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Qi Yao ripped off his lavalier mic and threw a full-blown tantrum. “My state’s been ruined by some people today. I’m not filming.”

The thing directors hated most was an actor deciding not to shoot after the whole crew had already started working. His face flickered red and white as he quickly looked toward the ad producer.

The producer had no choice but to swallow his frustration and step forward to negotiate with Qi Yao’s team.

None of them had expected that Qi Yao, a newcomer who had only just debuted, would dare say something like this after showing up late and not even knowing his place.

That wasn’t just a lack of ability; it was a character problem.

Qian Chu gave Qi Yao a cold look and reminded Li Lan, “Manager Lan, the little interviewer is already waiting at the door.”

Li Lan stood up with complete composure. “Then we’ll do the interview first.”

Her time was precious; she couldn’t waste it on this trash.

Inside, seeing Li Lan leave only made Qi Yao even more arrogant. “I don’t think there’s any need to look for me to shoot anymore. If somebody likes acting that much, why not just let her do it all?”

The producer said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Qi, please take this call first.”

Qi Yao froze. The phone passed to him carried the voice of a middle-aged woman, icy with displeasure. “Qi Yao, what exactly are you making a scene about this time?”

Qi Yao jumped in fright; all his swagger vanished at once. He took the phone and walked to a corner, speaking carefully. “President Qi.”

“This is a candy brand under the S Group. S Group is a luxury brand. If you don’t want to shoot, plenty of people in the company do,” President Qi said warningly. “I’m only supporting you because I value your potential. If you can’t cooperate on set and delay the work, I can replace you at any time.”

As soon as Qi Yao heard that, he panicked and hurriedly said, “I’m sorry. I’ll definitely cooperate and shoot properly. I won’t cause trouble again.”

Only then did President Qi soften a little, balancing threat and reward. “Good. As long as you behave and do your job well, the benefits won’t be small.”

Hearing her attitude ease up, Qi Yao couldn’t help defending himself. “It’s not that I’m not serious. It’s that the person acting opposite me is too nasty. She actually said I acted like a male dog in heat.”

President Qi immediately understood who his scene partner was, and her tone cooled again. “So what if she says a few things? You’re there to work, not make friends. Besides, Li Lan has backing from a big shot at Heguang Tongchen; her background isn’t ordinary. I pulled strings to get you this resource. Whatever she says, just listen. Stop causing me trouble.”

Qi Yao still wanted to argue, but the threat in President Qi’s voice was already obvious.

He and President Qi were only distantly related through a tangled, roundabout branch of the family; President Qi was also a hard-nosed woman, and he didn’t dare say anything else, so he could only agree.

After hanging up, his assistant came over and waited for instructions.

Qi Yao tossed the phone back to the assistant, his expression dark and cold as he cursed under his breath. “So Li Lan has a sugar daddy too, and she still acts so self-righteous. Pah!”

The assistant kept his head down while picking up the phone and said nothing.

Qi Yao muttered and cursed for a long while before finally smoothing his expression and returning to set, making a magnanimous gesture that he could continue shooting.

Qian Chu said darkly, “What bad timing. Teacher Li is in the middle of an interview. We’ll have to trouble everyone to wait a bit.”

“We’re filming an ad. Why is she doing an interview?” Qi Yao said unhappily.

Qian Chu looked at him expressionlessly. “Is that so? Didn’t someone say they weren’t filming today? And our Teacher Li’s schedule has already been delayed by more than three hours because of someone’s lateness and slackness; even the director didn’t say it was impossible.”

Qi Yao exploded. “You!”

His assistant tugged him and lowered his voice. “President Qi’s words.”

Qi Yao swallowed his anger and turned his head away fiercely.

The set fell quiet again. Thankfully, the atmosphere was no longer so tense that it felt like a powder keg; the director and producer exchanged a glance, both desperately wanting to sigh.

Fortunately, Li Lan had already familiarized herself with the interview script in advance and didn’t deliberately leave the interviewer hanging. She finished the interview briskly in half an hour.

