Capítulo 20: Turning the Tables

It had only been three days since the shareholders' meeting where she had resumed working for Li Corporation and Li Xiuying was already having a hard time to keep up on her tight schedule. Her assistant, Hou Chen, couldn't force her to delay the important appointments and meetings she had on her schedule.

Li Xiuying removed her coat and slumped on the couch inside the penthouse she was temporarily staying in. Song Zexi started to prepare her dinner while Su Ling reviewed the security surveillance of the penthouse while they were gone.

Her phone rang and she picked it up on the second ring. She smiled a little seeing Lan Jinyao's name on the screen.

"Lan Jinyao, is there a problem for you to call me this late?" She asked playfully.

"Oh, no. Not a single problem since this morning!" Lan Jinyao said gleefully on the other line and then in a low voice she asked Li Xiuying, "Sister Ying, how did you do it? The script changed again and this time we have a new director on the set. I heard that the producer fired Director Yao last night."

Lan Jinyao had self-proclaimed to be Li Xiuying's confidante and wingwoman from now on, reporting everything she'd see or hear with regard to Lin Meirong who had destroyed her Sister Ying's marriage.

It's been a month since the filming began and because the producer wanted to finish filming before the next season arrived, the filming schedule was very tight.

When Lan Jinyao and Lin Meirong entered the meeting room, the assistant director came to them and handed them a new script. He said that there were changes again and wanted them to familiarize with the new script.

As they looked through the script, she and Lin Meirong realized that the second lead's scenes had decreased tremendously and the number of Lan Jinyao's scenes had increased.

It was almost impossible to change the scripts once the filming started but Lan Jinyao was left flabbergasted when she received a new copy of the script with Lin Meirong getting less screen time than the original script.

Lan Jinyao suddenly remembered that Li Xiuying had promised to take care of her from now on and would be the one to deal with the pervert director who tried to molest her. She just didn't expect that Li Xiuying was influential enough for Director Yao to lose his position in the film.

She had enjoyed seeing how Lin Meirong's face turned from white to red almost instantaneously when she found out about the change of plans. She left the meeting room in haste and threw a fit on her dressing room cursing and blaming Lan Jinyao for it.

"How did I do it? It's really child's play if you ask me, Miss Lan. Who do you think the producer will favor? An unknown investor who couldn't assure his investment, or me, the CEO of Li Corporation?"

Mu Jianyu had been using a third party to sponsor Lin Meirong's career but because she was the CEO of the Li Corporation, obviously the producer would want to earn favors from the Li family.

With Li Xiuying investing on the film, it would seem that she was supporting her Aunt Yue's starring film after her retirement from the industry when in reality, she was giving Lan Jinyao a boost while suppressing the mistress's chances.

The film should originally show and focus on the female lead's growth and persistence because the producer and the scriptwriter was hoping that Lan Jinyao would be able to secure a nomination and could win the best new actress award this year.

However, when Mu Jianyu started showing support on Lin Meirong. The producer was worried that he would pull out the funds if they didn't give her more screen time than the female lead which was Lan Jinyao.

It also didn't help that they were starting to get short of funds to complete the film and wouldn't be able to find another sponsor that could help them and Lan Jinyao.

Lan Jinyao, afterall was a C-list actress who was really talented and hardworking but, with Xi Shaohua's interference, she was having a hard time making a name for herself and couldn't get a starring role.

However, none of them had expected that this Lan Jinyao was able to find a strong backing in such a short time. Who was Li Xiuying anyway? She was a Li princess and one of the two treasures of the Li family.

When the producer and the scriptwriter met Song Zexi and was told of Li Xiuying's intention to fund the film for Zheng Yue's sake, they were over the moon. However, Song Zexi laid out three conditions and these were to pull out the second lead's sponsorship, replacing Director Yao and grooming Lan Jinyao's role in return.

The producer didn't need to think twice and agreed with the condition. How could Lin Meirong's sponsor compare to Li Xiuying who was able to give them three times the amount of funds Mu Jianyu could give them?

And just like that, Mu Jianyu and Lin Meirong were slapped back in their faces, they couldn't easily bully Lan Jinyao. Throughout the day, Lan Jinyao and Lin Meirong filmed accordingly based on the new script. Lin Meirong didn't say anything but her scowling face had told everyone that she was pissed off with the sudden changes.

"So how's your day? Did Lin Meirong give you a hard time on the set today?" Li Xiuying asked while whispering her thanks to Song Zexi as the latter placed a warm drink in front of her.

"It's pretty good," Lan Jinyao responded. She was ecstatic that she was able to act all the scenes in one take without a problem. "I have a lot of scenes to take from now on but I'll do my best!"

"Then that's great, Miss Lan. Do your best and I'm sure you'll be one step closer to becoming the next film empress," Li Xiuying chuckled. She could imagine Lan Jinyao's cheeks burning from embarrassment from her remark. She found it endearing that someone like Lan Jinyao who had a very blunt personality could easily blush under such rare circumstances.

It was rare for Li Xiuying to have a friendly chit chat with someone she barely knows. If it was her twin sister, she was sure Li Chuntao's guard would be up. However, Li Xiuying believed that Lan Jinyao was a good person despite her parentage.

Lan Jinyao might be naive to offer herself to be used against Lin Meirong and Li Xiuying half-regretted her decision to drag her into her own problems. She could only try to assure that Lan Jinyao wouldn't fall on any schemes or won't be put in danger as long as she was under her wing.

"Don't say that so casually, Sister Ying," she heard Lan Jinyao huffed at the other end as if she was embarrassed from what she said, "I'm far from becoming the next film empress but I have to thank you for making the path easier for me." She paused and Li Xiuying heard her take a deep breath.

"If there's truly a day I would reach the peak and become the film empress, Sister Ying, it's all because of you. You have made the impossible possible."

REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES
anjeeriku

For readers who accompanied me from PS to LMD to LMW, I'm pretty sure you alredy have a gist how I write my novels and hope that you'll trust me as the story continues. One thing for sure, I hate readers who think that they can demand something from me, like I owe them some explanation why a character acts like that etc... and assume I can write my chapters out from nowhere without exerting effort. One of the reasons why I write because it somehow help me pay my bills, not to get your f*cking approval. :)

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