Qin An hadn't seen Ruan Tian ever since they had recorded 'Star Transformations' together, nor had he contacted her.
Rather, Qin An had just been waiting for Ruan Tian to contact him to ask him for the money for the meal. Unfortunately, he waited and waited, but in the end, he didn't even hear so much as a fart!
Because of this, he felt inexplicably irritated every day.
And it was while he was in the midst of those feelings that 'The Replacement Princess' suddenly became a big hit, to the point that it was more difficult for Qin An to have not heard news about Ruan Tian, and in the end he naturally went on to watch the show.
After watching, he wondered why he had never seen this side of her before? She actually had such acting skills.
Then one day Qin An happened to see a post with a video speculating about the TianxJing CP. Under the video, there were all sorts of comments like 'It's so sweet', 'It's probably real', or 'I think it's true', which made Qin An very angry.
After all, in Qin An's heart, Ruan Tian was the kind of woman who would shamelessly do anything to achieve her goals by any means that she could.
Thus, when he saw a popular Weibo post speculating that she had secured the role in Director Cheng's new project, he had immediately sneered.
Cheng Suian was his uncle, so he knew better than anyone this wasn't true. How could a well-known director like his uncle ever even look at a scheming woman like Ruan Tian?
In the end, Qin An couldn't help leaving some mocking comments.
But he forgot to use an alternate account, and stupidly posted with his own name.
Then, when he noticed that fact and was debating whether he should delete the comment, Ruan Tian suddenly called.
Qin An looked at the number on his phone, hesitated for a while, and eventually picked up the call.
Ruan Tian had called for one reason and one reason only, so as soon as he picked up the phone her clear voice began to ring in his ear, stressing each syllable profoundly, "Qin An, you damned moron."
Qin An: "…"
Then, after directly cursing him like this, Qin An heard a click and the line went dead without even giving him a chance to fight back.
Meanwhile, on her end, Ruan Tian was really feeling wronged this time. Her reputation had improved quite a bit thanks to her recent works, and her haters had decreased considerably. But now, after struggling for so long to reach this point, with one word from Qin An she was suddenly the center of a storm of ridicule again!
Was there just no justice in this world?
Of course, the media was always sniffing around for new trends, so after this incident, various small media organizations began to post all sorts of articles. These articles were all wild and random, speculating about many different magical plots between her and Qin An.
Star Entertainment: 【As far as this editor knows, Ruan Tian should be an artist under Qin Pictures, and is known to have an ambiguous relationship with the company president, Qin Yu. As his younger brother, it seems Qin An is unable to bear seeing a married woman deliberately seducing his elder brother. Of course, Ruan Tian is also a true mystery of the entertainment industry. After all, this editor has never heard of anyone who had a good relationship with her, but despite that, thanks to the fact that she still has a husband with a strong background who can feed her all the resources she wants, she doesn't need to care. What can us normal people do, except watch and eat melons from the side? ? 】
"Ah! It's another love plot! QinxTian CP this time!"
"QinxTian is real."
"You really say whatever ridiculous things you want don't you? **** ***. Ruan Tian is married, okay! Married, married, married! How many times do I have to say it before you understand? Damn! What's real? Your father this is real! Your grandfather! But she and Brother Qin will never be real!"
"Ruan Tian is absolutely amazing, she pulls melons for men and trends for women."
"I still remember the way Ruan Tian always clings to her husband and chases after him. It's a disgrace for a star to act like this!"
"When will she finally scram away? Just scram Ruan Tian, let go of my brothers."
"Just saying, her husband looks really handsome, ah. I had the pleasure of seeing him in real life once, he's too exquisite."
"Ah, the good feelings from watching this new film are already gone."
Ruan Tian, if you ever really act in Cheng Suian's new project, I will kneel down and apologize."
All kinds of voices spoke up but the meaning was more or less the same. Basically, she was shameless for trying to create buzz using the famous Director Cheng Suian's name, and she had no ability to gauge her own worth since she had even thought of trying such a thing in the first place.
But Ruan Tian had never been a person who cared what outsiders thought about her. Just think about it. Back then, she had gone to that terrible aristocratic high school with a bunch of brats who walked around with their noses in the air and who all treated her like a joke to laugh at, so how could she be sensitive to what outsiders thought about her?
However, there was still some stuffiness in her heart this time. Originally, Ruan Tian didn't actually have much desire to secure the second female lead role in Director Cheng's movie, but now that all these people were saying it was impossible for her she was suddenly full of fighting spirit.
She would show them if she really wasn't any better than a chicken from Qin An's chicken coop!
Thus, with determination in her heart, Ruan Tian simply cut off all of her connection with the outside world. She turned off her phone, her TV, and her computer, and did nothing but concentrate on studying the script for several hours straight.
The role depicted a numb and melancholic character who somehow still had some hope and expectations for life.
She was a prostitute who had taken many clients. A woman who smoked and drank and who used poor quality cosmetics every day to paint her face gaudily.
The male lead was an undercover police officer and, in order to protect the female lead, he used the second female lead to approach her.
In the end, the second female lead was still foolish enough to die for the male lead.
Falling at the muzzle of his gun.
Ruan Tian looked up at her mirror with a numb look in her eyes. She blinked and tears began to slide down her face unconsciously.
At this moment, she felt as if she had truly become that second female lead.
Perhaps due to her own experiences, Ruan Tian was able to immerse herself in the role very quickly, but escaping from it was a slow process.
She sat there dazedly trying to internalize the role for a long time. When she finally came out of her reverie and realized it was time to wash and go to bed, her legs had long gone soft and numb. In the end, she stuffed her face against the pillow and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
—
At nine a.m. the next day, her phone alarm rang and woke her up as usual.
Ruan Tian got up from the bed with bleary eyes, brushed her teeth, washed her face, put on her makeup, and then picked a very festive red coat from her closet. Looking at her, you wouldn't think that she was going to get a divorce at all, rather, you might suspect she was going to get married.
