An irrepressible atmosphere of gossip surged through the production crew due to Qin You’s presence. Although they couldn’t make it too obvious, the gossip was like a giant bubble being blown up, enveloping the entire film set.
Those looks and whispers were so pervasive that even the actors about to go on stage couldn’t help but be distracted, casting glances toward Qin You.
The actresses playing Fang Ziyu and her best friend were both sophomores Director Wang had handpicked from X University; in real life, the two were indeed close friends.
Qin You had a strong impression of these two. Later on, both would establish a certain level of presence in the entertainment industry.
The girl playing Fang Ziyu was Yang Qiu, and the one playing her best friend was Zhao Anya.
Zhao Anya’s screen time in *Vanity Fair* was very limited, serving as little more than an embellishment. However, her future development would turn out to be significantly better than Yang Qiu’s.
Qin You curled her lips in a playful smirk. She felt the reason was quite obvious—just as she had turned to look at the set, she happened to catch Yang Qiu’s gaze. The other girl made almost no effort to hide the disgust, curiosity, and scrutiny in her eyes.
She had a straightforward personality, which fit the character traits of Fang Ziyu quite well.
However, she was perhaps a bit too confident.
Setting aside whether it was possible for Qin You to make a comeback, Yang Qiu was making her disgust so apparent. What if Qin You turned out to be a petty and vengeful person?
More importantly, the sky was already growing dark, and the styling for the set and the actors was essentially complete. This meant the scene was about to start filming, yet she still had the spare time to worry about others.
Qin You had long since memorized the script for the first episode of *Vanity Fair* until she knew it by heart. Naturally, she knew that every character in the first scene had a few lines. Zhao Anya only had two lines in this scene, yet she was currently clutching her script with a serious and slightly nervous expression, muttering her lines incessantly. She kept opening and closing her small mirror to confirm her styling was perfect. Meanwhile, Yang Qiu, whose role was much more significant, actually had the mind to focus on other things.
Perhaps it was telepathy between friends, or maybe she sensed Qin You’s gaze on her, but Zhao Anya suddenly looked up. She met Qin You’s eyes, then followed Qin You’s line of sight to look at Yang Qiu beside her. She gently patted her friend’s arm, leaned in to say something, and shook her head slightly. A flash of dissatisfaction crossed Yang Qiu’s face, but after that, she didn’t look at Qin You again.
It seemed the arrogant young miss wasn’t all that arrogant, Qin You thought.
The gossip bubble hanging over the film set was finally popped by the sudden appearance of Director Wang.
Director Wang had been busy adjusting the trajectory of the jib camera and had only just walked over.
The moment he arrived, his face was clouded with dissatisfaction, and the atmosphere instantly turned somber.
Director Wang glanced at the monitor, straightened up, and swept his gaze across everyone present like a searchlight.
“You two, don’t just loiter here. Didn’t I make myself clear? You’re blocking the shot.”
“Who arranged the flowers on that table? Can’t you see they’re crooked?”
“That glass wine cup, move it three centimeters to the right.”
“…”
In less than a minute, everyone present felt just how nitpicky and difficult to deal with their director was.
The style of this future “set tyrant” was already clearly visible.
After pointing out these obvious flaws, Director Wang didn’t stop there. He had severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and a desire for control. If a shot wasn’t perfect, he would be so uncomfortable he couldn’t sleep—and he would make the staff lose sleep along with him.
Thus, Qin You watched as the positions of all the extras in the scene were fine-tuned until they reached an ultimate balance within the frame.
Qin You took a deep breath.
Although she had no intention of changing her profession to become a director in the future, such a learning opportunity was incredibly precious for an actor. She eagerly absorbed those changes, imprinting them in her mind. If she didn’t know that pulling out her phone to take photos would surely result in Director Wang breaking her hand, she would have even wanted to take a few comparison photos to study slowly later.
Under Director Wang’s nearly draconian adjustments, the first shot was finally ready to begin.
Watching the massive jib camera sweep from high above down to a lower level along a meticulously designed path, capturing the grand set and the people in elaborate clothing, Qin You’s heart couldn’t help but pound.
Over the next few days, Qin You continued to report to the film set every day. She wasn’t acting yet, but she stayed there regardless.
The scenes filmed during the first few days required building sets. Once that part was finished, Director Wang gave a grand wave of his hand, and the entire production crew relocated for location shooting.
