Li Zhan arrived at the building early the next day to get a head start on work. Wu Yang arrived late. When he saw that Li Zhan was already working in his office, he could not help but shake his head and sigh, "Boss, I've never seen a workaholic like you." He was not the type of boss to easily hand over all his important documents to his subordinates. He was carrying the money in his pocket and was looking for flowers himself.
But his own family...
Well, this was for them, the poor little employees that worked diligently and busily.
Li Zhan did not even raise his head.
Wu Yang was bored. He looked at the time. 8:20 AM. Ten minutes before work officially started. He placed a snack on the table, made a cup of boiling water, and started gossiping.
"Boss, I'm just curious. Do you really need to sit here and read boring documents every day?" He wasn't gay, nor did he look for girls to talk about love. He was truly a rare oddity in the world.
Of course, Li Zhan didn't respond. Feeling indignant, Wu Yang continued, "Boss, don't tell me you haven't even had your first kiss?" Wu Yang was sure that he hadn't made his debut in the bedroom. After all, Zheng Nuo was always calling his cousin a perverted old virgin! Now that he thought about it, he was probably right. He was not interested in men, and he wasn't interested in women. Maybe he was just a pervert.
Li Zhan raised his head to reveal an ugly expression. "We will not talk about such things here!"
"F*ck... Why not here?" Wu Yang's eyes widened. "Who... who stole your first kiss? Can you tell me the story of you and your first girlfriend?" Wu Yang span around in his chair.
"Are you complaining that I haven't assigned you enough work?"
"No, no, no!" Wu Yang waved his hand in a hurry. He was stupid. He should have been thankful that he could gossip at all, and yet he still wanted to gossip about the boss. He was asking for death! He prayed that the boss would quickly gloss over the incident. Wu Yang stopped spinning in his chair.
* * *
After witnessing the three performances of Li Yan yesterday, the trainees were convinced on the surface, but their hearts were full of jealousy.
Especially Huang Yue.
During lunch, Xiwan ate on the third floor as usual, while Zhou Liqing ate with Huang Yue on the second floor. They finished eating quickly downstairs and went upstairs to wait for Xiwan.
Huang Yue looked at the four dishes on Xiwan's table. There were two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and one soup. "Xiwan, do you have enough money to eat like this every day?" she asked.
"Yes."
"So, you're a girl from a rich family? I really envy rich and beautiful people..."
Zhou Liqing frowned. "Huang Yue, don't talk nonsense." She was puzzled. After all, she knew that Xiwan's family background was not good, so why did Xiwan always go to the third floor to eat? If she ordered four dishes on the second floor the total would be less than 100 yuan.
It seemed as if Huang Yue had thought of something. Her eyes darted around, she lowered her head, and then she whispered, "By the way, I heard that Huang Can was kept aside by the higher-ups. She's really amazing. It's only been a few days, and she's already found a big step up. When she debuts in the future it's will be smooth sailing for her."
Zhou Liqing was stunned.
Xiwan kept her focus on eating her lunch.
Huang Yue saw that Xiwan remained unmoved, so she continued. "...Also, isn't the director Chen Zige going to shoot a new movie? I've heard there's castings going on right now," she said. "Apparently the higher-ups are going to put Huang Can up for an audition, even though she's still a trainee." She sighed. "We've both got the surname Huang, but we're really not on the same level. I could never do anything like that. If my parents found out they'd definitely beat me to death with a stick. Tsk tsk! Only shameless people go down the dark path."
Xiwan looked at Huang Yue's twisted face and slowly finished the last mouthful of her soup. "If you have enough time to talk about it, you have enough time to practice hard and get your own level up."
Huang Yue understood the hidden meaning behind Xiwan's words. In her heart she knew that Xiwan had indeed been down a dark path. Otherwise, why would she listen to Xiwan's mocking words? In her heart, she truly was disgusted with Xiwan, but when she spoke her mouth seemed to have other ideas. "Even if we have to go to the audition, it should be you. You're so good-looking and your acting skills are amazing. I heard that you and Miss Li's both gave impromptu performances in your acting class. Teacher Tan said that your talent is the best she has ever seen."
Her words had a sarcastic tone to them.
"Oh." Xiwan got up. "Let's go back to class."
Huang Yue wanted to say more, but she held herself back when she saw Xiwan's cold eyes. She panicked and lowered her head, holding onto Zhou Liqing's arm.
* * *
Almost all the trainees knew that Huang Can had hooked up with one of the company's higher-ups a week later.
Compared to the few trainees who were quick-witted and knew how to deal with Huang Can's sarcasm, most of the student population were secretly really jealous. After all, even if Huang Can didn't cling to the company's higher-ups, she was still one of their main targets for training.
They were all scared because they didn't know who among them would get to debut. It was stupid to provoke Huang Can when she would be making a debut regardless, even if she didn't have an unspoken arrangement in place. Then there was the boss's sister, and Jiang Xiwan with her angelic face. How could anyone else stand out?
A lot of people were clear about the details of the situation, but there were also a few who remained unclear, and Huang Yue was one of them. This kind of gossiping was not uncommon for the trainees. In just a few days, almost all the trainees knew about what was going on. Huang Yue, despite not knowing all the details, could be said to have contributed a lot to the gossip.
