Chapter 18 Fitting In
The day dragged by like school usually does. The overall novelty of being in school after a long summer holiday has worn off and the tiredness and stress of being in third year was starting to set in. Homework piles were starting to get higher and so were expectations grew higher.
Su Qingtang waved to Wen Xingshen she walked off in the opposite direction before deciding to wait on a taxi. The ordinary Su Qingtang would've never done this but she wasn't the normal Su Qingtang. The original was a typical pampered young miss with no knowledge about much about life out of her castle walls.
She gave the taxi driver the instructions before she headed to the set backpack in tow. She is then met by the bubbly Bai Ziwen who greets her with warm wave before returning to her hot cup of water. Her usual cheeriness gone and left was an emptiness.
Her cheeks lost their resplendent glow as she stared unfocusedly into the distance. Her eyes the very picture of… despair.
"Big sister Ziwen." Su Qingtang greets after giving a perfunctory greeting to the rest of the crew. "What happened? Your soaking wet." Why are you so down and out?
Her clothes were dry but her hair was wet and her nose was turning bright red. She seemed like she was catching a cold. Her hand clutched this cup tightly as if it was the only thing she could hold on to in a sinking ship. Like a drowning man clutching at a straw.
It was nearing winter so the chances of catching cold were very high in this period. It would be bad if Bai Ziwen caught a cold not when we have a strict deadline with lots of scenes to be filmed in winter. She seemed to realize this and kept soldiering on. Even though her eyes help a helplessness maybe even she wasn't aware of.
"I did a job as an extra earlier which involved me falling into a pool." She lightly explained. Her eyes empty but focused.
"Sister Ziwen was bullied." The system spoke the obvious. "I thought you said that actors don't get bullied this low down the hierarchy.?"
Su Qingtang rolled her eyes. She seemed to have met an idiot. "Scrap, only extras would be risked in stunts like falling into water in these temperatures. Although Bai Ziwen is a female lead here in other circles she can only work as an extra. Extras generally act as the punching bags and the foils of more famous actors. Don't you get it?"
She went to a corner by herself to review her lines while the set was being set up in a suitable way for the upcoming scenes. She watched as everything with light eyes. She seemed to be far away in her thoughts.
About 30 minutes later Wen Xingshen comes riding in. He parks his bicycle before speedwalking over. He asks between breaths. "Have we started yet?"
Su Qingtang shakes her head before taking in his beat up bicycle and at his sweat soaked clothes. His hands had burn marks that weren't there hours ago. The smell of a hospital clings to him. Su Qingtang suddenly understood why he seemed so tired. Admiration swelled deep in her heart.
She turns her attention back outside and notices his ride. The paint had started stripping and the tires looked run-down. It seemed like a pretty busted bike if you asked her.
"…System?" Su Qingtang turned and studied Bai Ziwen who was sniffling slightly. While talking to Qiao Bifan who kept rubbing a bracelet on his wrist. It was obviously was made for a little girl and had been stretched to the max to accommodate his hands. He seemed to treasure it with every fibre of his being. "Do you think it was selfish of me to even take this role in the first place?"
The system paused its confusion evident. "What?"
"Su Qingtang leaned back into her chair. The chair was a standard plastic chair and was very uncomfortable for Su Qingtang's pampered body but she swallowed her grievances into her stomach. Who was she to complain?
"Being here." She started, before sighing and pushing a playful strand out of hair out of her face and resting her chin on her hand. Her bright eyes taking everything around her without missing even a spot of activity. She seemed to have faded out of the picture and have become a spectator to everything happening around her. "Everyone here is struggling to get their big break. I'm not. I can have anything I want at my beck and call. My family has power and influence and a whole lot of money. I don't need to be here. Somehow I feel like someone else could use this spot more than I can."
The system laughed dryly. "Dozens of female leads are spitting blood somewhere in the distance from hearing your conjecture. Taking and taking other people's chance opportunities and never stopping to think about anyone other than themselves."
Su Qingtang cocked her head in curiosity. Her voice changes a bit and loses the chirpiness and gaining the calmness that was always hiding in the depths of her eyes. "System, why are you avoiding the question."
#MyHostIsTooSmart
#HowToHideThingsFromHost
The system hated when the host resumed her original personality. He felt like all his data was hers to hack and change on her every whim. It was a jarring experience. Even if he knew the chirpy Su Qingtang was just a persona it still helped comfort his system ego.
The system rubbed his head as it thought of ways to avoid the question without raising suspicion. Its wishes are answered when she is dragged into the dressing room.
The makeup artist worked hard on Su Qingtang's face. There wasn't much she needed to do as Su Qingtang was already quite pretty, but there were always ways for pretty to go to drop dead beautiful.
Su Qingtang sighed. The difference between her and female leads was too much of an inescapable chasm. Whenever female leads had their makeups done it would only take a few minutes because their face constitutions were naturally near perfect but she had to sit in a chair for thirty minutes.
People who spend hours doing their makeup "…" Do we look like jokes to you?
Su Qingtang didn't realise how special she was.