Over the next few days, filming continued steadily without any major incidents.
Zhang Tian'ai also successfully secured a small supporting role.
On the set of *Goodbye Mr. Loser*, shooting was underway:
"If anything happens to Xialuo, I won't want to live anymore! To be honest with you all, this child Xialuo has never had a father since he was little. The moment Xialuo was born, his father was nowhere to be found..."
"Auntie, I totally understand you! Our family is in the exact same situation. My dad's name is Ma Dong, and the moment I hit the ground, my dad was gone, so my name is Ma Dongmei!"
"You big lummow smoking by the bathroom, what class are you in? Get your ass down to the director's office right now!"
"It's all for the children. I'm sorry, Principal, please understand..."
"Just yesterday, Yuanhua won first prize in the district essay competition. The title of his essay was *My District Mayor Father*."
"Who the hell are you calling wife? Shameless bastard..."
"What a sin..."
...
Scene after scene changed, punctuated by continuous outtakes.
It was mostly because of this particular sequence:
Yuanhua slammed his fist against a tree and said, "I'm so frustrated! How does this look anything like a top student or an outstanding youth league cadre?"
Qiu Ya, standing beside him, said, "I never expected Xialuo would..."
Yuanhua threw another punch: "Don't mention him!"
Qiu Ya asked, "Your hand is bleeding?" and rushed to show her concern.
Yuanhua leaned in slowly, wanting to kiss Qiu Ya's hand, but she pulled away.
"I barely touched your hand and you..."
"He touched your *mouth*! No! No! No!"
A female teacher walked past: "Isn't this Yuanhua? What's wrong?"
"I don't know how to do this math problem, it's too hard..."
...
As the cast grew more familiar with one another, their chemistry improved, and the production pace picked up speed.
A week later, well over half of the movie had been filmed.
Su Yu estimated that in half a month at most, principal photography would wrap up.
Naturally, his relationship with Yang Mi was also developing by leaps and bounds. After all, proximity breeds affection.
At noon break that day, Su Yu took the initiative to seek out Zhang Tian'ai.
"Director Su, do you mean... you want to sign me?"
Su Yu checked the System and saw that Zhang Tian'ai's favorability rating toward him was at 60 percent. He smiled and nodded.
A flash of delight appeared in Zhang Tian'ai's eyes. She knew that for a newcomer like her—and an attractive one at that—landing opportunities usually meant taking off your clothes; that was the baseline admission ticket.
Now, a young, promising, handsome, and talented director whom she perceived as completely upright and righteous was offering to sign her of his own accord. It felt to her like a pie falling straight out of the sky.
Zhang Tian'ai desperately wanted to say yes on the spot, but reason told her she needed to think it through. She wasn't a child anymore; she wasn't naive enough to believe she was some sort of chosen one. You had to give something to get something—she understood that principle well enough.
So she said, "Director Su, can I think about it? I'll give you my answer tomorrow."
Su Yu nodded.
However, just as Zhang Tian'ai was about to leave, Su Yu called out to her, "Don't make me wait too long."
Su Yu's reasoning was simple: anyone who held favorable feelings toward him, whom he also liked, and who lacked a management agency, he would sign straight to Jiaxing. If they already had an agency, he would poach them to Jiaxing. Even though Jiaxing was still just an empty shell right now, in short, rich water shouldn't flow into outsiders' fields. He had no desire to watch people he cared about star in shows that made his skin crawl.
Zhang Tian'ai considered herself lucky to have crossed paths with a director like Su Yu. At the same time, though, she felt she'd had some bad luck over the past few days because this old hag kept bullying her.
Right after she came back from seeing Su Yu, that old hag who played Xialuo's mother started making trouble for her out of nowhere.
"Little girl, you have zero situational awareness. Can't you see the teacher is tired?"
"Little girl, I honestly have no idea what Su Yu sees in you."
"Little girl, go pour the teacher a cup of water."
Nearby, someone tried to smooth things over with a chuckle, "Alright, alright, she's just a young girl who doesn't know any better. A couple of words is enough."
"The teacher is just trying to teach the kid. Everyone starts out as a newcomer."
"Hey, don't go overboard. I heard she has connections after all..."
The old woman didn't care in the least.
"Back in our day, we all went through the exact same thing. I'm just teaching her some basic rules for surviving on a set! If I weren't looking out for her, I couldn't care less. Once she becomes a big star someday, she might even thank me!"
Actually, before bossing Zhang Tian'ai around, the old woman had already quietly checked out her background.
*Just some penniless little vixen who only knows how to seduce men!*
That was the old woman's verdict on Zhang Tian'ai. As for why she was giving her a hard time, it was easy to understand: pure jealousy. Sometimes, the malice women hold toward other women makes not a lick of sense.
At that moment, Zhang Tian'ai kept telling herself to just endure it, not to cause trouble for Su Yu.
She poured a cup of water for the old woman and brought it over. "Teacher, your water is ready!"
Without even looking, the old woman reached out her hand. Whether by accident or on purpose, she failed to catch it, and the water spilled all over the floor.
Instantly, an excited gleam lit up her eyes.
"You clumsy little wretch, you can't even pour the teacher a cup of water properly..."
"Did you do that on purpose? If you don't want to work here, just say so. The teacher can manage without troubling you..."
"Young people these days have zero manners..."
The more the old woman talked, the angrier she got, as if recalling some unbearable memories.
"Look at you! Aside from a face built for seducing men, what do you even have? You don't know the first thing about acting..."
"What are you staring at? Hurry up and pour me another cup!"
With her imperious demeanor, anyone unaware would have thought she was running the entire production.
Suddenly, she noticed the surrounding area had gone dead silent.
Across from her, Zhang Tian'ai was staring past her, tears suddenly streaming down her face.
She spun around and locked eyes with Su Yu's utterly grim expression.
Su Yu had anticipated that some veteran actors in the cast might throw their weight around without knowing their place, but he never expected anyone to target Zhang Tian'ai. After all, everyone on the crew had witnessed how Zhang Tian'ai had joined the cast and what his attitude toward her was; logically, nobody would dare pick a fight with her intentionally. If someone did, it meant they were either utterly fearless or completely brainless.
Clearly, this old woman was the latter.
And the only reason Su Yu had appeared here was because Shen Teng had tipped him off just moments before.
Right after Zhang Tian'ai had left, Su Yu was reviewing the afternoon shooting schedule. Just as he finished and was about to close his eyes for a quick nap, Shen Teng had hurried over.
"Director Su, that little girl named Zhang Tian'ai looks like she's in trouble!"