Chapter 36: Selfishness
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5821232
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
Qin Shiyue, who seemed to have gained some understanding of acting, clearly improved a lot in both performance and state in the following shoots. Though she still had her share of NGs, the results were much better than before.
It had been about ten days since she started practicing scenes with Lin Qingyi, rehearsing at night, filming during the day. Qin Shiyue had never felt so fulfilled. After a full day, she would fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
“Sister Fang, how about we just move to Lin Qingyi’s hotel?” Qin Shiyue suggested. Lately, she had been going back and forth to Lin Qingyi’s place to rehearse. It was such a waste of time and energy. It would be much more convenient if they stayed at the same hotel.
“You must not do that. You’ve only just gotten divorced, and you’re already staying overnight at the same hotel with another woman. Even if there’s really nothing going on between you two, others won’t believe it. A seamless connection is never good,” Fang Xinhua quickly objected.
“Even if we stay at the same hotel, it’s definitely different rooms. Besides, those who are clean are self-clean. I don’t care what others say!” Qin Shiyue said indifferently.
“Even if it’s different rooms, as long as it’s the same hotel, who can prove you didn’t sneak into her room to stay the night? Compared to being in the same room, it’s not much different. It’s unclear and hard to explain. Besides, even if we don’t care about reputation, do you think someone like Movie Queen Lin, who treasures her feathers so much, would not care? She helped us, we can’t return kindness with ingratitude, right?” Fang Xinhua quickly persuaded Qin Shiyue to give up the idea. After all, the two hotels weren’t far apart, just a three-to-five-minute drive.
“You’re right. I can’t just think about my own convenience and trouble others.” Qin Shiyue was instantly persuaded. Before getting close to Lin Qingyi, she did want to throw some dirt on her. But after getting to know her, she felt that aside from being narcissistic, liking to put on airs, and teasing her, this woman was actually pretty okay. She spent so much time every day helping her, unless her conscience was black, she could not drag her into scandal.
Fang Xinhua was very pleased to see her Baby Qin'er persuaded by her words. As long as the reasoning was clear, Baby Qin'er was always very sensible. Such a sensible and obedient baby, who wouldn't like her?
“Even if you do have feelings for Movie Queen Lin, let’s not rush. There’s plenty of time in the future,” Fang Xinhua comforted.
“Who said I have feelings for her?” Qin Shiyue instinctively raised her voice and denied it right away.
Fang Xinhua thought, your reaction told me. Why else would your voice suddenly shoot up several pitches? That’s clearly a sign of guilt. But she noticed something, this time, Baby Qin'er's feelings for Movie Queen Lin weren’t as direct and straightforward as they had been with her ex-wife. Instead, there was a shy twist to it, even a bit of pride. But this kind of reaction looked even more like how a woman in love should act.
“She doesn’t even like me. I’m not stupid. How could I still have feelings for a woman who doesn’t like me?” Qin Shiyue added again, as if afraid Fang Xinhua wouldn’t believe her.
“I think Movie Queen Lin treats you pretty well. Actually, she treats you quite specially. I don’t think she’d be willing to spend that much time and energy every day on someone she doesn’t care about,” Fang Xinhua said calmly. After more than ten days of interaction, she had a rough grasp of Movie Queen Lin’s personality.
“That’s because you don’t know I promised her a favor. Maybe she’ll need my sister’s help for something in the future,” Qin Shiyue said, very self-aware. She felt she had nothing of value to offer, so it was likely her sister would be the one repaying this favor.
Fang Xinhua had thought the same at first, but now she believed it was more likely that Movie Queen Lin was interested in Baby Qin'er herself. She noticed that Movie Queen Lin’s attitude toward others was always calm and distant, but when it came to Baby Qin'er, the corners of her lips would always lift. That smile could not be hidden. And Movie Queen Lin often teased Baby Qin'er during their scene practices to the point of making her blush deeply. Once or twice might be the usual behavior of a straight woman, but when it happened so often, it became hard not to suspect that she was using work as an excuse to flirt.
Even if she herself was not yet fully familiar with Movie Queen Lin, Bai Wenxi, who had followed her for years, was absolutely certain that her Movie Queen Lin was interested in Baby Qin'er, and Fang Xinhua trusted Bai Wenxi’s judgment.
“Maybe,” Fang Xinhua said, not exposing the truth. She felt Baby Qin'er had already been drawn to Movie Queen Lin. That attraction was still vague and unclear. Realizing her feelings too early might not be a good thing for Baby Qin'er. Feelings were a kind of tug-of-war, a game of give-and-take. The one who fell first, the one who invested more, would be the one at a disadvantage. Naturally, she would be biased toward her Baby Qin'er. Even if she felt Baby Qin'er was destined to be the one at a disadvantage, she still hoped that the disadvantage would come a little later.
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5821232
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
Qin Shiyue had originally hoped Fang Xinhua would say more about how Lin Qingyi might have a bit of a thing for her. She did not expect Sister Fang to go along with what she said so quickly, agreeing that Lin Qingyi's kindness and help might have other intentions. Feeling sulky, she stopped talking.
“By the way, the second season of [Hi!] on M Channel is about to start filming. They still want to invite you as a regular female guest for this season,” Fang Xinhua said. She had checked the schedule, if the show filmed at night, it could still fit in.
Other less important projects had either been dropped or pushed back. As a major variety show, [Hi!] was still worth taking. It would help reinforce Baby Qin'er’s popularity, and the pay was quite good, much better than what she got from this drama.
