Chapter 32

“It was raining the past few days and yet, it is so sunny today.” The scriptwriter Lin Yan and Ning Xi were hiding under the umbrella, shielding themselves from the sun. As they watched the actors on the film set, Lin Yan turned to Ning Xi, “Although these actors are students of the film academy, they are still lacking experience .”

On the contrary, Ning Xi’s performance made Lin Yan had a whole new level of respect for her. Even though she did not come from a background of acting, she is very professional and is able to take on various hardships. As long as it was not a must to use a stand-in, she would resolve to do it herself. Few young artists could be so resilient in this circle.

“Right now, they are still young. They would get better as they film more shows in the future.” Ning Xi chuckled, “I’m just a few years more experienced than them.”

As the two continued to chat, they saw a newly joined actor walking over to greet the both of them, her att.i.tude was full of respect. Ever since Chang Shi Gui had publicly announced on Weibo that he was old friends with Ning Xi, people had been increasingly courteous to her. Even the artists in the same company as her would have to put on a forced smile when they see her.

Rather than being respected, it would be more accurate to say that these people were afraid to offend the Chang Shi Gui behind her. As her heart became clearer about this, she was calmer when in face of such situation and would not embarra.s.s the other party.

Lin Yan could tell that this newcomer had some ulterior motives. She waited for the actor to leave before giving off a smile: “Ever since the news of Mr Chang investing in our film had been released, our production team has more and more gunmans[1]. Even small supporting roles would have quite a number of people coming to fight for it.”

Previously when she had invited these few actors to take on important characters, they were afraid that the funds couldn’t hold up, and thus rejected on the pretense that their schedule was full. Now, a number of them had once again reached out to her, expressing their admiration for this film and had specially opened up their schedule for the film.

Some are best left unsaid, there was no need to expose their skin . In any case, this kind of thing was not uncommon in this industry.

Ning Xi knew that Lin Yan was suppressing her anger but she did not respond to her words. Instead, she took out her phone and browsed the web. Ning Xi saw a news that came out from a portal website, stating that a rich-second generation was racing cars on the highway a few days ago. Who would have imagined that they would be recorded by an internet user and having it uploaded onto the net last night.

Very quickly, the video caused a huge uproar. It was captured in the video that a sports car knocked down and ran over a road sign, driving at a speed that seemed akin to a plane. All the other drivers that happened to be pa.s.sing by were too frightened to continue their journey, driving their cars to the side to wait for the sports car to leave before carrying on.

Under the news were a barrage of angry comments. There were even several well-known netizens that revealed their personal details, posting pictures of these rich second-generation youths and their family backgrounds on the forum.

Jiang Cheng……

Ning Xi looked at the young man in the photo and recalled her meeting with him at the hallway during the celebratory banquet of ‘My Heart Longs for You’. At that time, the man looked at Ning Xi with eyes that were full of contempt as if she was an actor who could not appear much on screen.

On the contrary, the woman that was with him was indeed beautiful. Her eyes were big and striking with long and shapely brows [2] and she carried a n.o.ble air that an average person would not have, making it difficult for one to take their eyes off her,

“Teacher Ning Xi, it is time for your scene.”

Exiting the webpage, Ning Xi handed her phone over to Xiao Yang and stood up, heading towards the shooting area.

For the past two days, Jiang Cheng didn’t had it easy. Ignoring the fact that he lost to Qu Yuan Bai in car racing two days ago, his video was even circulated online. As a result, his old man woke him up in the middle of night and reprimanded him last night. He even brought up Chang Shi Gui again, as if Jiang Cheng wasn’t even fit to hold shoes for him.

Factually speaking, the Jiang family was never on the same footing as the Chang family in terms of influential power from the start. The old man only knew how to blame Jiang Cheng for not being as good as Chang Shi Gui. Why not blame the previous generations for not surpa.s.sing the Chengs?

The old man even mentioned the fact that Chang Shi Gui and Jiang Cheng were cousins as both of their mothers were biological sisters. It was just that his hobbies were not aligned with Chang Shi Gui, even if they sat together, there was nothing much to talk about. Hence, their relationship were only mediocre.

In fact, Chang Shi Gui and Tao Shengyan from his uncle’s family had a great relationship as they are what the elders had deemed as the so-called “children that tries to bring honour to the family”

“Cheng-zi [3], why are you sitting here in a daze?” Someone had knocked on his car window. Jiang Cheng lowered the window, “Fatty Du, what are you doing here?”

“Sister Bai Lu said that she wants to find someone and saw that a few of our brothers happened to be bored and free, hence, she told us to follow her.” Du Kang let out a smile on his chubby face, and in an instant, his eyes could not be seen.

“Find who?” Jiang Cheng pinched between his eyebrows and glanced across at the cars that stopped at a short distance away, “Are you guys trying to find someone, or going to pick a fight?”

