Rebirth of a Star

Chapter 42 – Troubles On Set (3)
Actually, there was a reason why Blue Hall Entertainment hadn’t allowed Chen Meimei to act, even though she’d joined the company.

Right before Chen Meimei had entered the company, she’d wanted to perform in front of Fu Bainian. So, she’d tugged at Shen Yu’s collar until she’d managed to get ahold of a role. It was an insignificant role; the kind of role in which she just had to briefly show her face and then remain stationed in the room like some kind of decoration. In fact, anyone they’d randomly found could’ve acted out that kind of role. Perhaps Chen Meimei was aware of her limits because, even though it was such a small role, she’d accepted it.

In the scene, the second female lead was so angry that she smashed everything she could find in the room. However, when she went to break a flower vase, some of the fragments had landed on Chen Meimei’s foot. The fragments had only brushed past her skin without wounding her, but Chen Meimei had a bad temper. Flipping the table in the room, she’d then aggressively stormed up to the second female lead before asking, “Are you blind or something?! Where the hell were you aiming the vase?!”

The second female lead couldn’t help but retort, “We’re merely acting! How was it possible for me to care about so many things at once? You should just endure it for a bit!”

It would’ve been better if she didn’t say anything, but now that she had, she’d infuriated Chen Meimei. Chen Meimei immediately pushed her to the ground and trampled her with one foot as she’d angrily announced, “I’m done with acting! Whoever wants to come and act with you is more than welcome!”

Chen Meimei had inherited her temper from Old Chen. People didn’t dare provoke Old Chen, and as a result, they didn’t dare provoke Chen Meimei either.

Everyone froze the instant Shen Wei’an’s slap had landed on Chen Meimei’s face, their gazes fixated on Chen Meimei. They were unanimously thinking: Shen Wei’an was definitely done for this time!

Lan Jinyao, who’d just received a slap for no reason, held her cheek with her hand. It took her a while before she managed to restrain her anger.

She rubbed her burning cheek and then walked towards Shen Wei’an. Just when everyone thought that she would return the slap, she smiled and asked, “Wei’an, why did you hit me? Was there something wrong with my performance earlier? Could it be that you’re blaming me for pushing you into the water? But, I was just acting according to the script!”

Shen Wei’an endured her anger, and with a darkened expression she coldly asked Lan Jinyao again, “Chen Meimei, why did you secretly improvise?!”

“Oh, that’s what you’re angry about? I just thought that acting that way was more in line with the character’s personality and nature. Don’t you think that, as an actress, to yield yourself to the arts is a glorious thing? Besides, you did a great job there! If you hadn’t yelled stop…”

Shen Wei’an fiercely glared at her before turning around to go change her clothes.

Li Qi and the Assistant on set ran to Chen Meimei’s side, and asked, “Are you alright? That slap must’ve been painful, and it sounded like it hurt!”

The Assistant used a towel filled with ice to soothe Chen Meimei’s face, while Li Qi was standing next to her and winking as he said, “Chen Meimei, it looks like you’ve really changed!”

“What was I like in the past then?” asked Lan Jinyao.

Li Qi thought for a moment before he replied, “I’ll tell you honestly, but don’t get angry! In the past, if something like this had happened, you’d have already slapped that person back. Wait, no, according to your past temperament, maybe you’d have spoken with your fists instead!”

Lan Jinyao earnestly nodded and said, “Well, you’re right! Taking a slap for no reason; isn’t this too unfair to me? I’ve got to find a way to return this slap!”

Chen Meimei must’ve been acting like she didn’t care just now! Li Qi thought, somehow feeling slightly sorry.

“Hey, you…you didn’t refuse to retaliate before because President Fu was here, right?”

Li Qi’s gossipy nature was instantly activated. Just now, when Fu Bainian was standing next to him, Fu Bainian’s pitch-black eyes were constantly fixated on Chen Meimei. Fu Bainian had clearly seen everything that had happened on set.

