It wasn’t until the crew members knocked and pushed a food cart in to deliver meals that the script reading session in the hall came to a temporary halt.
Wei Xiao opened a pair of disposable chopsticks, and after glancing at the script Jiang Lingxi had closed, he couldn’t suppress his curiosity and spoke, "Can I take a look at your script?"
Jiang Lingxi pushed the script towards him, "Just don’t make it dirty."
Wei Xiao rolled his eyes, "I’ll just sneak a peek, I promise to be careful."
The conversation between the two made She Man, Lin Xuefei, and several male actors opposite them steal a glance at Jiang Lingxi’s script, curious to know what piqued Director Wei’s interest.
But as he looked, Wei Xiao even forgot to eat.
Until a hand reached over and snapped the script shut with a "clap."
"Hey, I wasn’t done yet."
"The food’s getting cold."
"Ahem, I’m eating, I’m eating now."
Wei Minmin couldn’t help but chuckle, and others exchanged glances.
What to do? Even more curious now!
She Man held back her curiosity due to her status, and though Lin Xuefei was curious, she didn’t want to ask Jiang Lingxi. The male actors opposite weren’t familiar with Jiang Lingxi and felt embarrassed to ask.
So, they had to suppress this curiosity in their hearts.
After lunch, everyone drank coffee and continued the morning’s script reading.
For the unintentional shift into a discussion between Jiang Lingxi and Director Wei, the others had gotten used to just sitting quietly and listening.
It was only She Man who noticed Lin Xuefei seemed a bit distracted, glanced at her a few times, but said nothing.
It wasn’t until time crept towards evening, and the light in the hall began to dim, that they saw Director Wei finally close the script, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
The feeling of having listened to a full day of discussion was really... indescribable!
"Alright, you’ve all had a long day, go back and rest."
Lin Xuefei pulled out her silenced cellphone and was the first to get up to leave, but before she could pull out her chair, she heard Director Wei call her name, "Lin Xuefei, wait a moment."
She Man paused in her action of getting up, glanced to the side, "Then I’ll head back first."
Lin Xuefei was puzzled, nodded at She Man, and then met Director Wei’s gaze.
The seriousness made her tense up, unable to stop herself from wondering if she’d been caught zoning out by Director Wei today.
Jiang Lingxi exchanged a look with Wei Minmin, and they both stood up to leave.
But the script on the table was pressed down by Wei Xiao.
Wei Xiao: "Ahem, I’ll take your script back to read, and bring it back for the reading tomorrow."
He just wanted to see if this girl had also made a lot of annotations in the later parts.
So, before leaving, others couldn’t help but focus on Jiang Lingxi’s script aside from also glancing at Lin Xuefei, who had been specially called by Director Wei.
Soon, only two people were left in the hall.
Wei Xiao pondered on how to start the conversation, and the silence stretched, making Lin Xuefei fidget uneasily.
"There’s something about your personal matters that, as a director, I shouldn’t comment on, but I need you to sign an additional agreement..."
So even as She Man and others speculated outside if Director Wei had kept Lin Xuefei behind to give her more screen time, Lin Xuefei’s face grew paler facing Wei Xiao.
Wei Xiao sighed inwardly seeing her reaction.
It seemed that the girl was aware of what was going on.
Such things were not uncommon in the industry, but having it happen in his own crew certainly felt uncomfortable.
However, given that the cast was set, and she was an important fourth female lead whose promotional photos were already taken, replacing her at the last minute wasn’t easy.
Besides, it was a probabilistic issue; if luck were on their side, it might not even surface. Without enough reason to let her go outright, signing this supplementary agreement was a precautionary measure.
Lin Xuefei stared at the bold sentence in the agreement, ’If the artist has any negative news during the shooting period, the crew has the right to terminate the contract, and the artist will bear the loss.’ It took her several minutes before she picked up the pen handed to her and signed her name with trembling fingers.
Wei Xiao put away the supplementary agreement, and watching Lin Xuefei’s back as she stood up to leave, he advised in a deep voice, "Young lady, take care of yourself."
If she could decisively break it off with that individual named Chen, the possibility of this supplementary agreement taking effect would be minimal.
The key was whether she would heed his advice.
The response he received was the sound of the door closing.
While walking back to their rooms from the hotel restaurant, Wei Minmin quietly mentioned Lin Xuefei being called by her uncle, "Not sure how Uncle will handle it, but he’s not likely to let Lin Xuefei go. Although the fourth female lead’s role isn’t large, it’s still crucial to the whole drama, and it’s not easy to find a suitable replacement."
Though her impression of Lin Xuefei was not great, the other’s delicate ’white flower’ appearance and acting skills undeniably fit the role well.
"All we can do now is hope that during filming and until it’s all aired, the matter is kept tightly under wraps."
As her words trailed off, the elevator doors opened, and seeing who was inside, Jiang Lingxi cleared her throat.
Wei Minmin, who was about to continue speaking, quickly shut her mouth.
Both pairs of eyes glanced at Lin Xuefei, whose expression was somewhat flustered in the elevator, before diverting their gaze.
They watched Lin Xuefei return to her room before Wei Minmin shed her prior calm, scratching her head, "She shouldn’t have heard what I said earlier at the elevator, right? Probably not, I spoke so softly."
Jiang Lingxi saw this as a chance to warn the girl about her big mouth, "In the future, only talk like that in your room, or it might happen again like today."
Wei Minmin’s ears drooped, "I won’t dare to do it again."
She Man, besides Jiang Lingxi and Wei Minmin, was the first to notice that Lin Xuefei was off.
While yesterday during script reading, Lin Xuefei would occasionally zone out, today she was completely out of it.
She even doubted if this girl had been listening to the conversations between Director Wei and Jiang Lingxi.
"Ahem, I have two announcements to make." Wei Xiao paused here, sweeping his gaze over everyone present, "First, there will be a significant change in our script. You’ll receive the revised script in a couple of days."
With those words, everyone’s eyes shifted from him to the figure sitting in the leftmost seat.
After the ’class’ experiences of the past two days, they had reason to believe that Director Wei’s decision to change the script was largely due to Jiang Lingxi’s input.
And for the director to make such a decision... it gave everyone mixed feelings.
"Also, after research and discussion, the production team decided to adopt Jiang Lingxi’s suggestion to move Qing Yuan’s role from the supporting cast to the main cast. The revised script will have some additional scenes accordingly, and tomorrow our reading hall will welcome a new member."