After dealing with the nosebleed, Mu Xuefei started asking about acting with a serious expression.
Although she had never taken part in filming before, she understood a little bit because of some actor customers. When TV shows and movies are being filmed, besides needing personal acting skills and personal conditions to meet the requirements, actors also need to coordinate their positioning to figure out how to present the best angles.
As a veteran actress of many years, Yun Yongjun lived up to her reputation. Just by mentioning a few simple things, she made Mu Xuefei feel like she had gained a lot of knowledge.
It wasn’t until she saw Yun Yongjun yawn that Mu Xuefei realized it was getting late and quickly spoke up, “It is getting late. I will stop disturbing you here for today, and I really appreciate your help.”
“I was just reading books while idling around anyway. Telling you these things lets me organize my own experience too.” Yun Yongjun looked at Mu Xuefei more like she was looking at a junior. Although the two only differed by a few years, Yun Yongjun had achieved fame at a young age and had been a Best Actress and Best Leading Actress for many years, earning countless honors such as “Z Country’s first genius Best Actress to step onto the world stage,” “Youngest Best Leading Actress,” and so on. Strictly calculated, Mu Xuefei had only debuted for a little over half a year. Although she had talent, she was suppressed right at the cusp of fame. Therefore, to Yun Yongjun, Mu Xuefei was just a rookie, or rather… a rather cute rookie?
Hearing this, Mu Xuefei felt even more embarrassed. She hurriedly stood up, but because she had maintained the same posture for too long, her legs felt a bit numb. She staggered toward the bed and fell, pinning Yun Yongjun, who also wanted to stand up.
The two of them stared at each other, and the scene suddenly fell silent.
Mu Xuefei blinked. They were so close that she could see the tiny peach fuzz on the other person’s flawless face, and she could even feel the breath the other person exhaled onto her face.
“I…” “You…” The two spoke at the same time, their breaths intertwining, and the atmosphere grew strange again.
“Sorry, it is getting late, I should head back first.” As if suddenly waking up, Mu Xuefei quickly placed her hands on both sides of the other person, stood up, and after speaking in a flurry, quickly left.
“Wait…” Watching the door close in a hurry, Yun Yongjun looked at the phone left on her bed and shook her head with a smile.
On the other side, after tightly closing Yun Yongjun’s bedroom door, Mu Xuefei quickly flashed back to her own room, leaning her entire body weakly against the door.
Touching her wildly beating heart, Mu Xuefei wondered if it would jump right out from beating so violently.
“Host, well done.” The elf on the side looked at the curled-up Mu Xuefei with an expression of “a child who can be taught.”
“What did I do?” Mu Xuefei, who was originally lost in thought, looked puzzled. Did she do anything worthy of praise?
“Weren’t you going over to farm affection points? And when you left, didn’t you deliberately fall just to get intimate with the other person and boost affection points?” The elf looked at Mu Xuefei with surprise, the halo around it glowing a bit brighter.
“It was just an accident!” Recalling the scene earlier, Mu Xuefei blushed slightly, coughed, and straightened her face to explain, “I just maintained a posture for too long, so my legs went a bit numb. When I suddenly stood up, I naturally lost my balance, which is why I fell. It is definitely not what you think.”
“Then why did you happen to fall right on top of Yunyun?” The elf looked at Mu Xuefei with a disappointed expression. “I didn’t expect you to be this kind of person—dare to do it, but not dare to own up to it.”
“Who didn’t dare to own up to it? It was clearly…” Mu Xuefei’s words were cut off by a knock on the door.
She fell silent for a moment, adjusted her pajamas, and strode forward. But suddenly remembering something, she stopped, walked over slowly, and opened the door. “Ms. Yun, is something the matter?”
“I told you to just call me Yongjun.” Yun Yongjun raised the phone in her hand and pulled it back behind her when Mu Xuefei reached out to take it back. “Call me once and let me hear it.”
Mu Xuefei frowned. Looking at the other person’s serious expression and the phone hidden behind her, she opened her mouth, but under the other’s expectant gaze, she quickly bent down and snatched the phone back.
Clutching the phone tightly in her hands, Mu Xuefei raised an eyebrow at the other person, as if saying, “I can get it back even without calling you.”
Shaking her head with a smile, Yun Yongjun felt a twinge of disappointment in her heart, but pestering someone over such a small matter wasn’t her style. Just as she intended to say goodbye, she suddenly heard the other person open her mouth.
“Yongjun.”
Clearly two words she had heard many times before, Yun Yongjun felt this time was exceptionally pleasant to the ear, as if she were being called with deep affection yet naive innocence. Reining in the thoughts in her eyes, she smiled.
[Ding, romance target affection level: 50/100. System affection interpretation: Considerate little fan.]
