Yang Huayue smiled at Liu Man, but in the next second, her smile became a miserable, pleading expression.
“Sister, you have such good grades, good looks, good piano skills. You are such an amazing person, and you don’t lack anything. Give me brother, okay?”
Yang Huayue was indeed a professional actress, and she got in the zone instantly. Liu Man reacted in half a second, and she replayed the script in her mind, overwhelming herself with Ji Ning’s memories.
Just like how she was acting as the Liu Man everyone knew, she now pictured herself as Ji Ning.
“Gu Qing is a person, not an item. He has his own thoughts, I cannot determine what he does.” Liu Man’s tone was cold and light. She looked Yang Huayue as one would at a toddler who was throwing a tantrum, indifferently.
Yang Huayue laughed coldly, “Ha, he listens to whatever you say. He acts like a tamed dog in front of you.”
Liu Man berated angrily, “Nonsense.”
“Stop pretending—I know how you think us unworthy of being family. You think so about my dad, you think so about me. Yeah, that woman brought you to America and you lived a rich life. You became the daughter of a big family. Compared to you, I’m just a child in the poor neighborhood. I just don’t understand. How can a person be so biased? Am I not her daughter, too? God is fair. She died, she got what she deserved.”
Yang Huayue’s eyes turned red, and she was glaring at Liu Man. Her eyes were filled with anger, with jealousy, with some despondency.
Ji Ning and Ji An’s parents divorced when they were just kids. Ji Ning followed her mother to America while Ji An and her father, Ji Liguo, stayed in China.
The two girls started off on the same spot, but such would not remain. After their mother went to America, she washed dishes, and then she opened up her own restaurant. She was earning millions on millions.
Ji Ning’s life became better and better. She started learning piano and dancing, and she received education from the best of the best.
However, Ji Liguo made no improvements whatsoever. In the end, he lost his job and went broke, lived a poor life with Ji An.
“Presumptuous! This is irreverent, and disrespects your elders!”
Liu Man, who had always talked in a soft voice, suddenly spoke up. Her sternness surprised Qiu Jing and Ye Zian—this didn’t came from the original script.
Yang Huayue was taken aback by Liu Man, even unconsciously took a small step back.
“Mother gave birth to us and raised us, no matter how hard it was. You knew the reason why our parents divorced; she had no choice. You shouldn’t blame her, not to mention ignore the work she put into us. You should blame father! It was he who made Mother choose between you and me. It was he who forbade her to take us both. You have only him to blame for all your losses.”
Liu Man’s tone got heavier and heavier, angrier and angrier as she went on. When she got to the last few words, she even lost her breath, and the entire room could only hear her heavy inhales.
Liu Man stared at Yang Huayue, who was staring at her, too. Liu Man’s eyes were filled with anger while Yang Huayue’s were surprisngly indifferent. Yang Huayue’s eyes suddenly skipped to somewhere behind her, and she smiled strangely, “Dad, why are you here?”
“Perfect.”
Ye Zian stood up to applaud.
Qiu Jing and Gao Jindong stood up, too, and started clapping.
Liu Man saw the satisfied smile on Qiu Jing’s face.
Ye Zian, however, was looking at Liu Man. He was now very looking forward to see the performances of this girl in the actual film.
When Liu Man walked out of the Galaxy Building with the contract, she still felt as if she were in a dream. This audition had gone too smoothly.
When Yang Huayue and she finished their performance, Professor Qiu and that Director Ye all seemed very happy. Professor Qiu told Zhou Xi to directly go draw up the papers, and informed Liu Man on some essentials before they started filming.
The story of the movie took place in Shanghai. Two days later, she was going to have to visit Shanghai. Now that she was officially a temporary employee, Professor Qiu told her excluding that fifty-thousand RMB, she could also get a subsidiary for her transportation and accommodation fees, and an additional 400 RMB as her day-to-day allowance.
As she left the building, that guard from before saw Liu Man holding a folder containing a contract, and he sounded very surprised, “Miss, you got our company to sign a contract with you?”
The guard’s looks seemed over-exaggerating, almost like he was seeing a legend. Liu Man wanted to facepalm. “No, no. It’s just a part-time job contract.”
“That’s really good, too,” The guard said, thumbs up.
He had been working at this company for many years, now, and he had seen many pretty girls. The last thing this place needed was pretty girls, especially when they are casting. There could literally be mountains and mountains of superstars, but for those pretty girls who don’t have rich backgrounds, the possibility of them getting a role was slim to none.
At this moment, a white car pulled up before Liu Man, and the door was opened from the inside. Yang Huayue poked her head out and asked, “Where are you going? I can give you a ride.”
She was smiling warmly.
Liu Man smiled back, “Thank you, I’m fine. It’s more convenient to ride the subway back.”
She was reluctant, and Yang Huayue didn’t want to force her, ”Alright, I’ll see you the day after tomorrow in Shanghai.”
The car quickly drove pass the building.
Yang Huayue was very famous, and the guard surely recognized her. He saw how nice she was toward Liu Man, thought Liu Man was someone important. This lady must be someone special. Does she have a unique background, too?
After she returned home, Liu Man told Zhang Pei everything, and she even showed her the contract.
When she finished reading the contract, Zhang Pei was finally willing to believe that her daughter didn’t meet a fraud but got into an official movie.
“Don’t you only have five minutes on camera? Why do you have to go for twenty days?” Zhang Pei frowned. Those twenty days coincidentally overlapped with the Chinese Holidays, and Liu Man wouldn’t be able to spend New Year’s at home.
“Professor Qiu said I had to cooperate, especially with the leads. If the leads are there, I definitely have to be there. If they aren’t there, I still have to be there,” Liu Man repeated what Qiu Jing said.
“Ah, they are the actual stars, you’re just an extra. You have to do whatever they say,” Zhang Pei could understand, “Who are the female and male leads of this film?”
Liu Man shook her head, “I only know that the second female lead is Yang Huayue, and the director is Ye Zian.”
“I know both of them. Ye Zian is a very famous director! You are already so lucky to be able to show your face in one of his films,” Zhang Pei chuckled.
Zhang Pei assumed her daughter only got lucky this time. She did not have any hope for Liu Man to achieve anything with an extra that only shows her face for five minutes. She never foresaw that this was the beginning of Liu Man’s fame.
Credits: Sydney & Teresa