Read advanced chapters at Shanghaifantasy.com

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Night enveloped the city, and the clouds were tossed and turned by the cold wind.

The moonlight illuminated Luo Yan’s eyes for a moment.

The handshake lasted only two seconds.

Luo Yan’s gaze at her underwent a subtle change.

Surprise, doubt, disbelief.

Finally, there was pity.

Pity?

Jiang Cha thought for a moment that she was hallucinating.

“Where did you buy the ring?” Luo Yan resumed her polite smile and said softly, “It’s very beautiful.”

Jiang Cha raised her left hand and looked at it in the moonlight. A large square diamond was emitting a cold white halo, and the golden thin ring made her fingers look delicate and white.

Jiang Cha smiled slightly, her expression becoming soft and gentle.

“A friend gave it to me.”

“A ring on the left middle finger is usually given by a lover, right?”

“…”

Jiang Cha lowered her eyes and hesitated, “I guess so.”

They stood very close, and when saying these words, Luo Yan leaned slightly closer to Jiang Cha’s ear, lowered her voice, and almost whispered.

“You probably don’t know, this ring was discontinued ten years ago.”

Jiang Cha’s long eyelashes trembled, and she looked up.

••••

At night, the French windows were wide open, and the night breeze, carrying the spring tide, slowly invaded the air inside the villa.

Ji Fan sat at the table and took the light blue box from the drawer.

The rings were originally a pair, similar in shape, with thin rose gold olive leaf rings, but the diamonds were of different colors.

One ring was set with white diamonds and was worn on Jiang Cha’s hand.

The remaining one was set with a sapphire, as deep and blue as the sea. When she held it and turned it in the moonlight, the changing light was like the seabed under the bright sunlight.

It was of very high purity, with a 13.8-carat main diamond, and no flaws could be found even under tenfold magnification.

The ring belonged to her mother.

Ten years ago, she gave the ring to Luo Yan, and after they broke up, Luo Yan returned it to her untouched.

“I can’t accept such an expensive gift,” she said.

Ten years later, Luo Yan was going to marry her brother. On that day, Luo Yan called her to discuss investment matters, and Ji Fan brought this set of rings again.

Desperately, she hid it in her bag.

They made an appointment at a private restaurant by the lake. In the distance was the sparkling lake. In the sunset, Luo Yan looked more beautiful than in her memory. At that moment, Ji Fan almost wanted to take out the ring and let Luo Yan make a choice again.

But she didn’t.

She was afraid she would fail.

Or rather, she had known for a long time that she would fail.

They were no longer the children they used to be. They couldn’t be together back then, and now, it was probably even more difficult.

Even sitting face to face with her, Ji Fan felt a slight embarrassment.

She tried to give the ring to Luo Yan twice, but both times failed.

Dizzy and confused, she had so easily given it to Jiang Cha.

Ji Fan picked up the remaining ring and put it on her own finger, feeling a sense of absurdity.

••••

The moonlight was obscured by clouds.

Luo Yan’s eyes were hidden in the shadows, her expression contemptuous.

After saying that, she turned and greeted the director and producer familiarly one by one.

It was as if she had only exchanged polite greetings with Jiang Cha a moment ago.

But Jiang Cha was somewhat puzzled.

Discontinued ten years ago?

She didn’t think much of it, feeling that Luo Yan might have mistaken it, after all, the styles of the rings were very similar, and who could remember exactly what a ring looked like ten years ago?

Her doubts only lasted for a moment before she put them behind her.

In the night, the restaurant slowly rotated, and in the night, the twinkling lights flowed quietly in the distance, as beautiful as the Milky Way.

The dining mode was semi-buffet style, with all appetizers, various chilled seafood, and desserts available for unlimited buffet. The producer and Song Baiwei together selected several signature dishes carefully prepared by the chef—

Slow-roasted Australian rib-eye steak, Boston lobster ink pasta, and old-style oil-poached bamboo shoot fish fillet.

The menu was then passed to Jiang Cha and Luo Yan, asking them to choose as well.

“Has the publicity team started the first wave of pre-heating?” the producer asked slowly after taking a sip of red wine.

