Starlet Taotie Chapter 17 (Part 2)
TL Note: For those who are reading as we update, I need to make a minor announcement on a change we decided to make. So my editor and I decided the term ‘follow-camera director’ is a bit unnatural sounding, and while that was the most accurate translation I could come up with for ‘跟拍导演’, the author is also using this and ‘PD’ interchangeably. I had been removing PD for ‘follow-camera director’ to maintain consistency, but after a bit of discussion, we decided to opt for the latter since it would be a smoother read. BUTTT I just want to clarify, this PD is a ‘production designer responsible for the overall aesthetic of a film and television story’ but is also there to give commentary and add to the tension and comedy of the show. I’m not sure if there’s a better name for this type of role, but yeah, it’s PD now xD
That’s all, you can go enjoy the chapter now~
Translated by Pure (ko-fi)
Edited by Luna
Proofread by bwth
Chapter 17.2 10k (CN) Characters
At noon, Director Zou announced everyone’s current point count.
Yang Zhen had 12 points, placing him firmly in first place.
Everyone else had earned more or less some points as well.
Only Jiang Tao’s score remained at zero.
Yang Zhen let out a cold laugh.
People who relied on selling a persona always fall apart once the competition required actual brains.
Only Tang Yuxia was genuinely worried. The moment she found out where Jiang Tao was, she immediately rushed over to check on her.
Le Hui pretended to be considerate and said, “If Xia Xia’s really that worried, why don’t we all go check on Jiang Jiang together?”
So the entire group headed down the street in a lively procession.
There they saw Jiang Tao wearing an unfashionably plain apron and galosh boots, using a hose to wash down the entrance.
If not for that overwhelmingly beautiful face of hers, she would have looked no different from a local village girl.
Seeing how miserable and down-and-out she looked, the frustration bottled up inside Yang Zhen finally eased quite a bit.
Le Hui hurried forward with a fake look of concern. “Jiang Jiang, are you okay?”
Jiang Tao looked at her in confusion.“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Don’t worry. Even if you don’t win the feast tonight, we’ll still share some food with you,” Le Hui said before turning toward Yang Zhen. “Right, Yang ge?”
Yang Zhen inwardly gloated, though outwardly he put on a generous expression. “Of course. We’re all guests on the same program. We should be helping each other!.”
At the same time, he subtly took another jab at Jiang Tao.
“Great!” Jiang Tao showed absolutely no sign of feeling slighted. Happily, she picked up the hose and handed it over. “Then help me wash the floor!”
Yang Zhen: “...”
Fuck, I was mocking you! Who the hell wants to really help you?!
Jiang Tao urged him,“Hurry up. Once the work’s done, I can go eat.”
Yang Zhen: “………………”
But he had just finished saying everyone should help each other. If he refused now, would that not be slapping himself in the face?
So Yang Zhen could only swallow his frustration and take the hose from Jiang Tao.
Unexpectedly, the water pressure was extremely strong. He failed to steady it in time and sprayed himself right in the face.
Jiang Tao immediately snatched the hose back with a look of disdain. “If you can’t do it, don’t force yourself.”
Yang Zhen nearly exploded from anger.
Determined to prove himself, he grabbed the hose back from Jiang Tao. “I insist!”
Jiang Tao stretched lazily before shouting toward the restaurant interior, “Boss, I finished my work! Can I eat now?”
As soon as the proprietress acknowledged her, Jiang Tao immediately skipped toward the kitchen like a happily little rabbit.
Tang Yuxia carefully stepped around the dirty water on the ground. As she passed Yang Zhen, she made a tiny cheering fist gesture. “You can do it, Yang ge~”
The others all copied her example as well.
In the end, the only one left standing there was Yang Zhen, clutching the hose with a dumbfounded expression.
Had he just... been tricked??
By the time everyone entered the kitchen, Jiang Tao was already on her third bowl.
The proprietress stood there holding a bowl, completely stunned by Jiang Tao’s ferocious eating speed.
With an awkward laugh, she said, “Go ahead and eat all you like, miss. You did so much work this morning, you must be exhausted, right?”
Jiang Tao gave two muffled “mm-hmms” and continued devouring her food.
By the time the proprietress snapped back to her senses, only empty plates remained on the table.
Jiang Tao finally lifted her head from her rice bowl and remarked innocently, “I’m still not full.”
The proprietress: “……”
For the first time, she sensed that her hasty agreement to letting this girl eat freely without restriction may have been a rather rash decision.
With such a large group gathered inside the restaurant, along with the cameras filming everything, it did not take long before they attracted a crowd of gossip-loving locals.
“This little girl looks so skinny, but she can really eat!”
