Chapter 19

Ji Changyin scrolled through Weibo and stared at Xu Chaomu’s post for a while.

She frowned slightly.

She remembered Xu Chaomu saying she’d come on the show to repay a favor.

If she was repaying a favor, shouldn’t they be on good terms? So why had she piled on like that?

Ji Changyin ran her thumb along the edge of her phone, then locked the screen.

The incident was getting plenty of attention online.

Everyone was waiting for the Production Team to respond.

But as time passed, the negative speculation about Ji Changyin began to surface, too.

[Falling Rain: Is Ji Changyin changing her image now? Isn’t the price of this rebrand a little too high?]

[No Typos Today: I thought so too. In the video, Ji Changyin seemed like a completely different person. Was she putting on an act before?]

[Study Hard: I can’t stand Ji Changyin. Seriously, she trends every day. Did she buy an annual subscription?]

…

It wasn’t until around eight that night that the Production Team responded. They said that the collaboration had been unpleasant and that Ji Changyin had terminated her contract with them. They also apologized for cutting her microphone.

After eight, Xu Rui started trending. Ji Changyin figured it was probably the Production Team’s doing. They’d shifted almost all the blame onto her. Reports came out that Xu Rui had a wealthy patron and had been throwing her weight around on set. They also confirmed that, during the initial evaluation, Ji Changyin had refused to go along with Xu Rui after her performance had been so painful to watch. Xu Rui had held a grudge ever since, and had provoked Ji Changyin during this performance, leading to her blowup.

The article was well-written. People loved this sort of messy drama, and it quickly drew their attention away from the Production Team’s role. Paid commenters steered the discussion, saying the Production Team had been caught between Ji Changyin and Xu Rui, and taking a sly jab at Ji Changyin in the process.

Zhao Xi moved quickly, too. She said the Production Team had already promised Ji Changyin they wouldn’t pull any more tricks. Ji Changyin had every right to walk away when she couldn’t accept their behavior.

In the end, Xu Rui was the only one who’d suffered any real consequences from the whole mess.

The contestants were supposed to hand in their phones before filming, but they still sometimes found a chance to use them.

After filming, Xu Rui was called away.

She’d already had a bad feeling. When they came to get her, she knew it had been right.

“You can’t abandon me! How can you just give up on me?” Xu Rui shouted when she heard what the Production Team had decided.

“We’ve spoken to CEO Xue, and he agreed,” the director said, watching her coldly.

They’d at least been decent enough to call her in and tell her.

Xu Rui trembled. “I want to talk to CEO Xue…”

“Call him yourself.” The director tossed her a phone.

Meanwhile, Ji Changyin sat in the sauna at her villa, leaning back in a chair with a glass of red wine beside her.

Maybe I don’t need to move after all. Living here was pretty comfortable.

Ji Changyin rubbed her neck, then finally sent Xu Chaomu a message.

[Ji Changyin: Will anything happen to you for speaking up for me?]

[Xu Chaomu: No.]

[Xu Chaomu: I was the one who asked you to comment on Xu Rui in the first place. Otherwise, none of this would have happened.]

Ji Changyin raised an eyebrow.

Xu Chaomu had said it was fine, but after she posted on Weibo, her manager had still given her an earful.

The gist was that she shouldn’t have spoken up.

[Ji Changyin: Are you done working?]

[Xu Chaomu: Just finished. I’m on my way to the airport.]

[Ji Changyin: You’re so busy.]

[Xu Chaomu: It’s fine. I’m used to it.]

[Ji Changyin: Make sure you get some rest.]

Ji Changyin swirled her glass, took a sip of wine, and closed her eyes.

Half an hour later, just as she was drifting off, she got a message from Zhao Xi.

It was a reminder that Zhao Xi would come over the next morning to discuss her upcoming work.

Ji Changyin sighed.

She got up early the next morning. She’d had an acting class scheduled, but Zhao Xi’s visit meant it was canceled.

“Will yesterday’s incident affect my work?” Ji Changyin asked.

There probably would be some repercussions. She’d broken an unwritten rule of the entertainment industry, and a lot of people were likely to be unhappy.

“Nothing major. But you don’t have anything lined up between now and Beauty Runs Wild,” Zhao Xi said. It wasn’t a big deal. The Ji Family had been involved in the entertainment industry for years and had plenty of resources of its own. Even if the people behind Dream Chaser weren’t pleased, they’d just have to put up with it.

“Then I’ll leave the schedule open. It’s not that far away anyway.”

“You want a whole month free? What are you thinking? Take a look at these two ad offers. I think they’d be a good fit,” Zhao Xi said. “Your image is pretty positive right now. Variety shows might be nervous about inviting you, but there’s no shortage of advertisers.”

Ji Changyin took the scripts and looked them over. Both companies had a good relationship with the Ji Family anyway.

“Sure.” She nodded.

“Still, even if this time didn’t have much of an impact, try to be a little more restrained when you film variety shows. The Ji Family can’t do whatever it wants.”

Ji Changyin pressed her lips together.

“I’ll tell them not to provoke you. That’s just how the world works.”

Ji Changyin sighed. That was exactly why, in this fictional book-world, she wanted to let herself go a little.

Everything around her felt real, but part of her still knew it was all fake. Letting loose now and then probably wouldn’t hurt.

“I know. I’ll be careful.” Ji Changyin looked at Zhao Xi. If she didn’t give her some sort of promise, Zhao Xi might lose her mind.

“Good.” Zhao Xi relaxed and nodded.

“…”

“These are the ad scripts. Have a look. They’re not complicated. The shampoo ad is the day after tomorrow, and the toothpaste one is next Wednesday,” Zhao Xi said.

“Oh.” Ji Changyin nodded.

Zhao Xi studied her. “You look very well-behaved.”

“…”

When she walked Zhao Xi out, the other woman couldn’t help reminding her several more times.

“I don’t remember you talking this much before,” Ji Changyin said.

Zhao Xi gave her a look.

“What are you looking at me for? Bye.” Ji Changyin shut the front door, making sure to wave goodbye first.

Zhao Xi gave her one more look, full of affection.

Back inside, Ji Changyin read through both ad scripts. There wasn’t much to them—basically just a few lines of copy.