Chapter 42: Dirt
Jiang Lingling, wanting to seize the opportunity and gain favor with Mi Hongdou, specifically asked a private investigator she had worked with before, who also had connections with Dong Yuannan, to investigate Lu Gaoshi. Unexpectedly, in just over ten minutes, she received a multi-gigabyte compressed file in her email.
If it wasn’t fake or a virus, then it meant that someone else had also used this detective agency to investigate Lu Gaoshi. Jiang Lingling frowned and asked her assistant to take out her laptop and unzip the file. Although it saved investigation time, Lu Gaoshi was just a small-time manager. It was strange that someone else, besides her, would investigate her. The image of Mi Hongdou flashed through Jiang Lingling’s mind. If it was her, wouldn’t her own actions be redundant?
The compressed file was large. Before it finished unzipping, Jiang Lingling’s next scene was about to begin. Being a supporting actress with a lot of scenes wasn’t easy. Fortunately, after the script revision, the character’s personality was much closer to her own. Otherwise, it would be difficult for her to play a delicate concubine, especially as a newcomer. Thinking of this, she no longer felt that the increased workload after the revision was a bad thing. Jiang Lingling told her assistant that the file being unzipped was very important, that she should watch the computer closely until it was finished, and absolutely not let anyone else see it. Then, lifting her heavy skirt, she went back to the set.
Recently, Jiang Lingling had been at the center of attention in the crew, using her “take no prisoners” attitude to deter those who tried to give her a hard time. On the surface, things had calmed down, but there were still many people plotting revenge in secret. Now, after showing how much she valued the file on her computer, Jiang Lingling went to film, leaving her poor assistant alone, nervously watching the computer, feeling all the gazes in the room focused on her, her grip on the laptop so tight that her knuckles turned white.
Jiang Lingling was always straightforward. Even if she suffered a setback, she would retaliate immediately. Now, so mysteriously and repeatedly emphasizing the importance of watching the computer, the assistant couldn’t help but imagine what the file contained. Could it be that someone else was about to be targeted?
Unknowingly, the assistant was close to the truth.
As the nervous assistant, while complaining about Jiang Lingling having too many enemies and wondering what secret information she was looking at in such a public place, stared intently at the progress bar, something suddenly hit her back.
The impact wasn’t strong, even light. However, for the overly tense assistant, it was like a sudden clap of thunder.
Pan Xiang, holding two sheets of paper, watched as the assistant, who had been squatting in front of the computer, jumped up like a startled rabbit after being lightly tapped on the back with the papers. Before jumping, she even swiftly closed the laptop and clutched it tightly. Pan Xiang was dumbfounded. She had just wanted to deliver the newly revised script, there was no need to react as if she had been robbed.
The assistant turned around and saw that it was Pan Xiang who had tapped her. However, she didn’t let go of the laptop, still looking shaken.
“Are you okay?” Pan Xiang waved her hand in front of the assistant’s face. “I’m sorry, did I scare you?” Was she watching a horror movie? Horror pictures? Reading a horror novel?
“No…” The assistant recovered slightly, shook her head, and took a deep breath before asking, “Are you looking for Miss Jiang? She’s filming.”
“Oh, I’m not looking for her, I just came to deliver the new script. This is the final revised part for her character.” Pan Xiang handed the two sheets of paper to the assistant.
Unexpectedly, the assistant, still clutching the laptop, quickly stepped back, and the papers in Pan Xiang’s hand almost fell to the ground.
“Okay, okay…” The assistant realized her overreaction and quickly reached out with one hand to take the papers.
Pan Xiang frowned. This wasn’t her first time interacting with this assistant, she hadn’t noticed her being so jumpy before. Tsk, well, whatever. She was Jiang Lingling’s assistant, being strange was probably normal.
Pan Xiang’s impression of Jiang Lingling wasn’t very good, especially after her arrogant attempt to snatch the egg fried rice. So, after Jiang Lingling replaced the actress playing the concubine and joined the crew, Pan Xiang disliked her even more. Especially since she had to revise the script for this supporting concubine because of Jiang Lingling. Although it was Qiao Rubai’s request, firstly, Pan Xiang didn’t like Jiang Lingling, and secondly, according to Qiao Rubai, the revisions had to be based on Jiang Lingling’s personality, which meant changing not only this concubine’s scenes but also the overall plot.
This was different from the previous major revision, which changed the second half of the script from palace intrigue to estate life, redefining the empress’s character. That time, Pan Xiang had discarded someone else’s script and written her own. Now, she was being asked to rewrite her own script, and for Jiang Lingling, which made her even more unwilling. But Qiao Rubai was insistent, even explicitly saying that Jiang Lingling’s acting was poor, and rather than having her ruin the drama with an awkward performance, it was better to revise the script to suit her acting style, making both her performance and the drama better. So, Pan Xiang could only grit her teeth and agree. Her impression of Jiang Lingling plummeted even further, almost to the point of gnashing her teeth.