After returning to set, because of President Qi’s warning, Qi Yao cooperated obediently and finished the two-person shots without making a fuss.

Li Lan left after filming her shared scenes. Qi Yao’s own shots dragged on until deep into the night and still weren’t done. The director had no choice but to revise the script again and cut several scenes before finally wrapping up.

At three in the morning, just as Qi Yao stepped out of the set, he posted on Weibo: “I’ve seen the moonlight at three in the morning many times, but this is the first time I’ve had such a profound acting lesson. Some kind of instruction by example is more unforgettable than the script itself. Grateful for all the special care.”

The accompanying photo was a wrap shot from the set, with a blurred script in it. It looked densely covered in markings.

His fans immediately rushed in to shower him with affection, calling him “brother” nonstop; the entire screen was full of sympathy for him.

But there were also fans who read into it more.

[Actors are people too. Did you see how red brother’s eyes were? At three in the morning, wasn’t he probably deliberately kept on set?]

[What special care? Why does this feel off to me?]

[The person above is right. Brother’s acting definitely wasn’t the problem; maybe he was being excluded.]

On the way to the hotel, Qian Chu saw the post first.

“How can someone like this even get popular?” Qian Chu said sincerely. “Manager Lan, I haven’t seen such a low-level, thoughtless man in a long time.”

Li Lan said she was overthinking it and remained unmoved. “In the early years, before I had any fame, I saw far more monsters and freaks of all kinds.”

Qian Chu had been a talented intern Li Lan poached from Heguang Tongchen. She’d grown up in a fairly privileged environment, and by the time she became Li Lan’s assistant, Li Lan was already famous, so she had never run into anyone like Qi Yao.

“Fortunately, Miss Zhu isn’t here,” Qian Chu suddenly remembered and said fearfully. “I remember the last time I went to a set, Miss Zhu came to visit the production. She heard the actress acting opposite you badmouthing you behind your back, and she tore into her. It almost ended in a police report.”

Hearing that, Li Lan’s expression went briefly distant.

That day, Qian Chu had happened to be absent and only found out afterward. She asked in puzzlement, “What was that day about again? I used to think Miss Zhu was the gentle, non-confrontational type. I never expected she could actually get into a fight with someone.”

Li Lan thought back to what had happened that day; it had only been three months ago.

Over the past few years, she had shifted her career from overseas back to China, and the first thing she tried was acting. She was the type who performed through immersion; she never fought for lead roles when taking jobs, but looked at the production and the team instead. As long as the script was good and the crew was serious, she would take on all kinds of supporting roles to sharpen her skills and keep improving.

That naturally didn’t match her status. People who knew would praise her for building strength in reserve and taking the long view; people who didn’t would only slander and trample her.

Zhu Qing... Zhu Qing did, of course, have a very good temperament. She was naturally kind, the sort of person who would worry about whether she might hurt someone else whenever she was interacting with them. For her to lose control in public and argue with someone to that extent, the other party must have disgusted her to the extreme.

Qian Chu pressed further, “What exactly happened that day?”

Li Lan lowered her gaze slightly as she recalled it. “I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the details. Probably... Director Yang was mentioned.”

Qian Chu blinked in surprise and murmured, “No wonder Miss Zhu blew up.”

In Qian Chu’s impression, Zhu Qing had always been easygoing and soft-spoken, especially when facing Li Lan; she hardly had any temper at all. Aside from not really liking the environment around Li Lan’s work, she would at most avoid contact herself and had never made any excessive demands.

If Zhu Qing could blow up on set with someone else, then that person must have seriously hurt Li Lan’s interests.

And speak of the devil.

Li Lan’s phone suddenly lit up.

The dedicated ringtone for [Director Yang] rang out; it was a little tune Li Lan had sung while holding a guitar at eighteen.

The voice was youthful, like a green lotus catching the rain for the first time, full of a girl’s longing and affection.

————————!!————————

Two thousand words a chapter, and it gets cut off so awkwardly that it feels like I’m hitting a wall every time. Before I even finish writing, I have to split it; should I switch to 3,000 words every other day before V? [crying loudly]……