A Snake in Disguise

It was two whole days before Zhou Ye allowed Wen Rui to leave his bed and another two days before he was cleared to go back on set. Even though he'd shifted back to his room, Zhou Ye still dropped in periodically to check on his health.

Neither of them spoke about the watch that Wen Rui still wore on his left wrist.

News of his illness got back to his management company as well. Wen Rui only knew this because he received a flood of concerned messages from Mu Feng and one short, curt one from Pei Jun. Otherwise, there was radio silence from Manager Qu and still no news about an assistant for him.

His lips twisted into a frown as he walked back into the filming hub, popping a lozenge into his mouth to soothe the itching at the back of his throat. Li Xue spotted him immediately, her long ponytail swishing out behind her as she came bounding over to greet him.

"Ruirui!" Her brows knitted together as she took in his gaunt face. "You look exhausted—" She covered her mouth and grimaced. "You're not going to get upset that I said that, right? I know some celebrities take it as a taboo to comment on each other's looks."

Wen Rui gave her a wan smile. "Not at all, you're just being honest." He knew how terrible he looked at the moment. If Zhou Ye had his way, Wen Rui would still be bedridden. But Wen Rui didn't want to trouble everyone by taking an even longer break. "Where's Director Fu?"

He looked around for the production team but didn't spot any familiar faces. "Where's Assistant Director Deng?" The assistant director could usually be found in and around the hub, overseeing the flow of things and ensuring that all the relevant cast and crew members knew when they had to be ready for filming.

A furtive look came over Li Xue's face as she dragged him to a corner to whisper, eyes darting around to make sure that no one was overhearing. "Assistant Director Deng was fired yesterday."

Wen Rui's mouth fell open. "Fired? Why?" Apart from messing with Wen Rui's schedule, Assistant Director Deng had been amazing at his job, so wholly competent that Wen Rui had been determined to grit his teeth and bear with the unfairness for the sake of the entire production. He was just a small-fry at the moment, there was no point in blowing things out of proportion.

Li Xue lowered her voice even further. "I overheard Director Fu speaking to him," she confessed. "I don't have the full details but Director Fu interrogated him on accepting bribes to shift the scheduling around." She gave Wen Rui a meaningful look. "Only one person's schedule was affected. You get what I mean?"

Wen Rui considered what she was saying. He couldn't say that he was surprised, there was no reason for Assistant Director Deng to treat him so badly without any benefits. The idea of Jiang Xin bribing him to make these arrangements wasn't far-fetched at all."

"Did Director Fu speak to…" he trailed off and let her fill in the blanks herself.

Li Xue shook her head and rolled her eyes. "If only," she muttered. "She's still been filming these couple of days and acting like your fatigue and illness had nothing to do with her. But from what I heard, and mind you, I didn't eavesdrop for long, Assistant Director Deng kept insisting that she wasn't involved and he had acted of his own accord to pay off some debtors. Even though anyone with eyes can see that he was favouring her with his arrangements."

"…? Assistant Director Deng was implying that he'd chosen to manipulate the schedule on the request of his…debtors?" Wen Rui was about to call this ridiculous when he thought about what Li Xue had said about Jiang Xin in jest before, about her not having a 'powerful husband' to solve her problems for her.

Perhaps she did and no one knew about it? A backer that had targeted Wen Rui from behind the scenes to ease the path for his precious lover?

"We shouldn't be discussing this," he decided. "Since Director Fu has decided that filming will go on with the current cast, we need to do our best to work with her." Wen Rui wasn't a saint. He would remember this slight but this wasn't the appropriate time to act on his frustration. The best way to prevent this from happening again was to gain enough clout in the industry that no one would be able to take advantage of him anymore.

A fiery determination simmered in the pit of his stomach. He'd never felt such a spark of ambition before, had always been protected by his family name, with no need to work hard for success.

The next couple of hours passed with Wen Rui going through the routine with Makeup and Wardrobe cooing over how much weight he'd lost in less than a week. He knew that his face tended to earn him the goodwill of others if he made use of it right. Instead of the broody scowl a lot of his album photoshoots seemed to portray, he chose to smile instead, each one going straight to the hearts of these big sisters like cupid's arrow.

"Ruirui, here, relax for a while, I'll do your hair later right before you're scheduled, take a nap now if you need!"

"Don't worry about your lipstick, I'll touch it up if it comes off, make sure you eat on time! You're too thin!"

Li Xue gaped. "Big Sisters," she stammered. "Aren't all of you being too biased?"

