Accidental Like

“Bam!”

A script slapped onto the table!

“Accident, accident, another accident! My da xiao jie*, can you please use an alternative account next time you go on Weibo*?!”

da xiao jie – literally means the eldest daughter of a rich or privileged household but can also be used, such as in this context, to mean a spoilt rich girl

Weibo – chinese microblogging website, similar to twitter or facebook

Liu jie* massaged her temples in frustration, chest heaving with anger, “Count how many times it’s been yourself! You’re lucky that this time it’s only Zhu Qinqin, if it was someone like Mu Yao, you’d be dissed to death!”

jie – term of respect for an older woman

A girl with long wavy hair sat on the brown sofa. She glanced at the script on the table, then at the slightly calmer Liu jie. She frowned, but kept silent.

“It doesn’t matter, that Zhu Qinqin is about your level anyway. The company will buy a water army* to control the comments, you don’t have to worry about it.”

water army – a group of internet ghostwriters paid to post online comments with particular content, these paid posters can post news, comments, gossip, disinformation on online platforms

As she spoke, Liu jie walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, then continued, “You shouldn’t just play games all day either. Although acting talent isn’t the most important thing in the entertainment industry, you can’t be too bad either. Otherwise, no matter how many resources your sister puts in to make you popular, you still won’t be able to get a role with the really famous directors.”

She walked back slowly with the glass in her hand and looked at Su Shen, “I hired a teacher from the Central Academy of Drama for you. You should do some last minute cramming. You’re joining the set in a few days, don’t mess things up. Your sister invested a lot of money for you to get this opportunity. Otherwise with your position in the industry, it would take you years to even think about this role!”

After listening to her rant, Su Shen glanced around but didn’t speak.

Liu jie saw she was being ignored and placed her glass of water roughly down on the table, “Don’t think I’m joking around with you. Director Huang has a bad temper and your acting is too bad. He won’t care if your relative is an investor.”

In response, the girl on the sofa finally moved. She pulled her hair back and tied it with a rubber band taken from the table, then casually replied: “I don’t need a teacher.”

Her words made Liu jie so angry, she almost laughed, “Yes, the entertainment industry is where you earn money off youth, but there are so many rookies coming out every day. If you don’t have the ability, you could be obsolete tomorrow!”

“I’ve only acted in two dramas, how do you know I don’t have the ability?” Su Shen looked up at Liu jie.

Her gaze suddenly seemed strange, off-putting, and Liu jie frowned, then sat down on the other side of the sofa. She picked up the script and flipped to a page, then passed it to Su Shen.

“Okay, then this scene, let me see your ability.” Liu jie arched her brow, disbelieving.

Su Shen took the script and glanced at the contents. After a few moments, she suddenly sat up straight, her lips pressed together, the tips of her eyelashes slightly trembling. Her bright eyes glazed over, slightly red.

Liu jie was about to speak, then saw Su Shen’s eyelashes flutter, and two pearl-like tears slowly fell from the corners of her eyes. Soon, they rolled down to her jaw, and Su Shen looked at her, eyes speaking through her tears.

The living room quietened, and Liu jie hastily pulled a tissue out for her, “You’re not bad!”

Su Shen calmly wiped her face with the tissue, then sat back onto the sofa.

“But your acting was terrible in your first two dramas, have you been honing on your acting skills recently?” Even as she said it, Liu jie thought it was impossible. How could Su Shen, who had to use eye drops for her crying scenes before, shed tears in under three seconds now?!

“All the characters you gave me were silly sweet girls, was any acting skill needed?” Su Shen sat cross-legged on the sofa and turned her attention to her phone.

Liu jie wanted to keep talking, but a call came in and she could only get her bag ready to leave. “Remember what I told you, don’t pay any attention to what’s going on online. Also, you should still at least go see the teacher I hired for you, Director Huang has high standards for acting!”

She then took a call and left, apparently there’s some urgent business.

When the only person left in the large apartment was herself, Su Shen suddenly stood and walked to the window, then pulled open the curtains. The residential area’s expansive greenbelt appeared before her eyes. She glanced up at the sunless sky, took a deep breath, then turned and closed the curtains.

Su Shen couldn’t understand why or how she had come to this bizarre world, and didn’t know how she became this body’s owner, and even inherited all her memories.

Yes, her consciousness was originally from a concubine’s daughter in the household of the prime minister of the Xuan Dynasty. That place had been like this entertainment industry, everybody wanted to climb to a better position regardless of the means necessary. Nobody wanted to be looked down on for the rest of their lives, but where she was from, if they didn’t fight for it, their fate would be even worse than death.

She learnt the four arts* (zither, Go, calligraphy, painting) and worked hard to make sure her name would spread throughout the capital city. After all her efforts, she finally married the Crown Prince as a consort, but on their marriage night, the rites hadn’t even finished when a group of assassins broke in. The Crown Prince knew martial arts, and was unharmed, but she had been mistakenly killed. Then, she opened her eyes in this strange world.

