Chapter 5: Five Fires

Yan Duo and Zhou Yingmeng had no scenes scheduled for the morning, so they leisurely ate breakfast before taking the shuttle bus to the set. By the time they went downstairs, it was already ten o’clock. The lobby sofa on the first floor was crowded with people, prompting Zhou Yingmeng to remark curiously, “Looks like the hotel’s doing good business today.”

Fang Fang, standing nearby, shook her head. “These probably aren’t guests. Auntie Zhang at the hotel mentioned that the housekeeping department fired two cleaners yesterday. The people here now are likely applicants for the job.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yingmeng took another look at the people sitting on the sofa. Most appeared to be women over forty, fitting Fang Fang’s description. However, the matter had little to do with them, so after a brief glance, Zhou Yingmeng quickly dismissed it from her mind.

Yan Duo gave Fang Fang an amused look. From their arrival yesterday until now, barely a full day had passed, yet in that short time, Fang Fang had not only built rapport with the crew but also seemed to have befriended the hotel staff—and quite closely at that?

Thinking about the hotel’s dismissal of employees again, Yan Duo’s expression turned grave.

During lunch on set, when no one was around, Yan Duo casually asked Fang Fang, “Are you close with the hotel staff?”

Fang Fang put down her chopsticks and asked, “Are you talking about Auntie Zhang?”

Yan Duo nodded.

Fang Fang thought for a moment, “She’s alright. She’s the in-law of my elementary school classmate’s aunt’s neighbor, working as a manager at a hotel. Duo-jie, do you need something from her?”

Yan Duo couldn’t imagine how Fang Fang had managed to figure out such distant connections, though she had no intention of exploring the matter further. She casually made up an excuse: “Oh, it’s nothing, I was just curious about why a five-star hotel would casually lay people off.”

Fang Fang replied, “I heard from Auntie Zhang that those two leaked the privacy of the VIP suite guests and got reported. siluxsw.com”

Yan Duo’s heart skipped a beat—had the privacy of the presidential suite guest been leaked? The timing was too coincidental; it must have been Ji Ran’s information that got exposed. Yet, there were no news reports online so far, suggesting Ji Ran’s team had successfully handled the PR crisis. The thought that people might be discussing Ji Ran’s intimate privacy made Yan Duo feel uncomfortable. If not for her, how could Ji Ran—godlike and untarnished—end up with such a stain?

Fang Fang was surprised to see Yan Duo instantly wilt like a frostbitten eggplant.

“Duo Jie, are you okay?”

Yan Duo sighed, “It’s nothing.”

She hadn’t even told Qi Sixian, with whom she had a good relationship, about her connection with Ji Ran, let alone her newly arrived assistant.

Fang Fang didn’t press further, but put down her chopsticks and earnestly expressed her stance.

“Duo-jie, I’ve been your assistant since yesterday. You can ask me to do anything for you. Don’t underestimate me—I might just be able to help you solve it!”

Yan Duo smiled and patted her hair, saying, “Alright, I’ll let you know if I need anything in the future.”

Fang Fang saw that she still wasn’t willing to talk and had no choice, after all, building mutual trust isn’t something that can be achieved overnight.

The first scene after lunch was a face-off between Yan Duo and Liu Chuang. After finishing her makeup, Yan Duo adjusted her mindset and stepped onto the set.

Forcibly possessed by Du Deming, Wen Rou went from being a new-generation female student to the Eleventh Concubine. She remained depressed, staying every day in the room specially arranged for her by Du Deming without stepping out. Gradually, she even lost her appetite and began to entertain thoughts of suicide.

Du Deming, who had just returned from a trip that lasted several days, heard Butler Zhou’s report as soon as he stepped out of the car. Casually tossing his top hat to the butler, Du Deming strode into the villa, headed straight for the second floor, and entered the room closest to the study without hesitation by twisting the doorknob.

The Du family owned many villas, and Du Deming had numerous wives. Yet, none had ever been treated like Wen Rou—first allowed to stay in his strictly off-limits study, then moved to the largest and most scenic room nearest to it. This privilege made his other wives seethe with envy, gnashing their teeth in resentment.

But Wen Rou cared little for these privileges. To her, she was nothing more than a caged bird, stripped of her freedom.

Now lying weakly on the bed with a pale complexion, Wen Rou looked utterly fragile. Seeing the woman who had been full of life just days ago reduced to such a state, Du Deming’s anger flared up instantly. He gestured for the butler at the door to place a bowl of plain congee and side dishes on the nightstand. Once the butler left, he suppressed his temper and snapped at her, “Get up and eat.”

The person on the bed merely fluttered their thick eyelashes slightly, offering no response and making no move to rise.

Du Deming was not a man with a good temper, and he couldn’t tolerate disobedience. He directly unbuckled the belt around his waist and tossed it aside, then began unbuttoning his shirt.

Wen Rou heard the noise and opened her eyes to see Du Deming pouncing on her like a wild beast. Unwilling to endure another round of torment from him, she quickly dodged, grabbed the dagger hidden under the pillow, and retreated to the corner of the bed. Pointing the dagger at Du Deming with trembling hands, she pleaded, “Don’t come any closer!”

Du Deming wasn’t the least bit afraid of a trembling young woman holding a weapon, taking yet another step forward.

