The next morning, Liu Chen and Ren Yu had a buffet breakfast in their hotel room. With their bellies full, they strolled along the West Lake.
In the early morning, many residents living nearby were out for walks along the lake, and groups of elderly gentlemen in traditional Tang suits practiced Tai Chi.
Fluffy little squirrels could occasionally be seen darting between the tree trunks in the green belts by the West Lake.
Gradually, a fiery red light appeared on the horizon.
The sun slowly rose from the east, and the temperature began to climb. As Liu Chen walked, she felt the morning breeze beginning to dissipate.
On the way back, Liu Chen couldn't help but sigh, "If I retire someday, I'll buy a house by the West Lake. I'll sit in my study on the second floor every day and watch the sunrises and sunsets over the lake."
Ren Yu listened, a thoughtful look in her eyes, then nodded. "What style would you like? I mean, your imagined study, with a warm fireplace?"
Caught off guard by Ren Yu's detailed question, Liu Chen was taken aback. She suddenly realized that she was now truly wealthy, and the idea of buying a house by the West Lake was achievable!
Thinking of this, Liu Chen couldn't help but start envisioning what her house by the West Lake would look like. "My study should be fully heated with underfloor heating, with a clean and tidy carpet on top. Outside the study, there should be a terrace, not too large, just enough to fit a rocking chair."
"And the bedroom? Do you want to see the West Lake from the bedroom too?"
"The bedroom? Hmm… if I could see it, that would be the best. That way, when I'm tired, I can relax on the bed, lean against the soft down pillows, and look out at the lake, at the vibrant tourists."
Their discussion about their dream West Lake house continued all the way back to the hotel.
-
It took two and a half hours to drive from Hangzhou to Hengdian. On the way, Liu Chen checked the reports in her work group chat. It was good to see that the company was operating normally even in her absence, likely due to her frequent time away.
Guo Da, who hadn't spoken in a while, had left her a message on QQ, inviting her to his and Yu Li's wedding on August 28th, which was only a few days away.
Perhaps because the date was only eight days away, which was quite short notice for a typical wedding invitation, Guo Da specifically explained. "The couple who originally booked this date broke up, but the hotel arrangements were already made. They asked if anyone wanted to take over. Yu Jie and I weren't planning on having a wedding, but the hotel manager is a friend of mine. He said he could offer it to me at half cost. Yu Jie and I discussed it, and having a lively wedding would be nice."
Liu Chen looked at Guo Da's message and had to admit, that was exactly the kind of thing he would do. Since Guo Da and Yu Li got together, they had been like money-making machines. Liu Chen even suspected that the total number of properties they owned across the country might exceed her own.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely be there on the 28th!"
After replying to Guo Da, Liu Chen looked at the message from her mother. It was probably a typical motherly thing to do. Ms. Liu Fang had posted photos on QQ Zone that were visible to everyone, which was the only reason she hadn't deleted them. However, the consequence was that Liu Chen saw the growth of her twin siblings almost every day, from their first time rolling over, to their first time holding their heads up, and even fake crying.
Then there were the sales records from Zhang Jiawang in the United States. With the "brainwashing" advertising campaigns and the recent victory in a high-profile lawsuit, more and more advertisers were adopting Liu Chen's methods. However, Zhang Jiawang gleefully reported that while the Japanese saw the success of the Meimei brand and wanted to replicate it, they were unwilling to invest as much money as Liu Chen. Instead, they stingily opted to collaborate with about a dozen mid-tier bloggers. While it had some effect, it certainly didn't achieve their desired results. The sarcasm in Zhang Jiawang's QQ messages made Liu Chen feel as if she could see his mocking smile through the screen.
Closing QQ, Liu Chen opened Weibo. She didn't open her private messages on Weibo because her phone would lag significantly every time she did, due to the sheer volume of messages. She opened Weibo and refreshed.
Without Liu Chen's Weibo interface, the trending topics had finally returned to normal. After glancing at a few trending topics and checking Mi Zhuzhu's and Sang Ling's recent posts, she looked up to find they had already arrived in Hengdian.
