What to Do When Pretending to Be an Alpha Gets Exhausting [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 5

“Ji…”

Before running through a scene, Ye Xingyuan was used to communicating with the other actor first.

But before he could even get the words out, Ji Chuxi suddenly yanked him. With one hard pull, Ye Xingyuan fell to his knees on the cold, hard ground with a thud.

Both knees hurt so much they went numb. His palm scraped against the grains of sand on the ground, breaking the skin, and his palm burned with pain.

Ye Xingyuan endured the pain and entered the role, lowering his head, both hands on the ground, almost in a crawling posture.

His body trembled out of fear, and sounds of pleading came from his mouth.

As he crawled, he naturally let his cheek rub against the dirty ground, making himself look even more wretched.

“Princess Consort, spare me. I didn’t do it on purpose. I really didn’t do it on purpose.” The fear in his voice had layers.

He portrayed the state of a servant who had dared to commit an outrageous wrongdoing, been discovered by his master, yet lacked the courage to take responsibility and was terrified of death, to the fullest.

Ji Chuxi stepped forward, grabbed Ye Xingyuan’s hair hard, and forced his head up. “You lowly thing. This consort treated you so well, gave you food, clothes, a place to live, and even let you go to school, yet you dared seduce the prince behind this consort’s back?”

Ye Xingyuan’s scalp hurt sharply from being pulled.

But his acting was not affected.

Panic and unease gathered as tears in his peach blossom eyes.

Because the character needed to remain in heat, the corners of his eyes were red, and aside from the dust on his small face, there was also a flush.

It was clearly a wretched and hateful posture, yet one could still see how stunning that face was.

When Ji Chuxi met Ye Xingyuan’s face, his heart gave a heavy jolt.

Was this a coincidence?

Why was Ye Xingyuan’s gaze so full of acting?

Because of his shock, Ji Chuxi was almost suppressed by Ye Xingyuan’s performance.

But he reacted quickly. Bringing his anger and embarrassment into the scene, he raised his hand and viciously slapped Ye Xingyuan across the face.

Slap.

The sound of the slap was especially loud.

Ye Xingyuan’s fair cheek visibly reddened.

Xu Xiaopan hugged the bag in his arms tightly, afraid Ye Xingyuan would lose control and start fighting Ji Chuxi on the spot.

He was so scared he did not dare breathe loudly.

But the next moment, Ye Xingyuan’s performance amazed everyone.

He portrayed the servant’s cunning, shamelessness, lack of dignity, and fear of death to the fullest.

It was clearly only a scene run-through. He had not even changed into costume, and there was no surrounding set to support the scene, yet he still made people hate him so much their teeth itched.

His acting was too infectious.

In just a few short minutes, he pulled people into the scene with him and stirred their emotions.

They hated the character he played to the bone, yet could not help having their attention stolen by that seductive face.

Ye Xingyuan’s face visibly swelled and reddened.

When the people around them saw that Ji Chuxi had really hit him, they all sucked in a breath.

This was only a trial scene, yet he had already hit him for real. When they officially started filming, would he deliberately keep causing NGs just to slap him a few more times?

In this industry, such things were not rare.

When people had private grudges, once they encountered this kind of face-slapping scene, they would often deliberately claim it was for shaping the character, then purposely make mistakes and cause NGs so they could openly slap the other person.

Whether it was the staff present, the actors, or the extras waiting nearby, anyone who had been in this industry knew about the grudges between Ji Chuxi and Ye Xingyuan.

Now, they could not help secretly sweating for Ye Xingyuan.

The audition scene ended.

While surprised by Ye Xingyuan’s performance, the director was also quite satisfied.

He praised Ye Xingyuan a few times in front of everyone. Then, seeing that Ye Xingyuan’s face had swollen, he comforted him and said, “Go back to the hotel and rest today. Remember to ice your face. Come back to film tomorrow after the swelling goes down.”

