Rebirth of a Star

Chapter 55 – She’s A Member Of The Chen Family
That morning, Lan Jinyao travelled to the set with Li Qi accompanying her. But, while they were sitting in the van, he was staring at her with a rather odd expression. Lan Jinyao was initially reading her script, but she couldn’t continue as she felt goosebumps suddenly flooded her skin when she sensed his peculiar gaze.

She looked up and teased Li Qi. “Are you in love with me? If not, why would you be staring at me like this?”

A burst of laughter echoed in the confined space before Li Qi quickly waved his hand and said, “How’s that possible? I already have someone I like! I’m staring at you because I was thinking that everyone from your family is quite amazing! You…let’s not talk about you today and, instead, let’s talk about your sister, Chen Meile. She’s truly a notable and powerful individual! Although she’s just a businesswoman, she’s even more popular than a celebrity!”

What Li Qi said puzzled Lan Jinyao, and she couldn’t quite understand what he was trying to convey.

When Li Qi saw that she didn’t quite follow, he handed her his mobile. “Here! Take a look yourself, Chen Meile has made the headlines again. She rushed into a filming set to viciously beat a male artist. Not even a dozen staff members managed to stop her! Don’t you think that she’s plain awesome?”

Lan Jinyao had furrowed her brows after she’d read the news article. Chen Meile had viciously beat a male artist…don’t tell her that it was once again because of her?

“At which filming set did this happen?”

“Which other set could it be? It was none other than the set of A Thousand Years Of Tears.”

Upon hearing this, Lan Jinyao propped her head up with her hands and sighed. Was Chen Meile really her blood sister? She only knew how to bring trouble to her! This matter had made the headlines…Lan Jinyao estimated that, in a few days, multitudinous netizens would most likely push the blame regarding this matter onto Chen Meimei again.

“Chen Meimei, stop pulling that kind of expression. I actually think that you’ve got a pretty good sister there! She’s not only formidable but also very affectionate. Look at what she said in the article; her words are totally just and forceful! She said: ‘No matter what, Chen Meimei’s still a member of Old Chen’s family! How can she be so easily bullied by outsiders?!’ Tell me, don’t you find her words domineering?”

“Hmm, domineering!” she softly replied.

Soon after, Lan Jinyao’s eyes returned to her script. Rouge Fermentation was an ancient costume drama. After suffering a lot of hardships, the female lead transformed into an entirely different person and went back to her clan. She then fought against her Stepmother and oppressed the second branch’s Concubine. However, on the first day of shooting, the vicious and merciless second branch’s Concubine from the script hadn’t yet made an appearance. After having studied the entire script, Lan Jinyao speculated that the second female lead ought to be the one playing the second branch’s Concubine.

“Hey, who’s the second female lead? How come there’s no mention of her name? Could it be that she’s someone of great importance?”

Li Qi seemed to know the inside story, but he hesitated for a moment before he stammered and said, “I-it’s not that like that. It’s just that, a few days ago, the production crew said that they were switching out the second female lead, so her name hadn’t been announced yet.”

After he said that, Lan Jinyao stared at him for a long time because she had a hunch that Li Qi was hiding something from her. Hence, her expression darkened a few shades as she asked, “Who on earth is the second female lead? Is it someone whom I’ve crossed swords with?”

To think that someone had managed to make the crafty Li Qi hesitate and refuse to speak! She was only able to guess one thing. It could be said that, back then, Chen Meimei had risked her life to chase after Fu Bainian, while Fu Bainian himself was a very charismatic guy who attracted many bees. For this reason, Chen Meimei must’ve offended a lot of people, and most of them ought to be female artists in the entertainment circle. So, if she were to really guess who that person was, even she wouldn’t be able to figure it out so soon.

Li Qi hesitated for a long time before he finally gave in to Lan Jinyao’s stare. “My goodness, why do you keep asking me? You’ll naturally find out when you get to the set later today. The previous second female lead was a newcomer, but she was replaced with Xu Jin’ge.”