Considerate? Mu Xuefei felt she was beginning to grasp the emotional changes of this romance target. Fearing that pondering too long would arouse suspicion, she had to bury this matter in her heart for now.
“Then,” after another awkward three-second stare, Mu Xuefei touched the tip of her nose with some embarrassment, “shall we say goodnight?”
“Night.”
“Wait a moment.” Suddenly remembering what the elf had said earlier, Mu Xuefei hurriedly called out to stop the other person.
Yun Yongjun stopped, standing one meter away from Mu Xuefei, and made a nasal sound, “Hmm?”
“Just now, I really didn’t mean to do it.” Mu Xuefei awkwardly shifted her gaze away and blurted it out. Realizing she hadn’t made herself clear, she quickly added, “I mean the accidental bed-romance thing.”
Bed-romance? As soon as Mu Xuefei heard the word she had used, she instantly wanted to find a hole to crawl into. Wouldn’t it have been better to just say she tripped? Why say bed-romance? She was definitely corrupted by the elf. Thinking of this, she tightly pressed her lips together.
“I know you didn’t mean it.” Yun Yongjun certainly knew the truth about the fall; she just didn’t know why the other person felt the need to specify it. Was she afraid of being misunderstood? But what could she misunderstand? Misunderstand that the other person deliberately threw herself at her to flirt and cling onto her?
Looking up at Mu Xuefei’s awkward expression, she understood in her heart. But the urge to tease the other person flared up again; they weren’t very familiar with each other yet, so she shouldn’t overdo the banter. Instead, she just said, “What a pity. After all, given our statures, if anyone was going to do a bed-romance, it should have been me.”
“As long as you believe it, let’s say goodnight then.” Fearing she might say something even more foolish, Mu Xuefei hurriedly said goodbye, but the moment she closed the door, she suddenly understood the meaning behind the other person’s words.
No, holy crap—that sentence had so much subtext. Was the other person flirting with her?
“Little elf, is this Yun Yongjun gay too?” Mu Xuefei suddenly remembered she had forgotten this question and quickly asked.
“Naturally.” The elf didn’t understand why Mu Xuefei asked such a question. “Isn’t a gay person much more convenient for your conquest?”
True. Mu Xuefei let out a long sigh and sprawled across the bed in a starfish shape.
“Mumu, I think this Yunyun is interested in you.” Seeing that Mu Xuefei was about to fall asleep, a flash of light appeared in the elf’s eyes as it leaned in close to her and whispered mysteriously, “What do you think?”
“Interested in me?” Hearing this, Mu Xuefei actually pondered the possibility seriously. After a long moment, she nodded helplessly, “I am so charming, isn’t it normal for someone to like me?”
“Mumu, where is your face?” Seeing someone admit it so shamelessly, the elf realized its spiritual cultivation was still inadequate.
“What is a face? Can you eat it?” Mu Xuefei glanced indifferently at the elf, closed her eyes, pulled the blanket over her head, and a muffled voice came from beneath the quilt, “I’m going to sleep, stop disturbing me.”
No matter how narcissistic she was, she knew the romance target didn’t like her yet, at most feeling a bit of interest. If she wanted to complete the mission, she needed to put in more effort to raise the other person’s affection level. And according to her recently discovered experience, the best way to gain experience points was to work hard to prove she was the other’s loyal fan and display her smart (foolish) and cute (adorable) side.
After making her plans, Mu Xuefei finally fell asleep in exhaustion, though even in her dreams, she couldn’t find peace. She intermittently dreamed of the past.
“She’s just an unwanted kid, we don’t want to play with her.”
“She’s so fat, don’t play with her. Let’s pelt her. She doesn’t have anyone to play with anyway, so she can just be our punching bag.”
“Run, that little demon is here again.”
“Why didn’t you fight back when someone bullied you?”
“You’re way too weak, stop crying. If you cry again, I won’t help you beat up the bad guys anymore.”
“A good child doesn’t cry.”
“If you want to cry, just look up at the sky. That way, your tears won’t be able to fall.”
…
“Director Granny, where is A-Jun?”
“A-Jun? Her mother came to pick her up and take her back.”
In her memory, the little girl whose expression was already somewhat blurry angrily threw the toy bear in her hand to the side.
“Feifei, why did you come back so soon?”
“It’s nothing, Mommy, let’s go back. I don’t want to come play here anymore.”
“Why? Didn’t you like coming here a lot?”
“There’s no one here to play with me anymore. And everyone here is a bunch of bad kids, no fun at all.” The little girl with princess pigtails buried herself in the woman’s arms, acting coquettishly, “Don’t buy me toy bears anymore either.”
…
“Feifei, I like you. Didn’t you feel it at all?”
