CH 21

This novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.

When Xiao Tian came over early the next morning, she was a little surprised to see those heating pads on the table but Liang Yin did not explain. She didn’t put on the snow boots when she went out and still wore her own ankle boots.

It was still dark outside when they arrived at the set which was brightly lit inside. Zhou Jianchen had a scene at 4 am and the crews had come early.

Zhou Jianchen was listening to Chen Hua’en’s talk with a rather impatient look. The shot just now was not smooth. It was a fighting scene and his female co-star was not up to par with repeated no-takes and he had to keep filming dozens of times which was unbearably tiring.

He raised his head at once with beams in his eyes hearing Liang Yin’s arrival but when his sight fell on her feet, his gaze froze again.

His eyes became profound when he looked up at Liang Yin.

Liang Yin, however, avoided his line of sight and only responded to the greetings of others.

After Chen Hua’en finished his speech, they were asked for another retake. Retracting his gaze, Zhou Jianchen once again plunged into the script except his eyes became calm again.

Liang Yin went to the dressing room to start styling and the makeup artist was already waiting there. Once all the makeup was done, an hour or so had passed. The makeup artist then left for the time being when Liang Yin started to change her clothes.

‘Thud, thud, thud – ‘ Knocking resounded on the door at this moment.

Xiao Tian opened it and saw it was actually Zhou Jianchen’s assistant, Ah Zhao, who had arrived.

“Sister Yin.” Ah Zhao came in and called out with a little awkwardness. The young staff on the set had been calling ‘Brother Chen’ and ‘Sister Yin’ for the past two days, so he followed suit.

“Brother Chen asked me to deliver this over.” Seeing there were no other people inside, he handed over the bag in his hand.

Taking it, Liang Yin was somewhat surprised. When she opened it, she saw that it was a white down jacket inside.

Ah Zhao said, “Brother Chen went out to buy this last night. There was no stock in the store, so Brother Chen asked the boss to rush one overnight and this was delivered over a moment ago.”

Seeing that Liang Yin was still a little confused, he added, “There is a store specialized in making down jackets outside the filming base, which can be enlarged and lengthened to protect against cold.”

Hearing that, Liang Yin instantly understood.

“If there is nothing else, I’ll leave first.” Seeing that, Ah Zhao wanted to leave but when he reached the door, he suddenly turned back and said, “Actually our Brother Chen is pretty good.”

He appeared to have left with Brother Du and others last night, but he actually parted ways at the entrance. He went to look for the store that made down jackets himself, then to the mall to buy shoes before he turned back to buy porridge and even specially asked not to add any scallions.

He has never seen Brother Chen so meticulous before.

Brother Chen, has indeed liked Film Empress Liang all along.

After saying that, Ah Zhao left while Liang Yin held on to the down jacket without moving for a while.

She suddenly recalled the look in Zhou Jianchen’s eyes just now.

“Sister Yin, I’m sorry. It’s my negligence.” On the side, Xiao Tian opened her mouth feeling somewhat apologetic. She had indeed been an assistant for several years, but she had been following Zhong Jianian all these while and had never dealt with preparation of female artistes entering the filming set, hence she had failed to arrange things comprehensively.

“It’s okay.” Regaining her senses, Liang Yin shook her head and smiled at her again. For a newcomer, she has actually done quite well.

Still blaming herself a little, Xiao Tian could only ask again, “So do you want to paste these heating pads?”

Liang Yin had already changed to qipao just now.

Hesitating for a while, Liang Yin still replied, “Let’s do it.”

When they left this morning, Xiao Tian asked her “Would you like to bring these heating pads?” Without thinking it through, she merely replied, “Bring then.”

Undoing the qipao and sticking on the heating pads, a warm feeling soon came from her back.

It was indeed very warm.

Xiao Tian then took out the white down jacket in the bag when Liang Yin remained silent for a moment and still put it on.

The down jacket was indeed long enough to the ankles which blocked the wind chill and she no longer felt cold anymore.

Feeling this softness and warmth, Liang Yin’s heart was rather heavy.

Once everything was settled, she returned to the set again.

Zhou Jianchen was already back to his seat resting, and the actress by his side was apologizing repeatedly and her pretty face was practically about to cry. The two retakes just now were all scrapped. Director Chen didn’t say anything but Zhou Jianchen’s face was very unsightly.

She is an artiste from StarLight Media and also someone who the investor squeezed in to boost her popularity, so Zhou Jianchen was not only her co-star but also her boss. This performance of hers was indeed offensive to others.

“Yinyin, get ready. Your scene will be shot first later.” Seeing Liang Yin’s arrival, Chen Hua’en opened his mouth then.

“Okay.” Liang Yin responded promptly. She also knew more or less what had happened on her way here just now.

When Zhou Jianchen heard her voice, he looked up at her then soon lowered his head again. There was indifference in his eyes which his emotions were hard to discern.

Hearing that, the tears of the actress by the side finally trickled down.

Liang Yin had already walked to her seat. She had only just sat down when she was stunned. At some point, a heater was placed next to her chair.

Du Yafu smiled and said, “Our Film Emperor Zhou bought it for you.”

Liang Yin was dumbfounded. Looking up, Du Yafu had also come over to warm himself by the heater.

“As it happens, this benefitted us too.” Du Yafu explained with a smile.

There was not only one additional heater in the set, but it was self-evident for whom those were bought.

Liang Yin looked at Zhou Jianchen, whose head was lowered looking at the script without even looking up.

“Jianchen, you can’t really be our Yinyin’s fan, are you? Never seen you showing such consideration ar.” Hearing their conversation, the cinematographer who was adjusting the lens suddenly spoke on a whim.

He had obviously paid attention to those news on the internet earlier.

