The driver immediately pulled over, and Chi Xue did not waste even a second before slamming the car door shut.
She stood by the roadside and called Xiao Ruan. As the cold wind blew, Chi Xue could not help pulling her clothes tighter. A car approached from not far away—a sky-blue Bugatti Veyron. Chi Xue did not recognize the license plate number, but the car stopped right in front of her.
“Miss Chi, what have you decided?” The car window lowered, revealing Su Lian’s extremely irritating smiling face.
“Su Lian, even if you ask me a hundred more times, my answer will still be the same. Impossible.”
“Chi Xue, there isn’t a woman I, Su Lian, have wanted but failed to obtain. Don’t worry. I won’t give up.”
With that, the car screeched away from in front of her.
Chi Xue had been angered twice in succession that morning, and nothing went smoothly for the rest of the day.
Yesterday’s filming had clearly gone fairly smoothly, but today, she kept making mistakes whenever she acted opposite Fu Yeran.
Take after take was rejected, and they had to reshoot again and again.
Even Fu Yeran, who was always indifferent and aloof, had a trace of impatience on his face. During a break, Chi Xue could not help approaching him. “Teacher Fu, I didn’t expect what happened yesterday either. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
Fu Yeran glanced at her indifferently, his voice cold. “Chi Xue, do you like acting?”
Chi Xue froze for a moment and did not answer.
“If you can’t even do your best in a scene without letting your emotions affect you, then I advise you to leave this industry as soon as possible!”
“I’m sorry. It’s my problem. I’ll adjust as quickly as possible.”
Seeing that Chi Xue’s attitude was fairly good, Fu Yeran stopped looking so cold. He even helped Chi Xue work through the part that had repeatedly failed earlier.
With Fu Yeran’s help, Chi Xue finally steadied herself.
When lunchtime arrived, a staff member returned from outside carrying a huge bouquet of Roses. Under everyone’s gaze, it was delivered to Chi Xue.
“Miss Chi, a gentleman outside asked me to give this to you.”
Chi Xue was bewildered. Before she could accept it, she saw another staff member push in a cart. “Miss Chi, a gentleman outside said you wanted to treat everyone to milk tea.”
Chi Xue set down her lunchbox, took the flowers, and walked outside.
Sure enough, who else could the flashy sky-blue car belong to but Su Lian?
Chi Xue tossed the flowers at him. “Su Lian, stop doing these boring things.”
“I’m pursuing you.” Su Lian smiled faintly and pointed at the various fans nearby, speaking with a meaningful implication. “Chi Xue, pay attention to your image.”
“Su Lian, I don’t have time to play games with you. Stop coming to find me.”
There were still scenes that afternoon. Chi Xue did not want to waste time with him, and she was also afraid that someone would photograph them again and post it online.
As for the earrings, she could only trouble Lan Bei.
Once she returned to work, Chi Xue quickly adjusted this time.
Chi Xue gradually became able to keep up with Fu Yeran’s thoughts and state, and the two of them began to work together more smoothly.
“Good. Maintain this state and continue with the next scene!”
During a break, Chi Xue saw that Fu Yeran was resting, so she did not disturb him. Instead, she went straight to ask the Director about the scenes.
“Why have you come over? Aren’t you supposed to be acting opposite Ye Ran?” the Director asked when he saw Chi Xue approach.
Following the direction Chi Xue had come from, he saw Fu Yeran resting with his eyes closed and immediately understood. “Actually, Ye Ran has a very good personality. He’s probably only acting this way because he isn’t familiar with you. It’ll get better with time.”
The Director put in a good word for Fu Yeran.
“I know. Teacher Fu may just be tired today!” Chi Xue continued along with the Director’s words. She smiled and said, “Actually, I’m already very grateful. Teacher Fu’s acting is excellent, and he has already helped me greatly during filming.”
Chi Xue had not become angry at Fu Yeran’s neglect, which surprised the Director. After all, many actresses nowadays held themselves in extremely high regard. Being ignored was something they absolutely could not accept.
The Director had originally held some resentment toward Chi Xue because of the recent scandal, but after seeing how seriously she approached filming, his impression of her improved somewhat.
He patted Chi Xue on the shoulder and recommended several veteran actors in the production who were also highly skilled. “If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask these teachers.”
“Thank you, Director!” Chi Xue said gratefully.
From then on, during breaks between filming, while many of the other actors held their phones and played around, Fu Yeran often saw Chi Xue studying beside several veteran actors in the production. Sometimes she would also come to ask him questions. Even though his attitude was cold, Chi Xue never backed down. She persisted in understanding and learning whatever she did not know.
As the days passed, Fu Yeran discovered that Chi Xue’s acting improved every day.
The filming process was arduous, but time passed quickly as well.
Chi Xue only learned on the day of filming that Xia Mian would be making a cameo appearance as a special guest.
In front of the camera, the Director introduced them to each other, and they immediately began filming.
Xia Mian’s character was the White Moonlight in the Male lead’s heart. She had gone abroad for many years and had now returned. She would have a relatively intense scene between opposing characters with the female lead, while also becoming the greatest force advancing the relationship between the male and female leads.
“Chi Xue, although you didn’t graduate from a professional acting school, I believe in you. Keep it up.” Before filming began, Xia Mian smiled sweetly and spoke to Chi Xue in a very friendly manner.
Chi Xue’s expression was cold, her dark eyes clear and bright. “Thank you!”
Because the White Moonlight was supposed to slap the female lead in the plot, the first take was stopped immediately. They tried again, but the Director was still dissatisfied.
“What’s going on? You can’t even hit someone properly? This is hitting someone, not girls playing around.” On set, the Director showed no one any consideration and shouted directly.
Xia Mian’s eyes reddened, and she shrank her shoulders before saying softly, “Director, I feel that pretending to hit her doesn’t look realistic. But if I really hit her, I’m… I’m afraid that if I hit Miss Chi, people will say I’m acting like a diva.”
The previous attempts had indeed looked far too fake. The Director developed a headache and looked toward Chi Xue. “Chi Xue, is it all right if she really hits you?”
“That’s fine, Director.” Chi Xue nodded in agreement.
Xia Mian gently raised her hand and wiped away a tear before saying to Chi Xue, “Miss Chi, I’m sorry. The Director told me to really hit you. If it hurts, don’t blame me, okay?”
Chi Xue ignored her and immediately entered character.
Xia Mian really hit her this time, and the result was clearly much better.
But there were still problems. Either the slap came too early or too late. In short, not one take was perfect.
Fu Yeran had been resting nearby for quite some time, but even he could not help frowning as he watched the scene.
Seeing Chi Xue’s cheek grow flushed and faintly swollen, the Director’s expression turned ugly. When the final take ended, he called out in a low voice, “Cut.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Mian covered her chest as if relieved. “It finally passed. My hand hurts from hitting her. If we hadn’t gotten it right this time, I really wouldn’t have had the heart to hit Miss Chi again.”
Chi Xue walked to the side, where Xiao Ruan had already returned with an ice pop and hurriedly handed it to her. Her eyes were red with anger. “Sister Xue, she clearly did it on purpose. I’ll teach her a lesson for you.”
“No need. I don’t take such petty tricks seriously.”
She leaned back in a reclining chair and looked at herself in the mirror.
Sure enough… she looked terribly disfigured.
“Sister Xue, I recorded a video just now. Do you want me to post it online?” Xiao Ruan handed her the phone and showed her the short video she had recorded.
Chi Xue was somewhat tired and shook her head. “No. The netizens will only say that I lack professional dedication.”