Chapter Nine

Chen Yu was not initially satisfied with Meng Kaiyan when she saw her photos, but after watching the acting clips sent by Mei Rijia, she became interested in signing a contract with her.

Thus, on the evening Meng Kaiyan returned to Shanghai, she and Jian Zhenzhu finalized an audition time with Chen.

Jian Zhenzhu: "Teacher Chen said she will be back in Shanghai this Sunday. We’ll go to her place for the audition then."

Meng Kaiyan: "Really?"

She stopped eating, put down her chopsticks, and leaned over to Jian Zhenzhu to look at her phone.

Jian Zhenzhu showed her the chat page directly: "Would I lie to you? Look, Chen Yu praised your acting. She said she watched the clips of you playing Cuicui and that you performed exceptionally well."

A sense of pride welled up in Meng Kaiyan, but she remained stubborn, resting her chin on her hand and saying, "Maybe she was just being polite."

Meng Minghai couldn't stand it: "How could that be? Nini, you acted well. She isn't a fool; she’s investing her own money into this film, so she naturally needs to find someone who can act. Otherwise, wouldn't she be wasting her money? Besides, a big star like her has no reason to be polite to us."

Meng Kaiyan shook her head, her cheeks flushing, and she couldn't suppress the curve of her lips.

Jian Zhenzhu ruffled her hair: "Your daughter is just being shy."

Having been raised to be overly humble by her family—that wasn't a good thing.

***

Night.

The old residential complex was mostly inhabited by elderly people, and it became very quiet by 9:30 PM.

After showering, Meng Kaiyan stood before the mirror, turned on the vanity lights, combed her hair back tightly to reveal her entire face, and carefully examined her reflection.

"Here, and here..."

She touched her chin, then her nose.

Her nose still wasn't refined enough; the tip was too fleshy and prominent, making it look a bit dull, lacking overall delicacy.

Actually, the nose is an incredibly difficult area to fix. Meng Kaiyan had heard her aunt talk about many people who had nose jobs needing constant revisions. If it weren't for the system, she feared she would have been stuck on a path of endless repairs.

Further down was her chin; it was slightly too long.

This was what the makeup artist on set had told her. The makeup artist had noted that the distance from the base of her nose to her jawline—the lower third of her face—was the weak point of her overall appearance.

The makeup artist had said: "Your lower third is too long, which throws off your facial proportions. Fortunately, your brows and eyes are beautiful, which draws the visual focus upward, so you look decent overall. A long lower third usually makes a person look shrewd, but you don't naturally possess that kind of temperament, so it creates a bit of a contradiction."

Recalling the makeup artist's words, Meng Kaiyan decided to focus her facial sculpting on the lower third this time.

Sculpting the lower third required extreme caution. Fortunately, the interface allowed her to preview the results before hitting the confirm button.

Meng Kaiyan opened the sculpting panel, zoomed in on the lower third, and used her remaining 50 points of "Starlight Value" to improve it.

The system was actually quite intelligent; one could choose to sculpt manually or use a one-click optimization.

However, after experiencing the one-click optimization on her nose, Meng Kaiyan decided to do it herself.

It wasn't that the one-click optimization looked bad—in fact, the system had excellent aesthetic taste—but if you spent 50 points to optimize, the actual presented effect was only worth 25 points. For a poor girl like her, that was not cost-effective.

At this moment, Meng Kaiyan carefully nudged her chin. Because her points were limited and had to be distributed across the entire lower third, the range of her adjustments was small, barely visible to the naked eye.

"System, how much did I move it?"

[Two millimeters, perhaps.]

Meng Kaiyan: "As an intelligent entity, how can you be so imprecise?"

Two millimeters is two millimeters, why the "perhaps"?

[2.26 millimeters.]

***

Meng Kaiyan felt she could push it a bit further. After adjusting several times, it finally settled at 2.86.

Next were the jawlines on both sides, which she also adjusted upward. In normal circumstances, losing four or five pounds could achieve a similar effect. But she was already too thin; any thinner and she would be skin and bone. Furthermore, you couldn't reduce bone through weight loss, so she couldn't solve it that way.

Finally, there was the philtrum, because it affected the perception of the nose. Meng Kaiyan was even more careful when moving it, spending a full half-hour on that adjustment alone.

After she finished and asked the system, it had only moved by 1 millimeter.

She looked at the model on the panel for a long time, made a few more minor adjustments, and finally clicked confirm just before 11:00 PM.

Time seemed to freeze for half a second.

Meng Kaiyan held her breath. In an instant, the reflection in the mirror seemed to ripple—it seemed as if nothing had happened, yet it also felt like something had. Even though she didn't blink, Meng Kaiyan felt as if her world had skipped half a frame.

The next day.

Jian Zhenzhu didn't like cooking, so breakfast was always picked up from the shop downstairs.

She had just poured the wontons out of the thermal container when she heard the sound of a hairdryer coming from her daughter's room.

"Up so early today." Jian Zhenzhu knocked on the door and, upon hearing a "Come in," pushed it open.

"Didn't you sleep well last night?" She felt a bit worried; that’s just how mothers are—any little sign and they worry if their child is uncomfortable.

Meng Kaiyan shook her hair: "No, I was just thinking about the New Year's Eve party, so I woke up early."

Jian Zhenzhu took the hairdryer and began drying her daughter's hair from behind: "If you're too tired, you don't have to participate in the party."

