Chu An suddenly leaned in, causing Xu Shu to tighten her grip on her script, her fingers turning pale. It was like a shy mimosa startled into curling up, quickly raising the script to her chest, taking an involuntary step back, revealing a hint of displeasure.
Chu An saw her hold the script up like a shield between them and couldn't help but chuckle. He thought, The little girl really thinks too highly of herself.
But he didn't press the issue. In the entertainment industry, there were many people far more arrogant and pretentious than she was.
With a smile, he explained, "These two lines conflict with Liu Xia's developing feelings for the male lead, Yu Nian."
He wanted to say it sounded too forced, but Xu Shu probably wouldn't understand, so he used a different term, "It's about being insincere. Do you understand?"
Xu Shu, still tense, opened a small gap in the script she was holding tightly to her chest, as if pondering his words.
Chu An's explanation about "insincerity" seemed to make sense to her. She instinctively nodded, then shook her head. In the end, she simply said, "Thank you, but no need."
She was thanking him for the reminder but made it clear she didn't want to change anything.
Chu An shrugged, indifferent.
His reminder was just an instinctive reaction as her manager.
Though actors perform roles, the audience is blind in their emotions. They will channel their feelings about the characters onto the actors, which can affect the actor's career in the future. From the manager's point of view, it was always better to avoid any potential conflict.
In the entertainment industry, no matter how big a star or how clean an actor's reputation, there were always a few films that would end up being stains on their career.
Actors weren't afraid of starring in bad movies; they feared becoming dislikeable even in a bad film. That would likely make them bear most of the blame for its failure.
If Xu Shu hadn't been quick to respond just now, Chu An's changes might not have worked. At that point, Director Lu might have even gotten angry.
In a way, it was a mutual exchange.
But once he'd done his part, if she didn't listen, it was no longer his concern.
And in the future, if this situation happened again, Chu An wouldn't bother speaking up.
When filming resumed, Xu Shu, as expected, ignored Chu An's advice, sticking to her lines exactly as written in the script.
Although, just as Chu An had predicted, the delivery sounded too forced, it had to be said that she still performed excellently.
Director Lu Mingze, who had prepared for multiple takes, was surprised when she nailed it in one.
He couldn't help but add, "Let's keep one more take."
Well, asking to "keep one more take" was a common tactic for film directors. For TV series, the demands on footage quality were generally lower, so it wasn't necessary to waste resources on extra takes.
In this case, Lu Mingze's request was completely unnecessary.
He shot another take, and the result was nearly identical to the first.
It finally dawned on Lu Mingze that Chu An's pause earlier wasn't due to forgetting his lines—it was intentional.
He looked at Chu An with a new sense of admiration, thinking, This kid has some talent!
At least, that's how it seemed to him—this approach worked better than the script.
Still, there was something about the scene that didn't feel quite right. Lu Mingze couldn't quite pinpoint what was off, but something in the atmosphere felt strange.
After that, Chu An wrapped up for the day.
He had five scenes in total, with one left—his scene with Liu Xia on campus—and a basketball match and two group shots. He didn't need to stay on set for now.
But even if he wasn't acting, Chu An couldn't leave the set. After all, the shoot was taking place at his house. Where else could he go?
As for renting his home to the production team—it was simple because he was broke.
Chu An's family consisted of himself, his older sister Chu Ning, and their father Chu Jianjun.
Their mother had passed away during childbirth, so Chu Jianjun had to raise the two children on his own.
Life had been okay at first.
Chu Jianjun worked as the workshop director in a farm machinery factory, a mid-level position. He could manage raising two kids without too much trouble.
However, in the early 1990s, there was a safety incident in the factory.
Though it wasn't directly related to him, a newly appointed factory director bypassed protocol and ordered things improperly. Chu Jianjun took the fall for it, and the troublesome director was transferred, leaving Chu Jianjun unprotected.
From then on, life started to decline.
In recent years, the northeast had completed its historical mission and was fading away. The state-owned farm machinery factory couldn't escape the fate of collapse. Production stopped, and wages were unpaid for months.
Chu An's family situation worsened.
When the production crew rented the house, Chu Jianjun didn't hesitate to agree. He took the opportunity to leave for another city to find work.
Chu Ning had passed the college entrance exams last year, scoring high enough for a second-tier university.
But for some reason, she decided against going, choosing instead to try for a top university.
Though it was normal to repeat a year in that era, Chu Jianjun reluctantly agreed, even though the family wasn't wealthy.
However, after just one summer, Chu Ning changed her mind again and decided against further schooling. She insisted on working instead.
This led to a big argument between father and daughter. Eventually, Chu Jianjun gave in, and Chu Ning started working.
Now, Chu Ning worked as a cashier at the second department store in the county, earning 350 yuan a month. After renting the house to the production crew, she moved into the factory's storage warehouse.
So, only Chu An was left at home.
This meant he had to sleep in the "set."
The production team had agreed to provide Chu An with three meals a day, which was a small comfort.
At this point, Chu An had some free time. Sister Lan rushed over to tell him he should stay at the set and observe how others acted, especially Xu Shu.
Chu An, however, apologized, "Sister Lan, I can't stay this afternoon. I have to go visit my sister and bring her some clothes."
Lan Jie, hearing it was a family matter, didn't insist. She reminded him to be careful and stay safe.
Chu An wasn't just making an excuse to avoid work. He genuinely wanted to check in on his sister in this parallel world.
Technically speaking, he hadn't "possessed" the body of this world's Chu An. His memories and emotions from his original world had merged with those of this world's version of himself.
It felt like two versions of Chu An had fused.
The Chu An of this world was naive, gentle, and kind—a big, emotional boy.
Meanwhile, the Chu An from the other world had grown up lonely and struggled from the bottom to the top. He had endured many hardships, making his heart as hard as iron, even dark and cynical.
He didn't mind using the most malicious mindset to analyze others or wearing the most deceptive smile to fool the world. He understood that this world followed the law of the jungle—life was just a hunger game where only the strongest survived.
At this moment, Chu An was a combination of the mature and naive versions of himself.
Even the mature Chu An appreciated the innocent, youthful version for giving him a renewed interest in life, which he had once lost.
It was like a half-blind traveler who, after years of seeing the world in dull greys, suddenly regained his sight and realized how colorful the world really was.
But as he thought about the past, he realized how much he had missed.
As for his sister Chu Ning, the 17-year-old Chu An didn't understand her rebelliousness. He thought she was foolish for rejecting a perfectly good university to work instead.
He didn't understand why his father, who had raised him and his sister, was so useless—clumsy, unable to cook, greedy, and always lacking in ability.
For instance, renting out their house to the production team was something Chu An, a shy and introverted person, would never have agreed to if it weren't for the necessity.
But with the maturity of his 40-year-old self, Chu An now understood how cruel and tough life truly was.
His father had tried to raise two kids on his own, and that wasn't easy.
Chu Ning didn't like meat, didn't eat eggs—was she really not hungry, or did she leave it all for her brother?
With no wages coming from her father's workplace and the high cost of university for both siblings, what would happen to the already worn-down family?
This household had hidden so much pain and hardship. Chu An had only been protected from it by his sister and father.