Mei Mengchen was somewhat reluctant as she wanted to follow her sister, but her sister made sense and she didn’t want to delay her work. Since she was a sensible child, she spoke with a hint of grievance, "Fine then, but sister must keep sending messages to Chenchen anytime."
"No problem, I’ll message Chenchen whenever I’m free."
However, the reality was that she had a lot of free time throughout the day because the makeup and hair for the other actors had already been set. Even if something was missing, this day before filming was the time to finalize touches, so there was nobody else around except for her. Indeed, today’s makeup and hair team were there to serve her exclusively.
Mei Mengzhen and her party were brought over by a young man named Huang Jing, who was the on-set assistant arranged by An Fang for her, specifically in charge of managing her call times and everything up until her scenes were done.
While they were still in the car, Huang Jing explained his responsibilities, "I’ll confirm the call time for the next day with the production team beforehand and then send it to your assistant. All you need to do is show up on time, and I’ll handle all the other miscellaneous tasks before you arrive."
Upon hearing the mention of her own assistant, Yan Keke quickly joined the conversation, "I’m Zhenzhen’s assistant, you can just liaise with me directly."
After that, the two of them exchanged phone numbers and Twitter accounts to facilitate further communication.
Upon the group’s arrival at the makeup and hair team, Mei Mengzhen’s title was immediately upgraded from "you" to "Teacher Mei."
She didn’t understand how a newcomer like her had suddenly earned the title of a teacher, especially since she hadn’t even started filming yet. Of course, even if she had filmed, it wouldn’t have anything to do with being a teacher. Moreover, she had often seen this title used trivially in the future, feeling it somewhat undervalued. But the title was just that, and she would go with the flow, so she didn’t make any further comment upon hearing it.
When she arrived at the makeup and hair team, two young ladies were assigned to style her. Neither of them was very tall, about an estimated 1.5 meters, and because of that, the youthful look on their already young faces was more pronounced. After having her makeup done for a while, Mei Mengzhen couldn’t help but ask, "How old are you two? You look so young."
Mei Mengzhen had a certain awareness of etiquette. How does the saying go? You must not offend the makeup and hair stylists, because if you do, your styling for the day could be disastrous, and if it happens in a film crew, it would be an ongoing disaster. She didn’t know if she would see them again in the future, but a brief chat to leave a good impression was not a bad idea.
One must not think that these so-called ’insignificant’ people in a film crew aren’t important. According to what Liang Xiao had explained to her about the "unwritten" rules of a film crew last night, often the pettier the tricks, the more nettlesome they were.
In a film crew, people generally worked as one. If you offended them, they could conspire to deal with you in ways that you’d never even notice.
When Mei Mengzhen had first heard this, she hadn’t thought much of it, but after Liang Xiao’s explanation, she became more cautious.
"Take for example a makeup artist," Liang Xiao had said. "This makeup artist uses a powder puff to apply your makeup. If there’s no issue, that powder puff is just an ordinary one. But if you offend her, there might be something wrong with that powder puff. They won’t use the overt, foolish methods you see in novels, but they might put the powder puff in their shoes overnight and use it on your face the next day.
Or your assistant, for example—of course, your assistant is Yan Keke, so there’s no issue, but if you had another assistant you didn’t get along with, and you offended them, would they spit in your coffee if you asked them to get you a cup?"
None of these harms are substantial, and you wouldn’t even know about them without someone telling you. But once you know, you just can’t endure it. So in a film crew, it’s crucial never to offend anyone.
Moreover, relationships within a film crew are complex; you never know who is connected to whom. Maybe you offend someone here, but elsewhere they find a way to get even. In short, just be true to yourself, don’t fawn over anyone, but don’t make enemies either. As the second female lead, she wouldn’t have too rough a time in the crew.
Mengzhen felt that Liang Xiao really must have learned a lot at this place after hearing these two examples, "So this is what you learned here?"
Of course, Liang Xiao couldn’t admit to that, "It’s not like that at all. I’ve also learned a lot about scripts, and although I’ve not decided whether to pursue this career, taking the opportunity to learn more is never a mistake."
With yesterday’s reminder, Mei Mengzhen naturally became even more inclined to be friendly with the makeup and hairstyling artists.
And indeed, the faces of the two stylists who had been assigned to her did not seem that old at all.
The makeup artists didn’t expect Mei Mengzhen to start a conversation with them, and they relaxed just a little, responding, "We’re not that young; we’re both 20 already."
"Twenty, huh? That’s not old either, you’re still in your youthful years."
There was a slightly condescending tone in Mengzhen’s voice, prompting a light chuckle from the two makeup artists, "That’s true, but you look very young too. How old are you?"
"I turned 18 this year," Mengzhen replied truthfully.
"18 is young indeed. You’re still in school, right? We’ve been working for several years," one of the makeup artists said.
"Yes, I’m a freshman, but I’ll be a sophomore after the summer," she answered.
The other makeup artist smiled, "Studying is good. Have you acted in dramas before?"
"No, this is my first time acting—actually, I haven’t even started yet."
After a casual exchange, the topic gradually deepened and even led to the two makeup artists sharing their work experiences with Mengzhen.
It was then that Mengzhen learned that the two had been working in the film crew for three years, initially styling for extras. They had paid to study with a big name for a while and were promoted slowly over time.
Mengzhen asked, "What about before that? Did you two learn directly from Makeup School? My cousin is planning to study makeup. Is the school worthwhile? Does it really help?"
It certainly helps. The schools guarantee job placement, but the positions are similar to what they started with. If you want to move up a level, you need to spend more money on learning, but it’s definitely better than not studying at all.