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Chapter 26: Base

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Although you’ve given us $500 to cover for your living expenses the last time, that money was given to you by the school for shooting some promotional video. However, you’re not cutting down on your spending. You’ve even gone and bought a phone for yourself. Why would you need that? I think it’s time for you to find a job...”

The cooked porridge was in the pot and there were two plates of pickled vegetables left over from yesterday morning. While Zhou Hui was speaking, her daughter merely went to ladle a bowl of porridge for herself. The older woman was unsure if her message got through.

Jiang Se left the Du family’s house before the clock struck seven. She had researched the route to the filming location after the crew gave her a call.

The base of Imperial Productions was more than 30 kilometers away from the city center. It was near the airport located on the northern outskirts of the city.

She had to change three subway lines, and the journey took her an hour and a half. By the time she arrived at Imperial Productions, it was already half-past eight.

This was the largest filming base in the imperial capital and it took up a lot of land. Many local films were filmed here.

Although it was still early, she could already see many people going in and coming out of the place.

There were people rushing to finish filming at this hour. When Jiang Se arrived, she saw a group of people heading toward a temple to shoot a scene.

There were shuttle vehicles on the streets within the base. This place was so huge that Shen Villa was nothing compared to it. The base was divided into north, south, east, and west. The eastern region contained ancient architectures and sceneries with mostly sceneries of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There were also some palaces, pavilions, city walls, and other structures. The western region contained settings of the Republican Era. The southern region contained classical courtyards, rooms, and other decorations. The northern region was where the indoor studios and living areas were.

Most of the modern sets were in the northern region where the production team would occasionally call a press conference when needed.

All kinds of modern internal decorations could be found here. The “Pretense to Reality” production team would be filming in the northern region in a studio that depicted the internal environment of a plane.

It was impossible to reach the northern region on foot since the place was sprawling. Even tourists needed a whole day to tour around the entire area. Jiang Se could not make it in time if she walked, hence she had to take the shuttle vehicle.

She bought a ticket for the northern region. When she paid the $20 fare, Jiang Se sighed and felt a stinging pain in her heart.

Her latest source of income was from the video shoot at her school a fortnight ago. Since that day, she had not received any extra income.

She was beginning to find life with the Du family unbearable. However, she did not have the money to rent a place by herself.

When she reached the “Pretense to Reality” production team in the northern region, it was a quarter past nine. Most of the production team were already there. However, not many actors or actresses were there.

After Jiang Se arrived, her identity was validated by the stage manager, and she was told to change into her costume and wait.

The scene which Jiang Se would be in was one where the male and female leads were present. However, the main characters were not here yet. Naturally, those who arrived earlier would have to get their makeup on and appearance set. All that was left was for the two main characters to show up.

When Jiang Se re-emerged from the changing room, she heard a coquettish female voice saying, “Brother Liu, we’re all playing air stewardesses here. Why does somebody have lines but not us? This is unfair.”

Before the girl’s voice barely faded, the stage manager, who was speaking to a few beautiful girls, turned to look and saw Jiang Se right away. His eyes glowed when he saw her.

There was a beautiful girl with an outstanding bearing during the audition the other day. She caught Sun Qiming’s eye right away and he cast her as Miss Zhang in the film.

Under normal circumstances, those in the entertainment industry would be in contact with countless handsome men and beautiful women every day. Therefore, their sense of awe toward a beautiful woman would have been dulled.

This was especially true when many beautiful girls turned up from the Film Academy’s Faculty of Performing Arts. Jiang Se should not have been enough to pique their curiosity.

However, this girl named Jiang Se had acted in Zhang Jingan’s film, “Rescue Mission”. More importantly, those who were present in the meeting room had mentioned her outstanding looks. It would be difficult for them not to be curious about this.

After all, if they were praising this newcomer’s looks despite having seen many beautiful girls of all kinds, and with one of the Six Flowers of the entertainment industry, Zhao Ruoyun, being the female lead of “Pretense to Reality”, it was a sign that this newcomer would be something different.

When Jiang Se had arrived earlier that day, the stage manager had appraised her several times. He found her beautiful indeed.

Besides that, her bearing was unique as well. She was definitely a sight to remember. With a single glance at her, he understood why the people who were in the meeting room mentioned her several times after the day of the audition.

Her eyes were captivating. When she emerged in her costume, she caught the stage manager’s eye and he instantly forgot what he was saying.

“Brother Liu...” someone called out to him with a coquettish voice.

The stage manager snapped back to the present. He pointed at Jiang Se and snorted at the other beautiful girls, “Unfair? Just look at her. Do you even have her looks and bearing?”

He did not care to be gentle with his words. The group of coquettish beautiful girls was speechless by this. None of them dared talk back to him.

The members of the cast chosen this time were good-looking. Many of them were students of the Film Academy. However, these beautiful girls served as a contrast to Jiang Se’s looks.

The air stewardess’s uniform was slightly too big for her. The stage manager gave her an appraising look. He had the stylist adjust the costume size for her by putting pins into her skirt.

With the adjustments, her slender waist and tilting buttocks were clearly outliers. Although her breasts were not shockingly big, the contours of her body were just nice and her legs were especially tantalizing. Her ankles were slender, but she conquered the simple and black heels she wore with her sheer aura. The heels seemed refined on her.

“Change and get your makeup done.” The stage manager looked at the time and waved his hand to urge them on. “Jiang Se, go get your makeup done. When your styling is done, familiarize yourself with your lines.”

He urged the group of girls into the changing room. Jiang Se sat before a dressing table.

The man who was her stylist introduced himself, “I’m Derrick.” His voice was slightly flat. Jiang Se could smell his cologne and the exquisite cologne on his face.

“Hello. I’m Jiang Se.”

She gave him a smile. There were many men working as makeup artists in this industry, some with soft appearances. She did not appear curious. However, she felt Derrick undoing her ponytail.

“Miss Jiang, you have lovely hair.” He ran his fingers through her hair.

Nobody could find fault with Jiang Se’s appearance. She had gorgeous hair as well. The quality of her hair was not inferior to those featured in digitally touched-up shampoo advertisements on television.

However, she had nothing other than her beautiful looks.

Jiang Se grunted in reply. She saw Derrick feel her scalp and take the bottle of mist from the dressing table.

Her hair quality was high. After being reborn, she no longer cared about Du Changqun’s scowl and washed her hair often.

When she departed in the morning, she did not apply anything to her hair. This clearly pleased Derrick. After wetting her hair, he quickly took a comb, and deftly drew her hair to the back of her head.