I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 83

After several back-and-forth discussions, they finally came to a conclusion on how to “restrain” her.

Bai Feifei had Ling Xinghe hold her wrist without using any force and walk a few steps, but she immediately broke free.

Ling Xinghe turned back in confusion, but at that moment, Bai Feifei put her hand back into his hand, motioning for him to continue walking.

This gave Li Ke an idea.

He pondered for a long time and then said, “Restraint doesn’t necessarily have to be violent.”

Language could also be used as a weapon. Moreover, given Li Mingming’s physical condition, violence was impossible to begin with. In this situation, the control was actually in Fusang’s hands. If she wasn’t willing to cooperate, the confrontation wouldn’t even happen. It would become a one-sided refusal.

And in the same way, with this kind of filming, it would appear that Li Mingming was in control, but in reality, it was because Fusang was willing to cooperate that he could use language as a weapon, or rather, as an audible signal to give orders. This also fit the image that Li Ke wanted to portray.

After a few more takes and adjusting the details and lines, the scene officially began.

The scene started from the part where Bai Feifei was first scared by Li Mingming. Fusang was also startled. If it were before, her startled look might have been similar to Bai Feifei’s just now. But the pressure and endless fatigue from the past few days had made her much more mature, and her personality seemed indifferent.

The camera zoomed in. Bai Feifei showed an extremely subtle change in expression. Her pupils contracted and then dilated. Her body trembled for a moment, but she didn’t scream. She quickly realized who the person in front of her was and prepared to turn and leave.

The hospital’s basement was eerily quiet. The dim green light made the atmosphere especially strange, but the argument between the couple not far away pulled this eerie atmosphere back to reality.

The two were in a silent standoff, which was a stark contrast to the loud argument not far away.

In this strange standoff, Li Mingming reached out with his hand, which was a sickly green color from the emergency light, and grabbed Fusang’s wrist. With an extremely suppressed and gloomy expression, he pulled her to go upstairs.

The sound of his slippers dragging on the ground was not pleasant. His walking speed was also extremely slow. Just taking one step would cost him most of his strength. However, after only two steps, his hand really ran out of strength. He couldn’t hold onto the weight of Fusang’s wrist and let it fall from his palm.

Li Mingming was hunched over, and Fusang was looking down at him indifferently. Looking at her cold face, his blood boiled, and his lips turned purple, making him look like a vengeful ghost from hell.

But seeing his pitiful state, Fusang casually put her hand into her pocket and said coldly, “Let’s go.”

This was also a method they had discussed.

Putting her hand back into Li Mingming’s hand would seem theatrical, but it didn’t fit the tone of the entire show. Li Ke personally didn’t like to put this kind of clever content in. They tried one take, but it was abandoned. It could be released as a behind-the-scenes clip later.

The two of them filmed a few more scenes of walking in the stairwell and waiting in the elevator to go up. There was no communication, but the focus was on the close-ups of their expressions. Occasionally, the camera would cut to a medium or long shot to show the silent and suppressed confrontation.

When Li Ke finally called cut for the last time and started preparing for the next shoot, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and could take a break and have a snack.

The weather was cold, so people naturally wanted something warm to drink. The RV’s windows were wide open, and the air was very refreshing. Bai Feifei was holding a bowl of spicy hot pot that was only numbing and not very spicy. She was eating with a wobbly head, so happy that she was almost flying.

The production crew’s camera was filming her eating. A staff member next to her and Bai Xue, who was supervising most of the time, said, “Feifei looks so…”

He suddenly couldn’t think of a word to describe it. Bai Xue, however, smiled and said, “She makes you want to eat.”

The speaker had no intention, but the chief director on the side thought of something and said with a smile, “We could open a separate mini-series for Feifei’s eating scenes. The staff who are editing the clips even use her videos as a food broadcast variety show.”

Bai Feifei didn’t take big bites, but every bite she took gave people the feeling that she was very happy to be eating delicious food. She didn’t have any bad eating habits. She would eat whatever she picked up and wasn’t picky at all. When she ate something she didn’t like, she would only say something after swallowing it. Her descriptions were also very unique—when she ate ginger, she would say that she was stabbed in the back by a food assassin. When she ate Sichuan peppercorns, she would say that a bunch of landmines exploded in her mouth.

Then she would be more careful the next time.

When Bai Xue heard someone praise Bai Feifei, it was as if she was hearing someone praise her own daughter. The smile on her face never faded.

She hadn’t been eating for long when the camera turned and suddenly saw Huo Wu get on the RV with a script in her hand. The staff didn’t leave and recorded everything as it happened—

At this moment, they finally realized what had seemed a little strange before.

Bai Feifei’s food was on the table, but it was arranged very neatly. She was sitting on one side, and the other side was completely empty, as if someone had already taken that spot and just hadn’t arrived yet.

Now, that person had arrived.

Huo Wu’s staff put her food down one by one and took out a large insulated mug from the side. It was filled with boiled barley water. She poured a cup for both Huo Wu and Bai Feifei.

Bai Xue coughed as if she had something in her throat and looked up at the ceiling of the RV.

But they hadn’t been eating for long when someone else came. It was Ling Xinghe.

When he got on, he took the initiative to say, “Sister, weren’t you going to have a private lesson with Feifei? Can I sit in for a bit? I’m a little unsure about the next scene.”

Huo Wu hummed and let him find a place to sit.

Bai Feifei was almost done eating. After she finished, she also picked up the script and started reading. Huo Wu pondered for a moment, looked at the time, and then pushed her food to the side and started talking about the scene with the two of them.

