In the end, Ruan Tian mostly just felt grateful that no paparazzi had managed to get a photo of her while she was out with Shen Shu. After she drove home she immediately collapsed in bed and napped for a couple of hours, which was barely enough to give her the energy to stagger out of bed to go remove her makeup and take a bath. Once she washed up and changed into her pajamas she immediately dived under her quilt and went right back to sleep.
Every time she finished recording a show or a movie, Ruan Tian would always need to sleep a little extra in order to fully recover.
The next day, Ruan Tian, whose eyes were still full of sleep, unbridledly decided to order some fried chicken and milk tea from a takeout place.
But when she was coming back from getting her takeaway, she happened to run into Qin Yu in the lobby. It seemed he had finally been discharged from the hospital.
He was still sitting in his wheelchair and his complexion was very pale. On top of that, perhaps because of the extended stay this time, the black bangs on his forehead seemed longer, reaching down to nearly entirely cover his eyes.
Of course, Ruan Tian just pretended not to see him.
Who knew why, but Qin Yu seemed very bold today. When he saw her, he ordered: "Push me upstairs."
Ruan Tian replied bluntly: "I can see so many bodyguards behind you, do they just eat but not work?"
After that, she reached out and pressed the button for the elevator.
Of course, Qin Yu followed her into the elevator, coughing constantly the whole time.
The seasons were changing, and it was the time of year people were more likely to catch colds.
Especially for a person like Qin Yu, who didn't have good health in the first place. If he really got sick he would definitely need to take medicine for a long time to recover.
"Ruan Tian, are you looking forward to my death?" Qin Yu asked suddenly.
"No."
She really wasn't.
She wasn't such a vicious person, okay? !
At most, she just hoped that Qin Yu could treat the hospital as a second home, and stay there for as long as he liked.
Qin Yu's lips curled into a smile, "Since you're so reluctant to see me die, I will definitely live well and strive to live a long life."
Wait, that wasn't what she said at all, okay?
It seemed that there had been a big misunderstanding!
Having learned her lesson, Ruan Tian shut her mouth and refused to say anything more, so as not to give Qin Yu any more chances to misinterpret her words.
The elevator dinged and reached Ruan Tian's floor, but Qin Yu still had something else to say: "I heard that your next role is in a martial arts show. Pay more attention to your safety, don't be foolish and rush to your own death."
Ruan Tian casually walked over to her door and slotted in the key before responding, "Thanks for your reminder."
Inside she wondered if maybe Qin Yu's recent trip to the hospital may have let him experience the vicissitudes of birth, old age, sickness, and death, which had influenced him to say a few human words this time.
Of course, it wasn't too surprising that Qin Yu, as her boss, would know her work schedule.
Actually, it was only yesterday that Ruan Tian had gone through the dozen or so scripts she had been offered recently and finally decided to accept one.
It was a martial arts drama titled: 'The Story of Xie Wan'. It had forty episodes, and the script had already been written entirely, so it was just waiting for the actors to arrive and start the official shooting.
Ruan Tian had only seen the scripts for the first five episodes, but she had already been deeply attracted to the cool female lead. Plus, by taking on the role of the female lead this time, it would be a good step up for her career. After taking a look, Jiang Lili also had no objections, so they had immediately decided on joining the cast and went to sign the formal contract.
Meanwhile, it seemed that the show's male lead had already been decided on before Ruan Tian before she joined the cast. He was a middling star who had already acted as the male lead in seven or eight other dramas since he debuted.
He had always been able to put on an acceptable performance, but so far he still hadn't really had any big breakthrough.
Looking at all the evidence, he was almost certainly someone who had someone pulling strings for him since he was able to get such good roles over and over again despite his mediocre performances.
Of course, there was still some time before the show would officially announce who the cast was. Ruan Tian had calculated it and, around the time her current project, 'Me and My New Roommates', was all finished filming, it would be about time for her to go and join the new crew.
Today, out of curiosity, Ruan Tian went and searched up some photos of the male lead she would be acting with.
He was handsome in a generic way, but not particularly memorable.
And, it wasn't that Ruan Tian believed in things like fortune or physiognomy, but she really felt she could see a bit of meanness in his face!
After all, back then when Ruan Tian was still in the thrall of love, she had once gone to a fortune-telling booth on the street to have her fortune told. The fortune-teller had told her the, of the five elements, she was missing earth, so it would be best for her to try to marry a man with '土' in his name. (tl note: 土 means earth)
But she had just scolded him for spewing bullshit, bluntly saying that if her life was missing any element, it was definitely money, not earth!
So she could be considered to have some experience in the subject, right?
Anyway, this actor who was to play the male lead had a reputation that wasn't big but also wasn't small.
And, shortly after both he and Ruan Tian had already signed their contracts, a vigorous smear campaign suddenly materialized.
Thus, before Ruan Tian ever saw the person himself, she was forcibly acquainted with his methods.
After signing the contract, he seemed to be very invested in who would be first billed.
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian couldn't understand why anyone would care so much?
However, despite being somewhat mediocre and clearly propped up by someone behind him pulling strings, he still had a group of possessive and paranoid die-hard fans whose love for their idol had already reached a twisted point. This time, they were somehow informed that Ruan Tian was in consideration for the female lead role, and their ire was unleashed:
" RuanTian, this old second-hand woman, if she dares to kiss my idol I will break her mouth."
"She had better not spread her bad luck to our idol, or else I will kill her myself."
"Is this Ruan Tian already starting up her tricks before filming even starts? Still dreaming of a female lead role? Maybe she should stay calm and look at the KPI to assess her own ability first. But if she doesn't, we might as well just pass on this script because the drama will probably be a dud anyway. Big Brother doesn't lack for this little bit of resources."
"This is a martial arts drama, right? How can the female lead be some spoiled rich girl? Do they want us to laugh to death? It seems that Ruan Tian's team can really use any means. She will be in real fight scenes, are we sure she won't just directly die on set?"
