The Entertainment Industry in Turmoil: Young Actresses All Want to Rise to the Top

Thank you so much to the generous donor [Lazy Sheep's Story House] for the huge reward!

Good heavens, I haven't even finished paying off my debts yet, and I'm already in debt again!

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The next morning, Tian Xiwei sat in the general manager's office of Chenxi Media.

The office is small, only about 20 square meters at most. It contains a desk, a chair, a filing cabinet, and several boxes of unopened office supplies piled up in the corner.

The traces left by the previous tenant haven't been completely cleaned up yet; there's a faded mark on the windowsill from the sun.

From the window, you can see the Mohen Capital building 200 meters away, its gray-blue glass curtain wall reflecting the sunlight.

She glanced at it, reached out and pulled the blinds shut with a "click," blocking the blinding light.

On the desk sat a laptop, a pen (given to her by Liu Haozun yesterday), and a photo frame containing a picture of her and Li Yitong.

The two people in the photo are smiling brightly. Li Yitong has her arm around her shoulder, her eyes are crescent-shaped, and she leans her head on Li Yitong's shoulder, her dimples are deep. It was taken last winter at Xuelu.

She stared at the photo for a few seconds, a slight smile unconsciously curving her lips, before looking away, opening her notebook, and starting to plan what she needed to do that day.

Her phone vibrated slightly. She picked it up and saw a message from Li Yitong: "[How was the first day?]"

Tian Xi's lips curved slightly as she typed: 【Very busy.】

Li Yitong immediately replied with an eye-rolling emoji, followed by another message: 【Stubborn! By the way, the money has arrived in your company account, please check.】

Tian Xiwei's finger paused for a moment. She exited the chat window, opened the bank app, and saw a string of zeros displayed in the balance section.

The number 2 is followed by eight zeros.

Two hundred million.

The money Li Yitong had was, to be precise, money she had taken from her own private savings account. It wasn't recorded in the official accounts; it was her personal money.

This was all the start-up capital for Chenxi Media, and it was also the debt she owed to Li Yitong.

She stared at the number for a few seconds, then exited the chat, switched back to the chat window, and typed: "I will pay it back."

After sending it, I felt it was too harsh, so I added: "Don't forget to calculate the interest."

Li Yitong replied instantly: [Okay, okay, how could capitalists forget about interest? Work hard, don't let me lose everything.]

Tian Xiwei smiled slightly and put her phone down.

At 10:00 AM, Chenxi Media held its first plenary meeting.

Chenxi Media currently has a total of eighteen people, crammed into a small conference room, chairs next to chairs, a scene full of vitality.

Tian Xiwei stood on the front stage.

She was still wearing a light blue suit jacket today, with a white lace-trimmed business shirt underneath, and matching suit trousers. She was also wearing the same five-centimeter black high heels as yesterday.

Her hair was tied in a low ponytail, revealing a smooth forehead and a pair of strikingly bright almond-shaped eyes. She wore no makeup, only a thin layer of lip balm on her lips.

Her entire demeanor is completely different from before.

Back when she was at Mohen, she was Xiaotian'er, the little girl who would snuggle on the sofa and gnaw on duck necks, chase after Bai Lu and playfully tease her, and lean on Shen Mo's shoulder and act coquettishly.

Now she stands here, back straight, chin slightly raised, her gaze sweeping over the faces of everyone present with a knowing look. She is President Tian Xiwei.

"Chenxi Media, today is our first general meeting."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was powerful and resonated throughout the conference room—crisp, efficient, and without any hesitation.

"We don't have many people, much money, or much fame."

She paused, her gaze sweeping across Zhang Ruonan's face, landing on Zhou Ye's face, before moving back.

"Some people might think of this as a branch of Inkmark, but I hope that in the future, you will be proud to call this place Dawn!"

She opened the PowerPoint presentation, and the slides displayed photos of two scripts: "Your Wedding" and "Better Days".

"To build our reputation at this stage, we need to do two things well."

"First, make these two movies well!"

"Secondly, let's promote the reputations of the three of us!"

She turned to look at Zhang Ruonan and Zhou Ye, "You two are the ones I specifically asked for from Mohen."

Zhang Ruonan straightened her back, and Zhou Ye's chin also lifted slightly.

Tian Xi looked at them, the corners of her mouth curving slightly, with a sharp, clean, and decisive arc.

"I won't say things like 'we're family' as a formality."

