I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 80

But the lighting crew didn’t turn off the lights. Many cameras were still aimed in their direction.

Huo Wu took two steps and saw the crowd surrounding them, as well as Bai Xue standing among them, talking to someone who was vaguely in the middle of the crowd.

She paused, not knowing if Bai Feifei was asleep. She first called her name softly, “Feifei?”

“Hmm.” Bai Feifei opened her eyes. Her chin was resting on Huo Wu’s shoulder. She rubbed back and forth like a kitten, finding the most comfortable position while saying, “No, not asleep yet.”

Her voice was very lively. Huo Wu turned her head in surprise but could only catch a glimpse of Bai Feifei’s profile, which didn’t look sleepy at all. “Not tired anymore?”

“I think I’m okay.” Bai Feifei blinked her big eyes and smoothly said something sweet. “Of course, it’s because Teacher Huo is here…”

She glanced at the staff around them. Her two little legs, which were happily fluttering, slowly calmed down. The words she was about to say were also reconsidered, and she changed it to a proper thank you. “My brain is working better than when it was new. I feel like it’s already filled with knowledge.”

If it were just the two of them, she might have boasted that with Huo Wu’s teaching ability and her own learning speed, she would be able to win Best Actress in three years.

But with so many people around, the more you said, the more mistakes you made. So what Bai Feifei said was, “Maybe I can even win Best Actress in the future.”

She added another line, “If I keep working hard at acting.”

Huo Wu couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Without even batting an eye, she pulled Li Ke into the conversation. “Is that so? Li Ke also said you could.”

Bai Feifei’s confidence instantly bubbled like boiling water. Her little legs started to sway leisurely again. “Is that so? Is that so?”

“Yeah.” Huo Wu wasn’t lying. Li Ke had said that before.

But before that, Bai Feifei’s efforts would definitely not be any less—just like now.

Huo Wu said, “We’ve been busy all day, and I haven’t had a chance to tell you.”

Bai Feifei let out a questioning sound and raised her head to show that she was listening.

Huo Wu said, “Bai Xue got you a variety show. It’s a reality show format that will document your daily life on set by filming and recording as they go.”

Bai Feifei immediately sobered up. She shot up from Huo Wu’s back and exclaimed, “A reality show?!”

Huo Wu was forced to bend forward. She was afraid that Bai Feifei would use too much force and they would both fall backward. But Bai Feifei clearly controlled herself and didn’t flip over. She was quickly brought back onto Huo Wu’s back by Huo Wu’s bending motion and was carried steadily.

Huo Wu was startled and instinctively spanked Bai Feifei’s butt, lightly scolding her, “Behave.”

Bai Feifei obediently said, “Ooh,” and wrapped her arms around Huo Wu’s neck again, giggling. “It doesn’t hurt at all. I have plastic wrap on my butt too.”

Huo Wu was speechless for a second, then heard Bai Feifei giggling into her ear, which made her break character and laugh along with her.

“Let’s get serious,” Huo Wu said. “The production crew is where Bai Xue is. They’ve already started filming tonight. But they can only film interviews during the actors’ waiting time. They can’t delay the actual filming schedule. They’ll also wear our crew’s uniforms to try and minimize their presence.”

Bai Feifei responded, “So you’re saying it’s a real filming, with no script at all?”

“Yes,” Huo Wu said. “But it’s okay. The director they got through Ms. Cheng won’t deliberately film low-quality content just for views and traffic.”

Huo Wu briefly introduced the content of the show to Bai Feifei.

Bai Feifei listened carefully and said at the end, “Did you already check it for me?”

Huo Wu only hesitated for a moment or two before admitting it. But soon, as if afraid that Bai Feifei would feel guilty, she said, “It’s not just for you. This show is also good for the crew. It’s a very new concept. The director has real skills and is recognized by the industry for their quality. Everyone approves of it. For us, it has a hundred benefits and no harm.”

Bai Feifei nodded as if she was a complete amateur. “Will they only follow me? Or will all the actors and staff be filmed?”

