Chapter 161: The Backer is Shengshi

Translator: Zayn_

Not long after the production team of “Spiritual Pearl” announced the final cast’s photos, the news of Zhu Jiao’s role being snatched was exposed.

Initially, Zhu Jiao’s fans did not believe it.

This was because the informant had claimed that the actress who had stolen

Zhu Jiao’s role was an actress named Shu Ling.

Who was Shu Ling? Most people had to search the encyclopedia to find out.

Even though Shu Ling had debuted many years ago and had played many small roles, a C-list celebrity was still a C-list. How could she compare to Zhu Jiao?

However, very soon, photos of Zhu Jiao entering and leaving the set of “Spiritual Pearl” were also exposed.

All the fans had to accept this fact.

[ Even the unspoken rules are so blatant. Is this Shu Ling trying to go down the black and red route?]

[ As long as an artiste with a higher status comes, it’s fine if the role is snatched. There are many such things in the entertainment industry, but what’s with this Shu Ling? Where did she come from? ]

[ I was really looking forward to Director Yang’s drama, but it seems like it’s better to forget about it!]

Zhu Jiao’s fans couldn’t take it lying down. They wanted to scold the director and the company.

In fact, it wasn’t just the fans. Many people in and out of the industry were curious as well. How could Zhu Jiao be suppressed by a small C-list celebrity?

Just as a group of people wanted to find out what kind of background Shu Ling had, the news of Shu Ling jumping ship to Shengshi Entertainment spread.

Everyone was a little confused.

Could it be that the backer they imagined was Song Qingyou?

In the eyes of industry insiders, Song Qingyou was far from being a backer.

Because almost no one took Shengshi seriously.

However, outsiders and fans were different. They believed that Song Qingyou was behind this and that she was targeting Zhu Jiao.

However, Zhu Jiao’s fans didn’t dare to provoke Song Qingyou.

Firstly, Song Qingyou was the boss of Shengshi. Who could control who she signed with?

Secondly, Song Qingyou had more fans than Zhu Jiao, so they couldn’t beat her.

Under such circumstances, Shu Ling was naturally the easiest to bully.

Therefore, Shu Ling’s Weibo had been in a mess for the past few days, and the comments section was basically filled with trolls.

Song Qingyou didn’t move, wanting to see how Shu Ling would react.

Reality proved that the new artist she had signed was quite to her liking.

Zhu Jiao’s fans and He Jun’s troll army had been criticizing her for two days before Shu Ling finally responded unhurriedly,

[Shu Ling V: I’ve been acting in obscurity for ten years. This is the first time I’ve received so much attention. Please give me more advice in the future.]

She wasn’t angry and didn’t lock the comments section. Instead, she thanked them.

This nonchalant attitude made the trolls even angrier.

However, many passersby had a good impression of Shu Ling.

This was because Shu Ling had started off as an extra, and she had basically taken one step at a time in her acting career. It was just that she hadn’t had many resources. If she had really been promoted by unspoken rules, why hadn’t she started earlier?

Therefore, Shu Ling was most likely the second female lead because of her ability.

Zhu Jiao could only let it go when she saw that it was useless no matter how hard she tried to defame her.

She needed money to hire fake reviewers, and if she made the show popular and made Shu Ling famous instead, where would she cry?

At the end of May, the last scene of ‘The Empress’.

Because there were only 30 episodes, each episode was at most 50 minutes long, so some of the events after the ascension would not be specially filmed. After a brief introduction, the last episode was about the events before and after Su Yiwan’s death.

With Xu Mingrui’s order, the surroundings instantly fell silent.

Su Yiwan, who was lying on the bed, had a head full of white hair.

Even though she looked old, her eyes were still bright and spirited. None of the servants around her dared to cross the line.

The Emperor hurriedly entered the back hall and knelt in front of the bed.

“Mother.”

The Emperor, who was almost forty years old, had tears streaming down his face.

