Chapter 9: It’s Not Being Protective

“Eldest Miss Cheng, you’re finally in!” The arranger typed several exclamation marks.

“Something came up.”

“Understood, understood. You’re a busy person.” The arranger remained good-tempered with Cheng Jinzhi, after all, she was the biggest investor in this production. “Whenever you’re free, come to the recording studio and test your voice too.”

Special treatment—blatant special treatment in front of Rong Si. The entertainment circle was, in itself, a massive arena of fame and fortune.

In the past, Cheng Jinzhi hadn’t noticed it. Now she only felt awkward.

“Miss Cheng?” Seeing Cheng Jinzhi hadn’t replied again, the arranger asked cautiously.

“Mm, I’ll come when I’m free.”

“Great, you go ahead.”

Closing the group chat, Cheng Jinzhi thought for a moment, then opened DC’s chat. “Shouldn’t a voice test be done at the recording studio? Why did that arranger have Rong Si sing a cappella?”

It was even in the production crew’s group chat, full of so many “bystanders.”

“Huh? You mean William? He probably wanted to save time, I guess. Wanted to hear Rong Si’s timbre.” DC replied quickly.

“William?”

“Li Tiegang, the arranger.”

“Called Tiegang sounds more familiar.” Cheng Jinzhi replied. “Tell the people in there to treat Rong Si well. Don’t bully a newcomer.”

“Got it.” It was clear now—this Rong Si was the boss’s “new flame,” not to be slighted. “Boss, I have a few calls from Miss Gao here. Should I put them through to you?”

“No need. From now on, treat her as a regular business partner.”

“Boss, are you serious?” DC was a bit taken aback. Back then, the boss had chased after Gao Yi all over the sky. Wherever Gao Yi went, she flew there, ignoring her own schedule and commitments.

“I’m tired of her.” Only saying it like that would make people around her believe it.

“Got it. I know what to do.”

DC was clever enough—Cheng Jinzhi didn’t need to waste many words on him. After finishing with DC, Cheng Jinzhi added Rong Si on WeChat through the group. She still didn’t have Rong Si’s WeChat. It seemed Rong Si had just applied for it recently; her Moments were completely empty. Hard to say if it was even her real account. “Why are you still online?”

“Training runs late.”

You don’t need to pay attention to the people in the crew. If you feel violated, you can refuse. Cheng Jinzhi thought, deliberated for a long time, then deleted it word by word. When it came to violation, anyone had the right to say that to Rong Si—except her. In how she treated Rong Si, no one had been worse than her. “Sleep early.”

“Mm.”

Checking the time, it was time for her beauty sleep. She hadn’t been careful when she was young, and it showed once she got a bit older. She should sleep early. But just as she lay down, she picked up her phone again. Let me scroll Weibo a bit before sleeping. Cheng Jinzhi’s Weibo verification said: Actress, representative work 《New Tang Dynasty》, and a line saying “Winner of Myriad Stars Most Promising Newcomer Award.” “Myriad Stars” was the ace program of Hong Kong’s anniversary celebration, and of course, the award had been bought by Cheng Jinzhi’s PR team. In her past life, she’d been in the phase of floating on air right now. She’d been the female lead of 《New Tang Dynasty》 and also the topic generator. And “topic generator”—given Cheng Jinzhi’s acting, that wasn’t exactly a compliment. Sure enough, the comments on Weibo were all:

“Great, you’re so impressive, thirty years of acting from real actors just got dragged down by you.”

“What did we do wrong that you’re running a second round on Dongmang TV?”

“My mom just watched you cry and asked me, puzzled, why the female lead had an epileptic fit in the first episode.”

“Your bio, all I see is ‘rich.’ The Magnolia Awards are coming up. President Cheng, interested in buying a set?”

“A good actor can be screenshotted into five memes in one frame. An average actor can manage two. I screenshotted yours and thought the disk was scratched.”

“《New Tang Dynasty》 is amazing. It’s easy to stand out acting-wise in it, but achieving this level of uniformly mediocre, everyone-phoning-it-in performance is actually hard. Of course, Cheng Jinzhi does it best—no matter the scene partner, she guarantees they can crush her without lifting a finger. Across the entire entertainment circle, how many people can pull that off?”

Cheng Jinzhi kept scrolling and saw people attacking her looks.

“Am I the only one who thinks Cheng Jinzhi’s chin looks weird?”

“Kinda ugly…”

“Hope President Cheng uses the prize money she bought to get plastic surgery.”

Attacking her looks—that made Cheng Jinzhi unhappy. Fine, criticise her acting, it really was bad. But Cheng Jinzhi was very satisfied with her appearance. In her past life, she’d been a few screws loose, and she’d posted a Weibo: “Let’s be real here—if you looked like me, you’d laugh in your sleep, okay?”

Of course, DC deleted that faster than lightning, but once said, everything could be screenshotted. For a long time, Cheng Jinzhi had the nickname “Maitreya Buddha,” because she was so beautiful she smiled at all times.

