Little Ma boiled an egg, placed it in a white porcelain bowl, cooled it with water and ice cubes, and brought it over to Lu Zhi.
“Sister Zhuang doesn’t let Rong Yin eat the yolk…” Little Ma pursed her lips, reminding Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi gave an “Mm,” indicating she understood.
Pushing open the bedroom door, Rong Yin was sitting on the sofa chair playing with her phone, a pair of beautiful legs casually propped up on the coffee table. Lu Zhi noticed the other party’s exposed calves indeed had two bruises, red and purple, quite startling against the excessively pale skin.
Lu Zhi averted her gaze, pretending not to see, and placed the bowl in her hand on the coffee table.
“Eat up.”
Rong Yin lifted her thin eyelids, glanced at her expressionlessly, then put her phone down. She hooked the edge of the bowl with two fingers and pulled it over. Some water splashed out from the rough movement, spilling onto the black tabletop, but she didn’t care.
Lu Zhi sat to the side, watching her quickly shift position, squatting in the space between the sofa and the coffee table. She fished the dripping egg out with both hands.
Lu Zhi opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing. She watched helplessly as the egg—chilled by the water but only cooled on the surface, the internal heat quickly radiating out to make it burning hot—rolled twice in her slender palm before landing with a “splat” on the table.
Rong Yin sucked in a sharp breath, her fingertips quickly flying to pinch her earlobes for relief.
The moment before the other looked up, ready to shoot her a glare of humiliated rage, Lu Zhi averted her gaze.
Chen Qihua wasn’t familiar with Rong Yin. Although they were in the same company, they couldn’t even be called nodding acquaintances.
The hierarchy of agents at Splendid World Entertainment was clearly stratified.
Zhuang Jie was top-tier. Both artists under her were the company’s most heavily promoted. One was Rong Yin, currently the company’s hottest female star, and the other was Jiang Yan, a popular young heartthrob at the moment.
Chen Qihua was bottom-tier. Though nominally an Executive Agent, she managed only eighteenth-rate nobodies and was often used as a high-level assistant day-to-day.
For instance, bringing Zhou Mingming here to film this time. One reason was naturally because Chen Qihua had secured this on-screen opportunity for her own artist. The second was because Zhuang Jie needed her here to watch over Rong Yin.
Chen Qihua had seen Rong Yin at the company before, but this girl’s eyes were always pointing to the back of her head. For someone as nameless as her within the company, if they chanced to meet, the big female star wouldn’t even deign to glance at her.
Because they weren’t familiar, silence filled the space. Lu Zhi also had no desire to initiate conversation with this explosive beauty who could go off at the slightest touch.
Despite being a bit too hot to handle, the scent of food quickly permeated the air. Lu Zhi quietly waited as Rong Yin ate the boiled egg in small bites until it was completely gone, then cleaned up the eggshells and water droplets from the table.
Rong Yin sat back on the sofa, grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth. A very soft sigh of contentment escaped her.
“Rest well.” Lu Zhi stood up with the trash, her voice calm. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll take Mingming to the set first. I’ll have the driver come back to pick you up around noon.”
Rong Yin didn’t say anything else, just let out an “Mn” through her nose.
Little Ma was waiting by the door. As soon as Lu Zhi came out, she took the bowl, paused, then asked, “The egg yolk…?”
Lu Zhi answered evenly, “I ate it.”
Little Ma was stunned, looking at Lu Zhi with suspicion. She couldn’t help but glance toward the bedroom, then quickly retracted her gaze as if stung by a wasp, flusteredly giving a couple of “Oh, oh”s.
Rong Yin’s room was a small two-room suite. Little Ma was obviously staying in the other room. It was almost one in the morning by the time Lu Zhi came out of 2109.
Little Ma hesitantly asked, “Sister Chen, what about the injury on Rong Yin’s body?”
Lu Zhi replied, “Ask her if she’s willing to apply the ointment. If not, forget it.”
“Ah?”
Lu Zhi smiled, turned, and left.
After getting downstairs, she found Zhou Mingming still hadn’t slept.
“Is Sister Rong Yin okay now?”
“All good.” Lu Zhi went to wash her hands, then came out and turned off the light. “Go to sleep quickly, or your condition won’t be good tomorrow.”
Zhou Mingming nodded and burrowed into her bed.
As it turned out, the next day, the girl woke up just after five o’clock. She crept around, unwrapped a sheet mask, and started applying it, continuing to mumble over those few lines on the side.
