After Pei Yan's guidance, Su Zhiyi's acting improved greatly. Just as Pei Yan had said, the director was very satisfied and let her pass on the first take. The director scheduled Su Zhiyi's scenes to be filmed first, and she acted for a whole day. She had a lot of scenes at the beginning, which would take about a month to finish. Once that month was over, her role would be wrapped. In the makeup room, the makeup artist was removing makeup for Su Zhiyi and Gu Yumo. Gu Yumo, while holding her phone and replying to messages, said to Su Zhiyi, "Sister Zhiyi, do you want to go out to eat together later? Director Zhou is calling us for a group dinner." "Let me check." Su Zhiyi opened her own phone and saw that in the crew's group chat, the director had sent a message and @everyone. [Director Zhou: The first day of shooting went smoothly. Thank you all for your hard work.] [Director Zhou: I've booked a restaurant outside Hengdian. Please come if you can. Let's have dinner and chat. We'll be working together for the next three months. @everyone] "Oh, I see it too." Su Zhiyi put away her phone, lifted her face, and let the makeup artist continue removing her makeup. A crew dinner was perfectly normal. For the next three months, everyone would be colleagues. No one wanted unexpected incidents during filming, and dinner was a good way to get closer. "Are you going?" Su Zhiyi had already decided to go but still asked Gu Yumo. "Of course I'm going." Gu Yumo was still tapping on her phone, as if texting someone. "My brother had something come up at the company, so he can't come, but he'll be on set tomorrow... It's so annoying. I really don't want to see him on set." "Hey, are you planning to go?" She finally finished replying and put away her phone. "I'm going too. I want to get to know everyone through this opportunity," Su Zhiyi said. "Want to go together?" Gu Yumo nodded vigorously, her face showing visible joy. "Okay!" The director had sent the restaurant's location in the crew group chat. It was a Chinese restaurant just outside Hengdian. Gu Yumo was the leading actress brought in by the Gu family as an investor. She was also Gu Yu's biological sister, with the Gu family as her backing. Su Zhiyi was a young lady from some prestigious family in the capital. No one had yet figured out which Su family she belonged to, showing how strong her family's background was. Naturally, the crew did not dare to slight Gu Yumo or Su Zhiyi. The assistant director personally came to pick up Su Zhiyi and Gu Yumo and lead them to the main actors' private room. Most of the staff were dining in other rooms. Su Zhiyi and Gu Yumo, being main actors, naturally joined the other main actors, the director, and the assistant director in one room. "You joined the set early, so there are a few leads you haven't met yet. They just arrived and are in the room," the assistant director said as he pushed open the door to the private room. Inside sat a dozen young men and women. Su Zhiyi's gaze swept around the room. Her first thought was: as expected of a historical idol drama—it was really pleasing to the eye. At a glance, all she saw were handsome men and beautiful women. Most of the dramas directed by this Director Zhou were trendy idol dramas. Although the plots and acting couldn't withstand close scrutiny, his eye for talent was undeniably good. The actors who could become popular traffic stars, aside from the company's behind-the-scenes operations, all had looks that added points. Their acting was average, but they were easy on the eyes, had many fans, and generated a lot of online discussion. Thus, every idol drama directed by Director Zhou had average reviews but often became hits. Occasionally, a drama would catapult an unknown little star to fame. Apart from Director Zhou, most of the people in the room were celebrity actors Su Zhiyi was familiar with. There were popular young male stars, popular young female stars... and one person who was completely out of place among all these traffic stars—Pei Yan. Pei Yan sat among the crowd, looking detached and aloof. His expression was as indifferent as ever, like a lofty flower on a snowy mountain, not mingling with the mundane, only to be admired from afar. "Sorry to keep everyone waiting. I just went to pick up Zhiyi and Yumo," the assistant director said, leading Su Zhiyi and Gu Yumo into the room with a smile and greeting everyone. "Sister Gu is here! Please sit, sit." "Don't call me Sister Gu. Just call me Yumo," Gu Yumo said naturally, teasing a female actress who had greeted her. Su Zhiyi spotted Pei Yan at once. Beside Pei Yan was an empty seat. Next to that empty seat sat two male actors chatting. The male actor closest to Pei Yan finished talking to the other and turned around, clearly eager to strike up a conversation with Pei Yan. He took the initiative to compliment Pei Yan's performance that day. Pei Yan only gave a faint "Mm" without any other response. He really was a cold person. This was the real diva behavior... Well, Pei Yan could indeed act like a diva. Sensing Pei Yan's attention shifting, Su Zhiyi averted her gaze before Pei Yan saw her, maintaining a proper smile as she greeted everyone in the room. Pei Yan, who had been so cold to the actor trying to curry favor, instinctively looked up toward the door when the assistant director brought Su Zhiyi and Gu Yumo into the room. His gaze landed on Su Zhiyi, and he seemed to lose focus for a moment, as if recalling what he had said to her on set today. "Don't just stand at the door. Come sit, come sit," Director Zhou said warmly, gesturing with his chopsticks at the dishes