ATLAS TRANSLATES

The day “Black Cinderella” aired its finale, Fu Junyan and I sat patiently on the couch waiting. Many artists say they never watch their own shows because it feels awkward. But Fu Junyan and I weren’t like that. I happily asked him, “Is it because seeing yourself on screen makes you feel happy and beautiful?” How conceited of me…

He patted my head and said, “It’s because I can find problems with my acting.” I was speechless. I’m such a shallow person!

Throughout the show, Fu Junyan kept gently touching my eyes. When that beautiful drowning scene came on, he only asked, “How long did it take to film?”

I held up one finger. He nodded, his brow slightly furrowed, eyes downcast. Feeling his concern, I covered his hand, feeling warm inside. After thinking for a moment, I said, “When we first started filming that scene, I was excited imagining how beautiful it would look. But after a few hours, I started getting impatient, thinking there’s nothing pretty about drowning. Later, I thought if we couldn’t get it right after ten hours, I’d go crazy. But I was also stubborn, thinking I had to act it well! Now seeing the finished scene looking so beautiful, I finally believe drowning can look good! It was worth it! Fu Junyan, aren’t you proud of how well I did?”

“Mm,” Fu Junyan responded, not saying anything else until the end of the show.

Not wanting him to keep worrying about me, even though his silent concern made me feel loved and supported, I nudged Fu Junyan and asked, “Fu Junyan, ‘Black Cinderella’ – doesn’t that mean the Cinderella character should be a bit evil? I kept waiting for the writer to give me chances to be bad, to transform. But from start to finish, I didn’t feel like Bai Yan got revenge! And in the end, what punishment did the Bai family father and son, and Bai Xiao receive? Where’s the ‘black’ in all this?” This had been bothering me for a while. If Ruofan’s sister shouted “betrayal” in the last episode to cement her villain status, I shouted “betrayal” because I never got to gleefully act mean even once…

“You don’t understand?” Fu Junyan turned his head slightly to ask me. His face was very close to mine, and I could clearly see his delicate, clean skin.

I nodded, looking at him expectantly.

“It’s okay that you don’t understand,” he said, gazing at me warmly with a slight smile. He turned to look out the window at the night scene, his eyes clear and thoughtful. Then he slowly said, “If it’s not a fight to the death, there’s only one best revenge in this world.” He paused, turned to look at me, the corner of his mouth slightly raised, his expression unreadable.

What is it? I guessed hesitantly, “Make them owe you money?” That way, as the creditor, you can often pressure and bully them…

Fu Junyan laughed softly and shook his head.

“Make them fall in love with you, then dump them!” This time he shook his head, his eyes showing some indescribable complexity.

I laughed awkwardly, quickly shaking my head and coyly tilting my head to say, “I don’t know…” I shouldn’t reveal my vicious nature again… Mistake! Mistake! I lowered my head embarrassed, sneaking a glance at him.

“Silly child, an eye for an eye is tiring,” he sighed, almost doting as he patted my head before saying, “Silly pufferfish, the best revenge is to live better than them, and to forget all hatred and unfairness.” Then Fu Junyan picked up the remote to turn off the TV and said, “Your screenwriter is the real clever one…”

Forgetting each other in the rivers and lakes, living happily ever after…

I suddenly understood a bit. When Bai Yan forgot everything and happily married Han Zaijun and left, the Bai family father and son were left behind, unable to escape their pain and regret. As for Bai Xiao, Bai Yan didn’t need to do anything. She just needed to keep being happy, and Bai Xiao would live in constant fear, envy, and jealousy. This really was the best revenge. And Fu Junyan, just how clever are you?

But then I suddenly remembered when I was little, Daddy taught me: “Baby, what do you do if other kids bully you?”

Back then, young me shook my head, not knowing what to do.

So Daddy told me: “Hit them hard. If you can’t hit them, call Daddy to hit them for you.” How delightful…

Thinking of this, I puffed out my cheeks and said to Fu Junyan: “What you said is right… But I think, compared to that kind of dark satisfaction, directly punching someone is such a clear and happy thing!”

Fu Junyan laughed softly when he heard this, tugging my ear and saying, “Silly pufferfish, don’t teach An’an like this.”

“Why not?”

“We can teach our daughter that way when we have one…” Oh no, I covered my face and fled back to my own room.

I’ve never really dealt directly with Fu Junyan’s manager. I only know his surname is Xu, that he’s an industry expert known as Manager Xu. If the industry were to rank the strongest managers, he’d definitely be in the top three. Among managers, he’s considered one of the top talents.

