Thanks to her nightmares the night before, Ruan Tian had hardly been able to sleep, so when she went to the script reading the next day she had dark circles under her eyes. However, on her way there, she happened to look at the big screen hanging over a shopping mall that was flashing a financial report and caught a glimpse of a familiar face.
It was a beautiful and somehow familiar face that did not look at all boyish, but in a flash, it was gone.
The man that flashed by on the big screen had been wearing a black suit and a cold frown. His cold yet delicate face stood out in the crowd and didn't show a hint of anxiety or nervousness, instead, it gave a calm and in-control feeling despite his sickly pale complexion.
The picture was only there for a few seconds before the screen flashed and changed to something else.
Ruan Tian scratched her head and assumed that she was still half-asleep which was why she had mistaken the man on the screen.
Perhaps she just hadn't seen Huai Mo for too long and had thought about him, which caused her to be a bit muddled and randomly mistake a man on a billboard for him.
After all, how could two people with such completely different temperaments be the same person?
Ruan Tian shook her head and put the matter behind her.
—-
At the script reading, Ruan Tian saw Shao Chengyue again for the second time.
He didn't take the initiative to greet her so Ruan Tian also pretended she hadn't seen him.
Ruan Tian's condition wasn't very good today. Whenever it was her turn to read the lines she would feel weak and unable to concentrate properly. She sniffled a few times and started to suspect that she probably had a fever.
Shao Chengyue was feeling vaguely dissatisfied. His father had educated him strictly from a young age, so he had always had high expectations for the people he worked with.
After all, this was the actress who would be working opposite of him for the next four months. If she was allowed to slack off like this, wouldn't that mean the whole project would be in vain?
Shao Chengyue had a cold and grim expression, and he calmly said to her, "If you can't guarantee a minimal amount of professionalism as an actress, it would be better for you to leave the circle and go home to find a new career."
These words were a bit ugly.
At least, in Ruan Tian's ears, they were harsh.
She hadn't wanted to argue with Shao Chengyue at all but he still came and found her for trouble.
Of course, the blame was also partly on her for underperforming just now and getting picked out by the director.
But this Shao Chengyue was just too mean! ! !
Since this was a novel, did it mean all men were destined to be mean to her?
It was hard to be a vicious secondary character, ah.
When they reconvened after lunch, Ruan Tian began taking her reading very seriously.
As it happened, they were reading a part of the script from the thirtieth episode. In this scene, the little junior sister who had gone through calamity and come back on the edge of the God Transformation Stage had just returned to the sect. She had killed her way into the sect was looking up at the master she had admired back then. Her eyes were reddened and she said word by word: " Master, after treating me like that, did you ever regret?"
Each word filled with bloody tears.
Ruan Tian's eyes shone with barely restrained tears as she looked at the man in front of her. Her eyes were moist and reddened, and each word she spoke contained a faint tremble as if concealing great emotion.
When Shao Chengyue faced her reddened eyes, his mind went strangely blank and he forgot his lines. He scrambled for a moment trying to recall them.
Meanwhile, a tear slipped down Ruan Tian's cheek.
Shao Chengyue tightened his grip on the script as he thought dazedly that, surprisingly, this girl could control her tears so well.
After the scene finished, Ruan Tian looked at Shao Chengyue strangely. There was a long pause and then she said: "You forgot your lines."
In fact, she had almost wanted to directly return his same words to him: Since you can't remember your lines, it would be better for you to leave the circle and go home to find a new career! ! !
…
After the script reading, Ruan Tian went to the pharmacy to buy some cold medicine.
She was thinking about resting at home for a few days to recover but suddenly she received a message from Jiang Lili informing her of a notification from the production crew of 'Destined Immortals' that filming would be starting in advance and that all members needed to arrive on set by this Saturday. When Ruan Tian saw the message Jiang Lili sent, she felt a bit muddled and confused. She blinked uncertainly and tilted her little head before finally giving up and deciding to call Jiang Lili directly.
Because of her cold, her voice was strange and nasally as she asked "If I'm going to start filming on Saturday what are we going to do about the variety show?"
When Jiang Lili heard Ruan Tian's nasally voice, she screamed: "Why is your voice like that? Are you sick again? Have you seen a doctor?! Don't just go to the pharmacy and buy some cold medicine and think that's enough!"
After nagging for a while like this, Jiang Lili suddenly remembered her question and answered, "The variety show was only giving us contracts on an episode-by-episode basis, so you can just not sign on for the next episode since you're going to be entering filming."
Jiang Lili had originally wanted to sign a contract for the full season of episodes in order to ensure steady work and to protect against Ruan Tian being replaced in the middle, but now she was a little glad she hadn't managed to secure that. Back then, maybe because the program group had felt that Ruan Tian wasn't popular enough so they had been keeping an eye out for a 'better' star, they had brought Ruan Tian on as a guest but had refused to sign her on for the whole season and insisted on only signing her on an episode by episode basis.
However, now that 'Destined Immortals' was beginning filming ahead of schedule, the TV station's stingy behavior turned out not to be a bad thing for them.
This way they could avoid offending either side.
When Ruan Tian heard that she didn't need to breach her contract or pay out a large sum in liquidated damages, it was as if a big stone in her heart was gently set down. She sniffled and then said nasally, "I see, that's good then. I'm going to bed now."
Whenever Ruan Tian caught a cold, she would feel drained and fatigued, so she ended up sleeping at home until the next day. When she woke up, her nose had cleared up, but she still had a slight cough and a headache.
Meanwhile, when the program group found out that Ruan Tian was planning to quit, they immediately first called her agent, Jiang Lili, to ask what was going on. Jiang Lili had been expecting this call, so she concisely explained that Ruan Tian was leaving to begin filming for another project.
The director really wanted Ruan Tian to stay, so he began plying her with all sorts of kind words: "Her filming another project won't delay her from recording our variety show as well, right?"
Weren't many popular stars doing that these days? How much time did it take to shoot a variety show?
