Chapter 211: The Best Revenge

Chapter 211: Chapter 211: The Best Revenge

Although Britney always smiled and told her that the chances of winning an award were slim, the expectations from the outside world, the recognition from the industry, and the overwhelming cheers from fans had already said it all.

Watching her best friend take step after step toward the peak, Irene also completely let go of her concerns.

She possessed memories of the future that others could not reach, and since she could use this to help herself dominate Hollywood, why couldn’t she also help Britney reach the peak?

It was nothing more than pulling one or two hit songs from her memory, nothing more than taking up a tiny bit of fragmented time, yet it could allow Britney to avoid detours and stand in a higher place. Why not do it?

It didn’t need to be much. One or two per album would suffice.

Without taking credit, without overstepping, and without delaying her own directing career, she could still let her best friend stand in the most dazzling place.

Thinking of this, Irene immediately took out the notebook she carried with her and firmly wrote down the song, even planning to take time after all the work on Pirates of the Caribbean was finished to learn how to arrange music.

She couldn’t keep asking Britney to arrange the music every time she had an idea. Since she had decided to help her write songs, it would be more practical to write them herself.

She looked at the song title on the paper, a faint smile gently curling the corners of her lips.

The next second, the private phone on the desk suddenly rang softly, and the caller ID was clearly Britney.

Irene still had that gentle smile from thinking about the new song on her lips as she picked up the phone, and immediately heard Britney’s irrepressible, excited voice on the other end, crisp and jubilant: "Irene! Someone wants me to star in a movie! A real movie!"

That irrepressible happiness almost spilled out through the phone line, but the smile on Irene’s face slightly froze, and her brows furrowed unconsciously.

Relying on the clear memories in her mind, she distinctly remembered that there were only two movies in Britney’s life where she truly starred as the lead:

one was a youth road movie leaning towards literary drama, telling the story of three small-town Southern girls running all the way to Los Angeles to chase their dreams. The other was a documentary about herself.

But the current Britney’s career had just climbed to its peak, and her life was at its most dazzling and cleanest starting point. It was still a long way from the time when her documentary would be filmed.

Then the one that came knocking this time could only be that youth road movie, but according to the timeline, that movie should have already passed its time.

Holding her phone, Irene walked slowly to a quiet spot in the corner of the editing room and sat down, her voice instantly sinking, carrying her usual calmness and seriousness:

"Who approached you? Who is the director? What type of film is it? Have you shown the script to Shelly? Did he agree to let you take it?"

A series of questions were thrown out, sonorous and forceful, without any hint of a joke.

Britney on the other end was clearly stunned for a moment. The excitement that had just been soaring seemed to be gently blown away by a cool breeze, and her tone weakened a bit: "I haven’t told Shelly yet. As soon as they invited me, I called you first."

She added in a low voice, "I heard it’s a youth story film, and I don’t know the director either. It would be great if you could be my director."

The last sentence carried a small amount of expectation and reliance.

Irene sighed softly in her heart.

She recalled the scene when she filmed the first MV for Britney. Even as the closest childhood friends, she couldn’t deceive herself—Britney was born for the stage, but she really didn’t have much acting talent.

The emotions, tension, and line delivery skills in front of the camera could not be made up for in a short time.

She didn’t pierce this blunt fact, just calmly changed the subject: "Don’t think about these things for now. Send me the original script from them, and I’ll tell you if you can take it after I finish reading it. Before that, don’t agree to any of their conditions, don’t sign anything, and don’t make any promises."

Britney grumbled in dissatisfaction, her tone carrying a bit of the small grievance of having cold water poured on her, yet it remained the familiar nonchalance: "Got it, got it. I’m not a newcomer who just debuted. How could I not understand these rules?"

Listening to her feigned relaxed tone, Irene’s brows still didn’t completely unfurl.

She knew too well how many traps were hidden in Hollywood’s sugar-coated bullets, and even more clearly, how much helplessness and grievance the Britney of her past life had suffered amidst fame, fortune, and capital.

And as Britney’s good friend, while she was thriving in Hollywood, it must have also stirred up quite a few of Britney’s own little thoughts of longing for movies, which was why she was so excited and thrilled when she heard that someone actually wanted to invite her to star in a film.

But movies were not that easy to make. In her previous life, that film didn’t even recoup its costs, causing Britney to suffer the blow of the movie’s failure while she was exhausted from dealing with all the black material spread by Justin Timberlake.

In this life, she would absolutely not let the same thing happen to her best friend again.

She took a light breath, her voice slowing down, adding a bit of the tenderness that only existed between best friends: "Be good, send it to me. After I finish reading it, I’ll tell you what to do."

Britney helplessly softened her tone: "Alright, alright, I’ll listen to you."

After Irene urged her to send the script over immediately and absolutely not to make any promises, she hung up the phone.

She leaned against the sofa in the corner of the editing room, having just breathed a sigh of relief, but her thoughts uncontrollably sank.

She wasn’t worried about the movie. With Britney’s nature, as long as she sternly urged her, she would never make a decision on her own.

But the moment she thought of the name Justin Timberlake, all the muscles in Irene’s body tensed up, and an irrepressible discomfort surged in her heart.

The farce in the company a while ago had earned Justin Timberlake some popularity, and barring any accidents, he would officially go solo this year.

Even though Britney had long been in a stable relationship with Edward, Justin still jumped out from time to time to try to stay relevant, and unscrupulous tabloids also fanned the flames, fabricating fake news about Britney "cheating" and splashing all the dirty water onto her.

Irene remembered too clearly that in her previous life, Justin had used this relationship to get ahead. The song "Cry Me a River" on his debut album was packaged as "a heartfelt message to Britney," which directly ignited public opinion, made him an overnight success, and even won him the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

A perfect performance of playing the victim, hyping himself up, and exploiting his ex, eating up all the dividends until nothing was left.

In this life, she would absolutely not let history repeat itself.

She wanted to cut off Justin’s path in advance and completely suppress the popularity and honor he gained by smearing Britney.

Irene tapped her fingertips lightly on her knees, calculating calmly.

To be honest, the quality of "Cry Me a River" was mediocre. She didn’t think much of it at all and wouldn’t deign to use it.

But that later song, "SexyBack," had a brainwashing rhythm and an avant-garde style. It truly had the potential to be a massive hit.

Since that was the case, she might as well write out the melody and the framework of the lyrics and music herself, and hand it to Britney for priority inclusion. Whether it was used as the album’s lead single or as a promotional track, it would all be up to Britney to decide.

Taking away his most relied-upon and proudest work was also a very good form of revenge.