CH 7

Once Meng Yaxin said those words, the table fell silent. Zheng Baozhu forced a smile on her face and said, "Hahaha, Meng Yaxin has had too much to drink, don't listen to her."

Meng Yaxin frowned unhappily and denied, "I'm not drunk, I can still drink!"

"..."

Zheng Baozhu picked up a piece of food and stuffed it into Meng Yaxin's mouth.

Meng Yaxin whimpered twice but found the food tasty and picked up the chopsticks to grab another piece herself.

"Hehe, everyone, let's eat," Zheng Baozhu forced a laugh and urged everyone to enjoy the food, attempting to divert the topic from the Film and Television City. Unfortunately, Qi Sheng, the oblivious god, enthusiastically asked, "Miss Baozhu, you went to the Film and Television City? Did you... go to invest?"

Zheng Baozhu thought that was a good excuse and was about to respond when Meng Yaxin spoke vaguely, "No, she went there to become an actress."

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

Qi Sheng widened his eyes in surprise, "You want to become an actress?"

"I... didn't..."

"I think you'd be perfect!" Qi Sheng didn't even give her a chance to deny it, and he was acting as if he himself were going to become an actor, "You're so beautiful, you're on par with those celebrities on TV! Right, Qu Zhi?"

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

She wanted to throw Qi Sheng and Meng Yaxin out together. :)

Qu Zhi responded with an ambiguous smile and looked at Zheng Baozhu, "Speaking of which, Zheng Baozhu's childhood dream was to become a celebrity."

"Is that so? I support you, Miss Baozhu!" Qi Sheng had already started supporting Zheng Baozhu with enthusiasm.

Zheng Baozhu fell silent for a moment, and patted Qi Sheng's shoulder with her hand, gesturing for him to step back a bit. Then she took a handful of peanuts from the plate and looked at Qu Zhi with a wicked smile, saying, "Qu Zhi, I'm not a third grader anymore. If you dare to tattle to my mom, I'll make sure we both go down together."

As she spoke, she twisted the handful of peanuts in her hand, and when she loosened her grip slightly, the crushed peanut shells fell from her palm like dust.

It was as if she could shatter Qu Zhi's confidence.

Qi Sheng: "..."

Qu Zhi: "..."

Qu Zhi remained silent for a moment, looking at Zheng Baozhu's hand, he asked, "Doesn't your hand hurt?"

"..."

It did hurt, but it didn't matter. Zheng Baozhu didn't even furrow her brows and raised her voice with a confident tone, "Do you know what you should do now?"

Qu Zhi: "..."

Perhaps Zheng Baozhu really was suited to be an actress; he admired her acting skills.

Seeing that the dinner was about to turn cold, Cen Tongtong and Qi Sheng tried to rescue the situation, allowing the dinner to continue.

Afterward, everyone tacitly avoided mentioning the incident. It was already dark when they finished dinner. Zheng Baozhu saw that Meng Yaxin was so drunk that she couldn't walk steadily, so she arranged for her to stay in a hotel room for the night. Cen Tongtong and Qi Sheng drove back to the city together in the same car. Qu Zhi watched their car drive away, then turned back to the hotel. As he waited for the elevator, he happened to encounter Zheng Baozhu, who was also going upstairs.

Zheng Baozhu glanced at him and clicked her tongue, then walked toward the elevator. After the elevator doors opened, they both stood on opposite sides, creating a symbolic "38th Parallel" just like the one drawn on the school desk during elementary school.

The enclosed space was quiet, but they didn't pay attention to each other. Finally, as the doors opened, Zheng Baozhu couldn't help but remind him, "Remember not to tattle to my mom."

Qu Zhi snorted lightly and looked sideways, "Do you think I can keep it a secret from your family forever?"

Zheng Baozhu said, "I didn't plan on hiding it from them forever. When I achieve success, it won't matter even if they oppose it."

