Chapter 13 How dare they bully the people I protect? ...
Taking advantage of a break in filming, Xu Yuewei rushed towards the person sitting next to the camera, but was stopped by a staff member. After explaining her purpose, she was directed to another person, and finally made contact.
The world really is a huge makeshift operation.
After changing into her costume in a makeshift tent filled with props and costumes, Xu Yuewei was treated like a Barbie doll and manipulated from head to toe by the stylist. Apart from the makeup, she was indistinguishable from the female lead.
She twisted her waist to adjust to the tight corset, and the stylist next to her brightened up, praising, "It's a waste of your talent to only be a hand double."
Xu Yuewei smiled, but the upturn of her lips lasted only half a second, and her eyebrows and eyes remained completely still. If she had to act, she would be more suited to playing a lonely and aloof cold beauty in the deep palace.
She followed the staff to the filming location and saw Meng Jiao sitting on a recliner in the distance, drinking water from a straw offered by her assistant, flipping through the script, without looking in her direction.
Just then, a man rushed up and stopped them: "Why didn't you answer the phone? What were you busy with? The stand-in has arrived... Who is this?"
He first complained to the stylist, then suddenly turned to Xu Yuewei, looked her over, and frowned.
The stylist was also confused: "Huh? Isn't she the hand double? There's someone else? Does this mean there are two hand doubles?"
Xu Yuewei's heart tightened, and she shifted her gaze to Meng Jiao's direction.
As luck would have it, Meng Jiao also looked over, her gaze curious and clear.
In the instant of the collision, Xu Yuewei lowered her eyes in a panic, the sunlight being fragmented by the shadows of the fake leaves and the natural texture of the road surface, creating a mottled effect like the waxing and waning of the moon.
In her eyes, all that remained were large patches of shimmering light.
Sweat began to seep from her temples, and her upper teeth bit into her lower lip, creating a groove.
If she had known that gritting her teeth and getting through this would lead to this situation, she could have abandoned her pride on that rainy night.
The stylist and the man left together, leaving Xu Yuewei alone with nothing but empty air. She found a tree to lean against and only then did she feel a little safer.
With her eyes lowered, an orange plastic folding stool suddenly appeared in her small field of vision. Following the arm that was carrying the stool upwards, she saw a face she had never seen before.
"Let's sit down and rest for a while. Anyway, we don't know how long it will be before we start work again."
The man pointed his thumb horizontally behind him and said, "I'm Meng Jiao's assistant, you can just call me Xiao Wang."
Xu Yuewei looked up and saw that Meng Jiao, who had been lying lazily just moments before, had straightened up and was elegantly crossing her legs as if she were facing a camera, smiling and waving at her.
She quietly lowered her eyelids and moved the stool to the nearby tree.
Under the shade of the trees, she sat upright with her hands on her knees, looked at the woman who was dressed in the same clothes as her but had a completely different temperament, and mouthed, "Thank you."
Meng Jiao smiled with her eyes narrowed, then looked down and started fiddling with her phone again.
Yellowed leaves lay scattered on the ground, occasionally being moved by the wind.
As a gust of wind carried two leaves toward Xu Yuewei's feet, she caught a glimpse of an approaching figure out of the corner of her eye.
She looked up at the right moment and smiled relaxedly.
Hi~
Meng Jiao was the first to greet them, her smile as dazzling as the flower ornament on her forehead.
Just as Xu Yuewei was about to stand up, she was pressed down on the shoulder again.
"Wait, come along later."
Meng Jiao winked at her with one eye, and at the same time, the hand that was on her shoulder slid into the wide sleeve, and the assistant, holding an umbrella, led her into a flat-topped tent a little further away.
To those around us, it was just a simple brush with someone.
Xu Yuewei sat upright under the tree for a while, until the extras on the other side received the message and dispersed on the spot, until her heart resumed its steady beating.
She stood up, picked up a folding stool, and walked towards the tent.
One side of the tent's fabric was rolled up and secured at the top, while the other side hung down, completely covering the inside.
Xu Yuewei crouched down and crept in through the opening on one side, her eyes quickly scanning the inside of the tent before locking onto a bright pink spot amidst the drab gray.
Meng Jiao was reclining in a chair playing on her phone when she saw her come in. She waved her over and said, "It's so hot outside."
Although it was nearing noon, the temperature was warm rather than "sunny," especially since their costumes weren't very thick.
Seemingly noticing the fleeting doubt on her face, Meng Jiao shrugged: "Who knows how effective this foundation is at sun protection?"
Xu Yuewei walked over and sat down to make up for the height difference, tilting her head to look at her: "Long time no see."
She felt a little uncomfortable, sitting upright in the recliner, the backrest forming an acute angle with her back, which made Meng Jiao laugh.
"Let me see your hands," Meng Jiao said.
Xu Yuewei rested her elbow on the armrest and reached out her hand, which was then caught by Meng Jiao with her palm facing upwards, in a fortune-telling gesture with her palms overlapping each other.
