Chapter 20

Thanks to Xie Jin, everyone felt quite uncomfortable during dinner and suffered from slight indigestion.

After the meal, everyone went back to their rooms to rest, afraid to delay even a moment, in case they get caught by the boss again and have to endure the unbearable favor.

After handling the arrangements for the artists and work under her, Su Tao then remembered to look for her own room.

She took out her room card and took the elevator. Seeing the floor number, her face sank.

The 15th floor of the hotel was luxury suites, while everyone else got standard rooms. Only she was assigned a room card for the 15th floor suite.

This scene was all too familiar.

Su Tao directly pressed 1 and went down to the hotel lobby, holding up her room card to the front desk and said, "Hello, I'd like to change to a standard room."

Before the front desk could react, the card was taken away by a fair-skinned hand.

Su Tao looked up and met the deep, faintly smiling eyes that were as dark as the night.

"Miss Su wants to give up the luxury suite and stay in a standard room. You sure have an unconventional way of thinking," Xie Jin mocked with an upturned lip.

"I prefer to stay in a room by myself," Su Tao said coldly as she snatched back the card and handed it to the front desk.

The front desk attendant didn't know whether to take the card, looking left and right in hesitation.

"Miss Su can't possibly think I want to stay in the same room as you?" Xie Jin feigned innocence as he took out his own room card and waved it in front of her eyes.

With a dazzling smile that could bring down cities, he shoved both hands into his pockets and left her with nothing but his noble, aloof back.

As if mocking her for being too full of herself.

Su Tao's mouth twitched as she watched his figure disappear into the elevator. Her thoughts were interrupted by the front desk calling her.

"Ma'am, do you still want to change rooms?"

Su Tao hesitated before taking back the room card and shook her head.

After inserting the hotel room card, warm white lights instantly came on. The lighting design was very thoughtful, giving off a cozy sense of belonging.

After putting down her luggage and making sure the balcony door was securely locked, Su Tao finally let down her guard and went to take a shower.

After washing up, she called for a bottle of red wine.

Due to the high-intensity work, she had developed the habit of drinking some red wine before bed to relax.

Because Su Tao had low alcohol tolerance, she would only pour herself a glass with just a shallow pool of red wine at the bottom. Wearing her pajamas, she opened the balcony door.

The sea breeze blew in, and the refreshing night wind allowed her to tolerate the fishy sea smell. Leaning against the railing, she looked at the pitch-black sea in the distance and took a small sip of red wine.

Her eyes were drawn to the spotlights on the wooden pier by the beach, attentively watching the couples walking by underneath.

"Since when did you learn to drink?"

The sudden deep voice startled Su Tao, causing her to jerk her hand. The wine glass knocked against the railing, frightening her to quickly grab the glass. Her big movements splashed wine all over her face.

Luckily there wasn't much wine in the glass, just enough to cover her face.

Su Tao closed her eyes and wiped away the wine on them before looking up. On the balcony adjacent to hers on the left, Xie Jin was standing there with an surprised and apologetic expression.

Su Tao took a deep breath. Whenever she ran into him, her aloof persona would instantly shatter.

"You're staying next door?" Su Tao suppressed the anger in her heart and asked in a low voice.

"...I just found out too, what a coincidence." Xie Jin's innocence was approaching shamelessness.

"What a coincidence," Su Tao gnashed through clenched teeth before slamming the door and going inside to wash her face.

The production team members had already arrived at the shooting location before dawn to set up the equipment and machines to film the red sun slowly rising from the sea. The call time for the artists was 7am. Su Tao's alarm rang at 6. After getting up and packing, she headed out the door.

She created a temporary WeChat group for easy communication if anything came up.

The two artists arrived at the shooting location smoothly. Su Tao gave them a simple rundown of some notes during filming, then hid under a tree with a straw hat and sunglasses to observe the shooting process.

Xiao Shan's agent, Shen Ou, was also a newcomer. He really admired Su Tao and kept saying he wanted to learn from her. Meanwhile, Sun XiaoJie sat aloofly to the side with an attitude of disdain about participating.

Dressed in a black shirt with the top few buttons undone, wearing black sunglasses, Xie Jin sat in a beach chair. His sharp eyes behind the glasses stared in Su Tao's direction as his thin lips pursed tightly. Seeing two male crew members approach Su Tao, he unconsciously gritted his teeth and clawed at the armrests.

