Qin Yu wasn't in his wheelchair this time, instead, he was leaning lazily against the railing across from the door to her unit. There was a faint smell of smoke hanging around him, and when he heard her coming he raised his lazy and indifferent phoenix eyes to look in her direction.
"Finally back?"
Startled by his sudden appearance, Ruan Tian was almost scared to death.
"Mr. Qin, why are you here?"
Qin Yu made a sarcastic smile at her words. He straightened up and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Come now, there are no outsiders here, what are you being so polite for?"
Ruan Tian was too lazy to play along and act as if they were good friends, she just looked at him blankly and asked, "Qin Yu, are you very bored or something?"
Between her and Qin Yu, there had been verbal quarrels, physical fights, and even a vow to never see the man again.
That was to say, they weren't people who had a good relationship by any stretch.
In fact, Ruan Tian sometimes felt that the degree of Qin Yu's malice towards her was very inexplicable. Ever since the first day she had been brought to the capital, she has often been targeted by this man in front of her both secretly and out in the open.
For instance, the time when Qin Yu read her love letter aloud in public. Or the time when she had been working in a convenience store and Qin Yu had come by occasionally to laugh at her or maliciously create problems for her.
Or, back when she couldn't keep up with the high school courses, Qin Yu had often dragged out many of her failed papers in public to laugh and make a joke of her.
In the low light of the corridor, Qin Yu's gloomy eyes seemed to glow with a strange light as he stared at Ruan Tian's face. He was suddenly distracted, remembering the temperature of Ruan Tian's hands on his earlier in the day, which had been just as warm as he had imagined.
He had always just thought of Ruan Tian as a trashy beauty that happened to have a slightly strong mentality.
But he really didn't expect that she would enter the eyes of his uncle.
Qin Yu said: "I'm hungry."
Ruan Tian: **** your mother.
Hungry, my ass! ! ! !
Are you, a bigtime CEO, so poor that you have no money to eat? Get the **** out of here! ! !
Ruan Tian really didn't know what kind of misfire was happening in Qin Yu's brain that kept causing him to pop up in front of her recently.
"Go downstairs and walk outside, when you reach the gate take a left, then you'll find a whole row of restaurants for you to choose from."
However, Qin Yu had recently seen 'Star Transformations' so he knew that she could cook. He asked in a low voice, "Aren't you good at cooking?"
Ruan Tian sneered, "Are you dreaming right now? Get out of here."
He wanted her to cook for him?! Why not just directly ascend to the heavens instead?
Ruan Tian marched right past him and opened the door to her unit with her key in front of him, and went inside without the slightest intention to invite him in. Fortunately, it seemed that Qin Yu didn't want to force his way in or anything, he just made an unhappy expression, stood in front of the closed door for a while, and then slowly made his way back downstairs.
Downstairs, Qin Yu leaned back in the back of the car and closed his eyes tightly. Something surged violently behind his brows. After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and picked up a pink gift box from the center console and opened the lid, revealing a necklace inlaid with pink diamonds inside.
The man lightly used his fingertips to lift the necklace from the box and looked at it. His eyes immediately turned cold, and he threw the necklace out the window without hesitation. A second later, the necklace was ruthlessly pummeled into dust by the tires of the car.
Qin Yu had remembered that today was Ruan Tian's birthday as well.
The driver asked, "Sir, shall I take you back to the Qin residence?"
After a moment of silence, Qin Yu opened his lips to murmur in a low voice, "Take me to the Zhou residence."
—
Ruan Tian looked at her phone and swiped through her circle of friends before going to bed.
There were more than a dozen new posts, and they were all about Zhou Xiaoqiao's birthday celebration.
Just before midnight, there was a post from Zhou Xiaoqiao in which she was wearing a crown and smiling. There was text below the photo: Thank you to everyone out there who loves me and sent their well wishes. Thank you to the friends who came to celebrate my birthday with me today. I've really been touched and moved by everyone's kindness. I hope everyone else can also be as happy as I am today!【Love】 【Love】 【Love】
Ruan Tian rolled her eyes at this cheap white lotus act, and left a comment of her own: Sister, the railing behind you is crooked.
A minute later, Ruan Tian found that Zhou Xiaoqiao had silently deleted the comment.
Seeing that, she laughed and rolled around on her bed with her phone in her hands.
The new movie was scheduled to begin production on the second day of the new year.
During the new year, Ruan Tian had gone home and told her parents about the divorce between her and Shen Shu. Mother Zhou had been furious and reprimanded her fiercely.
Ruan Tian just let the scolding go in one ear and out the other, not paying it any mind at all.
Then, on the second day of the new year, Ruan Tian quietly packed up her things and headed off to join the crew.
The film was going to be shot at a certain film and television city on the outskirts of the capital. After finally joining up with the crew, Ruan Tian found out that the male lead turned out to be Qin An, while the female lead turned out to be Li Dong, a woman who had taken the title of International Movie Queen when she was just 30 years old.
When Qin An saw her, he reacted like he had seen a ghost, "Wait, weren't you kicked out of the audition!?"
Ruan Tian was speechless, "I think your brain is the thing that was kicked out."
Compared to the last time she met him, Qin An seemed to have put away some of his arrogance. He didn't just ignore her as if she were beneath him like last time, but instead asked, "So how did you get in? Are you acting as an extra? Heh, in order to get a little closer to me, you'll really do anything."
Ruan Tian stopped moving and turned to face him head on, tilting her chin slightly as she did so.
Qin An could practically read the words in her eyes: 'Look here, sure enough, this is a mentally handicapped person whose brain has already been kicked from his head.'
The staff who watched the proceedings from the side didn't dare to interject for either side. They only sighed in their hearts and felt that those rumors online were really true, ah, these two were like fire and water wherever they met.
—-
On the first day of filming, they were shooting a scene with Ruan Tian and Li Dong.
The director was sitting behind his monitor and feeling a bit worried. He was afraid that this Ruan Tian might not be able to match Li Dong's rhythm without a few NGs first.
