Chapter 34
Chapter 34
“Miss Lu Yao, I’m Zhou Yan, the new assistant Mr. Zheng arranged for you.”
The woman speaking was in her thirties, with pleasant features, neat clothes, and understated makeup.
Lu Yao instinctively said, “I told Brother Zheng that I don’t need another assistant.”
Zhou Yan calmly explained, “You may have misunderstood. I’m not here to replace Miss Zhu Yin. I’ll serve as her deputy.”
“Miss Zhu Yin hasn’t worked in the entertainment industry before and isn’t familiar with many things. I’ll arrange and manage those matters for you.”
Lu Yao looked at Zhu Yin, who told her not to refuse. “She’s right. There are many things I’m not good at. It’s better to let a professional handle them.”
That brat Zheng Yushu had at least learned to behave.
Zhou Yan stayed. No one in the production found it unusual for Lu Yao to gain another assistant. Many artists had more than one, and for a newcomer Landi was strongly promoting, her previous situation had been the truly abnormal one.
The assistant Zheng Yushu sent after being forced to behave himself was certainly capable and professional. On the very day Zhou Yan arrived, she treated the entire production to afternoon tea. Lu Yao had no idea how she managed it, but in the span of an afternoon, she became at least casually acquainted with the other staff.
When filming ended that day, several Landi Entertainment artists who had previously ignored Lu Yao came over of their own accord and invited her to rehearse lines together that evening.
Their tones were warm and intimate, as though they had always liked Lu Yao and their previous coldness and neglect had never existed.
In addition, Zhou Yan prepared a detailed schedule for Lu Yao. It covered everything from whether her daily outfits were appropriate to whether her meals were balanced and nutritious. Zhou Yan also hired a posture coach for her and arranged a street-style photo shoot for Sunday…
Lu Yao no longer needed to divide her attention among anything else. She could focus entirely on acting.
The other people on set seemed to sense a change with Zhou Yan’s arrival. Not only the Landi Entertainment artists, but the other actors also smiled more often when they faced Lu Yao. After rehearsing scenes with her, some even voluntarily shared small techniques they used to improve their acting.
All at once, it seemed as if the entire world had offered Lu Yao its kindness.
She was not happy about it.
That evening, she sat with Zhu Yin on the balcony and watched the stars.
“I may have been drunk,” Lu Yao said, “but I remember it clearly. The night sky was this bright on the night you arrived too.”
Zhu Yin examined it closely, then declared with confidence, “No. It was a little brighter.”
The remark lifted Lu Yao’s gloomy mood slightly, but she suddenly let out a melancholy sigh.
Zhu Yin watched her quietly and waited for her to speak.
Under that attentive gaze, Lu Yao’s confusion and hurt abruptly burst free.
Her nose stung. She lowered her head for a long while before saying in a muffled voice, “Look. Sister Yan has only been here a few days, but my situation on set is already like night and day.”
“Only after she arrived did I learn how many things an assistant is supposed to do. So many things don’t require me to worry at all. I only need to study the script and play my role well…”
She rambled for a long time, her voice sinking lower and lower.
Another long silence passed before she asked softly, “So what happened with Bolun and Wenwen?”
One truly professional assistant would have been enough to handle every difficulty she had faced. Would Zheng Yushu, the trusted boy next door who had risen to Landi’s upper management, not have known that?
She did not want to suspect him, but the truth lay before her, far too obvious to ignore.
“You already know the answer, don’t you?” Zhu Yin did not offer comforting platitudes.
She delivered the verdict. “Your neighbor–your manager–is an incompetent bastard who only knows how to make himself sound good.”
“…Pfft.” That single word, bastard, dispersed the gloom filling Lu Yao’s heart.
Still sad yet wanting to laugh, she said, “Zhu Yin, how do you always manage to make me laugh at exactly the right moment?”
Zhu Yin answered solemnly, “Perhaps I was born to bring joy?”
The young woman laughed again. After a while, she seemed to grow cold in the night breeze. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she said uncertainly, “I signed a five-year contract with Landi. I’ve been wondering whether I’m truly suited to being an actress.”
She had not felt this lost even when the people on set isolated and ignored her.
But over the course of a few short days, she had watched the people who once ignored her or mocked her in private laugh and chat with her, showing her every consideration without the slightest awkwardness or discomfort. That frightened her instead.
Could people truly be so hypocritical and fickle?
Fwoosh!
A soft sound suddenly reached her ear, and Lu Yao’s eyes flew open.
A tiny flame had appeared before her. No larger than a finger, it nevertheless radiated brilliant golden light and intense warmth.
She could not resist reaching out to touch it. It was warm, but did not burn.
Lu Yao looked at Zhu Yin in delight. Zhu Yin said smugly, “Not cold anymore, are you?”
Lu Yao shook her head and carefully cupped the flame.
Zhu Yin tapped a finger toward her forehead through the air. “What are you thinking about in that head of yours? Whether you’re suited to acting and whether you can continue–is that for other people to decide?”
“Wrong. Your own talent decides it.”
“What do other people have to do with you?”
Lu Yao stared at her with wide, unblinking eyes.
The heavenly visitor who had answered her wish looked, in the golden firelight, like a goddess gazing with compassion upon a mortal.
“You only need to ask yourself whether you love acting and whether you enjoy the splendor of having every eye upon you.”
Lu Yao nodded dazedly.
Of course she loved it. Otherwise, she would never have abandoned the ordinary but perfectly suitable and secure path her family arranged and plunged headfirst into this one.
“Then enjoy all of it,” her goddess told her.