In the end, Ruan Tian stayed in the capital until the third day as planned. However, on that day, Shao Chengyue called her. His voice on the phone was deep and steady, and listening to it seemed to produce a calming effect.
He asked: "Ruan Tian, when will you return to the crew?"
Shao Chengyue's voice was a little hoarse and his words were unusually gentle. It didn't sound like an ordinary greeting, but almost like he was saying 'I've missed you'.
"I'll be coming back tomorrow, Brother Shao, did something happen on that end?"
On the other end of the phone, thanks to the lights set up by the crew, Shao Chengyue shone like a star against the dark night. He responded: "No, I just wanted to ask about the help you gave me last time. I've used up all of the sleeping pills again."
Ruan Tian: No wonder he would call her with such a tone.
She smiled, "I see. Well, I can just give you the prescription when I get back. Then you can make them for yourself in the future."
This prescription wasn't worth any money, so she didn't mind passing it on.
If it could help someone, that would be enough.
Shao Chengyue replied in a low voice: "I'll wait until you come back."
Ruan Tian replied: "Alright then."
There was a long and slightly awkward silence.
But then, after a long time had passed and Ruan Tian was hesitating over whether to hang up the phone, Shao Chengyue suddenly said something else.
"Ruan Tian, do you like stars?"
In fact, she liked them very much.
Otherwise, her alternate account wouldn't have been called 'HelpMeCatchTheStars'.
In the past, Shen Shu had always been her star.
But now she herself was the star.
But before Ruan Tian could answer, Shao Chengyue gave a low chuckle and continued, "I'll show you in a bit."
After a pause, he said: "Accept my friend request on your WeChat. Remember to do it. Anyway, good night."
Ruan Tian slightly dazedly hung up the phone. After a moment, she opened it again and looked at her WeChat and, sure enough, there was a new friend application notification.
She played along and accepted.
Before long, Shao Chengyue sent her many pictures of the starry night sky.
He was apparently on top of a small hill, and above him was a sky full of stars.
Although they had gotten off to a slightly unpleasant start back at the meeting for the script readings, Ruan Tian felt that she and Shao Chengyue had been getting along fairly well on set. However, they still weren't all that familiar yet.
Ruan Tian felt this whole episode was a little strange, but didn't think too much about it.
Her brain couldn't process too much at once.
Thus, she just happily saved the photos that Shao Chengyue sent her to her phone. As she looked at them she liked them more and more, so in the end she even set one as her mobile wallpaper.
Early the next morning, Jiang Lili took her car and drove Ruan Tian to the airport.
While she was waiting for check-in, Ruan Tian was unexpectedly surrounded by a group of little girls who were all taking pictures of her excitedly.
Someone even put a letter in her hand.
"Sister Tian, I like you so much. You must read the letter I wrote to you."
"Come on, TianBaby, we will always support you."
"TianBaby, you need to eat well, don't tire yourself out."
Ruan Tian's slightly silly and bewildered expression was instantly photographed by a nearby fan.
The fan screamed wildly in her heart, ahhhhh, TianBaby is so cute!
After a moment, Ruan Tian reacted. She accepted the letter and put it in her bag. Then she nodded obediently and said, "Okay, thank you."
After check-in, there were still a few sporadic fans who followed her to board the plane.
However, her fans also had a sense of morality. They properly abided by order and followed rules, and they didn't take any pictures in the cabin.
They just wanted to see their TianBaby a little bit more!
After all, who didn't love seeing famous beauties?
Eventually Ruan Tian and Jiang Lili found their seats. Ruan Tian was afraid she would forget if she delayed any longer, so she hurriedly handed the box in her bag to Jiang Lili, and said: "When we get to the hotel, help me return this to Huai Mo."
"****ing awesome." Jiang Lili tsk tsk'd and said, "Is this Huai Mo interested in you?"
Ruan Tian didn't believe that for a second.
She wasn't the heroine after all! ! !
In fact, just thinking about this topic made her angry!
But it was the truth. In this world, only Zhou Xiaoqiao had the physique that caused everyone to love her.
The damned heroine halo.
"What interested? He's like a younger brother to me."
"He grew up a long time ago and is already a mature man." Jiang Lili made a serious analysis, "Also, I feel he might be a bit two-faced."
"… "Ruan Tian didn't agree. In her estimation, Huai Mo was very sincere.
Especially when she remembered seeing his appearance at school, with a white lab coat and glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, his impression then was especially gentle and kind.
Ruan Tian said: "Huai Mo is a pitiful person, don't say things like that about him or I will feel distressed."
"My instincts tell me that something's not right with him."
Ruan Tian almost snorted. Instincts? Were those even worth a fart?
Ruan Tian's instincts were telling her that her ex-husband Shen Shu would one day cry and beg her for forgiveness in the future! ! !
But was that realistic? Of course not! It was better to just quickly get some sleep then wait for something like that.
There was no signal on the plane, so neither Ruan Tian or Jiang Lili could see what was happening online.
However, during their two-hour flight, the netizens had turned the sky over again!
Although they felt distressed for Ruan Tian who had left her marriage with nothing, some persistent netizens really wanted to know what the 80 million yuan set of jewelry that she wore at the award ceremony was all about.
These netizens were like a group of modern-day Sherlock Holmes' and followed various clues.
As they were all groping around blindly, someone finally found a lead.
The buyer back then was someone from the Huai family.
This family was one of the noble families with a lot of power in the capital, and the elders in the family were big figures with real power in their hands.
And, a few years back, this 80 million yuan jewelry set had fallen into the hands of the young master of the Huai family.
One stone stirred up waves, and in an instant several circles were in chaos.
A hundred schools of thought emerged, and all sides were arguing over who was right.
A certain small Internet celebrity who had recently gotten a small amount of fame and who also had some contact with the people from the Huai family jumped out and sighed:
"My thoughts on this topic:
I have been thoroughly convinced by Ruan Tian…
her skill at fishing up kaiju…
it's unparalleled!"
…
The Huai family could be regarded as part of the capital's old aristocracy, however, they hardly ever showed up in the news in print or online, much less so than one might expect considering their influence.
