However, to avoid worrying his assistant, Zhou Paihuai didn't tell her any of this. Instead, he said, "Whether you help me or not is another matter. She wronged me. You must apologize to me when you come."
Seeing Zhou Zhou's positive attitude, Tang Xiaole didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Zhou Zhou seemed genuinely unconcerned about her future. What kind of time was this to be not thinking about her own future, but still worrying about Sister Cheng's wish for her? "Zhou Zhou, you..."
"I'm really fine. It's just a TV series, and I'm not even the female lead." But after today, the little assistant will become someone else's little assistant again. That's fine too. At least she can live a good life with someone else. What future can she have with me?
Cheng Minxin rushed to the apartment as quickly as possible. Along the way, she received many more phone calls, mostly from people wanting to terminate their cooperation with Zhou Paihuai. This time, Zhou Paihuai had actually been blacklisted. The only person with such power is Ji Ershao. It seems Zhou Zhou wasn't lying; she really didn't know Ji Ershao. In fact, she had completely offended him because of that trending topic.
"Sister Cheng, you've arrived?" Seeing Cheng Minxin, Tang Xiaole felt reassured and immediately calmed down.
Zhou Paihuai glanced at Cheng Minxin but remained silent for a long time. Cheng Minxin immediately knew what she was thinking, sighed, and said, "Zhou Zhou, I wronged you before, and I apologize to you."
Zhou Paihuai then cheered up and said, "Don't worry, Sister Cheng, I'm not really angry with you!"
"Only you can still laugh now." Cheng Minxin shook her head helplessly. "Zhou Paihuai, do you even know that you've been blacklisted?"
"Of course I know." She already knew this when the director messaged her. For the production team, it's a good thing for actors to trend on social media, regardless of whether the actor is popular or not; it brings buzz to the production. But now she's been kicked out, so someone must have pulled some strings.
Looking at Zhou Heping like this, Cheng Minxin felt a little sorry. In the past, she worked very hard, but she wasn't smart enough. Later, she gained some wisdom, but she didn't care about anything and put in much less effort than others. Now, she finally made up her mind to make a change and learn to grow, but this happened.
"It's a pity, I had already hired an acting coach for you. It's just a shame that we won't be able to use him this time."
Zhou Paihuai said, "Even the acting teacher isn't going to teach me anymore? That's quite a pity."
The person behind the scenes simply blocked all of Zhou's activities within the industry, but didn't interfere with her acting studies. "Of course not, but as things stand, unless your 'censorship' is lifted, otherwise..." Cheng Minxin didn't say it explicitly, but she was essentially telling her that studying acting was useless now, and she couldn't survive in this industry anymore.
"As long as there are people willing to teach, that's fine." Zhou Paihuai calculated her savings and figured she could still afford the performance fee. "But Sister Cheng, please don't invite those super-rich people."
Cheng Minxin didn't know if Zhou Paihuai was foolish or clinging to a sliver of hope to return to the industry, but since Zhou was willing to overcome this predicament on her own, she certainly couldn't hold her back. So Cheng Minxin told her, "Since you insist, let's start classes after a few days of adjustment. Don't worry about the fees; your contract with the company is still valid. Besides, I received many messages today from people wanting to terminate their contracts. It's all written in black and white in the contracts. Even if it means breaching the contract, I will fight for your best interests!"
"I knew Sister Cheng loved me the most!" Zhou Paihuai was deeply moved and even wanted to hug her to express her gratitude. However, Cheng Minxin was quite disgusted, so she had to give up on that idea.
Although Zhou's banter had eased the tension considerably, after the laughter subsided, Cheng Minxin asked her, "What are your plans for the future? If you want to move behind the scenes, that's fine, but..."
“I still want to continue down this path.” Zhou Paihuai interrupted Cheng Minxin. It wasn’t her wish to stay in this industry, but it was the original owner’s biggest dream. She had already taken over the original owner’s body and would never give up her dream for anyone. “No matter how difficult it is, I will persevere. One year, two years... even five years, ten years, I can wait.”
"You should know very well that a female celebrity's prime doesn't last long, five or ten years. Your fans won't wait that long."
"Sister Cheng, don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Chapter 53 Will Not Disappear from Your World
For a long time, Zhou Paihuai longed to wake up from a dream, free from endless announcements and performances, so she could have more free time. But now, half of her dream has come true; she can no longer continue in the entertainment industry, yet she hasn't been able to return to her own world or find peace.
Cheng Minxin hired Chen Siku, a renowned veteran actress who won a Best Character Award more than 20 years ago and is highly respected in the industry for both her talent and character. Over the years, Chen Siku has trained many promising young talents. Cheng Minxin went to great lengths to hire her, and Zhou Paihuai did not disappoint. She attended classes twice a week, and each time she studied diligently and made rapid progress.
