Goddess Strategy GL - Chapter 29

When Zhao Xin returned to the private room, the wine had already circulated once. Zeng Jiarou was the newcomer, with the least experience and the youngest age, so she had already toasted everyone once. When Zhao Xin sat down, the two-tael, three-fen decanter in front of her was already half-empty. Seeing Zhao Xin arrive, the waiter stepped forward again to fill her small cup.

“Miss Zhao, I’ll toast you first.”

Zeng Jiarou held her cup, her hand shaking slightly due to the effect of alcohol. Someone, feeling sympathetic, advised: “Miss Zhao can’t drink much either, why don’t you two substitute tea for wine.”

Zhao Xin said: “That’s fine too.”

After saying that, she picked up a cup of tea and clinked with Zeng Jiarou, drinking it down.

Director Chen had just clinked cups with a few experts and had drunk quite a bit, making him more relaxed. Seeing that Zeng Jiarou’s face was already flushed, he couldn’t help but chuckle: “Xiao Zeng’s tolerance for alcohol is even worse than Zhao Xin’s… you’ll have to work hard to practice in the future. In our line of work, filmmaking, being a poor drinker won’t do.”

The cheongsam collector said: “You can’t say that. Back then, Miss Zhao’s Empress Wu Zetian became popular across the country, and from then on, she had the backing of the 1.3 billion people. Why would she need to practice drinking? Which elite backbone of the post-80s generation didn’t buy Miss Zhao’s stickers and pencil cases when they were kids? And those grandpas doing square dancing—who would dare to run to the square at seven in the evening and say a bad word about Miss Zhao? I think they’d be knocked by the grandmas’ fans in minutes—”

Someone chimed in: “Knocked until they don’t even recognize their own mother.”

“No, they’d be knocked and then go home to be knocked again by their own mothers!”

“Hahahahahaha…”

Director Chen was amused by this comment: “It really is like that. A distant aunt of mine came to visit with her grandson a few days ago, and she was watching her little grandson do his summer homework every day. When the little grandson didn’t want to do it and cried, my aunt would say, ‘Don’t cry, don’t cry, let’s go watch a movie.’ She’d drag the little grandson to turn on the TV and put on a movie starring Zhao Xin. The little grandson would cry even more sadly. I happened to go back and saw the little child hiccuping from crying, so I asked him why he was crying. The little kid said he had watched this movie with his grandma about fifty times, and he wanted to watch a new movie with a pretty sister.”

The whole table burst into laughter. Zhao Xin was poised and responded with a smile.

The cheongsam collector continued: “Miss Zeng debuted as Miss Zhao’s successor, and her debut is a major work by Director Chen. There’s no reason why she wouldn’t become popular. I think she doesn’t need to practice drinking, but practicing her acceptance speech is necessary.”

His words were clever, flattering Zeng Jiarou while also buttering up Director Chen. Director Chen held his wine glass, paused for a moment upon hearing this, which no one else noticed, but Zhao Xin caught Director Chen’s momentary sigh.

Seeing this, Zhao Xin raised her cup and said: “Today is a private gathering, and we agreed not to discuss official business. I toast everyone here, and also my new partner.”

She poured a cup of wine, stood up, made a gesture of toasting everyone, and then drank it down. The atmosphere at the table became lively again. By the time they were deep in drink and the room quieted down, it was already ten o’clock at night.

By this time, Zhao Xin’s car was already parked outside, but Zeng Jiarou’s car had not yet arrived. Director Chen asked Zhao Xin to stay, as there were still things to discuss later. Susan asked for Zeng Jiarou’s and Joanna’s addresses and found that they weren’t far from hers, so she invited them to share her ride. She planned to have Ye Ruoqing come back to pick up Zhao Xin later.

Before Joanna could speak, Zeng Jiarou said: “No need, Sister Susan, our car will be here shortly, no need to trouble you.”

Director Chen said: “It’s raining outside, and your car might be stuck in traffic. If it’s convenient, just go with Susan. Don’t be polite, you’ll be working together in the future.”

Zeng Jiarou forced a smile: “It’s really not necessary. I was thinking, if it doesn’t work out, I can let Sister Anna go with Sister Susan first. I still have some things I want to discuss with Director Chen and Miss Zhao.”

Director Chen waved his hand: “Ah, there will be plenty of opportunities to talk later. Zhao Xin and I haven’t seen each other for a long time, and we have some things to say. Let’s leave it for tonight.”

“But—”

Zhao Xin suddenly spoke up: “Xiao Zeng, you really don’t need to be so polite. My assistant is from your hometown. You can go down and see, perhaps you’ll find that you are old acquaintances and can catch up.”

Susan asked: “Xiao Zeng is also from C City?”

Zeng Jiarou nodded.

Susan said: “She really doesn’t look like it. Xiao Ye from our studio is a genuine C City girl. She’s usually lively and energetic and can’t sit still. Her mouth is sharp too. She argues with Xiao Yuan every day, and after arguing, they link arms and run off to eat at ‘fly restaurants,’ which gave Xiao Yuan diarrhea for a few days and got me scolded by Old Lady Zhang several times.”

Director Chen suddenly became interested: “This Xiao Ye from your studio sounds quite interesting. Is Zhao Xin alright living with someone so noisy?”

Zhao Xin pursed her lips and smiled: “She wouldn’t dare make a fuss in front of me.”

Susan said: “She only listens to you!”