Qin Shiyue might be weak in acting, but she had a great sense for variety shows. In fact, the shows she had joined before had earned her more fans than her dramas ever did. That was why Fang Xinhua leaned toward giving Qin Shiyue more variety show and luxury brand endorsement resources. If Qin Shiyue had not insisted on acting in this drama herself, Fang Xinhua most likely would not have let her take it.
[Hi!] was a variety show that, in the previous season, featured all top-tier male celebrities in the entertainment industry and Qin Shiyue, who could not be paired with any of them as a CP, yet somehow had CP sense with every one of them.
A bunch of popular pretty boys, plus a pretty girl who definitely would not steal fans from them. Together they made a visual feast for looks-obsessed viewers. Unsurprisingly, the first season of the show was a huge hit. Both Qin Shiyue and the male celebrities gained a lot of new fans. The show and the cast boosted each other’s popularity, and the program's influence rose with the tide. For Season 2, all the top celebrities in the industry were fighting to become regular guests.
“I’m not taking it. I want to focus on filming.” Qin Shiyue immediately rejected it. Just thinking about going to record a variety show at night, losing the chance to rehearse with Lin Qingyi, made her feel it would affect her acting the next day. She had made up her mind to take filming seriously this time and did not want any distractions.
“The pay is very good, and it helps maintain your popularity…” Fang Xinhua felt this was a great opportunity. It would be a shame to turn it down. A few days ago, Baby Qin'er had been slandered for acting like a diva, that was the rival company buying articles to smear her, hoping to steal this offer. But Fang Xinhua quickly suppressed the rumors. Compared to Baby Qin'er, the rival actress was clearly lacking in popularity, variety sense, and overall image. So even though this season’s offer was much higher than the last, M Station still agreed to keep Qin Shiyue.
“Do I lack money? Do I lack popularity? I don't. What I lack is a representative work I can be proud of.” Qin Shiyue said righteously. She already had fame and money. What she wanted now was to shake off her label as an acting blackhole. Right now, with Lin Qingyi’s guidance, her performance was getting better. If she lost focus and could not get that momentum back, it would be a real shame.
"Alright, I'll turn it down for you." Fang Xinhua saw that Baby Qin'er refused so firmly, so she didn't try to persuade her anymore. She thought having an idol drama as a representative work didn’t sound very glorious, but Baby Qin'er truly wasn't lacking in money or popularity, her happiness mattered most. Still, this kind of high-quality opportunity might end up benefiting the rival team. Just thinking about the team that had always been against them picking up this offer left her feeling a bit upset.
"Thanks, Sister Fang." Qin Shiyue knew Fang Xinhua had wanted her to take the offer. It would’ve been good for boosting her popularity, but she still preferred to do well with what she had on hand now.
That night, during a script run with Lin Qingyi, Qin Shiyue told her about her decision to turn down the variety show, because she wasn’t sure if she had made the right call. Although they had only been working together for about ten days, she already felt Lin Qingyi was smarter than her, and she had a strange sense of trust in her, almost on par with the trust she had built with Fang Xinhua over the years.
Lin Qingyi was a little surprised that Qin Shiyue would take the initiative to ask for her opinion.
Lin Qingyi knew very well that Fang Xinhua's expectations for Qin Shiyue's future still leaned toward being a top traffic star, not a true actress. So wanting her to accept M Channel’s prime-time variety show made sense—it was a great way to add to her popularity. As long as the schedule could fit, it was an offer with nothing but benefits.
In this drama, Qin Shiyue had already figured out how to act by simply playing herself. Even without practicing scenes with Lin Qingyi every day, she wouldn’t mess up like before. Practicing with Lin Qingyi now just helped polish her performance, making her acting feel more natural and layered. But if they were talking about a real leap in acting skills, it wasn't likely to happen in this drama. That would require a more complex role and storyline.
In other words, continuing to work hard on this drama wouldn’t add much more to the vase’s growth. A passing score of 60 was already within reach, and with effort, maybe she’d hit 70. But doing the variety show would definitely boost her popularity a lot more.
This trade-off, top manager Fang saw clearly, and so did Lin Qingyi. Lin Qingyi knew if she laid it all out, the vase would definitely listen and go take the variety show. That would mean no more script runs between them, and she could finally relax and stop staying up late every night. But she just didn’t want the vase to take that variety show.
“Filming during the day and recording a variety show at night is too tiring. There’s no need for you to push yourself like that. Besides, splitting your focus will still affect your acting to some extent. Just focus on doing one thing well,” Lin Qingyi said, a little selfishly. Even if she wasn’t being selfish, she truly didn’t want to see the vase wear herself out. Qin Shiyue already had fame and wealth. If she really needed popularity, Lin Qingyi could help her.
“You think turning down the show was the right choice too?” Qin Shiyue asked happily. Having her decision supported meant a lot to her.
“At least it wasn’t the wrong one,” Lin Qingyi replied calmly. Once the drama aired, she’d help promote it for her.
Lin Qingyi, who always disdained hype, had already started planning ahead, for Qin Shiyue.
Author’s Note:
Qin Shiyue: I made a wise and mighty decision.
Lin Qingyi: Baby, you just need to stay by my side. If you want fame, want popularity, that’s easy, I can give it all to you. Beauty comes with a free career boost.
There's a random red envelope.
