Actresses

Chapter 80 Acceptance

A three-dimensional road map is rapidly unfolding before you.

The feet guided this body—or rather, the vision before it—forward. The ground beneath was solid, smooth earth, and ahead lay a deep, winding path, its destination unknown. Though the tunnels reeked of decay and dampness, they were clean and spacious, large enough for two people to walk side-by-side. Moving forward, they traversed countless vertical elevator shafts, each rumbling from its walls, suggesting a vast, bustling place. The further they explored, the more chilling it became; the intricate network of branch pipes, like capillaries, crisscrossed intricate patterns. The more they went, the more bewildered they felt, as if they were getting further and further away from the whole picture. Then, suddenly, the view opened up, revealing a seemingly insignificant hill. A dense mass of rapidly moving six-limbed creatures proclaimed the scale of this place. Looking up, they were too stunned to move another step. The enormous dome was riddled with holes; all the elevator shafts they had seen converged here. This was the core of this illusory world. Suddenly, a tremor ran beneath my feet, and I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Touching the ground, I realized I had somehow stepped on a mass of pink, gel-like substance. It was so soft and slippery that I couldn't stand up at all. Just then, the six-legged creatures swarmed across the mountainside, as if receiving a command, and rushed towards me like a tidal wave – a truly horrifying scene.

So this is the brain of an anthill that has been eaten!

Amidst the loud reprimands, Shi Jiahe finally let out a cry, pulling herself out of the imagined scene that had inexplicably invaded her mind.

The boss in front of him was already blazing with anger, his expression extremely ferocious. "I'm talking to you, didn't you hear me? Don't you have a single word to explain?"

Shi Jiahe was still covering her temple.

He Yuran chuckled coldly. "You're not feeling well, are you? Fine, if you don't want to talk about it, then that's it. I don't want to ask anymore anyway. If you're not feeling well, go home and rest. Don't waste your time here. It's exhausting to have to make up excuses for me."

"Sister Ran! I can explain..." Shi Jiahe tried to pull her consciousness out of the quagmire of her thoughts, but she was still weak and powerless.

"What are you explaining? You're not lying to me?"

Shi Jiahe's mouth moved, but she couldn't utter a word. She could only clearly feel the sharp pain inside her temples. She didn't know if it was due to overwork and lack of sleep, or a kind of neurological illusion.

He Yuran sighed impatiently and shook his head. "I'll tell you for you, so you don't have to contradict yourself. I just remember you and Teacher Ye putting on a long act, basically telling a whole story when intellectuals start lying, and it all came to the conclusion that I should make a play myself. Sigh, the more I think about it, the weirder it seems. I haven't even solved my own problems, and I'm wasting my own time and money to lead a group of actresses to make a play. What's wrong with me? But Jiahe, guess what angered me the most?"

"This task is probably doomed to fail."

"No, it's about why I did this. I found out today that Teacher Ye used to be just a media person, an old entertainment reporter, not some kind of master at all. That's fine, I didn't believe in these things anyway. But, I talked to Teacher Ye a bit more, and she told me that you're actually single-mindedly focused on production. Suddenly I understood! Why are you so concerned about this? Because you want to use my name and resources to do your own thing. The more I talk about it, the more ridiculous I feel. If you really want to do production, why are you even here with me? I'm not angry because I was deceived, but because why did it have to be you who deceived me? And you even did it under the guise of doing it for my own good?" He Yuran said, closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair. Her brows were furrowed, and her expression looked both pained and lost in memories. "On my way back, I thought of countless hurtful things to say and how to confront you. But after I finished yelling, I suddenly realized, what's the point? If people have to pay such a high price to gain each other's trust, it's meaningless. Now my anger has subsided, and I'm very calm and objective!"

Shi Jiahe stood up, walked around the table, and sat down next to He Yuran.

Even now, she still feels speechless. Not because she's particularly upset, but because she still doesn't know what happened. And she doesn't believe Teacher Ye would say so many nonsensical things. But she can't deny that personal feelings played a significant role in this matter.

