The script which had just been forcibly revised was once again forcibly revised for a second time. Because the changes were rather large this time round, and also concerning the main plotline, every major actor received a new script.
When Lu Manni received the revised script, she just thought that the willful President was arrogantly throwing his weight around again and forcing the director to modify the script as he saw fit. Lu Manni was quite happy about that, laughing condescendingly as she knew that this kind of action would only alienate the director.
But when she saw that the modified areas included her own final scene, Lu Manni couldn't smile anymore. A pair of pretty eyes burned with strong resentment and anger. Zhao Qingsong actually wanted to bring their feud public, and even had the director modify her scene!!
She could not stand for this!
Infuriated, Lu Manni directly contacted Zhang Jin; however, in the end, she still restrained her anger because she knew she couldnât afford to offend the director. âDirector, I just read the new script. I think the other plot changes were very good, but regarding the 3rd female lead⦠Director, hadnât you said before that the highlight of this role is in the last scene? Now that the last sceneâs been changed, wouldnât this greatly affect the importance of the role itself?"
Lu Manni cleverly did not outright complain that her part was arbitrarily modified, but rather, she deliberately approached the problem from Zhang Jinâs point of view as the director. This way, not only would she extract herself cleanly from the situation, but she would also increased Zhang Jin's dissatisfaction with Zhao Qingsong.
Although Lu Manni has the golden finger of rebirth, she also understood that at the moment, she was still a little no-name starlet. Going against Zhao Qingsong directly is basically akin to hitting a rock with an egg. Not only did she have no chance of winning, but she could also ruin herself in the process.
However, Zhang Jin is also not a fool â how could he not guess Lu Manniâs thoughts? And so he only coldly said to her, â The changes to the script were made to fine-tune the overall production. I know you feel aggrieved, but your contract clearly states that you are obligated to accept and cooperate with any plot changes.â
Lu Manni couldnât help but be slightly choked at this â she had already approached this issue with such a soft and understanding attitude, and yet Zhang Jin didnât give her any face at all. Instead, he spoke so straightforwardly and bluntly⦠wasnât this deliberately bullying others?
Also, she felt like the modification to her own part had nothing to do with fine-tuning the overall production?! And, in the previous life, this dramaâs script had not been revised at all!
Thinking to here, Lu Manniâs heart suddenly skipped a beat and a few seemingly innocuous tidbits of information suddenly pieced together to form a scary thought.
Why did things that hadnât happened in the past life suddenly start happening now?
Why did Zhao Qingsong suddenly choose to enter the entertainment circle? Why did he choose to participate in this drama? Why did he insist on acting with Qi Chen? Could it be thatâ¦.
A scary thought came to mind, causing Lu Manni's face to turn pale and her body to start trembling.
If things had started to diverge after she came back in time and started changing things, then it could be attributed to the butterfly effect. However⦠she had never met or spoken with Zhao Qingsong before!!
Therefore, no matter which angle she considered the problem from, there seemed to only be one answer to these questionsâ¦.
âLu Manni, did you have anything else to say? I am very busy here.â The sound of Zhang Jin's impatient voice came through the phone, and Lu Manni was jerked back to reality.
At the moment, her thoughts were a mess and she had absolutely no energy left to deal with Zhang Jin, and so she quickly hung up the phone.
Lu Manniâs entire person felt unwell. Why had Zhao Qingsong also been reborn? He wasnât toyed with until he met a miserable end â what right did he have to experience rebirth?!
She should have been the only special one in this world!
Though, this was not the most concerning thought for Lu Manni. Although she felt Zhao Qingsong's rebirth was unfair, the two of them didnât have any past dealings and therefore the other shouldnât have had any reason to act against her.
However, the fact that she had had a small altercation with the other on set was very troubling, since she had exposed herself as a potential enemy.
Lu Manni still didnât feel her actions at the time were wrong, but if Zhao Qingsong was also reborn, then her actions were indeed too reckless and dangerous.
If she had known that Zhao Qingsong had also experienced rebirth, then she definitely would not have provoked him!
The lingering suspicion of Zhao Qingsongâs identity became more pronounced when upon the next day, Lu Manni saw that the anonymous article she had submitted to the small publishing company not only didnât speculate on the President flaunting his status, but rather, exposed herself as being partial to bullying newcomers.
So what should she do now ah?!
While Lu Manni was feeling complicated over Su Yu, Su Yu on the other side was also discussing the woman with Round Ball.
âIs Master Host planning to use the same strategy as in the previous world, slowly exposing the womanâs true colours so that the male protagonist will stay away from her?â It wasnât that the sphere felt worry over whether Su Yu would accomplish his task, but rather, it felt it needed to mentally prepare itself for whatever Su Yu had in mind. Having such a manipulative, black-hearted master was really difficult ah!
Su Yu didnât even raise his head as he flipped through various documents. âIâm afraid not. I intend to have the woman expose herself, and naturally the male protagonist will then stay away.ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âWill the female protagonist really act so stupidly?â Round Ball couldnât quite follow Su Yuâs train of thoughts.
âThis worldâs female protagonist does indeed have some IQ. However, isnât there a saying that goes âsmart people eventually get played by smart peopleâ? This maxim is perfect for Lu Manni.â Su Yu signed a document with a giant flourish, tossed the pen aside, stretched, and leaned back against his chair. âInstead of pushing her off, isnât it more interested to watch her jump down by herself?â
As he said this, Su Yu gave the sphere a devilish grin. This scared Round Ball so much it cried out in its heart, âYing ying ying [2], my Master Host is way too scary!â
âDonât cry just yet, first help me find out what the womanâs doing right now.â Su Yu heartlessly ordered the sphere to get back to work.