Lu Zhi was a light sleeper but didn’t disturb the girl’s enthusiasm. She rested with her eyes closed until half-past five before getting up.
The two ate breakfast, and Zhou Mingming drank an extra Americano to help with any swelling.
Lu Zhi first sent Zhou Mingming to the makeup room. Although according to Zhuang Jie’s instructions, Zhou Mingming could use Rong Yin’s makeup room, given the difference in their status, Lu Zhi didn’t actually take it seriously.
Quite a few new actors were appearing today, all young, handsome men and beautiful women, and the makeup room quickly filled up.
This drama was a co-production between Splendid World Entertainment and Chenhua Pictures. Unlike Splendid World’s focus on creating idol stars, Chenhua Pictures placed relatively more emphasis on training actors, so the resource inclinations behind the scenes were very different.
Chen Qihua knew a bit of the inside story. Last year, Chenhua Pictures had custom-made a historical power-struggle drama for Splendid World Entertainment, using Zhuang Jie’s male artist, Jiang Yan, as the male lead. As a resource exchange, the two companies collaborated again this year on this fluffy little Xianxia drama, using Rong Yin’s star power to boost the other company’s newcomer young male actors. All the supporting roles were also from their company. Splendid World Entertainment had just contributed the female lead and Zhou Mingming, who was squeezed in at the last minute.
Zhou Mingming’s styling was simple: the plain white dress that was the sect’s standard uniform. To fit the character setting, her hair was braided into pigtails with two white silk ribbons, then coiled into two little buns on top of her head, the rest left loose over her shoulders.
At Rong Yin’s level, she naturally had her own personal makeup artist. Zhou Mingming could only use the makeup artist provided by the crew.
A very young-looking girl worked on Zhou Mingming’s face with various brushes and powder puffs for about ten minutes before stopping. “Little sister has good skin, no need for heavy makeup, just brighten it up a bit.”
Zhou Mingming pursed her lips shyly. “Thank you, Sister.”
After makeup, Lu Zhi led her into the adjacent photography studio for stills. Others were already having theirs taken, all from Chenhua Pictures, chattering and laughing, looking quite lively.
Lu Zhi first found a stool for Zhou Mingming to sit on, then took a bottle of eye drops from her bag and put a little in for her.
“Move your eyes around, don’t blink.” Lu Zhi lifted her chin.
Zhou Mingming complied. When she looked down again, her eyes were indeed like black grapes soaked in water, glistening, the corners naturally moist and glossy.
After the photo shoot came the selection. Minor actors didn’t have many shots taken. The art department just symbolically Photoshopped them. Lu Zhi ruled out several that were clearly bad, supervised the staff as they chose two good ones, and didn’t bother with the rest.
It wasn’t until ten o’clock that the two officially headed to the set.
The male and female leads’ scenes were all in the afternoon. In the morning, not even the Director had arrived. The Assistant Director led a group of people in white robes through blocking rehearsals on set. At eleven, another group in black robes came on. A few people dressed as sect elders shouted orders before the front of the crowd, and then the two groups charged at each other with swords.
Zhou Mingming, as a role that could actually be named, naturally stood in the front. But she still wasn’t used to that long, cumbersome dress. Once, she rushed forward too fiercely, stepped on the hem, and almost fell. Luckily, a fellow Senior or Junior Sister beside her caught her. Startled, she reflexively looked at the camera, only to find the cameras were all aimed at the big shots nearby. She then breathed a sigh of relief.
As soon as she came off set, Zhou Mingming told Lu Zhi about this, still looking shaken.
Lu Zhi smiled. The midday sun was quite strong, and with all that running around, the young girl’s face was flushed red, her makeup largely ruined.
Lu Zhi sprayed her generously with sunscreen spray, as if it were free, touched up her makeup a bit, and took out a small electric fan from her bag for her.
At eleven-thirty, Lu Zhi sent Little Ma a message, reminding her to mind the time and set off for the location.
At twelve-thirty, another assistant called. Lu Zhi answered. On the other end, Little Ma stammered that her phone and Rong Yin’s phone had both been smashed and were unusable, and that Rong Yin was still in bed sleeping.
Lu Zhi frowned, setting down her boxed lunch as she headed for the parking lot. “Wet a warm towel and put it on her eyes. If that doesn’t work, have Zhuang Jie call her. I’m heading back now.”
Trouble yesterday, and trouble again today. It was obvious that, seeing her own agent gone, she was deliberately trying to cause havoc and push the assistants’ limits.
