Tuesday, December 14th.

Early this morning, Pei Qian arrived at the filming location of “Beautiful Tomorrow.”

It had been a while since his last visit, and he was quite concerned.

The last time he came was two weeks ago, when Pei Qian casually suggested that Lu Zhiyao play a slacker. Unexpectedly, Lu Zhiyao had a breakout performance, earning unanimous praise from everyone on set for that scene.

So, during this time, Pei Qian had been suppressing his worries and hadn’t returned to the set.

He was afraid that one casual remark might trigger another epiphany in Lu Zhiyao, leading to an uncontrollable situation…

But he couldn’t stay away forever.

Pei Qian felt he couldn’t keep burying his head in the sand, or it would be too late if something went wrong.

He needed to identify and address issues early.

Even if the situation was already beyond salvaging, knowing sooner would at least allow him to prepare financially and minimize his losses.

So today, with nothing urgent to do, Pei Qian returned to the filming location.

The set was extremely busy, with staff moving back and forth.

Pei Qian didn’t want to disrupt anyone’s work, so he just stood casually to the side, watching the performances.

The surrounding scenery was no longer the narrow capsule, but had transformed into an exterior view of a futuristic city space.

Of course, though called an exterior, they were still filming in a studio, just with many green screens hanging.

Those cool futuristic city scenes would be created through special effects.

For close-ups, they still used physical sets. For this scene, the male and female leads would eat together at a roadside shop. The entire small shop was constructed with real tables, chairs, utensils, decorations, and so on.

Additionally, the shop’s sign, roadside trash cans, the costumes of the lead actors, and all extras who appeared in the frame were all custom-made.

These were all props carefully crafted by the props department, with a sense of realism that could almost pass for the real thing.

From these sets, one could tell it was a cyberpunk-style slum area.

According to Director Zhu Xiaocai’s plan, the buildings in this film would be roughly divided into four different styles:

The capsule space where the male protagonist lived, which looked very high-tech but cramped, narrow, and severely lacking in style variation, was a uniformly constructed welfare facility.

The slums of the outside world were where the male and female protagonists met for dates. There were many small shops here, looking somewhat cyberpunk in style, bright with lights and alcohol, appearing very lively, but full of chaos and disorder.

The glamorous outside world, including the talent show scenes. It looked very high-tech, spacious, and grand—the sci-fi architectural style in the general sense;

The residences of the upper class, dominated by classical mansion styles, with beautiful fireplaces, large oil paintings, and expensive-looking wooden furniture, are just slightly decorated with high-tech elements to distinguish them from real-world mansions.

In the script’s setting, only the upper class could afford to enjoy “classical arts” like oil paintings and pianos. In their circles, “retro” architectural styles were a trend used to distinguish their taste from those of ordinary wealthy people.

This scene was being filmed in a somewhat “cyberpunk-flavored “future city slum setting.

This was the first time Pei Qian had seen the female lead of this drama.

The actress was called Lin Ruyi, with a round face, big eyes, and two pretty dimples when she smiled—a face that embodied the classic first-love look.

Previously, Pei Qian had tried searching for information about her but couldn’t find any famous works. Later, he learned that she was a newcomer just been discovered from a film academy and hadn’t even graduated this year.

Just based on appearance, Lin Ruyi couldn’t be called exceptionally beautiful, because of her rather round face, she wasn’t particularly photogenic.

But this fit the script’s setting perfectly.

Because in the script, the female protagonist wasn’t meant to be a stunningly beautiful character—otherwise, she would have been noticed by the upper class long ago, and the subsequent story wouldn’t have happened.

Pei Qian had no requirements for the actress except hoping she wouldn’t be too attractive.

After all, this was an era where everything was judged by appearance.

If the female lead were too beautiful, she might become a hot topic. If her acting was good, too, the consequences would be even more disastrous.

What if the female lead was so beautiful that despite playing a green tea bitch, the audience couldn’t hate her and instead fell madly in love with her? Wouldn’t that be terrible?

Of course, Pei Qian knew it wasn’t realistic to find an ugly actress for the female lead.

So, this newcomer actress, whose appearance wasn’t particularly outstanding, was already a decent choice for Pei Qian.

Soon, Pei Qian understood the plot of this scene.

