Last time, Shen Shu had ordered his lawyer to bring him a copy of his divorce agreement so it wasn't long before it was delivered to him.
Shen Shu's lawyer was an experienced professional, so when his employer ordered him to bring over a copy of the divorce agreement created by his firm, his first thought was that there was something wrong with his work. Thus, the lawyer personally went to the Shen residence and handed the document to Shen Shu himself.
When the lawyer arrived, he found Shen Shu dressed in messy casual clothes and looking haggard and pale. Shen Shu quickly accepted the document and read through the entire divorce agreement line by line without missing so much as a single dot of punctuation.
The lawyer stood beside him nervously. After considering for a long time, he finally mustered up the nerve to say: "Mr. Shen, my team is extremely professional when it comes to these sorts of matters, so you can rest assured."
The lawyer wasn't boasting either. He was confident that each line and paragraph of this divorce agreement had been crafted meticulously without leaving any room for the other side to find any loopholes.
Shen Shu, who was still battling with a cold and running a fever, coughed twice and pressed his lips into a thin line without saying anything.
His lawyer continued: "Don't worry, you won't find a single line in this document that is in error. If your ex-wife wants to try to use the divorce agreement produced by our firm to file a lawsuit, there's no chance that she could win."
Having spoken this far, the lawyer carefully observed his employer's reaction. To his surprise, Shen Shu's face seemed to be getting paler and paler as he spoke.
After a long time, Shen Shu gently closed the document and put it aside. "Can't it be annulled?" He asked with a hoarse voice.
The lawyer was momentarily stupefied, but he quickly recovered. "Mr. Shen, you can rest assured. The divorce between you and your wife has already been completely settled in the eyes of the law. There's no possibility of annulment."
Shen Shu reached up to rub his aching forehead as a wave of tiredness suddenly washed over him. The tiny bit of hope in his heart for some sort of miraculous fluke flickered and disappeared.
He managed to gather up the strength to speak one more time and said hoarsely, "I understand now. Go back."
The divorce agreement laid there quietly on the table.
Ruan Tian's signature was in plain black and white, very formal and earnestly written.
Shen Shu stared blankly at her name for a long time, and an inexplicable rage began to surge up from the bottom of his heart. His slender fingers clenched around the document, so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and then he viciously swept it off the table and into the air.
A rare glimpse of rage and violence brewed in the man's eyes.
Nanny Liu heard the commotion from outside the room and came in confusedly. She looked around at the papers that seemed to have been crinkled up in someone's fist and then scattered on the floor, and then over at the cold-faced young man who was still sitting on the sofa, and she felt a bit surprised.
In fact, Nanny Liu could be regarded as a person who had watched Shen Shu, this sole son and grandson of the Shen family, grow up until now. She knew that he had been taught to be sensible and clever from a very young age. Ever since his childhood, he had always spoken and behaved in a calm and measured manner, never contradicted his elders, and hardly ever lost his temper.
From what she knew, his personality had always been cold. The type that was polite, but also distant.
But Nanny Liu had never seen him like this before.
Just when Nanny Liu was about to go forward to pick up the scattered documents, Shen Shu's cold voice rang out: "Go and take a rest. Don't worry about this matter."
With polite words, he frostily drove her away.
Meanwhile, the National Film Festival award ceremony was finally happening tonight. Currently, the live broadcast had already begun.
Shen Shu tuned in and then listened impatiently as the host introduced a long series of names he had never heard of before. He slowly closed his eyes tiredly, but then they snapped open again when he finally heard that familiar name.
"The next people we'll be seeing walk down the red carpet are the crew of 'Obscurity', a film that really pulled in a bumper harvest at the box office this year. Let's all welcome Director Cheng and the leading stars from the film, Li Dong, Qin An, and Ruan Tian!"
The hostess's voice was shrill and excited.
Shen Shu couldn't tear his eyes away from the woman on the screen.
She was wearing a beautiful ankle-length dress and was dazzling with her makeup and freshly curled hair.
Shen Shu, as if abusing himself, just stared at her face blankly. As he looked at her dazzling smile, he was suddenly reminded of that scene from back then.
Back then the poor-looking, cautious, and reserved girl had been standing in front of a shop's window in her worn old school uniform and looking up at the dazzling dress the mannequin behind the glass was wearing.
That girl, her face tinged with a hint of red and wearing her cheap cotton skirt, had stood in front of him, somehow both modest and bold, and asked: "Shen Shu, do you think that would look good on me?"
Of course, Shen Shu had just ignored her.
Back in the present, Shen Shu could only watch on as Qin An held her arm and led her down the red carpet. Before long, the two people had both disappeared from the screen.
His heart felt a bit empty all of a sudden. He had a premonition that this was the end of him and Ruan Tian.
Now and in the future, she would always be holding another man's arm as she walked casually out of his world without ever stopping to look back.
Sicko! This was already the 100th time that Ruan Tian had silently dissed Qin An in her heart.
Why didn't he take Li Dong's arm! ? Why did he have to hold her arm? Didn't this Qin An know that she hated him?!
Wasn't he aware that they were sworn enemies! ?
However, under the eyes of so many fans and cameras, it wasn't like she could just turn her head and push him away.
When they finally made it inside the venue, Ruan Tian gave a cold chuckle and said, "Qin An, have you noticed that I've been getting popular so now you want to come and leech some of my fame? !"
Qin An: ?
He wasn't trying to do that, ah. He really wasn't.
Ruan Tian hmphed coldly. She squinted her eyes at him and said in a certain tone: "I think you just noticed that I've been blowing up so now you want to try to curry favor and steal my fame away." She paused to take a breath and then continued, "Anyway, please be more mindful. Don't try to stir up CP rumors between us!"
Qin An couldn't just take this lying down, so he sneered back: "Even if I really fell to the very bottom and ended up in the adult side of this industry, I would be doing BL and slash before it ever came to your turn."
