Chapter 759

He Xiaofang had always been a straightforward girl—once she set her mind on something, she would just bury herself in working towards it.

For example, back in high school, Jiang Ning planned things out for her. Since her grades weren’t good, she should first aim to get into a teachers’ university. So she focused all her energy on getting into a teachers’ college, and in the end, she barely scraped through the admission line and got in.

In fact, most of her application choices were teacher-training schools, whether it was a teachers’ university or a vocational teachers’ college—they all led to becoming a teacher.

During her four years at university, she worked hard on learning English, hoping that after graduation, she could become a qualified English teacher.

Originally, she thought this would be her life path—graduate university, pass the civil service exam, become a teacher. But unexpectedly, during the summer break between her first and second year, her good friend and life benefactor—Jiang Ning—had a TV drama adaptation of her work underway. Jiang Ning asked the director and producer if they could arrange some non-speaking extras roles for her friends. That’s how He Xiaofang started her routine of spending every summer and winter break running around as an extra on sets.

Over four years, she only went home once.

Her parents, seeing she was slipping away and losing control, hastily accepted a marriage proposal before she even graduated from college. Using her mother’s injury as an excuse, they called her home to arrange the marriage.

If it weren’t for her elder sister’s call, maybe she would have been trapped in that small town her whole life, married to a man over ten years older, raising children there, teaching at school, helping her parents, and raising her younger brother.

After all, her parents were getting old.

Her parents didn’t want her to stay in the city; they wanted her to return home, marry in their town, mainly because she was the most promising daughter and they wanted her to help support her younger brother, who was still young.

He Xiaofang was a genuine girl in her early twenties. Her father and mother were her biological parents, but when hurt by them, her first reaction was helplessness and tears, not knowing what to do.

Yet, she had a beast-like intuition—she wanted to chase the light on her life path.

By then, Jiang Ning had passed the national exam but was still studying for her graduate degree in Beijing and held the position of Youth League Secretary at Beijing University.

In her confusion, the first thing He Xiaofang did was call Jiang Ning, crying so hard she was out of breath, not understanding why her parents would do that. She was their child, after all. Her sister said the man was nearly forty, had two children, ran a store in the town, and was financially stable enough to pay a high bride price. They were also attracted to He Xiaofang being a college graduate with a steady job prospect.

After hearing her cry, Jiang Ning gently asked, “So what do you want to do now?”

He Xiaofang hesitated, tears welling up, nervously replying, “I… I want to come to Beijing to find you. Is that okay?”

She was scared Jiang Ning would refuse because she had no money.

The money she earned as an extra was barely enough for tuition and living expenses. She had nowhere to stay in Beijing and no clue what she would do there, only the instinct to stay close to Jiang Ning, feeling that with Jiang Ning by her side, she wouldn’t be afraid and that Jiang Ning would always have a plan.

Jiang Ning immediately nodded and said, “Okay, come then. Do you have the fare?”

Before He Xiaofang could reply, Jiang Ning asked for her bank card number and transferred 2,000 yuan.

Traveling by train from Jiangnan Province to Beijing was already a huge expense for her at the time.

Looking at the amount credited in her account, He Xiaofang couldn’t hold back and burst into tears again. She quickly packed her bag, slung her snake-skin bag on her back, and like chasing light, rushed towards her good friend.

Jiang Ning took her to live in a rented place near the university, took her to tour Beijing University, and treated her to meals.

He Xiaofang’s temperament didn’t match her height and physique. Even after four years, she was still the shy, timid, and self-conscious girl she was—a reflection of her original family environment, not something that could change overnight.

Fortunately, the four summers and winters spent running around as an extra, and the influence of friends around her, made her a bit braver. Though still nervous, with Jiang Ning by her side, and looking at this top national university, she couldn’t help but be amazed.

Jiang Ning asked about her plans. He Xiaofang didn’t really know. Driven by fear and determination, she said timidly, “Maybe I’ll just keep running as an extra?”

Running as an extra was tough and didn’t pay much. Only a very few could make it big in this line.

Though she was a graduate from a teachers’ university back home, the school wasn’t prestigious. She could work hard to get a stable job back home, but in Beijing, it was insignificant. Just the name “Beijing” alone crushed her confidence, let alone working as a teacher here.

Seeing her aimlessness, Jiang Ning suggested, “Why don’t you consider graduate school first? Find a teaching job to practice first. Or if you want to pursue acting professionally, Beijing is a great place with many professional academies. You could try to get in or at least take some classes to systematically learn.”

There were many training institutions near the university. Even if she couldn’t get into the top ones, she could start with the average ones and live day by day.

He Xiaofang was scared at the thought of going for a master’s in Beijing and quickly waved her hands, “No, no, no, I can’t do that!”

Just three years of high school and four years of university had exhausted all her brain cells. A master’s was out of the question.

But she was very interested in Jiang Ning’s suggestion to first find a job and then study drama in Beijing.

Many years later, after achieving success and becoming an award-winning actress, facing the camera with calm and confident poise, no longer the shy girl of her youth, He Xiaofang would sincerely smile at reporters and say, “You know? Everything I have now is thanks to my best friend. You have no idea how good she’s been to me. Without her, there wouldn’t be me today!”

Looking back on her teenage years, she was truly amazed that every step she took was both incredibly right and incredibly risky.

Whether it was enduring bullying in high school, the frustration of falling behind in studies and wanting to drop out, or the helplessness of facing high school pressures on an empty stomach—at every turn, if Jiang Ning hadn’t reached out to pull her up, once, twice, or thrice, she might have ended up like her elder sister, dropping out, marrying at seventeen or eighteen, and living a life of raising children and taking care of family.

Just thinking about that life sent chills down her spine as if trapped in a bottomless nightmare.

And this wasn’t just her imagination—it was a real possibility that could have happened.

Even after she got into university, without Jiang Ning’s recommendation that led her to acting, her college life would still have been tough.