Zoe finished brushing her teeth and sat down on the sofa, opening her phone to find dozens of unread messages—just another typical day.
At the top of the list was Lan, who had sent several messages.
The first one was sent at 1 AM: "If you're awake, I made some hangover soup. It's on the kitchen counter, go grab it yourself."
The second one came at 6 AM: "I called Zheng Xiaoju. She'll be coming over to your place. Don't run around."
And the third one, sent just ten minutes ago: "Call me once you're awake."
Among the messages, there was one from Song:
"Thanks for what happened last night. You drank a lot. If your head hurts, drink some hangover soup."
Zoe rubbed her temples and replied to Song with a simple "Mm," but then she sighed and decided to call Lan.
"Finally awake, huh?" Lan's voice sounded much more energetic than Zoe's.
"Lan Jie, you were the one who took me home last night?" Zoe asked, still a little confused.
"Who else could it be? I told you, you're too bold, eating with Song like that and drinking yourself into a mess. Are you out of your mind? If someone had taken pictures of you two last night, I'm telling you, you'd never clear your name even if you jumped into the Yellow River."
As expected, Lan immediately started lecturing her.
Zoe held the phone away from her ear, letting Lan rant. Once she was done, Zoe said, "Lan Jie, they saved the role in Heartfelt for me. I couldn't exactly turn down their request. If I didn't help out with something so small, I'd be an ungrateful, cold-hearted person, wouldn't I?"
"I didn't stop you from helping, did I? But why drink so much? Did they force you to drink?" Lan asked.
"No, I drank too much on my own."
"Then I'm right to scold you. Did I scold you wrongly?"
"...Fine, you can scold me."
Zoe sighed, letting Lan lecture her.
"See? You don't learn your lesson, do you? What a waste of breath." Lan complained. "Hurry up now! I'll be downstairs in an hour with the driver. Don't forget, you're going to the TV station to record today. Don't be late. Director Hong is very strict. Just recently, a small-time star was half an hour late to record his show and got scolded by him for half an hour in front of an audience. It was so obvious, everyone knew it was about the star."
"Got it, got it." Zoe responded, "I'm going to eat now, I'm hanging up."
After finishing a bowl of chicken soup, the discomfort in her stomach finally eased a little.
Zheng Xiaoju, sitting across from her, was staring at her with both hands on her face.
"What are you staring at?" Zoe asked, feeling a little weird.
Zheng Xiaoju grinned, her eyes sparkling. "Zoe Jie, you're so pretty."
Zoe was caught off guard by the compliment and blushed slightly.
"What's with you suddenly saying that?" She set the bowl down. "I'm done drinking, I'll go change now."
"Mm-hmm." Zheng Xiaoju nodded eagerly.
At 9 AM, Zoe was downstairs on time. On the way to the TV station, Lan said, "I've got something else to tell you. Remember the recording for Geological Talks that was interrupted because the director went to the hospital? The other side contacted me yesterday—they're ready to reschedule it, so they want to confirm a time with us."
"Mm." Zoe nodded.
"Do you still want to go?" Lan asked.
"I already agreed to it, signed the contract. How can I back out now?" Zoe said. "If I didn't want to go, I could have just said no, right?"
"If you really didn't want to, we could've just said the schedules didn't match. After all, you haven't been paid yet." Lan suggested.
"No, as long as the schedule fits, we'll go ahead with it." Zoe said.
"Don't forget, Su Yan will be on the same episode." Lan added.
Zoe immediately realized that Lan was reminding her of the tension between her and Su Yan. If she didn't want to run into her, she could easily avoid this particular episode.
"It's fine. I can't keep avoiding her forever." Zoe responded.
"Alright, just make sure you've thought this through. By the way, the contract for Heartfelt has been sent over. I'm negotiating with Yuehai Networks right now. Unexpectedly, Yuehai Networks made a huge move and bought the production and distribution rights to Heartfelt from Zuo Jing. Now, Zuo Jing can only take a percentage. No wonder the contract is with Yuehai Networks."
Zoe immediately thought back to the actions of Song from last night. It seemed that he had played a part in pushing Heartfelt out of Zuo Jing's control.
"Lan Jie, how's Song's relationship with Zuo Jing? Have you heard anything?" Zoe asked, her curiosity piqued.
Lan shook her head. "Relationship? It's just a normal working relationship. Song was made famous by Zuo Jing, and he's also their biggest money-maker. It's mutually beneficial. I've heard that Song is particularly close with Zuo Jing's boss, Luo Zhiqiu. There was even a rumor that another company was willing to pay Song's termination fee and offer him stock options to poach him, but Song refused outright. He told someone that he would never sign with another company."
Zoe furrowed her brows.
The rumor around the industry was that Song and Zuo Jing had a close, solid relationship, but from his actions, it seemed like he was preparing to distance himself from them.
"Weird..." Zoe thought for a moment. "Lan Jie, if Luo Yuhu ever comes to ask about Song, just tell him you don't know anything."
Lan smiled. "Alright. But I doubt he'll come to ask me. What connection do we even have with Song?"
"If I go shoot Heartfelt, it'll matter a lot." Zoe said. "The backers behind Heartfelt are complicated, and I don't know all the details. You should try to find out more."
Lan immediately understood her implication. "Got it."
"One more thing. Remember we filmed This Weather is So Good before? It's airing tonight. Make sure to cooperate with the program team and post a tweet about it." Lan reminded her.
"Mm." Zoe nodded. "Just send me the content, and I'll post it."
Being a celebrity may look glamorous on the surface, but the truth is, most of the time it's just monotonous work, much more boring than the audience realizes.
Especially when filming programs or commercials, Zoe often felt like a robot—reading the script without much emotion, more detached than acting itself.
If everything goes smoothly, most shows wrap up in a few hours.
Today's show was another indoor variety show, a simple game-based format. The script had plenty of jokes, and the guests just needed to act them out. Zoe's role was that of a high-EQ beauty, a character that fit her very well—obviously something Lan had coordinated with the program team.
Everything was going smoothly until the last segment.
It was unclear if the prop team had failed to prepare, or if something went wrong with the setup, but the show's staff arranged for Zoe to take part in a game.
Zoe had to be hoisted up on a wire 3 meters above the ground and, within the time limit, step on a suspended stool and put on a jumpsuit.
That's when the accident occurred.