Chapter 14

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Chapter 14 – Hug

Yu Xi arrived at the company fifteen minutes early. When they entered Bai Yutang’s office, there was already another person sitting there. Tao Yitong sat on the couch, playing on her phone. When she heard the sound coming from the door, she raised her head and immediately followed suit with a smile, “Yu Xi.”

“You’re here.”

Her tone was friendly, and her attitude was gentle. You could hardly tell they used to be at odds with each other in the past.

Yu Xi thought about it, this was probably the area she needed to learn from her; how to smile and pretend there was nothing wrong with the person she didn’t like.

She slightly nodded, her expression cold.

Seeing her look around the office, Tao Yitong opened her mouth again, “Are you looking for Bai-jie? Bai-jie just went out. She wanted us to head directly over to the dressing room later.”

Yu Xi looked down, “Okay.”

Zhong Chen stood next to her side and said in a small voice, “Xixi, should I go buy you some breakfast?”

She only had some water yesterday afternoon. Even Ironman would not be able to stand it, but somehow Yu Xi didn’t feel hungry. She waved her hands, “Help me make some coffee.”

“But-“, Zhong Chen wanted to try to persuade her again but fell silent after Yu Xi’s slight glance, and lowered her head, “Okay.”

After Zhong Chen left, Tao Yitong furrowed her brows and asked, “Xixi, you didn’t have any breakfast?”

“I have some instant noodles here.”

Yu Xi tilted her head in her direction, and said indifferently, “Thank you but no need.”

After receiving a door to her face, Tao Yitong glanced over at Yu Xi’s side profile and pressed her lips tightly together before looking down again to fiddle with her phone. Yu Xi sat there, not doing anything. The room’s atmosphere was very uncomfortable so she also picked up her phone and started playing on it.

It had already been a long time since Yu Xi last gone on Weibo. Ever since Bai Yutang banned her from going online, she hasn’t been on. And since she’s been busy preparing for her role, she hasn’t been able to follow anything that’s happened online, until just now.

The craze over the topic of her being a lesbian had already died down quite a bit. In the past two days, there had barely been anyone discussing about this online anymore. A big part of this was because Yu Xi herself had been very quiet during this period of time, having no new news emerging at all. On top of that, Bai Yutang would occasionally release some other stories and gossip and found some fake fans to mingle within the discussion, so any news regarding Yu Xi quickly sank down.

Right now, the limelight was currently on Liu Yuyao.

Liu Yuyao signed onto Director Mei’s new film and the news was announced today. The female and male lead’s stills were still trending. Yu Xi clicked into the tag for a quick glance. She scrolled down and skimmed it. She even saw her own name underneath.

——Did you know the original female lead was supposed to be Yu Xi? But because of what happened, it was changed to Liu Yuyao?

——Where did you hear that from? Do you have any evidence? Besides what people have wrote online, was it Yu Xi just because you said it was Yu Xi? All I know is that the official female lead is our Yaoyao, so please don’t mention other people OK? I don’t want the other person to piggyback off our popularity.

——What? Yu Xi still needs to piggyback off Liu Yuyao’s popularity? Did you flip it? She’s still the industry’s youngest grand slam winner. No matter if it’s the number of awards she has or influence, she’s the top. What did Liu Yuyao’s fans eat growing up? How could you still say something like that? Did you even process it through your brain?

——Don’t you guys think it’s weird? It’s already been quite a few days since we’ve heard from Yu Xi. Don’t tell me she’s been blocked in the industry?

——I’m just a little worried that she might be the next Xiao Lishui. To be honest, I really do like her. Her acting is good, she’s not fake, she doesn’t have a lot of scandals, and she doesn’t like to use fake media.

——I also like her, especially that clip where she was talking back to the reporter, absolutely brilliant!

——If Yu Xi’s fans want to confess to her, can you move to a different place? Don’t you think you’re being a little too KY1? Why are you mentioning another female celebrity under our Yaoyao’s weibo? Are you crazy?

As she watched the start of another discussion, Zhong Chen carried the coffee cup into the room and gave it to Yu Xi.

Yu Xi put down her phone and grabbed the coffee, trying a sip.

It was a little bitter.

After ten minutes, Tao Yitong stood up and said to Yu Xi, “It’s almost time, we should go to the dressing room now.”

Yu Xi put the cup down and stood up too.

When they reached the dressing room, there were already quite a few people there. Besides the screen test for the female lead and supporting female role, the auditions for the other characters were also arranged today so there were quite a bit of people. There were some that were familiar to Yu Xi and some that just recently debuted, so she didn’t know them at all.

There was a saying online that wasn’t wrong. In this industry, besides the number of connections you have, the other thing that could prove your strength the most are your awards.