However, after Pan Xiang received the information about Jiang Lingling from Qiao Rubai, from her astrological sign and blood type to her background, her resentment gradually dissipated.
The information was provided by Dong Yuannan without Jiang Lingling’s knowledge, and it was written by him personally. Perhaps to help Pan Xiang understand Jiang Lingling better and portray her character more effectively, Dong Yuannan’s information was very detailed. The hardships of life in a remote mountain village, the days of exploitation without family, her resilient yet kind heart, her diligence and eagerness to learn after being taken in, her obedience and filial piety… The simple language conveyed a loving father’s compassion and care for his adopted daughter, moving Pan Xiang to tears.
So, she no longer resisted and spent several sleepless nights drastically revising the character Jiang Lingling was going to play, adding scenes and details, without a single complaint even with her tired, bloodshot eyes. She continued to refine the script, striving to make the character more vivid and compelling within the limited screen time.
Perhaps too deeply influenced by Jiang Lingling’s real-life story, she unconsciously projected more of her own emotions into the character. Even after completing the revisions, due to the limitations of the role and its positioning, this character wasn’t the most outstanding, but it was the one Pan Xiang had invested the most emotion in. Even her impression of Jiang Lingling had improved considerably. If it was negative one hundred before reading the information, then after revising the script, it had become at least positive eighty.
This was already a somewhat dangerous number, but Pan Xiang wasn’t aware of it yet.
When Jiang Lingling joined the crew, Pan Xiang happened to have something to attend to at school and hadn’t been back to the set for a month. Now that she was back, the first thing she did was to deliver the final revised script to Jiang Lingling. Although she was mentally complaining about how following the unpredictable Jiang Lingling had even made her assistant strange, her teasing was full of good intentions.
After filming a scene, when Jiang Lingling returned backstage, Pan Xiang was already gone, leaving only the assistant, guarding the computer like a mother hen protecting her eggs.
Jiang Lingling took the laptop, placed it on her lap, and glanced at her pale assistant. “What’s wrong? You look so pale, do you need to use the bathroom?”
You need to go, you need to go, you’re the one who needs to go! The assistant rubbed her numb face and handed over the script Pan Xiang left: “This is the final script.”
“Okay.” Jiang Lingling casually took it and placed it on the table, then quickly opened the unzipped file on her computer.
There wasn’t much text data, mainly just Lu Gaoshi’s personal information and some basic information about her close relatives and friends. What took up most of the space were photos and videos. Jiang Lingling looked through a few photos. A small portion were of Lu Gaoshi alone or with Ji Junxin. Most were of Lu Gaoshi and Jiang Duo, and a few were of Lu Gaoshi, Jiang Duo, and a middle-aged man. According to the report, the man should be Jiang Duo’s father, Jiang Dingyi, Lu Gaoshi’s senior in high school. It seemed that they had some ambiguous feelings for each other back in high school, but it was a long time ago, and it hadn’t been thoroughly verified yet.
There were still many people backstage, so Jiang Lingling turned off the sound before opening the videos. Several videos were of Lu Gaoshi being followed, capturing her meetings with Jiang Duo, with Jiang Dingyi appearing once or twice. But later, there were also several videos of Jiang Dingyi being followed. Jiang Lingling thought for a moment, asked her assistant for earphones, turned on the sound, and replayed a few videos of Lu Gaoshi and Jiang Duo meeting in relatively quiet environments. The background noise was too loud to hear what they were saying clearly.
Jiang Lingling looked through the information again. Besides her incompetence, there wasn’t any real dirt on Lu Gaoshi. She had been married and divorced years ago, and there was no new relationship. Although the file was large, the only substantial information was that Lu Gaoshi and Jiang Dingyi hadn’t been in contact for many years, until they reconnected six months ago. And Jiang Dingyi and Jiang Duo’s mother were still married.
It didn’t seem like there was anything going on between Lu Gaoshi and Jiang Dingyi. They never met alone, Jiang Duo was always present. But if Lu Gaoshi was helping Jiang Duo gain Ji Junxin’s favor just as a favor to an old friend, she seemed a bit too eager.
Jiang Lingling couldn’t figure it out and felt that the huge file, after taking so long to unzip, was useless, which was a bit frustrating. Where was the dirt! She was unhappy!
Right, she should ask Mi Hongdou if she had also used this private investigator to investigate Lu Gaoshi. Jiang Lingling closed the video and looked up, seeing Mi Hongdou sitting next to Ji Junxin, whispering something, both of them smiling.
Hmph, she was working hard looking through the information, while they were having fun. Jiang Lingling snorted and walked towards them.
Just as she took a step, her phone dinged. Jiang Lingling picked it up, her frustration instantly gone. She paused, and her steps towards Mi Hongdou became lighter.
“Come, I need to talk to you about something.” Jiang Lingling interrupted the two without hesitation and dragged Mi Hongdou, who was telling Ji Junxin recipes and gaining favor, away.
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