Extra 1

Ning An’s latest movie 《Blue Cloud》 would be released on National Day in October.

It was a literary film that tells the story of a young girl’s coming of age and has tragedy as its core.

Movies of this type generally don’t make big hits at the box office.

When it was released, a lot of Ning An’s fans as well as Chen Chacha helped promote it. Gu Fanghua even stated that 《Blue Cloud》 was the best movie of the year.

The box office on the first week was okay.

So why did Chen Chacha and Gu Fanghua promoted it?

Because they both have investments on the movie; although it wasn’t much. They could only use love to generate electrical power^[1]to work for little or no reward.

During this period, Ning An haven’t paid attention to the box office because her classmates asked her to perform at the National Day celebration.

The person who invited her was from the opera club. Ning An had never tried performing live on stage before, so she agreed to do it because she found it interesting.

Moreover, there were Chen Chacha and Gu Fanghua in the opera club, so she felt that if she refused, she would appear too arrogant. However, this reason only accounted for a small factor. The most important one was still because she’s interested.

The material they chose to do was 《Hamlet》, a story about a prince’s revenge.

Because there were many people performing at the celebration and time was limited, the club president shortened the storyline a bit, but it was still longer than other performances.

Therefore, the school placed them at the finale. Only with Ning An, Gu Fanghua and Chen Chacha present could they ensure that the students in the school wouldn’t leave midway.

The day of the celebration was very lively, with not only students and people from outside the school, but also reporters in the audience.

The performances were very interesting and soon it was time for the final one, which was a play presented by the opera club.

Hamlet was being played by the club president. He’s a tall guy with a profound profile, which was suitable for the role.

Ning An played Ophelia, who’s in love with Hamlet.

Chen Chacha played the dead king who was now a ghost.

And Gu Fanghua played Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude.

……

The lights on the stage dimmed, and one by one the actors took the stage. They performed professionally, and as amateurs, they were pretty good.

Soon, the last scene came to a perfect end thanks to the superb acting skills of the members who has been coached by Gu Fanghua.

After the curtain falls, the entire cast came out, lined up side by side, and bowed to the audience.

There was a moment of silence below, and then thunderous applause rang out.

The actors all exited.

In the dressing room, members of the opera club were taking off their makeup.

Gu Fanghua was experienced and was the first to finish changing. The long dress she wore for the performance was her own, as the club wasn’t particularly well-funded.

She clapped her hands together and everyone looked at her.

Gu Fanghua smiled and said, “Well done.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Before they came into contact with the other party, she was a goddess in their eyes. After contact, she became a devil.

Gu Fanghua left with a satisfied mood.

By the time Ning An changed her clothes, Chen Chacha had already left. She said goodbye to everyone and walked through the back door.

She took a detour to the back entrance of the school, but before she reached it, she was stopped by someone on a rather dimly lit path.

The person was tall and was wearing a flat cap.

Ning An had no sense of danger and thought that she wouldn’t encounter any danger at school. She raised her head and took a closer look at the person who’s blocking her.

The man lowered his head and his eyes seemed to be on her.

Ning An looked at him for a long time. His head was lowered and was blocking the weak light coming from above, making it difficult for her to see his face clearly.

“You don’t recognize me?” The man finally spoke.

Ning An was startled and took two steps back.

Didn’t Wei Jia graduate early? Why will she encounter him there as well?

Wei Jia was the actor who co-starred with her in her last movie and left a deep shadow on her.

“I don’t know you, you got the wrong person!” Ning An hurriedly said, then turned around and ran away.

If her fitness instructor was there, she would’ve praise her for her explosive power.

Wei Jia looked at Ning An’s retreating figure and fell into deep silence.

———pr

One month after the release of 《Blue Cloud》, the box office has exceeded 100 million. For a movie with only 20 million funds, this was considered very good.

Chen Chacha once again proved she has an eye for investment.

Ning An, on the other hand, was oblivious to what was going on outside and spent every day in the library.

Although she’s popular now, the company didn’t arrange for her to take on idol dramas or the like. They only allowed her to continue to develop in the film industry and their selection was strict.

It can’t be helped. Who let the big boss, Chen Chacha, make the all call?

Therefore, Ning An lived a steady life in the entertainment industry, and there was no chance of her being harmed by unspoken rules. Everyone knew that Chen Chacha was standing behind her so they dare not mess with her.

Ning An was very grateful for this and was in no hurry to make money.

She only basically focused on studying acting and spent very little money, so she had no actual feelings about the tens of millions of deposits in her account.

If it were one million, she would still understand.

After the movie was released, Yan Shanmei gave her a new movie and two variety shows, mainly to increase her popularity. Moreover, after participating in variety shows, people would feel more close to her, which was good for solidifying fans and attracting new ones.

Of the variety shows, one was a talk show used to promote new movies and one was a reality show.

The movie shoot was scheduled further ahead, so she made time to film first.

Ning An got up early in the morning to get ready and went to the shooting location with her assistant and Yan Shanmei.

The new movie was a story about a merchant, a thief, a pirate and an ordinary citizen all fighting for a treasure. The story sounds quite ordinary and boring at first, but the script was very interesting. The director was Wei Jinsheng, who had just finished filming a sci-fi movie. He had written and was directing this new movie without stopping.

