1 Year Of Beginning

"Come on, Dad. We can listen to your rambling later. I'm going to have another shoot tomorrow morning," Zhang Ai complained.

"Fine. Fine. But you better listen to me later."

Zhang Liang shook his head. He was sure that the three of them would surely make an excuse to make sure that Zhang Yi couldn't meet them. Internally, he felt glad that he had a lot of work to do. If not, his father would surely target him more than his idle brother.

Lu Di La laughed. "Anyway, we're here to celebrate your birthday. Happy Birthday, Xiao Ai."

"Happy Birthday, Xiao Ai."

"Happy Birthday, Zhang Ai."

Zhang Ai grinned. "Thank you everyone! Let's all eat to our heart's content!"

"Don't eat too much or you'll have indigestion later," Feng Mian reminded. If she ate too much at dinner, she would grow fatter too. Though, she could see that the Zhang Family seemed to have good figures.

"Alright, let's eat!"

As the food was served, Zhang Ai began to attack as soon as Zhang Yi started to eat. The others looked at her as if she hadn't eaten for a week. They all agreed internally to ask Zhang Ai's manager later on about what this little woman ate on a daily basis to make her be this hungry.

Still, they all enjoyed the food and ate to their fill.

"Uh, you still eat?" Lu Di La was stunned when she saw Zhang Ai refilled her plate with rice for the fourth time.

Zhang Ai nodded. "I haven't been able to eat much lately, so I want to eat more."

"Really?" Zhang Xue picked up his phone and texted.

Zhang Ai's face changed when she saw her brother texted her manager. She was about to tell him to stop when she sensed Zhang Liang stared at her. It seemed that her second brother was even faster.

"You already eat at least a portion for three people every day. Even your manager is astonished that you only gain three kilos in two months. However, he suggested that you should lower your food intake."

Zhang Ai g.r.o.a.n.e.d. "I wanted to eat!"

"Should I ban you from eating sweet again?" Zhang Yi frowned. He liked seeing his children eat a lot, but Zhang Ai often went over the limit. Even though her figure didn't seem to change much, it didn't change the fact that she truly ate a lot.

"Nooooooooooooooooo! Anything but that!"

Zhang Ai had suffered a lot when her father forbade her from eating too much sweets before. She wouldn't be able to handle the fact that she couldn't eat sweets again. That would be a large torture for her.

"Then lower your food intake."

"….Yes."

Feng Mian laughed as she saw Zhang Ai agreed. Her dejected look made her look like a small puppy who was scolded by her owner. She could almost imagine an imaginary ear on Zhang Ai's head dropping when she heard her father's verdict.

Zhang Yi nodded in satisfaction. "Then again, when will you settle down, Xiao Ai? You're already 24."

Zhang Ai pursed her lips. "24 is still young, Daddy. I want to play around more and pursue my career in the entertainment circle. Nowadays, no one knew much about the Zhang Family in the entertainment circle."

"As long as you don't meet the others from the Zhang Family, I won't stop you."

The Zhang Family was still active in the entertainment circle, but Zhang Ai went to a different company. She wouldn't be allowed by her father to meet with her cousins since Zhang Yi himself had long cut himself off from the Zhang Family. He wouldn't want to get dragged back there anymore.

Feng Mian looked at Zhang Yi as she began to slowly understand why Zhang Yi was so against having Zhang Ai enter the entertainment circle before. Just like her often saw the bad side of the rich people, he had seen the bad side of the entertainment circle. However, he still respected her daughter's wishes.

Zhang Ai smirked. "Don't worry. I'm merely pursuing the female lead's role for the next drama that they're going to start filming in November."

November?

It was July, so it meant that there were still three months left before the start of the filming. However, it would mean that Zhang Ai wouldn't have enough time to rest if she attended it.

"What's the title of the drama?"

"It's Flowers Bloom from Battlefield."

Zhang Liang arched his eyebrows when he heard that name. It was not that well known, but it had a decent story. The female lead was extremely eye-catching because of her ability in both martial arts but bad when it came to anything that related to women's arts.

"Ooh, that's interesting," Zhang Xue nodded.

"Eh, Xue Ge, you know that story?"

"Well, Di La had a crush on the male���"

Plak!

"Don't spout nonsense!" Lu Di La humped. However, the small smile that emerged on the corner of her lips made it apparent that it must be true. In secret, she might have already fangirling for who knows how many times.

Zhang Liang shook his head lightly. "When will they begin the audition?"

"Oh? It's in September. Right now, they're remodeling the storyline to make it more interesting to be made into drama," Zhang Ai replied.

"I see."

Feng Mian smiled. "Good luck, Zhang Ai."

"Hehehe, I'll win the spot to be the female lead!"

Seeing Zhang Ai so fired up, Feng Mian could guess that Zhang Ai also liked the story. She wondered how it would go later, but it would be for the future.

"How's the progress of your drama so far?"

"It's good," Zhang Ai replied. "They didn't really make things difficult for me, but I found it hard to act after entering the entertainment circle for some time. I think that it's quite hard to act at times when you can't really relate to the character."

"There's no need to always relate to the character because you might not be able to fully relate. After all, you have a completely different life compared to the character. However, you can sympathize and try to put yourself in the same situation with them. At that time, you'll learn how to conduct yourself based on what they see," Feng Mian said calmly.

Zhang Ai blinked her eyes. "I'm confused."

"Well, if you tell me to act, I surely can't act," Feng Mian laughed dryly. She was very bad at acting, which only improved a bit lately thanks to her own feelings also developed. But when she was painting, she always tried to put her mindset to what she wanted to convey. That way, she felt that her painting would be more lifelike.

"But I think that even if you have never experienced the exact same thing, you might be able to connect it to some other experiences that you have in your life. it wouldn't be as much as the character itself, but it would help you to understand more what they have gone through. That way, you'll be able to act as that character more."

Zhang Ai listened carefully and nodded. Indeed, her manager also told her the same thing. If she wanted to act, she needed to make sure that her mind was completely on the character, which would make it as real as possible. It wouldn't be easy, which was why she needed a lot of practice to make it as realistic as possible.

"I see. Thank you, Er Jie."

"It's nothing much," Feng Mian replied.

At this time, the desserts have arrived. "Sorry for the wait."

Zhang Ai's eyes gleamed when she saw the row of cupcakes on the plate. As she had expected, the cupcakes in Restaurant A are the best!

"Hey! Don't eat too much. Share with your brother too!" Zhang Xue was stunned when he saw Zhang Ai picked up two cupcakes at once and began to eat. In addition, she looked so happy when she picked up more cupcakes and gobbled them up.

"They're delicious!"

"You little! Limit your sugar intake too."

"You're one to say, Xue Ge."

Zhang Liang sighed at his brother and sister's antics. He picked one of the cupcakes and bit it. Seeing that Feng Mian was staring at the cupcakes, he handed his.

"Do you want some?"

"Sure."

Without hesitation, Feng Mian bite the cupcake in front of her. On the opposite side of her, Lu Di La smiled faintly. Internally, Lu Di La thought to herself. 'These two are surely brothers. They really don't think of the place when they show off.'

Still, it was an enjoyable dinner.

…

(A/N): This is not Sora's Corner, but just wanted to tell you about the drama. Right now (2020), there's no drama with that title (Flowers Bloom from Battlefield) lol. I just used that one because it's my first published novel in . It's not that well known, but I'm sure that some of you know the novel.

I use it just because it's familiar to me, but I won't say much about it here because it's unrelated. At most, just some mention here and there about the character and a bit of the storyline. (I'll limit it so that it wouldn't confuse those who didn't read the novel too)