Cui Xing had many followers on Twitter. His recent tweets were related to "The 99th Love Letter" while his latest tweet was a photo of him and the female lead, Zhu Pan, in character.
Although Jiang Se had been on set that day, she had yet to meet the lead actress, Zhu Pan.
Cui Xing's photo was aesthetic. His head was lowered, and he appeared to be shy. After some editing, the picture had a refreshing feel to it. The main female character, portrayed by Zhu Pan, was looking at him as if he meant the world to her.
The photo of them looking into each other's eyes sparked a flurry of comments from the fans. Besides expressing their anticipation of the film hitting the theatres in January next year, to Jiang Se's surprise, there were mentions of her character. In fact, there were quite a number of mentions.
A Cloud That Drifts Without A Resting Place: [I can't wait for the actual movie to come out just by looking at this photo of Brother Xing and Panpan. However, I'm also curious about the rearview goddess. Who is the person that has managed to captivate my great Brother Xing's heart?]
It was clear that there were many others asking similar questions. Jiang Se scrolled down and saw another comment.
[Panpan's looks are already a cut above many of her peers. I wonder what kind of rearview goddess is capable of mesmerizing my god without even showing her face and caused Panpan to endure her unrequited love for many years before it came to fruition in the movie.]
That comment resonated with many other users. Most of the others shared similar views.
[I agree. Usually, those portraying an otherworldly beauty aren't all that in real life.]
There were also fans of Cui Xing and Zhu Pan who clearly did not think much about Jiang Se's character. They began to attack her.
[Too many people don't know their own capabilities in the entertainment industry. The number of the current famous actresses with looks that surpasses Panpan can be counted with one hand. Don't get me started on the third-rate small-time stars. They're all freak accidents of cosmetic procedures. I hope that Director Zhao didn't randomly pick a person off the street for this role just because her face won't be seen. That'll degrade the film's quality for sure. When this rearview goddess appears, I'll just close my eyes and wait until the scene passes.]
Angela: [I'm skeptical about the production team's capability of finding a goddess that everyone can accept. If this so-called goddess can't even captivate us, she won't be able to captivate Brother Xing in the movies—not even in her wildest dreams.]
The production team had leaked some of the film's story from the start. Also, they were skilled in leveraging the audience's curiosity. They turned this "rearview goddess" into a hot topic to attract the audience's attention, and the publicity stunt was quite successful.
Throughout Jiang Se's scrolling of Cui Xing's Twitter, the comments that mentioned him and Zhu Pan were just the minority. Most of the commenters were focused on the rearview goddess.
She had been scrolling through it for half a day. Most of the comments she saw were doubts about her abilities. They were just waiting to unleash more snide remarks once the identity of the actress Zhao Rang picked for this character was revealed. Jiang Se was not angered though. She smiled and scrolled through the Twitter page some more.
Then, she searched for the three films which she had been involved in.
Zhang Jingan's and Gu Jiaer's films were still in progress. They were not like "The 99th Love Letter" which was nearing completion. Therefore, although there was some information about them online, there was not much.
Most of the results were photos that the reporters had captured when they had visited the set. Furthermore, the pictures were not clear.
In comparison, Zhao Rang had ordered many of the film's photos to be released beforehand and they created a wave online.
However, the crowd of these users who learned about the film through these leaks were all skeptical about the looks of the actress who portrayed this rearview goddess. The production team did not offer much explanation on this. Instead, they maintained a peculiar silence.
This situation made more fans feel more anxious by the day. Many of them commented on the Weibo accounts of Zhao Rang and members of the crew. They pressured them to give them more information about the film so that they would feel relieved.
Jiang Se browsed through them for a while and soon felt bored, so she closed the page.
It was getting late. She stood up and caressed her stomach as she went to her kitchen with a slight feeling of helplessness.
She had bought some simple cooking utensils for her kitchen. She even spent slightly more than $100 on a small electric rice cooker.
However, she had never cooked a day in her life. She studied the manual for a long time before carefully adding water to the rice and closing the lid of the cooker.
She had also bought a pack of cold dishes on discount from the supermarket. That should last her for a while.
Half an hour later, the rice was cooked. Although she had cooked it with slightly too much water, and it nearly turned into porridge, it was fortunately still edible.
Compared to her life with the Du family, living on her own felt much better as she expected.
She initially wanted to look for a character to audition for. However, she was not signed to any talent management company, thus she could not find any good opportunities for now. Although she could land some background actor role, the pay was too low for her liking. For Jiang Se in her current situation, the meager pay would never satisfy her needs.
