Part 2 of Chapter 27
Do You Still Hate Her? 17 – Of course, we’re on a romance variety show!
Netizens were very shocked.
[Wow, Shang Lu’s acting skills have gained recognition from Song Zeqian?]
[I also think she acted really well. Shang Lu truly captured the young girl’s innocence.]
[I’ve watched that audition video so many times. Shang Lu has made great progress in her acting skills. Let her make more movies!]
[What high praise, saying she resembles Jiang Jing’s younger days. Jiang Jing is a top actress, you know!]
[Shang Lu is awesome! I can’t say it enough!]
“Is that so?” Jiang Jing forced a smile but didn’t say much more.
The words ‘younger days’ from Song Zeqian’s mouth sounded particularly harsh to Jiang Jing. She couldn’t help but repeatedly recall it, feeling like a thorn was stuck in her heart.
Her gaze fell on the mirror not far away, seeing the fine lines around her eyes that even expensive skincare and cosmetic procedures couldn’t conceal. These were the marks left by time.
Meanwhile, on the stage stood Shang Lu, in her early twenties, the prime age for a female celebrity.
The girl’s smile is radiant, and her skin is so firm and fair that she doesn’t need to deliberately control sugar intake or adhere to strict exercise routines every week to maintain her figure. Unlike Jiang Jing, who constantly faces the fear of aging.
Shang Lu is young and beautiful, an existence that people admire greatly.
Jiang Jing used to be in such a stage of life, having had many good things.
Fame at a young age, awards as a leading actress, and a lover who loved her.
However, after she turned thirty, everything started to go downhill because the roles available for female actors in the country were too limited.
Especially last month, just after her thirty-seventh birthday, she returned home only to find scripts with roles like someone’s mother.
Even though she is an award-winning actress, even though her acting skills are exceptional, her options have become increasingly limited.
There are very few scripts in the country suitable for her age group, and the competition is fierce. <Life’s Journey> has been the best script she has encountered in the past two years, and she doesn’t even know what to film next.
And just when she felt most frustrated and helpless, her lover of seven years asked for a breakup.
For Jiang Jing, her career is her priority, and love can only occupy twenty percent of her life.
However, this twenty percent, she gave it all to Xia Yuan.
Jiang Jing has always been a well-behaved girl since she was young, living and working in an orderly manner. The most daring thing she has ever done in her life was probably falling in love with Xia Yuan when she was thirty.
If they were to go public one day, the whole world might think they are mismatched.
He said he is an idol, and they have an age gap in their relationship. They cannot meet frequently, cannot be open about their relationship, and cannot let others know about it.
So she chose to respect his wishes and never mentioned it to anyone except her best friend all these years.
He said he wasn’t ready to become a father, and he didn’t want to start a family yet. As for her, she hadn’t been able to make a firm decision. Then, during the course of work, she lost the child due to an accident, and the doctor told her she could never conceive again.
Thus, she disappeared from the public eye for ten months and adopted a daughter to replace the child she never met, trying to fill the regret of never being a mother.
Actually, she had a vague premonition that the age gap between her and her lover might make him unwilling to continue.
However, when her lover casually suggested breaking up and even asked her about her relationship with Shang Lu, she couldn’t hold back her anger and questioned him about his intentions.
And then…
She couldn’t remember it clearly.
Anyway, they didn’t break up, but it might happen soon.
He used to be very good to her, taking her to do everything she wanted, and even flying back on the coldest nights to personally deliver New Year’s blessings.
Back then, Xia Yuan wasn’t famous yet; he was just an ordinary trainee. He said he wanted to succeed early, give her the best of everything, and become someone worthy of her.
Later, he achieved it all. He became the hottest idol in the entire country, and one of the most popular entertainers in the industry.
She was genuinely happy for him, but at the same time, she felt he was drifting further away from her. She felt like she wasn’t good enough for him anymore.
She knew it would be okay for everything to end there, but she didn’t know why they started arguing. It was as if all the unreasonable fussing she hadn’t let out when she was younger was now surfacing. Perhaps it was also because she felt sad for the child that never came to be, as only she remembered that child.
Jiang Jing couldn’t help but glance at Shang Lu again, feeling increasingly restless and lost in her thoughts.
Shang Lu could replace the roles she had played, so naturally, she could replace everything else about her.
She knew it wasn’t Shang Lu’s fault, but she couldn’t help feeling jealous and even somewhat resentful towards Shang Lu.
She loathed this side of herself but felt utterly powerless.
Both videos of the segment were quickly uploaded online, and after half an hour of voting, Shang Lu’s victory was without a doubt.
The other group filmed a horror movie that Lin Yanyan starred in, but because Ye Lu is afraid of ghosts, the character he played looks more like a comedy than the vengeful ghost played by Lin Yanyan, which made Shang Lu very happy.
At lunchtime, everyone exchanged their lunches using points they had earned.
