Chapter 9 Violet "Don't you like dogs?"...
The quiet night, the sound of panting.
Wen Siyu's skin was very red, his lips were engorged with blood, and his panting was heavy because he couldn't breathe properly. The uncontrollable heavy breathing was very sexy. Ji Jiazhen pressed the pad of her thumb against the corner of his eye and watched the skin at the corner of his eye gradually turn red under her finger.
He had a face that was perfect for bold and dramatic makeup; every feature was to her liking. His perfect appearance couldn't hide the sharpness of his bone structure. Various shades of pink and red complemented each other beautifully on his face, creating a gender-neutral kind of beauty.
She had kissed many people and taken many people's first kiss, but Wen Siyu gave people a unique feeling. Kissing him was a sour, tingling, and unripe taste of early-ripening berries.
After he calmed down, they kissed a second time, initiated by him.
He lifted her up and straddled her on his lap, kissing her from her lips to her collarbone in a wild, half-biting manner.
Ji Jiazhen pinched his shoulder, forcing him to look up and yell at him, "Are you a dog? You're dead if you dare leave a mark on me!"
Wen Siyu wrapped his arms tightly around her lower back, their bodies pressed together. Not satisfied, he lifted her up a little, and she was now sitting completely on top of him.
Don't you like dogs?
The sensation was obvious. Ji Jiazhen shifted her waist slightly, and Wen Siyu's breathing became noticeably disordered for a moment, accompanied by a slight tremor in his chest.
"Why are you shaking? You can't even handle it?"
Wen Siyu's Adam's apple bobbed as he stared at her face, his eyes filled with barely concealed desire. "Can you handle it?"
"Weren't you very arrogant before? Now you're willing to be a dog?"
Wen Siyu remained silent.
The T-shirt she was wearing today was rather loose, making it easy for him to slip his hand under the hem and do something naughty.
Her skin on her side was smooth and her body was hot. Wen Siyu's hand gently caressed that spot, his middle finger tip touching the bottom edge of her bra, not daring to go up or down.
Ji Jiazhen's warning had some effect; he stopped biting her and instead kissed her shoulder lightly, like a dragonfly skimming the water.
Her hands were initially wrapped around his neck, then moved down from his chest to his abs, openly taking advantage of him. Sensing that she was about to go further down, Wen Siyu grabbed her waist with both hands and pressed her down onto the bed.
Ji Jiazhen knew he had reached his limit and that things would get out of hand if he went any further, so she reached out and stopped him just as his lips were about to touch hers.
Wen Siyu grabbed her wrist, frowned, and clicked his tongue. "What do you mean?"
"I forgot to tell you, I'm on my period."
Those three words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the fire burning within him.
His eyes were dark as he stared at her. "Are you kidding me?"
Ji Jiazhen slapped his face with her hand, smiling mischievously, "Just letting you taste a little sweetness."
The rustling sound of clothes rubbing together made Wen Siyu stand up and silently pick up his coat, which he couldn't remember when he had taken it off.
Ji Jiazhen sat up to look at him. His hair was loose and covered his shoulders. It was hard not to be drawn to that spot, and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Are you just going to walk around like this, holding the stick up?"
Wen Siyu's expression was cold at this moment, a stark contrast to his physical reaction. He was also a mess, one second being intimate with her and the next giving her the middle finger.
"Ji Jiazhen, you son of a bitch, you're a complete scoundrel."
Ji Jiazhen laughed so hard he fell onto the bed, a little out of breath. The door slammed shut, revealing just how angry he was.
*
On Thursday morning, May brought Jian Yi back from City C, and Ji Jiazhen also went to the company. The three of them happened to bump into each other in the elevator.
Ji Jiazhen wore sunglasses perched on her nose, slim-fit suit pants with a white shirt tucked into her waistband, only the bottom three buttons fastened, and her neckline wide open, revealing a black camisole underneath. She wore a suede collared short jacket over the top, matching the black of the camisole, with a tailored fit similar to a suit jacket.
She has her own style, wearing a pure black choker around her neck and layering three vintage necklaces on her chest, giving her a chic look as if she just stepped off a fashion show.
Cool, handsome, arrogant—the standard female celebrity style.
Her pointed high heels clicked loudly as she held her head high as always. That arrogant air of looking down on people didn't seem impolite to her; rather, it was a uniquely Ji Jiazhen's style.
