After crushing Ruan Tian's noodle stall dreams, Jiang Lili still had more to say, "Remember, 'The Replacement Princess' will start broadcasting this Saturday, make sure you post some sort of advertisement on Weibo when that happens."
Ruan Tian was a little surprised, "Already? So quickly?"
Jiang Lili explained: "Xu Jing's background is just too strong. It seems that this drama has been decided to directly air on Fruit Station's prime-time slot."
Ruan Tian tsked a few times before replying casually, "En. Very good."
Actually, according to the 'novel', she wouldn't attract any sort of heat from this drama, so she didn't care! ! !
On the other end of the phone, Jiang Lili could also understand Ruan Tian's indifference. In the first place, Ruan Tian only played a small fourth female lead and, taking a million steps back, even if the drama really did explode in popularity it really wouldn't have much to do with her.
Moreover, Jiang Lili had already read the script, and Ruan Tian's role as the County Princess was really just too horrible. Even just when reading the script a person would want to choke that character to death.
—-
Soon Saturday rolled around, and it was two hours before the broadcast of 'The Replacement Princess'.
Ruan Tian's photo happened to appear between the photos of the male and female leads. In the photo, she was all done up with gorgeous red makeup and she was staring with crazy eyes at the prince, played by Xu Jing.
This photo clearly embodied the persona of the role that she had played. It practically screamed: "I am the minor villainous", "I am the bad guy", "I am cheap", and, maybe most importantly, "Come and scold me!".
At eight o'clock that evening, 'The Replacement Princess' began to broadcast as scheduled. In a twist, the premier met with a high degree of popularity, instantly rocketing up the charts and breaking Fruit Station records.
Ruan Tian was busy lazing around at home, idly watching the screen and following the drama.
In the first two episodes, she knew that she only had maybe ten minutes of scenes so she wasn't too invested.
Ruan Tian estimated that she would be only silently clumped together with all the other insignificant supporting roles and probably wouldn't generate any heat online. Because of that assumption, she didn't even check her phone before pulling her quilt up to her chin and directly falling asleep.
However, what she couldn't have expected was for a well-known photo editing blogger to cut out one scene from the drama where there was a tearful and innocent-looking Ruan Tian wearing a red wedding dress. The blogger added the text: 【The most beautiful in the world】
This photo, combined with her acting skills that were actually pretty good, caused a large number of netizens to suddenly develop a high interest in this new actress. They all agreed that she was really too beautiful, but the role she played was just too annoying.
That night, for the first time, discussions about Ruan Tian were nearly as numerous as discussions about Xu Jing.
#RuanTianCrazyBeauty# trended wildly.
And, like a miracle, she rocketed up to third on the hot search.
—-
The drama 'The Replacement Princess' had originally just been a typical low-cost online drama series. In the end, the only reason it was able to be filmed and broadcast so smoothly in the first place was that the show had managed to invite this big Buddha, Xu Jing, and bring him on board.
However, the female lead and the second female lead were just small-time stars who had been randomly shoved into the show by the studio. Neither of them had attended an acting school and they both completely lacked acting skills.
Thus Ruan Tian, a person who at least had acting skills, really picked up a bargain this time and received a big wave of praise alongside the broadcast of the premiere.
In the drama, her character sat aloofly atop a big horse in an eye-catching red dress. In her hands, there was a nine-sectioned whip, and her whole person exuded an arrogant and domineering aura as if she were a noble down to her very bones. However, at the same time, whenever she looked at the male lead her eyes would turn crazily affectionate, the kind of eyes that seemed to declare that she would die before she let him be with another woman. The odd contrast made it hard for the audience not to feel moved by her performance.
"I've never seen this actress before. Not only is she beautiful, she has such a powerful stage presence."
"Wow, she's beautiful, really really beautiful."
"Oh my god, why doesn't the male lead like her? If she looked at me like that my heart would break! Seeing those eyes, I feel that no matter what she might do I would be able to forgive it."
"I have been following the entertainment industry for so many years, but this is the first time I've seen someone so dazzling as her."
Later, Jiang Lili suddenly charged into Ruan Tian's apartment without permission. She looked around and quickly spotted the woman asleep on the bed, fell silent for a moment, and then angrily spent a lot of effort trying to wake her up.
Ruan Tian just lay against her pillows bonelessly at first, but eventually, she blearily cracked her eyes open and yawned before asking, "Huh? What are you doing here?"
Jiang Lili took a deep breath to steady herself, and then shoved her phone in front of Ruan Tian, "Look."
Ruan Tian took the phone uncertainly, and slowly began to scan through it, her eyes were quickly drawn to the comments under her official blog. Her eyes widened with surprise, "Are they complimenting me?"
Jiang Lili finally couldn't hold her excitement in any longer, and she grabbed Ruan Tian's shoulder before screaming frantically. "Ahhhhhhhh! Tian baby, you're going to be famous!"
Actually, Jiang Lili had been Ruan Tian's agent since the first day Ruan Tian had entered the circle. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, she had never been able to get any good roles for her over the past few years. However, she had always been by Ruan Tian's side, seeing her always working hard, playing all sorts of roles, and suffering a lot for barely anything in return.
So now that there were finally some signs that she was getting popular, Jiang Lili almost cried with joy.
For her part, Ruan Tian couldn't get used to this sudden situation where good news seemed to have dropped into her lap.
"Ow ow ow, get off me! We can't say that I'm going to be famous now."
Ruan Tian was a realist. At most, this just meant that there were a few more fans and a bit more enthusiasm than before.
It was still a far cry from being truly famous.
Ruan Tian slowly began to read the comments again and felt a little uncomfortable.
She had never been praised so much in her life.
It was honestly to the point that she felt that if the first half of her life was a book, the title would be something like 'The Life of the Despised Ruan Tian'.
