Meeting? Let’s Hook Her In

The rain came down in sheets, so Ke Wei pulled up at the hotel entrance and let Bai Mo and Xi Zhen get out first.

Xi Zhen stepped into the hotel lobby and spotted a familiar figure at a glance.

The oversized T-shirt she wore had soaked up a few patches of rain, dark and light stains mottling the fabric, but the slim, long-limbed frame beneath it was still unmistakable.

What a coincidence. Xi Zhen raised a brow. At that moment, she remembered the message she’d received earlier that day. Could the new on-set screenwriter be... her?

She began to think back to the resume she’d seen earlier. Top university, impressive credentials—everything looked excellent. The only thing that had seemed a little out of place was the person’s major: finance.

A finance student coming to a film crew for an internship had struck Xi Zhen as odd at the time. But Ke Wei had said flatly that this would be the best choice. Xi Zhen had never intended to argue with Ke Wei. On the contrary, she believed that as director, Ke Wei would choose the person most suited to the role. She just hadn’t expected everything to line up this neatly.

The real person matched the resume almost exactly, and what Xi Zhen found most amusing was that the photo on Li Xingqing’s resume wasn’t some polished studio shot at all; it was just an ordinary unedited picture. She started to think that Ke Wei really did deserve her reputation as a director, choosing a screenwriter with the same standards she’d use for casting an actor. Amused, Xi Zhen took out her phone and sent Ke Wei a message.

Ten Bodies: 【Has the on-set screenwriter arrived today?】

Ke Wei probably hadn’t even finished parking yet; the reply came quickly.

Ke Ke Keke: 【Yes. Have you seen her?】

Ten Bodies: 【If nothing unexpected happens, yes. But help me with something later.】

Ke Ke Keke: 【?】

...

After parking, Ke Wei got out with an umbrella and tucked her phone back into her pocket, thinking about what Xi Zhen had just said.

After a long moment, she couldn’t help lowering her head and laughing.

Interesting.

Because it was night and the rain was heavy, there weren’t many people in the lobby, so Li Xingqing had a hard time not noticing Xi Zhen.

After all, beautiful people always drew more attention than anything else.

Not to mention there were two beauties together right now.

Xi Zhen and Bai Mo, a striking pair of a handsome man and a beautiful woman, would attract plenty of attention even if they were casually tossed out onto the street.

When Li Xingqing met Xi Zhen’s eyes, Xi Zhen gave her a polite smile. Unsurprisingly, Li Xingqing looked back with a slightly puzzled expression.

She clearly found it odd, but still smiled politely in return.

Bai Mo was perched on the back of a sofa and followed his sister’s gaze.

Who was that?

Before he could figure it out, Ke Wei had already arrived.

“Zhenzhen, Xiaomo.” Ke Wei greeted them, then walked toward Li Xingqing. “Li Xingqing?”

Being called by name so abruptly by a stranger, Li Xingqing froze for a second, then quickly realized this must be the colleague she’d be working with.

She hurriedly nodded and greeted her.

“You came so early. And it’s still raining this hard out there. Thanks for your hard work.” Ke Wei smiled and reached out a hand as she introduced herself. “I’m Ke Wei, the director of Seal the Heart.”

Li Xingqing took her hand and shook it. “Hello, I’m Li Xingqing.” Her tone was calm, neither deferential nor arrogant, and she held Ke Wei’s right hand with both of hers as a sign of respect.

“Mm. And this is our male lead, Bai Mo.” After introducing herself, Ke Wei tilted her chin toward Bai Mo.

“Li Xingqing, our on-set screenwriter.”

Of the four people present, Xi Zhen alone seemed to stand apart. Whether that was deliberate omission or simple forgetfulness, no one could tell.

Bai Mo clearly didn’t have nearly as much on his mind. He happily stepped forward and shook Li Xingqing’s hand.

“Hello, Teacher Li. I’m Bai Mo.”

Caught off guard by being called “Teacher,” Li Xingqing felt a flicker of embarrassment. But thinking this was probably just how people on set addressed one another, she quickly composed herself and exchanged a few polite words with him. “Hello, Teacher Bai.”

After everyone had been introduced, Ke Wei felt her mood ease a little. Not bad. Everyone she’d met this time seemed normal. There probably wouldn’t be any more troublesome coworkers, and she hoped the shoot would go smoothly this time too. “All right, since Xiao Wang isn’t here today, I’ll arrange your rooms. The time for tomorrow’s script reading will be announced in the group chat later, so keep an eye out.”

