Thank You, Junior Xia Ting

"Hmph! Look at her pretending to be an actress!"

Xia Ting's high-pitched voice rang across the air, drawing the attention of the other extras nearby, who slowly started to shuffle closer.

However, Xing Yu, who was still engrossed in reading the script, kept her eyes closed, visualising the scene. She had not even noticed the commotion that was brewing around her until Zhang Ru Yi, Xia Ting's manager, stepped forward and violently ripped the script from out of her hands.

Startled, Xing Yu looked up and finally registered the people standing in front of her. Though the two of them were both from StarTime Entertainment, 2Star had a manager that followed them around at all times, and this was a clear display of the difference in status between the two parties within the company; in fact, it showed quite clearly the different treatment that Xing Yu was receiving in StarTime. Almost everyone else that had signed on had their own manager, but Xing Yu, after spending 5 years in the company since the age of 18, still had yet to get one.

"Your senior is talking to you, and you don't know how to greet her?!" Yelled Zhang Ru Yi, her eyes filled with disdain. "With that kind of attitude, it's no wonder you can't make it big in this industry!

Around them, the extras nearby had heard the commotion and moved even closer to them to watch the scene unfold. They were whispering amongst themselves, and among them there were other newbies from StarTime Entertainment who started gossiping.

"Aiyo! Isn't that a bit too much? Everyone here knows that Xing Yu senior has been here much longer than Xia Ting…"

"Didn't 2Star just celebrate their 1 year anniversary a recently…"

"But you must admit that compared to Liu Xing Yu, Xia Ting has so much more popularity! No one outside of our company has even heard of Xing Yu!" This extra held a mocking tone. Although there were some extras in the company that preferred not to take part in all the drama and bullying, a big majority of them also held little respect for Xing Yu. After all, all their popular seniors treated her like dirt, and everyone knew that Xing Yu had offended an important person in the company and was being suppressed. There was no need for them to suck up to her even if she had been there longer than them, and it was a good way for them to destress.

"Ha! If we look only at how successful they are, Xia Ting is her senior by miles!"

As the extras were talking quite loudly, the three women could hear them clearly. Xia Ting's lips curled up into a victorious smirk as she continued to taunt Xing Yu. She was pretty, and moderately good at her job, but because the company had pushed for her a lot, she eventually gained a lot of popularity and fame, even more so than her partner in 2Star. Knowing this, Xia Ting had become extremely arrogant, as she felt that she was untouchable, and was extremely rude to everyone in StarTime. But for some reason, she had always picked on Xing Yu especially badly.

"It's alright, Ru Yi," said Xia Ting. She tried to sound gentle, but she couldn't mask the mockery in both her voice and expression. "She needs to practise… After all, she finally has a few lines! With her acting skills, she'll need to practise for 1000 years just to not mess this up!"

Grabbing Xing Yu's script from her manager, she curled it up and tapped Xing Yu's face with it condescendingly.

"Dear Xing Yu, if you call me senior nicely, I might give you some acting tips!"

All the people watching observed intently, their eyes darting to Xing Yu's face, waiting for her next move. When she simply smiled and stood up, seemingly not angry at all, they felt disappointed. They thought they had a good show! Dissatisfied, the extras started to talk even more.

"Wah! Does Liu Xing Yu not have any pride? She is being spoken to like that and she can still laugh!"

Xing Yu overheard and couldn't help but smirk inside. People were so fickle like that. If she had gotten angry they would've ridiculed her for being short-tempered, but if she stays calm they mock her for having no pride. Nonetheless, Xing Yu didn't let her emotions show on her face, keeping her smile in place.

"Wah! Does Liu Xing Yu not have any pride? She is being spoken to like that and she can still laugh!"

Deep down, this was possible because Xing Yu didn't care. She knew that she could act a thousand times better than Xia Ting, and she knew that her lack of progress in the industry wasn't because of her own talent or skills. But when she thought of the fact that she was still below someone like Xia Ting… a tiny spark of anger lit up within her. In an instant, Xing Yu who was usually like a calm water surface started to have deep ripples that spread out slowly.

All of a sudden, everyone, including Xia Ting, felt their words die in their throats.

Even though she was a nobody... why did she seem so much like a queen in that moment! How could she have such confidence despite being nothing?

That was something everyone couldn't help but wonder, and some even looked at her in awe. In this industry, there were some people who stood out even amongst the scores of attractive stars. And Xing Yu was one of them. This was part of what made Xia Ting target her so much. She absolutely hated the way Xing Yu always looked at her from a higher place, like she was better than her! And she hated how nothing seemed to shake that confidence that she had!

