After Punching Her Way Through The Entertainment Industry [Ancient-to-Modern] - Chapter 6

Even after returning home, Meng Shi still felt that everything had happened far too suddenly.

In truth, she was quite interested in acting. The only thing that bothered her was Yan Qing.

Simply put, she did not want to owe Yan Qing a favor, nor did she want to have anything more to do with her.

Since Fang Yu was Yan Qing’s sworn rival, her company presumably had nothing whatsoever to do with Yan Qing. It would have been a pity to let such an opportunity slip away.

Meng Shi looked at the card Fang Yu had given her.

She said I could visit the company whenever I had time.

Hmm…

I have plenty of time right now.

…

An hour later, Meng Shi stood beneath the Huayu Building and looked up at the office tower, which rose dozens of stories into the sky.

She took out her phone and was about to call Fang Yu when she suddenly heard a familiar voice.

“Huh? It’s you!”

Meng Shi looked up and saw a young girl with a ponytail and an adorable baby face. Her large, bright black eyes were staring at Meng Shi in delight.

Beside her stood another woman dressed in professional attire who did not look particularly approachable.

“You are?” Meng Shi could not remember her.

“I-I’m Yang Man! I’m the person you rescued from the horse at the film city yesterday!”

Hmm?

Oh…

The girl who screamed a lot.

Only then did Meng Shi remember. She nodded.

“Hello.”

Yang Man smiled sweetly.

“You—oh, please wait a moment. Sorry.”

She turned and whispered a few words to the woman beside her, who then left.

Once the woman was gone, Yang Man visibly relaxed and moved closer to Meng Shi.

“Thank you for saving me yesterday. I still don’t know your name.”

“My name is Meng Shi.”

“Meng Shi…”

Yang Man repeated it quietly.

“How about this? To repay you, are you free right now? Let me treat you to a meal!”

Meng Shi hesitated and glanced at the Huayu Building.

“Perhaps another day. I have something to do today.”

“Are you here to meet someone?”

Meng Shi shook her head.

“I’m here to work.”

Yang Man’s eyes widened. She suddenly remembered something.

“Don’t tell me you’re the ‘Ah Meng’ Sister Fang mentioned on Weibo!”

“What is Weibo? And by Sister Fang, do you mean Fang Yu?”

“Yes, yes, that’s her! So you’re also an artist under Huayu. That’s wonderful! We’ll be colleagues from now on!”

“Hmm?”

“Yes! This is your first time at the company, right? Come on, I’ll show you around!”

Yang Man familiarly grabbed Meng Shi’s arm.

Meng Shi wanted to avoid her, but after considering that the girl meant well, she decided to endure it.

Fortunately, Yang Man was there to guide her. Otherwise, Meng Shi would certainly have gotten lost.

It turned out that the entire building did not belong to Huayu. Only the first seven floors were occupied by the company.

Yang Man took Meng Shi around to see everything.

When they reached the elevator, Meng Shi’s entire body radiated rejection…

So Yang Man accompanied her up the stairs instead.

“Why aren’t you filming today?” Meng Shi asked.

“You mean Director Yan’s production? I’m not doing it anymore. I’m afraid to ride a horse, and… Director Yan is too fierce…”

Yang Man complained quietly.

Meng Shi noticed her unnatural expression and roughly understood what had happened, so she did not ask any further questions.

“By the way, you’ve only just joined the company. You probably don’t have a manager yet, right?”

“Mm.”

Meng Shi shook her head.

Yang Man’s eyes lit up.

“I’ll take you to Sister Fang!”

She grabbed Meng Shi and hurried away.

Inside Fang Yu’s office, Yang Man entered first and whispered something to her.

As a result, when Fang Yu saw Meng Shi, she became exceptionally pleasant and kept smiling.

“Jia Jia is one of our company’s top managers. She has plenty of experience handling newcomers. Xiao Man is currently under her management.”

“Since the two of you seem to get along well, you can temporarily work with her while familiarizing yourself with the industry.”

“Jia Jia?”

Just as Fang Yu spoke, there was a knock at the door.

“Sister Fang, were you looking for me?”

The woman who had accompanied Yang Man earlier—the one who looked difficult to approach—stood in the doorway and glanced at Meng Shi.

Fang Yu handed Meng Shi’s information to Jia Jia.

“Ah Meng, a newcomer. Take care of her for a while and help her become familiar with everything.”

Jia Jia repeatedly frowned as she examined Meng Shi’s file.

She glanced at Meng Shi and, after a long silence, nodded.

“All right.”

…

After leaving Fang Yu’s office, Jia Jia brought Meng Shi to the restaurant on the third floor.

Once they ordered some food, Jia Jia took out Meng Shi’s information again and buried herself in it, looking somewhat troubled.

【Jia Jia: Has Sister Fang gone insane? There isn’t a single outstanding quality visible anywhere on this person. Why did she sign her? She even posted on Weibo to announce it to the entire world. Was it merely to anger Yan Qing? Even so, there was no need to dump her on me!】

Meng Shi remained entirely carefree.

Seeing the many exquisite dishes before her, her appetite was immediately stirred.

She speared a tender piece of chicken thigh with her fork, smacked her lips, and was about to put it into her mouth.

“Were you the one who rescued Xiao Man on set yesterday?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. That happened.”

“Hey, hey, put that down. As an artist, you must manage your figure properly and possess self-discipline.”

【Meng Shi: ??? Artists… aren’t allowed to eat?】

Jia Jia pulled the meat dishes toward herself and pushed the vegetables in front of Meng Shi.

“You can only eat these.”

Meng Shi sucked the meat juices from her fork.

