Chapter 2: Red Bean Soup
After falling from the wires, Mi Hongdou opened her eyes and found herself ten years in the past, at the moment she woke up after being knocked unconscious while saving Yang Miemie. From comforting the frightened little meat bun to being questioned by security, meeting Yang Lianyi, and then giving a statement at the police station, the flurry of events left Mi Hongdou with no time to process the shocking fact that she had fallen back ten years in time. Even after leaving the police station and being taken away by Yang Lianyi, Mi Hongdou still felt dazed, wondering if this was all a dream she was having while severely injured after falling from the wires.
Following Yang Lianyi into a quaint alley and sitting down in a private dessert shop, Mi Hongdou took a spoonful of the coconut milk, peanut, and almond paste that Yang Lianyi had recommended. The delicate and soft paste, filled with the fragrance of coconut milk, was paired with shredded coconut and sliced almonds that further enhanced the rich flavors of coconut and nuts. As the warm and slightly sweet paste went down, Mi Hongdou felt her heart gradually calm down, as if it had found solid ground.
“By the way, I still don’t know your name?” Yang Lianyi wiped Yang Miemie’s face and hands clean, watched her start eating obediently, and then sat down, giving Mi Hongdou what she thought was a very amiable smile but actually looked like a seductive gaze.
Mi Hongdou glanced at the small bowl in front of Yang Lianyi and sighed inwardly, “Mi Hongdou…”
“Mi Hongdou(Rice Red Bean)…” Yang Lianyi was taken aback for a moment, then looked down at the glutinous rice and red bean soup she was stirring.
Her head remained lowered for a long time, and Mi Hongdou knew she was suppressing her laughter. It was the same in her previous life. Yang Lianyi, of all things, ordered a bowl of glutinous rice and red bean soup, making her already somewhat amusing name even more so, now at seventy to eighty percent. She remembered that after she became famous in her previous life, people would often post pictures of glutinous rice and red bean soup, glutinous rice and red bean rice, glutinous rice and red bean cakes, glutinous rice and red bean ice cream… always remembering to @Mi Hongdou, making it hard for her to tell who were her true fans and who were just making fun.
Having gone through this experience, Yang Lianyi’s suppressed laughter no longer made Mi Hongdou blush like it did in her previous life.
“Ahem… So, let me tell you about this script. There’s a role in it that I think is very suitable for you, no, I should say it’s extremely suitable for you!” Yang Lianyi finally remembered the business at hand, cleared her throat, and began to introduce the script she had just received.
Compared to Yang Lianyi’s full dedication to attracting Mi Hongdou to Mengguan, Mi Hongdou was a bit distracted. The script Yang Lianyi was introducing was the first TV series she signed with Mengguan in her previous life, “Divorce, So Be It.” She played Lin Qiao, the grown-up daughter of the male and female leads. Her scenes were mostly in the last third of the series, not a lot of screen time, but the drama was good, and she acted well, leaving a deep impression on the audience. Childhood sweethearts, going through thick and thin together, family trivia, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts, mistresses, midlife crises – the drama, a stew of popular elements, had a great response. Halfway through its airing, a sequel was already planned, “Divorce, So Be It 2,” which told the story of Lin Qiao, after experiencing the various changes in her parents’ marriage, finally embarking on her own marriage journey. It was once again inexplicably popular. With these two dramas, Mi Hongdou went from a supporting role to the female lead, and in popular dramas at that, it was rare to become famous with such luck.
Speaking of which, Mi Hongdou really did get lucky. A college graduate in fine arts for less than two months, with zero acting experience, if she hadn’t encountered such a suitable script, she probably wouldn’t have had such a smooth journey. It wasn’t just suitable; it was relatable. In the first drama, Lin Qiao’s parents were childhood sweethearts, deeply in love, but ever since she was born, there was no peace. She had a grandmother who favored boys, and gradually, a father who also wanted a son. They argued and fought, and five years later, they had a second child, a boy, and everyone was happy. The grandmother, who had never cared for Lin Qiao, traveled a long way from the countryside to the city to take care of her grandson, and there were inevitably scenes of conflicts between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Just as Lin Qiao’s mother was about to succeed in winning over her mother-in-law with her sincerity and hard work, Lin Qiao’s father got involved with a suspected mistress. At this time, the grown-up Lin Qiao, played by Mi Hongdou, could enter the scene. She had a grandmother who only cared about her younger brother, a father who only cared about his mistress, an increasingly despondent and shrewish mother, and a younger brother who was a spoiled brat. What a lively family.