"Your hands are so beautiful." Meng Jiao stroked them, as if deliberately tickling them. "Do you play musical instruments from a young age? Do your fingers tend to grow longer?"
"Maybe."
Xu Yuewei tried to pull her hand back, but Meng Jiao grabbed it.
She heard her suddenly raise her voice: "Teacher Chang, what's going on here?"
Xu Yuewei turned her head to look at the opening of the tent. A tall, thin middle-aged man was bending over and barging in. Their eyes met, and his already furrowed brows and frowned face became even more stern.
"Who's this?" He looked at her, but asked Meng Jiao instead. He quickly realized his mistake and changed his tone, "Oh, the one Teacher Jiang introduced?"
Meng Jiao: "This is our on-site production."
Xu Yuewei stood up and nodded: "Hello."
Producer Chang wasn't blind or stupid. He saw their hands clasped just a second ago and understood that if it was just an ordinary hand double, Meng Jiao wouldn't have asked her to go into the studio to rest.
Looks like another person with connections.
He squinted at the man with a crooked mouth, and Meng Jiao asked again, "I heard they found two hand doubles for me? Am I such a big star that I need such a luxurious setup?"
Producer Chang was thinking, "Isn't that right?"
Today, the director took the crew to shoot the male lead's outdoor action scenes, so the assistant director was responsible for filming her and a few supporting actors' dialogue scenes. However, without the director's guidance, Meng Jiao's performance was off, so she decided to take an early lunch break. But the production crew had just received the ordered lunch boxes, and while one group of busy people stopped working, another group became even busier.
No one dared to say anything, after all, she brought both traffic and capital.
"I heard it's a relative of the second mate..."
He glanced at Xu Yuewei, who was trying to keep her presence to herself, and thought to himself, "It's clearly this girl who barged in."
Meng Jiao suddenly perked up: "What about relatives? This one is..."
"But what?"
“Yes, I agree…” Meng Jiao drawled, “What about Jiang Shiyan’s relatives!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Producer Chang had a look of sudden realization: "Oh, I see. You're his..." His eyes swept over her, "...his sister?"
Just then, the only source of natural light in the space was momentarily blocked by a suddenly appearing figure.
As the light flickered between dim and bright, Xu Yuewei felt that feeling of her breath being stuck in her lungs and unable to settle back down, and it came back again.
All the clues now connected, no wonder she couldn't get the staff's contact information, no wonder Meng Jiao, who she had little interaction with, was overly affectionate...
They must have conspired to set a generous trap, then watch her walk in gratefully, and leisurely enjoy her awkwardness and embarrassment.
Their eyes met, and she looked pleading, but saw the mockery in his eyes.
"No, she is me..."
The ceiling was too low, and Jiang Shiyan subconsciously bent down slightly. His legs, straight and long, were visible beneath his trousers, yet he leaned against something with a languid air, casually uttering two words:
"elder sister."
The second "sister" was dragged out by half a beat and pronounced rather softly.
Zhou Xu called her that in that tone.
Xu Yuewei had heard a saying: people with good pitch are better at imitating voices, and conversely, people who are good at imitating voices are less likely to sing off-key. Based on experience, this seems to be true.
She used to have a catchphrase, she liked to say "Really?", drawing out the "really" part for a long time.
She found it intriguing and amusing: "Why are you copying me?"
He laughed, then mimicked her tone: "Me? No, don't accuse me wrongly."
Extremely childish.
He is now clearly past that exaggerated age. He subtly adjusts his vocal placement so that his voice sounds both like himself and like someone else's.
The evidence for the charge of "learning to speak like others" is unclear, and the principle of presumption of innocence applies.
No one but her could tell that something was wrong.
Producer Chang believed it to be true and nodded to indicate that he understood.
Meng Jiao was somewhat surprised by his sudden appearance. After a moment's hesitation, she released her hand and said, "Oh, did you come to visit me on set?"
Language, like music, can be melodious, indistinct, fragmented, or crackling.
Meng Jiao's voice was pleasant, unlike when she spoke to her earlier; it was like a summer fruit drink with a touch of lemon juice.
Producer Chang's voice was muffled, and the polite greetings were meaningless.
Jiang Shiyan's voice interspersed between the two, briefly responding with "Hmm," "Yes," and "What do you think?"
He was in charge of the intermittent part; the three of them together made a crackling sound.
Xu Yuewei could hear every word, but couldn't piece together their meaning. She stood in the corner like someone shielded by a barrier, only smiling reflexively when Producer Chang looked at her.
Jiang Shiyan glanced at her and tugged at Producer Chang's sleeve: "Come out with me for a moment."
He went out first, walked to the corner outside the tent, and after the others caught up, his casual expression turned serious, his brows furrowed, revealing the man's unclear mood at that moment.
"What's going on? How dare they bully the people I'm protecting?"
A note from the author:
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How amazing, the comment section is unusually quiet, but I'm sure you're all secretly enjoying it, hmph [covering face and peeking][dog head with rose in hand]
...I'm not humming anymore, adults, I want to drink nutritional supplements TAT
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