Jiang Lili said apologetically: "Sorry director, TianTian doesn't like to work on too many things at once."
The director suddenly wished he had just signed a contract for the whole season from the beginning! But, after thinking about it, he found that he could only blame himself for this matter. Back then he had really been planning to replace Ruan Tian midway with someone else, so he had only agreed to sign her on an episode-by-episode basis. Now it seemed that he had lifted a rock and smashed his own foot with it.
However, the director didn't quite give up yet, so he and Jiang Lili circled around a few times. But until the end, her stance was firm: Ruan Tian just couldn't record.
After a while, the director had no choice but to give up. But soon after that, the big leader of the TV station found him. This leader had become almost superstitious by this point, and he felt that Ruan Tian had some rare talent that could definitely draw in more viewers and higher ratings, so he scolded the director and told him to call Ruan Tian directly and convince her to come back no matter what.
Thus, the director had no choice but to secretly call Ruan Tian directly.
"Teacher Ruan, you can easily both film your new project and also come record our variety show. Also, the remuneration we give you for recording can also be increased. What do you think?"
Ruan Tian, who was suddenly the one being flattered and cajoled for a change, felt a little uncomfortable for a moment. After pondering for a while, she replied, "Director, I'm afraid I won't be able to ask for leave to record your show after I've started filming this time."
The director snorted. Who said that?! Who, huh? Nowadays there were many stars who would take time off from filming to record a variety show or two!
Thus, he smiled and continued saying sweet words, "Teacher Ruan, the crew of our show and the leader in our station are all very optimistic about you, do you think you could reconsider?"
"Director, I'm really sorry I don't think I can. But I will definitely come back to record a show for you if I have a chance in the future."
Director: I don't want you to come record in the future! I want you to come now!
However, every time Ruan Tian began filming for a new project, the thing she liked doing least of all was asking for leave. She felt that if she asked for leave to go record an episode of the variety show, it would definitely affect her state of mind and impact the filming. She didn't want to try to spread her attention to two different things and end up doing neither of them well.
The director realized that he couldn't persuade her, so he sadly had to give up the idea, "Well, let's just leave it at that. Next time you have time you have to come to my show, okay?"
Sigh, this was four million live viewers all going away! Really not the kind of heat an ordinary small star could drum up.
It wasn't easy to find someone who could make each episode so interesting for the viewers!
Although, at first, the director had only brought Ruan Tian on board out of a selfish desire to capitalize on the heat surrounding her and Xu Jing, now he really couldn't bear to see her leave.
She was a good kid.
Always very polite to everyone in the program group, always independent and not hypocritical, never acted pretentious, and also had real skills!
Ah, Ruan Tuan, please come back.
On Saturday, the film crew for 'Destined Immortals' finally assembled on location to officially start filming.
At the opening ceremony, all the main actors arrived and showed their faces.
The whole crew had gathered to perform a ceremony to bless the production. The male and female leads stood on either side of the director while wearing black ancient costumes issued by the crew, and they both held three incense sticks in their hands for the ceremony. After the ceremony was completed, the director personally pulled back the red cloth that had been covering the camera and the crew members chorused:
"Good luck to our production!"
"Good luck to our production!"
"Good luck to our production!"
The producer this time was actually Shao Chengyue's aunt, a woman who was already over forty but was so well-maintained that she looked to only be in her early thirties.
She had the short hairstyle of a capable businesswoman, and after the ceremony was complete she went around to give a red envelope to every actor on the crew.
Ruan Tian accepted the red envelope with both hands and politely gave her thanks.
After the producer went by, Ruan Tian covered her mouth and coughed a few times. Looking around, she really felt that this Shao Chengyue was definitely a real life prince. The supporting cast was a host of veteran actors and actresses, and the second female lead was even someone who was nearly a Movie Queen. On top of that, the producer, the director, the cinematographer, the post-production crew… all of them were talents with deep backgrounds.
The crew had originally wanted to start filming in a low-key manner but, in the end, there were just too many people coming and going in this area so their location was quickly exposed. Because of that, all sorts of 'little sisters', scalpers, and paparazzi chased the stars to the set and took photos of the gathered crew.
Ruan Tian and Shao Chengyue were obviously the male and female lead this time, but their expressions during the ceremony were both a bit distant and cold.
The photos quickly spread on the Internet.
RiceCircleGirl: I received a private message from a fan just now, it seems 'Destined Immortals' started filming today. The female lead should be Ruan Tian while the male lead is Shao Chengyue. Ruan Tian is indeed worthy of her title of 'male god harvester' 【photo】.
"This picture tells a clear story: We are just colleagues!"
"Is this the legendary arranged marriage?"
"Little ancestor Shao looks as indifferent as ever. He really is the coldest and lowest-key rich second generation star in the entertainment industry. Of course, the key point is that his fame is always being overshadowed by his father."
"According to the theory that everyone should be familiar with, all arranged marriages will eventually lead to true love."
"Poster above, don't try to put gold on Ruan Tian's face, okay? Does she deserve it?"
"It's impossible for the Shao family to let their only male heir marry a woman who's already on her second marriage."
"Good, we've barely even started but the CP fans are already here."
"What's wrong with a second marriage? Why should we women embarrass another woman?! Don't discriminate!"
The topic skipped around wildly, moving quickly from arranged marriages to whether or not it was okay to discriminate against second marriages.
The netizens clamored for a long time before finally returning to the real topic.
They were a bit surprised to find that Ruan Tian was really going to be the female lead on this project, even though that information had been revealed long ago.
Back then, everyone had been mocking Ruan Tian and saying that she had used all her connections to get resources that weren't even any good. In their eyes, such a shoddy drama was barely even worth notice.
But who would have expected that the male lead of 'Destined Immortals' would turn out to be Shao Chengyue?! Him joining the show changed everything!
The crew had all been replaced by big-time top players in the circle. Any one of the people Shao Chengyue had brought with him could single-handedly drag a show like this up at least a level or two.
