Chapter 14: The Future Movie Queen About to Be Abandoned (14)
[Another investment company has rejected Yu Yinglan’s project. Due to her insistence on perfection, the crew is running out of funds. Two hours ago, she listed her apartment in the city center on the secondhand market.]
Early morning.
Su Mingxiu, dressed in a pale green nightgown, stood on the balcony. The golden morning light fell on her without obstruction, making her look like a tall and straight pine tree, every inch bathed in a golden glow.
She held a cup of milk in her hand, listening to the system’s report on Yu Yinglan’s progress towards bankruptcy as if it were the morning news, but she remained silent.
The system’s tone was pleased, as if praising her. It automatically calculated Yu Yinglan’s remaining assets and was about to report when Su Mingxiu spoke unhurriedly: “She’s earned a lot over the years, but the promotion of holographic technology has increased the cost of making a good movie. If she wants to make this film happen on her own, even if she puts all her wealth into it, it won’t be enough.”
“She’s not far from being in debt.”
Su Mingxiu pondered lazily. Yu Yinglan had accumulated a lot of resources in the industry over the years, and she was good at managing them. As long as she didn’t continue to throw money into this bottomless pit, she could still get out unscathed.
But that little one, although seemingly easy to manipulate, actually had higher ambitions than anyone else.
Now there were two paths: either abandon the project and accept the billions in losses, or continue investing in the project. Yu Yinglan would never choose the former. As for the latter, with her talent, many companies would want this cash cow—
Businessmen never make unprofitable deals. The most suitable method was to invest in Yu Yinglan through a “betting agreement.”
If the movie was successfully released, they would get their returns from the profits.
If not, they would make Yu Yinglan work for the rest of her life to repay the debt.
Sure enough.
Over the next half month, Su Mingxiu heard the system report one after another:
[Yu Yinglan went to the headquarters of Zhengguang Media at 9:00 this morning. Zhengguang Media is an established film studio but is very conservative in their choice of themes. They rejected her project.]
[Young Master Su Yi approached Yu Yinglan today and offered to invest, but she refused.]
[She went to Baiyao Media and signed a betting agreement.]
…
Su Mingxiu stopped writing with her brush, looking at the Buddhist scriptures she had just copied. Her handwriting carried an inexplicable murderous aura, ruining the solemn and sacred feeling. She put the brush aside and crumpled the rice paper in front of her into a ball.
“Baiyao Media?”
She remembered.
When they were casting for “Celebrating the Mountains and Rivers,” it was Mr. Song from Baiyao Media who had spent a fortune to secure the female lead role for his lover. In fact, the drama had a dual female lead script.
However, under the financial power of this sponsor, the other character’s role was significantly reduced, and Yu Yinglan played this reduced role.
The screenwriter ultimately favored this villain. Even with the cuts, they preserved the character’s charm as much as possible and made her story even more tragic. During promotion and release, the film crew used double posters, and the investors were outwitted—
This created the opportunity for Yu Yinglan to win the Best Actress award at the Bailing Awards.
When she came to this world, to avoid excessive influence on the world line, the system only showed her the plot she was involved in. She didn’t actually know the trajectory of Yu Yinglan’s later life. Since they were talking about this, she asked casually: “It seems she has a strong connection with this Mr. Song?”
The system was reluctant to reveal too much information about the future, to avoid her having undue influence on Yu Yinglan’s life.
But perhaps because Su Mingxiu was about to complete the mission, it relaxed a bit and revealed some clues.
[A book naturally can’t have only the female lead as an important character. I’m not afraid to tell you now, Baiyao Media will be Star Entertainment’s biggest rival in expanding its business empire in the future. This Song Yiran will be the most important person in Yu Yinglan’s life. You can consider him the male lead.]
“Male lead?” Su Mingxiu chuckled nonchalantly. “When the little one won the Bailing Award for Best Actress, his face looked terrible, as if something had been snatched from his mouth.”
[Yes, this is the beginning of their ill-fated relationship. In fact, Baiyao Media wasn’t interested in this project at all. It’s just that Song Yiran still remembers the embarrassment she caused his lover.
So the agreement he signed with her requires that if the project fails to make a profit for any reason, she must sign a contract with Baiyao Media for more than ten years—]
[During these ten years, she must play supporting roles in every one of Song Yiran’s lover’s works.]
The brush, dipped in ink, left a large dot on the paper.
Su Mingxiu stared at the dot expressionlessly for a long time before pushing aside the Buddhist scriptures, adjusting her palette again, and wondering if she could turn this dot into the trunk of a red plum tree.
