The film and television city starts from the courtyard

After the wrap party, Yao Menggui took Xiao Mu back to the hotel and looked at Xiao Mu, saying:

“At that moment, I was standing on the stage, watching you being bullied. I couldn’t bear it, and I didn’t want anyone to help you, but I did nothing.”

"This is fate. It's God's will that allows my sister and me to stop hiding. From now on, you can live peacefully in my house. I'll take care of everything else, understand?"

Xiao Mu nodded and said, "Sis, did I cause you trouble?"

"How could I blame you? You're my own sister, we're the closest of relatives."

Yao Menggui's reason for not wanting to see Xiao Mu bullied wasn't simply that she didn't want to see him bullied; more importantly, people already knew that Xiao Mu was impersonating her.

She couldn't leave this potential problem unresolved, so revealing it at the wrap party was actually the best option. At least the public would only focus on her relationship with Xiao Mu and wouldn't suspect that Xiao Mu wasn't the one replacing her in "Under the First Snow."

Zhao Shucheng has also returned to the hotel, but this time he doesn't need to personally oversee the editing; he only needs to check it occasionally.

A few days later, Zhao Shucheng, Mo Xiaomin, Shanli, and others took a plane to Venice, less than a week before the awards ceremony.

Because they didn't want to attend various time-wasting parties, Zhao Shucheng and Mo Xiaomin delayed their arrival until now.

During this period, Zhao Shucheng only had limited contact with a few media outlets. Afterwards, he took Shanli and Mo Xiaomin to experience this famous water city.

A week later, Shanli found Zhao Shucheng and told him that the organizers had invited them to the awards ceremony red carpet, which meant that Zhao Shucheng had secured an entry spot and had a chance to win an award.

Mo Xiaomin stood in front of the mirror, twisting her body incessantly, and asked, "Xiaobai, what do you think of this outfit?"

Zhao Shucheng knew she was nervous, so he smiled and said, "Alright, you look good no matter what, don't be so nervous."

"You make it sound so easy. This is Venice. Others can't even come here, but we can. I don't know how many people are envious and jealous of us."

Zhao Shucheng said, "You said it yourself, the fact that we were even here is already a victory. As for the awards, I don't think you should have too high expectations, after all, you're just a new actor."

"Of course I know, but this is your film, so your award is the same as my award."

After waiting for 7 p.m., Zhao Shucheng, Mo Xiaomin, and Shanli finally set off together for the closing ceremony.

As they walked down the red carpet, Mo Xiaomin clung tightly to Zhao Shucheng's arm, her body stiff, while Shanli seemed completely unconcerned.

"Sister Shanli has such a great attitude. How come she doesn't seem nervous at all?"

"If you come here often, you'll get used to it and won't be nervous anymore."

Shanli overheard their conversation and said with a smile, "Xiaobai is right, these things are something you get used to after a few tries. But Xiaobai, if we can win an award this time, even just an award in the film critics' category, it will be a great help for us in selling the rights."

Zhao Shucheng nodded and said, "Of course, but being nominated for an award is already a good result. The overseas rights can help us recoup our costs, and the domestic box office is pure profit. Of course, if we can win awards at domestic film festivals, the box office will be even higher."

Shanli said, "I didn't expect you to have such a good attitude."

Zhao Shucheng said, "Of course, whether I win awards after I release the film is not that important to me. My goal is to let more people see it."

"I hope it's really as you say."

As the awards ceremony progressed, Mo Xiaomin became even more nervous, gripping Zhao Shucheng's hand tightly, afraid of missing the name of the play.

Zhao Shucheng shook his head helplessly, knowing that this was her first work to be submitted for an award, and could only pat her hand, hoping that she could relax a little.

As Zhao Shucheng expected, he ultimately only received a special jury prize in the Horizons category, which was equivalent to a third prize.

Zhao Shucheng didn't know what others thought, but he was still satisfied with the result. After all, he only wanted to use the award to sell for a higher price, and having an award was better than having none.

As for the other awards, Zhao Shucheng didn't care much and didn't think he could win them, so he was very relaxed throughout the process.

Because not many people knew that Zhao Shucheng and his group had attended the film festival beforehand, and Zhao Shucheng and Mo Xiaomin were relatively unknown, not many people paid attention. By the time news of Zhao Shucheng and his group winning the award reached China, it was already the morning of the following day.