Occasionally posts speculating about the background of the Huai family would crop up and then be mysteriously deleted.
The netizens mostly only knew that the current power holder in the Huai family was the grandson of the Huai family's old master, a young man who had only just grown up.
But it was impossible to find any pictures of him online, and even his name hadn't been confirmed.
【Huai Qigu, the grandson of the Old Master of the Huai family and the only successor, is currently studying medicine at Capital University. I really don't know much else, and what I do know I don't dare to say online. 】A certain brave netizen had posted once.
And indeed, Huai Mo's real name was actually Huai Qigu.
Qi was his mother's maiden name.
However, when his parents tore off all semblance of civility to the point that they were cursing each other to die, the two families had an irrevocable falling out, and Huai Mo changed his name.
"That Ruan Tian actually has a connection to the Huai family's young master too? She can actually cast gu, right?" (tl note: gu is basically like witchcraft with bugs. This netizen is implying the Ruan Tian can cast spells on men basically)
"Please don't jump to conclusions and label her as some sort of gu master just because of this. Perhaps she and the Huai family's young master met in the past? They used to be in the same social circle, so it wouldn't be strange for them to know each other."
"But you don't give 80 million yuan worth of jewelry to someone you just know, right?"
"If that's the case, I want to know him too."
"It seems Ruan Tian's life is still pretty good. Sure, the relationship with her cold and ruthless ex-husband fell through, but she quickly found a young and well-educated little fresh meat on the rebound. Such a winner in life."
"I want to see a photo of the Huai family's young master."
The netizens scoured all over the place looking for photos of Huai Mo, but none were found.
And, due to the influence of the name "Huai", no one dared to dig too deeply.
As for Ruan Tian, she got off her plane peacefully without even realizing she was on the hot search again.
Jiang Lili didn't bother to check her phone, so she didn't know either. The two of them just calmly waited for their luggage, picked it up, walked outside, and then bid farewell to the fans who had followed them on the plane before getting into the car sent by the crew.
The fans reluctantly said goodbye as well, but the moment the car door was closing, Ruan Tian happened to hear a female fan shout: "Sister Tian, you're finally on the hot search again after a whole month!"
Ruan Tian was stunned. She turned to look at Jiang Lili and asked blankly, "Have I done anything to be on the hot search recently?"
Jiang Lili shook her head uncertainly, "Nope!"
Then she took out her phone to quickly check Weibo.
Looking at it, she instantly saw that #RuanTianWinnerInLife# was currently trending to the top of the hot search.
Jiang Lili briefly looked through and found that the most popular post was actually a long-form analysis post that summarized all of the men who had appeared in Ruan Tian's life, including the men with only uncertain rumors.
EntertainmentCircle: Recently, some netizens discovered that Ruan Tian seems to have found a new relationship. Now, not long after the two of them met, the other party has already given her a set of jewelry worth 80 million yuan. It can be said that this man is extremely generous. Of course, a female goddess and a male god are very well matched. I wonder when we'll be able to hear their good news?
Jiang Lili looked at the post blankly. Somehow she understood each individual word in the post, but when she put them all together she couldn't quite grasp what it meant.
Jiang Lili repeatedly looked at the posted photos of Ruan Tian at the award ceremony, where a helpful netizen had specifically cut out images of the ring and necklace she had been wearing, and confirmed the photos were real. At the same time, she confirmed that there wasn't an extra zero there, it was really 80 million, not 80 thousand, and took two deep breaths.
Still feeling shocked, she pointed to the box Ruan Tian had passed her earlier and asked, "This was from Huai Mo?"
Ruan Tian was confused but responded obediently, "En, it seems to be something his mother left for him."
Jiang Lili felt dazed. She had never connected Huai Mo with the Huai Family before. Although she knew there was an unknown young master from the Huai Family, she would never have guessed that he was actually Huai Mo!
It should be that his real name wasn't Huai Mo at all.
Jiang Lili didn't know how to tell Ruan Tian, this matter was too weird.
But at the same time, the jewelry box in her hands suddenly seemed to feel unfathomably heavy.
"TianTian, this thing that Huai Mo gave you is worth 80 million yuan."
Ruan Tian: ?
Ruan Tian didn't even think before retorting, "That's impossible."
Jiang Lili really didn't know how to break this news to her friend. But at the same time, she felt slightly vindicated. As expected, her intuition hadn't been wrong.
From the very first time Jiang Lili saw Huai Mo, she always felt that something was off about him. He always acted gentle and pretended to be kind, but his eyes were not kind at all.
She said, "It's true. Have you heard of that Huai family in the capital?"
Ruan Tian shook her head, "Never heard of them."
Jiang Lili scratched her head and decided to draw the most direct comparison she could: "Well, they're on about the same level as the Qin family or the Shen family. This is to say, they aren't only rich, but they also have a powerful background, practically modern royalty."
Ruan Tian was in disbelief, and she felt something in her mind collapsing.
What the heck, wasn't Huai Mo supposed to be a poor and pitiful youth just like her?
How could it be that he actually turned out to be a rich young master!
And even after meeting him so many times, Ruan Tian had never spotted a flaw…
While Ruan Tian was feeling shocked, Jiang Lili began to seriously suspect that it must have all been orchestrated intentionally by Huai Mo from the start. After all, with his position, it wouldn't be difficult to keep this sort of secret.
She almost wanted to say something, but after glancing at the confused Ruan Tian, she hesitated and then swallowed down the words before they reached her lips.
—–
Out loud Ruan Tian had said she didn't believe it, but after listening to Jiang Lili analyze the situation for her, she actually believed most of it in her heart.
And when she reached the entrance of the hotel, she found a dozen bodyguards in black suits standing around in front of the lobby.
Meanwhile, Huai Mo himself was sitting on a sofa inside. When he saw her, he set down the newspaper he had been reading and smiled at her as if nothing was different from usual before saying, "You're back."
Seeing this, Ruan Tian understood everything.
Huai Mo indeed had an unusual background.
Ruan Tian's body felt stiff, and she nodded awkwardly, "Yeah."