Ruan Tian packed all of the documents she would need for the divorce into her purse and called Shen Shu as she left the house. Unsurprisingly, it was his secretary who answered the phone.
"Madam, the president is busy right now."
"If you have anything you can tell me, I will pass it along to the president."
Ruan Tian could tell that this secretary was wary that Ruan Tian was just calling to pester her boss as usual, and was eager to quickly get her off the phone.
She took a deep breath and said, "Alright, tell him that I'll see him at the doors to the Civil Affairs Bureau at ten o'clock. Ask him to please not be late."
The secretary was a bit taken aback by these words. Why hadn't he heard that the president and his wife were going to get a divorce?
In recent years, many rumors had been flying around the company about Shen Shu and Ruan Tian, but they could basically be boiled down to 'The president's wife was crazily stalking him'. However, as the president's secretary, he naturally knew a bit more than the outsiders.
For example: Except for the one time the madam had made more than 100 calls to the president two years ago, she had never taken the initiative to find the president again or even asked for any news about him. Of course, the president's attitude toward the madam didn't even to be mentioned.
All in all, they both really acted as if the two had never been married in the first place.
The secretary pondered for a moment about what to do. Eventually, he turned and walked to the president's office, and delivered Ruan Tian's words to Shen Shu verbatim.
Hearing those words, Shen Shu's face tightened and his eyes sank and darkened. It was clear at a glance that he was in a bad mood.
But after a brief moment, Shen Shu said in a flat voice: "Prepare the car."
His secretary was taken aback for the second time in as many minutes. His instincts told him that the boss might not actually want this divorce.
After all, right now Shen Shu's face was very gloomy, clearly revealing his emotions in a way that he rarely allowed himself to.
But the secretary really didn't understand. From what he knew, the president shouldn't love his wife at all. So now that they were about to divorce, why did he look so unhappy?
—
Ruan Tian and Shen Shu arrived at the Civil Affairs Bureau at almost the same time. She had worn a hat and a mask to prevent anyone from recognizing her.
At first, she had wanted to come forward and say a few words to Shen Shu in order to ease the strange atmosphere, but it seemed that he didn't really want to talk to her at all because he used his long legs to sweep past her and walk straight to the divorce window.
The staff member behind the counter went through the usual procedure of trying to persuade the divorcing couple a bit.
"Have you both thought about it? Do you really want to get a divorce?"
"En. Since I still have life ahead of me, I might as well live it." Ruan Tian replied.
Shen Shu just put on a cold face and said nothing.
Ruan Tian leaned forward and whispered, "Sister, thank you for your concern,ah. But we've both thought this through seriously, so please help us with the formalities."
When the staff member saw their serious attitude, she no longer tried to persuade them and instead said in an official tone: "Then please present your ID cards, account books, and marriage certificates."
Ruan Tian hurriedly handed over all of her documentation.
However, beside her, Shen Shu didn't move at all. She got a little anxious and bumped him with her elbow before murmuring. "Your documents."
Ruan Tian suddenly felt that if Shen Shu told her that he didn't bring his documents…
She would definitely kill him.
When Shen Shu heard her asking for his documents, instead of replying, he raised an arm and reached out his slender and pale fingers to touch the ID she had placed on the counter in front of them. Then, he turned to look at her with his cold eyes and finally said, "Have you thought things through?"
Ruan Tian was at a loss, "Yes? I've thought it through well, ah!"
She had never thought so clearly before!
It seemed Shen Shu was still not a human, even until now!
A real man should decisively slap his documents down on the counter and get the **** away from her, not pause to ask stupid questions!
Ruan Tian looked steadily at the man in front of her.
The man that she had once loved deeply, and to whom she had given all the sincerity of her youth.
But now she really didn't love him anymore.
Perhaps it had been the moment when Shen Shu had hung up on her calls that day. Or perhaps it had been back when they had graduated from high school, and she had gone up to him with her old school uniform to ask him to sign it, heart full of hope and expectations, but he had just coldly rejected her.
Back then, he had even laughed at her, his tone full of obvious mockery and contempt.
Or perhaps it had been on the day of their graduation ceremony, when she saw Shen Shu go up on stage to hug Zhou Xiaoqiao and give her a bouquet of flowers. She remembered that she had felt really envious while sitting down below the stage that day.
Or perhaps it was when she spent the last day of high school listening to all the ridicule from her classmates before finally being pushed down the stairs as a 'prank'. Perhaps it had been all of these moments, or none of them.
Ruan Tian wasn't sure, she really wasn't the type to turn over old accounts.
But it was clear that Shen Shu just didn't love her.
She raised her face and smiled sweetly, "Shen Shu, I don't love you anymore."
"In the first place, I know that our marriage is a burden to you, and I also know that you like my sister, so this divorce is a good end for us."
"And I'd like to say that I'm really sorry for all the trouble I've caused you these years."
Blegh. She almost wanted to vomit.
Humble.
She was already so humble.
She had lowered herself to the furthest possible extent, so if Shen Shu still had something to say at this juncture then she would definitely pounce on him and bite him to death!
Shen Shu's face was pale and bloodless, his lips felt parched, and his hands felt heavy. He endured a surge of inexplicable anger and… slight pain before saying, "Alright. We'll divorce."
Shen Shu silently told himself that this divorce was something he had always wished for.
He should be happy right now.
They signed, stamped, and paid the money.
And Ruan Tian finally got the divorce certificate.
Like the marriage certificate, it was an eye-catching red.
Of course, Ruan Tian and Shen Shu got their divorce without any fuss, and hadn't told anyone about it, so for now no one knew.
—-
As 'The Replacement Princess' reached its finale, Ruan Tian's vicious and domineering image had become deeply rooted in the heart of the audience, and she was chased and scolded by fans wherever she went.
