Chương 58: Headlines
Biên tập viên: EndlessFantasy Translation
Although this could have turned out to be a scandalous event that affected the film's reputation right when the production was completed, it was fortunate that the media had put their own twist on things and there had been no mention about Yao Xiang's attempted vile act. Therefore, the production team was not overly affected by this.
On the contrary, the people grew more curious about Jiang Se as the days went by. Gu Jiaer's Weibo page was bombarded with comments asking him about the truth behind the incident.
Jiang Se noticed that Gu Jiaer did update his Weibo, but he did not address the netizens' questions directly. This made them all the more curious about the matter.
Somebody asked if the production team had been hiding an actress whose beauty surpassed Zhao Ruoyun's. He merely posted a smiling emoji and replied, "You'll find out in the cinemas."
Naturally, this comment stirred more netizens into restlessness. They pestered him with questions asking if "Pretense to Reality" would be aired during the summer vacation next year.
Naturally, many of Zhao Ruoyun's fans were convinced that this was merely a publicity stunt the production team pulled. They would not believe that there was another actress who was more beautiful than Zhao Ruoyun.
Jiang Se scrolled through the comments for a while longer. She found that the incident was not dying down at all. In fact, it seemed to be picking up heat.
Many curious netizens started guessing about the alleged victim, producer Yao Xiang's identity. Some of the reporters even sneaked into the hospital and tried to interview some of the doctors there.
Yao Xiang was in bad shape. His rib bones were broken, and he showed signs of concussion. He would have to be hospitalized and observed for now.
Although things were quite serious, Jiang Se was not worried. It was too easy for the Pei family to make this go away with their resources.
When she looked at the time, it was already eleven. She switched off her computer, blew dry her hair, and went to bed. When she reached for her phone to switch it off, her old phone rang.
It was a member of the "Pretense to Reality" production team. The crew member was vaguely trying to find out about Pei Yi and Nie Dan's identities from her.
News reports about this incident were getting serious online. The production team must have been worried that things might take a turn for the worse for them, so they were trying to get their stories straight even if they had to work through the night.
However, the production team had no way of establishing the identities of the assailants. When the production team reached out to the hotel management to request the security camera footage, the latter had told them that the police had taken the footage away.
Gu Jiaer had been in the industry for many years. Naturally, he had his connections. On top of that, the production team did not want to let the entire incident blow up in their face. Therefore, they were coming up with a plan to retrieve the footage.
However, the police seemed to be under pressure by someone else. Gu Jiaer and the major investors of "Pretense to Reality" production team tried everything they could, yet they could not get their hands on the footage.
By this time, the production team could naturally guess that Pei Yi and Nie Dan, the duo who beat Yao Xiang up, had come from unordinary backgrounds.
When the crew member could get nothing out of Jiang Se, he had no choice but to let the matter go. At the end of the call, he vaguely instructed her to not contact any entertainment media outlets to hype this up. He told her to wait for this matter to die down.
In truth, the crew member who made the call did not think that Jiang Se would agree to this request before he brought it up.
After all, Jiang Se needed to be the topic of the day's conversation and maintain some degree of popularity if she wanted to enter the entertainment industry.
Now that the incident was hyped up with various major entertainment news outlets writing about it, the production team was not sure that Jiang Se would let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip through her fingers.
To his surprise, the words had barely left his mouth when Jiang Se agreed to his request. He had not even begun to persuade her.
"I know what to do."
This outcome surprised the person on the other end of the phone call very much. After a moment of stunned silence, the crew member seemed to have difficulty in believing what he had just heard. He asked her again, "Miss Jiang, are you sure?"
Jiang Se replied surely, "Yes, I am." Although she wanted to enter the entertainment industry, she had never thought of shooting to fame with a method such as hyping up an incident.
Moreover, the Pei family would be doing all they could to make this matter go away as quickly as possible. Even if she wanted to hype this up, she might not be able to.
If she was not reasonable about this, she would easily offend the production team and end up in Gu Jiaer's bad books. Instead, if she behaved herself this time, she might be able to gain something in the future.
After Jiang Se gave a definite answer, there was some noise from the receiver. Jiang Se could vaguely tell that the crew member had covered the microphone on his end and was talking to someone else.
Sometime later, the crew member spoke into the phone again.
"Miss Jiang, sorry for the wait. Director Gu is grateful for your cooperation. Director Lin Xiwen is preparing for an upcoming movie. He's a friend of Director Gu's. They've discussed the matter briefly before this and he thinks that there's a role that suits you very well." It was clear that the production was returning her favor of cooperating with the production team's request, and they were now recommending her for an audition of their own accord.
"I'll give you the number. Just call it tomorrow to inquire about the audition."
