Chapter 142: Why Aren’t You Replying to My Message?
The reporter asked Tang Juanzi, “Many people online are saying you posted that video intentionally. Did you?”
“Of course not.” Tang Juanzi lied without batting an eye.
Reporter: “How do these aggressive comments affect you?”
Tang Juanzi: “If I were that easily affected, I wouldn’t be an artist.”
The reporter paused, then continued, “What’s your biggest takeaway from this incident?”
“That it’s crucial for a female artist to maintain her figure.” If her body wasn’t good, she wouldn’t have dared to release that kind of video.
The reporter paused again. “Thank you, Miss Tang, for the interview.”
…
Tang Juanzi’s interview trended. Jiang Su, busy filming, hadn’t had time to check his phone and didn’t know about it yet.
When they broke for lunch, Xu Mocun showed him the video. “Susu, watch Tang Juanzi’s interview. This woman is something else.”
As Jiang Su watched, Xu Mocun remarked, “Tang Juanzi’s tactics have gotten more and more unorthodox lately, but her popularity is soaring. Morals aside, if anyone else tried to follow her path, they’d be canceled beyond saving.”
After finishing the video, Jiang Su said seriously, “If everyone ignored morals and followed her path, wouldn’t it be chaos?”
Xu Mocun nodded in agreement, then added with a teasing smile, “It’s a good thing your eldest brother is the one inheriting the Jiang family business.”
Jiang Su laughed along, knowing Xu Mocun was implying he was too soft-hearted and would probably bankrupt the family. “Are you subtly digging at Huo Qingyan?”
“Huo Qingyan is the one really doing charity. If Huo Zhenheng knew what Huo Qingyan was up to, his coffin lid wouldn’t be able to hold him down. He’d be so angry he’d climb out of the grave to deal with him.”
Xu Mocun: “…” True. By comparison, Huo Qingyan does seem more like he’s doing charity now.
…
In December, one of the supporting actresses on the show was dropped due to negative press. A few days later, Jiang Su saw Tang Juanzi on set.
“Jiang Su!” The moment Tang Juanzi saw him, she ran through the crowd. “Long time no see!”
Jiang Su immediately guessed she was there to replace the other actress. “You’re here to film?”
“I’ve never filmed a serious historical drama like Da Ye, so I wanted to give it a try.” Da Ye was the name of the show.
Seeing how thrilled she looked, Jiang Su hesitated for a moment before saying, “Good luck.”
Tang Juanzi was even happier to have his encouragement and full of drive. But when they wrapped on the first day, she came to Jiang Su in tears.
“Is this a set fit for humans? The director is so old, how can he pull all-nighters better than I can? Aren’t you guys tired? … I’m so tired, wuwuwu…”
She was crying her eyes out, snot and tears everywhere. Her eye makeup was completely ruined, and her image was gone.
Jiang Su rarely interacted with women, especially one who was crying so hard she looked a complete mess.
He silently pulled out a tissue and handed it to her. “Here, wipe your face.”
Tang Juanzi took it, sniffling. “Thank you…”
Jiang Su couldn’t help but remind her, “You have scenes tomorrow with a lot of lines. Don’t cry too long, or your voice will be hoarse, and your delivery won’t sound good. Director Li will just scold you again.”
The reminder only made things worse; Tang Juanzi started crying even harder. “Director Li is so fierce! Pleading with him is useless, he won’t budge…”
“If you really can’t take the hardship, you can always leave.”
“With Da Ye‘s production value and Director Li Jianshu at the helm, plenty of people are lining up who would take this role for free, even as a supporting actress.”
Jiang Su felt that if Tang Juanzi really couldn’t handle it, she should just give the opportunity to someone else.
“No! If you can stick it out, so can I!”
Tang Juanzi roughly wiped the tears from her face. Her eyeliner and mascara had long since smudged, and the gesture smeared them all over her face. It looked comical, but paired with her serious tone, it was actually somewhat endearing.
Jiang Su: “Well… good luck, then.”
In the days that followed, Tang Juanzi was scolded every single day for her poor acting. And every day after wrapping, she came to Jiang Su to cry. It was always about how tired she was, how long her lines were, or how difficult the heavy makeup and costumes were…
Tang Juanzi’s scenes wrapped in early February. On her last day, she cried again.
Jiang Su was already numb to it. He casually pulled out a tissue. “Go back to Qingyang and rest for a while.”
Tang Juanzi’s voice was thick with congestion. “I’m so happy.”
“Mm.” He knew. She was finally free, so she was overjoyed.
Tang Juanzi: “Director Li is amazing! I never knew my acting could be this good. If anyone dares to question me in the future, I can righteously and confidently tell them that Lao Niang is a real actress!”
Jiang Su: “…” So that’s why she was happy, not because she was finally free.
Tang Juanzi: “I feel like I’ve fallen in love with acting. And the crew’s boxed lunches are delicious! I don’t even want to leave.”
Jiang Su: “…” Well, the five-star hotel boxed lunches are pretty good.
As reluctant as she was to leave, Tang Juanzi still had other engagements, so she left.
February 14th was New Year’s Eve (Chu Xi). His maternal grandmother’s death anniversary was a few days prior, so Jiang Su had managed to slip back to Qingyang alone to visit her grave, then hurried back to the set.
On New Year’s Eve, Jiang Su celebrated with the crew. The production had booked several large tables at a hotel near the studio city early on. The actors and staff who stayed, over a hundred people in total, had a lively reunion dinner together.
After the meal, they gathered to ring in the New Year. Jiang Su hopped between his various family group chats, snatching red envelopes (hongbao), and then, one by one, he sent large hongbao back to his older brothers and sisters.
Everyone who received one replied: “This big??”
Jiang Su: “Don’t ask. The answer is: I’m rich!” He followed it with a money-scattering emoji.
He had swindled a hundred million from Shen Xiumo, paid the taxes, deducted Xu Mocun’s commission, and since he didn’t spend much money, he still had plenty left over.
Finally, he made sure to send a large hongbao to Xu Mocun as well. After all that, he went to scroll through his Moments.
His Moments feed was lively, full of people posting pictures of their reunion dinners, parties, and red envelopes…
As he scrolled, Jiang Su’s attention was caught by a comment… under one of Shen Xiumo’s posts. WeChat allows users to see comments from mutual friends.
The comment was from Huo Qingyan. Huo Qingyan: “Why aren’t you replying to my message?”
That looked rather subtle. Jiang Su’s gaze lingered for a few seconds before he continued scrolling.
He scrolled to one of Zhou Fu’s posts, and another comment caught his eye.
Huo Qingyan: “Have you eaten dumplings?”
If Huo Qingyan’s previous comment to Shen Xiumo was subtle, this one to Zhou Fu could only be described as absurd.
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