Superstar's Development Diary
Chapter 40 She Will Be Popular

Chapter 40: Chapter 40 She Will Be Popular

Chen Xiaohui studied fashion design in college, had some basic skills, and liked to sketch clothing designs in her spare time.

After joining the fashion design company, she gained a deeper understanding of fashion design. Taking advantage of moments of inspiration, she drew several sketches that she felt pretty good about,

and planned to show her designs to Sun Zhiying, the company’s head designer, who had an exceptional eye that ordinary people couldn’t match.

But as she was about to do so, another designer in the company, Miss Lin, saw her and asked her to photocopy some design drawings en route.

Because they were all drawings, Chen Xiaohui accidentally mixed her own sketches with those of Miss Lin.

After returning to her office and not finding them, Chen Xiaohui thought she might have left them in the photocopy room and searched until the company closed for the night, to no avail.

She had planned to look again the next day but was astonished to find her own drawings included in the design drafts Miss Lin had submitted to the company!

It was like a bolt from the blue!!

The company held monthly assessments that required designers to submit two or three design works, which was normal, and it was unlikely anyone would suspect that designers would steal others’ work.

If Chen Xiaohui hadn’t happened to pass by the designers’ meeting room the very next day and seen, through the clear glass walls, that one of the designs Miss Lin submitted was indeed hers, she would have continued searching in vain, eventually thinking they were thrown away by the cleaning staff, and then...

There would be no ’then.’

Looking at Miss Lin speaking confidently in the meeting room, Chen Xiaohui was seething with anger.

Yet, she wasn’t too foolish; she waited until the meeting was over and the designers had returned to their workstations before confronting Miss Lin.

The scene was quite challenging, testing He Jinxia’s internal acting and subtle facial expressions.

Too much force, and it would seem fake; too bland, and it wouldn’t feel real; it was hard to capture just right, so the director decided to save this scene for last.

The makeup artist wielded a fluffy brush, whitening He Jinxia’s rosy cheeks a few shades and letting her hair down, roughing it up a bit so her face still appeared plump.

Two months of nutritious meals and reasonable exercise had somewhat reduced He Jinxia’s swollen figure, and her cheeks had slimmed down a bit, though it wasn’t very noticeable.

The most significant change was in her abdomen; it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say it had shrunk by a whole size.

The cheeks could be disguised with hair styling, and the abdomen was easy to deal with – some cotton padding under the clothes would do the trick.

"Scene fifty-three, take one, Action!"

Following the clapperboard’s cue, He Jinxia immediately transformed on camera.

With all the courage she could muster, her hands clasped tightly behind her back, she said to the designer seated in front of her, "Miss Lin, one of the clothing designs you submitted was drawn by me."

Miss Lin paused in her paper-flipping, a chill crossing her face as she turned away from Chen Xiaohui.

She put down the documents, swiveled her chair around, and looked at Chen Xiaohui from head to toe.

Chen Xiaohui’s body shrank slightly as she acutely felt the contempt in the other’s eyes.

But she remained defiantly in place, her dark, clear eyes firmly fixed on her.

Miss Lin suddenly smiled lightly and asked, "How much?"

Chen Xiaohui was taken aback for a moment. "You misunderstand; I’m not—"

"Not here for money, then what is it?" Miss Lin sharply interrupted, arms crossed and leaning towards her.

"I’ve already submitted the design drawings; these are my creations. Now you come knocking at my door, what exactly do you want?"

He Jinxia felt a pressure from this actor that she had never experienced with Li Li and Wu Daxi—a sudden urge rose within her to act against, to spar with this actor on the screen!

Perhaps it was the immense pressure; her acting skills had once again broken through to a new level.

Biting her lip, He Jinxia perfectly portrayed Chen Xiaohui’s expression, a mix of weakness and unwilling resignation, as if in that moment she had transformed into Chen Xiaohui herself.

With her head slightly lowered and her fists clenched, Chen Xiaohui said in a low voice, "But... this is my work..."

Miss Lin laughed softly again, her chin tilting up slightly, "Chen Xiaohui, think about it clearly. Even if you blow this whole thing open now, whether those people will suspect me or not I won’t say, but they will definitely suspect you first."

She cast a glance at Chen Xiaohui, tugged at the corner of her mouth with disdain, and said, "Do you really think you, just a menial clerk, a fatso, could have the taste to design good-looking clothes?"

"The first time you came to the company, disheveled, without any image; the second time, you came to work and split a seam in your large-sized tight skirt by just sitting down, haha, and I heard your underwear was adorned with big red flowers? How low can you get..."

Along with the designer’s speech, this scene would later be recreated in post-production to bring back Chen Xiaohui’s embarrassing past events.

Furious, Chen Xiaohui stared at the designer, her chest heaving, as she tried hard to suppress the urge to strike out!

She couldn’t hit anyone; if she did, she would lose her job. She had already been fired by four companies, and if it happened again, no company would want to hire her...

Unable to hold them back any longer, tears streamed down her cheeks as Miss Lin’s condescending voice rang in her ears:

"A trashy person should know their trashy place. Just be your ugly duckling; don’t dream of turning into a swan. So what if I stole your design drawings? I had thought about giving you some money as a payoff, but now I don’t even want to—slap!"

A crisp and loud slap rang out; Chen Xiaohui, unable to endure any longer, had slapped the designer across the face!

"Good, cut! That’s a wrap!" Director Dong Qinn shouted excitedly, looking back and forth through the content on the camera with 3D glasses, the more he watched, the more pleased he became. Both actors had outdone themselves in this scene.

He Jinxia calmed down from her agitated and angry state and took a step forward to the actor playing the designer, asking with concern, "Did I actually hit you just now?"

The designer shook her head with a smile: "No, I timed it well and turned my head to the side when you swung. By the time your hand reached my face, there wasn’t any strength left in it. Look, if you had really hit hard, my face would be red by now."

He Jinxia let out a sigh of relief and praised, "That’s good, your acting was really good just now."

"No, no, no, I think it was your acting that was good."

The two of them entered a mode of mutual compliments, and it was only when Luo You came over to find He Jinxia that they stopped their chat, exchanging WeChat contacts before departing.

Having finished her company scenes, He Jinxia had to rush to another filming location immediately to begin shooting the family scenes. Once she wrapped up the family scenes, she would have completed all her scenes before the weight loss.

Sitting in the car, He Jinxia asked, "Who was that actress just now?"

Luo You recalled for a moment, uncertainly responding, "She seems to be called Song Zilin."

He Jinxia asked, "Does she have any works?"

Luo You answered, "No works, an even fresher face than you. This was her first acting role."

He Jinxia frowned, "First acting role and straight into a movie, could her family be..."

Luo You shook his head, certain about this aspect, "No, she is not. She was discovered by Dong Qinn during a public casting call for the female lead; she has no background."

He then asked curiously, "Why do you keep asking about her, is she that special?"

He Jinxia remembered the feeling of acting opposite Song Zilin, her expression turning serious and solemn, "I think, she’s going to be a star."