Yan Shanmei thought the script was great, but she was afraid that if Ning An filmed so urgently, the effect wouldn’t be good. However, after asking the big boss, Chen Chacha, she finally accepted the drama.

The set was in a small town near the suburbs.

It takes several hours to get there by car.

Ning An was playing the role of the first female lead. Her starting point was too high, so basically, except for special circumstances, she would only take on roles as the female lead. However, this script was different. It has multiple leads and each character was a starring role.

Ning An first read the script in the car. While she did, she asked, “Who are the other actors?”

“Wei Jia, Gu Fanghua, Zhang Zhixin and there’s also a few newcomers.” Yan Shanmei answered.

“Wei Jia’s also here.” Ning An’s brow immediately furrowed, feeling a little troubled.

Wei Jia just debuted this year and his first work was 《Blue Cloud》. It would be no surprise if he wins an award at the upcoming film festival, such as the Best Newcomer Award and the likes.

But what bothered Ning An was Wei Jia’s character, which was extremely shameless. He likes to put on a front, but he was even more trouble-making than Chen Chacha.

When Ning An was filming 《Blue Cloud》, he was constantly bossing her around.

However, his attitude was very natural. Every time, Ning An would only realized what had happened after she had already done his bidding. Both circumstances and reason told her she didn’t need to do any of it at all!

Ning An arrived at the set with very complicated mood.

The entire crew would be staying at a small hotel in the town. The place wasn’t big, so except for the big names like Gu Fanghua and Ning An, the other newcomers and staff would be staying in a room of two or four people.

It’s not because the crew was poor but mainly because there’s not enough space.

The crew was very rich. Because Chen Chacha invested in this movie, other people who believed in her vision rushed in to invest one by one.

There’s so much money that they couldn’t even spend them all.

At this time, all the staff members have arrived, but the other actors weren’t there yet.

After tidying up the room, Ning An went out to eat.

Just before she reached the hotel entrance, she saw a tall man standing beside the door looking a bit like a ruffian.

Ning An wanted to turn around and take the back door, but the man turned his head to look at her.

She had no choice but to go over and say hello.

With a cigarette in his mouth, We Jia asked, “Where are you going?”

Ning An said, “Nowhere.”

Wei Jia narrowed his eyes.

Ning An wimped out within seconds. “Eating out.”

Wei Jia’s lips curled up. “Just in time, I’m about to go out as well. Let’s go together.”

“Won’t that be bad?” Ning An hurriedly made an excuse, “Sister Yan told me not to eat alone with male artists since there will be rumors.”

There were footsteps from behind her, followed by Gu Fanghua’s voice, “A lone man and woman will create rumors so why don’t we go together? Two women and one man will be fine.”

Ning An looked at Gu Fanghua silently. Please don’t be so kind……

But Ning An didn’t dare voice her opinion out loud. She couldn’t offend the two people present. Wei Jia was shameless while Gu Fanghua was her mentor. Her liver hurts just thinking about it.

Wei Jia smiled. “Indeed, let’s go.”

Gu Fanghua was aware of Ning An’s reluctance just by looking at her.

But there’s something about Ning An that made people want to bully her, so she couldn’t help but cause trouble for little Ning An.

Look at her aggrieved little eyes, so cute.

Ning An didn’t know what kind of evil thoughts Gu Fanghua had in her mind, and thought the other party was just being considerate, so she helplessly followed along.

The three of them found a hot and sour noodle shop.

Their managers thought they were resting in the hotel but they were out, each ordering a bowl of hot and sour noodles.

Ning An wasn’t a picky eater and basically all kinds of food were delicious in her opinion.

But hot and sour noodles was one that she thought was particularly delicious.

However, she had been under supervision before and didn’t dare to eat it. This time, after Gu Fanghua’s persuasion, she quietly ordered a bowl. But she also ordered a bowl of rice noodles in clear soup.

The hot and sour noodles was appetizer and the rice noodles in clear soup was the main course.

Otherwise, if she gets acne, she would be castigated by Yan Shanmei.

The shop was very small and so were the tables. If they weren’t careful, they could accidently bump into people sitting next to them.

Ning An and Wei Jia sat in the same row while Gu Fanghua was opposite them.

Ning An’s arm kept touching Wei Jia’s. Because of the hot weather, they both sweated a bit, so it felt a little sticky, which was weirdly embarrassing.

She couldn’t help but scoot to the side. But the more she moved away, the more reckless Wei Jia’s movements became.

Ning An: “……”

She stopped moving. She didn’t believe that in such a hot weather, Wei Jia could endure his arms touching hers all the time. It was hot to death!

However, she waited and waited, her orders were served and the steam drifted on her face, but Wei Jia was as steady as a statue.

Ning An had no choice but to admit defeat. Shrinking herself into a small ball as much as she could, she reluctantly picked up the disposable spoon.

Wei Jia turned his head and glanced at Ning An, only to see her tiny, huddled and pitiful appearance. She carefully scooped up a spoonful of hot and sour noodle soup and blew on it to cool it down. After talking a sip, she said with a surprised expression, “Delicious.”

Gu Fanghua looked at her with a smile.

The shop owner, who was wiping the workstation, gave her a jovial look.

Like a little angel, she’s cute no matter what she does, Wei Jia thought.