Chapter 11

Zhu Xinyue was, of course, joking. She just couldn't resist teasing Ji Linyu when he looked so serious.
Adult emotions could be switched on and off so effortlessly.
Shortly after returning to Lishan, Zhu Xinyue received notification that she'd passed the audition and should prepare to fly to the training base in M Province for closed-door training.
She also received the schedule from the staff.
Good grief, it was even more packed than her university timetable. It felt less like filming and more like going back to school.
"Peach Blossom Spring" was a major production with a stellar cast. The leads went without saying, but even among the important supporting roles, any one of them could carry a show.
The character with the most scenes opposite Zhu Xinyue was the "Second Elder" in the story, a significant role in "Peach Blossom Spring."
The actor playing the Second Elder was Liang Yuyu, the male lead from the director's previous film "Gazing at Butterflies."
The entertainment industry in this world was completely different from Zhu Xinyue's original one.
After receiving the cast list, Zhu Xinyue searched each name for photos and backgrounds to avoid the embarrassment of not recognizing her colleagues.
But she didn't need to look up Liang Yuyu, she'd seen his name in the novel before.
Liang Yuyu debuted as a child star at the age of ten, and twenty years have passed since then. He has always remained moderately popular, a classic case of his works being more famous than he is. After starring in Gazing at the Butterfly, the film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor at an international film festival. Although it didn’t win any awards, it was still an achievement worth celebrating, especially since no Chinese-language film had ever won at that festival before. However, the domestic buzz around it remained minimal.
In the novel, he only gained attention when a video of Ji Qingyuan getting injured on the set of Peach Blossom Spring went viral. Liang Yuyu had been standing right beside Ji Qingyuan at the time, and fans criticized him for not reacting quickly enough to pull Ji Qingyuan to safety, which could have prevented the injury. As a result, Liang Yuyu was cyberbullied by Ji Qingyuan’s fans and eventually deleted all his social media accounts.
Later… his name appeared in the novel again, but this time in an obituary.
He had taken his own life.
Nearly every actor who had ever worked with him reposted the obituary, and almost half the entertainment industry followed suit. It was only then that the public realized how many films and dramas he had been part of. They dug up his past works and revisited the incident of Ji Qingyuan’s injury, directing their anger at Ji Qingyuan once again.
No ripples during his lifetime, yet his death sent shockwaves through half the entertainment industry.
How ironic.
Zhu Xinyue clicked into Liang Yuyu’s Weibo account. He had fewer than a million followers and didn’t post frequently. Most of his updates were casual photos accompanied by simple greetings, "Good morning," "Good afternoon," "Good night", as if he were just checking in.
The reposts and comments under his posts rarely exceeded a thousand, usually hovering around a few hundred. On the rare occasions when comments surpassed a thousand, it was because he had tagged another actor in promotional content, and their fans would flood in to control the narrative.
Zhu Xinyue followed Liang Yuyu and then returned to her own homepage to check her following list.
The first account she followed was, of course, her big boss. Then came her agent, the studio’s official account, the director of Peach Blossom Spring… As for her "senior" Ji Qingyuan? Following him was too risky. She didn’t want to be targeted by his fans with malicious speculation before she’d even made her debut.
A moment later, she noticed a new follower.
Zhu Xinyue clicked to check and found it was the official account of her family’s corporation, "Zhu Chang Group."
With the corporate account following her, the next ones would likely be "Zhu Shilang" and her father, "Zhu Hengnian."
Every time she refreshed the page, another follower would appear, all business partners or relatives of the Zhu family, each with a verified yellow or blue V badge next to their profile pictures.
She refreshed again.
This time, one of her new followers had a red V! Wow!
Zhu Xinyue’s eyes widened in surprise. She noticed the "Mutually Following" label next to the name and froze for a second before shifting her gaze to the username, Ji Linyu.
The big boss had followed her back!
What did this mean? It meant… the big boss valued her highly! A promotion, a raise, becoming the top star at Jin Huan Group, and reaching the peak of her career, it was all within reach!
It really paid off to make herself familiar to Ji Linyu! Zhu Xinyue was so excited she threw a series of imaginary punches into the air.
According to the schedule provided by the production team, actors joining the crew had to undergo three months of training at the practice base.
New actors like Zhu Xinyue, who lacked experience, had minor roles, and few schedules, were the first to enter the training base.