“You don’t get it. That’s called being a competitive eater. The skinnier they are, the more they can eat!”
Dong Xianhong and the others exchanged looks.
Suddenly, they felt a little foolish for having made such a fuss earlier.
In order to feed Jiang Tao, the proprietress kept rushing back and forth between the kitchen and dining area.
After several rounds of cooking, she finally broke down completely.
She pulled out a five-point card from the counter and shoved it into Jiang Tao’s hands. “Isn’t this what you wanted? I’ll give it to you, so please just leave!”
The other guests: “????”
You can do it like that too?!!
However, Jiang Tao looked extremely dissatisfied. She complained with furrowed brows, “But didn’t we already have a deal? I work for you, and you provide all the meals I want. How can you go back on your word?”
The proprietress was on the verge of tears.
I was wrong. I’ll never try to take advantage of cheap labor again!
But Jiang Tao refused to let the matter drop. For a taotie like her, how hard was it to find a long-term meal ticket?!
In her panic, the proprietress suddenly had a flash of inspiration. “Come on, I’ll take you to someone else!”
Her gaze swept across the crowd.
“Zhao!! Doesn’t your fruit shop happen to be hiring too?!”
A middle-aged man who had suddenly been called out immediately broke into a cold sweat. “N-No, no, no. I’m doing just fine by myself. Really...”
What a joke. This girl ate almost as much as three grown men combined. If he actually hired her, he would go bankrupt.
In a panic, he hurriedly pulled out a point card from his pocket. “Here, take this. Let’s forget about the hiring thing... haha...”
“Liu jie...”
“Brother-in-law Li...”
“Uncle Ma...”
Every person the proprietress called out hurriedly handed over their point cards to save themselves.
Those who did not have point cards immediately rushed off to ask around for them instead.
Since everyone in town knew each other well, they all had a pretty clear idea of who had points and who did not.
Before long, Jiang Tao had already accumulated 60 points in her hands.
Zhang Ce stood there completely dumbfounded.
You can f*cking do it like that too?!
…
When Director Zou received the news, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Before filming began, the entire production team had run through countless test scenarios.
According to their estimates, everyone combined should have earned around sixty points in one morning, roughly half the total available points.
But now, Jiang Tao alone had already collected sixty points.
The combined scores of all the other guests still did not add up to as much as hers alone.
To rule it a violation…they really could not justify it.
After all, Jiang Tao had never asked anyone for points. The villagers had voluntarily asked around and voluntarily handed them over themselves.
But if they did not rule it a violation, then the gap was simply too enormous. Jiang Tao’s victory was basically guaranteed, and there would be no material left for the afternoon shoot.
Director Zou truly had a love-hate relationship with Jiang Tao.
What he loved was that every episode, she somehow managed to pull off bizarre, unpredictable stunts that greatly boosted the show’s entertainment value.
What he hated was that because of her, the amount of usable footage kept shrinking again and again.
Even the post-production staff were gradually losing more and more hair.
Director Zou let out a heavy sigh.
What a (wonderful &) painful problem to have!
Meanwhile, after Yang Zhen finally finished washing the ground and returned to change clothes, he had just been eagerly hurrying back when he received the devastating news.
“What?!”
His PD explained the entire sequence of events to him.
Yang Zhen’s face darkened considerably.
So after working himself to death for nothing, not only did he gain zero benefits, he had even helped Jiang Tao earn sixty points?!
Was he stupid or what?!
Looking at the 12 points he had worked so hard for all morning and proudly celebrated earlier, he now felt like a complete joke.
Right then, Le Hui secretly came looking for him again while no one else was around. “Yang ge, are you okay?”
Yang Zhen was already irritated, so naturally he did not give her a pleasant expression.
Suppressing her impatience, Le Hui continued, “Yang ge, do you want to get back at Jiang Tao?”
Yang Zhen replied irritably, “She’s already in first place. What else can we even do to her?”
Le Hui lowered her voice. “Jiang Tao may be in first place, but Tang Yuxia isn’t.”
Yang Zhen froze. “What are you trying to say?”
“Tang Yuxia only earned 3 points all morning. At this rate, she’s definitely going to end up in last place. Aren’t she and Jiang Tao supposed to be best friends? Do you think Jiang Tao will share food with her?” Le Hui analyzed carefully.
“Last time was a team challenge, so Jiang Tao still had an excuse. But this time it’s an individual competition. If she doesn’t share food with Tang Yuxia, then doesn’t that prove their friendship is plastic? All that ‘Jiang Jiang, Xia Xia’ stuff would just be for show. But if she does share, then her food-obsessed glutton persona will instantly collapse.”
