The rest of the ride home was relatively silent yet not uncomfortable. Once they were back, Father Tang and Xueliang both got dressed for work and set off to the company together. Feeling that the morning was a little too active for her, Mother Tang decided to go back and get some rest again. Xuemei tried not to think about earlier too much and just went to wash up and get ready to head out again. Once she finished showering, Xuemei stood in front of her closet feeling conflicted. Part of her thought that this was a casual thing so her usual sweat suit would work fine, while another part of her thought that she couldn’t look too sloppy. Actually, the only reason it was taking her so long to choose was because inside her heart she was still extremely reluctant to wear feminine clothes. Also, she had no eye for woman’s fashion. It was not like she could walk up in a suit and tie. Massaging her head, the rational Xuemei finally won out as the manly self sighed in defeat. With no better options, she went over to her mother to ask for her help. After taking a short nap, Mother Tang was full of energy once again. Hearing her daughter’s request, she was overjoyed. Quickly getting busy, Mother Tang thought that a pretty, yet casual look would be the most appropriate. Too formal would make it seem more like a job-interview and too laidback would make her seem neglectful.

Since it was the summer, Mother Tang picked out a black mid-thigh skirt paired with a tucked-in casual white tee with black printing, and a jean jacket that hung on her shoulders. Paired with some accessories and heeled combat boots, Xuemei looked very stylish. One could say that Mother Tang really had an eye for these things while also being relatively open and not too conservative. At first, she had wanted to pick out something flowery and youthful, but that would not blend well with her daughter’s personality and instead make people feel that her Xuemei did not know how to dress herself. Something chic like this fit her daughter’s tall stature and colder attitude.

Xuemei could only use two words to describe her feelings towards this outfit: impractical and uncomfortable. The skirt was tighter and made big strides hard. The heels were not too tall, but she could not get used to the feeling right away. Plus, why would she wear a jacket over her shoulders instead of putting her arms through the sleeves? This just made her arm movement more constricted and the jacket did nothing for her. When she went to pick up an earring that fell, she got an earful from her mother about bending her knees instead of just bending her back. Otherwise, she would flash people. Then why not just wear pants or even shorts?! Frustrated, Xuemei had a belly full of resentment, but no one to vent it on. Why do girls have to live such hard lives? Mother Tang tried to bring up makeup once more, but Xuemei did not give one inch. Mascara bothered her and made her more conscious of her eyelashes while all those skin products just made her skin feel painted over. It was not like she was ugly and unpresentable without it.

“I thought you wanted to be an actress. You know you might have to wear thick makeup for a role.” Mother Tang said full of doubts as to why her daughter was so averse to makeup suddenly.

“Well, when that time comes, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it. At this point, though, it’s not necessary, so I won’t force myself to suffer.”

“You need to get used to it, though! If you keep avoiding it, you’ll never get used to it.”

“Maybe later…” It’s not the Xuemei did not understand the logic behind her mother’s words, she just really did not want to at this point. Her mind could not quite handle it just yet.

Helpless against her strong-willed daughter, Mother Tang could only let the topic go.

Tao Qiao arrived right on time at 8:25, so they could leave by 8:30. Traffic was as usual, but she still made it in time with 10 minutes to spare. Xuemei kept her expression straight, but inside her mind she was focusing on her feet. Trying to keep her balance and not embarrass herself, she ignored the discomfort and walked slowly but confidently. It turned out that this studio was a part of an office building with a couple different companies occupying different floors. Mo Chen took over the fifth floor. Walking the elevator, Xuemei did catch a few people’s attention. However, they were all reporting to work or on business. Other than looking with appreciation, no one approached her and just minded their own business. Boarding the crowded elevator in the lobby, it was slightly uncomfortable. However, most of them all filtered out by the fifth floor. When the elevator dinged and the screen showed the number 5, Xuemei felt some butterflies in her stomach appear. Appearing unphased, she walked out with confidence to the front desk. The attendant asked what her business was and if she had an appointment with someone. Mentioning Mo Chen, the attendant looked genuinely confused as nothing was written on the schedule. Staying respectful, the woman informed Xuemei there was no meeting that she was informed of. Frowning, Xuemei decided to just call him. He was probably in the office anyways. Whipping out her phone, she easily found the contact name.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mr. Mo Chen. It’s Tang Xuemei. I’m here at the front desk. Where did you want me to meet you?”

“The front desk?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be right out, then.”

Quickly hanging up, Xuemei could hear the sound of a door opening while footsteps echoed down the hall. Soon, a familiar figure stood before her. After exchanging pleasantries and asking about the police situation, Mo Chen finally got down to business.