(tl note: The previous line had a lot of slang so it's almost completely rewritten since I can't translate it properly, sorry about that. In the original text, Qin An refers to both porn and homosexuality very euphemistically. Fun fact, apparently "going down to the sea" = "shooting pron")
Qin An fearlessly spat out a poisonous oath.
Ruan Tian felt this oath could almost compete with that marketing account on Weibo pledging that their whole family would die in a car wreck if she didn't win the award tonight for viciousness.
Ruan Tian couldn't help but fall silent.
However, after a short while, she rallied and looked into Qin An's round eyes. She asked in a very serious tone: "Since you're considering the BL route, do you plan to take advantage of this opportunity to play love at public expense?"
(tl note: This is another slang term from the industry. "Love at public expense" means two public figures who are working on the same set that end up dating (or sleeping together, or whatever) but not admitting to it. I can't think of a way to express that concept in a few words in english tho)
Qin An endured and endured. He tried to keep calm and cool. He recited mantras in his head to try to brainwash himself into staying emotionless and not letting himself be riled up by this terrible woman.
Ruan Tian couldn't help but give him a thumbs up: "Playing love at public expense with your fellow actors really suits you actually."
Qin An finally couldn't hold it in anymore. After all, whenever he had been in front of Ruan Tian he had never concealed himself and always shown off his dirty mouth and terrible temper. "Oh my god! Your ****ing mother! Scram away with this crap! I, your father, don't swing that way."
Ruan Tian just sighed emotionally and gave him an "understanding" look, as if to say: 'It's alright, you don't need to explain anything to me.'
Qin An almost vomited blood. He began to wonder why he even had to explain himself, but despite that, he continued: "I like girls! Girls with big breasts and thin waists, okay?"
Ruan Tian: "Oh."
As the two chatted and played around, the award ceremony began.
The crew of 'Obscurity' were all sitting in the front row, and Ruan Tian was sandwiched between Director Cheng Sui'an and Qin An.
This year was a big year for the National Film Festival. There had been several good films with a lot of popularity which had come out during the year, so the competition for each award was particularly fierce.
As for Ruan Tian, despite everything, she honestly didn't even dream of winning Best Supporting Actress.
Up on stage, the less important awards were being presented one by one. Qin An suddenly leaned down toward Ruan Tian's ear and said, "Do you see that golden microphone in the middle? I'll be winning Best Actor in a moment and taking it back with me. I'll give my speech up above and you can just watch from down below."
He continued pretentiously: "As for you, I'm afraid it's impossible for you to win any awards. Today's festivities are destined to have nothing to do with you."
Ruan Tian only had one thought in her mind: This Qin An is really too noisy.
When it was finally time to give out the Best Supporting Actress Award, the camera suddenly turned to Ruan Tian's face. Unfortunately, Ruan Tian was still busy quarreling with Qin An and didn't notice that the camera had changed to focus on her at all.
Qin An said: "Sister Tian, try not to cry after this, there will still be time for you to cry later."
Ruan Tian, her face cold like ice, shot back: "Get up and scram away."
Seeing this, the CP fans supporting QinxTian were all screaming wildly in front of their screens.
omg! Their CP was still giving out candy even during the award ceremony oooo.
They were definitely a perfect couple!
The big screen behind the stage was playing clips from the various finalists' films. Everyone held their breath, and the host slowly unsealed the envelope and opened it up. He looked down at the name inside, then smiled and whispered four words into the microphone:
"Congratulations to Ruan Tian."
"Her performance was emotional and moving, showcasing a maturity beyond her age and firmly engraving herself in the hearts of audiences around the country."
With this twist, Ruan Tian was immediately ****ing terrified.
And while she was still dazed, she heard applause swelling all around her and countless gazes from the crowd. The sudden pressure almost completely immobilized her brain.
Ruan Tian unconsciously made the classic "I really won the award" expression that often showed up in these ceremonies, covering her mouth with her hands and bursting into tears.
Her mind was buzzing. What was going on here?
Did the script get changed? Why was she suddenly so much like a female lead!
While Ruan Tian was dazing out, Qin An suddenly gave her a hard nudge with his elbow and said, "Hey, go up quickly."
Ruan Tian slowly stood up. Her heart was full of waves like a tsunami, but her face was calm like an old dog. She carried her skirt and, on her high stiletto heels, she walked up to the stage step by step.
Ruan Tian accepted the trophy but then suddenly realized she had no idea what to say.
Her mind was whirling. It was almost as if, after divorcing Shen Shu, the previous bad luck and dark life ahead had disappeared and now the golden light of a female lead's halo was shining down on her instead.
Ruan Tian took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the trophy in her hands. "I want to say thank you to a few important people. Thank you to my director, Director Cheng, thank you to my agent, Lili, and thank you to my fans. Thank you, thank you everyone, I will be back here again soon."
The crowd of stars below all suddenly went blank: "…"
Was that really okay to say?
That last sentence was a bit too rampant, right?
In the end, at that night's National Film Festival 'Obscurity' won a total of three awards: Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actress.
Ruan Tian became the youngest actress in history to win the National Film Festival's Best Supporting Actress award.
The TianTian Group were all rejoicing as soon as she won the award.
A prize pool was created within the group and prizes were given out by lottery to celebrate.
Meanwhile, when she saw all this news about Ruan Tian, Zhou Xiaoqiao felt very uncomfortable.
Watching Ruan Tian soar into the skies step by step, her own mood turned very depressed.
Somehow Ruan Tian had become the brightest and most brilliant light, while she had become the one being gradually forgotten.
Zhou Xiaoqiao really couldn't reconcile herself with this reality.
It was clear that she wasn't any worse than Ruan Tian.
She was pretty, she was well behaved, she had been brought up learning the best etiquette, and she had graduated from a prestigious school, so why had these people all begun to pay more attention to Ruan Tian than her?