This was the first time Ruan Tian had ever met such an aggressive person in all the time since she began her acting career.
And the real magical thing was that the man himself didn't seem to be doing anything to egg his crazy fans on.
Rather, he would only post three sentences to the fan group every day: "Good morning", "You've all worked hard" and "Good night".
Ruan Tian began to suspect she had run into a real expert this time.
The other party seemed to have a powerful background, and he seemed to be intent on setting himself against her. Thus, before they ever even met, she felt an atmosphere like she had been thrust into a PUGB arena.
But she wasn't afraid. After all, she was a "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" type of player.
—
These days Ruan Tian was spending every weekend recording 'Me and My New Roommates' and, to prepare for the upcoming martial arts drama, she was using her weekdays to attend a training camp and take lessons with a physical trainer.
After all, a martial art drama wasn't quite the same as the usual ordinary ancient costume dramas. In a martial arts drama, the actors and actresses would often be required to have a certain level of physical fitness, as well as the ability to execute various martial arts moves.
Thus, Ruan Tian would travel out to the training camp set up by the production crew every day to learn from the physical trainer. Many other actors and actresses from the crew were also attending the camp but, aside from Ruan Tian herself, most of them were small-timers who were rather transparent in the entertainment industry. Maybe thanks to that, they were all very diligent and serious about the training.
Meanwhile, the all-important male lead never showed up once from beginning to end, not participating in the training camp at all.
Seeing this, Ruan Tian somehow felt a sincere sense of envy in her heart.
No wonder everyone was always rushing to find a backer to pull strings for them from behind. This kind of 'I'll come or not depending on my mood' attitude was really too enviable, right?
And then, thanks to his backer, he would still be able to seamlessly enter the crew afterward. And, no matter how much the other crew members might object or dislike him, he would still be able to keep acting as the male lead.
When Ruan Tian first arrived at the training camp, the physical trainer, Wu Zhi, seemed a bit unhappy and was very strict with her. Because of her background, Ruan Tian didn't have any foundation in dance or any other such physical exercises at all, so the first time the trainer pressed down on her leg she almost couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears!
Unlike Ruan Tian, most of the other actors and actresses were all graduates from professional acting schools, so they more or less had solid foundations and were able to endure Wu Zhi's training with comparative ease.
But in the end, Ruan Tian did manage to hold back her tears. In fact, despite being instantly drenched in cold sweat, she didn't cry out or let out so much as a whimper of pain. Seeing this, Wu Zhi's expression eased up a little. When he found that this seemingly delicate little girl could endure hardship, his strict tone lightened up a little bit: "When you go home tonight remember to stretch, otherwise your legs will be in for a world of pain."
Ruan Tian grunted and responded, "Thanks for your reminder, teacher."
After spending the afternoon training, an exhausted Ruan Tian plopped herself down into Jiang Lili's car. Despite her tiredness, she still had to do more interviews regarding the recently released 'Obscurity'.
These days 'Obscurity' was still dominating the summer box office, and people were predicting that it would probably stay that way for at least another half a month. Thus, during this period, the movie's leading actors and actresses were still firmly under the focus of the limelight.
Thanks to that, invitations to various interviews were arriving one after another every day, but Jiang Lili rejected most of them.
Only a few invitations from the bigger and more mainstream media groups and TV stations were accepted in the end.
Ruan Tian leaned back in the car seat tiredly and yawned. Then she said: "Lili, I think it will be a tough battle this time."
Jiang Lili responded while driving, "Have the other actors been ganging up to bully you?" Then she continued: "TianBaby, shouldn't you know that you're already at least a mid-tier star? For these little actors who aren't as famous as you, it's enough to deal with them by posting on Weibo acting pitiful for a bit. No need to thank me for my advice!"
Ruan Tian chuckled: "It's not like that. I'm pretty popular with the other members of the crew and get along well with the other actors."
"Then why would you say you're in for a battle?"
"Well, the male lead for the production still hasn't appeared even until now. I think he plans to try to directly start filming without doing any training at all. It seems he has a powerful backer."
In fact, Jiang Lili had already asked around a bit about this mysterious male lead. He was a young man with a bit of a reputation for being rash and temperamental on set, but for some reason, he hadn't ever received any backlash for his behavior even until now.
It seemed that shortly after he had debuted he had immediately started dating the woman boss of his entertainment company, as if he had only wanted to quickly secure himself a backer.
"Ever since he started stirring things up online I knew he was no good." Jiang Lili remarked.
Ruan Tian stuffed a chip into her mouth and replied as she ate, "Just let him smear me as he likes. It's already too late to change anything!"
After all, the contract was already written down in black and white and signed.
—–
Soon after that, the two women arrived at the TV station's building and went inside. The staff there had already set everything up and were ready to begin the interview.
However, before the interview could officially start, someone suddenly knocked on the recording studio's glass door and poked their head inside: "Pardon me, could the several seniors stop for a moment first? Some of Teacher Ruan Tian's fans sent over tea and cakes for everyone here on set."
This was the second time that Ruan Tian's fan club had sent her this sort of material support.
After all, in the recent days, the fan club had collectively raised a few tens of thousands of yuan, and the president of the fan club had even donated a few tens of thousands himself so, after finding out where Ruan Tian would be interviewing, they had decisively arranged for this care package in advance.
Although what they sent over was only tea and cakes, these tea and cakes were actually ordered from a nearby high-end restaurant, so even the experienced staff members of the TV station felt a little hungry after catching a whiff.
The reporter who was doing the interview chuckled: "Teacher Ruan, it seems your fans really adore you, they're so polite."
Ruan Tian felt a small burst of pride and happiness and responded: "My fans have always been very kind and they also have excellent character."
Ruan Tian really felt this way. For instance, last time, it had been very cold outside, but her fans had still come out to cheer her on. It showed they were good and kind people.
After everyone sampled the refreshments for a while, the reporter and cameraman began to get down to business.