“Mu Xuefei, do you even have a heart?”
…
“Huu huu huu—” Mu Xuefei snapped her eyes open, looked at the still-dark room around her, and rubbed her temples in annoyance.
“Mumu, are you alright?” Sensing Mu Xuefei’s state, the little elf quickly materialized and asked with concern.
“I’m fine. I just had some bad dreams, but unfortunately, I still can’t remember what was in them.” Mu Xuefei’s expression was blank, clearly not fully recovered yet. “I used to be like this before, but every time I wake up, I can never remember what I dreamed about.”
“I always feel like it was some very important stuff.” Mu Xuefei muttered under her breath, raising a hand to touch her heart, where traces of an unidentifiable emotion still lingered.
“As long as you’re okay, it’s fine.” Looking at the other person’s expressionless face, the elf comforted, “You’ll remember eventually.”
“Let’s hope so.” Mu Xuefei half-closed her eyes, speaking in an ambiguous tone, unsure whether she was answering or comforting herself.
“It’s still early, you should go back to rest.” Seeing the fatigue in the depths of Mu Xuefei’s eyes, the elf vanished quickly after speaking.
Mu Xuefei looked at the dark room all around her. After trying to recall once more and still coming up empty, she had no choice but to give up.
The room fell into silence once again.
The next day.
When Mu Xuefei woke up, she had regained her vibrant appearance. After quietly finishing breakfast with Yun Yongjun, she followed her toward the company she had mentioned.
“These are our company’s materials, you can take a look.” When it came to serious business, Yun Yongjun quickly shifted into the zone, handing a folder to Mu Xuefei.
Mu Xuefei had run her own company before, so she naturally knew that running a company required not only money, human resources, and materials, but also connections at the top to get official approval. If she remembered correctly, Yun Yongjun had mentioned a studio last night, and now she had actually whipped up an entire company?
Perhaps reading the surprise in the depths of Mu Xuefei’s eyes, Yun Yongjun shrugged helplessly. “I opened this company a long time ago, but it was always managed by my parents and attached under their company without truly operating. Now I just brought it over to run an entertainment company.”
“Why did you suddenly think of opening a company?” Speaking of this matter, Mu Xuefei was full of puzzlement. A Best Actress and Best Leading Actress currently at the peak of her life suddenly wanting to transition behind the scenes was truly hard to understand. Especially her fans; they would probably find it even harder to bear by then.
“Does there need to be a reason?” Yun Yongjun flipped through the folder in her hand, asking casually in return, as if Mu Xuefei’s question was very surprising. “Entering the entertainment industry in the first place was just an impulse. It’s just that now I’ve found my next goal to strive for, and I want to change my lifestyle.”
“You really have guts.” Even Mu Xuefei couldn’t guarantee she would do something so crazy on a mere impulse. But calling it crazy wasn’t entirely accurate either; Yun Yongjun seemed to have undergone thorough preparation while making these decisions, still maintaining her composure.
Yun Yongjun didn’t continue on that topic. She just casually signed her name on the documents and handed them to Mu Xuefei. “Later I’ll take you to the place where they’re auditioning for roles. Once you finish the audition, I’ll take you to check out the company.”
“Okay.” Mu Xuefei thought of something. “Where is Sister Chen? Why are you the one taking me?”
“Because I am your manager.” Seeming to have touched upon something interesting, the smile in Yun Yongjun’s eyes couldn’t be concealed no matter what.
“What?” Mu Xuefei stood up in surprise, forgetting she was inside a carriage compartment. The moment she stood up, she accidentally bumped her head against the car roof, instantly sucking in a breath of air.
“Bang—” “Hiss—”
Yun Yongjun quickly pulled Mu Xuefei down, internally scolding herself for why she had to talk about these things in the car. After pressing the other person back into place, she pulled some medicated oil from the spare storage box, poured it into her palm, and skillfully massaged the injured spot for her while scolding, “Why are you so careless?”
“Sorry.” Mu Xuefei also felt embarrassed by her own overreaction, but who could blame Yun Yongjun for dropping such explosive news? Retiring from the screen was one thing, but she was going to be her manager? What virtues or abilities did she possess that allowed her to have someone condescend to be her manager?
“Don’t worry too much, I will handle these matters. You just focus on acting out your script.”
Looking at Yun Yongjun, who had rapidly transitioned into her manager persona, Mu Xuefei nodded blankly. She still hadn’t fully recovered her wits by the time they arrived at the acting venue.
“Bang—”
After getting out of the car, Mu Xuefei followed behind Yun Yongjun, casually glancing at the surrounding environment while forgetting to watch her step. She accidentally bumped into someone at the corner and hurriedly spoke up, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
“What is wrong with you people? Why don’t you watch where you’re walking?” The moment Mu Xuefei’s voice sounded, a sharp and mean voice rang out from the opposite side, causing both Yun and Mu to frown in unison.
