Dark Fire chapter 9
Fool
The next morning, Ling Zhuo got up at five to start work.
After makeup and hair, he went to Group A to film two scenes with Yu Fei, then switched to Group B for scenes with other supporting actors. By evening, he returned to Group A for the last scene with the male and female leads.
Lu Chixie and Yu Fei were still filming the previous scene, so he had to wait.
Zhong Yiran sent a message saying he would arrive at the set in twenty minutes and suggested having dinner together. Ling Zhuo replied with “Okay” and instructed Yang Ming to meet him at the set entrance.
Ling Zhuo wanted to go himself, but the next scene was about to start.
When Zhong Yiran arrived, Ling Zhuo was touching up his makeup on the side. Seeing Zhong Yiran from a distance, he happily waved and smiled brightly.
Lu Chixie, who had just finished a scene and was reviewing the footage with He Jingping, glanced at Ling Zhuo, then at the man walking in with Ling Zhuo’s assistant. He paused.
Zhong Yiran approached Ling Zhuo. Ling Zhuo, still sitting for makeup, greeted him with a smile, “Captain, you’re here.”
Zhong Yiran nodded, looked at his face, and said, “You’ve lost some weight.”
Ling Zhuo: “Filming is tiring.”
Zhong Yiran smiled and handed a big bag of snacks to Yang Ming, “I brought these for you. Since you’ve lost weight, your agent shouldn’t mind you having some snacks.”
Ling Zhuo smiled, “Thank you, Captain.”
They chatted and laughed, not noticing Lu Chixie’s increasingly unreadable expression as he watched them.
After a short break, He Jingping signaled the main actors to prepare for the final scene of the day.
First, there was a solo confrontation between Lin Lanyu and Xuan Jiang. After recovering from his injuries, Xuan Jiang could finally get out of bed. Lin Lanyu, always suspicious of his background, seized the opportunity to probe him while Zhuge You was away. Despite Lin Lanyu’s questioning, Xuan Jiang remained silent. Lin Lanyu then forced Xuan Jiang to spar, trying to gauge his spiritual power. Xuan Jiang feigned a few moves before coughing up blood and collapsing. At that moment, Zhuge You appeared and rushed to support Xuan Jiang, causing the first rift between her and Lin Lanyu.
During last night’s rehearsal, this scene went smoothly. Lu Chixie had given Ling Zhuo some pointers on his line delivery and didn’t say much else. Ling Zhuo expected the formal shoot to go just as well, but Lu Chixie didn’t follow the script. When he struck, according to the martial arts director’s instructions, Lu Chixie should have taken the blow on his shoulder. He did, but then he grabbed Ling Zhuo’s wrist.
Ling Zhuo was taken aback for a moment. Lu Chixie looked at him and said, “Ling, you’re in such a good mood today? Even your punches are soft, like a cat scratching.”
Ling Zhuo quickly withdrew his hand.
From the sidelines, He Jingping loudly reminded him through a megaphone, “Xiao Ling, your presence wasn’t strong enough when you were delivering your lines. Xuan Jiang is supposed to be at a disadvantage while hiding his identity during this confrontation. You need to suppress him.”
Ling Zhuo collected himself and nodded to show he understood.
Meeting Lu Chixie’s gaze, he noticed that although Lu Chixie was smiling, his eyes were cold. After the surrounding staff had stepped back, Lu Chixie lowered his voice and said, “Did I ever teach you to think about other things while filming?”
His tone was somewhat stern, causing Ling Zhuo’s lips to move slightly but no words came out.
Lu Chixie smirked and signaled to He Jingping to shoot the scene again.
Ling Zhuo took a deep breath, pushed aside his distracting thoughts, and fully immersed himself in the filming.
But it still didn’t go smoothly. Lu Chixie seemed to be nitpicking intentionally, continuously finding faults with him. Eventually, even He Jingping noticed something was wrong and tried to smooth things over, saying that it was good enough after six or seven retakes.
Zhong Yiran, who had been watching from the sidelines, frowned and asked Yang Ming, “Do they always shoot scenes like this every day?”
Yang Ming awkwardly explained, “Not really, usually we get it in one or two takes. Today, it seems Zhuo-ge is a bit off.”
Zhong Yiran observed without further comment.
Finally, the scene was completed. Ling Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief; it was already past eight o’clock. He quickly removed his makeup on set, changed into his own clothes, and left with Zhong Yiran. As they were heading out, they ran into Lu Chixie.
Lu Chixie was talking to someone, and when Ling Zhuo emerged, Lu Chixie’s gaze shifted to him. Ling Zhuo nodded slightly as a greeting, but Lu Chixie called out to him, “Ling, aren’t you going to introduce your friend?”
Reluctantly, Ling Zhuo started to speak, but Zhong Yiran calmly met Lu Chixie’s gaze and introduced himself, “Zhong Yiran, Ling Zhuo’s teammate.”
Ignoring Zhong Yiran, Lu Chixie asked Ling Zhuo, “How many scenes do you have tomorrow?”
Ling Zhuo replied, “I’m going out to eat with my friend and will probably be back late, so I won’t trouble you tonight, Teacher Lu.”
Lu Chixie’s expression darkened slightly. Ling Zhuo felt a bit uneasy, “…Well, we’ll be going now.”
