Strike Back, Proud Goddess! Chapter 40: A Setback on the Set

A grim light flickered across Xiao Jinning eyes upon hearing Yao Na's words. Why was everything going wrong ever since that b*stard appeared in her life?!

She walked to the door of the set. When she reached the door, however, she heard the director yelling, "Xiao Jinning, come over and get ready for your scene."

Xiao Jinning clenched her teeth but had to go back to work.

Although she had a powerful background, this director was very famous, very good at directing and also had a very powerful background. While people didn't know who was behind him, no one in the entertainment industry dared to mess with him, and even her mother had to respect him. She had been happy for a long time after winning this role, so she wouldn't annoy him no matter how angry she was.

Xiao Jinning went back, asked the dresser to refine her makeup and started shooting.

The director was reading the script with his head lowered. When Xiao Jinning had touched up her makeup, he raised his head and called out, "Attention—action!"

With that, he handed the script to the assistant director and went to the side to smoke.

A touch of resentment flashed through Xiao Jinning's eyes when she saw the director being so cold to her. She had made a mistake and had to have one more take, but he didn't even turn around to look at her.

It was then that He Wanyi, who had just taken an interview, walked in. Seeing the director smoking at the side, she smiled and walked over to him, saying, "Oh, Director Ning, why are you over here smoking instead of watching the shoot?"

Although Ning Yan was thirty-five years old, he worked out often and thus looked like he was only around 20. He had a perfect figure, and a casual and elegant bearing, so many girls took him as their idol—even many female stars were crazy for him. However, he had a quirk, which was that the actors and actresses involved in his works had to have excellent acting skill. Strangely enough, however, a director like this would usually be bad-tempered, but Ning Yan had a very good temper. Even if he wasn't satisfied with an actress, he wouldn't say anything bad about her, but simply refuse to let her to act in his works. He rarely directed actresses into acting on the set because these actresses all had excellent acting skills, except…

In the words of He Wanyi, it was the quirk of genius.

Ning Yan glared at her and complained, "Do you think every actress' acting skill is as good as yours? I almost dozed off watching that girl act, so I'd rather have a cigarette and refresh myself."

He Wanyi turned to take a look at Xiao Jinning, who was acting in an embarrassing way despite being famous for her acting skills, and smiled. "Why did you choose her as the female lead?"

"I chose her?" Ning Yan snorted. "A friend of Liu Chengyu pressed me to accept her. If anyone puts this woman into my TV drama again, I'll definitely cut her scenes and make her look like a bit player!"

He Wanyi laughed. "Who dared do this? I remember that you never yield to anyone."

Although people said Ning Yan had a good temper, they didn't know his real character. Only those familiar with him knew that he wouldn't get angry at someone who displeased him, because he would feel contempt for that person and feel it a waste of his energy and time to be angry—he wouldn't even bother to take a look at them. Unless he was pleaded to by people who were on very good terms with him, he would never accept an actor or actress whom he wasn't satisfied with to act in his works.

Ning Yan snorted. "Who else! Your playboy elder brother!"

Er… Liu Chengyu was her elder brother's friend, but she didn't think their relationship was good enough for her elder brother to do such a favor for Liu Chengyu, let alone the fact that it would have taken him a lot of effort to convince Ning Yan… How courageous he was!

He Wanyi and He Wanning were actually from a wealthy family. He Wanyi was the Miss of Hexing Group, while her elder brother was its president, and the He Family was one of the top four families. However, He Wanning and He Wanyi usually kept a low profile. People knew they were from a wealthy family, but no one knew they were actually from the He Family.

He Wanning also kept a low profile and no one knew that he was a son of the He Family.

The Ning Family was also one of the top four families. The top four families maintained a close relationship with each other. As there was a lot of business cooperation among them, they met frequently. Growing up together, the younger generation of the four families had a good relationship, but they mostly kept to themselves and rarely communicated with the younger generation of other families.

Therefore, they didn't know of Liu Chengyu. Although Liu Chengyu tried his best to establish a good relationship with the top four families, he hardly met with their members. Besides He Wanzhou, who often appeared in financial newspapers, and Qiao Liang, people didn't know much about the top four families, but only knew that their leaders were remarkable figures.

Although He Wanzhou was decisive in business, he was a playboy who changed girlfriends almost daily. Besides, his family had an entertainment company: Qingcheng Entertainment. The actresses of this company were almost all romantically linked with her elder brother, including even He Wanyi. She once had dinner with He Wanzhou and a paparazzi snapped a shot of that scene.

When she saw the news at that time, her first reaction went along the lines of, "Oh my gosh, people are going to find out I'm from the He Family," and then she was stunned to find that those reporters said she was He Wanzhou's gossip girl. It never occurred to her that the paparazzi of City A were so full of imagination. There was only one character difference between hers and her elder brother's name, yet the reporters still thought she was her elder brother's gossip girl…

"I feel really sorry for you." He Wanyi showed her sympathy for him.

Looking at the gloating smile on her face, Ning Yan snorted. "That woman was probably going to have a fight with you. How did you annoy her?"

He Wanyi raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean by annoying her? Am I the kind of person who would provoke her for no reason? She pissed me off, okay?" She felt deeply wronged!

Ning Yan snorted. "I don't think so. I saw her storming out as if she was going to rip you apart, yet you say you didn't provoke her?"

"You are really wronging me!" He Wanyi raised her hands and glanced at Xiao Jinning who was acting. "I just told her a truth in advance, but she was too fragile to bear it."

Noticing He Wanyi's provocative stare, Xiao Jinning was distracted in the middle of the shoot, forgot her lines and had to have one more take again.

Ning Yan frowned. "Sh*t! She wasted my film again! I'm going to ask your brother for reimbursement!"

Ning Yan was working for Qingcheng Entertainment.

"As you wish. Let's see whether he dares force you to accept that kind of actress again!" He Wanyi wondered with a smile, "Is Liu Chengyu blind? Why did he fall for such a woman?"

"I think he must be blind," Ning Yan said. "Now I know why I get along well with the Xiao brothers."

Because of the Yang Family, they had a good relationship with the Xiao brothers.

Xiao Yao's face popped up in He Wanyi's mind and she couldn't help but smile as she asked, "Why?"

"Because we all dislike that woman!" Ning Yan said with a snort. "Damn it. They're all from the Xiao Family, but why are they so different?!"

Chapter end