Flashing Xia Ting a sweet smile, Xing Yu snatched the script out of her hands and said a few words that revealed a bit of her inner feelings. She leaned in close to Xia Ting and whispered in her ears.

"Thank you, Junior Xia Ting. I'll keep it in mind when I need help approaching Mr Pang."

Hearing this, Xia Ting's face immediately turned bright red in anger. It was no secret that Xia Ting had slept with a member of StarTime's board of directors, Mr Pang, when she had first joined. She didn't exactly try to hide it as she was always patronising him within the company building, but still, not many people knew. She was fearless because she knew that no one inside would tell others, since she had someone so big backing her. But this was still a secret to everyone outside the company!

She never expected the bitch Xing Yu to be so daring. Although she had only said it loud enough for Xia Ting to hear, she still dared to say it out loud in the first place. Seething, Xia Ting raised her hand.

PA!

The slap rang out across the area, and everyone looked at the scene in surprise. Although many of them had joined in and mocked Xing Yu, they had not expected Xia Ting to actually resort to violence. However, when they saw Xia Ting gaze at all of them challengingly, as if to say 'Who will stop me?', they immediately backed her up.

"I wonder what Xing Yu said to make Xia Ting so angry! She must've said something very despicable!"

"Serves her right for not greeting her senior!"

Meanwhile, Xing Yu simply reached her hand up to touch her stinging cheek lightly, before turning to walk away. However, because a huge crowd had been attracted already, the director of the film, Director Li, had made his way over and squeezed his way through the crowd. He walked right in front of Xing Yu, effectively blocking her exit, so she had no choice but to stay there.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He yelled, and the people around all started to disperse. When he got no response, he looked around and assessed the situation. His eyes landed on Xia Ting's smirk of contempt, the bright red mark on Xing Yu's cheek, and the black smudged makeup on both Xing Yu's face and Xia Ting's palm.

"Director Li!" Cried Xia Ting, rushing forward to cling onto his arm as she pouted. "It's all because Xing Yu said such horrible things to me that I couldn't hold back anymore!"

Although Xia Ting had no proof to back up her words, while Xing Yu had clear evidence that she had been hit, the director still responded to Xia Ting sweetly, coddling her. After all, not only was StarTime Entertainment a big investor, Xia Ting also had a powerful figure within the company backing her. Plus... he looked down at where her chest was pressing firmly against his arm and smirked.

"Of course, of course," he repeated, grabbing Xia Ting's hand gently, before he turned to look at Xing Yu angrily. "You! I do not want this kind of thing to happen again, you understand me?! I will not allow one person to disrupt the harmony on set!"

Xing Yu kept a neutral expression on her face. As far as she knew, Director Li was the kind of man that had a lot of pride, and was easily bought over by money and other... luxuries.

"Of course, Director Li. My apologies," she said calmly, and she chose to simply nod before excusing herself. Everyone around her could tell from her callous tone though... she was not sorry at all!

But Xing Yu knew that since she apologised verbally, the director couldn't exactly hound her too badly, at least not openly. She knew that she had done no wrong but she did not want to risk getting kicked out of the production by stubbornly refusing to apologise.

So she would endure... Enduring was something that was extremely easy for Xing Yu to do. After all, she had endured for 5 whole years. Xing Yu was able to do so because she truly believed in her own skills and knew that as long as she didn't give them permission, no one could make her feel embarrassed or humiliated! To her, saying words like this didn't hurt her at all, because she didn't mean them.

She would slowly climb her way up. And then she'll pay everyone back tenfold.

Although Xing Yu had apologised already, Director Li huffed angrily, upset that she left before he could get the last word in. He was also extremely dissatisfied by how insincere she sounded.

"All these actresses nowadays have zero manners! She just walked away like that! If I wanted to I could remove her from the entire production in a heartbeat! See if she still dares to walk away from me! And what sorry! She is not sorry at all!"

At this, Xia Ting's smirk grew even wider.

"No, no, don't do that Director Li! I want you to let her keep her role… She will make a fool out of herself… okay?" Xia Ting scoffed. She had heard from Mr Chen that Xing Yu could not act. She wanted to let Xing Yu embarrass herself in front of many professionals and teach her a lesson when she can't do her single scene well! That will teach her to be so high and mighty despite her position!

When she saw Director Li nod obediently, Xia Ting smiled even more. She couldn't wait to see that Liu Xing Yu completely fail and prove to everyone that she had no abilities!