But, unexpectedly, Ruan Tian performed very well even though she was acting opposite to Li Dong. She didn't show any signs of stage fright or starstruckness, and she wasn't suppressed by Li Dong's aura at all. As long as the director shouted for the shooting to start, Ruan Tian seemed to be able to instantly transform and fully immerse herself in her role, with numb and indifferent eyes that seemed to hint at a hidden sadness when you looked into her depths. She was even able to make silent tears flow down as the scene progressed, creating a shocking and infectious vibe.
The director was very satisfied and called cut, passing the scene in one take.
After a scene was done, Li Dong also looked at this little newcomer with some admiration. She even set aside her aloof Movie Queen aura to offer some rare praise, "Hey, newcomer, you're much better than I expected."
Ruan Tian was weak to praise, so hearing that she was so happy that her little tail almost stood up on end.
Eventually, she responded, "Well, I'm not really a newcomer. I have been acting for three years."
Although it had been mostly work as an understudy, or as a stand-in, or in thirty or forty tiny roles that didn't even have names.
Li Dong seemed very fond of the self-motivated and modest Ruan Tian, and she patted her head while saying encouragingly, "Well then you're just very good."
Actually, Li Dong's grades had been very low back then and she had to struggle to even enter film school. Later, during her debut film, she managed to win best actress and she had been slowly climbing up ever since. Very young actors could match her tempo when shooting, so she truly felt that Ruan Tian had done a good job.
After filming the last scene for the day, Ruan Tian headed back to the hotel prepared for the crew to rest.
There were no scenes on the schedule for her to shoot the next morning, so Ruan Tian made a rare exception and stayed up very late.
The last episode of 'The Replacement Princess' was finally being aired that night, so Ruan Tian turned on the hotel TV and watched it out of curiosity. She looked at herself on the screen playing a woman who was sick and crazy with love, wanting to keep him at all costs, and she felt a pang in her heart.
In the end, the beautiful and vicious princess died in the hands of the man she loved the most when his sword pierced her heart. She fell to the ground, her eyes wide with disbelief, and stretched out a hand to grab his sleeve as bloody tears fell from her eyes. In the end, her eyes slowly closed and she went still.
After that, it was a picture perfect ending for the male lead and female lead, a typical 'happily ever after'.
The ratings for the finale of 'The Replacement Princess' broke records in the whole history of Fruit Channel and it became a well-deserved big hit.
Unexpectedly, the highest peak of the ratings happened during the scene where Ruan Tian and Xu Jing were killing each other.
The TianxJing CP suddenly rocketed to the top of the 'Most Popular CP' list overnight.
The fans of the show had wildly scolded the vicious county princess played by Ruan Tian until the midpoint of the show, but as the show reached the ending episodes they surprisingly began to feel sorry for her instead.
The character was beautiful, bright, lively, and vigorous, and her only crime was loving someone too deeply.
"Compared to the heroine, I liked the county princess character more."
"Ruan Tian really embodies a crazy beauty. She's beautiful whether she's laughing or crying."
"I pity her, she just loved someone too much. If I were a male lead, I would definitely choose the princess. After all, the female lead is not as good-looking as the princess!"
"Actually, Ruan Tian herself is not so bad, ah. She hardly posts on Weibo, but she's always getting randomly implicated in things. She's too unlucky."
"The TianTian Group will always be TianBaby's most loyal backing! We can't live without TianBaby!"
"Are you Ruan Tian fans still acting happy? Don't you know that she's already been blocked in the movie circle? She will only play small vicious supporting roles like this for the rest of her life!"
'Only play small vicious supporting roles like this for the rest of her life', Your fart!
Ruan Tian squeezed her phone and glared at the comment coldly. In life, the one thing she couldn't tolerate seeing were the words 'supporting role'**! ! !
To kill the body, one must first kill the heart**. Vomit.
It's cyber violence. Vomit.
However, just when Ruan Tian was thinking about whether or not to reply, a string of numbers flashed up on the screen of her phone.
It was a call from Shen Shu.
Ruan Tian didn't hesitate for a second and instantly hung up the call.
Shen Shu had drunk a lot of wine tonight, and he was feeling drunk and a bit uncomfortable.
He was sitting on the sofa of his living room with his usually pale and frosty face stained a little red by the alcohol. His brows furrowed, and he lifted his hand to loosen his tie before coldly ordering frowned, raised his hand to loosen the necktie, and coldly told the nanny, "Go and prepare a bowl of sobering soup for me."
"Eh? Ah, alright."
Whenever Shen Shu drank too much he would always get a headache, and it would take a long time for it to fade away, so right now he was feeling a bit of regret that he had drunk so much.
At the same time, he noticed that the TV in the living room seemed to be on, and when Shen Shu lifted his eyes he happened to catch a glimpse of a beautiful woman on the screen. For a moment as he looked at her, he suddenly began to feel something hot and uncomfortable boring into his chest and his brows furrowed even further.
A moment later the nanny finished boiling the soup and brought it over, but Shen Shu just closed his eyes before murmuring distractedly: "Put it on the table."
Shen Shu couldn't remember when he had first heard of Ruan Tian.
If he thought about it, then it must have been when Zhou Xiaoqiao came to him and told him that her long lost sister had been found, but he certainly hadn't taken it to heart at the time.
Then one day after that when he had gone to pick up Zhou Xiaoqiao so they could go to school together, he had happened to see a girl in an ill-fitting school uniform standing in front of the Zhou residence and nervously clenching her fists.
At that time, Shen Shu had judged that this Ruan Tian wasn't someone who could be shown in public.
Then after that, he had never taken the initiative to pay attention to Ruan Tian's movements, and at most he would hear about her from time to time from her sister Zhou Xiaoqiao.
So Shen Shu had never dreamed that that same timid and restrained girl would suddenly dare to confess to him.
The love letter that was read out in public only made Shen Shu feel offended.
Because of his teenage ego and pride, he only felt that it was a humiliation to be liked by Ruan Tian.
Now back in the present, Shen Shu could feel something stuffy and uncomfortable in his chest. These days, it seemed that whenever he closed his eyes he would inexplicably begin to dwell on the past, and Ruan Tian's face would inevitably bubble up in his mind's eye during those moments. He wanted nothing more than to drive her image away once and for all, but he found that he couldn't control it at all. Tiredly, he closed his eyes again.
Ruan Tian had given him many things back then, winter hats, scarves, and even some brand-name watches.
