Chapter 65: This Day Came Quickly
When fate found her again, she hesitated once more, standing there unsure how to respond. Opportunities always came to her side, time and time again. She grasped them time and time again, but unfortunately, each time she couldn’t get what she wanted.
When the opportunity arrived again, she was reluctant to believe it was an opportunity anymore.
Perhaps because she had failed too many times, she was afraid.
“Sir, please let me think about it again. I haven’t considered it thoroughly.”
She could only choose this method to escape.
Sometimes, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to grasp it, but she was afraid of grasping it and ending up with nothing.
She wanted to go farther, climb higher, but how long would this road go on? Did she really have confidence in her heart? She wasn’t as outstanding as Nangong Ying; she was just an ordinary person. Besides her academic achievements, she had nothing else to show. Wanting to become superior, unless she truly had something extraordinary. Repeated failures told her that she seemed truly unsuited for the path of acting.
Despite desperately wanting to succeed.
“Are you thinking that you don’t have the ability, afraid to take the risk?”
The voice on the other end of the phone made her tremble, shattering all the false hope in her heart.
In this person’s eyes, everything about her was seen through.
“You don’t need to consider too much. The more you fear, the more you lose. I guarantee that after signing you, we will put you on the path to stardom. Our Orange River is best at making people famous. You have such good looks, and advantages others don’t have. Why beat yourself down? You have this ability; you have to believe in yourself.”
“But…”
“We will make Nangong Ying an artist under our banner. Don’t you want to be with her?”
“…”
Her heart began to struggle.
Her face was filled with conflict. At this moment, her mind turned to mush. What was originally a simple matter became complicated. Yu Linna scratched her head but still couldn’t figure out a result.
She admitted, being by Nangong Ying’s side was still very tempting.
As a child, and a girl, being with a friend felt more secure than being with anyone else.
“Let me think about it.”
“Good. I look forward to your reply.”
The phone hung up. A brand new legend began. No one could guess that this would be a revolution.
After Yu Tianchen hung up the phone, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. Sure enough, she’s a child. The simplest methods are often the most effective.
Yu Linna was a seedling. Used well, she could become a towering tree. What she needed now was fertile soil and sufficient nutrients. As long as these conditions were met, everything would become simple.
Indeed, in terms of appearance, Yu Linna had an advantage. Even looking across the entire entertainment industry, few could have her East-West mixed-race features and still look so beautiful. Except for her height, other things weren’t major problems. As long as the appearance passed, the rest wasn’t an issue. Let her shoot commercials first, then let her act in movies, as a supporting role, of course.
Yu Tianchen had already planned the next steps for the big company Orange River. As long as Nangong Ying joined the team, then the upcoming film market would be theirs.
In a few more years, they would have the ability to consider expanding the market overseas, especially to the United States.
Therefore, they needed talent.
Speaking of Nangong Ying, on the 18th day after she joined the crew, filming was proceeding intensely. On the other side, the soundtrack for Director Zhang’s movie was almost complete. Li Yuexin’s self-recommendation was indeed useful. After securing this opportunity, Li Yuexin brought her band to work on set. To cooperate with the band’s work, Nangong Ying also took a week off from outside to come back and complete the soundtrack work.
Therefore, the time she spent on Orange River’s set was actually not long.
When the soundtrack was almost finished, Nangong Ying also had to pack her things and go back; her movie wasn’t finished filming yet. Fortunately, her role wasn’t extensive. After the entire movie was edited, she probably only had about 40 minutes of screen time. It was also because of this that it was convenient for her to explain the situation to the director and come here.
“It’s really enviable. You got such a high salary for your first movie. Do you know how much I got for my first TV series? For a 52-episode TV series, I got 730,000.”
During a break, Li Yuexin casually brought up the topic of salary with her, not forgetting to joke.
As a star, salary is the standard measure of worth. Li Yuexin, this recently popular female star, already commanded tens of millions for filming a TV series, with the possibility of further increases in the future. Although she hadn’t filmed a movie, people from film companies had already extended olive branches to her.
The higher an actor’s value, the higher the salary, and the higher the value given to the market. For a pure newcomer like Nangong Ying to receive a million-level salary was truly remarkable. Before this, she had no representative works at all.
The production side also valued her identity as the champion of the National Singing Competition, wanting to cultivate her.
“It’s okay. Although it exceeded my expectations, it’s… so-so, I guess.”
Nangong Ying gave a wry smile.
Such a high salary was indeed the most she had earned since childhood. Even winning awards in past competitions didn’t bring in that much money. No wonder people always said the entertainment industry was a gold pool, everyone wanting to jump in. This indeed made sense.
But thinking about her father earning tens of millions for filming one commercial back then, her amount was nothing.