Location shooting was more expensive than studio filming, but Director Wang’s script established that when Fang Ziyu worked at an investment bank, she was on the thirtieth floor of a skyscraper. In a place like an investment bank, there had to be floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides with the entire city in view to capture the right vibe. Consequently, Director Wang had simply bought an entire floor of an office building in the CBD—he could just rent it out after filming was done.
As more and more scenes were filmed, it became increasingly clear who was playing which role. Along with that clarity, the meaningful looks cast toward Qin You grew more frequent.
After all, the only female role left that hadn’t been filmed was the cannon fodder who tried to seduce Fang Ziyu’s boyfriend.
The mockery in those gazes grew heavier. Compared to those who had always been obscure, people always preferred to ridicule a star who had once been famous but had ruined themselves.
And in Qin You’s case, not only did she ruin herself, but she also seemed to have given up all hope afterward.
They had originally thought she was there to play the protagonist; if that were the case, they would have had to be careful. Although this was just a web drama, there was no telling if it might become a hit. The audience’s empathy for actors playing likable characters is immense; even if her previous scandal was severe, she might have been able to make a comeback with a single role.
But she had actually let herself go completely, choosing to play such a “bad woman” role.
It was truly stupid…
She must have been misled online. A while ago, a trend had suddenly swept the internet where people dug up the vicious second female leads and vicious supporting female characters from old idol dramas to reminisce. Netizens were saying that compared to the naive, sweet, and innocent female leads, they preferred these vicious but beautiful supporting characters.
In truth, this kind of trend popped up every once in a while, but anyone who actually believed it was a fool. Those arrogant, scheming, or vicious personas could only survive in fan edits. In the real world, the characters most welcomed by the audience would always be those pure, likable, and pitiable female protagonists.
That was why, regardless of their actual looks—whether grand, gorgeous, or stunning—actresses today tried their hardest to present themselves as pure and simple. Only then would there be more roles available to them and a future for their careers.
Taking an unconventional approach to play a villain once to stun the audience was fine, but if one were typecast, it would be over. Their future acting path would be visibly narrowed, and they would be relegated to being a “character actor.”
Thus, many people clicked their tongues and sighed, thinking that Qin You’s move was truly terrible. It was a waste of her beautiful face.
Actually, their thinking wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it was based on one premise—that no one could write a villainous female protagonist well.
Director Wang happened to be the exception.
Among these people, the one with the most sarcastic intent was likely Yang Qiu.
Yang Qiu already disliked Qin You; sharing a room with such a person made her feel sick.
Although Anya had told her to restrain her attitude, the mere thought of working with someone like that made her uncomfortable all over.
However, that discomfort slowly, gradually turned into disdain.
Most newcomers in any industry have a common flaw: they overestimate the height they can reach.
When first entering a field, newcomers are often filled with unrealistic expectations, always believing they will be stronger than the majority of people they see in the industry. They forget that the people visible to the outside world are already the ones at the peak of the pyramid.
To Yang Qiu, never mind an actress like Qin You who had only been moderately famous for a short time before being buried under scandals like a meteor streaking across the sky—even someone like Feng Xiao, a former three-time Golden Film Award winner, was nothing more than a pitiable, washed-up female star.
Yang Qiu had not yet officially entered the industry, so she didn’t understand that some people’s low points were still higher than the summits most newcomers could ever hope to reach.
Possessing this misaligned perspective unique to newcomers, Yang Qiu’s dissatisfaction with Qin You had gradually transformed into complete disdain.
She disdained Qin You’s past and disdained her future even more.
She was the protagonist of this drama. Anya had told her that, barring any accidents, this drama would definitely be a hit. Anya always had excellent taste in film and television works, so Yang Qiu trusted her judgment completely. As the protagonist of this drama, she would surely become famous.
She remembered what Anya had said to her that day:
“…Don’t be so foolish as to clash with her. Qin You has both fame and topic-worthiness; she’ll bring an incredible amount of heat to this drama. Besides, she carries her own debuff and it’s impossible for her to steal fans. She’s an obvious big health pack. As the protagonist of this drama, you should just secretly rejoice. Why go looking for trouble with her? Are you afraid she won’t act like a diva?”
Anya was right. All she needed to do was perform the role of Fang Ziyu well. As for Qin You, she didn’t need to care too much, nor did she need to pay her any mind.