Chapter 7
Hearing such words, Xu Xueluo froze.
Why did Meng Zhen’s reaction differ from what she had envisioned?
Even though Xu Xueluo felt shocked, her expression didn’t change even in the slightest. She forced herself not to look at Zhao Rong, and her right hand hidden under the blanket fiercely pinched the delicate skin on her leg. Wrinkling her nose, her eyes curved into a crescent shape. “As long as Sister does not blame me, we will definitely become good sisters!”
Xu Xueluo liked to act, and Meng Zhen found it amusing to watch her toss and turn, and responded every now and then with few words.
After listening for a while, she went over to the table and turned the lamp on while pretending to be gloomy as she explained,
“Xueluo, after I did this to you, even if you, Mum, and Dad forgive me, I have no face to go back home again. I’ve been working as a trainee in Yunlai all these years, and I still have nearly thirty thousand yuans saved in my hand, so I can support myself for a while.”
Zhao Rong just pushed open the door and heard these words, feeling rather uncomfortable.
Xueluo grew up in the most luxurious environment. In her closet, any bag or a pair of shoes cost more than 30,000 yuans, but her biological daughter only had less than 30,000 yuans to spend to live in the capital and was even slandered online. She and her husband really treated her badly.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw Zhao Rong’s left thumb was rubbing her index finger. The mother and daughter had been together for so many years so Xu Xueluo knew very well that this was Zhao Rong’s little habit while she was thinking?
Meng Zhen had made her feel heartbroken.
This realization made Xu Xueluo apprehensive, but she was a wise person and naturally knew that Zhao Rong liked the kind of child with a good nature. She talked to Meng Zhen a few more times but did not persuade her to come back. When she hung up, a hint of remorse appeared on her slightly pale little face.
“Mum, it’s all my fault for making Zhen Zhen sad. When I get out of the hospital, we’ll go and visit her together, then we’ll mention in passing about taking her home, do you think it’s okay?”
Zhao Rong stroked Xu Xueluo’s head and said gratefully, “Although Zhen Zhen is half a year older than you, Xueluo is much more understanding than her. That child has picked up bad habits at the orphanage, but luckily, she is still young and should be able to be taught. You as her sister should help her in the future.”1Anna: THE FUCKING AUDACITY!!! Jue: Would you like a checkup for your eyes or perhaps your brain, ma’am?
“Don’t worry, mum. I’ll get along with Zhen Zhen. Wow, you brought my favorite chicken soup, thanks, mum!” Xu Xueluo feigned a sound of surprise.
Zhao Rong had been pampered all her life. With several nannies at home, her cooking skills could only be described as mediocre, but she loved to be praised, which Xu Xueluo knew very well, so naturally, she would not let go of this opportunity to please her mother.
Meng Zhen didn’t care about Zhao Rong and Xu Xueluo’s motherly and dutiful pattern of getting along. Seeing that it was getting late, she urged Lei Yin to go and rest. Not long after the two fell asleep, the internet was buzzing again.
It turned out that the famous singer, Luo Yang, liked Big Thunder’s Weibo post.
Luo Yang was currently the most popular musician in China, and recently, instead of singing, he was planning to make a short film.
The name of the short film was called “Narcissus”, and netizens approved of Luo Yang’s creative ability and were quite looking forward to the short film.
However, the shooting of “Narcissus” was delayed.
The netizens did not understand why “Narcissus” was so difficult to make, but the people at Luo Yang’s studio knew in their hearts that the short film was named after the word Narcissus because it was Luo Yang’s source of inspiration.
Before preparing the short film, Luo Yang had a dream that he became a scholar in the ancient times, living in a small town in the middle of nowhere with the company of Concubine Luo Sheng Xiang (narcissus) in his courtyard. One day, he got a picture of a beauty and the fairy in it bewitched his soul. He gazed at her day and night. Narcissuses were attached to the picture, and the picture of beauty gained consciousness. She was a soul-stirring demon with a face like a fairy. The scholar indulged himself in it and couldn’t extricate from it.
The story of Narcissus was based on his own inner obsessions and delusions of grandeur. The female lead of this short film was an unreachable dream for Luo Yang. There was no shortage of beautiful and skilled actresses in the entertainment industry, but they couldn’t give him a sense of resonance.
At this moment, Luo Yang had just walked out of the studio and logged onto Weibo, ready to postpone the release of the microfilm again, when he saw a video of Meng Zhen practicing her footwork.
The young girl’s appearance and demeanor gradually overlapped with the Narcissus in his dream. Luo Yang’s heart pounded loudly. With no hesitation, he directly nodded his approval and then dialed his agent’s number.
“I think Meng Zhen is particularly suitable. She’s my Narcissus, make her the female lead of the short film!”
Luo Yang had a handsome and gentle face, and his personality was quite indifferent. The fans used the words “the flower of the high mountain” to describe him.