But her next stroke failed.
She wasted another sheet of paper. This time, as she threw it into the wastebasket, she muttered softly: “What nonsense.”
Her tone was contemptuous, it was unclear who she was scolding.
Yu Yinglan, whose fate had been revealed, was completely unaware of what was happening in the villa. She had finally secured investment. She immediately threw herself into the project, working tirelessly.
If the actors weren’t suitable, she would try her best to find suitable leads. If she couldn’t afford big names, she would search among extras and drama schools.
If the special effects companies were asking for exorbitant prices, she would find another one.
In less than three months, Yu Yinglan had visibly lost a lot of weight. Her already pure and innocent aura now carried a hint of fragility, like a willow swaying in the wind, or a crabapple tree in the autumn rain.
Misfortunes never come singly. At this time, a rumor spread in the industry, saying that her contract with Star Entertainment had expired and Su Mingxiu hadn’t renewed it. Just a few days ago, the three-time Best Actress was still the highly sought-after cultural ambassador between planets, but now she had become an abandoned pawn of Star Entertainment.
Everyone knew that Su Mingxiu was tired of her.
In an instant, the partners who had already been cold towards her fled even faster. After all, her own foundation in the industry couldn’t compare to the backing of the mountain she had previously relied on.
“No wonder she went from being in front of the camera to behind the scenes. It turns out she was abandoned by that person…”
“After all, that’s the gold medal agent who’s best at training artists. It’s strange, those movie emperors and empresses who became famous under her, some of them tried to go independent. But the projects they took on after leaving her became worse and worse, as if their talent had been drained.”
“So, this shows how wise Director Yu’s decision to retreat at her peak was. Stepping behind the scenes at her most glorious moment, she’ll create another legend in the film industry.”
“Oh, come on, it’s not as mysterious as you say. Those who followed Agent Su just had good looks. In terms of real acting talent, I don’t think they’re that great. With the resources of a company like Star Entertainment, even if you find someone with no coordination and a poker face on the street, they can package them into a superstar!”
…
The set was particularly lively today because all the extras were scheduled to work.
No matter how big the film city was, there were only so many people in this industry. When hundreds of projects started filming simultaneously, even a large number of extras wouldn’t be enough. So every film project would communicate the schedule with familiar extras in advance.
Unfortunately, the rumor spread when Yu Yinglan’s crew had the most extras on set. Even if she wanted to pretend she didn’t hear it, some people’s voices were too loud, carrying those gossips to her ears.
She was originally checking the camera positions, but hearing those words, the image of the delicate white lace and sapphire collar appeared before her eyes.
“Director Yu, you have a visitor.”
At this moment, the assistant director returned from outside, bringing a familiar figure with him.
Yu Yinglan looked up and saw Su Yi’s face. Her already cold expression seemed to freeze over. She glanced at Su Yi as if he were air and prepared to instruct the actors for the next scene.
Su Yi obediently stayed put.
But this obedience only lasted until the end of her morning shoot. When the actors dispersed, he stuck to her like glue. He wasn’t angry at her cold treatment and even reminded her with a smile: “The rumors are spreading now. You should know, Sister Mingxiu never looks back at those toys she’s discarded.”
“I didn’t dare to touch you before because of my respect for her. But now…”
Yu Yinglan kept her head down, looking at her phone, ignoring his half-hearted threat.
Just as Su Yi was about to take a step closer, she suddenly held her phone up to his face, showing him a video playing silently:
“Now? Do you need me to help Young Master Su recall the scene where you tearfully swore your oath?”
“You!”
Su Yi took a step back, his hair standing on end. He didn’t know how this video had fallen into her hands.
As he retreated, Yu Yinglan put away her phone and walked out, one hand casually tucked into her pocket. Her calm and composed demeanor actually resembled Su Mingxiu’s.
As Su Yi inexplicably became even more cowardly, Yu Yinglan’s gaze swept over a luxury car outside, recognizing it as the car of the CEO of Baiyao Media, Song Yiran. She thought:
Has Su Mingxiu… really abandoned her?
Was that person so arrogant that she had already decided on the ending?
Thinking of this, Yu Yinglan, as if possessed, picked up her phone again and dialed a number. Before speaking, she licked her lips: “I want to know her whereabouts.”
The rumors also affected Su Mingxiu herself.
Learning that she was tired of being alone again and was in a career gap period, many people used their connections to recommend themselves. Not only the second and third generations of the Su family who wanted to make money in the entertainment industry, but even Ying Song found an opportunity to try and push someone onto her.
