The wealthy military officer spoils his wife excessively

After a long pause, he sighed softly, "She's so lucky."

Yes, everyone has their own destiny. Some people are born into poverty, yet they meet the most precious people in their lives during the most difficult times, making their ordinary lives shine. Others live a life of luxury, but behind the glamour, they endure unimaginable humiliation, making their seemingly smooth lives become bumpy and unbearable.

Time flies like a knife, and the world is cruel; who can escape it?

But... "What about me?"

Ultimately, I was unwilling to accept it.

"You will always be my sister."

As Lu Zheng spoke, Xiao Yuan felt something "thud" down, landing on solid ground.

It was the sound of dust settling.

Suwen sat at the hotel breakfast table reading today's entertainment news.

Seeing Lu Zheng step forward to annul the engagement and claim that he already had someone he loved, I couldn't help but smile knowingly. Previously, Lu Zheng had always been very low-key; this was probably the first time he had publicly acknowledged a relationship. As a result, the media began speculating about the true identity of the mysterious lover who had made him "choose love over power."

Seeing that Xiao Ai was also staring at the news, Su Wen couldn't help but comment: "Sure enough, the best actors in this world are politicians, the second-rate actors are businessmen, and only the third-rate actors go to Hollywood."

"Do you think Young Master Lu was saying this for the reporters?" Xiao Ai asked, her face contorted in confusion.

Suwen smiled noncommittally.

After more than a month of grueling training, Director Wei finally approved her and signed a film contract with her. The production team had been preparing for this film for a long time, with the American investors investing over 100 million yuan in one go. Now that filming can finally begin, everyone is overjoyed and relieved.

As soon as the press release was issued, media outlets flocked to the set to visit the film. To maintain the mystery surrounding the plot, Director Wei resolutely refused to allow any stills to be released, except for the one or two promotional photos included in the press release. After being turned away a couple of times, the reporters became even more cryptic in their descriptions of Director Wei's new film.

What attracts the most attention here is that Director Wei boldly cast Nie Suwen, a newcomer who had only acted once before.

As a result, various forms of online sleuthing and gossip began to search for information about Nie Suwen.

Fortunately, the TV dramas she starred in before were quite popular among young people, and although she wasn't the lead, many people still remember her. However…

"Can that person with the blank expression and lifeless eyes even act? If she can act in movies, does that mean I can become an award-winning actress too?"

"She's not even pretty. Aren't you afraid she'll ruin the film by acting opposite Xue Xue?"

"It's an unspoken rule, otherwise why would so many big names choose her over others?"

And so on.

After hearing so many criticisms, Suwen became numb to them. Not only her, but everyone in the crew felt the pressure.

Are they trying to get domestic art films nominated for Oscars?

Why bring along such an unknown actor?

Ha ha.

Xue Shaofeng had a busy schedule and only returned from Hong Kong the day before filming began. This Mid-Autumn Festival, he happened to have work in Hong Kong, so he took the opportunity to go home for the holiday. On the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he even called Suwen from his home in Hong Kong to wish her a happy holiday and ask if she wanted any gifts.

Su Wen had already received enough help from this older brother, so she dared not accept any gifts now. Finally, unable to resist, she half-jokingly said, "Then give me half a pound of roast goose from Shenjing, two boxes of wife cakes from Yuen Long, and bring back some of everything delicious. Didn't Director Wei tell me to gain weight?"

I knew these things were not allowed on the plane.

To everyone's surprise, after Xue Shaofeng got off the plane, he called her directly to his hotel room and opened each of the lunch boxes in front of her.

"Yung Kee's roast goose, Spicy Crab House's stir-fried crab, and of course... Heng Heung Bakery's wife cake."

"Is this all...true?" Suwen was already incoherent.

Xue Shaofeng pretended to put on a stern face: "Of course it's true. I went to buy it as soon as I got up this morning, and it's still hot now."

Su Wen was truly at a loss for words, both amused and exasperated. Who would have thought that her joke would lead this man to actually go out early in the morning to buy all that food?

Actually, Xue Shaofeng was just teasing her. Seeing her stunned expression was quite amusing. So he continued to urge her, "Try it while it's still warm."

So, a lone man and woman, hiding in a room... having an affair?

Suwen admitted that she was no longer pure.

She stood up awkwardly, blushing, and said, "I can't finish all of this by myself. Why don't I go and call Director Wei and Sister Le over? It'll be more lively if we all eat together."

Before Suwen could open the door, the doorbell rang by itself. As soon as the door opened, Director Wei was standing outside—truly, speak of the devil and he appears.

Wei Liao was probably also surprised to see Su Wen here. He nodded to her and went into the room: "Shaofeng, you're here?"

After obtaining his Hong Kong resident card, Wei Liao was considered half a Hong Konger. He and Xue Shaofeng had known each other for several years, so they were quite familiar with each other.

Xue Shaofeng stood up and nodded at him.

Wei Liao immediately spotted the lunchboxes on the table, his eyes lighting up: "I knew I could smell the aroma of food as soon as I came in! So you guys were sneaking a bite here..."