“Brother, are you crazy? Meng Zhen is just a new kid who has only acted in one crappy web series. Aren’t you afraid you’ll ruin your dream muse by casting her as the female lead?”
The manager was called Ma Chao. He was extremely tired. Other managers would be worried that their singers were not talented, but he had a headache with Luo Yang’s unrestrained ideas. He was rebellious in music, and now he was even playing cross-border2Anna: crossed the border from music to film making.
Ma Chao hesitated for a long time before he said, “Luo Yang, Meng Zhen is not suitable.”
“What’s not suitable? As long as she has the aura to capture the appeal of Narcissus. And, I see that she has a background in Peking Opera, her body posture and grooming should be good.” Luo Yang took the lift to the car park, his tone very firm.
“She has a bad reputation!”
“You mean the news on Weibo? It’s not that we haven’t had contact with Yunlai Entertainment. Their company is the best at packaging stars. The artist’s persona is also decided by the company’s management. It has little to do with Meng Zhen herself. Besides, a slapping incident in the crew had also been clarified. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with her. Well, I have to drive, let’s meet tomorrow to talk.”
As soon as he finished talking, a beeping sound of hanging up came from the other end of the phone. Ma Chao felt like he was going to have a heart attack and hurriedly took several deep breaths before his agitated emotions calmed down.
Ma Chao had known Luo Yang for more than ten years. He was the one who took him under his wing when he first started out. At that time, Ma Chao was still a small assistant, who knew nothing and stumbled through the entertainment industry.
After he had calmed down, he opened up Weibo and typed the word “Meng Zhen” into the search box, and at the top of the list was a video.
The scene showed Meng Zhen was not only practicing the steps of the Peking Opera, her gestures were also incorporated into it. The most striking aspect of this video was not her form, but the eyes of the young girl.
There was no sound but the almond eyes seemed to be speaking, conveying the most subtle emotions of their owner, tantalizing the heart and giving a sense of immersion to the audience.
It seemed that Meng Zhen was born to be an artist. He didn’t know what kinds of thoughts Yunlai Entertainment had, but they had kept such good talent hidden away.
Luo Yang’s status in the entertainment world was many times higher than Ji Xiaoling’s. He seldom posted, but this time, not only his fans were stunned, even passers-by were curious, they couldn’t figure out why this Chinese superstar would be involved with a little nobody.
As a result, his action of liking the post related to Meng Zhen had caused an uproar on the internet.
As Luo Yang’s manager, Ma Chao didn’t have to open his phone to guess what the netizens were thinking. After all, they had made up countless girlfriends for Luo Yang over the years, and he wasn’t far behind Meng Zhen.
As expected, there were a lot of posts on all the major forums in China, with a variety of different topics, but the content was largely similar – how did Meng Zhen climb into Luo Yang’s golden lap?
【I thought Meng Zhen’s career was ruined when I saw that Yunlai Entertainment had terminated her contract with her, but I never thought it would turn around this way.】
【Don’t spread rumors upstairs. Everyone knows that Luo Yang has been this way for so many years, and he has never disclosed any girlfriend. He is very clean. He is such a talented singer. He also dabbles in Chinese classical opera. The prepared short film was mixed with opera elements. Luo Yang saw Meng Zhen practicing the basic skills of Peking Opera, so he just gave a thumbs up, please don’t spread rumors.】
【Take Luo Yang away, send Meng Zhen away. Handsome guys and beauties may just be friends. Don’t tie them up, don’t cue3As in a signal to call out people fans】
Luo Yang had written many well-known works that were widely sung in the ten years since his debut. He had countless fans all over the Internet, and passers-by had a very good impression of him. The only thing worth criticizing was his sexuality. After all, Luo Yang had never made it public. Since Meng Zhen was a rare beauty, naturally, it would lead to such speculation.
However, most netizens believed that Meng Zhen was not good enough for Luo Yang, as they were too different from each other in terms of status and achievements, and a relationship like that wasn’t possible.
The next morning, Meng Zhen was sitting at the desk, flipping through books about performances. The light rain was falling outside the window, and the succulents on the table were splashed along the cracks of the window. The palm-sized green plants grew vigorously and looked very pleasing.
This was bought by Meng Zhen at the supermarket a few days ago. At that time, this succulent fell from the display shelf once, and some parts wilted. She didn’t expect it to survive when she brought it home.
She felt that this succulent was much like herself, having experienced death and then, reborn in the world decades later.
Suddenly, Meng Zhen’s mobile phone rang, a strange number she had never seen before.
As soon as the call was answered, a clear, magnetic voice came from the other side, like the gentle evening breeze in the mountains, “Is this Miss Meng Zhen?”
“Yes, this is Meng Zhen, may I ask who you are?”
“I’m Luo Yang.”