Rebirth: I Am the Wealthy Family (GL) - Chapter 33

Chen Qianyǔ also subconsciously turned her head and saw Gu Míngzhū still standing there, smiling, her complexion as pale as ever. At this moment, Lǎng Yuè seemed to be completely sobered up from her drink. Seeing Gu Míngzhū standing there, she suddenly shouted to Lín Bùdòng, who was standing not far away: “Senior Brother Lín, wait for me! I have something to tell you. Qianyǔ, I’m leaving first.” With that, she quickened her steps to catch up, and then walked away with Lín Bùdòng. Meanwhile, Ā Hé remained by Chen Qianyǔ’s side, watching Gu Míngzhū with great caution. They were on the verge of knowing the truth, but the appearance of Gu Míngzhū broke the deadlock, making Ā Hé quite angry.

“Director Gu, why do you seem very familiar with Lǎng Yuè? I never knew you were so well acquainted with Lǎng Yuè?” Ā Hé questioned Gu Míngzhū impolitely. His position was the same as Chen Qianyǔ’s at this moment: Gu Míngzhū’s appearance seemed to be covering up some so-called truth. And that truth was what he and Chen Qianyǔ had been searching for all along.

“Ā Hé, whether I am familiar with Lǎng Yuè or not, it’s not time for me to report it to you, is it? By the way, what were you two talking about just now? Did I interrupt you?”

Gu Míngzhū asked impassively, feigning complete ignorance of what was happening. At that moment, she stood with her arms crossed in the hotel corridor. There was no one else around except Gu Míngzhū, Chen Qianyǔ, and Ā Hé. The three of them were in a stalemate.

“Ā Hé, let’s go. Director Gu, it’s getting late. You aren’t well; you should rest early. Ā Hé, you go back and rest too.”

Finally, Chen Qianyǔ glanced at Ā Hé, signaling him not to speak. Then she walked toward her room without looking back, but her hand was tightly clenched. Gu Míngzhū’s appearance today was too coincidental. If she hadn’t shown up, would Lǎng Yuè have spoken the truth?

After returning to the room, Ā Hé did not leave. “Ā Hé, when did Lǎng Yuè start being with my sister? Could she possibly be the murderer, or is she helping the murderer…” Chen Qianyǔ had begun to suspect Lǎng Yuè, as Lǎng Yuè’s words today were simply too strange.

“No, Lǎng Yuè is unlikely. She has no reason to harm your sister. There is nothing suspicious about Lǎng Yuè’s background. She was a student at the technical college, your sister’s exclusive makeup artist, and her family background is not bad. You’ve also seen that her personality is quite lively. Your sister had a very good relationship with her when she was alive, and they had known each other for at least ten years. Even if I were the murderer, it couldn’t be Lǎng Yuè. So Qianyǔ, don’t suspect Lǎng Yuè. Maybe this time Lǎng Yuè was truly drunk, and what she said was just nonsense. You should get some rest now, and don’t think about these things for the time being.”

Ā Hé looked at his watch. It was already two in the morning. It was indeed late. Chen Qianyǔ had a packed schedule for the next day and couldn’t afford to lose any rest time over this vague matter.

“No, Ā Hé, I must investigate this thoroughly, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. By the way, do you think Director Gu knows something? I always feel like Director Gu is so mysterious. It’s as if she’s always by my side. She appears when she should, and she appears when she shouldn’t. I truly can’t figure this person out. Before, she was constantly helping me, but sometimes I feel she’s not helping me. She seems perpetually contradictory, an extremely contradictory person.”

“Director Gu is an unfathomable person. As for whether she knows anything… she only woke up after your sister’s accident, so she shouldn’t be involved in this matter. Most importantly, your sister and she never had any contact. Qianyǔ, stop thinking about these things and get some rest. Huh, that’s strange, where did Ān Xī go? Aren’t you two living together?” Ā Hé scanned the room. It was already two in the morning, and Ān Xī was surprisingly not in the room.

Chen Qianyǔ also looked around the room and indeed found no trace of Ān Xī. Just as she was about to continue talking to Ā Hé, the door opened, and Ān Xī returned, covered in sweat, with a towel draped around her neck. She saw that both Ā Hé and Chen Qianyǔ were there.

“Oh, you’re back. I thought you weren’t coming back to sleep tonight?”

Seeing that Ān Xī had returned, Ā Hé felt he should leave. He nodded to Chen Qianyǔ and said, “Qianyǔ, I’ll go now. You get some rest. Ān Xī, you rest early too. Good night to you both!” After speaking, he left the room and firmly closed the door.

“I didn’t expect that. Your manager is quite concerned about you. He’s totally different from mine. Look, mine is someone you never see all day, except for managing my money and securing roles. He never interacts with me privately.” Ān Xī smiled coldly. Then she took off the towel, wiped away some sweat, and went to find clothes, preparing to take a hot shower.

“Qianyǔ, are you going to shower now? If not, I’ll go first.”

Chen Qianyǔ was still intently thinking about what Lǎng Yuè had said tonight and didn’t hear Ān Xī. Seeing that she didn’t reply, Ān Xī was a little annoyed. She immediately took her clothes and went to the bathroom to shower. When she returned and saw Chen Qianyǔ still sitting there as before, she found it very strange. She looked at Chen Qianyǔ with a puzzled expression.

