"Action!"

  With the director's cue, 'Daisy' was pushed into the pond by someone with ill intentions.

  With a splash, Chloe let herself fall into the pond. Once in the water, she began calling for help and struggling.

  Camera two panned accordingly. 'Ada', carrying an ornate box, hurried over at the sound. Upon seeing the second daughter in the water, her face showed shock, and then the box slipped from her hands and fell to the ground.

  "Cut!"

  The assistant director shouted. Chloe surfaced from the water, looking puzzled.

  The assistant director, however, glared at Cynthia and yelled, "Do you even know how to act? The shock on your face and the physical reaction with your hands need to happen simultaneously! What's with you looking shocked first and then dropping the box afterwards? Does that make any sense?"

  Cynthia nodded repeatedly in apology. "Sorry, director. Let me do it again."

  The assistant director gave an impatient curl of his lip. Turning to look at Chloe, still soaking in the pond, his expression instantly softened. "Chloe, let's do another take, starting from when you call for help after falling in."

  Chloe gave a thumbs-up in response.

  On the second take, Cynthia made her entrance two seconds late.

  "Cut!"

  On the third take, Cynthia tripped over her lines halfway through.

  "Cut!"

  On the fourth take...

  "What's wrong with you? Are we never getting past this scene?" The assistant director flew into a rage, striding up to Cynthia and roaring at her, "Is it really that difficult? Everyone's standing under the sun because of you! Chloe has been soaking in the water for over half an hour! Can you act or not? If not, we'll replace you!"

  Cynthia put on a look of feigned panic and quickly said, "I'm sorry. I might be feeling a bit of heatstroke. I'm dizzy and completely out of sorts. I didn't mean to waste everyone's time."

  Assistant Director Law was about to continue scolding when a crew member suddenly ran up and whispered something in his ear. His mouth hung half-open as he looked towards a middle-aged man in the corner of the set. Finally, he swallowed back his words with visible frustration.

  "We'll reshoot this scene later. Someone, get Chloe out of the water! Everyone, go take a break and have lunch!"

  Chloe was practically fished out. Performing nearly half an hour of struggling and calling for help in the water, even for a good swimmer, was enough to leave her utterly exhausted.

  Luckily, it was summer, and the pond water wasn't too cold, or it would have been pure misery.

  As soon as she was ashore, Taylor brought over a towel to wrap around Chloe, asking with concern, "Are you okay, Chloe? Are you feeling alright?"

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  Chloe, her face pale, nodded. It was unclear whether from the chill or from being waterlogged, but her complexion was an unhealthy white.

  She raised her gaze towards Cynthia, meeting Cynthia's openly challenging and smug gaze head-on.

  She might not seek conflict, but she wasn't a fool. How could she not see that Cynthia was doing it on purpose?

  "Let's go back first to change into dry clothes. I'll help you blow-dry your hair," Taylor said.

  Chloe averted her gaze and nodded, allowing Taylor to help her back to the resting area.

  Watching Chloe's disheveled state, the malice in Cynthia's heart was finally half-vanquished. But when she turned around, she saw her father's face had turned as black as a pot's bottom.

  "Dad..."

  Cynthia went up to him, but before she could speak, her father said angrily, "Do they always order you around and shout at you like this on set?"

  He had seen his daughter being berated over and over by that assistant director. He was both furious and heartbroken. If his daughter hadn't reminded him not to make a sound, he would have definitely stepped in to defend her.

  "Your dad spent money to support you in doing what you love, not to have you come here and be bullied."

  Cynthia smiled and shook her father's arm. "I'm not being bullied! I'm a newcomer. All the stars were scolded like this when they started. Besides, I did mess up."

  These few days had familiarized Cynthia with the set's atmosphere. Making mistakes during filming meant getting yelled at, especially since she was making mistakes on purpose; she was mentally prepared.

  And when not filming, the directors were actually quite nice and would joke with everyone.

  It showed their professionalism and ability to separate work from personal feelings.

  In short, having achieved her goal of making Chloe suffer, taking a few scoldings was a price she was willing to pay. She didn't feel wronged at all.

  After Chloe dried off and changed into clean clothes, Taylor used a hairdryer to dry her hair.

  Edward laid out a well-balanced lunch and boiled a pot of ginger tea for Chloe with an electric kettle. "Remember to drink this later. It wards off the cold. Don't catch a cold."

  Chloe fell into a momentary silence, just staring at her pale reflection in the mirror. She didn't even realize tears were silently sliding down her cheeks.

  She hurriedly wiped away the tears, but Edward and Taylor had already seen them.

  Edward, unsure what had happened, was taken aback. "Chloe, what's wrong? Did the director yell at you?"

  Chloe shook her head. "It's nothing."

  Taylor sighed, feeling indignant on Chloe's behalf. "That actress playing 'Ada' was clearly doing it on purpose. How could anyone be so clumsy as to make repeated mistakes in the same shot?"

  If even Taylor could see it, how could the others on set not?

  "Taylor, don't say anymore. Pointing it out is useless. She wouldn't admit it anyway," Chloe said.

  "You're absolutely right." Suddenly, a voice came from the half-open door. A woman leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, looking at Chloe with a faint smile.

  Everyone in the room was momentarily startled. Seeing the person through the mirror, Chloe was taken aback, then quickly stood up. "Miss Faye!"

  Faye's lips curved into a smile. She asked as a formality, "May I come in?"

  "Of course! Please, come in!"

  Chloe pulled over a chair for her, saying, "I've been on set for several days and was wondering why I hadn't seen you."

  "I've had a few business collaborations to discuss these past few days and couldn't find the time to come. Today, I finally had a free moment, so I came to visit the set. I have to fly back early tomorrow morning."

  As she spoke, she looked at Chloe with an admiring smile. "I watched that scene from the sidelines just now. You are very professional."

  "It's what I should do," Chloe said softly.

  "That young girl playing the maid was deliberately targeting you. Do you have any grudge with her?"

  Chloe shook her head. At least from her perspective, she and Cynthia had no grudge whatsoever.

  As for why Cynthia harbored such strong hostility towards her, she still found it utterly perplexing.

  "We are both freshmen at the film academy, but we're not in the same class."

  Hearing this, Faye raised an eyebrow in understanding but didn't press further. Instead, she said to Chloe, "Regardless, what you said earlier is correct. Even if everyone can see through such things, they can't be openly called out because the other party would never admit it."

  "Miss Faye, then should our Chloe just suffer this grievance in vain?" Taylor couldn't hold back, feeling indignant on Chloe's behalf.

  Faye smiled. She didn't answer Taylor's question. Instead, she looked at Chloe and asked, "Let me ask you this: if given the chance, would you be willing to use the same methods to get back at her?"