“You dead girl, what are you talking about? You’re the one who’s lovesick!”
Hearing Deng Sha’s teasing, a flash of panic first crossed Yang Rong’s eyes, then she got a bit flustered and angry.
Deng Sha grinned cheekily. “Oh come on, I’m just looking out for you. Seeing you all listless every day really tugs at my heartstrings, so I thought I’d cheer you up.”
Yang Rong was unmoved. “That’s your reason for spreading rumors that I’m lovesick? I think you really deserve a beating, you dead girl!”
With that, she raised her hand and swatted at her.
She didn’t use much force, but Deng Sha let out an exaggerated yelp and quickly ran off, saying as she ran, “My bad, my bad, I said the wrong thing!”
“Now you know you’re wrong? Too late!”
Yang Rong chased after her.
Seeing the two of them fooling around—
Everyone was already used to it.
After all, Deng Sha, that little rascal, basically came up with some new antic every day to liven up the atmosphere.
Only Huang Junwen’s brow furrowed slightly.
Didn’t I tell you to adjust your state, Yang Rong?
Why the hell are you messing around with someone instead?
He was about to say something.
But just then—
“Hello, is this the ‘Swordsman’ film crew?”
A gentle voice came through, drawing people’s attention.
They all looked over and saw a woman with a pure-looking face and very lovely makeup standing not far away, holding a box in her hands and looking at them curiously.
Seeing this, Deng Sha and Yang Rong, who had been chasing each other, both stopped.
Huang Junwen looked over and let out a small sound of surprise. “Big S? Teacher Xu?”
Hearing this, Xu Xinyuan’s face broke into a serene smile. “Hello. I take it you must be the director of the ‘Swordsman’ crew, Director Huang Junwen?”
“Yes, yes, yes. Teacher Xu, what brings you here?”
Huang Junwen responded and quickly got up to greet her.
This was a big star.
In ’01, she shot to fame across the country with “Meteor Garden.”
Her career afterward was like a rocket—whoosh, whoosh, straight up.
Though she hadn’t quite reached top-tier status yet, she was still a first-line celebrity—definitely not someone Huang Junwen could afford to offend.
Hearing this, Xu Xinyuan smiled slightly and lifted the lunchbox in her hand. “Nothing much. I just came by to see Teacher Jiang and bring him a meal.”
“Teacher Jiang?”
At these words, Huang Junwen was slightly taken aback, then his expression turned strange. “Um, Teacher Xu, Teacher Jiang isn’t here right now!”
“Hm? Did he go practice martial arts again?” Xu Xinyuan asked.
Huang Junwen shook his head. “No, no, no. Teacher Jiang didn’t go practice martial arts. He went back to the capital. Didn’t Producer Wu tell you about this?”
Xu Xinyuan didn’t speak, but the bewildered look in her eyes already made it clear she had no idea about this at all.
And no wonder.
More than half a month ago, she had just been discharged from the hospital when she received notice from her company to go elsewhere for appearances and show recordings.
She had just gotten back today and hadn’t even rested before coming to find Jiang Nian, which was why she had no idea what had happened on set during her absence.
Now, hearing Huang Junwen’s words—
Xu Xinyuan looked at the lunchbox in her hand and instinctively asked, “Then when is Jiang Nian coming back?”
“That I can’t say for sure, but if Teacher Jiang comes back, I’ll definitely let you know right away. How does that sound?”
Huang Junwen offered a solution.
Xu Xinyuan thought about it. “Okay.”
While the two of them were talking—
nearby, hearing their conversation, Deng Sha lowered her voice and said to Yang Rong, “Sister Rongrong, I think this Teacher Xu is also interested in Teacher Jiang!”
This wasn’t her stirring the pot because she enjoyed drama.
It was just that, based on everything Xu Xinyuan had shown so far, all signs pointed to it.
“Tsk tsk, is Teacher Jiang some kind of succubus?”
“First it was Sister Qiao’en, then you, and now even Teacher Xu Xinyuan from the neighboring crew shows up.”
“Sister Rongrong, the pressure is massive.”
Deng Sha teased.
This time, Yang Rong didn’t argue back.
She just stared at Xu Xinyuan, who was chatting with Huang Junwen, her eyes shifting uncertainly, her heart a tangled mess of emotions.
To be fair, at the beginning, she hadn’t had much of a feeling for Jiang Nian at all.
She just thought he was fairly humorous and charming, good with words, and knew how to make girls happy.
But gradually, as time went on—
After witnessing one incredible move after another that Jiang Nian displayed—
Yang Rong’s heart inevitably began to waver.