In my previous life, my cousin tried several times to poach him to work for Mo Corporation’s Starlight Entertainment, which is the agency I’m currently signed with. But at the time, Manager Xu didn’t budge at all, only saying that as long as Fu Junyan was with Huicai International, he would be too. I joked back then, was it because Fu Junyan was modest and didn’t like attending award ceremonies, so he got addicted to accepting awards on Fu Junyan’s behalf and couldn’t bear to leave?

But unfortunately, just as I entered the elevator that day, Fu Junyan’s manager, Manager Xu, squeezed in right after me. As the elevator doors slowly closed, I looked at him, and he woodenly looked at me, belatedly giving me a slight nod in greeting. Then in the empty elevator, it was just the two of us silently facing each other, knowing who the other was but having nothing to say, feeling extremely awkward.

This made me a bit uneasy. How would this manager, who had caught his artist’s “affair,” react when I opened the door and went in? But strangely, when I walked in front of Manager Xu and opened the door, and walked in first, even though he knew I was opening Fu Junyan’s door, he remained surprisingly calm and silent, showing no surprise.

I had always thought that in this world, besides myself and Fu Junyan, only the innocent little Gu An knew about our relationship. But it turned out that Fu Junyan had such a good understanding with his own manager, who also seemed to have known about us for a long time. Thinking of this, I felt I wasn’t close enough to my own manager, Wan Qing. However, remembering how she used my nanny car behind my back to secretly bring new artists and take on activities, and how she directly gave me the cold shoulder during this vacation, I realized my manager was truly unhappy with how idle I was…

But Fu Junyan, like me, doesn’t have many works and is considered a low-output actor, definitely not one of the industry’s workaholics. But why is his manager, who is so capable and skilled, willing to be low-output and so dedicated? While my manager… I shook my head and sighed for this unfortunate child… So frustrating!

Seeing this situation, I simply left the door half-open for Manager Xu to change his shoes and come in, but he gratefully shook his head at me. He stood at the door and lightly knocked on the door panel. Fu Junyan heard the sound and walked out of the study. Seeing Manager Xu behind me, he nodded and walked over to hand me the piano promotional brochure he was holding.

Fu Junyan’s nod seemed to be permission, and then Manager Xu started to bend down to change his shoes before following Fu Junyan into the study. As I followed behind to close the door for them, I vaguely saw Manager Xu bend down to take out a large stack of scripts and contracts from his backpack. When he handed them to Fu Junyan, he did so with both hands and with a slight bow. My small frame trembled a bit, feeling that Fu Junyan didn’t seem like his artist, but more like his boss… How does one make a proud and outstanding manager so docile and submissive? Why don’t I have this ability? At that moment, I silently mourned for myself…

But then I suddenly thought that the contracts in the manager’s bag represented a huge workload. Although I knew in my heart that these were all pending and undecided, I still felt that having so much work was quite terrifying. Everyone in the industry knows that having Fu Junyan means everything is guaranteed. When Fu Junyan comes, sponsors will naturally come knocking, ratings and ticket sales are not a worry, and his popularity is unmatched…

Almost everyone gradually realized that Fu Junyan had become a trendsetter, pointing the way.

I remember that day when I was really bored and tried to tease Fu Junyan. Later, I very mischievously tied An’an’s yellow little bow tie around Fu Junyan’s neck and strongly insisted that he go out like that. And he, almost indulgently, compromised with me without any resistance.

So that day, he went to Huicai International’s headquarters wearing a gray T-shirt with An’an’s little bow tie incongruously tied around his neck. But unexpectedly, a few days after that incident, one day I was driving through the city center and saw that most of the young men and boys on the street had small bow ties tied around their necks. It was obvious they were imitating Fu Junyan. At that moment, I was speechless, left only to sigh to the heavens…

Worried that the two little ones would disturb their business talk, I walked to the corner of the living room and pulled up Gu An, who was lying on the long-haired carpet seriously playing with puzzles with Xiao Qi. Gu An’s face drooped when I interrupted him, and he was about to cry with a pout. I gave him a look, poked the little guy’s chubby cheeks, bent down to carefully hold his puzzle, and told him, “No whining, we’ll go play somewhere else.”

An’an heard my promise and only sniffled, wrinkling his little nose, but there was still some unwillingness on his face. His eyes stared straight at the puzzle in my hands, looking as silly and stupid as can be, as if afraid I would secretly keep his puzzle for myself.

To be honest, this child is really smart. He can actually put back together these hundreds of small pieces. I’ve tried it once myself, but I couldn’t even figure out where to start. But when Fu Junyan saw me frustrated with the pile of small pieces, he sat down across from me, casually looked at that pile of what looked like random gibberish, and calmly and effortlessly put together this large picture in less than ten minutes. This made me both amazed and speechless. My mouth hung open for a long time, unable to close, and my heart couldn’t calm down for a long time. In the end, I could only express my emotions on Weibo, taking a picture of the completed puzzle and posting: “Today, someone used cheat codes…”

Fu Junyan even shamelessly commented below: “Is that so? Not bad.” How can he be so thick-skinned?

