The next morning around nine o'clock, Su Yanxi was still half asleep, nestled in Bie Yunzong's arms, comfortably staying in bed, when she suddenly received a call from Zhou Tong.
Chapter 86
"Are you up yet? Hurry up, get up!"
Zhou Tong deliberately lowered his voice, but his excitement and joy were still hard to hide.
"Qi Xiang'an—he actually came to visit our film crew!"
"I have a feeling he's after you. Hurry up and get ready to come to the set!"
Su Yanxi immediately perked up, jumped up, washed, and changed her clothes.
He had intended to be careful not to make any noise that might wake the soundly sleeping dog. But as soon as he left Bie Yunzong's embrace, Bie Yunzong slowly opened his eyes and let out a casual yawn.
"What's wrong? Going to the film set for reshoots?"
"No." Su Yanxi moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye she had put on a set of black and white casual sportswear. "Sister Tong said that Qi Xiang'an came to visit our crew. I feel that the scene we acted in last night worked, so I'd better go and meet him."
Bie Yunzong lazily said "Oh," and watched as his wife quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face before sitting down at the dressing table and opening her makeup case.
Qi Xiang'an had been secretly plotting for so long, and this was the first time he'd actually run into his wife. It's easy to understand why she wanted to put on beautiful makeup and look her best when meeting her mortal enemy.
Bie Yunzong happened to enjoy watching Su Yanxi put on makeup, so he fixed his gaze on her through the mirror, looking at his wife's pale foundation and dark...
What was that again?
"Wife, what are you doing?" Bie Yunzong jumped up in fright and rushed to Su Yanxi's side, crying out in distress, "Why did you make such a beautiful face look like a ghost?!"
With that deathly pale base makeup and deliberately drawn dark circles, she really did look like a ghost from a distance! It was only because Su Yanxi did it herself that Bie Yunzong could hold back his anger. If it were anyone else who had ruined his wife's pretty face like that, he would have been furious long ago!
My beautiful wife's face is a gift from Venus to the mortal world, and no one should mistreat it!
“I have to look more miserable and haggard.” Su Yanxi didn’t hold back at all. After drawing dark circles under her eyes, she even used lip primer to cover her lip color. “Have you forgotten the scene we acted out yesterday? According to the script, we should have been arguing all night.”
"Qi Xiang'an is definitely here to test whether we've had a fight or not. If I go with dark circles under my eyes, he'll know immediately, won't he?"
Bie Yunzong asked worriedly, "Can it really work?"
"It will definitely work." Su Yanxi confidently closed the contouring palette. "I've found the rhythm now, and I'm sure I can deal with Qi Xiang'an."
"You go to sleep, I'll be right back."
Bie Yunzong gave an "oh," then lay back down on the bed, exhausted: "I wish you all the best."
"It'll definitely go smoothly." After tidying up in ten minutes, Su Yanxi opened the door to leave. "Let's go, honey, see you later."
Bie Yunzong lazily raised his hand and waved: "Goodbye, wife."
He heard the bedroom door slam shut, knowing his wife had left. He had intended to go back to sleep, but once the drowsiness was gone, his mind was wide awake, and he couldn't fall back asleep.
Bie Yunzong simply got up, picked up his phone, and dialed a number.
"Screenwriter Yang, it's me, Yun Zong. What did you think of the matter we discussed yesterday? If it's alright, then contact Director He Yu as soon as possible. I will..."
On the film set.
When Su Yanxi appeared with dark circles under her eyes, Zhou Tong was the first to be startled.
"Oh my god!" Zhou Tong, who had been leisurely watching the show, was so frightened by Su Yanxi's strange appearance that she quickly pulled her aside and whispered, "Did you fight with Young Master Bie last night?"
Su Yanxi wanted to explain, but Qi Xiang'an, who was not far away, had already noticed him and was walking briskly toward him.
"Yanxi, good morning. We greeted each other at the elevator earlier, you haven't forgotten me, have you?"
Upon seeing Su Yanxi's haggard face, Qi Xiang'an froze, covering his mouth in surprise.
"Oh my god... what happened to your face? Didn't you sleep well last night?"