Shen Shu had known that she didn't get much money from the Zhou's and because of that, even when she was still in high school, she was busy working in various convenience stores and tea shops.
Back then, when Qin Yu and the others would deliberately go to where she was working to make things difficult for her, Shen Shu had also gone along and just treated it as having some fun.
In the end, Ruan Tian was just different from them.
She was someone stubborn and independent, and someone who was never willing to show weakness or pretend to be pitiful which, from a certain point of view, could just be called stupid.
Lost in his recollections, Shen Shu felt somewhat dazed. He didn't want to suddenly feel sympathetic to the girl from back then because, after all, he had really despised her and carried a deep prejudice against her in those days, but somehow he couldn't help it.
He rubbed his slightly throbbing temples and, for some reason, he picked up his phone and called Ruan Tian.
But, unexpectedly, the person on the other end of the phone ruthlessly hung up on him in an instant.
When this happened, Shen Shu's face became heavy, and blue veins popped out of his wrists as his hands tightened into fists.
He still couldn't believe it. The Ruan Tian from back then had always only had him in her eyes. But then Shen Shu had only barely mentioned the word divorce, and Ruan Tian had eagerly agreed. How could she suddenly change like that, didn't she like him?
With a *click*, Shen Shu abruptly turned off the TV.
After hanging up the phone, Ruan Tian had only one thought in her mind: That was so cool.
And, fortunately, Shen Shu didn't try to call her again.
In fact, even back when they divorced…
When Ruan Tian had told Shen Shu all sorts of things like: 'We should both go our own ways', and 'I wish you happiness', and 'I'm sorry', that was all bullshit!
She wanted nothing more than for Shen Shu to go ahead and die alone!
But after her nap, Ruan Tian threw all thoughts of Shen Shu out of her head and devoted herself to studying her script.
She was in a lot of scenes, and in most of them, she would be acting opposite of Qin An.
Although Qin An was a bit naive, he was at least an outstanding graduate from a top school, so his line delivery and ability as a performer were pretty good.
All in all, he could be considered very professional as an actor.
Director Cheng was also taking filming very seriously, and he yelled instructions down at them with his megaphone, "Ruan Tian, you have to take the initiative to move up and sit on his lap for this scene. Remember, in this scene, you know that he is using you, but you are also willing to be used. You reach up to touch his face with a smile but, because of the complex emotions in your heart, you can't stop your tears. It's a bit difficult to pull off, but try to figure it out."
Ruan Tian hummed her agreement, and then went to sit in a corner to try to immerse herself in the character's emotions for the scene.
Whenever Ruan Tian was trying to immerse herself in her character like this, she didn't like to be disturbed.
Unfortunately, Qin An, this blind man, obviously couldn't read another person's hints or body language. He walked over obliviously, squeezed in close to her, and then sat down right beside her before saying, "Have you washed your hands?"
Ruan Tian felt the emotions of the role that had just begun to properly brew in her head instantly scatter away to nothing.
She didn't reply, just quietly scooted away from the annoyance.
However, Qin An also scooted after her, chattering endlessly, "I'm really giving everything for my acting career this time, even sacrificing my innocence. When you're touching me, make sure you don't try to eat my tofu deliberately."
Ruan Tian silently clenched her fists.
But Qin An was insatiable, he poked her arm and said, "Hey, I'm talking to you right now. You really dare ignore me? Like this, you're not lovable at all and Brother Shen Shu definitely won't like you, you know."
Her concentration was interrupted again and again.
After enduring to this point, Ruan Tian became irritable like a tiger, and said expressionlessly, "**** your mother!"
Qin An: "?!"
Ruan Tian took a deep breath, "Ah, I'm sorry, I accidentally said what was in my heart."
Qin An was stunned and still frozen solid after her sudden outburst.
Ruan Tian laughed and said: "Since you feel that you have lost your innocence after a touch, once we've acted together for a while you will probably need to go ahead and jump into a river so that you can regain your purity with death."
"At that time, I'll definitely fly a banner and everyone will know: Here lies the martyr for chastity Qin An, a fierce man, a hero of the people, an awe-inspiring and awesome person, gone too soon from this world."
Qin An: I really can't communicate with this shrew!
Can't her mouth be a little kinder?!
Qin An quickly scrammed away from Ruan Tian's territory with a black face.
And, when he finally scrammed, Ruan Tian suddenly felt as if her entire world had been cleansed and that she was now ready for anything.
Thus Ruan Tian managed to immerse herself in the character to the point that her eyes were already reddened with unfallen tears before they even began shooting.
The shoot began.
Director Cheng's eyes were carefully fixed to the screen of his monitor like a hawk. If anything didn't meet his requirements, even a little bit, he would immediately call cut.
Ruan Tian leaned down and settled against Qin An's waist, and her cool fingers slowly reached out to stroke the side of his face without saying a word. At the same time, because of how close she was, the faint fragrance of her body lingered in Qin An's nose.
As her hand touched the side of his face, she smiled even as tears began to slip from her eyes.
The director yelled cut, and then said, "Qin An, what's the matter with you? Sitting there like a lump of wood!"
Qin An quickly apologized. In fact, he had been somewhat mesmerized by Ruan Tian's smiling yet crying expression and had completely lost his concentration.
They began another take.
This time Qin An finally managed to keep his cool, and the scene passed smoothly.
Actually, Qin An hadn't expected Ruan Tian to be such a good actress.
He always thought that she had only joined the circle because she wanted to be famous, and that was why she was always pulling crazy stunts chasing fame.
It was only now that he vaguely recalled that Ruan Tian seemed to have also studied at the same school that he had, but in the end, she had been expelled for some reason.
He had always just assumed that Ruan Tian had been expelled due to her poor ability, but now he felt that probably wasn't the case.
From there, the filming proceeded smoothly and methodically.
At the same time, because of Director Cheng's strict confidentiality, even until now the outside world didn't know anything about his new project, not even who the people playing the lead characters would be.
Back during the Lantern Festival, an official blog for 'Obscurity' was launched but, other than that, no news had been announced.
Of course, some of the die hard fans of Li Dong and Qin An had already guessed that they were part of the cast thanks religiously watching the movements of their favorite stars, but they all pretended not to know.