Jin Chuiwen quickly bought a box of soft drinks per Xie Jin's orders and called for a break in filming to hand them out to everyone.

Seeing those men go take drinks and leave Su Tao, Xie Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief and leisurely took a bottle of water to drink.

But before he could relax for even a minute, those few men simultaneously took the soft drinks over to Su Tao, with each person bringing her a bottle.

"These shameless guys using our drinks to curry favor. Disgusting," Jin Chuiwen was also keeping an eye on Su Tao's side. Her mood would decide if the boss was happy or irritable today.

Xie Jin removed his sunglasses, his gloomy gaze fixed on those men. He beckoned Jin Chuiwen over and asked, "What do those guys do?"

Jin Chuiwen immediately went to find out. Less than 2 minutes later, he came back and quietly reported, "Boss, the three are Jiang Hao's assistant, Lu Tingting's agent, and Liu Xingyuan's agent."

Xie Jin unconsciously tapped his fingers on the armrest. Jin Chuiwen knew the boss was about to make trouble again.

The tapping stopped but Jin Chuiwen already had his ear over without Xie Jin gesturing.

"Have Zhou Chi call them over to go over tomorrow's schedule again, or chat about anything. Get those people away from her."

"Got it." Keep them from gathering around Su Tao again. Jin Chuiwen felt like he could read the boss's mind.

Finally Su Tao was left alone, to both her and Xie Jin's relief. Only Zhou Chi had to talk for hours about anything and everything with those men, leaving his mouth parched and feeling like he had never spoken so much in his life.

During the shoot, Xiao Shan was quite active but was very direct and lacked EQ despite his high IQ.

Somehow he offended Jiang Hao and was targeted by him during filming.

Nearly 40 years old, Jiang Hao was a veteran actor who looked down on popular idols like Xiao Shan. From afar, Su Tao saw Xiao Shan bump into Jiang Hao by accident during some goofing off. She didn't know what was said between them but Jiang Hao's face darkened.

"I'm right aren't I? Reckless and no respect for elders!"

By the time Su Tao and Shen Ou ran over, they heard Jiang Hao yelling.

Su Tao quickly told Shen Ou to find the director to pause filming first.

As Jiang Hao scolded away, the already angry youthful Xiao Shan couldn't stand his aggressive manner and talked back.

"I just bumped you by accident and already apologized. What more do you want?" Xiao Shan yelled as he pulled at his collar, attracting onlookers.

"You call that an apology?" Jiang Hao bellowed with a mighty air, looking very hard to deal with. "Just a 'sorry' and that's it? As a Chinese person, do you not know how to properly apologize in Chinese?"

"Didn't I say sorry again to you? You just won't let it go. What, you want me to kneel and kowtow to you?" Xiao Shan's voice choked up with grievance.

Just as Jiang Hao was about to continue his lecture, Su Tao saw filming had paused and immediately stepped forward with a smile to stand in front of Xiao Shan.

She gently said, "Teacher Jiang, calm down. Getting angry is bad for your health."

Although not short, Su Tao still looked petite compared to the tall Xiao Shan as she shielded him behind her as if protecting a cub.

Xiao Shan suddenly felt his nose turn sour being protected like this.

With grievance he called out, "Sis..."

Su Tao turned back to give him a reassuring look before continuing warmly, "Teacher Jiang, our boy here is young and inarticulate but he really looks up to you. He said before your performance in 'The Palace' was first-rate and you're a role model for him to learn from. How could he clam up when meeting his idol?"

"Is that so?" Jiang Hao was clearly susceptible to flattery. Hearing Su Tao's praise, his anger halved. "It's good young people are passionate about performing and want to improve. But you can't be rash and impatient. Why were you so brash and reckless just now?"

"Yes, yes. Xiao Shan, Teacher Jiang is giving you pointers. Quickly thank the teacher." Su Tao tugged Xiao Shan's shirt and signaled to him with her eyes.

"Thank you Teacher Jiang," Xiao Shan murmured, his voice still choked up.

"Alright, just pay more attention next time, for your agent's sake." Jiang Hao left without another word.

Su Tao apologetically told the crew they had delayed filming.

