In the Years When I Was a Father-Chapter 151: Flirtatious Father of the Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Role (5)

Since she already had one filming experience, the reshoot this time went much faster than expected. But the main reason was that the script had been significantly revised.
The original female lead was a true Cinderella from a humble background, which made Qi Xinglin’s performance seem all kinds of awkward. But with the character setting now changed, that awkwardness had instead become a kind of foreshadowing.
Filming for the day went relatively smoothly—at least, the number of NGs from Qi Xinglin had dropped to a single digit. Though this still wasn’t exactly good, Qi Xinglin, feeling like she was making rapid progress, was overflowing with confidence.
She looked at her agent, Shitou, with barely contained pride and asked, “At the rate I’m improving today, do you think I’ll have a shot at winning Best Actress once we wrap up this drama?”
Shitou secretly rolled his eyes but had no choice but to patiently explain to the little princess, “Xinglin, first of all, only movie actors can win a Best Actress award. You’re currently filming a TV drama! Secondly, even winning Best Actress in TV is tough. Haven’t you seen those awards ceremonies where all the famous actresses in the industry are fighting tooth and nail for it?”
Qi Xinglin blinked. “It’s that hard? Then what kind of award can I win? Would Best Leading Actress be okay?”
Shitou thought of the bloodbath that was the award circuit and gave a cold, polite smile. “The fastest way would be to have President Qi buy you one. But I’m afraid if that happens, your fans won’t exactly praise you for it.”
Instead, they might just drag you for it.
“My acting is that bad? Director Liu just praised me!”
Shitou thought about Director Liu who was about to tear his hair out, silently sympathized with him for two seconds, and thought:
sure, going from a 10 to a 50 is improvement… but it’s still a failing grade!
Still, he didn’t want to directly crush Qi Xinglin’s enthusiasm. “You don’t need an award to prove yourself. Let’s just focus on finishing this drama properly. Don’t think about anything else. President Lian just called and told me to let you know—once this drama wraps, you’re to leave the entertainment industry.”
“What? Why?! She’s still in the industry herself!”
Qi Xinglin was furious.
This was clearly underestimating her! She clearly had so much potential! She needed that award! She wanted all the netizens to know she was the real goddess!
Shitou explained, “Don’t forget the online hate you got last time. President Lian just doesn’t want to see you getting hurt.”
Qi Xinglin also remembered how wronged she felt those few days, but she was a fighter, so she said, “I don’t think I needed to be wronged in the first place. It’s your fault!”
When she first saw people criticizing her, her instinct was to clap back immediately!
Unfortunately, before she could do anything, Shitou stopped her, saying it would look bad and damage her reputation, and that her dad wouldn’t be pleased if he found out she was acting out online.
Qi Xinglin still regretted not getting to fight back, but seeing Shitou’s helpless expression, she could only say, “Don’t worry too much. You saw how supportive my dad was this time. I’ll go talk to him again—maybe he’ll even help me line up a new project! Just wait for the good news!”
Shitou was also confused about why Boss Qi suddenly decided to support her acting career. He had previously gone out of his way to tell several major agencies in the industry not to sign her. Could it be that Qi Xinglin’s passion for acting finally moved him?
But he knew full well that this girl’s so-called “passion” was nothing more than competitiveness. Shitou couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but he didn’t ask. A small fry like him was better off not questioning the thoughts of a bigshot like Boss Qi.
After saying goodbye to Shitou, Qi Xinglin drove her sports car back to the old mansion. Thinking about how supportive her father had been today, she enthusiastically took charge of dinner.
“Uncle Song, what dishes does my dad like?” Qi Xinglin, who usually didn’t pay any attention to what her dad ate, suddenly asking such a question, made her seem a little heartless.
Fortunately, Song Yao, the diligent and dutiful housekeeper, quietly named a few dishes. Qi Xinglin then gleefully ran to the kitchen to instruct the chef to start preparing them.
So when Qi Sheng came home, he was once again treated to the warm attentiveness of his “little cotton-padded jacket”.
“These were personally ordered by me!”
