don’t know if there will be a traffic jam later. There’s already an interview scheduled with the media. When you bow later, just cover your chest. This is a haute couture dress from the new season, it was quite an effort to borrow it for you.”

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