Then one day, just as Ruan Tian was flat on the ground from being scolded on all sides for playing such a villainous character, the fourth run of 'Star Transformations' finally began its broadcast.
At first, the ratings were sluggish, but then it suddenly exploded across all the major forums.
【WTF! Have you seen the new Star Transformations? I was so shocked, the melons I was eating fell from my hands. 】
【Star Transformations hahahahahaha, I'm laughing my ass off here 】
【I really didn't expect that Star Transformations would be such a funny variety show before tuning in. 】
The sudden surge of popularity on the internet also attracted many young viewers to watch the show on TV.
After watching, they almost couldn't believe what they were seeing.
There was a person who wasn't afraid of getting dirty, and who was willing to pick up garbage.
Who didn't mind earning her own money to eat
And who would never yield to the program crew
Also, she could drive herself to the village on a tractor
She was a surprisingly delightful person
What the hell? It was Ruan Tian!
—
In fact, the broadcast of 'Star Transformations' this time happened to coincide with the new year and, because the ratings had been consistently low in the past, the leaders at Fruit Station had mercilessly thrown it away to Monday's ten p.m. time-slot. A time-slot that was known to be garbage by everyone who worked in the business.
From there, the show's ratings were like the electrocardiogram readings of a corpse. That was to say, they were flat, flat, and more flat.
The director who created the show was very worried.
He was so worried that his hair had been falling out, and every day he couldn't help but lament. Maybe he had been too kind to the guests this time, and that's why the ratings were like this!
He could only blame himself for not being cruel enough.
The director sat silently in the editing room, smoking a cigarette in a melancholy mood.
But then, there was a change!
As the director watched, the unending flatline that represented the show's ratings, suddenly had a small peak!
He unconsciously put a hand over his heart, and his eyes widened in disbelief. After a moment, he seemed to think of something and managed to calm down. He turned to look at the producer and asked sadly: "Say, did you pay for someone to spike the ratings?!"
But the producer just looked blank, "Eh? I didn't though."
Hearing his answer, the director stared at him suspiciously for a long moment. However, after thinking about it carefully, he really felt that it was impossible for this producer, who was even stingier than he was, to pull out money to buy ratings.
Despite his incredulity, the director personally watched as the rating chart curved up and up and up until, by the end, it had soared all the way from 0.4 to 1.0.
What was going on?
Finally, the person who was responsible for running the show's official blog was the one who came over to explain this mysterious change.
"Director! We were too out of the loop this time!"
The director responded with confusion, "What are you talking about? What's the matter?"
He held up his phone: "Just look, this is all because of Ruan Tian!"
#RuanTianGarbagePicker#
#RuanTianTractorDriver#
#RianTianxQinAn#
The show had directly become popular, and it was all thanks to these three things suddenly trending up the hot search, as well as the fact that various clips of the show that had been edited by netizens and bloggers had already accumulated more than 10 million views.
Also, the audience who were watching from their TVs at home were naturally not as harsh or biased against Ruan Tian as the netizens were. After all, Ruan Tian was a beautiful little girl, she wasn't aggressive or argumentative, and she had a face that was very pleasing to the eye. On top of that, from her performance on the show, it was obvious that she was working hard despite the show crew trying to drag her feet, so she naturally won the audience's favor.
Who wouldn't like this little sister Tian?
When the viewers watched her picking up trash, they all felt that she was different from other stars, not afraid of a little hardship.
And when the scene changed to her squatting in a small corner and eating steamed buns, the audience were suddenly overwhelmed by feelings of compassion and heartache, thinking that this little girl was quite pitiful.
The audience felt that this star wasn't squeamish, nor willing to act pitiful in the face of hardship, which caused their hearts to collectively melt for her.
"I wanted to cry when I saw TianBaby eating her steamed buns. Poor baby."
"Uuuuuu, so pitiful and cute. Today is a good day to start liking TianBaby."
"Mommy didn't expect TianBaby to be like this. She's really too powerful! TianBaby driving the tractor is the best!"
"New fans, assemble here!"
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian was still in dreamland, not knowing anything about her new wave of heat online.
As soon as he became aware of the situation, the director frantically sent Ruan Tian message after message on WeChat, but got no response at all. Eventually, he couldn't wait for her to reply any longer so he urgently called her phone and woke her up.
Ruan Tian, who had been woken from a pleasant dream, was in a bit of a bad mood.
In the dream, Shen Shu and Qin Yu had been standing near the edge of a cliff together for some reason, and they had been about to fall off.
It was a great dream.
Anyway, Ruan Tian didn't even open her eyes as she blearily groped around to find her phone by the bed before picking it up and answering the call.
The director's voice was excited, like he had gotten a shot of chicken blood: "Ruan Tian!"
"I really have great vision."
"I really didn't see wrong when I choose you."
"This time, you're the savior of our program."
"You're really our lucky star of ratings! We've already edged out Tomorrow's Top Students! Little Chef of China! Outstanding Graduates of Shandong!" (tl note: these are all real shows as far as I can tell, but I was too lazy to look them up and translate the names properly. For readers in China it probably gives some context to just "how" popular Ruan Tian's fictional 'Star Transformations' is though)
Ruan Tian only had one thought.
Lunatic.
It was another crazy one.
Why were there so many crazy people in this world?
Finally, she barely managed to open her eyes and said seriously: "Director, let me call 911 for you, it sounds like you need help."
It was the middle of the night, okay? She wanted to sleep!
She wanted to return to her dream from just now, but this time she wanted to personally kick those two slag men off the cliff.
On his end of the phone, the director was smiling from ear to ear, but the wretched nature of his smile hadn't changed at all.
"Ah, it's fine. Get some sleep for now. I will talk to your agent first thing tomorrow."
He had already thought everything through. Since things were like this, wouldn't it be best to bring Ruan Tian on to shoot another episode?