Actually, there was nothing to pity or regret. Her birth mother had died early, and there was nothing she couldn’t bear to part with, nothing worth missing. As for that Crown Prince, their relationship was only one of mutual exploitation, he was even less worth missing.

This world was not bad. Monogamy was the accepted standard, at least on the surface, and although men could still cheat, she would rather rely on herself than a man anyway.

Su Shen’s family was originally well-off, and owned a small business, but had absolutely nothing to do with the entertainment industry. But she had an elder sister and her sister’s husband owned an online video provider, and although it was only second-tier, it had been developing well in recent years and had already started investing in drama filming and production.

Her sister knew that the original Su Shen enjoyed acting and immediately made her the female lead in one of the web dramas their company invested in. The drama had a good script and was quite popular, but was restricted by its medium. Web dramas had a narrow audience base, so its popularity was only among the youth.

Also, the original owner of Su Shen’s body had terrible acting skills, and didn’t want to practice or improve, so she was always criticised by the audience. That Zhu Qinqin also debuted with a web drama, based in a school setting like her’s too, so the two were inescapably compared with each other. However, the comparison was alright because both of them were terrible at acting.

Just yesterday night, when the original Su Shen was on Weibo, she accidentally liked a post that was criticizing Zhu Qinqin. Their fans never got along well, and with the accidental like, began fighting online.

After that, she played games all night, and spent more than ten thousand RMB in-game. Who knew that she would die so suddenly and without warning?

The original Su Shen’s sister treated her very well, and had invested in a large film production which when aired would be available on their online video provider. The producers of the film had given the original owner the third supporting role to give face* to her Brother-In-Law. Without her connections, with her status in the entertainment industry, there was no way she’d be able to participate in such a large film production.

face (面子)- is a Chinese cultural concept that means “sociodynamic valuation” or a sense of prestige, dignity, honor, respect or status

She picked up her phone and went on Weibo. Their fans were still fighting, with news of her accidental like going from trending top thirty to top six on “hot search”.

#Was Su Shen’s like on post criticising Zhu Qinqin’s acting actually an accident?#

Netizen A: This is the funniest joke I’ve heard recently. Does Miss Su not realise how bad her own acting is? [smiley face]

Netizen B: This scheming b*tch only knows how to use my Qinqin for hype. Her own acting is a pile of shit, how does she have the face* to criticise my Qinqin?

Netizen C: Her studio already said it was an accident, what more do you idiotic fans want? Su Su’s* acting isn’t very good, but it’s still way better than pig head Qin!

Su Su – affectionate nickname for Su Shen

Netizen D: [vomit] Where did the scheming b*tch’s idiotic fans get the face to say their idol has good acting? If you have eye problems you should go to the optometrist, I know someone who can give you a discount!

Netizen E: As a passerby, can I just say that their acting levels are basically the same? Please stop acting and spare the audience!

Netizen F: Both of them have terrible acting that hurts my eyes, but I like Su Shen’s appearance better and I hope that she can work hard on developing her acting skills.

Unbothered, Su Shen read a few of the comments. She wouldn’t be affected by these things. In the entertainment industry, the worst thing wasn’t if people insulted you, it was if people weren’t even bothered to insult you. Being unknown was the worst possible thing. As for acting, she’d already been acting for a lifetime.

Breaking news came every day in the entertainment industry. After a few days, her accidental like had already been forgotten by the public. She’d been reading the script for the past few days and Liu jie was right, if she did well in this film, not only would she be on good terms with Director Huang, it could also improve the public’s impression of her acting. Still, it could only improve and not completely change the public’s opinion because the original Su Shen had acted in a historical idol drama that would be broadcasted soon. When it came out, her acting would definitely be ridiculed by the public again.

The day she joined the filming crew, the weather was pretty good. The opening ceremony was held on a small field outside the film set. The film had an exorbitant lineup and Su Shen didn’t dare to be late. She arrived at the opening ceremony very early with Liu jie.

“If reporters come up to interview you later, you have to be careful and take cues from me when you reply. Please don’t just say whatever you want!” Liu jie said after dragging her over to a corner, clearly worried after her previous unfiltered comments.

“Okay, I know.” Su Shen took off her sunglasses and started looking around.

At this time, basically all the main members of the film crew had arrived. They either sat around, applying makeup or playing on their phone. The less famous ones stood reading their scripts, without even a stool to sit on. Su Shen was one of them.

At this time, basically all the main members of the film crew had arrived. They either sat around, applying makeup or playing on their phone. The less famous ones stood reading their scripts, without even a stool to sit on. Su Shen was one of them.

“This place isn’t full of your small web drama stars anymore. You can’t afford to offend any of the people here. Remember to be more tactful, every friend you gain makes your future path easier to tread.” Liu jie continued to remind her.

Su Shen nodded slightly as she crouched down and played on her phone. “Okay.”

Suddenly, there was a commotion amongst the reporters, and they all swarmed to one side, “Xie Yan’s here!”

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