Chapter 86

Qu Xuesong played Duan Fei, a suspicious woman who had appeared near the murder scene; Lin Yuewei played Bai Shu, deputy captain of the criminal investigation team.

The camera positions were adjusted, and the actors took their places.

Yang Xiao said, “Ready.”

The script supervisor clapped the slate. “Mist City, scene two, shot one, take one—action!”

A murder had occurred in the city. After investigation, it was confirmed to be homicide, and the case was serious enough that the police bureau handed it over to the criminal investigation team. Bai Shu took Da Qiao to Duan Fei’s home to conduct an in-person inquiry.

The monitor showed a deep, shadowy corridor and an ornate front door; the place looked expensive at a glance.

Da Qiao glanced left and right down the hallway and touched the cat-eye on the door, which looked very much like a gem. He clicked his tongue and said, “Deputy Captain, when do you think we’ll ever get to live in a place like this?”

Bai Shu looked at him expressionlessly.

Da Qiao gave two hearty, foolish little laughs, showing no fear of her at all. Then he straightened up and pressed the doorbell.

The intercom outside rang with Duan Fei’s clear, pleasant voice. “Hello, may I ask who this is?”

Da Qiao took out his police ID and said solemnly into the camera, “Hello, Miss Duan. We called you before. We’re from the city public security bureau. My surname is Qiao, and this is our deputy captain.”

There was a burst of static from the intercom, and then it went dead.

Duan Fei opened the door.

“Please come in, officers.” She was still dressed very formally at home. Noticing Bai Shu’s suspicious gaze, Duan Fei smiled and explained, “I have a video conference today.”

Bai Shu nodded and sat down on the sofa with Da Qiao, examining the furnishings in the room.

“What would the two officers like to drink?” Duan Fei didn’t sit down right away; instead, she went to get two cups.

“Water is fine, thank you, Miss Duan,” Da Qiao said.

“And this…” Duan Fei looked at Bai Shu.

Bai Shu said, “My surname is Bai.”

“Then what would Officer Bai like?”

“I’ll have the same.”

Duan Fei smiled.

Bai Shu and Da Qiao exchanged a look.

Duan Fei placed the two glasses of water in front of them, then sat on the sofa beside them. She crossed her left leg over her right and leaned back, looking perfectly at ease in front of the two police officers.

Da Qiao took paper and pen from the pocket of his uniform jacket and rested them on his knee.

Yang Xiao said, “Cut. Again. Yuewei, come in a little slower; add a glance over your shoulder. The three of you can also shift your positions a little.”

He came over personally to adjust them. “Right here. Got it?”

The three of them nodded.

The slate snapped again, and scene two, shot one, take two began.

The second take went smoothly and passed.

They took a short break.

Qu Xuesong stayed seated where she was, with a crowd of people around her. One person was using a powder puff to touch up her makeup, another was bringing her tea and water, another was fixing her hair and collar; two more stood by, on standby at all times.

Lin Yuewei: “……”

She really was ignorant; this was the first time she had ever seen such a setup.

Wang Yuanyuan leaned close to her ear and said softly, “For someone like Teacher Qu, the workload is huge. She’s tired all the time, so when she has a break she tries to make herself as comfortable as possible.”

Lin Yuewei blinked. That was a little too comfortable, wasn’t it? They might as well assign her two male concubines; then she’d really be an empress from ancient times.

She asked even more quietly, “Wouldn’t people say she’s acting all high and mighty?”

Wang Yuanyuan looked at her in silence.

Lin Yuewei shook her wrist and acted cute. “I know I’m clueless. Sister Yuanyuan, please be merciful and tell me.”

Wang Yuanyuan was so shocked by the word “sister” that she jerked a little and hurriedly waved it off. “Don’t call me that.”

Lin Yuewei sweetly called again, “Sister Yuan.”

Wang Yuanyuan shook her hands again; while refusing, she also felt a little pleased by it. Lin Yuewei had smoothly taken the title and accepted it; not only did it bring them closer, Wang Yuanyuan was older than her anyway, so being called sister was only proper.

Back to the matter of acting high and mighty, Wang Yuanyuan snorted. “This counts as acting high and mighty? You’ve never seen someone really act high and mighty.”

“What does real high and mighty look like? A bad temper?”

