Chapter Four
Hotel Negresco in the Bay of Angels, designed by the architect of the Eiffel Tower, boasts a pink dome that resembles a romantic cloud against the pristine sky of Nice. The hotel lobby features the world-famous Barat crystal chandelier, originally commissioned for the Tsar, which uses over 16,000 crystals and glitters brilliantly. The doormen, dressed in old-fashioned servant uniforms and wearing red feathered hats, create an atmosphere reminiscent of an 18th-century aristocratic palace.
The room also retains the luxury of a French palace, with an ornate carved wooden bed, tassels tying up the heavily made malachite green curtains, and a cool night breeze flipping the script on the wooden table and lifting Su Xian's black hair hanging by her ears.
Zhang Zhiran sat opposite Su Xuan, reading the itinerary aloud from her phone. "Tomorrow, we'll first visit the market in the Old Town, then go to Castle Hill Park, and then take photos at 'I love NICE.' In the afternoon, my brother will have his driver pick us up to go to Antibes on his yacht. We'll stay on the yacht tonight, and the day after tomorrow he'll take us to Antibes..."
"What?" Su Xian looked up, frowning at her. "Your brother's yacht? When did you get a brother?"
“He’s my cousin, my aunt’s son.” Zhi Ran put her phone on the table and quickly explained, “His Chinese name is Lin Zhiyuan, but his official name is Fredric Lin Heath. My aunt had an arranged marriage; she married Duncan Heath from England. The Heath family is a major shareholder of Holmes, you should know that, right? Brother Yuan is also the president of Holmes North Asia.”
The script pages were being blown around by the wind, and Su Xian reached out to hold them down.
“I thought it was just you and me on the itinerary.” Su Xuan’s face was expressionless. She didn’t like this kind of socializing unless it was for work, so this answer was tantamount to a refusal.
Zhi Ran shamelessly squeezed onto Su Xian's armchair armrest. "Mainly because I heard he bought a new yacht, so I really want to see it." She pressed herself against Su Xian, shaking her arm as she said, "Just think of it as getting on good terms with the executives at Holmes. Anyway, you're a spokesperson now, maybe they can give you a promotion."
"I am where I am today because of myself, not because of a man." Su Xian pursed her lips.
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, my idea was dangerous." Zhi Ran lightly slapped her mouth. "But I really want to see his yacht, so please keep me company."
Since Zhi Ran has already made the trip, it means that the other party has arranged everything. If she suddenly doesn't go now, it might leave a bad impression, especially since her endorsement has only just begun.
"Who else?"
"And there's my childhood friend Zheng Yu, the one who owns a restaurant, and his wife Fang Hui, you've met them both..."
Zheng Yu runs a high-end restaurant; his "Royal" in the port city has held three Michelin stars for many consecutive years. Su Xian met him once at Zhi Ran's house during the Chinese New Year this year. So, it's not bad that not many people go to the yacht and they all know each other.
Seeing that she didn't explicitly object, Zhi Ran continued to shake her, "I asked Yuan Ge, and there's no one else here, really. It's just one night and another day at Antibes. Please, Xiao Xian, come with me to broaden my horizons."
Zhi Ran kept calling "Xiao Xian, Xiao Xian" like a child, showing no sign of giving up until she agreed. Su Xian couldn't help but laugh. She glanced at Zhi Ran and said, "Okay, okay, I promise you."
"Yay! That's great!" Zhi Ran grinned and reached out to pinch her cheek. "You should smile more. You look so pretty when you smile. Don't always be so aloof."
"And how did you grow up like this?" Zhi Ran leaned closer and said, "Slim waist and well-endowed. I thought you always squeezed yourself up on the red carpet..."
Su Xian pulled out a cushion from behind her waist and threw it at Zhi Ran, silencing her. "If you say that again, I won't go with you."
"Alright, alright, I won't say anymore." Zhang Zhiran caught the cushion, retreated to her chair, and pulled over Su Xuan's script, flipping to the cover. "Is it the one from Shuying Media called 'Snow Abyss'?"
Su Xian nodded.
"I saw online that it's directed by Xu, is that true?"
"Um."
"Wow!" Zhang Zhiran's eyes lit up. "Director Xu has only been nominally in charge for the past few years, but this time he actually came in person!"
Tree Shadow Media is a top-tier film and television company that strictly controls the selection of scripts and actors, producing high-quality finished products and is a regular at award seasons.
"Snow Abyss" tells the story of Xue, an assassin seeking revenge. She was originally the daughter of a former prime minister, whose entire family was executed after being framed. However, the prime minister's six-year-old daughter was rescued by an assassin organization. Disguised as a boy, she apprenticed under a master and became the organization's most skilled assassin, codenamed Snow. During a mission, Snow unexpectedly helped Mo Ling, her childhood betrothed. Mo Ling was now an official in the Ministry of Justice. The two secretly gathered evidence and manipulated the court, persuading the new emperor to clear Snow's parents' names. In the end, Snow let go of her feelings for Mo Ling and wandered the world alone, upholding justice.
