Jiang Yin, having lost her temper entirely, could only agree. She followed Liu Yin toward the dressing room.
She had no idea how to put on such a complex little dress, assuming she was just there to lend a hand by holding clothes or pulling a zipper. However, once she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, she was startled.
Hearing the movement behind her, Jiang Zhen assumed it was her two assistants. She casually shed the coat draped over her shoulders, revealing a smooth, delicate back and safety shorts that just barely covered her hips; other than that, she had no coverage.
Liu Yin walked forward as if it were the most natural thing in the world and asked, “Are the silicone covers already on?”
The latter nodded and asked, “Is this tube dress very difficult to put on?”
“Yeah,” Liu Yin took the garment off the hanger, muttering irritably, “I don’t know who designed this. It is bad enough the sizing is so small, but it is covered in all these messy ribbons. This is an ad for electronic products; why couldn’t they provide something simpler?”
Amidst the constant grumbling, Jiang Yin finally managed to regain her senses.
She closed her eyes, feeling her face burning. Her heart raced uncontrollably; even repeating “we are both girls” to herself several times did not help.
“Sister, come help out,” Liu Yin called out helplessly when she saw Jiang Yin had not moved.
“Sister? Isn’t it Xiao Zhang?” Jiang Zhen turned around in confusion, locking eyes with Jiang Yin, who had nowhere to look away. Heat instantly climbed up Jiang Zhen’s cheeks; even the blush she was wearing could not mask the crimson hue. Both of them stood there like cooked shrimp, red from head to toe.
“We are all girls, it is fine to see,” Jiang Zhen managed to squeeze out a smile and spoke with difficulty. “A-Yin, why are you still here?”
“It is a long story,” Liu Yin answered for her first. “Xiao Zhang has dehydration from diarrhea and was sent to the hospital. Yu Ting and the other assistant are over there helping set up the shoot. Speaking of which, it makes me furious: this company does not take this shoot seriously at all. They actually waited until our people arrived to start building the set.”
Jiang Yin walked forward silently, helping Liu Yin arrange Jiang Zhen’s clothes while listening to her berate the company from top to bottom.
“Sister, pull the zipper up.” Liu Yin finally finished scolding the company and assigned Jiang Yin a new task.
Jiang Yin stepped behind Jiang Zhen. The latter naturally gathered her long, dark hair and lifted it, revealing a slender, pale neck.
Her back was beautiful, smooth and delicate like finely woven silk. Her clean skin was devoid of any scars, resembling high-quality jade.
Jiang Yin tried her best to control her hands, but during the process, she inevitably touched Jiang Zhen’s skin. A warmth spread from her fingertips, but it felt as if she had touched boiling water, causing her to stop instantly.
“What’s wrong? Is the zipper stuck?” Liu Yin peeked over, looking puzzled.
“No, the angle just was not right to apply force. I am adjusting my grip.” Jiang Yin lowered her head, using the strands of hair falling over her forehead to hide the panic in her eyes as she fumbled for an excuse.
The other two did not suspect a thing. After she finished the zipper, Liu Yin piled several silk ribbons into her arms.
“These all need to be tied onto Zhenzhen. Sorry to trouble you, sister.” Liu Yin let out a long sigh and went back to criticizing the outfit provided by the company.
“What kind of mess is this? Why do they insist on tying so many bows on her? Does it even look good?” Liu Yin asked Jiang Yin as she angrily tied a ribbon across Jiang Zhen’s chest.
Jiang Yin cooperated by shaking her head vigorously.
She crouched down to tie the ribbons onto the hem of Jiang Zhen’s skirt, asking Liu Yin, “Are the usual outfits always this complicated?”
“Not really,” Liu Yin moved to stand behind Jiang Zhen. “It is only a bit more complex for red carpets. You have no idea how inconvenient those massive skirts are to wear.”
Having only seen glamorous celebrities through a phone screen before, Jiang Yin’s brief experience as a celebrity assistant made her realize that this line of work was not always easy.
After tying the last bow on the hem, she braced her hands on her knees to stand up. However, having crouched for too long, her vision suddenly went black as she stood up. Her feet became unsteady, and she swayed.
Jiang Zhen was quick to grab her arm, asking worriedly, “What is wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
After standing still for a moment, her vision cleared. Jiang Yin pulled her arm back somewhat unnaturally and whispered, “I am fine, just a little dizzy.”
She looked up and smiled, saying, “Thank you.” Jiang Yin sighed inwardly, realizing she still could not quite accept excessive physical contact with someone she had only known for a day. Furthermore, the situation between her and Jiang Zhen was already awkward, making the contact between fingertips and skin feel even more subtle.
She hoped Jiang Zhen would not misunderstand; she just needed some time to adjust her mindset.
Sensing the slight distance, Jiang Zhen silently withdrew her hand and turned to Liu Yin. “Is the company providing lunch today, or is the studio preparing it?”
After smoothing out the back of the dress and the ribbons, Liu Yin replied, “The studio is handling it. Why? Do you want to add a portion for the sister?”