Although He Yuran's eyes were closed, she could still sense everything happening around her. She didn't move, but simply said softly, "Please stay away from me, don't get too close."

Shi Jiahe obediently moved to the side. The wheels made a slight sound as the chair was dragged along the floor.

He Yuran added, "I won't make things difficult for you, and I won't say anything to others, because it would be me who loses face. Just say that you resigned. I hope that from today onwards, you won't show up again. It's better for both of us; let's save face for the rest of our years of friendship."

"Sister Ran, I do have the desire to produce it, but I have no other choice. The current situation means we can no longer sit idly by. I think this approach is correct; it is indeed a solution, but it's lacking something..."

"Don't give me that 'we' nonsense!" He Yuran suddenly opened her eyes, her angry gaze almost devouring you. "You're clearly only thinking about yourself! But I'm the one who bears all the risks and costs! To put it another way, if you had spoken to me honestly from the start, I might even have considered allowing you to hold a part-time job as a producer. It's not impossible, but the prerequisite is that you have to be honest with me. But what did you do? You used a particularly beautiful and grand excuse, saying things like, 'The enemy of actresses isn't actresses, we need to save ourselves, girls help girls, we need to do something...'"

"Sister Ran, I never said girls help girls..." Shi Jiahe subconsciously defended herself.

"I don't care! You said it, that's it! Even if you didn't say it yourself, you used Teacher Ye's words to say it! In short, you just described a bunch of beautiful blueprints to me. Ah, how nice-sounding these slogans are. Don't you know what kind of fame and fortune the entertainment industry is? Do you think everyone will live by slogans just because they're actresses? Will you help me just because you say so? Is it really that simple? Why bother with paychecks, fighting for billing order, and risking your life for roles? You've been with me for years, and you clearly know that I hate it when people try to fool me with beautiful, nice-sounding, and false things. Now I really think that you educated people are not as good as me. At least I face reality! What does it mean to be good to me? I need you to say harsh words and do the right thing, not to say nice words and do your own thing! Do you understand!?"

"Sis... I simply couldn't offer any advice to you during that period..."

"What state am I in?" He Yuran's tone suddenly rose, and she almost stood up, gripping the handrail. "I've always been in a great state! Oh, I see. Actually, in your heart, I've always been like this—unreasonable and uncommunicative, right? On the surface, you call me 'sister,' but inside you feel utterly disgusted, feeling that there's no way to be honest with each other. My God! I've been playing along with you all these years!" He Yuran sighed heavily again and shook her head. "You should be an actress. No, you're already a director. You directed this whole play, Director Jiahe."

"Sister, I know it's no use explaining now, the best way is..." Shi Jiahe stammered. She didn't know how to answer.

He Yuran laughed again. "Making a whole play out of thin air would be the best reward. Can you do that?"

At this moment, Shi Jiahe truly calmed down.

She paused for a moment and then said, "I'm sorry... Sister Ran, I overestimated myself."

He Yuran didn't say anything, but just continued to stare at her, probably waiting for her answer.

"Actually, I've been thinking a lot these past few days. You've been asking about the script's progress, and to be honest, it's not going well. I can't even keep the first authorship for 'Zhao Cai,' and I'm contributing fewer and fewer suggestions for script revisions. Basically, the platform has taken over." Shi Jiahe gave a bitter smile. "Even this person at the platform was someone I introduced to you. Now it seems, with my abilities, I really can't do production. It seems I probably can't help you achieve this. So, you're right, I should leave. I just hope you can sleep and eat on time from now on, and take better care of your health. May everything be alright from now on."

He Yuran turned her face to the side, completely avoiding Shi Jiahe's gaze.

Shi Jiahe had thought these words would be incredibly difficult to say. She had previously imagined how she would feel if she resigned when she couldn't stand her boss's temper anymore. But when the day actually arrived, she was surprisingly calm. Her past complaints and emotions seemed to have never existed. At this moment, she felt a peaceful sense of happiness.