Every step Zhou made forward didn't earn him praise from Chen Siku, but rather endless sighs. Such a promising talent, striving so hard, yet he was blacklisted by the industry because he offended the wrong person—it's truly a pity.
"Teacher, please sit down and rest for a while. I'll go and think about this line some more." Zhou Paihuai perfectly embodied the spirit of respecting teachers. Seeing Chen Si sighing, he knew what the old lady was thinking. He smiled at her, instantly dispelling her unpleasant mood.
"You!" Chen Si gently tapped her nose, feeling so cared for that he almost treated her like his own daughter. "Alright, there's nothing to analyze in this dialogue. Your lines are basically fine, but you'll need to practice your camera presence more."
"I'll do whatever you say!"
... ...
The afternoon passed quickly, and the acting class was over.
"Teacher, I'll take you home!" Chen Siku is old, and Zhou Paihuai usually takes her home after class before he feels at ease.
"That won't be necessary today."
"Master has arrived?" The master Zhou Paihuai was referring to was Chen Siku's husband, whom she often called Master.
Chen Si nodded. She and her husband had been loving and devoted to each other for decades, and her face was always beaming with happiness whenever she mentioned her husband.
Zhou Paihuai laughed along, "Then I won't be a third wheel. Teacher, please be careful on the road!"
After seeing Chen Siku off, Zhou wandered into the study. Since she stopped acting, apart from her twice-weekly acting classes, she had devoted almost all her remaining time to studying, picking up the high school knowledge she had forgotten, and striving to fulfill another wish of the original owner of this body.
While she was working on a math problem, Zhou Paihuai's phone suddenly rang. She saw that it was Xiao Heifen calling and answered the phone without thinking.
"What's wrong?"
"Why aren't you in 'Intoxicating Afternoon Sunshine'?" Ji Anxi seemed very excited, her voice carrying far through the receiver.
"What?" Having not heard the drama title for so long, Zhou Paihuai took a while to realize that it was the melodramatic romance drama he hadn't finished filming. "Oh, they changed the actress." This little hater is quite slow to react; so much time has passed before she even noticed the drama had changed actors.
In fact, since deciding not to criticize Zhou Paihuai, Ji Anxi has rarely paid attention to anything in the entertainment industry. In addition, she chats with Zhou Paihuai almost every day, so she doesn't deliberately search for news about her. Naturally, she is unaware of what has happened during this period and has not discovered that Zhou Paihuai has been blacklisted.
Hearing Zhou Paihuai's nonchalant tone, Ji Anxi didn't notice anything amiss. She assumed it was the company's arrangement, since replacing actors midway through a project was quite common in the entertainment industry.
What have you been up to lately?
"If you have nothing to do, you can learn acting or something. It's not as easy as your life. You should cherish your most carefree college life!" Zhou Paihuai knew that Xiao Heifen was about to graduate and advised her to cherish her college life.
"And you're telling me? I'm going crazy working on my graduation project lately..."
During this period, Zhou Paihuai has almost completely faded from people's sight. Even if she disappears from everyone's world, she will still be active in the world of her haters. No wonder Ji Anxi did not find out that such a big thing had happened to her.
After hanging up the phone, Ji Anxi immediately went online to search for news about Zhou Paihuai. She wasn't stupid; a perfectly good second female lead, who had been filming for several months, was suddenly replaced—unless there was something wrong with the show. But the show was still airing, so it could only mean that something had happened to Zhou Paihuai.
After searching around, Ji Anxi discovered that most of the news about Zhou Paihuai online was from several months ago. There hadn't been any new news about her in the past few months, as if she had already retired from the entertainment industry.
As Zhou Paihuai's former number one hater, getting Zhou Paihuai to leave the entertainment industry was practically Ji Anxi's biggest wish, but back then, Zhou Paihuai didn't comply with her wishes. Now that she has finally changed her opinion of Zhou Paihuai, is Zhou Paihuai actually slowly planning to retire from the industry? But she has never heard her mention it before.
Feeling that things couldn't be that simple, Ji Anxi started posting questions on various anonymous forums, mainly wanting to know what Zhou Paihuai had been up to for so long without making any moves. However, most of these posts remained silent amidst a sea of low-quality posts. A small number did attract a few replies, mostly from trolls who wanted to tell Zhou Paihuai to get out of the entertainment industry, as if he didn't have a single fan on the entire internet.
"..." Ji Anxi, who had been fiddling with the computer for half a day, fell silent. She had no idea that Zhou Paihuai was doing so badly. Was the entertainment industry really that difficult to navigate?
... ...