This role was also played by He Yuan.

“Zhen[l] will call the Imperial Physician…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Su Yiwan grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t trouble yourself.”

She patted her son’s hand, and it was already difficult for her to speak.

“Everyone says that I’m a demoness who stole the country. In the future, they’ll definitely use this to attack you…You must be rational enough…”

“Remember, this throne was built from mountains of corpses and seas of blood…We can’t relax for even a moment.”

“Mother…” The Emperor’s eyes were filled with reluctance.

Su Yiwan turned to look out the window. “The pear blossoms have bloomed this year.”

The pear blossoms on the tree were in full bloom, making people go back to peace.

Su Yiwan urged the Emperor to personally pluck a pear blossom.

The Emperor walked out of the hall, and the front of the hall was already filled with kneeling officials.

When he came back with the flower, he was only faced with the tightly closed palace door and a letter.

The letter was Su Yiwan’s will that she had written a long time ago.

The emperor read it all the way to the end, his expression becoming increasingly ugly.

The female officer who was closest could only see Su Yiwan’s last wish written at the end:

After her death, her bones should crushed and his ashes scattered into the river.

The Emperor hurriedly called for people to break open the palace door.

At this moment, Su Yiwan had already closed her eyes.

But in a trance, everyone who rushed into the hall seemed to see Su Yiwan’s bumpy journey from escaping to ascending the throne.

The Emperor knelt in front of the bed.

Half of the female officials behind him were sobbing.

In the spring of i960, the empress passed away.

The empress had ended the troubled times. When she was in power, she was benevolent and loved the people. Therefore, the whole country mourned her death and went on strike in the streets to cry for several days.

The sound of the clapper board hitting rang out, and the people under the camera took a long time to recover.

He Yuan and Lin Siya’s eyes were red.

Lin Siya pulled Song Qingyou up, wiping her tears and smiling. “It’s all your fault. You made me cry so much. My eyes will definitely be swollen tomorrow.”

“Then we should hold the press conference tomorrow.” Song Qingyou suggested to Xu Mingrui.

“If Director Xu really did that, Sister Lin’s fans might think that she was bullied on set.” He Yuan chuckled.

“People nowadays have crazy imagination.” Lin Siya said, “I don’t want to be misunderstood.”

“Actually, Sister Siya is just worried that her eyes will become ugly if they swell up and the fans will see them, right?” The assistant tried to sabotage her.

The filming of the entire drama was completed, which meant that the work had come to an end. The atmosphere in the production team was very relaxed, and the few of them were also laughing and joking together.

In the evening, they were having dinner together. Song Qingyou had just gotten into the car when she received a message from Wen Xia urging her to write.

‘City of Machinery’ still had one last chapter to send. During the day, Wen Xia was worried that it would affect Song Qingyou’s filming, so she didn’t rush her for the draft. But at night, the messages started to flood the screen.

Song Qingyou looked at the manuscript in her email and sent it over after confirming that there were no problems.

[ I’ve also sent ‘The Empress’.]

[ It’s still the same this time. The two books will be published together and promoted in a bundle.]

Wen Xia replied almost instantly, [No problem!]

[ If the sales of these two books are better than the last time, your share of the remuneration will increase even more.]

‘Gate of the Tower’ had won the Newcomer Award, so with its popularity, the new novel would not be too bad.

Therefore, the share would definitely increase.

Wen Xia knew very well that no matter how happy the cooperation was, she had to get paid.

Moreover, the publishing house had already treated Song Qingyou like a treasure.

As for the big darling herself, she was actually thinking about slacking off.

As long as “The Empress” could earn the target amount and fulfill the agreement with Jiang Zhihan, she would not need money in the future.

In this way, there was no need to change the script into a novel and write it again.

As for a new book that wasn’t based on a script, she could write it whenever she wanted!

NOTES:

[1] Zhen: the emperor is referring to himself in third person..