Later, I sat on the side watching An’an lying on the furry carpet doing puzzles, while Xiao Qi wagged his tail and circled around Gu An, as if he could understand too, repeatedly helping the little guy fetch those small pieces. The two little ones cooperated happily, completely in their own world. I sat cross-legged leaning against the chair, simply looking at the brochure in my hand. This brochure was the one Fu Junyan had brought back from the music store that day. He said An’an had made progress with his violin again, and the child was about to have his third birthday, so he wanted to give the little guy a piano. We could also accompany Gu An to practice more often. Having a good musical environment would allow him to better feel the joy of music.

At that time, I joked with Fu Junyan: “An’an is a boy. My daddy lets An’an learn music instead of learning other things because music is what he loves most besides archaeology, so he wants An’an to learn it too. What about you? Why do you agree so much?”

“I also love music, it’s something I cherish,” Fu Junyan answered seriously at that time, stroking the piano strings. But then his voice deepened a bit, and he said: “But that’s not the whole reason. I think the real reason I support An’an learning music so much is because life will always have low points, and music is the purest and cleanest friend. People who have had melody in their lives won’t completely despair and give up. I hope that whether An’an is at the peak or the bottom of life, he can still perceive life like he perceives music. And I’ve never hoped that he would achieve great things in music, even though he has a high talent.”

At that time, Fu Junyan’s eyes were compassionate and warm, like a truly benevolent father.

I know we are public figures, and I know we can’t always be together every moment like we are now. So in the following days, I was also researching some of the film offers and advertisement offers I had received. At these times, I would curl up in Fu Junyan’s study. He would work at his desk, and I would curl up on the side carefully looking at the detailed information about my work. Sometimes I would also ask for his opinion, and at those times, Fu Junyan’s attitude seemed even more serious and careful than when he was doing his own work.

Among my work cases, the one I was most interested in was the promotional video for SZ city. It unfolded in the form of a story, depicting without boredom a misty, romantic ancient city of Suzhou. Since I was young, I have loved period dramas, but in my previous life, I was reluctant to dye my hair, so I never took on any period drama roles. But now, I looked down at my long hair that had been dyed jet black, and then looked at those exquisite pictures introducing Suzhou’s scenic spots and gardens, and some soft emotions welled up in my heart. Looking at the script of that story, I couldn’t help but love it even more.

So, I stood up excitedly and walked towards Fu Junyan. Hearing the sound, he sat at the desk and slightly raised his head to look at me, his eyebrows and eyes exquisite and charming, with questioning in his eyes.

I handed the script of the story to Fu Junyan like I was presenting a treasure, tilting my head and smiling at him, saying: “Fu Junyan, look! I’ve decided to take on this project!” When he heard this, he had only glanced at those pictures of Suzhou’s scenic spots before he started to smile slightly. That smile was like warm sunshine passing by, causing everything to bloom.

Then Fu Junyan turned to open the drawer on the right side of his desk, flipped through it, and took out a sealed envelope and handed it to me, nodding to indicate that I should open it. When I took it and opened it, the contract inside the envelope was exactly the same as the one in my hand!

Then I heard Fu Junyan speak softly, with a knowing smile in his eyes, he said: “Xiao’ai, look how in sync we are.”

I was very excited about the Suzhou city promotional video work, so for the first time, I was very enthusiastic because of work. In the past, it was always Wan Qing urging me to take on work every day. This time, I had to make several phone calls before I could find her. When I told Wan Qing about my work intentions in the office, her unhappiness was obviously shown on her face this time.

At that time, Wan Qing looked at the contract and slapped the table heavily, asking me coldly: “I give you so much work! Gu Baobei, you only take this one promotional video? And it happens to be the one with the lowest pay?”

Pay? I really hadn’t paid attention to that! I was embarrassed. If my pay is low, the commission that my manager can get is also correspondingly pitifully small. No wonder her face looks bad…

But I thought about it and didn’t avoid it, just nodded and answered: “Yes, what’s wrong?” Such a good project, I would act even without pay! Not to mention working with Fu Junyan…

Seeing me so righteous, Wan Qing seemed to get even more angry. She shook her head and said: “Gu Baobei! You need to know that what people need most is life! Life means a person can maintain their normal life with their own abilities! If you rely on your youth and beauty, shoot a couple of dramas, get a Best Actress award, and have a CEO backing you up and think you’re amazing, then you’re wrong!”