She smiled and said, "I'll say something that everyone is thinking about."

"We'll become famous! Everyone will make money!"

"We are comrades-in-arms, we fight together, and we win together."

There was a moment of silence in the meeting room. "We won. Let's all enjoy the honor and the benefits together."

She paused, her gaze sweeping across the entire arena again, "We lost..."

The curve of her lips deepened a little, her dimples appearing for a second before disappearing instantly. "I won't lose."

When those three words were spoken, the conference room fell silent for a moment, and then Gong Yuhan led the applause.

The applause wasn't enthusiastic, but it was sincere; it was sparse, after all, there were only eighteen people.

But Tian Xiwei was very happy because the journey had officially begun.

After the meeting, Zhang Ruonan sat alone in the conference room.

Everyone else had left, but the air still smelled of coffee and printing paper.

She didn't move, remaining seated in her original position, with the script of "Your Wedding" spread out in front of her. In the lower right corner were the three characters "Zhang Ruonan," written by herself in very careful handwriting, as if afraid of ruining the paper.

She turned to the first page. She had read this scene more than a dozen times, but she discovered something new every time she read it.

The script only had three lines, but she had already filled the side with dense notes.

She continued writing biographical sketches in her notebook.

"She must be someone who seems indifferent on the surface, but actually remembers everything very clearly."

"She won't cry, at least not in front of others."

"She was actually laughing when she was at her saddest."

She paused here, crossed out the last sentence, and changed it to: "The saddest time for her was when she laughed the loudest."

She looked at the line of text, nodded, and continued writing, having already filled five pages.

Her phone vibrated. She picked it up; it was Shen Mo.

How is it?

Zhang Ruonan subconsciously looked up and around. The conference room was empty, the door was closed, and the blinds were drawn.

She lowered her head, her fingers typing rapidly on the screen, then deleting and retyping.

[Great! Mr. Tian is very enthusiastic and has done a very good job setting things up.]

After sending it, she felt that her words were too official and wanted to add something, but Shen Mo's next message had already arrived.

If anything happens to her, let me know.

Zhang Ruonan stared at the message for a few seconds; she knew what it meant.

Besides the reason her contract was transferred, she also had another mission when she came to Chenxi.

Shen Mo had spoken with her.

"When we get to Chenxi, keep an eye on Tian Xiwei for me."

"She's tough on the outside but soft on the inside. She won't say anything and will just bear it all herself."

"You don't need to do anything special, it's just..."

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"Just let me know if anything happens to her over there."

Although Zhang Ruonan was puzzled at the time, she still agreed.

She was actually very curious. Shen Mo seemed to care a lot about Tian Xiwei, so why did he let Tian Xiwei terminate her contract and go solo?

They give people and money, without asking for any nominal ownership or taking any shares. Even ordinary relatives wouldn't go to this extent!

What's more, now they've planted a "spy" like themselves, which is clearly not the kind of concern a boss should show to an artist who's terminating their contract.

It was something deeper, something she couldn't quite put her finger on, but she could feel it.

Just like now, as she looked at the words on the screen, an indescribable emotion welled up inside her.

Yes, Mr. Shen, I guarantee the mission will be accomplished!

After sending the message, she locked her phone and placed it face down on the table.

She looked down at the script, but her gaze wasn't focused; the thought from earlier was still swirling in her mind.

Shen Mo really cares about Tian Xiwei.

When this thought popped into her head, she didn't even realize that she felt a pang of envy.

She took a deep breath, suppressed her emotions, and refocused her attention on the script.

At nine o'clock in the evening, everyone had left work.

Tian Xiwei sat alone in her office. The main lights were off, only the desk lamp was on, casting a long, dim shadow on the wall.

She turned on her computer, logged into her bank account, and saw a balance of 200,000,000.00.

She stared at that number for a long time, so long that the screen saver popped up, with blue bubbles floating around on the screen, before she finally snapped out of it and moved the mouse.

She knew that this money was nothing to Li Yitong; Mohen's earnings over the past two years were enough for her to squander for several lifetimes.

But it's not about money; it's about support and trust.

She couldn't let Li Yitong down.

Her phone vibrated again. She picked it up and saw it was Shen Mo.

How was the first day?

She stared at those words for a few seconds, hovered her finger above the screen, typed a few words, and then deleted them.

"It's alright" - delete it.

"It went quite smoothly," delete that.