On a certain day, on the outskirts of capital in the twelfth lunar month, a thick layer of ice had formed and covered the whole lake where today's shooting would be taking place.
Of course, for today's outing, Ruan Tian had tightly bundled herself up with many layers for fear of catching a cold.
Fortunately, she knew they only planned to spend one day shooting at this location, so she would be able to go back when the shooting was done.
But that night, something happened.
While Ruan Tian was out filming in the cold, there was suddenly a revelation online.
【****! The second female lead of 'Obscurity' is really going to be Ruan Tian! I guessed right! 】
1L: Ruan Tian already got mashed last time, did she come back to get fried as well?
2L: Don't talk if you won't show the picture.
3L: One day, I want to find an OP who posts pictures to back up their wild claims.
However, the OP soon came back and added a picture of Ruan Tian and Li Dong standing together in the same frame to their post, and the fact that she had really joined the crew was established as fact. See that, the netizens began to rant crazily.
4L: This shocked me and my whole family, didn't they say that she was kicked out last time!? Is Star Entertainment okay? Idiots! Can a person show up on set after being kicked out of the audition?
5L: Hahahahaha Ruan Tian slapping faces today.
6L: Ruan Tian fans get out.
7L: I think you all have forgotten about Ruan Tian's background. She's the youngest daughter of the Zhou family, she has a princess sister, she's the invisible wife of the CEO of Huanshi, Shen Shu, AND she's signed under Qin Pictures. She's someone with both Qin Yu and Shen Shu in her circle of friends, with such an awesome background, it would be more strange if she didn't get ahead. Ah, having resources seems to be really great, the average poor star on the street really can't compare at all.
This person seemed to have selectively forgotten that, in reality, Ruan Tian had already been in the industry for three years but, so far, only her role as the fourth female lead in 'The Replacement Princess' could be kind of considered as a good role.
8L: Oh, it really goes to show the importance of finding a good husband. And, at the same time, things between her and Qin Yu are still unclear, aren't they? It's really good when love is blossoming everywhere.
9L: Did her husband spend money for her then? Although I've heard that the relationship between her and her husband isn't very good, giving out this kind of resource should be a matter of raising a hand for Shen Shu, right? I really admire her 'ability'.
10L: Listen to this! The investment behind this movie has mainly come from Qin Pictures and Huanshi Entertainment. Capitalists are in this era are too strong, disgusting!
At first, the revelation was contained to a small area on a single forum.
But then the people on Weibo also began to catch wind.
As more and more people learned the news, the netizens all found it to be really too shocking. After all, no one believed that Ruan Tian could win a role in a film directed by Director Cheng Suian with her own strength, so there had to be another explanation.
Not long after the news broke, #RuanTianBackground# trended to the top of the hot search.
Of course, the masses were always interested when it came to entertainment news and, before long, all the fans were watching to see what would happen next.
—
In another place, Liu Yilee also saw the hot search, and she couldn't believe that she had lost at the hands of a small 18th-tier actress this time.
This was a role that she had specifically targeted and that she had spent a long time striving to get, even going so far as to sleep with several producers in the process.
Seeing this news, she really couldn't accept it, and she felt as if she had been robbed.
She sneered and told her agent, "I don't mind adding to this fire a bit."
"Maybe if things blow up enough and the fans get too outraged, Director Cheng might consider replacing that woman. It's not like that sort of thing hasn't happened before, right?"
Her agent secretly thought that, while things like that might have happened a few times before, realistically, the chances were pretty close to zero.
However, how to control her own marketing team was all in Liu Yilee's hands, so the agent could only follow her instructions. Thus, before long, she had bought an internet water army and had all of Weibo going crazy.
"To me, the most disgusting thing about this kind of person who receives resources because of their background is how unfair it is to other, more capable, people!"
"How did that Ruan Tian slither her way into such a good role? Is it because of her husband?"
"Shen Shu, can't you come to hold me instead? I can even be a mistress."
"I heard that that woman used her wiles and got something to threaten Shen Shu with. Ruan Tian is so disgusting, ah."
"It's Shen Shu and Qin Yu again, this isn't even at the level of a princess anymore. You might as well call her the empress dowager of the entertainment industry."
"Ruan Tian, the resource thief, a rubbish that relies on men! It seems she's really the kind that is unable to live without men. Poor Shen Shu is too miserable, he was entangled with this stalkerish woman and can't even divorce her. Now, not only can he not divorce her, he even has to put up with her constantly sucking his blood."
"On behalf of myself, I really can't watch this anymore."
"Ruan Tian, don't do it, even with this you still won't be popular."
Of course, Ruan Tian didn't respond to any of the crazy comments made by netizens.
But this 'resource thief' scandal really got people too hyped up, and she didn't fall off the top of the hot search even after a whole day.
Even the comments under the official blog of 'Obscurity' were all full of people scolding and condemning her.
Her various relationships had been 'exposed' so these people all believed that Ruan Tian was only able to obtain such a good opportunity because of her husband or her boss. In the end, she and Shen Shu were both on the hot search together.
Shen Shu became the innocent victim who was threatened and forced to give her resources, while she was reviled as a resource thief.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lili's hair was practically falling out from the worry that Director Cheng might be upset and decide to replace Ruan Tian because of the uproar.
In the end, she even approached the company's public relations department, but the public relations manager clearly told her that so long as the boss didn't give the word, they wouldn't care about the matter. Of course, Ruan Tian didn't have her own PR team, so everything was quickly spiraling out of control.
Jiang Lili was anxious and angry. "Should we just send a lawyer's letter at this point? Damn it, I want to kill them all."
Ruan Tian said, "Why would you want to spend that kind of money? Wouldn't it be better to use it to buy some delicious spare ribs?"
Ruan Tian turned around and walked to a certain drawer. Inside, her brand-new divorce certificate lay quietly in the innermost part of the drawer, and beside the certificate was the dusty old contract between her and Qin Yu.
She took out the divorce certificate and divorce agreement and then closed the drawer.
"I'll tell you something, Shen Shu and I actually divorced a long time ago."
"We can just take this as an opportunity to announce the news that I have nothing to do with him anymore."
"After all, we've long been divorced."
Ruan Tian's eyes narrowed.
It was time to clean ****ing house.