The training base had separate buildings for dormitories and classes, the training building in front and the dormitory building behind. The dormitories were shared by two people, but as an artist signed under Jin Huan Group, Zhu Xinyue had a single room to herself.
After moving in, Zhu Xinyue noticed Jin Huan Group-branded products everywhere, from the bottled water they drank to the quick-dry T-shirts they were given. Later, when she watched a documentary about the main cast entering the training base, she realized it was all part of Jin Huan Group’s advertising strategy.
"Peach Blossom Spring" had many action scenes, especially since Zhu Xinyue played a personal guard. Her mornings were spent learning horseback riding, afternoons on martial arts, and evenings on acting classes. On top of that, she also had posture training and ancient etiquette lessons...
Before the main cast arrived at the training base, their phones were restricted to the dormitory building and couldn’t be brought into the training building to avoid distractions during classes.
When Zhu Xinyue first started at the training base, she returned to her dorm every day with sore muscles and an aching back, feeling completely exhausted. She had no energy left to even think about using her phone.
"Xinyue!" After finishing her archery class and heading to the cafeteria, Zhu Xinyue heard someone call her name. A round-faced girl caught up and linked arms with her.
Su Miao leaned in close, glanced around sneakily, and whispered, "It’s Linlin’s birthday today. I asked my agent to get us some food. Before acting class later, let’s skip the cafeteria and cook hotpot in the dorm instead."
At the mention of "hotpot," Zhu Xinyue couldn’t help but swallow.
For the past two weeks, they had been under strict physical management, starting with their diet. The cafeteria meals were mostly bland greens, and she felt like she’d been grazing on grass until her taste buds had gone numb.
"But... could you come with me to the security office to pick it up?" Su Miao hooked her finger with Zhu Xinyue’s, giving it a gentle shake as she looked at her pleadingly.
As a Jin Huan Group artist, the staff tended to turn a blind eye to Zhu Xinyue’s minor rule-breaking, like the time she brought her phone into the training building and its alarm went off in class. Both the staff and teacher pretended not to notice.
So, many artists often asked Zhu Xinyue to help them collect packages from the security office, since hers were never inspected.
Over time, Zhu Xinyue became familiar with the other artists at the base. Some male artists even secretly slipped her love notes, though she turned them all down.
"Sure!" Tempted by the hotpot, Zhu Xinyue agreed and went with Su Miao to the security office.
Usually, the training base’s main gate was tightly shut, but today it was half-open, as if someone important was expected.
Su Miao, the base’s biggest gossip enthusiast, suddenly remembered something and said to Zhu Xinyue, "Oh! The main cast is arriving at the training base! I saw Ji Qingyuan and Jiang Rui’s fans post their schedules. I’ve never seen Ji Qingyuan in person, they say his family has a powerful background!"
Only a few people knew that Ji Qingyuan was the second son of the Jin Huan Group, his grandfather never acknowledged him as part of the Ji family. It wasn’t until after his grandfather passed away that his father brought him back from Nancheng to the Ji family.
Zhu Xinyue was still thinking about that hotpot meal, but after a quick glance at the half-open gate, she averted her gaze and had Su Miao report the last digits of her phone number to the security guard.
To both of their surprise, their manager had been quite earnest, when she said she’d get them some food, she’d prepared a whole large box. Besides ingredients, it also contained local specialties, and to celebrate the birthday, she’d even ordered a big cake.
"Miao, isn’t this a bit too blatant?" Zhu Xinyue pointed at the large cake in the transparent box.
Su Miao scratched her head sheepishly. "Ah..."
The manager had probably gone overboard in her effort to help them build good relationships with the other artists.
The cardboard box containing the ingredients and specialties wasn’t too conspicuous, it was hard to tell what was inside, but the cake would be difficult to sneak in.
"I’ve got it! I’ll take the box in first and have Linlin and the others distract the inspection staff. Then you figure out a way to bring the cake in." Since carrying the cake was riskier, it made the most sense for Zhu Xinyue, an artist from Jin Huan Group, to handle it.
Zhu Xinyue stared at the large cake. It had been a long time since she’d had any sweets, ugh, she was so tempted.
"Alright." No choice but to go for it!
Su Miao zipped her sun-protective jacket all the way up, covering the lower half of her face, put on her hat so only her eyes were visible, picked up the cardboard box, and sneaked into the base.
