Actresses

Chapter 27 Incoming Call

Only then did Shi Jiahe remember that there was a friend request from Sister Stone on WeChat. She quickly picked up her phone and clicked to accept it.

After that, Stone sent a flower emoji.

Shi Jiahe thought to herself, "Looks like this is another old-fashioned agent." "Let's grow old together," she thought, replying with a polite handshake emoji and a few more pleasantries.

On the way back, Xiao Zhao drove them there, and He Yuran didn't say a word. Xiao Zhao glanced at Shi Jiahe in the passenger seat every now and then, and when they stopped at a light, she would look back, clearly asking, "What's wrong with you today, sis?" Shi Jiahe also listlessly shook her head, meaning, "Don't ask."

He Yuran entered the residential complex from the underground parking garage and parked in front of the building. She got out and walked inside. Shi Jiahe told Xiao Zhao, "You go back first, I'll keep my sister company." Xiao Zhao nodded, started the car, and drove away.

After entering the house, He Yuran threw herself onto the sofa. She was completely dejected.

"Ran-jie, are you alright?" Shi Jiahe asked cautiously. "Shall I stay with you for a while?"

"If you don't have anything else to do, keep me company." He Yuran patted the sofa, sounding listless. "I suddenly feel like nothing I can do is of any use, and I can't do the things I want to do. Why didn't I make more friends and acquaintances in my younger days? Now I'm completely alone. I have to say, I feel like I've wasted my life."

"How could that be, sis? Nobody's life is always smooth sailing. You see, after talking with them today, I think they have a lot of problems too. Take that Stone Sister, for example, she must be covered in bruises every day."

As soon as Shi Jiahe finished speaking, the unspoken understanding made her realize what He Yuran was about to say next.

Sure enough, Sister Ran raised her head.

"Let me ask you, when I was at the height of my fame, was I as difficult to please as Zhuang Pan? But... she doesn't seem that difficult to please." He Yuran muttered to herself again. "But she's also very stubborn! I've found that when people become stubborn, they don't realize it themselves, but from an outsider's perspective, they're really annoying."

Shi Jiahe blinked, but didn't speak immediately.

Seeing no movement, He Yuran peeked out. "Alright, I understand. There definitely is. If you don't convince me in a similar situation in the future, it's your dereliction of duty."

Shi Jiahe wore a bitter expression but remained silent.

"Okay, okay, I got it! I was just saying. How about you keep me company for a moment?"

"Sister Ran, I'm afraid that if I talk too much, you'll get annoyed. I just want to stay here and keep you company."

"Why don't you send me all the scripts you've recently received, categorized by type? I'll see if there are any I can consider." He Yuran said this in a very calm tone, as if she had already given up on doing this project.

"Are you sure?" Shi Jiahe felt a sudden pang in her heart.

That wasn't anger. She knew she had no right to be angry, but she was still unwilling to accept it.

"Are you sure? It's like we have no other options if we're not sure."

"Okay, then I'll go turn on the computer." Shi Jiahe was also a little sulky, and she stood up abruptly as she spoke.

She thought to herself, "Is this all they're going to do? Okay, okay! What can I do if the boss really gives up?"

"Forget it, send it to me tomorrow. You'll have a drink with me today. I didn't drink enough at Gubei Water Town. Now that I'm well-rested, I promise I'll study the script properly."

"it is good."

That night, Shi Jiahe didn't leave, but stayed with He Yuran until they were both completely drunk. They opened one or two bottles of each kind of alcohol, and in the end, they were so drunk that they could only sit on the carpet, unable to even climb back onto the sofa.

Then Shi Jiahe heard something making a noise inside the room.

He Yuran said, "It sounds like a phone call; it keeps vibrating."

"Yours, or mine?"

He Yuran struggled to climb onto the sofa, then curled up in a different position, clutching her phone. "Yeah, yours, I guess."

Shi Jiahe staggered to her feet and looked around. "Where's my phone? I heard it too, where is it?"

It took her a while to spot a very familiar phone case in He Yuran's hand on the sofa. After a moment of hesitation, she asked to herself, "When did you get a phone case that's the same as mine?"

He Yuran didn't say anything, just held his phone and chuckled foolishly.

She walked over, snatched the phone, and examined it closely, only to find that the dust on the screen looked familiar. Then she saw the caller ID on the screen and realized she should answer it.

The caller was Wei Ning. She thought for a moment, who was Wei Ning?

"Feed? Ningning, hehehe." Shi Jiahe also laughed blankly for a while.

"My God, who are you? Drinking?" the person on the phone said.

"Yes. What's wrong?" Shi Jiahe plopped down on the carpet, leaned her head against the sofa, and closed her eyes.

She thought to herself, "I'm such a genius. How come I never thought of this before? I can answer the phone in such a comfortable position."

"I wanted to ask you, why did you have dinner with Zhuang Pan?"

"Zhuang Pan? How did you know? We just had dinner today, and it didn't go well. Did the news spread this fast?"

"Someone took pictures online. I couldn't believe it at first. But after scrolling through several sets, I found out that your Ran-jie went too? I mean, you know my relationship with Zhuang Pan, why didn't you invite me?"

"Ha!" Shi Jiahe laughed blankly. "What's your relationship? What could your relationship be?"

"She acted in one of my shows before."

Shi Jiahe opened her eyes, her nerves jolted, and she became a little more awake. "You two worked together? Which film?"

"Oh dear, that show didn't do well. It didn't make much of a splash; you probably wouldn't even know if I told you."

