Don’t Want a Divorce (5)
What kind of drama can she perform?
Returning to the room to change into a new suppressant would make Xu Jiao seem guilty and like she was trying to cover up after being discovered, but if she didn’t change, swaggering around in Feng Qingyu’s scent would make Xu Jiao herself feel incredibly uncomfortable.
She rarely found herself in such a dilemma. After Feng Qingyu entered the room, she stood alone in the corridor for a while but ultimately chose to go to her own room.
At the same time, Xu Jiao mentioned to the system, “I’m not very sensitive to these pheromones. Next time, if I use the wrong one again, remember to remind me.”
The system took a while to respond, but it asked another question: “From my observations, it seems you’re not planning to follow the ‘increase Feng Qingyu’s favorability’ route?”
Xu Jiao walked into her room, closed the door behind her, reopened her dressing table drawer, found the suppressant she had used earlier, and threw it into the indoor trash can. She answered, “Yes.”
She said, “I thought I made it very clear——”
“I don’t want any entanglements with the protagonists of these worlds that can’t be cut off, even if in this world I have a marriage relationship with her, it won’t change anything. In six months, I will propose a divorce to her. During this period, I will focus on developing my own career.”
Although Xu Jiao rationally knew that these book worlds were very fictitious, each time she entered a role, she would strive to do her best and learn many new things. Because if she always revolved around the mission target, she would be like a passive summoned beast, waiting to be summoned and dismissed by the protagonist.
If that were the case, she would have already fallen in the first world.
Because she could always adapt to her new identity and learn different new things in each world, she could always keep herself rational and clear-headed. In the first world, she learned immortal arts. In the second world, she thoroughly understood the knowledge she hadn’t grasped during her student days, and she was lucky enough to attend classes in a high-level school, expanding her knowledge base…
Now Xu Jiao has entered 《Starlight》.
Her identity is that of an actress, and she possesses a skill that helps her quickly adapt to this role. The world of acting is unfamiliar yet vast to Xu Jiao, and she is eager to explore this new world.
The identity of an actor, to some extent, has similarities with that of a creator. Both require an observational insight into life and a certain degree of empathy; otherwise, your performance or creation cannot touch people’s hearts.
The division of schools in acting also has similarities with creation.
The “expressionist” approach involves using external techniques, consistent emotional expressions, and certain artistic treatments to let the audience know what you want to express. This technique is like a routine, enabling actors to convey the necessary elements of a scene more easily.
In writing, it’s like an author summarizing a certain number of articles, distilling the patterns and story developments. Even if their writing skills haven’t caught up, because they know the tastes of readers who enjoy popular themes, they can still produce decent works even if they write without much emotion.
In acting, the most praised by outsiders is naturally the “method acting” (体验派, literally “experiential school”), where actors resonate with their characters and understand the emotions they need to portray, immersing themselves in the role to the point of “you are not yourself, but the character.” This allows them to move the audience with their understanding.
Applying this technique to writing means infusing a character with the author’s unique experiences, giving the character a soul. The story and characters created this way will have a unique image and memorable details.
It is precisely because of this that Xu Jiao is very eager to experience the identity of an actress. It’s not simply because of the original owner’s identity or just to find something to do out of boredom; she is filled with respect and a desire to explore this industry. She wants to use what she learns in this field to break through her creative bottlenecks and gain more inspiration.
Whether the mission in this world succeeds or fails, Xu Jiao has already decided—
She wants to stay here a little longer.
She aims to climb higher as an actress, just as she once wanted to swim ahead in the same industry as a creator.
……
Xu Jiao spent the entire night using her skill in the room.
The script hadn’t been given to her yet, and she wasn’t in a rush. Instead, she casually picked out some stories, even classics, from the bookshelf, randomly selecting a character from them, and practiced her acting in front of the mirror with her skill equipped.
That was a version of herself Xu Jiao had never seen before.
When the skill was active, her expressions, her movements, even her emotions, were beyond her control. The character’s every frown and smile, the emotions and expressions they evoked, were something she had never experienced.
