Chapter 48: Forty-Eight Fires

After sleeping for half an hour in the room, Yan Duo changed clothes and went to join the others. They had a quick meal together and then set off for the TV station.

After a few people got out of the car and followed the TV station staff to the small conference room, Yan Duo finally noticed that Director Chen Guang, Liu Chuang, and another male actor had arrived early; after exchanging greetings they all sat down.

Everyone else was quite warm, except for Liu Chuang, who glanced at Yan Duo sideways with a look of disdain, but Yan Duo didn’t mind.

Director Chen looked at Yan Duo and Zeng Meng, smiling as he asked Yan Duo, “Did you two just come from the same crew?”

Yan Duo answered with a smile, “Yes.”

Director Chen asked again, “Your next project is a movie too, right? When will you join the crew?”

Yan Duo: “Yes, it’s a film. After the promotion here is done, I’ll join the crew.”

Director Chen: “Thank you for your hard work. What type of film is it?”

While Yan Duo answered Director Chen, Zeng Meng and Zhou Yingmeng whispered to each other, “Do you think Director Chen already knows about the relationship between Yan Duo and Ji Ran?”

When we were on set before, Director Chen was quite kind to Yan Duo, but he wouldn’t be so attentive or talk endlessly like this. We hadn’t seen each other for months—this change is just too drastic.

Zhou Yingmeng made a “shh” gesture, signaling to Zeng Meng not to bring this up now, but in her mind she thought that although the media hadn’t released any hard evidence photos, Ji Ran’s hints on the variety show were already very clear; everyone understood the two were just waiting for the right public moment.

Also, Yan Duo’s manager, Qi Sixian, was handling things in an obvious way.

Although they hadn’t directly announced Yan Duo and Ji Ran’s relationship,

But in other respects they made big moves: they first rounded up those attention-seeking “standouts” and publicly exposed all their lies, yet they deliberately left the speculation about “Ji Ran and Yan Duo’s relationship” for netizens to imagine freely. At the same time they released plenty of official pieces about Yan Duo—none of them praised her excessively, nor tried to overshadow others or drag anyone down. They simply posted some beautiful stills of Yan Duo, compared her improved acting and different roles. Though the topic wasn’t explosive, it was subtle and effective; combined with the rumors that Yan Duo was Ji Ran’s wife, the result was particularly good.

What’s more worth mentioning is that during this period there were in fact people who wanted to smear Yan Duo’s reputation, but how could Qi Sixian’s thunderous methods and the entertainment-industry clout backing Ji Ran allow them to succeed? Their attempts were promptly deleted as soon as they appeared. So, for a long time there hasn’t been any bad news about Yan Duo; she’s very popular with the public, and when the time comes to reveal the two of them publicly, many people will support them.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yingmeng let out a deep sigh—sometimes a person’s fortunes are truly unpredictable. An ordinary person only needs one such benefactor to rise to tremendous fame, and Yan Duo, who has two powerful patrons plus looks and acting skills, could become unbelievably famous; even feeling jealous seems pointless.

After the crew chatted for a while, a host came in to join them for a meeting.

This time they were taking part in an outdoor competition reality show. Today their main job was to go over the script—indoors, to review all the points to watch for, all the potential issues, and to rehearse the games in advance to prevent any accidents during tomorrow’s actual recording.

Yan Duo looked at the script in front of her, which wasn’t much shorter than the screenplay, and reciting it mechanically she finally understood why this show was going downhill, while Ji Ran’s episodes—full of chaos, scares, and genuine reality—had become popular.

Because there was a script and everyone present was an actor, no one found this kind of variety show embarrassing. After quickly running through the program, Director Chen and the male actors from the crew left, leaving Yan Duo, Zeng Meng, and Zhou Yingmeng to learn the dance from the TV station’s dance teacher.

For this episode, the producers added this dance segment to increase the shock value. Yan Duo and the other two, plus the two female resident MCs, would all perform together.

After three hours of practice she finally got it. Zeng Meng sat on the floor, rubbing her back, and said, “These days, if you don’t have some skills to fall back on, you wouldn’t dare appear on a variety show.”

Before coming she hadn’t heard the director mention dancing. Now, being made to learn to dance with uncoordinated limbs was like forcing a duck onto a stage.

Yan Duo and Zhou Yingmeng said nothing. Asking them to learn a difficult routine in three hours was a lot for three non-professional girls; both of them sat on the bench, too exhausted even to speak.

Finally the three of them rested for ten minutes, helped each other up, and left the dance studio.

