The studio is quite spacious, with a floor-to-ceiling window facing the door, providing excellent lighting. In the middle was a tall, vertical zigzag bookshelf, with not many books on it, almost reaching the ceiling.

The overall decor was in light colors.

The floor was made of diagonally woven light brown oak, and there were a few wooden-framed stills randomly hung on the white walls.

In the corner by the window was a small round oak table with six chairs.

There were three people inside:

Song Baiwei, Jiang Cha, and an assistant who was busy tidying up the tea set on the small round table.

It was unclear how long the three of them had been together in this room.

Ji Fan’s gaze lightly swept over Jiang Cha.

Jiang Cha was sitting on a warm white fabric sofa against the wall, her eyes lowered, her side profile distant and calm, not even giving her a glance.

Instead, she was flipping through a book.

“Take this book home and read it more,” Song Baiwei stood up from her desk and softly instructed, “It will deepen your understanding of the film.”

Jiang Cha, whose expression had been cold just a moment ago, now lowered her eyes slightly, revealing a soft and gentle smile. “Thank you, Director Song.”

“Ms. Ji, please sit here.”

The assistant led her to the small round table and poured her a cup of tea.

Song Baiwei sent the assistant away, asking her to serve tea and water to Ji Fan, and then asked Ji Fan if she wanted any fruit or snacks, acting very polite. Song Baiwei herself, however, didn’t seem to mind at all, sitting next to Jiang Cha, leaning her head slightly, and chatting with her softly.

“I heard you injured your right arm,” Song Baiwei asked softly, “Does it still hurt? Will it affect the start of filming next week?”

Jiang Cha quickly shook her head, “It’s okay, it’s healed long ago.”

When Jiang Cha gently lowered her slender neck, strands of soft black hair fell over her side face, revealing only the clean outline from her forehead to her nose, lips, and the tip of her chin. It was clean, neat, and beautiful.

As if sensing that Song Baiwei was looking at her, Jiang Cha turned her head and met Song Baiwei’s bright eyes.

After a quiet moment, they smiled at each other.

Ji Fan sat there alone, her long eyelashes lowered.

Gloomy and silent.

Her eyes were as cold as her earrings.

Song Baiwei turned her head and looked at her.

Ji Fan was wearing a khaki long coat with a large lapel and dark blue jeans, her long legs crossed neatly. Her long curly hair was tied up, revealing her white and smooth forehead, and a square white diamond silver earring was pinned to her white and translucent earlobe, giving her a sharp yet sharp temperament.

Song Baiwei smiled lightly, “Why didn’t Ms. Ji come with Jiang Cha?”

After all, they were newlyweds, shouldn’t they be together when they go out?

This is suspicious.

Jiang Cha’s gaze paused on Ji Fan for a moment before looking away.

“She…” Ji Fan glanced sideways at Jiang Cha.

Jiang Cha lowered her eyes, her thoughts unreadable.

“She’s been at odds with me recently.”

Ji Fan’s slender white hand clasped Jiang Cha’s small, soft hand.

The touch was warm and soft.

Ji Fan was slightly dazed.

Jiang Cha immediately and ruthlessly pulled away.

Her expression remained distant and cold.

She propped up her cheek with her index finger, the corner of her lips curled up, turning to look at Jiang Cha and then at Song Baiwei.

She chuckled lightly.

“She has quite a temper.”

Ji Fan turned her eyes away, her long eyelashes drooping, her expression darkening.

Song Baiwei simply smiled and said nothing.

As soon as a pot of hot tea was finished, and before the bamboo leaf green tea had cooled, the assistant director and producer arrived.

“Where’s Luo Yan?” the assistant director looked around as soon as he entered, frowning, “Why is she always the last one?”

“We’re just too early,” Song Baiwei said.

As soon as she finished speaking, a graceful figure appeared at the door.

Luo Yan was wearing a light gold off-the-shoulder dress with sequins sewn onto the shoulder straps. She was beautiful and poised. Her outfit was so eye-catching that Jiang Cha seemed too plain and simple in comparison.

She stood at the door, swaying slightly, with a confident smile on her lips, a smile that seemed mocking and at the same time carried a hint of condescending pity.

Ji Fan lifted her long, drooping eyelashes and glanced over.

She also paid attention to Jiang Cha.

She thought to herself, ‘I’m looking at Luo Yan, will she be jealous?’

Jiang Cha lowered her eyes.

The cold white bridge of her nose, slightly protruding from her side profile, her expression was indifferent.