She complained to Zhou Liqing again, "Hey, what do you think Jiang Xiwan is thinking?"
Zhou Liqing was watching the performances of the other groups on the stage. She was taking it very seriously. After all, she was not yet a professional like some people.
"What?" Zhou Liqing only picked up the word 'Xiwan'.
Huang Yue rolled her eyes and said, "I noticed that you and Xiwan haven't been very close lately. Did you guys have a fight?"
Zhou Liqing felt a little uncomfortable. "What? We're fine."
"Really? Because I found out that she's been having lunch with Miss Li on the third floor for the past two days now..."
A schedule change meant that the two batches of trainees now had their meals at different times. Those considered at a higher level had their meals 20 minutes later, so Zhou Liqing and Xiwan could no longer go to the hotel cafeteria across the street together.
"Oh, that's just because our lunchtimes are different now," She reminded Huang Yue. "Besides, Li Yan is her roommate now. Why shouldn't they eat together?" Zhou Liqing replied.
Huang Yue continued, "Right... Do you think she's fair, rich, and beautiful? She eats on the third floor every day, and her daily expenses must be more than 100 yuan. Her monthly food expenses must be at least 3,000 yuan..."
Zhou Liqing turned her head to look at Huang Yue. "Don't ask me these questions," she snapped. Although she didn't agree with Xiwan's extravagance, which was very different from her usual self, it was still her private matter that was no one else's business.
Seeing that Zhou Liqing was not going to speak more on the matter, Huang Yue simply said to herself, "Of course, if she eats with Miss Li, she can hardly be disadvantaged."
"Xiwan isn't someone who likes to take advantage of others!" Zhou Liqing retorted, "Alright, listen to the lesson."
After spending the past two days together, it was clear that Huang Yue was a person who liked to take advantage of others. She was also a little gossipy. There were some parts of her that they were very compatible with Zhou Liqing, but there were also some parts that... How could she best put it...
Zhou Liqing couldn't describe the strange feeling and would only shake her head. Then, she tried to put all of that out of her mind and focus on the teacher's performance.
"That's all for today's performance lesson. We'll see you tomorrow." The teacher was finishing up. "Oh right, Zhou Liqing, can you stay here for a while?"
"Okay."
"Come with me for a moment."
* * *
"Do you know Xiao Yinzheng?" The teacher looked at Zhou Liqing, confusion apparent on her face.
After thinking the name over, Zhou Liqing's eyes lit up.
It had been more than ten days since that night at the bar. During that time, although she had been thinking about when they wanted to shoot the female lead of Xiao Yinzheng's music video, there had been no communication from them. With everything surprising and shocking that happened that night, she had thought that maybe it was just a fabricated dream.
She truly didn't expect it!
The surprise came too quickly!
She was caught off guard!
"Yes, I know him. I'm supposed to be the female lead for his new music video."
The teacher nodded. "Yes, Xiao Yinzheng's manager called the company's outreach department and asked about you specifically, saying you were to be the female lead for the MV. The company talked it over, and they've decided to let you go ahead with it."
Although the teacher said it calmly, the doubts in his heart were overwhelming. He had no idea that this girl, who clearly had zero foundations, had a backer. Was it so easy to get a part in a music video these days? Sigh, as expected, people in the entertainment industry should never be underestimated.
Zhou Liqing nodded excitedly. "Thank you, teacher, thank you, company!"
The teacher looked at Zhou Liqing for a long time "This music video is a very good accumulation of acting experience for you. You should go back and study the lessons I have been teaching. Although the performance of a music video can't be compared to the performance of a movie or TV series, it's not easy at all. You have to be serious."
"Yes, teacher!"
"When you arrive at the company tomorrow, you'll be taken to the filming location. The filming time of the video itself shouldn't take long, so you will still have to come back to class after you finish. You'll have to work harder when you're outside the company. After all, you don't have any acting experience, and you have yet to really begin classes. I looked at the register and you've actually missed a few classes."
* * *
Zhou Liqing ran out happily and saw that Huang Yue was waiting for her at the door.
"Ah, you're still waiting for me?"
"Yeah! We all live in the same dormitory after all."
Zhou Liqing nodded.
"What's up? You look so happy!"
"I'm going to..." Zhou Liqing began before she was cut off by someone calling her name.
"Liqing, haven't you gone back to the dorm yet?"
Zhou Liqing turned her head and saw Xiwan and Li Yan standing at the corner of the corridor. "Hey Xiwan, have you guys been let out early today?" Zhou Liqing greeted the two girls.
Xiwan nodded.
"Liqing, you haven't told me why you're so happy yet." Huang Yue hadn't got her answer, so she urged her new friend again.
"Oh, right. I'm going to shoot a music video."
"What?" Huang Yue looked at Zhou Liqing in disbelief. "You're seriously going to shoot a music video?"
Li Yan curled her lips. "Tsk, just look at the little thing, smiling like a spring flower. You've never seen the world! People who don't know would think that you're the naive female lead in some big production movie."
After Zhou Liqing found out about who Li Yan was related to, she didn't dare to argue with her anymore. When she heard Li Yan say this though, it still made her feel uncomfortable. "It's not an ordinary music video. It's for the idol Xiao Yinzheng!"