In her previous life, Mi Hongdou didn’t find it difficult to play Lin Qiao at all. Lin Qiao, who was heartbroken by her family’s neglect, longed for affection but could only be strong on her own, was almost a replica of the real Mi Hongdou.
Mi Hongdou’s father, Mi Hongcai, used to run a snack shop. He fell in love with Wang Linyue, who applied to be a pastry chef at the shop. They worked hard together, expanded the business, got married, and had a child. At that time, they were the talk of the neighborhood. But only the family knew that when Mi Hongcai found out that Wang Linyue had given birth to a daughter, he ignored them both and went straight home, without any of the tenderness and care he had shown during Wang Linyue’s pregnancy.
Mi Hongdou later thought that it was a good thing they didn’t check the gender during the pregnancy, otherwise she probably wouldn’t have existed. After giving birth, weak and powerless, without even a bowl of hot soup, Wang Linyue felt like she had been blind all these years. She was so disheartened that she didn’t even care when the nurse brought the baby to her. It was the auntie in the next bed who shared a bowl of hot red bean soup with her and talked to her, warming Wang Linyue’s heart a little and making her willing to care for the child. Interestingly, a few days later, Mi Hongcai, either because he came to his senses or because someone talked to him, reappeared. He took all the scolding and didn’t fight back, speaking softly and tenderly, and managed to win back his wife.
So, the child couldn’t be named Wang Hongdou, and was instead named the more interesting-sounding Mi Hongdou. Red bean, red bean, was it to remember the kindness of that bowl of soup, or to remember someone’s heartlessness that day? A broken mirror is hard to make whole. Mi’s parents struggled on for another two years, but eventually divorced because Mi’s mother refused to have another child. Mi Hongdou stayed with her mother. Mi’s father quickly remarried and had a daughter the next year, whom he named Mi Yu.
The funny thing was that Mi’s father truly treated his second daughter like a jewel, as her name suggested, and never mentioned having another child. Because of this, Mi’s mother felt that Mi’s father had long been bewitched, otherwise why would he treat the daughter she gave birth to like dirt and the one someone else gave birth to like a treasure? Her temper became increasingly volatile. The mess of the Mi family was almost on par with Lin Qiao’s.
Therefore, even without acting skills, Mi Hongdou could bring Lin Qiao to life just by immersing herself in the role. Thinking about it, Yang Lianyi’s eyes were really sharp, seeing the connection between Mi Hongdou and Lin Qiao at a glance.
However, if she had to do it all over again, should she still sign with Mengguan? Ji Junxin had always been signed with Qiao Rubai’s Qiong Yu Entertainment. If she signed with Qiong Yu, could she meet her earlier and avoid that incident… Mi Hongdou thought of the incident that almost changed Ji Junxin’s life not long after, and her heart couldn’t help but tighten. She couldn’t describe the feeling, it just felt like a knot in her chest.
Mengguan Agency, the name sounded cute, but once you signed with them, you would find that only a portion of those signed were graduates of film and television schools. Most were like Mi Hongdou, ordinary people with no acting experience who Yang Lianyi had spotted elsewhere. Of course, their only common characteristic was that Yang Lianyi found them cute…
However, although the reason for being signed was rather ridiculous, it had to be said that Yang Lianyi’s vision was truly excellent. This company, which seemed like a joke to normal people, signing people just because they were deemed cute, gradually grew in the following years until it occupied a not-so-small territory in the entertainment industry. Mengguan and Qiong Yu Entertainment, owned by Qiao Rubai, where Mi Hongdou later moved after her contract with Mengguan expired, were known as the two oddball companies in the entertainment industry at that time. Mengguan, needless to say, had only one criterion for signing people.