It was strange; when her daughter was in elementary and middle school, she never liked participating in these activities, but she had grown to love them in high school, never missing a single one, and even earned the title of an "active student" because of it.

"That won't do, I have to participate!" Meng Kaiyan shook her head hurriedly. That wouldn't work; she was counting on the event to earn Starlight Value.

Jian Zhenzhu: "Fine, fine, go ahead then. You’ve got endless energy all day long."

Meng Kaiyan's hair wasn't very long, and it dried quickly.

She used clips to pin back the hair on both sides of her forehead. Just as she was applying moisturizer, she noticed Jian Zhenzhu staring at her face.

Meng Kaiyan: "Mom, what's wrong?"

Jian Zhenzhu frowned, leaning against the vanity to observe her face closely: "Why do I feel like you’ve become even prettier, Nini?"

Meng Kaiyan felt a moment of guilt: "Really?"

Jian Zhenzhu’s brow relaxed: "You really are prettier. Huh, is it because you lost weight, or what? Your jawline is much clearer. How should I put it? It looks more balanced, too."

Meng Kaiyan: "Maybe. I'm 94 pounds now."

Jian Zhenzhu was surprised: "That's only four pounds less than before. Does four pounds really have such a big effect?" It made her want to lose some weight too.

Meng Kaiyan blinked: "Is there anything else that changed?"

Jian Zhenzhu pinched her chin, turning it left and right to observe carefully, eventually shaking her head: "Doesn't seem like it, but I just feel like something is different from before. I suppose you're just maturing. That's normal; girls your age change every year. My photos from middle and high school look like two different people, too. You must have inherited that from me."

Meng Kaiyan smiled: "Mom, you have great genes."

Ms. Jian Zhenzhu was very proud: "Of course! If you took after your father, that would be a disaster!"

***

Sunday.

Having adapted to her new, subtly adjusted face, Meng Kaiyan welcomed her second audition of the year—which would likely be her last.

Chen Yu also lived in Shanghai, which greatly convenience Meng Kaiyan.

Meng Minghai had to work overtime, so Jian Zhenzhu drove her to the audition today.

Following the map to Chen Yu's home, the car finally stopped in front of a villa.

Jian Zhenzhu sighed: "No wonder the house prices here are sky-high; the environment is just so good."

As she spoke, a voice came from the courtyard: "Is that Ms. Jian and little Meng?"

The mother and daughter looked over to see a woman watering flowers. Meng Kaiyan recognized her immediately—it was the renowned domestic actress Chen Yu. There was no need to mention Jian Zhenzhu; she had been watching Chen Yu's television dramas since she was a teenager, and there was no way she wouldn't recognize her.

"Yes, that's us! Hello, Teacher Chen. I'm Jian Zhenzhu, and this is my daughter, Meng Kaiyan."

Meng Kaiyan: "Good morning, Teacher Chen."

Chen Yu smiled: "Come on in."

Chen Yu's home wasn't particularly large on the inside, but the courtyard was beautifully maintained, and the greenhouse was full of blooming flowers, the rich fragrance wafting through the air.

The house was heated, and two cats were lounging on the sofa, unafraid of strangers.

Chen Yu put on her glasses and scrutinized Meng Kaiyan: "Is little Meng not very photogenic?"

How could she look so much better in person than on camera?

Yes, for Meng Kaiyan, it was just a 50-point micro-adjustment. For Jian Zhenzhu, her daughter had just "matured" a little bit, but for someone like Chen Yu, who worked with cameras long-term and was exceptionally sensitive to faces, Meng Kaiyan was a completely different person compared to before.

"Your face is shorter." Chen Yu reached out and measured the air with her hands: "Your contours on both sides look clearer, too. You must have been bloated when you were filming at Chen Man's set. She loves to rush the schedule and doesn't care about the actors' states."

Meng Kaiyan laughed awkwardly: "I probably just lost a lot of weight these past few days."

Chen Yu shook her head: "That can't be it. Weight loss is one thing, but the body usually takes a few days to adjust its state. You look great."

However, she didn't probe further—after all, in just a few days, it was impossible for Meng Kaiyan to have gotten plastic surgery.

She opened the camera: "Little Meng, stand in front of the lens and find your position."

"Alright."

Meng Kaiyan thought for a moment and took off her down jacket, wearing only a cream-colored sweater and jeans underneath. This made her look less bulky and allowed her body proportions to be seen clearly.

Standing before the lens, Meng Kaiyan spun around four times and began finding her angles.

The sunlight was perfect, and the hollowed-out bamboo leaf-patterned linen curtains divided the light into the shapes of leaves.

She stood in front of the curtain, the leaf-shaped sunlight falling across her face, and Meng Kaiyan turned her head slightly to look toward the lens.

"Not bad, truly not bad." Chen Yu pressed the shutter and captured the moment.

This girl had a great sense for the camera, and her eyes were clear and sharp—no shyness, no evasion. That was excellent.

What was even rarer was that her face told a story. When you looked at her, you couldn't help but want to explore and understand her.

Without hesitation, she could say that directors loved this kind of face. There was no other reason—it was just incredibly easy to film.

"Chen Man is hopeless! Her level is truly subpar. Has she regressed so much from doing variety shows these past few years?" Chen Yu frowned, looking at Meng Kaiyan on the screen: "I'm becoming more and more curious—how did Chen Man manage to film you looking like that ghost? Or did you offend her?"

Meng Kaiyan: "..."

What could she say? She felt guilty again.