This experience was far more complex than being a mere marionette. Xu Jiao initially thought that because of her cold emotions and minimal emotional fluctuations, her acting would appear fake, or she would feel a separation between body and soul, with her soul coldly watching her body being manipulated. However, this was not the case.
The power of the skill “Immersion” (身臨其境, literally “being in the scene”) was indeed extraordinary.
Even during the intermission after finishing a character’s performance, when the skill’s aura was no longer present, Xu Jiao found it hard to detach from that state. She looked at the tears at the corner of her eyes in the mirror, her eyelashes soaked row by row, like reeds by the river beaten by rain, no longer floating and nimble as before, but clumping together in a messy, dejected manner, hanging their heads low.
The tear stains on her cheeks were almost dry, and there was still a flush on her cheeks from the excessive emotional agitation.
This was just the surface.
What shocked Xu Jiao the most was her inner state at that moment.
The once boundless beach was suddenly washed over by endless rolling waves. When the tide receded, the pristine beach was no longer the same. Sand pits, seaweed, pebbles, and stranded creatures that didn’t have time to return to the water, all remained on the surface.
Those traces were the remnants of her emotions affected by this skill.
She lifted her hand and pressed it against her face in the mirror, seeing the sorrow on the reflected face and noticing the slight tremor on the back of the hand on the mirror, fingertips carrying the warmth of her body, leaving a blurry fingerprint on the mirror and dissipating in an instant.
Xu Jiao took several deep breaths to gradually calm down the excessive excitement within her body. After a while, the turbulence in her eyes disappeared, and she returned to her original calm demeanor.
At this moment, the system suddenly spoke up and asked, “How was your experience using this skill?”
Xu Jiao smirked, a touch of coldness in her eyes. “One star, negative review.”
The system replied, “…I didn’t ask you to rate it.”
Disappointment crept into Xu Jiao’s tone. “As the most advanced artificial intelligence, you don’t even let customers rate your service? Your system is too domineering.”
Hearing her disappointment for not being able to complain, the system: “…”
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It stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. “I feel that you are stubborn and the possibility of successfully modifying the ending is too low. It is necessary for me to gain enough experience and lessons from you, so that I can choose a host with a higher completion rate when the time comes.”
Xu Jiao heard its words, which sounded like a prophecy and a curse at the same time, and raised an eyebrow, asking, “Is this behavior of yours called eating from the bowl and looking at the pot?”
The system: “…”
After hurting each other for a while, both Xu Jiao and the system fell into silence. Eventually, it was Xu Jiao who spoke up and shifted the topic back to the skill. Her gaze was shallow, and her tone nonchalant as she expressed her experience of using it:
“I don’t know if I’m being too suspicious.”
“I always feel like you guys even reveal a sense of conspiracy in the poverty alleviation packages. Why do I have a feeling that you think my emotions are too cold, and so you gave me this skill that allows me to be emotionally abundant anytime, anywhere?”
Being immersed in a role signifies emotional resonance, and someone with weak emotions cannot be immersed and resonate with the character—
Once Xu Jiao has experienced the seven emotions and six desires in this world, experienced the pain and helplessness of these characters, the joy and happiness, will she still worry that she will never have real emotions?
It seems that the system prefers to see her forever trapped in a play, unable to extricate herself, rather than being indifferent to the destruction of the world.
Hearing Xu Jiao’s words, the system calmly responded, “This skill appears randomly based on the different attributes of the world. 《Starlight》 has the label of the entertainment industry, so the probability of obtaining skills like acting or the aura of a movie queen is higher—”
“You can also choose not to use it.”
Xu Jiao smiled, the curve of her lips rising higher. She looked very sweet in the mirror, matching the pheromones emanating from her body, charming and sweet.
“Use it,” she said. “Why not use it?”
Tilting her head slightly, Xu Jiao stared into her own eyes in the mirror, maintaining the same smile, even her voice inevitably tainted with the same sunny aura.
But her words carried a touch of unyielding coldness:
“In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and tricks are paper tigers.”
