After Being Blackened All Over the Internet, I Ruled the Military Variety
Chapter 172: They Resemble From Behind

Chapter 172: Chapter 172: They Resemble From Behind

Early the next morning, everyone walked into the meeting room where they had been for two days, and saw that in front of each chair on the originally empty rectangular conference table, there was a cup of coffee and some small desserts from Xingxing’s place.

Wei Minmin was immediately delighted, "When did my little uncle get so thoughtful? He finally knows to prepare drinks and desserts for us."

She had just taken her seat and was about to grab her coffee and stick a straw in for a sip. After all, her brain was a bit overloaded from sorting through the script for the past two days, so a coffee would be perfect to perk her up.

Then she heard She Man, who had arrived earlier, enlightening her: "Well, you guessed wrong. This coffee and dessert were not prepared for us by Director Wei."

Wei Minmin’s hand froze in mid-air, "Huh?"

She Man gestured to the far end of their row of seats and looked past Wei Minmin at Jiang Lingxi, who was pulling out a chair to sit down, "Didn’t Director Wei agree yesterday to Lingxi’s suggestion to let the actress playing the palace maid Qing Yuan join our script reading sessions? She came early this morning and brought us all of these treats."

Wei Minmin followed her gesture to the end, and upon seeing the familiar smiling face, frowned.

Then she quickly turned her head 180 degrees, sounding incredulous, "Sister Lingxi, how come the actress playing Qing Yuan is Jiang Xiyu?"

Her last impression of Jiang Xiyu was from her birthday party some time ago, where Jiang Xiyu and her manager came to celebrate, but their intentions were obvious, and Minmin managed to get rid of them with a few words.

Later, seeing her little uncle cold towards her, she completely forgot about Jiang Xiyu, never expecting her to appear in the Empress’s crew.

Then she thought about how the role of Qing Yuan was initially just for a supporting actor, but it was Sister Lingxi’s suggestion that got her involved, "Phew, how did she manage to swallow her pride like this?"

After all, she was a somewhat famous actress, yet she was competing with those C-listers for a role—if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes now, she wouldn’t have believed someone would actually do this.

"But looking at it now, she’s quite adaptable."

Jiang Lingxi had just redirected her gaze from Jiang Xiyu’s face and heard Wei Minmin’s comment, causing her to squint slightly in thought.

To be honest, she was also surprised just now.

When she saw Jiang Xiyu at the audition, she assumed she was auditioning for a main role.

Later, when she didn’t see her at the costume fitting, she thought Jiang Xiyu had simply failed the audition.

She never expected she was auditioning for Qing Yuan.

If she had known earlier...she still would have suggested it to Director Wei.

Jiang Xiyu doesn’t qualify, but Qing Yuan does have the qualifications.

So when Wei Xiao came in, he received a significant glance from Jiang Lingxi.

Wei Xiao: "..."

He felt an inexplicable tingle on his back.

Had he offended this girl somehow?

As for Jiang Lingxi’s glance at Wei Xiao, it was purely out of curiosity.

How did Jiang Xiyu manage to get him to agree to her auditioning for Qing Yuan? Was it because her face had some resemblance to hers?

But the real Qing Yuan wasn’t chosen because her appearance resembled hers so much as...

Her contemplation was interrupted by a voice beside her, "Today we have a new member joining our script reading session. Before we continue sorting through the script, let’s have the new member stand up and introduce themselves so everyone knows them."

With the sound, everyone’s attention turned to the last seat.

Jiang Xiyu stood up with a smile, graciously introducing herself, "Director Wei, seniors, good morning. I’m Jiang Xiyu, the actress playing Qing Yuan. I’m honored to be sitting here with everyone discussing the script." She glanced at Jiang Lingxi, who hadn’t looked over, her smile deepening, "I hope you will all guide me."

"Jiang Xiyu," Wei Xiao repeated the somewhat familiar name, just as he saw his niece shooting a glare at him from the front, "Ahem, sit down. What’s with the coffee and desserts on the table?"

Wei Minmin couldn’t help but let out a soft hum, "Who does Director Wei think it is?"

Wei Xiao paused, then glanced at Jiang Xiyu, who had just sat down.

He saw her smiling humbly and modestly, "I bought them. I hope everyone likes them."

Wei Xiao: "..."

She was a completely different person from the one he had seen two days ago, who was upset over jewelry and outfits and let her entourage cause a ruckus.

However, he couldn’t outright say she was wrong either, so he just nodded, "Ahem, you shouldn’t have. But there’s no need for these formalities in the future. We’re here to discuss the script, not to eat and drink."

The smile on Jiang Xiyu’s face froze slightly as she nodded lightly.

Although Wei Xiao didn’t appreciate the gesture, other actors gave her friendly glances, which put Jiang Xiyu’s mind at ease a bit.

But soon, that brief comfort vanished.

After her formal self-introduction, Wei Xiao efficiently announced the start of the script reading.

From then on, throughout the day, she barely had a chance to speak.

What she heard most was the back-and-forth discussion between Jiang Lingxi and Director Wei, leaving little room for others to chime in.

Compared to the first day, many people had even started taking notes like in a classroom.

Whenever Jiang Lingxi and Director Wei discussed a role, the actor playing that role would be frantically jotting things down.

The only stark contrast was her, with just a freshly handed out script she hadn’t even had the chance to read, not holding a single pen, clueless about what to write down.

After the day’s script reading ended, she couldn’t remember how much content they had sorted through, but the fire in her heart was burning fiercely.

How come Jiang Lingxi was so favored by Director Wei?

Whereas she, after spending money to buy everyone coffee and desserts, ended up being reprimanded.

The joy from receiving the notice yesterday was now completely gone, leaving only frustration and anger.

As evening fell, everyone stretched their backs after another day of sitting, getting up to leave, but Wei Minmin lingered.

Jiang Lingxi closed the script beside her and didn’t move either.

Just as Wei Xiao was preparing to leave, the two almost simultaneously called out to him, "Director Wei."

Wei Xiao paused, glanced at his niece, then focused his gaze on Jiang Lingxi, "Is there something you need?"

Jiang Lingxi got straight to the point, "I’m curious, why did you choose Jiang Xiyu to play Qing Yuan?"

Wei Minmin was stunned, her mouth hanging open in surprise. She had wanted to ask that question too.

Wei Xiao paused in silence, "For less significant role actors, I generally let Deputy Director Lin handle the auditions. Now that this role has been promoted to a main character, I did consider re-auditioning for the part. But first, the role is already fixed, and second, when I saw Jiang Xiyu’s photo, I noticed she bears some resemblance to you. Moreover, a professor mentioned that in history, the palace maid Qing Yuan did act as a stand-in for Emperor Yuan Zhao, so I thought, why not her."

Wei Minmin’s expression eased after hearing this explanation, and even though she disliked Jiang Xiyu’s usual false pretenses, she had to admit the actress was at least suitable for the role. So she could only temporarily suppress her distaste.

But soon, she heard Jiang Lingxi’s voice, sounding both helpless and amused, "Does the historical record mention that Qing Yuan was a stand-in for Emperor Yuan Zhao, not because they looked somewhat alike, but because their back silhouettes were very similar?"

This time, the uncle and niece both simultaneously exclaimed, "Huh?"

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