They just laughed in her face and she wrinkled her nose but her complaints were good-natured and the atmosphere remained light until the door to the trailer slammed open and in walked Jiang Xin with the director in tow.

Director Fu's face was blacker than night. "Jiang Xin, I'm warning you," he threatened. "You're not as irreplaceable as you think you are, I invited an actress to star in my drama, not a deity."

Jiang Xin didn't seem to pay him much heed. "Director Fu knows best whether I should be replaced at this point or not," she said, flinging herself into a chair and gesturing for the makeup artists around her to get started. "Hurry up, I have somewhere else to be in half an hour."

Director Fu chest heaved as he struggled to contain his anger. "You signed a contract of exclusivity!" he gritted out. "What you're doing—" He caught sight of Wen Rui and a flicker of guilt crossed his face. "What you've been doing for so long is a breach of contract!"

He went over to Wen Rui who stood up to talk to him.

"Director Fu," Wen Rui said, inclining his head politely. "Apologies for the delay in filming."

"No, not at all!" Director Fu rushed to say. "Wen Rui ah, it's my fault for not noticing earlier that there was an issue." Sweat beaded on his brow. His humble demeanour took Wen Rui by surprise. Although Director Fu had never been an arrogant sort, he was not the type to pay too much attention to newbies either. Wen Rui hadn't been convinced that Director Fu truly had no clue about the bullying going on but he gave the impression that he would rather close one eye than allow disharmony to break out. Thus, Wen Rui hadn't bothered going to him either.

This sudden politeness was…hmm. Wen Rui could only wonder. When Zhou Ye had said that he'd informed the set that Wen Rui was out of commission and needed to take leave, in what capacity had he done so? Director Fu hadn't picked u Wen Rui's calls during his entire break, had only texted Wen Rui to tell him not to worry and to rest for as long as he needed.

Wen Rui couldn't help but wonder now. Did Director Fu know about Zhou Ye?

How about the others?

As if on cue, Jiang Xin's eyes suddenly darted to meet Wen Rui's in the mirror's reflection. He could tell that she was looking straight at him, the cold calculative gleam in her eyes sharper than the impression of a ditzy spoilt brat that she gave off.

Alarm bells rang in his head. Beneath the guise of a sheltered princess was a snake lying in wait for the opportune moment to strike.

But what had Wen Rui done to incur her wrath? Was it just because of Assistant Director Fu's retrenchment and the ugly rumours that she had picked on him?

Her lips curved up mirthlessly. "Director Fu," she drawled. "You don't need to fawn so much over poor little Wen Rui. He's got people in high places doting on him."

"…" Director Fu was suddenly unable to meet Wen Rui's eyes. Just like that, he knew that the director was aware of Zhou Ye and had misunderstood the nature of their relationship.

[Well, as much as a fake marriage with growing ambiguity could be misunderstood.] Wen Rui wasn't even sure what was going on there. But that didn't mean he needed to share it with all and sundry.

He crinkled his eyes in Jiang Xin's direction, unflappable in the face of her subtle accusation that he had a backer to protect him. "Since Ms Jiang is so familiar with my relationships, you must also be familiar with my family background."

She scoffed. "Little Brother, let me advise you, in this industry, everyone has connections to someone or another, it's nothing special, no need to let it get to your head, especially since it appears that your family doesn't…seem to care that much about you?"

If she was hoping to wound Wen Rui's feelings with that statement, she was sorely mistaken. Perhaps, just a couple of weeks ago, he would have smarted from that. But after visiting his mother's grave, he was ready to put his yearning for his father's love aside and focus on living the life that the only parent who loved him wanted him to have.

"Which is why I'm lucky I know how to make friends," he said with a pleasant smile that left the makeup and wardrobe big sisters gushing inwardly as they listened to the argument with growing resentment for this woman who had been impossible to handle since day one. "Ms Jiang could stand to learn a bit about that."

Jiang Xin didn't take him seriously. "We'll see," was all she said.

He didn't know how Jiang Xin found out about Zhou Ye and made a note to go home and ask. But whatever it was, either she was foolish enough to bring it up in front of him and give him a reason to retaliate or she was confident that no matter what, she would be protected.

She was right. They shall see. Wen Rui hadn't been planning on going up against her so quickly but since she seemed keen on making his life difficult, he wasn't going to take it lying down either.

The watch hiding beneath his jacket sleeve made him feel like he could be…just that little bit more selfish.