Chapter 283: Chapter 281: Everyone Loves Reading Novels
Zhao Qi seemed a little surprised by what Xu Jiali said.
’Someone as straightforward as Jiali actually wants to befriend a rich kid?’
’That’s not like her at all.’
"Why the big reaction? Do I look like someone without any desires?"
Xu Jiali asked with a smile.
Zhao Qi nodded, then shook his head. "I figured a straightforward person like you would look down on rich kids. I thought you’d see them as spoiled brats who do nothing but eat, drink, and party all day, looking down on everyone just because their family has some money. The kind of people you’d despise."
Xu Jiali laughed when she heard what Zhao Qi said.
"Zhao Qi, I don’t think you understand how we regular people think. Who wouldn’t want a rich friend? I even wish my best friend were a rich woman who could just be my sugar mama! Why would I look down on rich kids?
They were born at a finish line I’ll never reach, but is that their fault? Hating them for it is just a narrow-minded view some people have. For any normal person, we’ve all got passions and desires. Who can claim they don’t?
I want to be crazy famous too! And I wish I’d been born rich! But those things are out of my control. You can’t just hate the wealthy because you aren’t one of them."
Zhao Qi hadn’t expected Xu Jiali to think that way, or to be so candid about it.
His own perception had clearly been skewed.
"Zhao Qi, you’re not actually a rich kid, are you?"
Zhao Qi, who had just taken a mouthful of water, almost spat it all out.
’Jiali would definitely hate someone who’s so two-faced.’
Zhao Qi immediately waved his hands and shook his head. "No, no! I’m just like you."
Director Wen found the scene rather amusing. It was clear that Zhao Qi cared a great deal about the people in Doctor Wen’s group.
And yet, he had chosen a different path.
"Enough about me. Let’s talk about you," Zhao Qi said. "Jiali, you seem to have gotten pretty popular, right? I’ve noticed you have a lot of fans."
Jiali smiled. "That’s all thanks to Sister Wen Ying. You could say she carried me to fame. I do have a lot of fans now, but a person like me probably can’t survive in this industry. Before this all started, I thought I could adapt. But after meeting certain people and dealing with certain things... I realized that if I just endured it, I’d be miserable. I might even make myself sick from bottling it all up. I just can’t accept that.
"If someone else isn’t losing their mind, then it’s going to be me!"
"So why not just let them be the ones to lose it?"
Jiali winked.
Zhao Qi agreed so strongly with her that he couldn’t help but applaud.
Hearing this, Song Jiayan felt a pang of envy toward Jiali.
"With a personality like mine, the agencies won’t like me, and talent agents won’t either," Jiali continued. "I’m basically guaranteed not to get signed. What kind of future can I have in this business?"
"Jiali, there’s some truth to what you’re saying, but it’s not the full picture, you see?" Director Wen looked at the vibrant young woman and couldn’t resist chiming in. "Take me, for example. A show like mine loves you. We love that you’re authentic and not pretentious. The audience loves to watch that kind of drama, too. For us, the most important thing is what the audience wants to see. Understand?"
"So, you mean the audience loves watching drama, right, Director?"
Director Wen just smiled at how bluntly she put it.
"So, what you’re saying, Director Wen, is that I can follow this path. That even without signing to an agency, I can still make a name for myself. After all, I have a decent number of fans, and I’m riding Sister Wen Ying’s coattails."
Director Wen gave Jiali an appreciative look. ’This girl is incredibly sharp! She gets it instantly!’
"Now that you put it that way, I’m not worried at all!" Jiali’s mood lifted instantly, as if a huge weight had just been lifted from her shoulders.
Director Wen went off to attend to his work, and Zhao Qi quickly grew bored of scrolling through his phone by himself.
But he didn’t want to leave either, so he roped Song Jiayan into a conversation.
"Song Jiayan, do you know Doctor Wen very well?"
"I only met Sister Wen Ying after we got here."
"Then do you know if Little White is Doctor Wen’s pet?"
"Sister Wen Ying says Little White is family."
"Oh. Well, have you noticed that Little White seems especially... human? Like he can understand every word we say?"
"Sister Wen Ying says that if we treat animals with sincerity, they can sense our true feelings."
"I get that, but don’t you feel Little White’s intelligence goes way beyond what you’d expect from a normal animal?"
Zhao Qi had been wanting to ask this for a long time. After seeing the videos featuring Little White, he just couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer.
It wasn’t that he’d never seen an intelligent animal before.
There were those monkeys from that one place that had even gone viral.
But Little White’s intelligence was on another level, even more so than those monkeys. It was as if he could talk, but simply chose not to.
He could even get revenge for Doctor Wen!
Even though Doctor Wen hadn’t actually been harmed, Zhao Qi suspected that what happened to Xie Fu Yao and Meng Xiaoyi was probably no accident.
’But what does that have to do with me?’
’They got what they deserved.’
’Still, where did Little White come from?’
’How was he trained?’
Zhao Qi wanted a fox just like him. He wondered if Doctor Wen would be willing to sell Little White.
’And if not, could he buy his own and ask Doctor Wen to train it for him?’
Hearing Zhao Qi’s question, Song Jiayan grew pensive.
’How am I supposed to answer that?’
"You think so too, right?" Zhao Qi pressed. "What about you, Jiali?"
Zhao Qi turned to look at Jiali.
Jiali was momentarily at a loss for words. She and Song Jiayan both knew Little White’s true identity, but Zhao Qi had no idea.
They couldn’t possibly reveal that Little White was a Fox Immortal without Sister Wen Ying’s permission.
’I can’t believe Zhao Qi figured it out so quickly,’ she thought.
"Yes, I agree that Little White is unusually smart," Jiali said, choosing her words carefully. "It’s probably from being with Sister Wen Ying for so long. Her Skill points in that department are probably maxed out. She’s remarkably good at communicating with little animals."
It was the most diplomatic answer Jiali could come up with.
"Yes, yes, that’s what I was thinking!" Zhao Qi exclaimed. "Sometimes I even get the feeling that Doctor Wen can actually communicate with animals, you know, like she understands their language, just like in a novel. I actually love reading those kinds of stories—total power fantasies with simple plots. Hahaha."
"You like to read web novels? Me too!" Jiali’s expression was a mixture of surprise and delight, as if she’d discovered a kindred spirit.
"My roommate says I’m wasting my life on frivolous things when I read them, but I think it’s great. Everyone’s allowed to have their own hobbies."
"So what genres do you like?" Zhao Qi asked.
"The Overbearing CEO Falls for Me! The CEO Regrets Everything After I Die! The CEO Grovels His Way Through Hell to Win Me Back After the Breakup!"
"You like that stuff?" Zhao Qi looked surprised, unable to wrap his head around the idea that someone like Jiali would be into those tropes.
"No, no, no! I hate all that melodramatic crap! I like stories about a doting husband spoiling his sweet little wife—the kind of stuff that’s so sweet it gives you cavities! Hehehe. What about you? What genres do you like?"
"I like the ones with overpowered main characters who have some kind of cheat ability. Like, ’Livestream Fortune-Teller’! I feel like Doctor Wen would be a perfect protagonist for a novel like that."