Besides the original author of the work who was working as the screenwriter and wasn't very notable, everyone else on the crew was famous.
Meanwhile, the TianTian Group had been enduring the taunting from the outside world all this time for the sake of their star. They hadn't wanted to create a ruckus online and create a bad influence on Ruan Tian.
Thus with this news, the TianTian Group, who had been enduring for a long time, suddenly felt as if they could finally vent a little.
"Haha, I really sympathize with TianBaby's anti-fans, it seems that TianBaby will never do as you guys wish."
"I want to buy some lemons for the anti-fans. Will one cart be enough for you to eat? It's still early, but our TianBaby's resources are only getting better and better. You all can just watch and get angry by yourselves~"
"TianBaby, fight on! Give them a punch for us!"
"Ah! I want to go over and support TianBaby in person!"
However, while the TianTian Group members were all feeling impassioned, they suddenly realized that their TianBaby didn't have an official fan club or even a fan-made one.
Thinking about it, they realized that they didn't know much about who was working for Ruan Tian. They didn't even know who her agent was. Some of them even began to suspect that Qin Pictures, that stingy company, hadn't even given Ruan Tian an agent at all.
Therefore, the 30,000 strong TianTian Group rushed over to express their dissatisfaction with Qin Pictures.
TianBabyIsBest: 【 QinPictures, is anyone there? Haven't you arranged any marketing for your imperial concubine? 】
TianBabyIsBest: 【 QinPictures, you didn't even send a bodyguard or an assistant to our TianBaby, why don't you all just go home and give up on this industry? 】
TianBabyIsBest: 【 QinPictures, TianBaby has been enduring ridicule from the masses calling her as your imperial concubine, so isn't it about time she started receiving the treatment of an imperial concubine? 】
Thus, on the opening day of 'Destined Immortals', the TianTian Group all rushed over to the official Weibo of Qin Pictures to show their dissatisfaction and express their demands: they wanted Ruan Tian to be given a professional team immediately!
However, in response, the Qin Pictures PR manager just played dead and didn't reply at all.
Jiang Lili also saw the fans fighting for Ruan Tian on Weibo and couldn't help but sigh. In fact, she felt that for that cheap son of a bitch Qin Yu to only bury Ruan Tian but not personally take revenge on her was already a rare show of his humanity! (tl note: 'bury her' as in 'block her opportunities in the entertainment industry')
But to ask him to give Ruan Tian a whole team? That was just dreaming.
It should be known that back when Ruan Tiang signed on with Qin Pictures, no one arranged anything for her, not even an agent.
It was only because Jiang Lili was too idle that she happened to volunteer to take Ruan Tian on. Of course, after contacting Ruan Tian she found that she was really awesome! She could only lament that all those dog men really had no eyes.
Especially that ex-husband of hers! Jiang Lili secretly speculated that maybe his eyes were blind.
—
After the opening ceremony was completed, filming began immediately.
The first scene was a fighting scene. The little junior martial sister played by Ruan Tian had been captured by the sect and was facing trial. They fished her out of the dungeon and dragged her before the sect elders and then, despite her innocence, the elders declared her guilty. In the end, she ended up fighting her way free and even killing a sect elder.
The director had brought in a martial arts instructor to coach the actors for these fight scenes. Ruan Tian had long become accustomed to the pressures of the job, so she accepted the teachings as best she could. The movements the martial arts instructor taught her for the scene were a bit complicated but, after learning and practicing a few times, she felt she had mastered them to an acceptable degree and gestured to the director.
"Alright, first scene, action!"
The girl's light and elegant white dress had been soaked in crimson until it had become blood-colored. Her long hair hung messily over her shoulders and her face was deathly pale, but her eyes were still firm in the face of this crisis. She just stood silently and stared up coldly at the elders on the platform conducting the trial.
"You are accused of going down the mountain without permission, hurting martial nephew Gu Jianzong, and forcibly taking away his spiritual grass. This is a large mistake, and it has tainted the reputation of our entire sect. Do you understand your crimes?"
The girl's hands were bound, and her legs were so weak she could hardly stand, but when she heard these accusations she couldn't help but bend over and laugh. She laughed and laughed, and only when her laughs were dry did she slowly straighten up and say: "What are my crimes? Gu Jianzong is the one who has committed a crime."
"Presumptuous!"
The girl's pale and weak face slowly lifted to look the elder in the eye and she said, "Gu Jianzong has used his position in the sect to eradicate dissidents, destroyed the roots of his peers in the same generation, refined humans into artifacts, and done all sorts of evil things that are against the will of the heavens. He is the one who is guilty."
Gu Jianzong sneered and directly sent a palm to her heart: "I have nothing to say to a wicked person like you. I'll just directly send you to see the king of hell."
The girl vomited a mouthful of dark blood and collapsed backward, and the spiritual grass that she had been tightly clutching in her hand was taken away from her.
However, that spiritual grass was what she had only managed to obtain after risking her own life, and she planned to use it to treat her master's illness.
Thus, when she saw the spiritual grass being taken away, the girl suddenly went crazy. Her eyes turned red and, with a simple motion, she threw off the people who were binding her arms and directly flew up to the platform from which the elders were passing their judgment and seized the sword of a nearby guard.
Then she pointed the sword directly at Gu Jianzong!
"Cut!"
The director was a bit surprised by how well Ruan Tian performed. Looking at her, she seemed like an inconspicuous little girl, but she didn't lose out at all while acting opposite these old veterans from the industry.
"Ruan Tian, when you attack him your eyes need to be a little more ruthless, and the fight should be a bit faster and sharper."
"Okay director."
Ruan Tian felt that she had already been fierce enough.
Like a tiger in the jungle!
But she could only follow the director's instructions. Thus, on the second take, Ruan Tian's murderous intent was even stronger. So strong, in fact, that in the moment when she raised her eyes and the veteran actor playing Gu Jianzong was exposed to it, he completely froze as he felt an illusion that the little girl opposite was really about to rush over and kill him.
Ruan Tian directly picked up the sword and soared forward, which was when the accident happened.