She stepped into the elevator. Jian Yi and Sister May were standing side by side. When they saw her, they almost subconsciously took two steps back to the side, giving her the middle seat.
She, of course, stepped inside without any hesitation.
Jian Yi turned her head to look at her and called out "Sister Jiazhen" in a somewhat awkward voice, quite different from her poised and confident demeanor on the show.
Ji Jiazhen didn't even glance at him, and replied with a very formal "Hello."
When May asked her about her recent work, she gave perfunctory answers and stopped asking after a few words.
After getting off the elevator, Sister May had to report something to her superiors, so she asked Ji Jiazhen and Jian Yi to wait in the lounge.
The lounge had four sofas. Ji Jiazhen sat facing the door, while Jian Yi sat to her left.
Both women had excellent posture; their professional conduct required them to sit upright at all times.
Ji Jiazhen took off her sunglasses and slowly hung them around her neck. Someone poured tea and brought it in, then closed the door to the lounge before leaving.
When the two of them were alone in the space, a subtle atmosphere silently spread. There was already a thousand different kinds of energy between two women, let alone two women who were competitors in their careers.
In this cold and austere atmosphere, Ji Jiazhen glanced at Jian Yi for the first time, adopting the demeanor of a senior and a superior.
The girl herself doesn't actually look much like her, but if you had to find a resemblance, it would be that her expression when she's at a 45-degree angle with her eyes lowered is somewhat similar. However, all of her heavily edited photos are edited to resemble Ji Jiazhen, and they do look quite convincing. The nickname "Little Ji Jiazhen" is quite convincing.
"I've seen two of your movies."
Whether it was because Ji Jiazhen's words were too sudden or Jian Yi had never expected her to watch her movie, she was very nervous and somewhat apprehensive. For a moment, she forgot to say anything polite and, after a brief pause, could only awkwardly reply with a thank you.
"One is the earliest, and the other is the most recent."
Jian Yi met her gaze, looked at her for two seconds, and then lowered her eyelashes.
“I’m a very direct person and my words can be harsh, but I won’t swallow my words just because you don’t like them. Your recent film where you played the lead role was not as good as the supporting role in your first film. You lacked the spark and showed no dedication. Your acting became more and more formulaic, and it was a superficial exaggeration and deliberate imitation that didn’t even capture the essence.”
As for who they were imitating, both of them knew perfectly well, but they didn't say it outright to save her face.
But Jian Yi didn't think so, or rather, Jian Yi didn't care what she thought, and her reply was somewhat ethereal.
"But the market doesn't care about my talent. Audiences can't settle down to appreciate subtle acting skills. Exaggeration is what grabs attention. So what if we imitate? For people like us who have formal training, isn't systematically learning acting also a form of imitating teachers? Sister Jiazhen, you may not know, but when I was in school, my teachers often used the films that won you awards as examples to tell us how outstanding your acting was, and that you were born to do this. But not everyone has talent."
Jian Yi picked up the tea on the table and took a sip. “I’m only a year younger than you. Your achievements at twenty are something I can’t reach at twenty-four. This industry is constantly receiving new blood. Twenty-four is an age where you have no advantage. You’re not young enough for those below you, and you’re not experienced enough for those above you. I can’t just sit here and wait to die. I have to make myself famous.”
Ji Jiazhen remained calm, a composed smile on her face. She understood Jian Yi's situation and admired her ambition to climb the social ladder, but her views were too distorted and she was too resentful, portraying herself as a talented but unappreciated gem.
"Honey, are you famous yet?"
She didn't argue with her, didn't preach to her, and didn't correct her misconceptions. Instead, she asked her questions based on the most realistic realities of the present.
Are you famous now?
No.
Four words were enough to crush her.
Three years of imitation did indeed generate buzz for her and make her appearance a topic of discussion, but temporary discussion and short-lived traffic do not equate to true fame.
A person is considered truly popular when they can still generate traffic and discussion even when they don't appear in public.
When everyone is thinking about you, guessing your next schedule and work, the clothes and makeup you wear become popular, the perfume you wear and the accessories you wear become bestsellers, and even your casual words and unintentional gestures are admired and imitated, that's when you can be considered famous.
