5

Winifred began her full-scale invasion of the entertainment industry. Wherever Josephine went, she followed. When Josephine was filming her final scenes for a movie, Winifred forcefully inserted herself into the shoot. Overnight, Josephine's role was drastically reduced, with all the pivotal scenes reassigned to Winifred. “Director, I'm not sure how to handle this scene. Could you guide me?” Winifred approached the director with the script before filming. This is...... This part is very simple. Just slap her. Be a bit more intense and it's best to use a little force." The director was guiding her. Not far away, Josephine paused for a moment upon hearing this. She had no memory of a slapping scene in the script. When she confronted the screenwriter, he stammered and evaded, saying, "Well... I just revised it as requested. Don’t blame me—there’s nothing I can do." Who requested it? That was obvious. Winifred returned to Josephine's side, smiling happily: "Josie, to make the audience feel a sense of immersion, is it okay for me to slap you in real?" “You’re a great actress. I trust you’ll agree.” “Right?” Winifred raised an eyebrow at her, looking smug. Josephine glanced sideways and spotted Elijah nearby. He wore a hat, low-key yet impossible to ignore. Was he going to watch every single take of Winifred's scenes? With no other choice, she swallowed her resentment: “Mm.” What followed was as she had expected, there were dozens of retakes in the "fight scenes" over and over again. Winifred could have performed well in all other aspects, but she kept making mistakes in the face fights. She either forgot to say her lines or was in the wrong mood. After half an hour of filming, Josephine's cheeks were swollen and red. The director couldn't bear to watch any longer and called a break: “Everyone take a short rest before we continue.” Josephine's face burned with stinging pain. Her assistant was crying uncontrollably, utterly upset for her: “Winifred has really gone too far. It was clearly on purpose to hit you. ” Josephine felt terrible herself, but she wiped away her tears and whispered softly, “I'm fine.” Through her assistant, she saw Elijah approaching with an ice pack in his hand. He offered a rare show of concern: “Does your face still hurt?” Josephine countered, “What do you think?” Elijah didn't seem to notice. He simply said, “Winnie's new. It's normal for her to struggle sometimes. Try to be more patient with her. If it really doesn't work, just reshoot the scene a few more times.” Josephine wanted to laugh. “She has already won the Best Actress Award. Do you still expect me to tolerate her?” “Why don't you try getting slapped by her dozens of times and see how it feels?” Elijah gave her a long, frowning look. “Isn't that part of your job as an actor? You chose this career, so enduring blows is part of the deal. You have no right to complain.” Only after lecturing Josephine did he finally offer her the ice pack. “Alright, hurry up and apply it. We need to get back to filming. Winnie has dinner plans later. Her stomach's sensitive—she can't go hungry.” He probably didn't remember that Josephine had a weak stomach too. She gave a self-deprecating smile. Before she could take the ice pack, Winifred approached. She walked up to Elijah, raised both hands and whined, “Elijah, my hands hurt so much! This scene is so hard to shoot—I'm exhausted from all the hitting.” So the half-handed ice pack was taken back by Elijah and placed in her palm instead. His tone softened. “If you're really tired, we won't shoot today. We can continue tomorrow, okay?” Hearing this, Winifred immediately turned and walked up to Josephine, deliberately tilting her head. “We'll shoot this scene tomorrow, Josie. What do you think?” Out of Elijah's sight, Winifred's smile was dripping with scorn—not a trace of innocence in her eyes. Josephine fixed her gaze on Winifred. “No. Way.” She spat out each syllable. Winifred still played innocent: “Why not? But Josie, my hand really hurts. Look, my palm is all red.” She held her hand out toward Josephine. The gesture was pure provocation. Josephine couldn't take it anymore. She raised her hand and slapped Winifred across the face. “Winifred, are you a bitch?” Winifred probably didn't expect her to be so bold. She was stunned for a moment and covered her face to go and complain to Elijah.