During the time that Xuemei was absorbed in her phone, Huang Jun silently drove to the location. Actually, he was quite grateful Xuemei was not the talkative sort. He enjoyed silence, but most young people loved to chatter away to avoid an awkward atmosphere. Both calmly stayed in their own worlds which made the 30 minutes seem to pass by quickly. They arrived at the closest village to the base of the mountain where Huang Jun parked his car. The rest of the way into the woods and up the mountain did not have a paved road. Tucking her phone away into her back pocket, Xuemei took a large breath of fresh air. The air here was definitely much more refreshing than in the city. Although her mom did not end up packing athletic sneakers or boots which would have been best, she did pack walking sneakers. Ignoring the slight discomfort since the ground was uneven, Xuemei thought that a small hike would be nice. 

As they trekked up the mountain, she looked around happily at the nature surrounding them. If not for the fact that the two of them were on a schedule, she probably would have stopped and taken in the scenery more. Soon, she could spot the equipment and tents pitched up. Wonder filling her expression, her eyes flitted about the set. Once two new people popped up, those working all looked over with caution.

“This is a closed filming location. Unauthorized personnel are not allowed.” One of the people working quickly spoke up.

“We are part of the stuntmen group.” Huang Jun quickly pulled out his credentials. He also seemed to make a call to one of his employees. 

“Wait! Wait! They are with us, don’t worry!” As if on cue, a young man came rushing over. With his assurance, the rest of the people went back to work and ignored the two newcomers. 

“Big bro, you’re finally here!” The young man cheerfully greeted. His eyes soon peeked over at Xuemei. “Is this the new younger sister you were telling us about?”

“Tang Xuemei. She’s a new employee with us, at least temporarily.”

“Ohhh… but aren’t you too pretty to be doing this type of work? You also do not look like you could put up a good fight…” Not too convinced, the young man gave Xuemei a once over.

“Little Nine, are you doubting my judgment?”

“...” Seemingly silenced by this, the young man turned away and introduced himself to Xuemei.

“Meimei, it’s nice to meet you, I am Feng Jiu, but everyone just calls me Little Nine. You should call me Brother Nine, though!”

“Nice to meet you, Brother Nine.” Taking it in stride, Xuemei greeted him politely while putting out her right hand. However, Feng Jiu could only pause awkwardly and put out his left hand instead. 

“Sorry, I can’t shake with my right hand.” Holding his right arm, the stump at the end shocked Xuemei momentarily. Quickly recovering, however, she shook his left hand.

“Little Nine does not do stunts, he helps me with the company as an assistant. I mostly hire veterans, so you should be prepared to see things like this.” Huang Jun spoke up at this time.

“I’m not bothered by it, I was just surprised for a second. If anything, I really respect anyone who serves their country. There is no reason to be sensitive about such things.” Xuemei could tell that Huang Jun misunderstood her pause for fear or disgust. He couldn’t really be blamed for misunderstanding, though. The culture here had plenty of social stigmas against the mentally and physically disabled. Xuemei, with her past experience, obviously did not hold such views. Seeing her clear expression and level voice, both Huang Jun and Feng Jiu seemed to allow the awkward atmosphere to disperse. 

“Well, Meimei you should come over so I can introduce you to the rest of the crew. They’re the guys you will be ‘beating’ up after all. You should at least get to know their names.” Feng Jiu pulled her further into the camp towards one of the more open spaces. There she could see a bunch of men and women all practicing and rehearsing the moves with one another. 

“Hey, guys, the newbie is here. Let’s all give her a warm welcome.” 

Hearing that, all the people stopped what they were doing to look over curiously. When they laid their eyes on Xuemei, most of them looked shocked. Not to be biased against stunt doubles, but most of them were not the most attractive looking people otherwise they would have chosen to be actors and actresses instead. Athleticism and strength really did not have much to do with outer appearances. Especially the women were generally average looking since the prettier ones avoided physical activities like the plague for fear of tanning or growing too muscular. Dainty beauties who were talented in the arts were the cultural standard. Although gender equality was a growing mentality, there were still a large population of people that thought traditionally. The girl in front of them was a picture of the traditional style that parents adored. She has straight black hair down to her waist with long and thin limbs but enough meat in all the right places. Her skin is white and smooth. Big, beautiful light brown eyes and pink full lips graced her egg-shaped face. Although she was still young and tender-looking, they could tell that she would mature into a great beauty that did not lose out to the top A-list entertainers.

