As they exited the screening room, it was already past the usual office hours. Unlike Random Entertainment, the film and television building was still brightly lit, with busy screenwriting teams holding meetings, prop-making art groups, and even editors who had just woken up.
The elevators in the film and television building were quite interesting, made of transparent glass, allowing one to see every floor as they descended. Some floors were dark, while others were brightly lit with ongoing meetings.
"If you took this elevator down at midnight, wouldn't it be terrifying?" Jiang Tang was still shaken from the sight of the completely dark floor they had just passed.
Cheng Yuan, who was accustomed to this environment, chuckled lightly, "That's why they avoid using this elevator after dark."
"This would be perfect for a horror movie."
"Alright then, next time we'll have them shoot a horror film in our company."
As Cheng Yuan and Jiang Tang chatted, Jiang Juyou stood at the front of the elevator, looking ahead, listening to their conversation while also hearing Cong Lixia's ramblings in her head.
"Are you scared of this kind of thing?"
"I don't think you would be."
"If you were scared, you wouldn't have been able to sleep when we stayed at Galaxy Venue."
Jiang Juyou's response was a silent, "..."
Her daily routine involved multitasking.
In her mind, she replied to Cong Lixia, "Back then, being broke was scarier than any ghost."
Cong Lixia recalled Jiang Juyou's relentless drive back then.
"..."
The elevator door opened, and Jiang Juyou said, "We're here, let's go."
-
"Ding—"
The sound of the elevator door opening echoed, and several assistants seated at their desks stood up to greet them.
Seeing Jiang Juyou and the others approach, one of them stepped forward, "Sister Chen Xi is already waiting inside." As he spoke, he pushed open the office door.
Jiang Juyou glanced at the three assistants and checked the time, "You can all go home now, there's nothing else to do. We'll head back on our own later."
"Okay," the three assistants responded.
Cheng Yuan chimed in again, "I'm so envious. Look at us, never leaving on time."
"Come on, I know how it is over there. You guys sleep until you wake up naturally before coming to the office." After saying this, Jiang Juyou turned to see Chen Xi and gave her a hug, "Chen Xi, you're looking great lately."
"Oh, little Chen Xi, you've finally gained some weight!" Cheng Yuan exclaimed.
Chen Xi also sighed, "It's true, being busy is good. When you're busy, you don't have time to overthink. These days, I've been writing my script non-stop, waking up to write, eating when I'm hungry, and sleeping after."
"That's the spirit!" Jiang Tang added.
Jiang Juyou urged the assistants to leave, even offering to reimburse their taxi fares home. Then she turned back and said, "Let's go inside and talk, standing here like door gods, blocking the entrance."
"Juyou, I've noticed you've become increasingly humorous lately," Cheng Yuan said, always finding Jiang Juyou's jokes amusing.
After much pushing and prodding, Jiang Juyou finally got them all into the office.
The first thing she said upon sitting down was, "None of you have eaten, right? I'll order some takeout. How about Hot Pot from Hai Di Lao? Oh, right! Cheng Yuan, you want a salad, right?"
Cheng Yuan pouted, "Fine, order a salad for after the meal."
"Hahahahahaha!" Chen Xi laughed, nearly knocking over her bowl.
Jiang Tang watched the scene, finding it incredibly fascinating. She had never seen her sister so talkative.
At home, her sister was always quiet, either sitting on the sofa or lying in bed, with a book or her phone in hand. She rarely watched TV or joined in conversations with Jiang Tang and Jiang Liuxing, only speaking up when they were about to quarrel.
Talking seemed to drain her energy, and she would remain silent if possible.
Jiang Tang had been invited along mainly because of Chen Xi.
After the takeout arrived, they ate and chatted. Jiang Juyou, acting as the mediator, brought up the matter to her sister.
"Chen Xi has written a script, and I think it's quite good. She asked if I had any recommendations, and I suggested you. She thinks you fit the role well, so we set up this meeting to introduce you two. You've been in the same company for so long but haven't really interacted. Today, we'll have dinner, chat, and discuss the script."
Before Chen Xi or Jiang Tang could react, Cheng Yuan interjected, "What about me? What's my role today?"
"You're here to provide a boost," Jiang Juyou replied.
Chen Xi, with a low laugh threshold, burst into laughter again, nearly tipping over her bowl.
Cheng Yuan, too far to reach, would have definitely given Jiang Juyou a playful slap if she could.
"Just kidding. I mainly wanted you to take a look at the script and see if you're interested in being a producer," Jiang Juyou reassured her.
Chen Xi was part of the acting department, so she should have been closer to Cheng Yuan, but because Jiang Juyou had often accompanied her during her difficult times and they frequently dined together, they became friends.
