Chapter Sixteen: Childhood Sweethearts, Destined to Be Siblings

Lin Xing was indeed a little taken aback.

By all rights, Li Jingjing should have delivered her line: “Brother, I’m fine. You misunderstood; this is my colleague.” Yet instead, she rattled off a string of numbers: “1, 123, 1234, 12345.” He had truly encountered one of those “number girls.”

“Cut!” Qiu Ke called out at that moment.

Lin Xing hurried to say, “Sorry, Director, my mistake.”

“Mr. Lin, it’s actually the makeup—too heavy, nothing to do with you,” Qiu Ke replied quickly. “Makeup team, please touch up the makeup for our actors.”

“Jingjing, have some water.”

Li Jingjing didn’t even glance at Lin Xing. She settled onto the chair prepared by her assistant, who handed her a bottle of water, and another person brought over a small electric fan. The service was impeccable.

“Mr. Lin, it’s my fault for not explaining,” Xiao Fan rushed over during Lin Xing’s break. “Ms. Li’s role requires post-production dubbing, so she uses numbers as placeholders for her lines to make it easier for the voiceover.”

Lin Xing nodded lightly. “Alright, I understand.”

The next scene took fifteen minutes to film; it was done. The crew didn’t wrap for the day, but Lin Xing and Li Jingjing were finished. The rest of the crew continued filming other scenes, and Li Jingjing left in the RV prepared for her.

“Mr. Lin, thank you for your hard work today. We’ll need to pick up the pace from now on…” Qiu Ke specially came over to greet Lin Xing.

“Director Qiu, it’s my duty. By the way, could I get the full script for this drama?” Lin Xing asked. “I’d like to better understand the character Du Fei.”

“Ah?” Qiu Ke was surprised, then turned to Fan Fei. “Xiao Fan, please give Mr. Lin a complete script.”

Fan Fei quickly responded, “Of course, I’ll get it right away.”

Back at the hotel, Lin Xing received a call from Sister Dao. After hearing what had happened, she laughed. “That’s normal. Li Jingjing isn’t classically trained, and now she’s got so many resources—why would she bother memorizing her lines?”

“I know. I just didn’t expect to encounter a ‘number girl’ like this,” Lin Xing said with a smile. “Still, to recite numbers in such a high-profile drama is impressive.”

“What’s the difference? The fans will hype her up anyway. Plus, the dubbing will help her performance, and they’ll go on about how talented she is. Besides, audiences hardly ever recognize voice actors as real performers…”

Sister Dao was unconcerned. “It’s like those old Hong Kong films—almost all were dubbed in Mandarin.”

That was true. Except for a handful of well-known voice actors, most of the credit went to the actors, who benefited greatly from the dubbing.

If you can get praise from dubbing, why expend extra effort?

After hanging up, Lin Xing turned his attention to the script in his hands.

It was clear from the script that the domineering CEO Lin Xing played was essentially a prop, meant to highlight the steadfast love between the male and female leads.

Just like the early idol dramas, the heroine ignores the perfect second male lead and loves only the flawed, temperamental main lead. Love, with its trials and tribulations.

This drama was just an idol romance in professional garb.

As for himself—a lovesick, clever, wealthy, and repressed CEO, a loyal puppy to the heroine, disdainful to all others, a mere tool.

Tangled, repressed.

Lin Xing studied the scenes involving Du Fei, especially his family background. His mother’s extreme controlling nature made him want to break free but unable to do so. He wasn’t a mama’s boy, but couldn’t let go of maternal love.

He was destined for unhappiness.

His mother had micromanaged him since childhood—her control was so extreme, he couldn’t even speak at the dinner table.

At first, Lin Xing didn’t fully comprehend the character, not until he read the entire script did it make sense.

Du Fei and Du Wei were both under their mother’s strict control. Du Wei loved painting and rock climbing, but her mother deemed them useless, and disliked even her being a lawyer.

No wonder.

Rather than Du Fei being Du Wei’s ray of light, it was Du Wei who illuminated Du Fei’s world. Two poor souls, manipulated by their mother, who had no recourse but to find comfort in each other.

This was love!

Childhood friends!

They were originally well-matched.

But childhood friends finally became siblings.

Lin Xing spent the whole night skimming the script, though he couldn’t finish it all—he needed to maintain his health, after all.

The next morning, Lin Xing woke up at six. He had breakfast with Xiao Nan, and then the crew picked him up for filming.

Having familiarized himself the previous night, today he entered the set without any preamble.

Filming began straight away.

After three dedicated days of shooting, Lin Xing worked diligently. Last night a scene took three hours and needed careful refinement, but Lin Xing never complained.

To Lin Xing, any job must be done seriously.

As a celebrity, you can’t enjoy the perks and then moan about how hard the work is. If you don’t like it, you can always quit—no one’s forcing you.

Today was a joint shoot for Group A and Group B.

For three days, Lin Xing hadn’t seen Chu Chen at all; he’d only filmed scenes related to the Du family or the company, as Du Fei was the domineering CEO, and those scenes were necessary.

Today marked Lin Xing and Chu Chen’s first meeting on set.

A scene between the two.

Directed by Kong Yi.

Qiu Ke went to film elsewhere.

This scene was about Du Fei, played by Lin Xing, learning that his sister was dating Chu Chen, which enraged him. He confronted Chu Chen.

After all, Du Fei strongly disliked Chu Chen’s pilot character, so he mainly warned Chu Chen to stay away from his sister.

Ten minutes later, the scene was done.

“Alright, please change costumes for our actors and move to the next scene,” the assistant director announced.

In one day, all the scenes between Lin Xing and Chu Chen were completed, including those with Lin Xing, Chu Chen, and Li Jingjing together.

By evening, seven o’clock, the last scene was finished.

“Congratulations, wrap!”

Staff had already prepared flowers.

Indeed.

Lin Xing was originally scheduled for seven days of shooting, but thanks to smooth progress, he wrapped early.

“Thank you, thank you everyone.”

Cradling the bouquet, Lin Xing thanked the assembled crew.