Chapter 34: Don't Get Cocky Too Soon, or You'll End Up Eating Humble Pie

The central plot revolves around the investigation into the truth behind a family’s massacre. The protagonist is the organization’s top-tier assassin who meets the male lead while on a mission. Unexpectedly, just as she believes she has finally avenged her parents, she discovers that the founder of the organization is the very culprit who made her an orphan.

In the end, although she achieves her revenge, the ending is tragic; the male lead dies in battle to save her, and the female lead, blinded, retreats to the mountains to spend the rest of her days in seclusion. Throughout the drama, the image of a naive, innocent, and cute young woman only appears in fragmented memories of the female lead.

Honestly, regardless of how the final product would turn out, Qi Fei loved the script from the moment she saw it. Her character is highly skilled, supported by brothers and sisters who would die for her, and throughout the drama, she uses her superior intellect to manipulate others, killing anyone who stands in her way—a true "slay-all-the-way" performance until the finale. Who wouldn't love such a satisfying, one-sided power fantasy?

When filming officially began, Qi Fei assumed scenes would be shot in chronological order. Once on set, however, she realized she had been naive; scenes were shot based on location, then rearranged through editing. During filming, whenever she wasn't on camera or was on a break, she would immediately head toward Gu Bing. Watching the two of them spar became an extracurricular activity for the crew. Now, whenever someone couldn't find Qi Fei, they knew exactly where to look.

Qi Fei handled the action sequences with ease, almost always nailing them in one take. Sometimes, when the director felt she made it look too easy, he would increase the difficulty on the fly, yet Qi Fei would follow his instructions without a single complaint. Money is hard to earn, and since she was working for someone else, she had to follow the director’s whims obediently.

Sometimes, the effect Qi Fei delivered was even better than what director Yao Kang had envisioned. Her eye acting, in particular, was exceptional. Even without any dramatic expression, the way she swept her gaze across a room was enough to make people feel genuinely afraid. What left the deepest impression on Yao Kang was a scene where Qi Fei stood covered in blood, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of her lips toward her enemies; honestly, Yao Kang had gotten goosebumps at that moment. As Qi Fei continued to surprise him, Yao Kang grew strangely confident, already fantasizing about the drama becoming a massive hit upon release.

To everyone else, Qi Fei seemed to handle everything with effortless grace, but only she knew she was constantly observing and learning on the fly—even her stage movements were improvised on the spot. As time passed and the whole crew praised her, Qi Fei started to get a bit cocky, thinking that acting wasn't so difficult after all.

The reality check came quickly. When it came time to film the romantic scenes, Director Yao Kang could only cover his face in despair. Qi Fei simply couldn't manifest that ambiguous, lingering gaze of a woman in love. Even more frustrating was the fact that when Qi Fei and the male lead stood together, her overwhelming aura completely eclipsed him; they looked nothing like a couple. Even with her goddess-like beauty, he couldn't feel any romantic chemistry between them. Qi Fei’s expressions and posture were always that of an older sister shielding a younger brother—how was he supposed to film a romance like that?

She could execute any action requirement 100%, but he never expected the romantic scenes to be such an absolute disaster. The contrast was staggering. The male lead, Yuan Wei, although not a famous actor, was a trained professional. While he lacked polish in other areas, he was quite comfortable with romantic scenes. Furthermore, his character was written as a cunning civil official, meaning he had very few action scenes. Despite his limited experience, he had managed to stumble through the rest of the shoot.

In fact, before the characters’ relationship developed, Qi Fei had handled the initial meetings quite well. When her identity shifted, the instantaneous change in her eyes would make Yao Kang slap his thigh in excitement. During horse-riding scenes, he could tell it was her first time, yet she mastered it within a short period; in just a day or two, she had the horse behaving as docilely as a kitten, making all her mounted scenes look impressive. Who would have thought that while difficult scenes were effortless for her, the simplest romantic scenes would become the biggest obstacle?

If he hadn't seen her previous work, he would have thought the online criticism of her acting was just malicious slander. But being stuck on the romantic scenes made Yao Kang truly understand the bitter taste of working with an actor who couldn't perform. No one expected that what was supposed to be an early wrap would get stuck on romance. For two consecutive days, filming had almost ground to a halt.

Yao Kang had been pulling his hair out for two days. He had even considered cutting the romantic subplot entirely—they couldn't go on like this. Although the industry always said Qi Fei’s acting was mediocre, surely it shouldn't be this unwatchable? He could only attribute the massive discrepancy to the fact that her action scenes had set his expectations too high.

At this point, not only was the director frustrated, but Qi Fei was also squatting on the ground, covering her face. She hadn't realized romance would be so hard. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket; it was the group chat, where others were teasing her: "Do you guys think Fei Fei is still being forced to retake the scene by the director?"

She was already feeling down, and seeing this message from Shi Lin made her even more depressed. "Shi Lin, can you not? I'm already in such a miserable state, and instead of comforting me, you’re gloating."

"You deserve to be a single dog."

Shi Lin: "..." How did this turn into a personal attack?

Su Xiang realized she was still stuck and didn't dare provoke her further, fearing she might make the young girl cry. Yao Kang walked over and squatted down next to Qi Fei.

Over time, Yao Kang had realized that Qi Fei had a straightforward, unpretentious personality, almost like a boy's. In all this time, he hadn't seen her get into a conflict with anyone on set. She was thoughtful and down-to-earth, quickly getting along with everyone. Plus, with the low number of retakes, everyone could finish early, so even with the two-day delay, no one had any major complaints, and many came over to comfort her.

Seeing the director, Qi Fei felt a bit guilty. She looked nothing like her usual radiant self—she was completely wilted. Seeing her like this, he couldn't bring himself to scold her. He realized she truly didn't know how to act out romance, rather than being unprofessional. If he didn't know she had just gone through a breakup with a jerk, he would have genuinely believed she had never been in a relationship.

Trying to lighten the mood with a smile, he joked, "Yuan Wei is pretty handsome, isn't he? Why do you look at him with such disdain?"

[He didn't know where that look—like she was watching a child—came from, especially since the male lead, Yuan Wei, was actually two years older than her.]

Seeing her still so dejected, he stopped joking. [She must be so deeply scarred by that jerk that she can't get into the romantic headspace at all.]

Qi Fei closed her eyes. To hell with being scarred; she had never been in any stupid relationship in her life.

Just then, Tian Wei, the second female lead, walked over. She had loved being around Qi Fei since the shoot began, and their scenes were often together. "Sister Fei Fei, try this: treat the other person like a giant pile of gold or walking cash. Who doesn't love money?"

She sheepishly added, "Our teacher said that as a joke, but I think it makes sense." After all, not everyone has been in love.

Who doesn't have stars in their eyes and a face full of adoration when they see money? Hearing this, Qi Fei sat up straight. What a great idea! Overjoyed, she grabbed Tian Wei’s face and planted a kiss on her cheek, making her blush bright red.

"Director Yao, let's try again!"

Seeing Qi Fei fully revitalized made Yao Kang happy, too. He hoped this method would work. Every day of delay meant more money, and he feared the budget wouldn't hold up. Before filming, he had only hoped for acceptable acting from Qi Fei, but she had given him such massive surprises that he had replaced all the "good enough" elements with the best jewelry, costumes, and props available. He had even added large-scale scenes he originally planned to cut to save money, which meant the number of extras had more than doubled—all of which cost a fortune.

Seeing Qi Fei back in full force, Yao Kang immediately called the assistant director to start preparations.