“Friends can only see the last three days of Moments.”
Rong Guang stared gloomily at that line of text for a long time, but nothing new popped up.
Putting her phone away, she placed her hands on her hips, glanced at the blazing sun, and said, “What’s the temperature today?”
“Thirty-nine,” Chacha said, sticking her tongue out from the heat.
“Oh,” Rong Guang murmured. “No wonder I feel a bit cold today.”
The expressions on Chacha and Tang Yuan’s faces instantly became priceless.
The group returned to Rong Guang’s home, where Tang Yuan explained what had happened.
She felt a little ashamed as she spoke—Rong Guang was about to join the production, and her very first scene was a confrontation with Chu Feiliang.
She was genuinely worried that this incident would affect Rong Guang’s performance, leading to a severe blow to her confidence and making a bad situation worse. If it ended up delaying the shoot, she might even be asked to leave the cast.
It was for this reason that Tang Yuan had kept it to herself, knowing that Rong Guang had been secluded for the past few days studying the script and was completely unaware of the false rumors circulating online.
“Tell me about it.” Rong Guang picked up her phone and subconsciously opened the chat window with Chu Feiliang, which she had already pinned to the top.
The last message was still the one sent at the beginning of the month. There had been nothing since.
Rong Guang pouted, a sense of disappointment washing over her once again.
“An entertainment blogger posted a general article saying that Jiang Ruyi was rumored to be joining the cast of The Eldest Princess. Coincidentally, the audition rules changed right when it was your turn, and it said your acting was highly praised, and so on…”
Tang Yuan scrolled to the post, which was still at the top, and opened the comments below. With a sigh, she said, “The comments are overwhelmingly saying that Jiang Ruyi made a name for herself with her acting skills… Wait, what are you doing?”
Tang Yuan turned her head to see Rong Guang collapsed on the sofa as if her soul had been sucked out, staring silently at her phone.
Chacha, who was taking an online class on her tablet nearby, took a moment to reply, “She’s think… ing about the person she misses most in spring.”
Rong Guang retracted her sharp gaze, composed herself, and sat up a little straighter. “Go on, I’m listening.”
Tang Yuan nodded, knowing that Rong Guang wasn’t someone who couldn’t get her priorities straight. She continued, “Although this post didn’t explicitly criticize you, it’s the same old trick. The tone of stepping on one to praise another is very obvious—if a few high-visibility comments fanning the flames and driving the narrative pop up, it’s easy for a flame war to start.”
Rong Guang nodded, installed Weibo on her own phone, and took a look as well.
She skimmed through it briefly and got the gist of the situation.
Then she smiled and said, “There’s no need to pay attention to this kind of news.”
Tang Yuan was stunned. “We’re just going to ignore it?”
“It’s not that we’re ignoring it, but that it’s unnecessary.” Rong Guang tilted her chin up slightly, the faint curve of her lips making her whole being seem to glow, making it impossible to look away. “Strength will always speak for itself.”
Tang Yuan was speechless for a long time.
In her mind, this incident was already a PR crisis that required contacting multiple parties to suppress.
But Rong Guang’s completely unconcerned demeanor… it truly surprised her.
Coming back to her senses, Tang Yuan couldn’t help but feel ashamed of her own inferiority.
She took the initiative to critique herself, saying, “My thinking was too outdated. I’ll change in the future—Rong Guang, I’m really sorry. I underestimated you before.”
She had underestimated the rising star who had emerged from over three hundred talented trainees. She had underestimated the queen of the stage who could command everyone’s attention even when placed in the furthest corner. And she had especially underestimated this girl, full of tenacity, who continued to grow stubbornly and work tirelessly under such high-pressure environments.
Rong Guang’s eyes curved into a smile. She didn’t stand on ceremony, waving her hand and saying, “It’s good that you’ve come to this realization ahead of time.”
In the end, Jiang Ruyi had held back, not daring to completely twist the truth of what happened that day.
Under these circumstances, being criticized by Jiang Ruyi’s fans at the peak of the hype was a very normal occurrence. Rong Guang had seen it so many times that it no longer bothered her in the slightest.
—She had thought the news that made Tang Yuan so nervous was something like ‘Famous actress uses casting couch for newcomer, openly breaks rules to go through the back door’.