They had left in the morning, so they arrived in Hengdian right at noon. The hotel was called Guomao Building. Hearing the name gave Liu Chen a strange sense of déjà vu, as if she were back at school in Beijing.
A young man at Guomao Building enthusiastically opened their car door and pushed a luggage cart to the trunk to help unload their luggage onto it.
It was mid-August in Hengdian, and as soon as Liu Chen opened the car door, she felt a wave of heat. Seeing the young man's enthusiastic service, she silently handed Ren Yu a hundred-yuan bill.
When the hotel attendant pushed the luggage to their room door, Ren Yu took out the hundred-yuan bill, nodded slightly, and handed it to him, "Thank you."
The young man blinked at the hundred-yuan bill in front of him, then looked at Ren Yu with some uncertainty. "It's so hot, thank you for your hard work."
Hearing this, the young man finally accepted the hundred-yuan bill with both hands and said with a smile, "It's no trouble, no trouble. I wish you a pleasant stay. Thank you." With that, the young man happily pushed the luggage cart away, eager to share the good news with his friends!
-
Inside the room, Liu Chen opened her suitcase and hung her clothes in the wardrobe. She then ordered room service to have her clothes from yesterday cleaned, a service the hotel provided. However, the price of eighty yuan for a short-sleeved shirt made most people overlook this service.
After finishing unpacking, Liu Chen put on a sun hat, sprayed sunscreen on all exposed skin, and, holding Ren Yu's hand, they slowly left the hotel.
Perhaps worried that Liu Chen and her group were unfamiliar with Hengdian and wouldn't know where to eat, Mi Zhuzhu and Lai Jielun were waiting in the hotel lobby. They saw Liu Chen emerge from the elevator and waved. "Chenchen! Over here~!"
Mi Zhuzhu's voice was soft and clear, audible to all the guests in the lobby. Some looked over with curiosity, while others remained engrossed in their phones. Liu Chen, wearing sunglasses and a sun hat, had her delicate jawline and her slightly pursed, rosy lips visible, suggesting she was a beautiful woman of some seriousness.
"Let's go, I've booked a very authentic Jiangnan cuisine restaurant. It's delicious! Every time I eat there, I feel like the world becomes a better place!"
Listening to Mi Zhuzhu's description, Liu Chen smiled slightly. Her lips parted, revealing her pearly white teeth, "Then I'll have to try it. If it's not good, I'll have to punish you by making you perform in front of me~~"
"Heh heh, of course!"
After a satisfying meal, Liu Chen felt a bit sleepy and yawned softly. However, she had no intention of returning to the hotel for a nap. After all, this was during the filming of "The Legend of Zhen Huan"! Who could resist visiting the set? Moreover, in a way, she was one of the "sponsors" of "The Legend of Zhen Huan"!
"Chenchen, if you're sleepy, why don't you go back to the hotel and rest for a while? We have scenes to film tonight anyway, and you can still come to watch?" Mi Zhuzhu, seeing Liu Chen yawn and noticing the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, proactively suggested visiting for the night shoot.
Liu Chen waved her hand, "No need, I'm very interested. And I'm just sleepy because I ate too many carbs. Let's go. What time are you filming this afternoon? I really want to see what you're like on set!"
This was not just polite talk. Liu Chen was genuinely curious. After all, Lai Jielun, being a student of the Central Academy of Drama, had studied acting for a year and honed his skills in stage plays. She could imagine his acting. But Zhuzhu, in both her past and present lives, aside from watching Korean dramas and crying into a trash can while stuffing tissues, had no connection to acting. Moreover, according to Mi Zhuzhu's bragging, she had even been praised by the director for her excellent performance and was even assigned a named personal maid.
Driven by this curiosity, Liu Chen urged Mi Zhuzhu and Lai Jielun along. After their meal, the six of them strolled to the ancient-style Hengqing Imperial Palace where the crew was located.