Of course, Ruan Tian had already read the outline draft for the interview that the station had sent her beforehand, so she had already prepared answers to the questions the reporter intended to ask.
Doing it this way saved time and effort and also ensured that the interview would have content and depth.
After smoothly going through the prepared questions, the reporter suddenly added another one at the end: "Teacher Ruan, these days all of your fans have been wanting to know when the previously announced 'Destined Immortals' will finally be released?"
Recently xianxia was very hot in the industry and, on top of that, the actor playing the male lead was a big name, so there really were many fans curious for news about 'Destined Immortals'
Unfortunately, Ruan Tian really didn't know anything new. She hadn't received any news about 'Destined Immortals' from the chat group the crew members had joined at the start of production, and the director's personal friend group only revealed that the film was still in the last stages of production. Of course, they were probably aiming for a winter release, but if the special effects couldn't be completed on time then a winter release might end up being impossible.
After pondering for a while, Ruan Tian gave a safe answer: "As far as I know it's in the last stages of production and should be released fairly soon. I hope all the friends who are interested in the film can keep waiting patiently."
With the interview done, the reporter came forward to take a photo with Ruan Tian.
Secretly, the reporter was very happy and felt that Ruan Tian was much easier to work with than the usual starlets who he had to interview. She had answered almost every question, hadn't nitpicked or complained about the draft they had sent over, and overall had cooperated with them very well.
Plus, she had been very polite and kind, and smiled very pleasantly the whole time she was being interviewed.
The reporter decided that once he got home he would definitely polish this up a bit and make the interview seem even better for his viewers.
In his mind, an actress like this, who was beautiful and had acting skills, but who still had a kind and humble personality, definitely deserved to be popular.
After walking out of the TV station's building, Ruan Tian found that the sky had already turned dark.
But, as soon as she stepped outside, she was surprised to spot Huai Mo loitering around near the doors. It looked as if he had been waiting there for a long time.
Ruan Tian was shocked to see Huai Mo again.
In truth, she had almost forgotten about this person.
The last time they had met was back when she was staying at a hotel and filming 'Destined Immortals'.
Today, Huai Mo was wearing a plain white shirt and seemed to be dressed as an ordinary student, which made it easy a bit easier to relax around him.
However, Ruan Tian already couldn't regard him as a pitiful little brother who needed love and protection anymore.
Huai Mo took the initiative to speak first: "TianTian, my lab had been a bit busy recently, so I haven't had any time to come and see you."
Ruan Tian took a step back, "How did you know that I would be here?"
Huai Mo fell silent, his face serious. After seeming to ponder for a moment, he replied slowly: "Is this bit of information difficult to find?"
As he spoke, he smiled, and the dimples on both sides of his cheeks gave his face a naive and simple impression.
His smile right now was no different from the smile he had worn the first time Ruan Tian had met him.
But this time, seeing this smile only caused Ruan Tian to get goose bumps.
This child, it seemed that his brain circuits were a bit abnormal.
Huai Mo pretended to be very pitiful, "I still haven't eaten dinner yet."
Ruan Tian thought for a moment, then walked over to a street vendor who was selling roasted sweet potatoes. She bought a sweet potato, returned to Huai Mo, and handed it over to him, "Here you go. Well then, I'll just leave first…"
If she didn't escape now, then when? !
Actually, ever since Ruan Tian had found out Huai Mo's true identity, she was very reluctant to continue being in contact with him.
After all, this child seemed to have a very deep and dark mind!
Huai Mo seemed to sense her aversion. He suddenly stepped forward and gently hugged her waist before resting his chin on her shoulder, "Well, remember to rest properly once you get back."
Of course, Huai Mo understood how far he could push, so the next instant he opened his hands and released her.
Meanwhile, standing not too far away, Jiang Lili was looking anxious to death.
Wasn't this little brother too bold? He wanted to hug, so he just went up and hugged! ? What were they going to do if they got photographed?
Jiang Lili could already imagine the headlines that would be climbing up the hot search the very next day!
#RuanTian'sRoadToTheTop;SlashedShort#
#Old LoveNewLove;RuanTian'sNewLittleWolfDog#
#ByeByeRuanTianBetterLuckNextTime#
After escaping to the car, Ruan Tian sighed and pretended to be nonchalant. She said, "It's a pity that Huai Mo is too young, I really can't bear to play with his feelings!"
Jiang Lili laughed, "Do you dare to play with the little ancestor of Huai family? I think you might be tired of living."
Of course, Ruan Tian had only heard about the frightening deeds of the young master of the Huai family from others, but she had never personally experienced it for herself.
When she first met him, she had thought he was a pitiful child, and after interacting for a while she had begun to feel that his psychology was abnormal, but she never felt he was so terribly frightening the way some people said.
"Is Huai Mo really so terrible?" She couldn't help but ask.
Jiang Lili rolled her eyes. She really felt that the Huai Mo that Ruan Tian seemed to see wasn't the same one that everyone else saw.
She groaned and replied: "He's a ruthless person who doesn't even recognize his own relatives."
After all, back then, Huai Mo's parents' funeral had become his platform to clean up the whole Huai family.
Thinking of this, Jiang Lili began to feel that Ruan Tian must have some sort of unlucky physique. The men around her were all a bunch of demons and lunatics, not one normal one among the bunch.
—–
Thanks to this little interlude, Ruan Tian didn't get home until it was ten p.m.
Shortly after she entered her apartment, her doorbell began to ring. Ruan Tian was tired, so she just wanted to pretend to be deaf and ignore it.
However, the person who was ringing the doorbell seemed to have a lot of patience, and they continued to ring it over and over for a long time, seemingly having no intentions to stop.
Ruan Tian resisted her rising anger and slowly opened the door. Outside, there was a man in a wheelchair quietly staring up at her. In a frosty and noble tone, he spat out a few words, "I have a fever, go and buy some medicine for me."
It didn't at all sound like a person asking for help. Rather, from the tone, it sounded more like 'Hurry up and attend to me.'
