As expected, Feng Xuanshen's Weibo post caused the software to crash again.
[@Feng Xuanshen: What is Lilu? I've never heard of it.]
One day, Li Lu unexpectedly received an invitation from her goddess. She was both nervous and excited, but when she opened the door and saw the scene in front of her, she fainted and foamed at the mouth.
The next day, Li Lu woke up at the Civil Affairs Bureau. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the goddess. The goddess parted her red lips slightly and calmly uttered four words: "Marry me."
Li Lu: ? ? ?
Later, Li Lu discovered that the goddess possessed magic, made deals with ghosts while killing them, and even ran a strange agency.
Feng Xuanshen also couldn't escape the "true fragrance" law, completely forgetting his initial disdain for Li Lu. He not only became jealous, but also became more irritable because of Li Lu.
Someone accidentally touched Li Lu's hand on a variety show.
Feng Xuanshen: I'm going to twist his hand off!
Li Lu: Are you crazy?
Feng Xuanshen: What kind of lunatic are you? I am a god!
P.S.: 1. There are many personal interpretations, please don't argue.
2. he
3. Same-sex marriage is legal.
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-04-28 21:20:04 and 2022-04-29 22:05:05!
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Fancy (33 bottles);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 58
Zhang Zhen put down his crossed legs and looked at Jiang Lai with a scrutinizing gaze: "Little friend, do you know my name?"
Jiang Lai was stunned and looked to Lin Zhi for help. The latter seemed not to understand and just smiled at her.
"Sadako-nee? Or something like that..."
"Huh?" Zhang Zhen stood up from the sofa and hurried over: "Hazelnut? Which Zhen?"
Zhang Zhen leaned closer, his smile both smirking and chilling, a forced, insincere grin: "Is it Sadako from the island nation or a hazelnut sold on the street?"
Jiang Lai wasn't afraid of Zhang Zhen, but after being in the company for so long, she still hadn't remembered the boss's name, which made her feel guilty and lacked confidence.
She tentatively asked, "It should be from an island nation?"
"Um?"
"Ah, no, it's the one sold on the street. Mr. Zhen, your name is so nice, I love eating hazelnuts!"
Zhang Zhen snorted after hearing this, then turned to Lin Zhi and said, "I heard you value this child quite a bit? Then I won't bully her. Remember to tell her my name."
After Zhang Zhen finished speaking, he walked past Jiang Lai and left the office, closing the door behind him.
After everyone had gone, Jiang Lai let out a long sigh of relief, placed the lunchbox on Lin Zhi's table, and pulled over the chair that Kevin had kicked aside to sit down.
"Sister, did I just make President Zhen angry?"
Lin Zhi nodded and held out her hand: "Give it to me."
"Oh, oh." Jiang Lai skillfully removed the leather glove from her wrist and placed it in Lin Zhi's palm.
Lin Zhi casually tied her hair into a low ponytail and took the disposable chopsticks that Jiang Lai had broken: "I'm not angry, she was just teasing you. But it's really something that you called her Sadako. Remember, her name is Zhang Zhen, not the one who crawled out of the well or the one sold on the street."
Jiang Lai lay on the table, looking up at Lin Zhi. This person ate with gentle elegance, as if watching a stage play. She was attracted by the heroine's every move, and was obsessed with her performance and beauty under the spotlight, willing to fall for her.
The person in front of her suddenly stopped moving. Lin Zhi looked up and met her admiring gaze.
He paused slightly while chewing, then swallowed the rice in his mouth in one gulp: "What are you looking at? Are you even listening to me?"
Jiang Lai snapped out of her daze and grinned foolishly: "I heard you guys mention her name before, but I didn't remember it. I only remembered something like Zhen. My mind is full of Sadako. I can't help it. I studied acting in college, and I stared at Sadako for a week. By the end, I was numb to it. Even if she crawled out of the screen, I'd probably pick up my notebook and seriously ask her, 'Hey! How did you do that crawling out of the well move?'"
