Like a Butterfly Flying Over the Boundless Sea

Night.

In a secluded corridor, two "shifty" figures completed their "rendezvous" after three secret signals.

An Luning, after confirming her agent was truly gone for now, quickly pulled Zhang Xiaorong to ask about the information she'd gathered.

"Sister Zhang, how did it go?"

Although acting as An Luning's spy sounded a bit absurd and childish, Zhang Xiaorong had done an excellent job.

She reported the "intelligence" she'd obtained to An Luning, word for word.

"He's very talented. He seems to have written hundreds of songs. I heard that from Producer Zhou."

"Ah? You found out something that important? You really are Sister Zhang!"

Zhang Xiaorong paused. "It wasn't that hard to find out; they were discussing it very loudly."

An Luning looked confused. Discussing it loudly?

Ah, she didn't know how to explain men's peacocking behavior.

Fortunately, An Luning didn't dwell on it. She knitted her cute eyebrows. "Is he bragging? Hundreds of songs?!"

"I don't know about that, because he's very busy filming during the day. But he's also very skilled with musical instruments; he can play almost half the instruments in a band."

Writing hundreds of songs was already magical enough. As for instruments, An Luning felt it was more reasonable.

After all, she herself could play the piano and violin. When you're an artist, having more skills never hurts.

However, she quickly moved on to a more important question.

"I heard he's directing and acting in that movie himself? How's his acting?"

"I don't know what 'good acting' is. Watching him act on set, he seemed pretty good," Zhang Xiaorong thought for a moment. "I only have part of the script, so I didn't see much."

"He's definitely not as good as me, but to direct and act himself..." An Luning bit her lip, indicating that Sister Zhang should continue her investigation.

Zhang Xiaorong was willing to play this "spy" game with her, but she didn't forget to add, "However, I feel like I might not be able to help you gather information for much longer. If you have anything you want to say to him, I can pass it on for you first."

"Ah? What's wrong?"

"Luning, I can't act. I'll probably be exposed tomorrow," Zhang Xiaorong said, showing a rare bit of embarrassment.

"Acting is easy~ Why don't we just pretend it's playing house? Anyway, his requirements for the role probably aren't that high. You can probably fool him easily, Sister Zhang, right?"

Not that high of requirements?

Zhang Xiaorong truly didn't understand acting, but she wasn't blind.

She had seen Bai Youlou's "tyrant" demeanor on set and how severely the second male lead, Long Ziqiang, was "tormented."

How could this possibly mean he didn't have high standards for the quality of his film!

As it turned out, she really had no talent for acting.

Compared to Zhang Xiaorong, Long Ziqiang could be considered a damn veteran actor.

To put it simply, the girl could only play one role: herself.

No matter how Bai Youlou trained her, this "blockhead" just wouldn't get it.

She thought she had found a great deal, but instead, she had invited a "living Bodhisattva."

And they wanted to add kissing and bed scenes?

If this female Bodhisattva could even act out those simple scenes well, Bai Youlou would have to burn incense and kowtow.

Sister, you're breaking up with him! Your calm and serene expression makes it seem like you've just lost a lapdog.

Even when she threw the cup of water in his face, she didn't seem angry; it was more like... a reward?

Anyway, if Zhang Xiaorong's water-splashing act were posted online as a short video, a bunch of perverts would probably be shouting, "Beautiful woman, splash me!"

Get a replacement, get a replacement.

Even if Bai Youlou was reluctant to part with this beautiful woman, he didn't want such an "anomaly" suddenly appearing in his movie.

Compared to the invigorating tone of the entire film, Zhang Xiaorong, when inserted into it, was like ice cream appearing in a hot pot.

Out of place!

However, the girl was indeed considerate. When Bai Youlou subtly indicated that her acting skills were really not up to par and they might have to replace her, Zhang Xiaorong didn't have any extreme emotional reaction.

Instead, she let out a sigh of relief, her cheeks slightly flushed. After hesitating, she actually asked, "Can I still come and watch?"