"Mind your own business," then deleted it.

In the end, he only replied with one word: 【Mm.】

After sending the message, she felt that the reply was too cold, but it was already sent and couldn't be taken back.

Shen Mo replied instantly: [Do you have enough funds?]

She bit her lip, her fingers hovering over the screen for a few seconds before typing back: "I don't want your money."

After posting it, I realized it was too impulsive, so I quickly added: "Li Yitong has already given it to me."

Shen Mo: [That's good. Get some rest early and don't stay up late.]

She looked at the message but didn't reply.

She put her phone on the table, stood up, walked to the window, and reached out to open the blinds.

Two hundred meters away, in the office building of Mohen Capital, one floor was still lit up.

She couldn't see which floor it was, but she knew that Shen Mo should be there, and perhaps he was watching her too.

He always left very late. When she was a trainee at Mohen, she would always go upstairs to look for him, and almost every time she would see him sitting in front of the computer with a cold cup of coffee next to him.

She stood by the window, looking at the light two hundred meters away, pursed her lips, then closed the blinds, picked up her bag, turned off the light, and walked out of the office.

The November night breeze carried a slight chill as it brushed against her face. She instinctively shrank her neck and pulled her suit jacket tighter around herself.

There's a milk tea shop downstairs from the company. Its neon sign is lit with a warm yellow light, and there are a few people waiting in line at the door, holding number tags.

As she passed by, she subconsciously slowed her pace.

Several finished samples were displayed in the transparent window: mango, strawberry, and taro.

She stared at the strawberry drink for two seconds, then suddenly wanted milk tea, specifically the bold strawberry cheese drink.

The sweet and sour taste, the salty milk foam, and the strawberry pulp underneath are very pleasant.

She looked around, her gaze sweeping across the street corner, but there was no Nayuki sign.

She paused for a moment, and then a thought suddenly popped into her head.

There are probably no Nayuki stores in Beijing right now.

Nayuki hadn't even expanded beyond Shenzhen in 2015; its Beijing store wouldn't open until 2017.

Where did Shen Mo get those milk teas he brought her before?

Pengcheng.

The only way to get here is by plane from Shenzhen.

A cup of milk tea takes three hours to fly from Shenzhen to Beijing, and with the time for pickup and delivery, it takes at least five or six hours.

He specially had it brought from Shenzhen, just because she said she wanted to drink it.

She stood at the entrance of the bubble tea shop, staring at the strawberry drink in the window for a long time.

A night breeze blew, blowing her hair onto her face. She didn't brush it away, just stood there blankly.

A girl in the queue next to her recognized her and whispered to her companion, "Look at that person, doesn't she look a bit like Tian Xiwei?"

His companion glanced at him and said, "He's wearing a mask, so I can't see clearly. But his demeanor seems quite similar."

"Should we go and take a photo together?"

"Forget it, this is their private time."

The conversation between the two drifted into her ears. She snapped out of her reverie, lowered her head, and turned to leave.

I didn't buy that milk tea.

She walked quickly to the side of the street, her steps becoming faster and faster, as rapid as her heartbeat.

She didn't look back until she reached the roadside and got into Chengcheng's car.

Two hundred meters away from Mohen Capital, Shen Mo stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his gaze fixed on the office building not far away.

The floor was dark, without any lights, but he knew that Tian Xiwei had just been there.

His phone screen was lit up, and she had just finished replying to the message when the lights on the other end went out.

He stared for a long time. The hot coffee Rebecca had just brought over behind him had gone cold, and there was a cup of milk tea next to it.

These are amazing fresh strawberries, flown in from Shenzhen this afternoon.

He originally wanted to have it delivered to Chenxi, but after hesitating for a long time, he ultimately decided not to.

She won't want it now.

When Xu Yiruo called, Tian Xiwei had just finished washing up.

"Mr. Tian, ​​I've made contact with Han Tian."

Xu Yiruo's voice came through the receiver, carrying a sense of careful wording.

"But he refused."

"Even though I said the script came from Mohen, and even though I said we had plenty of funds and could start filming as soon as we arrived, he still refused."

Tian Xiwei's face masking motion froze in mid-air.

"What did he say?"

"He said the script was good, but he wasn't interested in playing childish games and wasting his time with a new company like Dawn, a new producer, and new actors."

Tian Xiwei remained silent for a moment.

"You ask him out, and I'll talk to him in person."

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