The curses online continued to rain down without stop. Of course, Ruan Tian's fans wanted to speak up in her defense but, in the end, the power of their voices was just too small and whenever they commented their replies would instantly be buried under a torrent of negativity moments later.
Seeing all the abuse, a staff member from the Civil Affairs Bureau couldn't help themselves and even came out to announce that Ruan Tian and Shen Shu had divorced some time ago, but they were just labeled as one of Ruan Tian's crazy fans and scolded for trying to whitewash her image.
Of course, the little staffer who broke the news was shocked when she was suddenly being chased and scolded by thousands of people just for speaking the truth. She had never seen this type of madness, and all she could do was tearily defend herself and reiterate that it was the truth. They really divorced, ah.
"Scram, useless whitewasher, scram away now."
"What kind of whitewasher is this, looking for death?"
"The fan follows the star, also mentally retarded."
Until just now, Jiang Lili had no idea that Ruan Tian and Shen Shu had already gone to get their divorce certificate because Ruan Tian had never mentioned it before. Curiously, she took the divorce certificate from Ruan Tian's hand and looked it over again and again. Finally, she murmured, "Is this the real deal? Are you sure you didn't just make a fake?"
Ruan Tian shook her head, "No, it's real."
That divorce certificate had cost 20 yuan, okay? And she paid for it, so it was definitely real.
Looking at it from this point of view, it seemed that during her marriage she not only failed to make any sort of profit at all, she actually managed to subsidize that man for twenty yuan.
Such a loss.
After looking at the divorce certificate, Jiang Lili's eyes moved on to the agreement that the two of them had signed. When she saw what was written there, she almost couldn't believe her eyes, "Shen Shu didn't even give you a penny?! Didn't you say that you were going to get a huge sum of money?!"
Ruan Tian was also angry whenever she remembered this incident, but in the end, there was no way for her small arm to twist his big thigh. She couldn't even beat one Qin Yu in the court of law, so how would she have any chance against Shen Shu's team of lawyers!
"Anyway, people need to live their lives comfortably like the lotus flower and just focus on welcoming in the breeze."
"I've never valued something crude like having money or not in the first place."
"And I especially don't care about that Shen Shu's dirty money. If he had tried to insist on giving his money to me, I would have only felt that my dignity and character were being humiliated!"
"It's all because I'm so noble!"
As she continued to spout nonsense, it was obvious that Jiang Lili didn't believe her at all. She just looked at Ruan Tian coldly with her hands on her hips.
In the end, Ruan Tian couldn't endure her intense stare and scratched her head awkwardly while saying, "Alright, I was just spouting nonsense."
She plopped down on her bed cross-legged, ran a hand through her hair, and growled, "He just suddenly changed his mind one day! I guess that dog man felt regret or something, because he went back on his word. Even now, I get angry just thinking about it."
Jiang Lili's jaw dropped in surprise, "Is Shen Shu actually so shameless? He wasn't even willing to part with such a small amount of money? But doesn't everyone say that he's usually very generous? I've heard that he buys houses one after another for his little mistresses, but he's so stingy with his wife?"
Ruan Tian pondered seriously and analyzed out loud: "He just said that I hadn't fulfilled any of my spousal obligations in the past two years and that was that."
She continued crudely, "Well, the main point is that it means I slept with him for nothing."
"TianBaby, you are really too unlucky, too miserable, ah."
Ruan Tian said expressionlessly: "Anyway, now there are some people in this world who are alive, but who are dead in my heart."
Of course, as her good sister, Jiang Lili would always side with Ruan Tian, so she helped curse Shen Shu from beginning to end.
When her mouth was dry from all the scolding, she paused to ask: "So do you plan to release these documents and let the world see? Sell your misery a bit?"
Ruan Tian shook her head, "Selling misery just begets more misery."
But Jiang Lili was filled with righteous indignation and countered: "I really think it's too cheap to just let him slither away like this. You should really let the people across the country see just how stingy the Young Master of the Shen family is."
Ruan Tian didn't say a word, she just rested her small face in her palm dazedly and stared down at the photo on the divorce certificate. Looking at it, it seemed that Shen Shu's face was even uglier in this picture than it was in the picture for the marriage certificate.
She picked up her phone, spent a moment finding a good angle, and then snapped pictures of both the inside and outside of the divorce certificate.
Then she used her editing software to briefly add some text to identify that this was indeed Shen Shu. Once this was done, she bit her lower lip and asked in a slightly uncertain tone, "Should I just post it up then?"
Jiang Lili didn't have any experience doing PR work, so she just nodded along. "Sure, post it."
Ruan Tian carefully edited the post a few more times and proofread it to make sure there were no typos before, at 8:30 p.m., hitting send.
RuanTian: After careful consideration from both parties, I and Mr. Shen Shu reached an agreement to divorce. Subsequently, we went and received our divorce certificate, peacefully went our separate ways, and ended our marriage relationship. In the future, please don't speculate too wildly. Thank you all for your concern. 【 】
After Ruan Tian posted her clarification, the major marketing accounts quickly came out with their own spin, "Ruan Tian announces her divorce from the eldest son and grandson of Huanshi's CEO, what's the inside scoop?"
Ruan Tian: The scoop is **** off.
These journalists were still living like it was the 19th century.
In fact, this was the first time that Ruan Tian had formally responded to the voices of the outside world and when people began to notice, her mommy-fans just wanted to hold their heads and cry for her. (tl note: mommy-fans as in, fans who act motherly)
【wuwuwu Tian Tian, it's okay, you will be the most beautiful single woman in the entertainment industry from now on. 】
【My face is a mess from crying. They all just bully you, and you have no one to rely on wuwuwu. 】
【Jiejie, I'm crying. 】
【TianBaby you'll be fine! Two-legged men aren't something rare, you can find them anywhere! From now on, just keep your eyes open and don't look for men in the garbage anymore! 】
【Reminder to those passersby who showed up all filled with righteous indignation: **** your mothers. 】
For all those people who had just been claiming that Ruan Tian had only gotten the role thanks to her husband's connections, the sudden reveal of the divorce certificate was like a hard slap to the face that left their cheeks stinging and red.
Also, a certain variety blogger who had recently become a Ruan Tian fan made a post summarizing all of the roles she had played since her debut.