Zhou Xiaoqiao wasn't willing to sit back and wait to die. Seeing how Ruan Tian was only flying higher and higher, she quickly went to her mother and said, "Mom, I want to continue working as a designer."
At first Mother Zhou wanted to refuse but, in the end, she couldn't stand up to her daughter's tears and reluctantly agreed.
Zhou Xiaoqiao bit her lip and her eyes flashed with subtle light. She and Ruan Tian were completely irreconcilable!
Meanwhile, someone else was feeling even sourer than Zhou Xiaoqiao. That was Zhao Meng'er.
Wuwuwuwu… she was really pissed off this time.
She suddenly felt that maybe Ruan Tian was her destined foe who could never be satisfied unless she was full of unhappiness.
She really had never even imagined that Ruan Tian would win that ****ing award. Back then, she had just made that oath casually, but who could have expected that her crow's beak would be so accurate? Now, of all times, was the time that she had ****ing guessed it right.
This lingering ghost was really just getting better and better.
In the end, having nothing else to do while she was sitting around at home, Zhao Meng'er focused all her energy on smearing Ruan Tian. In this idle time, she managed to churn out hundreds of posts in a single day:【The National Film Festival is one of the three "Gold Standards" within Southeast Asia. Across Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and this county, it is one of our most prestigious organizations. Doesn't Ruan Tian feel ashamed to accept an award from an organization like this? 】
【Isn't it her backer, Boss Qin, that Ruan Tian should really be thanking most? Wasn't the real most important part of her journey all the backstage resources she received from him? 】
"I don't know if you're joking or if you're hating, but you really know how to kick up a fuss."
"Thanks for inviting me to see this, it was worth it."
"En, it's true. All three of those "Gold Standards" would have given her Best Supporting Actress, plus she's Boss Qin's noble imperial concubine, we can only say that she's a true master! Ruan Tian must be waking up smiling even in her dreams these days."
"I actually admire them right now. If I were part of the TianTian Group this would already be enough to let me celebrate for the rest of my life."
"I appreciate the OP bringing up the matter between Qin Yu and Ruan Tian though. This low-key businessman v. beautiful big time star drama is very intriguing. Hm, I think I'll need to examine this situation carefully tonight."
Zhao Meng'er saw none of the netizens were cooperating with her and angrily turned off her computer and silently withdrew from the net to rage alone.
After the award ceremony was over, Director Cheng secured a private box in a five-star hotel and invited them all to drink and have a meal.
Everyone was happy that the film had won so many awards.
Ruan Tian was also feeling very happy. She tightly held onto her little golden trophy and refused to let anyone touch it, it looked very cute.
Qin An finally couldn't bear to see her acting like this, "All right, put your drool away now. It's humiliating to have to admit that I know you."
Ruan Tian was in a very good mood so she didn't argue with him, she just hugged her little trophy more tightly and retorted, "Don't talk nonsense, you're just jealous."
Qin An gritted his teeth. She wasn't exactly wrong!
But as soon as they all sat down in the box, Qin An's phone rang and he picked it up. He barely said a single word when he suddenly pressed the phone against Ruan Tian's ear. He mouthed the words: 'It's my brother.'
Ruan Tian frowned.
Over the phone, a man's voice came though smoothly, sounding low and sweet: "Ruan Tian, I heard you thanked a lot of people tonight."
Ruan Tian's mouth turned grim.
Qin Yu continued: "But you didn't thank me?"
Ruan Tian almost wanted to shoot back, "And what on earth did you expect, Boss Qin?"
But, in the end, she put up with humiliation and swallowed her words down.
Finally, she just spat, "Of course not, you don't deserve it."
…
At the celebration dinner, Ruan Tian ended up drinking a little more wine than she intended. Before long her normally pale cheeks had been dusted with a tinge of red, and her small face looked delicate and beautiful in the dim light.
She was quietly cooping herself up in one corner while clutching her little golden trophy in her arms.
Qin An secretly looked over and snapped a picture of her stupid expression without letting her prepare at all. Then, with no scruples at all, he immediately uploaded it and posted it to Weibo with the caption: 【Sister Tian has drunk herself foolish. 】
(tl note: He calls her "甜妹" or Tian-mei. "Mei" is "younger sister" but it can also be used as a term of endearment between two unrelated people.)
The fans were shocked. Wasn't "Sister Tian" too a little too intimate?
The onlookers were amazed.
Before they began shooting 'Obscurity' Qin An had always been using his Weibo to mock Ruan Tian but now, in the twinkling of an eye, the relationship between the two seemed to have become quite good? He could even call her "Sister Tian" now?
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian had no idea what Qin An was doing. She was really in a good mood, so she logged on to her own Weibo for the first time in a while and took a picture of herself with her trophy. 【Just me and my little trophy ~】.
Satisfied, she clicked send.
Within a minute, thousands of comments poured into her comment section.
"Ahhhhh! Our baby is so great! The trophy is so beautiful!"
"Momma is so proud of our TianBaby."
"I hope this will cause those other starlets in the circle who have bad intentions to think twice in the future. Our Sister Ruan isn't short of awards or resources. All these people who want to step on her need to weigh whether they are even qualified."
"I regret I only started following her now, I really hope it's not too late. I love you Sister Ruan!"
"Wow, this is the first selfie from Sister Ruan in a month and a half, I had almost forgotten what she looks like."
Ruan Tian found she couldn't reply. When faced with this surging love and support from her fans, she still didn't know how to properly respond or express herself.
Seeing this situation, Ruan Tian was reminded of a saying. Although this saying was a bit old-fashioned, she felt it was appropriate right now: It was always better to give back with honest and practical work than to say flowery words.
Director Cheng had also drunk some wine by now. In private he wasn't as solemn and serious as he was outside and he was actually quite easygoing. His suit jacket was casually draped over the back of his chair, and he was eating in his clean white vest, looking both elegant and handsome.
