Chapter 496

The director's entire body stiffened. Looking at Shen Ci's beautiful, smiling face, he only felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet, shooting straight to his crown.

Although she was smiling, she was not joking.

Xiaoyun and A-Pan were even more terrified; the two of them grimaced and then kept their little mouths tightly shut, but they were inwardly overjoyed because their A-Li now had someone backing her up.

"Do you understand?" Seeing the director stunned, Shen Ci couldn't help but speak again: "While I can still smile at you, get rid of this piece of human trash for me immediately."

The director felt apprehensive; he certainly couldn't afford to offend the investor, but he also couldn't afford to offend Lu Qiang.

This job was truly hard to swallow; was he going to be begging for food in the industry later?

"S-Shen Boss, it's like this: Teacher Lu Qiang doesn't have many scenes left. It would be very troublesome to replace him now..."

"Troublesome? Anything that can be solved with money is not troublesome," Shen Ci interrupted him again: "Whether you find someone to reshoot or use AI face-swapping in post-production, I can afford to pay for it. But this old man Lu must get out of this crew for me."

"Either he gets out, or you get out with him. Do you understand what I mean?"

By this point, the smile on Shen Ci's face had completely vanished.

The director nodded helplessly: "Uh... y-yes."

Walking out of the lounge, the director's back was soaked through. He never imagined that the investor of this drama would be Shen Li's sister.

And such a young girl at that.

Yet her aura was not weak at all; her attitude just now clearly showed she didn't take that old lecher seriously.

He took a few deep breaths and then walked toward Lu Qiang's lounge with a firm gaze. Regardless of whether he offended anyone, this drama was his life's work, and he certainly couldn't be the one to get out. If the investor wanted to replace someone, then if the actor wasn't satisfied, he could go find the investor himself; he was just the messenger.

Sure enough, when it comes to even the most terrifying things, if one's own interests are involved, people can instantly weigh the pros and cons and quickly make a decision favorable to themselves.

"Sister..."

Inside the room, Shen Li came back to her senses, grabbed her sister's hand, and asked in disbelief: "Y-you are the investor of this drama?"

Shen Ci looked at her sister, her expression instantly becoming soft and doting. She raised an eyebrow slightly and said with a smile: "That's right, I'm old friends with General Manager Lu of your Jin Xiao."

To keep her sister from overthinking that she had done all this just for her, Shen Ci continued to explain: "Otherwise, how do you think your sister's wealth over the past two years came to be? Before you entered the industry, I had already stepped into the film and television business."

"Then... then why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to find a suitable opportunity to tell you. I wanted to wait until you had achieved some results through your own ability; perhaps then, the burden in your heart would be a little lighter."

Shen Ci held her sister's hand back and said cautiously: "Because no matter what, we cannot deny that my existence will, to some extent, provide a certain amount of help in your career. But your sister doesn't want you to cover up your own ability and hard work because of this. All your sister wants to do is help you avoid a few more detours than others—nothing more."

Listening to her sister's words, Shen Li couldn't help but recall various events since she was admitted to the film academy.

"So, after I was replaced in 'Destiny as Phoenix,' was it you, Sister, who helped me secure the role of 'Hua Xixi'?"

"Including the later selection of scripts and roles, where Sister Kuan always prioritized my personal wishes—was that also because you are an investor in 'Jin Xiao'?"

Shen Ci no longer denied it and nodded gently.

"A-Li, I am your sister. You should have a one-hundred-percent 'sense of worthiness' regarding my help, because this is reasonable and appropriate, and it is something your sister is willing to do. But your sister also understands you very well, so every action was taken with great discretion, and in the end, all the decision-making power fell to you. I could have easily made you the female lead in every drama, but I know you only want to play the roles you want to play, so I only did as much as was necessary."

Shen Ci was also very nervous at this moment. The reason she had to explain so much was that she was afraid A-Li would fall into a trap of self-doubt, afraid that A-Li would disregard or even ignore her own ability and attribute all current results to having a sister like her.

But that was not the case. If A-Li herself weren't capable, no matter how much she helped, she would never have achieved today's results.

At best, she would just be an actress with backing who never had to worry about having roles.

Shen Li looked at her sister, her gentle eyes unable to help but turn red again. Her lips trembled as she said: "Sister, thank you."

Hearing these four words, Shen Ci's heart finally relaxed. She opened her arms and hugged her sister, gently stroking her back: "Don't say thank you to your sister. Just remember that from now on, no one in this circle will dare to bully you again. You must always be as tough as you were today, because your sister will always be behind you."

Shen Li nodded, choking back sobs. There was not a shred of resentment toward her sister in her heart, only a sense of security and being moved that made her feel incredibly grounded.

Because she had grown. If she had known these things at the very beginning, her heart would have been very resistant.

But in the year since she entered the industry, she had seen too many dark sides of this circle. If it weren't for her sister, after she had her role stolen by Xu Zishan, she would have only been able to play a minor, invisible role, and perhaps no one would have noticed her at all.

If it weren't for her sister, she wouldn't have gotten the role of "Hua Xixi," and thus wouldn't have been able to be double-nominated for the Golden Leaf Award based on that role.

Even if she had the ability, wanting to be nominated for such mainstream awards through her own efforts alone would likely take years, even decades, or perhaps she would never achieve it at all!

Her sister was right; she had helped her avoid many detours.

And in the crew, she had seen how brutal the industry's competition was. Facing the hostility and oppression of others, there were always people who would treat her well out of respect for Sister Kuan.

She had seen actors who had already joined the crew get replaced.

She had also seen Zhang Heng use his status as capital to blatantly sexually harass and threaten Xu Zishan.

She had even seen with her own eyes more than one actress sacrifice herself and throw herself into the arms of others in the face of powerful capital and irresistible temptation.

And then there was today's incident.

If it weren't for her sister, she didn't know to what extent she would have been ravaged and forced by this environment. Her sister wasn't just helping her avoid detours; she was protecting her.

Perhaps she couldn't have understood this before, but now she saw it very clearly.

And Shen Ci had already seen in her past life what an A-Li without protection would become, so in this life, no matter what, she would be her sister's most solid backing.