After the assistant left, Shang Yechu was left alone in the office.
The room was unusually empty and quiet for a moment, almost like a white noise background. Shang Yechu sat on the sofa for a while, looking at the snack bags left by Jian Xiaojun and the full, untouched cup of tea.
After a long while, Shang Yechu stood up and slowly walked to the window.
After a busy day, it was already evening. The city lights were just coming on.
Standing atop the Qingping Entertainment building, the lights beneath my feet resembled mosaic pixels. Lines of light flashed across the lower levels—the headlights of speeding cars.
Shang Yechu stood there for a long time. The lights in the room were not on, and the light gradually dimmed.
City lights streamed through the window, illuminating a small patch of ground beside it. Shang Yechu stood in the light, his shadow stretched long.
Among the actors Shang Yechu knew, Qi Ming was the best actress. Before receiving the Ying Shi Award nomination, she often played vicious old nannies, shrewish mothers-in-law, and suffering mothers in melodramas; she was already a rare and excellent actress in domestic dramas.
Of all the actors Shang Yechu knew, Yang Huanyi was the best at action scenes (Li Yi was already dead in Shang Yechu's heart). She had fought hard for over a decade, using real swords and fists, but was betrayed by Shang Yechu because of taking on multiple roles at once. From then on, she never recovered and sold herself to a wealthy businessman, hoping to use his money and connections to make a comeback.
When Shang Yechu first met Jian Xiaojun, she was actually quite envious of her. Jian Xiaojun was so innocent and lively, with a happy family. Furthermore, she was talented—Jian Xiaojun had never studied screenwriting, nor had she experienced any major life hardships. It could be said that she had never stepped out of the ivory tower. Shang Yechu had never had such a carefree life.
However, Jian Xiaojun's innocence was quickly extinguished by the entertainment industry, and she was locked in a dark room, writing scripts for others day after day.
Shang Yechu held Luo Yao in high esteem during their time together. This wasn't because Luo Yao resembled the head of the grade-level department, but because of Luo Yao's meticulous attitude towards art. Luo Yao never compromised for the market. She could have easily added explicit scenes to "Anna Doriya," or included scenes of self-combing women being raped by soldiers, focusing the camera on the victims and sensationalizing the story. She could even have made Lin Fengyu fall in love with Zhao Cheng, packaging Zhao Cheng's one-sided coercion and harm to Lin Fengyu as love—this Stockholm syndrome actually had a market. But Luo Yao ultimately did none of it.
However, will Luo Yao eventually run out of talent?
Standing by the window, looking down at the neon lights below, Shang Yechu thought of these people. Among them were those she deeply admired and was grateful to, those she deeply loved and would always love. There were those she had once envied, and those she had always respected.
How cold and selfish I am.
I was young and had plenty of acting opportunities.
With capital backing me, everything went smoothly.
I am a public welfare ambassador for CTS (China Television System), and I have impeccable political and cultural credentials.
I'm about to star in "The Heavenly King," and my future looks very promising.
I still have the "Happy Street" film series, so I have a way out.
I have a weight exchange system. Although I don't know when I'll be able to pay back the tens of thousands of pounds I owe to the loan sharks (103 sneers), it has saved me countless troubles.
I have so much—while I'm lamenting and heartbroken over my love, what do the people I "love" have?
What happened to them when I walked into that sea for love?
Qi Ming had no acting jobs, Yang Huanyi sold herself, and Jian Xiaojun was repeatedly betrayed, deceived, and plagiarized. Yet, not one of these people went to that vast ocean for this!
Countless thoughts surged through Shang Yechu's mind, her heart pounding, and she even felt tears welling up in her eyes.
That night, she thought of these important people, and everything she had ever done. Never before had she realized so clearly: I had been indifferent to these people—my teachers, my friends, and even my lover.
There's an old saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Shang Yechu suddenly realized that what he had been doing to these people in the past was nothing more than giving them fish.
She gave these people an award, a play, a script, and felt at ease. But she couldn't truly improve their situation.
Teaching someone to fish is helping others. Giving someone a fish is helping yourself, simply to put your mind at ease—"They helped me, so I've repaid them!"
Even the incident at Xingfu Commercial Street was no different. If Ji Juntao hadn't intervened, and if President Kang of Taikang Group hadn't come for profit, the residents of Xingfu Commercial Street would have only gotten a "fish".
Outside the window, amidst the towering buildings, young actress Ye Chu stands in a small patch of light and shadow, contemplating her future destiny.
She stood at a crossroads in her life. Two paths lay before her.
One path is the path to worldly success. She left the room as if nothing had happened. She buried all the turmoil in her mind and continued as before. This path was smooth and impeccable. Because in this circle, people with a conscience are actually very few. Even giving someone a fish is considered an act of great kindness. No one would criticize her actions, not even her fans or her closest friends and family.
This path would save her a lot of effort; she could continue being a top star and gradually climb to the top of the box office charts. In the process, she would accumulate immense wealth and connections. Then, even a small amount slipping through her fingers would be enough to support all the people she had just envisioned.
One path leads to a distant ideal. She stands here, thinking, thinking, thinking. Then she acts, acts, acts. She will encounter countless obstacles and be ridiculed by countless people for her delusions. She will struggle until she is exhausted. She will have to do many things outside of acting, and will not be able to focus solely on acting as before, leaving everything to Ji Juntao.
This road is very, very long, perhaps she will never reach it in her lifetime. Perhaps she will fall halfway, perhaps she will ultimately give up. If she doesn't die or give up, then she cannot stop, until Qi Ming and his ilk have films to make, until Yang Huanyi and her ilk no longer have to sell themselves, until Jian Xiaojun and her ilk are no longer stolen from, until Luo Yao and her ilk are no longer forced to abandon their creative work due to poor box office returns…
Until the world is changed.
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