The next day rolled around, and Ruan Tian fully intended to stay at home and really dig into the new script. She spent a few hours doing her best to really understand the role she was auditioning for before finally breaking for a meal.
Then, thanks to a WeChat message from Jiang Lili, she finally learned that she had received a new wave of popularity thanks to the episode of 'Star Transformations' that had broadcast the night before.
Of course, by the time she took a look, the three hot searches had already slipped down the ranking quite a bit.
However, she and Qin An seemed to have been tied together by the fans.
A certain well-known blogger even put together a video montage of the two of them. Under the blogger's expert hands, the few times she and Qin An had bumped into each other on the show were masterfully woven together to create an illusion that the two of them squabbled a bit before falling in love. The Poisonous Young MasterxSweet and Straightforward Girl CP seemed strange at a glance but thanks to the blogger's editing skills it all came together.
And another certain famous blogger also posted a rare string of emotional praise,
"Tian Tian is like a little angel who fell down from heaven. After watching last night's episode, I really want to pity and pamper her. She is just too cute and too kind, really too pure for this world. In her eyes, I could see nothing but a strong hope to live well. This time, I've seen the light! She's really too perfect!"
Under this post, there weren't many of the usual star-chasing types of fans commenting.
Instead, the people who were talking the most seemed to be people who were depressed or unhappy with life, but who saw hope in Ruan Tian.
They felt that Ruan Tian was nothing like the spoiled rich lady they imagined, not hypocritical or weak at all.
Instead, the inner strength and optimism that she showed on the program made this group of people feel deeply moved.
"En, she's really too kind."
"I like her too! She seems to have infinite expectations for her life to keep getting better in the future. Watching her, all of a sudden it feels true that by working hard you can one day live well."
Because of this surge of popularity, Ruan Tian's name was hot again and she gained a lot of fans.
Later that evening, she was preparing to leave her house and go out to have a good meal as a reward for herself. But, just as she locked the door behind her, the phone in her pocket began to vibrate. Looking at it, it turned out to be a message from Qin An.
Suddenly remembering this guy, Ruan Tian felt a little surprised that he hadn't already been smearing her name with the fans, considering their relationship. Out of curiosity, she read his message.
【Don't think you can get a free meal by creating CP rumors between us. 】
【Don't even dream! ! ! I will never agree to create hype with you! ! ! 】
【Can't you stop using these crooked tricks! 】
Two minutes later, Qin An continued sending messages relentlessly.
【? 】
【How dare you not reply to me? 】
【Ruan Tian, are you dead! ? 】
Ruan Tian retorted in her mind: Qian An, your mom is the only one that's dead!
She felt that this man really lacked brains.
When Yu the Great had been working to control the waters, why hadn't he also removed the water from Qin An's brain? (tl note: Yu the Great (大禹) is a legendary figure in Chinese history who is probably most famous for his place in the Chinese legend that is translated as "Great Yu Who Controlled the Waters")
Ugh.
Obviously, the two were biological brothers, but somehow Qin An didn't have even a tiny shred of Qin Yu's shrewdness.
Ruan Tian: 【Speaking of free meals, you haven't eaten off me for free just once, but actually twice. Thanks for reminding me by the way. I expect you to pay the market rate and give me two hundred yuan. 】
A moment later, Qin An transferred a thousand yuan via red envelope.
Ruan Tian smiled and accepted the money casually.
At the same time, she finally reached the street. Outside, the snow hadn't melted yet at all and as soon as she stepped out she felt a piercing blast of cold wind, causing her to shiver.
Looking around, she saw that the small stalls by the road had warm steam billowing up into the cold air.
She looked for a while and finally found a suitable stall and sat down inside, her small face flushed red from the cold wind as she made her order.
Then, as she was waiting for the stall to finish making her hot pot, Ruan Tian got up and headed over to a vending machine opposite for some milk tea.
But after she bought the milk tea, she suddenly saw a vaguely familiar back waiting at the nearby intersection.
Ruan Tian slowly walked up and patted the man on the shoulder before saying in an uncertain voice, "Huai Mo?"
The young man whom she patted on the shoulder slowly turned his head and, Ruan Tian didn't know if it was her illusion, but she thought she saw a trace of coldness in his eyes that quickly disappeared.
But it was really Huai Mo. He froze for a moment, but then smiled and said happily, "JieJie."
At the same time, Ruan Tian scanned him up and down. When she saw his thin clothes and his face that was pale as if he had just recovered from an illness, she suddenly felt that she couldn't bear seeing him like this.
This was probably that so-called 'feeling compassion for someone suffering in the same situation'!
Ruan Tian asked: "Have you had dinner?"
Huai Mo shook his head and said, "No."
Ruan Tian nodded inside, thinking there was no way he could have eaten already.
Looking at him, she was reminded of herself from long ago. Back when she had been a little girl who was always cold and hungry and who never dared to cause any trouble for anyone.
She beckoned him with her small hand, "Come with me, I'll treat you to a meal."
Huai Mo lightly pursed his lips, and his eyes flashed with something hard. However, that hint of hostility was quickly hidden away without a trace and he said, "Alright! Big sister, you're really good to me."
Not far away, his black-clothed bodyguards seemed to want to say something, but the slim young man sent them a frigid glare out of the corner of his eyes and mouthed a single word at them: 'Scram.'
Ruan Tian led him to her seat at the stall and poured him a cup of warm water.
"Can you eat spicy food?"
"En, I can."
"That's good." Ruan Tian added a few more dishes, and then asked: "Are you going back to school now?"
Huai Mo tilted his head and responded vaguely. "Something like that."
In fact, Ruan Tian also wanted to go back to college.
Unfortunately, she had already been expelled from school that year.
"Then you definitely have to study hard." She spoke while piling up dishes in front of him, "Say, can I come visit you at your school in the future?"
