Chapter 68

Truda Lambert made such threats, clearly believing that the director would definitely compromise over this. So, her threats weren’t empty threats at all.

To be honest, Truda Lambert seems to have gone too far in her efforts to protect Katie Adams. She’s even started to sacrifice her own future for her sake.

Of course, he doesn’t think that himself.

What could Truda Lambert’s agent say, seeing how persistent she was? All they could do was reluctantly convey Truda Lambert’s wishes to the director.

What are Director Pond’s thoughts now? His current thought is that he has no thoughts at all.

He originally thought that Simone Milton would be the most difficult to deal with. But in the end, it turned out to be Truda Lambert!

Just thinking about the demands made to him by Truda Lambert’s agent, Director Pound was furious.

Of course, he didn’t really have any complaints about Katie Adams. After all, they had worked together in the past.

Even though Katie Adams isn’t as famous as she used to be, there’s still a certain level of friendship between them.

Think about it carefully: ever since Katie Adams left his crew, all sorts of bad things have kept happening to her.

To be honest, Director Pond was worried that if Katie Adams returned to his crew again, she might bring bad luck with her.

People in the entertainment industry, although most of them don’t seem superstitious on the surface, can become very superstitious when it comes to critical moments.

If the lead actor needs to be changed temporarily, it’s not impossible. But compared to Director Pond’s original plans, it will undoubtedly result in more wasted time.

Truda Lambert was undoubtedly the perfect choice for the female lead. Director Pond, not wanting to miss such an opportunity, tentatively asked Truda Lambert’s agent about the possibility.

“It’s absolutely impossible to have her as the female lead. How about we each make a compromise and let Katie Adams be the third female role instead? What do you all think?” When Director Pond delivered these words to Truda Lambert’s agent, he felt as though he had gone as low as possible in terms of humility.

In fact, in Director Pond’s own view, his actions were already extremely humble.

After all, he had never been so submissive to an actress before.

In fact, in a domestic environment like this, it’s still the exception for directors to treat actors with humility and respect.

Most actors, including popular celebrities, have to act according to the director’s wishes on set.

Even though these popular stars probably write their own scripts, they still never dare to offend the director.

After all, if the director makes things difficult for the actors in certain aspects, then no matter how talented these actors might be, they’ll find it hard to cope.

Truda Lambert’s agent thought it was already quite nice that the director said those things, so she conveyed Director Pond’s message to Truda Lambert.

Who would have thought that Truda Lambert, who was usually obedient and sensible, would refuse to budge after hearing what her agent said?

“No, the female lead is absolutely necessary. Without a female lead, what’s the point of this character at all?” Truda Lambert insisted on her view.

At the same time, he knew that making such a strong request would surely annoy Director Pond. This would be extremely detrimental to his future career as a star.

After thinking for a while, Truda Lambert still made her own compromise.

“It’s impossible for me to regress. I’m determined to get the role of the female lead…” Truda Lambert paused for a moment. “As long as he agrees to let Katie Adams play the female lead, I’m willing to reduce my salary, or even work for free!”

Truda Lambert’s agent was completely shocked upon hearing this. If anyone were to nominate the “wickedest woman of our time,” Katie Adams would definitely be on the list.

What does it mean to say that one can work without being paid? Truda Lambert’s agent seriously suspects that her artist must be under some kind of curse. Otherwise, how could she possibly say such nonsense?

Unfortunately, Truda Lambert is extremely stubborn these days and won’t allow anyone to question her decisions.

He rejected the repeated attempts by Truda Lambert’s agent to persuade him, insisting that he must help Katie Adams get the role of the female lead.

What else could Truda Lambert’s agent do? All she could do was go along with her artist’s wishes.

So, Truda Lambert’s agent quickly conveyed Truda Lambert’s decision to Director Pound.

When Director Pond first heard this news, he was completely speechless. Just to get Katie Adams the role of the female lead, Truda Lambert really went all out!

But thinking that Truda Lambert would rather take a pay cut than let Katie Adams get the role of the female lead, Director Pond felt he absolutely couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Rather than getting a cheap actor to play the lead role, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to have the less well-known Katie Adams join the cast as the female lead.

After much consideration, Director Hu finally agreed.

He told Truda Lambert’s agent that if Katie Adams got the role of the female lead, they would only pay one-tenth of Truda Lambert’s original salary.

Such terms were practically excessive demands, but Truda Lambert simply couldn’t care less at the moment, so she agreed without hesitation.

From then on, Katie Adams was officially confirmed as the female lead in Director Pond’s new drama.

Katie Adams was of course happy to hear this news. She didn’t bother to find out how much Truda Lambert had sacrificed to get that role as the second female lead.