“Having a bad temper is the bare minimum.” Wang Yuanyuan counted on her fingers for her. “Some people just stand the crew up. You know the crew burns money by the day, right? The workload is set in advance for each day. Every extra day it takes to wrap, that’s a lot more money burned. Do you know XXX?”

Wang Yuanyuan named someone. Lin Yuewei nodded; she’d heard of him, a pretty popular pretty-boy idol who had publicly announced his relationship with his girlfriend last year.

Wang Yuanyuan lowered her voice. “He once starred in a drama. The production coordinator had set filming to start at nine-thirty in the morning. He didn’t show up for makeup until ten. They’d scheduled the afternoon shoot for two o’clock, and he came for makeup at two. The entire crew waited for him alone, and he even brought his girlfriend to set to feed everyone dog food. He had few scenes, the highest pay, and after he finished his own parts, he just dusted off his hands and left. The rest of them were forced to delay wrapping, and the crew ended up footing an extra million out of pocket. The director was so furious he was cursing up a storm; he almost ended up in the hospital.”

Lin Yuewei was dumbstruck. “Why was he so… so…”

“So lawless?” Wang Yuanyuan raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t I just say it? That’s acting high and mighty. But his reputation in the circle is completely rotten.”

“Rotten, and then what?”

“They still keep hiring him.”

“……”

Wang Yuanyuan glanced at her and laughed. “What, did you want me to say he never got another role after that?”

Lin Yuewei nodded.

Wang Yuanyuan said, “How could that be? As long as he has commercial value, no matter how much of a diva he acts like, if the commercial value he brings is enough, someone will hire him. Everyone else can play servant all they want; they still have to find themselves such a grandfather.”

What Wang Yuanyuan said next finally made Lin Yuewei feel a little better.

“But this year he’s had a lot fewer gigs. Even the people who used to look for him to shoot no longer do.”

“Why?”

“He’s gone stale,” Wang Yuanyuan said with a shrug. “He did it to himself and killed his own popularity. On top of that, the traffic-idol economy has been declining these past few years. He can still get by on ads and endorsements, but movies and TV are a lot harder to survive in. If he keeps fading like this, once those endorsements expire, next year those brands may not even look for him.”

Lin Yuewei understood that part, so she nodded knowingly.

Wang Yuanyuan went on, “There’s another kind of difficult temper too: they want to be begged three times and invited four times for everything, and normal people won’t do; the director has to go invite them. They strut around on set ordering everyone about. Never seen that?”

“Never.” Lin Yuewei smiled. It was her first time in a production crew; how would she have seen it?

“You’ll see it sooner or later. The world is vast; there’s nothing weird it doesn’t contain.” Wang Yuanyuan smiled and handed her a cup of water. “After talking this much, aren’t you thirsty? If you’re thirsty or hungry, tell me. Don’t keep yourself so tightly reined in.”

“I’m not,” Lin Yuewei said. “Mostly you’ve been the one talking.”

“Someone like Teacher Qu is already pretty good. She’s not only outstanding herself, she’s also polite and doesn’t bully minor roles. I’ve worked with other celebrities before; when I was on set with them, I even got bossed around. As for Teacher Qu, apart from…” Wang Yuanyuan left the rest unsaid; the two of them understood perfectly well.

Lin Yuewei lowered her head and sipped her water.

Wang Yuanyuan saw her glancing over at Qu Xuesong now and then and asked, “What are you looking at?”

Lin Yuewei shook her head. “Nothing.”

What she was actually thinking was: if you put it that way, Qu Xuesong doesn’t seem all that bad. When someone’s in her position, what’s so strange about hiring a few more assistants? It wasn’t as if she was inconveniencing anyone else.

After the short break, the three of them were about to shoot the second take.

This scene had a lot of dialogue; it was basically all conversation. Lin Yuewei had already memorized her lines by heart that morning, so before the script supervisor called “action,” she silently recited them once in her head. No problem.

The problem arose when they actually started filming.

She was completely overpowered by Qu Xuesong.

Being “pressed” in a scene didn’t mean stealing lines; in actual filming, it referred to one actor completely overshadowing another. Lin Yuewei was a newcomer, while Qu Xuesong was a best actress who had spent more than ten years in the industry. It was only natural for something like this to happen to Lin Yuewei.

Yang Xiao called “cut” and said with a smile, “Xuesong, rein it in a little.” This was also very common; experienced actors often had to suppress their own aura when facing newcomers. Acting required cooperation, and only when actors clashed with each other could sparks fly. Otherwise it would just be a one-person show, and one-person shows do not make for a good drama.