Her script had not been shown to anyone else, only to Jiang Juyou, who had read her latest revisions.
Mentioning the script, Chen Xi became a bit shy and took the script out of her bag, handing it to the three of them.
"This is the latest version. You can take a look, but finish eating first, so it doesn't get stained."
Cheng Yuan put down her chopsticks and flipped through the script, glancing at the outline. "Not bad, Chen Xi. Didn't expect you to have this talent."
"I'll get Chen Xi to prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam and switch to the behind-the-scenes path," Jiang Juyou said.
When she brought this up, Cheng Yuan looked at Chen Xi, "Have you thought it through?"
"Yes," Chen Xi nodded.
"As long as you've decided, we're fully supportive. You're just moving from my right pocket to my left pocket," Cheng Yuan said.
Chen Xi visibly brightened and even teased, "Alright, then I'll be your left pocket girl."
Random Entertainment places a strong emphasis on protecting its artists. Just looking at how the trainees and idols live in apartments shows how much they value the privacy of their artists.
Chen Xi's situation was not as simple as it seemed to the outside world.
What the netizens knew was that Chen Xi had been harassed by a black fan, receiving a box of maliciously placed cockroaches.
The truth was, this was just a small part of it.
There were also frequent phone harassment, pretending to be fans to PUA her, leaving malicious comments on her social media, spreading rumors and distorting the facts.
She endured the harassment and negative comments, but the accusations were what she couldn't get past.
Before deciding to switch to the backstage, Chen Xi had tried to rally herself and even attempted to open up in a Galaxy 1v1 chatroom, talking to fans about her recent situation.
However, the words she posted in the chatroom were reposted to forums, misinterpreted, and used to incite attacks against her.
Chen Xi had merely told the fans in the chatroom that she was really tired and in pain.
That night, a post appeared on the forum.
"Title: Gossip Discussion/Seriously, what right does a 208w who hasn't filmed in two years and still sells merchandise to fans have to say she's in pain?"
"Claiming to be scared of facing the public while still selling merchandise to fans."
"Do you know what pain is?"
"Have you ever had no income for half a year?"
"Selling 900 units is your blessing."
"Suggest 208w's stop whining, since they haven't experienced real hardships."
This anonymous post was quickly identified as referring to Chen Xi, with every detail matching.
Those who hadn't investigated soon joined the chorus, criticizing Chen Xi, and the thread grew to over 2,000 posts.
"I hate this kind of emotion, it comes out of nowhere, and sometimes you just inexplicably dislike someone."
"Don't look for reasons in yourself; it's just a baseless dislike, filled with malice towards you."
"Look at the comments posted on its homepage. It understands that pain cannot be compared, but your pain doesn't count. You're just an entertainer, meant to amuse people. How could you possibly be in pain? You've made so much money so easily, how could you be in pain?"
"Those words are just wrong!"
At that time, Chen Xi broke down in tears and didn't leave her house for days. Her boyfriend couldn't reach her, and it wasn't until he contacted her assistant and then the company that they managed to find her.
The situation was so dire that she had already prepared the tools for a suicide attempt by carbon monoxide poisoning. However, due to days of not eating or drinking and dehydration, she lacked the strength to go to the living room to get the items, which is why she didn't succeed.
For the outside world, including netizens, since she made so much money, these sufferings were what Chen Xi should endure. If she couldn't bear them, that was her problem.
Chen Xi was also brainwashed by this strange theory, feeling that she shouldn't exist in this world if she couldn't endure.
Jiang Juyou was busy with the music festival at the time, overwhelmed with work. Midway through, she suddenly received a call saying Chen Xi had attempted suicide, which scared her so much that her legs went weak. When she arrived at Chen Xi's home, she found out it was a failed suicide attempt.
Later, Chen Xi was diagnosed with depression and panic disorder, and was hospitalized for treatment. The company signed confidentiality agreements with many medical staff, requiring them not to discuss it privately or post it on any social media platforms. If there were any rumors online, it must have been leaked by the medical staff.
Thus, Chen Xi stayed in the hospital for nearly two months.
This was all unknown to the outside world.
The outside world only knew that after receiving a box of cockroaches, Chen Xi couldn't handle it and took a two-year break from acting.
The cockroach incident became a meme in fandom circles, with fans threatening each other by saying they would send a box of cockroaches during fights.
When the incident first happened, everyone thought it was serious, but as it became more trivialized over time, people started to feel it was no big deal.
It would just scare someone for a while, not enough to make them like Chen Xi.
Even now, there are people online saying Chen Xi is being overly sensitive, claiming that other artists have also been sent dead rats before, but none of them reacted like her, acting out and making a big deal out of nothing.
It seems the fault isn't with the fans who sent the cockroaches, but with Chen Xi.