Lin Yanyan and Ye Lu became the only two who had never been in a team with Shang Lu, which means they were the only two who hadn’t eaten enough for two days, and they felt very resentful.
However, the program team didn’t intend to let them off that easily.
Today, the targets of persecution shifted from Shang Lu to Lin Yanyan and Ye Lu.
Netizens commented as follows:
[The program team finally gave up pranking Shang Lu, hahaha]
[They couldn’t win against Shang Lu; it’s a smart choice to switch targets]
[Shang Lu : Oh, why are they backing down so easily]
[If the targets were Ye Lu and Lin Yanyan, the chances of success would be much higher; after all, both of them are not very smart, hahaha]
The biggest advantage of the variety show <The Most Hated Her and Him> is that they listen to the opinions of netizens. Whether it’s inviting guests or planning games, they always make changes based on the feedback from netizens.
For example, right now, they have actually invited Shang Lu to join the program team, hoping that she can provide some ideas for pranking Ye Lu and Lin Yanyan.
[Haha, I can’t stop laughing. Shang Lu has really joined the program team, LOL.]
[This program team is amazing. They really listen to the netizens’ opinions.]
[At this moment, Lin Yanyan and Ye Lu have no idea what they will face next. It’s both funny and pitiful, hahaha.]
Shang Lu flipped through the several plans provided by the program team and then summed it up, saying, “So you want to capture the expressions of ‘shocked and doubting life’ from Ye Lu and Lin Yanyan, right?”
The director nodded repeatedly and asked, “Teacher Shang, which plan do you think is more suitable for Teacher Ye and Teacher Lin?”
“None of them are quite suitable,” Shang Lu replied, then analyzed, ‘The first one won’t scare Ye Lu, the second one won’t scare Lin Yanyan, the third one might not scare either of them, and as for the fourth one, the haunted house idea might work, but repeating the same joke will make the audience tired of it.”
The netizens laughed.
[Haha, Shang Lu : I’m not targeting anyone, I just think these plans are all rubbish.]
[Shang Lu : Return, return, return this lame joke!]”
The director humbly asked for advice : “Does Teacher Shang have any better suggestions?”
“To shock them both, it’s quite simple,” Shang Lu waved his hand towards the director and whispered his plan in his ear.
The director was somewhat skeptical: “Will this work? Will Teacher Lin and Teacher Ye really believe it?”
Shang Lu pondered for a moment and then earnestly replied, “If it were someone else, this deception would likely fail, but with these two, it should be enough.”
The director also felt it made sense, so he immediately made a decision, saying, “Great! Let’s go with that! Everyone, follow Teacher Shang’s arrangement! Hurry and get ready!”
After speaking, he walked towards other staff members and quietly assigned tasks to them.
At this moment, the netizens were anxious.
[What’s going on? What is it that us esteemed VIPs can’t hear?]
[Yeah, what is it? I’m on edge! I really want to know!]
Actually JJ seems borderline malicious, she’s 37 and it’s been 7 years when they started dating, and he was a trainee at that time. So she was 30 years old when he was 18-19 years. Flip the genders and you’ll call her a groomer at that point.
How old was Xia Yuan when they began they relationship? Jiang Jing is another pitiful woman in love with a scumbag.
For someone that’s 37 years old I honestly think Jiang Jing never really been in love until Xia Yuan. So that’s why she’s so naive to believe him and trust him. If she did have more experience then maybe it’ll be the other way around. It’ll be her having full control of the “relationship” while he’s the one that’s helpless.
I don’t feel sorry for Jiang Jing. She doesn’t even know or understand the man she claims to love. How could she be so naive to trust his loyalty as a popular idol in such an industry
Furthermore, women who expect everyone to like their broken trash of a man annoy me. You might be able to deal with it, but mc just dropped another scum man, why would she willingly enter another fire pit?
I think you’re being to harsh on her, though fictional she’s only human. Emotions aren’t rational and she hasn’t actually lost her rationality. Yes from the outside view it’s “obvious” that her lover is a piece of sheit and she “should have” seen it coming but if he didn’t have the chops to appear genuine at the beginning he’d never had made it to the top in the industry either. So she deserves pity for the way she was and is treated by him. He’s asking about her co-worker while breaking up their 7 year relationship of course she’ll be jealous. The key here is that while she’s jealous she’s rational enough to see and accept that her matter has nothing to do with Shang Lu. She’s not making a scene or trying to undermine Shang Lu. She feels jealous but she doesn’t let the jealousy control her. I really like the writing of this novel because emotions aren’t switched like cloths. Like even though Shang Lu was controlled by the plot she acknowledged that she once really like the jerk. I actually hope that there won’t be some “oh but the letters were actually by the ML not the jerk” twist but I guess I’m hoping in vain. So let JJ be someone who can draw the line.
JJ was quite naive even at 30 expectng someone younger to really step ep as a man.. Hold old exactly is XY if he’s of similar age to SL, XY and YL
Hopefully she manage to overcome these issues, its unfair if these implicate Shang Lu