Bai Youlou was stunned. What kind of "intelligence" are you trying to gather, girl?

I'll just tell you directly.

But what he said was, of course, "You're welcome! Aren't you very interested in singing? We can communicate more."

This casual remark actually made Zhang Xiaorong show a rare expression of excitement. It wasn't a big change, but it was genuine.

After nodding and thanking him, she didn't forget to apologize again. "I'm sorry, Director, for causing you trouble."

Trouble?

Before Bai Youlou could even speak, Old Zhou felt like forgiving her on his behalf.

The girl wasn't uncooperative; she genuinely couldn't do it.

She was so polite, constantly apologizing.

It was like a butterfly being unable to cross the sea; who could bear to blame her?

Long Ziqiang, who had observed the entire process, subconsciously opened his mouth but said nothing. However, a sense of grief and indignation brewed in his eyes.

Damn it!

They couldn't bear to blame the beautiful girl, but they blamed me every single day.

The world where only he was hurt was achieved.

And so, Zhang Xiaorong continued to appear on set during her free time.

She didn't just sit there watching; she actively offered help whenever needed.

Although most people felt too embarrassed to let such a beautiful girl do the heavy lifting on set.

In the end, she could only help the makeup artist with a few things, so it wasn't like she was just watching for nothing.

This became a popular topic on set. Why would a beautiful girl, who had been "kicked out" of the crew, keep coming back every day? What was she after?

She was after him~

Most people assumed that Zhang Xiaorong was 99.9% in love with Bai Youlou.

She "pestered" Bai Youlou to chat with her all day; it was clearly a crush.

While feeling envious, jealous, and hateful, they wondered how such a beautiful girl could have gone blind at such a young age. Had she not heard of Bai Youlou's "heroic deeds"?

However, no "kind souls" on set dared to remind her.

After all, Bai Youlou, the "lunatic," was still here. His and Long Ziqiang's crazy duo had immense deterrent power.

Until a new female artist replaced Zhang Xiaorong.

Director He was still working hard.

Although he couldn't find any top-tier actresses in the industry for Bai Youlou, finding a graduate from the film academy in the fourth or fifth tier was not a problem.

The new girl's name was Hu Manyin. She was reportedly a child star. While not as stunningly beautiful as Zhang Xiaorong or An Luning at first glance, she was definitely considered a beauty from any angle.

Unfortunately, this girl had rather bad luck. Even though she had signed with an agency before entering the film academy, she hadn't made a significant name for herself in the entertainment industry by the time she graduated.

However, regardless of her lack of success, she could still look down on people like Bai Youlou.

Therefore, she didn't have the same "special preference" for Bai Youlou as Zhang Xiaorong did.

It was clear that she was slightly reluctant.

Presumably, she couldn't refuse Director He's request, but she didn't want to get involved with Bai Youlou.

As a result, she barely wanted any interaction with Bai Youlou and started working as soon as she arrived.

But she was indeed a professionally trained actress with solid acting skills. For the female lead's scenes, she practically entered the character immediately after reading the script.

It wasn't that her acting was astonishing, as the role didn't offer much room for interpretation, but it was certainly flawless.

She finished her scenes in just a day and a half.

Actually, Hu Manyin agreed to come because she believed Bai Youlou's film would definitely not make any waves.

This was because too many factors determined a film's success, and quality was only one of them.

Cast, investment, release date, screen time, promotion... Setting aside the film's quality, where did "Whiplash" have an advantage?

She didn't know how this movie was supposed to become popular.

As for winning awards, that was even more laughable. You, an idol, come to be a director, and you expect to win awards?

Since it wouldn't make any waves, her acting in a role wouldn't have any significant negative impact.

Under these circumstances, Hu Manyin acted, got paid, and prepared to leave.

It was a completely mercenary approach.

However, before she left, she seemed to hesitate for a moment and finally decided to give Zhang Xiaorong a slight warning.

Teacher Zhang, cherish your life and stay away from scumbags!

Thanks to Zhao Xinyue, Mechanical Curse, for the 100 reward.