Once they got into the van, Zhong Yiran next to Ling Zhuo asked, “Does that guy always give you trouble during filming?”
Ling Zhuo responded, “Not really. Today, I was off my game. Actually, he helps me run through my scenes every night and has taught me a lot.”
Zhong Yiran asked, “Are you two close?”
Ling Zhuo awkwardly replied, “Just alright.”
Zhong Yiran nodded and didn’t press further, “I’ve already spoken to Qi Liangli and the others, told them to stop joking about you in the group chat. That kid is just bored, hanging around in the fandom, saying whatever he likes in the group chat. Don’t take it to heart.”
Ling Zhuo said, “I know.”
Last night, Qi Liangli and Zhang Xun had teased him in the group chat about the CP site incident. Zhong Yiran hadn’t said anything at first, but when the teasing went too far, Ling Zhuo had to explain that he and Lu Chixie were really just colleagues. Only then did Zhong Yiran and Deng Lanluo step in to stop them. Although Qi Liangli wasn’t entirely wrong—Lu Chixie was indeed hitting on him—Ling Zhuo didn’t want to discuss this with Zhong Yiran to avoid misunderstandings.
Zhong Yiran’s sudden visit to the set made Ling Zhuo wonder if he cared about this matter.
Glancing at Zhong Yiran, who was also looking at him, their eyes met. Zhong Yiran smiled warmly, causing Ling Zhuo to blush slightly, his face hidden by the night. Then, he smiled as well.
While sitting at the hotpot restaurant, Ling Zhuo remembered Zhong Yiran mentioning a variety show he’d signed up for and asked, “What show did Liu-ge sign you up for? Is it confirmed? When does it start?”
Zhong Yiran served him some vegetables, “At the end of this month, ‘From North to South,’ as a guest for one episode.”
Ling Zhuo asked, “Is it a prime-time variety show?”
Zhong Yiran replied, “Do you want to join? Liu-ge said the production team wants you too. If it’s a prime-time show, Jing-jie should agree, right? Can the production team give you time off?”
Ling Zhuo hesitated, “I’ll try.”
He then shared some good news, “Jing-jie said the CL perfume endorsement she’s been negotiating for me is almost finalized. I might need to take some time off to shoot the commercial.”
Zhong Yiran congratulated him, “That’s great! It’s a big brand.”
Around nine o’clock, Lu Chixie finally left the set. His assistant, Xiao Qian, informed him that Ling Zhuo had gone out for hotpot with someone. Lu Chixie leaned back in the van seat, absentmindedly swiping through his phone. He opened the CP fan page “Zhuoran Couple.”
The CP page ranked third, with tens of thousands of followers, and new posts appeared every second. With many fans on set, someone had already snapped photos of Zhong Yiran visiting and having hotpot with Ling Zhuo, causing a frenzy in the fan page.
The page was filled with intimate pictures and videos of Ling Zhuo and Zhong Yiran. After a while, Lu Chixie closed the page and asked, “What’s the deal with his group and company?”
Xiao Qian explained, “Haitian Entertainment is a mid-sized independent company without major backing but has been around for a long time and has some strength. A few years ago, they tried to replicate the South Korean star-making model and invested in trainees, including Ling Zhuo and his teammates. But the big boss was reluctant to invest heavily, wasting years and losing many trainees. Finally, the current members remained. Two years ago, Haitian underwent a leadership change and hired a skilled new director from a big company. This director selected Ling Zhuo for a talent show and assigned Zhang Jing, a trusted manager, to handle him, even setting up a studio for him. After Ling Zhuo became popular, the company’s old guard wanted a share of the profits, so they launched his group of five with a different manager overseeing the group activities.
“The company has had intense internal conflicts for the past two years. Ling Zhuo is caught in the middle. His manager wants him to go solo, but Ling Zhuo seems reluctant, balancing individual and group activities. Although he’s the most popular member, his group and his studio belong to different factions within the company, so he’s not highly valued in the group and isn’t even the center position.”
“Is he a fool?” Lu Chixie frowned. “What about the other members of his team? Don’t they have any thoughts? How are the internal relationships in their team?”
Xiao Qian replied, “I heard that he has a good relationship with his teammates. Of course, everyone has their own thoughts. Some of his teammates have started their own activities one after another. The one who came to see him today, Zhong Yiran, is their team leader. The central figure is another vocal, Deng Lanluo, who is similar to Teacher Ling. These two should be the main focus of their team now. Besides Teacher Ling, they have the highest popularity. Zhong Yiran’s popularity is actually attributed to his CP with Teacher Ling. As the saying goes, Teacher Ling is the common cash cow of their team.”
Lu Chixie chuckled. “Ling hasn’t seen the dark side of human nature yet?”
Even in a team, no matter how good the relationship is, when it comes to conflicts over resources and interests, how many people really care about so-called teammate brotherhood?
Xiao Qian said, “It’s also possible because there haven’t been any major resource conflicts in their team yet. It’s just a matter of a few more or fewer lyrics, a few more or fewer shots. Teacher Ling probably doesn’t care about that. He has his own personal resources anyway.”
Lu Chixie flicked the lighter a few times and stared at the flames that kept flickering and extinguishing.
In the flicker of the firelight, after a moment of silence, he said, “Then let’s give Ling a good lesson.”