"Ruan Tian." He suddenly spoke.
Right now Ruan Tian's head was feeling muddled and dizzy. Only after Qin An subtly kicked her leg did she wake up. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked around drowsily, "Ah? I'm here."
Cheng Sui'an generally never worked with the same actress twice. However, he also found someone like Ruan Tian, who was both talented and willing to put in serious effort, to be very rare in this industry. After pondering over it carefully, he finally said: "Set aside a few days next month and come take an audition in my studio. I'll send you the script in advance."
Ruan Tian poked her fingers together and murmured, "Mm, alright."
Cheng Sui'an pursed his lips: "The audition will be for the female lead role."
Ruan Tian's face was practically screaming 'I am very sleepy right now!' but she still managed to reply, "All right, director."
This couldn't really be blamed on her though. In truth, Ruan Tian had no concept of what it meant to be the female lead in one of Cheng Sui'an's films.
Of course, even a supporting actress role in 'Obscurity' had brought out so many popular starlets to wrench their brains trying to think up ways of battling for it or robbing it over, so it could be imagined what kind of appeal the female lead role might have.
Normal actresses basically wouldn't even be in consideration and wouldn't even get a chance to audition.
After all, Cheng Sui'an had no affection for those little starlets who only knew how to act like naive little white lotuses and pout their mouths to act cute.
He was aware that actresses who acted as the female lead in one of his films would basically always explode in popularity directly afterward, so he was very strict and ensured that their skills and qualities were very excellent before letting them in.
On the side, Qin An was listening and feeling his head ache. He had to cry and beg this little uncle of his, and also get his mother to put in a good word for him, before he was finally given a chance to audition for the male lead role. But why was it when it came to Ruan Tian it was so easy for her? ! She got an audition just like that!
Although it was undeniable that her acting skills really were pretty good, it still didn't make sense.
By the end of the night, almost everyone was drunk and no one could drink anymore.
Qin An drunkenly said to Ruan Tian, "Don't blame me for not talking nicely this time. Last time you auditioned for a supporting character role in my uncle's movie, but this time you're going to be auditioning to be the female lead. My uncle is much more strict and demanding with his female leads when compared with his supporting actresses, so I advise you not to hold too much hope. It's almost impossible for you, you know?"
Ruan Tian was annoyed. All she could hear was a fly chattering and buzzing around her ear.
"I'm talking to you, okay?"
Noisy. It was really too ****ing noisy. How was a person supposed to sleep?
Finally, she lifted her head and blearily looked over at Qin An. She said solemnly, "You've already played a leading role in one of his movies, so why wouldn't I be able to?"
Qin An grumbled. He felt that Ruan Tian was scolding him, but also belittling him and looking down on him.
But, in truth, he really did think that Ruan Tian wasn't good enough to receive such a high-quality resource.
After all, everyone knew that starring in one of Cheng Sui'an's films was pretty much a guarantee of shooting to popularity and winning awards.
Moreover, this wasn't just limited to domestic awards. Starring in his movie meant you were likely to sweep the awards even from the major foreign film festivals. Of course, that was also the reason so many people fought so hard for these roles.
Young Master Qin finally couldn't help himself. He lifted his eyebrows and said in an extremely haughty tone, "Are you worthy of being compared with me? I am my father's precious son. If we're talking about people willing to pull strings for me, I have them, if we're talking about connections, I have them too. Can you even compare with me?"
He held his head high and spoke very righteously, seemingly not ashamed at all but actually proud of using his status to gain benefits.
Ruan Tian was so moved by his shameless spirit that she decided it wasn't even worth arguing any further or mentioning that it didn't have anything to do with Qin An whether she decided to audition or not.
It was nearly 3: 00 a.m. when the celebration finally broke up and ended.
Of course, for the whole evening, Ruan Tian's phone had been blowing up with notifications as all sorts of people sent her congratulatory messages.
Even the small crew she had recently finished working with had seen the news. They were really happy for Ruan Tian and said that Ruan Tian would have to invite them to dinner the next time they met up.
She also received a lot of messages from the people on her WeChat who usually didn't talk to her at all.
Downstairs, Qin Yu's car was parked openly in front of the hotel doors. The crazy fans trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars were all stopped outside by cold-faced bodyguards holding dark weapons, and their cameras were blocked by the bodyguards' tall bodies.
Qin An was in a great mood when he saw that his brother had come to pick him up and happily stumbled forward. When the thick smell of alcohol on Qin An got close enough for Qin Yu to smell, Qin Yu put on a face of disgust. He frowned and said unkindly, "Quickly scram away."
After that, the drunken Qin An was half-dragged over to another car.
Ruan Tian watched as Qin An was rudely thrown into the back seat of a nearby car and couldn't help but blink. She looked around and spotted Qin Yu was also there, so she slowly lowered her eyes and looked down at her toes.
Qin Yu felt a little amused at the way she tried to avoid him.
With a sneer at the corners of his lips and his hands plunged lazily into his trouser pockets, he looked contemptuously at the way Ruan Tian was clinging to that little trophy in her arms. He said slowly, "What are you shying away from? You think I'm here to pick you up or something?"
He had just opened his mouth but the first thing that came out was his usual venomous sarcasm.
Ruan Tian really wanted to say that Qin Yu had to be the most pretentious pretender in all of history.
But pretend for who!?
Stimulated by all the alcohol, Ruan Tian slowly raised her eyes to look at him and then spoke much more directly than she usually might: "Qin Yu, you coward, who are you even pretending for? It's not like I'm imagining things because of an overinflated ego. Isn't that exactly why you're here? After all, ever since high school, the one who has been pestering and chasing like crazy was always you, not me."
Qin Yu's thin lips slowly pressed themselves into a thin line. His character had been arrogant and overbearing like this ever since he was a child, it wasn't something he could easily change overnight.
