Hear this life

Wen Tingli secretly made faces at Deng Tianxing in front of machine No. 3.

It was agreed that the crew of "Sands of Time" would give the studio to them at 3pm, but the lead actor Deng Tianxing kept having problems. Not only was he almost an hour late, but he also kept forgetting his lines after arriving, so that not a single scene has been filmed properly.

If this continues, she will definitely not be able to make it to the Sichuan restaurant on time for the appointment.

Wait, did Lu Shicheng really understand her nonsense? She hung up the phone in a hurry without even asking him if he was free.

She held her face in her hands in annoyance. The best way right now was to go to the Sichuan restaurant in person and explain to the boss. This way, Lu Shicheng wouldn't be able to see her later and wouldn't be confused.

But the Sichuan restaurant was some distance away from the studio, and it would take at least half an hour to go there and back. If the leading actress wasn't there when it was their turn to shoot, it would inevitably cause criticism.

What's more, she was wearing makeup. She looked down at herself and realized that if her makeup was ruined, she could fix it, but if her costume was ruined, it would be hard to fix.

In fact, today was not the official start of filming, but an in-studio rehearsal specially arranged for her by Huang Yuanshan. For this purpose, Huang Yuanshan had already instructed the crew members to cooperate with her.

"Filming a movie is different from performing a play on stage. Film is very expensive. Let's go through the process in the studio today so that we can make fewer mistakes when we start shooting officially." Huang Yuanshan said to Wen Tingli.

How could she have the nerve to sneak out for her own private matters when others were worried about her? She would feel uneasy even if she just sneaked out for half an hour.

What’s even more annoying is that it wasn’t just Deng Tianxing who had frequent problems. When the crew of Sands of Time heard that the next scene was to be vacated for a newcomer like Wen Tingli to audition, they also seemed to be slacking off. The scene that could have been finished by two or three o’clock was filmed until after five o’clock.

As soon as the venue was vacant, the assistant director immediately called Wen Tingli over, but at this time, Guan Lin, the big director of "The Nightingale", came over with his team, saying that they wanted to reshoot a shot that was not shot in the morning.

The assistant director pulled Wen Tingli to apologize to Guan Lin with a smile: "Director Guan, can we discuss this? Our Miss Wen has been waiting for a whole day——"

Before he could finish his words, Guan Lin had them driven aside.

Wen Tingli has seen a lot of things like this recently, and she knows that a newcomer like herself has no say in the studio. But the situation is different today, and in desperation she starts asking people around her for the phone number of the Sichuan restaurant. Quite a few people have eaten there, but no one has left the restaurant's number.

Suddenly, she saw a senior named Yin Ming passing by with a makeup box. Wen Tingli had an idea and hurried forward: "Sister Yin."

As expected, Yin Ming was planning to return to the company and happened to pass by the restaurant on the way. Wen Tingli wrote a note and asked Yin Ming to pass it to the restaurant owner.

Director Guan filmed until seven o'clock. If the note had not been sent in advance, Wen Tingli would have been anxious. Now at least she knew that even if Lu Shicheng really came, he would leave early after seeing the note, so it didn't matter if she was late.

I heard Guan Lin cursing over there.

"Where are the tears? Where is the pain? Why are you howling without even a red eye? You are now a father who lost his child, not a drug addict!"

Wen Tingli's scalp went numb after hearing what she heard. She stood up and wanted to go out for some fresh air, but as she moved she found her legs were a little weak. According to the original plan, their group would finish filming at six o'clock at the latest. In order to save money on a meal, the assistant director did not order any food. Now, hearing everyone shouting that they were hungry, he hurriedly asked people to go out to buy a midnight snack. Wen Tingli estimated that they would have to wait another hour before they could eat.

She was so hungry that she said to the assistant director, "I'm going to the dressing room to drink some water."

When she arrived at the dressing room, she saw that the actors from another crew were putting on makeup in order to catch up with the show. There was no place to sit in the room, so Wen Tingli hurriedly backed out.

Fortunately, there was a stairwell next to the dressing room, which was used to store the crew's miscellaneous items. There were now a few fake maple trees piled on it, and the steps below were quite spacious. Wen Tingli was already dizzy with hunger, so she sat down in front of the fake trees, took out the cookies hidden in her schoolbag, and ate them while reading the script.

This place is not very hidden, so if the assistant director comes to the back to look for her, he won’t have to worry about not being able to see her at a glance.

While eating, Wen Tingli couldn't help but think of Lu Shicheng.

If he had really come, tonight would have been their first official date. The food in the Sichuan restaurant was delicious, and the date time was neither early nor late. Everything would have been perfect - but who knew so many problems would arise at the last minute. He must have gone home by now, Wen Tingli thought dejectedly.

Suddenly someone walked towards him.

"Is it our turn?" Wen Tingli lowered her head and put the food into her schoolbag. "I'll be right there."

However, when he looked up, the person in front of him was not the assistant director, but another familiar face.

