“Well…” Director Jin thought for a moment. “Ms. Yan, what do you think about Yuelun Entertainment? I’m on good terms with their boss, we often work together.”
Yuelun? Yan Huan’s eyes lit up. In a flash, her memories from her past life came flooding back to her: Yuelun was still something of an enigma at this point, but it had a strong, competent team managing the company. In her past life, she had signed with Chengcheng Entertainment, but that was definitely out of the question for her this time around. Su Muran was part of Chengcheng as well, and that was reason enough for her to stay away.
Yan Huan liked the idea of signing with Yuelun.
Yuelun had a reputation for being “a company with a conscience.” It was one of the few entertainment agencies in the industry that did its best to protect its artists. Yan Huan chewed on her thumb as she considered it. If she signed with an entertainment agency now, she would have a lot more roles to choose from, and Yi Ling would no longer have to fret and pray to her ancestors every day just to get a couple of insignificant background roles for Yan Huan.
Entertainment agencies helped secure audition opportunities for their artists, so signing with an agency would be like having a mother to look out for your best interests. Yan Huan would be a tree with proper roots, instead of a tiny, powerless blade of grass drifting in the wind.
Yuelun was definitely her first choice among all the entertainment agencies. She had had a good impression of Yuelun in her past life, but by that time she had already sold herself off to Chengcheng. When she had retired from acting, she had been forced to pay a hefty sum to Chengcheng as compensation for breach of contract.
She had not wanted to violate the terms of her contract, but then again she had not foreseen that she would eventually give up her life’s work— all her blood, sweat, and tears— for Lu Qin. And for what? In the end, she had given up everything just to die a gruesome death at the age of 27.
She had only lived for 27 years in her last life.
Director Jin had helpfully suggested Yuelun Entertainment to Yan Huan, but he could not guarantee that Yuelun would be open to signing her. Yan Huan was a new actress, after all; she did not have enough shows under her belt to prove she was worth the investment.
Yan Huan and Yi Ling packed their things, ready to leave the set and go home. Before leaving, Yan Huan turned to take one last look at the set: the production crew was already busy shooting the next scene. She let out a small sigh; she wished she could spend more time on the set.
When they arrived at their apartment, Yi Ling shouted “Finally! Home sweet home!” as she kicked off her shoes. She made a beeline for the sofa and made herself comfortable on it.
“Meow…”
As soon as Little Bean saw that both her owners had returned, she jumped onto the sofa, climbed onto Yi Ling’s chest, and began licking Yi Ling’s face.
Yan Huan poured some milk into Little Bean’s food bowl, and then placed a handful of cat food on the floor.
“C’mere Little Bean, it’s dinner time.”
“Meow…”
Little Bean jumped off of Yi Ling, purring happily as she ran over to Yan Huan. She immediately began wolfing down her food.
Little Bean was a docile, well-behaved kitten. She was a little timid, however, and stuck to her owners whenever possible.
Yi Ling was already asleep on the sofa, snoring lightly.
Yan Huan walked over to Yi Ling and covered her with a blanket. After that, she seated herself at a nearby table and began reading her script.
It wasn’t long before Yan Huan began to doze off. She rested her head upon the table and fell asleep.
She was exhausted: she had spent the last several days shooting her scenes, and had had only three or four hours of sleep every night. She had lost some weight, but she could live with that. It was better to be thin than fat: she had to be able to squeeze into Hong Yao’s iconic royal blue cheongsam, after all.
Suddenly, she felt something tickling her face. She opened her eyes and saw Little Bean lying on the table, batting at her clothes with her tiny, fleshy paws.
Yan Huan sat up and scooped Little Bean into her arms. She checked the time: it was almost five o’clock in the afternoon. No wonder she was feeling stiff all over—she had spent the last couple of hours sleeping on the table in an awkward position.
She pulled the blanket over Yi Ling once more; she didn’t want her to wake up with a cold.