Chapter 30: A Blind Cat Finds a Dead Mouse

Zhu Qing did not hide her disdain for Sang Zhiyi in the slightest.

“What good is just looking pretty?”

“There are plenty of vase actors in this industry these days, but at least they can widen their eyes and open their mouths.

What about Ren Xiaoqian?

Saying she’s like a piece of wood is already a compliment to her.

From start to finish, one expression, stiff as a board.”

“The first time I watched her work, I thought technology had advanced so rapidly that even such rigidly carved mannequins could act in dramas now.”

Zhu Qing’s sharp tongue was famous in the industry.

Although Song Ying had warned Sang Zhiyi beforehand, hearing Zhu Qing’s tirade in person still made him worry that Sang Zhiyi might be upset.

After all, they were asking for a favor.

No matter how much Song Ying wanted to stop Zhu Qing from talking, this wasn’t the right time to speak up.

He quickly glanced at Sang Zhiyi to see how she was doing.

Then Song Ying noticed that Sang Zhiyi had her head slightly lowered, trying hard to suppress a laugh.

Song Ying: “…”

Song Ying didn’t know whether to be annoyed or amused.

He was worried that Sang Zhiyi would be hurt by the scolding, but instead, she found the scolding amusing.

There were only the three of them in the private room.

Of course, Sang Zhiyi’s reaction couldn’t escape Zhu Qing’s notice.

Given Zhu Qing’s status in the industry, she had scolded countless big stars.

At first, seeing the young girl’s shoulders tremble slightly, she thought she had made another one cry.

But when she realized Sang Zhiyi was actually amused by her words, she found it somewhat curious.

Few young people could be so relaxed facing her stern face and sharp tone.

Putting aside everything else, the girl’s mindset was indeed not bad.

Zhu Qing was about to speak again when the door to the private room was urgently knocked on.

“Teacher Zhu!

Teacher Zhu, are you in there?”

The visitor was a chubby young man, his forehead covered in sweat from anxiety.

“Teacher Zhu, the actor for Zhu Ji suddenly can’t make it due to a family emergency!”

“The crew is all set up, and the other actors’ schedules will be hard to match up later.

They’re about to start filming!”

“You have a wide network.

Can you find a substitute young actress to fill in right now?”

Sang Zhiyi then spoke softly, her tone unhurried.

“Is the crew in urgent need of a young actress?”

She curved her eyes and smiled.

“I can do it.”

***

Twenty minutes later.

Led by the chubby young man, Sang Zhiyi, along with Zhu Qing and Song Ying, arrived at the crew’s filming set.

It wasn’t hard to guess from Zhu Qing’s choice of meeting place that she likely had ongoing work in the film studio.

With Zhu Qing on board, this crew was certainly no small operation.

The drama being filmed, Feng Chun (Spring Returns), was a costume drama with a quite star-studded cast.

Zhu Qing was a character who hadn’t appeared in the original plot development at all.

Sang Zhiyi knew very little about her.

But when she heard the name Feng Chun, Sang Zhiyi raised her eyes.

This she was quite familiar with.

Sang Zhiyi had sorted and categorized all the more important characters and events of this world and stored them in her mind.

The drama Feng Chun itself wasn’t considered a major event, but Zhong Yueyi, the female lead of Feng Chun, definitely counted as an important character.

Zhong Yueyi was a first-line talented actress in the entertainment industry, the top female artist at Starlight, and also the guest who had been temporarily replaced by Zhongli Miaomiao on the dating show Love of a Limited Season.

Beyond that, Zhong Yueyi was also the culprit who framed Jiang Yingru, causing her to nearly lose her life.

In the original plot, although Zhongli Miaomiao had replaced Zhong Yueyi, Ren Xiaoqian had also been chased away by Lou Yanchen’s scolding.

Zhong Yueyi just filled the vacant spot and became a regular guest on Love of a Limited Season from the first episode.

Thus, she had witnessed firsthand from the audience how Lou Yanchen’s relationship with Jiang Yingru had grown closer over time, and in the end, she chose to act.

It was this incident—because Lou Yanchen noticed something wrong and rescued her in time—that Jiang Yingru emerged from death’s door intact.

This life-saving debt, combined with Lou Yanchen’s various overtures during their time together, finally softened Jiang Yingru’s heart, and the male and female leads officially became lovers.

From the very first day she transmigrated into this world, Sang Zhiyi had never relaxed her efforts to keep track of these important people and events.