“Follow me.” Leading the way, they both entered what seemed like a practice room with a little stage and everything. Mo Chen sat down on the edge of the stage and indicated that Xuemei should sit in one of the chairs facing him. Once they were sitting face to face, Xuemei could tell that Mo Chen was looking her over carefully.

“Dressed like this, you certainly give off the right vibe now.” He began.

“Haha, it’s the work of my mom. My taste is not so great.”

“Then I’m guessing the dreadful sweat suit from yesterday was your doing.”

Dreadful? Xuemei felt slightly insulted but held her tongue.

“Yes…”

“Although I’m also not a huge fan of dressing nicely, there is a necessary image to keep up. So, you should try to refine your casual wear taste. Every now and then is fine because it makes you seem human and relatable, but too often and you will not seem as attractive.”

“Okay.” Nodding, Xuemei could understand his meaning.

“Looking at you walk and sit, there is nothing wrong with your posture which is good. But you do seem a little stiff.”

Xuemei knew these were all habits ingrained from her past life, so it would be hard to fix them. She could only try her best.

“Alright. Since I am serious about this, I would like to know more about you. Tell me about your life.”

“How much?”

“As much as you can without feeling it is too personal. Everything that an insistent paparazzi could find out.”

Sensing Mo Chen’s purpose, Xuemei felt she should be honest about her life beforehand. She had read multitudes of exposés by entertainment news reporters. They were pests that would leave no stone unturned. If she tried to save face and hide things right now, then she and people like Mo Chen, who were backing her up, would be caught unprepared when stories broke out. This could also be a test of character. Who knows if Mo Chen already back checked her story?

Thus, Xuemei gave an honest abridged version of the previous Xuemei’s personality and life up to the suicide attempt while also giving some information on what has been like for her after waking up. Since it was a different person, she was able to give a brutally honest evaluation of the 14 years before the coma. She was a privileged and spoiled bully who ended up committing suicide over a boy who did not like her but liked her so-called “rival”. She even named the specific people who probably still hate her to this day from the bullying they suffered under her hand. They would be the first people to speak out and blacken her name later if she became popular. Afterwards, she spoke of her changes like her current strength, talent in martial arts, and her chances of getting into the top university in the capital.

Mo Chen was inwardly more and more surprised. Xuemei’s assumption was correct; he had done a background check on her. He was not aware of what happened after the coma since Xuemei spent most of her time locked up at home. But before the coma? There were tons of rumors and information that was readily available which all spoke out about how horrible a person Tang Xuemei was. After reading this information, Mo Chen regretted agreeing and almost wanted to straight out cancel the meeting. However, reading the polite text from this morning and remembering how she acted before, Mo Chen decided to give her a chance. Either her acting skills were truly great or she had genuinely made an effort to change after waking up. He leaned more towards the former just because he had met too many girls like that, but still held on to hopes that it was the latter. Listening to her so blatantly exposing and even harshly criticizing herself, Mo Chen felt his heart and attitude soften. As ironic as it was, even though he is an actor, he hates dishonesty. This got him in a lot of trouble and also made him eat a lot of criticism back in the days when he could not speak white lies well. It was always Mo Yu cleaning up after him with his silver tongue.

“I’m sure you’re already aware of the hate that you will probably get once people start paying attention to you. Right now, no one knows you so they won’t try to dig into your past. However, if you get a chance and break out into the scene, those entertainment magazines will overturn every stone to find what they are looking for. I would suggest that when you start having fans, you just confess yourself in a sort of “About Me” type fashion. Do this when you still are not too popular, so it does not seem too after the fact. Eventually, you will have to have a Weibo where your fans can interact with you so you can do it on there. Don’t give yourself excuses, just take responsibility and show that you are a changed person in your actions. We will probably have to set up some charity donations and participations in anti-bullying campaigns beforehand. Your family is well-off so I have no doubts that they have some connections for these things. You have to understand that all these things must be set up ahead of time, so you have tons of evidence later that you have been a changed person after waking up from the coma.” Speaking clearly, Mo Chen laid out his plans. Once he decided to teach someone, he was not the type to put in only half the effort. He could see that she was different, but Xuemei’s past would become an extreme black spot later. Netizens were crazy these days. Almost expecting their celebrities to be the Buddha or something, especially women. Just one scandal for women could spell the end of a career. All it took was one overstated headline. By the time their name was cleared officially by the police or in court, the country already blacklisted them to oblivion.

Xuemei first looked up in surprise, but calmed down after some thinking. She was probably right to guess that he looked into her background. So, he already had a plan organized and thought out beforehand.

“My mom participates in a lot of those kinds of activities, I’m sure she would be thrilled for me to tag along.”

“Okay. Start there. Also, make yourself a Weibo. It’s a bit too early now, but you never know when you will be thrown into the spotlight. Do you have a good picture for your profile?”