“Can I terminate my contract?”

【Jia Jia: Confused Black Guy meme.】

Jia Jia took a deep breath and looked at Meng Shi as calmly as possible.

“Introduce yourself. Do you have any special talents?”

She had far too many talents.

Meng Shi thought for a moment and chose a relatively unusual one.

“It hurts a lot when I hit people.”

【Jia Jia: How the hell am I supposed to have a normal conversation with her?!】

“Oh, you’re both here!”

Yang Man suddenly appeared from nowhere, ran over, and familiarly sat beside Meng Shi.

“Ah Meng, you’ve also been assigned to Sister Jia Jia! Finally, someone can suffer alongside me.”

Yang Man giggled.

“Wasn’t this your doing?” Meng Shi asked.

“Hehe…”

Yang Man smiled with an innocent, harmless expression.

【Jia Jia: So it was you, you little brat, who tricked me!】

“Actually, Sister Jia Jia is a very nice person. She just always keeps a stern face and pretends to be scary.”

“But she won’t let me eat meat.”

Meng Shi clearly held a deep grudge over this.

【Jia Jia: You two really are acting as though I don’t exist. Sigh. Managing one shareholder’s precious daughter was already troublesome enough. Now I have another parachuted newcomer. They’re so difficult to handle…】

…

For the next several days after Meng Shi returned home from the company, Jia Jia only gave her a fitness routine and then became too busy to manage her.

Meng Shi therefore visited the company gym every day to train her body.

She did not know whether it was merely her imagination, but this industry seemed to offer an incredible amount of freedom.

She did not have to sit inside an office and remain busy every day like Meng Jiu.

In comparison, however, Yang Man appeared extremely busy.

Only then did Meng Shi realize that perhaps the company simply did not value her very much.

That evening, Meng Shi had just lain down in bed when her phone rang.

She opened it and saw a message from Yang Man.

【Ah Meng, I’m going to film tomorrow. Would you like to come with me? You can learn many things from the seniors on set.】

Meng Shi thought about it.

She had nothing to do at home anyway, so she replied with a single word.

【Okay.】

…

Over the past few days, filming for Yan Qing’s Princess of the Grasslands had continued at an intense pace.

They had also chosen a replacement for Yang Man in the role of the young Fang Ling—an experienced child actress.

“Good. The emotions were perfectly conveyed. Excellent. Okay, this take passes. Prepare for the horseback scene.”

Watching the young actress vividly display Fang Ling’s sorrow at leaving home without appearing excessively sentimental, Yan Qing was highly satisfied.

“See? Everything changes once you replace the actress. What on earth did they cast before?”

Yan Qing held a cup of water and complained to Ye Wei.

“Yes, yes. Everything you say is correct.”

Yan Qing repeatedly replayed the scene they had just filmed and kept nodding in approval.

“Oh, right. There’s something I should tell you. That child you’ve been paying attention to—”

“Don’t mention her to me.”

Yan Qing was still angry…

Ye Wei shrugged.

Fine. She would not mention her.

Internally, however, she began counting down.

Five, four, three…

“What happened to her?”

【Ye Wei: …Boss, couldn’t you have held out for two more seconds?】

“Nothing much. Didn’t she sign with Huayu? Apparently she has a scene today. I saw her at the neighboring production earlier.”

“Oh, right. That Yang Man you despised so much is there too.”

Yan Qing’s eyes darted around.

“Should we go have a look?”

She smiled mischievously.

【Ye Wei: Boss, could you show a little restraint…】

Meanwhile, on Meng Shi’s side, she had originally spent the entire morning watching Yang Man film and assumed there would be nothing for her to do.

Unexpectedly, that girl managed to secure a role for her.

Apparently, she would be playing a bandit…

Meng Shi looked at the somewhat tattered period costume she was wearing.

Hmm…

Was this truly a bandit costume and not a beggar’s outfit?

“How strange. They say clothes make the person, but even when you put on a bandit’s clothing, you still don’t look like a bandit…”

Yang Man examined Meng Shi from head to toe and circled her several times.

【Meng Shi: I feel so wronged. I’m clearly an imperial princess…】

Seeing that Meng Shi had not yet had her makeup done, Yang Man smiled mischievously.

She rubbed some dust from the ground onto her fingers, then smeared her dirty hands twice across Meng Shi’s face.

“Hey…”

You’re playing with fire!

“Hahaha! Now you look like one!”

Yang Man laughed without mercy.

At that exact moment, the makeup artist walked over and glanced at Meng Shi.

“Oh, this is fine. The makeup looks pretty good. Leave it like that.”

【Meng Shi: …What kind of ridiculous production is this?】

From a distance, Yan Qing happened to witness this scene.

She repeatedly raised her eyebrows to display her displeasure.

“When did those two become so close?”

Her tone was filled with sarcasm.

【Ye Wei: Boss… Even if you glare at me… I still don’t know…】

“Come here. I’ll explain your scene.”

The director called Meng Shi over.

“In a moment, you’ll charge forward and exchange a look with the male lead. Then you’ll punch him hard.”

“He’ll dodge and counter with a kick. The kick will strike you, and you’ll fall to the ground unconscious. That’s all. Understand?”

Meng Shi organized the sequence in her mind.

“Do I not need any particular facial expressions or internal emotions?”

This was completely different from the complicated analyses in the notebooks!

“No. You’ll only appear from behind. Understand?”

“Oh.”

Meng Shi hurriedly nodded.

“I understand.”

“Good. Get ready.”

“All departments, take your positions.”

Meng Shi quickly jogged to the spot indicated by the director and began staring at the male lead.