Chapter 24 - The Award-Winning Actress (2)
"Although I haven't watched this movie, I remember the lead actress' name is Ning Xiao, not Song Ning. Why did you change your name?" Mu Chen asked curiously.
Song Ning sighed softly when she heard his question before she explained, "Ning Xia is my original name. My father cheated on my mother. The two years I was filming, my parents fell out. At that time, my mother who was pregnant with my younger brother suffered a miscarriage. She was disheartened by that and divorced my father after that. When she left, she didn't demand anything except to have custody over me. I hated my father and his family for being cruel to my mother so I wanted to change my name. However, my mother wanted me to keep the surname Ning, not for my father, but for the movie."
"So that's why no one could find you after you retired from the entertainment industry. The movie and the lead actress became a legend and a mystery..." Mu Chen finally understood what had happened.
"There are many rookies in the entertainment industry. The moment one leaves, another will take the stage. It wasn't difficult to quit. Moreover, I was only fifteen years old at that time. After that, I was busy preparing for my college entrance examination. After entering university, I was up to my neck with my studies. Disappearing for more than a year is more than enough for people to forget me," she calmly said.
Mu Chen was slightly surprised when he heard her words. After all, countless young girls flocked to enter the entertainment industry, desperate to become famous overnight and to be noticed. However, Song Ning spoke about her glorious past without any regret at all. He asked curiously, "Don't you miss the entertainment industry at all?"
Again, her tone was indifferent when she replied, "There is nothing about that industry that's worth missing. I just acted out a character, and it's not my life."
Mu Chen could not help but admire her when he heard her words that were wise beyond her years. After a beat, he said, "I remember the cast and the backstage crew were interviewed. You're the only one who was not interviewed. If you were, I would've remembered you."
"Well, I didn't even participate in the promotional activities of the movie. I quit the moment I decided to retire so that I won't hurt my fans so much. I didn't want them to be sad since I felt grateful toward them," Song Ning said.
All of a sudden, Mu Chen understood why his mother had liked the girl, Ning Xia, so much.
"Mu Chen, how did Ms. Liang Zhen pass away?" This matter was also a mystery in the entertainment industry.
There were two sensational mysteries in the entertainment industry at that time; one was the retirement of the youngest award-winning actress, Ning Xia, and the other was the accidental death of Liang Zhen, an incredibly talented author and screenwriter.
After Song Ning went to university and settled down, she discovered all traces of Liang Zhen seemed to have vanished into thin air when she tried to look for Liang Zhen. She knew Liang Zhen had to come from a wealthy family since her son was the main investor of the movie. No matter how hard she tried, she could not find Liang Zhen.
At this moment, she felt the world was really small. In the past, she thought Liang Zhen would only exist in her memories. Who knew she would meet Liang Zhen's son?
Meanwhile, Mu Chen seemed to have fallen into a daze when he heard Song Ning's question. It was as though he was caught in memories of the past. After a moment, he clenched his hands tightly and said, "My mother passed away in a car accident. My mother and aunt were twin sisters. The person who was supposed to marry my father should be my aunt, but my aunt didn't want to be a part of a marriage of convenience so she fled. In the end, my grandpa and grandmother married my mother to my father since my mother and my aunt looked really similar. Fortunately, my father fell in love with my mother, and my grandmother treated my mother like her biological daughter. However, after I was born, my father fell out of love with my mother and began to party a lot. For that reason, my mother fell into depression. It was during that time that she wrote Yi Yao. She devoted all her time and effort to the book. Using the book as emotional support, she was getting better until…"