Round Ball could only split its focus to half cry on the side, and half follow Su Yuâs orders and start observing the womanâs situation. âSheâs at home right now, though her complexion doesnât seem too good. Itâs as if sheâs been scared by something.â
Su Yu blinked, and then his slight smile gradually curved bigger, âOh is that so, then it should be happening soon.â
âSoon? Whatâs going to happen soon?â The little sphere flashed a 360° question mark. Why couldnât it understand its masterâs words?
However, Su Yu didnât say anything more and just stood up and headed for the door. âI want to go out and exercise a bit, get some fresh air. You help me finish the rest of the paperwork.â
â.â¦â¦â The sphere really started to âying ying yingâ this time.
Three days later, Su Yu received a call from a person he expected â the person who called was Lu Manni.
âYes? Hello.â Su Yu answered the phone, pretending he didnât know who was calling.
Lu Manni's forced softly-sweet voice came through. "President Zhao, hello, itâs Lu Manni."
"Lu Manni? I don't remember ever having heard this name before." Su Yu drummed his fingertips on the table, his face showing an extremely guileless expression.
Lu Manni was choked by his words. She knew the other party was obviously deliberately giving her a hard time, but she couldnât afford to get angry. She could only re-introduce herself with a hint of grievance, âHas President Zhao already forgotten? We met while filming .â
âOh, youâre the actress who was giving me a hard time on the set. Ah, speaking of that, I saw a news article on that matter just earlier today.â Su Yu continued to speak extremely infuriating words.
Lu Manni's face had already become red due to pent-up anger. It was fortunate that this was just a phone conversation â otherwise, she might not have been able to restrain her urge to reach over and slap the other person. "President Zhao, that really was my fault the other day. Iâve been thinking about it a lot these days, and I still feel quite bad, hence I decided to contact you today.â
âSo you called just to apologize to me?â Su Yu asked.
Lu Manni was backed into a corner and had no choice but to verbally agree. More hatefully, she also had to sound soft and sincere while saying it. âYes, and if President Zhao is free sometime, Iâd like to take you out for a meal as an apology.â
âLooking at how sincerely apologetic you are, I will reluctantly agree just this once. However, Iâm very busy lately, and Iâm not available. I will contact you once I have more free time.â Su Yu replied very refreshingly.
Lu Manni completely did not expect Su Yu to just straightforwardly agree. While she breathed a sigh of relief, she also felt a bit of disdain. Look at how fast this personâs attitude swung around, could it be that heâs enamoured with her beauty?
âSince President Zhao is willing to give me this chance, I am very happy. When President Zhao is more free, donât forget about me!â Lu Manni smiled and flattered Su Yu some more, and then hung up.
As soon as he hung up the phone, Su Yu started ordering Round Ball around. âCheck for Qi Chenâs upcoming social engagements, preferably in a private venue sometime in the next 10 days.â
âYes, Iâll check right away.â As it accepted the task, Round Ball couldnât help but complain bitterly in its heart. Why was it that in every other case with systems and hosts, it was the system giving out tasks for the host to complete. And yet with itself, it was always the host giving orders to the system?!
It felt like it had been deceived. Perhaps it wasnât an invincible system at all, but in actuality just a little cabbage that nobody loved.
âYou still havenât found it yet?â Su Yuâs tone was full of annoyance and disappointment.
Round Ball remained silent, becoming more certain that it was actually just a tragic little cabbage. Destined to be forever alone, with no one to love it, and constantly oppressed by a mean host with bad hobbies. Its life was simply too sad QAQ.
âIâve found it. In five days, Qi Chen and a director will eat together at the Drunken Moon. Theyâre meeting at 6:30pm in the evening.â After Round Ball answered Su Yuâs question, it floated to a remote corner and started to depressingly draw circles.
Su Yu did not care about the little sphereâs emotional state and just directly called Lu Manni upon receiving the news. âFive days later, at the Drunken Moon, at 6 oâclock in the evening, is there a problem with this time?â
âNo⦠no problem, of course not a problem. âLu Manni felt pretty baffled. Just now, which devil was it that said that he was very busy and had no free time? Sheâd only just hung up the phone five minutes ago, okay?!
âAlright, Iâll see you then.â Su Yu didnât care at all for what Lu Manni was thinking, and just simply hung up the phone.
Putting down the phone, Su Yu slowly smiled as he stroked his chin. Don't knowâ¦. what kind of interesting things will happen in five days??
[1] â èªæå被èªæ误, âsmart people eventually get played by smart peopleâ â Basically, if one is plotting constantly, trying to manipulate the people around them, one day their payback will come and someone will plot against them. And when that day comes, they might lose big (be it money, fame, fortune, their life, etc)
[2] â å¤å¤å¤, âYing ying yingâ â sound effects of it crying, lol. Poor Round Ball
Roamer â
Lu Manni tsk tsk⦠Zhao Qingsong doesnât have the golden finger of rebirth â Su Yu has the powerful LVL 9999 BOSS Protagonist Halo! Also, little cabbage Round Ball RIP
Upon reflection, Iâve realized that âround ballâ is actually the little ballâs name, in addition to being its description lmao⦠since in the extras at the end, SPOILER another system gets introduced and it calls our bullied lil bb âRound Ball.â So Iâm now going to start referring to it as Round Ball, and occasionally calling it âthe sphereâ (like how I would call Su Yu âthe Presidentâ sometimes).
SPOILER #2 the new systemâs name is Black Egg â roughly meaning âbastardâ â named by Round Ball who was very annoyed at Black Egg at the time ahaha, but Black Egg is in love with Round Ball, so Fighting! You will find someone who loves you one day, poor little cabbage!!
See ya next week!
extra release status: 30/40$ ~