Once upon a time, Ruan Tian's dream had been to become one of those glorious female college students herself.
Huai Mo smiled, and his shallow dimples made him look very sweet as he replied, "Of course."
The two chatted for a while as they ate.
Ruan Tian was a person who usually ate a lot, and today she became something of a chatterbox in front of this beautiful little brother with who she had always gotten along with.
Her small face shone a healthy pink color, and her two dark eyes seemed to glitter expressively with each word.
After finishing the meal, Ruan Tian rustled around in her pockets for a moment before pulling out a few hundred yuan and stuffing it into Huai Mo's hands, "Anyway, it will be New Years soon, so as your big sister I need to give you a red packet."
"Here's hoping that Huai Mo will have a happy and healthy new year~"
Huai Mo felt his heart shake, and his lowered eyelashes trembled minutely. After a moment, he raised his delicate face and said with a gentle smile: "Thank you, big sister."
Ruan Tian waved him off happily, "Then I'm going home now, goodbye Huai Mo."
"Goodbye."
Huai Mo took the bills she had stuffed into his hands and carefully folded them before putting them away in his pocket. There was a happy smile on his lips and anyone could tell he was in a good mood.
At the same time, a bodyguard appeared and cautiously opened the door to a black car for him. This bodyguard didn't dare to slack in the slightest in front of this little young master who had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth.
That was because this young master was known to have a volatile and often hostile temperament. He would often smash things up in a fit of temper, and we would treat his staff and bodyguards like ants at his feet.
He had always been very capricious.
He always did whatever he wanted to do.
Even if he decided to commit arson or murder, no one would jump out to stop him.
After all, he had been spoiled terribly since he was small.
However, the bodyguard had really never seen this young master of his in such a good mood before this. Not even once during the whole time he had worked for the Huai family.
In fact, the young master was usually a gloomy and unreasonable person.
After the bodyguard climbed into the front passenger seat, he couldn't help but glance up at his employer in the rearview mirror.
Huai Mo was smiling and muttering out loud, unsure who he was talking to: "She invited me out to a meal."
"She also gave me a red packet and gave me blessings for the new year."
"She must like me? Well, I think I like her too."
"So she's mine now."
"I will definitely protect her well."
The bodyguard shut up and didn't say anything.
When he was like this, Huai Mo couldn't be reasoned with.
Whatever he said, that's what would be.
—–
Ruan Tian returned home after eating and drinking her fill, but then when she went and stood on the bathroom scale the numbers she saw really made her eyes hurt.
After eating such a meal, she decided she needed to starve herself for a few days now.
If it was for an audition, what did a little starvation count for?
Ruan Tian lay down on the sofa and tried to hypnotize herself like so. Eventually, she turned the TV on before drifting off to sleep.
And it just so happened that she managed to sleep through the next episode of 'Star Transformation' which had begun its broadcast tonight.
In the episode, Ruan Tian rolled up her sleeves to make porridge, she and Qin An 'got along' over a meal, and the whole cast were featured in various scenes of planting rice seedlings and working the fields.
That night, the broadcast crazily broke records as the number of viewers climbed and climbed.
It broke all the way up to the second slot for a moment.
Eventually, it fell down to the third slot.
As the show gained popularity like crazy, a struggle was breaking out online between the fans and the anti-fans.
The anti-fans all felt that Ruan Tian was maliciously creating CP speculations on purpose in order to hype herself up, and the popularity show was nothing but an elaborate illusion! She clearly paid for the ratings herself! Probably, she also hired an advertising company to put out all those edited videos featuring her.
Meanwhile, the fans felt that TianBaby was just too cute and loveable. They said that even if you searched every 18th-tier actress in the industry, you wouldn't find another one half as good as her!
However, there were certain exceptions who weren't interested in the conflict. For instance, in the midst of all the fighting, a certain person raised a striking question: 【Did no one else notice that Ruan Tian didn't wear her wedding ring in either of these two episodes? 】
Actually, despite the circumstances of their relationship, Ruan Tian did have a wedding ring. It was a ring that Shen Shu's secretary had personally handed to her.
However, during their first year of marriage, when she had visited the Shen family to celebrate the New Year she had discovered that Shen Shu never actually wore his ring. Rather, she was the only one who had solemnly regarded their wedding band as something precious.
That year, she found that the people of the Shen family were not particularly unkind to her, but they maintained a certain distance.
Shen Shu's parents always seemed to treat Ruan Tian as you might treat a guest, but never as a daughter-in-law.
Despite that, she had been like a jumping clown, always putting on the facade of a loving wife for the world to see.
But, of course, after Ruan Tian had unilaterally decided to cut all ties with Shen Shu, she had never worn the ring again.
And now that they were divorced, there was even less of a chance she would ever be caught dead wearing that ring!
"Let me just say it first, Ruan Tian was kicked out by that rich family."
"Not bad, that rich family is doing an abandoned wife play like a novel."
"Hah, I always knew that a rich family like the Shen family would definitely never be able to stand a woman like her! Even without this divorce, I estimate that Shen Shu has always been in a cold war with her."
"The truth hurts, but Ruan Tian has always just been a fake phoenix. Rather, the real phoenix is her beautiful and kind sister."
"Actually, I have inside info that I heard from a reliable source. They said that the husband and wife relationship between those two has been frigid for a long time now, but that fake phoenix had always wanted to crawl her way into her husband's heart. However, it looks like he might have gotten rid of her for good this time."
Ruan Tian had always just regarded the entertainment industry as a job, and she had no desire to make all of her personal matters public for a job. On top of that, Shen Shu wasn't someone in the entertainment circle in the first place so, although she didn't like the man, she didn't want to drag him into the muddy waters of the circle.
Therefore, in the beginning, Ruan Tian had no intentions to announce the fact that she and her ex-husband had negotiated a peaceful divorce.