“Let’s wait and see whether I first lose myself in this world or make the seven emotions and six desires… ultimately be under my control.”
……
Xu Jiao hadn’t appeared on camera yet, but she had already experienced what it meant to be infatuated with acting.
She stayed up all night, experiencing the lives of the characters in the book one by one. When she felt it was almost enough and wanted to take a look at the time on her phone, she received a document sent by Feng Qingyu.
It is now 5:18 in the morning.
Feng Qingyu sent the document last night at 11 o’clock.
Xu Jiao was about to reply with a “thank you,” but then she thought about whether this person’s phone was on silent or not at night. According to her own habits, when in an irregular sleeping environment, her sleep would be shallow and easily disturbed by slight movements or sounds.
In the end, she just clicked to accept the document and planned to thank Feng Qingyu in person early tomorrow morning.
Because Xu Jiao wasn’t an actress chosen by the crew, it was impossible for her to receive the script. Even the fragments and outlines of the relevant characters she received from Feng Qingyu were just to help her construct a preliminary scene and have a basic understanding of the characters.
Xu Jiao didn’t know if Feng Qingyu had the complete script and story outline, but she knew from the memories of the original owner that in some strict production crews, they would even wait until all the actors had entered the set before distributing the complete script for script reading sessions.
—This was to prevent the content from being leaked in advance.
Since she temporarily couldn’t know more about the characters, she could only repeatedly analyze these few fragments, even practicing in front of the mirror after equipping the skill, and finally picking up her phone to take notes in the memo.
After the system watched for a while, thinking that Xu Jiao was being overly cautious, it couldn’t help but remind her, “In this world, ‘Immersion’ is permanently effective, regardless of the situation.”
Xu Jiao didn’t pause in her typing and said, “I know.”
She continued, “But I don’t just want it to work in this world.”
She wanted to make this skill her own.
One day, Xu Jiao would perform a true, unique play without relying on this skill.
The system was shocked by her determination to take advantage of even the slightest opportunity. After a while, it blurted out, “Isn’t this behavior what they call taking everything you can get?”
Xu Jiao didn’t take her eyes off her phone and simply nodded with pleasure, saying, “You flatter me.”
……
8:30 in the morning.
Xu Jiao went downstairs feeling a little tired, intentionally skipping her usual breakfast time. However, she unexpectedly found Shi Weiya still sitting on the sofa in the lobby, flipping through a magazine.
When Shi Weiya saw her coming down, she looked up. There was a smile on her face, but it changed to surprise when she saw Xu Jiao’s complexion.
“Jiaojiao, did you not sleep well last night?”
Xu Jiao touched her cheek and smiled at Shi Weiya as she walked down the stairs. “Do I look that bad? I just looked in the mirror earlier, and I should be fine.”
Shi Weiya stood up and nervously approached her. “What’s going on? Did you have insomnia? Couldn’t sleep well? Or…”
Xu Jiao shook her head and quickly reassured her. “No, no, no. I just received a script I really like last night, so I was studying the character and lost track of time. I’ll catch up on some sleep later.”
Shi Weiya paused for a moment, then pushed her towards the dining table. “Is that so? Oh, that’s too tough. Hurry up and have something to eat while it’s hot. Don’t let work exhaust your body. You shouldn’t follow Qingyu’s bad habit.”
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Xu Jiao wasn’t good at dealing with such enthusiasm, so she followed Shi Weiya’s lead and headed towards the dining table. “I know, Aunt Shi, don’t worry.”
Shi Weiya clearly didn’t believe her. She watched Xu Jiao sit at the table and went to the kitchen to request another serving of breakfast. She also asked Xu Jiao if she wanted freshly ground soy milk, all the while fussing over her.
Xu Jiao sat quietly in her chair, looking towards Shi Weiya with tender eyes.
She remembered that when the original owner first married Feng Qingyu, she wanted to directly address the Feng couple as mom and dad. But the marketing and online popularity she bought that day made Feng Qingyu unhappy.