Lan Jinyao suddenly raised her voice and exclaimed, “Xu Jin’ge?!”

It looked like she’d wrongfully accused Chen Meimei this time as Xu Jin’ge hadn’t been offended by the real Chen Meimei, but her, Lan Jinyao.

She then focused on the main point of Li Qi’s words and frowned. “You said that the second female lead was a newcomer? In that case, why was Xu Jin’ge willing to be switched in? Her name alone isn’t something that one can laugh at, not to mention, the company is currently giving her a lot of publicity and promoting her!”

“Say, your IQ has recently improved to where it’s almost as if you’re an entirely different person! You’ve instantly defeated your former self; every word you say is straight to the point.”

Although Li Qi was just casually stating this, Lan Jinyao’s heart skipped a beat, and she was instantly alarmed. However, thanks to all the training she’d gone through when she was a movie Goddess, she managed to put on a calm and collected facade.

She then continued, “Xu Jin’ge did it because of me, right? That woman knew that I’d accepted a role in a new drama, so she wanted to come over and make an appearance. It seems that she really misses me.”

“Exactly! In this world, women and small-minded people are the hardest to deal with. You must be careful in the future.”

While they were speaking, the van had already parked at the gates of Movie City. Li Qi stepped down first and then opened the door for Lan Jinyao.

Sure enough, it had only been a short while since Chen Meile’s news article had circulated on the internet, yet there were already large groups of reporters waiting for her at the gates of Movie City.

“Chen Meimei, what are your views regarding the recent news of your sister, Chen Meile?”

A microphone was held up to Lan Jinyao’s lips; it was so close, it seemed like it would be able to record the sound of her breathing. She remained calm and composed as she stared at the camera, and then commented, “My sister’s quite domineering, but it’s still not right to hit people. I hope that she’ll be able to correct her attitude in the future.”

Li Qi, who was standing beside her, wanted to roll his eyes at her. If your sister, Chen Meile, is domineering, then wouldn’t that make you a tyrant?!

There were guffaws of laughter amongst the reporters after Lan Jinyao had uttered those words.

Someone immediately pressed to the front of the group and asked, “If I may ask, the victim, Xu Hao, previously forwarded a news post unfavourable to you. So, could what your sister recently did be considered as using public opinion to avenge private wrongs?”

Lan Jinyao sincerely thought about this for a while before she answered, “I don’t think so! My sister and Xu Hao aren’t colleagues, so this can’t be considered as using public opinion to avenge private wrongs. However…randomly forwarding a Weibo post can heavily affect someone’s reputation, so that kind of practice is wrong. Additionally, I don’t think that my sister has done the right thing either. At least…”

Li Qi, who had sharp eyes and fast hands, had quickly covered her mouth before she’d even finished speaking.

“I’m sorry, but Chen Meimei has to go film now, so she won’t be able to answer everyone’s questions. Please leave, and if there are more questions, you can call me and make an appointment.”

He then smiled at the group of reporters. “I’m really sorry, but we’ll go in first.”

After saying this, Li Qi dragged Chen Meimei by her arm towards the gate, while complaining, “Oh dear lord, quickly follow me! Currently, the headlines are focused on Chen Meile, but I estimate that if you’d continued earlier, the headlines would once again be targeting you! Can’t you think in my shoes and give me a break for once?!”

Lan Jinyao blinked innocently as she replied, “Since my sister’s so domineering, I shouldn’t let her lose any face, right?!”

Although she wasn’t the real Chen Meimei, she was at least occupying her body, so she couldn’t let the personality gap between the two sisters become too big.

“Yes, yes, yes! Your family’s extremely domineering,” said Li Qi. He then softly grumbled, “As domineering as a tyrant.”

Lan Jinyao glared at him and flung his hand away. She then took the lead and walked towards the set; the clicking of her high-heels echoing throughout the corridor.