“It’s a full documentary,” Huo Wu said with a chuckle. “The main characters are, of course, the leads, but they’ll also communicate with the other actors.”

But generally, no one would refuse.

Huo Wu didn’t say this, but Bai Feifei understood. Too many people needed a chance and a possibility of being seen. When the crew was filming, the production team would let them know beforehand when they could film and when they couldn’t. The scenes they could film together would not be the main content, or rather, they couldn’t film the whole thing.

For example, with the scene just now, they could film the collision of the vehicles. They could also film a shot of Bai Feifei being chased and running down a certain road. But they couldn’t film the entire process. They also couldn’t film what Huo Wu said to Bai Feifei at the end and the part that Bai Feifei had comprehended herself.

The final cut wasn’t entirely up to the show’s director, which was why Huo Wu had Bai Feifei rest assured.

Bai Feifei’s expression showed that she had come to a sudden realization.

But because of this, Bai Feifei didn’t go to the RV to remove her makeup.

It was too cramped inside. More than five people would make it crowded and hard to move around, not to mention a pile of cameras. So she went to the lead actors’ makeup room to clean up.

With a bunch of cameras aimed at her even when she was resting, and unable to tell the difference between the crew’s behind-the-scenes teacher and the show’s recording teacher, Bai Feifei couldn’t help but look back in the mirror. When her eyes met the chief director, she couldn’t help but show a look of ‘finally, someone I know.’ “Teacher Hao, do we have a script?”

Hao Feng shook her head regretfully. In front of the camera, she made a gesture with her hands, indicating that she was sorry, but there really wasn’t one.

Bai Feifei couldn’t stay still. “So we just film like this? Aren’t you going to ask questions? Aren’t you going to interview me with a microphone?”

The director smiled. “We will ask questions. They’re preparing the script over there.”

“This is so real,” was Bai Feifei’s first reaction after answering a few questions.

Rather than a formal Q&A, the entire crew gave off the feeling of a daily chat between friends.

“How did you feel when you were chosen to play Fusang?”

Bai Feifei thought about it. She looked at Huo Wu but answered honestly, “I felt like I finally had money.”

The director was stunned. The first question was different from what she had predicted. She couldn’t continue to follow the script and put down the Q&A book. “What does it feel like to have money? Can you describe it?”

“It’s that feeling,” Bai Feifei tried to organize her thoughts. “The feeling of finally getting a bonus and being able to pay off your bills.”

As she said that, she thought of how she felt when all the bills were paid off, and every IOU was checked off. She couldn’t help but let out a long sigh and said sincerely, “It feels so good!”

The director couldn’t help but laugh. She felt that Bai Feifei was incredibly real.

But this also gave them the best start for their first season. Unlike many senior artists who answered questions without any flaws, so smooth that even without a script, they seemed to have gone through professional training, Bai Feifei’s performance could better establish the “real” label. It also aligned with the groundwork they had done beforehand.

She relaxed and steered the conversation to the main point.

“It was already very late when we came. Sister Bai Xue’s original intention was to start filming when you started working the next day. But in the end, Teacher Huo talked to her and said that tonight’s shoot was a major scene,” the director said with a smile. “And we happened to run into a difficult situation with the crew. It’s great material. It would be a shame not to film it.”

Bai Feifei thought about tonight and realized that the content of one day was more difficult than all the difficulties she had encountered in the past month.

The director and writing teams almost got into a fight. The content filmed by the other director and the writing team was completely different from what Li Ke had directed. The scene that was supposed to be filmed in an hour or two was dragged out until 5 a.m. And she also participated in the first day of the reality show filming.

Bai Feifei subconsciously looked at Huo Wu again. Even though she was answering the director’s question and it was for the camera, it sounded like she was talking to Huo Wu. “It really was a very fulfilling day…”

Huo Wu was sitting off-camera, her hand propped on her chin. The look in her eyes as she watched Bai Feifei was one of approval and admiration.

A few photographers turned their cameras toward Huo Wu at this moment and happened to capture her final expression.