Qi Xiang'an truly lives up to his reputation as the second best actor at the Beijing Academy of Drama. His delivery of lines and his ability to adapt to unexpected situations are excellent, and his performance is also very nuanced. Take, for example, the gesture of covering his mouth in surprise; he executed it very naturally and smoothly.
The light in his eyes was too sharp; it didn't look like he cared about someone, but rather like he was there to gloat over someone's misfortune.
Of course, Qi Xiang'an was indeed there to gloat.
"It's nothing..." Su Yanxi lowered her voice, sounding sickly as if she might collapse at any moment, "I filmed night scenes a few days ago and ruined my health. My biological clock hasn't been adjusted yet."
"Is that so?" Qi Xiang'an said with feigned understanding, but in reality, he unconsciously raised an eyebrow, clearly indicating that he did not believe Su Yanxi's statement. "Try drinking some honey milk? I heard it has a calming and beautifying effect."
Su Yanxi sneered inwardly, thinking to herself, "This Qi Xiang'an is really good at pretending! He's being so considerate in greeting me and giving me advice; he must be secretly overjoyed, right?"
"Really? Then I'll give it a try tonight." Su Yanxi said, scanning the set and spotting Cheng Zhuo.
Cheng Zhuo, still hungover, was in poor condition, his face visibly swollen. When his eyes met Su Yanxi's, Cheng Zhuo timidly looked away, pretending to look at something else.
Su Yanxi understood; she knew that Cheng Zhuo had indeed revealed the information to Qi Xiang'an.
"What's wrong?" Qi Xiang'an blocked Su Yanxi's view, feigning ignorance. "Yanxi, are your eyes uncomfortable too?"
Su Yanxi withdrew her gaze and continued her acting with Qi Xiang'an: "A little. Something unpleasant happened last night, so..."
Zhou Tong stood by and listened the whole time, using various eye signals and lip reading to ask Su Yanxi: What happened?
Zhou Tong's anxious reaction on Su Yanxi's behalf made Su Yanxi's act even more convincing. Qi Xiang'an became increasingly convinced: Su Yanxi must have had a fight with the young master he had been dreaming of!
Qi Xiang'an unconsciously raised his voice, his efforts to restrain himself unable to contain his overflowing smugness.
Chapter 87
"Sister Tong, could you please excuse me for a moment? I'd like to catch up with Yan hope about our old school days; I have some private things to say," Qi Xiang'an said politely to Zhou Tong.
Zhou Tong didn't answer. After giving Su Yanxi a worried look, she walked away reluctantly.
"What's this about reminiscing about old school days? As far as I remember, we didn't seem to have taken any classes together, did we?" Su Yanxi said, then coughed, as if her throat was very sore.
"We may not have taken classes together, but we both graduated from the Beijing Theatre Academy. It's not an exaggeration to say we're old classmates, is it?" Qi Xiang'an smiled, trying her best to appear considerate and friendly. "I've wanted to get to know you and be friends with you for a long time, but I just haven't been able to find the opportunity."
"I heard your crew is almost done filming in Guangcheng, so I came over to visit."
Su Yanxi rolled her eyes inwardly, thinking to herself, "You've come here for a visit? You're clearly here to laugh at me."
Fine, since you love watching jokes so much, I'll let you watch as many as you want at once.
"You're very kind," Su Yanxi sighed softly, "but I'm not really in the mood for making friends lately, so I'm afraid I can't give you a good experience in making friends."
"It's okay, making friends with you doesn't require any special experience."
Qi Xiang'an took a big step forward, suddenly closing the distance between himself and Su Yanxi, their noses almost colliding.
"You may not understand what I'm saying now; but that's okay, you'll understand someday."
“I have something very important that I want to get back from you.”
"Extraordinarily important?" Su Yanxi asked, feigning confusion, "Is it something from our school days? But we haven't really interacted much. I shouldn't have taken your things, right?"
"Sort of, and sort of not." Qi Xiang'an's words were laced with hidden meaning. After saying half of his statement in a deliberately mysterious manner, he waved to Su Yanxi, "You'll find out when the time comes. It's about time, I'll head back to my film set—see you later!"
Su Yanxi forced a smile onto her haggard face as she watched Qi Xiang'an leave and walk away.