“Hehe, didn’t Brother Chang register for Weibo a few days ago and even mentioned that he is old friends with a female artiste? Sister Bai Lu wants to get to know her,” Speaking til this point, Du Kang held some hesitation in his tone, “I feel that, it is not a good idea to go and find her with so many people……”

“What is so bad about that? Isn’t it just some actress? What’s wrong with Bai Lu wanting to go over to have a look?” Jiang Cheng somewhat impatiently continued, “Even if Brother Chang had taken a liking to her, he can’t possibly embarra.s.s Bai Lu for some actress. Relax, I’ll go along with all of you. There is no need to worry.”

“I am not saying that Brother Chang will be unhappy with us. It’s just that we are finding a young lady with so many people, isn’t it a bit…….” Du Kang noticed Jiang Cheng was getting more and more irritated, and did not dare to continue speaking. His family had only just expanded into the imperial city not too long ago. Usually, he would be following these young mistresses and masters as their errand boy, where would he find the guts to provoke them.

Jiang Cheng saw his terrified appearance, waved his hand and said: “Go and tell Bai Lu, I will follow all of you by car.”

Du Kang could only turn his head and transmit the message to Bai Lu. Bai Lu gestured a hand sign towards Jiang Cheng and drove her red sports car in front to take the lead.

“Ning Xi, the scene where you dismounted from the horse just now was very smooth. It seems that your horsemanship is not bad.” Originally, Kong Yuheng was planning to arrange a stuntman to handle the horse-riding scene just now. Unexpectedly, Ning Xi actually knew how to ride a horse.

“I specially learnt it previously for the shooting of ‘Yunyue of Han Dynasty’,” Ning Xi raised her head and took a big gulp of water as she perspired a lot due to the hot weather. Her makeup artist was currently helping her to touch up, “The company said that with my looks, many opportunities to star in ancient shows would arise. As such, they even went out of the way to search for someone to teach me.”

Though ‘Yunyue of Han Dynasty’ has not yet been aired, its popularity has already been skyrocketing. Many television stations and broadcasting online platforms were fighting for the rights to release it first. As such, the show was well-known in the acting circle. Once she heard that Ning Xi had a part in the show, Kong Yuheng smiled, “Director Xu’s work, would definitely be hot with views for a long time.”

Most importantly, this show was the film that had, Zhou Yinghou, once again starring as the female lead years after she had went into big screen movies. This gimmick alone is enough to attract people’s attention. Being able to appear in this film, Ning Xi was really lucky.

“Our show would definitely be popular too after we air it.” Ning Xi finished drinking and placed the bottle of mineral water by the side and lifted her head to look at the increasingly dazzling sun. “We shall film the next few scenes continuously. Once it’s noon, everyone can take a break.”

Kong Yuheng was busy nodding as she was already planning to finish the morning scenes earlier. It was just that Ning Xi’s position was somewhat special and hence, it was difficult for Kong Yuheng to press her. Now that Ning Xi had brought up this matter on her own accord, why would she oppose.

“Episode 9 scene five ready in one, two and three, action.”

In a beautiful drift, Bai Lu stopped her car at the corner. She took out her black sungla.s.ses and wore it, disregarding the sizing looks of the people as she headed straight towards the shooting of ‘Three Lives of Rouge’.

As the Sun was rather bright, the young master that was following behind her attentively held up an umbrella for her as he obediently followed behind her.

The members of the production team of ‘Three Lives of Rogue’ were baffled as they watched several oddly-dressed youngsters walked over. From the looks of these people, they did not seem to be fans. Are they here to cause troubles?

Bai Lu looked at Ning Xi who was currently dressed in ancient clothes, riding on top of the horse as she wielded a broadsword confidently and carrying a valiant and majestic air around her.

“Er Deng, as a man, you did not have a single ounce of guts to strike at your enemy and yet when it comes to mocking a woman like me, you sure become eloquent. But now, all of you can’t even defeat a woman like me. Who gave you the audacity to mock, who gave you the face to see your ancestors?!” She leaped off from her horse as she pointed her sword one after another at the men on the ground, “If all of you are really a man, then go resist the invaders and not rely on mocking women to uphold your pathetic pride as man!”

“Stand up!” She kicked at the man nearest to her, “What are you still lying down here for, waiting for someone to serve you?!”

Bai Lu removed her sungla.s.ses as she silently watched Ning Xi repeatedly shot the same scene three times because of the other actors. She did not resent the other actors for implicating her and was serious from the start to the end.

“Okay, pa.s.s!”

Ning Xi looked at the actor that was kicked consecutively by her and smiled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t managed to grasp the angle of my leg properly, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” The actor who was just a millennial supporting role that had not tasted any hardships, saw Ning Xi who held such a big role solemnly apologizing to him. Overwhelmed by her unexpected att.i.tude [4] , he hurriedly waved his hands and said: “It’s fine, it’s fine. The angle of Teacher Ning’s kick was perfect. It seemed to have a huge power to it but in actual fact, it didn’t touch me at all.”

“It’s good that you are alright,” Ning Xi lifted her hands as she fanned herself, “We have only just entered May and yet it is already so hot. By the time June arrives, we would have turned into roasted meat.”

“Excuse me, are you Ning Xi?”

Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Ning Xi astonishedly turned her head and saw a woman wearing a red dress with long hair trailing over her shoulder, stood in front of her.

