Chapter 872: A Million Times for You (234)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Saying such things in front of her daughter-in-law, the elder could be seen as having no consideration for anything at all.
“I heard it’s hard to earn money from filming, and you’re the female lead right now. How much do you get from filming one episode?”
Facing her mother’s question, Fang Erlan replied with an expressionless face. “Not much.”
Toward this mother of hers, she never had much of a bond. She remembered how her parents had left her in the care of her grandmother and rarely returned home to visit her, much less bought her clothes and good food. As a result, her relations.h.i.+p with them was rather cold.
“Your brother isn’t young anymore, your father and I are preparing to buy him a house. You should know the financial condition of our family. Since you’re earning money, you should help your brother out. As for your grandmother’s hospital bills, you should fork it out too.”
Fang Erlan looked at her with an indifferent expression. “I’ll fork out Grandma’s hospital expenses, but leave me out of other things.”
Mrs. Fang was dissatisfied with her att.i.tude. “Why, now that you’re earning money, you’re was.h.i.+ng your hands off of everything at home?”
“Since when have you and Father cared about me?” Fang Erlan could not be bothered to argue with her. “You should go back. I’ll stay over to watch Grandma tonight.”
Mrs. Fang almost could not catch her breath and turned to leave with a ghastly expression.
After witnessing the exchange between mother and daughter, Xiao Yue, who was standing aside, felt a wave of emotions surge within her.
Fang Erlan sat down and told her grandmother, “Grandma, you should sleep already. It’s very late. I’ll stay here with you.”
“There’s another bed in here. Both of you can squeeze a bit and sleep there. That’ll be better.”
“Alright.”
Immediately after closing her eyes, Fang Erlan fell asleep and slept all the way ’til daybreak. When she woke up, she bought breakfast for her grandmother. Thereafter, she paid the hospital bills that had been charged and paid extra in advance as well.
Since her Second Uncle had come and she had to go for filming, she took the chance to leave hurriedly.
On the way there, Xiao Yue asked, “Sis Erlan, is your relations.h.i.+p with your parents bad?”
Fang Erlan nodded as she leaned against the car window. “Umm, it’s bad. I grew up with my grandmother in the countryside. My parents took my little brother to live in the city and rarely returned. I only saw them once every few years. I was always elated to hear they were returning when I was young. My father was not that bad yet, but as for my mother, she always carried a black face and never smiled at me. I used to doubt whether I was their biological daughter. But, as far as reality has proven, I really am.”
“Is the culture of favoring boys over girls serious where you come from?” Xiao Yue enquired.
“Somewhat, but it’s not really that bad. Look at my grandmother, she’s not like that. I think it still depends on the individual. I heard it was because my mother went through a difficult labor when she was having me. She managed to go against all odds to give birth to me, so she thinks I’m a jinx to her and doesn’t like me.” As she had not slept properly the previous night, Fang Erlan’s eyelids were rather heavy. “Xiao Yue, let me sleep for a while. Wake me up when we arrive.”
“Alright.”
When they reached the filming venue, the two were about to get down from the car when Xiao Yue grabbed onto her. “Sis Erlan, look. Isn’t that Jing Yang?”
Fang Erlan leaned against the car window and looked to find that it was indeed him. “What is he doing here at our production set?”
“Could it be that he wants to use you to create a publicity stunt again?” As a safety precaution, Xiao Yue told her to stay in the car first. “I’ll go and get the co-director.”
“There’s no need.” Fang Erlan put on a pair of sungla.s.ses and a mask. “Who does he think he is? Do we have to be scared of him?”
“That’s right. Come, let’s get off. If he dares to come near you, I’ll rip him into pieces.”
Fang Erlan laughed and the two got down from the car together.
Unexpectedly, Jing Yang actually walked over after noticing her. Xiao Yue got ready to start a fight with him and walked before Fang Erlan as the two were nearing the set.
“Ms. Fang,” Jing Yang muttered. “Can I have a talk with you in private?”
Was this person mad?
Fang Erlan was annoyed to the core. “There’s nothing to talk about. I’m not close to you.”
Seeing that he was about to approach them again, Xiao Yue s.h.i.+elded Fang Erlan from him. “What is wrong with you? Didn’t you hear Sister say she has nothing to say to you? Why are you such a nuisance? The previous time, you tried to pull a publicity stunt using my sister, wasn’t that enough? Now, you’re here at our production unit. Have you had enough or not? Don’t think that just because you’re famous now, you can bully Sis Erlan as you wish.”
As he was getting scolded by a mere a.s.sistant, Jing Yang’s face darkened completely. He was furious that he did not even have a chance to get close to Fang Erlan.
With her a.s.sistant Xiao Yue escorting her, Fang Erlan arrived at the makeup room.
Having the door slammed in his face another time, Jing Yang left since he was unwelcome there. He really felt that Fang Erlan was a wall that was extremely difficult to break down.
“Are his fans all blind? How could they like someone like him?”
“That’s true,” she remarked, despite having been his fan once.
She somehow felt that he had some ulterior motive.
The way he acted revealed rather obviously that he harbored evil designs.
After changing and putting on makeup, Fang Erlan noticed from the mirror Jing Shui and Yan Ge’s blind date entering together. Since she came the previous time, was she here to visit him again?
From the looks of it, Yan Ge had allowed it.
“Erlan, how’s your grandmother?” Jing Shui asked in concern.
“It’s an old ailment of hers that acted up. She’s in the hospital now, her condition isn’t very good.”
“The next time you go to visit her, I’ll go along with you to take a look.”
“There’s no need,” Fang Erlan rejected tactfully. “You’re so busy, you must have many things to do.”
“So what? I can always put aside my things temporarily.”
Fang Erlan did not reply to him. After her makeup and hair were done, she stood up and went to the filming set.
Jing Shui and Xin Min followed behind while she went to sit at her usual position, her eyes unconsciously darting toward Yan Ge. She realized that his gaze was also fixed on the direction at which Jing Shui and Xin Min were entering from.
Fang Erlan retracted her gaze, lowered her head, and looked at the script in her hand.
Xiao Yue then pa.s.sed her a cup of hot tea.
The scene that she would be doing with him today was a sweet one where they had to hug.
It required her to be in a good form to be able to express the emotions required in the script.
She leaned back on the chair, trying her best to lighten her mood. Only then would she be able to become one with her character and be able to express what the character was feeling.
She opened the camera application on her phone and switched it to her front camera. Looking at herself on the display screen, she tried her best to pull off a smile.
But her smile came out looking exceptionally stiff…
She tried her best to soothe her emotions, making herself think of some happy things.
With that, her mood began to lighten and her expressions improved as well. When she turned off the camera application, she suddenly found that Yan Ge, who was beside her, was watching her.
“What are you looking at?” Her tone was cold.
“What’s with you lately?”
Fang Erlan gazed into his eyes, her face unchanging. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing much.” He stood up. After his a.s.sistant went forward to straighten his coat, he walked toward the set where they would be filming.
Fang Erlan stood up as well and followed him.
The director approached them and briefed them about the scene they were filming. After they found no problems with it, they started filming officially.
Jing Shui and Xin Min stood behind the director’s chair.
As she fixed her eyes on Yan Ge before her, Fang Erlan forced herself to forget everything unhappy and to immerse herself in the scene at the present moment.