Ling Wei truly admired Boss Xie. If he had something to show off, he would show it off. If he did not, he would create something just to show off. He really was the type who would die without flaunting.
Before she signed the agreement, Xie Qingyan had probably already anticipated this step, which was why he had specifically added that clause. With such meticulous planning, was it not a bit of a waste to use it all just for posting on Moments?
Holding her phone, Ling Wei refreshed his Moments. Although she could not see his friends’ comments, Xie Qingyan not only loved to show off, he also loved replying. She wanted to see what he had been saying.
It was unclear whether his so called dubious friends were all that idle, lurking on Moments with nothing better to do. Sure enough, not long after he updated, the drama king Xie began replying.
“Daddy picked her up.”
“Daddy getting into a relationship has to report to you? Jerk.”
“Daddy’s baby is just this sweet and this cute. Dad is happy to spoil her.”
“Zhou Jerk has seen her. Go ask him.”
“Baby is busy and has no time to see you lowly commoners.”
“Dismiss yourselves.”
…
After reading Daddy Xie’s replies, Ling Wei was so startled that she could not even hold her phone steady. It dropped straight onto her face, making her wince in pain.
Chen Xiaoruo turned her head. “Sis, what’s wrong?”
Ling Wei waved her hand, picked up the phone, and said, “Nothing, nothing. I just watched quite a show and was stunned by someone’s acting skills.”
“What show? I want to see too.”
“Just play your game. Nothing worth seeing.” Ling Wei was afraid that if Chen Xiaoruo saw such outrageously shameless Moments, her young and innocent heart would suffer a heavy blow and her worldview would collapse.
She continued scrolling through the replies. From Xie Qingyan’s responses alone, she could more or less guess what others had asked.
Suddenly, Ling Wei had a bad premonition. Was she going to become a regular feature on Xie Qingyan’s Moments from now on? After all, showing off affection and tormenting single people could be quite satisfying.
At that thought, she quickly sent him a message. “Mr. Xie, are you there?”
The message seemed to sink into the sea without a trace. After waiting a long time with no reply, Ling Wei grew anxious and nudged him again.
“Mr. Xie?”
“Boss Xie?”
“President Xie?”
“Not there?” He had been replying diligently to comments just moments ago, so why was he not seeing her messages now? After thinking for a bit, Ling Wei changed the way she addressed him.
“Brother Xie.”
“Daddy Xie.”
“What is it, baby?” Xie Qingyan finally replied, and the tone was somewhat subtle.
Ling Wei stared speechlessly at the titles of daddy and baby, thinking that perhaps she had been using the wrong form of address earlier, which was why Boss Xie had ignored her. The moment she changed how she called him, he responded.
Staring at Xie Qingyan’s slightly blurred profile picture, Ling Wei ground her teeth for quite a while.
Wait, had he just changed his profile photo? She quickly tapped on it to take a closer look.
Ling Wei: …
It was the photo of the two of them taken the day they signed the agreement. Although Xie Qingyan had blurred it, she recognized it at a glance.
That drama king truly never ran out of theatrics.
Ling Wei had originally wanted to ask him whether he planned to keep posting about her on Moments in the future, but judging by the extent of his split personality performance, she already knew the answer without asking.
Acting? She was not bad at it either.
“Daddy Xie, it’s so late and you’re still scrolling through Moments. You should hurry up, wash up, and go to sleep.”
Ling Wei had expected him to chat a bit about the Moments post, but after waiting for quite a while, all she got was: “Going to sleep now. You may kneel and take your leave.”
Ling Wei: …
Kneel my foot. He really was addicted to role playing.
She had been sleepy just moments ago, but now she was wide awake from irritation. Lying back on the bed, she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. She could not help thinking that whenever she faced Xie Qingyan, she was completely outmatched, with almost no chance of winning. Just as the saying goes, for every inch the righteous advance, the devil rises a foot higher. She was not stupid, but when she encountered Devil Xie, she still fell short.
The next day was Ling Wei’s official first day of filming since joining the production, and she would be acting opposite Lan Ruo.
As a newcomer, Ling Wei naturally had to be diligent. She went to makeup early in the morning. Although the assistant director had given her a shooting schedule, the actual filming progress on set was unpredictable. If the actors were in good form, scenes moved quickly. If not, even a single shot could take an entire morning.
While waiting after finishing her makeup, Ling Wei noticed that her maid character Bai Xiaolian had not yet joined the set. Guo Qi seemed quite dissatisfied about it and even told the assistant director that if necessary, they should replace her. She did not know what the assistant director said afterward, but Guo Qi eventually dropped the matter.
Ling Wei did not have good luck on her first day. Lan Ruo’s acting was usually decent, but for some reason that morning she was completely off. Two shots took the entire morning to scrape through. The scenes between Lan Ruo and Ling Wei had to be postponed to the afternoon, so Ling Wei’s whole morning was essentially wasted.
Seeing that she was overheated, Chen Xiaoruo held up a small fan to cool her, worried she might break out in heat rash.
At lunch, Chen Xiaoruo brought back boxed meals. Ling Wei had no appetite from the heat. She took only a couple of bites of vegetables before setting down her chopsticks and gulping water from her bottle.
In the afternoon came Ling Wei’s scenes with Lan Ruo. Lan Ruo was still out of sorts. In the first take her expression was wrong, in the second she forgot her lines. She seemed as though she were sleepwalking.
The director was left exasperated. He waved his hand, told Lan Ruo to rest, and moved on to film Ling Wei’s solo shots.
With Lan Ruo’s poor performance as contrast, Ling Wei’s classically trained acting almost moved Director Guo Qi to tears. Her eyes were expressive, her body language natural, and her line delivery solid. Several shots were completed in a single take, giving the director a pleasant surprise.
