After the dinner, everyone prepared for the bonfire while Xie Ming and Xu Lan were exempted from the work.
Xie Ming has rewarded them with an amazing dinner while Xu Lan has arranged all of this and has arranged a special guest to give them some tips on how to act in period films. They did not let them work to show their grat.i.tude to them.
Of course, Xu Lan was happy about it and let them work. She was tired anyway.
Everyone worked diligently and wanted to leave great impressions in front of that, "special guest" who is still a mystery.
Xie Ming wanted to help Song Xiner and Han Ling in cooking some late-night snacks and fruit custard but they didn"t let her do anything. They asked her to rest and they could do at least this much.
Helplessly she sat on the cus.h.i.+on near the bonfire. She looked at the fire which was burning under this dark sky. Though it was summer, however, the temperature in this area tends to decrease at night and becomes slightly cold at night.
She was wearing a dress and was feeling cold but with the help of the burning fire, she felt better from its heat.
She stared at the burning wood and went into her thoughts. When she looked at the wood which was burning to give warmth to everyone in this chilly weather.
She doesn"t know, but for some reason that maybe she is more fit to be Xie Ming rather than Zhao Ming. That palace life never suited her.
She was not from an extravagant family and had her same mindset but she was called lowly and cheap for her cautious behavior towards money. Maybe it was her fault to not say anything but she does not believe that it was entirely her fault.
Every person has his opinions and personality. No one can blame someone for trusting people easily. It is those people"s fault for breaking their trust.
But in the end, people only blame the victim for not being cautious and careful. They all tend to forget that they are the victims. It"s not like they had wanted something to happen like that to happen.
No one should feel guilty about trusting anyone. It"s not their fault when someone breaks their trust and backstabs them. It"s okay to get broken and cry sometimes. It"s okay to feel that your life has crumbled and there is nothing to do anymore.
But it"s not okay to not stand up again after crying for a while. Because crying is okay, but not moving on is not. You need to flush those dark memories through tears so that you won"t be bothered by them again.
You should wipe all the bad things that happened with all the tears. Sometimes, those tears prove to be the new beginning of the new life.
" Not everyone in this world is vicious and cruel. The world is full of different kinds of people. You will also meet kind and nice people who will bring you out of the darkness. You just need to find that person with your eyes and heart open." she sighed as she felt emotional and deep in thought while looking at the fire.
Jian Yan and Wu Sheng lit the fire already and were now arranging the music system that girls have demanded.
Jian Yan, who was checking the music system, saw Xie Ming sitting near the fire. She was looking in deep thought with her eyes fixated on the fire.
His heart ached to see her sitting beside the fire alone like this. She was looking as beautiful as a fairy in that white dress and the yellow light emanating from the fire was making her glow in this dark night.
She was glowing like moonlight under the dark sky. She looked near but was far away. He can only see her from afar but cannot touch it.
He felt helpless seeing her like this.
Wu Sheng who has asked Jian Yan to check if it is working fine saw that he didn"t play anything, he looked at him and saw him looking at Xie Ming in a daze.
He felt that something was not right about him. His gaze was gentle and warm when he looked at Xie Ming but he was cold to everyone. He felt that Jian Yan was treating Xie Ming very differently.
" Jian Yan. I asked you to play something." Wu Sheng shook his head and reminded him to play something.
He decided to not dwell on it much. And pretend like he sees nothing.
After the preparations were done, everyone sat around the bonfire on the cus.h.i.+ons while Song Xiner served fruit custard to everyone.
Xu Lan stood up and clasped her hands together to gain everyone"s attention.
" Hey everyone. I am glad that you came all the way here to make this workshop successful. The workshop has only started and there will be more fun later on. So buck up yourself to ride the fun."
" Also, we have seen many unhappy things since we came here. But let"s just ignore everything and pretend like it never happened. We are one team and will do our best to produce the best film of the era." she said while raising her hands in determination."
"Because of this workshop, we got to taste the delicious food made by our dear Xie Ming" she pointed towards Xie Ming and everyone clapped their hands following her words.
Xie Ming smiled embarra.s.sedly. She felt that Xu Lan was being extremely excited.
" So, following the sumptuous dinner, now it"s time to meet the "special guests" that I"ve been telling you before. So let"s not waste more time and call our most awaited guest, Ms. Zhang Wei, let"s give her loud applause. Woohoo." she clapped her hands and turned her gaze towards the entrance of the garden.
Xie Ming was unaware of who this Zhang Wei is but seeing everyone"s surprised and shocked expression, she tried to hide her distracted expressions.
She has understood seeing their expressions that this person who is the "special guest" must be very special.
She must be someone very important and popular. That"s why everyone knows her even Wu Sheng also seems to know her. But when she looked at him observingly, his expressions seemed quite off.
" His expressions seem to be troubled rather than excited. But he was trying to cover it with a smile."
She ignored everything and clapped with everyone else and was eager to see the guest which has made everyone so excited.
Jian Yan who was sitting beside Xie Ming saw her confused expressions, he raised his brows in amus.e.m.e.nt. Though he knows who Zhang Wei is but seeing Xie Ming"s confused look, he felt pitiful for Zhang Wei.
She is the most popular actress these days, who has achieved so much in such a short span. She is young and still has managed to make her foundation in the industry.
She is always on the magazine cover or in entertainment news almost every day yet Xie Ming does not know her. It was like a slap to Zhang Wei who has worked so hard to reach this level and there is someone who knows her.
That too, she is going to enter the entertainment industry. He tried to hold his mocking smile because he knows Zhang Wei but he does not have a very good impression of hers.
They have never worked together before but he has met her in award ceremonies before. She seems to be quite different. He feels that her polite and kind behavior seems to be a mask.
But he never thought much about anything as he never had a conversation with her before personally.
He slowly leans in and spoke in a low voice in her ears, " Zhang Wei is a senior actress who has done many period dramas and films which were all super hit."
" Though she is young and only 28 but she has so much in her career that all the directors and actors respect her and praise her talent."
" That"s why everyone knows about her. She is the most popular celebrity these days."
Xie Ming who was confused but was still waiting for Zhang Wei to make an appearance who seemed to have been late. Xu Lan has already announced her but she still hadn"t made an appearance.
Maybe Xu Lan must have announced her arrival earlier but she came slightly late which made her arrival more antic.i.p.ated.
When Jian Yan suddenly leaned in and spoke in her ears, she was surprised with his sudden action but remained calm.
Though in her past life, it was not appropriate for other men to be close to other women or women should not be so close to a man. It is inappropriate for them to do so, but it is very normal in this world.
This world is different.
Moreover, she has to start shooting the film and there will be many scenes that might force her to come close to other men. So she needs to adjust herself to this kind of environment and get used to these small gestures and not panic all the time.
If she did that every time, she will make the other person feel guilty this way.