Li Ke heard about it and also came to join in the fun. But he didn’t say anything and didn’t refuse. In terms of understanding the entire script, Huo Wu actually understood it better than he did. He listened very carefully.

Li Mingming’s grades were excellent, and his family was also excellent. As an only child, he was never short on money. From the moment he started school, he had met leaders of all sizes. No one dared to discipline him, and no one dared to say anything harsh to him. Everyone was hypocritically complimenting and coaxing him, no matter what he did.

His parents’ marriage was for business. His mother might not have truly loved his father, but she couldn’t stand being betrayed and refused to have another son, which for her would have delayed a lot of her work. So in this marriage, Li Mingming once again became a bargaining chip.

“You are a person who has been abandoned since you were a child. That kind of inferiority is deeply engraved in your bones. No matter how good your grades are, you won’t get any recognition. No matter how superior you perform, you will only get a ‘what a shame’.”

Huo Wu looked at Ling Xinghe’s gradually fading expression. “You’ve been hiding this inferiority very well—at least in front of your peers.”

So Li Mingming was always extravagant. He would give thousands of dollars in cash to the lackeys who followed him. But he would pretend to be harmless, making it impossible for people to see through him. He also didn’t seek pleasure. When asked, he would say that he was preparing for a surgery he would have before adulthood and was getting his body healthy.

At the same time, he would generously share the “prey” he had already enjoyed with the thugs who followed him, who had no future and were addicted to pleasure because of him.

“You know you’re not long for this world and can’t be saved, but you choose to drag all innocent people down with you. You want to ruin their lives one by one. Whether you are hated or remembered, you want them to remember you.”

The director behind them let out a low hiss and quietly asked Li Ke, “Director Li, can we air this part?”

Li Ke’s face was filled with “of course not.” “If you air it, wouldn’t it be a spoiler?”

The director was also innocent. “But Teacher Huo didn’t tell us to leave!”

Their production crew was lucky to even be filming with Guanying, so they showed 10,000% cooperation. They would leave when told to and stay when told to. It was all negotiable where they couldn’t film. This was a matter of integrity, and it also concerned future collaborations. What’s more, no one was willing to offend anyone in this crew.

Li Ke was surprised. “Oh, right!”

The director was speechless. “Yeah!”

“Then you guys can continue filming,” Li Ke said. “We’ll worry about whether it can be aired later.”

The recording continued. This small interlude didn’t disturb the few people who were having their lesson over there.

Ling Xinghe seemed to be completely immersed in the character. His expression had been very gloomy. It seemed that his part wasn’t easy either, and it was even more difficult than Bai Feifei’s.

Bai Feifei felt a little emotional. She thought that when she was sad, Huo Wu would coax her and hug her. But when Ling Xinghe was sad… he could just stay sad. According to Li Ke, he would heal quickly in two weeks and wasn’t that fragile.

“But all the painstaking effort you’ve put into this was broken the moment Fusang heard it.”

But Huo Wu didn’t demonstrate how to act for Ling Xinghe like Li Ke did. Just like how she had never demonstrated for Bai Feifei.

Ling Xinghe left with a thoughtful expression. He even forgot to open his umbrella. His assistant was short and had to chase him for several steps to catch up. He didn’t mind. His body had already formed a conditioned reflex. He took the heavy umbrella and shielded his female assistant from the rain.

The photographer chased them and recorded everything as it was. After a moment, he said, “The Ling family’s upbringing is really good.”

There were too many popular celebrities in the industry who didn’t treat their assistants and staff like people. Now, on a rainy day, if it were the person who had just gotten into trouble recently, they would have kicked their female assistant away the moment they got wet, snatched the other person’s umbrella, and left her all alone in the pouring rain.

But after observing for the past few days, neither Huo Wu nor Ling Xinghe, or even Ling Xingchen who had never been seen in front of the camera, had very few negative stories. At first, they might have thought it was because people were afraid to report them due to the Ling family’s power, but now it seemed that there was simply nothing to dig up.

A director who was familiar with Bai Feifei’s situation suddenly said in a low voice, “Didn’t Bai Feifei also have no bad stories to dig up a while ago? Some people are just clean and do the right thing.”

The filming for each episode was for one week. The broadcast time was divided into a regular version on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and an extra version that would occasionally appear on the platform.

At first, people had brought up the question of what to do if they filmed something that would really affect the ratings. Should they air it or not? But now, it seemed that the main people with a buzz around them… didn’t have any material that would cause bad ratings.

“The first episode will air next week,” the director suddenly felt a little hope. He said in a nonsensical way, “Maybe after it airs, the audience will be able to say, ‘So the entertainment industry isn’t all that dirty after all’.”

Bai Feifei also watched Ling Xinghe’s figure disappear. She turned back and said with an expectant face, “What about me? What about me? What about me? I want to have a sudden enlightenment moment too!”

Li Ke sat down on the small fishing stool that Ling Xinghe had been sitting on. At her words, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Bai Feifei with a very dangerous expression.

Huo Wu’s eyebrows raised slightly. She exchanged an unexpected look with Li Ke and then quickly looked away, a smile in her eyes. She said slowly, “You…”

Bai Feifei waited eagerly.

Li Ke rolled up his sleeves and had a bad smile on his face like a creepy old man.

He rubbed his hands. He first cautiously glanced at Bai Xue. When he saw that she wasn’t about to take off her shoe and throw it at him, he laughed with a “heh heh heh.” “You, let me test you first.”