Chapter 31

Jiang Shuwan was a bit confused. Although Ding Fengjiao was the mistress of a crime syndicate boss and even had several powerful men on the side within the industry—making her situation sound truly precarious—the system had never mentioned that she would face complete ruin.

The system fell into a suspicious silence, and the mechanical voice carried a trace of guilt:
[Did I not mention that?]

Jiang Shuwan responded firmly, with a hint of accusation: “You didn’t.”

The system went quiet again for a few seconds, then guiltily but inexplicably self-justified:
[It’s normal that I didn’t say it. That was originally something set to happen next year, and it probably wasn’t picked up during retrieval. This falls under permissible deviation within the rules.]

Jiang Shuwan sharply caught one word: originally.

“So it was supposed to happen next year—what about now?” she asked.

[Due to the influence of certain factors, things have changed. Of course, everything in the world is in constant flux. The retrieval results at any given moment can only correspond to the future node of that exact moment. The future is illusory; the present is real.]

Jiang Shuwan: “In plain language, that means the retrieval result doesn’t equal the actual future, and now Ding Fengjiao’s life trajectory has changed due to some reason, causing her so-called downfall to arrive earlier?”

[According to the current retrieval results, shortly after filming The Regent Prince wraps up, her assistant Xiao Tian will expose her. At the same time, her top lover—boss of a crime syndicate, known as ‘Black Tiger’—will be arrested by the police. She will also be imprisoned for harboring and shielding a criminal.]

Jiang Shuwan: “Wouldn’t that affect the film?”

[Yes. Just when the film had been shot, edited, and was awaiting approval, it got stuck in the review process and never made it to release. It ended up becoming one of the great regrets in domestic film history.]

Jiang Shuwan was stunned. She had finally landed a role in a film, and now it might never see the light of day?

What’s more, although she hadn’t been in the crew for long, she could clearly feel this production was different from the low-budget ones she’d experienced before.

In those previous productions, even the director would say, “Good enough will do; let’s just earn a bit of money.”

Characters, plot, costumes, sets—nothing was crafted with care.

But The Regent Prince was different. Not to mention Director Luo Qingyao, the preparation alone had taken two years. Every single crew member worked with heartfelt passion.

Everyone hoped this movie would be a box office hit, win awards, and become a brilliant highlight on their résumés.

“This won’t do,” Jiang Shuwan muttered. “When interference occurs during an experiment, the proper response is to remove the interference, not allow the experiment to fail.”

“Hmm, one shouldn’t arbitrarily interfere in the experimental process, but minor adjustments should be permitted.”

Not far away, Ji Hanzhang seemed to sense something and looked toward Jiang Shuwan.

He vaguely heard Jiang Shuwan say something like this won’t do in her mind, but didn’t catch what exactly wasn’t okay.

From his angle, he could see her profile clearly, and it looked like her lips moved slightly.

Ji Hanzhang withdrew his gaze and thought for a moment before understanding: it seemed the mind-reading ability had its limitations.

For example, he could hear the voice in Jiang Shuwan’s heart, but if she voiced her inner thoughts aloud—even if softly—he wouldn’t hear them.

Ji Hanzhang didn’t dwell on this minor discovery.

He had passively acquired this extraordinary ability and passively learned many things about this girl that she kept hidden.

These were things he had no power to change.

The only thing he could do was not actively invade her privacy.

—

Jiang Shuwan was a very rational person. Even though she now knew Ding Fengjiao’s ultimate fate through the system, that didn’t stop her from admiring her acting. In fact, after learning this might be Ding Fengjiao’s final performance, she observed and learned from her even more seriously, wholeheartedly focused.

Coincidentally, for several days, Ji Hanzhang didn’t hear any inner thoughts from Jiang Shuwan regarding Ding Fengjiao.

Several things of minor importance occurred during these few days.

One was that Ding Fengjiao’s assistant—the one rumored to harbor a growing seed of hatred, Xiao Tian—asked the receptionist at Wanzhou Hotel about ordering lunch boxes. She was turned down with the reason: “Limited service, first come first served, and the quota is full.”

