“The company has already resolved the matter with the producers of 《City-Toppling》 but the compensation will be deducted from your paycheck.” Tang Yin paused before continuing with slight doubts, “The script was really bad. Why did you go and accept a role there?”
Shi Sheng shrugged. “Milan arranged it. I’m just a starlet who’s barely reached the 18th rank, where would I get the qualifications to disagree with a gold-level agent?”
Hearing her words, Tang Yin got even more curious about this actress who had recommended herself to him. Ever since he had taken over her management, the company had given him a stand-alone office. Even all the good resources and opportunities were given to him. To him who had still been a newbie without any actors under his wing, this was pretty much a pie that fell out of the sky.
For some reason, he felt like he had been conned into something. Suppressing that feeling, Tang Yin handed over three scripts to Shi Sheng. “These are the ones left over after I screened them.”
Shi Sheng simply looked at their names before picking one out. “This one.”
Tang Yin didn’t object. These three books were those he had selected out. No matter which she picked, it wouldn’t be too bad.
The one Shi Sheng picked was a Xianxia drama. Its setting was in a cultivation world. The cultivation sect ‘Profound Sect’ had been massacred, leaving the sole survivor, Qing Yan. He was rescued by a peach blossom that had managed to cultivate into a spirit. Together, the two embarked on a quest to uncover the truth behind the slaughter of the ‘Profound Sect’.
This was a drama adapted from a novel and was one of the more famous Xianxia novels in the recent year. Shi Sheng wasn’t planning to audition for the female lead, the peach blossom spirit, but instead the second supporting female lead. This character had a pretty good background but her ending wasn’t too good.
“Do you have any confidence?” Tang Yin asked uncertainly.
He had seen the shows she had acted in and concluded that her acting skills weren’t that good. However, in this drama, the second supporting female lead was an extremely important character. In the early stages, she was mischievous and lively but in the later stages, her character would undergo a dark transformation. She would become cold-blooded and ruthless. With two polar opposite personalities to be acted out in one character, it wasn’t easy to act out.
He had originally had his eye on the supporting female lead role- Though, with her qualifications she might not be able to land it…
However, who would have expected her to pick the second supporting female lead role? Shi Sheng shut the script before revealing a mouthful of white teeth. “We’ll know once we try.”
Tang Yin looked at her deeply before bringing her upstairs to the floor where the auditions were held. When the elevator door opened, they came face-to-face with Milan who was bringing a young and pretty girl with her. Milan looked at Shi Sheng with disgust and even more discontent and hatred. ‘I’m a gold-level agent but she actually didn’t want to follow me and instead went to follow a newbie who had just entered the company. Isn’t this outright slapping me in the face?’
Of course, the greater part of the reason she was unhappy was that support team.
“Milan-jie.” Tang Yin gave a relatively polite greeting. When his gaze swept over that girl, it darkened a few shades. Milan gave a slight nod and gave a standard smile. Sometimes, especially like right now, the outward appearance of civility still had to be kept. Milan hadn’t spoken yet when the girl behind her spoke first in a taunting voice, “Jiang Wan is coming for an audition too? Which role are you auditioning for? Why don’t we get Milan-jie to help you consider your options? After all, we can’t delay our futures.”
She gave a pointed glance at Tang Yin.
“I wouldn’t dream of bothering Milan-jie, I’m afraid my future would become the dust on someone else’s road to success[1].” Shi Sheng’s eyes curved into crescents as she answered in a light, soft and pleasant voice.
Her thoughts though, were, ‘What considerations?! You want to help me consider how fitting I am for a maid role?!’
Milan wrinkled her brow as she shot a sharp warning gaze at Shi Sheng.
The girl obviously heard the underlying meaning in her words for she spoke with acrimony, “What do you mean by that Jiang Wan? At least Milan-jie has carried you before… Well, I guess you were from the backwaters. You don’t even know basic courtesy. The saying that birds of a feather flock together is true after all.”
Towards the end her tone was filled with ridicule, especially that last sentence. Shi Sheng secretly took a look at Tang Yin. Though his face hadn’t changed, the hands by his side had clenched into fists.