She could only look at Truda Lambert with admiring eyes, as if Truda Lambert were the greatest and most admirable hero in her life.

Truda Lambert really fell for this trick.

When Simone Milton found out that Truda Lambert had even reduced her own salary to help Katie Adams get the role of the female lead, she was completely speechless.

She had a headache and found Katie Adams incredibly annoying. How could she keep running into this woman everywhere she went?

Making her give up the role of the heroine is absolutely impossible.

After all, she had spent a great deal of time practicing traditional opera for this leading role.

The time cost involved here is significant. She definitely won’t allow herself to waste such time and effort.

So even if she disliked Katie Adams greatly, Simone Milton had no choice but to pinch her nose and act as if she couldn’t see Katie Adams at all, then walk into the group with composure.

And in Georgia, after learning about this, there was nothing they could do but accept the situation helplessly.

After all, they’ve already signed a contract with Director Pond. If they breach the contract, they’ll have to pay three times their original salary as compensation.

On the way to join the group, Georgia even thought about trying to reassure Simone Milton, telling her not to overthink things and to act as if Katie Adams never existed at all.

Who knows, Simone Milton probably already figured it all out herself—that she had no intention of causing any trouble for Katie Adams at all.

“Don’t worry, Georgia! As long as she doesn’t bother me, I won’t bother her either! I always know when to stop. So, there’s no need for you to worry so much!” Before getting out of the car, Simone Milton said to Georgia with a smile.

On the first day of filming, Simone Milton, as the lead actress, met Truda Lambert, who played the male lead, as well as Katie Adams, who played the supporting female role.

Seeing Katie Adams once again, Simone Milton felt a bit awkward. She thought that Katie Adams had changed a lot.

If we say that Katie Adams in the past was that scheming girl who pretended to be noble and pure, while actually hiding her true intentions.

So, the current Katie Adams, on the surface, still seems as harmless as ever.

Whenever she saw Simone Milton, her eyes would inevitably reveal traces of resentment and hatred.

Although such negative emotions were fleeting, so quick that one might doubt their own senses, Simone Milton felt a sense of unease deep in her heart.

This sense of unease persisted for several days. What’s puzzling is that Katie Adams, who acted opposite her during those days, didn’t show any signs of trying to frame her at all.

Could it be that after just a short while apart, Katie Adams has turned over a new leaf? No, Simone Milton doesn’t believe that for a single moment.

She preferred to believe that Katie Adams was probably up to no good again. The current calm was merely the peace before the storm.

And that’s indeed the case.

Just a few days later, during one of the scenes, Truda Lambert, who was supposed to act opposite her, suddenly became hostile.

This scene originally depicts the heroine, who is a famous actress, meeting the male protagonist, who is an immortal master. Because she possesses a rare spiritual root, she’s taken to the world of cultivation. There, she’s ridiculed by the villainous characters.

The female second lead, out of jealousy towards the heroine, spoke badly of her. As a result, she got slapped by the honest heroine.

After seeing this, the male protagonist punished the female lead for talking nonsense.

This scene isn’t too difficult. In theory, it should be easy to shoot.

However, just as Simone Milton slapped Katie Adams as required by the character’s script, Katie Adams suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Watching Katie Adams, who hadn’t used any real force at all, get knocked to the ground, Simone Milton felt a strange sense of relief, as though something long-awaited had finally happened.

Needless to say, Katie Adams is definitely up to no good again.

As it turned out, that was indeed the case. Katie Adams, with her face covered, didn’t show any ugly expression. She simply pretended to be in extreme pain, then stood up again with a defiant look in her eyes.

“Go on! But I hope, Miss Milton, that you’ll use less force. If you keep applying such pressure, I might not be able to endure it!” As Katie Adams said this, her face showed signs of weakness, making her look very pitiable.

At least to those who don’t know the truth, it seems like Simone Milton is bullying Katie Adams. Katie Adams, after being hit, doesn’t dare to retaliate and can only express her dissatisfaction in a subtle manner.

“Then you’d better stand firmly. After all, I never expected that such a gentle force of mine would actually knock you to the ground! Don’t worry, I’ll adjust my strength next time.” Simone Milton said with a smile.

“I hope you can keep your word!” Truda Lambert said coldly after hearing Simone Milton say that.

Truda Lambert’s sarcastic remarks made Simone Milton uncomfortable, but she managed to endure them in the end.

Then, filming for this scene began again.

Here we go again with the scene where the heroine slaps the heroine’s rival. It seems like Katie Adams wants to repeat her old trick. Simone Milton, on the other hand, didn’t even try to hold back her strength this time.

Everyone heard a clear “snap” sound. Such a crisp clap was truly unforgettable.

Just as Katie Adams was about to fall, Simone Milton immediately stepped forward to comfort her and steadied her.