"Pfft." Lin Zhi was amused, but luckily there was nothing in her mouth, otherwise she would have sprayed it all over Jiang Lai's face.
"Your homework that week isn't going to be acting out Sadako, is it?"
Jiang Lai nodded: "Guess who assigned the homework?"
Lin Zhi thought for a few seconds and blurted out, "Teacher Min?"
Jiang Lai's eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands in surprise, exclaiming, "You could have guessed that!"
"Yes, Ms. Min's class is very interesting. She always surprises us. Students who graduate from her class can basically handle any script with ease. You are very lucky to have a good teacher."
He is indeed a good teacher, but whether he is interesting remains to be verified.
Min Xuehua is a "pervert"! A landlord who exploits people! Countless students have been made to cry by her scolding. If Jiang Lai weren't so shameless, she would have dropped out of school long ago.
Min Xuehua has a sharp tongue. If you do anything that doesn't suit her, she will show no mercy and criticize you relentlessly. Even her own daughter, Jiang Lai, couldn't escape being scolded.
Jiang Lai still remembers Min Xuehua's famous saying: "After watching your performance, I wish I could dig a hole and bury you. I would grab a handful of your ashes and scatter them in the wind. That performance would be better than what you are doing now!"
"Don't ever tell anyone you're my student when you get out of here! I'm not going to heaven because I taught you such an earth-shattering performance! God is punishing me!"
"Your crying scene wasn't even as good as when you weighed a few pounds! You've been wasting your time all these years!"
Sigh... It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. These are all the words Min Xuehua used to scold Jiang Lai. Every sentence is without a single swear word, yet every sentence pierces your heart.
Thinking of something, she asked curiously, "Did Teacher Min ever scold you?"
Lin Zhi chewed slowly and deliberately, thought for a long time, and said, "I did scold her."
"What did she say to you?" Jiang Lai asked with a smug, gloating look, pricking up her ears to hear what witty remarks Min Xuehua, a few years younger, might utter.
Lin Zhi put down her chopsticks and gently pursed her lips: "She said..."
Lin Zhi turned to look at the bright, dazzling sunlight outside the window. She raised her hand to shield her eyes, but the sunlight still stung her eyes through the gaps between her fingers.
“She said I was not worthy of studying acting, not worthy of being her student.”
Unworthy?
Jiang Lai sat up straight and followed Lin Zhi's gaze: "How could she say such outrageous things?"
The words "unworthy" directly negated a student's chances. If those harsh words were meant to motivate students, these two "unworthy" statements completely crushed a student's spirit.
Teachers never easily say that a student is not worthy of learning anything; this is undoubtedly the most hurtful thing to say, like a sharp sword that pierces a student's fragile heart.
Jiang Lai felt indignant on her behalf, but Lin Zhi retorted, "Teacher Min's words are not excessive. What is excessive is me. I have let her down, I have let down the performance. I have lost my sense of conviction and will never be able to get into character again."
"you..."
The words I wanted to say were stuck in my throat and I couldn't get them out.
Jiang Lai had seen Lin Zhi's performance, which was undoubtedly textbook-level. She brought a character to life. Although she only had a few minutes of screen time, in those few minutes, she could see the character's inner world through her eyes.
What could possibly cause an actor to lose faith and never be able to get into character again? What a terrible punishment that must be!
An actor's inability to get into character is like a house without a load-bearing capacity or the Earth without gravity.
Jiang Lai wanted to ask her but was afraid of reopening her wounds. But she wanted to know, she wanted to heal. Nan Moxi knew, Min Xuehua knew, and Kevin and Zhang Zhen must know too. Just because she missed Lin Zhi's dark years, she couldn't get into her heart.
Jiang Lai was unwilling to accept this. They were all protecting Lin Zhi's secret, and as long as Lin Zhi didn't tell, Jiang Lai would never know in her lifetime.
You can't ask. Everyone has their own secrets, and she has secrets she can't tell. If she's not honest, how can you expect Lin Zhi to be honest?
Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.