"Tian baby, starting from today, you must properly pay attention to matters on Weibo." Jiang Lili suppressed her excitement and continued. "In fact, I've already received several calls to interview you and also some invitations to variety shows this morning. I feel like I'm walking on clouds-"
Ruan Tian paused from scrolling through the phone and raised her head to look at her agent, "So did you pick all of them up?"
Jiang Lili's voice came to an abrupt halt, and she said with a slightly awkward expression, "I agreed to an interview for now. The rest were turned down."
Ruan Tian: "You don't want to live anymore?"
Jiang Lili's eyes were full of frustration, but in the end, she had to tell the truth: "…the company turned them down for you."
Upon hearing this, Ruan Tian was not surprised.
Ruan Tian had been fooled by a scout back during her debut and ended up signing a contract with a large entertainment company. Although it wasn't the largest company in the industry, it was definitely one of the best, so she hadn't hesitated much.
Of course, Ruan Tian had been full of hope and excitement when she first joined the company.
But then, on the first day after she signed her contract, she ran into an acquaintance in the elevator.
It was Qin Yu.
Qin An's older brother, and the man who had read her love letter aloud to Shen Shu in public back when they were in high school.
Ruan Tian had never been a soft persimmon who was easy to push around so, after Qin Yu deliberately humiliated her, she had rushed him one day after school. She was strong, and Qin Yu had been defenseless, so she had easily subdued him and pressed him to the ground with a bang and beat him up.
From then on, the two of them had been like fire and ice.
And in the Mary Sue novel, Qin Yu was one of the important secondary male leads who always secretly kept a woman hidden in his heart. Of course, that woman was her sister, Zhou Xiaoqiao.
So, that day, when Qin Yu met her in the elevator, although they didn't exchange any harsh words, it was obvious that the atmosphere wasn't friendly.
However, Qin Yu was already a sophisticated man, good at concealing his emotions, so even if he was full of unhappiness, or if he was trying to humiliate her, it would never show on his face.
He had given her a smile filled with unknown meaning and said, "Ah, so it's Ruan Tian."
Ruan Tian never showed a good face for Qin Yu, so she had retorted flatly: "Don't call my name."
"It makes me want to vomit."
"Guh, I feel dirty."
"Your filth has spread to me."
Hearing her insults, Qin Yu's smile had frozen and his face had sunk. Then, when there was no one around, he whispered in her ear as he passed by: "I'll see how long you can wag your tongue like this."
At the time, Ruan Tian didn't understand what he meant.
Then later on she learned that Qin Yu was actually the boss of her company.
How to say it…
From there, her acting career was basically over before it even began.
However, Ruan Tian had always been a person with a great amount of flexibility and resilience, so she had gone to Qin Yu's office early the next morning to try to make peace with a smile.
Unfortunately, whenever Qin Yu was alone with her, his mouth turned poisonous like a snake and he never had anything good to say. In the end, he made her so angry that she stormed out.
After that, it could be estimated that even if you searched the whole entertainment industry, you wouldn't be able to find a second pair of boss and employee who hated each other like this.
Ruan Tian came back from her musings, "Well, that's just normal. Qin Yu will feel an itch in his bones any day he doesn't make things difficult for me."
Behind the big boss's back, Jiang Lili always stood firmly in Ruan Tian's camp and didn't hesitate to throw him under the bus, "You're right, that Qin Yu really isn't a good thing at all. He's just an embarrassment to humanity."
Ruan Tian suddenly felt a bit melancholy and changed the subject. "Anyway, this means I have another job, right?"
Jiang Lili hurriedly replied, "There are a few, yes. You need to go to Fruit Station on Saturday to help promote 'The Replacement Princess'. Also, I've secured an audition opportunity for you, this time for the second female lead in a movie. I've brought the script along so look over it and be ready to go audition next weekend."
Ruan Tian smiled, "Alright."
After leaving the script, Jiang Lili headed back to the company.
Once Jiang Lili had left for the company, Ruan Tian had nothing else to do so she concentrated on reading the new script and trying to understand the role.
Meanwhile, the ratings of 'The Replacement Princess' continued to climb steadily, and Ruan Tian's scenes continued to generate a lot of heat and discussion from the netizens, so Fruit Station quietly edited some of her cut scenes back in.
During this time, Ruan Tian's Weibo followers climbed to 3 million and she was suddenly raised up to be a slightly famous 17th-line actress.
The praise from the audience continued to flow endlessly, and the fans started to blow rainbow farts her way.
【Originally, I wanted to look for TianBaby's previous works, but I couldn't find them at all. Turns out that our TianBaby is finally making a name for herself ooo 】
【TianBaby, would you please take more selfies! ! ! Don't hide such a pretty face. 】
【TianBaby, remember to eat well. Mama is looking forward to your next role.
Whenever she took the time to take a look at what they were saying, Ruan Tian always felt that all these little fans were pretty interesting.
—-
Then, the day before she was set to go record the promotional program for Fruit Channel, Tian Ruan received a call from her mother. Immediately, the woman on the phone started screaming, "Where have you been!? Didn't I tell you that you should stay in the hospital to take care of your sister?!"
Ruan Tian pursed her lips, "I'm at home."
Mother Zhou's tone wasn't good at all, completely impolite, "Well, hurry up to the hospital!"
Ruan Tian's mind spun rapidly, and she was shocked to realize that the 'story of the novel' had already reached the dog blood plot regarding Zhou Xiaoqian's second operation where she, the sister, would be asked to donate blood.
Of course, in the story the vicious cannon fodder had been very unwilling so, in the end, Mother Zhou found someone to tie her up and drag her to the hospital so that she could 'convince' her to donate blood using both soft and hard tactics.
Ruan Tian slowly spoke to the noble lady on the other end of the phone: "Alright, I'll be there soon."
Truthfully, Ruan Tian had always longed for family affection. And she always felt deep down that, even if her biological parents were partial, they wouldn't be partial to a ridiculous extreme.
