“Director Liu, Mengfei knows that she was in the wrong. Please give her another chance. We guarantee that she will no longer do anything that could hurt the production,” Lin finally admitted their wrongdoing. She had stopped denying it.
“Although Mengfei didn’t have much screen time, she has already completed quite a few scenes. It’ll take quite a lot of time if you’re planning to replace her with another actor. What’s more, you’ll have to film those scenes a second time, increasing the costs of production.
“Director Liu, I promise that Mengfei won’t do anything like this again. Please give her another chance!” Lin begged. “She will definitely perform well and put even more effort into her acting. She definitely won’t cause you any more trouble.”
Lin turned around and glared at Ding Mengfei.
Ding Mengfei quickly added, “Director Liu, please forgive me this once. I won’t do it again. I promise not to do anything that could put the team at a disadvantage. Director Liu, I kneel before you!”
Her acting career was about to come to an end. Ding Mengfei no longer cared about looking proud.
Without waiting for Director Liu to reply, she immediately plonked onto her knees.
Unfortunately for her, Director Liu was not moved by her actions.
“If you guys continue to waste one more minute of my time, I will log onto Weibo and publicize Ding Mengfei’s deeds.” As he said this, Director Liu whipped out his phone and clicked on the Weibo app.
Then he started to count down.
They could tell that Director Liu had made up his mind. No matter how much they begged, it wasn’t going to be of any use.
Lin could only stand up and drag Ding Mengfei away with her.
Lin licked her lips nervously, smudging her lipstick on her chapped lips.
She took a deep breath. “Director Liu, I understand where you’re coming from. Don’t you worry. Mengfei will leave the team due to health reasons. I will publicize this update on Weibo.”
“Director…Director Liu…” Ding Mengfei shrieked and tears rolled down her cheeks. She stammered, “I am very…very sorry about what happened. I know that even death will not be enough to repay my crimes. Luckily, I didn’t cause any damage to the team, otherwise I’d…
She sniffled and continued, “Director Liu, I promise that I’ll keep myself in check and act properly in the future. I won’t meddle any more. Director Liu, could you…keep my departure from the team a secret? Could you refrain from telling the public about what happened?”
Director Liu sneered to himself.
It would be uncharacteristic of him to keep this secret.
Was he such a magnanimous person?
No, he wasn’t.
He didn’t even plan to let Shen Jingyi off. He wasn’t afraid to let strangers know what his intentions were, let alone people he was familiar with.
Would he able to let Ding Mengfei go unscathed? She had brought about such huge damage to him.
If he had been unlucky, his career could have been ruined.
“I actually thought you had acknowledged your wrongs after listening to the first half of your explanation. I didn’t expect to hear the second half,” Director Liu replied to her bluntly. “Lin, you’ll have to educate her. It wouldn’t matter if she ruined herself, but don’t let her drag you down with her.”
Lin’s face got very dark. Ding Mengfei’s plea had been uttered a bit too hastily.
She nodded and dragged Ding Mengfei off, not waiting to find out whether Director Liu had agreed to their request.
That very afternoon, Ding Mengfei’s studio published a notice. They even attached a photograph of Ding Mengfei lying in a hospital bed with an IV attached. They expressed their apologies to the production team of the drama “Legend of Wei and Jin”. They explained that her withdrawal from the production had been due to a last-minute emergency.
The official Weibo page of “Legend of Wei and Jin” also published a notice, wishing her a speedy recovery.
That was merely the official response.
Director Liu had exposed all of Ding Mengfei’s dirty deeds to a few other directors. He even revealed the information to his investors. These dealings will be a story for another day.
…
So the crisis was concluded in this way.
Tan Mo returned to class. She returned to her hectic routine, busying herself in Professor Guo and Professor Zhao’s research rooms. She also continued writing the script in a private study room.
The private study room was a relatively quiet place with extended opening hours. Tan Mo really enjoyed churning out her scripts in this room.
She was extremely busy. And, apart from sleeping, she didn’t really have time to hang out in her dormitory.
Her dormmates realized that it was getting harder and harder to run into Tan Mo in the dorm.
After being busy like this for a long time, Tan Mo finally finished the script. And not long later, it was time for her end-of-term tests.
Lin Fuxi was in their dormitory studying. She turned and said to Jin Yuelin, “I have no idea what Tan Mo has been so busy with over the term. She doesn’t return to the room until they start locking the doors of the dorm.”
“She needs to attend all our normal classes while also juggling Professor Guo and Professor Zhao’s research commitments. Of course she is busy.”
“But last term, she was involved in the same stuff. Yet, she wasn’t this busy.” Lin Fuxi glanced to her left and right. She came up with a wild guess. “Could she be studying secretly in the library?”
Meng Yuxi pursed her lips impatiently. She answered, “Isn’t studying the right thing to do? Is there anyone in our class who doesn’t work hard? Why do you make Tan Mo sound like a thief when she’s working hard?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Lin Fuxi looked down. She acted quite wronged. “Yuxi, I realize that there have been lots of misunderstandings between us.”
Meng Yuxi could no longer be bothered to act nice to Lin Fuxi. “What misunderstandings? Last term, you weren’t able to keep your position as the class representative and ended up being replaced. Are you still unaware of why that happened? Are you saying that everyone in the class had misunderstood you? Is everyone in cahoots to bully you? Are we all in the wrong?
“Do you dare to make this claim? If you dare to say this, I’ll ask the class tomorrow. I’ll ask them if we were really in cahoots, and if we were really targeting you. I’ll ask them what they feel about what you just said.” Meng Yuxi didn’t hold back at all.
Jin Yuelin also added, “That’s enough. Fuxi, you’re so busy studying every day. How do you still have the energy to target Tan Mo? She doesn’t even spend much time in the dorm.”
No one knew if Tan Mo was doing this to avoid Lin Fuxi.
The possibility of her avoiding the dorm because of Lin Fuxi was quite sad. It was almost as though she had a dorm room, but was unable to be in it.
When Meng Yuxi heard Jin Yuelin hint at that, she felt her heart sour.
Tan Mo had no idea that her two dormmates had such a creative imaginations.
In the blink of an eye, the day of their end-of-term tests arrived.
Lin Fuxi had prepared a lot for these tests.
This was because the results of these test would determine whether one would receive a scholarship.
Inside the examination site, Lin Fuxi realized that she was in the same exam hall as Tan Mo.
“How unlucky.” Lin Fuxi grumbled to herself. “I meet her everywhere I go.”
Because of Tan Mo, she had lost her position as the class representative.
Lin Fuxi was seated diagonally behind Tan Mo.
After writing for a short period of time, she would subconsciously look up to glance at Tan Mo.
When she saw Tan Mo scribbling away with her head lowered, she would respond by attempting to write the answers furiously as well. She was extremely afraid of losing out to Tan Mo.
The exams finally ended.
Tan Mo was in the middle of getting her stuff together.
“Tan Mo…” Lin Fuxi called out to her as she walked over.
Tan Mo blinked. Inwardly, she admired Lin Fuxi’s tenacity.
Lin Fuxi had already taken so many losses because of her. Why hadn’t she learned her lesson?