Thanks to the exhausting afternoon of work, Yan Duo fell asleep not long after returning to the hotel after dinner and slept through the night until morning, with no time to think about anything else.

The next morning at dawn, the crew left the hotel, got into the two vehicles the production team had parked outside, and drove straight to the filming location.

Thirty minutes later, when the car arrived at Q University’s gymnasium, students were already packed outside, and waves of cheering roared deafeningly.

First to get out were the six regular MCs, followed by the crew. The car ahead held the director and the other male actors, and the car behind carried the actresses.

Yan Duo followed Zeng Meng out of the car and, seeing the dense crowd being held back by security, was a little surprised. She hadn’t debuted long and had only been on a few variety shows, so this was the first time she’d encountered something like this. After composing herself, Yan Duo smiled and walked into the stadium behind Zeng Meng.

“Zeng Meng, Zeng Meng, look here!”

“Yan Duo, I’m your fan ahhh.”

The scene was noisy, with many people talking and taking photos, but Yan Duo could still pick out the voice calling her name. She smiled and made a heart gesture toward the fans, thrilled—thinking this feeling of almost being a superstar was simply wonderful.

Just as Yan Duo was lost in her daydreams, a sharp question suddenly came from the crowd.

“Yan Duo, are you Ranran’s wife? Can I ask how you managed to win him over?”

Yan Duo’s face stiffened at the words; a second later she recovered and, pretending not to have heard, carried on walking as if nothing had happened.

Once everyone had entered the gym and there were no longer any fans gathered around, Zeng Meng, stifling a laugh, said, “That fan asked you how you managed to win Ji Ran over—were they trying to manufacture your success?”

Yan Duo glanced at her, snorted, then answered with a straight face, “Do you think I’d tell her and let her steal Ji Ran away? How naïve!”

Zeng Meng watched Yan Duo’s tsundere act, covered her mouth and burst out laughing, and Zhou Yingmeng beside her couldn’t help but smile as well.

There was no one else in the gym to interfere, so the shoot went quite smoothly; it was only during the chat segment that the questions the regular MC asked Yanduo changed.

Host: “Zeng Meng, you were the female lead in this drama, with Yan Duo supporting you, but in the scene you just wrapped, I heard you were the one supporting Yan Duo. Does such a reversal of roles create a psychological gap for you?”

Zeng Meng replied breezily, “I don’t really feel that way. The fact that the two of us have ended up in the same production twice is already a rare coincidence. It doesn’t matter who is the lead and who is supporting; everyone just needs to be the lead in their own life.”

After asking Zeng Meng, it was Yan Duo’s turn. According to the original plan, the host would first ask about her role in the show, then ask Yan Duo, “What do you think about the various rumors online?” without mentioning Ji Ran’s name, glossing over the matter.

But when it came time to ask that question, it was phrased like this: “People online are saying you and Ji Ran are married. Do you have anything to say about that?”

Although Yan Duo hadn’t expected the question to change, the smile on her face in front of the camera remained appropriately poised. “They’re all rumors. I have nothing to say.”

“So are you single now?”

Yan Duo nodded, “Yes.”

The host was clearly unhappy with that answer and, pressing on, asked aggressively, “When was the last time you lied?”

Yan Duo’s eyes rolled playfully, and she smiled as she answered honestly, “Just now.”

The host laughed: “Really? Then which question did you lie about just now?”

Yan Duo smiled and asked back: “You tell me!”

By this point the host realized there was no big scoop to be had, so he smiled and switched the topic to someone else.

When Yan Duo was being put on the spot, Zeng Meng and Zhou Yingmeng beside her exchanged a glance, both a little puzzled about what the production team’s sudden move was meant to accomplish.

After the gym’s shots were finished, the group prepared to move locations. Just before getting into the car, the host who had just interviewed Yan Duo came over to apologize to her.

“I just wanted to say the questions I asked you earlier were ones the director had me add at the last minute. I hope you don’t mind.”

Yan Duo smiled and replied, “I don’t mind. But if there are any more changes coming up, please let me know in advance. If the crew suddenly changes the script, I’m worried I might say the wrong thing and affect the shoot!”

If there weren’t a script and they were just recording randomly, Yan Duo would have had nothing to say. But everyone else was following the script and only her scenes were being changed—of course Yan Duo had objections.

The host hit a soft, awkward snag, and after making sure there wouldn’t be any further changes he slunk away embarrassed.

Once back in the car, Zeng Meng whispered to Yan Duo, “Did that host suddenly changing the script seem messed up to you? I don’t think it was the production’s doing. Duo, have you offended him somehow?”

Yan Duo shook her head. “I’ve never had any interaction with him.”