The female lead had already participated in the talent show but hadn’t been selected.

Now, the male lead played by Lu Zhiyao was resting and having drinks with the female lead at a roadside shop.

Lu Zhiyao would try hard to make Lin Ruyi happy, while Lin Ruyi would casually go along with him.

When Lu Zhiyao revealed that he had saved enough money to buy a double capsule, Lin Ruyi would explode, unleashing several emotionally charged lines of dialogue before storming off.

This scene was a bombshell in the mid-early part of the plot, which could be summed up in four words: the male lead gets cheated on.

Ah, truly an eternal and classic poison point.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but sigh silently.

…

At this moment.

Lu Zhiyao was fantasizing about the future, looking every bit the devoted follower, quite humble.

However, because he was handsome, even though he was being subservient, it didn’t make people feel very uncomfortable; rather, they might even feel a bit sorry for him.

Lin Ruyi, on the other hand, was staring blankly at the drink cup on the table, occasionally nodding or perfunctorily agreeing, clearly thinking about something else.

“I heard there’s a new good restaurant nearby that sells delicious imitation meat, standard purified water, and wine.”

“The imitation meat we ate last time only simulated about 60% of real meat’s texture, which was already very delicious. This place supposedly mimics about 80% of real meat’s texture, and has many flavors like beef, chicken, and so on.”

“And then there’s the standard purified water. The standard purified water we drank before all had a rusty taste, but this store’s standard purified water supposedly has almost no unusual taste, just a faint fragrance, a hundred times better than the water in the residential capsules.”

“And wine too. The bottled wine sold in the capsules is expensive, but the wine there is only about 70% of the vending machine prices in capsules, and supposedly tastes almost the same.”

“Shall we go try it tomorrow or the day after?”

Lu Zhiyao looked at Lin Ruyi across the table.

Lin Ruyi showed a polite smile: “Mm, sounds good.”

When she smiled, two shallow dimples appeared on her face, looking very charming.

But this smile quickly disappeared, and she continued to stare absentmindedly at the cup on the table, indifferently picking it up to take a small sip, her expression suggesting the drink was tasteless.

Lu Zhiyao had said so much but only got three words in return, which left him somewhat helpless.

However, he quickly adjusted his emotions.

Today, he had prepared a big surprise.

The two fell into a brief silence.

Lin Ruyi was still lost in thought, while Lu Zhiyao took sips of his drink and gathered the courage to speak.

“I know being rejected from the talent show last time was a big blow to you.”

“It’s okay, it will pass.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already planned our future.”

Lin Ruyi looked up, looking at Lu Zhiyao blankly, as if not understanding his meaning: “Hmm?”

Lu Zhiyao couldn’t hide the smile at the corners of his mouth: “I’ve saved enough money for a double capsule again!”

“We can go pick a suitable place tomorrow, and then you can move in!”

“Although a double capsule isn’t big, we can slowly upgrade to a bigger place later!”

“Maybe one day, we can afford a 60-square-meter luxury apartment with a kitchen, allowing our children to go out at 6 pm, and if we’re lucky, they might even see the sunset…”

Lu Zhiyao excitedly described the beautiful prospects he imagined.

However, no expression of joy appeared on Lin Ruyi’s face; instead, she became increasingly impatient.

“Keep your money. I don’t want to live in any double capsule, nor do I want to marry you and have children.”

“Let’s break up.”

The smile froze on Lu Zhiyao’s face.

“Why?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Ever since the talent show, you’ve been acting strange…”

“It was just a talent show, it doesn’t matter…”

Lin Ruyi kept a straight face: “You don’t understand my feelings at all, so of course you think it doesn’t matter!”

Lu Zhiyao was speechless: “Darling, I know how you feel! I worked so hard to save up for the registration fee. This is a huge loss for both of us!”

Lin Ruyi seemed even angrier: “It’s a huge loss for you too?”

“You only lost some stinking money, while I lost my dream!”

Lu Zhiyao was momentarily speechless.

He suddenly realized something was odd about this and pressed: “Darling, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong, I just planned to buy you a double capsule. What are you angry about?”

“What am I angry about?” Lin Ruyi’s mood seemed to worsen. “Everything!”

Both were speaking English, so this “everything” came out with quite an impact.