However, if her so-called parents hadn't shed a few sad tears on the day they found her, Ruan Tian would have never even suspected that she was their child, so she didn't hold out much hope at this point.
She hurried to the hospital ward and, just when she had barely caught her breath, Mother Zhou pulled her away and asked to draw her blood.
Zhou Xiaoqiao frowned, "Mom, don't do this, sister probably isn't willing."
Ruan Tian stared at Zhou Xiaoqiao who was laying on the hospital bed. Her face was pale, her brows were slightly wrinkled, and her long black hair was spread out like a halo behind her head. She was the picture of a quiet and fragile beauty.
Ruan Tian thought: She's really the female lead.
Mother Zhou wasn't polite at all, and she stared at Ruan Tian coldly, "You don't want to do it?" Then she hissed, "This is your sister, okay! Are you really reluctant to do such a small thing for her?!"
Ruan Tian lowered her eyes, "Of course I'm willing. I already sent a message to sister and told her as much, so I thought she knew."
Zhou Xiaoqiao's eyes immediately turned red and teary, "I'm sorry sister, I didn't see it."
Seeing this, Ruan Tian was convinced. This was really a level of white lotus that she would never be able to reach.
Fuck.
This woman really had the face to say that she didn't see the message?
The 'P' in picture was a reference to your eyes, okay*? How could she have ever seen the message if she didn't open her damned eyes? !
Ruan Tian didn't want to waste any more words, "Anyway, let's go."
Mother Zhou quickly grabbed her and, without asking anything, took her to have 500 ml of blood drawn.
After the blood draw, Ruan Tian sat alone on the hospital bench and held the piece of cotton the nurse had given her over the wound in her arm in a daze.
Fortunately, according to the story, this should be the one and only time that these people would find her to donate blood to Zhou Xiaoqiao. If they asked her a few more times, she might just have to find a petrol tank and die together with them.
Distantly, Ruan Tian noticed that someone was talking about her.
"Is that Ruan Tian?"
"Ah, ah, ah, it's really her."
"The real person is much more beautiful than on TV."
"What kind of illness does she have to need to come to the hospital? Ah, I really want to go over there and ask for an autograph."
Seeing what was happening, Ruan Tian quickly pulled a mask over her face and sprinted away before a crowd could form.
Panting, she ran all the way until she was out of the hospital. Once she was outside, she tried to find a taxi, but then a black Maybach stopped in front of her. The window slowly rolled down and revealed Shen Shu. He looked over at her and said lightly: "Get in the car, I'll send you."
Shen Shu looked at Ruan Tian, who was standing outside his car, coldy. He had always felt that a girl like Zhou Xiaoqiao, who was soft and cute, and who knew knowledge and manners, was the type of girl who should be his wife.
As for Ruan Tian, she had never met his requirements for a partner at all.
And even after they got married, he had never gotten to know her.
But this month, whenever Shen Shu's mind was allowed to wander even a little he would start to think of Ruan Tian's face. Oftentimes, he would remember her cold and heartless smile, to the point that he wanted to forget her but somehow couldn't.
Then recently, Shen Shu had found out that her drama had started airing and he had glanced at it sometimes when he was bored. In his honest assessment, she had done a pretty good job. She hadn't tried to play any small tricks, just pushing through with her own effort.
Ruan Tian sneered, "That's not necessary."
Shen Shu's eyes turned a bit cold, and he pointed over at the people at the entrance of the hospital who had apparently followed her out and were searching for her. "Are you sure you don't want my help?"
Ruan Tian briefly looked around, grasped the situation, and gritted her teeth before getting into his car.
Shen Shu suddenly asked, "What were you doing in the hospital?"
Ruan Tian almost exploded. This man! He really has the nerve to ask?! Wasn't it all for his little wilting white moonlight!
Ruan Tian smiled and spouted some nonsense: "My brother thinks he's pregnant, so I went to accompany him for a pregnancy test."
Shen Shu: "…"
Shen Shu saw how pale her face was through the rearview mirror, and his fingers on the wheel tightened.
Ruan Tian acted like she suddenly realized what she had said, "Whoops, sowwy~, just a slip of the tongue."
Every time Shen Shu saw her like this, with her indifferent expression that didn't seem to care about anything, for some reason he would become irritable and feel an inexplicable stuffiness in his chest.
"Actually, regarding the matter of the divorce, why…" don't we slow down a bit.
But before he could finish his thought, Ruan Tian quickly interrupted him, "Don't worry! I won't pester you from now on! I will go east and you can go west, we'll make a clean break of it and never meet again in this life."
"Tch, what 'east and west', the saying is 'each to their own end of the world'." Shen Shu corrected reflexively.
"Anyway, I know that this marriage is causing trouble for you right now and I'm sorry about that. But don't worry, you should be able to marry whoever you like now. Also, I'll find a suitable time and speak up to clarify the rumors about us online. You don't need to worry, I won't do anything to ruin your reputation anymore even if I die."
"So how about it, Shen Shu? Is that enough? Are you satisfied?"
After saying all this, Ruan Tian happened to glance over at Shen Shu's face.
Surprisingly, Shen Shu's face was quite ugly, and he seemed very upset.
But even after thinking for a long time, she really couldn't understand what he was upset about! ! !
On Shen Shu's side, he suddenly felt forced into a corner.
His grip tightened on the steering wheel until his fingers turned white, and that inexplicable stuffiness in his chest reappeared in full force until he almost felt speechless. Eventually, he gritted his teeth and spat out one word, "En."
When she heard that, Ruan Tian felt relieved. At least he was satisfied.
For the rest of the journey, the two didn't exchange any more words, and Ruan Tian focused on watching the scenery outside the window.
When they finally arrived at the residential area where she was renting her apartment, she smirked and said, "It's fine. You don't need to drive in, I can get off and walk from here."