ISeeALotofMoney: 【Actually, I did some checking. TianBaby signed a contract with Qin Pictures three years ago and then… she seems to have gone silent all this time until finally coming out this year to act. I went ahead and listed all of the roles she has played since then:
'The Feast' – Nth female lead. Five-minutes of screen time.
'Fell in Love with Him' – Uncredited. Two lines of dialogue.
'The Cold Prince's Little Wife' – Web Drama. Unnamed servant girl. Four lines and a death scene.
'Hello Doctor Zhao' – Unnamed patient. One scene.
'Marrying the Son of a Concubine' – Fourth female lead. The show had a run of forty episodes, with each episode averaging five minutes in length.
In fact, before I compiled this summary, I also almost believed that TianBaby was a resource thief as so many people on the internet claimed. However, if she is a resource thief that is relying on her background, I can only hope that more actors will become 'resource thieves' like her.
By playing small roles like the fourth female lead in a web drama, she was slowly able to be seen by more and more people until her potential was discovered. Her journey has let me see hope for the future of all the small stars struggling in the industry. And I know there are a lot of black fans who want to smear her name, but us real fans will always hit back even harder! I truly believe that one day our TianBaby will climb to the top and become one of the most famous actresses in China.
Everyone should know that karma is a cycle. You shouldn't bully people just because they are small, or else you might regret in the future.】
When Ruan Tian's fans saw this post, they were moved almost to tears, and their hearts filled with strength and a desire to protect their idol.
One by one, they fearlessly began to step forward and speak up against the tide.
"If TianBaby really had a background like you said and could cover the sky with one hand, don't you think it's strange for this hot search bashing her to linger at the top for a whole day already?"
"You guys are just scums who think our girl is easy to bully!"
"Wuwu, crying while typing, crying while railing against the black fans, and now crying while crawling forward, TianBaby fans, let your voice be heard!"
Before long, Liu Yilee's water army had been nearly beaten, and the mood online had completely swung in the other direction.
"This little girl's show this time was actually really good, ah. Seeing all this, it's not surprising that she can secure a good role, right? What are people even making a fuss about?"
"Hahaha, do your faces hurt now haters? Obviously, she only relied on her audition to secure her role and no matter how sour you feel about it, it's useless. You should know that since ancient times people have relied on their hard work and luck to succeed, and I think Ruan Tian has both."
"lmao, epic face-slapping all day long."
"To be honest, I've seen Ruan Tian in a few works in recent years, and she's really won me over. After all, she takes every role very seriously no matter how small it is, and watching her like this gives a person the impression of someone constantly struggling to survive. Seeing that, it's reasonable to think that she and Shen Shu have nothing to do with each other."
"Thanks to this, I've decided to go see her movie for sure hahaha."
"+1."
In fact, Ruan Tian had been a bit worried that this news wouldn't be well received. She had thought that maybe people would curse at her and scold her even more after finding out she had gotten a divorce, just like they had when she had first gotten married. Back then, it had been a 'well known fact' that she was a stinky and shameless toad who wanted to eat swan meat by crawling into a man's bed, so seeing things like this she felt relieved that the scene from back then hadn't repeated itself.
With this, the matter finally came to an end, and the heat quickly dissipated after she made her clarification.
While the heat was dying down, Liu Yilee's teeth were itching with hatred. By now, she already regarded this little unknown actress as her dire enemy. After all, she had been robbed of the role and now she had also lost a lot of money from hiring a water army, it was as if she had gone out for wool and come home shorn.
She was reluctant to just let things drop here, but she knew that there was nothing she could do.
At the same time, her agent was standing near the front of their offices, frozen like a statue from fear. Just moments ago, someone had anonymously sent her a video by courier, and after she looked at it she found that it was a video of Liu Yilee sleeping with a certain producer! After a long moment she managed to get ahold of herself and went over to Liu Yilee's office, where she said in a fearful voice: "Big sis, it's over. It's all over."
Liu Yilee raised an eyebrow and, secretly despising her agent's timid nature, asked good-naturedly, "What is it? Has the sky fallen?"
Her agent just walked over silently and, with shaking hands, showed Liu Yilee the video she had just received.
Liu Yilee's face changed drastically, turning odd shades of blue and white, and it took a while before she was able to find her voice again, "Who… who sent this."
Unfortunately, her pale agent could only bite her lower lip and reply, "I don't know. But whoever it is, they warned us not to touch that woman."
Liu Yilee suddenly felt cold all over, and all the strength seemed to drain from her body. She muttered to herself, "No way, I already checked. Ruan Tian doesn't have anyone supporting her at all, but now someone is sticking their hand in for her?! Why? Why!?"
Behind her, her agent gritted her teeth.
But the agent also didn't know who this anonymous person was, so she could only say: "Anyway, let's stop this. From now on, we just have to take a detour if we see that woman in the future. Whoever is behind her is really not someone we can afford to offend."
However, Liu Yilee had entered a paranoid state and couldn't even hear what her agent was saying. She continued to mutter to herself, "Shen Shu? Impossible. Qin Yu? Impossible. But then who is it? I can't believe this."
Seeing Liu Yilee like this, her agent suddenly seemed to remember something. She quickly stumbled out of the office and to the door, where she picked up the package that the video had come in and quickly took out the letter that was inside. The 'letter' was actually just three simple words:【Don't touch her】, written on plain white stationery. But, looking again at the 'plain' stationery, she saw a small and unremarkable English logo on the lower right hand corner.
She quickly rushed back into the office, gritted her teeth, and said, "It's the young master from the Huai family."
Liu Yilee felt like she was really going crazy, "When did she get involved with the Huai family, huh!?"
"That doesn't matter. The important point is that we really can't mess with this anymore. Everything will be over if these videos are sent out."
Liu Yilee nodded. Even if she didn't want to bear it, she had to bear it.
From now on, she would have to be polite whenever she saw Ruan Tian, because she didn't want to upset the perverse young master of the Huai family and end up being destroyed.
—
Elsewhere, Ruan Tian had no idea that someone had helped her in secret and, one day during filming, she received a text message from Huai Mo.