"It's also good to move behind the scenes, you know? You give us two kids in three years, one Cannes next year and one Oscar the year after, how about it?" Jiang Juyou joked to lighten the mood.
Cheng Yuan clapped beside her, "Wow, Jiang, your mouth is getting sharper and sharper these days!"
"You flatter me, it's just that I've been to too many dinner parties recently. Sitting there for an afternoon, if you can't talk well, you really can't get through it," Jiang Juyou replied, making a gesture of clasping her fists.
Sitting quietly, Jiang Tang was reading a script. He had expected it to be a mystery or a story written by Chen Xi about her own experiences, but it turned out to be a comedy.
"A bit unexpected..." Jiang Tang was pleasantly surprised as he read on. He had heard about Chen Xi's situation and knew more than the outside world, so he didn't expect Chen Xi, in such a mental state, to write a comedy.
Jiang Juyou explained beside her, "You can tell from the script who the muse is. My brother-in-law's mouth is non-stop, every word he says is a joke."
Chen Xi's boyfriend was a stand-up comedian, and her recovery was largely thanks to having a sunshiny person around her.
The main plot of the story was a mystery, but the core was about family, telling the story of a cheerful art school graduate, Xiao Mai, and her depressive sister returning home to investigate their mother's death and the series of events that followed.
"I think it's quite similar to you two sisters," Chen Xi said, glancing at Jiang Juyou and Jiang Tang.
Cheng Yuan, holding the script, looked up, not understanding what Chen Xi meant.
Jiang Tang, on the other hand, was fidgeting, not daring to raise her head, her eyes darting around.
Jiang Juyou was calm, sitting there with her back straight. Seeing that Cheng Yuan didn't understand, she pointed at Jiang Tang and herself with her finger, "We're sisters."
Looking at Cheng Yuan's bewildered expression, it was clear she still didn't get it.
"She's my real sister," Jiang Juyou said with a smile, but quickly retracted it, afraid that Cheng Yuan would think she was joking again.
"...Really?" Cheng Yuan finally reacted, her eyes wide open.
She didn't even look at the script anymore, but came up to compare their faces, trying to find similarities.
"Jiang Tang, Jiang Juyou... Hmm... They don't look alike at all!" Cheng Yuan tilted her head.
In China, siblings often have similar names that make it obvious they are related.
But apart from both being surnamed Jiang, there was no other connection between the names Jiang Tang and Jiang Juyou. With so many people surnamed Jiang nationwide, who would have thought they were real sisters?
Not only their names, but their facial features were also quite different.
Cheng Yuan was suspicious, "You two aren't kidding me, are you? Just messing with me?"
"Yeah, kidding you," Jiang Juyou said lazily, just going along with her.
"See! I knew it!" Cheng Yuan felt smart this time, not falling for it.
Chen Xi laughed beside them, her giggles quite ear-piercing. Jiang Tang was a bit surprised, not knowing why her sister suddenly revealed their relationship.
The four of them ate and chatted in Jiang Juyou's office until around eleven or twelve at night before parting ways.
Cheng Yuan drove home herself, Chen Xi was picked up by her boyfriend, and Jiang Tang and Jiang Juyou left in their own car.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Jiang Tang couldn't wait to ask as soon as she got in the car, "Why did you suddenly decide to tell them we're sisters?"
At that moment, she felt like a secret relationship had suddenly been made public, pleasantly surprised and feeling recognized.
Jiang Juyou, controlling the steering wheel and paying attention to the road ahead, replied, "I never deliberately hid it, okay? It was you who didn't want to go public."
"Oh, right," Jiang Tang remembered. It was her who initially suggested not to go public. Back then, Jiang Juyou was already quite famous in the industry, while she was still a nobody. If their sister relationship was revealed, Jiang Tang would feel burdened.
She asked again, "But there was no need to say it so suddenly today."
"If I don't give out some news, the outside world will start saying I'm keeping you as a mistress," Jiang Juyou said. She had been browsing forums before bed recently and often saw ridiculous posts with half-true, half-false rumors, some saying they were sisters, others saying they were in a romantic relationship.
Jiang Tang thought about it while holding the seatbelt, "They're not wrong, though. Me and Jiang Liuxing are indeed living off you."
Rent, utilities, and household items were all paid for by Jiang Juyou.
Jiang Juyou: "..."
With a brainless sister and a brain-twisting younger sister, she felt the weight of her responsibilities.
"They're not wrong," Cong Lixia added, analyzing.
Jiang Juyou let out a cold laugh, "Hmph."
She almost forgot there was another 'genius' here.
The car sped down the empty highway at midnight, with only a few scattered cars on the overpass and lonely streetlights illuminating the way. Jiang Juyou had never felt so eager to get home.