The men in the group all began to blush a little while the women looked on with slight envy. Xuemei could tell that none of them had any truly bad thoughts except one girl who seemed to look at her with a particular bitterness and hatred. Able to sense it right away, Xuemei glanced over in the direction of the glare. The owner of those eyes was a relatively pretty girl from the group. This girl obviously glanced back and forth between Xuemei and Huang Jun, so Xuemei was able to pick up on the reason right away. The girl even started to glare provocatively at Xuemei, seeming to hope to get a rise out of her. Inwardly rolling her eyes, she truly felt like she was shot while lying down. Obviously, this girl’s feelings had nothing to do with her and Xuemei’s relationship with Brother Huang was innocent. They barely spoke a word to each other on personal topics.

Ignoring her, Xuemei turned to the rest of the crowd and gave a polite smile.

“Hello, everyone, I am Tang Xuemei. Please take care of me in the future. Junior still has a lot to learn from you seniors.”

“No, no, no. Brother Huang tested you himself and approved. We probably do not have much we can teach you.” One of the bigger guys rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. He looked like the honest sort, exactly the temperament Xuemei was fond of in friends. 

“No matter what, I’m still a newbie. Knowing how to fight and knowing how to be a stunt double are two different things in the end. I hope to learn a lot.” Smiling even wider, she patted the big guy on the shoulder which caused the man to blush an even deeper red with a silly grin on his face.

“HAHAHA, don’t worry junior sister, this big brother will help wherever he can. If anyone gives you a hard time just come to me! I’m called Ling Donghai.” With his booming, deep voice, the man replied cheerfully.

“Your junior sister can handle herself. Just look out for yourself.” Huang Jun’s cold voice interrupted.

Choked by those sharp words, the big man looked like a kicked puppy.

“Don’t worry Brother Donghai, I look forward to learning from you.” Patting his shoulder encouragingly, Xuemei comforted this teddy bear-like senior of hers. Perking his head up, a silly grin once again appeared on Donghai's face as he nodded.

“Alright, since introductions are over, Xuemei should start to practice coordinating with you. As I am the stunt coordinator this time, I will go review the moves with you.” Huang Jun cleared his throat and got their attention. Clearly trained, the rest of the group was not rowdy at all and quickly got into position. Nodding inwardly, Xuemei appreciated the organization and seriousness in everyone’s expression. The rest of the time, Xuemei quickly learned all the moves for the entire scene. It was a little hard to learn at first since she had to fake getting hit as well. Thankfully, as someone who had taken multiple hits before in her life, Xuemei quickly caught onto the rhythm and made the fight as realistic as possible. A couple times, she accidentally punched or kicked one of the other team members and could not help but feel guilty. She made the effort to remember their faces for later and buy them a treat later as an apology. Although it was fake, she still had to move at full power and speed to be authentic-looking, so she hit them at full force. 

The team was actually very impressed by Xuemei’s speed of learning and, unlike Huang Jun, were not afraid to give out compliments. Nobody did not enjoy praise, so Xuemei was in a cheery mood after practice. The only issue was that her white blouse was already soaking in sweat after the intense practice. Unaware of this issue, Xuemei did not catch that the rest of the men began to blush and look away awkwardly. The most outspoken Donghai also did not know what to say and could only quietly nudge one of the girls. When the rest of the girls also started to notice, they looked surprised. 

“Little Sister Xuemei, did you bring a change of clothes?” One of them quietly whispered.

“Change of clothes? No, I didn’t. Honestly, my mom was the one who packed my suitcase, so I did not have any athletic clothes with me. Plus, I thought there would most likely be a costume given to me so I match the real actress. Why?”

“Uhhh… don’t you know what happens when white gets wet?”

“The blouse material is a little uncomfortable when it's wet with sweat… but that’s about it.” Xuemei admittedly did feel uncomfortable when she felt the material sticking to her, but she thought she could last until later. She would probably buy some athletic clothes for herself later on, though. 

“That… Little sister, I have an extra t-shirt that you can use. You should probably get changed.”

“Really? Will you not need it?”

“I brought a lot this time, don’t worry about it.”

“Then, I won’t reject it this time! I will wash it for you and return it in good condition. Thank you!”

Receiving the t-shirt, Xuemei quickly went into the large tent prepared for them to change in. Inside, there was actually a mirror. It was only at this moment that Xuemei’s face turned bright red. The nude bra she was wearing underneath was actually completely visible with the blouse sticking to her. No wonder they asked about it… Actually Xuemei should have thought of this since she used to have to wear white undershirts beneath dress shirts in case of sweating. But, most of her life, she just wore black tank-tops or t-shirts and did not think much about it. Feeling awkward, she pinched between her brows before deciding to just be thick-skinned about it. So many girls wear bikinis, it’s not like she lost anything. Tossing off the blouse, Xuemei pulled the t-shirt on and walked back out to practice. Everyone’s faces returned to normal and they seemed to try their best not to mention anything. Although this made the atmosphere even more strange, Xuemei just ignored it and put her mind on practicing. Seeing her like this, the rest of the team also tossed the small happening to the back of their mind and practiced seriously.

