Xinan had only asked the film crew for three days of leave because she had been waiting for Cheng Yi to return since yesterday's incident, wanting to explain to him. But she never got the chance to see Cheng Yi.
She tried calling him, but it was always unreachable; it seemed he was really angry.
The three-day vacation was over, and she had to return to the film crew.
Perhaps because the incident was always on her mind, Xinan was out of sorts for several days, sometimes needing several takes for even a simple scene.
And today, while shooting a romantic scene with the Male Lead, she was distracted again.
Lu Jiang watched the completely absent-minded Xinan with a headache. He couldn't grasp the situation between Xinan and Cheng Yi, and he couldn't scold or shout at her, he could only say, "Alright, let's end here for today, everyone go back and rest."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Xinan again and said with deep concern, "Xinan, try to adjust your state after you step down."
Initially, when they had just started shooting, Xinan's performance was quite good, and he was quite satisfied. But ever since she returned from Jing City, it was as if she had become a different person when acting, and after so long, there wasn't a single take he was satisfied with.
Xinan quietly lowered her head, "Okay."
After Li Yu and Lu Jiang finished discussing the scene, they saw Xinan still standing there. Li Yu furrowed his brows and walked over, asking with concern, "Have you been in a bad mood recently?"
Xinan shook her head and forced a slight smile for Li Yu, saying, "No, it's just that I encountered a rather upsetting matter recently, and it's been quite irritating."
Thinking of Cheng Yi's look when he slammed the door and left that day made her feel suffocated.
"That so." Li Yu wasn't the type to gossip, and of course, he wouldn't ask what specifically was bothering Xinan. He paused for a few seconds, then continued, "If this matter isn't your fault, then you shouldn't blame yourself and worry too much. After all, what's done is done, and sometimes it's better to let things take their course."
Although Xinan knew that the whole incident was just a misunderstanding that would resolve itself if explained, she was currently disturbed by the fact that Cheng Yi simply wasn't willing to listen to her explanation.
Xinan smiled at Li Yu, "Thank you."
"No worries."
Perhaps Li Yu's words had an effect, as Xinan tried hard to suppress her thoughts about the incident, making the next few days of shooting go much smoother.
Early in the morning at around five, Xinan got up early to go to the set because they were shooting a fight scene at dawn, so the whole crew had to get up exceptionally early.
At this time, it wasn't fully bright yet; the sky was still dim, and a strand of moonlight could faintly be seen.
When Xinan arrived at the set, the site had already been almost prepared, and Meng Qiu had been waiting there with the costume for quite a while.
Xinan went into the building and changed into her costume; by then, the extras were already in place.
Today's scene was quite pressure-filled for Xinan, as she had always shot idol dramas before and had never acted in a fight scene.
Fortunately, during the first two days of shooting, Lu Jiang had arranged two weeks of intensive training for them to cope with the upcoming fight scenes.
Lu Jiang was famously a perfectionist when it came to action scenes, requiring multiple takes of a single shot before he was barely satisfied. Even the experienced Li Yu felt some pressure over this.
It wasn't until midday that Lu Jiang finally showed a satisfied smile.
After the day's shooting, Lu Jiang kept Xinan behind alone: "Xinan, there have been some changes to your script."
Xinan asked, "What changes?"
Lu Jiang said, "Originally, the script had arranged for you and the Male Lead to go to catch the criminal together, but now it's changed to the Female Second and the Male Lead."
Xinan was stunned for a moment, then said, "Director Lu, wasn't the previous plot going fine, why suddenly change it now?"
Xinan had encountered situations before where minor roles got more scenes during shooting, but she still wanted to fight for herself as every scene was hard-won.
"Xinan, this isn't my decision—it's the investors," Lu Jiang himself was puzzled. Cheng Yi had specifically requested Xinan to be the Female Lead, so why were they now adding scenes for the Female Second?
When it comes to a movie, the people with the most power are indeed the investors, so Xinan had no choice but to accept it.
As Xinan was about to leave, Lu Jiang stopped her.
"Have you upset someone recently?" Lu Jiang did not specify who.
Xinan didn't quite understand why Lu Jiang would say that. Upset someone? She had only really upset Cheng Yi recently.
Lu Jiang hinted, "This matter might be related to that person."
That was all he could help her with.
Xinan returned to the makeup room, distracted the whole way, her mind filled with what Lu Jiang just said.
But when she reached the door of the makeup room, she saw that it was tightly closed. What was going on?
Seeing Xinan coming back, Meng Qiu hurried over, calling out, "Sister Xinan."
Xinan looked at the door of the makeup room, then at Meng Qiu, and asked, "Who is inside?"
Wasn't this makeup room shared?
Meng Qiu lowered her voice, saying, "It's Yang Shuyu."
Xinan furrowed her brows, Yang Shuyu was the Female Second in the drama; first, her scenes were increased, and now she was occupying a public makeup room. When did her influence become so big? Could it be because of the investor behind her?
"Where is the makeup bag?"
"It's inside."
Seeing Xinan about to knock on the door, Meng Qiu quickly grabbed her, "Sister Xinan, there's someone else inside with Yang Shuyu."
"Who?"
"It seems to be the investor of this drama, who also came from Jing City." Meng Qiu's voice became even lower, "From what they said, this investor's identity is quite significant, even Director Lu doesn't dare to speak casually in front of him."
Hearing this made Xinan even more curious about who this investor was.
Although she didn't want to provoke this investor, she had to remove her makeup.
Xinan walked past Meng Qiu, slowly approached the door, and then knocked.
"Who?" Yang Shuyu's soft, tender voice came from inside.
"It's Xinan. I need to come in for my makeup bag."
"Wait a moment." Maybe because Xinan was interrupting something, her voice sounded somewhat impatient.
The sound of high heels approached, slowly stopping at the door.
Yang Shuyu opened the door, very unpleasantly turned aside to let Xinan in.
As Xinan walked in, she immediately noticed the person on the sofa, because he was sitting there, his side facing her, so she couldn't see his face clearly.
The man's cigarette-holding hand rested on the outside, his black shirt slightly open, revealing a glimpse of his collarbone's shadow.
Before she knew it, Yang Shuyu had walked to the man's side, and she heard her say in a sweet voice, "Mr. Yi, when can you let me play the Female Lead for once?"
The man on the sofa took a puff of his cigarette, his voice somewhat indifferent, "Didn't I just give you more scenes?"