“Didn’t I already apologize? What else do you want?” Mu Xuefei was so angry she laughed; she had never seen such an unreasonable woman. Thinking this, she stopped walking, crossed her arms, and stood right in her spot. “Didn’t you fail to watch the road too, marching straight into me?”
“Or could it be that you’ve taken a fancy to me and want to use this to catch my attention?” With that, Mu Xuefei scanned the other person from head to toe. Petite build, around one meter six, skin as delicate as it could be peeled with a breath—only the viciousness in her eyes ruined this bit of beauty. Pouting her lips, Mu Xuefei said with disgust, “If you’re really planning on doing that, I can only say…”
“Who wants to catch your attention?” That girl tossed her head away in disgust, but the moment her eyes locked onto Yun Yongjun standing to the side, her face turned beet red in a flash.
Oh, so she wanted to catch your attention instead. Noticing this, Mu Xuefei playfully looked toward Yun Yongjun.
“Naughty.” Yun Yongjun helplessly raised a hand to flick the other’s brow, ignoring the young girl gazing at her with affectionate eyes. Holding Mu Xuefei’s hand, she walked along and urged, “Time is almost up, don’t pay attention to irrelevant people.”
Irrelevant people? Ignored, Bai Tiantian bit her lower lip in resentment, blood seeping slightly from the gaps of her tightly clenched fists. Thinking of what the two had just said, an idea formed in her mind, and she hurriedly motioned her assistant to lean in.
“Go help me find the person in charge of arranging the role selection. First do this… then do that…”
Meanwhile, the two people on the other side hadn’t heard the evil plot directed against them by the villain. Instead, they walked into the preparation hall looking quite relaxed. At this moment, quite a few people were standing or sitting in the preparation hall, each holding something and seeming to study it very earnestly.
“Click—”
The door hanging the “Auditioning in Progress” sign was pushed open, and an efficient-looking woman walked out. She glanced at the name roster in her hand, dismissed the person beside her, called out a name, and someone stood up.
“The competition is alright.” Looking around at the people, Yun Yongjun pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose—a disguise prop she had just thought of, though it might not have much effect. When she turned to Mu Xuefei, she suddenly hesitated for a moment. “However…”
“However?” Mu Xuefei withdrew her gaze from a person crying as they came out, and looked inquiringly at the other person.
“Make sure you don’t come out crying.”
“How is that possible?” Mu Xuefei instantly rolled her eyes and swore with absolute confidence, “If I can’t even pass a tiny selection, then there’s no need for you to be my manager.”
“Talking so big, aren’t you afraid of losing face if you don’t get selected?”
A voice suddenly cut in from behind, causing the two-chatting people to shut their mouths simultaneously and tacitly shift their gazes away.
“I forgot to check the calendar today.”
“Yeah, crows are cawing, not a good day to go out.” Mu Xuefei quickly picked up the cue.
“You guys just wait.” Bai Tiantian gave a cold snort, held her chin high, and walked straight into the room where character screening was taking place.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Mu Xuefei spoke in silence, watching the other person’s back.
“Me too.” Yun Yongjun carefully recalled the woman from just now, only to realize she didn’t usually pay much attention to other stars and couldn’t remember who the person actually was for a moment. Looking at Mu Xuefei, who was lowering her head slightly, she comforted her, “Don’t worry, if we don’t succeed this time, there’s always next time.”
“It’s fine, after all, I’m just an actor; one audition doesn’t necessarily decide my fate.” Mu Xuefei shrugged and dropped a catchphrase from her own world, “If this sister isn’t kept here, there are other places that will keep her.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, I mean I’ll work hard.” Subconsciously standing straight, Mu Xuefei spread her hands in explanation.
“Next, Mu Xuefei.” After waiting for a good while, Mu Xuefei finally heard her name called.
“Then I’ll go in first.”
“Good luck.” Yun Yongjun thought about it, hesitatingly clenched her fist, and waved it in the air to show encouragement.
For some reason, Mu Xuefei always felt that the other person’s deadpan, frowning, fist-waving gesture of encouragement was quite cute?
Realizing what she was thinking, Mu Xuefei hurriedly tossed those thoughts out of her head. Right now, the most important thing was the upcoming character selection.
Once she went inside, she found it was a large dance practice room. Five unknown individuals were discussing something, and the person who had bumped into her earlier was among them.
“Ms. Mu? The role you want to compete for is Supporting Actress 1?” The person who called her name looked at the items in their hand before saying to Mu Xuefei, “Please go ahead and act out this crying scene.”