It turned out that the direction was a bit off, and Ruan Tian ended up directly slamming into a piece of prop rockery on the side and falling down.
Seeing this, the crew quickly began to move forward, and the director took off his headphones and looked over in concern. In an instant, Ruan Tian was surrounded by a swarm of people, and someone helped her up from the ground, "Ms. Ruan, are you okay?"
Ruan Tian quickly patted the dust off her clothes and waved her hands dismissively. "I'm fine, there's no problem."
The fall actually wasn't that painful, so she felt it was fine.
Or at least it was still within her acceptable range.
When he heard that she was okay, the director wanted to resume shooting: "Alright, let's do it one last time."
However, Shao Chengyue, who had been silent until now, suddenly said: "Let's take a quick break."
From where he was standing he had been able to see that Ruan Tian did not fall lightly at all.
Thus, when he saw that she didn't shed a single tear and just jumped right back up, he felt a little bit of admiration.
He had even been suddenly reminded of that day when this girl had raised her little chin and told him that he had forgotten his lines with a slightly proud expression.
Thanks to Shao Chengyue's intervention, the director agreed to give the crew ten minutes to rest so Ruan Tian could recover. After ten minutes, they all reconvened and began the third take.
This time Ruan Tian did a great job and the director was finally satisfied.
On set, the lounge chairs for the male and female leads were close to one another. Currently, Ruan Tian was slouched down in her chair and reading a worn script that looked to be on the verge of falling apart. God only knew how many times she had read it for it to be in such a ragged state.
Just then Shao Chengyue's agent appeared behind them and leaned forward to whisper to Shao Chengyue: "Brother Shao, there shouldn't be any more scenes for you this afternoon. You haven't been sleeping recently so you might as well go back and try to get some sleep."
Shao Chengyue rubbed his eyebrows with a tired expression and replied, "No."
He remembered that the next scene was another one of Ruan Tian's scenes, so he wanted to stay and watch.
He wouldn't be able to sleep if he went back now anyway.
In truth, he had rather severe insomnia, so on normal days he would only be able to sleep for a few hours and only after he felt extremely tired.
Ruan Tian secretly snorted in her heart. How unexpected to find that this Shao Chengyue had insomnia too.
Ruan Tian knew she shouldn't be nosy, but at the same time, she just couldn't change her habit of being overly helpful.
Thus, after Shao Chengyue's agent left, she put down the script in her hand, bent down, and picked out a small pouch from inside her purse. Then she turned to her left, extended the pouch to the man next to her, and said, "This is a sleep aid. Try drinking it before trying to sleep, it works well."
Shao Chengyue had been well-educated since young, so he wasn't the type to rudely reject kindness. Of the noble princes Ruan Tian knew, he was one of the better ones.
He glanced at Ruan Tian's face a few times and then took the pouch while saying: "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Ruan Tian felt a little happy in her heart.
This might be the first time she had managed to deliver something so smoothly!
In fact, this sleep aid had been made by Ruan Tian herself. Back then, she had heard from other people that Shen Shu suffered from insomnia and was often unable to sleep, which had caused her to feel quite distressed.
She searched high and low and eventually found a recipe for a sleep aid, but she had been afraid of harming him so she had never dared to use it.
But then after that, she had worked up the nerve to look for Jiang Lili's grandfather, who was a famous Chinese medicine practitioner, and asked him to look at the recipe. After looking at it, he had told her it was a real sleep aid, and he even helped her to improve the recipe until it no longer tasted bitter and was instead somewhat sweet.
Of course, Shen Shu had never accepted her affections, so in the end, this thing became something she kept around and drank occasionally herself whenever she suffered from insomnia.
—
At the same time, a person from the crew had secretly taken a picture of the fall Ruan Tian took during the first day of filming and posted it online.
The picture looked strangely scary, as if she had slammed directly into a mountain.
When Ruan Tian's fans saw this picture they all went on Weibo to express their hope that the crew would pay more attention to safety on set and ensure that the actors wouldn't be in danger.
At the same time, when the members of the TianTian Group saw Ruan Tian quickly bounce up and act ready to continue, they only felt even more sorry for their TianBaby.
Right now, Jiang Lili's grandfather was sick so she was staying at home to accompany him, but she planned to head up and join Ruan Tian on the crew in a few more days. However, as Ruan Tian's agent, she happened to see this photo while she was idling online.
After seeing it, she immediately called Ruan Tian and asked over and over again if she was okay. Only after being reassured half a dozen times that Ruan Tian was fine did she hang up the phone.
Jiang Lili posted a Weibo to her circle of friends that night, accompanied by the photo, saying: 【TianTian is so strong. This Lili wants to cry just seeing it, but she doesn't cry at all or even show she's in pain. 】
Shen Shu happened to see this post, and he couldn't move his eyes from the screen of his phone for a long time.
For more than ten minutes he stood there with his head lowered looking at the photo, unclear what he was thinking about.
Nowadays whenever he heard Ruan Tian's name or saw her picture, his chest would begin to feel stuffy, and there would be a dull pain in his heart. Somehow, he wasn't able to stay as calm as before.
As if, one by one, stones were being thrown into the once placid lake of his heart.
Shen Shu squeezed his phone until his fingers turned white. A while later, in an inexplicably low and uncomfortable mood, he clicked on Ruan Tian's profile only to find he had already been blocked.
He let out a surprisingly bitter laugh.
Feeling stuffy and uncomfortable, Shen Shu stepped out of his study with the plan to go downstairs and pour himself a glass of cold water. However, as he was walking by the utility room, he happened to see the maid doing something. She was holding a ragged cardboard box that looked like it was about to fall apart and muttering: "They don't even want such beautiful things. What a sin, ah…"
As she walked out of the utility room, the maid suddenly spotted Shen Shu, and her muttering immediately stopped.
Shen Shu, holding his cup of water, looked at the box in her hands and asked, "What are you doing?"
The maid replied, "The Old Madam who asked me to pack up all the unwanted things in the utility room and throw them away."
