Translator: Fringe Capybara

Chapter 18 - I look forward to seeing your performances in the future (3)

Her hands, holding onto the script, started shaking lightly. Her soul resonated with that of the character in the story. 

Memories from her previous life came flooding over her. She was caught off guard herself when she was overwhelmed by her own emotions. 

She was very pretty in her previous life as well, though far from how stunning she was right now. She had always stuck to her bottom line. She did not have an extraordinary look, so as much as she had given all she got for her acting career, she had always done mediocrely until she inadvertently became popular at age 23. 

A web drama that was very low profile and nobody had high hopes about was suddenly picked up by a TV station halfway through it’s filming and turned into a mainstream show. 

Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you’re reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.

As the second female lead, Chi Ying didn’t play a role that was well-liked. But with her solid acting skill and her real person having zero negativity surrounding her as an actress, she was able to become a viewers’ favorite and her WeChat fans increased exponentially overnight. 

She started having better resources. She had met more directors. And finally, she landed the role of the female lead in a high-profile show. 

Her dreams were finally within her reach, but she fell ill. 

Inside the pallid room in the hospital, she had met many passive patients. They were sickly and haggard. They looked like dried-up flowers with no life left in them, about to fall off the stem any given minute. 

Very few terminally ill could remain an optimistic point of view. The ugly scars, the out-of-shape body, pain from the illness that one must endure day after day made them not want to stick around any longer. 

The most they would do was to force a smile in front of their loved ones. Behind the curtains, it all turned into helpless weeping. Lives were so fragile that nobody felt that they had the rights to even talk about their ambitions. 

Chi Ying would never forget how emaciated and how hollow her cheeks were before she passed away. She thought, back then, that she would no longer have a family, nor would she ever be able to pay her grandmother back for what she had done for her. 

Perhaps time had eased that excruciating ache, but they turned into more deeply rooted stubbornness and sorrow that injected themselves into her mental island. They were unmovable and would never be worn thin. 

There was sorrow, helplessness, and pain, etc. in Chi Ying’s eyes and layering above all of them were distress and desperation. They covered her eyes like a grey curtain. 

Finally, the instructor gave an “Okay”, which brought Chi Ying straight back from her memories to reality. 

When one was acting out someone else’s stories, one could still remind oneself all the time that it was all fictional and to not sink in too deeply. But when it came to one’s own story, it’d be much easier to fall all the way, and it was difficult to get back out. 

Chi Ying was a bit at loss when she watched the instructor shake his head and his few comments floated into her ears. 

“Not too bad. The look was quite convincing. But movies are art. You need to act more. Something more forceful. You could stress more on some parts of the emotions. You didn’t quite get that. But don’t go overboard either. I look forward to seeing your performances in the future.”

The instructor waved his hand at her, gesturing that it was time for her to leave.