Ling Wei and Li Yi returned to the production set before noon to cancel her leave, arriving just in time for lunch.
Li Yi went to speak with the director, while Ling Wei was pulled under a sun umbrella by Lan Ruo, who had just finished filming. Ling Wei had thought Lan Ruo had something important to discuss, but after waiting a moment, she was handed a thermos flask instead.
Ling Wei was speechless.
Lan Ruo passed the thermos to her with a straight face and said solemnly, “Getting close, building connections, bribery…”
Ling Wei suddenly felt the thermos in her hands weigh a thousand pounds. She carefully opened the lid and peeked inside, her expression complicated. “A bowl of chicken soup?” Using just a bowl of chicken soup to get close, build connections, and bribe her? That was hardly sincere.
“This is not an ordinary bowl of chicken soup,” Lan Ruo said gravely.
“Then what kind of chicken soup is it?”
“It’s a bowl of inspirational chicken soup.”
Ling Wei was speechless.
That joke was not funny at all.
Seeing Ling Wei’s bewildered look, Lan Ruo could not help laughing. She turned to her assistant and said, “Tell Sister Lin I’ve completed the task she assigned.” Sister Lin was her manager.
After the assistant walked aside to make the call, Ling Wei asked quietly, “What task?”
Lan Ruo replied with a half smile, “Sister Lin assigned me a task to get close to you without making it obvious, to curry favor with you, to bribe you. She suggested I bring chicken soup.”
“Heh, your manager really doesn’t take the usual path,” Ling Wei said perfunctorily.
“Right? I think bringing caramel sunflower seeds would’ve been better than chicken soup.” As she spoke, she grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from a nearby plate and handed them to Ling Wei.
Ling Wei did not refuse. She set the thermos aside and began cracking the seeds.
After eating a few, Lan Ruo said, “Ever since President Xie came to the set, your status here has risen rapidly. A lot of people want to get close to you.”
Ling Wei sighed. “I don’t have many scenes left anyway. Sister Li just went to talk to the director about whether my remaining scenes can be filmed earlier.”
“In any case, keeping a low profile won’t hurt.”
“Mm, thank you, Sister Lan.”
“But your boyfriend is really something. The moment he shows up, he carries the aura of a male lead.” She refrained from adding that he had nearly blinded everyone.
Teased like that, Ling Wei pursed her lips helplessly. What could she do? She was desperate too. Daddy Xie was an Oscar level drama king, able to add scenes for himself anytime and anywhere. No one could stop him.
Chen Xiaoruo, having heard that Ling Wei had returned, hurried over with two boxed meals from the set. “Sis, you haven’t eaten yet, right? Hurry and eat while it’s hot!” She shoved a lunch box into Ling Wei’s hands.
Ling Wei opened it and instantly lost her appetite. A greasy chicken leg and wilted yellow greens. It looked toxic. After enjoying fine food and luxury during the past two days in the capital, even her appetite had grown picky. In low spirits, she took out her phone, snapped a few photos of the meal, and sent them all to Xie Qingyan.
“Gege, look at this pig feed they’re giving me.”
Brother Xie quickly replied, “Nonsense. Even pigs would turn up their noses at that.”
“Are you saying I’m worse than a pig?!”
“In this regard, you’re smarter than a pig.”
Ling Wei was speechless.
She had only meant to use it as an excuse to flirt with Daddy Xie, yet he had directly compared her to a pig.
Was he not secretly in love with her, even hiding her photos and treating her like a goddess? Who treats their goddess like this? It made no sense.
Ling Wei said in a slightly coquettish tone, “Aren’t you even going to feel sorry for me? I’m the ‘little sweetheart’ who set reminders for your birthday half a month in advance. How can you treat me like this?”
Daddy Xie was silent for a moment.
Faced with her sudden change in tone, he seemed a little unaccustomed to it. After a long while, he replied, “How about I order you takeout?”
“Then I want egg tarts from the bakery at the entrance of my residential complex,” Ling Wei demanded extravagantly.
“Then you’d better obediently eat your boxed meal. It has vegetables and meat. Not bad,” Daddy Xie replied without mercy.
“Daddy, your cool and domineering persona has collapsed. You’re supposed to say you’ll have someone buy them and fly them over immediately.”
“My script today is for a cold, aloof CEO. Thank you.”
Ling Wei was speechless.
Truly, when the devil rises a foot, the Tao rises ten.
Lan Ruo only rested for a short while before being called back to film. Chen Xiaoruo stayed by Ling Wei’s side. Seeing her play on her phone until she was sweating in the heat, Chen Xiaoruo thoughtfully found a small electric fan and began fanning her.
Ling Wei was still sparring verbally with Daddy Xie. “Daddy, I have a proposal.”
Daddy Xie replied, “Permission granted.”
Ling Wei was speechless again.
“About those two lines we just exchanged, if you tweak your reply a bit, it would make excellent material for your Moments.”
“How should I tweak it?”