This caused a huge uproar online, with everyone wondering who Zhao Shucheng was and what the movie was about.

Yao Menggui originally thought that she would not have much contact with Zhao Shucheng in the future, but after seeing the news online, she realized that her sister actually knew such a powerful person.

Xiao Mu hadn't expected Zhao Shucheng to be so capable, so he stared at the computer screen, momentarily stunned.

She thought back to what Zhao Shucheng had said to her on the day filming wrapped up, wondering if she should really try to become a real actress instead of going back to her original life.

You should know that she had already made up her mind that now that Yao Menggui had returned, she should return to her original life and even planned to go back to her hometown with her adoptive father.

"Xiao Mu, since Director Gu is so capable, you should keep in touch with him more often. I might need your help to get the opportunity to work with him in the future."

"Sis, Director Gu is just a friend. We haven't been in touch since the wrap party."

Yao Menggui knew, of course, that Xiao Mu was telling the truth, because since that day, neither her phone nor Xiao Mu's phone had received any messages from Zhao Shucheng.

On the contrary, Chen Mo, the assistant Xiao Mu had previously hired, kept calling her, which annoyed her to no end.

Especially when she learned that Chen Mo also knew that Xiao Mu was impersonating her, and that Xiao Mu had even told Chen Mo everything, Yao Menggui was so angry that she almost died on the spot.

Because Xiao Mu had mentioned having such an assistant, she had someone investigate and discovered that Chen Mo was not there as stated on his resume to be an assistant at all; on the contrary, he had a very good relationship with paparazzi.

She gave the investigation materials to Xiao Mu, also making her realize the wickedness of Chen Mo's heart. Xiao Mu hadn't expected Chen Mo to be this kind of person, so upon seeing Chen Mo's identity and his intentions in infiltrating her, she went directly to Chen Mo and announced that the two of them were completely cut off from each other.

Yao Menggui was somewhat relieved that she had investigated Chen Mo beforehand, which allowed her sister to sever any lingering feelings for him. Otherwise, even if she wanted her sister to contact Zhao Shucheng now, she would be very resistant.

She could tell that her younger sister had different feelings for Zhao Shucheng, but because Zhao Shucheng already had a girlfriend, she hadn't taken that step.

But now that Zhao Shucheng has achieved such great results, if Xiao Mu could get together with him, it would be of great benefit to both of them. Su Cheng and Xiao Xue also saw the news and were shocked.

Although she already knew that Zhao Shucheng was a director and even had works submitted for awards, winning an award and going to a film festival have different meanings.

Especially Mo Xiaomin, who also entered the entertainment industry as an outsider, took less than a year to go from being unknown to becoming the leading actress in international film festival award-winning works, while she could only do odd jobs after signing a contract with an entertainment company.

She was naturally unwilling to continue like this, so she decided to go to Duan Chengxuan and tell him that she would not continue to be an assistant, but instead wanted acting opportunities.

When Su Cheng arrived at Duan Chengxuan's office, she didn't see Duan Chengxuan. Instead, she saw the broken pieces of the contract scattered on the ground.

Duan Chengxuan happened to return from outside and saw the castle fragments on the ground, as well as Su Cheng picking them up. He immediately assumed that Su Cheng was the one who had damaged his contract and shouted loudly:

"Su Cheng, do you really think I'll keep indulging you like this? Get out of here and never come to my office again."

Su Cheng was shocked to find herself wronged like this, and the person wouldn't even listen to her explanation before storming off in a huff.

Duan Chengxuan not only told Su Cheng to get lost, but also blocked Su Cheng's contact information, preparing to retaliate against Su Cheng.

After returning home, Su Cheng complained to Xiao Xue, feeling wronged.

"Xiaoxue, how could he do this? He wrongly accused me without even knowing the facts and suspended my work."

Xiaoxue asked, "So what are you planning to do next?"

“I don’t know either. I’ve lost my job as an assistant, and they won’t let me retake the exam. I don’t know what else I can do.”

Xiaoxue said, "Isn't this what they call being shelved? Chengzi, why don't you terminate your contract with the company? Otherwise, if you keep wasting your youth like this, your dream of becoming an actor will be cut short."