Then she took the jewelry box back from Jiang Lili and held it out, "I'm returning this to you."
Huai Mo stood up and she seemed to notice for the first time that, although he was young, he was already a head taller than her. He said: "That's something that I gave you, so there is no reason for me to take it back."
But this was 80 million yuan…
Even if you lent Ruan Tian a hundred guts…
She would never dare to take it!
Ruan Tian began to feel a little angry. It seemed that she had been cheated.
Like a fool, she had been deceived.
She wondered if Huai Mo had been laughing at her in his heart and thinking she was a fool whenever she was with him and regarded him as a broke student.
"I'll just put it on the table."
Then Ruan Tian really set the box on the table and seemed to be finished speaking. She turned away with the intention to head upstairs.
Unexpectedly, Huai Mo didn't even take one glance at the box on the table before striding along behind her with his long legs.
At the same time, there was a great commotion as the dozen or so bodyguards all also scrambled to follow.
Huai Mo's eyes turned cold. He turned back and said shortly: "Scram."
Hearing all this, Ruan Tian's steps briefly paused but then she casually stepped into the elevator as if nothing happened.
However, before the doors could close, a pair of thin and pale hands caught them and, with a little force, roughly pushed them back open.
Huai Mo continued to make his usual innocent and naive face. He asked, "TianTian, are you angry with me?"
Ruan Tian replied, "No."
But it somehow sounded like 'Get the hell out.'
But Huai Mo continued to act like usual, either not understanding or pretending not to. He tilted his head and smiled, "I didn't mean to lie to you."
His beautiful eyes were deep and expressive, and when they turned a little moist like this most people couldn't bear to scold him or even raise their voice.
He continued, "You never asked me."
Ruan Tian: So it's still my fault! ! ! ?
Huai Mo looked down and his eyelashes fluttered, "I just didn't dare to tell you. I was afraid that you didn't like people like me." He raised his head and said with a lonely smile, "I have no friends and no parents."
Ruan Tian didn't say a word, but the soft spot in her heart had been touched, and her posture unconsciously loosened.
However, when they arrived on the fifth floor, Huai Mo suddenly caught her wrist, and his strength was a great contrast to his boyish looks. His expression turned sharp, and his dark pupils stared at her without blinking. His cold breath brushed past her cheeks, and his lips were pressed into a thin line. After a moment of silence, he said: "TianTian, I was wrong, I shouldn't have hidden it from you."
The two of them were stuck too close together, and Ruan Tian couldn't help but blush.
His aggressive male aura wrapped around her domineeringly.
From this, Ruan Tian could clearly feel the disparity in strength between men and women, and she could no longer associate Huai Mo with the poor young man who had squatted at the door of her apartment, too broke for even a bite of food.
His domineering strength clamped around her wrist tightly, and Ruan Tian could hardly move.
She gulped nervously, "Let go first."
Huai Mo obediently released her arm.
Ruan Tian breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm tired, I'm going to bed, bye bye."
Huai Mo smiled faintly and replied, "Well, have a good dream."
He had already achieved his goal, so he felt he had done enough for today. He had let TianTian see clearly that he was a man.
A man who had enough ability. Both to suppress or to protect her.
When Huai Mo was a child, he had once stumbled across the scene of his father confining his lover in a room.
However, Huai Mo hadn't felt it was sick.
Rather, his only thought at that time was that if he ever had someone he loved…
He would also want to hide her.
Never show her to anyone.
He could be the only person she would see, from when she woke up in the morning to when she went to bed at night.
And she could give birth to their children.
However, Huai Mo was a little reluctant to treat Ruan Tian like this.
He felt…
She would probably not be happy.
Thus, so long as TianTian was willing to love him, he was also willing to make certain compromises.
Huai Mo headed back downstairs in a good mood. Once he reached the lobby he ordered the hotel manager to return the jewelry box to Ruan Tian's room before leaving.
—
Because of the incident with Huai Mo, Ruan Tian's mood wasn't very good. And usually every time she was in a bad mood, she would dream of Zhou Xiaoqiao. It seemed that tonight was no exception. She dreamed that Zhou Xiaoqiao fell down on the ground and started to cry.
Of course, Ruan Tian hadn't even touched her, she just fell down by herself and then immediately had tears streaming out of her eyes.
However, all of her classmates looked at her condemningly, pointing and whispering.
"Why is she bullying her sister again?"
"Zhou Xiaoqiao is so unlucky. Doesn't she feel embarrassed to do this kind of thing to her kind sister?"
"God, how can such an evil person exist? And that person is our classmate! It's so terrible."
"Ruan Tian is still just standing there stupidly. Does she not know how to help her sister up? Xiaoqiao is too pitiful."
Ruan Tian retorted that she hadn't done anything.
But even though those people claimed to believe her with their lips, their eyes were still full of disgust.
Finally, Shen Shu came over and helped Zhou Xiaoqiao up.
Then the dream came to an abrupt end, and Ruan Tian was frightened awake.
She felt that all dreams were a sign.
Zhou Xiaoqiao had already begun to play her role as the heroine.
After recovering from her illness, Zhou Xiaoqiao's Weibo was updated more and more frequently, and many netizens looked at her photos and reposted them every day.
Seeing those photos, Ruan Tian began to have a bad feeling.
For that pure white lotus Zhou Xiaoqiao to come out so aggressively like this, even if she never ended up joining the entertainment circle, she would definitely eventually find Ruan Tian unpleasing to the eye, and who knew what she would do then.
At the same time, although she and Zhou Xiaoqiao were twin sisters, they actually didn't look much alike.
Maybe five points of similarity at most.
Thus, fortunately, no one recognized their relationship.
These days were very uncomfortable because whenever Ruan Tian thought of Zhou Xiaoqiao, she always felt like she was stepping in mud!
And at the same time, for some unknown reason, as Zhou Xiaoqiao's followers increased she also began to post many specious words on Weibo.
XiaoQiao: "I have a younger sister and I love her very much, but she doesn't seem very fond of me."
XiaoQiao: "In fact, she doesn't like me."
XiaoQiao: "All these years, as long as she liked it, I've always been willing to give it to her. This even includes the boy I loved back when I was seventeen."
