Emily Bennett sighed, steadied her emotions, and said to him, “Go buy some late-night snacks like milk tea and barbecue from nearby, and deliver one to every crew member. I’m heading back to my room first.”

She was in low spirits, so James Foster didn’t disturb her and just nodded in agreement.

The business hotel booked by the crew was nearby, but Emily Bennett didn’t go back. She took her phone and script to the small lakeside park. She opened Weibo to check—her trending topic had dropped a bit, and there was much less abusive language.

She also saw several marketing accounts posting announcements: [Although Emily Bennett really isn’t that great, this time she shouldn’t be the one taking the blame, right? She didn’t write the script. This female lead is a hot potato—whoever plays her gets scolded. Honestly, I kind of admire Emily Bennett’s courage to face the hate head-on.]

It was probably a coordinated marketing campaign by the team. Sarah Cooper might be overbearing, but she really knew how to create buzz and clean up an artist’s image. She needed Emily Bennett to stay in the spotlight, but not have her reputation completely ruined. Her marketing tactics were top-notch.

Emily Bennett messaged Tommy: Wangwang, how’s the anti-hate work going?

Tommy replied instantly: Report, President! I wrote an automatic reporting program—most of the posts with sensitive words in the forum have already been blocked.

Who would’ve thought he was a computer whiz? Emily Bennett encouraged him: “Great job, keep it up!”

“Mission guaranteed!”

As the end of the year approached, all the major voting charts and portal site popularity contests were ramping up. Emily Bennett compiled the major rankings and sent them to the online voting team manager, Lily, instructing her to maintain the daily voting data. She also edited the latest promotional and anti-hate tasks and posted them in the fan support group. All nine members promised to get the job done.

Emily Bennett felt a bit better.

She couldn’t afford any more hate—if it got worse, she’d lose even her nine fans.

After finishing all this, she turned on her phone’s flashlight and opened her script. The blank spaces for lines were filled with her notes—she’d clearly marked what kind of expression and tone to use for each line. Starting from the first line, she read them over and over, tirelessly, then recorded herself on her phone.

After reading, she listened to the recording and corrected her tone word by word.

Emily Bennett thought, back then, even as a poor student, after working hard she managed to get an offer from the University of London. Is there anything in this world harder than exams? No!

If she could get into the University of London, she could be a good actress too.

It was just a matter of how much effort she put in.

Chapter 8

She practiced her lines late into the night. In the end, Emily Bennett was so cold she couldn’t stand it anymore and shivered her way back to the hotel.

As soon as she got in the elevator, Edward Grant, reeking of alcohol, walked in too. He was a bit surprised to see her, grinned, and greeted her, “You’re still up too?” He glanced at the script in her hand and her face, red from the cold, and said in disbelief, “Emily Bennett, you’re really working hard!”

Emily Bennett said, “No pain, no gain.”

Edward Grant burst out laughing, bending over with mirth. After he finished, he took her script and looked at it. “Wow, you’re really putting in the effort. Just for that, I’ll have your back from now on. If you ever need someone to run lines with, just come to me.”

How could someone who NG’d more than ten times in a single scene today have the nerve to say that? No shame at all?

But Edward Grant didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty. The next day, during a break on set, he actually brought his script over to Emily Bennett to run lines.

Emily Bennett: “…Can I refuse?”

Edward Grant: “No! I’m helping you out of kindness, and you dare refuse?”

Emily Bennett silently picked up her script.

Anna Foster was sitting not far away, holding a bottle of orange juice, watching the two of them. After a while, he couldn’t take it anymore, put the juice down on the ground, and walked over to Edward Grant with a heavy expression, patting him on the shoulder. Edward Grant was annoyed at being interrupted and glared at Anna Foster.

Anna Foster said, “Let me do it.”

Edward Grant immediately protested, “What do you mean? You think I’m not acting well enough?”

Anna Foster said, “Yeah.”

Emily Bennett thought Edward Grant would get mad, but instead he said, “But I’m good-looking.”

Fine, you’re pretty, you’re right…

Anna Foster ignored him and turned to Emily Bennett, “Right?”

Emily Bennett nodded like a pecking chicken, “Right, right, right.”

So the two of them left the aggrieved-looking Edward Grant behind and went to run lines together. After two scenes, Anna Foster looked at Emily Bennett with some surprise, “Much better than yesterday.”

It seemed her hard work last night hadn’t been in vain. Emily Bennett felt completely satisfied.

Hard work pays off. When filming started, Emily Bennett only NG’d twice before passing the first scene. Once she got started, everything went smoothly. Anna Foster didn’t hold back either, sharing all his professional acting tips with Emily Bennett.

The next day after filming, she went to the lakeside as usual to practice her lines. She used the same method, incorporating the techniques Anna Foster had taught her, and improved even faster. Plus, the character she played wasn’t that difficult—as long as she mastered the basic acting skills, she could pass.

Meanwhile, her official fan club Weibo was updated daily, each time with a photo from the set.

—Between you and me, there’s only a ray of light. Light is wind, is shadow, is star; it’s your brows and eyes bathed in the morning glow as I chase after you. Good morning, Qiao fans.