For the first time, the assistant director clearly recognized the difference between himself and Director Wang. The gap between his eye for people and the director's was anything but small.
If Fang Ning worked hard at acting, she would definitely, definitely become a dazzling new star in the industry.
After filming, Fang Ning went into the makeup room to have her makeup done. Her scenes for the day were finished, and she felt she had done a fairly good job.
Still, she decided to keep reading the script and memorizing her lines, determined to work herself to death if hard work could not kill her.
Just as Fang Ning became engrossed in flipping through the script, a noisy voice came from the doorway.
The sound disrupted Fang Ning's thoughts, and she looked toward it.
A crowd of people was surrounding a man.
He was a very polished-looking man, with a white shirt tucked into tight jeans, stud earrings, and a layer of foundation on his face.
He was not very far away, but Fang Ning could vaguely see that his foundation seemed a little thick.
As Fang Ning looked at him, the man looked at her too. He smiled lightly, walked over to her, and introduced himself. "Hello, Ms. Fang. I'm Zhou Lu."
After speaking, Zhou Lu signaled with his eyes for his assistant to put the things on the makeup table beside Fang Ning.
Fang Ning felt that the name Zhou Lu sounded familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before. She had read the plot of this book, but she had already forgotten most of its characters.
So she could not recall this character, Zhou Lu, for the moment.
All she knew was that he was the sixth male lead in this production, with even fewer scenes than she had-or was he the fifth?
He offered his hand, and Fang Ning amiably extended hers too. "Hello."
Zhou Lu knew of Fang Ning, but he was not familiar with her. After all, Fang Ning was an obscure, bottom-tier actress, so there had been no need to get to know her.
But he had been present when Fang Ning filmed just now. Her acting had actually been very good, so she did have some merit. Besides, she was acting opposite Ji Xiangchen, which made it all the more necessary to get acquainted. "You did a wonderful job in that scene just now, Ms. Fang."
Since he had complimented her, Fang Ning gave him a friendly smile. "Thank you."
"I heard Ji Xiangchen is the one who keeps acting opposite you this time, Ms. Fang." Zhou Lu smiled too, but his smile carried an unreadable meaning, and there was something behind his words.
Fang Ning felt that something was off about Ji Xiangchen's words. She frowned. "Yes, that's right."
The corners of Zhou Lu's mouth curled upward, and he hesitated before speaking. "Then have you heard the rumors about Ji Xiang, Ms. Fang?"
Fang Ning looked up at Zhou Lu and frowned. Sure enough, something was wrong with this man. He kept steering the conversation toward Ji Xiangchen.
Zhou Lu sighed, his tone carrying regret and a measure of sympathy. "Ji Xiangchen has a terrible temper. I heard he even hits people on set. You should be careful, Ms. Fang."
Although Fang Ning had not interacted with Ji Xiangchen much, she could not imagine him hitting anyone.
After all, he was someone who would not even talk back when scolded or tear an umbrella. What was the difference between saying he would hit people and spreading rumors?
Fang Ning's intuition told her there was something wrong with this man. She tapped the system. [System, who is this guy?]
The system generally answered whenever Fang Ning asked for help. [Zhou Lu, a supporting male character in the book. He has a conflict with the female lead's younger brother, Ji Xiangchen. He can't stand that Ji Xiangchen always gets better roles than him, so he's always pulling little tricks behind the scenes and playing dirty.]
[On a previous production, he cut the skin on his fingers every day and clashed with the female lead's younger brother. He's commonly known as the Broken-Skin Hero.]
[At the same time, he has thoroughly mastered the art of two-faced, fake-sweet manipulation! He positively reeks of it. He's an even more malicious presence than the intellect of a villainess like you. After all, the original owner of your body only played her tricks out in the open, while he plays dirty behind the scenes. He's terrifying!]
Fang Ning: *[...]*
The system's words made Fang Ning connect the things that had happened over the past few days and reach a conclusion: this man was the reason Ji Xiangchen had been beaten and scolded by his manager last time.
So Zhou Lu intended to draw her into his camp to isolate him, planning to get her to join him in going after the main cast.
He wanted to drag her along while courting death?
Fang Ning perked up now, a lovely smile curving her lips.
The system felt that something was very wrong with that smile. [Host, what are you going to do! Are you going to start another fight? Aaaah, go ahead, host! I'll always support you verbally.]
Fang Ning: [...You're overthinking it.]
The system: [No fighting or tearing into anyone! Then why are you smiling so frighteningly? What are you going to do?]
Fang Ning: [Taste some tea.]
The system: [Huh, taste tea?] It did not understand again. Taste tea? What tea?
She did not refute him either. She brushed her thumb over her vivid red lower lip and asked casually, "How do you know he has a bad temper?"
A minor actor beside her, who was also removing their makeup, spoke first. "Ms. Fang, you don't know this, but everyone online says he has a really volatile, terrible temper. I think you must be careful when acting with him."
The staff around them also joined the barrage of criticism.
"Yes, exactly. His temper is awful."
"Everyone online says so. How could it not be true?"
Seeing everyone criticize Ji Xiangchen, Zhou Lu felt immensely pleased. "Yes, Ms. Fang, you should be careful. Everyone online says so."
He had always hated Ji Xiangchen.
He was clearly better than Ji Xiangchen, yet the roles he got each time were worse by far, all because Ji Xiangchen used his influence to bully people.
It was the same with this production. The company had originally said he could play the third male lead, the very role Ji Xiangchen had, but because of him, that role was gone.
Besides, he had become even angrier since what had happened on the previous production. Ji Xiangchen was clearly just a hot-tempered, useless rich kid living off his family.
Because of him, Zhou Lu could now only play some nameless role.
Fang Ning's gaze turned cold. Online, online-anyone who didn't know better would think they had personally seen Ji Xiangchen hit someone.
When dealing with people who liked sticking labels on others, she couldn't argue back. Was the best approach to turn around and stick that label on him instead?