Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Hospital wards are shared by many people, and strangers come and go every day, so it's impossible to sleep soundly at night.
Liang Shuanglan was tired of staying in the hospital, but her daughter was away filming and didn't need her to take care of her. Going back to her rented room alone, having to buy groceries, cook, and travel back and forth to the hospital was too much of a hassle, so she reluctantly stayed there.
But the situation is different now.
Overnight, "Lan Xu's job-hopping" and "Lan Xu's contract dispute with GIGABYTE Entertainment" dominated the front pages of all entertainment news, and Zhou Laotian was immediately unsettled. She kept talking to Liang Shuanglan while holding a photo of Jiang Mingyue, whose head was barely visible.
Liang Shuanglan knew, of course, that Old Mrs. Zhou was worried about Lan Xu, but who could like Xianglin's nagging?
Anyway, Liang Shuanglan couldn't bring herself to like it. She felt like her ears were ringing for a whole day and night, and her head was about to throb with pain!
Upon seeing Jiang Mingyue appear wearing a baseball cap and a mask, and being offered to take her home, Liang Shuanglan, who never wanted her daughter to suffer, didn't let her say a word and wished she could jump out of bed and run back with her daughter.
Grandma Zhou, however, grabbed Jiang Mingyue tightly and anxiously questioned her: "Young lady, you have to tell me, how serious is the problem with the contract on Lan Xu? The news says he's going to the company that signed with you, you must know something."
The company needs to generate news, so how could it casually announce what it's going to do in a crowded place like this?
Jiang Mingyue apologized to Grandma Zhou in her heart, then shook her head innocently: "Grandma Zhou, Senior Lan and I are not managed by the same agent, and I don't know how they negotiated the contract. But you don't need to worry, the company boss is a good person. The money for my mother's medical treatment was advanced to me by the company; if Senior Lan's cooperation with the company is successful, the treatment will be good."
"Not bad, that's alright..." Hearing Jiang Mingyue's words, Grandma Zhou felt half relieved and let go of Jiang Mingyue's hand.
Jiang Mingyue seized the opportunity, darted several steps away like a rabbit, grabbed the luggage her mother had packed, and ran away quickly.
*
With Gu Yifan and Xiao Liu present, Jiang Mingyue didn't need to lift a finger to get back to the dormitory.
Two men carried Liang Shuanglan's few belongings and escorted her and her daughter back home. Li Ruojun, the assistant who hadn't accompanied them, had already cooked dinner in the dormitory.
The five of them ate a hot meal together. Gu Yifan told Jiang Mingyue to go back to school in the afternoon to cancel her leave before leaving.
Jiang Mingyue and her mother never lacked phone conversations, but talking on the phone and being face-to-face were very different. She helped her mother pack her luggage into the room, and then sat on the bed and went over her work and life arrangements with Liang Shuanglan again.
Liang Shuanglan didn't find it annoying at all. She sat with her daughter, listened to her with a smile, and occasionally added a few words.
The atmosphere in the room was warm and peaceful. After Jiang Mingyue finished explaining everything, she looked at Liang Shuanglan and asked nervously, "Mom, I made the decision to do the paternity test together tomorrow without discussing it with you first."
Liang Shuanglan held her daughter's hand and patted her palm: "What you did is exactly what your mother wanted to do. I'm so happy."
Jiang Mingyue knew that Liang Shuanglan wouldn't blame her, so she immediately smiled and took out her new phone from her pocket: "The company got me an endorsement deal, and they require everyone in the family to use this brand. Mom, I'll help you switch the SIM card."
Upon hearing that no money had been wasted, Liang Shuanglan did not object at all and handed the phone to Jiang Mingyue.
After getting the new card, Jiang Mingyue repeated, "Mom, you need to go to the provincial hospital for a blood test at 10 a.m. tomorrow. I'll have Ruojun and Xiao Liu accompany you in the nanny car. My classes are the first and last ones tomorrow, so I can make it. We'll meet at the hospital."
She held Liang Shuanglan's hand and apologized from the bottom of her heart: "Mom, I brought you back, but I have to go back to school to live and can't be with you. I'm sorry."
Liang Shuanglan couldn't help but smile. She placed her hand on Jiang Mingyue's head and rubbed it as she had when she was a child.
“Silly child, you should focus on your career at such a young age. Your agent said you are very talented and the company values you, so just focus on acting. I’m an old man, I’ve been through everything, and I’m not incapacitated. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Liang Shuanglan knew very well that her daughter had only just starred in an unreleased TV series, and saying that her future was "uncertain" was an understatement. How could she already have an assistant, an apartment as a dormitory, a nanny car, and an agent following her around for every little thing, and even be able to get such a large sum of money in advance?
She believed her daughter wouldn't do anything that crossed the line, so ruling out that possibility, the only remaining possibility was that Jiang Mingyue's company was exceptionally optimistic about her future development, which was why they were willing to invest so generously and thoughtfully in her.
Jiang Mingyue closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and rubbed against her mother's slightly rough palm for a while, then, having absorbed enough energy, opened her eyes and grinned, revealing a bright smile: "Then I'm going back to school."