However, now that she was faced with all this fake news and wild speculations from the internet, she began to seriously think about making a statement and maybe even disclosing the divorce agreement and the divorce certificate together.
Ruan Tian thought about it for a long time, but in the end, she decided to wait until this weekend after she returned to the Zhou residence and showed off the news to her parents before making an announcement to the public.
—-
One week before the end of the year, Ruan Tian received news that she secured an audition for the new movie being directed by Cheng Suian.
The audition would be taking place at a certain film and television office building in the inner part of the city.
Jiang Lili was putting a lot of emphasis on this script, and she even rushed over to Ruan Tian's house at seven in the morning in order to force her to apply a facial mask.
"Just put on this mask, okay? But don't put on makeup. Just do the audition without any makeup. You can definitely rely on your beauty!" Jiang Lili was even more confident in Ruan Tian's face than Ruan Tian herself was.
But Ruan Tian sat down in front of her makeup mirror despite her babbling, "I have to put on at least a little makeup."
Jiang Li said in a puzzled tone: "TianBaby, your face is already beautiful enough." Then, after a short pause, she added, "Also, when we're talking about the auditions for these movies made by big directors, generally it's better not to wear makeup."
Ruan Tian had her own plan though, and she insisted on heavily slathering her face with cheap and gaudy makeup until her delicate features were nearly completely obscured.
Jiang Lili nearly went crazy on the spot, "No no no! What the heck are you doing? Has all of your makeup expired or something? Looking at this result, I can only think of one word: Cheap!"
Opposite of Jiang Lili's reaction, Ruan Tian seemed very happy. She smiled and said, "That's perfect."
After all, the second female lead in the movie was a poor and cheap woman.
She was a destitute woman with no choice but to sell her body, and who would be beaten if she failed to go out to try to pick up clients.
Therefore, she put on this sort of heavy makeup and covered up her gorgeous features until she looked like some sort of painted freak, causing the guests to hate her on sight. It was a stupid method, but it would mean she could avoid picking up the guests and also avoid being beaten.
As they drove to the audition site, Jiang Lili continued to try to persuade Ruan Tian to remove her makeup until she was blue in the face, but in the end, Ruan Tian did not agree.
When they arrived, Jiang Lili morosely followed her into the building. As they arrived at the set, she wordlessly took one final look at Ruan Tian's face and sighed, clearly giving up all hope for the audition.
They had only barely arrived, but Jiang Lili's fighting spirit had been almost completely scattered to the winds. She patted Ruan Tian on the shoulder and tried to force out a few comforting words, "Anyway, getting a role in Director Cheng's movie was originally a long shot, after all, he's already rejected all sorts of big stars before you. So just go up and give it your best, even if you don't succeed today, there will be more opportunities in the future."
Ruan Tian nodded along. In fact, she also felt the same way and wasn't willing to let herself grow arrogant.
In the waiting room just off set, there were no less than twenty actresses who had come to audition for the role.
Ruan Tian could recognize some of them, there were a few recently popular small stars, and there was even Liu Yilee, who had recently won Movie Queen after five years of struggling in the industry.
Even Ruan Tian, who wasn't as knowledgeable as Jiang Lili about the industry, was surprised. She really hadn't expected that this audition would have so many big names climbing over her head!
The time waiting for her own audition to begin was long and boring.
Ruan Tian and Jiang Lili huddled together in a small corner to chat.
Jiang Lili was actually really curious about how Ruan Tian had managed to offend so many famous young masters that had scary fathers and big backgrounds.
Last time there was a Xu Jing.
And now there was another Qin An.
"So, tell me, when exactly did you and Qin An forge a connection?"
Ruan Tian put on an expression like she was pondering the question, and then said in a serious tone, "In fact, he suddenly began crazily chasing me and confessing his love, but I turned him down. Thanks to that, maybe his love turned to hate. It seems that he saw how the media was stirred up and decided to use the opportunity to try to force me to give in and accept him."
Jiang Lili: "…"
Ruan Tian maintained her serious expression and tone as she continued: "However, I have always been a strong and unyielding little white flower so of course, it's impossible for me to succumb to the power of wealth…"
Ruan Tian's voice trailed off.
Finally, she summed everything up, "Ah, I'm just too unlucky."
Jiang Lili: "I was wrong, I won't ask again."
As if she would believe Ruan Tian's nonsense!
Half an hour went by and three actresses entered one after another before coming back out with sullen faces.
After sitting for a long time, Ruan Tian's back hurt and her butt also hurt, so she stood up and stretched a bit. Her eyes happened to wander over to Liu Yilee, who was surrounded by her assistants and managers, and her steps slowed before coming to a stop.
She suddenly wanted to ask Liu Yilee for an autograph.
It would be even better if she could add her on WeChat.
Ruan Tian actually really liked her performance in 'Immortal Love'. Her role as the little junior sister was so cool, and she acted it really well!
Ruan Tian called out politely, "Ms. Liu."
But no one paid any attention to her.
Ruan Tian continued on brazenly: "Hello Teacher Liu, I am your fan."
"I really liked you in 'Immortal Love', would it be convenient for you to give me an autograph?"
Liu Yilee finally looked up, squinted at her briefly, then lowered her head and continued to play on her phone, completely pretending as if she hadn't heard anything.
Inside, she snorted. Did any random cat and dog deserve to be her fan now?
Wanted to get her autograph?
Some people really had beautiful dreams.
But no awareness of their own place.
Eventually, Ruan Tian returned to her seat, suddenly feeling somewhat skeptical of life.
She was shocked.
Why did it seem as if the whole world disliked her?
Was she a plague!?
Was she so scary!?
****.
Ruan Tian attributed this unpleasant phenomenon to the curse of being a vicious secondary female lead.
"Lili, why do you think I'm not more like Zhou Xiaoqiao?"