Qu Xuesong tilted her head toward the director’s side and smiled. “I already have been reining it in. Should I rein it in some more?”

Yang Xiao made a soft sound. “A little more.”

Then he came over to coach Lin Yuewei through the scene, and Lin Yuewei said she understood.

Yang Xiao said, “Let’s do it again.”

The slate clapped. “Mist City, scene two, shot two, take two—action!”

Three people appeared in the frame. Bai Shu and Da Qiao sat on a sofa, two untouched glasses of water in front of them, while Duan Fei leaned back comfortably, slightly forward, listening attentively to the two officers’ questioning.

Behind the monitor, Yang Xiao narrowed his eyes and stared without blinking.

“Miss Duan.” Bai Shu spoke faintly, tugging at the cuff of her left sleeve with her right hand.

“Officer Bai.” Duan Fei immediately curved her lips when she heard her speak.

“On June 17th, between eight and eleven at night, where were you?”

“I was at home.” Duan Fei answered without hesitation.

“Can anyone prove that?”

“No. I was home alone. Oh, I did go out once to throw away the trash. The hallway camera should have caught me; you can go to the apartment security office and pull the footage.”

“About what time was that?”

“I’d just finished a phone call with a friend. She goes to sleep at ten, so it should have been between ten and eleven.”

Da Qiao’s pen moved quickly.

“You were on the phone with a friend from eight to ten?”

“No, of course not.”

“What else did you do?”

“I ordered takeout; clam rice noodle soup. It was the one I kept wanting to eat again after I went abroad and came back. I like eating something until I’m sick of it, so I’ve been eating that lately. I remember it very clearly.”

Bai Shu raised her eyebrows slightly and glanced toward the living room curtains.

Yang Xiao, behind the monitor, slowly frowned, but he didn’t call cut. He wanted to keep watching and see whether the same problem would happen again.

Duan Fei smiled. “Does Officer Bai like curtains like this? Leave me an address and I’ll order a set and have them sent to you.”

Bai Shu: “……”

Bai Shu had a barely noticeable pause.

Sure enough…

Yang Xiao said, “Cut.”

He clicked his tongue. “Yuewei, why are you so afraid of her? She’s not going to eat you.”

Lin Yuewei pressed her hands together. “Sorry, Director Yang.”

Yang Xiao said, “Don’t treat her like a senior. Right now she’s just one of countless people you’ve seen before; there’s no need to be afraid of her, and no need to let her affect your emotions in any way.”

Lin Yuewei worked up her emotions a little and said, “Okay, let’s start.”

The slate clapped. “Mist City, scene two, shot two, take three.”

Duan Fei smiled. “Does Officer Bai like curtains like this? Leave me an address and I’ll order a set and have them sent to you.”

Bai Shu narrowed her eyes very slightly and drew her gaze back.

Da Qiao stole a look at her, his eyes clearly saying with glee: Deputy Captain, you’re being teased!

Bai Shu’s brow furrowed slightly as she turned toward Duan Fei’s face. “Besides ordering takeout, did you do anything else?”

Duan Fei winked at her flirtatiously. “I also took a shower. Don’t believe me? Come smell for yourself; orange-scented.”

Yang Xiao behind the monitor: “???”

Why did it feel like there was some sort of hormonal charge crackling all over the screen? He picked up the script beside him. The lines really were like that, word for word; it was just that the feeling on screen had developed a subtle difference from what he had imagined.

The scene continued, and Lin Yuewei was once again overpowered. It was clear she was trying very hard to shake off Qu Xuesong’s suppression, but unfortunately she was overdoing it and underdoing it at the same time.

Yang Xiao said, “Cut.”

Qu Xuesong, who had just been coyly charming a moment ago, instantly went back to a sexless face, staring coldly at Yang Xiao.

The words Yang Xiao had been about to say got stuck in his throat. He said, “The two of you are a little off…”

Qu Xuesong volunteered, “I’ll coach her.”

Yang Xiao nodded. “Perfect.”

Qu Xuesong turned that face of hers, looking as though someone owed her 58 million yuan, and glanced at Lin Yuewei.

Pinned under that heavy, almost physical stare, Lin Yuewei reflexively retreated a little into the sofa.

