Strategy to Conquer the Vicious Female Supporting Character [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 6

The more Qi Lin studied it, the more she felt that if you were judging purely by appearance and character fit, she and the film queen had really gotten their scripts switched.

Until the day they shot the costume photos.

Qi Lin looked at Dong Zheng, dressed in a pink-and-white ruqun, hair styled in twin maid buns, her lips curved in a gentle smile and eyes bright with expression — and had to admit, this film queen was the real deal.

And when Dong Zheng saw Qi Lin in her silver-gray long robe, ink-black flowing hair, a cold, sharp face, and striking makeup, she, too, was momentarily stunned.

In the instant their eyes met, both were inexplicably caught off guard.

The photographer beside them, quick on the uptake, immediately pressed the shutter. From then on, this photo — perfectly matching the moment when Nan Zhi and He Weimian first meet in the original novel — caused a frenzy among “ZhiMian” fans when it was posted to the official Weibo account. It also became the iconic “first sweet moment” for the eventual national CP, “AnDong.”

But at that moment, neither of the two people in the photo were paying attention to any of that.

Qi Lin was fully focused on the script. She didn’t even know that the moment the costume photo dropped on Weibo, she’d attracted a wave of people turning from haters to fans, and passersby becoming fans too.

As for Dong Zheng — she was famously cool and aloof, never engaging with fans. It was said she didn’t even use Weibo…

The director of “The Bl00d-Stained Hairpin”, Director Song, was a man who valued efficiency. After a brief incense offering, the entire crew quickly got to work. The early scenes in the script all took place at Su Yi Sect. Knowing she’d be acting with the film queen soon, Qi Lin was a little excited.

Nan Zhi had a past friendship with He Weimian’s mother. Before she died, He Weimian’s mother entrusted her daughter to Nan Zhi’s care. So at the beginning of the script, He Weimian arrives at Su Yi Sect, Nan Zhi welcomes her, and both are a little surprised upon meeting — just like in the costume photo.

Then came a segment where Nan Zhi showed He Weimian around the sect, explaining some of the world’s setting and background. Their interaction highlighted Nan Zhi’s strength and composure, and He Weimian’s innocence and cheer.

The scene really wasn’t difficult. Aside from one retake caused by a minor prop issue, it was shot all in one go. As expected from the film queen — but even Qi Lin, a complete newcomer with no formal training, managed to hold her own while acting opposite her. She didn’t come across as raw or stiff at all. In fact, she completely embodied her character’s dominant role in the scene, stunning the entire crew.

Quite a few people who had previously looked down on this random rookie quietly began reassessing her.

When asked about her, Director Song simply gave his usual warm yet mysterious smile.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to share anything — there really wasn’t anything to spill about An Xiaoxiao.

If you had to say something, maybe… she was just incredibly gifted?

After the scene was done, Qi Lin went to rest, and her assistant and manager came over right away.

Yes, thanks to this drama, Qi Lin now had an assistant — Xiao Sun, a young woman — and a manager, Sister Wang, whom she shared with two other artists.

Key point, both were women, both were young, and both were quite good-looking.

According to the logic of the original novel, yes — you guessed it — these two would eventually turn into vicious female supporting characters after being “blackened.” And yes, both would end up entangled with the male lead only because of the female lead, leading to scandalous affairs.

Even the girl who was already his girlfriend at the time, An Xiaoxiao, wasn’t enough — he still tried to sleep with the girls around her. Gu Fei really nailed his scumbag persona.

Although none of this has happened yet, there’s no way Qi Lin would have any good feelings toward those two girls. He simply kept things polite and maintained his distance.

It was the height of summer, and Qi Lin’s costume was quite thick. He was already sweating buckets. Xiao Sun quickly brought over a small fan and some iced water. Qi Lin thanked her, then thought for a moment and asked, “Can you check if there’s a place nearby selling watermelon? Please get me half of one if you can.”

Xiao Sun nodded quickly and ran off to look. Watching her run off, Qi Lin felt a little sorry. She’s actually a nice girl — why on earth did she have to be so blind and fall for a scumbag?

He looked up at Gu Fei’s face and understood. Oh, right. It’s the face.

…Wait, hold on?!

Gu Fei’s face?

Qi Lin looked up again and saw the male lead — Gu Fei — suddenly appear in his break room out of nowhere, staring in stunned shock, not even trying to hide it.

…Why the heck are you here?!

But in Gu Fei’s eyes, Qi Lin’s stunned expression was because the woman he fancied was so pleasantly surprised by his sudden appearance that she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Gu Fei’s lips curved slightly.

As expected of the woman he liked — even such a dumbstruck look could seem so adorable.

It wouldn’t be long now until she was his.

You couldn’t really blame the male lead for being so narcissistic. Even setting aside his arrogant, overbearing, and overly self-confident personality, Gu Fei had never once failed with women.

After all, aside from being a scumbag emotionally, he had the looks, the body, the status, and the wealth. In every aspect, he was top-tier.

“Ahem.” Seeing Qi Lin stuck in that stunned expression for too long, Sister Wang had to cough lightly to remind her. “Xiaoxiao, this is the person I just told you about — President Gu came to visit the set.”

Qi Lin: “…”

Sister Wang had just spent forever lecturing her about not getting arrogant and treasuring this opportunity. At first, she listened, but later she just nodded along distractedly with a bunch of “mm-hmm, okay, got it…”

Sister, could you maybe mention the important stuff first next time?!

There’s no way something like the investor visiting the set would be done quietly — especially not with Gu Fei, who loves making a big show of things…

Qi Lin felt like lighting a candle for herself.

The Film Queen was probably going to misunderstand her even more now!

She must have picked the wrong day to do anything. Just as she thought of the male lead, he showed up. And now, as she thought of the Film Queen, Dong Zheng walked in through the door that Xiao Sun had forgotten to close on her way out.

Judging from Dong Zheng’s movement, she was probably about to knock on the door as a reminder, but Gu Fei happened to be standing directly in front of it. As soon as the great Film Queen saw the male lead, her entire movement froze.

…So the Film Queen actually didn’t know the male lead had arrived, and only found out after bumping into him like this?

Gu Fei didn’t notice Dong Zheng at the door at all. He was leaning closer to Qi Lin, putting on a gentle and affectionate expression,
“Xiaoxiao, it’s your first time filming — are you getting used to it? Is it tiring?”

Qi Lin: “…”

Brother, the freezing cold presence at the door is practically tangible — how oblivious do you have to be not to feel it?!

With a strong sense of self-preservation, Qi Lin didn’t respond to the male lead’s trap of a question at all. Instead, she excitedly tossed aside his mini fan, endured the heat, and ran to the door,
“Film Queen! Did you come to see me about something?”

She had to proactively show the great Film Queen that no matter who the male lead was or how close he got, even if he was standing right in front of her, he still wasn’t as important as the Film Queen, whose silhouette was only half-visible in her peripheral vision!