"In the first place, what's so great about that Zhou Xiaoqiao's white lotus act?"
"But everyone loves her regardless. Uuuuu I'm so sour."
Jiang Lili had met Zhou Xiaoqiao once or twice and she agreed that Ruan Tian's sister was definitely born as a high level bitch, but she didn't know how to respond to these questions all of a sudden.
Ruan Tian sighed and said, "I want to be a heartthrob too, okay?!"
Then she extended her fingers, as if counting, "And I also want five boyfriends."
Jiang Lili gave her thumbs up, "I believe."
"But I really never thought that my family's TianBaby would actually have the dream of being the heroine of a HaiTang novel." (tl note: so HaiTang operates out of Taiwan and thus has books that are more 'taboo' than the ones in China, but my cursory research couldn't really dig up exactly what that meant. Yaoi/yuri/harems, maybe?)
All of a sudden, Ruan Tian felt that she had transmigrated to the wrong book.
If she had just transmigrated to that whatever HaiTang thing…
Wouldn't that be excellent?
She could just relax and enjoy.
Jiang Lili poked her in the waist, "Hurry up and get ready, your audition is up next."
Actually, right now…
Ruan Tian wasn't nervous at all.
She felt almost as if this character had been made for her, and she could remember all of her lines and the whole plot of the script with her eyes closed.
She could easily picture the poor and cheap woman in her mind's eye.
A small star who had auditioned before her suddenly came out of the room crying. Ruan Tian was briefly distracted by the woman's reddened eyes, but then she the voice of the casting director from inside, "Next. Ruan Tian."
Ruan Tian took a deep breath, "I'm going in."
"TianBaby, give it your best shot!" Jiang Lili encouraged.
Inside, someone had opened a window because Director Cheng couldn't resist and had already smoked two cigarettes.
He was actually very anxious at this point. So many days had gone by, but he still hadn't been able to find a person who satisfied him.
The actresses who had auditioned up to this point were all beautiful women who didn't lack for acting skills.
It was just that none of them were able to capture the character's aura, and their performance would subsequently seem extremely stiff in his eyes because of it.
It was really disappointing.
Cheng Suian put out his cigarette butt and muttered, "Who's next?"
Hearing the question from Director Cheng, the assistant director quickly replied, "It seems to be a little actress called Ruan Tian."
Cheng Suian frowned subtly as he recalled that he had seen this name on many hot searches recently. It seemed this woman was the noisy attention-seeking type.
His impression of her immediately turned bad.
For this kind of person that ran around stirring up scandals, there were probably no acting skills to speak of.
Cheng Suian's face turned cold, not wanting to waste time on such a person at all.
But then he glanced sideways at his nephew who was sitting in a wheelchair nearby and reluctantly decided to give him some face this time.
But Qin Yu seemed to perceive his uncle's gaze. He looked up and smiled at him faintly, "Uncle just choose who you like, there's no need to worry on my account."
Hearing that, Cheng Suian's dark face lightened a bit. It seemed that his nephew didn't plan to forcibly stuff anyone into the cast.
Qin Yu slowly opened the script in front of him, and traced his finger around for a while before landing on a certain spot, "Just let her act this scene."
In the scene he indicated, the second female lead didn't want to be beaten again so she took the initiative to take off some of her clothes to tempt a client.
The moment Ruan Tian walked into the room and saw Qin Yu, she felt very startled, but she tried to look away and ignore him.
Cheng Suian froze for a moment after Ruan Tian came in, especially when he saw the vulgar makeup slathered on her face. Suddenly, he felt that this was exactly what he was looking for.
He pointed to the spot on the script and said, "Just act out this scene and we'll see."
Then he pointed to Qin Yu who was sitting in a wheelchair, and said, "Just treat him as the man in the scene."
Ruan Tian's eyes followed where the director was point and she saw–
Agh! My eyes! My eyes! (tl note: 'my eyes' is written twice in English in the raw. It's a joke.)
Qin Yu's face was sickly and pale as usual, and there was no expression on his face. The corners of his eyes were slightly raised, as if he were smiling but also not smiling, and when her eyes met his, she felt a chill sweep up her spine.
Ruan Tian didn't think that Qin Yu had come here in his capacity as a CEO, rather, he had probably deliberately come over to watch her make a fool of herself.
After all, it seemed there was one thing Qin Yu liked doing very much.
And that was watching her making a fool of himself, failing, and then showing up to mock her.
She really couldn't understand the 'fun' enjoyed by a psychopath.
After a moment, Ruan Tian obediently put on the clothes prepared in advance by the crew and quickly immersed herself in the scene.
She stood in front of Qin Yu, her eyes flat and numb, and with a distant smile she unbuttoned the top of her shirt before saying, "Six hundred, how about it?"
In this scene, the second female lead was very afraid of being beaten again.
But she couldn't shed any tears, and she could only bear it as best she could.
The costume had a low neckline, so after unbuttoning it a bit you could already see the top of her underwear, and she took the initiative to reach out and touch the man's hand before saying in an imploring tone: "Come on, touch me. I won't let you spend money for nothing."
The scene was just those three lines.
After it was over, Ruan Tian quickly fixed her clothes and blinked sourly, "Director, what do you think?"
Cheng Suian had bolted upright in his chair. His face was stern and solemn, but there was ecstasy in his heart.
Ruan Tian's performance had really shocked him. In a moment, it was as if she had really transformed into a poor woman with no choice but to sell her body.
Her trembling and numb look made the people watching almost unable to breathe.
The thick makeup on Ruan Tian's face, coupled with her natural performance, made Cheng Suian really feel that she was the person he had been looking for all along.
Cheng Suian had really seen the character's aura projected through Ruan Tian's eyes.
She had firmly broken through his prejudice! He really hadn't expected this woman to act so well!
It was an unexpected, but happy, surprise.