Director Chen checked his watch: “Alright, alright, enough talk. I’ll meet this interesting girl sometime. Xiao Zeng and Anna, you two go with Susan first. Zhao Xin and I will chat. The other few gentlemen have their own rides, so I won’t see them off. Let’s meet again next time.”

Zeng Jiarou was extremely reluctant but still had no choice but to leave. Suddenly, only Zhao Xin and Director Chen remained in the spacious private room. The waiter came over, served a pot of tea, and then quietly withdrew.

“What do you think of this Xiao Zeng?”

Director Chen poured a cup of tea for Zhao Xin, then leaned back in his chair, waiting for Zhao Xin’s response.

“I watched her audition. Not bad.”

“What kind of ‘not bad’?”

“As an actress, she’s qualified.”

“As Li Ruyuan (the female student in Towers Upon Towers)?”

Zhao Xin shook her head: “She’s missing something.”

Director Chen sighed: “Yes, she’s missing something, a breath of vitality.”

Director Chen and Director Wang, who launched Zhao Xin to fame, were two of the directors in the country most fond of using new actors. Both were somewhat influenced by the film master D. W. Griffith, advocating for actors to release their natural instincts, using no-movements to surpass all movements.

“I feel that in selecting the role of Li Ruyuan, I made a big mistake. I should have chosen a lively and sunny female student, rather than trying to manufacture a female student, just like when XXX filmed Not One Less. I need a real Li Ruyuan, one that fits the script from the inside out. Xiao Zeng is too quiet. Although she acts well, her inherent personality is completely different from Li Ruyuan. On the contrary, the new assistant, Xiao Ye, you mentioned, seems to fit.”

Even someone as composed as Zhao Xin almost sprayed her tea when she heard this: “Her? She is truly impossible. If you don’t want your movie to turn into a documentary of monkeys on Mount Emei, absolutely do not look for her.”

“Is she that exaggerated?”

Zhao Xin recalled Ye Ruoqing’s exaggerated 360-degree dramatic collapse when pretending to faint, and couldn’t help but smile: “If you don’t believe me, you can ask Director Wang for the footage from my movie last year, and witness the exaggerated acting skills of our Xiao Ye. The only three roles she’s suitable for are: a corpse, a monkey, and someone fighting a monkey.”

Director Chen became even more interested: “Zhao Xin, you don’t understand what I mean. Of course, I’m not like Griffith, using such extreme directing methods. I will guide them to blend into the role, erase the traces of their daily lives, and enter a genuine state of the character.”

“That requires time.”

“I can wait. Zhao Xin, you’re only missing one Asian Film Festival Best Actress award. If you succeed this time, you can also aim for the three major European film festivals. A good partner is half the battle. I want to try. Even if it’s not Xiao Ye, it can be other girls. I believe I can definitely find someone.”

Ye Ruoqing, who was favored by two major directors, was still suffering from the torment of her terrible acting skills just a few hours ago.

She was holding her guitar, intending to go to work and practice singing, when fatefully, she ran into Brother Pidan, who was leaning over his computer, racking his brain for the outline of his next book. When the Muse arrived, Brother Pidan naturally refused to meditate alone in front of the computer any longer. He insisted on dragging Ye Ruoqing along to seek inspiration together. One with music, the other with words, truly achieving the ideal of a “high mountains and flowing water” kind of artistic understanding.

However, this seemingly sophisticated method turned into a crude and vulgar one for the two of them. Ye Ruoqing would play two songs, and Brother Pidan would tell her his ideas. One was a complete ‘illiterate’ in the arts, and the other was tone-deaf. The two ‘monkeys’ faced each other in silence.

“No, Xiao Ye, I think we should find a common ground to seek progress. This is a win-win approach. For example, are you interested in musicals?”

“No.”

“Scoring audio novels?”

“No.”

“I write scripts to film micro-movies, and you write and sing the theme song?”

Ye Ruoqing strummed the guitar strings boredly: “I’m not interested in anything you’ve mentioned.”

“Are you biased against me?”

“No.”

“Do you think I’m not handsome enough?”

“What the heck does that have to do with me.”

Brother Pidan suddenly rushed up to Ye Ruoqing, placing his hands on her guitar, his pair of deep-set eyes staring straight at Ye Ruoqing.

Ye Ruoqing held up two fingers in front of Brother Pidan: “Do you hate your eyes very much?”

Brother Pidan’s eyes lit up: “I think I’ve found our common ground.”

“What?”

Brother Pidan stepped back, making a The Sound of Music-style singing audition gesture.

“You—Xiao Ye, you’ve been focusing only on practicing singing, but there’s an urgent problem you haven’t considered.”

“Yes, not enough money to buy new clothes.”

“Money? Money is never a problem in front of your Brother Dali (Strong Power). I’ll cover all your clothing expenses. Just say which high-fashion you want, bespoke tailors are not an issue.”

With the local tyrant being so generous, Ye Ruoqing wouldn’t refuse: “Tell me, what was the problem just now?”

Brother Pidan took two more steps back, opened his computer, and clicked on the video of the previous season’s The Sound of Music selection show. Before every contestant went on stage, there was always a segment of heart-wrenching drama. Brother Pidan watched intently, while Ye Ruoqing got goosebumps all over.

“This is simply a humiliating spectacle…” No wonder he resonated so much with Brother Pidan. Brother Pidan’s writing never lacked all sorts of emotional, tear-jerking passages.

“Little Ye Zi, you need a good script, a good story, to add glamour to your audition career. And I also need an opportunity and a template for creation. What do you think about us cooperating?”

Ye Ruoqing instantly felt unwell.