The last time Shuying directed a period drama was five years ago, a political intrigue series directed by Xu Zhiheng, which swept several important awards at the Golden Deer Awards. This time, the collaboration of these two powerful talents to produce another period drama has already generated a lot of buzz during the preparation stage.
“You’ll definitely look cool as a female knight-errant! But is this your first time filming a period drama? There must be a lot of people auditioning, right?” Zhang Zhiran asked.
"Yes, I don't know about other people's situations, but I had to go through three interviews before I made a decision. I thought there was no hope."
"Period drama, cross-dressing, action scenes—you've challenged three new areas at once," Zhang Zhiran said with envy. "Why are you so beautiful and hardworking? Sigh, compared to you, I'm just a useless piece of trash. My mom was scolding me yesterday for only knowing how to play."
Zhi Ran lay on the table, looking dejected. In fact, when Su Xian first met Zhi Ran, he had just made it through his struggles and his acting skills were starting to improve. Zhi Ran herself had only started to have a smooth career in the last two or three years.
“Actually, you can think about it when you have some free time. If you still want to be an actress, you have to persevere, learn more and experience more. I also gradually realized this,” Su Xian comforted her.
Zhi Ran sighed, "I'm the kind of person who doesn't have much perseverance. When I first started acting after graduation, it was quite exciting, but I gradually found it meaningless. Every time I see you reading the script so seriously and filling your schedule so much, I really want to be like you, but I'm afraid of working too hard. Don't you feel tired?"
“Sometimes I get tired, but since this is the path I chose, I have to persevere no matter how tired I am,” Su Xuan said softly.
Acting is the only thing she can truly control. Perhaps someone like Zhi Ran, who grew up in a privileged environment, finds it hard to understand the difficulty of earning money, and not everyone can grasp the ins and outs of acting.
But Su Xian couldn't discourage Zhi Ran, so she thought for a moment and continued to comfort her, "If you really don't want to continue being an actress, you can consider switching to behind-the-scenes work. That way, you won't waste your experience of the past few years. You can discuss it with your parents; they have a lot of experience. But before you decide to switch careers, you can also film one or two movies first, which is better than wasting time."
“I’ve also felt lost and directionless. Give yourself some time, take it slow, Zhiran.” She patted Zhiran’s hand.
"So how did you find your way later?" Zhi Ran muttered as she asked.
"Later..." Su Xuan looked out the window. In the pitch-black night, nothing could be seen except for the lighthouse in the distance. "Later, a senior taught me a lot, taught me how to act, and taught me how to find my own place."
"So don't worry, I'll help you too."
Su Xuan turned around, and Zhi Ran sat up straight, her eyes full of curiosity, "Which senior is it?"
Su Xian was speechless. Zhi Ran's emotions always came and went quickly, and she didn't know if Zhi Ran had listened to what she had just said.
"Which senior is it? Do I know them?" She raised her eyebrows and continued to ask.
Su Xian glanced at her sideways, "It's Teacher Lu Ran." There's nothing wrong with saying this; a small number of people in the industry know about it. "I dated him for a few months."
Zhang Zhiran's eyes widened. "I've been watching him act since I was a kid. He's way older than you..."
"Ten years old," Su Xuan answered frankly.
"So what happened later? Why did you break up? Was it because he was too much older than you, in some ways..." Zhi Ran gave him a knowing look.
Su Xuan grabbed a pillow and threw it at her face. "I think you should become a gossip reporter."
Zhang Zhiran didn't dodge; she hugged her pillow and grinned, "Why is that?"
Later, it was because Lu Ran's controlling nature went too far, even attempting to drive a wedge between her and Bai Lin in order to continue controlling her career direction, which crossed Su Xian's bottom line. However, several years had passed, and he had helped her before, so Su Xian didn't want to say anything bad.
"We just don't get along," Su Xian said vaguely.
Zhang Zhiran wisely refrained from pressing the matter further. "However, given how rational you are, I really can't imagine what it would be like for you to be in a relationship."
Zhi Ran tucked the cushion into Su Xuan's arms. "Keep working hard, I won't bother you anymore." She waved casually, slipped on her slippers, and left the room. "Goodnight."
Su Xian's thoughts were interrupted by Zhi Ran's noise, so she got up and went to the living room. She opened the refrigerator door, but it was empty.
"Don't bother looking! Sister Lin specifically told me to, and I already asked the waiter to clear the wine away," Zhi Ran shouted from the room.
Is it really necessary to be so strict? Su Xian shook her head helplessly, closed the refrigerator door, and went back to her bedroom to lie down.
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