I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 59

Bai Feifei struggled to say one more sentence before falling back into a sleepy state on the bed. She knew she would have to wake up when they got back to the hotel, so she tried to stay awake, but her body had reached its limit. She felt a bit of inexplicable frustration but just gave a little pout. She quickly comforted herself, thinking, Even though I’m tired, I’ve gained so much these past few days. This little bit of frustration is nothing compared to what I’ve gained.

When Huo Wu came up, she was carrying two cups of milk tea. Bai Feifei remembered Bai Xue’s instructions and her eyes widened. She said, “Aunt Xue doesn’t let me drink that anymore.” After struggling to sit up, she didn’t feel as tired as she had before. Bai Feifei shook her head and said, “I’ve already had a lot of sweets today.” Huo Wu gently swayed the cup, and the warm side of the cup rested against Bai Feifei’s cheek. She whispered, “I’m not telling you to drink it now. Drink it when you’re taking a bath later. It’s hot milk, no sugar added.” Bai Feifei’s consciousness began to fade again. A moment later, someone gently moved her head, changing her position from leaning against the window to lying flat on the small bed. In her dream, it seemed someone was gently massaging her, and she felt so comfortable that she was about to groan. In a daze, she thought she called out “Ah Wu,” but someone quickly answered and touched her head. Bai Feifei mumbled something else, but she didn’t even know what it was.

It was very late when they arrived at the hotel, just a few minutes before midnight. Bai Feifei had slept for half an hour in the car and finally felt she had recovered. The crew had already sent out the schedule for the next day. She had to get up at seven in the morning for hair, makeup, costume, and so on. Bai Feifei briefly looked at it and then picked up the script for tomorrow. She saw that it was a simple scene with Huo Wu, taking place in the rented apartment, and the content was simple. The other scene jumped forward in time to the part where she and Wu Qingying’s character, Qi Yang, were escaping. She couldn’t say which one would be easier; a dialogue-heavy scene and an action scene each had their own kind of exhaustion.

“Baby, go wash up first,” Fu Xiaoxiao said, opening the cup of milk. She sniffed it gently and said, “It smells good. I’ll go heat it up and bring it to you.” Bai Feifei didn’t refuse. She watched Fu Xiaoxiao pour the milk into a glass cup, set a timer, and then rush to pack her things for the next day. Bai Feifei took a photo of herself in the mirror. She looked pale and was still in her costume. She sent the photo to Bai Xue first, asking if she could post it on Weibo. After putting down her phone, she silently cheered herself on. Everyone is working hard, so I can’t fall behind!

The next morning, Bai Feifei appeared in the cafeteria full of energy. She didn’t know Huo Wu’s schedule, but thankfully, she had her phone. Bai Feifei chewed on her sweet corn slowly while sending a message to Huo Wu.

[Bai Feifei: Ah Wu, the cafeteria has corn, custard buns, and purple yam buns today. Which one do you want?]

[Bai Feifei: [Image] I’m having one corn and one purple yam bun with some pickles.]

[Huo Wu: Eat your fill. You don’t have to get me anything.]

Bai Feifei sent a “cat nod” emoji. After searching for a long time, she found a very boastful flying kiss emoji and sent it to Huo Wu. This time, Huo Wu didn’t reply, and Bai Feifei, like a hamster, nibbled a notch in her corn. She silently thought, She’s shy.

Meanwhile, Fu Xiaoxiao received a message from Huo Wu. After they had become friends on social media, their chat looked like two distant relatives greeting each other on holidays, with replies like “okay,” “got it,” “I know,” and so on. The last time Fu Xiaoxiao showed Bai Feifei their chat, it made Bai Feifei laugh so hard she fell on the carpet and couldn’t get up. So when she got a message from Huo Wu out of the blue, her first thought was: Did Huo Wu get hacked?

[Huo Wu: Bring more food this morning just in case.]

That’s strange. The message doesn’t sound like a hack. Fu Xiaoxiao thought that a simple “okay” wasn’t enough. She thought for a moment and replied: [What’s wrong?]

[Huo Wu: Lots of scenes. Tired. Need to replenish my energy.]

[Huo Wu: Don’t you understand?]

Fu Xiaoxiao could almost see Huo Wu’s face on the other side of the screen, looking at her like she was an idiot. She grit her teeth, but she knew Huo Wu wouldn’t joke about Bai Feifei’s scenes. She went to the window and packed six plain buns, six tea eggs, and three ears of corn. After thinking for a moment, Fu Xiaoxiao also grabbed some sauce pancakes and a bag of small pickles to snack on. Finally, under the shocked gaze of the cafeteria staff, she mumbled into her phone, “One serving of blueberries, one serving of strawberries, one serving each of pineapple, watermelon, cherries, apples, and pears…” Feeling satisfied, Fu Xiaoxiao carried her bags to the car. Ignoring the questions from the people around her, she put everything in the mini-fridge in the car, deciding to hide her good deed until Bai Feifei was hungry. Only then would she know how great Fu Xiaoxiao was.

