"Anyway, I only have two scenes with you, the rest are with me." Zhao Ying glanced at her sideways. "You can act with me, but not with you? Does that mean you're good enough for me, but not good enough for me?"
Chen Liuying was speechless.
In the entertainment industry, a place where the strong prey on the weak and seniority matters, Zhao Ying debuted earlier and is more capable than her. No matter where you meet her, you have to respectfully call her Sister Ying.
What's more, he's a playboy with the Zhao family backing him.
She is incomparable to someone from a humble background like herself.
She immediately apologized, "Sister Ying, that's not what I meant."
"So what do you mean?" Zhao Ying scoffed. "If you think you can't act, then just ask the screenwriter to cut your two scenes, or find a stand-in. Just don't delay your wrap-up."
“Sister Ying,” Chen Liuying explained, “I feel that it’s disrespectful to theater to just let someone who doesn’t know anything about it act.”
"You think you're respectful just because I hire you?" Zhao Ying rolled her eyes. "May I ask which school you graduated from? Are you formally trained? What was your ranking in your major?"
Chen Liuying: "..."
"My teacher is..." Chen Liuying was interrupted before she could finish speaking. Bai Weiwei ran over and immediately apologized, "I'm sorry, Teacher Zhao. I was just thinking about the production team and felt that it was inappropriate to use a newcomer who had never acted before. I didn't mean to offend you."
"Why did you come straight here?" Chen Liuying looked at her, her tone unfriendly. "Didn't I tell you to wait in the car?"
Bai Weiwei tugged at her and apologized to Zhao Ying again, "Teacher Zhao, I'm sorry. Liu Ying is still a newcomer in the entertainment industry and doesn't know any better. Please don't take it to heart."
"We're all adults, how long are you going to be so immature? You have to learn morality before you learn skills. Some people may not be skilled, but they should at least have good character. You can't be half-hearted, can you?" Zhao Ying started to mock, her arrogant face saying, "I just can't stand people like you who know nothing but still try to act all high and mighty."
Bai Weiwei had no choice but to apologize, "I'm sorry, Teacher Zhao. There are only two more scenes left for Liu Ying's play. We will perform them well."
"Whatever you want," Zhao Ying said. "If you don't want to act, just cut or change your scenes. You guys have been doing this for a while now."
Bai Weiwei: "..."
Bai Weiwei felt terrible inside, but she still forced a smile on her face.
Zhao Ying suddenly pushed Liang Shi forward, "Director, give me an answer, do you need this girl or not? If you don't need her, let her go. Are you just going to stand here and watch the actresses fight?"
director:"……"
He glanced at Liang Shi's face, then made up his mind, "Use it."
Bai Weiwei also looked at the newcomer. She originally wanted to say a few polite words to encourage the newcomer to act well with Chen Liuying, but when she saw that it was Liang Shi, her smiling face fell.
"Hi," Liang Shi greeted her, "Are you feeling better?"
Bai Weiwei clenched her fists and said through gritted teeth, "Alright."
"That's good," Liang Shi said.
"Stagehand," the director called out, "Give the script to the newcomer."
After saying that, he hesitated and asked, "Can you understand the script?"
Liang Shi nodded, "Yes."
Zhao Ying pulled her along, saying, "I'll teach you what you don't understand."
Liang Shi: "..."
The director was vaguely worried, but there was nothing he could do.
The crowd was already in an uproar, divided into two factions.
Some people think that randomly pulling people onto the stage to act is like playing a joke, but Zhao Ying really went too far this time, clearly slapping Chen Liuying in the face.
But some people think that since that person has a good-looking face, their acting skills shouldn't be too bad.
"Who said that? Look at Chen Liuying, isn't she pretty? She earned it all with her acting skills. If it weren't for Sister Ying guiding her, she would have to do more than twenty takes a day," said a junior staff member.
"Sister Ying has indeed disliked her for a long time, but what can she do when she has such a good agent? Damn, the agent is rich and gets her resources, and even has to humbly apologize for her. If I had an agent like that, I would be famous too."
"You're not destined for that. You're nothing but a gigolo, the number one top-tier female character on the entire internet. You're just a spineless coward."
"But aren't we discussing newcomers? Is she even capable of playing the role? That role is particularly outstanding if played well."
"She can't act, she's always smiling, she doesn't have that kind of presence."
"That's what makes the contrast so striking! Look at Ying-jie, she's usually such a cool and aloof girl, but last time she played an innocent and naive high school student, she was absolutely stunning!"
"How many years has Sister Ying been acting? She's been acting since she was born. How can a newcomer compare?"
"..."
Everyone looked at the newcomer with pity, guessing that Chen Liuying would mock the newcomer during their scene rehearsal.
Chen Liuying pulled Bai Weiwei aside, first scolding her for coming, then reprimanding her for undermining her as soon as she arrived, and for apologizing to Zhao Ying in a humble manner.