Ji Chuxi left with his fists clenched in anger.

When Ye Xingyuan and Little Fatty were packing up to leave, a girl with two thick braids and black-framed glasses walked over and handed Ye Xingyuan a bottle of water.

Ye Xingyuan was quite surprised.

He reached out and accepted the water. “Thank you.”

The girl said somewhat indignantly, “Teacher Ye, aren’t you angry at all? That Ji Chuxi really went too far. He was obviously kicking you while you were down—and what he threw was a meteorite.”

Ye Xingyuan smiled calmly. “Why should I be angry? Acting is acting. Teacher Ji hit for real because he’s dedicated and treats acting with sincerity.”

When Ji Chuxi came over, he happened to hear Ye Xingyuan’s words. His face turned red, then white.

He angrily twisted his waist and walked away.

The curve of Ye Xingyuan’s lips lifted slightly, and he said to Little Fatty, “Let’s go.”

Liu Xiaojun came in to get something, then ran back out. When he reached the car parked by the roadside, he got in and said with a gossiping expression, “Brother Chen, do you know what I just ran into?”

Pei Yanchen took the script from his hand and flipped through it. “What did you run into?”

“I ran into Ji Chuxi and Ye Xingyuan running through a scene. It was the scene where the servant repays kindness with betrayal, climbs into bed to seek favor, gets discovered by the princess consort, and gets slapped…”

Liu Xiaojun vividly described how Ji Chuxi had pulled Ye Xingyuan down to the ground and viciously slapped him. At the end, he even slapped the air, imagining he was the one slapping Ye Xingyuan’s face. “It was really satisfying.”

Pei Yanchen’s hand paused while flipping through the script. His long fingers pressed down on the black words printed on the white paper. “Is everything you said true?”

Liu Xiaojun said excitedly, “It’s true. Before I came out, I even heard him say to a girl who was speaking up for him, ‘Acting is acting. Teacher Ji hit me because he’s dedicated.’ Don’t you think that’s strange? Those kinds of lofty principles can actually come out of Wild Dog’s mouth.”

Pei Yanchen’s brows furrowed slightly. When he did not speak, he looked cold as ice, making people afraid to approach.

Only his assistant, who had followed him for many years, had long grown used to his aloofness and could put on a whole show by himself.

Liu Xiaojun muttered to himself, “Ye Xingyuan really has been acting strange lately. Last time, he even wanted your information. When he saw you in the dressing room, his eyes were practically glowing.”

Pei Yanchen also thought of their meeting that day.

Although there had been a door between them, he had still heard Ye Xingyuan’s words clearly: “Within three minutes, I want to know every piece of information about this Alpha.”

And then, after the door had been pushed open, their gazes had met.

Ye Xingyuan had acted as though it was their first time meeting.

That gaze was like a wolfdog seeing a meaty bone.

“Brother Xing, does your face hurt? Should we go to the hospital?” A voice came from the front of the car.

Liu Xiaojun leaned over the seat and looked ahead, subconsciously lowering his voice. “Brother Chen, it’s Ye Xingyuan and the fatty beside him. They came out.”

Pei Yanchen’s deep gaze crossed the front windshield and saw the two people who had just come out of the set entrance.

Ye Xingyuan tossed the drink in his hand up and caught it. After moving a little farther from the entrance, he stopped, unscrewed the cap, and poured out the water inside the bottle.

Xu Xiaopan happened to see this and asked curiously, “Brother Xing, why did you pour the water out?”

Ye Xingyuan shook the empty bottle in his hand, then threw it in an arc into the recyclable side of the trash can. “The cap had already been opened. Would you dare drink it?”

Xu Xiaopan’s face immediately turned pale. “Brother Xing, were they trying to harm you? Could it have been Ji Chuxi?”