The RV went to the school as usual. For the time being, the main filming location was the school. And in these two weeks, most of the scenes were actually focused on Ling Xinghe and Li Ran. They were only there for two weeks, and most of the most depressing scenes from the high school period had to be filmed during this time. Regarding this, Ling Xinghe’s comment was, “After these two weeks, I won’t accept any work for the rest of the year.” “Go to a temple and pray,” Li Ran echoed. “I heard Lingyin Temple is very effective.”

The reason they felt this way was because after they went over the script, they had a rough idea of the day’s scenes. Although they had already read through the entire script, the daily filming content was always changing. Details and even entire short plots would be revised. Li Ke was the head director, in charge of the main plot and key scenes, while other directors would simultaneously film some transitional scenes that weren’t part of the main group. Therefore, the daily schedule would be set, and the filming content would be updated every day. You couldn’t be lazy and not read or memorize your lines with Li Ke. This was why Ling Xinghe couldn’t help but squat in a corner and count ants after he found out there were new additions to the script.

“Director, will I really gain more followers after this drama airs?” Ling Xinghe said speechlessly. “I’m an A-list star. How can an A-list star play such a realistically negative role? My boss will kill me if she finds out.” “Isn’t your boss your eldest sister?” Li Ke was confused, perplexed, and even rolled his eyes. “Didn’t you force your sister to put you here in the first place?” Ling Xinghe remembered the huge misunderstanding a while ago and felt like crying even more. He whimpered and looked at Bai Feifei for help. Bai Feifei thought for a moment and gave him a lollipop.

Ling Xinghe: “?”

Bai Feifei said vaguely, “You can do it. You’re great.” Huo Wu didn’t like the lychee flavor, and neither did she. Ling Xinghe wasn’t picky. He often ate the leftover food from his two sisters, so when he heard this, he was excited. “Thank you! You’re so kind. You’re the best…” He didn’t say the rest out loud and secretly sent it to Bai Feifei: [Ling Xinghe: You’re the best sister-in-law in the world!]

Bai Feifei replied sincerely: [I’m not worthy.] The two of them bantered for a while, slightly diffusing the heavy atmosphere.

A moment later, Wu Qingying arrived with her hair and makeup done. Every time Bai Feifei saw her, she couldn’t help but say “wow.” Wu Qingying was truly very, very fair-skinned. Bai Feifei herself was already considered fair, but Wu Qingying was on another level. Just like her name, she looked otherworldly, like she wasn’t a real person. Bai Feifei patted the stool next to her and joked, “It’s a shame you weren’t here just now. You missed Xinghe apologizing.”

They had been on set for over half a month, but Wu Qingying didn’t have many scenes, and she didn’t often run into the others. Her scenes were also spread out, so besides Bai Feifei, she wasn’t very close to anyone else. Wu Qingying smiled at her and gave a light nod, saying “Mhm.”

Ling Xinghe went off to find Li Ke, looking worried and holding his script. Bai Feifei, with no one to entertain, could still talk happily by herself. After a while, her mouth felt a bit dry, so she went to Fu Xiaoxiao for some water. After drinking, Bai Feifei handed the water to Fu Xiaoxiao, who quietly leaned into her ear and whispered, “Huo Wu was just here, hiding and secretly watching you and Wu talking!”

Bai Feifei instinctively looked for Huo Wu, and Fu Xiaoxiao got annoyed. “She already left!”

Bai Feifei said a lackluster “oh.” “Next time she comes, if I’m not busy, you have to tell me.” Fu Xiaoxiao thought, I won’t tell you, but she said, “Okay, I’ll tell you.” She then realized Bai Feifei had changed the topic and stamped her foot. “Oh! That’s not what I wanted to talk about!”

Bai Feifei gave a piece of pineapple to Fu Xiaoxiao to eat and took a bite of cantaloupe herself. Fu Xiaoxiao said with a mouthful of food, “You know what? She was just sitting in a chair with a book on her lap. I don’t know what it was, but when people tried to talk to her, she ignored them. She just kept watching you two.” “Mmm,” Bai Feifei said, still looking confused. Fu Xiaoxiao kept trying to badmouth Huo Wu, but she missed the point. “Do you know? She looked like an old person watching kids playing games with their butts out in the sun.”

Bai Feifei, like Fu Xiaoxiao, misunderstood the point and said happily, “She’d only watch if she was interested. She must have wanted to see me. Old people only watch kids play if they like them. Ah Wu likes it when I’m happy.” Bai Feifei had quenched her thirst and cooled down. She happily handed the things back to Fu Xiaoxiao and skipped away. Fu Xiaoxiao thought, That’s true. She also liked it when Bai Feifei was happy. She completely forgot her original point and happily put the things back in the fridge.

This time, everyone was a little more serious. They had to go over their lines and think about the situations and tones based on the script. They also gave each other suggestions and communicated with the director as needed. During the read-through, Wu Qingying talked a bit more and offered some suggestions about the filming. But for the most part, she was listening. When they had first auditioned, Bai Feifei and Wu Qingying had to act with nothing but their imagination. Now, it was different. All the props they needed were there. The crew’s ample budget gave the actors a sense of security and made them feel like they were really there. However, the scenes they were about to film had a slight change from the audition clips. The change wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. It was just two words: “The theme.”