But, at the same time, Qin Yu's complexion really wasn't normal. His lips were pale and bloodless, and his whole complexion seemed sallow and sickly, as if he were still battling some sort of illness.
Ruan Tian stood in her doorway and frowned, "You have bodyguards, don't you?"
You know, those two rows of powerful black-suited bodyguards that he somehow felt the need to bring around with him every time he went out! Where were they? !
Was she Qin Yu's servant or something! ? Where did he get the guts to come over with his absurd requests and his self-righteous tone! ?
Qin Yu replied flatly: "They're all off work."
Seeing that she didn't respond, Qin Yu pressed, "Could it be that you want to see me die?"
Ruan Tian rolled her eyes. This big brother here, fevers don't kill people, okay?
But, in the end, she still turned around and went to her medicine cabinet in the bedroom to find a spare anti-fever medicine. Once she got it and came back out, she discovered that a certain person had casually come inside and made himself at home in her living room.
Ruan Tian threw the medicine over, "Get out."
Unfortunately, even after catching the medicine, Qin Yu didn't move to leave. He merely gently put the medicine aside and then asked: "You seem to have a very good relationship with Qin An recently?"
Recently, Qin An had been posting photos of Ruan Tian to his friend group nearly every day.
Of course, the blocked Ruan Tian knew nothing about this.
She replied: "It's okay."
Qin Yu's fever seemed to have burned his brains, because he suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her down until they were face-to-face, "A long time ago, you said that you liked Shen Shu because of his face, right?"
Ruan Tian recalled that she did indeed seemed to have said something like that. At the same time, she uncomfortably tried to pull away a bit.
Qin Yu asked firmly: "So am I good-looking, or is he is good-looking?"
His grip on her wrist tightened.
Ruan Tian despaired. Why couldn't these mental patients with fevers just go away?
She replied mercilessly: "He's good-looking." She decided not to care at all and continued: "Shen Shu is much more good-looking than you."
Qin Yu laughed out of anger, struggling to force down the coppery taste that was rising in his throat at the same time. He pressed on: "But you should know that Shen Shu doesn't like you. But I've always given you special treatment, haven't I?"
Ruan Tian felt that Qin Yu was spouting nonsense.
Back then, all Shen Shu did was act cold and never give her any hope.
Meanwhile, Qin Yu had always regarded her as some sort of plaything.
When he was in a good mood, he would tease her by buying some ugly dead flowers and giving them to her, and when he was in a bad mood, he would take a perverse pleasure in bullying her.
For instance, one time Ruan Tian had nearly worn her hands out making milk tea for him while working at a tea shop.
On that day, he would order a cup of tea, she would make it, and then he would throw it into the trash can. It had gone on like that for quite a while.
Ruan Tian suddenly remembered how Jiang Lili had said several times that Qin Yu liked her, but as she remembered these events, she was sure that wasn't right. That wasn't "like", it was some abnormal fixation pathology.
Ruan Tian thought of something, and her lips twitched. From back in high school all the way until now, Qin Yu had mocked her many times with the words 'Shen Shu doesn't like you'.
She raised her eyes and said to Qin Yu pridefully: "Actually, Shen Shu seems to have fallen in love with me recently! He was even crying and whining and begging me to forgive him."
She wasn't even really lying!
…probably.
That day at the theater, Shen Shu's actions were practically screaming that he was full of regret! And that was almost the same thing.
Qin Yu seemed a bit dumbfounded for a moment and fell silent. After a long pause, he sneered and replied, "Then I should call him to verify?"
Ugh, she didn't expect him to immediately call her out like that.
Thus, Ruan Tian could only kindly invite Qin Yu to get out of her house.
—–
It was Tuesday, and Ruan Tian headed off for the training camp as usual.
However, something was different today. The long-awaited male lead had finally and unexpectedly arrived at the scene in a black BMW. Looking at him, not even mentioning the brand names on his clothes, even his watch was full of diamonds.
His whole body seemed to scream 'I am very wealthy' and 'Don't bother me.'
One of the producers who was here at the training camp introduced him to everyone.
But when it was Ruan Tian's turn to shake hands with him, he raised his eyelids and asked slowly, "Who are you?"
I am your father!
Of course, she couldn't really say that. Instead, Ruan Tian smiled and said: "I'm Ruan Tian, and I'll be playing the female lead in 'The Story of Xie Wan'."
The female lead.
These three words seemed to puncture her opponent's composure completely.
Wang Baiyuan's face turned red and then blue, like a wonderful color-shifting tapestry. Finally, he gave a cold snort and reluctantly shook Ruan Tian's hand. Then, he immediately turned to his assistant and said, "Hurry up and get me some mineral water. I need to wash my hands, they're all dirty now."
His tone was acidic.
Ruan Tian sent back a barb of her own: "Wow, they really are dirty. How do you even get all that black gunk under your nails?"
Of course, Ruan Tian was purely talking nonsense.
But Wang Baiyuan's entire body stiffened and his fingers started to tremble. Suddenly, he raised his arm and outstretched his palm as if to slap.
However, his assistant had quick eyes and a fast reaction. He reached out and caught Wang Baiyuan's arm while saying, "Big Brother… you can't do that."
This Ruan Tian wasn't some little nobody that could be bullied like in the past. If she were really to be slapped, it would immediately make headlines.
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian was feeling shocked.
He would really just beat someone?
Wang Baiyuan gritted his teeth and slowly lowered his hand. Then he stalked past her and threatened: "My fans won't let you go."
Ruan Tian frowned, but just took his words as farts.
Wang Baiyuan seemed to have come over to drum up some publicity for himself. He brought a photographer to follow him around and take a few photos while he posed and pretended to train, seemingly planning to upload them online for his fans to see.
However, Wang Baiyuan was probably also a competitive person, because when he saw Ruan Tian practicing her wirework and turning circles, he vaguely wanted to go up too.
Seeing that, Ruan Tian taunted, "This is actually very simple, can't you do it too?"
