I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 37

When Bai Feifei went back, she was dragging a large black cloth bag. The penthouse suite had a separate security room for special occasions to ensure the privacy and safety of the entire floor. Every person entering and leaving had to be checked and their identity verified.

If the security guard hadn’t just seen Bai Feifei go in with his own eyes and been sent off by Huo Wu herself, he would have thought he was going blind. In this day and age, someone was using an airline and subway-exclusive black trash bag to carry food?

That large bag was full of snacks and various kinds of puffed foods. Bai Feifei wanted to ask who ate all this, but she felt too shy to ask. Instead, Huo Wu told her herself that they often had meetings in her room at night, and since the screenwriting team had many women and it was late, they always felt like something was missing without snacks in their hands.

Besides snacks, there were also many drinks—Guan Ziyao had brought a cart up when she came earlier.

Bai Feifei didn’t understand why she had to leave with a trash bag, but she really did drag that big bag back to her room on the eighth floor.

There were only six rooms on the top floor, and each was very large, about the size of a normal three-bedroom apartment. Some of the rooms even had a private outdoor garden, similar to Huo Wu’s.

Bai Feifei only had to wait a few seconds before the elevator arrived. She huffed and puffed as she dragged the trash bag inside, only to bump into someone head-on.

Bai Feifei was startled and instinctively said, “Wu Qingying? Is that you?”

Inside the door, Wu Qingying was wearing a white dress, with a round-collared puff-sleeved crop top and white high-waisted pants. Bai Feifei couldn’t tell what kind of fabric it was, but the bright white was a little blinding.

Wu Qingying looked up at Bai Feifei, stunned for two seconds before saying, “It’s you, Feifei. You… you still remember me?”

“Of course, I remember,” Bai Feifei’s eyes widened. “We were in the same group back then. I’m not an idiot; of course, I remember your name!” she said. “Why are you on the top floor? Are you looking for someone?”

Wu Qingying just nodded silently. Bai Feifei smiled and made room for her. “Then you go on.”

Wu Qingying walked out. It was then that Bai Feifei suddenly noticed that even her shoes and the backpack on her back, including the little charm on the side, were all a white polar bear.

Her eye twitched. She thought that the only thing on Wu Qingying that could possibly be black was her hair.

Wu Qingying finally disappeared around the corner. Bai Feifei watched the elevator door close, her face clearly reflected in the doors. Her face was very red, but it looked a lot healthier and livelier.

Ji Meng’s words had been casual, but Bai Feifei had taken them to heart, especially since Huo Wu hadn’t refuted the phrase, “You’ll be able to hug her again later.” She had been thinking about it ever since and was now looking forward to the next hug.

“Baby, did you just go on a robbery?” Fu Xiaoxiao was a little shocked when she opened the door for Bai Feifei. “If you wanted to go out and buy stuff, you should have called me. With so many things and your small strength, it must have been so tiring. Plus, you’re still weak after being sick and just traveled for so long…”

“I just carried it down from upstairs. It was only a few steps,” Bai Feifei said, patting Fu Xiaoxiao’s hair to comfort her. She turned around and saw two creatures had been added to the room. One was huge, and one was tiny. It was Jumbo and Little Cutie, who they had asked someone to bring over.

At this moment, the two dogs, one large and one small, were lying on the floor. A water bowl was placed next to them, and there were some pet snacks not far away. Bai Feifei could smell them as soon as she entered the room.

After seeing the bag, Fu Xiaoxiao didn’t let Bai Feifei do anything else. She took the things herself and organized them methodically, explaining what had just happened. “Little Cutie and Jumbo just got here. They’re pretty healthy, but because they were in the car for so long, Jumbo isn’t in a very good mood. It took a while for her to recover in the room…”

Hearing this, Bai Feifei patted Little Cutie’s big head and then held Jumbo in her arms, comforting her for a while. As if she felt something, Little Cutie tried to rub up against Bai Feifei, resting her big head on her leg. Jumbo lifted her eyelids and looked, but she didn’t have her usual competitive temper. She just used one of her paws to rub against Little Cutie’s nose, as if to assert her status as the family’s boss. She actually allowed Little Cutie to intrude on her territory.

Little Cutie just licked her paw. This small interaction made Bai Feifei laugh. She couldn’t help but pet the two of them again.

Bai Xue came back in the evening. Bai Feifei didn’t ask her what she had been up to. There was no point in asking; Bai Xue was always busy, and all matters related to her now had to be handled by Bai Xue alone.

“Auntie Xue, I saw Wu Qingying upstairs today,” Bai Feifei said after thinking for a moment. “Do all actors have to report to the director here? I thought we just had to tell the production crew.”

“I haven’t heard of that rule,” Bai Xue said, looking up. “Li Ke was eating hotpot with some friends this afternoon. I didn’t see anyone else. Maybe there’s someone else on the top floor. Don’t worry about it—you still need to polish the script. The first script reading is tomorrow. You don’t have much time. If there’s anything you don’t understand…”

Bai Xue thought about the message she had received this afternoon and said after some consideration, “You can find time to ask Huo Wu. She has a very unique way of studying characters. She can dig deep into things that weren’t in the original book, especially some small details and actions of the characters. If you’re unsure about anything, you can go and ask her. It’s good to discuss it.”

Bai Feifei nodded. “I understand.”