Suddenly, a phone call came in. Nangong Ying made an apologetic gesture to Li Yuexin and answered the call.
“Hello, this is… What?”
Her face looked unwell. Her previously rosy cheeks instantly turned pale. She tried hard to steady her body, but her shoulders still trembled uncontrollably.
“Why? Please give me an explanation… No, don’t hang up, hello!”
The phone emitted a beep beep beep sound, then nothing.
She stood there alone, like a fool, completely lost.
“Xiao Ying, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
It was also the first time Li Yuexin had seen Nangong Ying like this. She hurried forward to check on her. But Nangong Ying’s face wore a stubborn look. She clutched her phone and ran out the door, leaving her luggage behind. She went out, directly hailed a taxi, and sped away from here. Li Yuexin didn’t even have time to ask her what exactly happened.
Nangong Ying sat in the car, pressing her head, leaning against the back seat, completely devoid of her usual spirit.
She was kicked out of the crew.
Things happened rather suddenly. The call just now was made directly to her by Orange River. They unilaterally stated that Nangong Ying was kicked out of the crew, all her filmed scenes would be deleted, and another actor would be found to reshoot.
But Nangong Ying had signed a contract. She didn’t believe she would be kicked out.
She personally took a car to Orange River, personally went to confront the senior management. The person in charge from Orange River came over to explain to her that they were acting according to the contract, so they had reason to kick Nangong Ying out.
“You’re talking nonsense! According to the contract, filming one movie, salary 2.5 million. You arbitrarily kicked me out of the crew, you have to pay the breach of contract penalty!”
Regarding Nangong Ying’s explanation, the person in charge just smiled, not rushing to refute. He just took out the contract and pointed to the last clause.
Following his finger, she clearly saw the content on the contract.
“Under any circumstances, the signing party has the right to interpret ownership. If the signed party does not follow arrangements, the signing party may demand payment of the breach of contract penalty, and the signed party has no right to appeal.”
Nangong Ying’s face turned ugly.
“According to the contract content, the final interpretation right belongs to us. You are just a cooperative partner of ours. We have the right to dismiss you, but you have no right to complain about us. If you don’t believe it, that’s your business.”
“This is twisting words and forcing logic, a tyrant contract, sheer nonsense! I will sue you!”
“Heh.”
The person in charge turned his head and left just like that.
Orange River was a top-tier large company. With such formidable strength, who could shake their dominance? Yes, they forcibly terminated the contract with Nangong Ying and wouldn’t pay her a cent in compensation, but they had the confidence to do so.
Nangong Ying felt she had been played, instantly furious. She had never felt so aggrieved in her life! To encounter such a company! She refused to believe the law couldn’t handle them!
This 18-year-old girl, filled with impulse, found her agent, demanding to sue them in court and reclaim her rights. She refused to believe there was no justice in this world.
The agent lady heard about this, her expression strange, seemingly hesitating for a while, then patted her shoulder and said:
“Let it go. Don’t do anything unnecessary.”
She knew clearly that it was impossible to win against Orange River. Who would lose, who would win, was clear from the very beginning.
They were absolute tyrants; no one could shake their position. What’s more, Nangong Ying was just a fledgling newcomer.
“How can you be so spineless! They stole my rights! They arbitrarily kicked me out of the crew! Can I endure this anger! I must sue them!”
“Nangong, I advise you not to go. You can’t possibly win.”
But Nangong Ying didn’t believe it. She was unwilling to believe there was no justice in this world, unwilling to believe there was no righteousness.
Since childhood, her father told her that no matter what she did, she had to be upright. If bullied, she must never bow her head. She absolutely wouldn’t let it go just like this.
But…
In fact, was she really right?
She might be right, but her mistake was that she shouldn’t have clashed with someone she shouldn’t have clashed with.
Three days later in court, she hired a lawyer to file a lawsuit, wanting to reclaim her rights. However, she lost the case.
This was the justice and righteousness she trusted.
In the face of absolute power, her strength was too insignificant.
Nangong Ying never thought she would be so weak. She thought the law could restrain them, but in reality, she was too naive.
After losing the lawsuit, Orange River had more excuses to trouble her. They used the excuse that Nangong Ying didn’t cooperate with work, deliberately acted like a diva, demanding she compensate for losses. And the most troublesome point was, they wanted to blacklist Nangong Ying.
What did blacklisting mean?
It meant Nangong Ying would never be able to step into the entertainment industry for her entire life. Even the only movie she had finished filming was banned from release. This movie had already completed its soundtrack and was preparing for post-production. If she were blacklisted, this movie would be blacklisted along with her.
At this moment, Nangong Ying truly tasted what it meant to be powerless. Within just a few days, she became penniless.
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