Qu Xuesong’s brow twitched. “What are you standing there for? Do you want me to come over and invite you personally?”

Lin Yuewei got up and hurried over in three steps that became two, bowing respectfully. “Teacher Qu.”

Qu Xuesong waved a hand. “You people all stay farther away; don’t crowd me like this.”

Lin Yuewei backed up another two steps.

Qu Xuesong’s mouth couldn’t help but curl upward; she quickly suppressed it and put on a stern face. “I was talking about them. Did I tell you to back up?”

Only then did Lin Yuewei realize that the ones backing away were Qu Xuesong’s assistants, and she rubbed her nose awkwardly before stepping forward again.

“Teacher Qu.”

“Are you a tape recorder?” Qu Xuesong seemed to find fault with her no matter how she looked, criticizing without any courtesy. “Can you only say those three words?”

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Qu Xuesong said, “If repeating ‘teacher’ a few times like a broken recorder could improve your acting, I’d be all for it, but I just don’t like hearing this kind of nonsense.”

Lin Yuewei: “...Please teach me.”

Qu Xuesong: “Hmph.”

Lin Yuewei seemed to have found her trigger point. In a lower voice, sounding a little pitiful, she said, “Please enlighten me.”

Qu Xuesong gave her a white-eyed look. “Put away that pitiful act. I’m teaching you for my own sake, not for yours. I’m not that charitable.”

Lin Yuewei’s face darkened for an instant.

Qu Xuesong said, “You can’t take a little stimulation?”

Lin Yuewei swallowed her anger and even forced out a gentle smile. “No.”

Qu Xuesong leaned close to her ear; from the outside, it looked like an extremely intimate gesture.

Not far away, Wang Yuanyuan looked over nervously.

Only Lin Yuewei knew what this woman was saying in her ear.

The corner of Qu Xuesong’s alluring red lips lifted, full of malice. “Besides, I never actually planned to teach you acting. I was just messing with you.”

Lin Yuewei said, “You!”

Qu Xuesong laughed softly. “Me what?”

Like a kindly elder, she patted her shoulder encouragingly. “Good luck.”

Then, not giving Lin Yuewei even the slightest chance to react, she raised a hand toward Yang Xiao and smiled. “Director Yang, we’re done.”

Yang Xiao said, “Good, we’ll start right away.”

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Lin Yuewei returned to her position with a resigned expression and drank an entire cup of water in a huff.

Wang Yuanyuan asked, “Did she take advantage of you?”

Lin Yuewei said, “No.”

Chen Xuan’s and Shao Yasi’s intel were both off. As for whether this woman collected lovers like stamps, she wasn’t sure; that she was arrogant, sharp-tongued, and petty, though, was definitely true.

Having to work with a Qu Xuesong like this for another three or four months was the scariest thing of all.

After the equipment was adjusted again, the director picked up the loudhailer on the table and brought it to his mouth. “All departments, get ready…”

The makeup artist finished touching up the actors’ faces and withdrew at top speed; the sound operator raised the boom mic, and the reflector cast a layer of light across the actors’ faces, bringing out their microexpressions more delicately.

The slate said, “Mist City, scene two, shot two, take four—action!”

……

Yang Xiao stared at the monitor without blinking; several times just now, the problem had occurred right here. Either it was too stiff or too weak, brushed over too lightly. Lin Yuewei’s character was supposed to be able to stand on equal footing with Qu Xuesong’s, and in some respects even surpass her.

“Cut!” Yang Xiao sprang up excitedly and applauded. “Good, perfect! Let’s do one more and see whether it can get even better.”

Yang Xiao shot three takes in a row. Lin Yuewei gradually found her rhythm, and when the final repeat passed, she shot Qu Xuesong a subtle glance.

The reason she hadn’t been able to loosen up before was that every time Qu Xuesong gave her a flirtatious smile, she would think of something unpleasant and develop her own emotions in response. But now, provoked by her, she had somehow and miraculously shaken off that association and fully entered the scene.

Qu Xuesong’s face was still sour.

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Maybe she was overthinking it. Qu Xuesong had simply, by chance, helped wake her up.

Apart from this scene opposite Qu Xuesong, Lin Yuewei had nothing else left for the day. Thanks to the intensive training, she found it much easier to act with the other members.

Filming for the day ended. There were no night scenes today, so they wrapped a little after six.

[Xi Gu: How was work today?]

