I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 69

For the rest of the afternoon, Bai Feifei and Huo Wu didn’t see each other again. Part of Huo Wu’s scenes was completely confidential. During filming, unauthorized people weren’t even allowed in. Only crew members who had signed a confidentiality agreement were allowed inside. Bai Feifei was dying of curiosity, but she had no other choice. Instead, she became more and more excited for the drama to air. She was also slowly starting to understand how Huo Wu felt when she said she was looking forward to seeing her scenes. There were always things she hadn’t observed, and there were always new surprises.

Bai Feifei wasn’t idle during her break. She was driven, hardworking, and eager to learn. With Huo Wu’s guidance, she often went to watch the veteran actors film. After observing for a long time, she learned a lot. The main scenes for the next few days were with Lu Xinghe, the actor playing Li Ran, Zhou Yan, and the actress playing Qin Ling, Fang Jie. Fang Jie had relatively fewer scenes, and most of them were in the classroom. The things she had to memorize every day were not only dialogue but also things she had to write on the blackboard. Since she was teaching an advanced class, she had to answer questions in a foreign language the entire time, which was also very difficult for her.

Bai Feifei watched a few times and couldn’t help but enroll in an English class. She had only passed the fourth level of the College English Test and hadn’t tried the sixth level yet. She just remembered what Huo Wu had once said: an actor with more skills would be more helpful to themselves. Especially when she saw that Fang Jie had said that this role was originally for someone the investor wanted. It wasn’t supposed to be her, but because of her fluent English and her experience as an English teacher during the audition, Li Ke decided to cast her.

Bai Feifei didn’t know what her future would be like or if she would encounter a similar situation for her next role. Even though her current manager was Bai Xue, and her legal counsel was Xi Rong… and even Huo Wu, she couldn’t rely on them for everything. They weren’t all-powerful, and she had to be diligent. Bai Feifei suddenly realized that without even knowing it, she had been on a path of continuous effort. And this path had given her a lot of收获, making her feel that every moment was worth it.

After a few more days of filming, Zhou Yan and Fang Jie had their last scene. Their last day of filming was on the same day. The scenes before their last one were all big ones for Zhou Yan. She had a lot of emotional breakdowns, and Bai Feifei would go over to watch her whenever she had a moment.

In the principal’s office, Zhou Yan was getting ready to film her last scene. Bai Feifei was standing next to Li Ke, watching with great focus. Li Ke had a new wig today, a reddish-pink color. He was wearing loafers, wide-legged pants, and a wide shirt that was big enough to be a blanket for Bai Feifei. But over it, he was wearing a green vest that symbolized artistic workers. That was Li Ke’s signature.

“Learn from this,” Li Ke said when he saw Bai Feifei. “Zhou Yan has a lot of power. It’s just that she was born at the wrong time and her looks were a little limited. Otherwise, in the early years of female lead dramas, she would have been the first choice. She’s such a good actress. Unless it’s a very good supporting role, it’s very hard to get her to act.”

Bai Feifei nodded seriously and asked Li Ke something off-topic. “Director, why do I feel like all the actors in your crew have such good acting skills?” It made her feel like she was in a class every day she filmed. Not only the actors she had scenes with, but she would also go and watch everyone who was filming.

Li Ke shook his head when he heard that. “That’s not true. A lot of them are from investors. But it’s better now than it used to be. After the era of the ‘coal bosses’ ended, a lot of film crews became battlegrounds for the ‘second generation’ and the ‘traffic’ companies. The people who were brought in during that time were a mix of good and bad, and the industry produced a lot of popular but bad dramas. After a long time, the directors who were willing to take their time to polish their craft and weren’t blinded by so-called ‘traffic’ finally made a name for themselves. In the last four or five years, there have been a lot of hit dramas, and the actors who truly rely on their skills finally got a chance to shine. This is how this phenomenon was curbed.”

Bai Feifei somehow thought of the phrase “set things right.” She didn’t expect that the director’s circle would have to consider so many things. What Li Ke said made her completely stunned. Li Ke glanced at her and laughed. He knew that Bai Feifei probably didn’t understand all the twists and turns, but for some reason, whenever he was with Bai Feifei, he had an inexplicable urge to talk. It seemed like no matter what he told her, she would listen carefully and give him a response that was not perfunctory at all.

Li Ke said a little more than he usually would. “You have a spiritual aura, but there are a lot of people in this circle who have it. There are even more people who are just a flash in the pan. Your spiritual aura might be limited to this one drama because you fit Fusang. If you were to play another character, like Qi Yang, you might be able to act it in your own style, but that’s not what I would want. In other words, you’re not suitable for it. And your acting skills are not up to my standard. The cost of trial and error is too high for a director, which is why there are so many good actors who don’t have a role to play.”

Bai Feifei naturally knew this. When they first started filming, the simplest dialogue scenes would require several takes. The way she walked, her small actions, her breathing, her speaking speed, and even how much she ate and how many times she chewed were all things she had learned during this time. Thinking back to when she first started filming, Bai Feifei felt that she had really given Li Ke a hard time.