Wen Rou knew she couldn’t threaten Du Deming, so she turned the blade toward her own neck and slashed down with all her might…

In the end, Wen Rou didn’t die—the dagger was snatched away by Du Deming and thrown to the ground.

“How much longer are you going to keep this up?” Du Deming said coldly.

Wen Rou looked up at him, her eyes filled with disgust and a stubborn determination to face death unflinchingly.

At this moment, Director Chen outside the set loudly called “Cut!”: “OK, this shot is good. Everyone, get ready for the next one.”

After speaking, he turned to Liu Chuang and Yan Duo and said, “You two, go sit at the dining table and rehearse your lines. Yan Duo performed well just now, so let’s aim to get the next shot done in one take too.”

Yan Duo smiled in response, got up from the bed, and walked toward the dining table. Liu Chuang followed behind her, and the two sat down at the table one after the other.

“Is the reason you rejected me because of that Fan boss who visited the set yesterday?” Liu Chuang kept his eyes on the script in front of him, but his words were directed at Yan Duo.

The bustling surroundings were filled with busy staff members. Yan Duo kept her head down, focusing on the script, pretending Liu Chuang wasn’t speaking to her.

Liu Chuang snorted when he saw Yan Duo remain silent. “Do you really think someone like you could ever step into the Fan family’s door? Rich boys like him are just toying with you!”

Yan Duo found this amusing.

Although Yan Duo had rejected Liu Chuang twice before, she hadn’t noticed any issues with his character—until yesterday when Fang Fang told her about Liu Chuang’s involvement with the makeup artist. Yan Duo deliberately observed their interactions and caught Liu Chuang discreetly patting the makeup artist’s buttocks. At that moment, she felt disgusted by him. A man who sleeps with one partner while simultaneously pursuing her—such behavior truly rubbed her the wrong way.

Of course, it was precisely this feeling of “feeling nauseated inside but having to suppress it” that aligned with the gentleness in the drama, allowing Yan Duo to gradually find her way into the character.

Liu Chuang noticed the seemingly mocking smile on her face and frowned, asking, “What are you laughing at?”

Yan Duo looked up at him: “Since it’s all just playing around, why should I choose you?”

This remark, on one hand, implied that Liu Chuang’s intentions toward Yan Duo were merely for “play,” while on the other, it belittled him for not being as good as Fan Xian.

Liu Chuang instinctively wanted to retort that he wasn’t just playing around, but when he met Yan Duo’s half-smiling eyes, he unconsciously swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.

The two didn’t speak again until the next scene was finished, after which Liu Chuang stormed off with a dark expression.

Director Chen, as Liu Chuang’s friend, understood his intentions all too well. Glancing at Yan Duo’s smiling face, he said, “You did well today. Keep it up.”

Though this industry is dirty, not everyone in it is. Some manage to stay true to their principles—whether by nature or because they have the backing and confidence to do so. In Director Chen’s eyes, Yan Duo was one of those rare individuals who had both. Someone like her wasn’t someone Liu Chuang could just casually pursue and win over.

Yan Duo, rarely praised for her acting progress, was instantly delighted. “Thank you for the compliment, Director! I’ll keep working hard!”

Director Chen waved her off, signaling for her to go rest.

When Yan Duo returned to her seat, Zeng Meng leaned over and asked, “Liu Chuang is such an easily angered man, isn’t he? Did you reject him again?”

The dynamic between men and women is pretty straightforward. Unless you’re blind, it’s obvious that Liu Chuang has feelings for Yan Duo. Let’s not even mention the past, but this time when Liu Chuang’s face darkened, Zeng Meng saw it clearly from backstage. It happened right after Yan Duo said something to him.

Yan Duo looked at her and smiled, “Where did you hear such rumors?”

Zeng Meng rolled her eyes dramatically. Given the crowded set and the inconvenience of speaking freely, she didn’t expose Yan Duo but instead changed the subject: “Speaking of which, you’ve been NG-ing much less these past two days—I’m almost not used to it. Have you finally had an epiphany?”

Director Chen had higher standards for acting than most TV drama directors, especially for the main cast. Reshooting scenes three to five times was normal, and Yan Duo had been the one who needed that many retakes for almost every scene—until now. Today, she was nailing each shot in just one or two takes.

Yan Duo smiled. “I did grasp something, actually.”

She was simply applying the techniques she’d learned before, only this time channeling her hatred for scumbags, whereas previously she’d tapped into her most genuine emotions directly.

Zeng Meng, hearing that she actually had a solution, eagerly pressed Yan Duo to share it. But how could Yan Duo possibly say such a thing out loud? As the two of them were playfully bickering, Fang Fang brought over Yan Duo’s phone and said, “Duo-jie, your phone is ringing.”

Yan Duo said, “Thank you,” took the phone, and glanced at it—a new WeChat message with just a single word and a punctuation mark.

【Yes.】

At first, Yan Duo didn’t understand. But when she saw what she had sent in her groggy state at dawn, she wanted to throw her phone away. How could she have sent that kind of message to Ji Ran? What was even more terrifying was that Ji Ran had actually replied—and agreed! Ahhh!!!

After hesitating for a while, a sweetness slowly rose in Yanduo’s heart, tinting her small face red as she floated in delight—Professor Ji is so kind!

Author’s Note:　　 Author: It was 11 AM when you read the message, but you replied at 3 PM. Ji Ran, you spent four whole hours just to come up with a single “Hmm.”? Wow, impressive~

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