Goddess Strategy GL - Chapter 30

“How about it, Little Ye, give me some feedback.”

Brother Pi Dan was extremely pleased with his idea. As long as Ye Ruoqing advanced past the audition, she would definitely need to prepare a short film. The production team would finalize the theme with the contestant and then proceed with the filming.

Later on, these short films also became one of the competing items for the contestants. Editing, filming, script… A good short film could preemptively lower the audience’s pickiness towards the contestants, and even achieve emotional resonance before the song does. This is why the short films in these talent shows are becoming increasingly sentimental and exaggerated.

Ye Ruoqing firmly refused: “I will follow the production team’s arrangements.”

“The production team’s arrangements?” Brother Pi Dan disdainfully picked up a newspaper. “I bet you, the production team’s promotion of you will definitely proceed with this.”

“What is it?”

Ye Ruoqing snatched the newspaper and looked at it, immediately feeling dismayed. Everyone had a copy of this newspaper—Ren Xi had one, Zhao Xin had one, Brother Pi Dan had one, and even the mushroom sauce boss at the Japanese restaurant had one.

This was the largest metropolitan newspaper in City B. She was certain of one thing: she was famous.

Brother Pi Dan shook the newspaper and continued: “And your rice cooker is so conspicuous. If you don’t decide on a script beforehand, the result will head in a direction you can’t control. You already look a bit like Ren Xi, and she is the famous Rice Cooker Queen, and you are the Rice Cooker Inspirational Girl. What do you think the production team will think? Just like that, what’s-her-name Jiarou, with the nickname ‘Little Zhao Xin,’ the news was hyped up before she even showed her face. A photo for 100,000 yuan. Such good material, do you think the production team will give it up?”

Ren Xi and herself? Ye Ruoqing recalled Ren Xi’s stunning face, pointed high heels, and bright red fingernails. Then she looked at her own makeup-free face in the mirror and couldn’t help but shiver twice. Filming a short video was secondary; if the production team gave her a fiery red lipstick look, she felt she would instantly faint.

“Fine, I’ll do as you say!” Ye Ruoqing gritted her teeth and agreed.

Brother Pi Dan beamed with joy.

“You’ve acted before, right? Tell me about your experiences—extras, micro-films, even college plays are fine.”

“Yes…” Ye Ruoqing really didn’t want to recall that dark history.

“Slowly tell me, what are they?”

“In Zhao Xin’s movie last year, I played the assassinated assassin, a soldier, and a random passerby.”

Brother Pi Dan was speechless: “What else?”

“Also the one who sold himself to bury his father…”

“The girl who sold herself to bury her father?”

“No, it was the father in the ‘sold himself to bury his father’ story…”

It was then that Brother Pi Dan realized what a difficult task he had taken on. The person in front of him was not even at the level of a novice—she was an egg, and whether she could even hatch into a little novice was a major question.

“I should have confidence in you, right?” Brother Pi Dan muttered to himself, feeling inexplicably discouraged.

“You ask me if you have confidence, how would I know.”

“Don’t pour cold water on me, Little Ye.”

“All talk and no action is just pretending. You are an actor, why don’t you teach me how to do it right now.”

The two practiced expressions in front of the mirror. It was Ye Ruoqing’s first time looking into a mirror for so long. After completing the set of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, she took a break, and even when she closed her eyes, she saw her own face.

Finally, the two were exhausted and lay on the office floor to rest. Ye Ruoqing sighed deeply: “Oh my god, if I keep looking, I think I’ll fall in love with myself.”

Brother Pi Dan said: “That’s the whole point. Look at me, I was never narcissistic before becoming an actor. Since becoming an actor, I have to look at my own face every day, and suddenly I discovered—ah~ how can there be such a perfect face like mine in the world! It is simply lightning, light, the only myth! It’s a super star!”

“Are you singing?”

“I’m improvising a modern poem.”

“You plagiarized.”

“Do not insult a rigorous, serious, and creation-loving young person!”

“Have you heard S.H.E.’s ‘Super Star’?”

“…”

After they finished eating, Brother Pi Dan was chilled to the core by Ye Ruoqing’s critique of his improvised poem, so he said he wouldn’t drive, afraid that if he remembered the incident he’d get flustered and cause an accident, so he would hitch a ride. Ye Ruoqing mocked him again, and then drove together to pick up Susan and Zhao Xin.

On the way, she received a call from Susan, who said to go over and drop her and the other two guests off first. After hanging up, Ye Ruoqing asked: “Do you know who Zhao Xin was having dinner with today?”

“I know, Director Chen, and the other female lead for the next movie. The mystery surrounding this must be to create a buzz—a mysterious female lead, a ‘Little Zhao Xin,’ and so on. I say there must be people from the financial backers operating behind the scenes.”

When Ye Ruoqing heard “Little Zhao Xin,” she realized that this female lead was the Jiarou person Brother Pi Dan had just mentioned. She was curious: “They call her ‘Little Zhao Xin’? Does that girl look especially like Zhao Xin? I secretly looked at the novel that day, and there’s an intimate scene. Is Zhao Xin going to be intimately close with someone who looks like herself? How will she endure that?”

“Being ‘Little Zhao Xin’ doesn’t necessarily mean she looks alike; it means their career paths are similar—both started with a major production right out of the gate. That girl is lucky. She found a sugar daddy who is willing to promote her, and she also works hard, so Director Chen took a liking to her.”

