Everyone was very punctual, and almost all of them reached the meeting point within half an hour.
Ye Jin also met the other three pairs of guests-popular young actress Yan Xuelan and her younger sister Yan Yulan, who had just graduated from university; host Cui Kai and his athlete younger brother Cui Jie; and veteran actor Ke Yu and his daughter Ke Yunyun, who was still in high school.
The most eye-catching pair was popular young actress Yan Xuelan and her sister. After all, Yan Xuelan was famous for her looks, and even in the entertainment industry, where beautiful women and handsome men were everywhere, she counted as a great beauty.
It was also thanks to her beauty that, even though Yan Xuelan had lost quite a few fans after announcing her boyfriend outside the industry, a childhood sweetheart, at the height of her popularity, she remained one of the hottest young actresses in the business.
On top of that, her boyfriend, whose identity was subsequently revealed, was good-looking and the young scion of a wealthy family. With guidance from Yan Xuelan's agency, CP fans of the two had even gradually emerged online, and Yan Xuelan had managed to weather the relationship crisis.
Because of Yan Xuelan's beauty, netizens and entertainment agencies alike were very curious about her younger sister Yan Yulan, who shared both her parents. If she had her older sister's beauty too, she would definitely be a promising seedling for the entertainment industry.
As a top agent, Huo Yun naturally had the same thought. If Yan Yulan had potential, she would do everything she could to sign her.
Unfortunately, once Yan Yulan appeared, everyone was a little disappointed.
Unlike her dazzling older sister, Yan Yulan could, at best, only be considered a pretty girl with delicate features.
Seeing her, everyone could only marvel inwardly that genetics really was a strange thing. A great beauty truly was something one could encounter but never seek out.
Yan Xuelan was a good older sister and took great care of Yan Yulan, constantly comforting her in a soft voice. She had even pushed all their luggage by herself without letting Yan Yulan carry anything heavy.
They were going to three countries over ten days, after all. Yan Xuelan was a big star, and Yan Yulan was also at an age when she loved looking pretty, so they had brought plenty of luggage-a full five large suitcases.
After stopping the trolley, Yan Xuelan introduced Yan Yulan to everyone. "Hello, everyone. This is my younger sister, Yan Yulan. She just graduated from university this year, so I brought her out for a change of pace before she starts working."
After speaking, she nudged Yan Yulan beside her, signaling for her to greet everyone.
Yet Yan Yulan kept her head lowered and could not get a word out for the longest time.
Seeing this, Yan Xuelan could only sigh. Rather than force her, she simply said, "My sister has been a little introverted since childhood. She's only just graduated from university and doesn't have much experience out in the world, so I hope you'll all be understanding."
The guests were all seasoned hands and naturally would not take offense at an ordinary guest from outside the industry. At her words, they said loudly, "Not a problem, not a problem."
Ye Jin was not responsible for signing people, so she did not feel disappointed like Huo Yun. But as she looked at the Yan sisters, she grew a little distracted.
[Why do both their names sound so familiar?! One familiar name could be a coincidence, but if both sisters' names are familiar, there's probably something going on.]
Ye Jin immediately pulled up the system and began searching.
Beside her, Xu Yan, who was accompanying the production as its producer, also lit up. Sure enough, there was gossip!
Ye Jin soon found a novel containing both their names. Its title was rather literary: Evening Rain Falls Steadily.
The title gave absolutely no clue about the plot, so Ye Jin could only patiently read on.
Fortunately, the novel was not very long, only a little over a hundred thousand characters in total. Ye Jin skimmed ten lines at a glance and quickly finished the plot. Then the corner of her mouth twitched, and she looked with a complicated gaze at Yan Yulan, who stood behind Yan Xuelan looking so shy and honest.
[Holy shit, you really can't judge this girl by her appearance. How could she do something like seduce her own sister's man?!]
The title Evening Rain Falls Steadily was drawn from the names of the novel's male and female leads. The female lead was naturally Yan Yulan, and the male lead was named Chu Xiao-and he was none other than the childhood sweetheart Yan Xuelan had recently announced as her boyfriend! As for Yan Xuelan, unsurprisingly, she became the vicious female supporting character in their love story!
The entire story was told from Yan Yulan's first-person perspective. An unexceptional girl, she had grown up wallowing in self-pity beneath the shadow of her older sister, who excelled in both looks and academics. Even the boy next door she had secretly loved for so long had become her sister's boyfriend.
She felt she was nothing more than a foil for her sister and increasingly let things rot. After graduating from university, she relied on her family's wealth to lie flat at home instead of going out to work.
The Yan parents were furious with their younger daughter, who caused one problem after another, but they could not simply leave her be. Thus, the family had a small quarrel every three days and a major fight every five. As the eldest daughter, Yan Xuelan felt this could not continue and proposed taking Yan Yulan on a variety show for a change of pace.
If Yan Yulan won the audience's affection, she could enter the industry too. With Yan Xuelan there to look after her, she would at least be able to support herself through work in entertainment.
Yet Yan Yulan was unwilling. She felt Yan Xuelan had made the suggestion because she wanted to turn her into her foil. Faced with her parents' threat to cut off her cards, however, she could only agree, though she dragged her feet the entire way.
In a normal world, someone like Yan Yulan naturally would not come to a particularly good end. But this was an unhinged novel!
Yan Yulan let things rot on the variety show and did not want to participate in any activities, which unexpectedly catered to the currently popular "dejection" culture. Quite a few netizens called her their "body double."
Meanwhile, because Yan Xuelan was very strict in disciplining Yan Yulan, quite a few netizens instead accused her of being harsh and attacked her with both tongue and pen.
It was also at this point that Chu Xiao secretly confessed to Yan Yulan, saying she was the one he actually loved. His feelings for Yan Xuelan had really been driven by vanity: he felt that having such an outstanding girlfriend would make him look good, which was why he had pursued her.
But after actually getting together with Yan Xuelan, he had realized that nothing felt right. Being with Yan Yulan was what made him feel most comfortable.
Yan Yulan was deeply moved and felt that all the good fortune had descended upon her.
But she did still have a little conscience left, though not much, and felt she could not wrong her sister. So, in her anguish, she rejected Chu Xiao and told him to devote himself wholeheartedly to Yan Xuelan.