“Wu Qingying is not necessarily the most suitable person for Qi Yang, but her acting skills are good, and her appearance is also good,” Li Ke said, adjusting the camera so that it was pointing at Wu Qingying’s face. “Do you see? The character of Qi Yang is timid and weak, but Wu Qingying is not like that.” Wu Qingying was not in character when she was resting. She didn’t smile much and didn’t like to communicate with people. She looked cold, which was a fundamental difference from Qi Yang’s introversion. The contrast was very strong. She had almost completely changed herself into a different person to act. Bai Feifei couldn’t help but admire her.

“Let’s talk about Qi Yang again. Her personality is weak, but when she’s pushed to her limit, she’ll show her craziest side. Because she has a family history of mental illness, she can kill people while she’s sane and not be held legally responsible,” Li Ke said with a smile. “No one can be sure if she was in an episode when she killed someone.”

Bai Feifei didn’t understand why Li Ke had suddenly changed the topic to Qi Yang, but she also knew that Li Ke wouldn’t suddenly change the topic for no reason. So she didn’t rush to reply and waited for Li Ke to continue. Li Ke was excited, and he also had a sense of cherishing talent. His appreciation didn’t come from Bai Feifei herself, because Bai Feifei needed to be polished and nurtured. It came from his trust in Huo Wu. Even if Huo Wu loved Bai Feifei from the bottom of her heart and Bai Feifei was really suitable for Fusang, she was not someone who would let her emotions get the best of her. If Bai Feifei couldn’t act, Huo Wu would not have given her the nod.

Li Ke said, “This character setting for Qi Yang was completely confidential until I told you. If I hadn’t told you, would you have noticed?” Bai Feifei shook her head as expected and said, “I didn’t feel like Qi Yang had a mental illness. She didn’t have any of those small actions… I’m not very familiar with mentally ill people who have a tendency to kill. What kind of people are they?”

“Have you ever seen a ‘fool’?” Li Ke asked. Bai Feifei thought carefully and said, “I’ve seen one when I was little. There was a ‘fool’ who always liked to play with children at the bus stop. But I didn’t think she was scary. She was quite cute.” The word “cute” didn’t seem like it was used to describe a man.

Li Ke asked, “A woman?” Bai Feifei nodded. Li Ke rubbed his chin and said, “There’s one near our set. He’s a man in his forties or fifties and has a small frame. His home is in the residential building next to ours, two buildings away from where you two live. Have you heard of him?” Bai Feifei shook her head again. Li Ke was talking about the address of Fusang and Wuling in the drama, but they hadn’t been to that area because the filming location wasn’t there.

Her relationship with the other crew members wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. Most of the time, she was busy with her own things. Fu Xiaoxiao and Bai Xue handled most of the social interactions, which was a normal thing for an artist and their staff. But she also understood what Li Ke meant. Even though she hadn’t seen him or paid attention to him, Wu Qingying must have. And that “fool” must have some similarities to Qi Yang in the drama. Wu Qingying might have gotten some inspiration from him. Seeing more people would be very helpful for an actor. She said, “Where does he usually appear?”

“In places where there are a lot of women, especially little girls,” Li Ke said. “Don’t go near him alone. You’re too pretty and you don’t look like you can fight back. That ‘fool’ will follow you.” With that simple sentence, Bai Feifei got goosebumps all over her body. She was a little scared. She went through a list of people in her mind, but she couldn’t think of anyone who could go with her. Fu Xiaoxiao was not an option. Bai Feifei didn’t even consider her. She had a natural fear of men. Although this fear had been fading as she got older, the trauma from her childhood could not completely disappear. She had just hidden it well.

Li Ke seemed to have seen through Bai Feifei’s thoughts. He said with a frustrated tone, “Go with Huo Wu. The Ling family has a bodyguard with her at all times, so you don’t have to worry about safety. Besides, this is such a good opportunity to improve your relationship. Why aren’t you getting it?” Bai Feifei immediately adopted a teachable attitude and planned to go back and buy some pepper spray and an alarm. “Watch more,” Li Ke said in the end. “Feel more. There’s no harm in it.”

Bai Feifei didn’t have many scenes with Zhou Yan, but they left a deep impression on her. When she got into character, she was a completely different person. In the drama, she was someone who could give a character a second life. Even though the character was already well-developed in the script, Zhou Yan seemed to have a special kind of charm. To climb up the social ladder, she would go to great lengths to curry favor with every leader and would rack her brains to be on good terms with students from wealthy families to pave the way for her son’s future in the city after he graduated.

At the same time, she fully displayed the ugly side of a small person who had power. She would use the most vicious words to attack every pretty girl going through puberty. She would also attack the parents of students with bad grades. Her face was mean and sinister, which came from her unhappy marriage, her husband who cheated on her with a young college student, her vicious mother-in-law, and her father-in-law who sexually harassed her. It also came from the boundless vanity of a small person who had gained power. She put all her hopes on her son, hoping that he would grow up and take her away from her miserable life. But things didn’t go her way. Her son, whom she had placed all her hopes on, had his future completely ruined.

And the reason for that was the content of Zhou Yan’s last two scenes today. One was with the actor playing the principal, which wasn’t too heavy and relied on Zhou Yan’s acting. The other was a scene with Wu Qingying, which was the one Bai Feifei was most looking forward to.