Conspiracy.
There was definitely a conspiracy.
Ruan Tian would see those posts and a certain phrase would pass through her mind: There's always another bitch out to harm bengong! (tl note: bengong is the imperial 'we' used by high-ranking women in ancient harems. Also could be translated as 'this palace' but I think that sounds dumb)
With her little bit of intuition, she could detect something was off.
Zhou Xiaoqiao, that white lotus bitch, was definitely trying to stir up trouble.
Thus, adhering to the concept of 'striking first to obtain victory' Ruan Tian made a counterattack.
Ruan Tian took a screenshot of those posts and directly posted it to her own Moments with the caption: "I think that if a person has delusions of victimization, she should be treated. Capital's First Mental Hospital, please come and accept the patient."
The Zhou family sisters…
Tearing face today!
Ruan Tian felt very satisfied. It seemed she was finally walking the path of the vicious supporting female character in the original book.
The coolness factor was 100%!
Truth be told, Ruan Tian had already tolerated Zhou Xiaoqiao for a long time.
If a person just endured and endured forever, their mind would unavoidably become a little abnormal.
After all, the reality of the situation was that Zhou Xiaoqiao's heroine halo was just a little too strong for an ordinary person to bear facing off against.
She didn't even need to do anything, but there would always be people falling over themselves to praise her and stand on her side.
She could just squeeze out a few tears and, even if she didn't say a word, other people would instantly believe her and be willing to take her side.
Zhou Xiaoqiao whole existence was undeniably filled with the hallmarks of a Mary Su.
She was beautiful, kind, well-behaved, but also weak and seemingly in need of protection. She fit all possible criteria for likability.
On top of that, she recognized those merits of hers, and she was good at using them to achieve her goals.
But Ruan Tian had no regrets after posting what she posted. She knew people wouldn't agree with her, but she didn't care.
After all, in all the countless times she had fought against Zhou Xiaoqiao before, she had never won even once.
Even if it seemed she had the upper hand when judging by logic and reason, Zhou Xiaoqiao would still be able to rely on other people's inexplicable and unwavering love for her.
So as time went by…
Ruan Tian had become used to it. She almost abandoned all hope and just felt that this was the way things were.
Zhou Xiaoqiao had many tricks to turn any situation in her favor. Probably her favorite killing move was biting her lower lip and letting her eyes turn moist, as if she were on the verge of tears.
In fact, Zhou Xiaoqiao was also actually a very perceptive person and she had long noticed that Shen Shu's feelings for Ruan Tian seemed to have changed for some reason.
She had also noticed that even Qin Yu and the others seemed to like Ruan Tian more now. And the worst part was that they would all only treat her with distant politeness anymore, as if she were an outsider.
Zhou Xiaoqiao had been raised like a princess since she was a child, with the moon and the stars and whatever she could think to ask for always easily placed into her hands. Thus, even though she had tried to remind herself not to be unreasonable countless times, she really couldn't accept this feeling of being ignored and surpassed by her sister.
Thus, when Zhou Xiaoqiao, who had been hiding in her room recently, happened to see what Ruan Tian had posted to her Moments, she showed her first real smile in a long time.
This was great.
Like this, Ruan Tian would still be that wicked woman, and she would still be the innocent victim.
After a short while, Zhou Xiaoqiao also commented: 【TianTian, did I do something to make you unhappy again? Let me apologize. Please don't be angry with me, okay? 】
With a few words from her, it suddenly seemed as if Ruan Tian were the one who had been unreasonably creating trouble.
Of course, since Ruan Tian had already decided not to just tolerate her anymore, she was completely fed up with these empty platitudes her sister liked to spout.
After all, no matter what sort of situation it was, Zhou Xiaoqiao's responses would be the same every time.
She would cry for a while, and then she would throw out one of her handful of catchphrases like: "Did I do something wrong?" "Don't be angry with me, okay?" "It's all my fault."
Ruan Tian leaned back on her pillow, sneered, and then decisively deleted Zhou Xiaoqiao's comment.
This Zhou Xiaoqiao wanted to come over to her page to show off and act pitiful! ? She shouldn't even dream about it!
…
Zhou Xiaoqiao's online marketing never stopped, and over time she managed to establish herself as a "kind, big beauty" and "real-life white-rich-pretty".
Her photos were being posted one after another.
In addition, she had found herself a professional marketing company to help fan things from behind, so she was already considered one of this year's small new internet stars.
In a short period of time, her follower count reached half the number of Ruan Tian's.
"Xiaoqiao is different from those cheap women that try to act glamorous in the entertainment industry."
"Wow, so rich! Her dressing table should be worth hundreds of thousands. Sister Xiaoqiao, do you still lack a little sister?"
"I'm really puzzled, Xiaoqiao how could your sister not like you?! To have such a beautiful and gentle big sister, I would be happy even in my dreams."
"Sister Xiaoqiao, will you be streaming tonight?"
In this whole comment thread, Zhou Xiaoqiao only replied to one particular comment, "Sigh, when it comes to my sister, I really don't know what to do about her. I just want to protect her."
Of course, if Ruan Tian had seen this post, she would only feel disgusted.
Fortunately, she didn't see it.
Recently she was too busy filming the last few scenes of 'Destined Immortals' to pay any attention to what was going on online.
Of the final few scenes that needed to be filmed, the one Ruan Tian was working on currently was a lovemaking scene between her and Shao Chengyue's characters.
Plus, the scene called for slightly rough play!
So exciting.
Her hands were shaking.
Ruan Tian almost couldn't hold in her smiles.
The director cleared the set ahead of time out of fear that if all of the crew were around then the two of them might be too embarrassed to produce that pure and lustful feeling he wanted for the scene.
Thus, there were not many people left on set.
Only the director's camera crew stayed, while everyone else had been shooed away.
The story for the scene was that Ruan Tian's character was poisoned and, while her mind was muddled and hazy, she ended up rolling in the sheets with the male lead.
Ruan Tian needed to spend a lot of time for her makeup and hair to be reworked, and for her clothes to be changed.
As always, her costume was stunning.