Aiya, Ning Xi have seen this beauty before.

“h.e.l.lo.” Ning Xi reservedly nodded towards her. Before the other party introduce themself, she did not want to appear overly cordial.

“Sister Xi Xi,” Xiao Yang quickly ran to Ning Xi’s side as she noticed several people had already ran over. With a skeptical gaze, she looked at Bai Lu and the others, “Pardon me for asking, but who are you? We are currently filming and will not be receiving any fans at the moment.”

“Fans?” Jiang Cheng sneered with hands tugged in his pocket as he walked up to Bai Lu. He looked towards Ning Xi, “Miss Ning, we’ve met again.”

Xiao Yang could hear the disdain in his tone, her heart boiling with anger. Just as she was about to open her mouth to argue with the other party, her hand was pulled by Ning Xi.

Ning Xi looked at this rich and high in status young man and smiled, “Have we met before? My apologies, I do not have a good memory. I hope you do not take offense to it.”

In this instance, Jiang Cheng’s face twisted.

Du Kang lowered his head and let out a dry cough, trying to conceal the laughter that he almost failed to restrain. This Ning Xi had definitely ‘melting bones palm’ [5].Her words seemed to be courteous and polite but unknowingly it made Jiang Cheng unable to continue to act the fool.

Even though I shouldn’t think this way, but really……feels refreshed!

In retrospect, Du Kang was afraid of making a big deal of the matter, so he secretly messaged Chang Shi Gui. Whether he would pay attention to it or not, at least Du Kang would feel better about it by letting him know.

The crews saw that the situation was not right, and several tall staff gathered around. The cameraman deliberately opened the camera lid. If the other party dares to lift a hand and bully others, he would immediately take pictures of the evidence.

“It’s nothing, these……are respectable and important figures from the imperial capital,” Ning Xi smiled and briefly glanced at Jiang Cheng and Bai Lu before turning back her head to face Kong Yuheng and said, “Director Kong, you can continue to shoot. I will accompany them for a short chat.”

Kong Yuheng glanced at those people suspiciously, understanding that Ning Xi was reminding them that these people are not to be offended: “Let us know if there’s anything.”

Jiang Cheng calmly looked at the surroundings. Even though the staffs of the production team seemed to be doing their own errands, but each and every one of them acted like thieves as they fixed their eyes on them. Some of them even sneakily took out their phones, what are they trying to do?

What is there to take!

Could it be such a man like him still had to get physical with a small actress?

“I have heard about Miss Ning for a long time, so I specially came down today to send my greetings,” Bai Lu smiled at Ning Xi, “My surname is Bai, a friend of Brother Chang.”

Both of them are woman, the moment when Chang Shi Gui was mentioned, Ning Xi understood the purpose of Bai Lu’s visit today. She lifted the corner of her lips as she said, “So it turns out to be Bai Family’s young miss. Sorry for being discourteous, the sun here is too glaring, let us find a spot with more shades.”

“Good.” Bai Lu followed behind Ning Xi as they walked to a canopy. Ning Xi gave up her seat to Bai Lu as she sat on a small plastic stool, “The production set is simple and crude, hope Miss Bai doesn’t mind.”

Bai Lu looked at the woman sitting on the small stool wearing a costume made with low-quality and rough cloth. The way she sat was very casual but Bai Lu could not pick up how much the other party made people detest her, “Miss Ning’s valiant disposition when riding the horse just now, was very attractive.”

“To be able to receive the praise from such a beautiful person like Bai Lu, is my honour.”
Ning Xi received an iced drink from Xiao Yang and twisted off the lid before pa.s.sing it to Bai Lu. She gave a tender smile to Bai Lu, “Please have a drink.”

“Thank you.” Bai Lu took the drink and had a sip. Only when the cold water drizzled down her throat then she remembered that she had never drank anything of such low cla.s.s.

Why did she drink it just now?

Lifting her head to look at Ning Xi, she was currently facing upwards to drink water. Her sweat traced her fair neck and dripped down, unexpectedly carrying a beauty that could shake one’s heart.

Bai Lu….. unbearably drank the drink in her hands once again.

Inside the chairman’s office of Chang Corporation headquarters, Chang Shi Gui read the message sent by an unknown person. His face instantly sank.

His uncle and aunt has always been doting on their children. How terrible was Jiang Cheng’s personality, he knew it in his heart.

“Boss?” The secretary that was currently reporting on his work saw the sudden change in his boss’s expression, “Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Chang Shi Gui placed down his phone and picked up his overcoat as he took big strides out, “I’ll head out for a while.”

He wasn’t afraid of anything else, only afraid that Ning Xi would lose out.

[1] – A play on words, 槍手(qiangshou – gunman) and 搶(qiang – to s.n.a.t.c.h / fight over).

[2] – 

[3] – an endearment like -chan in j.a.panese

[4] – the phrase is 受宠若惊 which is supposed to mean ‘overwhelmed by (special) favour’

[5] – 化骨綿掌 (hua gu mian zhang) = a move used in martial arts movies