The Random Entertainment building was already dark, with only a few practice rooms on the lower floors still lit.
At half past twelve at night, NiGHT finally finished their day's classes.
The dance class left them so exhausted that they could barely stand, except for Xia Simiao, who still had some energy. She supported them from both sides, helping them to the sofa.
"I can't do it anymore, I really can't. It's only been a few days, and I feel like I can't go on. How did you manage to endure for a year?"
"Before, running 800 meters would make me feel like my legs were separate from my body the next day, but now I don't even need to wait until the next day. I can't feel them now."
"Me too, the first time I danced until my legs went weak."
The weaker ones were already lying on the couch unable to move, not even wanting to lift a finger.
"Simiao, can you find a cart to pull us back?"
"Or we could just sleep here tonight."
"That's a good idea, that's a good idea. We won't have to get up early tomorrow."
Xia Simiao, who was drinking water, glanced at them, "Get up quickly, we still need to go back and take a shower. We're all sweaty, our clothes are soaked, if we don't shower soon, we'll stink."
“I told you that the tarot reading this month warned me to be careful of water, and now I'm going to drown in the bathroom today.”
“May we not be born in the same year, month, and day, but may we die in the same year, month, and day, sister—”
“Sister!!”
“You guys can't even stand up, but your mouths are still going strong.”
At the same time, other groups were also leaving the practice room.
Their practice rooms were all on this floor, so as soon as the doors opened, they met each other's eyes.
Pei Luming hadn't seen his sister in a long time, and he didn't expect to run into her tonight.
“Why are you guys practicing so late?” They were delayed because they had many dance routines to practice.
“Huh?”
When Pei Zhiping and the other three came out, they were still in makeup. Upon meeting in the corridor, both groups politely greeted each other.
She explained, “We had a fitting today, and it took us the whole afternoon. My skin was almost rubbed off.” Pei Zhiping even showed him a few red spots on her arm.
Mentioning the fitting brought back some unpleasant memories for them. Yao Shuo sighed, “Ah... we also tried on hundreds of outfits the other day.”
Just then, the doors of a few more practice rooms opened.
“What's up!” Jiang Wangran seemed to be in good spirits, and not just him, the two behind him didn't look too tired either.
Gao Xiayu peeked inside, “What are you guys practicing?”
“We had a few classes today, and then we had a joint practice in the afternoon,” Jiang Wangran replied.
Just as he was about to say something, another door opened, and the corridor was now really crowded.
Jiang Wangran, who was a bit too tired, was holding on by sheer willpower. Seeing so many people, he got excited again.
“Happy New Year!” Jiang Wangran suddenly shouted.
Pei Luming, who was in a similar state of mind, quickly joined in, “Happy New Year!”
“Congratulations and prosperity!”
“Who’s going to give out a red envelope?”
“The oldest one should give it.”
“Brother, he’s calling you out!”
Jiang Wangran and Pei Luming argued and soon turned their attention to Gao Xiayu.
Gao Xiayu: “……”
Taking care of his own kids was already exhausting, let alone others'.
He glanced at Chen Wu, who shook his head, “Don’t even think about it, you can’t control them.”
The girls were much more peaceful. After coming out, they quietly walked back along another path. Pei Zhiping even said goodbye to Pei Luming before leaving, but Pei Luming, busy arguing with Jiang Wangran, didn’t notice his sister and left with Ye Xing, who was injured.
Pei Zhiping: “……”
She turned back and told the others, “Stay away from them in the future, they’re all a bunch of lunatics.”
“I can see that,” Han Lemi looked back and commented.
The boys were still noisy. Among the seven members of Flos, there were those who had trained at the same time as Timetrain and Equals3, and most of them knew each other.
Jiang Wangran looked at the time, “Want to play basketball?”
“Why, want to have a heart attack?”
“Hey, can you say something nice!”
The few members of Flos who hadn’t debuted yet were constantly reminded by their manager to behave, so they were still quite disciplined.
“Didn’t the manager say we’re not allowed to go out?”
“No need, we can play basketball on the roof.” Jiang Wangran said.
“Huh?”
“Seriously?”
“Can we even go up to the roof?”
Even the members of Timetrain didn’t know they could go up to the roof, only Jiang Wangran and the other two had been there.
Seeing their reactions, it was clear none of them had been to the roof.
Jiang Wangran encouraged them, “Come on, let’s play a game, the basketball court on the roof is accessible, no need to report, we asked, it’s within the dormitory building, no need to report anything.”
No one believed him, so everyone looked at Chen Wu and Sang Mo behind him.
Seeing them nod, everyone agreed.
“Let’s go, let’s play a game!”
Jiang Wangran: What do you mean by that?