At that time, Jiang Shuwan happened to be leaving the key to her little electric scooter at the front desk so they could help her park it. By coincidence, she overheard the conversation between Xiao Tian and the receptionist.

Because she felt a faint curiosity at that moment, the gossip-hungry system quickly filled her in on the follow-up. As Xiao Tian had failed this task, she was beaten by Ding Fengjiao again when she returned to their room—further entrenching that seed of hatred.

Jiang Shuwan couldn’t help sighing. Both times Xiao Tian was beaten, it had been over lunch boxes. And those lunch boxes… were specially arranged by Han Jinzhou through the hotel. Tracing it back—wasn’t it all because of her?

Another incident: for some reason, Ding Fengjiao suddenly gave up trying to seduce Ji Hanzhang and instead turned her attention to Xia Xiangyang.

Xia Xiangyang was a typical blockhead, utterly insensitive to romantic cues. If you talked to him about love and poetry, he’d respond with hot pot and spicy skewers. Basically a case of a chicken talking to a duck. Ding Fengjiao couldn’t handle it for long and gave up.

And then—

Ding Fengjiao moved on to flirt with Liang Hao.

To be honest, if you ranked everyone in the cast by status, there were plenty of people below Xia Xiangyang—Liang Hao would be far down the list.

But Ding Fengjiao just wanted to find a fresh-faced young man in the crew to amuse herself. She wasn’t selecting actors like the crew would—checking rank or fussing over who’s first or second lead.

Since she couldn’t get the male lead or the second lead, she just picked someone who looked good.

Although Liang Hao was low-ranking and his acting skills were lacking, in terms of looks alone, he really was among the top in the entire crew.

The third incident could be considered a derivative of the previous one.

After hooking up with Ding Fengjiao—

Of course, not many people actually knew about this. Jiang Shuwan only caught wind of it immediately because she had the cheating tool known as the system.

In short, while others were clueless, ever since Liang Hao got involved with Ding Fengjiao, his entire demeanor had undergone a complete transformation—cocky and smug, strutting around like a fox assuming the majesty of a tiger.

He even came up to Jiang Shuwan and babbled on self-righteously, saying things like, “You’ll never know what you gave up,” “Precious gems will always be recognized by discerning eyes,” and “Even though you were so heartless, once I rise to success, I’ll still extend a helping hand to you…”

Jiang Shuwan: This is hard to comment on.JPG

Jiang Shuwan: What did I ever see in him back then.JPG

Jiang Shuwan: Thank goodness my love-brain has been cured.JPG

—

It was another new day.

Preparations for the afternoon shoot were rather complicated, so after finishing the morning scenes, they were miraculously given a full two-hour break.

The sky was overcast with no sun. After picking up their boxed lunches, everyone broke into small groups to find sheltered spots to eat and rest. Jiang Shuwan was warmly invited by Xia Xiangyang to his makeup room.

Before stepping inside, Jiang Shuwan turned back and saw Liang Hao walking into Ding Fengjiao’s makeup room with two boxed lunches. She calmly turned around, and only upon entering did she realize that Xia Xiangyang had also invited Ji Hanzhang.

Actually, Jiang Shuwan found this a bit odd. Although the movie emperor Ji always had a gentle and polite demeanor, he typically kept a certain distance from others. He didn’t seem like someone who would casually join in for a group meal just because someone asked.

Maybe she had a preconceived notion about Ji Hanzhang.

Jiang Shuwan reflected on this.

Everyone’s lunchboxes looked identical on the outside, but once opened, Xia Xiangyang glanced at hers and remarked in surprise, “Huh? Your dishes are different from mine.”

He then looked at Ji Hanzhang, who was eating slowly and methodically. “Mr. Ji has the same food as me.”

Xia Xiangyang added, “When I ordered the food, the receptionist didn’t mention there were different tiers. How much was yours?”