She opened the box and showed the contents to Shen Shu, "It seems to be some things you didn't want from your high school days." After a pause, she added: "I think they were given by one of your former classmates."
Shen Shu remembered now.
Not a classmate, they were given by Ruan Tian.
Back then she had made various handicrafts to give to him, like a small bamboo basket and some animal dolls.
That feeling of breathlessness, irritability, and depression suddenly surged up again.
Shen Shu's expression turned ugly and he said: "Put it down first."
The maid got a bit nervous. In fact, she had felt it was a waste to throw these things away and had secretly taken some away to her room, so she thought she had been discovered and began to feel a little scared. She blurted defensively, "But you didn't want any of these before."
Hearing her words, Shen Shu's face darkened another shade.
Seeing his expression turning darker and darker, the maid immediately stopped talking nonsense and said: "Well, I'll just put the box on the table."
"En."
After the maid set down the box and ran away, Shen Shu opened it and looked inside. Inside he found that it was indeed a collection of gifts he had never bothered to throw away which had piled up in the utility room.
There was even one of the notes that Ruan Tian had often written for him back then. Her sharp but slightly crude handwriting stood out against the faded post-it note.
It said: "To classmate Shen Shu, wishing you happiness every day."
Shen Shu clutched the note so tightly that his knuckles gradually turned white.
At the top of the stairs, Mother Shen watched this scene for a long time. Eventually, she sighed and said: "What's wrong with you?"
Shen Shu rarely reached out to anyone for anything. He kept his thoughts and feelings deep in his heart, always the aloof and noble prince, but this time he couldn't help but want to tell the truth for some reason.
He hung his head, and when he spoke his voice was very low, "Mom, I'm a little uncomfortable."
His heart seemed to twinge, and he didn't understand what was wrong.
He only knew that as long as he thought of Ruan Tian, he would start to feel uncomfortable inside.
As he looked down at Ruan Tian's handwriting, he somehow remembered the photo they had taken for their marriage certificate.
Back then, the little girl who had just grown up was smiling and seemed very happy.
She had held his arm cautiously, prettily leaning her head against his shoulder but not quite touching, careful not to let him find out.
Shen Shu's fingers unconsciously tightened even further and he continued in the same low voice, "Something feels wrong, and my heart hurts."
—–
Whenever Ruan Tian began filming, her work and rest schedule always became very regular. She would go to bed early and wake up early, and if filming ever ended early she would just take it as an opportunity to run a few laps for exercise before sleeping at her usual time.
While in this state, she wouldn't go online very much, and she wouldn't pay much attention to outside news. Instead, she spent her free time concentrating on studying the script and practicing her lines. And, occasionally, she would find the martial arts instructor and ask him to teach her so she could improve herself.
She would only check Weibo if she was feeling very idle.
During one such moment of idleness, Ruan Tian unexpectedly saw that a set of Zhou Xiaoqiao's photos had climbed to the top of the hot search.
HeartThrobStation: Look at this beautiful little sister who will make your heart throb! She looks just like a little princess who has been raised in a greenhouse. 【Picture】 【Picture】 【Picture】.
"Is this an amateur model?!"
"She's so beautiful! Does this little sister have a Weibo? Someone point the way."
" ZhouXiaoQiao, seems to be her Weibo. She's a very low-key rich second-generation little sister. Really the embodiment of white, rich, pretty." (tl note: white rich pretty is like slang for an 'ideal beauty' I guess)
Ruan Tian quickly closed the app and grabbed a nearby table unsteadily.
Suddenly she felt like she was losing her nerve! ! ! She almost couldn't breathe! ! !
It was that ****ing Zhou Xiaoqiao! ! !
Zhou Xiaoqiao, the heroine of this novel, was really a bitch.
That woman's tactics were deep, and an uncountable number of levels higher than her own.
Most importantly, Zhou Xiaoqiao's golden finger was also much thicker than hers! ! ! (tl note: "golden finger" is basically like a cheat that helps a character get ahead? Like plot armor?)
Ruan Tian was actually a bit afraid of her.
From long ago, Ruan Tian had discovered that Zhou Xiaoqiao liked to snatch the things that belonged to her.
She would do it subtly, secretly, quietly, but she would do it all the same.
Her tricks were always in the style of 'Ah, that was an accident… I didn't know… I'm innocent… I didn't mean it… etc…', and she never got tired of playing them.
However, Ruan Tian had always been confident about one thing: Zhou Xiaoqiao would never be able to enter the entertainment circle.
On the one hand, her family would never agree, and on the other hand, Zhou Xiaoqiao's magical 'wilting beauty' body wouldn't be able to withstand it.
After gathering herself, Ruan Tian secretly logged into an alternate account with very few followers and decisively left a comment: 【I feel like she looks a bit like a bitch~】
Unexpectedly, only a few minutes passed and Ruan Tian's unkind barb actually received thousands of likes.
Surprisingly the middle part of the comment section was very exciting.
"Professional bitch identifying machine here. Using my golden eyes, I have identified a bitch."
"Fortune-telling apprentice here, judging by the alignment of her face, I can sense evil."
"Her smile is so fake, like she's putting on a show."
"These pictures are edited too obviously."
Wow.
Ruan Tian was shocked.
She suddenly felt overjoyed.
She felt so good she thought she might happily ascend straight to heaven.
So what if her happiness was based on mocking Zhou Xiaoqiao? !
She was a vicious woman, okay?! She admitted it! Hee hee hee.
However, because Ruan Tian was immersing herself in happiness with her alternate account, she was completely unaware that, around this time, Shen Shu had unexpectedly followed her main Weibo account!
Gossipy passersby saw this development and were dumbfounded: What was this Shen Shu doing all of a sudden? Didn't he already have another woman? ! Wasn't Ruan Tian just an abandoned wife? Why was this different from what they imagined! ! ! ?
…
Shen Shu's Weibo had never made any posts, and the account had zero followers.