on the table. "If you don't eat now, the food will get cold." "Right, right. Don't stand. Eat and talk, eat and talk," the assistant director said cheerfully, sitting down next to Director Zhou. Gu Yumo naturally sat down next to Xia Xu, who played the male lead. That left only one seat in the room: the empty one beside Pei Yan. Director Zhou sat at the head of the table. The assistant director sat to his left. Pei Yan sat to his right. All the seats on Director Zhou's left were filled, arranged according to the actors' roles in the drama. Pei Yan had few scenes—he was just a guest star. He would leave after a few days of filming. He had little screen time, but he was the biggest name in the room, even Director Zhou couldn't compare. Many people wanted to sit next to Pei Yan, but no one dared to. Su Zhiyi stood next to Pei Yan's seat, hesitating. The dining table suddenly fell silent; only the faint clinking of bowls and chopsticks could be heard. No one was looking at her. They seemed to be eating, but in reality, all attention was focused on her, curious whether she would sit beside Pei Yan and whether she dared to. "..." Su Zhiyi silently said to System 030, "I should have skipped the makeup removal and come earlier." Sitting down would make her look, in others' eyes, as if she considered herself on the same level as Pei Yan. Not sitting down would be disrespectful to Pei Yan. The atmosphere froze like ice. Everyone tacitly remained silent, not uttering a word. Until Pei Yan spoke. "Why haven't you sat down?" Pei Yan looked up at Su Zhiyi, who was standing hesitantly by the seat. His eyes were calm. He set down his chopsticks and reached out to pull the chair out for Su Zhiyi. "Sit." "Mm... thank you." Pei Yan had taken the initiative to speak and even pulled out her chair, breaking the awkwardness. Su Zhiyi didn't refuse. She sat down beside Pei Yan. The moment she sat, the frozen atmosphere thawed. Everyone was present. Director Zhou seized the moment. He raised his glass, filled with wine, stood up, and said to everyone, "It's fate that we've gathered in this crew. For the next three months, we'll be temporary colleagues. Come, let me first toast to you all! Let's hope every scene passes on the first take, and we finish filming and release it soon!" Everyone stood up with their glasses, speaking words of blessing, making the atmosphere lively. "Thank you, Director Zhou, for taking care of us these three months." "I wish our drama a huge success after it airs!" "Cheers!" The glass by Pei Yan's hand had only a shallow sip of wine left, enough for one gulp. When Director Zhou stood up to toast, Pei Yan didn't refill his glass. He simply picked up the glass with that shallow sip and stood. Everyone drank, but Pei Yan only brought the glass to his lips, pretending to take a sip, though not a single drop of wine left the glass. "We've troubled you these past few days. It's an honor for our small crew that a Best Actor like you would do a guest role. Come, I'll toast to you alone." Pei Yan was about to sit down when Director Zhou refilled his glass and toasted him separately. Pei Yan didn't let Director Zhou lose face. He returned the toast with that glass that still had a sip of wine left, but again only touched it to his lips, pretending to drink, while the sip remained at the bottom. Director Zhou didn't force Pei Yan to drink; he finished his own glass. To help the actors get familiar quickly, Director Zhou introduced each person in turn. Every time someone was introduced, that person would stand up, toast everyone, and then introduce themselves. Su Zhiyi was about to throw up from drinking. Her alcohol tolerance wasn't great. She had the lowest status in the room, and unlike Pei Yan, whose status allowed him to toast out of courtesy but not actually drink, or even refuse to toast back, she couldn't do that. After downing her twelfth glass, she couldn't help but think back to her previous world, when she and an intern had gone out with an idiot team leader to discuss business with another company. The idiot team leader had pushed her and the intern to drink. The intern had never drunk before. Su Zhiyi had at least a little experience and couldn't bear to see the other girl struggle, so she had drunk the intern's share too. That time, she had drunk three portions for one person and ended up throwing up. She had poor alcohol tolerance. Two or three glasses were fine, but over a dozen... Su Zhiyi's cheeks were flushed a light red, her head felt dizzy, and the faint fragrance of daisies on her was overpowered by the smell of alcohol. She propped one hand on the table, her palm supporting her forehead, trying not to collapse. The male actor beside her finished his self-introduction and toasted everyone again. These people really had good alcohol tolerance; only a few showed any signs of tipsiness. They were all seasoned veterans in the entertainment industry. They must have secretly practiced drinking. Su Zhiyi took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and downed the glass in her hand in one go. No more. She couldn't drink anymore. It was her turn. Su Zhiyi wanted to throw her weight around as a young lady from the capital's high society, but if she did that today, her name would be on the trending searches tomorrow. Her shady company wouldn't explain or suppress negative trends for her. Su Zhiyi had no choice but to refill her glass. She tried to stand up to introduce herself, but before she could, a large hand pressed her back down into her seat. "Please allow me to toast on behalf of Miss Su, along with my own glass, to everyone."