“When I say I want egg tarts, you reply, ‘I’ll have someone open a bakery at the entrance of the film studio right now.’ Doesn’t that sound incredibly domineering? I’ve even thought of the caption for you: ‘A woman should be pampered like this.’ What do you think?”
Daddy Xie rejected her suggestion without mercy. “Not good. It’s ridiculous.”
Ling Wei snorted indignantly, put away her phone, and lowered her head to eat. After bantering with him, her appetite had actually improved. Even the greasy chicken leg tasted especially good. Chen Xiaoruo fanned her while wearing a delighted auntie smile.
After a while, perhaps noticing she had not replied, Xie Qingyan sent another message. “Are you angry?”
Ling Wei opened it and decisively replied, “Hmph.”
“Really angry?”
“Hmph.”
“Don’t be angry.”
“Hmph.”
“Miss, did you forget our agreement?” Daddy Xie brought out his trump card.
Ling Wei was speechless.
One of the clauses in their agreement was to act as each other’s gentle and considerate lover at all times.
How had she ever signed such a trap of an agreement?
Grinding her teeth, she replied, “Gege, I’m not angry. I would never bear to be angry with you.” After sending that message, she felt as if she had swallowed a whole jug of vinegar. Even her teeth felt weak.
This time, it was his turn not to reply. Had Boss Xie found her unprofessional and gotten angry instead?
“Gege, are you angry?”
“Gege, don’t be angry.”
“Gege…”
“Daddy…”
Before she could coax him back, Li Yi returned after speaking with the director. “I talked with the director. Your scenes will be finished this week, so we may need to speed things up these next few days. Is that okay?”
Ling Wei nodded. “No problem.”
“Good. I’ll stay here with you and we’ll head back together.”
“Thank you, Sister Li.”
“As I should.”
Director Guo Qi, being a renowned director, was naturally not easy to persuade. The fact that Li Yi managed to convince him was due not only to her own skill but also likely because Ling Wei had a powerful “boyfriend.” Everyone understood this, though no one said it aloud.
Because they were rushing the schedule, Ling Wei did not rest long. That very afternoon she hurried into costume and began filming. Fortunately, her acting skills were solid. Even after two days off, she quickly found her rhythm again. They filmed from daytime until night, and it was not until eleven that she dragged her exhausted body back to the hotel.
Since Li Yi had booked a room in the same hotel, Chen Xiaoruo had been moved to share with her, leaving Ling Wei to stay alone. After showering, Ling Wei collapsed face down on the bed. When she saw her phone on the bedside table, she remembered the messages she had sent Xie Qingyan earlier. She quickly opened it and saw that half an hour after her string of messages, he had replied, “I was in a meeting.”
Ling Wei was speechless. Why did Daddy Xie always choose to flirt with her while in meetings? Was it because the meetings were too dull?
Thinking about it now, she realized she had overthought things that afternoon. Someone like him would not get upset with her so easily.
Out of habit, she opened Moments and saw that Xie Qingyan had updated again.
Daddy Xie’s Moments:
“My baby is just this clingy.”
The attached image was a screenshot of the string of messages she had sent earlier to coax him.
Ling Wei was speechless.
As expected, she was no match for him. Daddy Xie’s Moments remained something others could only look up to.
Staring at her phone, Ling Wei felt frustrated. She was a mature thirty two year old soul, yet in front of President Xie she had no power to fight back. She must have been bewitched.
With that thought, she decisively got out of bed, fixed her hair and bathrobe in front of the mirror, then sat on the sofa. Finding the perfect angle, she initiated a video call to Xie Qingyan.
The call was answered after just two rings. At a glance, she saw President Xie with damp hair. He had likely just showered. His wet hair hung over his forehead, and he wore loose loungewear. He looked like an approachable guy next door.
Holding the phone in one hand and a towel in the other, he asked while drying his hair, “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
Ling Wei pressed her lips together. “Not yet. I just got back from filming.”
“You were filming this late?”
“Yes, we’re rushing the schedule. I just came up to tell you that I was filming this afternoon and didn’t see your reply.” As she spoke, she casually brushed her hair aside, deliberately revealing a tempting stretch of collarbone.
Xie Qingyan’s smile faded slightly, his gaze growing deeper. “Then you should go to sleep early.”
Ling Wei shook her head. “I can’t fall asleep.”
“Why?”
She narrowed her eyes at the camera and smiled. “For someone as clingy as me, I hadn’t seen a handsome guy all day. I couldn’t sleep.”
Xie Qingyan was speechless.
She continued smiling. “But now that I’ve seen you, I can finally sleep peacefully. Good night, Gege.” Without waiting for his response, she ended the call.
Xie Qingyan stared at the chat screen in silence for a few seconds. Then he tossed his phone aside, walked to the bed, and threw himself down forcefully, burying his face in the pillow. Thinking about the way Ling Wei had deliberately teased him just now, he laughed softly to himself.
My goodness, how can she be this adorable? This is completely unfair. She’s so cute it makes my heart tremble.