Jiang Se grunted in reply. The crew member read the number and had Jiang Se repeat it. When he confirmed that she had gotten the correct number, he ended the call.
Jiang Se proceeded to save the number into her phone. She had just pressed the first few numbers when her phone rang, interrupting her actions.
She quickly rejected the call.
Her phone was an old model, so when she rejected the call, the numbers that she had just typed were not saved. She retyped the numbers, and before she could save it, the rejected caller made another attempt to contact her.
Jiang Se rejected the call again. She wanted to retype the phone number again. This time, the caller was quicker. With a sigh, she got off her bed to look for her pen. She scribbled the phone number down on a piece of paper and accepted the call.
"Jiang Se!" came the caller's voice through gritted teeth. Jiang Se searched her memory for a long time before remembering Nie Dan, the person who had been beside Pei Yi.
He had been Pei Yi's accomplice in beating Yao Xiang up. She guessed that he was calling her to deal with the aftermath.
"Speak." She returned to her bed.
On the other end of the phone, Nie Dan paused before asking, "Aren't you going to ask who I am?"
"You're the one who beat the guy up in the elevator just now."
Jiang Se's answer made Nie Dan touch his own nose. He turned and glanced at Pei Yi who was seated beside him. "Brother Yi, the girl's smart."
Pei Yi said nothing.
It was almost as Jiang Se had expected. Pei Yi was responsible for beating the person up while Nie Dan was responsible for dealing with the aftermath. He had called her to tell her not to stand out before the media for the time being.
Unlike the production team who called her to discuss this, his words were more of a notice than anything else.
Jiang Se knew about Nie Dan's background. However, when Nie Dan saw her in the past, he had always been polite and reverent. He never put on this arrogant air before her. Nie Dan hung up after saying what he wanted to say.
Nie Dan had originally invited his friends to gather at Ruiji Hotel tonight. However, due to the incident whereby Pei Yi beat someone up, they naturally changed the location of their gathering.
Cheng Runing was among those invited to the gathering. Perhaps because Pei Yi had vented his anger onto Yao Xiang, Cheng Runing sat in fear and trepidation for a long time and was not hit by Pei Yi yet.
Chương 59: Not Right
Biên tập viên: EndlessFantasy Translation
Nie Dan ended his call and brought up the incident of Pei Yi beating another person up as if it was a natural thing to do. The few young men were of similar age and were birds of a feather. While they were chatting with great delight, a notification ring tone sounded.
Pei Yi's eyes lit up slightly. He picked up his phone, but the notification did not come from his phone. Nie Dan picked up his phone and noticed the obvious look of disappointment on Pei Yi's face. He spoke to him in an undertone, "Brother Yi, it's the information about your junior just now."
After he beat Yao Xiang up with Pei Yi, he ordered his people to do a background check on Yao Xiang.
Yao Xiang was easy enough to investigate. His activity records for the latest decade could be found in the entertainment industry. Nie Dan found out many things about him through his investigation.
As he expected, this scumbag was no saint. He was a man with no morals. Nie Dan took care of him when he found out about this.
When he was investigating Jiang Se, he was met with some difficulty. He had to wait for a long time before the information about her was sent to him.
Nie Dan opened the message, and Jiang Se's information exceeded his expectations. There were many parts of it that made him click his tongue in surprise.
Her mother had remarried brought her into the new marriage. Her stepfather did not treat her kindly. She was beautiful but eccentric. She did not seem to be ivy league material and was determined to enter the entertainment industry.
About six months ago, she had her first acting experience as a background actress in Zhang Jingan's Rescue Mission. Zhang Jingan took notice of her due to her outstanding looks and gave her a background actress role with a line.
The information stated that Liu Ye had "viewed her in a different light back then. He had spoken in her favor, but there seemed to be no continuation to that.
When Nie Dan read this, he could not help but turn to glance at Pei Yi.
"Brother Yi, your junior was a part of Rescue Mission's cast."
Pei Yi did not show the slightest of reactions. Nie Dan emphasized his point.
"That monkey Zhao Junhan had invested in Rescue Mission. Feng Nan…" It was a slip of the tongue. Under Pei Yi's glare, he quickly added, "…Sister Feng Nan had also invested in this film. She even contacted Qiu Ji and provided the production team with some real firearms."
When "Feng Nan" was mentioned, Pei Yi no longer stayed himself. He frowned slightly.
"She invested in a film?" He was clearly skeptical of this piece of information. Nobody knew Feng Nan better than he did.
Thanks to the influence of her seniors in the family, she was not interested in the entertainment industry. Why would she suddenly invest in it without due cause? Why would she even ask for Qiu Ji's help to procure real firearms?