Wang Baiyuan, angered by her words, didn't bother saying anything else and immediately got someone to strap him to the wires too. He wanted to show this woman what it meant to do martial arts and play with swords.
A bit later-
…Wang Baiyuan was hanging in mid-air and spinning randomly. He was very dizzy and had lost control of his movements and couldn't stop at all.
"Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhh, help!"
"That surname Ruan, I'm going to kill you when I get down!"
The crowd all rushed up to try to save him, and the whole time his cursing and screaming was music to Ruan Tian's ears.
That night, news of this incident appeared on a small forum without much traffic.
【Today's melon: It seems that the male and female leads of the upcoming drama 'The Story of Xie Wan' were fighting at the training camp today. It looks like when filming officially starts there will definitely be more melons ready to eat. 】
1L: Wow, a person with a backer vs. another person with a backer. Not gonna lie, I think Sister Ruan's backer is stronger.
2L: Wang Baiyuan is the crown prince of Jianan Media. The company has been doing nothing but push him up since his debut. What kind of magical fate is this for him to be facing off with Ruan Tian? Hahahaha
3L: Ruan Tian dared to fight with Wang Baiyuan? I think she is tired of living!
4L: Sister Ruan will slay! A noble imperial concubine can't lose a face off with a small prince, so Wang Baiyuan can only be killed.
5L: The noble imperial concubine vs. the crown prince! Who will be the winner? Wait and see!
6L: Ruan Tian is actually only a lowly maidservant, she will definitely be defeated.
—-
As soon as Wang Baiyuan was let down from the tangle of wires he arched his back and stumbled over to a nearby trash can. His face had turned green and sallow and, clutching a doorframe for support, he leaned over and vomited into the trash can.
Ever since he had been born Wang Baiyuan's life had been nothing but smooth sailing. Back when he was in college, he was a famous hunk on campus that countless girls looked up to. Then, after he graduated, he had easily used his handsome face to beguile the boss of his entertainment company and enjoyed all sorts of benefits in his career. Until today he had never suffered such grievances!
And at the same time, Wang Baiyuan didn't feel it was shameful at all to rely on his female boss's love to get ahead in the entertainment industry. Who was he supposed to blame if his face was just too outstanding? Even he felt helpless about how much women liked him.
Besides, everyone in this industry depended on their face to eat. What was the difference between any of them? Were some people living off of their faces very moral, but when he did the same it was immoral?
He felt that those hypocritical women who were practically prostitutes but who also wanted to set up pagodas were just too pretentious.
After he finished vomiting, his assistant hurriedly moved forward and handed him another bottle of mineral water. Wang Baiyuan slowly rinsed his mouth and, when he was done, his eyes zeroed in on Ruan Tian's face. He stomped over to her and snarled in a frosty voice: "Starting from today, you and I can no longer exist under the same sky. Just see how I torture you to death. Wash your neck and wait for me."
So cliche! Ruan Tian really wanted to roll her eyes.
In the end, Ruan Tian didn't give him any face and only responded with a monotone: "Oh."
At the same time, the lead producer was also on the scene, but these people were the male and female lead of the production. On top of that, they both had big backgrounds and there would be no good outcome from offending either of them, so he could only close one eye and let them squabble amongst themselves.
It was fine so long as nothing too big happened. He had known from the start that some friction was inevitable.
However, one of the little assistants from the crew who had been working with Ruan Tian for a while now was not so "enlightened" and couldn't help but say in a low voice: "Mr. Wang, it's probably not too good to bully people like this, right? I mean-"
Now that he had vomited, Wang Baiyuan's green face had mostly turned back to normal. He raised his chin and, with an arrogant tone, he cut the assistant off: "Don't talk so much nonsense in front of me. Right now I'm relying on my backer to bully her, okay? Even Ruan Tian isn't famous enough to do anything about it, so what can you do?"
Wang Baiyuan wasn't the type of person to hide behind other people or alternate accounts on Weibo to bully other people. He was the type to bully openly and aboveground.
In this industry, he could do whatever the hell he wanted to do! No rebuttals allowed!
This was probably the first time Ruan Tian had met someone who so proudly announced that they were relying on their backer behind them. Somehow, it actually gave birth to a terrible idea in her heart: Maybe relying on a backer was actually a glorious thing?
In the end, Wang Baiyuan came and went like a storm, hurriedly appearing at the training camp and then swaggering away a little while later.
Ruan Tian didn't take him very seriously though. Once he was gone, she just silently returned to practicing her wirework. A few hours later, her legs and knees had bumped into the ground many times while she was practicing and they had turned so blue and purple that they were scary to look at. It wasn't until the sky turned dark and evening arrived that she finally decided to call it a day and called a taxi to take her home from the training camp.
When she got back to her building, she limped her way over to the elevator.
As she was limping toward her apartment, Ruan Tian found that Shen Shu was in front of her door again. She only felt surprised for a brief moment, but by now she was already somewhat used to it.
However, today, Ruan Tian was feeling extremely guilty. It couldn't be that Qin Yu, that lunatic, had really called Shen Shu to verify, right! ?
The two people faced each other in the corridor silently.
Finally, Shen Shu spoke first, "I've realized something, but I still want to confirm it."
Ruan Tian subconsciously opened her mouth and replied: "What thing?"
Shen Shu reached out his hand. Ruan Tian couldn't help but notice that his fingers were beautiful, slender and pale, and his fingernails were neatly trimmed. Soon, he had stretched out his hand all the way and wrapped it around the back of Ruan Tian's head, then he bent down, pulled her face forward, and pressed his lips to hers.
Ruan Tian was momentarily stunned.
Then, before she could think, her hand sent out a slap.
Shen Shu's head was violently thrust to the side by her slap face and a clearly visible red handprint appeared on the side of his handsome face. However, despite being slapped, he didn't get angry at all, as if he didn't care about the slap to the face.
Meanwhile, after Ruan Tian finished slapping, she froze and felt stunned for a long time.
