Family

“By the way, the movie you’re filming is a two-female-leads project?” Zhu Qing asked belatedly.

Li Lan picked up the potato peel that had fallen off and tossed it into the trash. She dusted off her hands and said, “You’re finally getting to the point. I thought you didn’t care.”

There had been too much going on just now, so Zhu Qing hadn’t noticed. Now that she thought about it, she was furious. “Who’s the other female lead?”

Zhu Qing regretted not paying more attention to the entertainment industry. She didn’t know so many things. What were the boundaries in filming these days? Did a two-female-leads movie mean a lesbian story? How many active actresses were there? Would filming intimate scenes make people develop feelings for each other? How far would it go?

Just as she was getting more and more frightened, Li Lan’s answer detonated all her worries.

“Yu Ling.”

Zhu Qing: ?!

After saying those two words, Li Lan stood up and leaned against the wall, smiling without speaking.

Zhu Qing motioned for her to go on. Li Lan spread her hands. “That was Yang Huayi’s choice: Yu Ling.”

Zhu Qing slammed the kitchen knife down onto the cutting board. Thinking the first time hadn’t been hard enough, she lifted it and brought it down again.

Li Lan said nervously, “Don’t hurt your hand.”

Zhu Qing glared at Li Lan with a look that clearly said, You’ve gone too far, then said flatly, “If you don’t want this relationship anymore, just say so.”

Li Lan was deliberately dangling her, her tone infuriatingly casual. “Aren’t you going to be my assistant? You have to respect my job. We’re the kind of people who play all sorts of roles.”

Zhu Qing’s face went cold. “Working with someone who’s pointing a gun at your head—aren’t you afraid she’ll shoot you dead?”

It took Li Lan two seconds to realize Zhu Qing was speaking metaphorically.

When she was little, the older kids in the courtyard liked to tease the younger ones. Li Lan had always found it hard to understand. What was so fun about making someone angry? Until she met Zhu Qing, Li Lan had never really thought about it. But after meeting her, Li Lan often found herself wanting to tease her a little; seeing all the different expressions on her face, from joy to anger to helplessness, was just too cute.

Bad taste was still bad, but it was fun.

Li Lan burst out laughing. She laughed so hard her stomach cramped. “Hahahahaha.”

Seeing Zhu Qing almost pick up the kitchen knife again, Li Lan finally raised her hands in surrender.

“I was wrong. I replaced Yu Ling.”

Li Lan held her stomach, still gasping with laughter. “Breaking that lift frame last time was for this too.”

Zhu Qing said unhappily, “What does that have to do with the Africa thing?”

Li Lan explained the whole sequence of events to her. “Yang Huayi has poured a lot of resources into Yu Ling. She hasn’t been made into a star yet, and she hasn’t doubled her money back, so of course they’ll keep promoting her. This movie is an opportunity.”

Zhu Qing said, “So you engineered all that on purpose just to avoid Yu Ling? Just so you wouldn’t have to act with her?!”

Last time, Zhu Qing had asked Li Lan why she held onto the evidence without exposing Yu Ling. Even if she didn’t want to expose her, she should at least have called the police; that was attempted murder!

But Li Lan had actually used that leverage only to swap out one of Yu Ling’s film roles.

Li Lan spread her hands. “How about it? Happy?”

Zhu Qing walked over and punched her shoulder, a little annoyed. “Happy my ass! How can you use something like that as a bargaining chip!”

Li Lan cried out, “Ow,” and begged for mercy. “Did you gain weight? That’s a hard punch.”

“Have you ever touched me? I’ve put on a layer of flesh on my stomach,” Zhu Qing said with a cold laugh.

They were standing face-to-face now. Li Lan could reach Zhu Qing’s waist with a lift of her hand, and she really did brush her fingers against Zhu Qing’s little belly, smiling. “It really is. But stop hitting me and listen to me first.”

Zhu Qing snorted. “If I didn’t listen to you, Xiao Bao’s carrot rabbit would’ve been carved by now.”

“Xiao Bao doesn’t like carrots; don’t mind her,” Li Lan said casually. “Replacing Yu Ling’s role is one thing; the main thing was to give Yang Huayi an attitude—to tell her I’m not willing to be anyone’s stepping stone, and I don’t want to be bundled together with Yu Ling for marketing. Yang Huayi understands traffic and buzz better than anyone. When we were on the show, two super topics blew up overnight; that was probably her doing.”