“I’m really sorry. I went too hard this time. But on the plus side, from the director’s point of view, it’ll definitely look more realistic. Don’t you think?” Simone Milton smiled at Katie Adams.

As she spoke, she turned her gaze toward Director Pond. The others also instinctively followed Simonne Milton’s example.

Then, everyone saw that Director Pond nodded his head and calmly asked everyone present to take a few minutes off before continuing with filming.

In other words, Director Pond was clearly on Simone Milton’s side and didn’t take this matter seriously at all.

Even if Katie Adams wanted to take advantage of the situation, she couldn’t do anything at all out of respect for Director Pond.

In this game, Simone Milton managed to get back into the game successfully.

The only downside is that Truda Lambert’s impression of Simone Milton has become even worse.

But for Simone Milton, this wasn’t anything important at all.

After all, she never expected Truda Lambert to change her opinion of her. She wasn’t stupid either. She knew full well that she couldn’t, like money, satisfy most people’s expectations.

And would Katie Adams, who’ve just been given a firm slap across the face, just give up like that? Of course not. She certainly won’t give up so easily.

However, she had realized that confronting Simone Milton head-on would be too risky. The best approach was to have someone else take on Simone Milton instead.

For example, Truda Lambert, who was filled with outrage after seeing Katie Adams get beaten.

So, Katie Adams simply said some seemingly nonsensical, nasty things about Simone Milton in front of Truda Lambert, and that was enough to drive Truda Lambert crazy with anger.

The woman he admires is being oppressed by a vicious woman. Any normal man would never stand by and do nothing.

In the subsequent scenes, Katie Adams behaved properly, but Truda Lambert started to find faults in everything meticulously.

Even though Simone Milton’s acting is already excellent, he somehow manages to spot something that’s off in her superb performance.

Then there were accusations and demands that Simone Milton shoot the scene again. Using her influential connections, she also managed to get an additional 30 million in funding for the production.

In this way, no matter how dissatisfied the director might be, he’d have to put aside his complaints considering the 30 million yuan invested.

Actually, by now, many people on the set already know that Truda Lambert and Simone Milton, the two lead actresses, are competing with each other.

Truda Lambert constantly picked fights and caused problems for Katie Adams, resulting in the production team falling far behind schedule.

Even if these young actors were slightly dissatisfied in private, they simply couldn’t go against those in authority. All they could do was whisper complaints to each other in secret.

Sometimes, they also felt deep sympathy for Simone Milton, who was being harassed and criticized by Truda Lambert, leaving her with no way out.

After all, Simone Milton, the protagonist, is quite easygoing.

Although she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the crew members and child actors, she still showed them the basic level of respect that’s due to them.

And this most basic level of respect is something that many celebrities lack. No wonder then that people have a good impression of Simone Milton.

So, based on this, when Truda Lambert causes trouble for no reason, the staff and young actors present will surely be willing to help Simone Milton if they can. They won’t hesitate to offer their assistance.

Simone Milton knew this all too well. So, after receiving help, she would often ask Marian to go out and buy some snacks as a way to thank everyone.

Of course, on the surface, it’s said to be because of a good mood. After all, there are some things that can’t be discussed openly.

As the relationship between the male and female protagonists became more tense, it became apparent that the acting skills of Simone Milton and Truda Lambert had also improved significantly as a result.

This could be considered a pleasant surprise, after all, both sides consist of talented actors with great acting skills.

And, in order to find faults, people usually focus on the acting skills.

To some extent, this is also a positive cycle. At least for Director Pond himself, he’s very happy with this situation.

This means that, if this movie is released, it’s bound to receive extremely high praise, as long as nothing goes wrong.

By now, Truda Lambert has actually been impressed by Simone Milton’s acting skills.

If we go back to the beginning, he could still find something objectionable in Simone Milton’s performance.

After that, he quickly noticed that Simone Milton was making continuous progress. This progress was evident to the naked eye, and it also demonstrated just how talented Simone Milton was as an actress.

Once again, brought into the scene by Simone Milton, Truda Lambert was filled with mixed emotions.

After this scene, Truda Lambert, unusually, didn’t criticize Simone Milton’s poor acting as she usually did.

His expression was somewhat complicated. Looking at this woman who seemed relaxed and full of energy on stage, Truda Lambert simply couldn’t understand why such an actress, with great acting skills, would insist on clinging to Katie Adams so tightly.

As she watched, a crazy idea came to Truda Lambert’s mind: perhaps Simone Milton didn’t have to be an enemy of Katie Adams after all. Maybe they could reconcile.

In his heart, he didn’t want to go against an actress with such outstanding acting skills. He appreciated every actor who was good at acting.

After much thought, Truda Lambert finally decided to try to persuade Simone Milton not to deliberately make things difficult for Katie Adams.