For this scene, she wore a light and elegant red dress and a patterned belt that wrapped around her waist. The dress was form-fitting and had a slight v-cut, so it exposed her collarbones and her graceful curves.
She also had bells on her ankles that jingled every time she lifted her feet.
The makeup artist also helped her put on the most exquisite makeup that she had worn so far. Her porcelain-white skin was dusted with a layer of fine powder, a slight pale pink blush was applied to her cheeks, her brows were left clear with the center dotted by small flowers, and there was red rouge on her lips.
"Teacher Ruan, you're as beautiful as if you had just stepped out of a painting."
When it was all done, Ruan Tian looked in the mirror to see herself, and she couldn't help but daze off for a moment, it was really too beautiful.
She blushed a little and murmured, "It seems to look pretty good."
Of course, the director was already urging her to hurry up, so Ruan Tian couldn't slack for long and quickly walked out of the dressing room.
As she stepped out, the director and even the camera crew who had been left behind to film all stopped working and looked over dazedly.
The director took the lead in regaining his senses, and let out two fake coughs before saying, "Alright, you two pair up now and go over your lines one final time. We're about to start filming."
Even Shao Chengyue was taken aback for a moment when Ruan Tian stepped out of the dressing room. He silently moved his eyes away, but his adam's apple bobbed up and down twice as he tried to swallow down a strange burning feeling in his heart.
The way Ruan Tian looked today wasn't just beautiful, it was breathtaking.
Ruan Tian slowly walked over to Shao Chengyue and, in a voice that was a bit lower than usual, she said, "Let's practice our lines first."
****. In her heart, she swore.
She suddenly remembered that her character only had one line in this scene.
On top of that, it was the kind of line that wasn't really suitable for print.
Ruan Tian rubbed her hands together eagerly. In truth, she was actually looking forward to it a little bit.
Shao Chengyue dragged another chair for her casually, coughed, and then began to practice the lines.
"Why do you hang around among men all day? Don't forget, you are a woman!"
"You've already expelled me from the sect, so who are you to meddle in my affairs?"
"Who am I? Tonight, I will let you know who I am!"
After those words fell, he directly picked her up and tossed her onto the bed. A moment later, the red bed hangings slowly drifted down…
With that, all the lines were complete.
Ruan Tian felt her face turn so hot it was almost burning.
Meanwhile, Shao Chengyue, who was sitting opposite her, did not seem to have any change in his complexion. He was calm and composed.
Ruan Tian secretly admired him.
This was what a real actor looked like!
Perhaps he saw Ruan Tian's 'anxiety' because before they began filming Shao Chengyue patted her on the shoulder in a comforting manner and said a few words. His voice had a strangely soothing effect, "Don't be nervous."
Ruan Tian wanted to shout loudly: I'm not nervous, I'm just too excited.
Wuwuwu, who wouldn't love a strong young body!
The director called action.
Ruan Tian quickly immersed herself in her role. She heard Shao Chengyue say his line, and she instantly retorted harshly with eyes full of sarcasm.
Immediately after that, she felt strong hands encircling her waist and she was tossed onto the bed without much force, at the same time, he used his hands to break her fall. Thus, before she could even react, she had already steadily landed among the quilts.
The man quickly followed behind her and his thin fingers clasped her wrist firmly. His usual warm and sunny image disappeared, and his eyes were sharp and filled with a hint of madness. He leaned down and said the next line in her ear, "The people who join my sect are mine for life."
In this cramped space, the girl's eyes flashed, seemingly torn between her old sentiments and ruthlessness.
Her portrayal of the character's emotional reaction was perfect.
The director called cut.
"Alright, we don't need to do another take, this take was very good."
After filming with her for a while, the director actually felt that Ruan Tian's performance was remarkable. She was a good seedling, and he felt there was a chance she would get really famous.
His 'Destined Immortals' may even become the wind that would push her to higher places.
Ruan Tian breathed a sigh of relief. She was happy that she wouldn't have to do another take.
She had discovered that bed scenes were even more taxing than fight scenes.
After that, Ruan Tian only had one last major scene to film for 'Destined Immortals'. It was the scene in which she was deeply wounded by the male lead and was infused with the extreme grief and anger that drove her character.
The director told her to go back to rest and prepare to film the scene tomorrow.
After she got off set, Jiang Lili drove her back to the hotel. As she was driving, she asked curiously: "Hurry up and tell me, how did it feel?"
Ruan Tian played dumb, "How did what feel?"
Jiang Lili snorted, "Don't give me that. Why are you pretending to be a fool? Was it very fun to make such a scene with Shao Chengyue?"
Ruan Tian smirked and recalled excitedly, "He's very strong, so it felt very safe. On top of that, he's very considerate and even protected my waist. In short, it was… passable."
Jiang Lili was quite envious, "Since the older sister can do it, the younger sister should be able to too." She winked with a laugh. Then she asked, "Then, which one do you think is better, Shao Chengyue or Shen Shu?"
Ruan Tian looked at her friend sidelong, and her eyes seemed to have the words "'Jiang Lili, you must be crazy' written inside.
"For me, there's no difference between Shen Shu and a tombstone." Ruan Tian snorted. Then she rested her chin in her hands as if she were pondering, and after a moment she murmured: "Well, although Shen Shu isn't very good as a human, his body is okay."
In truth, she couldn't really remember the details.
But she did have some vague memories.
Although Shen Shu looked very refined and polite on the outside…
Deep down in his bones, he was actually very fierce.
The type to just strongly vent his emotions…
Without caring whether it hurt for her or not.
Jiang Lili gave a long 'eek', and then said: "Well, it seems that Shen Shu has at least that one good point."
—
Ruan Tian's final scene was shot the next day, and it required her to cry emotionally.
In the end, she had to cry again and again many times until the director was finally satisfied.
By the time they were done, her eyes were red and bloodshot.
After the filming was done, the director sent his team to give Ruan Tian a large bouquet of roses, and all of the cast and crew gathered to take a group photo and eat some sweets prepared by the crew.
Ruan Tian was already used to these sorts of parting ceremonies so after exchanging the requisite pleasantries she stopped paying much attention. Midway through she raised her head to look up at the stars in the sky above.