She was looking at the phone number the script supervisor, Li Yi, had given her on the "Pretense to Reality" set. She initially intended to bolden herself and call to ask if there were any available roles. To her surprise, in mid-August, "The 99th Love Letter" production team had transferred the remaining $28,000 remuneration into her bank account.
This relieved her financial pressure immediately. Her account balance was now more than $30,000.
She did not have to worry about food or drink. She paid the two months' rent and the deposit she owed to the landlord. There were still nearly $30,000 in her bank card.
With this amount of money, she naturally did not have to rush to join the filming of another film. The beginning of the semester soon came around.
She picked History as her major. In the First Academy, literature, history, and philosophy were unpopular majors because the career prospects were not as great as the other majors. However, the minimum requirements were low and the chances of getting accepted were high.
Jiang Se did not have enough time to do her revision after her rebirth. In the beginning, she did not have complete confidence in getting accepted by the First Academy, hence she chose an unpopular major. As a result, she was accepted by the First Academy.
Among the literature courses, she had studied the languages of Huaxia. Back then, she did not have any pressure to look for a job as Feng Nan. Naturally, she chose a major that she was interested in.
The Fengs did not require her to inherit the family business in the future. The family's only expectation of her was for her to have a decent academic qualification to prove that she was not an empty vase. This way, she would still have some dignity even if her marriage was for alliance purposes. Naturally, the family did not meddle in her studies.
This time, she chose a History major. Although it was an unpopular career choice, her recent experience piqued her interest to enter the entertainment industry. Gu Jiaer's and Zhao Rang's words had changed her previously biased views on the entertainment industry.
Up until now, all three films she had been involved in did not give her any negative impression about the industry. Instead, Cui Xing's acting skills had moved her deeply.
On top of that, the Feng family's "Feng Nan" was also interested in entering the entertainment industry. Because of this, Jiang Se had the urge to investigate her secretly.
If there were no other accidents, it was highly probable that she would continue to live on as Jiang Se. Since the income from the entertainment industry was much higher than that of a regular office job, establishing a career in the entertainment industry was enough to guarantee her a high quality of life. So, when it came to choosing her major, she chose something that she liked which was History. It was also less stressful compared to other majors.
The First Academy's History course had a longstanding record. It was prestigious both locally and internationally.
Many classical elements were preserved on campus which added dense cultural flavor to the surroundings. Professors with books in their hands could be seen walking throughout campus. There were also students who had arrived a few days before the semester began.
Jiang Se appreciated this kind of atmosphere. The person who welcomed the freshmen was a lanky man in a sky blue shirt. Perhaps because of the low number of people who applied for History in the First Academy and the fact that there were even fewer girls, when the man saw Jiang Se, he pushed his spectacles higher and raised his head. He found it difficult to pry his eyes away from her.
Many of the freshmen looked young and inexperienced with most of them not knowing how to dress themselves up yet. Someone as beautiful as Jiang Se was rare.
The man was staring at her with unblinking eyes. He managed to snap back to the present after she called out to him several times. His face turned red very quickly.
Several seniors gathered over and passionately offered to help Jiang Se get registered.
Although she had attended college before, the Feng family had naturally taken care of the procedures for her when she had been Feng Nan, so she did not have to come to the school herself.
Fortunately, she had most of the things she needed with her. Photocopies of her census register and the other supporting documents were all prepared in her file. Jiang Se was stunned when she proceeded to pay the fees because the academy required them to stay on-campus.
The guys, who had gathered around Jiang Se, did not leave even though they had been largely ignored by her. When they saw her frowning slightly, one of them gave her a suggestion in an undertone, "All you have to do is to pay for the dorms. The academy won't be strict about checking the rooms. You can live outside if you want to. The academy won't care about it in the second half of the semester."
However, they had to undergo military training in the first half of the semester. They would all be subjected to the same treatment. She could not run away from it even if she wanted to.
Jiang Se recalled that she had never stayed on-campus before and had never experienced military training. However, she also remembered that Feng Zhongliang had his connections in the imperial capital, so her questions were answered.
The tuition fee was lower than Jiang Se expected at less than $7,000. In addition to the $2,000 for the dorms, she now had a balance of $18,000 in her account.
She bought some toiletries and dealt with the necessary procedures before gently refusing the offer of some of the boys to send her to her dorm. Then, she took her things and went to her dorm after following the directions that were given to her.
Nevertheless, some guys did not give up. They followed her from a distance.
The news that a beautiful freshman had joined the History course spread throughout the campus forum in less than half an hour like wildfire.
Someone managed to take a photo of Jiang Se from the side. It was taken when she was lowering her head to fill in the forms.
She did not notice when her picture was taken as she was focused on filling the forms. In the photo, she had flawless, snow-white skin. Her dark, long hair was tied into a neat ponytail. She sported the simple hairstyle without much flair.
She was looking at the information sheets before herself with a focused look as if she had blocked out the hubbub of the campus. Even though the phone camera did not produce a photo with a quality comparable to professional cameras, her long and thick eyelashes were still apparent.
Her side profile that was captured on camera had charming curves. Neither did she have any ear piercings nor did she wear any accessories. It was also apparent that she did not put any makeup on. However, when her photo was uploaded onto the forum, it was swiftly pinned to the top.
Little Zhang of History: [Goddess alert! She's a freshman in the History course. Can you hear my heart beating for her? I was there to greet her when she arrived. My knees went weak when she looked at me. She had the best temperament ever!]
When he posted the photo, it attracted the attention of many of the forum users.
Mister Huang of Economics: [That's impossible! To think that such a beauty belongs to the History course? If that's not a product of plastic surgery, you're in luck!]
H.U. Hu of Psychology: [Ahhh, she's beautiful enough to defeat the art school's Zhou Ying in an instant with one side of her face alone!]
History Course Freshman: [I'm envious of that form that she's staring intently at. I want to be that piece of paper…]
Philosophy Old-timer: [Envious +1…]
H.U. Hu of Psychology: [Envious +2…]
Big Bao of History: [Envious +3…"]
…
Mister Ma of Archaeology: [Do you have any more photos of her? Have you collected all the information from the freshmen?]
Philosophy Old-Timer: [As expected of Mister Ma.]
Mister Huang of Economics: [Old Ma +1.]
…
Little Zhang of History: [The goddess has a good temperament and beauty. Zhou Ying of the art school can't even compare to her. I wanted to help her out to bring her stuff to the dorms, but I was rejected…]
…
Jiang Se did not know that there was such a hot discussion on the academy forum. She had registered earlier than the stipulated date, so nobody was in the dorm yet when she went in.
The dorms of the First Imperial Academy were not that bad. Four freshmen shared one room. Each room had its own shower, but there was no water heater or air conditioner.
She roughly cleaned her newly bought belongings and placed them on the lower bunk to her left. Soon after that, her roommates entered the room.
They were all freshmen. One of them was a native of the imperial capital just like Jiang Se. Her name was Yu Xiaozhou. Her two other roommates came from the south. They were Chen Yuwei and Cao Shuang.
They did not know each other that well in the beginning, but the three of them stared at Jiang Se.
Jiang Se's elegant temperament, especially among the girls, made it difficult for the others to approach her. However, she was so beautiful, and the other girls could not help but find themselves attracted to her.
After a round of self-introductions, the awkwardness faded.
Jiang Se's roommates were all 18 years old. They were at the prime of their cuteness and liveliness. After settling down in their own spots, Yu Xiaozhou suggested, "We'll be seeing a lot of each other from now. Why don't we go out for a nice dinner tonight?"
The other two roommates immediately agreed to her suggestion. Jiang Se did not have anything urgent to do for now, so she nodded.
Classes had not yet begun, but the cafeteria was already selling food. However, Yu Xiaozhou gave them a wink. "There are many shops outside the school. We can take a walk around the area after our meal later."
Cao Shuang and Chen Yuwei were naturally excited at the idea of this and they agreed. The two of them had just entered college, and this was their first day. Everything seemed fresh and exciting to them.
There were indeed many shops outside the academy. Fashion and accessories shops that catered to the students' budget could be found everywhere. The girls seemed reluctant to leave the shops after they went in.
Jiang Se was not overly interested in such things. Since these goods were sold at cheap prices, their workmanship would naturally be of low quality. However, her roommates could not stop shopping. They left with their hands full of bags.
Yu Xiaozhou suddenly remembered something. She carried her bags and blurted out with the question, "Oh yeah, are we starting military training on the 23rd?"
The girls had clearly undergone military training during their high school days. When they remembered the hardships of military training, their faces dropped.
When Yu Xiaozhou saw that her statement had successfully scared the two young girls, she shared what she learned online with some satisfaction. "I've searched about it online. The First Academy's military training is usually held in the military base nearby. The instructors were officers stationed in the western region of the imperial capital.
"It's said that many of the officers there wield some sort of influence. That's how they got themselves stationed in the capital."
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