It was already past eight in the evening, and the sky had long since turned pitch black.
Coupled with the bright lights on set and the dimness off-camera, Xu Yanxia initially thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.
That was, until Lu Jingxi, who was standing beside her, called out, "Brother? What are you doing here?"
Only then was she certain she hadn't seen wrong.
The man wearing a business suit shirt, with his jacket draped over his arm, was indeed Lu Jingming.
Wait, why was he here?
When they texted at noon, wasn't he still in Hangzhou?
Before she could ask, Lu Jingxi's "brother" drew everyone else's attention to Lu Jingming.
The producer froze for a moment before immediately rushing over to greet him enthusiastically. "Mr. Lu? It really is you! When did you arrive? I'm so sorry, I didn't see you just now!"
He quickly introduced him to the surrounding staff, "This is CEO Lu of the Lu Group, Jingxi's older brother."
"Oh, so it's Mr. Lu!!!"
"Mr. Lu, please excuse our lack of a proper welcome. Welcome, welcome!"
The director, executive director, and stagehands present all rushed forward to shake his hand, their attitudes incredibly enthusiastic.
After all, this man was their company's major sponsor for the year!
The kind of bona fide financial backer that even the company's top executives had to entertain personally!
Lu Jingming's demeanor was quite amiable. He shook everyone's hands and said with a smile, "I happened to have some free time today, so I came to visit the set."
With that, he turned his gaze toward the set and asked, "What happened just now? Does someone have a problem with our Director Xu?"
"Our Director Xu"...
The producer quickly accompanied him with a smile, "Not at all, Mr. Lu. It was just some coordination issues with the other guests. It has nothing to do with Miss Xu. We are sorting it out right now. Miss Xu did a fantastic job today! Everyone on the production team is extremely grateful to her!"
"Yes, exactly!"
The director quickly chimed in, "If Miss Xu hadn't reminded us in time, we might have made a huge mistake!"
He even specifically cupped his hands in a gesture of thanks to Xu Yanxia on set, saying, "Thank you so much for today. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid all of us would have lost our jobs!"
"Thank you, Director Xu!"
"Thank you for the timely reminder!"
Seeing the other staff members following suit to apologize and express their gratitude, Xu Yanxia could only nod politely and say, "You're all too kind."
As her voice fell, Lu Jingming let out an "Oh," and said with a faint smile, "That's good. When I came in just now, I seemed to hear someone mention our Lu family."
This caused everyone to pause, and they all turned their eyes to Xu Qinghe, who was standing to the side.
Xu Qinghe, who was already stunned, felt a murderous aura creeping up his spine.
He hadn't even noticed when this CEO Lu had arrived...
Judging by his tone... it seemed he had heard everything?!
What should he do?!
He originally thought that these rich men were just playing around with pretty young girls like her.
Who would have thought that for a girl just recording a one-day program, a dignified CEO would actually come all the way here to visit the set?
Is he really that madly in love?!
...
Xu Qinghe racked his brains for the right words, intending to quickly salvage the situation. However, before he could speak, CEO Lu said to the producer, "I remember this show only has a one-day itinerary? I watched Jingxi's livestream this morning, and they had already gone grocery shopping then. Why are they still wasting time here? Our little Director Xia is very busy, and everyone's time is precious. What needs to be done now?"
"You are absolutely right,"
The thirty-something producer quickly smiled apologetically, bowing and nodding. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lu. There were indeed some unexpected accidents today; our team's work wasn't up to par. We are also very grateful to Jingxi, Miss Xu, and the other guests for bearing with us. The main content has already been completed. We just need to shoot one last closing scene."
With that, he immediately called out to all the staff, "Come on, come on, let's keep rolling. Let's finish shooting the ending according to the script, quickly."
The staff at their respective posts immediately got back to work. The lighting crew adjusted the lights, the cameramen manned the cameras, and the makeup artists hurried forward to touch up the guests' makeup and tidy their clothes.
Biting the bullet, Xu Qinghe also returned to his original position.
To his surprise, the director waved at him from off-camera. "Brother Xu, why don't you step out for a bit? We'll have to edit the footage later anyway, so the less we have to cut, the better."
What?
Xu Qinghe froze.
Did this mean they planned to cut all the scenes he had recorded today?
What about all the stuff he shot earlier...
It must be known that the entertainment industry was fiercely competitive. Although he had been highly popular for a while a few years ago, the emergence of various fresh-faced young idols over the last two years had squeezed out most of his job opportunities. He was counting on this show to boost his popularity again!
Xu Qinghe immediately headed outside to call his manager.
Little did he know, as soon as he took his phone from his assistant, he found that his manager had sent him several messages in a row since the official recording started that afternoon—
[If you're recording a show, just record the show. Why are you ogling beautiful women???]
[Put away your dirty thoughts and do your job properly!!!]
What?
Xu Qinghe was stunned again. Just as he was about to quickly dial his manager's number, he received another new message—
[Forget it, recording this show was a waste of time!]
[No need to stay there anymore, come back immediately!]
[Buy your own plane ticket!!!]
...
With the two eyesores gone, the atmosphere in front of the camera was much better.
As the five groups of guests and their family and friends gathered around the table and said their Mid-Autumn Festival blessings, the shoot finally wrapped up.
The actors left the set one after another, and the staff stepped forward to clear the props.
Some of the more gluttonous ones couldn't help but taste the dishes, and after tasting them, they all gave a thumbs up—
"Delicious! Every single dish is so good!"
"Exactly. With food this delicious, some people still wanted to be picky. They seriously have issues."
"Serves them right for crashing and burning."
...
Xu Yanxia also hurried over to Lu Jingming and asked, "Why are you here?"
Lu Jingming looked at her and smiled. "Didn't I say? I came to visit the set."
"To see if anyone was bullying my..."
He originally wanted to say "sweetheart," but fearing she would blush and ignore him, he changed his words at the last second and said, "Idol."
Xu Yanxia, however, still looked confused. "But weren't you attending a forum in Hangzhou at noon? And wasn't today's agenda supposed to be really important?"
"Yeah,"
He nodded again and said, "The important stuff finished in the afternoon, so I came over."
Saying that, he looked at her with a deep, meaningful gaze. "What's wrong? Did all those handsome guys blind you, and now you don't want to see me?"