The corners of his lips slowly sank and his smirk disappeared. At the same time, his fists clenched at his sides and he felt an immense sense of vexation.
Qin Yu just stood there in front of her silently for a long moment. Finally, he said, "I'll take you back."
However, right now Ruan Tian was very sleepy and she just wanted to go home and get to bed.
Thus, she gave a big yawn and said, "It's alright, I already have a chauffeured car. No need to bother you."
Qin Yu was persistent, "It's fine, it's on my way anyway."
Ruan Tian was very tired, so she didn't have the patience to talk in circles. She just said, "We can't do that. What if you try to take advantage of me while we're on the road?"
Qin Yu sneered and his eyes turned slightly cold, but somehow he couldn't force out a retort. Ruan Tian continued to look at him solemnly, "It's not like it's impossible. You might really do that kind of thing."
Qin Yu finally lost his patience. He walked forward, grabbed her arm, and then tossed her into the car. That done, he raised his arm and loosened the black tie around his neck. Then he turned to the driver and said completely straight-faced, "Drive."
Clutching her trophy like a dead dog, Ruan Tian leaned against the car window and resolved to abuse Qin Yu in her heart even more fiercely this week.
This dog man was really fierce, wild, and unreasonable.
While she was sulking, she didn't forget to comfort herself a bit.
Just forget it Ruan Tian.
That's your boss. Nothing to be done if he's a sicko.
Everyone has a responsibility to take a step back in this sort of situation so the mental patients can get the treatment they need.
My heart is like a lotus, calm, peaceful, indifferent…
Half an hour later, Ruan Tian looked at Qin Yu, who had followed her into her house, and her anger was completely ignited.
Qin Yu had no sense of his status as a guest at all. He confidently headed into her kitchen and made a bowl of sobering soup. went into the kitchen and made a bowl of sober-up soup. Then he patted her cheek and said, "Go and take a bath."
Ruan Tian rolled her eyes. What was this supposed to be? The golden male lead's lines that he spouted before the beautiful romance began?
Ruan Tian directly told this guy to get out of her house.
—
Thanks to the legion of bodyguards Qin Yu brought along, none of the crazy fans managed to take any pictures of the events that happened in front of the hotel that night. However, a great many people had been there and seen Qin Yu's cars arrive. Plus, even after the bodyguards drove them off, some people were still close enough to vaguely hear their conversation.
Moreover, Ruan Tian's 'Destined Immortals' was still very hot right now, while Ruan Tian herself had just won a national-level award for Best Supporting Actress, so could be considered one of the hottest actresses around at the moment.
Therefore, even though none of the fans managed to get any pictures, a certain fan still transcribed everything that happened in text form with a few minor embellishments and posted it online.
【Today, I squatted outside and watched the Big Young Master Qin come and pick up Ruan Tian from the hotel. He even held Ruan Tian in his arms. Young Master Qin took off his suit jacket and put it over Ruan Tian's head so no one could take any pictures and then carefully carried her over to the car. They're really a perfect match. PS: Qin An was actually also there too. The competition between the two brothers was too dazzling for my little eyes. 】
"I came into this thread with question marks over my head, and now I can only go out while cursing. There's nothing here!"
"Oh my god, how can you point at Mr. Qin and randomly accuse him of infatuation like this? Clearly, Qin Yu only went to the hotel to pick up his brother. Even if that Ruan Tian flung herself in front of him, his eyelids wouldn't even twitch."
"Do you have any pictures? If not why does this thread even exist?"
In the end, the fan who made the thread couldn't drum up much interest and was quickly exposed, so not many people became aware of this little piece of news.
—-
Ruan Tian was very busy these days. She was either shooting advertisements or riding on her way to shooting advertisements every single day.
Now that she had become somewhat popular, the formerly snobbish staffers she had to interact with at the various sets had all suddenly become kind.
It was strange. She could still remember the very first variety show she had ever worked on, where she had been cast as a small extra, and all of the staff on that set seemed to have some sort of tacit agreement with one another to regard her as air.
That group of people had shown her absolutely zero care or attention.
With her tiny background, she had only been worthy of a single cheap plastic chair.
But nowadays everything had magically changed. All the staffers that used to ignore her now politely called her "Teacher Ruan". It seemed that with status, the treatment was completely different.
In the end, Ruan Tian was busy running around like this for nearly two weeks straight before she finally got a day off. Meanwhile, 'Destined Immortals' was still only halfway through its broadcast.
After seeing the cute little sister character getting abused to pieces in the show and feeling bad for her, more and more people discovered who Ruan Tian was, and her fan base continued to surge up and up.
This sudden explosion of popularity made Ruan Tian public enemy number one among many other small starlets.
Overnight, Ruan Tian was suddenly the main rival of a hundred different women. No one was happy to see this rowdy new actress suddenly interfering in their circle of lotuses.
Meanwhile, on her hard-won day off, Ruan Tian unexpectedly finally received the excerpt of his next script that Director Cheng Sui'an had promised to send over last time.
Along with the script, he also sent the time and place where her audition would be held.
Who knew where he got the news, but Qin An also seemed to know she was going to audition soon. Because of that, her WeChat was suddenly flooded with messages.
IdiotQin: 【Little sister, you really need to stop dreaming.】
IdiotQin: 【Unfortunately, you won't be just competing with a bunch of rotten fish and small shrimps this time. Your opponents are all powerful actresses with serious academic backgrounds and excellent qualifications who have won awards. Being honest, your qualifications, experience, and acting skills really can't compare to theirs at all. 】
IdiotQin: 【Don't blame me for being unpleasant, I just like to tell the truth.】
Qin An felt that while Ruan Tian must have some degree of talent, probably what happened this time was that she had met a role that was really suitable for her. Everyone knew that if a role really suited a person it could cause their performance to be elevated another level and become more outstanding and amazing.
