"Pass," said the director as he saw that although the woman's acting wasn't as good as before, it wasn't bad enough to break character.
Hearing this, Ji Nian's face lit up with pleasant surprise, like a child who had just been given candy. Her eyes shone with excitement as she turned to look at him incredulously and asked, "I passed again?"
The crew on set couldn't help but laugh out loud at this scene.
Even the director was amused. He suppressed his urge to laugh and kept a straight face as he said, "Even though you passed, your acting still lacks solidity. Over the next few days, have your agent arrange some acting lessons for you. Don't repeat what happened today where we had to do so many retakes before you finally passed."
Ji Nian smiled and nodded, her mood instantly lifting. "Sure!" she responded brightly.
The remaining scenes were the female lead's, so Ji Nian didn't have anything else to do for the rest of the day. She quickly opened WeChat, wanting to ask Yu Luobai for acting lessons.
Ji Nian: I passed!
Yu Luobai: Well done.
Ji Nian: Want to meet up?
Yu Luobai: ?
Ji Nian: Are you free today? Let's take some acting classes together.
Yu Luobai: I'm preparing for a concert tour and I have rehearsals soon.
Ji Nian: I see...
Yu Luobai: Perfect timing actually. Come over for a bit and we can rehearse together.
Ji Nian: Huh?
Yu Luobai: Didn't you say you would be a guest performer at my concert? My team has agreed to it too. Should I have Peng He contact your agent to arrange it?
Ji Nian: Teacher Yu, I think you misunderstand. If I perform at your concert, won't it ruin the atmosphere?
Yu Luobai: To be honest, your singing is much better than your acting.
Ji Nian: Alright, no need for Peng He to contact them. My agent is right here, I can talk to her myself.
Yu Luobai: Great. We're from the same company anyway so just come over when you can.
Ji Nian replied with an "OK" emoji, then showed the chat history to the person beside her.
He Yi's face was puzzled as she took the phone and looked at it for a couple of minutes before reacting with shock, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Who's this? Yu Luobai?"
Ji Nian nodded smugly. "That's right. I've got another job."
"Holy crap!" He Yi had an expression like she had just seen a ghost. "Sis, you better come clean. How did you get involved with him? Impressive!"
"What do you mean 'get involved'? And I'm four years older than you, thank you very much," Ji Nian rolled her eyes before whispering softly, "(Ordinary Road) five million bucks, you know..."
He Yi was stunned for a moment before she remembered and covered her mouth in surprise. "So he was that generous donor?"
"Don't talk about him like that," Ji Nian said grumpily. "He's my sugar daddy. What would you know, I still need to rely on him to pay off my debts."
"You're also making quite a bit from this drama shoot, though not as much as Shuyao with her higher status," He Yi pointed out.
"If you hadn't reminded me, I would've forgotten how much I'm getting paid. I was in such a hurry to sign the contract that I didn't even read it carefully," Ji Nian said curiously. "How much am I getting in total for this role after taxes again?"
"Your total payment after tax for the entire production is 3 million RMB. After the company takes its share of commissions and deductions, your actual payout will be around 1.8 million," He Yi calculated.
"Damn, the company is so exploitative!" Ji Nian said in surprise.
"Well, this is Huayu Entertainment. Still, you're getting a pretty good 60% share while they take 40%," He Yi explained. "It could be worse."
"Whatever, my debts will be mostly paid off anyway," Ji Nian said indifferently.
"The payment for your variety show appearance came in yesterday, but it was deposited into the company account since you took that job before signing with them. That 50k will be directly transferred to your personal account," He Yi suddenly remembered.
"Ooh, more money!" Ji Nian's face lit up happily. She would've totally forgotten about that sum if He Yi hadn't reminded her.
"The future is looking bright! Let's keep at it!" He Yi was brimming with confidence now.
"Alright, I gotta head to the company now to meet up with Yu Luobai for rehearsal," Ji Nian said after glancing at the time and seeing it was noon already.
"Oh right, take your salad with you," He Yi took out a small lunch box from her bag and handed it over.
Ji Nian made a face at the sight of more greens and reluctantly accepted it, asking grumpily, "When can I have some meat?"
He Yi: "Sis, forget about meat for now. You definitely can't be eating that while filming. Oh by the way, have Little Tang give you a ride to the company. He's waiting outside."
"Fine," Ji Nian conceded.
It took about 40 minutes to travel from the film studio to Huayu Entertainment's company office.
She wore a face mask since she had gained some popularity now and preferred to keep a low profile.
When Ji Nian arrived at Yu Luobai's rehearsal studio, she peeked in through the open door and saw that it was a very large dance classroom with over a dozen guys inside who looked to be breakdancing.
"Whoa..." Ji Nian whispered in awe. Guys in black t-shirts breaking it down just oozed charisma and sex appeal... She couldn't tear her eyes away from the group of handsome fellows.
At that moment, the people in the room noticed the fluffy head poking through the doorway and looked over in puzzlement.
Yu Luobai recognized who it was right away though. The corners of his lips curved up slightly before he turned around and told the people he was rehearsing with, "That's it for today, we'll pick this up again tomorrow."
Hearing that, everyone quickly packed up and started leaving.
As the guys filed past her one by one, Ji Nian really couldn't help sighing to herself - so many cuties!
"Why are you standing there in the doorway?" Yu Luobai saw the woman's dazed expression and a hint of amusement flashed through his eyes. "Come on in."
Snapping back to reality, Ji Nian's cheeks flushed slightly. She was embarrassed to have spaced out again...
"What are we rehearsing?" she asked awkwardly, still feeling a bit flushed.
Yu Luobai was rather hot and casually undid two buttons on his shirt which was loose and flowy, typical rehearsal dance wear.
Ji Nian's eyes involuntarily followed his movement downwards...
"Abs!" she exclaimed to herself. The glimpse of his fit, muscular torso took her breath away...
Hearing that, Yu Luobai's hands paused and he looked over at the woman, meeting her clear, bright eyes openly ogling him.
"Pfft..." Yu Luobai suddenly laughed out loud. There was something so adorable about the woman's fan girl gaze. Still chuckling, he teased, "What's the matter?"
Ji Nian was startled to realize she had lost her composure again, outright staring at the man's abs. Her earlobes had turned bright red by now.
"Noth...just...your bod is amazing, Teacher Yu!" she tossed out breezily, trying to play it cool as she gave him a big thumbs up.
Yu Luobai raised an eyebrow, the corners of his lips curving upwards amusedly. "Like what you see? Want me to let you cop a feel to test out how firm they are?" he joked.
"For real? That would be awesome!" The words were out before Ji Nian could stop herself and she instantly regretted it, mentally smacking herself for slipping back into fangirl mode again.
