Chapter 20: Acting Skills Crush Xia Weiwei
"Cheng Tian, are you alright?" Mángguǒ's tone was tentative, devoid of its usual playfulness. This Mángguǒ made Cheng Tian feel a warmth in her heart.
"I'm fine, just thinking." Cheng Tian's voice was no longer as hoarse. She slowly drank some water and asked Mángguǒ, "Mángguǒ, I'm actually wondering, what does Xia Weiwei envy about me?"
"Cheng Tian, don't overthink it. She's just petty and can't stand to see others do well," Mángguǒ quickly comforted Cheng Tian, afraid she would be discouraged.
"I know. I think she's probably mad because I saw General Manager Ji reject her, which embarrassed her, so she's been trying to target me." Cheng Tian's nonchalant tone made Mángguǒ even more flustered.
"Cheng Tian, you?"
Cheng Tian smiled gently, but it sent a chill down Mángguǒ's spine. "Mángguǒ, I want to show Xia Weiwei what an actress is."
Mángguǒ was stunned by Cheng Tian's words. She thought Cheng Tian wanted to leak dirt on Xia Weiwei online and had almost tried to stop her at all costs.
Cheng Tian took out her phone and posted on Weibo, "I'm home. [Thanks.jpg]". She didn't @ anyone. With just this Weibo post, Cheng Tian knew it would make Xia Weiwei furious.
And that little production assistant would also be punished by Xia Weiwei. Thinking of this, Cheng Tian smiled faintly. It seemed she needed to adapt to this entertainment industry.
After returning home, Cheng Tian reread the script carefully. It was worn and tattered, filled with her notes. Coincidentally, Cheng Tian's scenes for the next day involved acting opposite Xia Weiwei.
Cheng Tian was full of confidence. "If others don't offend me, I won't offend them." Xia Weiwei, I'll ask for your guidance tomorrow. Cheng Tian had her own standards; she knew clearly what she could and couldn't do.
She wouldn't use her private power to harm others like Xia Weiwei. She would teach Xia Weiwei a lesson with her acting, letting her know what a true actress was.
The next day, Cheng Tian saw that Xia Weiwei indeed arrived looking pale. Her assistant by her side had also been replaced. Cheng Tian instantly understood.
People in the crew were chatting in small groups about Cheng Tian being trapped yesterday. Some said, "Cheng Tian has such good relationships; how could someone be so malicious to bully her?"
"Cheng Tian's only offense was against 'that person,' right? Tsk, I wouldn't believe it if you told me she had nothing to do with what happened yesterday." Xia Weiwei happened to walk by and heard these words, her lungs about to explode with anger.
"Are you slacking off here? Get back to work." Xia Weiwei's twisted expression startled a few crew members, who scrambled away in a hurry.
Faintly, Xia Weiwei also heard, "She's just angry because we hit the nail on the head." Enraged, Xia Weiwei smashed the coffee bought by her assistant onto the ground.
The coffee splashed everywhere. Xia Weiwei looked at the assistant with disgust, "Clean this up immediately, and then go buy me a juice, an 'Frozen' themed one."
The nearest 'Frozen' themed store was 10 kilometers away. Walking there and back would mean the juice would no longer be cold. The assistant felt a pang of bitterness but still went to work diligently. After all, Xia Weiwei's assistant salary was 8 times that of others.
After ordering the assistant around, Xia Weiwei's anger subsided a little. It was time for her scene, which was also an opposing scene with Cheng Tian. Xia Weiwei thought to herself that she would add a slap to Cheng Tian later.
Xia Weiwei's thoughts were beautiful, but she didn't anticipate that Cheng Tian's original plan was to crush Xia Weiwei with acting skills. Therefore, Xia Weiwei's scheme was destined to fail.
"ACTION!" As soon as Cheng Tian stepped in front of the camera, she transformed into someone else. Unlike her own pure image, her entire demeanor changed drastically, as if she were a radiant red rose.
So vibrant and alluring, it was intoxicating. Even Sheng Yan, off-camera, involuntarily swallowed. Cheng Tian leaned against a decorative couch, closing her eyes to rest, her languid posture like that of a cat.
Xia Weiwei pushed the door open. She was supposed to be a gentle, refined lady of a prominent family, but Xia Weiwei played her as a spoiled, petulant daughter. Looking at Cheng Tian on the couch, her eyes were filled with jealousy and malice.
Just as she was about to walk forward, she heard, "CUT! Xia Weiwei, pay attention to your eyes. The emotion is wrong."
Xia Weiwei paused, then went out to restart the take.
As soon as Xia Weiwei opened the door, Director Wu called out again, "CUT! The action of opening the door should be gentle and elegant. Xia Weiwei, Xu Qingyao is not a spoiled, petulant daughter."
Xia Weiwei became somewhat agitated and started again. It was another "CUT! Xia! Wei! Wei! Your eyes are wrong!" This time, Xia Weiwei walked up to Cheng Tian.
Xia Weiwei was furious. She felt that Director Wu must have discovered her intention to teach Cheng Tian a lesson and was deliberately protecting Cheng Tian. She didn't think her acting was bad; it must be Director Wu's fault.
Xia Weiwei stuck to her own ideas, acting without putting her heart into it. On the next take, as soon as Xia Weiwei opened the door, she was severely scolded by Director Wu.
"CUT! Xia Weiwei, what's going on? Can you act or not?" Director Wu was furious. What on earth was she acting out? Even an extra acted better than her, and she never listened to guidance, just acting erratically on her own.
Xia Weiwei stood frozen. "Director Wu, I didn't act wrong!" Director Wu became even angrier. If you can't act, you have the nerve to argue? Turning a refined lady into a villainous supporting character was too much.
It was bad enough that she couldn't act; she was also holding back Cheng Tian. You know, Cheng Tian's state was excellent just now. With Xia Weiwei messing things up like this, what if Cheng Tian couldn't find that feeling again?
Director Wu deeply regretted it. Why did she cast Xia Weiwei as Xu Qingyao? It would have been better to just cast some pretty face for her to act. Who knew Xia Weiwei would act so poorly.
Cheng Tian looked strangely at the situation. It seemed she had overestimated Xia Weiwei. She thought Xia Weiwei's acting was just a little bad, but she didn't expect Xia Weiwei to have virtually no acting skills.
What a waste of her half-night studying the script. Sigh! She couldn't even be bothered to deliberately suppress her anymore. She really didn't know how Xia Weiwei could act so poorly. But it was tough on her. If it kept getting cut and restarted, her own state would be affected!
Xia Weiwei dared not confront Director Wu while she was angry, so she lowered her stance and apologized, "I'm sorry, Director Wu. My state isn't good." Hearing this, Director Wu became even angrier.
"Your state isn't good? You left the earliest yesterday, and you didn't rest well all night. Cheng Tian was startled yesterday, went back to rest late at night, but I don't see her saying her state isn't good today."
Xia Weiwei felt wronged. Director Wu was too petty. In the crews she had been in before, no director would take so many takes. She was nowhere near as fierce as him.
"I'm sorry, Director Wu. Let's try again. I won't be like this anymore." Director Wu couldn't be bothered to look at Xia Weiwei and turned to look at Cheng Tian.