Chapter 73: The Chosen Path
When she was around, time seemed to pass quickly, but happily. Besides school, Ye Zhiyun’s daily life involved handling work matters. Though young, she already possessed certain skills. What she did most was negotiate with businessmen, and as an investor, she definitely had to meet with directors.
Although busy days were fulfilling, after a long time, one always wanted to rest. And when Yu Linna was by her side, it brought her a long-lost sense of relaxation. This feeling was truly good.
Just looking at her smile made her feel happy.
She liked these simple days.
And Yu Linna, at this moment, hugged the doll in her arms, her face filled with smiles. It seemed she really liked this doll. Because Yu Linna didn’t have money for good toys when she was little, worrying about survival since childhood, when someone gave her a gift, she was actually very happy.
Even if this thing was cheap, it was still a gift received from someone else. She still felt very happy.
“Alright, I’ve bought almost everything.”
Looking at the large and small bags in her hands, Ye Zhiyun thought the shopping could probably end. These things actually didn’t cost her much money. She had plenty of money; this amount really wasn’t anything, not even enough to fill the gaps between her teeth.
However, the box of chocolate given as a gift for the purchase was the main point of this shopping trip. Under Yu Linna’s expectant gaze, Ye Zhiyun received the box of chocolate. Looking at the quality, this chocolate should be quite expensive, but not excessively so. For Ye Zhiyun, who had eaten many branded chocolates, this box really couldn’t be called a famous brand. But it didn’t matter; she didn’t want it anyway.
“Here, as promised, this is for you.”
“Thank you!”
Accepting this box of chocolate, Yu girl felt this life was worth it. Today must be her lucky day! She actually received two gifts from Ye Zhiyun, and both were things she wanted!
How could she be so happy!
Such good chocolate, she couldn’t eat it all at once. She had to save it and savor it slowly. One piece a week, no, two pieces! Yes, it’s decided.
“Actually, this chocolate isn’t a famous brand. It’s okay to finish it.” Perhaps seeing what she was thinking, Ye Zhiyun interjected.
“That won’t do! Good things must be savored slowly! Eating it all at once is too boring!”
Forget it, as long as she likes it, Ye Zhiyun thought.
The purpose of coming out to play today was also achieved, feeling pretty good. Yu Linna left with her doll and chocolate. Both items were free, making her feel like she had gained a lot today.
She walked away humming a little tune, carrying today’s harvest. Ye Zhiyun watched that back view, also putting away her own feelings. Time to think about work matters.
The night sky sparkled, the neon lights on the road reflecting on her face. Ye Zhiyun smiled faintly, got into the car with her large and small bags. Unexpectedly, tonight’s moon looked quite beautiful.
The movie Ye Zhiyun recently invested in was released and was currently hot in theaters. This film was the low-cost drama directed by Murong Yan. It told the story of a male protagonist who dreamed of his past life one day and began a journey to pursue memories of his past and present lives. It involved ancient, modern, and near-modern eras. The male and female protagonists constantly reincarnated, their identities continuously changing, finally placing the era in the present.
This was a low-cost movie. The emotional scenes inside were quite delicate, slightly heart-wrenching. It should be quite suitable for girls to watch, but unexpectedly, quite a few boys also watched this film. Perhaps love is a common topic among young people.
This movie, with an investment of just over ten million, barely around thirty million in cost, actually grossed thirty million at its premiere. This was a low-cost production!
This week, this movie broke into the top five of the box office charts, grossing 150 million in its opening weekend, with room for continued growth. The word-of-mouth was also quite good, scoring 8.9 points on the Maomi website (likely a fictional movie rating site), with male viewers accounting for the largest proportion. Many women would take their boyfriends to watch it in theaters, and some women even cried watching it. For such a movie with insufficient early promotion and very few stars, the box office performance was quite considerable. The final box office was expected to reach three hundred million. For a low-cost production, this was already a very high figure.
Ye Zhiyun only invested about four million in this movie. How much money would she earn! Perhaps even she didn’t expect that a small investment movie would bring her such huge profits.
And Murong Yan himself successfully transitioned into a commercial film director with this movie, gaining fame. Moreover, the new generation actor who starred in the movie, the male lead, also gained popularity, quickly trending online.
“I really recommend this movie, it made me cry! Although it might feel inexplicable at the beginning, and the editing is a bit messy, after ten minutes, you’ll be surprised to find yourself drawn into the director’s world. Here, you’ll feel heartbroken that Dai Chenxuan can’t be with Tang Tang, you’ll also be angry at Long Yuyan’s fickleness, and you’ll be even more moved by Chu Bai’s devotion. No matter how these characters change, he is always the male protagonist Lin Yuhuan.”
