Huayu: This top star doesn't play by the rules.

Only then did the usually oblivious Meng Ziyi finally understand everything, and she exploded: "This is outrageous! It's only been a short time since filming started, and they're already trying to be indecent!"

"Did you refuse?" Chen Chao asked calmly, his brows furrowing slightly.

"I told him I had other plans for the afternoon and would cancel for now." Sitting down next to her best friend, Li Yitong said with a hint of helplessness, "But I still have to act in this scene with him during the actual filming, and I'm a little unsure of myself."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Chao made a suggestion, "In that case, I'll go over this scene with you this afternoon. You can go through it once and get a feel for it, so you'll be more confident when we actually film it."

Upon hearing Chen Chao's words, Li Yitong suddenly looked up at him, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, which was quickly replaced by gratitude: "Really? Thank you, Chen Chao."

After more than ten days of filming, Chen Chao's acting skills have been unanimously recognized by the crew. If you were to act opposite him, the effect would be much better than that of a certain Guo Jing.

"Why be so polite between friends?" Hearing a voice calling out to him from not far away, Chen Chao stood up, clapped his hands, and said with a smile, "Anyway, I don't have any scenes to film this afternoon, so I'm just killing time."

"I can help too, I can act..." After watching Chen Chao's figure disappear into the distance, Meng Ziyi seemed to have thought of something and quickly raised her hand, but she suddenly stopped halfway through her sentence.

Chen Xingxu, whose expression had returned to normal, added mercilessly, "You can play a paddle or a tree."

Faced with Chen Xingxu's sharp tongue, Meng Ziyi glared at him in dissatisfaction, but did not refute him. After all, what he said was true, and there was really nothing she could do in this situation.

—————————————————————————————

Time flew by and it was afternoon. In the spare training room on set, Li Yitong, who had changed into casual clothes, stood in the middle of the area, looking at the script and adjusting her state of mind.

Chen Chao sat on the cushion opposite her, holding the script he had gotten from Director Jiang, frowning in deep thought, his mind quickly reviewing the audition they had just had.

"I feel you could have slowed down your turn a little," Chen Chao said after a moment. "Huang Rong was actually testing the waters with a touch of girlish innocence, trying to see if Guo Jing cared about her. If you had moved too quickly, you wouldn't have captured that 'I'm flirting with you, but I'm pretending it's not intentional' feeling."

After listening to Chen Chao's explanation, Li Yitong tried the movements again in front of the full-length mirror as he suggested, and felt that she was indeed better than before.

In the corner, Meng Ziyi and Chen Xingxu sat side by side, each holding a snack specially provided by Meng Ziyi, quietly serving as the audience.

"Chen Chao is amazing." After swallowing the potato chips in her mouth, Meng Ziyi couldn't help but mutter to herself, "He's only filmed a few scenes himself, and he's already able to guide and lead others."

Nodding slightly, Chen Xingxu spoke calmly yet with an inexplicable certainty about his good brother: "Director Jiang said that he was born to do this job, and his way of reading scripts is different from most people. He doesn't just read his own character's scripts; he also reads other people's scripts."

After giving a half-understanding "oh," Meng Ziyi continued chewing on her potato chips, but her gaze never left the person, and a certain unknown emotion in her eyes could no longer be concealed.

On set, Li Yitong went through the scene again. Chen Chao stood up and walked to her side. After hesitating for a moment, he demonstrated a detailed movement for her—turning to the side, slowly turning her head, slightly raising the corners of her eyes, and having a faint smile on her lips. She had both Huang Rong's cleverness and the charming beauty of a young girl.

Although he felt a little awkward doing this action, since he had already promised Li Yitong to help, he naturally had to do his best. With this reason, he finally managed to convince himself to do the action.

"Why don't you give it a try?"

Following Chen Chao's demonstration, Li Yitong practiced the detailed movement in front of the full-length mirror, and her eyes immediately lit up: "This... definitely feels more natural."

"Yes, that's the angle. Under the camera's lens, your profile will stand out more, making it more striking than your front view," Chen Chao explained with a smile.

But after he finished speaking, he suddenly realized that what he had just said seemed to have gone a bit too far, so he quickly added, "I mean, from the perspective of character development."

Seeing his flustered attempt to salvage the situation, Li Yitong suddenly laughed, her eyes filled with an indescribable emotion: "How do you know so much?"

After a pause, seeing that Li Yitong didn't seem to care about what he had just said, Chen Chao relaxed and explained with a smile, "I read a lot of books and analyze a lot of films, so I naturally understood."

After hearing his answer, Li Yitong did not press him further, but instead steered the conversation back to rehearsing the scene and continued to discuss it with Chen Chao.

.........

After helping Li Yitong rehearse her lines, it was already evening. After having dinner, Chen Chao went back to his room, took a shower, and then lay in bed scrolling through his phone.

After opening the music platform he hadn't used in a while, he was somewhat surprised to find that his song "Exchange of Lives" had nearly a million plays.

The comments section was even more lively. In addition to comments like "hidden gem of a song" and "amazing newcomer," there were also long reviews similar to the last one, which he couldn't keep up with.

Besides, many people came to listen to his song because of recommendations from music bloggers. All things considered, he has now made a bit of a splash in the music industry.

Before Chen Chao could even properly express his feelings, his phone suddenly vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Meng Ziyi: "Don't stay up too late tonight! You have a scene to film early tomorrow morning."

The message was followed by three cute emojis.

Chen Chao's worries were interrupted by Meng Ziyi's message. He smiled and shook his head, then replied, "Okay, goodnight." He plugged his phone into the charger, pulled the covers over himself, and closed his eyes to rest.

He was indeed a bit tired today. He filmed all morning and then spent the afternoon acting with Li Yitong. It was a tiring and mentally taxing day, so he soon drifted off to sleep.