“No problem.”

“Okay.”

After a day of running around, everyone was tired, so they took their room cards and didn’t say much else.

Li Xingqing dragged her suitcase into the elevator. Just as she reached out to press the button, her fingers unexpectedly brushed against another hand. The moment their fingertips touched, she immediately sensed something was off and swiftly pulled back.

Xi Zhen, however, didn’t seem to care at all. After pressing the button, she lowered her head and looked at her phone again.

Only then did Li Xingqing settle her pounding heart. When she looked up again, she found the floor she’d meant to select was already lit; she and Xi Zhen were on the same floor, even in neighboring rooms.

Once the elevator doors closed, Xi Zhen glanced at the few WeChat messages from Ke Wei and casually replied with an emoji.

Things like this depended on the right time, the right place, and the right people. Of the three, the right people mattered most. After all, Xi Zhen had no intention of forcing a good person into prostitution.

Still, the moment she’d seen Li Xingqing, she had sharply caught a faint, different scent in the air.

She was making a bet; now that she’d put her chips on the table, she couldn’t simply flip her cards over.

But Xi Zhen had always had excellent luck. She was sure she hadn’t bet wrong this time.

---

The script reading was set for ten the next morning—not too early, not too late, a time that suited young people perfectly.

Xi Zhen really had been exhausted; when her nine o’clock alarm went off, she was still deep in a dream.

She opened the curtains in her room, and yesterday’s overcast rain felt like a dream too. Outside was bright, dazzling sunlight instead.

The air conditioner hummed softly as Xi Zhen put on her slippers and went to wash up.

Today, she would be attending the script reading in person. Since this was a battle she was throwing everything into, she could only feel at ease if she watched every step herself.

The hotel served a buffet breakfast in the morning, and because it wasn’t peak season, there weren’t many people eating.

Xi Zhen took two slices of bread and a cup of sweetened soy milk, then began her breakfast.

When the minute hand pointed to fifty, Bai Mo hurried out from the elevator entrance, grabbed a handful of the little snacks laid out nearby, and took a cup of yogurt.

He turned around and happened to spot Xi Zhen, who had already finished eating. “Sis,” he called, then tore open a small bun and shoved it into his mouth.

Seeing his bird’s nest of hair and the fact that even his shirt buttons were fastened crookedly, Xi Zhen knew immediately that he had just woken up. But she didn’t scold him; she just said, “All right, let’s go.”

“Okay... okay.” Bai Mo swallowed the bun and unscrewed the yogurt lid for a sip.

By the time the two of them arrived at the script reading, quite a few people were already there.

The production team belonged to Ke Wei. Although Xi Zhen and Ke Wei had been friends for many years, Xi Zhen had rarely appeared in public since that incident back then, so most of the people there didn’t know her.

Bai Mo was a complete newcomer too, and he’d only arrived the night before. Aside from the one time they’d met during the audition, most of their communication afterward had been online. Everyone was basically unfamiliar with one another, so as the director, Ke Wei had no choice but to step forward and smooth things over.

“Since almost everyone’s here, I’ll go over a few things. This is the first script reading for Seal the Heart; everyone already has the script, so from here on, just follow the process.”

After speaking, Ke Wei added a few more things.

“There are still a few smaller roles that haven’t been cast yet. If there are lines relevant to them, could the other teachers help read them?”

Ke Wei spoke very politely. Seal the Heart wasn’t a big-budget project, and there weren’t many people present.

In fact, even the original scriptwriter wasn’t here, which was also why Xi Zhen had been so busy finding an on-set screenwriter.

It wasn’t that she completely trusted Li Xingqing; it was simply that the previous writer had run into other problems, and with Seal the Heart about to go on air, there really wasn’t a better solution.

The script reading began with the lead actors introducing their understanding of their own characters. As the male lead, Bai Mo was the first to explain his interpretation of Yu Qing.

Strictly speaking, Seal the Heart was not a love story. It carried a sharp satirical edge, using the ABO setting to portray the opposition between genders in real life.

Among them, the male lead Yu Qing’s lover, Xu Yinian, was forced by his family to marry someone else after differentiating as an Omega.