Wen Tingli stared blankly at the man in front of her. He had a jade-like complexion, clear eyes and eyebrows, and was wearing an extremely well-tailored suit with a vest of the same color underneath. He had a tie at his collar and a pair of unique cufflinks on his cuffs that glowed in a dim light.

This outfit was surprisingly exquisite and solemn, but as soon as he came over, he half-knelt in front of her without any care.

He even had a box in his hands.

"Why are you here?!" Wen Tingli looked surprised.

Lu Shicheng looked at the small corner where she was curled up, then at the handkerchief beside her, and finally returned his gaze to her face, just staring at her silently.

Under the light, his eyes looked a little strange.

Wen Tingli was a little embarrassed. How could he see her in such an embarrassing situation? She hurriedly put away the biscuits and hurriedly raised her hand to fix her hair. While fixing it, she whispered to him, "When did you come?"

Lu Shicheng bent down without saying a word, wrapped the handkerchief for her and handed it to her. He then pointed to the seat next to him and motioned for Wen Tingli to move aside.

Wen Tingli smiled and said, "This place is very small." Although she said that, she immediately moved to the side, but Lu Shicheng just put the box in his hand next to her, but did not sit over.

He helped her open the lid of the box, and inside were three boxes of vegetables and a box of rice. The dishes looked exactly like the signature dishes of that Sichuan restaurant.

Wen Tingli stared blankly. Lu Shicheng placed the dishes in front of her one by one, and pointed at Wen Tingli's school bag. Wen Tingli still had a blank look on her face, but habitually took out her notepad and gave it to him.

[I thought you hadn't eaten yet, so I came to check on you. ]

There was a bright and quiet light in Wen Tingli's eyes, and she just looked at him silently.

[Is it enough to eat? ] Lu Shicheng asked again.

Wen Tingli chuckled: "How can there not be enough food with so much food? I'm not a glutton..."

Lu Shicheng couldn't laugh, he looked at the script in her hand which she was reluctant to put down even when she went to sleep. The thick stack of papers had been wrinkled by her.

Then she looked up at the huge pile of clutter behind her, and a few tall fake trees made her look particularly small.

Looking at the time on her watch, she realized that she had been so busy that she hadn't even had time to eat a hot meal.

After a slight hesitation, he reached out and touched the top of her head.

Wen Tingli's heart was beating like a drum, and she half-closed her eyes and let him touch her.

However, Lu Shicheng withdrew his hand after just a touch. When she looked again, she saw that he was holding a fake maple leaf. She could tell at a glance that it was accidentally stuck from the fake tree when she sat down just now.

Wen Tingli couldn't help but blush, and refused to look at him anymore. She picked up a box of steaming rice. She was used to eating cold food, so the hot steam from the rice was particularly tempting.

"It smells so good." She took a deep breath sweetly.

Lu Shicheng looked at her and smiled, then stood up.

"Are you leaving now?" Wen Tingli was surprised. "Wait a moment."

She put down her lunch box and turned around to search in her school bag. "I passed by the Grandview Cinema when I was on my way to do some work this morning. There was a new movie that looked pretty good. And since I have nothing to do tomorrow, Sunday, I bought two tickets for tomorrow."

"Do you want to go see it together?" Lu Shicheng opened his palm towards her without any hesitation.

Wen Tingli pursed her lips and smiled. She was afraid that Xiao Taozi would rummage through her bag after she got home, so she hid the tickets in the innermost layer of her purse. The light in the stairwell was not bright enough at the moment, so she could only look for them based on her intuition. After finally finding them, she actually took out a few business cards, two of which happened to fall at Lu Shicheng's feet.

He leaned over to help her pick it up, and suddenly paused.

Wen Tingli had already found the two tickets and inadvertently followed Lu Shicheng's line of sight.
Although the light was not very clear, one could see at a glance the three words "Meng Qiguang" printed in gold.

Her spine felt numb.

This was the business card that Meng Qiguang left when he came to pay his respects to his father. Afterwards, she never thought of asking Meng Qiguang for help, so she didn't take this business card to heart. In addition, a series of events happened later, and she had long forgotten that there was this business card in her wallet.

Lu Shicheng's gaze only paused for a moment on the three words "Meng Qiguang", and then he naturally returned the business card to Wen Tingli.

Wen Tingli clearly had a clear conscience, but at this moment she was suspiciously silent. You know, there was only this man's business card in her pile of business cards.

"I--" After thinking for a while, she said frankly.

Suddenly, someone on the other end of the line came over laughing, "Why did Master Lu just show up and then leave? I didn't even have time to get to know him. Oh, this guy is usually hard to find, why did he come to the stage today?"

"Of course it's for that little girl named Wen. Didn't you hear Deng Tianxing say that this Miss Wen is very capable? Not long ago, her boyfriend was the famous Meng Qiguang."

"Meng Qiguang? How did Tianxing know?"

