Overnight Hit: Vicious Stepmother and Genius Son-Chapter 519 - 516: Her Person

Ye Zhenzhen stepped out of the bathroom after her shower to find that Song Jinze was not in the room.

The WeChat group of the crew kept buzzing with messages, her phone ringing incessantly.

She picked up her phone and glanced at it. The group messages weren’t anything important, just Liu Rui sending a WeChat message telling her to make sure she arrived at the crew by 7 a.m. the next morning.

The makeup for the morning’s scenes wouldn’t take too long, but there were quite a few lines to memorize.

Ye Zhenzhen replied with a simple "Okay."

Liu Rui seemed to be waiting for her reply, as the dialog box instantly showed ’typing...’

Ye Zhenzhen set her phone aside and began to dry her half-wet hair. About two minutes passed before the message finally came through.

[Zhenzhen, tomorrow’s the first scene of the crew, go for it!]

The dialog box showed ’typing...’ for so long, and that’s all?

Ye Zhenzhen still responded with, "Okay."

Liu Rui had hesitated quite a while before sending that message. The original message actually read:

’Zhenzhen, you’re the first up tomorrow, with so many lines in the script, if you have time now, take a look at it. You must know the lines by heart, as Yang Pinghui is no ordinary director, don’t let the first scene diminish your reputation.’

In the past, Liu Rui probably wouldn’t have taken such care with her words and would have just sent the message as it was.

Possibly, she wouldn’t even bother with these matters so late at night and would simply have let the assistant inform Ye Zhenzhen.

But times have changed, and so has Ye Zhenzhen. She has become more capable in both her acting and interpersonal skills, and the resources surrounding her have improved as well. So, Liu Rui had to personally keep an eye on things and be even more careful about how she spoke to Ye Zhenzhen.

One reason was the real expertise the other party possessed, and the other was because of Song Jinze.

With Ye Zhenzhen’s status, Liu Rui spoke much more carefully than before.

Whether or not Liu Rui said it, Ye Zhenzhen would still look at the script. This was the most basic professional ethic of an actor.

After her hair was dry, she went downstairs to fetch the script from her bag. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Along the way, the man was still nowhere to be seen. When she encountered a servant carrying milk upstairs, she asked, "Has the sir come in yet?"

It couldn’t be that he went back out to work after sending her home, could it?

The servant replied respectfully, "He has come in, he’s in the study."

"Madam, the sir asked me to warm up some milk for you. Shall I take it to your room, or would you like to drink it in the living room?"

"Give it to me."

After finishing the milk, the servant took away the cup, and Ye Zhenzhen went upstairs with the script.

Reading the script in bed was sure to make one sleepy, and given that she hadn’t slept well the night before and had been busy all day, it didn’t take long before she was yawning profusely.

She had nearly memorized the lines for the next day’s first scene, and glancing at the time, she saw it was almost midnight, with Song Jinze still not having entered the room.

After thinking for a few seconds, she got up, took her script, and decided to accompany him in the study—however late he stayed up, she’d do the same.

After what happened the previous night, he was essentially her man.

Her responsibility now extended to his mental and physical health; she couldn’t let him keep burning the midnight oil like this.

Planning to enter the study quietly, she made no sound on her way to the study door, but just as her hand touched the doorknob, the door opened from the inside.

"You..." they said in unison, then paused simultaneously.

A flicker of surprise crossed both their eyes.

Ye Zhenzhen asked softly with a smile, "Are you done with your work?"

"Yeah, why aren’t you asleep yet?"

"Reading the script."

She waved the script in her hand in front of his eyes.

The man’s demeanor was mild as he took her by the hand, "It’s late, go back to your room and rest."

"Oh."

She let him lead her by the hand, back to the master bedroom.

...

After Song Jinze had finished his shower and come out of the bathroom, he saw the woman holding the script and asleep, leaning against the headboard.

The silken blanket on the bed only covered her waist, her dense black hair spread out at will, her eyes closed, with her long lashes hanging slightly, and her aqua satin nightgown had slipped from her left shoulder.

His deep eyes softened a bit as he approached the bed and picked up the fragrant beauty to lie flat, gently brushing the hair from around her cheeks to the side and covering her properly with the blanket.

Ye Zhenzhen frowned slightly, feeling fingers glide across her face, she half-asleep pushed the man’s hand away and mumbled, "Go to sleep... Don’t stay up late tonight..."

"Mm."

Song Jinze agreed, sitting by the side of the bed and gazing at her peaceful sleeping face, lost in thought.

"Is it amnesia? Or selective memory loss?"

He quietly asked the woman in deep sleep, his fingers gently grazing her prominent nose.

Thinking back carefully, her appearance hadn’t changed much in the past two months, but her spirit had become much more interesting than before...

Or perhaps, was she really replaced by someone else, and she had a twin sister he didn’t know about?

So much so that her taste in food and her way of interacting with people had gone through a dramatic change?

...

The next day, the film set.

Director Yang, watching the footage flickering on the monitor, everything from the movements to the lines were incredibly clear, raised the corners of his lips in satisfaction and shouted "OK!"

The assistant director and the little assistant exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

Those who had worked with Director Yang knew that when he was very pleased, he didn’t say ’cut’ but ’OK’, and saying OK meant the actor could pass in one take, and it was perfect.

In the first scene of the shoot, Ye Zhenzhen’s performance exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Before shooting began, some crew members were whispering to each other, worried that Ye Zhenzhen would need multiple takes for this morning’s scene, given the copious lines and the need to combine them with the proper expressions and movements.

It needed to be lively but not overly exaggerated.

The actor playing opposite her, Ren Tao, who played her sister in the film, was considered a veteran in the industry, a specialist in supporting roles. Her fans affectionately called her Sister Taozi.

After Director Yang called a halt, Ren Tao, too, raised her thumb in approval toward Ye Zhenzhen with a smile, "Zhenzhen, you were so much better than I imagined!"

That was the honest truth.

Ye Zhenzhen smiled modestly, "Not really. It’s because Sister Taozi, you’re so skilled that you could quickly bring me into the right state."

"You’re being modest," Ren Tao said with a smile.

She felt that her own emotions had been pulled along by Ye Zhenzhen; far from leading the other, she was being led instead.

As Ye Zhenzhen walked over from in front of the camera, Yu Lili quickly took a coat to drape over her.

"Sister Zhenzhen, breakfast is ready. I just asked the assistant, and after shooting this take, you can have breakfast before continuing."

Ye Zhenzhen put on the coat and patted Yu Lili on the shoulder, "Thanks for your hard work."

Director Yang excitedly waved Ye Zhenzhen over to the monitor, his eyes beaming with joy, "Zhenzhen, that rushed drinking motion you added was excellent, this segment was perfect!"

In the film crew, everyone acted based on the director’s mood. With Director Yang this happy and showering Ye Zhenzhen with praise, it was like adding a Buff on top of Ye Zhenzhen’s own exceptional talent, effectively silencing any chatter from the crowd.