【Big sister, are you free this Saturday? I want to invite you to dinner (ω)】
However, Ruan Ruan hadn't had much free time lately, and she didn't want to ask for leave from the director for something like this because she was afraid of delaying the progress of the filming. So she replied in a tactful manner: 【I want to finish shooting this film first. Once I've finished, I'll come to your school and see you then, okay? 】
Huai Mo: 【Okay, then I will obediently wait for you at school.】
Ruan Tian didn't bother to reply, she just secretly thought that it would be good to go and eat with him at his school cafeteria because that way she could incidentally ease his burden a bit.
After all, he was a pitiful child.
As soon as Ruan Tian put away her phone, the director called her over to start filming today's first scene.
By this point, everyone in the crew probably already knew that she and Shen Shu had divorced, so the way they looked at her had changed a bit. Most of them just had curious eyes, as if asking why a noble young wife from a good family had run off to enter the entertainment circle where she lived miserably for a while before finally getting divorced.
But they were all adults who knew what to ask and who not to ask, so none of them had mentioned anything about it.
Only Qin An, with his naturally deficient brain, always looked at her with expressions that openly seemed to scream 'She's so pitiful', 'What a miserable woman', and 'Look at this poor woman abandoned by her husband'.
Whenever she saw this, Ruan Tian would be so speechless that she just wanted to roll her eyes at him.
Actually, Qin An was from a younger generation than his brother and his brother's friends, so he had never really hated Ruan Tian before, he had only heard various bad things about her. However, after getting along with her for so long on the film crew, he had mainly learned two things. One was that Ruan Tian had a really damned good hold on her temper, and two was that her appearance when she occasionally finally lost her temper was strangely cute.
And most importantly, Qin An really couldn't help but give two thumbs up to the strength of Ruan Tian's heart.
After all, even when the netizens were screeching like banshees to scold her online every day, she never showed any emotional changes, and just ate and drank as usual like nothing was going on.
She was always calm and collected, and she never showed much on her face.
After working together for so long, Qin An felt that he and Ruan Tian could barely be considered as half friends by now and, because he had heard various stories about Ruan Tian's escapades regarding Shen Shu, Qin An felt that she must be secretly feeling unhappy now that she had been dumped by the man.
Thus, he one-sidedly tried to comfort her, "Ruan Tian, you don't have to feel so bad. Didn't you know from the start that Shen Shu didn't like you? In fact, it's best to be dumped as soon as possible, because this way you can quickly begin looking for new love, right?"
"I wasn't dumped okay, can't you wrap your mind around that?! After a mutual agreement between both parties, we decided to peacefully break up, okay? Do I have to carve those words into your thick skull so that you can understand what they mean?"
"Why are you yelling at me? I'm not the one who dumped you, right?"
"…"
Ruan Tian groaned. Some people were just too stupid. Communication was impossible.
Ruan Tian somehow felt that she really needed to clarify her attitude towards Shen Shu right now. She was definitely not weeping and moaning without him, okay? If she fell out of love, she fell out of love, and that was that!
Who hadn't been blind and stupid when they were young and ignorant? Were people not allowed to heal and grow?
"I used to be an idiot."
"That's why I liked Shen Shu."
"But now that all the water that was in my brain has finally evaporated, I can say that I really don't love him anymore. I sincerely wish him and Zhou Xiaoqiao a hundred years of happiness, and I pray that she can give birth to a son for him early. I hope they get married this year, be a mother and father next year, have two in three years, and three in four years."
Hearing that, Qin An just fell silent for a long time and didn't say a word, not seeming to believe her at all.
After pondering for a while, his face became serious, and he asked, "You really don't like him?"
Ruan Tian shook her head.
But despite her solemn refutation, Qin An still didn't really believe her. After all, Ruan Tian had always been stubborn, and her previous level of infatuation had been too crazy and well known.
—
On the day that Ruan Tian announced the divorce, Zhou Xiaoqiao called Shen Shu while crying sadly. She quickly put all the blame on herself, asking between sobs: "Brother Shen Shu, is this because of me that you two…"
Shen Shu calmly answered that it had nothing to do with her.
But Zhou Xiaoqiao kept whimpering softly on the phone, as if she were very sad, before saying, "Tiantian will definitely blame me. She never liked me very much in the first place, so now I really don't know what to do."
Shen Shu listened to her crying, but for some reason, he only felt she was noisy and tiresome this time.
There was none of the usual heartache he would feel from hearing that sound.
In the end, he said a few perfunctory words of comfort and then hung up the phone.
Zhou Xiaoqiao slowly wiped the tears from her face and sat quietly on the sofa for a while. Eventually, she picked up the phone and made another call, this time to Qin Yu. Just like before, her voice was tearful and pitiful, "Brother Qin Yu…"
Qin Yu carelessly hummed a sound of acknowledgment, and then asked, "What's the matter?"
Qin Yu didn't dislike Zhou Xiaoqiao, after all, she was basically like the little sister that he never had.
She was also the only girl among their little circle of friends, and she had been spoiled by all of them.
He felt that her heart wasn't bad, but that she had too many little thoughts.
Zhou Xiaoqiao wiped away her tears before hiccuping and saying, "Tiantian and Shen Shu divorced. I feel like it's all my fault."
Qin Yu leaned back casually in his office chair and said lazily: "It's nothing to do with you, don't think too much."
Then after a short pause, he said, "I have to hang up first, something's come up."
On her end of the line, Zhou Xiaoqiao could only hear the steady beep of a disconnected call, and she suddenly felt strange. She didn't like this feeling of being ignored, and she began to feel afraid that Ruan Tian was going to take everything from her.
For instance, all the men who like her, or the envious eyes of the people.
Zhou Xiaoqiao bit her lower lip thoughtfully for a moment before deciding that she would need to go and have a chat with her dear sister soon.
Then one day, some unexpected guests came to the set where Ruan Tian was filming.
It was Qin Yu. He came to inspect the crew in his capacity as an investor with a retinue of black-suited bodyguards in tow. After he went inside, two guarded by the door, while four more stood outside the director's office.
The Qin family had a lot of business in many different sectors, so when the family heir went out he did so with momentum befitting his status as the family's prince.
And when Qin An spotted his brother, he froze like a mouse facing a cat.