Jiang Shuwan thought, Mine contains all the dishes I like. The hotel wouldn’t know your preferences, so they probably just chose popular items.

She casually deflected, “Mine’s twenty yuan cheaper than yours.”

Xia Xiangyang was puzzled. “Why? Your meal is clearly better than ours.”

Jiang Shuwan: “…”

She thought to herself, That’s because Manager Zhou was thoughtful enough to consider that you’re all celebrities, so the meals were made lighter and healthier.

She continued with a casual excuse, “Oh, I must’ve remembered wrong. It was twenty yuan more expensive.”

Ji Hanzhang looked up at her, and a faint smile flashed in his deep, dark eyes.

Just then, the system’s mechanical voice suddenly rang out:

[Host, Pang Hongshuo, the Deputy General Manager of Huala Entertainment, has arrived.]

Jiang Shuwan’s movements paused briefly, then she quickly sped up, shoveling her food down in a hurry. The moment she finished, she snapped the chopsticks together, closed the lid, and packed up the insulated lunchbox.

Xia Xiangyang asked, “Hey, what’s with the sudden rush to eat?”

Jiang Shuwan didn’t answer. She briskly walked to the door and saw a middle-aged man in a suit, plump and imposing, walking in with Wang Youde by his side.

Wang Youde beamed as he said, “President Pang, you’re so considerate. Don’t worry, Teacher Ding’s acting is top-notch. Director Luo is extremely pleased with her and often praises how she’s both talented and hardworking.”

Director Luo Qingyao was known for being serious and socially awkward. His blunt manner of speaking often offended people, and he was very self-aware about it. So, he left all networking and social niceties to the smooth-talking Wang Youde.

Pang Hongshuo smiled and said, “It’s only right. Teacher Ding is one of our company’s pillars, and The Regent Prince is a project we highly value. I intended to visit the day she joined the crew, but something came up and delayed me until now.”

Wang Youde replied enthusiastically, “It’s our honor that President Pang holds The Regent Prince in such high regard!”

The Regent Prince was a male-led drama, with very few female cast members. Ding Fengjiao was the sole female lead. Out of respect for her, the crew arranged for her makeup room to be in the innermost, most private spot.

Because of this, Pang and Wang passed by Xia Xiangyang’s makeup room first. By coincidence, their small talk had come to a natural pause, so when they walked by Ji Hanzhang’s room and finally reached Ding Fengjiao’s, the door was still closed, and there was no sound from within.

Jiang Shuwan calmly watched Pang Hongshuo’s back and thought:

[Here comes Backer Number One, about to collide with Liang Hao.]

Ji Hanzhang put down his chopsticks and glanced at Jiang Shuwan.

Outside, just as Wang Youde and Pang Hongshuo were about to knock on Ding Fengjiao’s door, Xiao Tian suddenly popped out of nowhere and shouted loudly, “President Pang, what are you doing here?!”

Her voice was already high-pitched, and now, raised even higher, it was shrill and piercing—drawing everyone’s attention in an instant.

Pang Hongshuo, an old fox in the business, narrowed his eyes slightly at her reaction and asked in a deep voice, “Is Teacher Ding inside?”

Xiao Tian nodded. “Yes…”

Then quickly shook her head in a panic. “No, she’s not!”

Pang Hongshuo sneered and ordered, “Open the door.”

Wang Youde looked at Xiao Tian, then at Pang Hongshuo, sensing something was off.

Faced with the company’s deputy GM, Xiao Tian was trembling with fear. Her legs went weak as she fumbled to pull out the key, but her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn’t get it into the keyhole.

“I-I…”

The more flustered she became, the deeper Pang’s frown grew. Eventually, he lost his patience, grabbed the key from her, and inserted it himself.

Just as the key turned with a click, a crew member hurried over to Wang Youde and whispered, “Director Wang, Producer Zhang from the Spring Mountain After Rain crew is here to visit Teacher Ding.”

[Whoa, here comes Backer Number Two too!]

Jiang Shuwan thought.