She had thought she wouldn’t meet Zhong Yueyi anytime soon, but unexpectedly, she encountered her ahead of schedule.

The reason Zhong Yueyi made a move against Jiang Yingru was simple: for Lou Yanchen.

Or to be more precise, for the position of Lou Yanchen’s wife, the wife of the president of Starlight Entertainment, the lady of the Lou family.

With a strong competitor like Jiang Yingru, of course Zhong Yueyi would take action.

In fact, not only Jiang Yingru but even Ren Xiaoqian had fallen victim to her.

In Sang Zhiyi’s opinion, the root cause of Ren Xiaoqian’s tragedy was the scumbag Lou Yanchen; the jealous artists at Starlight were the many accomplices; and Zhong Yueyi was the executioner wielding the knife.

From the moment Lou Yanchen personally led Ren Xiaoqian into the Starlight building, Zhong Yueyi had regarded Ren Xiaoqian as a thorn in her side.

Later, the reason Ren Xiaoqian’s situation at Starlight became so difficult, and the torment she suffered from those accomplices became so severe, all had Zhong Yueyi’s hand behind them.

The person hiding in the shadows that Sang Zhiyi had mentioned in Lou Yanchen’s office was none other than Zhong Yueyi.

***

Zhu Qing watched Sang Zhiyi, who was carefully studying the script and occasionally softly asking questions of the nearby staff, and found it a bit strange.

When Sang Zhiyi had offered to be the substitute actress in the private room, the young man who had come looking for Zhu Qing had taken one look at Sang Zhiyi, nodded repeatedly with a face full of awe, exclaiming, “She’s perfect!”

Zhu Qing couldn’t help but look at Sang Zhiyi again.

Although she had a very low opinion of her, she had to admit that even if she tried her hardest to find an actress for Zhu Ji, she might not find someone as suitable as Sang Zhiyi.

Especially given the urgency of the situation.

The role of Zhu Ji in the Feng Chun crew was both important and unimportant.

Feng Chun was a television drama adapted from a novel of the same name.

The main storyline followed the female lead, Qin Qiulu, seeking revenge for her family after they were massacred.

Zhu Ji, whose full name was Qin Zhuji, was the female lead’s elder sister.

When the Qin family was wiped out, it was Zhu Ji who sacrificed herself to protect her, allowing Qin Qiulu to narrowly escape.

For the female lead, her sister was a pillar of spiritual support and a driving force for her to move forward.

In the script, there were frequent flashbacks to the female lead’s memories of her sister from childhood.

At that time, Qin Qiulu was only six or seven, and Zhu Ji was just over ten.

Those corresponding scenes had already been arranged with child actors.

The scene to be filmed today was the female lead, Qin Qiulu, having been poisoned and hallucinating, seeing her sister as an adult.

That was why a young actress of sufficient age was needed to play Zhu Ji.

The role was important because of Zhu Ji’s function and status in the story.

It was unimportant because the adult Zhu Ji only appeared in this one scene, requiring only that she reach out to the delirious female lead and call out “Lu’er” a few times.

As a “white moonlight” character in the script, the actress for Zhu Ji had only one requirement: she had to be beautiful.

As long as she looked good, even if she stood there stiff as a board, just moving her hands and opening her mouth would do.

She didn’t even need to speak aloud, since those few lines could be dubbed in later.

Even Zhu Qing couldn’t help but feel that encountering such a role at this particular time was like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse—Sang Zhiyi’s luck was simply too good.

But even though she could have just half-heartedly made do, Sang Zhiyi instead specifically asked the crew staff to explain the general plot of the entire drama, asked for the script to carefully read the scenes related to her own, and even meticulously inquired about some detailed questions, clearly not just going through the motions.

Such a proper attitude made Zhu Qing’s impression of Sang Zhiyi improve a bit.

Given Song Ying’s connections, favors, and financial backing, no matter how much Zhu Qing disliked Sang Zhiyi, she knew that in the end, they would probably be working together.

Collaborating with a vase actor who had a good attitude was certainly much better than collaborating with one who had a bad attitude.

Since this scene had virtually no requirements for Sang Zhiyi, after her makeup and costume were done, someone came to urge her to get on set.

Sang Zhiyi, while softly saying “Almost ready,” continued to quickly finish reading all the materials she wanted to see.

Finally, as the staff member led Sang Zhiyi to the set, the young woman in charge of urging was already cursing under her breath.

It was just six words of dialogue, the two characters “Lu’er” repeated three times—what was there to possibly study so intently?!

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