At that time, the original owner hadn’t fully understood Feng Qingyu’s temper. Feeling guilty and unsure, what was originally going to be an affectionate address of “dad and mom” turned into a polite and restrained “Uncle Feng, Aunt Shi.”
Shi Weiya had laughed and said, “Now that you’re married to Qingyu, we’re family. Why are you calling us so unfamiliarly? You should call us mom and dad.”
Just as the original owner was about to go along with it, she suddenly noticed Feng Qingyu’s gaze and smiled, saying, “I…I have an arranged marriage with Qingyu, so she might not be used to it yet. I’m also a little uncomfortable. I don’t want Uncle and Aunt to think that I’m taking advantage, so I thought I would change it later. Is that okay?”
Shi Weiya was the one who thought the original owner had a kind heart back then.
Later on, in order to maintain her image in front of the Feng family, the original owner never changed her address. However, in reality, she had secretly called them “mom and dad” many times on Weibo.
Xu Jiao didn’t have any particular feelings about the original owner’s scheming nature–
She just thought it was fine this way.
So she continued to address them as such.
……
A few days before the audition, Xu Jiao locked herself in her room every day. Except for meal times, she was like a transparent figure, completely devoid of her previous strong presence.
The only person who felt uncomfortable was Shi Weiya. Seeing Xu Jiao working so hard for her job, there was nothing she could do to help. So, she tried various ways to make nourishing dishes and supplements in the kitchen, hoping to make her more comfortable in terms of diet.
The Alphas of the Feng family were all workaholics. Father Feng went out to negotiate business this week, but he would have a scheduled video call with Shi Weiya every morning to account for the time difference. Feng Qingyu’s older brother was always stationed in the military and couldn’t take leave to come back.
Before, when Feng Qingyu wasn’t busy, she could spend more time with Xu Jiao at home. But later, she became more and more popular. She received more endorsements, advertisements, and roles. She would stay on set for several tens of days, and even during filming, there were various activities interspersed. She would either attend shows or participate in commercial events. Even when she came back, she would come and go early and late, completely out of sync with Shi Weiya’s biological clock.
So, after Xu Jiao married into the family, Shi Weiya successfully transferred all her maternal love to Xu Jiao.
Now, seeing Xu Jiao also showing a tendency to become a workaholic, Shi Weiya felt a mix of happiness and loneliness. But overall, she also hoped that Xu Jiao could succeed in her career like Feng Qingyu, so that they could support each other.
The night before the audition.
Shi Weiya intentionally stayed awake for some time, waiting until late at night, which surprised Feng Qingyu, who had just returned: “Mom, why are you still awake?”
Shi Weiya asked about Xu Jiao’s schedule for the day and then shifted the conversation to another topic: “I heard that Jiaojiao is going to audition at your set tomorrow?”
Feng Qingyu’s gaze turned cold, thinking that Xu Jiao wanted to take advantage of her mother to gain some benefits. Before Shi Weiya could say anything, her voice had already become indifferent:
“I have already secured a spot for her in the audition. Whether or not she will be chosen is up to the production team. Even if you want me to help her, there’s nothing more I can do.”
Although her words were not the most impolite, it was because of her upbringing that she couldn’t say anything sarcastic or cutting to an Omega in front of others. But that didn’t mean Feng Qingyu wasn’t angry.
She really, really hated Xu Jiao using her own mother to gain benefits from her.
Shi Weiya paused for a moment, feeling like she had unintentionally made a mistake tonight. She had wanted to improve the relationship between this couple, but why did it seem like her daughter now disliked Xu Jiao even more?
Just as Feng Qingyu continued walking upstairs, she spoke again:
“You’re wrong, Qingyu.”
“Jiaojiao didn’t mean to come to you for any benefits. I just saw that she has been locking herself in her room these past few days, preparing for tomorrow’s scene. I thought since you spend a lot of time on set, you might be able to remind her and teach her in some areas. That’s all.”
Shi Weiya’s voice was calm, but full of empathy: “Since she came here, I haven’t seen her work this hard. So I don’t want to see her disappointed. If it bothers you, just pretend that I didn’t say anything earlier.”