After the person completely disappeared, Su Yanxi resumed her expressionless demeanor, looked disdainfully in the direction Qi Xiang'an had left, and let out a cold snort.
Heaven knows what exactly the "thing" Qi Xiang'an was talking about was.
If you're referring to his current wealth and power, then I'm sorry, but those are gifts from God after he overcame setbacks and numerous difficulties—they are byproducts of his hard work and the rewards he earned.
If you're referring to Bie Yunzong, then I'm even more sorry. He's a good husband and a devoted dog; he's been his all along.
He wanted to see what Qi Xiang'an was trying to take back from him.
On that day, after the crew of "Red Flower" finished filming the last scene, the general director, Director He, announced the end of this phase of filming.
"Everyone worked hard in Guangcheng during this time! They endured the sweltering heat and wore thick costumes; Su Su and Cheng Zhuo even had to wear special effects makeup, and their faces were almost suffocated by the paint."
Director He held up a glass of iced cola, using it as a substitute for alcohol, and gave a toast to the entire crew.
"The next phase of filming will be in the northern part of the city. The set there still needs some time to set up, so our post-production team can take this opportunity to work out the shots. Before filming resumes, we're giving everyone except the post-production team a short break. We wish you all the best with your work! During this time, please do your best to promote the drama when you're doing variety shows and interviews!"
The entire crew responded with a resounding "Bravo!" and erupted in thunderous applause.
Su Yanxi stood in the front row, surrounded by several staff members.
The props team leader was particularly fond of him. After Director He finished speaking, the team leader specifically reminded Su Yanxi, "I told you I'd treat you to tea, surely you're free now?"
“Okay.” Su Yanxi nodded readily. “You’d better bring enough money, okay? I won’t go easy on you just because you’re the head of the props team.”
"No problem. If you go easy on me, I'll get mad at you!" The team leader greeted the people around him warmly, waving to Cheng Zhuo, who was standing far away, "Xiao Cheng, wanna come along?"
Since getting drunk last night, Cheng Zhuo has been avoiding Su Yanxi. His avoidance behavior left Su Yanxi speechless and bewildered: he was the one who was hurt by the rude words, so why was Cheng Zhuo the one avoiding him?
They did something disgusting, yet they're unwilling to take responsibility.
Su Yanxi was losing patience with this mediocre and incompetent second male lead. He chuckled and tugged at the group leader, urging her in a coquettish tone, "Aren't you going to leave soon? Hurry up, sis, or there won't be any food left."
The female group leader, who was three or four years older than her, responded politely and left with a large group of people.
Looking at the noisy, boisterous group of people, Pu Nanchengzhuo suddenly felt a pang of sadness and loneliness. He should be happy that a phase of filming was over, but he just couldn't feel any joy.
He even had a premonition that he would soon suffer a devastating blow. But he couldn't quite put his finger on what it would be.
He was inexplicably afraid, terrified. Even in temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius, he was so afraid that his hands and feet turned ice cold.
Could it be that the secret he feared most being exposed is finally about to be revealed...?
He shivered slightly and walked in the opposite direction of the crowd.
Three days later, it was time for other families to have their family gatherings.
Having finished a phase of filming, Su Yanxi had no other work to do and could only stay at home as a leisurely and wealthy socialite, just like before. After getting used to the high-intensity life of filming, this slow-paced life almost made him feel suffocated.
Finally, the family gathering time arrived, and Su Yanxi finally had something to do. She started running around early in the morning, choosing clothes for her nemesis husband and checking the gifts. After a lot of fuss, it was finally her turn to get dressed.
This family gathering isn't exactly formal; it's just that the parents-in-law have taken the initiative to invite their son and daughter-in-law to dinner after a long time apart. But it's also quite formal, since it's a regular family meal and should be taken very seriously.
Chapter 88
Su Yanxi was sitting in front of the dressing table, hesitating whether to put on light makeup, when she heard Bie Yunzong's plea for help from behind her.
"Honey, help me tie my tie."
The clingy dog came carrying a tie that looked like a pickled vegetable leaf.
Su Yanxi looked at the pickled vegetable leaf and frowned in disgust: "You're such a grown-up, and you still can't tie a tie?"