“Popularity is something you need to strike while the iron is hot. To put it bluntly, you should sell as much as you can while you can get a good price. You don’t need to care about whether it’s a good film or a bad one. As long as you’re on screen, and the news is talking about you every day, that’s value, that’s money! Without money, how can you afford to be picky? With your pickiness, how many works can you have in a year? If the audience forgets you and your popularity decreases, your price will drop too, and fewer people will offer you work. What will you do then? You’re not taking roles, not accepting ad offers, so what do you want to do?”

I was stunned for a moment and answered, “Rest.” Spend time with An’an and Fu Junyan…

When she heard this, her face turned red with anger. She took a deep breath and shook her head, saying, “Xiao’ai, you’re too young, so there are many things you don’t understand yet. But Xiao’ai, if you don’t follow the company’s instructions and my advice like this, in the end, you’ll be the one who suffers, you’ll be the one who starves! And as a woman who needs to support her family, I really don’t want to wait for your meager commission. Don’t explain to me that you want to be more dedicated and professional. How many in this circle are truly professional? Why do you have to be foolish? While your conditions are so good now, getting as much as you can in your pocket is the most important thing.”

“So what are you saying?” Actually, what she said wasn’t entirely wrong, but given my situation, I didn’t need to desperately chase after money without any choices…

“I’ll handle this promotional video for you. Also, I’ve already signed you up for the new season of ‘Ice Dance Miracle’ with KBS. It’s a figure skating competition show that lasts for several months. You’d better get a good ranking and create good topics. As for new films, since you won’t choose, I’ll choose for you.” She spoke decisively and promptly, as if she had been prepared for this.

I was speechless. I could understand her words and actions. From the perspective of a company shareholder, she was definitely an outstanding manager because she knew how to use both soft and hard tactics to create more benefits for the company and herself. However, I was still a bit dissatisfied that she had already signed me up without my consent. So I held back my anger and looked up at her, saying word by word, “Remember when I asked you to be my manager, we clearly stated one condition: you’re here to assist me with work, not to decide work for me!”

Wan Qing smiled when she heard this and shook her head again, saying, “Xiao’ai, you’re really too young…” Then, she lowered her head and took out a newspaper from her bag and threw it in front of me. I was really afraid of newspapers now. Last time Shu Shuang threw a newspaper at me, and when I opened it, it was the scandal news about Jay and Xu Mei. This time, another newspaper fell lightly in front of me, and I really didn’t know what kind of ghost thing it could be this time. Although I was increasingly shadowed in my heart, I still steeled myself and opened the newspaper. I just glanced at it and let out a sigh of relief. It was just my cousin’s gossip, really…

My cousin is a person without stability. His pickiness towards people is unmatched. Whether in my previous life or this one, even the most beautiful woman in front of my cousin, he might casually say, “Not as pretty as me…” So gossip and such are completely like floating clouds. Who could really catch my brother’s eye…

While I was lost in thought, Wan Qing had already spoken very clearly, “Do you think the CEO still cares about you now? Even if he cares about you now, how long can he care about you in the future? I’m afraid beauty fades! Xiao’ai, nothing is reliable, only what you get for yourself is the most reliable. For example, fame and fortune.”

I was shocked! She thought my cousin and I had that kind of relationship? I was immediately conflicted and ended this conversation by silently turning and leaving without saying another word. As soon as I got into the car after leaving the company, I picked up my phone and called my cousin. The content was simple: I had differences in ideas with my manager, please change the person.

Wan Qing possessed many qualities of an excellent manager, and because of this, her inner self was too proud and arrogant. After so many years, she had also become indifferent to facts. What she cared about was, as she said, ‘fame and fortune.’ When she knew that I had no motivation at all and was relatively lazy, the silence behind it was an explosion. I could understand her, but I didn’t want to be that kind of blind workaholic in the circle. Maybe I’m popular now, and this year the screen is full of me, next year too. But ten or twenty years later, no one will remember what I filmed, no one will have vivid memories of the roles I played. What’s the meaning of such busyness if it’s just piling up my life with bad films? I don’t want that… Moreover, what angered me most was! What kind of eyes were those? My cousin and I actually had an affair? Ow! And, signing me up for a show without my consent is too much! Ah!

So a few days later, Starlight Entertainment held a grand recruitment fair, and Wan Qing also temporarily terminated our working relationship that day. However, for the competition show she had signed me up for without my consent, after considering various aspects, I could only grit my teeth and participate.

“Ice Dance Miracle” is a figure skating reality show. Just skating, I really, really don’t know how to do it at all, let alone figure skating! I’m really having a headache, a big headache…