⚠️WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS USE OF EXCESSIVE LANGUAGE AND QUESTIONING BEHAVIOURS, READ WITH ONE EYE CLOSED‼️
Gu Wei was rich. So rich, he eyed his ramen distastefully and bought a whole pack of white rice.
So rich, he permanently raised Mo Ran's salary.
So rich, he bought another coat for the cold weather.
So rich, he dreamt of swimming in a pool of money.
The tree he had been wishing for wasn't fictional after all. Gu Wei's reality had conjured it out of thin air.
Rich boy Gu Wei had a plan.
His HHE weekly salary was going to last a month, and Gu Wei was not going back to eating ramen afterward.
He was either going to try to be a full-time employee, which was most likely impossible, or he was going to use his newfound spike of followers on social media to promote his business.
Plan 2 sounded durable and long-term.
Ever since he'd posted the picture of him and Fu Yuan, his presence on the internet had been slowly rising.
Gu Wei now believed the random person who had commented on his post saying he would surely have good fortune with Fu Yuan by his side.
Gu Wei was indeed having a good fortune. And he was not letting it go.
So on high was the boy in a new coat that his teammates watched him warily as he bounced around on his feet.
Sitting was not an option for Gu Wei. Filming had begun and they were heading to the 6th floor, where the studio was located.
Gu Wei was excited.
He didn't know what to expect, and Miss Li had tried to clamp down on his happiness by telling him to calm his nerves, it wasn't that special.
However, Gu Wei had never been on a film set before, and this would mark the first and probably last time he would ever get to experience such a thing.
There were a lot of images flashing through his head. Cameras, props, and furniture.
Gu Wei couldn't wait to see everything and take it in.
But whenever had one's vision been met?
Gu Wei's excitement and bouncing feet died and shriveled as he laid eyes on their surroundings.
One thing he hadn't calculated in his bout of excitement.
People. There were so many people, like a crowd that each had a purpose, but a crowd nonetheless.
Gu Wei couldn't wrap his head around why there were so many people in a short film.
Miss Li smirked smugly at the horrified look on the newbie's face.
Gu Wei slowly turned his head. "W-why are there so many people?"
His question sparked laughter from Miss Li, and it traveled through the whole team as they took in Gu Wei's confused expression.
The laughter lasted a while, and Director JJ patted his shoulder, saying fondly, "Welcome to the set."
+++
Gu Wei did not feel welcome.
The day was horrendous, and a migraine was throbbing behind his skull by the time they were done for the day.
A day that consisted of Gu Wei teaching and directing the other cast members on sign language and making sure they didn't botch it during the takes.
The female lead, Ren Ren's family, was fluent in fingerspelling and it was Gu Wei's job to make sure it was portrayed so.
Most of the actors already knew the basic ones, like numbers, hello, and thank you, and they extended their knowledge to the other cast members.
Nevertheless, Gu Wei's job was still hard.
Signing comfortably without awkward hand movements took time, but Gu Wei had to make sure the cast looked like they'd mastered it in one shot.
Although Fu Yuan was a professional.
At some point, Gu Wei stopped monitoring her and focused on the newbies instead.
This wasn't Fu Yuan's first time acting a character that communicated with hand signs, and she'd comfortably added her charm to it.
There was nothing Gu Wei had to fix.
By the time everything was done, Gu Wei's brows were in a permanent furrow.
He now understood why Miss Li was always scowling and clipping at people. Gu Wei would snap at anyone too.
Gu Wei clocked out the moment he was no longer needed and skipped the cafeteria food for the comfort of home.
He was stepping out of the elevator into the lobby when he came upon a commotion.
A small crowd was bunched close together in the middle of the huge space, and some people walking by spared them curious looks.
Arguments could be heard through the bundle of people, and Gu Wei scowled at the unnecessary disturbance.
He skirted past the unruly circle, throwing one last angry scowl at them, and coincidentally saw a glimpse of curly hair.
Gu Wei stopped in his tracks, turned back, and pushed through the people to confirm if it was who he thought it was.
People protested at the young man forcing his way through and Gu Wei finally made it to the middle.
What he saw confirmed his guess. It was Zhai Mei.
She was at the center of the circle with a man in a rumpled suit.
Papers were strewn all around them and the man was holding a bunch and shaking them and shouting at Zhai Mei, who only stood calmly holding her phone, face a mask of indifference.
"Take responsibility for your mistakes, little miss! Is that how you go around making trouble and deceiving people with your lies?! You heard me calling for you a thousand times and still kept on walking. Now you're saying you didn't hear? Didn't hear what?!"
The man shouted at Zhai Mei, shaking the papers at her.
"Lying just to get out of this?! When you've ruined my papers?! See see, look! It's all black now! How am I supposed to work with this?! Answer me! It's women like you who go about ruining the reputation of people with disorders! Don't just stand there. Speak!"
Whispers traveled around the crowd as Zhai Mei typed on her phone at a fast speed, and an artificial female voice responded.
"First, I really didn't hear you, and I bowed in apology. I wasn't the person who stepped on your papers, so place that blame somewhere else. Also, it's not a disorder, it's an impairment. It's people like you who don't respect the nuances every being has. Do I have to show my official papers to confirm my condition before you believe me? If that's the case, then say so."
The suited man was provoked by this and lunged at Zhai Mei to shove, stumbling on his momentum instead, as Zhai Mei carefully stepped to the side and avoided him.
This made him even more enraged, "Y-you-you little bitch!"
The moron snatched more handfuls of dirty paper from the floor and swung them at Zhai Mei.
But before his hands could complete the motion, an arm swung out and clamped down on the fitful of paper, snatching and tossing it to the side like the trash they were.
Gu Wei snatched the loser's wrist and shoved him a good few paces away, till he stumbled into the crowd and fell on his butt.
"What the heck are you doing?"