Wen Rui woke up to a gentle knocking on the door. He blinked disoriented at the ceiling for a good minute before realising that he was lying in his bed. Upstairs.
But the last thing he remembered was sitting on the couch thinking about hangover soup recipes—ah! He must have fallen asleep too!
…he was terrible. Who did that when taking care of others? What if Zhou Ye had choked on vomit and died?
Shaking his head, he scrambled out of bed and flung the door open. He must have been a real sight because Auntie took a surprised step back and patted her chest like she was trying to calm herself down.
"Aiyo! Young Master Wen, what's the matter? Is everything all right?"
Wen Rui tried peering past her and down into the living room but the couch was behind a wall and he couldn't see if Zhou Ye was still lying there. But probably not. Wen Rui didn't have a habit of sleepwalking, which left only one option because he didn't think it was Auntie who carried him up the full flight of stairs to tuck him under the covers.
Auntie reached out to put a motherly hand on his forehead. "Young Master Wen, are you okay? Your face is flushed, are you having a fever?"
Great. It was too early in the morning to be blushing over ridiculous things, like his fake husband carrying him to bed.
[Get a grip,] he told himself firmly. [It wasn't even the same bed, you're being silly.] And even if it had been, so what? They were two straight guys that were firmly on the way to becoming xiongdi. Wen Rui had shared cramped twin beds with his roommates before on school trips. He'd even shared, on one memorable occasion, squeezed into a sleeping bag with Xu Mushen back when they'd gotten stranded in the mountains during an ill-advised camping excursion and the temperature had fallen below 10 degrees Celsius at night.
This was no biggie. He hadn't even been awake to know if Zhou Ye had piggybacked him or princess carried him or—
[Stop. Thinking. About. It.]
After washing up, Wen Rui crept into the dining room for breakfast. A furtive glance around the place revealed no signs of Zhou Ye. Wen Rui wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried. Zhou Ye had been very out of it yesterday and he wasn't sure if it were just the alcohol causing him to act up or if there was a deeper problem. As casually as possible, he asked the housekeeper whether she'd seen Zhou Ye that morning.
"Young Master Zhou? He was already on the way out when I arrived." She tut-tutted disapprovingly. "Didn't even stay for breakfast either, so unhealthy!"
…was this what overachievers were truly like? Waking up at the crack of dawn despite a raging hangover and heading in to work before the lesser folk even rose?
Auntie didn't mention the mess in the corridor either, so Wen Rui had the feeling that Zhou Ye must have tidied it up before her arrival. Fantastic. He'd promised to take care of Zhou Ye yesterday and ended up the spoiled one again.
Wen Rui thought that he would at least be able to check-in with Zhou Ye later that evening to see if he was all right—the image of the despair in Zhou Ye's eyes that evening wouldn't leave his mind—but he didn't have the opportunity to. Perhaps because of work or perhaps because he was avoiding Wen Rui out of embarrassment, but Zhou Ye didn't come home for the entire week after. Or if he did, it was during the hours that Wen Rui was on set.
His previous shooting schedule had been amended from the original and the new timetable was…brutal at best. He had scenes that began at 8 in the morning and lasted all the way to the last take of the day at 7 in the evening. Wen Rui understood that film production was hard work and as a newbie, he wasn't about to complain. But after seeing a couple of days where he only had two scenes scheduled, both at polar opposites of the workday, he started to wonder if he was being picked on.
Li Xue took one look at his schedule and frowned. "This is ridiculous," she said. "Doesn't this mean that you'll have to report by 6 every morning for Wardrobe, Makeup, and to run through blocking with the director?"
Wen Rui nodded. It didn't make a difference when he had a full day of filming. But when he didn't, it was just too inefficient. To avoid spoiling his costume, he had to change out multiple times per day. And in-between, to avoid staining the fabric with makeup by accident, he had to have it removed first and then reapplied back on. More than once, he'd heard his makeup artist complaining to her colleagues that the shooting schedule was increasing her work.