After its premiere, "Afternoon Sunshine" became a hit. Although the plot was inevitably clichéd and melodramatic, it was successful because the logic was seamless. In addition, this type of film has a wide audience, which boosted the acting careers of the main actors.
After Zhou Paihuai's incident, Lin Nian, another actress under Cheng Minxin's company, replaced her as the second female lead. Lin Nian was the little girl who was so frightened by Zhou Paihuai that she ran out of the elevator. Although Lin Nian was a bit timid, she was a good actress and had a pair of pitiful big eyes. Although the second female lead's character was not particularly good, she still gained a large number of fans and her popularity was close to that of Yang Anqi.
The production crew was invited to participate in a live-streamed variety show. The male lead, female lead, second male lead, and second female lead were all going, along with the director and producer.
The main purpose of appearing on the show was to promote the TV series, and the questions asked by the host were generally related to the series itself. The recording process went smoothly until the end, when the host started to stir things up. She directly asked what the relationship between the female lead, An Ning, and the second female lead, An Ya, was like in real life, given that the two characters didn't get along in the show.
Generally, the answer to this is that the relationship is very good. The more intense the drama is in the show, the closer the relationship is off-screen, even if the two people have a superficial friendship.
Lin Nian did want to answer that way, but Yang Anqi didn't play by the rules and said directly, "No, that won't happen. Lin Nian and I have a very good relationship. We've mostly filmed emotional scenes with deep sisterly affection, and we haven't filmed many scenes of fighting like before."
"..." Lin Nian was speechless. How could she respond? In the end, she could only laugh awkwardly and say, "Yes, we have a very good relationship. The crew is like our home, and we are like real sisters."
Wow! The host suddenly became excited. It seems there's something going on here. This is great; the topic is going to be a hot one!
"I've heard that the production team changed actors before, right? Director, could you please tell us the reason for the change?"
If it weren't for the fact that this was a live broadcast, the director might have smashed the table. But now that everyone was watching their every move, he could only smile and say, "We did change actors a few times, but mainly it was to present the best effect to the audience. Everyone's enjoyment is the most important thing."
The director, true to form, avoided answering the sensitive questions directly, instead steering the conversation towards the work and the audience. Given this, the host, not wanting to incite further conflict, could only say, "That's right, we hope everyone will support 'Intoxicating Afternoon Sunshine,' and that concludes our interview for today."
Backstage, Zheng Xinyu watched Yang Anqi's team packing up and couldn't help but walk over and ask, "What did you mean by what you just said?"
"It means exactly what I said. What, you're not happy that I have a good relationship with your junior sister? When did Genesis become so domineering? You don't plan to associate with artists from other companies?" Yang Anqi was not intimidated at all.
Lin Nian and Zheng Xinyu are both artists under Chuangshi Entertainment, and their manager is Cheng Minxin, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her his junior. Yang Anqi knew that Zheng Xinyu and Zhou Paihuai had a good relationship, and even though the whole thing had nothing to do with Lin Nian, people always have their own private thoughts. She was closer to Zhou Paihuai. It was Zhou Paihuai who had directed the entire drama, and even contributed some of the most exciting plot points. But now Lin Nian had reaped the benefits, so how could she be willing to accept it?
Zheng Xinyu said, "That's not what I meant, but Zhou Paihuai didn't continue acting in this play. Is there some inside story?"
"The inside story?" Yang Anqi finally understood. So Zheng Xinyu thought Zhou Paihuai had quit the role himself and didn't know the truth at all. "If you want to know the inside story, I suggest you ask your agent. She should know more than anyone else."
Yang Anqi's team was the last to leave. Before they left, her manager said, "Anqi, you were too impulsive just now. Do you know you almost ruined this interview?" This girl has a terrible temper and doesn't care about the consequences of her actions. Fortunately, her fans like her straightforwardness, otherwise it would have been really difficult to handle.
"What's there to be afraid of? In the end, our shrewd director managed to smooth things over, didn't he?" Yang Anqi didn't care at all. She didn't plan to work with this team again. If they had the ability, she would let the person who blacklisted Zhou Huapai blacklist her instead.
--------------------
Author's Note:
No update tomorrow
Chapter 54 Recruiting More Students
Days passed, and the time for the adult college entrance examination arrived. To avoid causing a stir by taking the exam in this city, Zhou Paihuai chose to register in the city where his original home was located—the city where the orphanage was situated. It was a small city, not remote, but a very peaceful one.
Perhaps wanting to see the place where the original owner of this body had lived, or perhaps wanting to get away early to clear her head, Zhou Paihuai booked a room a week in advance and arrived in the city early. The original orphanage was demolished because it was too unregulated, but the city had no prospects for development, so the demolished orphanage became a wasteland and was not occupied by any high-rise buildings.