Meanwhile, Simone Milton was discussing the performance on stage with Marianne.

Faced with Marian’s constant praise, Simone Milton found it embarrassing. She felt she hadn’t yet reached perfection, and Marian was being overly generous in her compliments.

When Truda Lambert stood in front of her, she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

Marian felt even more that Truda Lambert must have ulterior motives for coming to them. After all, this famous actor had previously criticized them in various ways.

Just thinking about that situation made Marian furious. If only this famous actor were fair enough, then it wouldn’t be a problem.

But it’s obvious that he’s doing this to stand up for Katie Adams. It’s completely unfair.

“Lambert, the great actor, what exactly do you want? My sister Simone didn’t make any mistakes in this scene, did she?” Marian, who already suspected that Truda Lambert was looking for trouble, glared at her viciously.

“No, you misunderstand. I’m here because there’s something I need to say to Simone Milton…” Truda Lambert shook her head, then spoke slowly to Marian.

Marian was skeptical about this. She didn’t believe that Truda Lambert really came here with a purpose related to Simone Milton. The two of them weren’t friends at all. It was pure nonsense.

Compared to Marian’s vigilance, Simone Milton’s reaction was quite indifferent.

She patted Marian on the shoulder, trying to calm her down. Then, she stood up and went over to Truda Lambert.

“Mr. Lambert, what can I do for you?” Simone Milton asked slowly. “Perhaps I can be of some help to you.”

“I hope you’ll stop targeting Katie Adams in the future. She’s a nice girl. You have great acting skills. There’s no need to make things difficult for her like this…” Truda Lambert said, clearly embarrassed.

He knew his words made no sense at all, but if he didn’t say anything, he just felt uncomfortable inside.

“Your acting skills are so good. If only your character wasn’t so poor, you’d probably achieve even more,” Truda Lambert said with concern.

He earnestly expressed his thoughts and believed that Simone Milton should follow his advice.

Yet to Simone Milton, his words sounded completely unreasonable.

Truda Lambert’s words were simply unbearable to hear. The smile on his face instantly disappeared, and he seemed extremely unhappy.

“Truda Lambert, Mr. Lambert, I respect you as a renowned film actor, which is why I’ve always been tolerant of you. But that doesn’t mean I’ll tolerate your slanderous accusations against me,” Simone Milton said coldly.

“I…” Truda Lambert looked at Simone Milton’s cold expression and was speechless. “What I said might have been a bit harsh, but it’s still the truth, isn’t it?”

“Facts? The facts are that during the filming of this movie, you kept causing me trouble over and over again. Even though I never did anything to Katie Adams, you still kept harassing me relentlessly… Is this what you call ‘having a bad character’?” Hearing Truda Lambert say that, Simone Milton could hardly believe her ears and almost laughed out loud.

She took a deep breath to calm her frustration and prevent herself from appearing overly upset.

“If you’ve come to me just to say such nonsense, then you can leave now. I absolutely refuse to reconcile with you.”

"What you call ‘reconciliation’ is nothing more than trying to force me to take the side of the villains and beg for forgiveness from you ‘messengers of justice’. There’s absolutely no way I’ll agree to that.”

Simone Milton made her position clear: there’s absolutely no way she’ll reconcile with Katie Adams. It’s simply impossible!

Truda Lambert was also extremely angry upon hearing this. She thought she had meant well, wanting to give Simone Milton a chance to turn over a new leaf.

But Simone Milton not only failed to appreciate it, but also spoke harshly. It’s truly detestable.

“It’s a shame that I wanted to help resolve the misunderstanding between you two. But given your attitude right now, I’d better give up on that idea!” After saying those words, Truda Lambert left angrily.

He really didn’t want to have anything to do with Simone Milton anymore. He felt like he was incredibly stupid. He also made up his mind that he wouldn’t let his admiration for Simone Milton get the best of him anymore.

People like Simone Milton, who don’t follow logic, should be suppressed—that’s the right course of action.

Realizing this, Truda Lambert gave up arguing with Simone Milton and devoted herself entirely to working against her.

If anyone was happiest about all that happened, it was undoubtedly Katie Adams.

With Truda Lambert’s help, she not only managed to get along well with everyone on the set and earn the praise of many people, but she was also able to handle matters related to Milna Dillon.

For a while, Katie Adams was doing extremely well. It was probably the most satisfying period of her life since she met Simone Milton.

After that, Simone Milton increasingly felt that Truda Lambert’s tactics were becoming more and more extreme, and she grew increasingly exhausted trying to deal with them.

In the end, Simone Milton, feeling overwhelmed, simply tried to ignore everything related to Truda Lambert and Katie Adams, thereby avoiding contact with them altogether.