She had listened to Huo Wu when she told her to write a character biography. After Bai Xue signed the contract, the script was in her hands, and she had been reading it ever since.

The filming period for this project wasn’t long, but the investment was huge. The entire crew, from the director to every single actor, had to be in a completely enclosed state during the filming. This meant there would be no public appearances for five months. This was a difficult hurdle for many people, so many of the invited guests weighed their options and chose to give up.

Li Ke didn’t force them. He preferred to choose new actors who hadn’t been confined by the camera. These people had a certain flair, were more genuine, and were easier to mold. Additionally, since this might be one of Huo Wu’s last works before she transitioned to directing, some people who knew about it came just for her.

Bai Feifei was no exception. She wanted to do her best.

Early the next morning, Bai Feifei was woken up by Fu Xiaoxiao at 5:30 a.m. She was in a daze, looking at the sky where the sun hadn’t even risen yet. She couldn’t help but say, “We’re so close to the set; we can sleep until seven and leave then…”

She had studied until two in the morning the night before, and her character biography of Fusang filled an entire sheet of paper. The more she wrote, the more Bai Feifei was surprised. From some angles, the character Fusang was very similar to her.

Fusang was a little too idealized, perhaps something that Li Ke or Huo Wu wanted to express, but Bai Feifei had always felt a little uncertain while writing the character biography. Sometimes she felt that Fusang was like her, but other times, she felt that Fusang was so perfect that she wasn’t worthy of her. She kept thinking about it, kept changing things, kept making adjustments, and finally fell asleep around 2 a.m. But today, she was woken up at 5:30 a.m.

Fu Xiaoxiao was very energetic, with two dogs following her, which looked a little scary in the pre-dawn light. “I’m just waking you up. Baby, you can go back to sleep. Once you’re awake, you can fall back asleep, and when I call you again, you’ll feel twice as happy and it’ll be easier to wake up!”

Bai Feifei almost couldn’t breathe. Fu Xiaoxiao’s logic almost killed her.

“If I wake up with dark circles, it’s definitely your fault…” Bai Feifei mumbled a couple of sentences. As soon as she finished, she fell back into a deep sleep.

Jumbo jumped onto the bed, lightly patrolled around Feifei, and then bit the corner of the blanket to cover Bai Feifei. Afterward, she found a place and curled up next to her to sleep. Little Cutie tilted his head up and quietly sniffed the air, also finding a spot to lie down.

Fu Xiaoxiao couldn’t fall back asleep. It was her first day officially on the job in front of everyone, and her nervousness was obvious. She checked the things in her bag, checked the instructions Bai Xue had sent her, and checked Bai Feifei’s entire schedule and work arrangements. By the time she had confirmed everything, it was already bright outside.

When Bai Feifei got up and washed up, she actually did feel a strange sense of satisfaction, just as Fu Xiaoxiao had said, from having had a second sleep.

“This method can’t be used a second time,” Fu Xiaoxiao said. “The first time you feel satisfied, but if you use it a second or third time, it’ll turn into insomnia and nightmares.”

Bai Feifei thought that made sense. She bit into the egg pancake and drank the fat-free yogurt Fu Xiaoxiao had made for her as she went downstairs.

A huge minivan was parked downstairs at the hotel. Bai Feifei paused and couldn’t help but look around. The residents of the small city generally moved at a slow pace. Around seven o’clock, the breakfast stalls outside were all full of people queuing. Some who couldn’t get a spot were waiting on the side, looking around. They usually had no specific target, but today was different.

“Is this a bit too flashy?” Bai Feifei felt a little guilty as she got into the car.

“It’s not flashy,” Bai Xue said, sitting across from her with a smile. “You’ll have to get used to it sooner or later—look, Huo Wu is coming down right behind you, and she’s also taking a minivan.”

Bai Feifei leaned on the window and looked out. The car behind them was indeed Huo Wu’s. Huo Wu’s was a black car, a very low-key color, but the body was very shiny and new, so it must have just been serviced.

Bai Feifei naturally couldn’t see the person in the car through the two black windows. She watched for a while and was about to go back when someone rushed out of the hotel.

“Wait—give me a ride. I don’t know who punctured my tire this morning—” It was Li Ke’s voice.

Bai Feifei switched to a window where she could see the hotel entrance and peered out. Someone asked Li Ke, “Director Li, which car are you getting into?”

Li Ke didn’t answer at first. He glanced at Bai Feifei’s all-pink Hello Kitty car. He raised his hand, but Bai Xue’s cold face inside the car forced him to change direction.

In the end, Bai Feifei heard Li Ke, with a sullen look, sighing as he was forced to take the long way around. He ran to Huo Wu’s car with a big pile of documents, panting, “Teacher Huo, wait for me!”

Bai Xue looked away, her face cold as she pulled the blackout curtain shut. She explained to Bai Feifei with a serious expression, “You have no status or position right now. If he dared to get in your car today, tomorrow the news of you being a victim of the ‘casting couch’ would be all over the streets.”

Bai Feifei nodded very seriously. “I think so, too.”

The main point was that today’s script reading was like the first day after summer vacation. The disciplinarian was going to check homework, and she was a little scared. If Li Ke talked to her about her character, the script, and her understanding of it in the car, Bai Feifei was worried she wouldn’t be able to give a proper answer, and he would look down on her. If that got back to Huo Wu, and she thought she wasn’t hardworking, that would be bad.