Lin Yuewei wiped her hair dry and unlocked the phone that had just gone ding. She typed a reply.

Gu Yanqiu had finished on video making a grass butterfly that was not especially ugly but also absolutely could not be called pretty. After studying it for a moment, she cruelly tore off both butterfly wings, “dismembered” it, and threw it into the trash.

She then picked up two coconut fronds and measured them in her hands. Just as she was about to continue, Lin Yuewei’s message came back.

[Two Woods: Same as yesterday; everything went smoothly]

[Xi Gu: Is it convenient to call?]

Compared with text chat, Gu Yanqiu preferred the more immediate and direct way of speaking on the phone.

Lin Yuewei initiated a video call. Gu Yanqiu looked at the coconut fronds in her hand and chose to hang up.

Lin Yuewei: “???”

Had she not been Gu Yanqiu’s favorite baby after just a few days?

[Xi Gu: [Voice]]

Lin Yuewei opened it. Gu Yanqiu said, “I haven’t washed my hair.”

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Lin Yuewei sent her a voice reply too. “Haven’t I seen you before when your hair wasn’t washed?”

Gu Yanqiu said, “You haven’t seen me like that in a video.”

“What’s the difference?”

“To me, there is one.”

“If you say there is, then there is.” Lin Yuewei switched the video call to a voice call. Thinking that Gu Yanqiu couldn’t see her anyway, she sprawled out on the bed in a big “D” shape; the gauzy nightdress clung to her body, revealing her lovely figure.

“Tired?” Gu Yanqiu asked.

“How did you know?!”

“If you weren’t tired, why would you be lying on the bed this early? It’s only…” Gu Yanqiu paused her hands and looked down at the time on her phone. “Only nine at night. Shouldn’t you be studying properly?”

“I’m not lying on the bed. I’m studying properly,” Lin Yuewei lied with her eyes open.

“If you say so.” Gu Yanqiu smiled and returned the line to her with a slight change.

Lin Yuewei sat up.

Gu Yanqiu said, “Now you really do look like you’re studying properly.”

Lin Yuewei looked around, her skin prickling. “Did you install a pinhole camera in my room?”

“Don’t scare yourself. I guessed. The way you flopped down just now was huge, and then you held your breath for a moment without making a sound.”

“What if you guessed wrong?”

Gu Yanqiu laughed softly, clearly pleased. “There’s no penalty for guessing wrong.”

Lin Yuewei flopped back onto the bed again and stole a little more laziness. Chatting with Gu Yanqiu felt like, after a busy day, warm spring water was being poured into her sore limbs; every muscle and bone loosened along with that water, until she pressed her cheek into the pillow and didn’t want to move.

Gu Yanqiu seemed to have eyes in all directions and said with a smile, “You’ve lain back down again.”

“Tired…” Lin Yuewei pouted into the phone.

“If you’re tired, lie down a little longer.”

“I want to rest on top of you.”

“I’m booking a flight right now.”

“……”

“If I fly now, I won’t get there until at least after three in the morning. Or should I take a day off and stay one night at your hotel?” Gu Yanqiu had already started checking flights and hotels; her tone had never once been associated with the words “just kidding.”

Lin Yuewei: “……”

Having a girlfriend who cared too much was sometimes a sweet kind of trouble.

Lin Yuewei said sternly, “With you taking leave all the time like this and just loafing around doing nothing, aren’t you afraid the company will fire you?”

Gu Yanqiu analyzed it seriously. “No. First, I don’t take leave that often. For all this time, I only took a few days off before when we found out about my grandma’s situation. Second, the company is run by my family; no one dares fire me.”

Lin Yuewei gave a soft hum. She didn’t dislike that tone from her at all; on the contrary, she found it kind of endearingly Gu Yanqiu.

Speaking of Old Lady Gao, Lin Yuewei thought about it and realized several days had already passed since the one-month deadline Mr. Liu had mentioned. She asked casually, “About checking where your mother’s hometown was before, did Mr. Liu find anything?”

Gu Yanqiu didn’t respond. She lowered her eyes and looked at her hand. The half-folded coconut leaf in her hand broke free from her fingers, unfolded itself, and slipped from her hand onto the tabletop.

Lin Yuewei thought the voice had cut out. She called “Hello?” twice.

Gu Yanqiu slowly swept the things on the table into the trash can, then finally said flatly, “He found it; and… I’ve been there.”