They say what you can’t have is always stirring, and the favored have nothing to fear.
But compared to that, what’s even harder to accept is getting something and then watching it vanish without a trace in the blink of an eye.
If she and Jiang Nian had been completely clean, with nothing ever happening between them, then fine.
No matter how outstanding Jiang Nian was, it had nothing to do with her, and she wouldn’t care.
But as it happened, on the very first day of filming, Jiang Nian had started flirting with her.
Saying things like “I, Lin Pingzhi, owe her this,” “She’s my wife, it’s only right”—things like that.
While it made her heart flutter, it also inadvertently planted a seed in her heart.
If things had developed normally, with Jiang Nian pursuing her—
That seed might have sprouted, or it might have just died outright—fifty-fifty odds.
But as it happened, Jiang Nian took another path.
That is, he just left her alone entirely.
He even went and flirted with other women right in front of her!
That was a bit too much for Yang Rong to accept.
Because in her subconscious—
Since Jiang Nian had shown interest in her on the first day, he would one hundred percent pursue her.
But now, that one hundred percent had become eighty percent.
And as time went on, it kept getting lower and lower.
Meanwhile, Chen Qiao’en—
After the incident with the tiger coming down the mountain—
Her relationship with Jiang Nian had grown closer and closer.
It looked like it wouldn’t be long before the two of them got together.
This made Yang Rong, the “original wife,” unable to accept it.
She couldn’t understand—clearly, by order of arrival, she came first, and Jiang Nian had been interested in her from the start.
So why was she now being overtaken by someone who came later?
Where was she lacking?
Confusion and jealousy made the seed sprout, turning into weeds that spread wildly in Yang Rong’s heart.
Even the last bit of rationality she had—
Upon seeing Xu Xinyuan looking for Jiang Nian and showing interest in him—completely snapped.
She now had only one thought: as the “original wife”—
“I can’t lose!”
Yang Rong murmured softly.
“Huh? Lose what? Sister Rongrong, do you want to read a book?”
Deng Sha beside her looked completely confused.
Yang Rong didn’t answer.
She just turned and walked into the crowd, adjusting her state, planning to finish filming first. As for everything else, she’d deal with it slowly once Jiang Nian got back.
Meanwhile, on the other side—
Chen Qiao’en looked at Xu Xinyuan, her expression also somewhat strange.
But unlike Yang Rong’s intense reaction—
Though she was also a bit uncomfortable, she didn’t say much.
Because she knew very well that with Jiang Nian’s abilities, there would inevitably be plenty of admirers around him.
Including herself—she was just one of them.
Chen Qiao’en didn’t fantasize about being able to change Jiang Nian, to make him settle down.
At the very least, she didn’t want to lose too completely.
But even so—
Looking at Xu Xinyuan, she couldn’t help but sigh. “Teacher Jiang’s romantic luck really is flourishing.”
Beside her, Yuan Shanshan nodded solemnly as if it were a serious matter, clicking her tongue in wonder:
“Flourishing? It’s practically overflowing! You and Rongrong make two, and then add this Teacher Xu—that’s three.”
“This isn’t a film set—it’s a harem!”
Hearing this, Chen Qiao’en was slightly taken aback. “Rongrong? She’s interested in Teacher Jiang too?”
“Yeah.” Yuan Shanshan nodded, then looked at Chen Qiao’en strangely. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice. Her attitude toward Teacher Jiang has been very ambiguous this whole time!”
“Uh… I really didn’t notice.” Chen Qiao’en scratched her head.
It was mainly because her focus was basically always on Jiang Nian.
She really hadn’t paid much attention to what was going on with Yang Rong.
If Yuan Shanshan hadn’t pointed it out, she would’ve thought she was the only one on this set interested in Jiang Nian.
“Guess I still underestimated him.”
Chen Qiao’en’s tone was peculiar.
“Brother Jiang, are you sick?”
Sitting in the car on the way back to Jinyun Xiandu, noticing Jiang Nian suddenly shiver, Zhang Linyu asked with concern.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian rubbed his nose. “Nothing. I just suddenly had a bad feeling.”
“A bad feeling?” Zhang Linyu echoed.
“Yeah, but I can’t put my finger on it. Just feels like something might be off.”
Recalling that strange sensation from a moment ago, Jiang Nian had a vague sense that some troublemaker might be out to get him.
And not openly either—sneaking around, scheming behind his back, pulling little tricks.
“Could it be that bastard Huang Lei is getting ready to make a move on me?”
Jiang Nian frowned, pondering, but felt it didn’t make much sense.
It wasn’t that he looked down on Huang Lei.