In fact, the two brothers didn't look much alike when they stood together. Qin An's facial features were softer, while Qin Yu had a heavy aura from years of doing business as well as sharp eyes.
Currently, Ruan Tian was in the midst of trying to regain control of her emotions after finishing a crying scene.
She silently squatted in a small corner and tried to meditate to calm her emotions, tears and snot streaming down all the while.
Qin Yu lazily made his way over and took in her embarrassing state. Eventually, his mouth that treasured words like gold opened and, after snickering, he said, "Good performance."
Indeed, it was better than he expected.
However, why did Ruan Tian feel so disgusted after hearing this?
Blegh.
But, at the same time, it really wasn't easy to hear human words from Qin Yu's mouth.
After Ruan Tian managed to stop her tears, she looked up with watery eyes that were redder than a rabbit's. She stared at Qin Yu for a moment, remembering that she had signed a ten-year contract with this man.
Back then, there had been an incident and Qin Yu had half-forcibly dragged her back to his private residence. Ruan Tian had directly told him to go and die quickly.
However, Qin Yu did not die.
Rather, she was the one who became half-dead.
After that, she had gone to court to try to terminate the contract, filed a lawsuit, and soon lost the case.
In the end, Ruan Tian had simply disregarded the company for the first year, only going out on her own to try out for auditions without any background or support and securing a few small bit parts.
It had always been hard to get past the obstacles in her path.
And if there was someone standing in her way, she would just curse them to die alone and unloved!
So Ruan Tian didn't say a single word to Qin Yu.
She decided to just act aloof.
Qin Yu wasn't annoyed by her behavior though, and he continued to hang around the crew all afternoon with his usual thin smile.
Ruan Tian didn't finish shooting all of her scenes until evening, but when she was done she glanced over at the director's office and, thinking that Qin Yu had finally left, she felt as if the big rock weighing on her heart had been set down.
Since she was done for the day, Ruan Tian went over and climbed into the RV that Jiang Lili, this rich woman, had rented for them. As she changed her clothes she heard Jiang Lili chattering: "Actually, my colleague from the public relations department quietly told me that you were being smeared by a professional team last time."
Ruan Tian, who was peeling a banana, paused to look up with an uncomprehending expression: "Have I already attracted so much hatred? Probably it's someone who is jealous of my beauty, huh? Alas, being too beautiful can also be a problem."
Jiang Lili glared at her, "Don't talk nonsense, I'm being serious. The even more amazing part is that it seems that a third party silently stepped in and solved this problem for you."
Ruan Tian heard that, and she couldn't think of it as anything but a joke.
But seeing the serious expression on her friend's face, she pondered for a few seconds.
Yup, it could only be a joke.
Jiang Lili glared at her, "You don't believe it? But it's true! Of course, I can hardly believe it myself. But think about it, what kind of big boss have you met recently? The kind where 'once they make a move, they force the other party to death in an instant'?"
Ruan Tian sighed. "Thinking about it, it can only be them."
Ruan Tian put on a very serious face and began muttering: "Was it Manjushri? Or Guanshiyin? I've only worshiped these two Bodhisattvas in the temple the other day, ah." (tl note: These two are very famous Buddist figures of worship)
Jiang Lili: " …"
"Forget it, I should have known it was pointless to ask you."
Back at the hotel, Ruan Tian took a comfortable hot bath and dried her hair before going downstairs to find a restaurant for dinner.
As she stepped out of the elevator, Ruan Tian saw a tall, burly man in a black suit in the hotel lobby. Looking at him, he was probably one of Qin Yu's bodyguards.
Unexpectedly, it seemed that Qin Yu still hadn't scrammed away? And he was even living in the same hotel.
Ruan Tian was surprised for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure and ordered a few dishes to bring back upstairs.
Unless it was strictly necessary, Ruan Tian always felt it was better to meet Qin Yu as little as possible.
Otherwise, what would she do if she couldn't hold her temper and fought with him again? Qin Yu might not want his face, but she still wanted hers, okay?
And there was no point in quarreling with him anyway, it would just make her angry.
After finishing her dinner, Ruan Tian flopped down on the big hotel bed for more than half an hour and replied to several WeChat messages from Huai Mo.
She felt that this half-grown little brother was quite clingy, ah.
After exchanging a lot of messages, she even sent him some useful articles about staying healthy.
After all, Ruan Tian imagined that he was a poor little puppy in a situation not too different from her own.
Thus, she was more patient with sending him messages.
TianTian: 【Eat more, don't let yourself go hungry just to save money. 】
TianTian: 【If you don't have enough money, you can tell me, I can lend you some. 】
TianTian:【You're still in school, so don't go outside to work too often, you'll just tire yourself out. 】
Huai Mo quickly responded: 【Okay. 】
【Sister, pay attention to your body when filming. 】
【Also, the food at the Laisha Hotel doesn't taste very good and the ingredients usually aren't very fresh. Sister, you should have your assistant go outside to buy you food. 】
Ruan Tian, who was a bit dense, never even noticed that she hadn't ever told Huai Mo which hotel she was staying in. She just replied:
【Got it. 】
—
In the blink of an eye, almost a month had passed since shooting began.
Due to the serious leaks that had already happened, the producer and the director agreed to make an official announcement of the actors playing the starring roles and, shortly after that, they released the first set of promotional posters for the film.
On the first day of February, the crew of 'Obscurity' announced the film's leading roles.
Obscurity: LiDong QinAn RuanTian HanYuanrui Spring has finally arrived, and we'll see you all this autumn.
The official blog also released promotional photos of the four actors.
In her promotional photo, Ruan Tian's face was slathered with cheap makeup, her expression was numb, and her eyes were hollow and red, as if quivering on the verge of tears that she was unwilling to let fall, showcasing a unique and powerful sort of beauty.
Before this, even though Ruan Tian had issued a clarification and squashed the rumors she had gotten the role through the back door, not many people had actually believed that she was suited for such a big role or that she deserved to be on the big screen, but seeing this image changed a lot of minds.
"I was wrong before. Just look at her eyes, they're so soulful."
"Oh my god, I shouldn't have laughed at her before."
"The broken beauty is so moving that I've lost my words."
The photo was so moving that just by seeing Ruan Tian's eyes the viewer would feel as if their heart was about to break.