In fact, even when his assistant had first made the account for him and the Weibo system automatically followed him, he had ruthlessly blocked it.
Thus, Ruan Tian became the first person this account paid any attention to.
Of course, because he had made no posts with the account, even if people wanted to comment and ask what was going on there just wasn't a place to do so. No one could guess what his sudden action meant.
Compared to the other wealthy children in his generation, Shen Shu was extremely low-key. He rarely showed up in front of the public and he never accepted any interviews. People only knew who he was thanks to the fact that he would occasionally show up in the financial news.
Before he had married Ruan Tian no one had paid his Weibo any attention and hardly anyone even knew about it.
But then the two had been married for two whole years and the media hadn't even taken a single photo of the two, which really made people wonder. If it weren't for the column in his Baidu profile that showed 'Married', probably most people would misunderstand that Shen Shu was still single.
There were many speculations, like it was an arranged marriage, a marriage based on a trick, a marriage based on a child, etc… but pretty much no one thought that they had married because of love.
"Hmm, this rhythm, could it be the rich couple remarries cliche?"
"The CEO of Huanshi Entertainment is catching up with the trends and chasing his wife now?"
"I had to check my eyes, but it seems I saw right! Shen Shu really took the initiative to follow Ruan Tian this time. It seems that his ex-wife is now the only person he follows."
"Rich people are so interesting."
"What does he want to do? Does that Shen Shu like Ruan Tian or not? This grandmother is so confused!"
"CEO Shen: Chasing wife now, do not disturb."
"I feel concerned for you guys with brains that imagine so much wild stuff. Why not go write a novel?"
"The above poster's reminder is right, we need to catch someone to write a 'CEO chases his wife' novel for us."
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian suddenly received tons of s from many people who spoke as if they were celebrating her remarriage.
Ruan Tian was confused at first, but after carefully looking through the messages for a while she understood what was going on.
Silently, she looked at the icon of the one extra person who was now following her account.
That icon had a picture of Shen Shu from his high school days as an avatar. In the picture Shen Shu was wearing his school uniform and standing by the familiar entrance of their old high school. The sunlight shone down from above and illuminated his pale skin and his posture was leisurely. His dark eyes looked faintly toward the camera and a smile that was not quite a smile played about his lips.
Ruan Tian suddenly remembered that the first time she saw Shen Shu, it seemed he had looked a lot like this.
Wearing his pure white school uniform, with a faint smile playing about his lips and his dark and attractive eyes burning brightly.
Ruan Tian stared at his avatar for a long moment, and then manually removed Shen Shu from her follower list without hesitation.
Thanks to this, she suddenly remembered another important thing.
Last time, when her alternate account had been found out…
She had forgotten to stop following Shen Shu!
Ruan Tian quickly logged into her alternate account, which she hadn't logged into for a long time, and then unfollowed Shen Shu!
For this sort of thing, it was better to do things cleanly all at once and not leave anything muddy or confusing.
The whole time she knew Shen Shu she had never been able to guess what he was thinking about. Back when they were married she had never understood him and now, after she had cut ties with him and divorced, she understood even less. But now she didn't need to care what he was thinking anymore.
Ruan Tian's ruthless move shocked the onlooking netizens. However, when they considered how Ruan Tian had personally said that she and Shen Shu would never remarry in this life, they suddenly felt that this seemed understandable.
But now a new topic arrived. Just how deep was the hatred between these two people that they were still making things so ugly after their divorce! ?
After seeing this back and forth, analysis posts began to spring up one after another.
Many versions of the dramatic imagined love-hate relationship between Ruan Tian and Shen Shu were compiled.
Eventually, a moderator who was sick of dealing with threads talking about Ruan Tian and Shen Shu all night got fed up and directly created one giant megathread for all these speculators to use to discuss among themselves.
【Timeline Analysis Post:
It is known that Ruan Tian began to pursue Shen Shu when she was in high school. Then, when they turned 20 years old, the two married for some unknown reason. There was no wedding or celebration to speak of, and for the next two years they never so much as appeared in the same frame. Then, this year, they officially divorced.
After the divorce, Ruan Tian made remarks that she would never be willing to remarry. For some reason, Shen Shu followed her on Weibo, but then immediately afterward both of Ruan Tian's accounts unfollowed Shen Shu.
Thus, we can only wonder, what is the situation between them now? 】
1L: It's just the typical 'You used to ignore me, now you've changed your mind, but I've already let go' type story.
2L: No no no, this is clearly the path toward the broken mirror being made whole and remarriage, just like you see in those CEO romance novels.
3L: They should be in love.
4L: As expected, Ruan Tian and Shen Shu are the only real CP, all other CPs are just a mirage. I love this sort of plot hehehehe.
5L: This plotline of falling in love, then turning against one another and fighting a hundred rounds, and then falling in love again is really killing me. When will they get back together?
6L: Sigh, I've followed Ruan Tian's alternate account since two years ago and I even secretly rooted for her. But who would have thought that in real life the couple is so distant they don't even have a single photo together. 【 】 【 】【 】
7L: Ruan Tian, come and teach me how to catch a man. You are so good with men, this little sister wants to learn.
8L: Men are all just puppies in front of Sister Tian. But I guess that this dog man must have hurt Sister Tian a bit deeply, or else the gentle Sister Tian would never be so ruthless.
As long as the main characters were a handsome man and a beautiful woman, the netizens were eager to pair them together.
Thus, even though the CP fans arrived a little late, the megathread created by the moderator still managed to climb into the top 100 ranking that night. (tlnote: I translated '超话' as 'megathread' which is a bit off, but basically these are a feature that Weibo introduced and they are like big central comment threads that are mainly for celebrity matters and that have a ranking)
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian's fans didn't buy Shen Shu's 'reformation' at all. After all, she had already been the wife of the CEO of Huanshi Entertainment for so long but there never seemed to be any benefit, right? After all, hadn't Ruan Tian always been going around everywhere working random small roles for so long? Wasn't it clear that he had just been a bully?