Zhu Xinyue watched as Su Miao, radiating stealth-mode vibes, entered the base. She kept an eye on the clock in the security booth, planning to wait another ten minutes before going back to avoid the two of them crossing paths and drawing too much attention.
Just then, the sound of the automatic sliding gate opening came from behind.
Zhu Xinyue turned and saw a black commercial vehicle drive past. The windows were tinted, making it impossible to see who was inside.
Probably the lead actors Su Miao mentioned.
The main leads...
She wondered if Jiang Rui, the female lead from the novel, was in that car.
Zhu Xinyue estimated that enough time had passed and headed into the base with the cake.
As soon as she reached the dormitory building, she spotted Su Miao, who had been caught by the staff.
The staff member was inspecting the contents of her box, and Su Miao looked on the verge of tears. When she saw Zhu Xinyue, she desperately tried to signal her with her eyes.
Zhu Xinyue felt it wasn’t the best time to return to the dorm and was about to turn around and leave when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Xinyue, the director and the others just arrived at the base today, and you two had to run right into them. Sorry about this." The staff member patted Zhu Xinyue’s shoulder and confiscated the cake she was holding.
Losing the cake and ingredients wasn’t a big deal, but to make an example of them and show their superiors their diligence, the staff set up two signs in front of Su Miao and Zhu Xinyue, forcing them to stand in place for fifteen minutes as punishment in front of the dormitory. Their confiscated "evidence" was placed beside them as a warning to others.
Su Miao had been a well-behaved student back in school, and now, as an adult, she was being publicly shamed and made to reflect. She couldn’t hold back her tears and hid behind the "I was wrong" sign, rubbing her eyes.
Zhu Xinyue opened the cake box, cut a slice, and handed it to the overly shy Su Miao.
"Since we're going to be punished anyway, it'd be a waste not to eat the cake. Let's finish it quickly while they're away for dinner."
Su Miao ate the cake with tears in her eyes.
Zhu Xinyue stood beside Su Miao, keeping watch, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a group of people approaching from the direction of the cafeteria. She couldn't tell if they were artists who had just finished dinner and were heading back to the dorm or someone else.
"Ahem." Zhu Xinyue coughed warningly to alert Su Miao.
Su Miao quickly put away the cake, stuffed the plate into the cardboard box, wiped her mouth, and stood up straight beside Zhu Xinyue, putting on a serious expression as if she were reflecting on her mistakes and obediently accepting punishment.
The group drew closer.
Zhu Xinyue kept her gaze fixed ahead but glanced sideways at a familiar figure, then turned to look.
"This is our dormitory building..." A staff member was introducing the facility to the visiting director and others.
At the front of the group were Ji Linyu and the director, accompanied by senior actors from the main cast. Ji Qingyuan, partially blocked by others, lagged behind, chatting with the younger actors.
Ji Linyu stopped in front of Zhu Xinyue, and the rest of the group halted as well.
The director asked, "What's going on here?"
The staff member replied, "According to the base rules, artists are only allowed to eat cafeteria meals during training. They brought outside food into the base without permission."
Ji Linyu's gaze shifted from Zhu Xinyue's face to the cake on the cardboard box beside her, a small piece had been eaten.
"Is it your birthday?" he asked.
Zhu Xinyue shook her head. "A friend's birthday."
"Did you eat any?" Ji Linyu asked again.
Su Miao, standing beside Zhu Xinyue, tugged at her sleeve, afraid that her cake-eating would be exposed.
"Didn't get the chance," Zhu Xinyue said.
Ji Linyu said something to the director, who nodded, then signaled the staff to continue leading them to other areas for the tour.
Zhu Xinyue watched as the large group moved on, leaving only Ji Linyu standing in front of her.
"Come on, I'll take you to eat," Ji Linyu said, giving her a look and gesturing for her to come to his side.
Su Miao recognized the man as the young, accomplished, and handsome big boss of Jin Huan Group. Her eyes darted between Zhu Xinyue and Ji Linyu, as if she had figured something out, and they lit up with excitement. She covered her mouth and winked emphatically at Zhu Xinyue.
Sis, don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your relationship!
Zhu Xinyue quickly descended the steps, walked over to Ji Linyu, and followed him as they left.
The sky gradually darkened.
Zhu Xinyue joked with Ji Linyu, "Who knows, maybe tomorrow there'll be rumors about us having some kind of relationship."
Ji Linyu raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl beside him.
"Don't we have a relationship?"