“Chen Qianyǔ, Qianyǔ, Chen Qianyǔ…”

Ān Xī deliberately raised her voice, shouting at Chen Qianyǔ. This finally startled Chen Qianyǔ. She realized Ān Xī was calling her and quickly turned her head to look at Ān Xī, who was standing not far behind her, wiping her hair with a towel.

“Ān Xī, is something wrong?” Chen Qianyǔ subconsciously looked at Ān Xī’s wet hair and asked again, “Do you need a hairdryer? I have one here. Shall I get it for you now?” With that, she stood up, ready to fetch the hairdryer.

“No need. My hair quality isn’t great, and I can’t just casually blow-dry my hair. You should know that I have four endorsements for hair care products. I can’t ruin this hair. If it weren’t for the extremely tight schedule, I wouldn’t even use this water to wash my hair. I should at least soak it in milk to nourish it.”

Ān Xī carried quite a few endorsements. As a spokesperson, she had to constantly pay attention to her appearance. For example, her hair must always be black and look new, without the slightest flaw. Otherwise, the advertisers aren’t fools and would definitely cause trouble for her. To avoid unnecessary hassle, she was very proactive about maintaining her image. It was better to let her hair air dry naturally, and using a hairdryer was undoubtedly quite damaging to the hair. Ān Xī resolutely chose not to use it.

“Oh, where did you go just now? It’s so late. I thought you were asleep.” Although Chen Qianyǔ was preoccupied, she didn’t want Ān Xī to notice anything. Ān Xī seemed uninterested in her worries. She glanced at her indifferently and began to apply a face mask.

“Me? I went out to practice dancing. I found the soundproofing here to be terrible, and this is a star-rated hotel? I had only practiced for a while when someone knocked on the door and warned me, so I had to find another place to practice.” Ān Xī felt particularly angry whenever she thought about what had just happened.

“Practice dancing? You went out to practice for four hours?”

“Wrong, it was five hours. I’ll be holding a concert at the Taipei Arena next month, so I can’t slack off. I’m different from you. You only need to focus on acting, but I can’t. You know? I am an all-around talent who develops comprehensively. The saying ‘those who excel in acting also sing well’ illustrates this point. In fact, you should also think about it. Is it possible to transition? But it seems you don’t have much talent in other areas. I honestly admit that you are a very dedicated and hard-working actress, but people in the entertainment industry still need some talent, or you’ll end up like my brother-in-law, who’s only a second-tier celebrity even now.” Ān Xī was still very blunt, but from her expression, it was evident that she greatly admired her brother-in-law.

Chen Qianyǔ smiled slightly: “That’s different. In this world, many things don’t guarantee results just because you work hard. Whether an actor becomes popular depends on opportunity. Sometimes your acting skills are average, but you encounter a good script, and you can still become very popular. This is not uncommon in the entertainment industry.”

In the current entertainment industry, as long as you have a pretty face, it’s the same for both male and female celebrities. If the management company decides to promote you, you will naturally become popular. Although you, Chen Qianyǔ, haven’t been in the industry for long, you have already discovered some of the unwritten rules of the entertainment world.

“Heh heh, maybe. Those actors who use their looks to please the audience can only be popular for a while. The entertainment industry is never short of actors who become popular overnight, but it’s also not short of actors who become popular overnight and then fade away. Sustained popularity is the key. Those actors you mentioned who rely on their looks and have no acting skills will be eliminated sooner or later. Otherwise, why was Fēng Tíngtíng so easily blacklisted by Director Gu? Do you think Director Gu is really that powerful?” Ān Xī paused for a moment: “Admittedly, Director Gu might have played a part, but I’m telling you, the root cause is actually Fēng Tíngtíng herself. She only has one face, and that’s all she has left. People like that are easily replaced. Nowadays, any student from an acting school, coupled with how advanced plastic surgery is, being pretty isn’t enough to guarantee popularity.” After saying this, Ān Xī went to wash her face, and Chen Qianyǔ looked at her watch; it was almost three o’clock.

She also went to wash up and rest, but Lǎng Yuè’s drunken words from today still weighed heavily on her mind.

“What? Are you planning to sleep now? I was just about to ask you to go over our lines. We have a scene together tomorrow.” Ān Xī looked at Chen Qianyǔ, who was already lying on the bed and preparing to sleep, with a look of surprise. Chen Qianyǔ also looked at Ān Xī: “It’s already so late?”

“Is now late? It’s only three o’clock. Chen Qianyǔ, why do I think you’re different from the rumors? The rumors say you’re a workaholic, yet you have two drama contracts and dare to go to bed this early. Have you memorized all your lines and figured out your character thoroughly? Don’t you need to rehearse your scenes?”

Ān Xī asked in confusion. For many actors, finishing work for the day doesn’t mean they’re done. There’s a lot of private work to do: memorizing lines, studying the character, immersing in the context, and even visualizing the performance. These are all tasks that need to be done after wrapping up. However, these activities seemed absent from Chen Qianyǔ, who was supposedly a veteran actress.

And it seemed Chen Qianyǔ was now aware of this issue.

“Before, I was… a workaholic…?”