Su Mingxiu, already irritable from insomnia, finally understood why the original owner had picked up Yu Yinglan while taking a walk on the beach when she was repeatedly disturbed by these strangers.
She was currently at a dinner with Ying Song, listening to his roundabout request. Just as she was about to get up and leave, she saw a lively figure approaching from afar, as lively as a swallow, taking a seat next to Ying Song: “Hello, I’m Ying Keren. Are you that famous gold medal agent? Is it true that as long as I follow you, I’ll at least become a first-tier celebrity?”
Normally, Su Mingxiu wouldn’t pay attention to such claims.
But she stared at the girl for a while, and a face suddenly surfaced from the depths of her memory. It was a tribulation from her countless experiences in her previous life. At that time, she had just achieved enlightenment and was reborn into a mortal family, with a younger sister she relied on.
When the tribulation ended, she couldn’t save her blood relative.
Even though many years had passed and her emotions had become indifferent, she still felt a sense of nostalgia upon seeing someone she had a connection with in the past.
The words of refusal that were on the tip of her tongue turned into agreement: “Yes.”
She asked softly: “What do you want? I can give it to you.”
Ying Song had originally seen the refusal in her expression and knew that it wasn’t easy to push someone onto her. If it weren’t for his love for his niece, he wouldn’t have come to Su Mingxiu to be rejected.
However, the situation unexpectedly took a turn for the better. He was overjoyed, but thinking of the rumors surrounding Su Mingxiu and the “kept woman” arrangements, he said with mixed feelings of joy and uneasiness:
“The child just wants to have some fun in this industry. It’s mainly because her family spoils her. So it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t achieve great things. We’re very grateful that you’re willing to take her on. We also know your rules. If you need anything, I—”
Su Mingxiu glanced at him and understood what he meant. She dismissed him with disinterest: “I find her likable, so I’ll take her on.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not that desperate.”
A new figure soon appeared in the video sent to Yu Yinglan’s phone.
Seeing a new person by Su Mingxiu’s side so quickly, she clenched her phone with increasing force, disbelief filling her eyes. But then, after seeing the contents of the video clearly, her clear eyes were consumed by rage!
The video showed Su Mingxiu shopping with Ying Keren after the dinner with Ying Song.
Perhaps because she was at the age where she loved dressing up, the girl favored flashy and exaggerated accessories. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, even anklets couldn’t escape her grasp. At the tender age of eighteen, her youthful face, adorned with these jewels, took on a hint of decadent maturity.
Seeing her choices, Su Mingxiu subconsciously thought of Yu Yinglan.
Completely opposite to Ying Keren, Yu Yinglan rarely wore such accessories except for important events. Her aura was too pure, making these gold and silver ornaments seem vulgar on her.
Hmm.
She wondered if Yu Yinglan liked the necklace she had given her.
Su Mingxiu rarely lost focus. When she came back to her senses, Ying Keren was holding a pink diamond necklace and comparing it to herself: “Does this look good?”
She couldn’t help but chuckle, moving the necklace away and straightening the slightly crooked red tie on Ying Keren’s shirt. She casually added a simple tie clip and smoothed out the wrinkles for the girl: “Too much is as bad as too little. This is just right.”
But Yu Yinglan couldn’t hear their conversation. All her attention was on Su Mingxiu’s actions as she adjusted the other girl’s collar.
That red tie was particularly glaring—
It reminded her of the sapphire and lace gift in the box at home.
How many similar things had this person given to others?
It was ridiculous that she thought she was the special one.
Yi Jia was called back home from the lab in the middle of the night.
She saw the person staying with her acting completely out of character, throwing the wooden box that she usually treasured and wouldn’t let anyone touch into her arms. Her voice was heavy: “Help me modify something.”
“Hmm?” Before Yi Jia could ask anything, she opened the box in a daze and stared at the sapphire and lace necklace inside.
Yu Yinglan didn’t give her any chance to ask questions. She picked up the ornament, gestured to its position, and said: “Here, add a silver chain for me, the length should be about…”
“Huh??” Hearing her idea, Yi Jia became even more confused: “Didn’t you say this was your trophy? Why do you suddenly want to modify it?”
“It is a trophy.”
The light in the room was dim, casting a shadow over Yu Yinglan’s usually clear eyes. She echoed in a low voice.
She had originally planned to wear this gift openly on the day of her victory, walk up to Su Mingxiu, and declare confidently: I won’t choose failure, nor will I abandon my dignity. I can still stand by your side.
But now, she had thought of a better reward for herself—
This collar didn’t have to be worn around her neck.
It could also be used to…
Cage that arrogant and aloof goddess.
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