Overnight Hit: Vicious Stepmother and Genius Son-Chapter 394

"So Zhenzhen learned from online tutorials," she mused. "I should go check them out later."

The host didn’t add anything else, since this segment was originally meant to spotlight Qiu Wanshuang, but now Ye Zhenzhen had stolen the limelight. She was just being polite with her questions.

With the final game segment over, this episode’s indoor variety show recording came to an end.

As it concluded, everyone sang and danced joyfully to say farewell, while the audience reluctantly departed.

After Ye Zhenzhen and Xiao Chen changed their clothes in the dressing room, Liu Rui led Director Fei and Xiaowen into the makeup area.

Xiaowen’s eyes were so swollen they looked like lightbulbs—clearly, she hadn’t slept well the night before and had been crying.

Ye Zhenzhen expressed her concern, "Xiaowen, why don’t you rest at home for a bit?"

Xiaowen’s eyes were so puffy that it was the first thing one noticed, but upon closer inspection, one could see that her entire face was swollen.

The usually fresh-faced girl had changed so much overnight, and while Ye Zhenzhen felt sympathy, she also felt very sorry for her.

Xiaowen shook her head, "I’m alright, Sister Zhenzhen. I’m here to thank you. I’d like to treat you guys to dinner tonight."

That was her purpose for coming with Director Fei—to thank Ye Zhenzhen in person.

She had been in a terrible mood yesterday and hadn’t said all she wanted to Ye Zhenzhen, but today she had thought things through. She had rushed back with Director Fei specifically to invite Ye Zhenzhen to dinner.

Director Fei nodded in agreement, "Zhenzhen, let’s have dinner together tonight. We’re all off work anyway, and when you were recording earlier, the station sent me out on an errand. I’ve just gotten back."

If he had known that this guy surnamed Jiang would give Zhenzhen a hard time, he would never have left this afternoon.

Director Jiang and Little Director Yang from the station were on good terms. Director Yang had been holding a grudge ever since Zhenzhen rejected Qi Tao’s phone invitation last time.

This time, for the variety show recording, Director Yang had wanted to meddle and cause some trouble. Fortunately, Director Jiang had a bit of conscience and didn’t follow through with everything he was told to do, only changing one of the game segments.

Ye Zhenzhen smiled, "It’s nothing. It was just recording an indoor variety show."

Today’s little scene didn’t really count for much in her eyes.

Liu Rui quietly added on the side, "Zhenzhen, do you know who was the most likely to be confirmed as the lead actress for ’Legend of Dusk Clouds’ at first?"

Ye Zhenzhen smiled, "Qiu Wanshuang?"

Liu Rui nodded, "Exactly, so the last move in today’s show was her doing."

"Yeah, I know."

In fact, Ye Zhenzhen had felt something was off during the show recording. The day was supposed to revolve around a light-hearted atmosphere of a mother with her child, playing simple games and then singing and dancing with the children to nursery rhymes.

Why, then, did Qiu Wanshuang suddenly draw a task to perform sword dance moves?

At that moment, Ye Zhenzhen had suspected that it was Qiu Wanshuang’s own ad-lib.

When she drew her own task later, her thoughts shifted. This wasn’t Qiu Wanshuang ad-libbing for herself; it was her trying to make a story out of it, to outshine her.

And coupled with the words Qiu Wanshuang had said in the backstage resting area before the recording, it all matched up. The other party was openly and covertly mocking her, accusing her of stealing her resources.

Ye Zhenzhen had not expected this. She thought it was all about a GK, but the script got dragged into it too.

Liu Rui: "Fortunately, we’ve already signed a contract with Director Qi. Otherwise, I’d be really worried that such a good script might slip away again."

"It won’t fly away," said Director Fei with a smile on his face. "Director Qi just filled me in—President Song stepped in behind the scenes, just to make sure Zhenzhen wasn’t bullied."

Ye Zhenzhen’s eyes paused. Song Jinze had stepped in?

Liu Rui realized suddenly, "I was wondering why I got the contract from Director Qi so quickly, and they even mentioned some big client specifically wanted Ye Zhenzhen. Turns out it’s an inside job, haha!"

Speaking of Song Jinze, Director Fei casually asked, "Zhenzhen, about President Song’s side, will you go?"

Director Fei originally thought that he would have his chance to shine once the station head was replaced, but he hadn’t anticipated that after the change, internal positions and resources shuffled as well, leaving him, who hadn’t taken sides, in an awkward position.

The key issue was that he didn’t get a share of any good projects in the station now. Moreover, the variety show was signed during An Hao’s tenure, which meant it was of no benefit to both the presently popular variety shows and him as a director.

Therefore, he didn’t want to stay in the station for another moment.

Ye Zhenzhen looked around the makeup room and, seeing no outsiders, nodded, "I’ll go."

Director Fei immediately beamed with joy, "That’s great!"

He could leave this godforsaken place before New Year’s Eve.

After a thought, Director Fei reminded Ye Zhenzhen, "Zhenzhen, just a heads up, for the location of these three episodes, it’s a place where you’d wear very thin clothing, see to it."

Ye Zhenzhen and Liu Rui exchanged a smile, understanding. They were going to the South for the shooting?

Xiaowen: "Sister Zhenzhen, it’s getting late, let’s go. We can grab a meal together, I still have questions for you."

Ye Zhenzhen agreed, "Okay, let’s go to dinner."

...

During dinner time, Weibo released news confirming the characters for "Legend of Dusk Clouds".

Since Liu Rui had already sent the contract to Director Qi’s side, and they had signed it, this meant that the deal was set in stone.

Whoever reneged would face a hefty penalty for breach of contract.

Liu Rui had someone release this news on purpose; it was good news, and there was no need to hide it.

Naturally, the fans were thrilled;

[Roar! Sister Zhenzhen is going to be in a period drama! Excited and looking forward to it!]

[Just yesterday, those who said it couldn’t possibly be my Sister Zhenzhen, come and see, see if it isn’t so!]

[Looking forward to sister’s new work, and also her movie with Best Actor Xiao, when will they start shooting?]

[At the earliest, we’ll have to wait until the three episodes of the kiddie variety show are done filming, everyone be patient, okay?]

These days, the most discussed topic on Weibo has been Ye Zhenzhen’s husband, Song Jinze. As the conversation flowed, it eventually turned back to Song Jinze, and some fans of Qiu Wanshuang who couldn’t stand it came for a direct clash;

[What’s there to look forward to? Does Ye Zhenzhen even have acting skills? She lands roles because her husband throws money around. What’s there to brag about?]

[Exactly, she rose to fame by relying on her stepson, and now she’s climbing up in the entertainment industry with her husband’s money. What does Ye Zhenzhen have?]

[Sister has money, beauty, a wealthy husband, and an obedient stepson; isn’t that enough?]

[Trolls, no need to keep trying to make your presence felt. It’s really unnecessary, okay?]

[Trolls, no need to keep trying to make your presence felt. It’s really unnecessary, okay?]