Lin Zhi saw Jiang Lai's inner turmoil. She raised her hand and smoothed the frown between the man's brows. Her red lips parted slightly, and her voice was like a spring breeze brushing across the river and willow catkins gently falling to the ground.
“In one scene, I almost lost my virginity. I have always been disgusted by such behavior and by men touching me, but at the same time, I regard acting as my life. That day, for the first time, my beliefs were shaken. The director’s indifference and the male actor’s transgression made me examine myself and what the belief I have always adhered to was for.”
Lin Zhi loves performing because she feels her own life is unhappy, and she is obsessed with playing other people and experiencing their lives.
Lin Zhi hates acting because she has realized that acting is ultimately just acting, it doesn't exist, and it's not her life.
"So Jiang Lai, I need to be strong, the company needs to be strong, I need to protect you from what I went through, and you need to protect yourself too, I don't want you to go through these things."
In Lin Zhi's eyes, Jiang Lai was a clear pool of water, a piece of unpolished jade. She did not want Jiang Lai to lose her beliefs like she did.
Jiang Lai's eyes reddened, and she took Lin Zhi's hand and touched her cheek: "I'm here with you."
Everyone was on edge all morning, until Jiang Lai came out of Lin Zhi's office. Lin Zhi's anger seemed to have subsided a lot, and she even greeted the employees in the break room.
The tense atmosphere subsided, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. President Lin was still the gentle President Lin, and the two dismissed agents were indeed dismissed.
Everyone was quite curious about the relationship between Jiang Lai and President Lin. Could it be that President Lin was so indulgent towards her just because she had the potential to become famous, and even Kevin and Zhang Zhen were not as effective as Jiang Lai?
Then, the company's internal gossip group gave Jiang Lai the title of "Conqueror of President Lin." From then on, anyone who angered President Lin should quickly try to curry favor with Jiang Lai, and maybe they could keep their job.
Nan Moxi glanced at the group chat messages, smiled meaningfully, and looked up at Jiang Lai, who was plucking her cactus.
"Lai Lai, if you keep pulling, my cactus will be bald."
Jiang Lai chuckled, let the poor cactus go, and sat down obediently.
Nan Moxi handed her two documents and said, "Both scripts are period dramas, but one is an IP adaptation and the other is a serious drama. I personally recommend that you choose this one."
Nan Moxi pointed to the document on the left: "First of all, it has a fan base, but there are advantages and disadvantages. You have to be mentally prepared. If it does not meet the image of the female lead in the fans' minds, you may be criticized, but it should be temporary."
Jiang Lai didn't speak, she just nodded. She carefully flipped through the script, chewing over each word and swallowing it down.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Lai closed the script, rubbing her chin in a conflicted manner: "I want to try this historical drama."
Nan Moxi wasn't too surprised and patiently explained to her, "I won't go into too much detail, but historical dramas do more harm than good, you should understand that. It has nothing to do with your acting skills, but if there is even the slightest inaccuracy in this drama, the entire crew will suffer. We don't know all the details right now, so we can't make a judgment. Moreover, our understanding of history is far less than that of professionals. Think it over, I don't want my artist to be criticized. Keyboards have no eyes."
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Lai resolutely chose the historical drama, while the one she gave up was the female director that Lin Zhi had introduced Jiang Lai to at the banquet.
“Sister Nan, I chose this project after considering many factors. The story is set in a modern era, and there is a lot of historical information to research. I also know the director, and she is very meticulous. I am very interested in the script. I acted in IP dramas during my university years, and I was both criticized and praised. I don’t want to be acting in this kind of drama after my official debut.”
Nan Moxi lowered her eyes, turned the script over, glanced at the director's name, and pondered for a long time.
"Alright, since I've given you two choices, I should accept your idea. So, I'll give this one to another actor?"
Jiang Lai hugged the script as if she had received a treasure: "Thank you, Sister Nan."
This is a high-stakes gamble. If you win, everyone will be happy; if you lose, you'll have to bear the consequences of your overconfidence.
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Author's Note: