Actresses

Chapter 71 Variables

That night, He Yuran slept soundly until dawn.

Last night, Xuanxuan finished editing the video, and Danzai gave her the script. She approved it on the first take without giving any feedback. When it was time to publish, she had Li Luoan log into her long-dormant Douyin account, select the co-creation option, and then left it alone.

Although I drank some alcohol at Li Luoan's house last night, it only helped me sleep and didn't really make me drunk. So, the events of last night are still vivid in my mind.

He Yuran didn't even bother to check the comments section of that Douyin video. It wasn't that she didn't care, but she was a little afraid to look.

She was afraid it would be too deserted.

Last night, as she was leaving, He Yuran remembered that Li Luoan's attitude had improved considerably, and he even specifically emphasized, "Thank you for the gift." This touched He Yuran deeply, but she couldn't say anything more, because the topics they had to discuss in real life were too limited. She wondered if she could use some excuse to ask Li Luoan out next time. Perhaps, Song Lin would be a good excuse.

Therefore, before leaving, He Yuran proactively added Song Lin on WeChat, downloaded the Xiaoyuzhou APP, and subscribed to the podcast "Good Show Begins".

Last night, whenever the topic of taking on roles came up, Li Luoan kept dodging the question. After waking up this morning, He Yuran became more and more certain as she thought about it, and decided to invite Li Luoan to play a role in her drama—although the project was still in its infancy and the script only had a few episodes, she seemed to feel that this was definitely going to happen.

In short, now that things have come to this, He Yuran has ample reason to need Song Lin's help in rebuilding her relationship with Li Luoan.

But then she thought of something else: was the role in the script really suitable for Li Luoan to play?

However, since one of the main characters can be written based on Zhuang Pan, it seems that regardless of whether Zhuang Pan accepts the role, the screenwriter can tailor the script to the actor's specific characteristics. Therefore, it's necessary to quickly explain Li Luo'an's representative works and personal traits to the screenwriter, so a meeting with Shi Jiahe needs to be arranged as soon as possible.

As He Yuran opened WeChat, she was even surprised to find that new WeChat messages were constantly being added.

She scrolled down several screens before finally finding the notification that Song Lin had approved her application, and quickly starred it. Then she switched back to check why there were so many new messages since last night. She muttered to herself, "What kind of dirt have I gotten on me this time?"

There's nothing that can be done about it; He Yuran has gotten used to being criticized over the past two years. Regardless of whether something is related to her or not, she might be dragged out and ridiculed on trending topics. However, as she herself said, if one day netizens' attention really stops on her, she might even feel a little sad, because that would prove that nobody really cares about her anymore.

While anxiously guessing what new angle she would be used to get criticized, she even forgot about the Douyin video she had posted the night before. However, at first glance, the previews of the mass messages that had been sent to her didn't seem to indicate that anything bad had happened.

"Cheng Xiaotang?" He Yuran frowned.

How come I saw my former boss's name? Am I getting old and my eyesight is failing me?

She scrolled directly to the top, clicked on Shi Jiahe's unread messages, and muttered to herself, "Jiahe is still the one who can make things clear."

Many people only send a link when they send a WeChat message, which He Yuran is too lazy to even open. But every time Shi Jiahe talks about something, she chooses to summarize the cause and effect in words, which is also in line with He Yuran's impatient personality.

However, Shi Jiahe also expressed her confusion on WeChat about why her boss and Li Luoan suddenly posted a collaborative piece of content last night. Shi Jiahe summarized and told her that the comment section of this Douyin video was unusually friendly, and many accounts on Weibo reposted it, but the popularity suddenly surged this morning because Cheng Xiaotang, the former boss of the agency that He Yuran and Li Luoan belong to, actually forwarded this Douyin video on Weibo and posted some behind-the-scenes footage from when she visited the set of that Lunar New Year film.

Several downloaded videos followed. Because Shi Jiahe knew He Yuran well enough—that her boss hated clicking on those kinds of redirect links—she would download and organize the videos before sending them over together.

After reading the summary, He Yuran finally switched to Weibo and took a look at Cheng Xiaotang's Weibo.

The post was quite long, but it basically said that I was very pleased to see that two of my former contracted actors had reconnected last night. I suspect they might be working together, but in any case, as the person who discovered them, I'm proud of them. I'm also sharing some exclusive material here for their CP (couple) fans!

He Yuran rolled her eyes. Where did these fans come from?

But when she opened the comments section and saw some screenshots of Douyin comments, she was shocked.

Surprisingly, He Yuran and Li Luoan actually have a real CP (couple) fanbase online. For the first time in years, instead of being ridiculed, people are leaving comments like, "Please, you two come out and film something, sister! My baby's crying from hunger!"

This feeling of being needed by the audience is just... wonderful.

He Yuran still thought in disbelief, "Could there really be such a strong chemistry between me and Li Luoan? I could even promote her to be the female lead! Anyway, it would benefit me as well."

Finally, she clicked on the video posted by Cheng Xiaotang—actually, she was quite resistant to the name Cheng Xiaotang. Back then, their separation wasn't pleasant, and they hadn't kept in touch over the years. She'd heard that Cheng Xiaotang wasn't doing too well. After her agency closed down, she'd been working as a producer, but it didn't seem to be going very well; she hadn't heard of her producing any particularly famous works.

The video itself isn't anything special. It just shows some conversations on set and two people resting together.