Jiang Yin waved her hands hurriedly. “No need, it is still early. I will just go back to school to eat.”
“It is not early,” Liu Yin smiled and waved her phone in front of her. “With all this fuss, it is almost 12:30. By the time you get back to school, you will have missed the meal time. Just eat with us. We happen to have an extra portion anyway; it is a waste not to eat it.”
She checked a message on her phone and looked up. “Lunch has just arrived, and there should not be much else to do for now. You can head back after eating with Yu Ting and the others.”
Faced with such hospitality and being someone who struggled to say no, Jiang Yin agreed.
Holding a warm bento box, Jiang Yin sat down with Wu Yu Ting and two other assistants who were not busy, ready to enjoy lunch.
“There is braised pork! Sister Yin really knows what I like!” “I have Kung Pao chicken here; want a bite?”
The two assistants huddled together, chirping away as they shared their food.
Jiang Yin opened her lunch box and found the meal more lavish than she expected: two meat dishes and one vegetable, with steam still rising from the food. It did not look like mass-produced pre-packaged meals. There was plenty of meat, and the savory aroma made her stomach growl traitorously.
Wu Yu Ting, sitting nearby, smiled and said, “Go ahead and eat.”
Jiang Yin nodded. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Wu Yu Ting’s meal: boiled vegetables, the kind often eaten by people focused on fitness. There was a time when Lin Shu claimed she wanted to lose weight and ate nothing but boiled vegetables for a week; by the seventh night, her eyes were glowing green with hunger, and she looked like she was about to drool over her roommates.
Remembering Lin Shu’s expression back then, Jiang Yin felt a surge of admiration for Wu Yu Ting.
Noticing her gaze, Wu Yu Ting tilted her head and shook her lunch box. “Want a taste?”
Jiang Yin shook her head quickly.
Wu Yu Ting laughed and said, “I do not really want to eat it either, but I have to endure it to stay in shape. Otherwise, if we run into any more creeps, I will not be able to protect Zhenzhen.”
“The relationships in your studio are really good,” Jiang Yin said, swallowing her food. “I thought celebrities and assistants just had a normal boss-employee relationship.”
“Because Zhenzhen is very good to us. Even though she is younger than us, she takes care of everyone,” Wu Yu Ting looked at Jiang Zhen, who was memorizing lines while waiting to shoot, her eyes reflecting a touch of affection. “One time, Xiao Zhang’s father got sick. They needed money urgently and could not find a bed in the city hospitals. Zhenzhen arranged everything personally, getting Xiao Zhang’s dad into a VIP ward in a hospital owned by her family’s company. She did not charge a cent and even gave Xiao Zhang a six-month salary advance.”
“By the way, that is the same Xiao Zhang who was sent to the hospital for dehydration today,” Wu Yu Ting added.
Holding her chopsticks, Jiang Yin followed Wu Yu Ting’s gaze toward Jiang Zhen.
The girl’s outfit seemed a bit ill-fitting; she pulled up the slipping neckline, let out a quiet sigh, and went back to reciting her lines.
Jiang Yin knew very little about Jiang Zhen. Previously, it was just a name; now, they had only met a few times. But hearing it from others, she seemed to be a very kind and sincere person.
“By the way, you are Zhenzhen’s sister, but why haven’t I seen you before? Are you the same age as Zhenzhen?” Perhaps because the conversation had bridged the gap, Wu Yu Ting suddenly leaned in curiously to ask.
“Um,” Jiang Yin hesitated for a second before quickly making up an excuse. “I was busy with school before. I only recently had time to follow Sister Zhenzhen around.”
“I see,” Wu Yu Ting nodded understandingly. “You are studying at Jinghe University, right? That is impressive. I remember the admission scores were incredibly high. When I was in high school, only three people in our entire school had scores high enough for Jingda.”
“You are her sister, so you probably know,” Wu Yu Ting tilted her head toward Jiang Zhen. “If Zhenzhen had not become an actress, her dream was also to attend Jingda.”
Jiang Yin was stunned for a moment. After a pause, she snapped out of it and gave a vague “Mm” to drop the subject.
She did not follow celebrity news, so she did not know how Jiang Zhen entered the industry. She only remembered that by the time she heard the name, Jiang Zhen was already the lead in a film by a famous director.
Seeing that she was not volunteering more information, Wu Yu Ting stopped chatting. After finishing her meal, she stood up and walked over to Jiang Zhen to see if there was anything she could help with.
Jiang Yin finished her food in a few bites and walked over to Liu Yin to ask if any more help was needed.
“Not anymore,” Liu Yin smiled apologetically. “Sister, thank you so much for today. Thankfully you were here, otherwise things would have been a total mess on our end.”
“I did not really do much,” Jiang Yin said politely. “Since there is nothing else, I will head back to school.”
Before leaving, she took one last look at Jiang Zhen.
The young girl, dressed in the exquisite gown, stood in the middle of the set waiting for the lights and sound to be calibrated. Once everything was ready, at the director’s shout of “Action,” she instantly flashed a sweet smile.
Under the spotlight, the big star was dazzling.