"So what? What's the point of having collaborated?" Shi Jiahe seemed to have a detached perspective, as if her soul had left her body. Another version of herself was observing her on the phone, and remarking that she never thought she could be so assertive when talking to people from the platform.

"Hey, you've had too much to drink. I won't hold it against you. Call me when you're sober," Wei Ning said and hung up.

Shi Jiahe tossed her phone aside, tilted her head, and fell asleep.

Although she's usually strict about her wake-up time, Shi Jiahe didn't know how long she'd slept this time because she'd drunk so many different kinds of alcohol last night. In her hazy state, she seemed to hear a sound again. She reached for her phone—again? She answered instinctively, "Hey, Sister Ran?" But then it dawned on her—wait a minute, Sister Ran seems to be sleeping right in front of her, and she's even turned over. Sister Ran is here, so who's calling?

A familiar voice came through the receiver, its tone clearly incredulous. "You're still asleep?"

Shi Jiahe felt a bit of a headache. She glanced at the caller ID on the screen and saw that the name was Wei Ning. She yawned first.

I think I dreamt about you. I dreamt that you called me.

Wei Ning said irritably, "What do you mean 'dreaming about me'? I already called you. I asked you to call me back, but I haven't heard from you. How long are you going to sleep? Is your studio really going to disband?"

"What's wrong? Oh dear, you drank too much yesterday." Shi Jiahe stood up, tiptoed to the kitchen, closed the door, and was afraid of waking He Yuran.

He Yuran has one major advantage: she sleeps very soundly and is very difficult to wake up. Of course, this advantage becomes a bit of a headache when she has a schedule to work on.

"Don't tell me you haven't even gone online yet," Wei Ning said.

"I'll check now! Is that alright? What big deal could it be?" Shi Jiahe pressed the speakerphone button and, before switching to the social media app to search for He Yuran's name, first clicked into the WeChat work group.

Sure enough, the group chat was the liveliest. Ding Yi sent her a bunch of WeChat messages. But the content wasn't very urgent; it just said that He Yuran had been photographed having dinner with a popular actress. However, the headlines were very sarcastic. The gist was that fans surrounded Zhuang Pan, while He Yuran was left alone, ignored and not cared about—a far cry from her former self. It was the kind of post that would definitely make any celebrity angry.

Shi Jiahe switched back to the various apps and scanned them again. After confirming there was nothing negative, she said into the phone, "I've finished reading them. What's up?"

"You didn't even tell me," Wei Ning said.

Shi Jiahe was still completely confused. It was just a simple meal between celebrities, so why was Wei Ning making such a fuss? "Isn't it normal for us to have a meal together? Why are you reacting so strongly? Calling me one after another. If you want to see me that much, you can treat me to a meal."

"Oh, you really don't care about me. I've worked with Zhuang Pan before. How many times do I have to emphasize that?"

"You've worked with so many celebrities, do I have to report to you every time I meet them? Shouldn't you be desensitized to celebrities by now? Why are you making such a fuss about us meeting Zhuang Pan?"

"Tell me first, is your meeting related to the matter you were looking for me with?"

"Yeah, we're going to collaborate later, but just pretend you don't know anything about it for now. Right now, everyone thinks it's just a meal," Shi Jiahe said casually.

Wei Ning hesitated, then said, "Hey, I think we can totally continue what you talked about last time! Why don't you involve me? I can handle all the platform-related matters for you."

Shi Jiahe is now fully awake.

She didn't answer immediately, but pondered why Wei Ning's tone had suddenly changed. Clearly, this man wasn't going to do anything without a reason, but he certainly wouldn't answer over the phone. If necessary, perhaps a meeting would be necessary.

"Oh, you're all top-tier young people. How could we possibly hire you for our senior citizen project? We'd have to overcome countless obstacles ourselves, wouldn't you say?" Shi Jiahe added sarcastically.

But Wei Ning became serious. "Hey, don't you understand the principle that one plus one is greater than two in this industry? We can all benefit each other, but you're going to go it alone. Let me tell you straight, if you want this to work out, you really can't do it without me."

Shi Jiahe found it amusing. Even if things were to actually happen, the final broadcaster was still uncertain. Wei Ning was just a producer, not the platform's vice president, yet he dared to make such boastful claims.

"That's up to Ran-jie to decide. There's no point in us talking about it now. You should help me find a script, Ning-ning. Besides, I remember you and Zhuang Pan had a bit of a falling out back then, didn't you? Zhuang Pan was the second female lead, and the marketing accounts were saying that fans were talking about how your production team was promoting the second male lead without even including him in the discussion."

"You actually believe such unreliable rumors!" Wei Ning said angrily, but then she paused meaningfully, "What if I had a suitable script?"

"Really?" Shi Jiahe glanced into the living room subconsciously.

"You didn't tell me everything last time. You need to tell me exactly how many cards you have in your hand, or we should meet up as soon as possible."

"Then I need to know first if your story is what I'm looking for," Shi Jiahe said.

"Of course! If I didn't have that confidence, why would I call you? And let me tell you, no matter who you ask, you won't find another producer who is as genuinely helpful to you as I am," Wei Ning said with extreme confidence, his tone as if the matter was already settled.

Shi Jiahe's drunkenness had completely worn off, and her mind returned to its usual working pace.

She thought about it and figured Wei Ning might actually be quite capable, after all, he'd worked on so many S+ series, and his screenwriting resources shouldn't be underestimated. But she just didn't know how much of it was true.

"I'll discuss it with Sister Ran and get back to you later," Shi Jiahe said.