Shi Weiya understood that a forced melon (something that is forced and doesn’t turn out well) is not sweet.
Feng Qingyu’s expression changed when she heard that Xu Jiao had been diligently rehearsing these past few days. She thought about the web dramas Xu Jiao had acted in before and couldn’t imagine how much progress she could make in just three days.
Though she had doubts in her heart, she turned around and responded to Shi Weiya: “I’m sorry, I was overthinking earlier.”
“I will handle it. Mom, you should rest early. Your health isn’t good, so don’t stay up with us.”
……
“Why does Boss Shangguan have time to come over today?”
“I heard that Director Zhen is holding auditions today, so I stopped by to take a look. I’ve always heard that you have strict criteria for selecting actors, and I’m fortunate to witness it today.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I know you, Shangguan Yan. Isn’t there a supporting role in this production that your company has been promoting recently? Worried that I’ll reject her?”
“Don’t say that, Director Zhen. We had an agreement from the beginning. I’m responsible for financing, and you’re responsible for filming. I have nothing to do with casting. If this gets out, other production teams won’t dare to approach me for investments.”
In an office on the sixteenth floor of a certain building.
Shangguan Yan and director Zhen Tiao of 《The Palace Wall Willows》 were sitting and drinking tea. Both of them come from families in the industry and have known each other since childhood, so their conversation carried a sense of familiarity.
Zhen Tiao is also an exceptionally good-looking Alpha. He used to enjoy making arthouse films and even won awards abroad. Later, for some reason, he became infatuated with classical culture. With his refined camera work and storytelling approach developed through arthouse films, along with his meticulous attention to detail in period dramas, his first historical drama became a huge success!
He instantly elevated a third-tier actress to top-tier status that year!
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Now, Zhen Tiao’s wife is the screenwriter for 《The Palace Wall Willows》, and she submitted the script to Yantian Entertainment, which was reviewed by the company’s specialized department and presented to Shangguan Yan. This led to the opportunity for their collaboration. Shangguan Yan is officially credited as the producer of this project, so his presence at the auditions today is entirely appropriate.
While they were chatting, they heard a knock on the door, and Shangguan Yan turned to look—
The one who arrived was Feng Qingyu.
Shangguan Yan’s gaze lingered on her momentarily without leaving any trace, as he heard her warmly greet him, “President Yan, Director Zhen.”
The Shangguan family has been merchants for generations, and Shangguan Yan’s father was particularly famous in the industry. In the early days, people used to refer to the father and son as the “big Shangguan” and the “little Shangguan.” Later, when Yantian Entertainment was expanded single-handedly by Shangguan Yan, his peers in the industry acknowledged his abilities and intentionally distinguished him from his father by respectfully calling him “President Yan.”
Director Zhen smiled and invited her to sit, while he warmed up a new cup and said to her, “Did you bring that person today? How is she doing? Have you been giving her special treatment at home these past few days?”
Due to the hype the original owner of Xu Jiao’s body created, few in the circle were unaware of Feng Qingyu’s little wife.
Because of her gentle personality, no one knew exactly how she and Xu Jiao got along. Just listening to this, it seemed like she had kept a surprise, planning to tell Xu Jiao after she passed.
At the same time, it was also a subtle way of answering, “Don’t worry, I won’t break the rules in public.”
Shangguan Yan raised the teacup, his handsome eyebrows and starry eyes shining brightly like the sun. The movement of his hands obscured part of his expression. He lowered his gaze, recalling the eye-scorching web drama performances of Xu Jiao he saw last night.
Toward Feng Qingyu, he was determined to win.
So…
Certain obstacles, when needed, he would personally remove.
According to his investigation, Feng Qingyu andher nominal wife were actually in form but not in spirit. They would naturally separate without anyone instigating trouble.
In this situation, he certainly could not give these two any opportunity to strengthen their relationship.
Now he wanted to see what Feng Qingyu could bring to the performance without personally taking the stage, relying solely on that internet celebrity face, and what she could act out.