“They have. Forum posts, hot searches, we’ve bought everything we needed,” the other person replied.

Song Baiwei smiled slightly, looking at them, “Actually, this film has its own built-in traffic. We just need to focus on making a good film and ensuring the quality.”

In recent years, IP adaptations have been incredibly popular, from movies to TV series. Almost every popular novel has been adapted.

The film “Camel Cigarettes” is no exception. Adapted from a long-form spy novel by Mai Hui, which won the 11th Chinese Literature Award last year, the novel tells the extraordinary and tragic fate of twin sisters during the warlord era of the Republic of China.

Both sisters work as spies, and the story is legendary, full of suspense and mystery. At the same time, it offers a rich and detailed exploration of the human psyche.

Unlike traditional serious literature, this novel has a wide audience. Even before winning the award, it had already gained immense popularity, with rave reviews. People who hadn’t even read the novel but had heard of it were everywhere.

It’s no exaggeration to say that it was a nationwide sensation.

The reason is that the plot is incredibly ingenious.

Without seeing the ending, no one could have guessed that the female spy codenamed “Camel” was not one person but a pair of almost identical sisters.

A particularly impressive scene is at the end, when the villain, holding a gun, thought he had killed the terrible female spy “Camel” and began to relax his tense nerves, he suddenly felt a cold sensation at the back of his head.

Another gun was pressed against the back of his head.

The woman holding the gun had the exact same face as the woman lying in a pool of blood.

Only then did he realize that “Camel” was two people.

The one who died was the sister.

The sister was still alive.

When Jiang Cha heard that they had started the initial promotion, she lowered her head and took a look at Weibo.

Sure enough, there it was.

It must have been posted today. The hot search ranking was not very high, around the top 15, but the upward trend was obvious.

Camel Cigarettes Casting

[Warner Group. is preparing the film “Camel Cigarettes”. The director is Song Baiwei, and the cast currently includes Luo Yan, Jiang Cha, and Zang Handong. All the main actors are acting talents, so the viewing experience is guaranteed.]

Below it was a nine-grid image with close-up photos of the main actresses.

Jiang Cha’s photo was a still from a previous Republic of China period drama she had acted in.

She played the role of a young miss from a wealthy family in the Republic of China.

A white silk cheongsam outlined her slender figure, the cheongsam was split, all the way up to her thigh. She leaned against a carved screen, holding a folding fan in her hand, her long white legs crossed gently, and her long hair was pulled back into a dark bun at a low position on the back of her head.

Her classical eyebrows were slightly arched, her lips were red, and her eyes were smiling slightly. She wore a pearl necklace around her swan neck, which matched the white pearls on her earlobes, creating a soft and charming look.

Luo Yan’s photo, on the other hand, showed her in a military uniform.

Sitting at a table, her slender index and middle fingers held a white cigarette, and through the smoke, a face with red lips and white skin could be seen, her eyes holding an ambiguous smile.

Her eyebrows carried a hint of masculinity, yet they were also charming, quickly attracting a wave of fans to leave comments under the Weibo post.

“Luo Luo is so beautiful!”

“Angelic beauty ahhhh. [heart emoji]”

“So manly, I love it! [rose emoji]”

After praising Luo Yan, fans couldn’t help but take a dig at Jiang Cha.

“Is this hot search funny? When did Jiang Cha become an acting talent?”

“Oh my god, Jiang Cha is riding on the heat again.”

“With her here, the movie is doomed to be bad.”

“If she didn’t look like Luo Yan, who would choose her to act?”

“She’s just lucky. If I looked like a movie queen, I could be famous too.”

There were also a few who encouraged her.

“Looking forward to Cha Cha!”

“The casting is normal. In the book, they are a pair of sisters, and since they look alike, why can’t they act together?”

“Jiang Cha isn’t a professional actor, so everyone can’t expect too much.”

Their voices were too small.

They were quickly overwhelmed by the army of Luo Yan’s fans who were dissatisfied with the casting.

She had guessed that this would happen.

Jiang Cha closed her phone.

She felt both frustrated and resentful.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

The fact was that she was less skilled.

Jiang Cha lowered her head, feeling even more dejected.

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