The stars up there were no different from how they had been a few years ago.
The only difference was her. Back then she was just a small stand-in actress who had to post her resumes everywhere to land a role, but now she was the female lead.
She held the bouquet of roses to her chest and looked up, smiling at the stars above.
Jiang Lili saw this and quickly snapped a stunning photo. Then she went to post it on Weibo to commemorate the moment:
LiliOnTheGrass: Our dream-chasing Xiao Ruan had finally found her star 【picture】.
Jiang Lili's account didn't have many followers, only a few thousands, and most of them were actually bought by her.
However, there were a few dozen of Ruan Tian's true fans who were following her because she was Ruan Tian's agent. Seeing this picture, they began to chime in.
"Sister Tian is so beautiful."
"Such a fragile beauty. Why is she just looking up at the stars? Does she feel lonely?"
"Tell Sister Tian, we will always be here for her."
But, after posting the picture, Jiang Lili had put her phone away and sat down on the mountain to look up the stars as well, so the netizen's words fell on deaf ears.
The next day they booked tickets and got on a flight back to the capital.
—–
When she got home, Ruan Tian found that her father had sent an assistant over to guard at her door. Thus, as soon as she returned from the airport, the assistant quickly came over to deliver his message. He said politely, "Mr. Zhou wanted to remind you that tonight is Old Master Shen's birthday party, so please make sure to attend."
Ruan Tian, who was dragging her suitcase behind her, paused and then reminded shortly, "Shen Shu and I are divorced."
The assistant seemed ready for this and wasn't embarrassed at all. He replied, "This time it's a gathering between the several large families."
The subtext of those words being: This is an important gathering that has nothing to do with the relationship between her and Shen Shu.
And, as a daughter of the Zhou family, she had to go too.
Ruan Tian had met the Old Master of the Shen family twice, once shortly after the day she had been brought back to the Zhou family, and once on the day she married Shen Shu.
"Miss Ruan, Mr. Zhou seldom orders you to do anything. You should understand his temper."
In fact, Ruan Tian really didn't understand his temper.
That supposed father of hers was always drunk on his career, and he rarely showed up at home.
What she knew about him was that he had the natural temperament of a superior, and when he gave orders it was difficult to refuse.
"I'm not going."
"Old Master Shen is running out of time, and he wants to see you." It seemed that the assistant had expected Ruan Tian to refuse, so he wasn't discouraged and replied like this.
In Ruan Tian's memory, Old Master Shen was a good person.
He had given her sweets back then and had even told his grandson to treat her better.
Thus, hearing the assistant say he was 'running out of time' and that he wanted to see her, Ruan Tian felt a little uncomfortable.
Ruan Tian pondered for a while, but eventually still replied clearly: "I won't go."
Despite the small feeling of discomfort in her heart, Ruan Tian still didn't plan to go.
But later that afternoon, Old Master Shen called her personally. He said that he hadn't seen her in quite a long time and asked her to come tonight.
Ruan Tian was still able to clearly reject when it was her father's assistant, but she couldn't find it in her heart to reject the old man directly.
Thus, that evening, she made her way over to the old Shen family residence at the appointed time.
As it happened, Qin Yu and Zhou Xiaoqiao were chatting in the garden when she arrived at the Shen residence for the party.
They were too far away for Ruan Tian to hear what they were saying, but she could clearly see Zhou Xiaoqiao's face.
Qin Yu smiled and said softly, "Sister Xiaoqiao."
Zhou Xiaoqiao was actually a little afraid of Qin Yu. His gaze seemed somehow sharp and barbed, with the barbs used to easily dig out the little secrets in people's hearts.
But she forced out a smile and replied, "Brother Qin Yu."
Qin Yu casually reached out and played with a rose from the garden, and he spoke in a lazy tone, "You've always called me big brother, so I am willing to treat you as a younger sister."
There was a long pause and then he laughed lightly and continued, "However, Xiaoqiao, you shouldn't always bully your sister."
Zhou Xiaoqiao felt her heart sink, and her face quickly turned pale. She bit her lower lip and stuttered out, "I…I…I didn't…"
Qin Yu folded plucked the rose indifferently and then interrupted her impatiently, "Don't cry, it's useless."
He gave a thin smile and patted Zhou Xiaoqiao's face with the rose's stem, "Be more obedient, okay?"
Just eight words, but they weren't gentle at all. Instead, each word was like a hidden but very sharp sword that was aimed directly at her.
Zhou Xiaoqiao watched with reddened eyes as Qin Yu casually strode away, and her fists unconsciously clenched so tightly that her nails drew blood from her palm.
Seeing this scene, Ruan Tian was hesitating over whether to go in or not. However, before she could make a decision, Qin Yu had already appeared in front of her.
Qin Yu's usual 'virtues' as a dog who would never spit ivory immediately shone through, "Came over to your ex-husband's house to visit?"
Of course, the first words out of his mouth were 'ex-husband'.
Did he just want to annoy her? Was he too bored or something?
Ruan Tian's expression was numb, "I was wrong before, I shouldn't have mistakenly thought you liked me."
Qin Yu: "?"
Ruan Tian's expression was very serious, "Since you care about my ex-husband so much, I've realized that you actually like him."
Then, completely unafraid of Qin Yu's murderous eyes, she continued: "I wish you both a hundred years of happiness, a year to hold one, three years to hold two, and fives years to hold three." (tl note: children, if it isn't clear)
Her mouth was like a cannon today, blasting Qin Yu to shreds!
She felt awesome.
Qin Yu was so angry he laughed. Then he said, "Don't forget that I am your creditor."
Ruan Tian suddenly recalled that she still owed him ten million in liquidated damages.
Realizing that a wise woman would bend to the situation, Ruan Tian closed her mouth immediately.
After drifting around the party and playing dumb for half an hour, someone pulled Ruan Tian aside and invited her up to Old Master Shen's study.
After she stepped inside, she found that Shen Shu was also standing in front of Old Master Shen's desk.
Looking at him, his body seemed to be a bit thinner.