Su Cheng said, "It's not as simple as you say. Terminating the contract isn't that easy either. I've seen the penalty clause in the contract. Even if you sold me, I couldn't afford to pay it."

"Then what can we do? You can't just keep waiting like this, can you?"

Su Cheng said, "Xiaoxue, your boyfriend Gu Xiaobai works in the entertainment industry. Can you ask him if he can help me? If so, I don't want to be an assistant; I still want to act."

Xiaoxue hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I'll ask him for you later. But he's not back yet. I heard he's buying movie rights with Shanli, so he shouldn't be back for a while."

Xiaoxue was wrong. Zhao Shucheng and Shanli had already returned. Ever since the film won the award, the copyright holder they had contacted earlier had called. Zhao Shucheng was too impatient to argue with them over such a small amount of money.

Moreover, the film festival is currently very popular, and Zhao Shucheng wanted to sell the copyright so that the film could be seen by people more quickly. Therefore, after the price was about right, he directly had Shanli sign a contract with them.

After selling the copyright, they didn't waste any time and took the earliest flight back to China.

However, long-haul flights are indeed tiring, so Zhao Shucheng and Mo Xiaomin didn't tell anyone else and went straight home to rest.

The reporters didn't expect Zhao Shucheng to return to China so cleanly and efficiently, and to keep it a secret from everyone, so they didn't manage to capture any news of Zhao Shucheng's return.

The reporter, who had been keeping a close eye on Mo Xiaomin, accidentally spotted her van at her old neighborhood the next day, realizing that Mo Xiaomin had returned to China.

After learning the news, Xiaoxue took a taxi directly to Zhao Shucheng's building. Seeing many strangers around her, especially the cameras and microphones, she knew they were all there to ambush Zhao Shucheng.

She could only hurry upstairs. When she saw that there was no one else watching Zhao Shucheng's floor, she quickly knocked on the door and asked Zhao Shucheng to let her in.

Zhao Shucheng looked at Xiaoxue and asked curiously, "Wait, Xiaoxue, why are you here at this time?"

"I came to see you about something, but who knew there would be so many reporters gathered downstairs at your place."

"They didn't take any pictures, did they?"

"What, are you that afraid of other people finding out about our relationship?"

Zhao Shucheng pulled Xiaoxue down to sit and said, "Look at what you're saying, what am I afraid of? At worst, people will say I'm a womanizer. Anyway, I'm just a behind-the-scenes worker, and the gossip will die down after a few days. But it's different for you. If your workplace finds out about this, there will definitely be a lot of talk. How will you work then? You can't break up with me because of their opinions, just like last time, can you?"

"Of course not. I misunderstood last time, but now I think this is not bad either."

"Let's not discuss this. Just be more careful in the future. We haven't even said what you came here for yet."

Xiaoxue said, "It's still about Chengzi. After she signed with the company, they didn't give her any proper work. Instead, she was made to work as an assistant, and now she can't even do that anymore. So I came to ask you if there's any way she can escape this predicament."

Zhao Shucheng asked, "What are the specific details?"

When Su Cheng heard Xiao Xue's account, especially the fact that she was now being assigned to organize the warehouse and had to put together fifty different outfits in a single day, or else she would have to pay compensation for the losses, she was deeply moved.

Zhao Shucheng smiled and said, "This problem should be easy to solve, right?"

"How can it be so easy to solve? You don't know how big that warehouse is, and matching clothes isn't an easy task either, especially since the styles have to be different, it's really difficult, okay?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "So, you're just not thinking straight. Su Cheng can't handle it herself because she doesn't have much experience and doesn't buy clothes much, but some people can."

"You mean Amy? But she's not an employee of Su Cheng's company, so she shouldn't be able to help Su Cheng, right?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "You're not so stubborn after all. Amy isn't an employee of their company, but the makeup artists and costume designers at Xingyu Entertainment aren't just sitting around doing nothing. If Su Cheng could find someone to help, wouldn't that be great?"

"But Su Cheng doesn't know any of them, so why should they help her?"

"You've probably heard the saying, 'Money makes the world go round.' Besides, didn't you say before that Su Cheng's best friend Ye Qiao'er's brother works as a makeup artist at Xingyu Entertainment? You could ask him for help."

'Yeah, why didn't I think of that before?' (End of Chapter)