Ye Jiahe chatted briefly with Jiang, telling her about what had just happened to pass the time.
"Oh, come on, it's making a mountain out of a molehill, and it was her who was in the wrong first, right...?"
Because Ye Jiahe had been there coordinating with other actors' assistants at the break area at the time, she had seen the whole thing, including how Liu Xin had thrown the child's teddy bear on the ground.
Ye Jiahe had already been a little angry then, because she recognized the little teddy bear as the profile picture on Qin Wei's short video platform account. She guessed the teddy was called Ju'an, and that Qin Wei was very fond of it.
Kids love to name their favorite plushies and pets, so that was a toy Qin Wei cherished.
She thought it was just an accident at first, but then the subsequent events unfolded.
Jiang rolled her eyes and started speaking sarcastically:
"No way, no way! This woman thinks she has background just because her company invested?
Our school also invested, and the director is on faculty!
Two-thirds of the crew are our people, and my senior got these jobs for everyone. How dare she try to mess with my senior?"
...
"Director Yuan, for this wall-climbing scene, it was easy for Qiao Sixiao with the wire work, I saw it, and the effect looked good too. Why reshoot a version without wires? I don't see the need."
On set, Liu Xin turned to ask Yuan Director after looking at the wall in front of her.
They had already shot it several times, but Yuan still wasn't happy with it, and now she had the outlandish idea to shoot a version without wires.
Yuan pointed at the other side of the wall:
"It's padded with layers of thick mats, don't worry, it won't hurt to fall. "
Liu Xin gave a wry smile:
"Director Yuan, it's not about whether I'm afraid of falling or not. I'm here to act, would I be afraid of a little hardship? It's just this wall looks about 6 feet high, who could climb over it? Aren't you setting me up to fail?"
Yuan picked up a small megaphone and said to Liu Xin:
"You don't think I'm deliberately making things difficult for you, do you??
Last week, Qin Wei ran back and forth six times carrying Qiao Sixiao, hurting her back from the 90 lb weight of carrying an 87 lb colleague. Was that not difficult for her? But she didn't complain one bit!
And when Su Yang was shooting his fight scene, the moves were very challenging. His palm was cut open and needed one stitch, but he came back and kept shooting. He didn't tell me he couldn't do it either. The martial arts director suggested changing the moves, but he said no problem, he could try some more. He kept trying until he got it right.
How could you say you can't do it without even trying?"
Liu Xin spread her hands:
"Qin Wei carrying someone, that's not too hard, Qiao Sixiao is so skinny, I could carry her too.
And Su Yang's scene, I didn't see the moves, but different people have different abilities. Maybe someone else would find it easy!
Besides, I've shot fight scenes too. Martial arts is just rote moves, practice makes perfect. This requires sheer strength...it's too high! The difficulty is too high..."
Before Liu Xin could finish, Yuan's little assistant put down her notebook and pen, ran towards the wall, jumped up, and climbed over it with both hands on the top.
She landed steadily on the mats!
The little assistant looked back at Liu Xin and asked very calmly:
"Teacher Liu Xin, is this very difficult?"
Liu Xin recognized her as the one who got the security footage last week, which already displeased her. She was clearly in the right, yet they couldn't find evidence and it petered out.
She had complained about it to Yuan too, but apparently the girl didn't get fired or punished. And now she was holding a grudge and opposing Liu Xin!
Liu Xin said she couldn't do it, and someone else did it easily, which made her look insincere and useless.
"You must have been a gymnast, little girl?"
Just as Liu Xin finished speaking, a crew member also put down his walkie-talkie, ran over, and nimbly climbed over the wall. After landing steadily, he also asked Liu Xin:
"Teacher Liu Xin, is this very difficult?"
Then several more crew members climbed over one after another:
"Teacher Liu Xin, is this very difficult?"
Liu Xin: "......"
After everyone spoke, they looked towards Yuan and the cinematographers.
The cinematographer refused: "I'm not some college kid like you guys, I'm in my 40s. I'll pass, thank you."
Yuan thought for a moment, put down her megaphone, jogged over in three big steps, and climbed over the wall. Turning around, she asked Liu Xin:
"So, is this really that hard?"
Liu Xin: "......"
Left with no choice, Liu Xin steeled herself and climbed up. Yuan went back to the monitors to keep reviewing the previous takes.
Ye Jiahe came over and quietly asked Yuan:
"Teacher Yuan, her climbing doesn't look very graceful, is it necessary?"
"Yes, it is."
Yuan was busy with her own work but still replied to Ye Jiahe,
"It's very necessary. She's been complaining to the producers and director every day since joining the crew a week ago. The producers grumbled privately that they would have recast her long ago if Rising Poem Entertainment hadn't insisted on her.
After she finishes her scenes, find ways to wear her out physically so she hurries home to sleep after work. This is a set, not some luxury hotel that has to wait on her hand and foot. That would be ridiculous."
Ye Jiahe contemplated:
"So making Qin Wei shoot so many takes was..."
Yuan rolled her eyes at Ye Jiahe. "Please stop being so protective. I made her do so many takes to get the best outcome...
Oh right, don't you have exams coming up? It works out that we're shooting on location, so you all can go take your exams and get a vacation..."
...
Because this stage of shooting was completed smoothly, the crew confirmed a 4-day break. The college freshmen rushed back to prepare for exams, while the actors went home to rest.
Shooting Yuan's scenes was tiring. Qin Wei lost 3 pounds in a week, and the others lost about the same.
And that was with decent catering and everyone eating and drinking normally, not dieting deliberately.
The night the break was announced, Qin Wei strongly demanded to go home, because she didn't have exams in the next few days. So she had already planned out this sudden vacation - not telling Li Yao.
She wanted to go home, soak in the tub, rest, sleep in the next day, then go to her favorite restaurants for meals, shop for groceries, and in her free time continue building her giant castle...
In short, she wanted to properly enjoy the everyday life of a normal person for a couple days.
If her roommate was willing, she didn't mind taking her to play together.
But if her roommate had jobs to do, she would mourn for her from afar.
So...
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Sitting in the back of the business car Xiao Wang drove, Qiao Sixiao glanced at her roommate.
"Want to go grocery shopping together tomorrow?"
Qin Wei asked her, her eyes full of anticipation for the days ahead,
"Let's buy some shrimp, I want to make shrimp dumplings. And taro, pork ribs, bok choy... I also want to eat egg tarts. What do you want to eat?"
Qiao Sixiao thought for a moment, and followed up:
"I think that sounds great, add a glass of lemon black tea and it's perfect..."
"Sis, we have a magazine cover shoot tomorrow, and a charity event the day after. The day after that..."
Xiao Wang chimed in, inadvertently catching his sister's kind smile in the rearview mirror:
"Wang Dongdong, you're the only one who likes to run your mouth. Thank you."
Xiao Wang: "(゚д゚lll)..."