However, next time her luck probably wouldn't be so good.
People who relied on luck wouldn't be able to do so forever. Moreover, Qin An really felt that there was no way Ruan Tian's strength could be on par with the strength of these actresses who had made their debut many years back and won all sorts of awards.
Of course, Qin An wasn't the only one who was thinking this way.
The cold and arrogant Xu Jing also specially sent her a message saying: 【I have seen the list of people who will be auditioning. This time you really don't have much chance of winning the role, but don't be discouraged even if you fail. Just try your best.】
All of these people seemed to think that she was too naive and inexperienced. They thought that because of a little bit of talent, a lot of luck sent by the heavens, and by relying on the careful guidance of her director, she barely managed to reach her current stage. But they completely ignored her own efforts and persistence.
Everyone around her assumed she would fail.
Even Cheng Sui'an himself didn't have particularly high expectations for Ruan Tian.
Of course, Ruan Tian didn't feel convinced. Rather, this event only served to show her that all these brainless idiots were still treating her with their same old prejudices!
…
During this time, the broadcast of 'Destined Immortals' was ongoing and the show was quickly approaching its finale. The little martial sister who had won the hearts of many audience members, who was played by Ruan Tian, continued to be beaten and abused by her heartless master, who was played by Shao Chengyue. In a climactic scene, the young girl had already cried all of her tears dry but was still beaten to the ground until trickles of blood dripped from her lips. However, even in this state her eyes stayed stubbornly fixed on her cold and unreachable master, and her lips moved to soundlessly form his name.
This climactic point in the plot propelled the show to the skies until it was approaching the highest ratings in history.
The number of web broadcasts exceeded 500 million the day the episode was released, the ratings continued to soar up and up, and the mid-episode advertisement slots were selling at sky-high prices to the tune of tens of millions of yuan.
The women in the audience all cried for the little martial sister played by Ruan Tian, but at the same time her master, who was played by Shao Chengyue, was so handsome that many of them couldn't help but like him.
The comments on the show's official Weibo were lively every day.
"Our little junior sister is so beautiful, it would be better if she just stayed alone. What kind of toxic garbage is her master? How can he abuse his little junior sister like this? Is he even a human?"
"Master is a god, not a human. I think it's okay if he's a little rough, as long as its a "Happy End" at the end, it's fine."
"No, I strongly demand a "Bad End". Please let our little sister just die. Death would be better than following that cold-hearted and cold-blooded master of hers."
"All of my tears for this year have been spent on my little junior martial sister."
"I want a "Happy End"! If it's really a "Bad End" I will immediately refund the fee for my annual membership."
"Little junior sister has already been abused like this, if she really ends up together with that garbage in the end I think I'll go crazy. Wouldn't that just be the joining of a slag man and a trash woman? ! I will never accept it! Not only will I hate this drama, I will also hate Ruan Tian!"
In all the online spaces the "Bad End" faction and the "Happy End" faction were constantly at war and quarreling nonstop.
Finally, the grand finale was released and Ruan Tian's character really got back together with her aloof master, and this outcome was seen as totally unacceptable to many people from the "Bad End" faction. Some of the extremists even turned their ire on Ruan Tian and vowed to be anti-fans from now on. Of course, such people were the minority.
"Well, when I saw the look in little junior sister's eyes, I couldn't bring myself to blame her for her choice."
"Alas, junior martial sister is really too good, meanwhile, her master is really just a dog."
"I think her master is actually all right. He also had his reasons."
"This outcome just disgusts me. I feel like I'm being force-fed sh*t. Does she even have a brain? She still wants to forgive him even after having suffered so much abuse? From today on, I will always be Ruan Tian's sworn anti-fan."
As this epic life and death battle was happening online, Ruan Tian herself was just quietly staying home these past few days and leisurely enjoying this rare feeling of having some spare time. While laying around, she also calculated the balances of all her cards a few times and arrived at the conclusion that she was still a certain distance away from being able to pay off the penalties she owed.
According to her estimates, it would take another year or two to accumulate enough.
Still, she didn't mind. She would just treat this 80 million as her contribution toward Qin Yu's funds for his coffin in the future.
Thinking about money left her in a low mood, but she soon cheered up and turned her attention back to the script that had recently been sent over.
The script was from Director Cheng Sui'an's new project, and after looking it over Ruan Tian found that it was another modern drama, but with a distinctly different flavor when compared with the previous project. In the script, the female lead was a victim of school violence and she slowly becomes psychologically distorted from all the bullying. Over time, she gradually becomes a criminal and her adopted brother doesn't only fail to stop her, he actually helps her commit crimes.
At the end of the story, her brother ends up getting stabbed to death in an alley while trying to protect her, which causes the female lead to go into an enraged frenzy and stab the person who hurt her brother in the neck. After that, the still only 18-year-old female lead gets sentenced to death for Intentional Homicide. Overall, the plot was extremely gloomy.
After she finished reading the script, Ruan Tian herself even felt a bit uncomfortable, as if a huge stone was pressing down on her chest and causing her to be in a dreary mood.
Basically, this script was pure tragedy from beginning to end.
In order to get in the proper mindset for the role, Ruan Tian spent a lot of time that night watching videos of various incidents of campus violence that she found online. After watching these videos for a while, she became so angry that she completely lost her appetite for the rest of the night.
Group beatings, social isolation, even making videos of it all…
Each of these behaviors made Ruan Tian feel very angry.
No wonder the female lead in the script slowly and silently had her heart turn black until she was doing the same things as the people who had bullied her.
In this period of time, Ruan Tian stayed at home studying her script for several days and shut out all news from the outside world. By the end of it, she worked so hard that her sleep schedule got all messed up like days and nights were flipped.
At the same time, because Ruan Tian had become somewhat famous overnight, the number of scripts that were landing on her desk had doubled when compared to before. They were split almost equally between modern dramas and ancient costume shows, but they all had a certain degree of quality and the other actors and actresses working on these projects were no longer small shrimps like the ones who had been on the projects Ruan Tian had worked on before.