But Ruan Tian only glanced at him for a moment before she immediately lowered her head.
Old Master Shen invited her to step forward. Before he could say anything though, he pulled out a handkerchief and covered his mouth before coughing a few times. Only once the coughing stopped did he muster up the strength to talk to her, "Ruan Tian, our Shen family has wronged you."
Heh, to say the truth out so plainly like that…
It also felt a little embarrassing for her.
Ruan Tian raised her head and, without paying any attention to the man next to her, she said: "It was what I wanted."
Old Master Shen continued: "By the time I found out about your divorce, it was already too late. Shen Shu, this bastard, has treated you terribly. It's all because I didn't teach my grandson well."
Ruan Tian lowered her heard and listened obediently.
"I know you've always liked Shen…"
****!
She couldn't just let this pass.
Ruan Tian immediately raised her head, "No, no, Grandpa Shen, I haven't liked Shen Shu for a long time, don't misunderstand. Our marriage and divorce were all voluntary decisions."
Old Master Shen's words were stuck in the air, and he didn't know how to continue for a moment.
Shen Shu's face turned ugly. His teeth were tightly clenched, and his fingers trembled uncontrollably until he tightened them into fists. His back was stiff, and he felt a stinging pain in the back of his head. All in all, his whole state was terrible.
After a while, Old Master Shen said, "If you want any compensation, just tell me. If you want to remarry, I'll also agree, and Shen Shu won't have any opinions."
Since she was in front of an elder, Ruan Tian was hesitant to bring out her usual 'if you give me some money, it will be fine' rhetoric.
In front of the elderly, didn't it seem too vulgar and beggar-like?
So she replied: "I don't need any compensation, Grandpa Shen, I'm having a good time. Our marriage was a mistake from the beginning, but now that the mistake has been solved perfectly. I don't have any troubles anymore."
Like that, everything was laid out clearly.
Old Master Shen could only feel powerless. He had the heart to help his grandson, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do.
After that, Ruan Tian left the study, and Shen Shu followed out behind her a moment later.
Ruan Tian's words lingered in his ears and his brain throbbed with pain. Recently, he was having nightmares every night and his sleep was always restless.
During this period of time, he had been reflecting on the scene of that spring outing from his third year of high school. He remembered that there had been a sudden downpour, and he had gotten hurt, and someone had carried him into a cave to safety. He remembered how that person had held him tightly.
Soft body, soft fragrance.
He remembered he had embraced her waist, kissed her lips, and told her he wanted to marry her.
His mind's eye would blink. One second the girl's face would belong to Zhou Xiaoqiao, and then the next it would belong to Ruan Tian.
He couldn't tell for sure who it was.
However, Shen Shu had a vague guess in his heart.
A person's words and expressions could lie.
But that familiar scent, he seemed to have only smelled it from Ruan Tian.
The one-night stand between him and Ruan Tian had not been very pleasant, and he didn't think of it much.
But on reflection, the fragrance he had smelled on her neck that night seemed to overlap with his hazy memories of the fragrance of that girl in the cave.
Shen Shu smashed a nearby wall with his fist, and blood trickled down between his knuckles.
After a long moment, he turned around, leaned back against the wall, and put a cigarette in his mouth. However, his hand holding the lighter was shaking and, even after trying several times, he found that he couldn't light it.
Not long after Old Master Shen's birthday, the movie 'Obscurity' finally announced its official release date would be on June 31st, right at the beginning of the film industry's summer season.
'Obscurity' would also be screened in advance in a few major cities.
So, after taking a break for a while, Ruan Tian, at last, had something to do again. Since the movie was being released, she needed to go out and run promotions with the crew.
Of course, Director Cheng Suian's appeal actually far exceeded that of some second-tier actors, so how necessary the promotions were was up to debate.
All the tickets released in advance sold out in short order.
Furthermore, in order to promote the campaign even further, the film crew announced pre-screening for members of the industry media.
All major movie critics were invited to a special screening to watch the movie in advance.
Ruan Tian, one of the leading actors, still hadn't seen a movie yet, but the film critics had already been given the opportunity to watch the entire film and start on their reviews.
After the pre-screening event was over, the critics were all allowed to release some pertinent comments without spoilers.
GuaGuaWatchingMovies: I just watched 'Obscurity', this movie is definitely going to be a hit. What surprised me the most was the performance of the second female lead, who has given an exemplary interpretation of the word despair.
SeniorMartialMovieWatcher: Three words after watching: Will be huge.
LittleSisterJiangJiang: Li Dong's performance really showed off her strength as an actress, Qin An is quite satisfactory, and Ruan Tian's acting skills seemed to explode.
XiaoPing'sTongueIsn'tPoisonous: 'Obscurity' visually is the best movie of the year. The plot is good, the actors are good, especially the second female lead. It's so good that I cried until my contact lenses fell out. There's also a certain not-very-famous actress who clearly has a bright future. (This really isn't paid promotion, I swear)
The movie hadn't even been released yet, but the praise from the critics was already so exaggerated.
However, even if a film was well received by critics, the word-of-mouth aspect was still very important.
After all, audiences these days were already accustomed to being deceived by paid promotions and had difficulty believing in the reviews made by film critics. They all felt that these critics were probably tainted by money, and were being paid to overpraise something mediocre.
Thus, they wouldn't believe a word before they walked into the cinema and saw for themselves.
…
On the day of the premiere of 'Obscurity', for the first time ever Ruan Tian had a fan club that prepared in advance to welcome and cheer for her on the day.
Ruan Tian was silently sitting in the car and looking up at a large series of banners featuring her own name that had been set up outside the venue, feeling secretly surprised. When she realized what was going on, she leaned forward against the window and carefully tried to read the words on a few of the banners:
"TianBaby, this world is so noisy, let me take you away to escape to another world."
"Just knowing that you exist somewhere in this world makes the whole world feel a bit more gentle."
"TianBaby, no candy in this world is as sweet as you."
"Follow me home, I will protect you."
Ruan Tian secretly took out her phone to snap some pictures of the unfurled banners and pennants and saved them into an album as a memento.