Since it was almost noon anyway, Zhou Chi was quite considerate of Su Tao and called for lunch directly, settling on a time to resume filming in the afternoon and letting everyone break for now.

The hotel was only a 5 minute walk from the shooting location. Su Tao brought Xiao Shan back. Although Xiao Shan had calmed down, he was still upset about the earlier incident. Su Tao was called away temporarily to confirm related contracts with the director of the commercial shoot, so Shen Ou stayed in the room to console Xiao Shan.

According to the director, Su Tao found the hotel room number and knocked. The business director welcomed her in with a smile.

Su Tao looked inside and didn't see anyone else. She smiled and said, "Let's just stand and talk, Director. My artist is a bit emotional right now so I'll have to get back to him soon."

"Please come in to talk. I have some detailed issues that our leadership needs to explain to you," the business director wore thick glasses and laughed innocently.

"There's leadership inside?" Su Tao peeked in again.

"Teacher Su, please come in," Zhou Chi suddenly emerged from inside. Su Tao was put at ease and nodded before following him in.

Upon entering, she saw Xie Jin leisurely sitting on the sofa watching her intently.

"Teacher Su, something came up for us. Please discuss the terms with our boss here. We'll take our leave first."

Zhou Chi and the business director were already standing at the door. After saying that, they slipped out and closed the door.

"Miss Su's wariness is not high. A man invites you into a hotel room and you just casually walk in?" Xie Jin looked at her reproachfully, somehow turning the tables on her.

Su Tao didn't speak, narrowing her eyes and staring fixedly at him.

Xie Jin felt somewhat awkward under Su Tao's gaze. He cleared his throat and slid the contract forward, "Take a look at the terms first. Ask me if you have any questions."

Finally Su Tao shifted her eyes down to the contract. The terms were simple and mostly normal, reasonable clauses.

The time, payment, everything looked good and standard. Su Tao didn't hesitate and directly asked for a pen to sign it.

A black pen was handed over but Xie Jin didn't let go of it. "No issues?"

"Any problems?" Su Tao slid her eyes over.

Xie Jin released his grip. "No issues, go ahead and sign it."

After signing the contract, Su Tao got a call from Shen Ou saying Xiao Shan was throwing a fit and refusing to continue filming. She immediately hurried to the door but paused and turned to say thanks to Xie Jin.

It was true that he got this business deal because of him. They didn't have a relationship anymore, and he was just helping out of old affection. She should at least say thank you.

"Just say thank you verbally?" Xie Jin was quick to seize the opportunity. "Take me out for a meal."

Su Tao readily agreed, "No problem, but I'm a bit busy right now. Let's do it in a few days."

"Which day in a few days?" Xie Jin hadn't even finished asking before Su Tao hurried out the door.

Shen Ou anxiously waited by the door for Su Tao. When Su Tao went in, she saw the grievously wronged look on Xiao Shan's tear-stained face and sighed.

"What's going on? What are you fighting about?"

Sun XiaoJie and Tong Mingxuan also hurried over. Seeing so many people come in, Xiao Shan buried her head under the pillow so they couldn't see her like this.

Su Tao asked everyone to leave and wait outside while she talked to Xiao Shan alone.

After everyone left, Su Tao locked the door. Just as she was about to speak, someone knocked on the door.

She opened the door to find a sullen-faced Xie Jin.

"What are you locking the door for? Is there anything you can't say with the door open?"

Su Tao's face darkened as she shut the door directly.

The door was knocked again. With Xiao Shan's unstable emotions, Su Tao had to cheer her up in half an hour. Left with no choice, she opened the door again. Xie Jin's hand knocking the door didn't have time to retract and knocked Su Tao directly on the forehead.

Xie Jin: "...I didn't mean it."

Su Tao glared at him, clutching her forehead. Xie Jin awkwardly retracted his hand, losing his previous momentum.

"I'm working, don't disturb me, okay?" Su Tao's voice was neither high nor low, still sounding gentle, but with unrejectable firmness.

When Jin Chuiwen arrived, this was the scene he saw.

The boss obediently nodded and took a step back with the door shut before him.

He silently leaned against the wall beside the door, hands in pockets, long legs lazily crossed at the ankles, and just waited there quietly.

Not just Jin Chuiwen, everyone outside was stunned.

Was this the ferocious, irritable Xie Jin?

Why was he so obedient?!