Chapter 130: The Toyed-With Goddaughter (5)
[Detecting a deviation in your emotional response towards the female lead. Please correct it.]
“Shut up,” Su Mingxiu said, skillfully navigating the traffic. Hearing the system acting up again, while waiting at a red light, she prepared to turn on the radio and warned it: “Trust me, I will find a way to extract you. The more you make your presence known, the worse it will be for you in the next few decades. I promise you that.”
[…]
The system quieted down. Before she could find her favorite station, her phone rang. She put on her Bluetooth headset and answered: “Hello?”
“My dear, there’s a new job, are you interested? Although you don’t need the money, this is the first one in six months—”
Su Mingxiu caught the keywords and quickly pulled over to the side of the road. She glanced at the caller ID.
Her agent.
“Hmm?” She frowned slightly, but quickly replied: “I do need the money, what kind of job?”
“Simple, it’s a commercial for a restaurant chain. They’re looking for a few beautiful extras—”
The agent’s voice was enthusiastic, seemingly happy to have found a job for her.
But Su Mingxiu fell silent.
She struggled to recall the original owner’s attempt to enter the entertainment industry, using Yu Wanru’s connections. That experience could be summarized in one sentence: Two years in the industry, and she was still a nobody.
After all, her marriage to Yu Wanru had made the original owner arrogant, believing that with her looks and connections, she was destined for stardom. She only accepted leading roles, refusing to play supporting characters—
Unfortunately…
Although Yu Wanru’s business empire had some entertainment ventures, she wouldn’t jeopardize her company’s profits for personal favors. So, despite being in the industry, no one took the original owner seriously.
She had no work, no income.
What else could you call such a person but an amateur?
Su Mingxiu also remembered the so-called agent she had hired, who wasn’t very professional, just an ordinary industry insider.
But because the original owner was vain, wanting his undivided attention, she had paid him a monthly salary to work exclusively for her.
In other words…
She had been supporting a freeloader for almost six months.
After confirming the meeting location, Su Mingxiu decided to discuss changing his salary to a commission-based system, or simply firing him.
She now had a gold-digger goddaughter to support, every penny counted.
She met her agent, Sheng Qian, in a convenience store. She bought him a bottle of water. As he opened it, he looked her up and down. “You seem… different.”
“Hmm?”
“Like… a poor person.”
“Uh…” Su Mingxiu wondered if everyone in this world had taken eloquence lessons, why were their words so annoying?
Sheng Qian looked at her seriously. “Really, you would never have entered a convenience store before, it doesn’t suit your image as the wife of the CEO of Wanda Group.”
“Keeping a low profile,” Su Mingxiu said, lowering her voice, afraid of attracting attention. “That’s all in the past.”
Oh, divorced.
Sheng Qian instantly understood. He gulped down his soda. “No wonder you’re taking this commercial. You would have refused such a job before, probably even scolded me. Speaking of which, to prove that I haven’t been slacking off for the past six months, I’ve been trying to find you work, but you know, your requirements…”
Su Mingxiu was glad she wasn’t drinking anything, otherwise she would have choked.
The original owner’s requirements?
One, big productions, famous directors, big screen releases.
Two, no supporting roles, no corpses, no non-human characters.
The original Su Mingxiu had aimed for both critical acclaim and commercial success, but she had never reflected on her own abilities, only wanting the biggest and best.
Sheng Qian’s saying that he couldn’t find any suitable projects was an understatement. Any director with common sense, seeing her lack of experience, would never agree to cast her as a lead.
Seeing Su Mingxiu’s silence, her expression turning cold, Sheng Qian quickly reassured her: “But I’ll keep trying, really, trust me—”
“Forget it.”
“No, no, don’t give up! I’ve been doing some research, we can start by gaining popularity. Recent talent shows have started accepting older female celebrities. As long as we gain popularity, we can use that as leverage to enter the acting world…”
“You have quite the imagination, young man,” Su Mingxiu raised an eyebrow, surprised by Sheng Qian’s elaborate plan.
Sheng Qian put down his soda and rubbed his head, smiling at her. “Hehe, what do you think?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Ah? Why?”
“Too tiring.”
If she really tried so hard to become a celebrity, once her marriage to Yu Wanru was exposed, it would become a huge scandal.
And if someone dug up the original owner’s messy past, her fanbase would collapse overnight.
Having been both an agent and a talent show contestant, Su Mingxiu wasn’t interested in the entertainment industry.
Hearing her say “tiring,” Sheng Qian remembered how she had responded similarly when he suggested she start as an ordinary actress and work her way up.
But her reason back then had been…
“That’s too much work… I’m married to Yu Wanru, I have plenty of money.”