After finishing her solo scenes, Ling Wei returned to the lounge. She wanted to talk to Lan Ruo.
She remembered that in her previous life, when she had played Consort Ru’s maid, Lan Ruo had exposed her relationship with actor Shen Jing on Weibo. Shen Jing later clarified on Weibo that he was still single, publicly embarrassing Lan Ruo. The incident spread like wildfire. Both of them were well known with large fan bases, and their supporters and haters fought fiercely online. For a time, it became the hottest trending topic.
Ling Wei only remembered the general outline of the incident and could not recall exactly when it had happened. Seeing Lan Ruo today, looking as though she had lost her soul, Ling Wei guessed that something had gone wrong in her relationship.
She did not want to meddle, but in her previous life she and Lan Ruo had been on fairly good terms. She could not simply stand by and watch something happen. Still, all she could really do was talk to her. If Lan Ruo was willing to share, she would offer some advice. If not, she would not force the issue.
Lan Ruo was sitting alone in the lounge, staring blankly into space. When she saw Ling Wei enter, she showed little reaction, merely pointing to the chair beside her.
Ling Wei noticed that Lan Ruo was gripping her phone tightly, and the screen displayed a Weibo page. She thought, could it really be such a coincidence? Was Lan Ruo about to post publicly about her relationship right now?
“Sister Lan Ruo, are you in a bad mood today? On set earlier, you looked like you were about to cry,” Ling Wei probed gently.
Perhaps Lan Ruo truly was in torment. She could not maintain her usual aloofness. After hearing Ling Wei’s words, she nodded and sighed. “Yes, it’s terrible.”
Ling Wei asked, “So you’re thinking of posting about it on Weibo?”
Lan Ruo glanced at her, then lowered her head to look at her phone again. Instead of answering directly, she said, “I don’t know if I should post. I’m afraid things will spiral out of control.”
Ling Wei looked at her quietly. In her bright eyes was a faint smile that seemed almost magical, calming Lan Ruo’s agitation without drawing attention to it. In a soft voice she said, “If posting will only make things worse, then why post at all?”
“I… I just feel unwilling to accept it,” Lan Ruo murmured, as if speaking to Ling Wei, or perhaps to herself.
“Sister Lan Ruo, I don’t know what you’re struggling with, but there is one saying that is always true. Take a step back and the sea and sky open wide.” After a pause, she continued, “I broke up with my boyfriend not long ago. I thought I would be devastated, but actually I’m fine. After the breakup, the world did not end.”
Lan Ruo lifted her eyes to look at her. This time she studied Ling Wei carefully, as if seeing her for the first time. “Maybe you did not love him that deeply.”
Ling Wei shook her head. “I loved him for a long time.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Lan Ruo set her phone down on the table and checked the time. She said to Ling Wei, “Can you tell me about that relationship?”
And so, over the next hour, Ling Wei recounted the entanglements between herself and her ex boyfriend. Of course, most of it was improvised on the spot.
Listening to someone else’s pain to make oneself feel better might be cold hearted, but it was undeniably effective.
That afternoon, when Lan Ruo and Ling Wei resumed their scenes together, Lan Ruo finally regained her footing. There were still a few NG takes, but it was nowhere near as disastrous as the morning.
By the time Ling Wei finished all her scenes for the day, her steps felt unsteady. She had not eaten enough at lunch and had been sweating nonstop. She felt as though she had shriveled up.
While she was changing and removing her makeup in the dressing room, Lan Ruo walked in carrying a thermos. “Rock sugar bird’s nest soup, this is for you.”
Such an obvious gesture of goodwill caught Ling Wei a little off guard. It seemed her advice that afternoon had truly helped Lan Ruo.
Sure enough, Lan Ruo said, “Thank you for this afternoon.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I could help.”
“You…”
Lan Ruo was about to continue when someone outside called out, “Is Miss Ling Wei here?”
“That’s me.” Ling Wei turned her head and saw a young man at the doorway, craning his neck inside while holding an enormous bouquet of roses.
“Miss Ling, these are for you. Please sign here.” The young man struggled to support the bouquet with one arm while pulling out a receipt with the other.
Ling Wei had a vague idea who had sent the flowers, so she did not ask further. She took the slip and casually signed her name.
The massive bouquet was carried into the dressing room. Ling Wei found a pink, faintly fragrant card tucked among the flowers. The message was printed, but the signature was handwritten.
“Wishing miss a great first day of filming. Even from thousands of miles away, I still remembered to send flowers. Are you touched? If you are, show some appreciation.”
The signature contained only the character Xie.
Ling Wei carefully put away the card and then looked at the vibrant roses. Suddenly, she felt the flowers were flamboyantly beautiful, just like the person who sent them.
Remembering that Ling Wei had only recently broken up, Lan Ruo asked curiously, “Someone sends you flowers on your first day of filming, that’s thoughtful. Is it a suitor?”
Ling Wei was startled and waved her hands quickly. “No, no, no. Just a rather mischievous friend.”
Lan Ruo nodded and did not press further.
Ling Wei thought to herself, was this just another way for him to collect material to show off on Moments?
What kind of appreciation could she give? A simple thank you was definitely not what he wanted.
So she opened WeChat and sent Xie Qingyan a red packet of two hundred yuan, adding a note that said: appreciation.
Since the agreement stated their cooperation was unpaid, she could not let him spend money on her.
On the other end, Xie Qingyan stared expressionlessly at the red packet for a long time before opening it.
Standing beside him reporting on work, Secretary Du happened to see it.
Secretary Du: …
Xie Qingyan looked up at him in disbelief. “She actually tried to dismiss me with money, and only two hundred yuan at that.”