Cheng Suian looked at Ruan Tian with a complicated gaze. After a moment, he lit up another cigarette, and with hardly any hesitation said, "You're the one."
The deputy director froze, but after a moment he asked in a timid voice, "Director, there are still a few actresses who haven't auditioned yet. Shouldn't we let them try as well? It's not good to decide too early, right?"
Cheng Suian frowned, "Don't do any more auditions, she's the one."
The deputy director sensed that it wouldn't be smart to object any further, so he just acquiesced. He pulled Ruan Tian to the side and quietly added her on WeChat before telling her not to speak of this to anyone and sending her back out.
After she stumbled out of the room, Ruan Tian's mind was still a little confused because of this sudden development, and she was in a bit of a daze.
Seeing her like this, Jiang Lili felt sorry for her.
It looked like this child had been hit hard by the shock of rejection.
"Don't be sad, TianBaby, I'll treat you to dinner, okay?"
Ruan Tian stayed dazed and muddled all the way until she got into Jiang Lili's luxury car. Eventually, when they had stopped at a red light, she suddenly blurted out, "Lili, I actually got the role."
Jiang Lili seemed to have lost her voice from the shock.
But after a moment, an earth-shattering "****!" resounded from the idling car.
—–
Director Cheng's new movie was a big project, and there were always a lot of eyes watching for any new developments.
Although his casting this time had been carried out in a low-key manner, the media still heard the news from somewhere.
Thus, outside the well-protected film and television company building, the media were intently focused on catching a glimpse of the people going in and out of the audition. Of course, they also took many photos of Ruan Tian, who had drifted out of the building with a dazed look as if she had lost her soul.
Star Entertainment: 【Exclusive! Ruan Tian is suspected to have been kicked out of the audition by Director Cheng! 】
It came out that Director Cheng's new movie would be called 'Obscurity', however, his picks for the leading roles still remained a mystery. So far, the only information released was that the female lead would be played by a certain Movie Queen with some international renown who had not appeared in the acting industry for many years.
For Ruan Tian to be able to secure the role as the second female lead in this film, it was something akin to a miracle.
Jiang Lili seemed dazed by the surreal situation all the way until the two women sat down to eat at a Japanese restaurant she had driven them to, "TianBaby, I really want to cry right now. You know, from the day I met you I've never seen you get so damned lucky."
In fact, Ruan Tian herself also still felt the whole situation still was a little bit unbelievable.
After all, it was indeed true that she had been really unlucky for the first half of her life.
Jiang Lili rested her chin in her palm and looked across the table at Ruan Tian. Who knew what crossed her mind, but she began to laugh until her eyes squirted so hard they nearly disappeared, "Haha, you didn't see it, but when the assistant director asked Liu Yilee to go back her expression was really something. Her face was ugly like she was eating sh*t!"
"Looking back at it, it seems you've really done well this time. It seems that our TianBaby really has the potential to rise all the way to the top!"
Ruan Tian was also very happy, and she began to have dreams for the future, "Lili, I think this time might really be my big shot."
Jiang Lili nodded, "I think so too."
After that, they ate their meals, and soon Jiang Lili was leaning back in her chair, rubbing her round belly and resting after gorging herself. Idly, she picked up her phone and began to scroll through it to do her job and take a look at what was going on online.
In an instant, her originally good mood was blown away by the nonsense circulating on the internet.
Ruan Tian was busy sucking on her straw when she saw her friend's face change, her eyes turned round and she asked, "What's wrong with you? Why do you look like that all of a sudden?"
Jiang Lili silently gave over her phone so that Ruan Tian could take a look. First, there were pictures of Ruan Tian coming out of the audition location, and then the 'article' filled with all sorts of baseless guesses and speculations from the reporter.
PersonEatingMelons: It's no surprise that Ruan Tian was removed from Director Cheng's movie. What is having resources? Who cares about a husband with a strong background? What does it matter if you have a powerful boss? When you encounter a big director who only recognizes an actresses' strength, she is nothing. And this time she's really offended the big director, so I estimate that she will be blocked in the movie circle going forward.
SleepingInMyBrother'sArms: This Ruan Tian is really biting off more than she can chew. She should realize her place and not have dreams of flying to the top. Qin An was right all along, his chickens could do better than this Ruan Tian, who only has a bit of a pretty face but that no one cares about.
After glancing through the phone, Ruan Tian didn't feel particularly angry or anything.
Jiang Lili, however, was filled with righteous indignation, "If it weren't for us having to sign that non-disclosure agreement then I would have definitely already bought a hot search and announced to the whole world that you secured a role in 'Obscurity'!"
Ruan Tian slowly took another sip of her soda. After looking thoughtful for a while, she finally said: "It's fine if they scold me, but how can they say nonsense like I rely on those two dog-men, Shen Shu and Qin Yu?"
"Obviously, I've only ever relied on my own city-ruining beauty and extraordinary talent."
Jiang Lili suddenly felt that she had been too worried, Ruan Tian had never been a fragile person who would collapse from a few mean words. Rather, her resilient personality had been forged like steel after facing slanders like this again and again over the years.
"Well, seeing that you are still in the mood to brag, I feel relieved."
From there, the two chatted for a while longer and, when she noticed it was getting dark, Jiang Lili took the initiative to pay the bill and then drive Ruan Tian back home.
There was no elevator in the building where Ruan Tian lived so, after climbing up to the fifth floor, her palms were damp with sweat and she was a bit short of breath.
The corridor was very dark, and the supposedly motion-sensitive lamps had long fallen into disrepair, so they wouldn't come on no matter how hard you waved or stomped your feet.
Thus, guided only by the light of her phone, Ruan Tian was surprised when she vaguely saw the figure of a person standing in front of the door to her unit. The visitor was tall and slim, with straight and slender legs, a narrow waist, wide shoulders, and a toned figure.
Seeing who it was, Ruan Tian's eyes widened with surprise.