No discernible emotion could be seen.

Ji Fan lowered her eyes.

Her white fingers curled up.

Her expression was dark.

“Everyone’s here, alright. Let’s not waste any more time, let’s start.”

Song Baiwei handed each of them a few printed pages of the script.

In the film, Yu Lan and Yu Ye were not originally spies.

Initially, only the elder sister, Yu Lan, became a communist spy. At first, the younger sister was completely in the dark and had no idea that her sister was a spy, putting herself and her family in constant danger.

By chance, a crucial piece of information was leaked, leading the villains to their doorstep, and everyone in the family was killed.

In the novel, this part was told through flashbacks and was not at the beginning of the story, but was inserted as a flashback at the end after everything was revealed.

“This part is about the younger sister, Yu Ye, returning home from a dance party and finding a pile of corpses, and then confronting her elder sister, Yu Lan,” Song Baiwei said. “Let’s assign the roles.”

Apart from the dead bodies on the ground, there were three characters in this scene: a servant who had hidden in a corner and survived, the elder sister Yu Lan, and the younger sister Yu Ye.

Luo Yan held the script, glanced at it quite casually, and said, “Am I going to act with Xiao Jiang?”

“Yes. You play the elder sister, and she plays the younger sister. Let’s all vote.”

There was one more character without an actor.

Song Baiwei thought for a moment, “The assistant director will play the servant.”

The elder sister was the first to enter the courtyard after everyone in the family died.

Luo Yan looked at the pile of corpses, as if she had been struck by a thunderbolt, her eyes widened, and she stared blankly and incredulously at the ground.

After a long while, she slowly squatted down, tremblingly raised her right hand, and touched the ground lightly with a complex expression of fear, guilt, and disbelief.

She was touching her mother.

Her eyes were bloodshot and gradually moistened.

Tears welled up in her eyes instantly.

She suddenly hugged the pillow on the floor tightly, buried her chin in it, and tears flowed down her face.

“Miss…”

The servant who had been hiding and escaping stumbled out.

Her eyes were red, and she turned to look.

Then, she stood up tiredly and sadly, and the atmosphere around her instantly froze.

“What happened?” Her voice was hoarse, with a trembling fragility.

The assistant director forgot his lines because of her performance. Luo Yan got into the role too quickly!

“Miss… they’re all dead…”

Although he had a little acting experience, he couldn’t keep up with Luo Yan’s performance.

Actors sometimes have a certain aura, and when their acting explodes, that aura is particularly powerful.

When Luo Yan acted, her aura was extremely powerful.

Next, it was the turn of Jiang Cha, who played the younger sister, to appear.

In the script, she had just come down from a car after attending a dinner party.

“Sister!”

Jiang Cha showed a sweet smile, but before her red lips could fully bloom, she suddenly stopped.

She saw the pool of blood on the ground.

In an instant, her face turned pale, the blood rapidly faded from her cheeks, and even her lips turned ashen.

She stared blankly at the pile of corpses.

“What happened?”

Jiang Cha’s fingers trembled wildly.

Luo Yan lowered her eyes and then slowly raised her head, “They’re all dead.”

“Dead?”

Jiang Cha stared fixedly at Luo Yan, “How could this be?”

She frowned, covered her face, and slowly squatted down, crying silently, suppressing her voice. Just when everyone thought she would continue crying, Jiang Cha suddenly stood up and yelled loudly, her voice hoarse:

“How could they be dead?! Huh?”

Everyone was stunned by this sudden outburst.

This was not in the script.

It was completely Jiang Cha’s own improvisation.

Yet, in that moment, it was so fluid and natural. A once sweet and gentle girl, with this sudden outburst, the strong contrast made the atmosphere of grief even more effective than the simple crying scene arranged in the script.

At this moment, Luo Yan was immersed in the grief of losing her loved ones on the one hand, but on the other hand, she kept in mind that her identity as a spy could not be revealed to anyone.

Her expression was a tangle of rationality and emotion. The moment emotional feelings overcame rational cognition was the moment she would be exposed.

The following scene was a confrontation between the two.

Jiang Cha actually completely picked up on Luo Yan’s acting, and her expression was not significantly off. In terms of aura, she was not inferior to her at all.

As if that shout had instantly brought her into the emotion, making her subsequent performance extremely fluid and natural.

Ji Fan had never seen Jiang Cha perform like this.

She stared at Jiang Cha without blinking.

Very focused, very dazzling.

Very charming.

She was definitely going to vote for Jiang Cha.