Sheng Qian looked at her seriously. “But reality has shown us that marrying a rich woman doesn’t guarantee endless wealth. We have to rely on ourselves—”
“No.”
Su Mingxiu shook her finger. “I’ve recently discovered a more efficient way to make money.”
“Tell me more.”
“Rich wives are unreliable, but their children might be.”
“Hmm?” Sheng Qian was confused and shocked.
He stammered: “You can’t… at least you shouldn’t…” He thought Su Mingxiu was planning to target Yu Wanru’s daughter.
In a way, he had accidentally guessed the system’s mission. But Su Mingxiu knew he had misunderstood. She looked at him for a moment, then explained: “I mean, having a rich second-generation kid as my own. She can be filial to me, even take care of my funeral when I’m old. Wouldn’t that be a perfect life?”
Sheng Qian felt like a new world had opened up before him.
Before he could ask more, Su Mingxiu brought the conversation back to the commercial. Learning that the filming was on Friday morning, at a building near her apartment, she agreed to meet Sheng Qian again in a few days and drove home.
Friday morning.
After Su Mingxiu arrived at the studio, the client was extremely satisfied with her appearance and asked curiously why she wasn’t in the entertainment industry, did she not like it?
Sheng Qian chuckled.
Su Mingxiu thought seriously. “I don’t meet the criteria for a celebrity.”
The client looked at her in surprise, not understanding her lack of confidence. But the makeup artist was ready, so she excused herself.
After she left, Sheng Qian followed her, curious. “What criteria don’t you meet?”
“‘No exes, or at least pretend you don’t have any’,” she replied.
Sheng Qian understood and whispered: “Are you worried about your relationship with Ms. Yu…?”
He was about to reassure her that divorced celebrities weren’t uncommon, as long as it was an amicable separation, even if it was exposed, it wouldn’t affect her fanbase.
But Su Mingxiu replied meaningfully: “You’re still too young.”
“…”
Sheng Qian suddenly didn’t dare to ask further.
He shut his mouth, and Su Mingxiu enjoyed the silence. After changing into her outfit, her appearance once again stunned everyone. Even the director decided to give her two extra seconds of screen time.
Sheng Qian had been worried that she would be difficult to work with, demanding special treatment. But Su Mingxiu was not only cooperative but also didn’t try to steal the spotlight from the main model. After the filming, the client, looking at the raw footage, felt that hiring her had been a great decision.
He even offered to introduce her to his friends.
Sheng Qian was delighted, offering his business card. When the client invited them to dinner, he was about to accept on Su Mingxiu’s behalf, but Su Mingxiu, seemingly looking at her phone, her ears sharp, quickly refused.
“I can’t.”
“My daughter isn’t staying at school this week, I have to pick her up.”
The client left, disappointed.
Sheng Qian leaned closer. “Which lucky person is your daughter? Do you need a son too, the kind who can help you spend your daughter’s money—”
“No.”
Su Mingxiu refused coldly, then said: “By the way, I received the payment. Let’s split the earnings from now on, I’ll transfer 50% to you.”
“Eh?”
Sheng Qian was stunned, then he wanted to tell Su Mingxiu that the usual split wasn’t 50/50. But Su Mingxiu was already leaving, her long strides making it hard for him to catch up.
He could only call out: “That’s too much!”
But Su Mingxiu ignored him. Unlike the original owner, she believed in fair dealings, not exploiting her own people. So she drove away.
Her red Ferrari stopped in front of the high school again.
Su Mingxiu lowered her sunglasses and looked at the girl with a backpack and a suitcase. “Didn’t you just leave school last Saturday?”
“They’re not allowing extra classes anymore, we’re going home every weekend now.” After a week at school, Yu Nian realized she missed Su Mingxiu’s cooking. She had eaten chef-prepared meals at Pearl Manor before, but for some reason, she preferred Su Mingxiu’s.
She got into the passenger seat, placed her suitcase in the back, fastened her seatbelt, and asked casually: “What’s for dinner tonight?”
“What do you want to eat?”
“Are you cooking?”
“Yes.”
“Manhan Quanxi (a grand banquet with dishes from all over China)?”
“Uh…” Su Mingxiu almost slammed on the accelerator. Turning her head, she saw a faint smile on the girl’s lips. “Yu Nian.”
Yu Nian, suddenly addressed, tensed slightly, her light-colored eyes widening, her grip on the seatbelt tightening. She looked away, her gaze fixed on the bare branches outside the window. “Huh?”
“Stop calling me ‘Little Mom’.”
“Hmm?”
“Behave.”
Yu Nian’s grip on the seatbelt left marks on her palm. After a long moment, she seemed to finally understand, a smile spreading across her lips.
Hearing Su Mingxiu’s playful words, she leaned closer, her voice teasing: “Can’t, or won’t?”
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