From her debut until now, Yan Duo had always restrained her words and behavior and hadn’t offended anyone in the industry, and she had never even dealt with that host.

Zhou Yingmeng on the side cautioned, “Whoever’s idea it was, you should still be careful from now on, so you don’t accidentally fall into the trap they’ve dug.”

From Zhou Yingmeng’s perspective, whether it was personal grudge or official business, this matter had been communicated in advance; changing the script at the last minute was unfair to Yan Duo and a rather underhanded move.

Yan Duo nodded, saying nothing.

Fortunately, no similar incidents occurred during the rest of the shoot, and everything was filmed according to the script.

This matter wasn’t really a big deal, and she had even managed to bluff her way through it, so Yan Duo hadn’t told anyone. But on the drive back to the hotel, she received a call from Qi Sixian.

“Is the filming going smoothly?”

Yan Duo had no doubts, “It went pretty smoothly.”

Qi Sixian: “That’s good. I’ve already spoken to Director Chen on the phone. If this kind of situation happens again during future promotional events, just go to him—he will handle it.”

Yan Duo took three seconds to register Qi Sixian’s meaning. “Oh, oh, okay.”

Qi Sixian still didn’t trust Yan Duo, so she warned again: “You know, don’t let yourself suffer grievances you don’t have to. If Sister Qi can’t help you clean up the mess, your husband will. What are you scared of? Confront them head-on!”

Although Yan Duo handled it well this time, that didn’t guarantee she could smooth things over every time in the future. Qi Sixian didn’t want to see Yan Duo trembling with anxiety every time she filmed a show.

Yan Duo twitched at the corner of her mouth when she heard that. If she really did that, she’d become the reigning queen bee of the circle, but she also understood Qi Sixian’s good intentions. She didn’t argue and went along with her, agreeing to everything. Once back at the hotel she asked Fang Fang, “Did you say that?”

Fang Fang nodded.

Yan Duo: “You call this a big deal? Who else did you tell?”

Fang Fang didn’t dare to look at Yan Duo’s eyes, “Teacher Ji. 86kanshu.com”

Yan Duo felt somewhat helpless, “Can I make a deal with you? Don’t tell them about such small things in the future, it’s unnecessary.”

As for Ji Ran and Qi Sixian who cared about her, Yan Duo couldn’t ask Fang Fang to tell them nothing, but she also didn’t want to trouble them with every small matter.

Fang Fang looked up at Yan Duo, nodded and said okay, but sighed in her heart. She could only say that with two such caring “guardians” for Yan Duo, whether it was Yan Duo or herself, they were both in a difficult position!

Yan Duo thought that after Ji Ran found out about what happened in the afternoon, he would, like Qi Sixian, give her a bunch of advice about not letting others bully her, but whether they were on the phone or texting, Ji Ran didn’t mention it at all. Finally, Yan Duo couldn’t resist sending him a message to ask.

[About what happened this afternoon, don’t you have anything to say?]

Ji Ran’s message took a while to arrive, [Mmm, you’re very smart, handled it well.]

Yan Duo looked at the message, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Did this person think she was asking for praise!

【Is that all?】

This time, it took almost three minutes for the message to arrive.

【Kind of want to see you dance.】

At this moment, Yan Duo really didn’t want to say anything. She put away her phone, not wanting to reply. She could only say that the way men and women think was just too different; they couldn’t connect.

A moment later, Ji Ran’s message arrived again.

[I went to my parents’ home today and only learned while chatting with my mother-in-law that you actually took pole dancing classes in your sophomore year?]

While Yan Duo was touched that he would visit her parents, she also felt a bit embarrassed that her mother would even mention this to Ji Ran, but she still didn’t deny it.

[Mmm.]

[You must dance beautifully.]

Being praised by Ji Ran, Yan Duo felt a bit elated. In the entire dance class, the teacher had said she danced with the most spirit, so she should be decent, but when replying to Ji Ran, Yan Duo didn’t show off and humbly replied: [Just so-so.]

Ji Ran asked again: [Are the moves difficult?]

Yan Duo didn’t understand why Ji Ran would ask this question, but after thinking about the dance moves, it seemed fine.

【Not too difficult.】

The next second, Ji Ran sent a photo of a steel pipe, followed by a message.

【The steel pipe is in place, waiting for you.】

Yan Duo looked at the pole dancing picture standing in her and Ji Ran’s bedroom, feeling her face start to burn. After all this talk, it turned out he was just trying to trick her into dancing!

Of course, that wasn’t the point. The point was making her pole dance in front of Ji Ran—that was simply deadly!