Jian Yi couldn't understand it because she was one of the imitators, while Ji Jiazhen was the one being imitated, the one who became famous.
"The market won't bury any good film, nor will it bury any good actor. Audiences have eyes. If you're not willing to put in the effort to hone your acting skills, don't blame them for not being able to appreciate you. Actresses of any age have their own charm and value. You think twenty-four is an age with no advantages, but I think twenty-five is still young, and there are still many opportunities waiting for me. If you can't change your mindset, then don't care about other people's opinions. You yourself can't even fully trust yourself, can you?"
Jian Yi was quiet for a while, but that quiet was the stillness before a storm, with the possibility of thunder and lightning erupting at any moment. She said, "Sister Jiazhen, are you more dignified than me?"
This one sentence completely pushed the two to opposite sides.
Ji Jiazhen gave Jian Yi a flawless smile—not one of pleasure, not one of mockery, and not one of cold indignation. Her eyes were lowered, and although she was still smiling, Jian Yi could see the pity and fleeting sadness in her expression in that instant. The transition of her emotions was as smooth as when she was acting. Jian Yi couldn't even tell whether Ji Jiazhen's feelings were genuine or feigned.
"Aren't you just trying to say that I'm being kept by a sugar daddy and therefore have someone backing me?"
"..."
“I was scouted by a talent agent when I was seventeen. I was young and naive, and I was easily persuaded to sign a contract. That year, I played two minor roles with no lines or even just three seconds of screen time. The unscrupulous company made me take the path of being infamous for profit. Without my consent, they posted photos of me and my friend online, claiming they looked like couple photos. They also made me create a CP with a girl from the same company, saying I was bisexual. I got infamous, but I didn’t get any fame at all.”
Recalling this experience, she suddenly felt a bit self-deprecating and shrugged indifferently.
“When I was eighteen, I went to audition, but the casting director rejected me because he said my appearance wasn’t suitable. I didn’t even get a chance to act. I was not willing to give up, so I waited for the director for five days. At that time, the final choice for that role was almost confirmed. The director was so annoyed with me that he gave me two minutes to get rid of me and asked me to immediately get into character and act out the most intense part of the role. I stood at the hotel entrance, in a very disjointed environment, and played a hysterical mental patient. People passing by really thought I was a mental patient.”
She crossed her legs, rested her elbows on her knees, and cupped her chin in her hands as she looked at Jian Yi.
"That's how I got my first movie role. In the first two years of my career, every role I got was through auditions. I treated every role as if it were the last one I would ever play. I spared no effort in polishing the characters and completely immersed myself in them. At that point, I wasn't just acting anymore. Because I worked hard enough, because I put in so much effort, and because I was patient enough, the roles I played became popular, I became famous, and later I had the right to choose scripts. Finally, I didn't have to audition anymore; I just waited for scripts to be handed to me."
Jian Yi placed her hands on her knees, and blinked very infrequently as she listened to her speak.
"I'm not saying this to play the victim; I'm not that miserable. I just want to tell you that I'm more respectable than you. I got to where I am today through my own efforts. All the resources I have are due to my own abilities. Even if someone helped me, that's just good fortune, and it's also a form of ability, isn't it? I fully deserve my current position, while you..."
She paused, looking at Jian Yi with a playful expression. "Since you're going to be a clone, then lower your stance and show me more respect. Treat me completely as your senior, call me 'teacher' instead of 'sister.' After all, you said earlier that learning acting from a teacher is a form of imitation. So, after imitating me for so many years, calling me 'teacher' isn't too much to ask, is it?"
Before Jian Yi could speak, the door to the lounge was pushed open, and Sister May stood in the doorway with Chen Li. She didn't have a chance to answer Ji Jiazhen's question, but in this situation, her silence seemed to be a complete acquiescence.
May waved to them, "Come with me."
Ji Jiazhen stood up first, put her sunglasses back on, and left Jian Yi with a haughty back view.
There was one more thing she didn't say:
Show her some respect, make her happy, and allow her to imitate for a few more years. If you upset her, Jian Yi's name will be the first one listed in the resources and scripts she wants to grab when she makes her comeback.
Let's see who can outmaneuver whom.
A note from the author:
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Queen Zhen's Dog Training Manual, Volume 1: Making Selfish Guy Realize He's Being a Dog for Someone
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