Even if someone was already quite famous in the industry, if Yang Lianyi didn’t find them cute, she wouldn’t sign them. If Yang Lianyi found someone cute, even if they were a beggar on the street, she would bring them to Mengguan, provide food, housing, salary, and even make them famous. It was truly bizarre. Compared to Mengguan, which only occupied a small part of the industry, Qiong Yu Entertainment, one of the leading companies in the entertainment industry, advocated for good acting and real performances. Lip-syncing was completely out of the question, and artists were not allowed to collude on variety shows.
The most bizarre thing was that the company’s actors never used stunt doubles. They did all the flying, sword fighting, jumping off buildings, jumping into rivers, and wire stunts themselves. Fortunately, their safety measures were top-notch in the industry. There were no major accidents, but minor injuries were inevitable, so the company had money and connections, but not a very large number of artists. The two companies were each bizarre in their own way, but they had one thing in common: they were very protective of their artists, willing to spend money and promote them, and the decision-makers had good vision. Those who could get in had plenty of opportunities.
The doors of Qiong Yu were not easy to enter. She couldn’t just go and perform something to prove herself, but that incident was about to happen… Mi Hongdou frowned, calculating in her heart. It seemed she still had to join Mengguan first, at least she had to take on these two “Divorce” dramas. At this moment, thinking of Ji Junxin, Mi Hongdou had forgotten that she had fallen from Qiong Yu’s wires and was still bravely thinking of joining Qiong Yu.
Once she made up her mind, the rest was easy to discuss. In her previous life, she signed a five-year contract with Mengguan and later renewed for another five years. If it weren’t for the later collaboration between Qiao Rubai and Yang Lianyi, and Mi Hongdou’s transfer for strategic reasons, she would have stayed with Mengguan for at least ten years in her previous life. But this time, Mi Hongdou, thinking of getting closer to Ji Junxin sooner, only agreed to sign for two years. If it weren’t for the fact that the two dramas would take more than a year to film, Mi Hongdou would have only signed for one year. Yang Lianyi was always generous and easy to talk to with those she found cute. Moreover, she was very confident in Mengguan’s renewal rate, so she readily agreed.
With the matter settled, everything was perfect. Yang Lianyi and Mi Hongdou agreed to sign the contract the next day. She wiped the little meat bun’s face clean, picked her up, and smiled at Mi Hongdou, “See you tomorrow then~”
Perhaps because things went smoothly, Yang Lianyi blinked, her eyes curving into a smile, not realizing that she looked extremely charming, as if she was flirting. Having worked with Yang Lianyi for so long after signing with Mengguan in her previous life, Mi Hongdou had seen Mengguan sign artists one by one and grow. She was no stranger to what kind of person Yang Lianyi was. However, Mengguan was still newly established at this time, and Yang Lianyi was only twenty-six years old. She was still trying to show her friendly, harmless, and approachable side, trying to sign artists like a normal boss, not like later when she discovered that she had a naturally charming aura, and no matter how she tried to suppress it, every move was full of allure, so she gave up and went down the path of charm.
Fortunately, the artists signed by Mengguan in the early days were all cute girls. In another two years, Yang Lianyi would no longer want to suppress herself and pretend to be approachable. When she saw someone she found cute, she would just smile and blink, using her own charm to sign them. Poaching was also easy this way, which made other entertainment companies very unhappy and caused some trouble for Mengguan. It wasn’t until five or six years later that Yang Lianyi accidentally found Qiong Yu’s boss, Qiao Rubai, cute and couldn’t sign him, hitting a wall, that she became more restrained. I really hope Qiao Rubai appears sooner to restrain Yang Lianyi, and also save a poor little fatty, Mi Hongdou thought with a hint of sympathy as she looked at Yang Miemie, who was being stuffed with another piece of cake by Yang Lianyi as they were leaving, still smiling foolishly and adorably.
Little did she know, sometimes things don’t go as planned, and sometimes wishes do come true…
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