This was Liu Chen's first time in Hengdian in both her lives. As she walked, she occasionally glimpsed through large gates, where extras in ancient costumes sat against the walls, their skirts hitched up and tucked into their waistbands, revealing shorts underneath, holding cans of iced cola. This sight gave her a sense of temporal displacement.
When Mi Zhuzhu brought Liu Chen to the set, she first took her to the assistant director. "Director, this is my friend Liu Chen, who's here to visit today. Heh heh." Mi Zhuzhu's happy tone when she said "this is my friend" made the assistant director momentarily think Liu Chen was her boyfriend.
"Hello, thank you for your trouble." As an investor in this drama, Liu Chen didn't need to be overly humble. After a brief exchange with the assistant director, she was given a director's chair and sat behind the monitoring screen, to the director's rear-left. As expected, directors had certain privileges, and their seating area was near the air conditioning. For lighting purposes, the palace doors were wide open, and the scorching sun outside shone directly on the faces of the indoor staff.
Mi Zhuzhu bringing Liu Chen didn't attract much attention from the actors present. Friends visiting the set was a common occurrence in Hengdian, so it wasn't a big deal. However, when they were about to disregard it, they saw Mi Zhuzhu leading the girl, whose face was obscured by a hat, directly to the assistant director. Suddenly, the actresses present instinctively turned some of their attention to them. When they saw the assistant director offer his own director's chair with a backrest to the unfamiliar woman, and the director glanced at them without any reaction, they were shocked! Who was this person? So high-handed on set?
The lead actress, Sun Lu, also noticed the "high-handed" girl. However, she didn't think the person was an actor. After all, although the brim of her baseball cap was pulled down low, who would bring two bodyguards to a film set? As the lead actress, Sun Lu had heard rumors about the production's tight budget. She had even considered contributing some money if the script was good enough. Before she could mention it to the director, she received the shooting notice. Later, she heard some gossip that the director had secured investment from a beautiful rich second-generation heir. Now, it seemed that the person sitting behind the director fit the description of the rumored wealthy investor.
While Sun Lu was contemplating, Liu Chen was looking at the playback of a scene on the director's "TV" with some hesitation. The director was still struggling with the scene where Concubine Xi accused Imperial Physician Wen of adultery. He admitted that the scene as it was had no issues: the composition, the actors' emotions, were all perfect. But! His director's intuition told him that something was still not right, somewhere!
Liu Chen, sitting to the director's rear-left, watched the director repeatedly replaying the scene where he had called "cut" the previous day, his brow furrowed in thought. She couldn't help but recall the classic scene she had seen in her previous life. Yes... later, netizens enthusiastically parodied this scene, to the point that even Liu Chen, who didn't watch the drama, was forced to see this segment on social media and cafeteria TVs.
At this moment, on the "TV," the director played the clip from the end of yesterday's shoot once again. "This concubine accuses the Consort Xi and Imperial Physician Wen of adultery!"
Liu Chen, immersed in her memories, subconsciously replied, "An adulterous affair within the harem, a crime punishable by death."
As soon as she spoke, the director, sitting to Liu Chen's front-left, immediately turned his head towards the source of the voice. He muttered repeatedly, "An adulterous affair within the harem, a crime punishable by death." "An adulterous affair within the harem, a crime punishable by death. Yes, yes, yes! That's what was missing, that's the line! This is what Noble Lady Qi should say at this moment!" The director, speaking rapidly and loudly, waved to the assistant director sitting behind Liu Chen. "Quick, quick! Reshoot this scene! Add this line to Noble Lady Qi's dialogue!"
Liu Chen: ??? So... this classic line was added later?
Without paying attention to Liu Chen's internal thoughts, the director was now like someone who had been thirsty for three days and was suddenly given a bottle of water. He found Liu Chen extremely pleasing to the eye. "My benefactor, my benefactor! Miss Liu, Miss Liu, if it's possible, could you please sit here and watch? If you have any inspired ideas, you can bring them up after filming." The director turned and looked at Liu Chen excitedly, as if he would throw a tantrum and roll on the ground if she refused.
Liu Chen: ... "Alright, alright?"