However, He Yuran was now less confident in her own judgment. She wondered if Song Lin might have some other meaning behind these videos. At the same time, she belatedly realized that Cheng Xiaotang had visited the set years ago and had actually been filming it. It was also quite alarming that this junk had been kept hidden until now.

As He Yuran thought about it, she smiled again.

Cheng Xiaotang is such a pragmatic person. She didn't post it back then because she thought videos were useless. Now, haha, as soon as there's a bit of buzz, she's back again, and she didn't even bother to send a WeChat message before posting it directly on Weibo. This person is really something else.

When He Yuran opened her Weibo public page again, she was truly dumbfounded this time.

The search term "He Yuran and Li Luoan" was prominently featured, ranking fifth on the trending searches.

Overall Ranking.

Upon clicking, I found nothing but positive recommendations for the work.

Of course, this mainly focuses on He Yuran's works. Clips from many of her previous movies have been extracted, as well as scenes with Li Luoan, and screenshots of the two-person parts in Cheng Xiaotang's videos have also been cut out. In short, there is quite a lot of material.

He Yuran even thought that even if she bought the trending topic herself, she wouldn't have the power to do so. Because a small publicity team simply couldn't prepare so much material.

She couldn't remember the last time she had a positive trending topic appear on the overall trending list. Usually, she'd have a negative one on the entertainment list, which would float around for a while.

Although she's used to being a celebrity and is used to sudden fame, He Yuran is still a little unaccustomed to being in the spotlight.

I clicked into the company's group chat, and there was a lively discussion. Because He Yuran hadn't said anything, the employees started chatting amongst themselves.

So He Yuran watched from the sidelines for a while.

What everyone's saying is basically that the boss was telling us to wait last night because he was preparing something big! I don't know if it was planned, but the way he's trending on social media today is amazing!

He Yuran thought to herself, "Can't you guys at least look at the group name? It's the He Yuran Studio Main Group. All of you in the studio are just chatting idly here. Who put this trending topic on the list? Who else could I possibly arrange? It's obvious I had no idea about it at all!"

Then, she finally chimed in, "Having a good chat, huh?"

It was as if a bomb had been dropped into the water; all the fish immediately turned white, and the group fell silent instantly.

Shi Jiahe was the first to speak up, saying, "The boss is awake."

He Yuran thought to herself, "How come so much has happened in just one day since we last met?" She replied, "Are you at the company?"

Shi Jiahe didn't reply in the group chat, but instead asked in a private message, "Does the boss need anything?"

"I'd like to go over the script with you."

"It's still being revised. Does the boss have any new instructions? Also, Sister Stone hasn't replied to my WeChat messages for several days. I'm a little worried. Is Zhuang Pan really not going to act anymore?"

He Yuran thought to himself, "I'm not begging her anymore. Let her act if she wants."

"It doesn't matter. If you're not too busy, come to my place, or I can go to the office now."

After He Yuran finished typing, he noticed that Shi Jiahe's status changed to "typing," then stopped, and repeated this several times before finally typing out a sentence: "Sis, I'll come find you."

He Yuran thought for a moment, laughed, and replied with "OK".

As a boss, I have that kind of insight. There needs to be some unspoken understanding between me and my key employees. After all, if the water is too clear, there will be no fish.

However, once that sense of vanity takes hold, it's hard to shake off. He Yuran had originally intended to get up and wash up, but until Shi Jiahe knocked on the door, she remained nestled on the sofa, scrolling through comments on her phone related to Li Luoan, laughing incessantly.

As for WeChat, there were constant new messages, but she didn't want to read or reply to any of them. All she wanted to say was, "Why didn't you do this sooner?"

There are a lot of people like this in the entertainment industry. You don't see them when things are going well, but they all swarm around you when things are going well. To put it bluntly, they're like flies.

A while later, Shi Jiahe rushed over. Judging from her neat and tidy appearance, she must have come straight from home. However, Shi Jiahe's demeanor and actions were largely unchanged from usual. He Yuran was quite satisfied with this.

"Please sit down."

"Boss, I haven't asked yet, why did you suddenly post that TikTok video yesterday?"

"Tell me first what happened over by the rocks?"

Shi Jiahe walked over and sat down on the sofa next to He Yuran. "It's like this, I usually find something to talk to her about every few days, and also to sound her out and see if there's been any change. But I've noticed that Sister Stone hasn't been replying to WeChat messages for the past three days. I think that's quite unusual, and considering that she mentioned to me the time before last that the production team there is quite sincere, I was wondering, could Zhuang Pan really be going to join that serious drama's cast? After all, Zhuang Pan needs that kind of role to enhance her resume right now."

"I'm not too concerned about this anymore. To be honest, I'm already quite annoyed by her constant dawdling. Let's not rush into asking for cooperation."

"Oh? We went through so much trouble, and the character was written based on her. Besides, whether Zhuang Pan plays the role or not involves approval..."

"It's not that absolute!" He Yu interrupted Shi Jiahe aggressively. "Even without Zhuang Pan, so many projects still went ahead, didn't they? Besides, we can have other ways. Jiahe, you need to break free from this mindset. Just because you find someone on the first try doesn't mean they'll be the right person."

At this point, He Yuran glanced at the trending topics again and saw that it was already third on the overall list, making her even more pleased with herself.

She continued, "I think I can do this on my own. From now on, I won't rely on anyone."