Lines

"I've prepared a glasshouse for you. You'll be able to see the entire village from there."

When he said these words, he stared at her with sparkling eyes. "There's a range nearby, and there are two horses that haven't been named yet.

"Let's go there during autumn. The grapes will be ripe by then. We can go and harvest them ourselves. We'll make our own wine and keep them in the cellar for…" he had been vague back then as he said, "the future."

At that time, Pei Yi had been trying to lure her to France. He did his best to describe the landscape there. He said that there were two horses and a vineyard that was more than a century old. He told her about how the grapes would appear in bunches in autumn and how the sunlight shone through the leaves of the grapes and onto the grapes themselves. She could imagine the exact scenery when he described them.

As she thought about this, Jiang Se felt dejected. She could slightly understand what Gu Jiaer meant now.

When Pei Yi wanted to persuade her to go to France back then, he had spoken to her with great passion. Therefore, when he mentioned the tranquil village under the sun which seemed to be isolated from the world, she had nodded easily and agreed to go with him.

Pei Yi had planned this trip to France a long time ago. However, she was not able to make it a reality in the end.

She was not a passionate and expressive person, so when Pei Yi had mentioned all of this to her back then, she merely thought that it was a nice plan.

However, she wondered why she felt heavy-hearted when recalling this memory now.

She tried to remember how Pei Yi looked and sounded like when he told her these things. It was as if he could not wait to bring her to the manor he prepared and listen to her praises.

As she recalled the memories, she was able to grasp her state of mind back then. It was as if she could imagine the vast vineyard under blue skies as she listened to Pei Yi speaking in his animated tone. She could see the glasshouse in the castle and the two horses that were yet to be named.

She imagined herself as Pei Yi back then, and her tone gradually relaxed.

At this moment, she could not see her own face. Naturally, she did not see how densely her eyes sparkled.

Gu Jiaer only remembered about Jiang Se after shooting another scene of Zhao Ruoyun and Hang Yuyi. "Are you ready?"

Zhao Ruoyun's and Hang Yuyi's performance in the cabin was merely conforming to the norms of acting. They made no mistakes, but they gave no surprises as well.

Gu Jiaer could not get the feeling he was looking for, so he appeared irritated.

"I'm ready, Director." Jiang Se nodded. Gu Jiaer showed no intention of filming her. He merely gestured for her to recite her lines to him.

Jiang Se smiled slightly, and he could tell that she was different now.

Before this, she had been flawless under the lens. However, she had been so perfect that she gave off a high and mighty air.

However, at this moment, her eyes were filled with anticipation. The smile at the edges of her lips melted her disaffection away.

She retained her unique tone, but her expression drew the audience into her world. She spoke about medieval Paris, and how art and food gave this city its colors and life.

Gu Jiaer was reminded of the days he spent studying in Paris. He remembered the dense artistic atmosphere there. His mind wandered, but Jiang Se had already stopped talking as she was finished with her lines.

Her lines were short. This time, it was not as smooth and neat as before. Instead, it made the listener wait for more.

The charm of her words was on par with her exaggerated expression. If Jiang Se could maintain this level of performance in the scene, she would become a highlight in the scene of the cabin and even outshine Zhao Ruoyun and the others.

Gu Jiaer gave her a satisfied glance.

His words had not fallen on deaf ears. Besides her beautiful looks, which seemed to be a special favor of the heavens, she had good comprehensive abilities as well.

Naturally, he had only given her some tips because he judged that Jiang Se was not a bimbo since she could speak French fluently despite her young age.

The most important thing was that when he had said those words to her without holding back in front of everyone, she had not taken them to heart. She was not like the others who put up a show of respecting him but were secretly disgruntled.

This gave Gu Jiaer a good impression of her. "Not bad. Sometimes, in acting, besides the minute changes in your expression, the way you deliver your lines is also important."

When he finished, they went through another round of rehearsal. It was late when they finished everything.

The filming of the cabin scene was set for three days later. By the time Jiang Se removed her makeup, changed into her own clothes, and boarded the subway, it was close to ten o'clock.

The train was not crowded. Jiang Se sat in a corner, leaning back into her seat and closing her eyes to rest.

She had been on her feet for the whole day today, so she felt tired. Entering the entertainment industry was not as easy as she thought. She opened her eyes to look at the time. She reckoned that it would be past 11 when she reached home. The Du family would have been sound asleep by now, hence she did not think that they would open the door for her.

With about a month before the start of the term, she was thinking of landing a few background actor roles to pay for the rent of her own room. She was thinking of moving out of the Du residence.

Gu Jiaer's words today had moved Jiang Se slightly. This industry was not as easy and simple as she had once thought. Acting was much more than playing pretend as a character in the story.

She was fine with not making this her career. However, since she had decided to do this, for now, she did not want to be looked down upon by anybody else.

In some sense, she treated portraying Miss Zhang the same way as she, Feng Nan, was living Jiang Se's life. She adjusted her mentality and pushed her grandfather, Feng Zhongliang's influence out of her mind so that she would not be as biased against acting as she was before.

She spent her two days at home practicing in front of the mirror. Because she could clearly see her own eyes in her reflection, she corrected her shortcomings and tried to match her expression with her slightly gleeful tone.

It was stuffy inside the house in the July weather. In the Du residence, they were not even allowed to switch the fan on in the day, let alone install air conditioners. Jiang Se's throat felt parched after all that practicing. She went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.

Du Honghong's door was suddenly pulled open heavily. She shouted, "Can you keep it down?!"

Zhou Hui was talking to the neighbor outside the house about her own son who was about to enter the seventh grade when she heard Du Honghong's shouts from within.

She hastily went into the house and saw a gloomy Du Honghong shouting into the kitchen, "Do you have a problem? You're incessantly stroking your hair coquettishly in front of the camera and mumbling the entire day."

Jiang Se was standing in the kitchen and holding a glass of water, but her expression could not be seen clearly.

"What's this about?" Zhou Hui sounded anxious. "Things were fine just moments ago."

The two sisters had always had a rocky relationship. They would sometimes quarrel between themselves as well, but Jiang Se had been behaving herself better lately. Even when Du Honghong picked a fight with her, she would ignore her, so the house was much more peaceful now.

Zhou Hui had just been outside for a short while. Why were they quarreling again?

"Ask her! She's been mumbling for the entire day lately and twisting her body in front of the camera. We know that you're pretty. There, are you happy now?"