But now Shen Shu wanted to come back and eat from the pasture he discarded? No way! (tl note: The idiom is '回头草' (literally) pasture left behind. Meaning: something you have discarded or rejected)
It would be more realistic for him to eat shit!
—–
The filming for 'Destined Immortals' was moving at quite a fast pace, to the point that it could be considered a bit rushed. After all, this production could be considered the biggest costume drama being made this year, but after taking four months to shoot and adding in the time for post-production editing, it would take until at least the end of the year to see the finished product, so everyone was eager to finish filming even one day sooner.
Thanks to that, 'Destined Immortals' could only fight for this year's winter box office, but the production still had grand ambitions of becoming a dark horse and shooting to the top at that time.
As the female lead, Ruan Tian would shoot no less than six scenes a day. Her workload was staggering to the point that would lean on Jiang Lili's shoulders for support and she was reciting lines even in her dreams.
Jiang Lili could only watch from the side as Ruan Tian got thinner and thinner, helpless to do anything but try to persuade her friend to eat more.
Fortunately, Ruan Tian was fairly popular among the crew and got along well with all of her fellow actors.
Even Shao Chengyue seemed to have put down his frosty noble aura and would take the initiative to chat with her from time to time when there was a break.
One night Shao Chengyue had discovered that, unexpectedly, the medicine Ruan Tian gave him last time was very useful.
He hadn't had any expectations for it but had decided to try it out one night with the mentality of 'just trying it out'. Then, after steeping it in a tea cup and drinking it, he had fallen into a dreamless sleep and somehow managed to sleep the whole night through, only waking up at 8 a.m. the next morning.
Shao Chengyue hadn't slept so well for a long time. When he was younger, he had been kidnapped, and he had seen terrible things happen to his classmates who had been kidnapped alongside him.
After that, he had always been plagued by nightmares.
Whenever he closed his eyes, he would see the puddles of dripping blood in that dingy warehouse, and the severed hands and feet that had been chopped off. (tl note: wtf)
Shao Chengyue had gone to many psychologists and had been prescribed various sleep aids, but in the end the effects had always been subpar
But the morning Shao Chengyue had tried Ruan Tian's medicine, he had slowly sat up from his bed, blinking uncertainly and raising his hand to block the glare from the morning sun through the window. Still a little dazed, he had gone to look in the mirror and found his complexion seemed healthier than it had been in a long time. Surprisingly, he somehow felt as if his spirit had recovered a bit after a long period of being beaten down.
Before going out, he went and found the empty little pouch and put it into his pocket. As he picked it up, he seemed to catch a faint whiff of Ruan Tian's sweet scent.
Thus, on set that day, Shao Chengyue found Ruan Tian and thanked her.
But Ruan Tian was just confused, "Ah? What are you thanking me for?"
Seeing that she seemed to have completely forgotten, Shao Chengyue didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After a moment, he took out the little pouch from his pocket and showed her before saying, "This thing was very useful."
Of course, Ruan Tian had drunk the medicine herself so she wasn't surprised to hear that it worked.
She just smiled and said, "Do you want more? I can give you some more."
In fact, back then she had begged Jiang Lili's grandfather for help and ended up staying at his house as a cook for half a month before she managed to learn the formula. It really hadn't been easy.
Fortunately, in the end, learning how to make the medicine hadn't been a waste.
Shao Chengyue pursed his lips and his ears turned slightly red. This was the first time in his he had been taken care of by a girl like this and he wasn't used to it at all. But, after only a moment of hesitation, he agreed, "En, I'd appreciate that, I'll trouble you then. Next time I'll treat you to a meal."
Ruan Tian waved her hand casually. "No need."
Shao Chengyue didn't argue with her, but in his heart he was already planning out how to invite her to dinner.
—–
At the beginning of April, Ruan Tian received an invitation to the 17th BAF Awards. She had been nominated for many awards for her role in 'The Replacement Princess', including an exceptional nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
The BAF Awards could be regarded as the Oscars of the domestic TV drama scene. It was held every two years and was considered very prestigious.
And, indeed, there weren't many actors or actresses like Ruan Tian who would receive nominations this way thanks to a single stand out role.
However, when Ruan Tian looked at the other four actresses who had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress she felt that she didn't have much hope of winning the award. After all, the other four were all strong veterans from the industry.
Of course, she also felt that just receiving the nomination was a good sign for her career.
Thus, after receiving the invitation letter, Ruan Tian rolled around on her hotel bed exclaiming with happiness for a while. But, after she finished venting her excitement, she suddenly remembered that there was a very real problem before her:
The dress!
Jiang Lili was brutally honest: "TianBaby, it's impossible for some little fish like us to borrow an in-season dress from one of the big luxury brands."
As expected, the fashion industry was even more snobbish than the entertainment industry ! ! !
For Ruan Tian, an actress who seemed like she was on the verge of making it big but who didn't actually have a huge amount of popularity yet, Jiang Lili estimated that those big brands wouldn't lend her their clothes to them for fear that they would drag those brand names down.
Ruan Tian didn't quite understand these matters, and said stupidly: "Then we can just wear an ordinary one, right?"
Jiang Lili cursed her for being naive!
"Ordinary" just meant something off-season and out of style! For this kind of occasion where face was king, if you tried to wear a dress that was out of season you would definitely be singled out and mocked! You wouldn't be able to escape even if you wanted to.
Jiang Lili shook her head frantically, "No way. Imagine that you get lucky enough to win Best Supporting Actress, but then you go up and your dress doesn't match the award at all. Wouldn't that be endless humiliation?"
"And on an occasion like this, the other female celebrities definitely won't be polite with you. They will have all kinds of next year's product lines from big-name brands and be wearing all sorts of high-end jewelry to grab away your limelight. If you go there looking ordinary you won't even have a place to cry to."
"Our TianBaby needs to be beautiful and dazzling!"
Ruan Tian blinked anbd said slowly, "I understand your feelings, but it seems impossible for us to borrow such things."