Fu Bainian was here?

Lan Jinyao looked around, but she didn’t see him anywhere.

“You said that Fu Bainian was here? Where is he then?” asked Lan Jinyao while silently thinking: Don’t tell her that Fu Bainian came to set to supervise them!

Li Qi looked at the sky and clicked his tongue before saying, “Tsk, you never change!”

Lan Jinyao viciously knocked into him as she roared, “What nonsense are you talking about? I’m currently taking my work very seriously, okay?!” She had to at least get revenge on Shen Wei’an by returning what that woman owed her tenfold!

Upon hearing this, Shen Yu replied, “Yes, yes, you’re right! You really have to work hard. Additionally, Director Chang said that you’ve performed well so far, so continue doing your best and win back the title of movie Goddess for me.”

Chang Sheng was standing in front of Shen Wei’an, and his expression didn’t look very good.

He then remarked, “Wei’an, what’s the matter with you today? Even Chen Meimei’s in better shape than you. This role held great importance for Jinyao. Now, she didn’t have the fortune to play the part, and you’re her best friend, so I’d hoped that you’d take this role seriously. Do your best and perform well later, all right?”

Shen Wei’an clenched her fists and faked a smile before sweetly saying, “Yes, Director, I understand. I’ll certainly do my utmost best. Just now, Chen Meimei improvised on the spot, and I stayed in the water a bit too long, so I’ve not been able to accommodate accordingly. However, I’ll fix my condition and make sure that there won’t be any more problems.”

To think that Chen Meimei dared to stop Xu Hao from coming to her rescue! She’d settle this score with Chen Meimei sooner or later!

Chang Sheng sighed. “Let’s hope so. It’ll soon be evening, and we won’t be able to continue shooting today once it gets too dark.”

After Chang Sheng finished talking to Shen Wei’an, his gaze landed on Chen Meimei standing not too far away from them. She was still wearing the ancient costume needed for her role, and she was currently reading the drama’s script. The way she looked, fully immersed and concentrating on the script, was very similar to that person from his memory. It was no wonder that Jinyao had recommended Chen Meimei. This Chen Meimei was entirely different from the person he’d heard about in rumours.

If he’d seen that letter earlier, then maybe he’d have left the female lead role to the person that Jinyao had recommended.

In the next scene, Shen Wei’an dived into the lotus pond and waited for Xu Hao, who was acting as Prince Pingyang, to rescue her. Meanwhile, Chen Meimei, who was acting as Jinling, was secretly watching all this on the side and angrily stomping her foot.

Prince Pingyang carried Consort Pingyang out of the water and hastily returned to the Consort’s bedchamber before commanding someone to summon the doctor.

That night, Consort Pingyang fell ill and lay dazed in bed. Jinling prepared a bowl of medicine and went to check on her. When she saw that there was no one in the room, she’d secretly taken out a bottle which contained some sort of powder, and added the contents to the medicine bowl. This was a small bottle of powdered sugar that the crew had prepared as a prop in advance.

After Jinling finished adding the drug to the bowl of medicine, she continuously fed spoonfuls of it to Consort Pingyang.

Once Shen Wei’an had drunk a spoonful, she opened her eyes and looked at Lan Jinyao. Upon seeing her appearance, Shen Wei’an wanted to spit everything out, but she endured it and swallowed the medicine.

Jinling’s hand trembled, and the bowl of medicine fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

Coincidentally, Prince Pingyang entered the room, so she threw herself into the man’s embrace and coquettishly wailed, “Sister is refusing to drink her medicine!”

However, right at this moment, Prince Pingyang coldly stared at her and said, “Don’t think that this Prince doesn’t know about the things you’ve done! Guards, drag Concubine Jin away!”

Jinling slumped to the ground and stared at Prince Pingyang’s cold face with despair, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Cut! Well done!”

At this point, Lan Jinyao’s part was over. Her character was just cannon fodder that existed to close the emotional gap between the two leads before dying.