Qu Zhi responded indifferently, "Just like those scumbags who want to reap the rewards without putting in any effort."

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

"I remember when we were in our final year of high school, you wanted to apply to the Film Academy, but it almost sent your grandmother to the ICU in anger," Qu Zhi glanced at her, "Now your grandmother is even older, but it looks like you're not afraid anymore."

"Don't bring that up to me," Zheng Baozhu frowned slightly. Originally, she had planned to apply to the performing arts program, but she didn't anticipate that the class teacher would inform her parents. The whole family exploded after that, "It was only after I arrived at the hospital that I realized where my late aunt's acting skills came from. It turns out my grandmother was the master in acting."

"... Did your grandmother pretend to be ill?" Qu Zhi asked.

Zheng Baozhu clicked her tongue twice, "Our whole family is full of seasoned actors."

Qu Zhi: "..."

"Since she just pretended to be ill, why didn't you still register later on?" Qu Zhi asked.

Zheng Baozhu said, "In order to stop me from registering, they even came up with tactics like that. If I had actually registered, who knows what kind of trouble they would have caused."

In the past, she chose to compromise for the sake of family harmony, but now that she was independent, it was much easier to keep it hidden from her family than when she was in school.

Provided that Qu Zhi didn't tattle.

Thinking about it, she looked at Qu Zhi again. Qu Zhi seemed to know what she wanted to say and spoke before she did, "I'm not that bored, just make sure you keep it to yourself."

Zheng Baozhu looked at him in surprise, "You're that easy to talk to?"

"I'm not in third grade anymore, and I don't want to go down with you," he said, then looked at Zheng Baozhu and chuckled, "But I didn't expect you to be so persistent in your dream."

Zheng Baozhu raised her head slightly defiantly, "Why? Just because your dream got an A+ and mine got a B-, you're allowed to be persistent, but I'm not? Dreams don't have a ranking!"

"..."

Qu Zhi nodded and said, "But there's a difference in writing skills."

Zheng Baozhu: "..."

"Hmph!" Zheng Baozhu let out a proud snort and turned to leave.

As soon as she returned to her room, she heard a notification sound from her phone. It was a notice sent to the group chat. Almost instantly after the message was sent, people started replying to sign up. Zheng Baozhu had previously heeded Wang Jingyi's advice and had prepared her information in a note on her phone. She quickly copied and pasted it in response to the message.

Her speed was pretty good; she managed to secure a spot in the top ten. The group admin would select based on the order of registration and announce the final list.

Zheng Baozhu's name luckily appeared in the list compiled by the group admin, right after Wang Jingyi's name. Just as she was about to message Wang Jingyi, Wang Jingyi sent her a message first, "Congratulations! We can go to the set together tomorrow!"

Zheng Baozhu: Great!

Wang Jingyi: The group chat sends out pre-registration information at this time every day. You have to be quick!

Zheng Baozhu: Yeah, snatching roles is quite exciting!

Zheng Baozhu's heart was still pounding with excitement. She planned to check out this group chat at this time in the future, hoping for more opportunities.

Wang Jingyi: Hahaha, see you at the parking lot tomorrow. By the way, do you have a folding chair? If not, I'll bring one for you tomorrow.

Zheng Baozhu: Thanks, sis! I'll prepare one too.

Wang Jingyi: Yeah, there's nowhere to sit on the set, so we have to bring our own chairs.

Wang Jingyi also shared some extra casting tips with Zheng Baozhu and the two of them prepared eagerly for tomorrow's schedule. They were supposed to meet at 9:30 in the morning. Although Zheng Baozhu lived a bit far, she had plenty of time.

She woke up early in the morning, got everything ready, and opened her fortune-telling app to check her luck for the day—it was brown.

She picked a caramel-colored chiffon scarf from her hat, matched with a light brown wool coat. After changing into her outfit, she went to the restaurant for breakfast and then took a taxi to the Film and Television City.

