Chapter 47: The Benefactor Daddy is Still a Daddy

After the training ended and filming began, Mu Ruo felt as if she were being isolated.

The director had no particular opinion of her. Director Zhao, despite being a big-name director, treated all the actors equally. No matter how famous they were, if their acting was poor, he would scold them just the same.

However, for some reason, Director Zhao had been in a bad mood for the past couple of days and didn’t show anyone in the crew a pleasant face.

Mu Ruo arrived early on set. Over the past few days, she had watched several dramas and variety shows, so she recognized many faces.

After arriving, she greeted some of the actors on set.

… Not a single person responded.

Well, perhaps this was the treatment all newcomers received.

Mu Ruo had gotten used to being ignored when she was a newbie in the real world too.

She hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and wasn’t needed on set immediately, so she quietly took her coffee and sandwich to a corner to eat.

Sigh.

What a dreadful world.

At that moment, Mu Ruo couldn’t have anticipated that worse things were yet to come.

She scrolled through her WeChat Moments and discovered that Fu Jianzhi had posted a status yesterday; he had returned from his overseas meeting.

For quite some time, Mu Ruo had heard nothing from him.

Now that she remembered him, she quickly sent a polite greeting.

“Hello, Mr. Fu.”

After a while, Fu Jianzhi replied with a simple, “.”

Mu Ruo awkwardly hinted, “It’s the beginning of the month again.”

Fu Jianzhi: “Mm.”

Mu Ruo clicked her tongue. How could the boss not understand her hint?

She made her hint more direct: “Boss, my salary…”

She then received a notification of a bank transfer.

Twenty million yuan was instantly credited to her account.

Seeing the long string of zeros, Mu Ruo felt as if her heart was filled with honey, and she forgot all about her colleagues ignoring her greetings. “Thank you, thank you! Love you, love you!”

Fu Jianzhi: “There’s a charity banquet tonight. Are you available?”

Mu Ruo: “Yes, yes, yes! At your beck and call, I guarantee to perfectly fulfill the duties of Mrs. Fu.”

Fu Jianzhi: “Love me?”

Mu Ruo: “I love you like I love my dad. From now on, you’re my daddy.”

A benefactor daddy is still a daddy.

Mu Ruo’s biological father was utterly unreasonable, favoring her stepmother and Mu Kui, treating Mu Ruo like trash picked up from a garbage bin.

In comparison, Fu Jianzhi, who gave her money, was the most amiable and respectable.

For Mu Ruo, money could solve ninety-nine percent of life’s troubles.

Just like now, her worries vanished because of the twenty million yuan.

As Mu Ruo munched on her sandwich, she thought about what financial investments would yield the best returns… Forget it, she might as well spend half and deposit the other half in the bank to earn interest.

Just as she was enjoying herself, a piece of news struck her like a bolt from the blue.

Director Zhao had suddenly added a new character.

Originally, the script only had Mu Ruo playing the beautiful but venomous princess. She and the tyrant were the highest in terms of beauty in the entire cast, symbolizing the decadence of the later stages of the dynasty that the male and female leads wanted to overthrow.

Now, there was an additional princess character, who was compassionate towards the people and stood with the protagonists to overthrow the court.

Yes.

The new princess was played by Xia Wanwan.

Xia Wanwan, unable to snatch Mu Ruo’s role, had returned home and cried silently.

Lu Beichen, who had boasted about helping Xia Wanwan get the role and promised to help her transition to acting, felt humiliated after Director Zhao’s firm rejection.

In most places, one can afford to lose face, but never in front of one’s own woman.

So Lu Beichen issued a harsh ultimatum to Director Zhao, threatening that if Xia Wanwan wasn’t allowed to join the cast, he would bribe the media to publicize Director Zhao’s ingratitude and that the Lu family would never invest in his future films.

This move enraged Director Zhao.

Director Zhao was genuinely a grateful person. He had publicly acknowledged multiple times that the Lu couple had helped him when he was young, praising them as exemplary Confucian merchants.

If, at this moment, the son of the Lu couple accused him of being ungrateful, he wouldn’t be able to clear his name no matter how much he explained.

For Director Zhao, the investment wasn’t even a big deal; Lu Beichen’s small change wasn’t even on his radar.

If Lu Beichen didn’t invest, plenty of other bigwigs would.

Director Zhao then temporarily had the scriptwriter revise the script to add an insignificant role.

Xia Wanwan insisted on playing a princess and wanted the character to be positive and well-liked by the audience.

Director Zhao, puzzled by her obsession with the princess role, added such a minor, inconsequential character for her.

When Xia Wanwan arrived, she bought a coffee for everyone in the crew, even for the assistants of other actors, and handed them out with a smile.

Everyone thought this young girl was enthusiastic and humble, so they treated her kindly.

Xia Wanwan spotted Mu Ruo in the corner.

Her eyes flickered, and she approached Mu Ruo with a coffee: “Sister Ruo Ruo, I’ve joined the cast too. You won’t be mad, right?”

Mu Ruo glared coldly at Xia Wanwan.

Damn.

Now she understood why the original character wanted to kill Xia Wanwan.

First, she mimicked the original character’s face to win over the man she liked.

Then, whatever the original character wore, she had to wear the same.

Whatever the original character liked, she had to buy the same thing first, even suggesting to others that the original character was copying her to seduce Lu Beichen.

Now, Mu Ruo just wanted to stay away from her and quietly earn some money.

Yet, Xia Wanwan had used her tricks to get into the cast too.

Who wouldn’t want to kill her?

Xia Wanwan lowered her head, looking pitiful: “Sister Ruo Ruo, if you’re upset and don’t want to see me, I can leave. Do you want this coffee?”

Mu Ruo sneered: “Can’t you see I already have a coffee?”

What a damn world.

Those damn protagonists.

Really makes you want to lose it.

After saying that, Mu Ruo went to the makeup room to change and get her makeup done.

As soon as Mu Ruo left, the rest of the crew got upset: “What’s her attitude?”

“Even the top actors don’t have such airs.”

“Wanwan, don’t be mad. Ignore such people. They don’t appreciate kindness.”

Mu Ruo’s appearance was stunningly beautiful. Even the top beauties in the entertainment industry paled in comparison to her.

Just by looking at her face, everyone assumed Mu Ruo was a scheming, manipulative woman who pretended to be pitiful to harm others.

Xia Wanwan, as a newcomer, endeared herself to everyone in the crew. And her looks were… well, average at best in the industry. Mostly, her makeup gave her a good vibe, and everyone thought she was a simple, kind, and positive girl.

Mu Ruo waited on set all day and finally filmed her scene in the evening.

The scenes were simple: she watched the slaves fighting in the arena and chatted with her brother. She nailed it in one take.

Xia Wanwan watched Mu Ruo’s performance and thought it was nothing special.

Her scenes were scheduled for the evening.