When he thought about this, he had a malicious look in his eyes.
"That monkey Zhao Junhan must've brainwashed her!"
He immediately shifted the blame onto the head of Jianghua Group's heir. At this moment, his close friends did not dare oppose him. They joined in and cursed at Zhao Hanjun with righteous indignation which filled their chests.
Pei Yi extended his hand. Nie Dan hastily placed his own phone onto Pei Yi's palm.
Pei Yi brought the phone toward himself and scrolled down.
After her stint in Rescue Mission, Jiang Se soon made her way into Gu Jiaer's Pretense to Reality's cast with that previous experience. Also, soon after she signed the contract, her National College Entrance Examination results were out.
She had made it into the First Academy. Then, someone from Gu Jiaer's production team introduced her to Zhao Rang's The 99th Love Letter.
The scene that moved Zhao Rang was where she played the piano.
There was a video at the end of the investigation's result. It was a recording of her impromptu piano performance of Lyphard Melodie at the productions base's studio. The footage had been recorded using the phone of one of the crew members.
When Pei Yi read this, he decided that he was not interested anymore. He was about to toss the phone back to Nie Dan, but his finger accidentally tapped the play button. The intro to Lyphard Melodie was played from the phone's speaker. His expression gradually softened. His arm paused mid-toss.
This was Feng Nan's favorite song. She learned to play the piano since she was a young girl, but she would always play this piece before her practice sessions, almost without fail.
He lowered his head to look at the screen. Jiang Se's back was displayed. She was seated before the piano. The scene was aesthetically pleasing. However, for some unknown reason, Pei Yi felt that something was off.
He could not refrain from zooming in until Jiang Se's posture came into a clearer view on the screen.
She was merely sitting on a quarter of the stool. With her waist as straight as a stick, she looked elegant as she played the piano. She did not allow her body to slump on the stool.
Pei Yi took no notice of how Jiang Se's back looked. However, her posture reminded him of Feng Nan again.
It was actually difficult to maintain such a posture. Feng Nan was not the only one among society's elites who learned how to play the piano since young. However, she was the only one who managed to maintain the same posture throughout the practice.
He passed the phone back to Jiang Se. When Nie Dan heard the music and saw Jiang Se's back profile, he could not help but exclaim, "Your junior's looks heavenly from the back." He narrowed his eyes and gave it some thought. "Her temperament is also better than many celebrities."
However, when Nie Dan said this, he felt confused.
"However, the information says that she's a stepdaughter of the Du family whose academic results are nothing to be proud of. She showed no improvements in her senior high school as well." If Huaxia had not made education mandatory for 20 years, he reckoned that Jiang Se would have dropped out of school long ago and entered the entertainment industry.
However, the peculiar thing was that she seemed to have undergone some sort of transformation half a year ago, and appeared to have turned into a different person. She worked hard in her studies and exceeded everyone's expectations with her National College Entrance Examination results. With that, she was accepted by the First Academy.
"Also, her family wasn't well-off. Where did she learn how to play the piano?" Nie Dan was still looking at his phone when Pei Yi stood up.
"I'm going back."
Feng Nan was the only person he liked. He was not interested in other women.
The reason why he remembered Jiang Se was because her temperament, movements, and actions were similar to that of Feng Nan's. She had also enrolled in the First Academy just as Feng Nan had.
When Nie Dan brought up the suspicious points in Jiang Se's profile, he did not feel interested to join the conversation. Sensing that he was not interested in this, Nie Dan dropped the subject.
Jiang Se switched her phone off after the phone call with Nie Dan and went to bed.
When she revisited the webpage in the morning, the articles about the scuffle in Ruiji Hotel were already buried by other news articles.
Although the reporters were determined to get to the bottom of things last night, their resolution went unresolved. The "Pretense to Reality" production team, on the other hand, seized this opportunity to publicize their own film.
There was no longer any mention of Pei Yi in the news. Instead, the reporters were leading the netizens to investigate Yao Xiang. Pei Yi's matter was swept under the rug.
With the Pei family making its move, Jiang Se was no longer worried about Yao Xiang getting her into trouble once he was discharged. She reckoned that he would have his plate full of trouble by then.
In the afternoon, she called the number which the "Pretense to Reality" crew member had given her last night. It was connected to director Lin Xiwen's workshop. After mentioning Gu Jiaer's name, the cold official tone from the other end immediately warmed up.
Jiang Se searched for her lecture timetable online. Freshmen were under stricter supervision and had more classes. She had also joined two clubs, thus she did not have much free time.
After confirming her free time slots and discussing this with the staff from Lin Xiwen's workshop, they arranged for an audition at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
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