Yu Xi is the industry’s youngest grand slam winner. Not to mention, she also had an innumerable number of smaller awards. Although she had been plagued by a lot of scandals recently, this did not influence her status in the entertainment industry. There were even some newcomers whose eyes lit up the moment they saw her, stunned as if they found a new world.

“Was that Yu Xi?”

“Why was Yu Xi here?”

“Is she going to act in this drama?”

“Why wasn’t there any news about this before?”

“Holy crap, my goddess Yu Xi??? I’m not seeing wrong, am I?”

A lot of whispering could be heard. Yu Xi’s expression was indifferent as she walked through the crowd. Taking over the clothing Zhong Chen gave her, she headed towards the changing room. Tao Yitong was behind her and since she didn’t have any assistants, she received her clothing from the company’s staff member.

The others very quickly noticed her, and the whispering grew louder.

“Isn’t that Tao Yitong?”

“Who?”

“Tao Yitong. She acted in Late Nights. I heard she was poached over by Jinou.”

“Don’t you guys know that she has the same manager as Yu Xi?”

“What!”

The girl that was talking was wearing a red one-piece dress. She had a baby face, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail. When she talked, her ponytail swayed back and forth, “Tao Yitong actually has the same manager as my goddess?”

“Did she burn incense and pray for this in her last life?”

The others glanced over at her and laughed, “Yeah, it’s a pity you didn’t.”

The girl didn’t even realize she was being mocked and continued to look towards the direction of the two’s changing rooms with a look of envy.

After a few minutes, Yu Xi came out.

Everyone couldn’t help but look towards her.

Yu Xi was wearing high heels, a beige formal suit with a midi skirt. Her slightly wavy hair casually scattered behind her back, her posture graceful. Even only looking at her figure, one can feel the unbounded grace emitting from her. But when she looked up slightly and rested her gaze upon the rest of the people in the room, she gave off a kind of extravagance and elegant feeling that made them lower their head down involuntarily.

Some people carried an air of arrogance, but only on the exterior so they were like an empty shell without any charm, unable to convince people with their acting.

Yu Xi was different. Perhaps it had to do with her family background. From young, she received proper influence and education so she had this type of innate aura emitting from within her body out.

This kind of aura was not sharp nor cutting, but it does cause others to shrink away, so it’s hard to strike up a conversation.

On top of that, Yu Xi’s status in the industry made her even more fearful

So while everyone only looked at each other in dismay, no one was able to go up to make conversation. Even the girl in the red one-piece dress who was just enthusiastically talking, was only slightly flushed and did not dare to go up either.

Yu Xi sat in front of the mirror, reading the script, perfectly composed.

Today’s screen test was the scene where the female lead displayed her brilliance in the show for the first time. She had been framed by the supporting female lead, Chen Lele, who was played by Tao Yitong, for selling the company’s classified information, but with the male lead’s assistance, she gathered enough evidence to prove her innocence.

The screen test was her and Chen Lele’s confrontation.

Yu Xi analyzed the moods of the different characters in the script before. The female lead role she was trying out for, Zhao Xiaoke, was a rookie who was usually suppressed in the workplace, so she is a very repressed person. When she was framed, no one would listen to her either, no matter what she said and no matter how hard working she was. It was unavoidable for her to get angry, so during the confrontation, she was unlike before, cowardly and too scared to say anything. On the contrary, she stood on hard grounds and argued back strongly.

From the injustice she first felt when she entered the workforce to her first outburst, if it was shown in the drama, it would be a longer progression so there would more time to develop. However, since this is a screen test, she needed to display the changes her mental state went through within only a short few minutes. On top of that, there weren’t a lot of lines, so it was especially hard.

This is also the reason why Director Zhao chose this scene to be the screen test.

After the outburst in this scene, Zhao Xiaoke started having a gradual change, eventually denouncing the workforce with the male lead.

Yu Xi was not worried about her acting because she had been practicing the scene for the past few days. She was worried that she would not be able to get in character when acting with Tao Yitong.

Looking at her exquisite make up in the mirror, Yu Xi sighed deeply, muttering in her heart: I am Zhao Xiaoke.

Trying to self-hypnotize.

When Yu Xi first started acting, she used this type of method and it was pretty effective.

As the waiting room bustled with noise, the door opened. Someone stood in the doorway. She carried a professional smile on her face, and spoke in an unhurried manner, “The screen test is almost starting. Miss Yu and Miss Tao, this way please.”

As she spoke, she inclined to one side and slightly bowed down. Yu Xi passed the script over to Zhong Chen and stood up, Tao Yitong following behind.

The two people walked out the waiting room.