But…it was Assistant Director Deng who prepared these schedules. Wen Rui didn't know him personally and couldn't think of any way he might have offended the man. The only direct interaction Wen Rui had with him so far was when they'd met on Wen Rui's first arrival. He could count the number of words they'd exchanged to date.
A funny look passed over Li Xue's face after hearing this. "You're the male lead," she said. "The number of scenes you have is only slightly less than Jiang Xin. And if I recall, you have quite a few scenes that don't involve her?"
Wen Rui nodded. He flipped through his shooting schedule and started circling the scenes that took place at the extremes of the day. "They're all the ones that either start at 8 or end at 6."
Indignation flashed across Li Xue's face. "Then there's no mistaking it," she said. "Assistant Director Deng must have amended your schedule to accommodate hers."
"…" it was frustrating but there was nothing Wen Rui could do about it. Even though he was a popular idol and the reason why they'd cast him was that they wanted to use him as a hot topic to generate publicity for the drama, Wen Rui had limited leverage on the set. His every move was scrutinised and he couldn't throw his weight around without attracting censure.
Besides, Assistant Director Deng had done this so subtly, no one else seemed to have noticed.
"I think you should speak to Director Fu," Li Xue said. "He's too busy to take note of the arrangements behind the shooting schedule but I can tell he's happy with your acting, I don't think he'll let this happen if he were aware."
Wen Rui was about to reply when the door to the makeup trailer opened and Jiang Xin walked out. She had already removed her costume and was busying herself with shrugging on a jacket and checking the makeup she'd just touched up. Next to her, her manager was explaining something at a rapid-fire pace. Wen Rui just barely caught the words 'photoshoot' and 'leave now or will be caught in the lunch jam' before they rounded the corner and disappeared.
Li Xue gaped in disbelief. "It's barely noon," she said. "Is this why all your scenes have been squeezed here and there? Because she's taking on multiple engagements at the same time?!"
Wen Rui sighed. He leaned against the table and folded his arms, head hanging low as he forced himself to douse the slow burn of rage that simmered in the pit of his stomach. "There's no helping it," he replied.
"True," Li Xue muttered. "So much for signing an exclusivity contract." This clause stipulated that the acting cast was only committed to accepting this one job for the entire duration of filming. Although photoshoots and other smaller engagements would be permissible on a case-by-case basis, they were discouraged and meant to be kept at a minimum. Given how Wen Rui's schedule had been turned on its head to prioritise Jiang Xin, he wouldn't be surprised if she were secretly filming another drama on another set.
"It's fine for now," he said. "But once we start doing night scenes as well, it's going to become more troublesome." Waking up at 5 in the morning to reach the set by 6 was already painful but at least all the school scenes were wrapped up by 7 in the evening latest. Once they completed filming here though, Wen Rui could envision his shooting schedule stretching to 12, 1 or even 2 am.
Li Xue's mouth twisted. Her shooting schedule wasn't the most convenient either but most of her scenes were either with Jiang Xin or a group of others, so they were a lot harder for Assistant Director Deng to take advantage of. "I wonder what benefit she gave him," she grumbled.
Wen Rui raised an eyebrow. He hadn't even considered that. His gaze darted towards the balding old man slouching in the seat next to the director at the catering tables. He couldn't imagine what kind of deal a beautiful young girl like Jiang Xin would strike with someone old enough to be her father. But whatever. If she had done so, that was her choice.
Utilising these 'hidden rules' (1) was common in the industry.
"I'm not saying she did." Li Xue shrugged. "But how else would this fly, right? As far as I know, she doesn't have a rich, powerful husband to solve all her problems for her."
"…" Wen Rui coughed. "Even if she did," he said, cheeks colouring a little as he busied himself with collecting a lunch packet. "It doesn't mean she would make use of him. I'm just saying."