Zhu Qing frowned. “Then can that leverage be used again?”

“Of course.” Li Lan’s brows and eyes showed a thread of pride. “I’m not giving in. Besides Yu Ling’s leverage, I also have Qi Yao’s. None of them are getting away.”

Thinking of filming the show, Zhu Qing’s memory flashed back to those days.

Qi Yao and Yu Ling were two of the few “bad people” she had ever met, and not just bad; they were very bad.

“What happened with Qi Yao?” Zhu Qing asked. “How do you even have leverage on him too?”

“He brought it on himself,” Li Lan said, not intending to go into detail. “Besides, I keep feeling he’ll cause trouble again later. Yu Ling has Yang Huayi holding her down, so she’ll probably be quiet for a while. Qi Yao’s not so certain. His standing over at MeiYu Media with Mr. Qi isn’t that high. If no one wants to promote him, and if public opinion still doesn’t turn around, I’m afraid he’ll jump the fence in desperation.”

Zhu Qing still remembered Qi Yao shoving her, and said angrily, “I hope you never run into him again.”

Li Lan lazily stretched. “Enough about them. Dear Chef Lady, my potatoes have gone black. When are you going to cook?”

Zhu Qing picked up the oxidized potatoes and chased Li Lan out of the kitchen. “Don’t get in the way of my cooking. If you’ve got nothing to do, go wake Xiao Bao.”

Li Lan happily left, walked to Xiao Bao’s door, then took a turn and returned to the bedroom.

Xiao Bao had a nanny. She didn’t need to worry about her.

As usual, Li Lan opened her phone and computer and started dealing with work.

She ran her own studio, and many major decisions still needed her approval.

A lot of celebrities handed this sort of thing over to their teams. Specialization was specialization; there was nothing wrong with that. Aside from the occasional mistake when a team failed to do its job, it was still much better than having the celebrity ask about everything personally.

But Li Lan was still used to understanding everything herself. She might not interfere with the team’s decisions, but she had to know.

The schedule ahead was busier than ever before.

Besides joining the production, there were also a great many variety shows, magazine shoots, commercials, fan meetings, fashion banquets, and so on.

Li Lan had just told Zhu Qing earlier that she’d try to come home one day a week; now that she thought about it, that was practically impossible.

Thinking of this, Li Lan reminded Qian Chu again. “Keep looking for a personal assistant for me. Zhu Qing can’t handle this kind of work.”

On the other end of the phone, Qian Chu had the same thought. “Has she really decided to go?”

Li Lan said, “Let her go.”

Qian Chu said, “I remember the last time she went to the set, she got into an argument with someone. Back then she was nobody, so no one paid attention. If something like that happens again, people will probably post it online and stir up public backlash.”

Zhu Qing already had a group of fans now; her name was even bigger than some third- and fourth-tier celebrities.

But it was only a brief burst of excitement. If Zhu Qing didn’t continue to expose herself and didn’t take advantage of that traffic, she’d quickly become “unfindable” online again.

“Just handle it quietly,” Li Lan said. “I’ll keep an eye on her, but she has a side to her that hates evil with a passion; I may not be able to keep her in check. If it really comes to it, spend a little more on PR.”

Qian Chu sighed helplessly. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Li Lan asked, “How are things with you and Qian Cancan?”

Her relationship with Qian Chu was a little different from Zhu Qing and Qian Cancan’s. Besides being friends, there was also the layer of boss and subordinate, senior and junior, so talking about this kind of thing was a little awkward.

Qian Chu’s awkwardness was obvious. “I’m pursuing her, but she still hasn’t softened.”

Li Lan, with the air of someone directing the grand scheme of things, asked, “What does ‘hasn’t softened’ look like?”

“She barely replies to my messages. I can’t get her to meet up. If I go wait for her at her shop, she doesn’t really pay attention to me either.”

Li Lan clicked her tongue. “That really does sound like she doesn’t want to bother with you.”

Qian Chu said expressionlessly, “Manager Lan, if you’re just here to watch the fun, I’m going back to work.”