“Really, I cried. What about you?”
“I was really afraid they wouldn’t end up together. Luckily, they are together in this life. After reincarnating for a thousand years, I finally found that I still fell in love with you at first sight in the vast sea of people. If the full score is ten, I give it nine points!”
Overwhelmingly positive reviews poured in. Perhaps even the director himself didn’t expect such a film to be so popular among young people.
Clearly, he felt it was quite cliché, but unexpectedly, it hit the right spot for the current young generation. In this era, true love is not easy. Encountering true love is a blessing accumulated from past lives. Perhaps many people fantasize about their past and present lives, which is also a good thing.
However, it’s worth mentioning that there was a scene in the movie, only ten seconds long. It depicted one of the female protagonist’s past lives as the queen of a small European country, continuing her unfinished love affair from the previous life with the male protagonist, an outsider. And just in the queen’s flashback scene, it mentioned the queen’s childhood.
That ten-second scene was the memory of the young queen sitting on the throne.
Although the young queen was immature, her aura was good, and the movie’s background setting was also quite well done, making the actress playing the young queen suddenly stand out, becoming one of the highlights of the movie. The exquisiteness of that scene was enough to be singled out as a wallpaper. So much so that after watching the movie, many people went online asking for high-definition pictures of this scene, wanting to use them as wallpaper.
“Who is this little actress playing the young queen? Really beautiful! Super cute!”
“Holy crap, I just found out the cast list doesn’t have this actress’s name! The actress playing the young queen isn’t listed at all!”
“Although it’s just a cameo, they should at least give a name! Who is this tender little sister?! I want to be her fan!”
“Same request, does anyone know who this actress is?”
“Stop looking blindly. No name probably means she’s a newcomer, maybe doesn’t even have a representative work.”
People online had already started searching for the little actress who appeared for only ten seconds in this movie. Although this actress had no lines, just showing her face, it was enough for the audience to remember her.
Just as some people said before, although this person’s acting skills were lacking, her appearance was indeed outstanding.
Yes, the person who acted in this ten-second scene was Yu Linna, this newcomer actress. No, strictly speaking, she wasn’t an actress, just an extra who ran errands.
Fate is always so strange. Yu Linna gained a little popularity in a small circle, of course, just a little bit. Although some people would constantly ask for this person’s name and information under Weibo posts, amidst the overwhelming information, this information would quickly be buried.
After a long time, everyone would surely forget about this matter too. This world is just like that.
And Ye Zhiyun, she personally went to the cinema to watch the film. Especially when she saw the ten-second scene starring Yu Linna, her heart felt a little restless. She thought, after the high-definition resources come out online, I should cut out this segment.
But that was something for a long time later.
Yu Linna, at this moment, didn’t know this had happened to her because she had already been called by Orange River to work. She was signed under Orange River’s name; she was officially an actress. It was just that she was a newcomer with no fame. Orange River wouldn’t proactively let her act in movies or TV series, but let her shoot commercials instead. The money from shooting commercials didn’t count towards her earnings but went under Orange River’s name.
Meaning Yu Linna only got a tiny “salary” for shooting commercials, not an appearance fee.
The tyrant contract Orange River gave her was really excessive, but there was no choice; the person who accepted this contract was Yu Linna.
“Miss Yu, please lean over there a bit. Yes, don’t move. Wait for the director’s arrangement later. Follow the lines you memorized before. We’ll start shooting immediately.”
The commercial Yu Linna took was for a beverage. This beverage wasn’t famous, and the commercial she shot was distributed online. After filming, it would be inserted into various video websites, not earning much fame. Moreover, if this sponsor hadn’t given face to Orange River, they wouldn’t have let her shoot it.
No matter what, it was an opportunity after all. Yu Linna kept comforting herself this way.
The commercial could be finished quickly, in less than a day. Although she had no acting skills, smiling a few times in front of the camera, then making a few exaggerated movements, this commercial was considered complete. All the money from shooting the commercial went to Orange River; Yu Linna only received three hundred yuan.
But Yu Linna still felt something was wrong. Why was she only doing these things? Didn’t they say they would promote her? And she had been at Orange River for some time, yet she hadn’t seen Nangong Ying. They had said before they would let her see Nangong Ying.
Nangong, where exactly did you go?
Yu Linna stayed at the advertising company, completely lost.
At this moment, she didn’t understand where she had gone. She was still very naive at this moment. She thought her future was bright, but never imagined she had entered a vortex and couldn’t get out.
And at this time, Nangong Ying was actively preparing for the official signing with Orange River. Once signed, she would also become an actress under Orange River’s name.