Ye Xingyuan shook his head. “It wouldn’t be him. Although Ji Chuxi has a bad temper, he doesn’t like playing dirty. Besides, he was the one who asked the director to give me this cannon fodder role. Why would he drug me? Wouldn’t it be more satisfying for him to wait until I film the scene and slap me a few more times?”

Xu Xiaopan’s face was full of heartache as he muttered, “That’s true too. But Brother Xing, why didn’t you just throw the drink away directly? Why did you pour it out? What if it was a corrosive poison and got on your fingers?”

Ye Xingyuan raised his hand and pressed it against Little Fatty’s soft bowl-cut head, smiling lightly. “Silly. There might be scavengers nearby. What if they picked it up and thought it was a new, unopened bottle of water, kept it, and drank it?”

The assistant’s face turned red. Lowering his head, he said honestly, “That really does seem possible.”

“Let’s go. Back to the hotel.”

Xu Xiaopan jogged after Ye Xingyuan and followed behind him. Looking at Ye Xingyuan’s back, he felt that it looked even taller and greater.

The current Brother Xing really was as dazzling as a star.

When Ye Xingyuan passed by the Maybach, he felt it looked a little familiar, but he did not look closely. After passing it, he walked straight toward the hotel.

The car windows were all black. From outside, one could not see inside, but from inside, everything outside could be seen clearly.

Pei Yanchen watched Ye Xingyuan walk past. When Ye Xingyuan passed in front of him, he suddenly turned his head and glanced at the car window.

There was dust on his fair face, but he still looked very good.

His eyelashes were very long. His peach blossom eyes were beautiful, clean, and bright. Paired with the white T-shirt he was wearing now, he looked like a tall, delicate high school student.

The assistant behind him also saw it.

After Ye Xingyuan walked farther away, Liu Xiaojun quietly complained, “This guy is so annoying. Why does he just have to look like a man torn out of a manga?”

Pei Yanchen uncomfortably tightened his grip on the script in his hand. “A man torn out of a manga?”

“It means a man who looks like he walked out after tearing through a manga. Ye Xingyuan’s face is delicate enough, right? His features are proper and handsome, and his skin is fair too. In manga, people with faces like that are all male leads. Too bad his character is no good.”

Perhaps because Pei Yanchen usually spoke too little, Liu Xiaojun had developed a habit of chattering.

Inside the dressing room, Ji Chuxi sat alone, unable to calm down for a long time.

He clenched his fist, and his palm could still feel a lingering numbness.

When they were running through the scene earlier, his anger had rushed to his head, and he had used almost all his strength to swing that slap.

But now, he did not feel relieved at all.

It felt like he had clearly won, yet had somehow lost completely.

The little assistant walked in and carefully handed him a cup of iced coffee.

Ji Chuxi glanced at it coldly, raised his hand, and smacked the coffee cup. The spilled coffee splashed all over the assistant.

The assistant crouched down in panic to pick up the broken glass shards while apologizing. “I’m sorry, Brother Chuxi. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

One sentence made Ji Chuxi think of the scene run-through earlier.

Ye Xingyuan’s conversation with that person was still echoing in his ears even now.

This was the first time Ji Chuxi had ever heard Ye Xingyuan praise him.

“Acting is acting…” Ji Chuxi murmured softly, repeating what Ye Xingyuan had said. “What exactly is he trying to do?”

After picking up the shards, the assistant stood and said, trembling with fear, “Brother Chuxi.”

Ji Chuxi was irritated and waved his hand. “Shut up and get out. Let me calm down.”

The assistant silently walked out.

Before he could close the door, he heard the sound of things being smashed inside.

He looked inside through the crack of the door. The bottles and jars on the dressing table had been violently smashed onto the floor. Several glass bottles had shattered, white and black fragments scattered everywhere.

Expensive essence had spilled all over the floor.

The assistant regretfully glanced at the essence covering the floor, silently closed the door, and stood guard outside to keep others from entering.

Author’s Note:

Pei Yanchen takes out his diary: Today is another day of secretly watching my wife in silence.