Chapter 212 - Partnering Up

“What time did you stay up till working on the script?” As quiet as the yawn was, Tan Jinqi had heard it.

“It wasn’t too late.” Tan Mo didn’t dare to tell Tan Jinqi the honest truth, which was that she had actually stayed up until 4:00 o’clock in the morning. She didn’t want to make her big brother worry. “I just slept a little less than usual. It’s not that big of a deal.

Tan Mo didn’t want to continue this conversation and immediately changed the topic. “Brother, have you gone to the dining room yet?”

“I called you for this exact reason. Tan Mo could hear her brother’s warm smile from across the telephone line.

“I’m on my way to the studio,” he replied. “Since we can start our production shooting, we’ll be preparing the venue for shooting. Director Liu is still at the hotel. Once you’re finished with your meal, you can discuss the script with Director Liu.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“All right.” Tan Mo nodded. The elevator door opened, but she did not get in. If she had gotten in, her phone would lose reception.

She stood in front of the elevator doors as they slowly closed. She asked Tan Jinqi, “Have you eaten yet?”

“Don’t you worry. Of course I’ve eaten.” He smiled. “I had originally called to make sure you had eaten and were ready for the day.”

“I am going now.” Tan Mo reassured her brother. “I’m still trying to grow taller, so I’ve got to eat properly and as much as I can.”

Even though Tan Wenci and Xu Mingzhen weren’t especially tall, all her brothers were.

But Tan Mo was different.

Qin Muye was the same age as she was, yet she was half a head taller than Tan Mo.

This was why Tan Mo was working especially hard at growing taller.

“Good.” Tan Jinqi felt reassured.

After hanging up, Tan Mo had to wait for the elevator all over again before heading down to the dining room.

She carried her bag as she entered the dining room.

She had planned to grab her food first before finding an empty table to eat at.

As she was searching for a place to sit down, she heard Shen Jingyi’s enthusiastic voice calling, “Tan Mo!”

Tan Mo turned around searching for this voice. She saw Shen Jingyi sitting at a four-person table nearby, enthusiastically waving at her.

Sitting beside Shen Jingyi was Yuan Qishan, who was making the same moves enthusiastically.

Why were these two suddenly being so friendly to Tan Mo? Something was definitely up.

Of course, these thoughts were not apparent on Tan Mo’s face. She looked toward them in a natural manner with an innocent smile and she carried her tray over and sat down next to them.

“Senior Shen, scriptwriter Yuan.” Tan Mo greeted them with a casual smile.

“Tan Mo, how’s the scriptwriting going?” asked Yuan Qishan.

“Very successfully. I’ve already finished the first episode. I’ll be showing Director Liu later on.”

“Could you let us take a look?” Shen Jingyi asked.

Tan Mo looked at her and then back at Yuan Qishan.

She could tell that they were starting to feel a little uneasy.

Shen Jingyi was thinking that Tan Mo couldn’t have actually seen through their act, could she?

“Senior Shen, scriptwriter Yuan, I often see evil witches that act as antagonists to the main female protagonist in TV shows. The things they do could include ruining her designs, destroying her documents, or even just flat-out stealing them, so she can’t find them.” Tan Mo’s eyes twinkled under the fluorescent lights. Shen Jingyi and Yuan Qishan’s faces had become still and solemn.

“What do you mean by that, Tan Mo? You don’t suspect us of trying to cause you all that trouble, do you?” Yuan Qishan looked down, seemingly unpleased by this.

“Of course scriptwriter Yuan and senior Shen wouldn’t do that.” Tan Mo smiled. “We were just talking about the script, and I was reminded of that. That’s all there is to it.”

SIGH! “I’m not arrogant enough to put myself in a female protagonist’s shoes.” Tan Mo smiled again as she took out her iPad.

Yuan Qishan was livid. She clenched her jaw.

No way were they the evil witches…

Tan Mo handed her iPad over.

And what do you know, Shen Jingyi was holding a large mug of coffee just as Tan Mo was handing over her iPad.

It was as if she had had no idea that Tan Mo would suddenly hand her iPad over.

From the corner of her eye, she could see that the coffee was just about to run into the iPad.

“Careful there!” Shen Jingyi yelled as she tried to avoid the iPad.

But the coffee was very hot, so it was hard to handle.

Not only that, but the mug was full as well. Just a little bit of a wobble would cause some of it to spill over.

That’s why, even when Shen Jingyi had tried to avoid Tan Mo’s iPad, she couldn’t make too big of a movement.

“Hey!” Yuan Qishan also let out a scream of surprise as she reached out to help. She accidentally touched Shen Jingyi’s hand instead of the coffee mug.

Her wrist twisted a bit, and now the hot coffee had spilled on Tan Mo’s fingers.

“Ah!” Tan Mo yelped in pain and she let the iPad slip out of her hand.

The iPad landed on the the plates that were sitting on the table with a loud THUD!

A corner of it also smashed into Shen Jingyi’s bowl of soup.

The bowl wobbled and the soup spilled all over the iPad.

Tan Mo’s heart thumped in her chest. What a show!

“I’m going to the bathroom to wash my hands,” Tan Mo said as she blew against her burned wrist.

She didn’t even wait for Shen Jingyi and Yuan Qishan’s answer before heading to the bathroom.

Only after Tan Mo had left did Yuan Qishan ask. “She just left her iPad here? Can you still turn it on?”

“I’m not sure. Let’s not do anything now. We should wait until she gets back, or else she’ll find some other excuse to push the responsibility on us.” Shen Jingyi said with a low voice.

Yuan Qishan nodded and let out a sigh. “We haven’t gotten exposed, have we? For what we just did?”

“I doubt it,” Shen Jingyi replied. “Even if you pull out the surveillance footage, it was still Tan Mo who accidentally bumped into my coffee. It’s not like we purposefully dumped it over her iPad. There’s no way they can pin the blame on us for this.”

Yuan Qishan nodded.

Last night, Shen Jingyi had gone to find Yuan Qishan after leaving Tan Mo’s room.

She wanted to cooperate with her to put on a great show.

Shen Jingyi had managed to convince Yuan Qishan to do so.

If Tan Mo became a scriptwriter, then not only would Shen Jingyi’s expert position get taken away, but so would Yuan Qishan’s job as scriptwriter.

This was why both of them shared a common goal and decided to work together by partnering up.

A member of staff came over to clean up the mess.

Shen Jingyi said, “Just clean up the soup and water, don’t move the iPad.”

All right.” The staff member nodded.

“What happened here?” Right then, Director Liu and Professor Zhao walked over.

Upon hearing Director Liu’s question, Shen Jingyi explained, with a remorseful look, “Tan Mo was sitting opposite me just now and wanted to show us her script that she’d worked on last night. But we had an accident. Her iPad hit my coffee mug. We’re not sure if we can still turn on the iPad.”

Director Liu looked down at the iPad, then back at Yuan Qishan and Shen Jingyi.

He hadn’t seen the entirety of the situation and couldn’t doubt their words. He looked over at the member of staff who was cleaning up the mess. “Sorry, but it really must’ve been a big accident for this big of a mess to have ensued, right?”

“Yes.” The staff member nodded. “The young lady bumped into this lady with the coffee and I guess she hadn’t properly grasped onto the iPad, so it fell onto the table.”