In fact, Ruan Tian didn't actually have much interest in playing another heroic ancient heroine or modern Mary Sue. According to her own limited interpretation on life, she felt she would be much happier if she could perform in more meaningful works.
Ruan Tian was much more interested in playing in movies instead of just more TV dramas.
After hearing her friend's thoughts, Jiang Lili asked, "Have you thought this through? Director Cheng's project won't start filming until June even if you manage to secure the role. During the time in-between you won't be able to accept roles from any other movies. You've only just become popular, I'm afraid you might be shooting yourself in the foot by doing this."
The entertainment industry was a place that changed very rapidly. There weren't any guarantees that today's fire would continue to burn tomorrow. If things weren't managed well, the fans would soon forget an artist no matter how popular they were.
Jiang Lili's concerns were definitely reasonable.
Ruan Tian nodded confidently. "I like this script. I want to try it."
Jiang Lili had also looked over the script and, without even needing to think about it, she had immediately seen that the female lead in the script was destined to stir up a lot of controversy that would undoubtedly affect whichever actress ended up with the role. It was hard to say what would happen when the film came out.
Still, it was a good opportunity that was hard to come by for any actress.
Finally, Jiang Lili just sighed and said, "OK, then you must prepare properly for the audition. I believe in you, you've got this Ruan Tian!"
In reality, Jiang Lili wasn't as optimistic as her words would suggest in her heart. She had already asked around a bit and heard that Director Cheng wanted to use a complete newcomer who hadn't yet mixed around in the industry at all for this role.
Supposedly he had been auditioning people from all the major film and television universities but still hadn't settled on anyone quite yet.
But when Jiang Lili saw Ruan Tian's driven and passionate appearance, she didn't want to throw cold water on her friend, so she could only encourage her.
It was still uncertain if she would get the role or not, but Ruan Tian had been in a bad mood for the past several days in a row.
This was because, the previous Saturday, Ruan Tian had received an invitation from her high school alma mater. Apparently, the school wanted to invite her to visit in the capacity of a famous and successful alumnus.
Of course, when she first heard the words "famous alumni" she felt it was a great opportunity to go out and act pretentious.
Still, she was busy so she had wanted to put it off, but after some thought, she had felt that maybe she could take this opportunity to go to her old school to observe and see what the current high school students were like, so she accepted the invitation.
Thus, Ruan Tian wore her sunglasses and mask to keep a low profile before heading back to her old high school on the day the invitation mentioned. When she saw the old familiar campus she was reminded of various things. For instance, what always impressed her most about this school was the so-called disciplinary office. Back then she was always being punished by the teacher there for various reasons.
For example, one day Student A and Student B had a fight in the hallway. Meanwhile, she was the student on duty and happened to pass by while cleaning. In the midst of their fight, Student A and Student B inadvertently tripped over her broom, after which she was inexplicably caught by the teacher and reprimanded. He had asked: "What were you doing here? Coming to watch the hustle and bustle?"
"I was sweeping the floor."
"Oh really? Then why were you the only one there?"
"I'm the only student on duty."
"Then why couldn't you have gone and swept somewhere else? Why were you hanging around this corridor?"
"This is the place I was assigned to work."
In short, all the pots were hers to carry.
(tl note: "carrying a pot" basically just means "taking the blame" So this line means that she was the one who had to take the blame for everything and anything.)
This was the curse of the "vicious female side character" that always hung over her head.
People didn't ask and didn't care, they would just scold her regardless.
However, when Ruan Tian arrived at the school, she learned that Shen Shu had also been invited as a "famous alumnus".
She immediately felt indigent.
With all due respect, she was a top flower in the industry and a new rising star! Compared to her, what kind of thing was Shen Shu? In the entertainment industry, the only way someone might have heard of Shen Shu was through his connection to her!
Shen Shu was wearing a simple beige sweater. His features were soft but his lips were a bit pale and his eyes were a bit sharp. When Ruan Tian arrived he was standing leisurely in the middle of the auditorium and chatting with their old principal. His hands were in his pockets and a faint smile was playing about the corners of his lips.
After bumping into each other, Shen Shu slowly raised his eyelids and took a few additional glances over at her face.
Meanwhile, this principal wasn't someone who surfed the internet or paid much attention to the news, so all he had to work with was his vague memories of these two people from several years ago.
He smiled and said, "Xiao Ruan, I heard that you and Mr. Shen had a good relationship while you were in high school."
Ruan Tian wanted to sneer.
Who did he hear that from?
It was bullsh*t.
Also.
Why did he call her Xiao Ruan, but him Mr. Shen?
Discrimination!
Ruan Tian kept her silence.
The principal looked at them as if he were looking at his own son and daughter-in-law. He continued, "Your puppy love back then during your third year really caused the whole school in an uproar."
At first, Ruan Tian didn't want to disturb this old man's good mood, but she couldn't just let this go on. She slowly looked up and explained, "There was no puppy love, I never caught him."
The smile on the principal's face turned a bit embarrassed for a second, but he quickly recovered and said, "Well, it's all the same in the end. Haven't you two been married for several years now? How can you not have any children yet? When are you going to have a baby?"
Ruan Tian raised her finger and said, "Principal, Shen Shu and I divorced a long time ago."
Principal: "…"
The sudden wordless silence represented the highest level of embarrassment.
Even Ruan Tian felt a bit embarrassed for him.
Shen Shu's face didn't look very good after this exchange. Blue veins popped out of his wrists as he clenched his fists tightly, but in the end, he also kept his silence.
Anyway, it seemed that the final goal of this trip was for them to take a group photo together.
The principal led them over to stand in front of the school's photo wall. Both of their graduation photos had been placed inside the glass case behind them the day before.
