Off to a Great Start

The universe just didn't want to cut Su Qiao some slack.

From behind her, she heard Peng Lili's hushed whisper of "for fucks's sake", which took the words right out of her mouth. Su Qiao had never elaborated about why she didn't like Bai Meixin in front of anyone but Peng Lili was surprisingly empathetic and had picked up early on that Su Qiao didn't appreciate the new additions to her family.

Just like how Su Qiao had never explained to Peng Lili why she was so chill about all her cars suddenly going up in flames, Peng Lili hadn't asked either. But this didn't mean she hadn't a clue. A good personal assistant could read their bosses like an open book and Peng Lili might still be young and inexperienced but Su Qiao knew that she had a knack for it.

Hearing Peng Lili swear on her behalf lightened Su Qiao's mood somewhat. Sure, it was still going to be a miserable dinner, full of fake smiles and a night of indigestion. But at least Su Qiao knew that someone else in the room with her had her back for sure.

She eased into her social graces with the effortlessness of someone who was used to manoeuvring around such niceties.

"Ms Bai, you didn't tell me you would be here too!" Su Qiao said, her smile bright and eager as she took the initiative to reach out for a handshake. Her demeanour was faultlessly welcoming, no one in the room could say to the press tomorrow that Little Red Flower Su Qiao put on airs and graces and bullied a complete newbie. She even ushered Bai Meixin back into her seat next to Director Ma, which should be reserved for either the male or female lead.

But for all her genuine friendliness, Su Qiao still referred to Bai Meixin as 'Ms Bai'. The other members of the crew in the room exchanged meaningful glances. They couldn't decide if Su Qiao was trying to put some distance between Bai Meixin and herself or not.

Was Qiao Jie as pleased to see her 'sister' as she appeared to be? They couldn't tell. Just based on her behaviour, it looked like all the reports of Su Qiao not getting along with her new stepsister were exaggerated. Either that, or she was such a good actress that it made sense to cast her as the female lead.

"Big Sister…" Bai Meixin repeated but much more hesitantly this time around. She had the uncomfortable inkling that people were giving her side-glances and it made her uneasy. Was she…wrong? To refer to Su Qiao like this? But Su Qiao was her sister now, it was only polite that she did, right? Bai Meixin shouldn't be embarrassed about their relationship, her mother had married into the Su Family fair and square. It was Su Qiao who needed to be more mature and accept this.

Of course, Bai Meixin would give her time to adapt, she was understanding that it wasn't easy. Su Qiao seemed to have some misconceptions about her, calling her a 'homewrecker' and insinuating that—that Big Brother Lin had impure intentions towards her!

A light blush coloured Bai Meixin's cheeks. How could Su Qiao accuse them wrongly like that? And to kick up such a big fuss and run away from home too! Big Brother Lin was just very kind and willing to offer a helping hand to Bai Meixin, that was all. It was up to Bai Meixin to clear this misunderstanding up, this was why, when she'd heard that Su Qiao was filming in this drama, she'd decided to try out for a minor character. What was wrong? Her father encouraged it and even Big Brother Lin had told her that it was a good opportunity to break into the industry!

But she hadn't expected the casting director to like her so much that they offered her to make her first supporting actress instead! Although Bai Meixin felt bad about taking someone else's place, she had won through fair competition and this would give her more chances to improve her relationship with Su Qiao, right? If they could be close sisters after, maybe Su Qiao would see the error of her ways and return to apologise to everyone!

Perhaps it was a good thing that Su Qiao had no idea what was going on in that pretty little head of Bai Meixin's, otherwise, she might have thrown up despite her empty stomach.

After shaking Bai Meixin's hand, she reached out past her to introduce herself to Director Ma.

"Director Ma," she said, tone still genial but with an additional edge of professional seriousness. "Thank you very much for hosting this dinner." She smiled and patted Bai Meixin on the shoulder. "Sorry, I should have greeted Director Ma first but I was so surprised by the sudden addition of Ms Bai to the crew! Is this a recent change? I don't recall receiving the update but I've been so scatterbrained lately. I promise I'll buck up once filming starts. Although, regardless of whether it's Ms Jia or Ms Bai, I'm looking forward to acting with them!"

Su Qiao didn't say anything especially controversial but everyone in the room had spent enough time in the industry to read between the lines. In truth, more than half of them had already been thinking it before Su Qiao opened her mouth and mentioned Jia Yu, the actress who was supposed to play the first supporting female, but no one had thought that she would come right out and say it, even if it was done in a roundabout way.

In particular, warning bells sounded in the head of Bai Meixin's manager.

"Qiao Jie," he said with what he thought was a casual smile. "Given your current troubles finding a new manager, could it be that you missed the memo? Meixin was cast a while ago, this definitely isn't a recent decision!"

[Oh really? I'd have to be a complete idiot to believe you.] Especially since auditions for the main roles happened months ago, even before Su Yongshen announced his new marriage. This was why Bai Meixin had nothing to do with this drama in her past life. She had shot to fame overnight in another series that aired around the same time, effectively defeating 'Diamond in the Rough', the difference in the viewership hurting Su Qiao like a slap across the cheek.

The night before Su Qiao had woken up in her 21-year-old body again was also the night that Bai Meixin had become film empress. Now that history had been changed, Su Qiao wasn't sure whether Bai Meixin would be as popular as she once was. But since she'd decided to dog Su Qiao's footsteps and infect 'Diamond in the Rough' with her presence, then the least Su Qiao could do was make sure that her stay was 'pleasant'.

[Don't blame Big Sister, you asked for it.]

Film Empress? This title was going to be Su Qiao's first. She promised herself this. It was either success or she would die trying.

In just a couple of sentences, Bai Meixin's manager managed to imply that Su Qiao had not only been mistaken about this new young actress, she was also so difficult to deal with that even a big company like DFE was having a hard time finding an appropriate manager for her.

This would indeed be a problem, except Bai Meixin's manager, whoever he was, clearly wasn't up-to-date with the latest gossip in the company. Su Qiao tsked. This wouldn't do, how could Lin Zizhou, the male lead of this stupid novel she was living in, have overlooked something as important as assigning a competent manager for Bai Meixin? Didn't he know how important the role was?

Or maybe Lin Zizhou was just such a selfish bastard that he didn't care about anyone besides himself. Su Qiao must have been blind to love him so deeply before.

Outwardly, she just smiled. That was it. More smiles. This whole fucking filming period was going to be filled with fake sincerity now that Bai Meixin had crashed the party. "Given how experienced Yu Jie is," she said calmly, "I'm sure she would have informed me if there was truly something worth knowing."

Yu Jie. Su Qiao didn't elaborate because she didn't need to. Even Director Ma did a double-take. He was a veteran in series production and was acquainted with Yu Yaxiu.

"Your manager is Yu Yaxiu?" he asked, chuckling when Su Qiao nodded. "Then I'm even more confident that I've made the right choice, haha!"

Everyone knew that Yu Yaxiu only accepted artists whom she believed had great potential.

The other crew members also regarded Su Qiao in a new, considering light now. Bai Meixin's manager's expression turned stormy.

Su Qiao didn't care. So what if she'd wounded his pride? She'd recognised him to be Manager Huang, DFE's strongest asset in the future. But for now, he was still on his way up and she was going to ensure that she personally destroyed his career.

She was going to ruin him, just how he'd gone out of his way to ruin her. If Bai Meixin had ten whole golden fingers, she was going to break them one by one.

Everyone had more or less arrived by now so Director Ma stood up to give an opening toast to the entire crew. Su Qiao reached out for her wine glass.

This was her treasured fresh start. Anyone who tried to steal it from her could go to hell.