Not a single one of you in the Sun family is any good

Filming at the Marquis's Residence was finished. For the next several days, they would be filming scenes set in the imperial palace.

As before, they filmed the scenes from several years earlier first, then those set after the return.

The scene in which the young lord failed in his assassination attempt and was killed by the Imperial Guards Commander he had always admired was filmed here too.

That day, the director approached Wei Zisu to discuss something with him.

"Zisu, I keep feeling that the scene we filmed last time, where you were killed, wasn't quite right."

Wei Zisu hurriedly asked, "Was my acting not good enough?"

"No, no," the director said. "It's a problem with the script. I thought it over carefully after I went back. The young lord had been secretly in love with the commander for so many years. When he dies at the hands of the man he loves, expressing despair through his eyes alone is nowhere near enough. It's like cooking a dish that looks and smells wonderful, only to leave out the salt. It lacks flavor."

Wei Zisu nodded. He felt the same way. "I think that after everything the young lord went through, he still couldn't let go of his hatred. When he went to assassinate the emperor, he went prepared to die. Perhaps he had anticipated this outcome long ago, so he was mentally prepared. Even if he died by the commander's blade, he wouldn't look that devastated."

The director slapped his thigh. "That's exactly what I was thinking! In that final shot where he falls, if he smiles at the commander-a smile of release-it'll be far more heartbreaking than having him look at the commander in grief and despair!"

Wei Zisu asked, "Then are we going to reshoot that scene, Director?"

The director fell silent for a moment before saying, "We happen to be filming the palace scenes these next few days, so I do plan to reshoot it. But the actor playing the commander doesn't have an opening in his schedule. Our crew is still discussing it with him."

Wei Zisu said, "Director, if he can find the time to come, I'm available whenever you need me."

The director patted his shoulder in appreciation. "I knew it. You take filming especially seriously. Even when there's no pay for the additional filming and the other actors are full of complaints, you've never made things difficult for me. Zisu, if I get the chance, I'll work with you again."

"Thank you, Director. I'm only doing what I should."

Director Zhang smiled. There weren't many actors in the entertainment industry these days who were as modest as Wei Zisu and willing to put in honest work on set. Unfortunately, Wei Zisu had terrible luck. Several years after his debut, he still had no work he could really show for it.

Director Zhang also hoped that, after the additional filming, this television drama would pass review and air without any trouble. That would be something worth celebrating for Wei Zisu too.

The news that Wei Zisu and the Sun clan's second son had called off their engagement because of a third party had been discussed online for several days.

Grandma had also ordered Sun Liang back to the old family home, where he knelt in the ancestral hall and took several blows from her stick.

"When you broke off your engagement to Zisu over some little seducer, I couldn't be bothered to interfere anymore. But what did that lover of yours go looking for Zisu for? If either of you had the slightest conscience, you wouldn't bother Zisu again!"

Sun Liang grimaced in pain as he explained, "Grandma, Zizhen is filming in Hengdian too. He just happened to run into Wei Zisu. He was going to pretend he hadn't seen him and walk past, but Wei Zisu called him a homewrecker and a slut, and even threatened him with a prop sword. Zizhen is timid to begin with. He was so frightened that he fell and broke his phone. He even cried because he was so scared!"

Grandma didn't believe a single word of it. She struck the floor with her stick and shouted in exasperation, "Only an idiot like you would believe that! I watched Zisu grow up. Is he that sort of person? You little brat, if you hadn't happened to meet Zisu, I would never have introduced you two in my life! Such a good boy-how could he be so unlucky as to run into you two brothers!"

Sun Liang froze and asked, "What does this have to do with Sun Zhe?"

He wasn't speaking up for Sun Zhe; he was genuinely asking. Whether he got engaged to Wei Zisu or broke off the engagement, neither seemed to have anything to do with Sun Zhe, did it? Zizhen had told him that Sun Zhe had visited Wei Zisu on set, but he hadn't thought much of it.

Sun Zhe was a hypocrite. On the surface, he treated everyone well, but in reality, he was always calculating how to use other people. Could he have approached Wei Zisu because he thought he had some use?

Realizing she had misspoken, Grandma covered it up. "In any case, not a single one of you in the Sun family is any good! I'm warning you, stay away from Zisu from now on, and that lover of yours had better do the same! As for all that abuse online, find a way to settle it yourself. If this sordid little affair of yours affects the company's stock, I won't let you off!"

With that, she struck the floor hard beside Sun Liang's leg with her stick as a warning, making him flinch in fright.

The injuries from Wei Zisu's beating had only just healed completely, and now Grandma had beaten him too.

He seethed with resentment. Wei Zisu was clearly the one who had stirred up all the abuse online. If Wei Zisu had kept his mouth shut about it and then found a suitable moment to say they had parted amicably, would any of this have happened?

Instead, he had made things so ugly and gotten both him and Zizhen cursed out.

Yet Grandma didn't blame Wei Zisu in the slightest. She only took her anger out on her own grandson!

After returning home and discussing it with his mother for a while, the two finally made a decision: rather than be condemned for cheating, he might as well boldly go public with his relationship with Yuan Zizhen.

But under no circumstances could he admit that he had gotten together with Yuan Zizhen while he was still engaged to Wei Zisu. He had to insist that they had only met and fallen in love after the engagement was called off! Then they would hire some paid commenters to speak up for them and praise their love, while throwing some mud at Wei Zisu along the way and hinting at why they had broken off the engagement.

Although Sun Liang was reluctant, he had no better solution, so he could only tell Yuan Zizhen about the plan.

Yuan Zizhen was so happy he nearly jumped for joy. The gloom from being called a homewrecker by people online over the past few days vanished too.

Whatever the case, this counted as a blessing in disguise. Although Wei Zisu had gotten him cursed out, he had indeed helped things along, leaving Sun Liang in a position where he had no choice but to make their relationship public.

He was one step closer to marrying into the Sun family.