Jiang Lili propped her chin on her hand to ponder, "I can help you borrow the clothes from my cousin. She has some connections in the clothing industry. However, the jewelry is a bit difficult."
Ruan Tian tugged her hand, "Then just don't worry about it for now."
"Hm, alright. At any rate, it's still half a month before the awards ceremony, so we have time."
In fact, Ruan Tian didn't really want to win Best Supporting Actress.
In her mind, this award was like mockery.
After all, wasn't she already a supporting actress in real life?
On April 8th, the official Weibo of the BAF Awards announced the list of names that were being nominated for the various awards.
The crew of 'The Replacement Princess' received nominations for the Best TV Series, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.
The first three items could be considered uncontroversial, however, seeing Ruan Tian receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Actress alongside a group of industry veterans made many people feel dissatisfied.
Seeing Ruan Tian's nomination, there were people clamoring and saying that there was something shady going on. Those people were confidently saying that, although they had never seen 'The Replacement Princess', they were sure that Ruan Tian was not at the level of Best Supporting Actress.
"Huh, it's Ruan Tian, the crazy divorced woman that everyone loves for some reason?"
"What did she rely on for her nomination?"
"The organizing committee should donate their eyes to the needy, they clearly aren't using them."
"Oh, looks like there's some shady business going on this year. "
"BAF Awards, do you even want your credibility?"
"I'll say one thing, Ruan Tian did really well in 'The Replacement Princess'. Her performance was excellent."
The netizen's opinions were split many ways, without any definitive voice sticking out. But, in the end, because people acknowledged that Ruan Tian's performance in 'The Replacement Princess' had been really good, the nomination didn't cause a big storm.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lili had spent the past half month helping Ruan Tian to borrow clothes. However, Jiang Lili was very picky and rejected many dresses before finally settling on a black backless sequin dress that seemed to satisfy her.
As soon as she saw this dress, Jiang Lili couldn't wait to push Ruan Tian into the fitting room to try it on.
The dress was custom made and fit Ruan Tian very well.
It was held up by two thin straps and had sparkling diamonds inlaid.
When Ruan Tian came out of the fitting room Jiang Lili's jaw dropped. For a long moment she was stunned, and then she started to gush: "Wow, even as a girl I'm drooling!"
Ruan Tian looked amazing. Her long dark hair tumbled over her shoulders and framed her slender neck and shapely collarbone. Looking further, her full and tender white mounds loomed, her dainty waist was slender, and her legs were straight and long. She could even be called a fairy.
Looking in the mirror, Ruan Tian also thought it looked pretty.
However, Jiang Lili was a Virgo, so she pursued perfection in all things and, after a moment of admiring Ruan Tian, she quickly said: "No, this isn't enough. I still have to help you borrow the jewelry from somewhere, otherwise, it will just feel like something is missing."
Jiang Lili's eyes sparkled brightly. Then, she seemed to recall something and asked: "You were with Shen Shu for two years, right? Did you get any jewelry from him?"
Ruan Tian shook her head, "Nope. He didn't even give me a dime."
Jiang Lili: "…"
—
These days Huai Mo had been sending Ruan Tian messages every night, but many days she was too busy to reply.
Finally, Huai Mo felt he had endured for so long and acted obediently enough, so he picked a day with good weather and, without any invitation, headed to the hotel where Ruan Tian was staying.
Huai Mo got out of the car and glanced at the black-suited bodyguards by his side that stuck out like sore thumbs. His eyes flashed coldly and he sneered: "You guys get away."
The bodyguards didn't dare to leave their post without permission, so they just stood still.
Huai Mo's lips curled, "It seems that I have been too polite to you all this time."
His tone suddenly turned icy, "Hurry up and get lost."
The bodyguards had their orders, but they also didn't want to anger the young master either.
It really wasn't easy working for a crazy person.
Eventually, they could only quietly return to the car and drive a short distance away so they could continue watching over their charge from afar.
After that, Huai Mo sat in the hotel lobby for four hours. Finally, when the sky had already turned black, Ruan Tian returned from the set. She had clearly been working hard until now because she hadn't even had time to change out of her costume or remove her makeup.
As she stepped into the elevator, Ruan Tian heard a clear and familiar voice behind her and was so surprised she thought she had misheard.
However, after turning around she saw at a glance that it was really Huai Mo. In surprise, she asked: "Why are you here? What about your classes?"
Huai Mo also put on a surprised expression and then replied, "Ah, I came here in order to meet up with my teacher who happens to be staying here. TianTian, are you here for filming?"
Huai Mo had decided not to call her sister anymore.
He was a man after all.
A dignified member of the opposite sex.
Not a little brother.
Ruan Tian nodded, "Yes, I'm filming here."
Huai Mo pursed his lips and lightly chuckled, "Fortunately, it seems that I didn't recognize the wrong person. TianTian, you've gotten thinner."
Hearing Huai Mo called her 'TianTian' for the second time, Ruan Tian felt a bit uncomfortable.
She was suddenly reminded of the face that had flashed by on the big screen that day. The man who looked like Huai Mo, but also not like him.
"Which floor are you going to?" Ruan Tian asked.
"The fifth floor."
Ruan Tian paused. She also happened to be staying on the fifth floor. She pressed the button and asked: "How long will you be staying here?"
Huai Mo 'hmmd' for a moment as if he were thinking before saying, "Seven days"
He smiled as if he had thought of something amusing and said, "TianTian, last time you invited me for a meal at school, this time you should let me treat you."
Ruan Tian really didn't have the heart to let this broke young man break the bank on her behalf. How could she be willing to spend his money?
So she quickly shot him down, "No no no, you don't need to be so polite."
Huai Mo said: "I've made a little money with my teacher on some projects, so my funds aren't as tight as before. Don't look down on me, TianTian."
Seeing his pitiful expression, Ruan Tian couldn't resist. She relented: "Okay, we can go to a buffet."
After all, buffets were very cheap.
Therefore they were every broke student's friend.
Huai Mo agreed.