Actually, after returning to school, attending classes became meaningless for her.
But since Gu Yifan asked her to go back to school, it proves that the marketing arrangements made by the company are related to this part, and she must obey the arrangements.
Jiang Mingyue picked up the backpack she had prepared earlier and returned to school.
The first thing Jiang Mingyue did upon returning to school was to go to the counselor's office and hand over two particularly thick kraft paper packages.
The counselor looked completely bewildered: "What?"
Jiang Mingyue pushed the paper package forward further and said, "Teacher, the school has a record of the donations my classmates gave me, right? This is what I earned from acting, shooting music videos, and shooting commercials. The money my classmates gave me was money they saved from their own meals. Now that I can support myself, I want to return the donations to everyone and thank them in person."
The counselor's face lit up immediately, and she readily agreed: "Yes, I do. Wait a minute, I'll go to the next few offices to get the course schedules from other departments, I'll go with you."
I took some photos at the spot to document it.
This is such a perfect opportunity for publicity. Just film it, and you'll have all the information about the school's students working together and being united. We'll have no shortage of news this year, and we can bring it up again if needed in the future.
The counselor quickly ran to the next few offices and returned with not only the donation stubs, but also the other counselors.
So, what started as "Jiang Mingyue going alone to return the money and express her gratitude" turned into a large group of people setting off, followed by photographers from several departments.
Photography equipment is a rarity in other schools, but it's something film schools have no shortage of.
The news that "Jiang Mingyue is returning the money" spread like wildfire. Students who were in class dared not skip class, fearing that the counselor who was with her would catch them. Students who did not have class also quickly returned to their dormitories, afraid of missing the opportunity to get the money.
—When the students donated money, they didn't expect to see money back, but if there really was money back, who would push the money away!
Surrounded by a crowd, Jiang Mingyue walked through one dormitory room after another, repeatedly bowing and saying, "Thank you for your donation that helped my mother and me through this difficult time." The students who received the money also signed forms in front of the camera under the supervision of the counselor to indicate that they had received their original donations.
As she passed through more rooms, the amount of money in the two brown paper bags in Jiang Mingyue's backpack dwindled.
In the end, she became so mute that she could no longer speak and could only repeat the act of bowing.
...
After finally paying back the money, Jiang Mingyue bowed again to thank the accompanying counselors, then went out to buy a box of throat lozenges and returned to her dormitory.
The atmosphere in the dormitory was even stranger than the last time.
The girls in the dormitory kept stealing glances at Jiang Mingyue, thinking they were being discreet. But the moment their eyes met Jiang Mingyue's, they would quickly look away as if they were on fire.
Jiang Mingyue smiled inwardly, knowing that the families of the girls were all well-off and might not envy her for being able to earn enough money to repay her classmates' donations so quickly. But since they had come to the performing arts department, they must really want the opportunity to appear on screen.
So, Jiang Mingyue took out the small gifts she had prepared earlier from her bag: "When I was staying in a shared room on set, I saw that everyone used bed curtains to cover themselves, and I thought they looked pretty, so I bought some. I hope you won't mind." After saying that, she handed the gifts to her roommates one by one.
She chose designs featuring sweet and cute cartoon characters, so even if she didn't like them, she wouldn't find them annoying.
Once Jiang Mingyue took the initiative to speak, the others were also able to open up and start talking.
The girl who had previously helped Jiang Mingyue deliver a message spoke first: "Jiang Mingyue, is it tough on set? What's it really like acting?"
Sure enough, here it comes.
There's no need to lie about the situation within the production crew. They'll likely have more opportunities to audition and join the cast in the future. Jiang Mingyue mentioned a few things, then brought up the fact that the "Silver Bottle Chronicle" production crew still needed many extras. With an apologetic expression, she said, "The auditions for the main roles have long since ended. I was just brought along by Director Liu to pick up a leftover. The production crew still needs some extra roles. If you don't mind, I can ask around for you."
Everyone here is only a freshman. Freshmen with connections have already taken leave to join the production team like Jiang Mingyue; the rest of us who are just sitting in school attending classes are those who lack connections.
While there are film crews that come directly to schools to select actors, they are not numerous.
In the acting industry, age waits for no one, so everyone feels that taking the initiative is better than just waiting.
"Sure, I'd like to give it a try."
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Jiang Mingyue took out her notebook: "Everyone, write down your contact information. I'll pass it on to the assistant director in charge of casting later."
True to her word, Jiang Mingyue obtained the contact information of several girls in her dorm and then called Zhang Xin's phone in front of them. She directly asked if there were any spots available for extras, hoping to secure a few positions for her dormmates. She then wrote down the interview address and contact number she had obtained from Zhang Xin and distributed them to her dormmates, saying, "Looking forward to your good news."
Jiang Mingyue clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture: "I really can't talk about the script. The contract says I have to pay compensation for leaking it." Then she burrowed into the covers and pretended to be dead.
But because the interview opportunity actually existed, the atmosphere in the dormitory immediately became harmonious, and no one paid attention to Jiang Mingyue anymore.
The next day, the grand show that Gu Yifan had arranged for Jiang Mingyue began on time, just as Jiang Mingyue had expected.
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