บท 22: Success
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Sun Qiming looked at Jiang Se now, there was no longer any contempt or judgment in his eyes. It was clear that she had landed the role.
Jiang Se felt relieved as well. She trotted up to him and shook his hand. Then, the short-haired lady who led her into the meeting room escorted her out.
"That was some performance." A smile appeared on the short-haired lady's beautiful face and her expression was more eager now.
"Brother Sun has seen the performance of several people earlier in the day. You're the first to be confirmed for a role."
"In that case, I'm really lucky."
Jiang Se chatted with her as she was led into another office to wait.
About six minutes later, another individual appeared.
This time, Jiang Se's character was a genuine supporting character with a few lines. Although it was not a major role, it was much better than the character that interacted with Gao Rong in "Rescue Mission".
Therefore, not only were two sets of contracts prepared. She was even given a script. The person brought the documents into the office.
"'Pretense to Reality' will most probably start filming on the 16th of June. The dates of your scenes will be determined as per the schedule…" The person who was explaining the schedule to her was a girl in a pink dress with her hair tied into a ponytail.
As she spoke, she glanced at Jiang Se's face occasionally, seeming distracted after a while.
"I'm sorry." She seemed to have noticed the distraction herself. She gave Jiang Se an apologetic smile. "However, we'll try our best to arrange the dates from the end of July to early September according to your availability."
The arrangement of the schedule was most probably determined with regard to the dates of the male and female leads.
Jiang Se knew that she was only a newcomer in the entertainment industry. Naturally, she had to adapt to the schedule of the more famous stars.
When the girl saw that Jiang Se did not seem to be having any qualms, she took out the contract and pushed it toward Jiang Se.
Jiang Se did not belong to any talent company, so she had to do everything herself.
When she took the contract, she did not flip through it casually and sign her name on it as the girl expected her to. Instead, she began reading it seriously.
For now, Jiang Se was the only one to succeed in Sun Qiming's audition. Therefore, the girl merely glanced at her watch and did not urge her on.
The contract was not long with only nine pages to it. Jiang Se went through the regulations listed in the contract and only nodded after confirming that there were no issues with it. She pushed the contract back toward the girl. "The payment isn't stated here."
"About that…" The girl in the pink dress looked up and gave Jiang Se a glance.
Despite the person sitting before her not being a first-rate celebrity in the entertainment industry, she was feeling the same invisible pressure.
Jiang Se said nothing while looking extremely young. Nevertheless, the girl in the pink dress could not help but reveal the highest pay set by the crew for the character of Miss Zhang.
"The highest we can offer is $7,500. That's $6,000 after taxes." She heaved a deep sigh and bit her lip. "As for the payment schedule, you'll get 30% first, and the rest later. If you're alright with this, I'll pay you the 30% in a while. When your scenes have been shot, you'll be paid the remaining 70%. Will there be a problem with this?"
Jiang Se noticed a slight change in her expression. She guessed that there was no room to negotiate this payment because the girl frowned slightly after telling her the details. She appeared to regret something.
However, this amount was much better than what Jiang Se initially expected. She nodded, picked up the pen, and signed on the line for the second party. "I'll give you my phone number later."
"Please do as soon as possible." The girl nodded. She produced a stamp and pressed it on the line for the first party. She put the contract away and seemed to have remembered something. "You're 18, aren't you?"
In Huaxia, a 16-year-old citizen could have a driver's license and have access to certain privileges, but from a legal perspective, a 16-year-old was not considered an adult with full autonomy of his or her life.
A person would have to be 18 years old to be free of their parents' custody.
If a person was under 18, their parents would have to be present for businesses such as signing contracts.
Neither could Jiang Se naturally allow Zhou Hui and Du Changqun to sign this contract on her behalf nor could she allow the remuneration to fall into another person's hands.
Jiang Se smiled as she looked at the girl. She remembered what she had written in the form. "Of course," she lied without batting an eyelid.
The girl did not suspect anything as she gathered the contracts and stood up. "In that case, follow me."
Jiang Se followed her around, went through some procedures, and finally got her cheque an hour later.
All sorts of feelings welled up within her as she held the cheque of $1,800. This was possibly the largest sum she had ever seen since she was reborn.
When she thought about the remaining 70% of the remuneration waiting for her when the filming was over, she glanced at the cheque again. Then, she folded it and stowed it away in her jeans pocket.
When she reemerged, she found many people gathered on the 13th floor where she had been waiting just now.
Besides every kind of beautiful girl, there were also a number of good-looking men.
When Jiang Se was escorted out by one of the crew members, many of the people gathered there turned toward her. Some were jealous while some were envious.
Everyone here was waiting in line to be auditioned. Jiang Se swept her gaze across the room but did not see Lu Baobao. Perhaps she would not be here today.
She went to the nearest bank to cash the cheque in and strolled around the area.
This was an area that she frequented before this. However, she did not know where she could find a shop selling cheap phones or where the nearest communications store was.
She spent half a day searching before she stumbled upon a shop selling old-version phones. She spent $300 on a phone with simple features, got herself a number, and loaded it with some credit. She was now left with slightly more than $1,600.
She was currently living with the Du family and there was no lock on her room door.
Judging by how Zhou Hui was able to access her room at any time, keeping this stash of money with her might land her in trouble, so she went into a bank and opened an account into which she deposited the $1,600. She kept several dozen with her as pocket money.
After leaving her phone number with the "Pretense to Reality" crew, Jiang Se went back to her house and waited patiently for a notification from the National College Entrance Examination.
She went back to the school on the 17th to confirm the details on her application form. When the teacher-in-charge saw that she had chosen the First Imperial Academy, she merely frowned and told her to think it through.
After all, this was an important matter in her life. It was true that Jiang Se's attitude toward her studies had changed a lot compared to before. Judging from their most recent monthly test, she did show notable improvements in several subjects. However, with her current performance, even if she burned the midnight oil, entering the imperial capital's first-rate university was still a far-fetched dream for her.
When the teacher-in-charge saw that Jiang Se showed no signs of changing her choice after her attempt to persuade her, she wasted no more words.
She was convinced that Jiang Se was merely going with the flow and was not aware of her true talents. She thought that the younger girl must have picked the First Imperial Academy out of vanity.
Having taught "Jiang Se" for many years, the teacher-in-charge knew something about her character.
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