It was just that even if he let Huang Lei come at him—
With that bastard’s abilities, it was doubtful he could do anything to Jiang Nian.
But that fleeting feeling just now gave Jiang Nian a strong sense of something troublesome, something tricky.
“Can’t figure it out.”
Jiang Nian scratched his head, genuinely unable to work it out, and gave up thinking about it.
He just turned to Zhang Linyu and asked, “By the way, those scripts I asked you to find for me—any leads yet?”
Hearing this, Zhang Linyu shook his head. “No. It has to be a eunuch role, has to appear in one or two episodes, and has to have some level of strength. Honestly, that’s pretty tough.”
“Although some small studios said they could specially rewrite a script for you—”
“It’s just that the price is a bit hard to talk about. Most are in the hundreds of thousands, not a single one breaking a million.”
Zhang Linyu reported the situation honestly.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian’s brow furrowed slightly.
If this were before he made it big, a few hundred thousand—not to mention just a few episodes, he’d have filmed an entire series for that.
But now, honestly speaking, that price was indeed a bit too low.
Still, considering his current urgent need for comprehension points—
Jiang Nian figured it was tolerable. So he asked, “Do you have the scripts?”
“Huh?”
Zhang Linyu was slightly taken aback.
“‘Huh’ what? If the script’s good, a few hundred thousand isn’t unacceptable.”
“Holy shit, you’re serious? Bro, do you know how serious this is?”
Zhang Linyu was utterly shocked.
Lowering your rate to take a role—this wasn’t particularly rare in the entertainment industry.
But there were three necessary conditions.
One, whether the project is officially backed.
Two, whether you know the director.
Three, how promising the project is—can it blow up, are there big-name stars attached.
Only if at least one of these three conditions is met is it reasonable to lower your rate for a role.
Otherwise, you’d inevitably get labeled as short-sighted, someone who’s never seen the big leagues.
That’s deadly serious.
You have to understand—the instinct of all living things is to worship the strong and trample the weak!
If you’re always on top of others, they won’t just keep quiet—they’ll say you’ve got real ability and respect you even more.
Conversely, if you show even a hint of weakness, they’ll pounce.
If Jiang Nian took a crappy role for a few hundred thousand now—
Those people would definitely think: if a few hundred thousand gets Jiang Nian to film this garbage, then our project is so much better—big stars, big production—if we offer him two or three million, wouldn’t he come running with his tail wagging?
And then others would see: this piece of crap script, at that price, got him to come? If I offer more, I’d be a sucker—I should lower my price too.
And so the cycle goes. Slowly, Jiang Nian would easily fall into the awkward situation of high fame but low pay.
“So you can’t take it. Absolutely cannot take it!”
Zhang Linyu pleaded earnestly, hoping to change Jiang Nian’s mind.
But these words fell on Jiang Nian’s ears like wind past them.
“What are you jabbering on about?”
“I practice martial arts, damn it. What use do I have for all that?”
“Cut the nonsense. Hand me the scripts. Whether I can take them or not, I’ll be the judge.”
Jiang Nian waved dismissively at Zhang Linyu, signaling him to hand over the phone.
Seeing this, Zhang Linyu felt as miserable as if he’d eaten shit.
In that moment, looking at Jiang Nian, he felt like he was looking at his own grandmother.
Both were so stubborn, so incapable of listening to reason.
The only difference was, with Jiang Nian he was talking about scripts.
With his grandmother, he was begging her to throw away meat that had been sitting in the fridge for three months.
“Freaking unbelievable!”
Zhang Linyu muttered to himself, feeling an unprecedented level of exhaustion.
So he gave up and pulled up the scripts on his phone, handing it to Jiang Nian.
Jiang Nian looked through them one by one.
But…
The system still didn’t make a peep.
“Hiss, that’s weird.”
“Before I took the Lin Pingzhi role, eunuch roles were coming one after another. How come now there aren’t any?”
“Could it be that the scripts were rushed out too fast? Too forced in the plot, so the system doesn’t approve?”
“That doesn’t make sense either. This stuff is just whatever fits, right?”
“Or maybe…”
Jiang Nian’s brow furrowed slightly as a thought rose in his mind.
Could it be that the number of roles he could unlock at once had a cap?
If that were the case, that would really suck.
Jiang Nian thought silently.
And while he was thinking, without realizing it, the car had already arrived at the entrance of Jinyun Xiandu.
Breathing in that incredibly fresh air, Jiang Nian had no idea that Chen Qiao’en, Xu Xinyuan, and Yang Rong—the three women—had already met.
And even less did he know what kind of scene awaited him next!
