Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Chapter 270: Chapter 232: Rising Phase: 68

Xu Siyao’s heart was in a chokehold.

That night, if it wasn’t for the fact that she had drunk a little, she would not have walked into Li Ci’s room so easily.

She didn’t want to admit that she fell for Li Ci’s charms. That made her look foolish and naive. In reality, she was never the type of woman to be easily fooled by men. In school, all sorts of boys followed her around, their attentiveness was both flattering and troublesome. She knew that what she wanted was not a man, not love.

But things hadn’t been going well recently. The overwhelming insults and criticisms online had shattered her inner world, yet she still had to put on a brave face, avoiding showing any weakness to anyone.

A proud person can trudge through hardships alone, but can’t let others see her in a mess.

Drown sorrows with alcohol.

In the summer night, stepping out from the air-conditioned room, the heatwave hit her.

She bumped into Li Ci, and they somehow ended up in an embrace by a twist of fate. Xu Siyao never really thought about getting into anything serious with Li Ci. Of course, maybe subconsciously, she entertained such a thought. Just as she had always been towards Zhou Yun—wasn’t Zhou Yun in her position simply because of her relationship with Song Chi?

No matter what, no matter how, when Xu Siyao sobered up and found herself lying in the same bed as Li Ci, at that moment, it was as if her brain was pricked by a needle, and she instantly sobered up from nerves to limbs.

The story of that night needed to be turned over and locked away quickly.

The company would never allow her and Li Ci to date, and if the news that Li Ci had a girlfriend got out, letting his fans know, the company’s stock price would take a hit.

To prevent such a thing from happening, she would most likely be sacrificed.

Even He Yong couldn’t protect her. Above He Yong was the headquarters.

Yet, contrary to her wish, the affair was eventually discovered. Gossip in the production crew could find its way through the smallest cracks, and this time, Xu Siyao experienced it firsthand.

He Yong gave her a scolding.

He had never scolded her so directly before.

Xu Siyao’s face was deathly pale, but she took the scolding honestly, without a word of rebuttal.

”Keep your distance from him from now on, and never get close again,” He Yong said. ”If it happens once more, even I won’t be able to save you.”

Xu Siyao nodded, saying, ”It won’t happen a second time.”

She wasn’t the main point of He Yong’s talk, which lasted quite a while.

And she didn’t find out until evening that this time she hadn’t just ended up in Li Ci’s bed, she had also become the ”other woman.”

Xu Siyao had no knowledge of Li Ci’s private girlfriend, a fact that very few were aware of.

With this knowledge, Xu Siyao felt as if she was soaked by a frost from heart to body.

This was more frightening to her than He Yong’s warning.

Xu Siyao sat in her room with a ghastly pale face, staring blankly for a long time. Yuh Jiangxing knocked on the door several times, but she didn’t hear it—not because she was pretending not to hear, but as if her whole being was submerged in dark waters, isolating all sounds around her. Yuh Jiangxing worried something had happened to her, and after persistently knocking for a good while, finally some noise seeped through. Xu Siyao sprang to awareness and went to open the door.

What greeted Yuh Jiangxing was just such a face.

Bare, without a hint of makeup. Accustomed to her usual exquisite makeup, seeing her unadorned face for the first time was strangely chilling. She seemed a bit scattered, not as dominating as usual, with unease and confusion in her eyes, with a hint of daze, like lingering smoke floating in her gaze.

Seeing her like this, Yuh Jiangxing found himself unable to say the words he had prepared.

”You... never mind, don’t think too much; get some sleep early. We have to continue filming tomorrow,” Yuh Jiangxing consoled, ”Don’t worry, my cousin has already issued a gag order to the entire crew; this won’t spread.”

Xu Siyao’s eyes suddenly reddened.

She lowered her head, turned her face away, and said, ”I didn’t know he had a girlfriend.”

Yuh Jiangxing: ”None of us knew.”

”Son of a bitch.” Xu Siyao cursed under her breath.

Yuh Jiangxing sighed, ”You don’t need to worry about Zhou Yun. I’ve talked to her; they won’t tell anyone. Luckily, you’re all in the same show, and no one wants to see it fail halfway through.”

Upon hearing Zhou Yun’s name, Xu Siyao felt as though a pair of mocking eyes suddenly peered at her through the fog.

They were scornfully watching her.

This incident became a laughingstock for Zhou Yun.

A wave of embarrassment rose from Xu Siyao’s heart.

”Did she say anything?” Xu Siyao asked.

Yuh Jiangxing did not immediately understand whom Xu Siyao was asking about and inquired, ”Who?”

Xu Siyao told him, ”Never mind, I’m tired. I want to go to sleep.”

Yuh Jiangxing’s gaze lingered on her, saying, ”Don’t do anything this foolish again in the future.”

Xu Siyao didn’t say anything more and closed the door again in front of Yuh Jiangxing.

-

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He Yong kept the whole affair tightly under wraps, not a single word leaked out. But with so many eyes and mouths in the crew, when Li Ci and Xu Siyao showed up, there would always be some silent and knowing looks.

After such an incident, Li Ci appeared unfazed, as if nothing had happened. During filming, he was still professional, following the director’s instructions and positioning, without missing any of the perks he was entitled to. He was still the last one to arrive on set for makeup and the first one to finish and return to the hotel. His priority was clearly stated on the call sheet.

The best treatment was reserved for Li Ci.

On June 20th, Li Ci took a leave from the crew to attend a private event held by the new Editor-in-Chief Ren Sumin of ”Victor.”

Before leaving, he even asked Zhou Yun, ”Why don’t you take a day off and come with me? Editor-in-Chief Ren asked about you too, she wanted me to invite you.”

Zhou Yun politely declined, ”You’ve already taken leave, if I were to do so too, the coordinator would be tearing their hair out.”

Li Ci laughed, showing his white teeth.

To be fair, in the crew, Li Ci’s behavior was not considered ”troublesome.” Speaking of trouble, Xu Siyao initially caused much more for the staff. Now she had become much less troublesome, presenting an ”out-of-sight, out-of-mind” attitude on the busy set. If there was a scene to shoot, she would act. If not, she would find a corner to herself, no longer as prominent as she used to be.

With this approach to filming, she basically stopped forgetting lines or being unable to get into character.

Zhou Yun and Xu Siyao’s scenes together became increasingly brilliant; even without direct conflict, the tension and discord between the two was palpable. This was all in the details – a glance, a smirk – grounding on their real-life tension but seamlessly woven into the performance and the camera’s capture, the result of perfect timing, setting, and chemistry.

He Yong watched some of the cut footage and was so satisfied that he took a version of the edit to the heads of acquisitions at various platforms.

He realized something, despite Zhou Yun’s and Xu Siyao’s probable reluctance to admit it, they provided each other with a continuous source of motivation.

He Yong felt that if the show were missing either one of them, the tension between the characters Zhang Hua and Wan Yu wouldn’t be as strong as what was being filmed now.