The business van they’d taken that morning had already been driven back by the driver to pick up the VIP. Lu Zhi asked the Director’s Assistant to call a production vehicle. But before they’d even been on the road ten minutes, a call came from the other side saying Rong Yin was already up and they were leaving immediately, no need for her to come back.
Lu Zhi felt a bit helpless but, after thinking it over, still told the driver to turn around and return to Hengdian.
At one-thirty, the entourage finally arrived, a mighty procession surging over from the parking lot. There were umbrella holders, bag carriers, path clearers, and rear guards.
Rong Yin wore black sunglasses that covered most of her face. Her lips were pressed together, showing no discernible expression.
Lu Zhi pulled Little Ma aside and asked what happened.
Little Ma was almost on the verge of collapse, her emotions highly unstable. She explained to Lu Zhi in an incoherent, breathless whisper. It was nothing more than refusing to get out of bed, a huge temper tantrum, smashing phones, and Zhuang Jie’s phone being unreachable…
Lu Zhi watched the young girl tear up again mid-sentence and couldn’t help but pat her head. After a moment’s thought, she said, “Go buy a new phone first, get your line restored, then go back and rest. I’ll keep an eye on things for Rong Yin this afternoon.”
“Can you… is that okay?”
“Mm, it’s fine.” Lu Zhi nodded.
Little Ma left, carrying an attitude of both extreme unease and fleeing for her life. Lu Zhi returned to the makeup room. A male and a female makeup artist had already started on Rong Yin’s look.
“Little Ma went to buy a new phone. Probably won’t be back this afternoon. Call me if you need anything,” Lu Zhi mentioned from the side.
Rong Yin gave a cold laugh.
She had a pair of peach blossom eyes highly praised by countless media outlets and fans, yet the outer corners tilted slightly upward more than standard peach blossom eyes. Overall, allure and innocence coexisted in her gaze, allowing her to play a seductress up close and a ditzy girl from afar.
Right now, Rong Yin used those beautiful eyes to give Lu Zhi a particularly disdainful roll in the mirror.
Lu Zhi sighed inwardly. Truly a beauty—even making such an inelegant gesture, she didn’t feel offended.
Lu Zhi’s expression remained unchanged. She walked aside to go over the afternoon’s scenes with the production coordinator who had come in.
Rong Yin’s hair and makeup took a full hour. Midway, worried the girl might cause trouble, Lu Zhi took a yogurt from her bag and let her sip on it slowly.
A while later, an assistant saw this and ran over to whisper to Lu Zhi, “That’s her afternoon tea AND dinner…”
“…”
Lu Zhi glanced at Rong Yin, who was gently pursing a red-rimmed lip around the straw. Hah, no wonder she was being so dutiful.
It wasn’t until three o’clock that Rong Yin finally left the makeup room. The Director was already outside, having filmed two groups fighting back and forth for ages. Seeing Rong Yin emerge so late, he wasn’t angry at all, just cheerfully started explaining the scene to her.
Zhou Mingming, finally seeing Lu Zhi out, hurriedly ran over to follow.
The afternoon’s scenes mainly revolved around the female lead’s simultaneous falling-out with both the righteous and villainous factions—a big group scene. First up was a segment where she reminisced about the past in front of everyone.
This part featured Zhou Mingming’s Junior Sister character. The female lead, lost within an environment she had conjured, unconsciously introduces the Junior Sister to the places she’d once been—Bright Gorge, the Nine Nether Palace, Spirit Wind Ancient Town…
And Zhou Mingming had to deliver her lines of awe and yearning after this narration, thereby further highlighting the beauty of the old days.
The set crew had pre-taped marks of various colors on the floor. Everyone just had to stand in their designated spots.
Under the spacious green screen, the clapper loader came forward to clap the slate, instantly quieting the surroundings.
The camera slowly moved forward, Rong Yin’s slender, straight back appearing in the frame, then slowly pushing in for a frontal shot.
Rong Yin’s flawless face was pushed and pulled close by the lens. Every feature—brows, eyes, nose, lips—was perfect, the beauty overflowing from the screen with immense impact.
The background actors remained motionless, watching Rong Yin elegantly flick a long cloud sleeve, a nostalgic expression appearing on her face as she looked into the green screen—where post-production technicians would later Photoshop a montage of flashing past scenery.
Rong Yin slowly opened her mouth. Her voice had a high recognizability, sounding extremely soulful when softened.
“12345678…”
“…”
Zhou Mingming froze.
“Cut!”
“Hey, newcomer! What’s wrong with you?! Say your lines!”