Zhou Jianchen has always been disinclined to care about others and he has never been seen to show such attentiveness to any actresses.

Hearing his question, Zhou Jianchen raised his eyes and responded, “The weather is so cold, I’m afraid she will freeze.”

Those sounded like words of concern, but the tone was otherworldly flat and detached, hence it sounded nothing out of the ordinary and not surprising at all.

The cinematographer smiled hearing that and stopped asking again.

Everyone could see that Zhou Jianchen was not in a good mood at the moment and as for the reason, perhaps it was because of the actress just now.

Liang Yin, however, was a little quiet.

Du Yafu who was by the side agreed, “Yinyin really need to wear more. You wore just too little. It will be bad if you really freeze then. But your down jacket today is good, enough to block the wind. Yesterday’s one was just too short.”

He is precisely a chatterbox, who completely disregards whether he should pick the kettle that is not boiling*. Hence, Liang Yin somehow didn’t know how to respond.

[T/N: 哪壶不开提哪壶 (Nǎ hú bù kāi tí nǎ hú) – means someone saying or doing something that shouldn’t be mentioned in front of others, or bringing up a sensitive subject.]

“You should also change your shoes. I see you girls either wear those kinds of snow boots or those warm types. Ask your assistant to go buy a pair too when you go back … “ Du Yafu looked at the leather boots on her feet and started to suggest.

Zhou Jianchen heard that and closed the script suddenly.

Liang Yin looked up in surprise yet Zhou Jianchen had already walked up to her, “Let’s go rehearse our scene.”

Feeling a little stunned, Liang Yin still stood up, “Okay.”

“Yo, Jianchen even took the initiative to rehearse the scene?” Once the two left, Du Yafu felt somewhat flabbergasted.

The cinematographer seemed to have seen something as he spoke with a smile, “Jianchen might have been distressed by Cheng Qingqing just now.”

Cheng Qingqing, is precisely the actress who just could not get in the character.

Liang Yin followed Zhou Jianchen to the scene site when Xiao Tian’s cellphone rang. Looking at it, it was a call from Zhong Jianian.

She walked to the side quickly and answered in a low voice.

“Hello, Boss?” Although she has come to Liang Yin’s side, she still addresses him as before.

“Xiao Tian ah, is Yinyin filming?” Zhong Jianian asked on the phone.

“En, Sister Yin is filming.” Xiao Tian replied.

“How is it? Is she doing well?” Zhong Jianian asked again with concern.

“En, Sister Yin is doing fine.” Xiao Tian glanced at Liang Yin’s figure in the distance. She wanted to say something but in the end she said nothing. She naturally saw the distinction between Zhou Jianchen and Liang Yin too, but after all she is a discreet person.

“That’s good. You take good care of her for me ah. Once the matter here is done, I’ll come over to visit her at the filming set.” Zhong Jianian is very confident in Chen Hua’en. He has never come to visit the shooting of his movies that he invested in, but this time with Liang Yin here, he has to take the time no matter what to come over and have a look.

Yinyin is a member of the Zhong family, so he has to care more.

“Okay, I’ll tell Sister Yin.” Xiao Yin responded.

“Okay, I’ll hang up then if there’s nothing else.” Zhong Jianian said, and hung up the phone. He was so busy like the spinning-top rotating all day long.

Zhou Jianchen had reached the scene site and was waiting for Liang Ying to come over. The lighting artists who were doing the final setting on the side greeted him successively when they saw him, but he paid none of them any heed.

When Liang Yin arrived, he opened his mouth and simply said, “You don’t feel cold?”

Liang Yin was a little surprised, but he had already retracted his gaze coldly and said, “Let’s rehearse.”

Liang Yin could only respond with “En.” Liang Yin had already reciprocated what he just said was the matter of the shoes.

The scene that they were rehearsing was a major scene, which was also the beginning of the script where Zhou Zhaozong, played by Zhou Jianchen, suspected that Xu Mengbai was all the while a cover of the underground organization, so he deliberately came to sound her out.

Both of them were prepared and the rehearsal went smoothly. Except Liang Yin clearly felt the emotion that Zhou Jianchen kept suppressing. His face was cold all the way and his speech was plainly terse.

Liang Yin knew, but she could only remain silent.

By the time the rehearsal ended, the filming commenced.

Zhou Jianchen seemed to be completely in the role. He portrayed to astuteness the frivolity and sharpness of Zhou Zhaozong at the beginning, as he interrogated Xu Mengbai in an attempt to find flaws in her. While Xu Mengbai, played by Liang Yin, was nevertheless calm and composed, seemingly recklessly coquettish, but in fact, she thoroughly defused all of Zhou Zhaozong’s onslaught cautiously.

In this scene, both were masters exchanging blows inside and outside the scene, which was totally immersive.

At the end Zhou Zhaozong was about to leave when he turned around and forced Xu Mengbai onto the sofa, and Chen Hua’en shouted, “Cut!”

All those present also took a sigh of relief, since they had been tortured half to death by the co-starring scene between Cheng Qingqing and Zhou Jianchen in the morning. This time seeing him and Liang Yin performing such a long scene from beginning to end, they couldn’t help but sigh in their hearts that comparison between people would only annoy others.

One actress kept making mistakes, which not only dragged the other actor, but at the same time also affected the entire crew.

By the side of the sofa, Zhou Jianchen, who was bending over forcing Liang Yin to the corner, also stood up straight. Except he did not leave immediately but looked at Liang Yin who was still sitting on the sofa and asked directly, “You do know I like you, right?”

His gaze had become intensely calm, as if all his emotions could finally be vented out once the scene was over.

Liang Yin looked at him, but she was muddled on the spot for a moment.