Ah, I finally don't have to face things I can't control anymore. People really need to know their own limitations.

Shi Jiahe stood up and walked out with a slight stagger. She didn't look back as she passed He Yuran. She pressed the doorknob of the conference room and was about to press it down when a voice called out from behind her.

"Wait a moment!"

She turned around at the sound.

Their eyes met briefly before they quickly looked away. After a few seconds of silence, He Yuran waved her hand dismissively. "It's alright, you can go now."

"Sis, I'll hand over my work."

He Yuran said coldly, "Don't tell me, tell Ding Yi."

"Okay, take care, sister."

Hearing heavy breathing behind him, it seemed that He Yuran was still angry.

Shi Jiahe went out and closed the door behind her. Everything outside seemed normal; everyone was still typing away at their computers. Ding Yi heard the noise and turned around curiously. But when Xiao Zhao saw Shi Jiahe, he immediately stood up, his eyes clearly saying something.

Shi Jiahe wanted to go back to her workstation, start packing her things, and then hand over her work to Ding Yi, but she suddenly lost her mind again.

I still find the conversation that just took place in the conference room hard to believe.

Is the boss just having another fit of madness? He might come back tomorrow and act like nothing happened. So, coming back tomorrow, or slowly sharing some of the smaller tasks with Ding Yi online, are both viable options.

Thinking of this, she gave Xiao Zhao a look, and the two of them stopped at the stairwell one after the other in perfect unison.

"Are you alright, Sister Jiahe?" Xiao Zhao asked hurriedly.

"I'm preparing to leave the company." Shi Jiahe forced a smile. "I haven't had a chance to tell everyone yet, so I'm letting you know first."

Xiao Zhao stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "I only knew the boss was really angry when he came back, but I didn't expect it to be this serious..."

"What happened this afternoon? Can you tell me? If you're still willing to tell me."

"Of course I'd like to, Sister Jiahe!" Xiao Zhao frowned and thought for a moment. "Let me think... It's like this, I was originally going to wait for the boss in the car, and then she called me and asked me to deliver a power bank, so I went up. Later, the boss said, 'Don't run back and forth, just sit with us.' I felt a bit awkward because they were chatting, and what was I, a driver, supposed to do? But the boss said it was okay, so I stayed. I had met Master Ye before, and there was another young girl named Xiao Song who talked more. After listening for a while, I realized that they used to be media reporters, but Master Ye seemed to be very senior. I was thinking, 'Master Ye isn't a master?' Later, Master Ye asked me how things were going, the project progress, and so on. The boss chatted with her for a while, and Master Ye said she was especially happy for me because I still had a dream of making things. The boss became interested and asked what she meant by that. Master Ye started talking about what she knew about me before, and then... the boss's expression became more and more unpleasant, and he didn't say much."

"And then?"

Xiao Zhao paused for a moment. "Then I discovered... the boss logged into the studio account on his phone and started reading comments and private messages."

"Huh?" This was completely unexpected for Shi Jiahe. He Yuran would never even glance at the studio's official account.

"She was taking screenshots as she looked at them. I don't know the specifics of what they were."

Shi Jiahe laughed when she heard this.

What could it be? Fans criticizing the team, especially the manager. And all the people coming to criticize are the same IDs; Shi Jiahe knows them so well she could practically recite them by heart.

"And then what?"

"Until the boss suddenly asked Xiao Song a question, saying, 'Did you know that Teacher Ye also does master services?' Xiao Song was stunned and asked, 'Is that so?' Master Ye was a little embarrassed and gave a few perfunctory explanations. But the boss didn't seem to be buying it and asked Master Ye again, 'Why did you and my agent lie to me?' Sister Jiahe, I don't know why the boss suddenly asked this..."

"It's alright, just tell me, what was Teacher Ye's answer?"

Teacher Ye was silent for a while, then said, "I'm sorry, Yu Ran."

Upon hearing this, Shi Jiahe felt a chill in her heart.