Hao Feng’s expression was meaningful. She turned the conversation toward Huo Wu, but the question was for Bai Feifei. “Did Feifei get hurt during the shoot today?”

For Bai Feifei, a small wound wasn’t a wound. As long as it didn’t hurt to the point where she couldn’t stand it, it wasn’t a wound. So she said, “No.”

The camera was aimed at her bloodied skin. It was hard to tell which was a special effect and which was a real wound. Then the camera moved up.

And in sync with the camera were the gazes of Hao Feng and many of the staff present.

Hao Feng was silent for a moment and then continued to ask, “Teacher Huo carried you out just now. We thought you were injured.”

Bai Feifei’s gaze began to drift toward Huo Wu again. She was 30% guilty, 40% scared, and 70% pleading for help. “I… I think I have a small injury. My knee has a big scrape. Te… Teacher Huo might have been worried that the filming schedule for tomorrow wouldn’t be able to keep up, so she picked me up.”

Bai Feifei almost said the wrong name because she was feeling guilty.

She wanted to yell at the director to stop. She also wanted to run out and talk to Bai Xue and Huo Wu to get their stories straight—what could be said and what couldn’t, or whether they could mix some truth and some lies.

Perhaps seeing Bai Feifei’s guilt and panic, Huo Wu frowned off-camera. Her gaze fell on her phone—the time was almost 6 a.m.

She had been filming all day until now. Bai Feifei had been working non-stop for almost 24 hours. No matter how young she was, she couldn’t handle staying up like this.

She interrupted the interview and drew Hao Feng and the cameras to herself. There was a perfect smile on her face. “Okay, let’s give our little newcomer a break. The more afraid she is of being a burden to me, the less she’ll dare to mention me. You keep asking, what are you trying to do?”

Hao Feng’s expression was very complicated.

Huo Wu was her least favorite ‘old-timer.’ She couldn’t find a single topic to break through all day. Although their main goal wasn’t to find loopholes to create rumors, they couldn’t have nothing at all.

She disliked Huo Wu to her face. She crossed her arms and gave her a thumbs-up off-camera, then rolled her eyes.

Bai Feifei’s eyes darted between Huo Wu and Hao Feng. She was sure. They must know each other and have worked together before.

But for a moment, she couldn’t figure out the dynamic and didn’t know how much the crew had filmed just now.

While she was still thinking randomly, she saw Huo Wu use her feet to pile up all the plastic wrap that had been taken off her and then draped a thick coat over her.

This definitely went beyond the boundaries of normal friendship. Bai Feifei’s heart was beating so fast it was about to go out of control. Even though they were officially dating, she inexplicably had the illusion that she was having a secret affair under the watchful eyes of countless people… What a hellish illusion.

Bai Feifei shook her head. She must be light-headed from exhaustion.

Huo Wu zipped up her coat. Only then did Bai Feifei notice that the coat was Huo Wu’s. It was clean and had the usual scent of her perfume. She had even found a heater from somewhere and had been warming it for a while.

She subconsciously raised her sleeve and sniffed it. Soon after, her shoulder and the top of her head were rubbed. It was Huo Wu’s usual words of advice and care.

“Go back and get the hot water ready,” Huo Wu said, her words broken up. “Take a bath.”

Bai Feifei couldn’t help but remember what Huo Wu had promised her on set. Her heart, which had just calmed down, started to race again.

She didn’t know that her entire face had turned red. Hao Feng’s gaze kept drifting between Huo Wu and Bai Feifei. Her previous thought of the ‘crafty old-timer who won’t give anything away’ was long gone. She was now like a fully charged radar, constantly making buzzing noises.

Bai Feifei could barely do anything but nod lightly. Then she heard Huo Wu say very calmly, “I’ll be back soon.”

—To get the hot water ready for a bath.

—I won’t make you wait too long.

The sleeves were a little long and covered half of her hands. Bai Feifei pressed her face against the coat. Her cold hands were heated by her face, and only then did she realize that her entire face was probably red.

She fled in a panic, thinking, “The one who said it was Huo Wu, so why am I the one who’s so flustered?”