“En. When I followed Milan-jie before, it’s all thanks to her care.” Hearing Shi Sheng say this, Milan’s expression improved though when she heard Shi Sheng complete her words, her face turned green.
“In the past, I was not sensible enough. Choosing to follow Milan-jie proved that my eyesight wasn’t that good. But you guys can rest assured now, I have already changed for the better. My eyesight has improved too so I’ll definitely be able to pick a good person.” That tone was clearly very apologetic yet it made people feel mocked.
Changed for the better… can the phrase even be used like that? It was as if they had committed a crime or something.
“Jiang Wan!” The girl pointed her finger at Shi Sheng, enraged to the point of trembling.
“What do you want? Chatting with me is very expensive but seeing as how we’re in the same company I’ll give you a discount…”
“Enough. You still have an ad shoot, don’t waste time with irrelevant people.” Milan interrupted Shi Sheng’s words and glared at her. “Jiang Wan, you can’t be too arrogant. This world is more complicated than you think.”
‘If I(bbb) got really arrogant, you’d be fucking lying on the ground right now!’
Shi Sheng smiled but did not speak or give any reply. When Milan looked at that smile she felt the hairs on her back stand on end. The person in front of her clearly hadn’t changed but she felt like she had.
‘She’s just a little brat, what can she do? With my contacts, I could place obstacles in secret and make her unable to remain in this circle any longer.’
Thinking of this, Milan felt a bit better. She gave a light harrumph before walking towards the lift.
When the girl on high-heels walked past the two, she deliberately collided into Tang Yin, causing him to retreat a couple of steps. “Just you wait!”
When the lift door closed, Shi Sheng looked smilingly at Tang Yin. Tang Yin pushed up his glasses. “Sorry.”
He had failed as an agent when he let the actress under his care be bullied by someone else.
“Now that I think about it, that girl’s surname was Tang too.” She could clearly feel the enmity coming from that girl. And Tang Yin’s reaction wasn’t quite right either. Tang Yin’s body stiffened as panic and embarrassment flashed in his eyes.
Shi Sheng hadn’t had time to see it clearly when she heard System’s voice ring out suddenly.
[Random Quest encountered. Do you wish to accept it?]
‘There are random quests too? Fuck no, I refuse to do it. I haven’t even finished a single one of the main quests yet!’
Shi Sheng thought System would force her to accept it but it didn’t speak up after she rejected it. ‘It seems like random quests aren’t that important…’
“Let’s go.” Having been interrupted by System, Shi Sheng was too lazy to continue questioning Tang Yin.
Tang Yin couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. His gaze when he looked at Shi Sheng had changed though. She wasn’t the same as the Jiang Wan from the information he had been given. At least, in their few days of interacting with each other, he hadn’t seen a hint of self-consciousness or timidity.
There were quite a few people in the audition hall already. Tang Yin went to get a queue number before accompanying her in waiting. There were quite a few people who had come to audition. There were those who had an agent accompanying them who were discussing with said agents in low voices. There were also those who didn’t have an agent and so could only sit nervously at the side, their faces filled with apprehension as well as hope and expectations for the future.
However, every single one that went in came out in a depressed slump. There were some who even ran away crying.
Shi Sheng, however, just sat there like she owned the place, not a hint of nervousness or apprehension to be seen. She wasn’t even reading the script, instead just staring at a girl opposite her.
That girl shifted a bit uncomfortably under Shi Sheng’s gaze but she discovered that the person opposite her wasn’t looking at her but gazing off into space and had just so happened to fix her eyes on that spot.
[1] There’s actually some wordplay going on here. The raws say ‘我怕前程变成前尘’. ‘前程’means future and is pronounced ‘qian2cheng2’ while ‘前尘’, pronounced ‘qian2chen2’, literally means dust in front, which could refer to the dust on someone else’s road to – in this context – fame. They sound similar so it’s wordplay.
Author’s note:
Lalala, begging for votes over here~
Translator’s Corner:
***MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD***
*Take a good long look at that random quest notification. Because it never turns up again.*
**Also I think I keep seeing Shi Sheng’s past pop up everywhere now that I am re-reading… again.**