“Oh…”
Qi Sheng didn’t quite understand how much effort “personally ordering” required, but seeing his daughter’s eager-to-be-praised expression, he went along with it. “Our little Lin is finally growing up.”
Qi Xinglin humbly smiled, biting her chopsticks as she watched her father eat. When Qi Sheng glanced over at her, she beamed even brighter. “Daddy, you’re really the best today!”
Qi Sheng could guess what she was getting at just from the look on her face. He looked down at the dinner in front of him and decided to just eat for now.
Qi Xinglin didn’t mind not getting an immediate response. She kept buttering him up. “Daddy, I’ve always known you’re the greatest and most understanding father in the world—way better than Mom!”
Qi Sheng chuckled and accepted all her flattery without comment, silently continuing his meal.
Qi Xinglin kept piling on the compliments. By the time she’d exhausted the vocabulary of a lifetime academic underachiever, she noticed Qi Sheng was still in a good mood. Seizing the opportunity, she said, “Dad, this drama will wrap in three months. I want to keep acting and aim for Best Actress as soon as possible!”
Her mental calculations were clicking away. She figured by saying this early, her generous dad might think of her first when any good opportunities popped up.
Qi Sheng had almost finished eating. He wiped his mouth, looked at his expectant daughter, and asked curiously, “You don’t even like acting. Why are you so fixated on winning Best Actress?”
“Who said I don’t like acting? I love it!”
Qi Sheng’s face was full of disbelief. “Really? How come I haven’t seen the slightest sign of that?”
“Really, really!” In order to convince her father, Qi Xinglin started talking nonsense with a straight face. “Dad, look at me, I even endured being hung on wires several times just for the drama. I even personally jumped into the water! Have you ever seen me work so hard?”
Qi Sheng still didn’t believe it. “But didn’t you have your stunt double do it in the end? Isn’t that level of effort a bit shallow?”
“Not at all! That was just because I wasn’t used to it at the beginning. You don’t know, I even ate the boxed lunches on set to blend in. That food—ugh—you wouldn’t believe how awful it tastes!”
Qi Sheng was silent. As far as he knew, Director Liu’s crew actually provided pretty decent meals.
He glanced at his daughter, who was obviously trying to act pitiful, and frowned. “If it’s that hard, why keep filming? Just come home and work at the company with me.”
Qi Xinglin didn’t expect her passionate rant to make her dad change his mind about supporting her acting career, so she quickly backtracked. “It’s not that bad! It’s all worth it for the sake of acting. I’m willing to suffer anything!”
Even she was moved by her own sincerity. With such dedication, wasn’t it natural for her to win awards? Shouldn’t the fans be praising her to the skies? Those blind netizens!
Qi Sheng gave a mysterious smile and raised an eyebrow. “Willing to suffer anything? Alright then, go ahead and keep filming.”
Qi Xinglin immediately perked up. She secretly praised herself for being so clever today and pressed her luck: “Dad, I want to act in Director Xu Ying’s movie. Can you recommend me?”
Shitou’s words from the afternoon still stuck in her mind. So what if it was a movie? She would act in one!
Xu Ying was a world-renowned director, nearly impossible to approach. But Qi Xinglin felt her dad could definitely pull it off.
Qi Sheng glanced at his starry-eyed daughter, stunned by her bold request.
Getting someone into Xu Ying’s production wasn’t too difficult for him, but did this girl know nothing of the man’s reputation?
He had made actresses cry and exhausted countless award-winning actors. Did she think it was just a game?
So Qi Sheng felt obligated to offer a friendly reminder: “It’s not a problem if you want to act in Xu Ying’s film. But there’s one thing you need to know: this current drama? I invested in it using your allowance money. If the show makes back its cost, you’ll still have your pocket money. But if it loses money, I’m afraid—”
Before he could finish, Qi Xinglin shrieked, “Dad, what did you just say?!”
Qi Sheng calmly pushed his chair back a bit and continued with a smile, “I crunched the numbers. If you live frugally for the next year, you’ll be fine. Just consider it an investment in your passion.”