In the end, Xu Yinian resisted by taking his own life; Yu Qing, after losing his lover, carried out a series of revenge acts, only to become entangled with the efforts made by the generation before him, and even the generation before that, toward the movement for equal rights for A and O.

In short, it was a complicated story, full of relationships too tangled to sort out.

And Yu Qing himself had two identities.

After Bai Mo finished explaining his understanding of Yu Qing, it was Zheng Yuyu’s turn. Zheng Yuyu’s character was Chi Zengshen, the man Xu Yinian had been forced to marry back then.

Unlike Yu Qing, Chi Zengshen was a relatively simpler character.

After the actors present had mostly finished speaking, normally it should have been the scriptwriter’s turn to offer a basic evaluation and exchange thoughts.

Unfortunately, the original writer wasn’t there, and Li Xingqing didn’t know whether she should speak at this moment.

Xi Zhen sat in the corner with the script in her hand and glanced at Ke Wei.

Ke Wei immediately understood and hurriedly said, “Xingqing, why don’t you also say a little about your understanding of the script? The script reading is, after all, a process of exchange.”

Now that the director had spoken, Li Xingqing naturally wouldn’t refuse.

She had read the novel Seal the Heart before, but back then she’d mostly approached it as a reader. Now that it had been adapted into a script, after reading through it carefully, she found that there were actually quite a few changes.

“The actors have all made very good points, and Seal the Heart is a very good script as well. I just have one small question: if Yu Qing merely wanted revenge on Chi Zengshen, then there was no need for him to infiltrate Chi Zengshen’s side at all.”

Li Xingqing pointed out a major plot hole. In the script, after facing his lover’s death, Yu Qing’s first choice was to transplant the gland to himself, then plan to hide by Chi Zengshen’s side.

But did he really need to do that?

Wouldn’t another method have been easier?

For example, given Yu Qing’s other identity, wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to simply tie Chi Zengshen up?

When Xi Zhen heard what Li Xingqing said, her gaze slowly shifted from the script in her hands to Li Xingqing herself.

And in her own script, there just happened to be a small line of red text: 【His actions in the early stages are a bit baffling.】

Li Xingqing had touched on exactly the issue Xi Zhen most wanted to ask about, and the very reason she had been dissatisfied with the previous writer.

In this part, the original result of Xi Zhen’s discussion with Ke Wei had been to make a suitable revision. For example, at the beginning, Yu Qing had no idea that his father was the commander of the military district, so he resorted to this desperate measure.

But the idea still wasn’t mature, so the script had never actually been revised. She hadn’t expected Li Xingqing’s first sentence to be exactly that.

Xi Zhen became interested. She straightened in her seat and looked at Li Xingqing, hoping she would continue.

“I have a suggestion that isn’t fully developed yet. This part could perhaps add a premise. Xu Yinian’s suicide wasn’t only because of the oppression from his family; it could also have been caused by Chi Zengshen’s arrogance, plus Yu Qing’s own immaturity in facing the problem at the beginning.”

Li Xingqing paused, then continued, “Xu Yinian’s death turned Yu Qing’s love for him into the core emotion driving the entire revenge arc of the story.”

“Making Chi Zengshen one of the factors that led to Xu Yinian’s death, while Yu Qing himself also becomes a true perpetrator, would not only make Yu Qing’s choice less strange, but also allow the ending to form a closed loop with the equal-rights movement line.”

After Li Xingqing finished speaking, the room fell silent for a moment.

A short while later, Bai Mo spoke up. “What Teacher Xingqing said makes a lot of sense. If we really follow the original version and make it purely about revenge, there are plenty of methods. But if you add the fact that Yu Qing himself hurt Xu Yinian because of his own personality problems, then doesn’t that also fit the whole central theme?”

After he finished, the quiet room filled once more with soft murmurs of discussion. Amid the overlapping voices, Zheng Yuyu, as the actor playing Chi Zengshen and also the one with the most storyline in the drama, likewise voiced his support for the suggestion. “From the script’s perspective, if we add this detail to Yu Qing’s character in the early stages, it would indeed make him richer.”

Xi Zhen sat in the corner chair, a faint smile curving her lips.

Sure enough, she hadn’t picked the wrong person, had she?

Looks like she’d bet right in the first round.

Author’s Note:

Xi Zhen: Cute. I like her.

Li Xingqing: Pretty. I like her even more.

Xi Zhen, Li Xingqing: Let’s see who ends up being the prey.