One person stood in the middle of the frame, while the other moved to the very outside edge.
The principal said stiffly, "Well, let's take the picture?"
In the end, Ruan Tian and Shen Shu stood with one person of distance between them and Ruan Tian looked toward the camera expressionlessly.
After that, the photo was quickly taken and everything was about to be over.
However, the principal looked at Shen Shu and could somewhat tell his thoughts. Understanding flashed through his mind and he stepped over to the photographer to say a few words.
Shen Shu reached down and grabbed Ruan Tian's slender arm. He pulled her in front of the photo wall and, with a cold face, he turned to the photographer and said: "Take another picture for us."
Shen Shu's righteous and justified expression as he grabbed her arm and asked for another photo caused Ruan Tian to feel quite dumbfounded.
However, Shen Shu's five thin fingers were already wrapped around her shoulder. Even with one hand, he was strong enough to hold her in place.
Ruan Tian wanted to roll her eyes. "I don't want to take another picture."
Of course, she could almost guess what Shen Shu would want to say next so, to head him off, Ruan Tian put on a cold face and continued, "Master Shen, please be reasonable. In fact, you'll find that the fact that we don't have any pictures together really isn't my pot to carry."
"After all, back then, which time didn't I cry and beg you to take pictures with me? Didn't I come to you when we were graduating? Didn't I ask you then? And didn't I also ask you if you wanted wedding photos when we were getting married? Just how many times did I ask over the years?"
Shen Shu's face was gradually turning paler and paler, but Ruan Tian continued: "For you to act like this now… there's really no meaning."
In fact, she was extremely speechless.
Shen Shu remained motionless, his hand clutching her shoulder.
Despite Ruan Tian's cold face, Shen Shu insisted on taking the picture. However, once the photographer developed the photo, Ruan Tian walked over and snatched it over without saying a word.
She took one look at it, and then…
Directly tore the picture in half.
One half contained her, while the other half contained Shen Shu.
Shen Shu's jaw tightened uncontrollably. At the same time, the look in his eyes slowly turned colder and colder. As he looked at the picture that had been torn in half, he suddenly felt that all the friendliness and tolerance he had shown in these past days was ridiculous.
All of a sudden he felt like his throat was being gripped by a pair of invisible hands. His breathing became uneven, and he felt a sharp pain like he was choking on a blade.
Shen Shu had always been noble and proud, a person who rigidly followed the rules and was unfailingly polite.
He knew that Ruan Tian loved that side of him, where he wore his carefully pressed school uniform and carried his school exercise book with a cold expression.
At least, that was what Shen Shu had believed.
However, it seemed as if something had changed and it had all become useless now.
Because of Ruan Tian's move this time, Shen Shu experienced a rare moment of losing control. Suddenly he reached over and viciously grabbed her by the arm, his grip neither light nor heavy, and then directly pushed her back against the wall. Then he pinched her chin with two fingers and stared down into her eyes before leaning down to try to kiss her.
Ruan Tian reacted quickly and slapped him across the face.
Her eyes widened minutely in confusion. Ruan Tian felt that the present Shen Shu was very strange.
He had always clearly been a man who was always cautious and prudent in all of his actions, the type who never left anything to be faulted with any of his words or deeds, but today he seemed different.
Shen Shu carelessly reached up and wiped some blood from the corner of his mouth. "Back when you seduced me to the bed you still weren't as energetic as you are now."
Ruan Tian didn't get angry. After all, when comparing who could spit more venomous words, she rarely lost. She retorted, "No matter who I seduce, I'm always energetic. This isn't anything exclusive for you, OK?"
Shen Shu was immediately enraged. His face turned pale white, and he couldn't even force out any more bullsh*t from his mouth to argue with her.
—–
After she finally escaped from the school, Ruan Tian received a phone call bearing a piece of bad news.
Director Cheng's assistant called to tell her that the director already had a candidate in mind for the role, so Ruan Tian didn't have to come and audition anymore.
Ruan Tian held her cell phone blankly and didn't know how to respond. Eventually, she forced herself to cheer up and replied, "Who did he settle on? Is it convenient to say who it is?"
The assistant said, "Ms. Ruan, this has to be kept secret. I can only tell you that she is a newcomer who has just graduated and that she is very clever."
Ruan Tian really wasn't reconciled with this twist. It was unacceptable that she would be brushed off without even being given an audition.
Unfortunately, no matter who she asked, she couldn't find out who had caught the director's eye.
In the end, Ruan Tian was so desperate that she even went to the headquarters of Qin Pictures, and then straight to Qin Yu's office.
She knocked on the door and, unexpectedly, Qin Yu was the one who came to open it. When he saw who was outside the door, he raised an eyebrow, then he immediately tried to push the door closed again.
Ruan Tian was a flexible person, so she quickly threw away her pride and jammed her foot in the crack of the door before plastering on a lackey-like smile and saying, "Boss Qin, wait a minute."
Unfortunately, Qin Yu, this wretch, was the type to cut off his nose to spite his face. He said, "Ms. Ruan? Did you just call me 'Boss Qin'? I really can't afford this form of address from your esteemed self."
Ruan Tian kept her smile on with difficulty. "I want to ask you about something."
Qin Yu snorted and gradually stopped trying to shut the door. "I don't do business with no stakes. If you want something from me there needs to be some sort of benefit for me."
Ruan Tian gritted her teeth and endured. "Go ahead and say what you want."
Qin Yu lightly threw out a sentence, "Let's extend your contract for another ten years."
Ruan Tian immediately shot back frostily, "Why don't you just go die! ! !"
After saying that, she awkwardly seemed to remember something and fell silent.
"Ugh, Boss Qin, that's not what I meant to say."
"Then what did you mean?"
"Erm, well, that's actually exactly what I meant."
Indeed, she wouldn't mind if this dog could hurry up and die, but she usually wouldn't say it out loud.