“But if you want to act in Xu Ying’s movie, that’s a different story. To even get a foot in the door, you’d need to invest at least 100 million yuan. I’m worried you’d have to live very humbly for the next few years.”
“So, fatherly advice: choose your hobbies wisely. And remember, all investments come with risks.”
Qi Xinglin was overwhelmed by the sudden flood of information. She barely heard the rest. Her mind was already racing, trying to calculate her remaining balance. But being terrible at math and not remembering her expenses left her completely blank.
“Dad, how could you do this to me? How much money do I have left?!”
Qi Sheng smiled. “In theory, nothing. But since I’m feeling sorry for you, I’ve prepared a red envelope with a million yuan. That’ll be your living expenses for the year.”
A single million yuan was nowhere near enough for Qi Xinglin’s lifestyle. Her response: ???!!!
What about her sports car?! The limited-edition bags from the new season were about to drop! She hadn’t updated her wardrobe yet! Just a few days ago, she had her eye on a diamond necklace! …
What can a million even buy?!
Qi Xinglin questioned reality itself. Qi Sheng, recognizing her pale yet furious expression, responded coolly, “A million is a lot. Many middle-class families make just that in a year. If you’re unhappy, I can make it 500,000 instead?”
“Dad! Aaaaahhh!”
“Dad, how could you bear to see your only beloved daughter living such a miserable life?!”
Qi Xinglin was on the verge of tears, but Qi Sheng was unmoved. “Didn’t you just say you’re willing to suffer for your craft? A little sacrifice shows your dedication. Or are you not serious about acting and just playing around?”
“I-I… I like it.” Qi Xinglin answered guiltily, sneaking a glance at her father, then said with grievance, “My career is just starting. Shouldn’t you support me? You’re my real dad!”
Qi Sheng chuckled. “Haven’t I supported you? Without me, your career would’ve died before it started. You wouldn’t even be filming now.”
Qi Xinglin, heart aching, tried to sweet-talk him again, but Qi Sheng remained unmoved. In the end, she got so mad at his stubborn refusal to help that she childishly grabbed all the food on the table, declaring with action: “If I ordered it, you’re not eating it!”
Unfortunately for her, Qi Sheng had long anticipated this and smiled silently:
I’ve already eaten.
The next morning, Qi Xinglin specially asked the director for an hour off. She got up early, had breakfast, and drove straight to Lian Jing’s place. At the time, Lian Jing was still eating breakfast. Seeing her daughter show up so early, she was a little surprised.
She looked up and noticed her daughter’s eyes were red, and immediately panicked. “Linlin, what’s wrong? Who bullied you?!”
Qi Xinglin pulled out all her acting skills, letting out a few pitiful hums without saying a word. She sat silently at the table, head lowered.
Lian Jing’s boyfriend, who was eating nearby, raised an eyebrow at the clearly “wronged” girl but said nothing. He just quietly continued eating.
Lian Jing, still worried and not noticing anything strange, hurriedly asked, “Did the director scold you on set?”
Qi Xinglin remained silent. She was starting to panic.
Oh no—the eye drops she used were drying up. How was she supposed to get to the bathroom to reapply her makeup?
Originally, she had planned to use tears to make her mom feel sorry for her. The plan sounded good, but her acting skills couldn’t back it up. She had spent forever in the car trying to cry but failed to squeeze out even a single tear. In desperation, she resorted to eye drops.
But these eye drops clearly weren’t cutting it. Who said this was a good trick for fake crying scenes? Totally unreliable! Next time, she’d use onions instead!
To avoid being exposed, Qi Xinglin kept her head down and mumbled.
“Mom… Dad bullied me!”
“Oh.”
Lian Jing had initially been worried, but hearing this, she immediately understood what was going on.
She calmly sat back down and played along, asking, “What did your dad do to you?”
As soon as Qi Xinglin thought about how her allowance for the entire year was practically gone, she finally felt like crying. Her emotions were full, and she finally dared to lift her head: “He actually used my allowance to invest! He’s clearly rich himself—how could he do that?!”