Shen Shu smiled mockingly, somehow feeling annoyed at her clear attitude of wanting to avoid him.
Despite that, Shen Shu silently unlocked the car doors with a click.
Ruan Tian clearly had no desire to linger, and she immediately got out of the car and then turned to walk into the apartment complex.
Shen Shu silently watched as her back got smaller and smaller as she walked away. Today she was wearing a black waistcoat over her slender figure and her long black hair cascaded casually over her back and around her slim waist.
The man in the driver's seat suddenly lit his lighter and opened the car window slightly. A moment later, smoke slowly began to rise up from the cracked slit of the window. Amidst all the dark smoke, it was impossible to see the expression on Shen Shu's face.
He silently watched as the lights on the fifth floor flipped on, and then flipped off, and all of a sudden he remembered that night two years ago.
The thin-clothed girl with blushing cheeks who had been soaking in the bathtub of his bedroom. Her eyes had been hazy and moist, and she had rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck while giggling and smiling a silly smile that quickly collapsed into tears.
Shen Shu had wanted to kick her out, but before he noticed it he found that he had also already been caught by the plot.
In the end, he was not very considerate that night.
The next day, when dawn broke, the two of them were caught by the Shen family and Zhou family.
Like that, they went to bed in a daze, and then got married in a daze.
In all the years he had known her after Ruan Tian had been picked up by the Zhou family, that was the only time Shen Shu had seen her shed tears. She had been delirious and half-unconscious, crying and asking him 'Why didn't he like her?'
Shen Shu had only felt she was very annoying at that moment.
Suddenly, he heard the jingle of his phone, so he put out the cigarette and opened WeChat to take a look.
Ruan Tian:【Shen Shu, take the time to get the divorce certificate. 】
Ruan Tian:【I've checked the auspicious dates, and Monday (the day after tomorrow) should be a good day to divorce. 】
Shen Shu suddenly felt a bit numb in his heart. He just sat and looked at the two messages for a full five minutes, before slowly replying: 【Understood. 】
On Saturday morning, Ruan Tian caught a taxi and headed to the Fruit Station recording studio.
The morning was set aside for rehearsals, and the cast wouldn't officially record until the afternoon.
The various directors and other staff from Fruit Channel were all used to seeing and working with big celebrities, so they didn't care too much about small-time actresses like Ruan Tian who didn't have much popularity.
In the entertainment industry, not being popular was a sin. You were the wrong one for failing to be popular, and anyone could bully you.
Of course, Ruan Tian was used to this sort of treatment, so the staff's cold treatment was really nothing to her. She greeted them all with a smile and, when everyone saw how enthusiastic this little girl was and how pleasing her smile was to the eyes, they didn't bother to embarrass her.
During the rehearsal, Ruan Tian never ended up seeing Xu Jing or the actress who had played the female lead.
However, just when it was about time to begin the official recording, Ruan Tian heard that the leading actors had finally arrived.
The director said loudly into his bullhorn: "Alright everyone, head to make-up and get ready. We will be recording in half an hour."
Ruan Tian didn't even have an assistant so when she finally found the dressing room she felt a little embarrassed when she went in. All the makeup artists seemed busy fiddling with the lead actress's make-up, while Xu Jing had brought his own team along.
All of the stylists and make-up artists just treated Ruan Tian like air, and no one came forward to help her with her make-up or styling.
Even by the time the lead actress finally finished her hair and had completely changed into her new clothes, no one remembered her existence.
Eventually, a small assistant director came over, glanced at her up and down once, and then randomly picked a dress for her to change into. He said: "Ruan Tian, right? You wait here a little longer."
This assistant director obviously didn't take her seriously, and didn't think she would be popular.
Thus, instead of wasting time helping her, of course it was better to go and please Xu Jing, who was popular and had a powerful background.
"Teacher Xu, do you plan to borrow the clothes our Fruit Station has prepared? We have Amiri's spring and summer lines from next year."
"Teacher Xu, this will be how recording will flow, however, we can change parts out if there are any games that you don't want to play.
"Teacher Xu…"
Ruan Tian sat by the side, listening to the assistant director calling Xu Jing's name over and over until she felt her ears might develop calluses.
It sure was nice to be famous.
She wanted to be flattered like that too!
She also wanted to be called Teacher Ruan!
Xu Jing was cold and aloof as usual, and didn't say much to anyone. He just frowned and rejected in a distant tone, "No need."
The assistant director was quickly and ruthlessly rejected but, despite that, he still didn't even think about finding someone to help Ruan Tian.
However, Ruan Tian had already worked on various crews over the years and she knew how to put on her own makeup. Thus, before recording started she quickly did herself up as well as she could and then went to sit in her spot and wait for her time to appear.
Xu Jing happened to be sitting nearby, and turned his body slightly, letting his cold eyes fall on her stomach. He stared at her silently for a long moment before saying: "Are you pregnant?"
This person always directly said what was on his mind.
Ruan Tian snorted and replied, "Are you crazy!?"
This Xu Jing was really too ridiculous.
How could he even ask such a nonsense question?
Hearing her retort, Xu Jing's face darkened and he turned his back to her, not asking any more.
However, Ruan Tian was curious why he would ask such a thing in the first place, so she pulled out her phone to take a look. After a moment, she was able to find the reason.
It seemed that the scene of her arguing with Shen Shu outside of his car when he had offered her a ride in front of the hospital had been posted online by someone. The media took one look at pictures and began to write all sorts of articles, saying that she was the delusional wife of the chairman, and that she had brought the child in her belly to threaten Shen Shu with, but in turn a furious Shen Shu directly sent her to the hospital for an abortion.
What? She was pregnant? Why didn't she know? Mother****er!
Ruan Tian was in an indignant mood when she finally took to the stage with the other members of the crew.
It seemed that Fruit Station was deliberately fanning the flames of the TianxJing CP that had been in the news for a while, because they had especially arranged their positions to be together.