Because of the “Maitreya Buddha” nickname, that year’s Cheng Jinzhi had hidden under her covers and secretly wiped tears. God damn it! She was a female actress, at the end of the day! It was just too ugly a nickname!

Now, having spent nearly two decades in the entertainment circle, seeing such comments still stung. She remembered DC saying in the past life that if Cheng Jinzhi didn’t go online, his salary would be much easier to earn. But Cheng Jinzhi, for whatever reason, liked to scroll through Weibo and forums. Most celebrities wouldn’t go into forums. Only Cheng Jinzhi. Not only did she go in, she even got into a fight with a moderator. Someone in the forum once commented on Cheng Jinzhi: “A female star who started high and kept squeezing herself into has-been territory.”

Probably because she desperately needed validation, she kept going to places crowded with netizens. Thinking about it now, Cheng Jinzhi felt much calmer.

“Boss Lady?? Are you scrolling Weibo??”

“Yeah…”

“Why did you like the ‘Diva Divorce Rumor’ post?!”

At DC’s words, Cheng Jinzhi quickly opened her likes list. When she was scrolling earlier…

“Accidental tap.”

“…” DC had been busy for three days and nights, his eyelids practically glued shut. He’d finally dozed off when his phone started vibrating by his ear. Plenty of entertainment reporters were asking him about the “Diva Divorce.” What did the Diva’s divorce have to do with him? Only when he got on Weibo did he realize—his “net-addicted boss” had liked it. Recently, the boss kept accidentally tapping likes. Many forums were calling her “Parkinson’s Girl.” “Boss, let’s talk…”

“It won’t happen again.”

“That’s what you said two days ago.”

“I rarely go on Weibo anymore.”

“You usually don’t go on, but when you do, something goes wrong.”

“Then apply for a burner account for me.”

“Boss, burner accounts can be exposed too.”

“…Are you telling me to uninstall Weibo?”

If it were possible, I’d cut your internet and blow up your phone. DC thought.

“Boss, if you want to hear gossip, I can tell you.”

“I don’t want to hear gossip. I just look at my own gossip.”

“You’re doing great.”

“In what way?”

“In every way.”

“Saying that with your eyes open only makes me feel the filth of money.”

“You’re the richest female actress.”

“…I’m changing managers.”

“Enjoy yourself, have fun, I won’t bother you on Weibo anymore.” DC sent a fawning emoji. Everyone mis-taps sometimes. Small thing, small thing.

Just as DC settled down, Gou Yu’s call came rushing in. “You also think the Diva got divorced?!”

In fact, the Diva had indeed been separated from her husband for the past two years. Back then, the news of the Diva’s divorce had been broken by Gou Yu. Who knew Gou Yu was already hunting for evidence of the divorce now? To lie in wait for years over one piece of gossip—a born paparazzo. In the following years, Gou Yu would be called Paparazzi Yu. People forgot her real surname, and she didn’t mind—she just verified herself on Weibo as “Paparazzi Yu.”

“Do you have intel? Let’s trade, darling.” Gou Yu put on a syrupy voice and started posing.

“I don’t know.”

“Parkinson’s Girl, another accidental tap?”

“It was an accidental ta—what did you call me?”

“…It’s late, I’m sleepy, going to die now, bye.”

“Mm, go die then.”

After the cast of 《Girls’ Fortress》 was finalized, it was time for the opening ceremony. Rong Si’s class already had a new drill instructor. On the day of the opening ceremony, Cheng Jinzhi got Rong Si leave.

Plenty of media showed up—half wanting “stands there and you can’t help but mock her” Cheng Jinzhi, the other half wanting to interview the new darling of art films, Director Yi Yi. Looking at the forest of microphones surging before her, Cheng Jinzhi glanced at Rong Si beside her. It was rare to have a moment like this—herself surrounded by media while Rong Si was left untouched.

“I heard this film has quite a lot of explicit content. Viewers are curious whether you’ll use body doubles.”

“No.” Cheng Jinzhi said succinctly.

DC shot her a look, telling her to stick to the script. Body doubles are people too. Everyone is an actor, everyone is equal; no one stands in for anyone. Cheng Jinzhi cut that sentence out—it was too absolute. Once she’d used a stunt double and gotten called out for it.

After a few questions, the media noticed Cheng Jinzhi wasn’t spilling as much as before. In the past, ask her one question and she’d spill three or four blunders. Then the media interviewed Director Yi Yi. “I heard the director used newcomers this time. Might we ask what’s so special about the newcomer?”

Yi Yi smiled faintly and directly passed the buck to Cheng Jinzhi. “The newcomer is the female lead our Jinzhi strongly recommended. I trust her judgment.”

“May I ask what Miss Cheng saw in the newcomer?” Some of the media asked Cheng Jinzhi with an unspoken understanding.

“You’ll know when the time comes. Miss Rong will definitely surprise you.” Cheng Jinzhi cursed Yi Yi internally while keeping a beaming smile on her face.

Hearing this, Rong Si tilted her head and glanced at Cheng Jinzhi.