"Tian Xing and Meng Qiguang are somewhat related. When he first joined the company to make a movie, it was Meng Qiguang who recommended him to Director Huang. He said that one night two months ago, he saw Mr. Meng talking to Miss Wen near Fengyunli. Just think about it, if they were not a couple, how could they stay together so late? Not long after, Miss Wen joined the company and played the leading role right away. Tian Xing thought that Miss Wen was also recommended by Mr. Meng, and asked her to say hello to Mr. Meng several times. This Miss Wen just pretended to be confused and turned around to hook up with Mr. Lu. A woman like her will just hook up with whichever man is more capable."

"No wonder Tianxing has always looked down on Miss Wen. He must have been wasting time on purpose today. Mr. Lu doesn't know about these things, so he must be——"

The two men's smirks stopped abruptly when they saw Lu Shicheng and Wen Tingli coming towards them.

Wen Tingli's glare was already as sharp as a knife, but the two men just stared at Lu Shicheng timidly. They had met Lu Shicheng several times before, but it was the first time they saw this Mr. Lu with such a cold look. The two men hurriedly changed their route and went to another corridor.

Someone else ran over and said, "Have you seen Wen Tingli? It's her turn to rehearse!"

The two dared not reply. The assistant director looked up and saw Wen Tingli and Lu Shicheng, and hurriedly shouted, "Tingli, come quickly."

***
Wen Tingli continued filming until after ten o'clock.

After finishing work, she was not in a hurry to leave, but went to the shower room behind the dressing room to take a shower.

She needs to calm down.

She asked herself if she had ever offended those people, and she didn't know where these people had such deep malice. Those filthy words were thrown on her head like basins of dirty water. The most annoying thing was that they couldn't be washed away like real dirty water.

No wonder Huang Yuanshan often says that the first barrier female stars have to overcome is rumors. "If you are beautiful, they will say you are a slut; if you are unmarried, they will say you are an abandoned woman who is unwanted by everyone; if you are strong, they will say you are a jinx. In short, as long as a woman works in society, there will inevitably be all kinds of messy rumors on her head, not to mention female stars, who have to endure countless times more rumors than others."

Wen Tingli still remembers how contemptuous, helpless and sarcastic Huang Yuanshan's tone was when he said this.

Humph, she sneered in her heart. The more they acted like this, the more she wanted to become famous in front of them!
On the other hand, she believed that Lu Shicheng would never take those nonsense words to heart, but she didn't believe that he had no doubts when he saw Meng Qiguang's business card in her wallet.

She came out with a lot on her mind. It was too late at night and there was no one on the roadside. She looked around tiredly, preparing to hail a rickshaw to go home.

Suddenly I saw a car parked under the shade of the tree.

After taking a closer look, he couldn't help but show joy.

Lu Shicheng drove straight to Wen Tingli's side.

"Why are you still waiting for me?" Wen Tingli looked into the window happily, "I thought you had left a long time ago."

Lu Shicheng met her sparkling eyes and got out of the car to help her open the door.

[It's too late, I'll take you home. ]

Wen Tingli hummed.

After sitting firmly, she turned her head to look at Lu Shicheng, not knowing what to say for a moment, so she remained silent.

But silence is also a kind of smiling silence.

The car drove forward for a while, and she had prepared what she wanted to say, and took the initiative to break the silence: "That business card was left by Meng Qiguang when he came to pay his respects to my father--"

Lu Shicheng was about to turn the steering wheel, but stopped when he heard this.

Wen Tingli rushed to say: "I know you won't ask about these things on your own initiative, but even if you don't ask me, I would have told you. At that time, Qiu Dapeng and the White Dragon Gang tried every means to slander me in the newspapers in order to make me lose the game, and Meng Qiguang came to find me..."

She told him everything about her acquaintance with Meng Qiguang.

During this period, the car drove across seven or eight roads.

Every time she passed a neon sign, the light and shadow would flash across the car window like a shooting star, short and bright. Wen Tingli's heart seemed to be completely illuminated by the light, and she kept talking and talking.

From Meng Qiguang, he talked about how he handled his father's funeral alone.

From the death of his father to how he was almost bullied by Qiu Lingyun.

As she spoke, she began to cry.

These words had been accumulating in her heart for too long. Since her mother passed away, she had not complained to anyone, not even Mrs. Zhou or her father.

She had long forgotten what it felt like to confide her grievances to others.

Every day she just works hard and responds positively to everything that happens.

But now, she desperately wanted to pour out all the grievances in her heart to him.

She guessed that Lu Shicheng would be confused by her. After all, she was always optimistic and lively in front of others. But she couldn't care less. She felt very bitter and sad.

She couldn't figure out when Lu Shicheng stopped the car.

She saw him leaning over and wiping her tears with the handkerchief she had given him. He wiped her tears lightly and tenderly.

He was so respectful and considerate of her, and his eyes were so distressed and tolerant.

Her heart suddenly felt even more bitter. She couldn't help but lean her head on his shoulder and sobbed. Her dripping tears soon wet her handkerchief.

(End of this chapter)