CHAPTER 771: CHAPTER 761: THE TRUTH HURTS THE MOST

Upon learning there were guests at Jiang Lingxi’s place, even though Xu Yin really wanted to be close to her grandniece, she restrained herself from coming over for dinner.

It was Tong Yue who stayed for dinner and asked, "I noticed someone seems to be living in your neighboring courtyard too."

She remembered that the courtyard had always been closed during her previous visits.

"It’s my grand-uncle and grand-aunt living there. The green rice balls you just ate were made by my grand-aunt. How were they? Quite tasty, right?"

"Yes, they were indeed delicious, sweet but not cloying. Much better than what you buy in the supermarket."

Jiang Lingxi also considered inviting her grand-aunt over for dinner; however, Tong Yue, to her grand-aunt, was a complete stranger, and over time, people could usually sense that her grand-aunt was somewhat different from ordinary people.

Thinking it over, she decided against it.

After finishing lunch, Tong Yue got up nimbly and said goodbye.

"Well, take a good look at the scripts and have a good rest. Before you join the crew, I’ll have Tong Yue and Yaoyao come over to help pack your things. Is there anything that needs to be sorted at your other place?"

"Just pack some clothes for March and April from there. There’s no need to specially come here to pack; just pick me up on the day I join the crew."

Tong Yue immediately showed an understanding expression, "I almost forgot, you have someone here to pack, Zhengzheng and Yaoyao don’t even need to bother."

Jiang Lingxi: "...As long as you know."

After seeing Tong Yue off, Jiang Lingxi wandered around the garden again.

Last night, besides the wind, there must have been a sudden rainfall, which scattered quite a few early spring blossoms on the ground.

As she walked, she casually picked up a few relatively intact and clean ones to bring inside. Finding two vases to arrange them in, she was about to place them on the side table by the window when a smiling face appeared outside the window.

"Xixi, you’re arranging flowers."

"Yes, I picked them from the courtyard outside. Grand-aunt, would you like some?"

"I’d love to. Xixi’s arrangements are so beautiful. Darned rain, knocking all the flowers off."

Jiang Lingxi invited Xu Yin in, letting her choose. Meanwhile, she casually picked up a script and settled onto a nearby lounge chair, starting to flip through it.

After Xu Yin finished choosing the flowers and turned back to see Jiang Lingxi quietly reading the script, she quietly sat down on another lounge chair, pulled out a ball of yarn and a crochet needle from her pocket, and began making handicrafts.

Xiazhi made a brief visit, lit an incense that made the air warmer and drier, brought some tea and snacks, and quietly withdrew again.

In this tranquility, time seemed to become gentle and soothing.

On the other side, Chen Keyun was almost jumping with anger.

"She really didn’t have good intentions!"

"You, ah, better be more mindful from now on. Seriously, you’re just like a foolish girl. In this entertainment circle, where’s there any genuine sisterhood? You’re the only silly one who believes that!"

Chen Keyun’s lips twitched twice, finding no words to retort.

The half bottle of fragrance sent to the Incense Maker for testing indeed contained no elements harmful to the human body, and even had a potent sleep-inducing effect, but it was entirely inappropriate for use during closed training sessions.

Originally, the day’s training was physically and mentally exhausting enough that she’d normally fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Adding the sleep-inducing fragrance, it was a wonder if she could wake up in the mornings.

She had thought missing her alarm clock a few times was due to exhaustion and deep sleep, never guessing the real culprit was that small bottle of fragrance Su Linlin gave her!

She still remembered Su Linlin specifically asking whether Jiang Lingxi used the fragrance she gifted. At that time, she thought Su Linlin was just curious if the gift was appreciated; now, it seemed so insidiously malicious!

As for why Su Linlin did it, what else could it be? Being late on the first day of formal training was so humiliating in front of so many people; she’d experienced it firsthand.

What made it worse was Su Linlin feigning innocence, which only made her more endearing after that occurrence.

Thinking back now, it just felt disgusting.

"Alright, alright," seeing her expression worsening, her manager dared not say harsher words, "consider this a lesson learned this time. And you see, Su Linlin went through all this scheming and got nothing out of it. Such wasted effort, doesn’t that make you feel a bit better?"

Chen Keyun wiped her face, nodded, "Indeed, I’m not as frustrated now. Brother Fang, is there any other work available? I’ve already wasted more than a month; please arrange some work for me quickly."

Keeping busy wouldn’t leave her time to be angry at others or overthink things.

"To be honest, I haven’t found a suitable script recently, but there’s a reality show ’Survival’. Would you be interested? It’s in its third season now and has quite a loyal audience. However, it is live-streamed all the time, and some actors are intimidated because an earlier guest lost their image in the first season."

"How come that show sounds familiar?"

"You still remember the information about Jiang Lingxi you checked before. She participated in the first season of ’Survival’, and her popularity soared because of it. However, with her current popularity, I guess she has many scripts to choose from and hardly needs to attend such a small show anymore."

Chen Keyun couldn’t help but glance at her manager.

Though speaking the truth, why did it sting so much!

Taking a deep breath, she nodded firmly, "I’ll go. After all, I’ve trained for a month, running and building stamina every day. Can’t let that effort go to waste."

"Alright, I’ll contact the ’Survival’ production team right away."

*

In one afternoon, Xu Yin crocheted a pink hibiscus flower, and Jiang Lingxi finished reading the two scripts Tong Yue had given her.

Taking the yarn hibiscus flower Xu Yin handed over, she admired it as she sipped tea and silently pondered.

Being scripts favored by Shao Yifeng and sent to her, the quality and production teams were undoubtedly excellent.

The two scripts were indeed captivating, each with its own unique charm.

One featured a character who was both the protagonist’s confidant and the ultimate villain, a complex character that, as Lu Zhengzheng often described, was quite exciting.

As for the lead and second female characters in the other fantasy script, while the lead was kind, beautiful, righteous, and fearless, the second was the opposite—born from the bottom, willing to go to any lengths to become stronger, and ultimately died tragically.

However, compared to the first, she indeed preferred the second character role, finding it more enjoyable to play.

"Xixi, Yunqing has come back."

Bringing her mind back, Jiang Lingxi turned to see that at some unknown time, fine rain was falling outside the window again.

Shen Yunqing was crossing through the rain, holding a bamboo frame oil-paper umbrella.