"Annie, I've never had an assistant. To be honest, my agent was about to give up on me," Xiao Wenqiang said with a bitter smile. "And this drama is the first truly significant role I've had. I'm truly grateful to you and Director Wu for giving me this opportunity."
"But why? Your acting is so good. Your agent must have terrible judgment!" Annie exclaimed indignantly.
So, amidst Annie and Wu Wangfei's concerned inquiries, Xiao Wenqiang recounted how Su Ling signed with Li Bokai and how the current situation came to be.
"This is outrageous! Little Ling'er, don't worry. Once our 'Forensic Heroes' airs, everyone will see your talent!" Annie said indignantly, patting her boyfriend's arm. "You hurry up and film, so everyone can see our Little Ling'er's acting skills. Understand?"
Wu Wangfei smiled dotingly. "Then I also have to ensure quality, not just rush. Don't worry, Su Ling, this piece of gold will eventually shine!" In fact, the fact that Wu Wangfei personally auditioned even for a minor role like Liu Yiyi showed that he was a director with very high standards for his work.
In the following days, Xiao Wenqiang alternated between waiting for scenes and filming. Her days were quite fulfilling.
After a total of 5 days, with Director Wu Wangfei's final call of "Cut!", her role as Liu Yiyi was finally completed.
Annie quickly walked over, handing her a bouquet of flowers. "Little Ling'er, congratulations on finishing your scenes!"
"Haha, thank you, Annie. I never thought I'd receive flowers for wrapping up a shoot!" Xiao Wenqiang hugged Annie, suddenly feeling a sting in her nose. The last time she received flowers for wrapping up a shoot was a memory from her previous life.
"Little Ling'er, believe me! You will only get better!" Annie said, looking at the young girl in front of her. Thinking she was simply emotional about receiving flowers for the first time, she patted her back comfortingly.
...
It had been more than two weeks since the filming of "Forensic Heroes" wrapped up. During this time, Xiao Wenqiang had basically been lounging around her small apartment. When she had free time, she browsed the works of popular actors online to observe and learn. As the saying goes: live and learn. Xiao Wenqiang wasn't sure if the audience's aesthetic judgment of acting in this novel world would be the same as in her original world, so she naturally had to do some research beforehand.
Fortunately, the aesthetic standards for acting were consistent in both worlds. Xiao Wenqiang also got to see Situ Chen's appearance properly for the first time, albeit through a character. That day, she had been feeling dizzy, and he was fully disguised with a hat and glasses, so she only had a vague impression of his silhouette.
In the movie "The Last Supper," Situ Chen played a down-on-his-luck middle-aged man in his forties. Although the actor himself was only 25 years old that year, with special makeup and Situ Chen's performance, he truly made the audience believe in the character's existence.
The male protagonist's child had leukemia, and he couldn't raise enough money anywhere. Desperate, he decided to rob a jewelry store and injured an employee. However, before he could turn the stolen gold and jade into cash, he saw on the news that the injured employee had died from his injuries.
Perhaps as retribution, the next afternoon, his child also died. At the end of the film, the male protagonist and his wife sat at a cramped small table, shared their last supper, and then, taking all the stolen items, went to the police station to surrender.
Xiao Wenqiang had to admit that Situ Chen's acting was superb. The final supper truly conveyed a sense of farewell. Although he didn't shed a tear during the scene, his eyes conveyed infinite sadness, a despair of being at the end of one's rope and utterly heartbroken.
That night, Xiao Wenqiang had a dream, and those sad eyes kept appearing in it, making her feel very distressed. The next morning, her eyes were still a little swollen.
After getting up and washing, Xiao Wenqiang patted her face, thinking that she shouldn't watch such depressing movies at night anymore, as it truly affected her mood.
System number 86365, which had been absent for some time, suddenly reappeared. "Wenqiang, you need to hurry and find some acting jobs! The original host is getting anxious seeing you so idle lately!"
"I want to find acting jobs too! But can I get the roles I want just by wanting them?" Xiao Wenqiang replied somewhat irritably. "You were silent after we entered the world of this novel, 'Top Stream Queen.' I thought you'd gone somewhere!"
"I was busy! There are more and more systems taking on side-character missions now. Many good missions have to be snatched up, or we won't meet our KPIs!"
"Sigh, it seems everyone's a hardworking laborer everywhere. I never expected systems to be so competitive!" Xiao Wenqiang now understood that system missions weren't randomly assigned but had to be competed for by the systems.
As she was musing, her phone suddenly rang. Xiao Wenqiang picked it up and found it was an unknown number.
"Hello!" she answered politely.
"Is this Su Ling?" a somewhat familiar male voice came from the other end.
"It is! May I ask who you are?"
"I'm Zhang Hong! I filmed 'Yi Hua Lu' for you before. Do you remember?"
"Of course, I remember! Director Zhang, hello. Is there anything you need me for?" Xiao Wenqiang asked, slightly puzzled.
"I'm about to start a new drama. I thought your action scenes were quite good last time. I was wondering if you'd be free to come for an audition?" Unexpectedly, Zhang Hong brought her this good news right away.
Xiao Wenqiang readily agreed and then arrived at the audition location at the appointed time.
However, when she pushed open the door to the waiting room, she was surprised to find more than a dozen actresses already seated, all seemingly there to audition for the "Xuanyuan Legend" crew.
"Oh my, isn't this Sister Su Ling? What, you're here to audition too?" one of the actresses asked in a rather affected tone.
Xiao Wenqiang was wearing a white shirt, light blue jeans, and white sneakers that day. She tucked the hem of her shirt into her pants, making her waist look slender. Only Su Ling's figure could wear simple clothes with such a unique flair, combining purity and sexiness.
She looked at the woman who had just spoken. She was wearing a short black dress with a high slit, and the hem of her safety shorts was already visible. Xiao Wenqiang looked further up at her face and realized it was an acquaintance. This woman, like the original Su Ling, was also an artist under Li Bokai at "Starry Sky Entertainment," named Ding Xiang.
But unlike Su Ling, Ding Xiang had long since resigned herself to her fate. She had signed with the company a year after Su Ling and used to call Su Ling "sister." At that time, Su Ling still lived in the company dormitory, and Ding Xiang moved in with her. The original host, thinking Ding Xiang was a young girl of only 18, took good care of her, even cooking for her often.
However, Ding Xiang later changed. After attending a few parties with Li Bokai, she became disillusioned by the decadent lifestyle and willingly degenerated. Not only did she degenerate herself, but she even conspired with Li Bokai to design a situation where Su Ling would also engage in escort services, calling it "bringing good sister along to make money and become famous together."
After seeing Ding Xiang's true colors, Su Ling had a falling out with her. Since Li Bokai supported Ding Xiang, Su Ling had no choice but to move out of the dormitory and rent a place on her own.
Then, they hadn't seen each other for over two years, and unexpectedly ran into each other here today.