Zhou hesitated, unsure whether the original owner wanted to come and see, but since she couldn't tell the original owner the answer, she took it upon herself to do so.
After checking in, Zhou Paihuai carried her suitcase to her reserved room on the second floor. She planned to unpack her things and then visit the old site of the orphanage. While unpacking, the original owner's diary fell out from among a pile of clothes. She picked up the diary, almost forgetting about it; the old site of the orphanage could no longer be found on the map, and she would have to rely on the map in the diary.
Zhou wandered around, holding the diary, asking questions as she went. After walking for a long time, she finally found the old site of the orphanage. Although the original owner of this body had always said that she didn't want to have anything to do with this place anymore, her diary described every detail of this place in exceptional detail and reality. She could even find the small dark room where the original owner had been locked for three hours when she made a mistake in this ruin.
Looking at this place, Zhou Paihuai thought of the orphanage where she grew up. The conditions there were much better than here, but every winter, she still couldn't wear thick, warm clothes. Whenever kind people brought snacks to visit them, at most three or five children would share a biscuit. And there was always endless work to do... Although life was hard, it gave her a sense of belonging. Unlike later, when she could eat a whole bag of biscuits by herself, she still felt like she was the only person in the world.
The wind rustled through the diary, the sound as if the original owner of the body were responding to his own words. Zhou Paihuai carefully wrapped the notebook and placed it amidst the ruins, as if placing a restless soul in the most comforting paradise.
After leaving the orphanage, Zhou Paihuai received a call from Cheng Minxin. It had been a long time since they'd been in contact, so Cheng's sudden call must be urgent. She hurriedly waved for a taxi by the roadside, unaware of the shocked look on an elderly man's face, who even dropped his cane.
"Sister Cheng, what's wrong?"
"You've left City A?" Cheng Minxin's voice sounded very anxious.
"Yes, I have some personal matters to attend to, so I came to City B! I heard you sounded very anxious; has something happened?"
Cheng Minxin knew that City B was Zhou Paihuai's hometown. She thought that Zhou Paihuai was willing to return to City B this time because he had come to his senses. Hearing this, she was very pleased and said, "It's nothing serious. You take care of your business first. I'm not in a hurry."
Although Cheng Minxin sounded a little anxious, Zhou Paihuai was in a good mood, so it shouldn't be anything serious, or if it was, it would be a good thing. Since she wasn't in City A right now, he wasn't worried.
"Okay, I'll be back in about a week."
... ...
Cheng Minxin, who was far away in City A, hung up the phone and said to Chen Siku, whom she had invited to join the company, "Mr. Chen, you've really had a hard time this time. Xiao Ji is still a newcomer and has no acting experience at all. I'll have to trouble you to guide her properly in the future."
Chen Siku and Cheng Minxin sat facing each other, and standing beside them was Ji Anxi. She was a newly signed artist with Genesis Entertainment. Although she was not young in this industry and had no acting experience, she was assigned to Cheng Minxin, a top agent, right away because of her powerful background.
Cheng Minxin didn't refuse. Firstly, Ji Anxi was beautiful enough. In the entertainment industry, good looks don't guarantee success, but they certainly open up more avenues than others. Secondly, there was Ji Anxi's background. Just from her name, it was clear she had a good relationship with the second young master of the Ji family. With her help, there might be room for reconciliation in Zhou Paihuai's situation, since Zhou Paihuai might not have five or ten years to waste. To pave the way for Zhou Paihuai, she even hired Chen Siku as Ji Anxi's acting coach, all to cultivate a bond between them as "sisters."
As for why Ji Anxi suddenly chose to join Genesis, one reason is that she is about to graduate, and the other is that she has not seen any news about Zhou Paihuai online recently. There must be something going on here. She joined Genesis in order to get closer to Zhou Paihuai and learn more about her.
Ji Anxi's sudden decision to enter the entertainment industry naturally displeased her family. She was originally considered the most worry-free child in the family, having gone to university in an orderly manner. After graduation, taking over the family business or starting her own business would have been a very good path. But as graduation approached, she suddenly pulled this stunt.
However, unlike her good-for-nothing second brother who only procrastinated and hid behind others when faced with problems, Ji Anxi started trying to persuade her family as soon as she decided to join the entertainment industry. Her reasoning was so compelling that no one could refute her, and in the end, they could only agree to her request and give her three years to try her luck in the industry and see how far she could go.
Chen Siku figured he was just herding one sheep or two, so since he'd already taught Zhou Paihuai, he wasn't afraid of having another Ji Anxi. Besides, turning a blank sheet of paper into a masterpiece was far simpler than turning a doodle on paper into a masterpiece.
"Okay, just give me the person!" Chen Siku agreed immediately.