Seeing how serious Wen Yusui looked, Li Qi couldn’t help laughing even louder.
“I don’t like President He. The reason I felt so unbalanced was because of Mu Chao.”
“Mu Chao?” Wen Yusui heard that name again. “Who is she?”
“You don’t even know Mu Chao?” Li Qi looked at Wen Yusui in astonishment, then waved her hand. “Forget it. You’ll definitely know her in the future.”
As soon as she finished speaking, He Yanzhou pushed the door open and walked in.
Li Qi smiled teasingly. “President He certainly knows how to pick his timing.”
“How have you been feeling during this time?” He Yanzhou asked Wen Yusui with concern.
“Pretty good,” Wen Yusui replied.
“Your overall demeanor does look quite different from before.” He Yanzhou looked her up and down before giving her a very definite assessment.
“Next, you’ll be going around to film sets, right?”
“Mm.” Wen Yusui nodded.
Li Qi spoke up from the side. “Is President He planning to personally accompany her?”
“What? Not allowed?” He Yanzhou shot back.
Li Qi shrugged and ultimately decided not to say anything more.
Wen Yusui, however, refused. “No need. I want to go with everyone else first.”
Hearing this, He Yanzhou didn’t insist. He simply said, “Okay.”
Wen Yusui planned to return to the dormitory. He Yanzhou wanted to drive her there, but Li Qi stopped him.
“President He, there’s something I want to talk to you about. Can I borrow a few minutes?”
Wen Yusui said it wasn’t far and that he didn’t need to accompany her, so He Yanzhou could only nod.
After she left, Li Qi finally spoke.
“President He, are you planning to go from the top all the way back down to the bottom?”
“I want to ask you why you deliberately made things difficult for her before.” He Yanzhou didn’t answer Li Qi’s question. Instead, he asked her one of his own.
Li Qi looked completely candid, without making any attempt to hide her thoughts.
“Because I initially thought she was nothing more than a pretty face relying on you. I didn’t expect that I was wrong.”
“You were indeed wrong.” He Yanzhou agreed.
“President He, I just want to ask—what about Mu Chao?”
At the mention of Mu Chao, a subtle flicker passed through He Yanzhou’s eyes, disappearing almost instantly.
“Mu Chao has his own path to walk.”
Hearing his answer, Li Qi didn’t ask any further questions.
She understood that He Yanzhou was right.
In the early hours of the morning, everyone got up early and officially began their daily routine of working as extras and minor background actors.
The bus stopped by the roadside. Most people still had obvious traces of sleepiness on their faces, and Wen Yusui followed behind them, yawning repeatedly.
People around her kept complaining.
“We have to come here before it’s even light out, and there isn’t even any breakfast! We only make a few dozen yuan for an entire day. What are we doing this for? If I’d known we’d be doing this after the training, I wouldn’t have come in the first place!”
“Shut up!” Someone suddenly stopped the person beside her from complaining. “President He is here!”
He Yanzhou was carrying steaming-hot buns and soy milk.
He walked over to Wen Yusui, then said to everyone, “Everyone, thanks for your hard work this morning. I prepared breakfast for all of you. It’s by the bus. Go ahead and eat first.”
“Thank you, President He!” Everyone excitedly expressed their gratitude as soon as they heard this.
He Yanzhou handed Wen Yusui her breakfast.
She hadn’t expected him to come along.
“Thank you.” Wen Yusui reached out and took the breakfast from him. “Have you eaten?”
He Yanzhou smiled and shook his head.
Wen Yusui immediately said, “Then I’ll get you a breakfast, too.”
“No need. I’ll go eat later. The temperature is a little low this morning. Are you cold? I’ll ask the crew staff to find you a corner where you can rest for a while.”
“No!” Wen Yusui said solemnly, a bun still in her mouth. “President He, I don’t want to attract too much attention. Can’t you treat everyone equally?”
Seeing her like this, He Yanzhou couldn’t help chuckling.
“I bought breakfast for everyone. Isn’t that treating everyone equally?”
He Yanzhou stayed beside Wen Yusui until daylight.
Not long after, his phone rang.
He hung up, but a moment later, it rang again.
Wen Yusui glanced at him and said, “You don’t have to stay here with me. If you have something to deal with, go ahead.”
He Yanzhou hung up again, his expression turning serious.
“This is also your first time acting. As your manager, it’s only right that I stay with you.”
“Don’t worry. Whether you’re here or not, I’m equally nervous—or rather, not nervous at all.” Wen Yusui was indeed calmer than everyone else present.
After everything she had experienced, including the tremendous ups and downs of her life, there was very little left that could make her nervous.
He Yanzhou was just about to argue when his phone rang again.
Wen Yusui could tell that whoever was on the other end was desperately trying to get through to him.
In the end, He Yanzhou gently reminded her, “Call me if you need anything. I’ll come over as soon as I can.”
“Okay.” Wen Yusui nodded.
The moment He Yanzhou left, several women gathered around Wen Yusui.
They were the same girls who had deliberately targeted her before.
Now, they had been thoroughly won over by Wen Yusui’s acting. This older sister was not only beautiful and talented, but she also knew President He. Clearly, she was destined to become a huge star.
Lin Yinyin led the group over to Wen Yusui and respectfully said, “Sister Wen, you actually know President He? How come you never mentioned it?”
Wen Yusui swept her eyes over them. “We were college classmates. Would you newcomers know him?”
“Of course! One of the reasons we chose Haiyu Media was because of him!” Lin Yinyin said excitedly.
The others also nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
“He’s a top-tier manager. But ever since he got promoted, he stopped managing artists altogether, except for that one person.”
“That one person?” Wen Yusui asked curiously.
“Mu Chao! You don’t know? President He never told you? She’s actually the direct reason we came here!” At the mention of Mu Chao, the girls’ faces took on dreamy expressions.
Mu Chao again?
Wen Yusui had heard that name countless times by now, yet no one had actually told her who this person was.
“So who is Mu Chao?”
Seeing that Wen Yusui genuinely had no idea, Lin Yinyin couldn’t take it anymore.
“Sister Wen, you don’t even know who he is? You’re seriously such an old-timer! Let me tell you, he’s—”
“We’re starting work! We’re starting work!”
A member of the production crew suddenly shouted, “Everyone, come here to collect your costumes!”
“Sister Wen, come on, come on! We’re starting work. Let’s hurry and grab some good roles. If we’re too late, we’ll probably only get to play things that aren’t even human.”
So who exactly was Mu Chao?
And what exactly were these “things that aren’t human”? Did they actually need people to play them?
Before Wen Yusui could think any further, Lin Yinyin had already grabbed her and squeezed her way to the front.
“Sister Wen, wear this one! This one is clean!”
Wen Yusui was just about to take it when a head extra snatched it away from her, a domineering look in his eyes.
“What are you doing? I got this first!” Lin Yinyin said indignantly.
“What good does getting it first do you? I’m the head of the extras. Naturally, everything is arranged according to my instructions.”
The head extra looked at Wen Yusui disdainfully before casually pointing toward an open plaza under the blazing sun.
“You’ve got a pretty good face. Then I’ll arrange for you to stand over there for the whole day. You can’t move the entire time, but whenever the camera sweeps past you, you have to keep smiling. I’m practically helping you get some exposure. Once you become famous, don’t thank me too much!”