At the same time, she realized that the car was about to take her past this area so, after pondering for a moment, she rolled down the window and then smiled and waved out at her hard-working fans. She called out, "Thank you all."
Immediately, her ears were flooded with crazy screams of excitement.
"Ahhhhh, Sister Tian smiled at me."
"Even if I die now I will have no regrets! I will support Sister Tian forever in the future!"
"Come on, baby! We've been waiting for you forever."
Back when Ruan Tian had still just been a small actress who could only get jobs as a stand-in or an extra, she had often felt envious of those big stars who had large fan clubs that would come out to show support. She still remembered there had been one time when fan club of a certain huge star had come to the set and provided the whole crew with cups of Starbucks that were worth more than 30 yuan apiece.
It had been the height of summer, so after she had gotten her cup she had gone to hide in the shade with some other small actors. While slurping her straw and enjoying the cool drink she had said: "I also want to have good fans like this in future."
One of her colleagues had laughed and said: "Dreaming is also good, everyone should have hope."
Ruan Tian continued to slurp on her straw for a moment before saying seriously: "I'm not dreaming."
Rather, she was just chasing her dreams.
Shortly before the premiere began, Ruan Tian happened to run into Qin An backstage. He was surrounded by a large group of staff members and it seemed that he had just finished another interview.
Qin An still felt a little reluctant whenever he faced Ruan Tian, but eventually he leisurely walked over and asked, "Why are you only here at this time?"
He had played many big roles before, so he knew that actors and actresses like them were expected to arrive very early to events like this and he was already used to it.
But this Ruan Tian, did she get stuck in traffic or something! ?
Ruan Tian replied doubtfully, "Am I late?"
Qin An curled his lips, "No."
But then he continued in a confident tone, "But don't know you know you should have come earlier? Even my uncle is already here!"
Ruan Tian didn't understand why was Qin An acting so indignant…
So she just ignored him.
Instead of paying him any more attention, she just went to sit in front of her makeup mirror to wait for the makeup artist to apply her makeup.
Qin An had already finished everything he needed to do before the premiere began so he was currently idle. He went over and circled around Ruan Tian a few times, seemingly wanting to start a conversation. At first, he wanted to ask her how things were going between her and Shen Shu, but after some thought, he felt that maybe it would be better to ask her what was going on between her and his brother.
However, whenever he was about to voice a question, Qin An would feel it was a bit inappropriate for him to ask so he ended up swallowing them back down.
Qin An was feeling a bit irritable. In fact, when he thought about it, it seemed that he had been feeling irritable ever since he finished filming this movie with Ruan Tian.
And now, on the day of the premiere, for some reason there was a strange sense of reluctance that had risen up in his heart.
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian was feeling very awkward to have this man walking around behind her. She really wanted to ask if Qin An had taken the wrong medicine today or what! ! !
Finally, she kindly suggested, "Little Master Qin, maybe you should sit down and rest first?"
Qin An snorted proudly, dragged a chair to her side, and then sat down in it. His eyes bored into the girl in the mirror, and for a moment he lost his thoughts and was stunned by her beauty. But he quickly recovered and then felt inexplicably annoyed.
He said: "Ruan Tian, don't try to seduce my brother."
Hearing this random statement, Ruan Tian couldn't help but wonder what exactly went on inside Qin An's mind…
Seeing that Ruan Tian didn't immediately answer, Qin An thought that he had poked a sore spot. He crossed his legs and continued, "My brother would only be interested in a lady, not a wild girl like you."
Qin An recalled that recently he had seen a lot of netizens inventing 'scandals' between his brother and Ruan Tian, which was very strange.
But looking at it from another angle, if the rumors were real, wouldn't that mean that ****ing Ruan Tian would be his sister-in-law? ! !
What the hell?
Thus, in order to curb this unhealthy trend, Qin An felt that he must act quickly to eliminate this problem from the roots.
At the same time, Qin An felt that he was actually doing a good deed. He no longer hated Ruan Tian, and he even sometimes sympathized with her a little bit. After all, her life had been so pitiful that he really wondered how she had managed to survive this far.
And could Qin An not know his own brother's character?
Although his brother's health wasn't very good, he was a cruel man and he always acted arrogantly.
Considering Ruan Tian's character, if she were really to be with his brother, he could foresee that their relationship wouldn't go well.
However, Qin An also understood a bit about Ruan Tian, and he knew that if she were really set on something then not even a team of oxen could pull her back, much less a few words. Probably because of that, he decided to say a bit more.
Thus, he continued: "Plus, my brother already has a girl that he has liked since he was in high school, so you really have no chance."
Qin An felt like he was practically a saint this time, advising a poor lost soul to turn back while there was still time purely out of the kindness of his heart.
In fact, he wasn't just basing his words on nothing.
Ever since they were children, he had never been allowed to enter his brother's room.
But one time, during high school, he had gone in anyway and accidentally stumbled across something important.
That time, Qin An had bravely snuck into his brother's room to steal a game console while his brother was away. However, while he was trying to find the console, he happened to find a drawer beside his brother's bed that was full of a girl's things.
Just glancing through quickly, he had seen a cheap issuance card, a shabby old bracelet, a few math papers, a couple of worn post-it notes, and a faded pink cup.
And that was the first time that Qin An knew…
That even someone like his brother had someone that he liked!
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian was really not interested in listening to Qin An talk about Qin Yu's romantic history.
It was all garbage! She didn't want to listen at all!
Her ears were burning!
So she quickly cut in, "Qin An, there's really nothing between your brother and I."
Qin An frowned, he was upset with how she seemed to be dismissively cutting him off.
"If you don't want to listen, then just forget it." Qin An had been offering advice out of the kindness of his heart for the first time in his life but was so ruthlessly dismissed, so he felt very unhappy.
Seeing that he had said so much, Ruan Tian kindly handed him a glass of water and said, "Here, moisten your throat."
Qin An grunted coldly, and then-
"Wait, Ruan Tian, are you trying to please me now?!"
"I'm telling you, are you trying to make me accept you as my sister-in-law?"
"Dream on!"
Ruan Tian was speechless. All she could think was: **** you, shameless author.