Bai Weiwei also felt wronged, "Didn't I tell you not to get into a fight with Zhao Ying? She's not someone we can afford to mess with. If you really anger her, you'll be blacklisted tomorrow."
"So what if you ban me? I'll just quit this line of work!" Chen Liuying scoffed. "I've had enough of this back-and-forth."
"But you..."
Before Bai Weiwei could finish speaking, Chen Liuying said, "You saw it too, that's Liang Shi, what kind of act is a good-for-nothing doing?"
Bai Weiwei glanced at the other side of the tent, where Zhao Ying was sitting drinking tea, and Liang Shi had moved a small stool and was sitting there reading a script, looking quite serious.
"She's just pretending," Chen Liuying said. "People like her, who were born with everything, still want to try and get a piece of the pie in other fields. Wouldn't it be better for her to just be a pampered young lady?"
"Anyway, her acting is terrible." Bai Weiwei sighed softly. "You don't need to worry about her, just focus on your acting."
“But she’s going to slap me in a minute,” Chen Liuying said. “Other actors can control their strength, but what if she really hits me?”
Bai Weiwei: "..."
Bai Weiwei came over as soon as she was discharged from the hospital, and now she has a headache from all the news.
But she couldn't just ignore it, so she could only comfort Chen Liuying, "It's okay, her bad acting just highlights you, right? Besides, everyone has eyes, she'll definitely be laughed at for her performance."
Chen Liuying's restless heart was somewhat soothed.
Bai Weiwei gritted her teeth and said, "What trouble can that kind of trash cause?"
Chen Liuying sneered, "I'm just waiting for her to make a fool of herself."
//
Liang Shi hadn't expected the opportunity to come so suddenly.
After receiving the script, she felt as if she were standing on a cloud, her steps unsteady.
She had originally planned to wait until she got her own body before going to the film studio to look for opportunities, but now the opportunity has fallen right into her lap.
"Hurry up and take a look." Zhao Ying said, "Time is tight and the task is heavy. If you don't understand something, ask me. I'll do an interview first."
Liang Shi: "..."
She really is a master of time management.
"Okay," Liang Shi said. "Thank you, Sister Ying."
"It's no big deal." Zhao Ying paused after speaking, then frowned as she stared at her face. "But you do look familiar. Haven't we met somewhere before?"
Liang Shi: "..."
She coughed softly, leaned closer and whispered, "Sister Ying, my name is Liang Shi, and... Zhao Xuning and I are good friends... well."
The second half of the sentence just felt wrong no matter how I phrased it.
Zhao Ying suddenly remembered, "Zhao Xuning's friend? No way, the last time I saw you two, you seemed to be fighting."
"That's why you look so familiar," Zhao Ying said. "Are you the third daughter of the Liang family?"
“Yes.” Liang Shi answered her while marking his lines on the script, “It’s me.”
Zhao Ying looked at her intently, and after a moment said in a slightly sarcastic tone, "I think I didn't misjudge you. You can play this role naturally."
Liang Shi: "...?"
Yes.
This character is a villain, the kind of vicious female supporting character who slaps people.
“But you look a little different than before,” Zhao Ying asked. “Can you really act well?”
Liang Shi didn't give a definite answer, but simply said, "I'll give it a try."
//
The two scenes performed by Liang Shi and Chen Liuying were Chen Liuying's final scenes.
One scene involves splashing water on Chen Liuying, and the other involves slapping Chen Liuying.
Perhaps Zhao Ying was right; if it were the original owner of this body, she could have truly played the role perfectly.
Liang Shih hasn't acted in a while either.
In her previous world, due to rampant rumors online, various production teams terminated their contracts with her. After transmigrating, it was even worse; she hadn't even touched a script.
Even so, she still felt excited when she saw the script.
She quickly grasped the story and became familiar with the character she was about to play.
She is a domineering female executive who bullies newcomers because of her high position. She kicks the second female lead, played by Chen Liuying, out of the company and insults her character.
He looks a bit like Editor-in-Chief Sun.
Besides having a few scenes with Chen Liuying, he also had a few scenes with Zhao Ying, but he was always the one who was tormented by the charismatic Zhao Ying.
So this character is indeed not simple.
In the early stages, he was arrogant and domineering; in the later stages, he was miserable and pitiful.
But if performed well, it can be very outstanding.
Liang Shi had never challenged such a character before. She didn't have the idea of convincing Chen Liuying or proving her own strength. She just wanted to stand in front of the camera and give the character a deeper soul.
After reading the script, she started memorizing her lines, just like memorizing a text.
Zhao Ying was surprised, "You read so fast?"
"Hmm," Liang Shi said, "There aren't many scenes, so it's quick to watch."
"Alright, but you have a lot of lines. It doesn't matter if your acting is bad, as long as you memorize your lines," Zhao Ying instructed.
When Liang Shi needed to use the restroom, he would run there with his script in hand.
In the bathroom, she overheard crew members discussing her situation.