She almost wanted to sigh. Her behavior had become so heroic! It was too awesome!
Shen Shu slowly wiped the corner of his mouth with his fingertips and said, "Now I can be sure."
The person who had rescued him and carried him to that cave back then was actually Ruan Tian.
It turned out that he had already kissed her long ago.
Ruan Tian: ? ? ?
Shen Shu continued in a low voice, "You were the one who helped me during that school trip back then, right?"
Ruan Tian fell silent for a moment, then retorted strongly: "No way! It wasn't me! It was all Zhou Xiaoqiao."
He was the male lead, so he should just go find the female lead!
There was no reason for him to come around to pester her like this!
Shen Shu straightened up and touched the corner of his lips again. It seemed that karma was truly a cycle. That he would face a day like this could only be called his just retribution.
After all, he wasn't innocent.
In the past, his dark and gloomy thoughts, his bad moods, all of it had been dealt with by Ruan Tian alone.
If he had just firmly and decisively refused Ruan Tian's feelings back then when they were still in high school, he wouldn't have given her the rays of hope that had caused her to not give up on him for so long.
He had known how deeply she had liked him, but he had deliberately led her on, each time accepting her gifts just so he could throw them away afterward.
He was a hypocrite.
On top of that, he was undeniably a truly despicable and shameless person.
But this time, Shen Shu finally said the words he hadn't managed to say last time, "Ruan Tian…"
He continued, "Let's get back together."
Ruan Tian was completely frozen in place, as if she had been struck by lightning.
Huh? How did things develop like this! ?
This script seemed not quite right.
Ruan Tian turned vigilant. She leaned back against the wall and chuckled nervously: "That's not going to work."
Unfortunately, it seemed that Shen Shu couldn't understand human words, because he ignored her reply and carried on: "You should know that I can be a stubborn person. I will wait for you to change your mind."
It was all over this time!
After all, Ruan Tian had already experienced Shen Shu's "stubbornness" more than once before.
In a way, the two of them were similar people. When they became stubborn about something, the oceans of their feelings were quite intense.
To the point that people might find themselves sinking down inside and drowning to death.
Unexpectedly, it seemed that everyone couldn't help but love this glass of wine called Ruan Tian! Everyone was getting drunk! Even the noble and glamorous young masters like Shen Shu were no exception.
Ruan Tian fell silent for a few seconds. When she finally responded, her voice was far less polite: "Shen Shu, you should know, I can also be a very stubborn person."
Maybe it wasn't the same for him, but in Ruan Tian's mind, from the moment they had signed the divorce agreement, she and Shen Shu already had no chance of reconciliation.
But, in the days after that meeting in the corridor, Shen Shu suddenly changed his usual low-key and modest style.
He began to often leave likes and comments on Ruan Tian's Weibo, as if he were afraid that the people of the world wouldn't know about the connection between them.
In the blink of an eye, 'Obscurity' was finally released in theaters. Soon after it came out, the film was shortlisted for many honors at this year's National Film Awards, including Best Director, Best Feature Film, Best Actor, and even Best Actress. Before the event even happened, the public already felt the film was the rightful winner of these four awards.
And this was the National Film Awards, the county's most authoritative and important film award ceremony.
Ruan Tian had only recently made her debut on the small screen, but now she cut her way through the competition and was shortlisted for the honorable Best Actress award. Thus, in addition to envy, other actresses only felt more envy.
They all wanted to ask: Why was her life so good? According to what? Her rise was so dramatic! Like some heroine from a shitty drama!
The actresses angling for the Best Actress Award all competed fiercely, fighting each other until they were in a tragic state. In the end, only four finalists were selected from among thousands of actresses.
These women were all the best among the best, and the competition was very fierce.
After all, the National Film Awards' Best Actress Award was a very different thing from the Best Actress Award from that small TV show that Ruan Tian had won before.
After all, movies were inherently more noble than TV shows.
And movie actors were generally bigger than TV show actors, just by default.
Thus, when a person received one of the annual awards under the eyes of all the movie-viewing public, they would be able to quickly gain popularity and leave a good impression among the masses.
Ruan Tian was one of the youngest people among all the finalists across all awards, and she was the biggest dark horse in popularity among the audience.
When Director Cheng learned about all this, he specifically gave her a call to congratulate her, and even told her that the script for his new film was being drafted and he wanted to know if she was interested in auditioning for the role of the heroine.
Ruan Tian was a little dazed by this offer. Actresses were lining up to rip one another apart fighting over roles from a big director like Director Cheng. This kind of role was so rare that people could only want it but never get it.
But now she unexpectedly got a chance to audition?
Of course, Ruan Tian happily agreed.
Then, that Friday, she had to go out again to record another episode of the variety show she had been working on recently. Now that there had already been four live broadcasts of the show, Ruan Tian's popularity had skyrocketed. At the same time, the Ruan Tian and Qin An CP was already vaguely resembling a "nations CP". (tl note: If you've read other entertainment industry novels you should be familiar with the concept of 'The nation's husband', as in, a super eligible bachelor who is famous in the entertainment industry, and this is the same concept but with a couple instead of just a husband.)
The show's crew also used various tricks to intentionally or unintentionally push the two together and drum up more hype.
At the same time, the ratings had reached record highs, and the number of people watching the live broadcasts, as well as the donations and rewards the show was receiving from the viewers, were also breaking records.
The comments on Qin An's Weibo were nothing but things like:
"If you two really get married, you must announce it to the public."
"I hope Qin An will treat Sister Tian well after they get married."
"Ah, when are you two going to announce your wedding day!"
One day, Qin An happened to see a video of clips featuring Ruan Tian and himself along with pink bubble filters and romantic music, and felt amused. He saved it and then sent it to his personal friend group, along with a slightly timid: 【What are these fans thinking? I don't think Ruan Tian is a match for me! ! ! 】
This small friend group chat had actually been personally put together by the brainless Qin An.
