CH 4

The car stopped at the end of a street that looked straight out of the early twentieth century. During the drive to set, the elder brother had already explained that this was a spy film from the Republic of China. Today, they would be acting as passers-by on the street. Zheng Baozhu went to costume design to get her attire. It was a red cheongsam. After Zheng Baozhu put it on, the costume designer could not help but look at her a few more times.

The costumes for the group show were very ordinary. Many people had worn this particular red cheongsam before, and it had seemed mediocre in both quality and price. Now that Zheng Baozhu had adorned it, however, she felt that the cheongsam had become expensive. It was as if it had been tailor-made for the daughter of a wealthy family. 

Her styling complete, Zheng Baozhu waited for the director to send someone over so that they could start filming. Seeing Zheng Baozhu, the director pulled Little Gao beside him and asked, “Where did you find this girl?” 

Little Gao said, “She came with the group from the service department.” 

The director patted him on the shoulder, “This girl isn’t bad. I even suspect that her costume doesn’t belong to our crew.”

“Well, who said otherwise? I saw her at the door of the service department. I’m not sure if she came to be a group performer.” The clothes she had been wearing were particularly exquisite. He assumed that this was the daughter of a rich family aiming to experience life. 

“If you look closely, do you get the sense that her charm is similar to Su Mingmei’s?” 

Hearing what he said, Little Gao nodded. “Definitely.”

“But she looks a little brighter than Su Mingmei.” The beauty of that era always carried an air of melancholy. “Miss! Yes, you. Come here for your directions.” The director waved to Zheng Baozhu and called her over. “You will perform in the foreground of our scene later. Just stand in front of the booth and look around. Then take something and ask the boss how much it is. Do you understand?” 

Zheng Baozhu nodded. “Understood!” 

Zheng Baozhu stood in the designated spot from which this set of scenes would be shot. Then, the female lead walked out of the cafe and past Zheng Baozhu. When the female lead came, Zheng Baozhu turned her head to take a look. The lead was also wearing a cheongsam, but it was obviously much more exquisite than Zheng Baozhu’s. The female lead appeared to be a popular singer, but she was actually a liaison within her party. 

The female lead happened to catch Zheng Baozhu looking at her. The lead frowned.

“Where did you get these actors?” the female lead asked, her voice dripping with disdain. “How did someone so ugly manage to be cast as a prospect?” 

Zheng Baozhu, “……” 

The set fell silent for a second. Then the man who had brought Zheng Bauzhu, Xiao Gao, weakly asked, “Her? Would you call her ugly?” 

“Of course! Don’t you have eyes?” 

After being called ugly again, Zheng Baozhu could not stay quiet. “Enough is enough! Don’t open your mouth. This behavior is disgraceful. You are also a woman. I don’t want to scold you, but you can’t just come in here and humiliate another person based on her appearance.” 

The female lead scoffed. “Humiliate? What? I can’t speak the truth now?” 

“Huh.” Cheng Baozhu’s temper flared. “Isn’t Sun Jing the best at covering others’ mouths? Don’t think that I don’t recognize you just because you’re in a different style. Aren’t you the one who sued netizens on Weibo? The audience can’t mention your bad acting?” 

“You! Who are you calling bad at acting?!” Afraid that others might question her acting skills, Sun Jing raised her voice eight degrees. “Director Liu, if you guys use this acting group, I won’t act anymore!” 

“Calm down, calm down. Let’s change people.” The director wanted to defuse the situation, so he had no choice but to change Zheng Baozhu. “Xiao Gao, quickly take her to return her costume and find someone else.” 

“There’s no need for you guys to take me. I’ll go myself!” retorted Zheng Baozhu with bitterness in her heart and simply turned to leave. 

After Zheng Baozhu left, the scene quickly returned to normal. The director looked at Xiao Gao next to him and grumbled in a low voice, “Are you trying to stir up trouble by finding such a beautiful group act? Will the audience be watching the female lead or watching her?” 

Xiao Gao: “……”

Director, that’s not what you said just now. 

“Then what kind should I be looking for?” Sun Jing’s actions put Xiao Gao in an impossible situation. 

The director said, “Are you simple? Find someone who looks good but not better than Sun Jing. Do you understand?”

“Got it. Got it.”

Xiao Gao went to scout more group performers again. On the way, he saw Zheng Baozhu rushing away ahead of him. He shouted to her, “Hey, Miss. I’m sorry about what happened today.” 

Zheng Baozhu looked back at him and said, “It has nothing to do with you. It’s just my bad luck.” 

And she had thought that her luck had finally turned. Misfortune had just been waiting for her here! 

Xiao Gao felt a little apologetic. He took out his phone and said, “How about this? I’ll send you the group for prospects. You can join yourself. You’ll find regular announcements there.” 

“Okay, thank you, brother.” Zheng Baozhu took out her mobile phone and scanned the QR code of the group. Xiao Gao sent a message to the administrator so that Zheng Baozhu could enter the group. He asked Zheng Baozhu to wait saying, “He’ll approve you once he sees it. Just know, prospect positions are competitive, so you have to move quickly.” 

“Oh, oh, okay.” 

“I’ll head out with you. You’ll have to walk by yourself for a while.” 

“Thank you, Big Brother.” 

After leaving the set, Zheng Baozhu called for a car and returned to Starlight Farm. 

I’ve been busy all day but, in the end, it was for nothing. Well, it wasn’t completely fruitless. At least I joined the prospect group. 

Zheng Baozhu comforted herself. When she entered the hotel, she saw the back of a tall man at the front desk checking in.

The windbreaker looked familiar.

“Miss Baozhu, you’re back!” Seeing her, Xiao Yu called out excitedly, “This gentleman is your friend!”

“My friend? “Zheng Baozhu looked at the back of this man’s head in confusion. 

He turned around and happened to meet her gaze.