“I’m angry about the watered-down, low-quality syrup drinks at roadside shops, the disgusting, greasy snacks, about only being able to go out for three hours a day to walk in the sunless slums, keeping company with rats…”

Lu Zhiyao was dumbfounded: “But weren’t we living happily like this before? Why say… could it be you…”

Seeing more and more accessories on Lin Ruyi and her slightly bulging belly, a terrible suspicion formed in his mind.

Lin Ruyi’s emotions seemed to collapse. She covered her face with both hands and, after a long while, raised her head again. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she was extraordinarily resolute.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to hide it from you anymore.”

“I became that judge’s lover, and I’m pregnant with his child.”

“So, let’s break up. We’re done.”

Lu Zhiyao’s expression changed from suspicion to shock, then to despair, and finally to complete disillusionment.

His previously slightly leaning body suddenly seemed to lose support, slumping into the chair.

Lin Ruyi stood up, preparing to leave.

However, Lu Zhiyao suddenly grabbed her wrist.

“He didn’t marry you, nor did he give you much money, right?”

“He doesn’t care about this child at all, otherwise, you wouldn’t be collapsing and confused now, right?”

“In fact… he abandoned you as soon as he found out you were pregnant, right?”

Lin Ruyi’s body trembled slightly.

Lu Zhiyao knew he had guessed correctly, knew he still had a chance, and hurriedly said: “It’s okay, it’s okay…”

“You’ll have a hard time on your own, and no other man will accept a pregnant woman.”

“You need me. I’ll help you take good care of this child.”

“Trust me, I won’t mind this, I will definitely…”

His voice carried a plea.

Lin Ruyi was silent for a few seconds, then violently shook off Lu Zhiyao’s hand.

“This child has upper-class blood.”

“I don’t want him to become a useless poor wretch like you.”

Lin Ruyi resolutely strode away.

Lu Zhiyao watched her leave, his mouth opening as if wanting to say something, but never managing to call out.

He seemed drained of all strength, his entire person “collapsing.”

…

“Cut!”

“Good, very good!”

“After seven or eight takes, we finally have one that’s satisfactory. Everyone has worked hard!”

Director Zhu Xiaocai led the applause in encouragement.

At this point, Lin Ruyi, who played the female lead, hurriedly bowed to thank Director Zhu Xiaocai and the crew, then bowed to thank Lu Zhiyao.

“Thank you for your guidance, senior. If your acting wasn’t so good, I wouldn’t have been able to perform so well in our scenes together.”

Lu Zhiyao smiled: “Your acting is already good; I dare not take that credit.”

“Besides, I’m just a ‘box office poison.’ When it comes to acting, it’s not clear who’s guiding whom.”

Pei Qian, silently observing from the side, secretly gave a thumbs up.

Impressive!

The scene just now gave him goosebumps; he almost wanted to hit someone.

Lu Zhiyao had brought a devoted follower to life, especially those last few lines, vividly interpreting what it meant to be a “simp who gets no house.”

And Lin Ruyi had portrayed a green tea bitch perfectly.

Her earlier subtle emotions were expressed precisely, and the final two lines were absolutely the finishing touch.

Watching from the set, Pei Qian felt extremely uncomfortable.

Too poisonous!

Men would watch in silence, women would watch in tears.

Pei Qian felt that if he saw this film in a theater, he might faint from anger on the spot.

Moreover, Pei Qian realized a major piece of good news.

Perhaps Lu Zhiyao’s improved acting might be a good thing for him?

If Lu Zhiyao hadn’t acted well, people might not have felt so immersed and might have secretly enjoyed seeing Lu Zhiyao suffer so badly in the film.

After all, this guy had little audience rapport.

But now, with Lu Zhiyao acting well, many people would naturally feel the simp aura emanating from him, producing an instinctive discomfort.

Those fans of Lu Zhiyao would surely be furious, wouldn’t they?

This way, more people would surely criticize this film!

Pei Qian suddenly felt better.

It seemed that accidentally improving Lu Zhiyao’s acting a little bit earlier wasn’t such a big problem.

As long as the script was poisonous enough, even the best actor couldn’t save it!

A smile involuntarily appeared on Pei Qian’s face as he went forward to chat with Director Zhu Xiaocai.