Before long, they were all taking a short break before one of the workers came over and told us that the director was calling them over to start filming the scene. Receiving their outfits, everyone started getting dressed. All the men and women dressed in camouflage clothes while Xuemei was the only one to receive an old-fashioned dress. The make-up artist came over and did her best to make Xuemei look like a regular country girl, even her skin looked tanner from a darker foundation. When she walked out, one could almost not recognize her. The special part about the novel was that the female lead was actually fairly average-looking and not that pretty. Since she practiced martial arts with her grandfather all the time, she was outside and did not take care of herself like other girls. She liked hiking and going outdoors as well. When the auditions for this character were happening, that was part of the criteria.

Therefore, when Xuemei first met Lin Mengmeng, her first impression was that the girl looked rather underwhelming. She was shorter than the 1.72 meters tall Xuemei and was probably around 1.63 meters which was fairly standard for women. Her body was thin, but her face was round with cute baby fat in her cheeks. When she smiled, deep dimples showed themselves that made her face that much more genial. As the first actress that Xuemei had ever met, she definitely was not as gorgeous as imagined. However, Xuemei did feel like the main heroine had come to life, if not for the fact that Mengmeng gave a more affable atmosphere while the heroine was more charismatic. Both could get along with anyone but for different reasons. It was for this exact reason that the atmosphere on set was not right. The assistant director seemed to be trying to calm the main director who was fuming about the scene not giving the right feeling. When Xuemei listened to the whispers, apparently this was only the 7th NG for this one scene. However, Director An had high expectations for this actress who was great in the auditions. All the others on set said that the director kept trying to tell Mengmeng that she needed more heroism in her persona. She was a sunny girl, yes, but she also had a violent streak against villains.

“Look! Look at her! Who is she? The stunt double? Yes, Mengmeng, look at her. Can’t you feel that charisma that deep in her bones? As if she could fight it out with anyone? Although she is too cold in demeanor for Yu Yan’s character, she does not come off as soft.” When Xuemei entered the scene wearing the same exact clothes, inevitably she gained some attention. When the director saw her, his eyes lit up before specifically pointing her out. Speechless, Xuemei felt all the eyes suddenly turning towards her and scanning her up and down. Uncomfortable with all the looks, she grimaced a little and inwardly cursed the director’s. Why bring her into this? Isn’t she just a stunt double? Where is she anywhere like the main character, Yu Yan?

Mengmeng, who was close to tears, also looked over at Xuemei. However, the expected resentment was not there in her eyes, just pure curiosity and passion to learn. As if something sparked in her mind, she turned to the director while wiping her eyes quickly. 

“Director, let me try one more time! I think I can get the feeling.” She asked sincerely.

Although the doubt was evident in his eyes, the director still wanted to quickly get this scene done. The more time they use, the more money they lose anyways.

Xuemei also watched along with the audience with some anticipation. It was not any real special scene. Just Yu Yan’s character going on her hike through the woods, but the director wanted her personality to shine through in these moments even without lines. When the camera began rolling, Mengmeng became a new person. She smiled widely showing her pearly teeth, but instead of feeling just friendly there was a hint of a rascal-like feel. She seemed mischievous and playful like any young girl, but something about her posture was more open and confident. Eyes lighting up with joy, the director did not yell the dreaded “cut!” and instead kept his silence. The rest of the crew also watched with breath held. 

“Cut! Okay!” The director’s voice echoed after the scene was finished. “Mengmeng, that was great! That was what I was talking about.” After so much criticism, Director An did not forget to also praise where praise was due. Immediately after hearing his words, Mengmeng looked a mixture of delight and relief to have finally caught on. 

“Alright, we will move on to the next scene. The stunt doubles should be ready and on standby for afterward.”

With the rest of the team, Xuemei waited at the sidelines. This next scene was when the main character, Sun Yu Yan, meets her love interest, Lieutenant Colonel Ling Yi. She tried to absorb all she could from watching Mengmeng and the male lead, Pei Wencheng, act. Although they were still newcomers in the industry, they both formally learned acting at a Film School and continued to fix themselves through Director An’s leading and advice. At first, Xuemei thought that Director An was just being picky, but, seeing the transformation happen in front of her eyes, she could understand why he went to great pains to fix the little things. She also realized she still had a long way to go before she could do things like this. It seems she would have to keep practicing hard with Teacher Mu Chen. Her being a stunt double also brought the rewards that she was expecting. It really did give her a front row seat to learn from other actors and actresses.