“I’m just asking, do girls who want to act have to take this step?”

“Think about it, thousands of people apply to the Beijing Film Academy every year, and only thirty are left in the end. What a small percentage is that? And how many people become famous? China has no shortage of people, and this circle has no shortage of beautiful women. Acting is not something you can reach the top of just by working hard. You need luck, talent, and looks—if you lack one, it won’t work. What about those who are lacking one or two things? Naturally, they have to find other ways. Having backing is certainly helpful, but if they don’t have backing, they have to find one for themselves.”

“Is that so?”

The atmosphere strangely became awkward. Brother Pi Dan saw Ye Ruoqing stop talking and asked, “Do you have a friend who is acting?”

“Not a friend.”

“If it’s not a friend, you don’t need to care. If it is a friend, maybe give them a little warning.”

“Mmm.”

Ye Ruoqing felt a little blocked up inside. That night, she felt an inexplicable sense of irritation. How could she not care? That person was indeed not a friend, but someone she liked.

The car arrived at the appointed location. Ye Ruoqing received a call from Susan, whose usually serious tone was a little anxious, repeatedly asking where she was. Ye Ruoqing reported her location, and Susan quickly hung up. Before she could react, she saw a large group of people emerging from behind the door, surrounding a girl covering her face. A woman rushed to the front, almost screaming: “The car? Where is the car?”

“Here!”

The girl was wearing a white satin Qipao, stained all over the front. Before Ye Ruoqing and Brother Pi Dan could clearly see the person’s face, they were pulled out of the car, and then the girl got into the car, which started and sped away.

Zhao Xin stood at the restaurant entrance, looking at the stunned Ye Ruoqing and Brother Pi Dan, and said: “Dali, you go back first. Ye Ruoqing, you stay. I won’t be able to leave for a while.”

“Your car is gone…”

“It’s being used by someone I know, it’s fine.”

Brother Pi Dan saw that this matter didn’t have much to do with him, so he hailed a taxi and left first. Ye Ruoqing followed Zhao Xin inside. Susan was sitting in the manager’s office, looking extremely angry.

“Fortunately, it’s quiet here, and not many people were alerted. The hotel manager is currently apologizing to one private room after another. I don’t know if anyone saw anything. Director Chen is contacting a friend at the hospital. This matter must be kept confidential.”

“She caused such a huge trouble before the movie even started filming. First, she almost scalded Zhao Xin’s leg, and now this trouble-making. How can we keep an actress like this?”

Ye Ruoqing was already a little afraid of Susan. Seeing her so angry, she didn’t dare to ask any questions and could only constantly bother Zhao Xin from behind, trying to get her to give her some inside information.

While Zhao Xin was talking to Susan, Ye Ruoqing would lean behind Zhao Xin and blow air into her ear, tickle her, and tug at the hand-stitched beads on her clothing.

“Stop messing around.” Zhao Xin turned and glanced at her. Ye Ruoqing winked at her, then walked over to a chair and sat down with a smug smile.

“Where is the person who injured Little Zeng?”

Ye Ruoqing perked up her ears for gossip.

“Still locked in the security room. She was brought by one of the guests, a bar hostess from a club. Fortunately, she’s a hostess, so she can be paid to keep quiet.”

From their conversation, Ye Ruoqing gathered a lot of information. After the gathering ended, this “Little Zhao Xin’s” car didn’t arrive, so she and her agent were planning to hitch a ride with Susan. However, when they went downstairs, “Little Zhao Xin” said she needed to use the restroom, so Susan and her agent waited downstairs. After waiting for a long time without seeing her come down, they got worried and went up to check. As they reached the staircase, they suddenly heard a scream from the restroom. They rushed in and saw a drunken woman cursing obscenely, pulling “Little Zhao Xin’s” hair and banging her head against the marble countertop.

Oh my god, what terrible luck. Celebrities care most about their faces. Now that her face is potentially disfigured, it must be a huge loss. Ye Ruoqing listened with trepidation and looked at Zhao Xin with concern. She decided it would be better to accompany Zhao Xin to such events in the future. If they run into a drunk person, who knows what might happen.

“Little Ye, you come with me to see her.”

“She,” of course, referred to the drunken hostess.

Ye Ruoqing understood Susan’s intention. She stood up and followed Susan into the security room.

The woman’s hair was messy, one side of her face was severely swollen, her eyes were puffy, and she was pointing at the window and cursing loudly.

“That… that XX, I’m going to kill her! B1tch! How dare you hit… hit me… I’ll kill her!”

The woman was clearly drunk, and her speech was slurred. Ye Ruoqing asked: “Should we do anything?”

Susan said: “Wait until she sobers up, and then negotiate a deal with her.”

Ye Ruoqing asked: “Then why are we here now?”

Susan pondered for a moment and said: “I feel like something’s strange.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Listen to her words. She said, ‘How dare you hit me, I’ll kill you…’ And then look at her face, it’s so swollen, Little Zeng must have hit her hard too.”

“Are you saying… ‘Little Zhao Xin’ threw the first punch? What would she gain from that?”

“I don’t know what she gains… I just think she was weird today, very weird, like she couldn’t keep her composure. Later, you’ll go with me to check the corridor’s security footage, and you’ll know.”

Susan was about to say more to Ye Ruoqing when Zhao Xin suddenly opened the door and walked in: “Ye Ruoqing, take me home.”