“Don’t rush.” Li Lan gave her advice. “I’ll ask Qian Cancan out for dinner tomorrow. We’re going to start filming next week anyway, so let’s have a meal together before we all go on set.”

Qian Chu naturally wanted that more than anything. “If she knows I’ll be there, will she come?”

Li Lan said, “Don’t worry. Qian Cancan isn’t the kind of person who makes things awkward for friends. Besides, there’s Xiao Bao. She and Zhu Qing both really like Xiao Bao. Even if she doesn’t come for Xiao Bao’s sake, she’s still my fan. She’ll definitely come.”

For the first time in her life, Qian Chu felt a touch of resentment. “Why am I not a celebrity? Then she could come and stan me.”

Li Lan gave her a hard-to-describe look. “...No celebrity is grim-faced all day. Celebrities with a permanent scowl are black-and-red.”

Qian Chu said nothing more and silently hung up.

Li Lan’s online reputation had been very good lately. Her looks were on the level of someone who’d been sent to the industry by the bagful; her fanbase kept growing, and all sorts of offers were pouring in. After dinner tomorrow, she’d have to go to Shanghai for a one-day variety show shoot.

Li Lan glanced at her bank card. A brand she had worked with before had offered a very high renewal fee; her income had risen quite a bit.

After thinking it over, Li Lan raised her hand and transferred money.

In the kitchen, Zhu Qing was planning to steam some crab when she discovered there was no ginger. Just as she was about to ask Li Lan to buy some, a text message popped up on her phone.

One, two, three, four, five... Li Lan had transferred her one million yuan.

Zhu Qing nearly threw her phone.

【？？？？？？？】

Li Lan replied: 【Don’t knock on my door; I have a video conference with the studio’s staff】

Zhu Qing’s phone was practically burning hot in her hand. 【What is this?】

【For the variety show. Half for you】

【You don’t need to give me this. I’m just helping out】

【Meeting’s starting】

After hesitating over and over, Zhu Qing still didn’t go disturb Li Lan.

If Zhu Qing hadn’t known that she hadn’t specifically told her the exact amount the welfare institute wanted to swindle out of her, she’d have thought Li Lan was making her donate money.

Who gives someone one million yuan for no reason!

Did people use the phrase “one million yuan” this casually in everyday life?

Zhu Qing counted three times to confirm the amount really was one million—not one hundred thousand, not ten thousand with two decimal places after it, but a genuine, bona fide one million.

Dopamine flooded her body.

She remembered reading an article once that ranked the dopamine levels brought on by different things: eating something delicious was twenty, kissing and hugging the person you loved was forty, getting paid was seventy, and winning the lottery was one hundred.

Zhu Qing felt in practice that little cash had shot her dopamine up to at least a thousand.

She hummed a tune as she spun in place, then picked up her little handbag and headed downstairs with a spring in her step to buy ginger.

Not only ginger, but also all the vegetables Li Lan liked; Zhu Qing planned to add two more dishes today, all of them ones Li Lan had said tasted good.

After paying, Zhu Qing was even generous enough to ask the cashier for a plastic bag.

Carrying a three-yuan plastic bag, Zhu Qing walked home at an easy pace and even sat on the swing for two minutes in a very good mood.

She was going to save that one million. For someone like her, who didn’t know the first thing about investing, she could either buy fixed assets or just put it in the bank and live off the interest.

Qian Cancan had bought a pile of funds, so she could let Qian Cancan manage it for her if needed. Anyway, when you had money, everything was good.

Just as Zhu Qing was idly swinging, two elderly voices suddenly came from beside her.

“Qingqing, is that you?”

Zhu Qing turned around in confusion. A husband and wife who looked about fifty or so were walking toward her, both of them visibly excited.

“Qingqing, it really is you!”

Zhu Qing narrowed her eyes and studied them for several seconds, feeling like they looked a little familiar.

“Qingqing, don’t you recognize us anymore? We’re your mom and dad!”

————————!!————————

Zhu Qing thinks hard: ...A missing person returning home may not be a good thing.

Li Lan cautiously: Looking at your expression, should I call them “this lady” and “this gentleman” instead...

Zhu Qing smiles: No, you should call them, leave.