“Picture?” Xuemei paused awkwardly. Although she had a phone, she had not taken even one photo yet.

“You could make your background anything really, but the profile should be a decent headshot of yourself. Make it fashionable, otherwise it could look too much like your application photo to a company.”

“I don’t have pictures like that…”

“…None?” Mo Chen looked genuinely puzzled.

“Not even ones that friends took of you? Like when you went somewhere nice, took a trip, wore a cute outfit? It doesn’t have to be done by a professional, as long as it came out nicely.” Was this not how all young girls acted these days? How could she not even have one?

“There’s not even one photo on my phone, let alone on of myself.”

“… Didn’t you wake up from your coma almost a year ago?”

“Yes, why?”

“Did you live like a recluse? How could you possibly not have one photo of yourself?!”

“That’s just how it worked out?”

Rubbing his temples, Mo Chen did not even know where to start. Glancing at Xuemei once more, he thought of an idea.

“Come with me.” Mo Chen ordered before walking out of this room. Soon, he brought her to what looked like a photoshoot studio. Grabbing the camera on the side, he pulled Xuemei’s arm and dragged her over towards the stool in the middle. The background was all white at this point with just one wooden stool. Xuemei looked over with confusion.

“I’ll take pictures for you. We should just get this over with. You look nice today anyways, good enough for a photo.” Holding up the camera, Mo Chen announced his intentions.

“But…” Xuemei felt awkward. Before she could continue, there was a sudden flash. Mo Chen started without paying her any attention. Stiff, Xuemei was not able to make any good expressions.

“What are you doing? You want to act with expressions like these?! Make whoever sees these pictures fall in love with you.” Mo Chen quickly reprimanded.

Blanking for a moment, Xuemei started turning serious. Fall in love? How to do this? Her head spun around in circles thinking of some expression. A lightbulb finally went off when she heard Mo Chen speak once again.

“Think of me as some handsome man you have encountered that you want to attract.”

Man? Well that obviously won’t work. But a woman? Xuemei closed her eyes, thinking back to her days picking up women on her days off. In most bars or clubs, you had to look confident but without sleaziness to catch a woman’s eye. It was awkward to have someone in front of her, but she tried her best to put Mo Chen out of her mind. When she opened her eyes back up, her expression was still a little stiff. But as time moved on, her facial muscles relaxed and started exuding poise. A small smile gracing her lips, she had charisma that drew even Mo Chen in. It was not so much a seductive look, but gave her an atmosphere that caught people’s attention. Looking down at the photo he just caught, Mo Chen felt it was enough. There was some potential there.

“Although you were too stiff and did not have exactly the expression I was looking for, I guess this is passable. I’ll send you the one I approve of and you can use it for your profile later.” He finally stopped snapping photos.

Relaxing, Xuemei released the breath she did not realize she had been holding.

Mo Chen checked his watch and realized more time than he anticipated passed by.

“This is all the time I have today, it seems we will not get to any basic acting fundamentals. Come by 8am tomorrow morning. Also, give some thought about what kind of roles you want to start out with. I can help you find auditions for super new characters with little screen time for practice. This probably will not be right away, but I want to know early so I can keep my eye out.”

“Actually…” Xuemei started.

“What?”

“Actually, I already gave it some thought.”

“Oh? Go on.”

“I wish to start as a stunt double.”

Mo Chen’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Stunt double?”

“Yes.”

“Reason?”

“I am well-trained in martial arts, so I could start these kinds of positions right away. I could also watch experienced actors and actresses up close to learn from them. Eventually, I would want my own role with actual screen time. But this way, I could dive into the industry faster.”

“Stunt doubles also need separate training, as well, since faking it is different from actual hitting. You also have to know angles well because usually your face cannot be caught. They are prone to suffering injuries. Are you sure you want to go through the trouble? In this industry, a lot of stunt doubles are treated like extras unless you are very well-known.”

“Are small-time actors not treated the same? I can only swallow my pride and get used to being under people. Everyone starts out the grunt.” Xuemei reasoned. As someone who experienced the military, how could she not understand. Newbies could only be resigned to some mistreatment. As long as it was not too malicious, there was a strict hierarchy to be upheld. Especially in a country such as China where respect towards seniors in career and in life was deeply ingrained into the culture.

Mo Chen silently looked at her for a couple breaths.

“Alright, well, if that’s what you want. I don’t see any reason against this. I will contact a friend of mine who owns a stunt double agency. He could probably help you look for parts and train you.”

“Thank you for your help.” Bowing slightly, Xuemei did not forget to show her gratitude.

“Mm, it’s no problem. Just a matter of opening my mouth. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.” Waving her off, Mo Chen walked out and headed towards his office again while Xuemei walked to the elevator.