In the group, not only was there Shen Shu, Qin Yu, and Xu Jing, there was also the long-worshiped goddess of his heart, Zhou Xiaoqiao.
Of course, the second Ruan Tian saw Zhou Xiaoqiao's profile picture in the group, she didn't even think for a second before leaving.
However, she left the group, and then Qin An pulled her back in, and so she left, and so on half a dozen times… His perseverance really made her speechless!
Finally, Ruan Tian sneered: 【The number of people who are chasing me can't even be counted on one hand, okay? Do you think you have a chance? ! Scram away. 】
Qin An, who had no awareness of the dire battlefield he was on, responded fearlessly: 【I would never chase you! The person who likes you is my brother, okay! ? 】
In the the first minute after he had sent this out, Qin An still hadn't noticed anything wrong.
However, by the second minute, he was like a cat on a hot griddle and jumped up from his bed to quickly delete the message!
With this, the WeChat group fell silent.
Qin An suddenly felt that he was uncomfortably close to death.
Ah, his brother had already been coveting his friend's wife for so many years…
Now that he finally didn't have to hide his feelings anymore he seemed a bit more dangerous than before!
For some reason, after that night, all the talk of the Ruan Tian and Qin An CP suddenly ceased.
It was very mysterious, despite the half a million viewers and the most recent top topics in the chatroom and other forums being this CP, all talk of it suddenly disappeared.
From a glance, it was obvious that the show crew and forum moderators had made a move.
Then, while the Qin AnxRuan Tian CP fans were still crying about how their chatroom messages and forum posts were disappearing, some people began to notice that this phenomenon wasn't limited to just this CP.
At the same time, all the conversations about the ShenxRuan CP were also disappearing.
All the edited videos and photos that the CP fans had created silently disappeared overnight.
Qin Yu did everything cleanly.
After all, Qin Yu, who had already been feeling ill, was already in a terrible temper when Qin An had come around to pluck the tiger's whiskers, so he had furiously made a move.
Of course, Qin Yu had never been afraid of anyone knowing that he liked Ruan Tian.
And besides, Shen Shu might not necessarily be unaware anyway.
After all, back then when they were still in school, he had shown some special concern toward Ruan Tian on a few occasions. Shen Shu was a sharp man, Qin Yu didn't believe he had never noticed it.
For instance, back when the school had put on a Spring Games Event, there had been a three-legged race and Ruan Tian had passed out on the field with a high fever. Shen Shu had been her partner at the time, but he had just put his hands in his pockets and lazily watched on when she collapsed. He had turned to Qin Yu and said, "Ah'Yu, you should take her to the infirmary. If I do it, then she will think too much once she wakes up, and I don't need the trouble."
Qin Yu hadn't said anything, merely bent over and picked up the fainted girl in his arms.
At that time, Shen Shu had only raised his eyebrows, as if not surprised at all.
Even back then Qin Yu had been at the ends of his forbearance, and his long-term self-restraint only became something akin to madness in the end.
Snapping back from his period of reminiscing, Qin Yu turned to the secretary behind him and ordered coldly: "Call the producer of 'The Story of Xie Wan'. Tell him I don't care about the script or who the male lead is, I won't allow Ruan Tian to be in any intimate scenes, let him figure it out. "
The secretary immediately felt his back covered in cold sweat, and then went to do as ordered as quickly as possible.
—
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian had no time to care about these messy things. These days she was so busy that she almost had no time to sleep.
After she finished recording the last episode of 'Me and My New Roommates' she immediately ran off to join her next film group.
However, Ruan Tian really never expected that on the very first day she joined the 'The Story of Xie Wan' crew…
She ended up fighting with Wang Baiyuan.
They really started fighting. A screaming match on set!
When the marketing accounts and media outlets received the news, they also had expressions like 'What the **** is going on! ?'
…
…the story went like this. 'The Story of Xie Wan' had begun production in a low-key manner. There was only a simple launch ceremony, and then the crew directly started filming in the capital's film and television city located in the mountainous suburbs just outside the city.
On the first day of filming, they planned to film two scenes in total.
And both scenes had the two rivals, Ruan Tian and Wang Baiyuan, facing off.
When Wang Baiyuan arrived he was accompanied by four or five assistants, who were responsible for miscellaneous tasks like serving tea and fetching refreshments, as well as some people who were there to help him look over the script and strike out any lines he didn't like.
Looking at him, it really didn't seem like he was here to act, but rather like he was here for a holiday.
However, the director was still very polite to Wang Baiyuan. After all, everyone was used to enduring this kind of scene to make their living, and the director was already at the point in his career where he didn't have much passion to care.
In the entertainment industry, the usual trend of worshipping the high and stepping on the low could be said to be magnified more than ten times over. Most people working in the industry wouldn't hesitate at all to bootlick stars who were popular or who had powerful backings.
Everyone was at least a little two-faced.
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian had arrived with only a single assistant by her side and without even a decent nanny van to rest inside of, so for the crew it was clear at a glance which of these two stars was more worthy of bootlicking.
Thus, despite Wang Baiyuan's arrogance, there wasn't anyone who spoke up or complained at all in front of him.
Soon, someone from the staff greeted him with nothing but smiles and flattery. "Teacher Wang, the sun is really beating down right now, so if you feel tired remember to tell us. It's fine for us to stop and take a rest, after all, it really wouldn't be worth it if you ended up exhausting yourself."
After that, a small rest area was set up for Wang Baiyuan with great fanfare, which included both a small air conditioner and also a small refrigerator.
There were even some members of the staff who came forward to fan him.
Just as if he were a delicate flower.
The first scene of the day took place in the rain according to the script. In this scene, the female hero played by Ruan Tian swooped in during an assassination attempt on the sickly male protagonist, rescued him, and also killed all the assassins.
Ruan Tian was battered by the "rain" created by the staff and was drenched until she could hardly even open her eyes. According to her character's temperament, she valiantly walked through the rain with a straight back even while being soaked to the bone. In front of her, the weak male protagonist was being held by the assassins under the eaves of a building with a long knife held to his neck.