For something this minor, it was hardly worth the company’s higher-ups treating it as a major issue and holding special discussions about it.
The next morning, the moment the alarm went off, Rong Guang shot up from the bed with a swoosh!
She clutched her throbbing temples, feeling dizzy, and then quickly rushed to the bathroom.
Chacha was sleepily answering a phone call nearby.
The soundproofing between the floors wasn’t great, and the speaker on Chacha’s senior phone was very loud, so Rong Guang could hear everything clearly.
She heard Chacha say groggily, “Don’t… don’t worry. Sister Guangguang gets to see her crush, ha… she’s more eager than anyone. She won’t oversleep… ha-hoo…”
On the other end, Tang Yuan successfully calmed down and tirelessly explained that “eager as a monkey” wasn’t used that way, and so on.
Rong Guang, hearing half of it, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
As she hurriedly brushed her teeth, she felt a bit of a headache.
Yesterday, unable to contain her excitement about joining the cast, the three of them had opened a bottle of red wine to celebrate.
—Except Chacha’s glass was filled with highly concentrated grape juice. The silly child couldn’t tell the difference and kept smacking her lips and shaking her head, managing to make herself dizzy.
Thinking about Chacha’s antics last night, Rong Guang couldn’t help but want to laugh.
But after she got drunk… what had she done?
The more Rong Guang thought about it, the more her head ached. She often went offline when she was drunk and couldn’t remember a thing.
Since she really couldn’t recall, she had to let it go for now.
Once they were all ready, Tang Yuan nervously drove them to the film set.
At the set, after their initial amazement, all three of them began to feel nervous. Aside from Chacha, no one was paying much attention to the scenery.
Tang Yuan was worried that as a newcomer, she would make a fool of herself in any necessary social situations, so she was frowning and trying to recall how the seniors she had met before handled things.
As for Rong Guang… her mind had completely flown off to Chu Feiliang. How could she have the heart to care about anything else?
As for Chacha…
Rong Guang paused. “Where did Chacha go?”
Tang Yuan was also taken aback and started to panic. Chacha was only fourteen this year. This place was crowded and full of strangers. If she really got lost, where would they find her?
There was still some time before they had to sign in with the production services department, so Rong Guang and Tang Yuan discussed it and decided to split up to look for her.
The security guard at the main gate had a strong impression of Chacha because she had given him a lollipop, so he knew she hadn’t gone outside.
Rong Guang pursed her lips, deciding to search inside.
Another person walking out from inside happened to overhear them. They looked Rong Guang up and down, then said with a smile, “You’re Rong Guang, right? Are you looking for Chacha?”
Rong Guang was startled. “Yes, and you are…?”
“I’m Xiao Ye’s assistant, just came out to buy her water. Chacha went with Xiao Ye to play over by the screenwriters’ area. It’s the coolest place, so a lot of people like to hang out there for the air conditioning. You should go look there,” the assistant said with a smile.
Rong Guang hurriedly thanked her, thinking that when she caught that little rascal Chacha, she would have to give her a good spanking!
When she reached the door, Rong Guang hesitated for a moment before knocking.
The person who came to open it was a woman wearing glasses. She seemed to have a very strong impression of Rong Guang, but her expression at the moment was not pleasant, even appearing extremely stiff. “Who are you looking for?”
The name “Chacha” was on the tip of her tongue, but Rong Guang remembered what the assistant had said and replied, “Is Ye Zi here?”
“Inside.” The woman opened the door a crack.
A loud burst of arguing erupted from within!
“You’re full of shit!” Zhang Nanchuan’s voice, though deep, was very penetrating. The sudden sound startled even Rong Guang.
However, opposing him was another male voice, not to be outdone, that said, “You’re the one who’s full of shit!”
Zhang Nanchuan’s brows furrowed in anger. Just as he looked like he was about to say more, the person arguing with him grabbed a cup from the table and threw its contents in his face!
Just as Rong Guang was gaping in astonishment, she saw Zhang Nanchuan also grab the cup beside him and throw its contents back at the man!
Afterward, they both wiped their faces, panting like bulls. After a brief rest, they started banging on the table again, looking as if they were about to climb onto it.
As for the others, they were completely unfazed. Someone had even taken out their phone to watch short videos.
Rong Guang: “…”