However, during the first segment of the show, Xu Jing didn't take the initiative to speak to her even once during the whole process, and he carefully avoided all physical contact.
Both the hosts and the audience could see the subtle atmosphere floating around between the two people, and everyone felt a little awkward.
During the intermission, an intern from Fruit Station couldn't bear all the excitement, and posted on his Weibo: 【Today our Fruit Station crew is recording the recently popular CP from 'The Replacement Princess', the small 18th-tier actress and the big star. But it's very different from what we expected. The big star refused to even communicate and had a black face throughout the whole process. 】
Of course, such a pitiful attempt to 'conceal' the people involved was almost immediately seen through.
"Xu Jing and Ruan Tian? It's the two of them, right?"
"I didn't like her even when watching 'The Replacement Princess's' broadcast. She has so much marketing, but her acting skills were just so-so, and she doesn't even look like much. Besides, Xu Jing slapped her in the face and said that he wasn't familiar with her from the start, have you all forgotten?"
"If the TianxJing CP is real and they really fell in love then I'll end it all here okay, I'll knock my head with a block of tofu until I'm dead!"
"Are there still people with trashy mouths spreading nonsense? Ruan Tian is married, and neither of them have even been paying attention to each other from the start. Besides, Xu Jing is so handsome and beautiful, what can a little Ruan Tian do except kowtow at his feet?"
Xu Jing's girlfriend fans were out in force, working hard to strangle this CP in the cradle as quickly as possible. Just like the last time this CP was in the news cycle, they all appeared to drag Ruan Tian out and satirize her to their heart's content.
" RuanTian, The world of top-notch stars isn't a place that a thing like you can crawl into just because you want to."
" RuanTian, Don't pose as a superstar when you have no results."
" RuanTian, Please, as a married woman, have a bit of morality."
" RuanTian, **** your mother."
Of course, these small fights on the internet were basically just a big farce from the start, so Ruan Tian didn't pay any attention to it.
After the intermission, it was time for the game session.
The director seemed fearless of death and, for the sake of ratings and chasing trends, he once again put Ruan Tian and Xu Jing together in one group.
The game was a very simple drawing and guessing game. Where one person would draw an idiom and then pantomime it out with actions, and the other person would try to guess the idiom.
Obviously, Ruan Tian and Xu Jing didn't have the kind of tacit understanding required to play such a game.
Ruan Tian even felt that Xu Jing didn't want to so much as look at her.
To Xu Jing, Ruan Tian's gestures and movements seemed random and incoherent, and the frown on Xu Jing's face grew deeper and deeper, while his eyes were so filled with disgust that it didn't even need to be mentioned.
Seeing those eyes, Ruan Tian was confident that Xu Jing was scolding her as an idiot in his heart!
They drew more than a dozen idioms, but neither of them could guess even one.
After the game portion was over, Ruan Tian was really feeling a little embarrassed about everything so she moved a few steps toward Xu Jing, ready to apologize to him.
But then suddenly, there was a flash of light, and she noticed that the chandelier above Xu Jing's head was swaying unsteadily and seemed to be about to fall down. Before she could even think about it, Ruan Tian's body had rushed forward to push him out of the way.
Her hit was so strong that Xu Jing was thrown backward and slammed into the ground.
He was about to shout: Ruan Tian, have you finally lost your damn mind trying to chase fame? ! !
However, the roar in Xu Jing's heart hadn't managed to come out when there was a sudden huge crash, and an explosion of shattering glass scattered all over the floor.
Xu Jing was dumbfounded by this twist.
At the same time, after pushing him out of the way, Ruan Tian's foot had been caught up in things and now it hurt quite a bit.
The director and other crew members quickly recovered from their fear, and the director shouted into his bullhorn: "Where's the assistant director?! Go and check if Teacher Xu is hurt!"
"And what's the matter with that light? You people responsible for the lighting, get over here and check it out. Also, someone sweep away all this glass."
Like this, the show ended up being temporarily suspended.
Xu Jing's agent came over and quickly helped him up from the ground while asking all sorts of things, "Brother Jing, are you okay? You weren't frightened, right? Don't worry…"
At the same time, the assistant director hurried to his side with a nervous expression. This person was a noble deity that even high-level executives at Fruit Station had to be polite to and their small station really couldn't afford to offend him, which made the assistant director very worried. If something really happened to this man while he was in their station, this little assistant director knew that he would probably have to give up on working in this industry in the future.
"Teacher Xu, please go backstage and get some rest for now. I will find a doctor to come over and take a look."
Xu Jing pressed his lips into a thin line and murmured, "I'm fine."
Xu Jing was fine, but he found his eyes seemed to unconsciously wander over to Ruan Tian. As he looked at the young girl who was the one who had actually gotten injured and was grimacing in pain but who didn't seem to intend to speak up, he felt something uncomfortable twisting in his heart. He pointed over at her and said flatly, "Go and treat her first."
Ruan Tian was shocked by this sudden twist.
But her ankle did hurt quite a bit, so she didn't complain.
It was as if the assistant director suddenly seemed to find Ruan Tian much more pleasing to the eye, and the way he spoke suddenly overflowed with politeness. He directly changed his way of addressing her and said: "Teacher Ruan, it doesn't hurt, right?"
"It really hurts a lot actually."
"Then let's head backstage first. Apply pressure for now."
"Alright."
Ruan Tian was helped back to one of the lounges backstage by the staff and a doctor quickly arrived to give her a check-up. There were no major problems with her foot, and the final diagnosis was that her ankle had been cut by a piece of flying glass.
After a brief treatment by the doctor, she just sat dazedly in her chair.
Ever since Xu Jing had entered the lounge, his eyes would unconsciously look over at her.
He understood that if Ruan Tian hadn't moved to push him away then the chandelier wouldn't have hit the ground at all, but rather it would have fallen directly on his head.
Xu Jing's eyes lingered on her ankle that was swaddled with gauze, and he suddenly thought that she must be in a lot of pain.
But she didn't say a word.
In the end, Xu Jing wasn't an ungrateful person. He walked over and said slowly, "Thank you."
Hearing this thank you made Ruan Tian's whole body break out in goosebumps.
Just having Xu Jing suddenly show her a good face made her feel uncomfortable all over.
For him to suddenly start acting kind, it was too scary!
She felt terrified.
Finally, Ruan Tian managed to squeeze out awkwardly: "Oh, you don't have to be so polite…"
"…even if it was a dog standing there just now, I would have still saved it."
Xu Jing: "…"
Ruan Tian really did have the ability to anger a person to death with her words.
—
Around an hour later, the stage had been rearranged and repaired.
All the remaining games were canceled, and the guests were all invited back to the stage to continue recording.
In the end, the studio didn't finish shooting until it was almost nine in the evening.
Ruan Tian called a taxi as usual but, before the car arrived, Xu Jing's agent suddenly appeared with a smile and said to her, "Teacher Ruan, Big Brother Jing said to come and offer you a ride home."
Seeing this money-saving bargain falling from the sky, Ruan Tian felt like she would have to be a fool not to agree.
But when she got into Xu Jing's car and inevitably met his usual icy face, she suddenly felt that it was more likely for Xu Jing to send her down the Yellow River than it was for him to send her home.
Xu Jing dropped her off at her apartment complex, and this was the first time he realized that she lived in such a shabby place.
Suddenly there was some inexplicable sympathy in his heart.
Ruan Tian was completely unaware of Xu Jing's inner turmoil, and she happily went to buy herself a bottle of milk tea before jauntily heading upstairs.
Xu Jing closed his eyes and the scene of Ruan Tian pushing him away from danger earlier this afternoon flashed through his brain. Somehow, his mind was muddled and painful right now. He muttered, "Liu Pang, what do you think of Ruan Tian?"
Manager Liu Pang scratched his head and replied. "I think she's pretty good."
She was at least very pretty and cheerful, right?
Xu Jing hummed, unclear if he agreed or not. At times like this, he would usually rest in the back seat while his manager was driving, but today he didn't feel like resting for some reason. Instead, he logged into Weibo for the first time in a while and began to take a look at the news about current affairs.
Inadvertently, he found himself on Ruan Tian's page.
He glanced through the selfies she had posted up and saw all the praise in the comments.
For reasons unknown probably even to himself, Xu Jing suddenly went through Ruan Tian's Weibo and sent out a dozen likes in one breath. At the same time, pictures of Ruan Tian getting into his car in order to be sent home began to circulate online. At first, the fans were collectively silent, then they collectively exploded, and finally they collectively reached acceptance.
【Have you all noticed that Xu Jing deleted the post he made referring to Ruan Tian from before? 】
"She's really a fox, right?! It's only been a few days ahhhh! Now poor Brother Jing had his soul hooked away!"
"Wasn't everyone saying that she couldn't match up to him? That he refused to say one word to her? All these industry gossipers' words are worth less than farts."
"Even if the pretty sister is a fox, she's the most beautiful fox in the entertainment industry. Ah, I feel I can love this sister for a lifetime."
"Who isn't able to love this sister? There's no one right!"
"Follow me! I'm willing to go through life and death for the beauty."
Ruan Tian was never the type to surf on the internet in her free time, especially on a day like today when she was so excited waiting for Monday to come so that she could finally get the divorce certificate from Shen Shu. Currently, she was busy looking through all of her drawers and trying to find her various pieces of documentation.
Eventually, Ruan Tian found her ID card, household registration, marriage certificate, and finally felt fully prepared.
After getting everything together, she sat cross-legged on her bed and looked down at her marriage certificate, where there was a picture of her and Shen Shu, and her expression turned a bit mournful.
Silently she thought to herself: En, the face was a good face, but she might as well have married a dog.
By Sunday night, 'The Replacement Princess' had already reached the mid-point of its run.
The princess played by Ruan Tian began to act out in various crazy ways, and the audience all felt their teeth itch with hatred.
Certain fans who found themselves too immersed in the drama would inevitably appear from time to time to scold people who played roles like this, so Ruan Tian was prepared.
But what surprised her was that many other fans would spontaneously appear to defend her from those haters, and even sent out many long messages to encourage her.
"My hands and feet feel cold these days and I'm panicking, just what did our TianBaby do wrong? She is just a little actress and all she can do is act, so why do you people come to bully her?"
"TianBaby is the softest existence in our entertainment circle. Please don't commit cyber violence against her."
"TianBaby don't look at the bad reviews, they're just people who have no heart."
"I advise all the haters to go elsewhere. The more you try to keep her down, the more explosively our TianBaby comes back. Hee Hee Hee."
The various actresses in the drama were all struggling to compete in this strange environment but meanwhile, the male lead, Xu Jing, was consistently popular. From old to young, all the audiences loved him, and he was quickly rocketing to the top of the searches everywhere, further cementing his status as an A-List star.
For her part, Ruan Tian had no real feelings about her little swell of popularity. Just, when the film crew suddenly sent her a big red envelope, she felt that the show was probably doing pretty good.
On Sunday afternoon, Ruan Tian had an interview to do at her company.
The weather wasn't very good. The sky was overcast and cloudy, and rain was coming down without cease. Just looking at the grey carpet covering the sky was enough to make a person want to give up and sleep at home.
Jiang Lili drove over in her Maserati to pick Ruan Tian up excitedly. The past few days, her phone has been blowing up with invitations from various shows and producers. Although they were mostly all small productions and supporting roles, it was still enough to make her feel very happy.
After Ruan Tian got in the car, she noticed that Jiang Lili had bought a new bag.
She really didn't understand this agent of hers. Why did Jiang Lili come out to be an agent when she was so rich? Was being a happy rich second generation not fulfilling enough for her?
When the two people finally arrived at the company, the reporter who had set up the interview was already waiting for them in the lounge.
Although Ruan Tian herself wasn't really popular enough to justify an interview, she was related to enough current hot topics to draw some interest. For instance, her relationship with the boss of Huanshi Entertainment, or the convoluted relationship between her and the A-List actor Xu Jing.
So when Ruan Tian heard Shen Shu's name from the reporter, she couldn't help but laugh helplessly and deflect the question.
Facing her evasion, the reporter had no choice but to retreat and switch topics, "Ms. Ruan, did you enjoy working with Mr. Xu Jing in your most recent drama?"
Actually, the reporter had long heard from various insiders that Ruan Tian and Xu Jing didn't get along well at all, and her exchanges with the other actors on the crew should be close to zero. On top of that, Xu Jing seemed to be very dissatisfied with her for trying to bundle herself with him and create hype, so the two were like water and fire.
The outline of the interview had been prepared with those thoughts in mind, so now the reporter just wanted to dig out a scoop using that premise.
However, the corners of Ruan Tian's eyes curled into a smile, and she looked a bit crafty as she said, "My relationship with Teacher Xu is okay. He took me home after recording the other day, hehehe."
The reporter didn't know what to say to this.
Wasn't she supposed to say they were fighting all the time?
The reporter suddenly felt he had wasted his time.
After the interview, Ruan Tian glanced at her watch and saw that it was still early so she turned around and started walking, planning to go to Jiang Lili's office and find her. After all, the two had agreed to go out and eat hot pot together after she was done with the interview.
She had been walking with her head down so she very nearly ran head-first into the clear glass door, only barely catching herself at the last second.
After pushing the door open, she immediately spotted Jiang Lili standing by the window but then, to her horror, she saw there was also a man in a black suit who had a group of professional-looking followers in the room as well!
Ruan Tian was actually very familiar with that man.
He was her boss.
Her meal ticket.
The man that she seemed to have been enemies with even in her previous life.
The cheapskate that liked to pretend.
-Qin Yu.
Ruan Tian hasn't seen Qin Yu for almost two years now. After all, Qin Pictures was just one of the more insignificant companies under Qin Yu's name.
For him to appear at the company was something rare.
After all, this Young Master Qin had been sickly ever since he left his mother's womb. He had always been in poor health ever since he was a child, seeming to be ill all year round. His face was always sickly and pale, and his black eyes were usually dark and gloomy, so he usually didn't personally come out.
Ruan Tian was quite shocked to see him here, and even a bit afraid.
He was wearing a man's black suit with a black shirt underneath. The way his whole outfit was nothing but blacks and dark colors made him seem extra gloomy.
Currently, Qin Yu was sitting in a wheelchair. From what Ruan Tian knew, he had no problems with his legs or his feet, but because of his sickly body, he had to sit in a wheelchair from time to time.
When Ruan Tian entered the room, his lips curled into a smile that was not a smile and, with a slight movement of his fingers his wheelchair rolled in front of her. He slowly arranged his cuffs until they were perfect before saying with a smile: "Ruan Tian, it seems that you are very powerful these days."
Ruan Tian put on a flat expression, "Well, not too bad, but nothing amazing."
In truth, Ruan Tian wasn't afraid of anyone in the circle of dandy second generation rich layabouts that she knew, except one. Only Qin Yu made her feel a certain indescribable fear.
It was because, while it was true that the other ones were all fools who liked to act like morons.
Qin Yu was the only one who was really sick.
His brain was definitely not normal.
When he did things, he did them seriously.
Unrelentingly.
For instance, the time when she was dragged into an alley by hoodlums when she was in high school, Shen Shu had just watched contemptuously, but Qin Yu had made a move.
He had walked into the alleyway with his bodyguard beside him. His blue and white school uniform seeming to contrast with his sickly pale face under the street lights.
Back then, Ruan Tian had been in a crisis so she completely tossed aside all thoughts of her feud with Qin Yu. After all, in the face of real danger, her face was worth a fart.
No, not even as much as a fart!
Anyway, she had been crying and calling for her mother.
That's when Qin Yu, the dog man, took advantage of the crisis to rob her thoroughly. With eyes that were cold like a snake, he said. "If you let me kiss you, I will help you."
Ruan Tian came up with a naive plan, gritted her teeth, and gave a nod.
Her plan was simple: After Qin Yu helped her out, she would just run away immediately.
Could it be that she couldn't run away from the always sickly and weak Qin Yu?
But people shouldn't judge others just by their appearance.
That same Qin Yu, who always looked sickly and weak, suddenly became as powerful as an ox and fiercely caught up to her and pressed her wrist against the wall, so that he could roughly bite her lips.
Even now, Ruan Tian could still remember her first kiss that had been taken by force.
It had been painful, full of a coppery taste, and not beautiful at all.
Since she discovered 'the novel' she realized that Qin Yu must have been treating her as a stand-in for Zhou Xiaoqiao. He couldn't kiss the sainted female lead, so he could only take a step back and settle for kissing her.
Ruan Tian also remembered a certain year, when it was her and her sister's birthday.
Qin Yu had given Zhou Xiaoqiao a beautiful and delicate little doll worth tens of thousands which she had liked very much, and Shen Shu had given Zhou Xiaoqiao a rare and expensive necklace that had been customized just for her.
Meanwhile, she had been forgotten.
Her parents had forgotten her, and Shen Shu didn't give her a single thing.
Qin Yu was the only one who remembered her in the end, but only to mock her. He gave her a pot of Lysimachia, and told her that she was just like this pot of grass.
Worthless. Something that could only thrive in the dirt.
In the present, Ruan Tian's muscles had pulled themselves taut, and she felt uncomfortable all over her body.
She wanted to leave immediately.
However, as if he were deliberately going against her, Qin Yu said flatly: "Follow me to the office."
Ruan Tian shook her head.
Qin Yu narrowed his eyes and smiled coldly.
Ruan Tian's mouth felt dry, like it was full of cotton, but she kept her face expressionless. She looked at Qin Yu calmly and said, "I'm afraid you want to take advantage of me."
Jiang Lili: "…"
Others: "…"
Hearing Ruan Tian's outrageous statement, Jiang Lili felt herself breaking into a cold sweat and quickly rushed to say: "TianBaby, Director Cheng just came over to our company today to discuss cooperation. Qin Yu should be planning to take you to see Director Cheng."
Ruan Tian put on an expression that seemed to say 'I really guessed it!' and she said, "Look, it's not just a day or two that he has been coveting after me. But to think he would decide to bring in a big director so that they could take advantage of me together."
Qin Yu was too lazy to talk nonsense with her, so he had his bodyguards directly drag her over to the office.
In the office, Director Cheng had been waiting for a while.
As a third-generation rich young man going into directing, his debut film had been a literary and artistic work of art. Although the box office score ended up being average, his reputation for excellence was cemented. That year, he won many various awards, including best director and best male and female lead.
After that, Director Cheng switched gears and went into a commercial film. This project also ended up being extremely successful, breaking records at the box office. From there, he was known for both his excellent reputation and his box office draw.
However, he had not made any works in recent years, going silent without a trace.
But now, two years later, he seemed to be making a move again. When the news broke, even before the script had been decided, the investors' money was already flowing in from all directions.
And now that the script and the male and female leads had all been set, there were only a few supporting roles he was still looking for.
Of course, 'supporting roles' in Director Cheng's films were something that many actors and actresses would smash their heads trying to obtain.
But even after doing auditions for a few months, he was still not satisfied.
Especially regarding the second female lead.
His project was so popular that even Ruan Tian had read the script. The second female lead was a poor girl who gets abducted and forced into prostitution. The role was complicated and multifaceted, extremely controversial, and challenging to perform.
After being led into the office, Ruan Tian stepped forward and shook hands with Director Cheng with a smile. "Hello, Director."
Director Cheng accepted her handshake politely, but his expression was cold.
"Ah'Yu, since I've seen her, I'll leave now." His gaze flicked over Ruan Tian, and he said, "I will use any actor in my movies as long as they are suitable. Whether they are popular or not is irrelevant, I'll use them if they can be used."
Qin Yu hummed in agreement and said, "Uncle, I know you are like this. Anyway, I'm just letting you meet the person first."
"Well, we'll see after the audition."
Director Cheng didn't really think Ruan Tian was suitable for the role. In his eyes, she looked too beautiful and had a temperament that was too strong.
Also, he had always been very biased against these actors and actresses that often showed up on the hot searches.
These types only knew how to use crooked means to fight for scraps of popularity.
"Then President Qin, I'll go now."
"Well, we haven't met in two years now, I'll treat you to a meal this time."
"It's fine, you're too polite."
"It's just what I should do."
Ruan Tian thought for a moment before piping up, "Well, since you want to invite me to dinner so much how could I decline?"
She pulled out her phone and shook it around, "Just send the money for dinner directly to my WeChat, and we'll take it as you treating me, okay?"
Qin Yu turned around and told her to scram.
So that's what she did.
When Ruan Tian finally made it out of the company building she wasn't in the mood to eat hot pot anymore and headed directly home.
As she was lying on her bed at home, she suddenly received a call from Zhou Xiaoqiao.
"TianTian." Zhou Xiaoqiao's voice was, as always, soft and tender. From what Ruan Tian could tell, she wasn't pretending to be weak, rather, she was just born like this.
"When are you planning to move back home?"
Ruan Tian said, "I live well enough outside."
Zhou Xiaoqiao bit her lip, "Is it because of me that you refuse to come home? If it is then… I can just…"
After a moment of silence, Ruan Tian began to hear soft sobs from the other end of the line.
She hadn't done anything, but Zhou Xiaoqiao directly began to cry.
Was the female lead actually a leaky faucet?
"Ah, actually, I need to read a script right now, so bye bye*."
She quickly hung up the phone, and the world returned to calm.
Ruan Tian stretched out her limbs and sprawled out on her bed comfortably before closing her eyes to rest for a while. A little while later, she picked up her phone to order some takeaway.
When she looked at her phone, she found that her dear mother had sent a voice message.
"What did you say to your sister? Whatever it was, it made her cry, Do you know how sadly she was crying?"
"I've told you how many times, your sister isn't in good health, so why can't you just give way to her a little?"
"TianTian, don't think that your parents are partial. We really are very good to you. I just hope you will use your heart and think more for your sister in the future."
Ruan Tian indifferently listened to the voice message until the end.
A few minutes later, she blocked Mother Zhou's WeChat.
See you again you ****.
Ruan Tian took a moment to adjust her mood and then began to surf the internet in search of happiness.
Eventually, she ended up on her own Weibo eating melons and watching her own news.
【Boost this post! ! ! The actress Director Cheng chose for the second female lead in his new project was announced to be Ruan Tian. Congratulations Ruan Tian, you will lift off and soar! 】
"She's resourceful, I admire her."
"Impossible, don't have the dream of suddenly soaring up, ok?"
"Ruan Tian, didn't she just barely start to lick the cake? There's no way she can suddenly eat such a big slice."
"Hahahaha, is this the new joke this year?"
"A random passersby drifting by here, she really isn't worthy."
Actually, these kinds of gossipy posts were usually just quietly buried, but for some reason this time it got hotter and hotter.
There were already over 10,000 reposts.
In fact, there was a reason. It was because a certain young master Qin An had been eating melons on the side and stupidly posted his thoughts with his real account: "Tch, the chickens in my family's chicken coop will soar up faster than she ever will."