He Cheng nodded. "Call back, then."
Ye Jin watched the scene, finding it rather strange.
She remembered that Yang Manhui wasn't the helpful sort. How could she have come to do a cameo just because she'd worked with the director before? Director Zhang wasn't some big-name director, and what was more, the cameo was such a garbage character! If word got out, even her fans probably wouldn't accept it!
With Yang Manhui coming to carry the sedan chair, He Cheng, the male lead, would undoubtedly benefit the most. He Cheng had been in the industry for so long; he shouldn't have had such low emotional intelligence that he treated her so coldly.
Besides, he and his assistant seemed a little too close. Most celebrities had always valued their privacy. How could a mere assistant know his phone password?
Wait, why did the three names He Cheng, Xiao Meng, and Yang Manhui sound so familiar together?
Ye Jin quickly searched through the system's library and soon found the novel called "The Film Emperor's Little Sweet Wife." Its male and female leads were none other than He Cheng and his little assistant, Meng Xiaoya!
[Holy shit, this is actually one of those ridiculous stories about a man dressing as a woman!]
Because her older brother was injured, the female lead, Meng Xiaoya, disguised herself as a man to work as top male star He Cheng's assistant. At first, Meng Xiaoya disliked He Cheng's violent temper and looked forward every day to her brother recovering so she could hurry back.
But as they slowly spent more time together, her opinion of He Cheng gradually changed. She discovered the tenderness beneath this top idol's domineering exterior, and the two gradually fell in love over time.
In the end, after weathering crises such as doubts about their sexual orientation and the vicious female supporting character's schemes, the two finally reached their happy ending and officially announced their marriage at the awards ceremony where He Cheng won Best Actress.
Yang Manhui was He Cheng's undisclosed ex-girlfriend. After He Cheng broke up with her through emotional neglect, she discovered that he had actually gotten together with his assistant. Furious, she blackened and began targeting the female lead.
But He Cheng had prepared in advance. Through a series of maneuvers, he turned Yang Manhui into a vicious woman who had failed to seduce him, prompting countless netizens to boycott her. She lost many jobs and endorsements, gradually sank to the eighteenth tier, and finally, unable to bear the fall, became depressed and died by suicide.
The current point in the story was when the male and female leads' feelings were rapidly heating up on set.
Yang Manhui had keenly noticed that He Cheng was becoming increasingly inattentive toward her while filming "Kunlun Duel." She thought it was because they spent so little time together.
To save their relationship, she had specifically turned down several jobs to make a cameo in He Cheng's production, hoping to surprise her boyfriend. Yet He Cheng's attitude was very cold.
Despite being given the cold shoulder, Yang Manhui stayed. After all, she truly wanted to help her boyfriend quickly establish himself. She had introduced He Cheng to all sorts of opportunities many times before. To secure opportunities for him, Yang Manhui had even lost several good ones herself and filmed a few terrible productions instead.
It could be said that without Yang Manhui, He Cheng's transition from a survival-show idol to an actor could never have gone so smoothly.
After reading the entire plot, Ye Jin sighed repeatedly to herself.
[Sigh, Yang Manhui looks like a gorgeous woman charging full steam ahead with her career, but she turns out to be another love-brained fool. Instead of working hard on her own career, she's devoted herself to poverty relief for her phoenix man boyfriend. Has He Cheng ever felt even a little grateful to you?]
Yang Manhui was already feeling very low because of her lover's cold attitude. Suddenly hearing a woman's voice mocking her like this immediately set anger flaring in her heart.
She was just about to lash out when she suddenly registered what had been said, and her anger turned to alarm.
How did this person know about her relationship with He Cheng?!
Chapter 9
Yang Manhui wasn't actually afraid that exposing the relationship would affect her career. She was a professionally trained actress who had debuted in a famous director's film, and she was very confident in her acting. She believed she could make good productions and win awards through ability alone.
But He Cheng wouldn't agree. He persuaded her that since hiding their relationship could bring greater popularity and more opportunities, why not keep it hidden for now? Going public once they met at the summit would make a beautiful story, too.
Yang Manhui really wanted to tell He Cheng that she didn't care. She just wanted to be with him openly as soon as possible.
But remembering that He Cheng had debuted through a survival show and couldn't have come this far without his fans' support, she could only agree for the sake of her boyfriend's future.
She recalled how, when she appeared at the film studio complex last night, there hadn't been the slightest smile on He Cheng's face. Instead, he had worried that her arrival would increase the risk of their relationship being exposed.
If their relationship really was exposed, He Cheng would definitely be even angrier!
Yang Manhui had long since forgotten about finding and reprimanding the speaker. Instead, she looked toward He Cheng, trying to soothe her boyfriend.
Unexpectedly, however, nothing seemed amiss with He Cheng's expression. He was still talking to the little assistant beside him, as though he hadn't heard a thing.
Could it be that the speaker was closer to her, so He Cheng hadn't heard?
Alarm and uncertainty filled Yang Manhui's heart. She began observing the people around her, only to find that none of them seemed any different, either.
Her relationship with He Cheng was a secret among secrets. If the staff had heard such juicy gossip, they definitely wouldn't have been this calm. Or had the staff's acting skills already reached such heights these days?
While she was puzzling over this, the woman's voice rang out again.
[He Cheng really does live off a woman while throwing his weight around. He uses Yang Manhui's resources but absolutely refuses to go public, practically wishing he could cut all ties with her. After getting together with his assistant, he secretly flaunts their love every day, and in the end, he even officially announces their marriage at an awards ceremony.]
A thunderclap exploded in Yang Manhui's mind. He Cheng was cheating?! And with that assistant beside him?
But she quickly calmed down. Hah, that woman's voice was of unknown origin. How could she believe it so easily and doubt her own boyfriend?
Although He Cheng was somewhat cold toward her, he was cold toward everyone. Although he treated his assistant reasonably well, that assistant was a man!
But the woman's next words soon slapped Yang Manhui in the face.
[Meng Xiaoya managed to disguise herself as a man for so long! Everyone around her must be blind! Not a single person noticed. Of course, He Cheng was the blindest of all. He thought he was gay and still never questioned Meng Xiaoya's sex.]
Meng Xiaoya was actually a woman disguised as a man?! How was that possible?
Yet Yang Manhui's gaze involuntarily drifted toward the unremarkable assistant standing beside He Cheng, and realization startled her.
Although black-framed glasses obscured most of that person's face, she could still see that his skin was very smooth. Although he deliberately wore a loose T-shirt, with each rise and fall of his breathing, she could still make out that his chest was fuller than a man's...