There was a distance from the waiting room to the platform where the screen test was held. Yu Xi and Tao Yitong walked side by side, not saying a word until they were about to turn a corner when Tao Yitong lowered her head and called out, “Xixi.”

Yu Xi tilted her head over, glancing lightly and making eye contact but did not say anything. Tao Yitong looked away, “Do you have time after the screen test? I want to talk to you about something.”

Her face had its usual gentle smile. Yu Xi looked away as well, “I’m sorry. I don’t have time.”

“Me and Jingbai…”

Before she could finish speaking, a sound came from around the corner.

“President Jiang is younger than I imagined.”

Jiang Jingbai’s lip corners were slightly raised, “Director Zhao, you flatter me. You also look very young.”

Haughty laughter followed soon after. Yu Xi looked up, Jiang Jingbai and Director Zhao were indeed standing up front.

Director Zhao also saw her and Tao Yitong. He waved, “Yu Xi.”

Yu Xi and Director Zhao worked together once in the past, so they were not considered strangers to each other. She walked over at once to greet him, “Director Zhao.”

Tao Yitong followed immediately with her own greeting, “Hello, Director Zhao.”

Director Zhao had met Tao Yitong before once. He nodded in response.

Everyone was walking in the direction of the audition. Someone ran over against the crowd and said to Director Zhao, “Director, the screenwriter’s looking for you.”

Director Zhao nodded and said to Yu Xi, “You two go over first, I’ll catch up.”

“President Jiang, please excuse me for a moment.”

Jiang Jingbai nodded and watched Director Zhao leave.

They arrived at the location of the audition very quickly. The staff had a smile on her face, “Miss Yu, Miss Tao, the audition’s right in here.”

After saying that, she faced Jiang Jingbai and said respectfully, “President Jiang, I’ll leave first then.”

Jiang Jingbai hummed in acknowledgement and the staff worker turned around to leave.

The four stood next to the door, no one saying anything. Yu Xi did not like this type of strange atmosphere. She held onto the door handle, about to open the door, but did not expect someone to come out at this time. The door opened inwards and Yu Xi did not have time to react, her body falling forwards. She quickly let go off the door handle so she wouldn’t fall, but since she wore high heels, she still stumbled a step.

Jiang Jingbai was fast to react and grabbed her by the waist, the other hand catching her wrist.

Yu Xi is on the skinnier side, her waist is very slim, she had a faint fragrance, not heavy but very intoxicating. Jiang Jingbai remembered that she loved to eat sweets in the past and would always be chewing on candy. Every time they kissed, she would hold her face and ask, “Guess what flavor of candy did I have?”

Every time she’d pretend to think for a long time before finally shaking her head and saying, “I can’t tell, let me taste it again.”

The two kissed until they were both left gasping for breath, before Jiang Jingbai would answer Yu Xi’s question very seriously, “It’s a sweet flavor.”

Yu Xi laughed at her foolishness.

Actually, she didn’t lie. It really was sweet.

It was the type of sweet flavor she’d never tasted again after they broke up.

A beauty in her arms and her fragrance striking, Jiang Jingbai’s hands tensed up as she held onto Yu Xi’s hand. Yu Xi frowned and lowered her head, “President Jiang?”

Jiang Jingbai did not react. Yu Xi pulled her hands back from Jiang Jingbai and took two steps to the side, standing upright.

Zhong Chen immediately stood behind her. Just now, Jiang Jingbai’s hands were too quick and Zhong Chen was not able to react before Xixi was already in her hands. Thinking about the progress in which Xixi rejected Jiang Jingbai, Zhong Chen felt upset.

Some people walked out the door consecutively. Jiang Jingbai returned to her senses, asking her calmly, “You didn’t get hurt just now, did you?”

Yu Xi pursed her lips together, “No.”

After speaking, she looked down, “I’ll go in first.”

Jiang Jingbai tightened her fist behind her back and did not make a sound. Zhong Chen followed Yu Xi in the room diligently, still showing concern on her face, as she asked, “Xixi, are you okay?”

“Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

Yu Xi shook her head, “No.”

“Oh right, can you help me-“

Zhong Chen responded, “Oh, I know. Buy hand sanitizer, right? I’ve already chosen a good brand yesterday!”

Yu Xi, “……”

The two people, Jiang Jingbai and Tao Yitong, behind her, “……”

Author’s notes:

Yu Xi: I’m so hungry!

Jiang Jingbai: What do you want to eat, I’ll make it for you.

Yu Xi: I want to drink some nutrient fluid.

Jiang Jingbai: ……

1 Being KY means that they’re not understanding the atmosphere in the room and saying things inappropriate to the situation or the people around them.

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