Ruan Tian stood straight in the rain and looked at the assassins expressionlessly before saying her line: "Give him back to me."
The assassin sneered: "That will depend on whether you have the ability!"
With the lines delivered, they all moved out and began the fight scene.
Halfway through this fight scene, Wang Baiyuan was supposed to deliver a line but failed to do so.
It wasn't that he had forgotten his line, it was just that he wanted to deliberately make things difficult and have a NG on purpose.
On the side, the director anxiously waited and waited for Wang Baiyuan to deliver his line, but in the end he was forced to call cut. Wang Baiyuan put on an apologetic expression and said, "I'm really sorry, I forgot my lines."
The director had no choice but to coax this little ancestor, so he just laughed it off and said, "It's no problem Mr. Wang. Don't worry, take your time."
Ruan Tian took a dry towel from her assistant, wrapped herself up, and then wiped the water off her face. Once she was a little dry, she just sat in her seat with an expressionless face.
When they began to do the second take, halfway through Wang Baiyuan suddenly laughed and ruined it. Afterward, he apologized very perfunctorily.
At the same time, he put on a rogueish and arrogant face that seemed to scream 'Yes, I did it on purpose, but what can you do?'
Seeing this, Ruan Tian's heart was burning with flames.
In the end, Wang Baiyuan used various methods to ruin the take until they had NG ten times in a row before finally finishing.
Meanwhile, Ruan Tian was really losing her temper due to being repeatedly soaked, and she was on the verge of lashing out.
Of course, Wang Baiyuan was the type who had to show off his power even if he died, and said, "Teacher Ruan, are you okay? You've really worked hard. I really blame myself for dragging Teacher Ruan down, but I will try not to drag you down again next time."
Ruan Tian clenched the prop sword in her hand. One more peep and she was really going to kill someone! ! !
Wang Baiyuan was used to taking a mile when given an inch, so before they began filming the second scene, he even came over to find Ruan Tian's little assistant and said, "Go buy me Starbucks. An iced americano."
How could a little assistant dare to offend this small ancestor? She could only scurry off and hurriedly buy the Starbucks as requested.
After receiving the cup, Wang Baiyuan immediately threw it aside and said, "I've decided I don't want ice, go and buy me another one with no ice."
Ruan Tian felt like she had attained enlightenment.
Could it really be that there was another person in this world who was more annoying than Qin Yu? ! !
She stepped up and dragged her little assistant behind her and said coldly: "You can drink if you like, and if not you can just scram."
Wang Baiyuan wanted to keep arguing with her, but by then the time to start shooting the second scene had already arrived.
He reluctantly got up from his recliner and snorted twice. His only thought was that in the future he would definitely have a chance to destroy this Ruan Tian, and only then would his anger be relieved.
The second scene of the day was a heart-wrenching fight scene.
The female lead and the male lead had ended up walking on different paths, and the female lead was forced to face off against a group of imperial soldiers led by the male lead. It was revealed that the male lead had only been pretending to be weak in the past, and the two had a serious sword fight that ended with the female lead stabbing him to death.
The director shouted and filming began.
When Wang Baiyuan looked up and met Ruan Tian's murderous eyes, his legs unconsciously softened.
****, this woman was really crazy! Could it be that she really wanted to stab him to death?
Ruan Tian's fist tightly clenched around the hilt of the prop sword, and she moved forward to stab him fiercely while at the same time shedding tears. Between sobs, she delivered her line: "I can only blame myself for having no eyes…"
Wang Baiyuan, who was stabbed, choked.
It hurt! It hurt! It really hurt!
It felt as if he had been firmly punched in the stomach!
Ruan Tian blinked, "Ah, what was my next line? I forgot! Let's do it again."
The director called cut and Wang Baiyuan's face had turned pale and he was holding his stomach.
For the second take, Ruan Tian once again lifted the sword and stabbed him with as much force as the first time, and Wang Baiyuan was in so much pain that he momentarily even forgot to be angry.
Of course, midway through Ruan Tian once again made up the excuse that she had forgotten her line.
Wang Baiyuan could see that she was doing it deliberately, and said furiously, "Ruan Tian, you can't remember such a simple line, are you a moron! ?"
Ruan Tian used a piece of cloth to wipe the sword in her hand, "I just suddenly couldn't remember, what can I do, ah?"
The third take… the fourth take…
By the time they reached the fifth take, Wang Baiyuan had been made deeply afraid of Ruan Tian's rushing posture, and when he saw her coming over he subconsciously couldn't help but take a step back. He felt like his waist had really been beaten black and blue by Ruan Tian's sword!
"**** your mother! Don't stab! Stop stabbing!"
When had Wang Baiyuan's tender skin ever suffered such abuse?
Finally, he completely lost his reason and started screaming, "Ruan Tian, I'm going to kill you! Let's die together right now!"
"I curse you! Your future husband will never love you, and your future mother-in-law will never accept you!"
"No man will ever look at you!"
"**** your mother! Even when you try to buy food the prices will go up!"
"You will be a poor wretch all your life."
Amidst the chaos, Wang Baiyuan rushed forward and pulled Ruan Tian's hair, and Ruan Tian kicked him several times.
Ever since she was a child Ruan Tian had already become accustomed to this sort of 'communicating with fists'.
Thus, she was very strong and immediately overwhelmed Wang Baiyuan and forced him to the ground. After that, she pressed him down firmly until he was completely unable to move.
Ruan Tian's neat hairstyle had been completely ruined by Wang Baiyuan's tugging, and she crouched over him with her loose hair falling over her shoulders and a slightly red face that seemed to be further dusted with color by the evening sunset. Her expression was smug as she said, "Do you still dare to bully me?"
Wang Baiyuan couldn't escape at all. Half of his face was visible, but the other half was pressed down against the ground, and he blubbered out incoherently, "Help! Help! Someone come deal with this shrew! I really can't stand it anymore!"
This woman was too fierce!