After saying that, he seemed to realize that he had used the wrong words, so he took out a cigarette case, smiled, and handed it to Xue Shaofeng.

Xue Shaofeng took a cigarette but didn't light it, and put it aside.

Suwen stepped in to smooth things over: "Brother Feng brought you all the way here. I was just about to go and call you, but you came to visit on your own."

Wei Liao poked at the stir-fried crab in the lunchbox with disposable chopsticks and said with a sigh, "This is from 'Spicy Crab House,' right? Xiao Nie, have you ever been to Hong Kong? You have to try this; you can't find it anywhere else."

Suwen shook her head awkwardly.

Wei Liao continued his nostalgic explanation to her: "You've all heard of Typhoon Shelter Crab, right? This is the most original and authentic Typhoon Shelter Crab. But out of all the restaurants on the mainland, I've tried them all, and none of them are truly authentic. The real Typhoon Shelter Crab originated in Causeway Bay in the 70s and 80s, and the crab chef at Spicy Crab Restaurant is a master chef who has been cooking crabs in the Typhoon Shelter Crab for decades. These crabs are all imported from Vietnam, large, with white meat and red shells. The cooking time has to be just right; too much and it tastes like burnt garlic, too little and it's not flavorful. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer chefs who can cook authentic Typhoon Shelter Crab. If you miss this, you'll really regret it for a long time."

As he spoke, he broke off a crab leg for her.

Su Wen, who loves spicy food, was already getting excited by the aroma, and with Director Wei's introduction, it became even more tempting: "Then I have to give it a try."

Meanwhile, Xue Shaofeng had already called the hotel's customer service to have some wine delivered.

The three of them, like old friends, sat around a table in the room, drinking and eating snacks. Wei Liao had been traveling around for the past few years and hadn't been back to his home in Hong Kong for a long time. When the topic of Hong Kong food came up, he couldn't stop talking about it.

By the end of the meal, there was still some wine left, but only scraps of food. Wei Liao, slightly tipsy, patted Su Wen on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. When our movie is released, we'll definitely go to Hong Kong to promote it. Shao Feng will take you home then, and you can ask him to buy whatever you want to eat."

She talks like she's Xue Shaofeng's wife.

Fortunately, all three of them were a little drunk and didn't care much.

Back then, everyone still had the leisure and inclination, but once filming actually started, everyone became serious, as if they were carrying a heavy burden on their shoulders, and they couldn't relax at all.

Director Wei is known for his strictness in the industry, and given that this film was an American-funded, big-budget production aiming for international awards, no detail could be overlooked. Even Xue Shaofeng, who has won two Hong Kong Film Awards and has the best reputation, had to film one scene 23 times before it was approved. Su Wen was even more demanding; the entire filming took 118 days, and she was on set for 114 of them. She was always in makeup, wandering around the set. When she wasn't filming, she would be covered with a blanket and memorizing her lines. When she was filming, she would wear a cheongsam and repeat the same action over and over again.

After two months, the lead actors and crew were already feeling the strain, their nerves were stretched too thin. Before filming began, Director Wei had told Suwen to eat more to gain weight, but after two months of shooting, she had quickly lost weight again. The cheongsam originally tailored to her figure now looked too loose on her and had to be altered.

“cut——”

After Director Wei called "cut" again, everyone was a little discouraged. This scene had been filmed since morning, and everyone had been sitting there hungry, but Director Wei was still not satisfied.

Nie Suwen, who played the lead role, was also embarrassed: "I'm sorry for taking up everyone's time."

Xue Shaofeng, who was acting opposite her, patted her on the shoulder and joked, "It's nothing. This is only your ninth take. You haven't broken my record of twenty-three takes last time."

Although it was self-deprecating, Suwen could still see a trace of weariness in his eyes.

I've been on edge for too long. At first, it was just a matter of not handling the emotions well, but later it turned into mistakes like using camera angles and misremembering lines. All sorts of problems arose.

Director Wei probably realized that forcing the filming wouldn't be effective, so he signaled the cameraman to turn it off and came over to Suwen, saying, "Your scenes from the past few days have been pretty good, but you've become unnatural when it comes to emotional scenes. You can't act without emotion in your eyes when you're acting in emotional scenes. If you can't understand the female protagonist's feelings by using empathy, then you might as well step back and think about those unforgettable experiences from your previous relationships."

Unforgettable?

Suwen could only smile awkwardly when she thought of that check.

Even Director Wei was at a loss: "That feeling of loving and hating without being able to control yourself, you should take some time to think about it again. After all, emotions can't be compensated for by acting skills."

Yes, feelings can't be compensated for by acting skills, nor can they be explained in a few words.

Director Wei then turned his attention to Xue Shaofeng: "You two were getting along really well a while ago, why haven't you been talking lately? Here's what we'll do, Xiao Nie, I'll give you half a day off, go find your rhythm yourself. Hopefully, you can surprise me when you come back."