She had considered driving herself, but thinking about how exhausted she might be after filming, she chose to take a taxi instead.

When she arrived at the parking lot, there were still twenty minutes left until the agreed time. The place was already crowded, they would be arranged together to go to the shooting location. Zheng Baozhu was looking for Wang Jingyi among the crowd when a girl called out to her, "Are you Zheng Baozhu? I'm Wang Jingyi."

Upon hearing her name, Zheng Baozhu turned to look. Wang Jingyi was a slim girl with long black hair and a pretty face.

"Hello, I'm Zheng Baozhu," Zheng Baozhu smiled and greeted her. Wang Jingyi had brought two chairs with her, she quickly handed one over to Zheng Baozhu. Then she continued to assess Zheng Baozhu and said with some astonishment, "You're so beautiful! How come you're in the standby group?"

"Well..." Maybe because the elder brother had only introduced her to the standby group admin?

"You have good qualifications too. How come you're in the standby group?" Zheng Baozhu took the initiative and asked.

Wang Jingyi replied, "My height is just shy of the requirement. If I were 168 centimeters tall, I could be in the main group."

"Oh, it's okay." Zheng Baozhu reassured her, "Anyway, I heard that both the main group and the standby group receive the same pay."

"Hahaha, that's true," Wang Jingyi laughed and started looking at Zheng Baozhu again.

Zheng Baozhu had really good qualifications. Although she wasn't particularly slim, her figure was great, and she was definitely taller than 168 centimeters, so entering the main group wouldn't be a problem. Most importantly, her face was exceptionally beautiful. Wang Jingyi had been a background performer in the industry for two months but hadn't seen such a gorgeous looking extra before.

Suddenly, Wang Jingyi exclaimed, "I heard that a foreground extra had a dispute with Sun Jing the day before yesterday. It's not you, is it?"

Zheng Baozhu blinked, slightly surprised. Bad news travels fast, doesn't it?

"How did you hear about this?" she asked.

Wang Jingyi replied, "I heard it from other colleagues who happened to be in Sun Jing's crew. They said Sun Jing felt that the foreground extra was too beautiful and was stealing the limelight."

When Wang Jingyi first heard about this, she didn't believe it. Although Sun Jing's acting skills were in doubt, her appearance was widely recognized. She couldn't be that lacking in confidence, right? Today, after meeting Zheng Baozhu in person, she finally understood.

"Sis, you're amazing!" Wang Jingyi gave Zheng Baozhu a thumbs-up, "Foreground extras are the bottom of the food chain on the set, and yet you dared to stand up to Sun Jing! You're incredible!"

Zheng Baozhu waved her hand, gesturing for Wang Jingyi to keep it low-key, "The status of foreground extras may be low, but we should still consider what is right and wrong."

"You're right, but on the set, the one who's more popular is always considered right," Wang Jingyi explained. She had also worked as an extra on the set and had experienced her fair share of frustrations, but she didn't dare confront the leading actors directly as Zheng Baozhu did.

Here, being unpopular was a sin.

"I see you're wearing Bunny's runway collection. Your family must be well-off, right?" Wang Jingyi earnestly suggested, "If possible, ask your family to invest some money in promoting your career. It'll be much better than struggling on your own here."

Zheng Baozhu responded, "My family doesn't support me in pursuing this career. I'm here on my own."

"Oh... I see." Wang Jingyi nodded. She heard the group leader organizing everyone to get on the bus, so she quickly pulled Zheng Baozhu along. It took an hour for the crew transportation to arrive at the shooting location. Before the bus even came to a stop, Wang Jingyi suddenly grabbed Zheng Baozhu's hand with a grip as strong as when Su Mingxi's when heard that Zheng Baozhu wanted to become a celebrity.

Startled, Zheng Baozhu asked, "What's wrong?"

Wang Jingyi couldn't contain her excitement and said, "This... This is the set of [Qing Chen]! The male lead is Lin Ziqin!"