Lian Jing replied, “Your dad’s pretty good at investing. Maybe in a while your allowance will have doubled.”
Qi Xinglin hadn’t expected her mom to take her dad’s side. But she knew the truth deep down—what was supposed to be a 30 million yuan investment had forcibly been doubled. It seemed pretty unlikely to make a profit now. Thinking her mom didn’t know the full story, she deliberately acted pitiful and said, “But like this, I won’t have any money to live on for the next year. Mom, I’m so miserable!”
Lian Jing responded perfunctorily, “Well, if that’s the case, then your dad really was too much.”
“Right? I knew you’re the best, Mom. You’re a hundred times better than Dad! You won’t just sit back and do nothing, right…”
Amused by her daughter’s manipulative little schemes, Lian Jing smiled and said, “Didn’t your dad still leave you with a million yuan? Sweetie, that amount is enough for the average person to live on for twenty years.”
Qi Xinglin, who had been expecting a credit card, suddenly looked up in anger after hearing that. Her eyes widened in shock as she snapped, “How do you know Dad left me a million?! You two planned this together?!”
“No, no. Your dad just mentioned it in passing.”
Qi Xinglin didn’t completely buy it, but since she was trying to ask for money, she put on a pitiful look and said, “Mom, you wouldn’t just stand by and watch your own daughter become homeless, would you…” As she spoke, she pitifully tugged on Lian Jing’s hand and gave it a little shake—clearly hinting:
Give me money!
Lian Jing cleared her throat and put on a troubled expression. “I didn’t conspire with your dad, but I did promise him yesterday that I’d let you be independent for a while.”
“Mom!”
“Be good. It’s getting late—you should head to the set. Do your best. Who knows, maybe you’ll make money with your next role.”
“Mooom!”
Qi Xinglin cried out again, but Lian Jing remained unmoved. She continued with her breakfast, completely ignoring her daughter’s pouting and tantrum.
Having failed to get money again, Qi Xinglin sulkily decided to just stick around. Lian Jing’s boyfriend, who’d been watching her act for quite some time, was feeling a bit sorry for her. After thinking it over, he pulled out a bank card from his pants pocket and handed it to Qi Xinglin. “Alright, stop pestering your mom. Here’s some pocket money from Uncle.”
Qi Xinglin accepted it with delight and curiously asked, “How much is on here?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
Qi Xinglin looked a bit disappointed when she heard that. So little. But it was better than nothing. She figured it could still buy her a few outfits, so she reluctantly accepted it. Still a bit angry at her mom for not siding with her, she deliberately didn’t even look at Lian Jing as she left. Instead, she sweetly turned to her mom’s boyfriend and said, “Uncle, I’m leaving now! You’re the best—better than my dad and mom a hundred times over!”
Lian Jing’s boyfriend chuckled. “Sounds like your ‘hundred times better’ doesn’t mean much.”
Qi Xinglin didn’t care and waved as she left. Although she’d failed again to get more money, she wasn’t too discouraged. She decided she’d try again in a few days and test the waters.
Back on set, Qi Xinglin was still thinking about when would be the best time to ask for money again when she accidentally overheard a conversation between some staff members.
Staff A: “The rich really are different. Spending tens of millions just so the young lady can play around.”
Staff B: “Sigh, the world of the rich isn’t something we understand. But it’s good the investment increased this time. At least my male idol doesn’t have to suffer so much anymore.”
Staff A: “What do you mean? Isn’t it already a hassle for male god Xiao to be stuck filming with the young miss?”
Staff B: “I used to feel bad for my Ge too, but yesterday I overheard the director and the others chatting. It sounds like not only did the production investment go up this time, but my Ge’s pay also increased a lot.”
Staff A was curious: “Tell me, how much more is he getting paid?”
Staff B happily held up two fingers.
Staff A guessed, “Two million?”
“No, twenty million!”
“Woah…”
……
Hearing this, Qi Xinglin: ???!!!
Xiao Ge’s salary increased by twenty million?! Her twenty million?!!!
Xiao Ge, ahhhhhh! You owe me a sports car and handbags!