But the fact that Jiang Cha had been indifferent and cold to her earlier made her feel uncomfortable.

She wanted her to show some other expression.

Who should she vote for this time?

Everyone had their own considerations.

Luo Yan performed very steadily. The producer had worked with her many times and knew that her strengths were her stable acting skills and solid foundation.

But Jiang Cha’s performance this time was completely unexpected, it could even be said to be stunning.

But, Jiang Cha could only do this once.

Could she maintain this performance once she joined the crew?

That was hard to say.

The producer said, “I vote for Luo Yan.”

One vote for Luo Yan. Zero votes for Jiang Cha.

The assistant director on the other side thought the same way, but with an additional layer: they had worked together many times and were considered old partners. Under similar circumstances, it was impossible for him to vote for a completely unfamiliar traffic flower.

“I vote for Luo Yan too.”

Luo Yan seemed unsurprised, there was no expression on her face, just the usual slightly curved corners of her lips, revealing a friendly and indifferent smile.

Two votes for Luo Yan. Zero votes for Jiang Cha.

Ji Fan kept glancing at Jiang Cha.

“I vote for Luo Yan.”

She said softly.

At that moment, the mask of indifference on Jiang Cha’s face seemed to crack, revealing a glimpse of something underneath.

She suddenly lowered her eyes, and her chest heaved for a moment.

Was she jealous?

But it seemed more like something else.

Pain, embarrassment, vulnerability.

Like a glass doll that had been shattered into pieces in an instant.

Ji Fan’s heart ached.

“No, let’s go with Jiang Cha,” Ji Fan looked up, “After thinking about it, Jiang Cha is better.”

Jiang Cha lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering, but she still didn’t look at Ji Fan.

Song Baiwei smiled, “I’ll vote for Jiang Cha too.”

The smile on Luo Yan’s lips froze.

Two to two.

A tie.

She had tied with a non-professional, a traffic flower who was known for her poor acting skills?

Ji Fan, she actually chose her?

The smile on her lips paused briefly, and then she raised a bigger smile.

“Congratulations,” Luo Yan smiled, “Since it’s a tie, then I believe Xiao Jiang has the ability to play this role well. There’s no need to change.”

The producer smiled.

It doesn’t matter if they don’t change. It wasn’t a big deal anyway.

He liked Luo Yan’s understanding and sensible nature. It also saved everyone the trouble of redistributing the roles and wasting time and energy.

Ji Fan suddenly grabbed Jiang Cha’s hand, “Let’s go.”

The touch of her palm was slightly warm, soft, and very nice to hold.

“Okay.”

The rest of the people dispersed.

The assistant director and Song Baiwei stayed in the office, drinking tea, and chatting with her casually.

“Jiang Cha actually has more artistic talent than Luo Yan.”

“Oh?” The assistant director had never heard such a statement before and asked with interest, “Why?”

“Her emotions are more delicate and sensitive than Luo Yan’s. She feels things more deeply and has a richer emotional world.”

“I understand what you mean,” he laughed, “You mean she’s more sentimental.”

“Yes,” Song Baiwei smiled, “After all, for some things, you have to feel them, to feel them many times more deeply than others, in order to express something that others cannot.”

“That moment just now was really extraordinary,” he narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully. “It was as if she had experienced something, and after substituting a certain emotion from the past, she erupted in this way.”

Song Baiwei lowered her eyes.

She thought of the slight redness and moisture in Jiang Cha’s eyes at the wedding that day.

What had she experienced?

••••

On the other side.

Jiang Cha and Ji Fan went out the door and walked side by side in the slightly dim corridor of the office building.

Ji Fan’s slender fingers held Jiang Cha’s small hand, pulling her forward. They were not close to each other, and there was a sense of awkwardness between them.

Then, when they were a distance away from the studio, Jiang Cha suddenly shook off her hand, decisively and unavoidably.

Ji Fan stopped in her tracks, standing there helplessly.

Luo Yan leaned lightly against the wall of the corridor, watching Jiang Cha’s back.

The corners of her lips curled up slightly, a meaningful smile.

Heh.

She underestimated her.

---

T/N: Sigh… I don’t know how to defend you, Ji Fan! WTF is wrong with your brain? Make her jealous? Ah?! Don’t you know you’re hurting her?! At least respect her! Hurting and using her as a substitute isn’t enough??!!! You still want to make her suffer??… I hope she won’t forgive you for a lifetime! You deserve to chase her for a lifetime to atone for your stupid sins!! (I’m so angry.mp3)