Yang Zhen felt somewhat disdainful.
Le Hui usually acted as though she and Tang Yuxia were close friends, yet when it truly mattered, she sold her out without the slightest hesitation.
Still, her words had struck directly at his thoughts.
He desperately wanted to see Jiang Tao suffer.
“But how can we guarantee Tang Yuxia ends up in last place?”
Le Hui replied, “When I came over earlier, I heard that Sheng Xibai twisted his ankle while helping Dong ge. Neither of them will probably participate this afternoon. So as long as Yang ge helps boost my score this afternoon, the two of us can secure second and third place together and completely suppress Tang Yuxia beneath us.”
Yang Zhen hesitated slightly.
The clues he had painstakingly gathered would now have to be shared with Le Hui for nothing, and that left him feeling deeply uncomfortable.
But the moment he thought about how Jiang Tao had toyed with him today, the anger inside him surged right back up. “Okay! Let’s do it!!”
…
After everyone finished lunch, the afternoon recording session began.
Since the outcome of the competition was already practically decided, everyone had become unmotivated.
Sheng Xibai had twisted his ankle and was resting in his room. Dong Xianhong felt guilty about it, so he stayed behind with him.
Tang Yuxia looked at her own score and decided to completely give up trying.
Wasn’t it just a simpler dinner?
Back when she was dieting, she had survived on one cucumber a day before. It wasn’t a big deal.
Only Yang Zhen and Le Hui still headed out enthusiastically to gather more points.
After they left, Jiang Tao suddenly smacked her forehead.
Oh no...
She had been so focused on working that morning that she completely forgot Tong Tong’s reminder about promoting the ice cream brand sponsoring her.
Jiang Tao had never done this kind of thing before. After glancing around, her eyes finally landed on the only other person present: Tang Yuxia.
“Xia Xia, do you know how promotions work?”
“Promotions?” Tang Yuxia froze for a moment. “My side usually has dedicated staff handling publicity. But when my dad promotes things, he usually does premieres.”
“What’s a premiere?”
Tang Yuxia explained, “A premiere is when they bring the actors to movie theaters in different cities. They watch the movie with audiences and interact with them, so viewers spread word-of-mouth recommendations and attract more people to buy tickets.”
Jiang Tao fell into deep thought when an epiphany struck her.
Got it!
So basically, she just had to carry the ice cream around to every household, personally demonstrate how delicious it was by eating it herself, and then get everyone to encourage their friends and family to buy ice cream too!
Easy!!
Tang Yuxia blinked. “Jiang Jiang, why are you asking about this?”
Jiang Tao picked up a whole box of ice cream.
“To do promotions!”
Tang Yuxia: “???”
Still completely confused, Tang Yuxia followed Jiang Tao back out onto the streets.
Jiang Tao headed straight toward the place where she had worked all morning: the restaurant.
The proprietress had finally finished her work and was relaxing while scrolling through TickTock on her phone.
Just as she was enjoying herself, she looked up and saw the very person she had desperately hoped to avoid.
“Y-You... why are you back again?!” she cried in horror.
Jiang Tao: “Don’t worry, I’m not here to work.”
The proprietress had only just let out a sigh of relief when Jiang Tao suddenly pulled out an ice cream bar, ate it with the happiest expression imaginable, and then asked,
“See? Isn’t this ice cream super delicious?”
The proprietress: “……”
Zhang Ce: “……”
Tang Yuxia: “……”
The proprietress asked in resigned despair, “Just say it already. How many more points will it take before you let me off?”
In the end, Jiang Tao walked out of the last household clutching a thick stack of point cards, looking completely satisfied.
She then stuffed all the point cards she had just earned into Tang Yuxia’s hands.
Tang Yuxia froze. “Jiang Jiang, what are you doing?”
“Giving them to you.”
Tang Yuxia was so touched she nearly cried. “Jiang Jiang, you’re way too good to me…”
But Jiang Tao shook her head. “This is tuition fee.”
“Tuition?”
“For teaching me how to do promotions!” Jiang Tao patted the now-empty ice cream box. “This is an extremely important skill. Now that I know how to do it, I might even land other endorsements in the future. Stuff like chocolate, cake, biscuits…”
The more Jiang Tao thought about it, the more eager she became.
Tang Yuxia’s eyes turned watery with emotion.
Jiang Jiang was seriously too considerate.
She had even come up with such a ridiculous excuse just so I wouldn’t feel guilty for taking her points!!
TL Note: Guys, just a small PSA, please do not replicate Xia Xia’s extreme dieting methods, a cucumber a day is not a healthy way to diet. Please eat healthy portions. Is all, thanks for reading o7
