Chapter 1042: Chapter 1042: I Can Help You Get Into Character
Bertha Swift was out of sorts all day, so David Locke had her film other people’s scenes.
The next day, Mary Scott, Brian Joule, Zoe Thatcher, James Jerome, and Stella Murray all went to film the “Detectives and Wilderness” variety show.
This left only Bertha Swift, Adam Piers, and some unimportant extras with the crew.
Bertha Swift had a rough day yesterday, and even in her dreams she was acting. When she woke up in the morning, there were faint dark circles under her eyes, which the makeup artist had to cover with foundation.
The dark circles might be covered, but the fatigue couldn’t be hidden.
Since her abortion, she hadn’t properly rested, and combined with a lack of nutrition leading to some iron deficiency anemia, her mental state had always been poor. Lately, she had been working nonstop with the crew, and although the set’s meals were unusually good, it couldn’t make up for her body’s deficiencies.
Plus, her unsuccessful filming yesterday left her feeling anxious about being on set.
She walked in only to see Adam Piers.
Bertha found it odd; she knew that today Mary Scott and the others had taken the day off, and Adam Piers was also supposed to be a guest on “Wilderness.” He should have gone for the recording, so why was he still at the set?
Adam had gotten a bit rough with Bertha Swift the other night, and today when he saw her, he no longer shied away as he had before. He lazily glanced at Bertha, his gaze unapologetically invasive.
Bertha felt uncomfortable under Adam’s stare and turned to enter the dressing room to change. Unexpectedly, Adam followed her inside.
Hearing footsteps, Bertha turned around to see Adam closing the dressing room door.
Bertha frowned, “Adam, this is the women’s dressing room. What are you doing here?”
Adam walked forward without a word, taking her phone from Bertha’s hand, “Password?”
Bertha ignored him, but Adam didn’t care. He simply scanned Bertha’s face to unlock the phone. Bertha got anxious, “Adam, what are you up to?”
Adam remained silent, his long fingers deftly operating on Bertha’s phone before handing it back to her.
Bertha looked at the three times set on her phone, puzzled at the man, wondering if there was something wrong with him?
But Adam seemed oblivious to Bertha’s emotion, as he took out two boxes of medicine from his pockets, one from each, “Three times a day, one pill each time. I’ve set the time for you. Take them on time every day.”
Bertha took the medicine that Adam insisted she take, full of confusion, then heard Adam add, “It’s not bitter.”
Is that what she wanted to ask?
“Adam, what exactly do you want?” Bertha held the two bottles of so-called medicine with no labels, staring at Adam.
“To pursue you,” Adam no longer hid his intentions.
Bertha found it amusing, “Wasn’t I clear enough before?”
“Clear. I did think you were right before, but that was before. I’ve changed my mind now. I’ll check every day to make sure you take the medicine on time.” Saying that, Adam turned and left the women’s dressing room.
Holding the two boxes of medicine, Bertha felt unsure whether to be angry or amused. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the medicine Adam had given her. As soon as the box was opened, a strong medicinal fragrance hit her, lacking the usual bitterness of pills and instead exuding a pure medicinal aroma, which was quite refreshing with just a sniff.
This was no ordinary medicine.
Bertha immediately judged, leaning closer to sniff lightly, recognizing many precious herbal ingredients, all aimed explicitly at women.
In today’s country, there were few who could make traditional Flowery medicine into pills that tasted not at all bitter yet had excellent effects, and Abigail Green, her former nemesis, was one such person.
And Adam was Abigail Green’s brother-in-law, so it wouldn’t be hard for him to get Abigail’s prescription.
Holding the pills, Bertha’s expression was complex. She once looked down on Abigail, considering her just a fat woman from a regular background who married Brandon Piers by luck. What real skills could she possibly have?
Yet reality was a slap in the face. The fat woman she despised beat her in her area of expertise, practically grinding her into the ground.
Now though, Bertha had to take the health pills her opponent prescribed. Her heart wasn’t without resistance, but she also knew Adam’s temper. With a sigh, she swallowed one.
The pill tasted as expected, not bitter at all, even slightly sweet and sour, like a regular candy, which deeply surprised Bertha Swift.
She knew medicine herself and understood that two of the ingredients used for health restoration were quite sour and bitter. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so bitter when taking them at the hospital last time.
But Abigail’s pill was completely different. Did she do some improvement so the efficacy wouldn’t be reduced?
With such curiosity, Bertha first took a pill, then packed up the rest to change her clothes.
Today, with other key actors absent, David Locke pulled out all Bertha Swift and Adam Piers’s scenes for concentrated filming.
As expected, Bertha Swift still couldn’t get into character.
David had been mentally prepared, but he still cast an angry glare at Adam; he didn’t know why Bertha was out of character, but it certainly had to do with Adam.
After Bertha Swift was stopped for the third time, Adam signaled David to pause, pulling Bertha away to a secluded area.
The crew watched each other in surprise but dared not comment.
Meanwhile, David slouched in his chair, messaging Mary Scott to Tsukkomi about the pair.
In the secluded area, Bertha shook off Adam’s hand, “Why did you bring me out here?”
“Why can’t you get into character?” Adam asked directly. Today he had specifically asked David to pick the scene where Doreen Ted is hypnotized by Dyson Hardy and the two spend day and night together in order to increase Bertha’s affection for him, but Bertha just couldn’t get into character.
“I wish I knew,” Bertha replied irritably.
Seeing her resistant stance, Adam said, “Bertha, you’re a professional actress. It’s one thing to bring your emotions from the scene into your life, but carrying life’s emotions into filming, do you think that’s appropriate?”
“I…” Bertha wanted to say she wasn’t, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she was guilty and couldn’t continue, because Adam was right. Since yesterday she had pulled herself out of the plot, and had been showing personal emotions towards Adam.
Even though she had just accepted his pills in the dressing room, she still felt forced mentally.
With such emotions, how could she perform with Adam? In her eyes and heart, there was nothing but resistance to him, yet there was another obscure emotion she couldn’t make sense of, making her restless and irritated.
Understanding this, Adam suddenly lowered his head and kissed Bertha’s lips.
Bertha was taken by surprise and resisted, pushing the man away. But Adam remained unaffected, deepening the kiss until Bertha couldn’t breathe, her beautiful face flushed with color.
Only after he released her did Bertha cough and take deep breaths, glaring at Adam with resentment, her eyes tinged with an alluring pink.
As soon as she caught her breath, Bertha slapped Adam across the face.
Slap.
The sound was crisp, stunning Bertha Swift for a moment. She didn’t expect Adam Piers not to dodge. “You…”
“Feel better now? If not, go ahead and do it again.” Adam Piers wasn’t angry; he even encouraged Bertha Swift.
Looking at Adam Piers like this, Bertha felt the man must be crazy, “What exactly do you want to do?”
“I can help you get into character.” Adam didn’t answer Bertha’s question but resolutely said this instead.
Bertha Swift frowned at the man.
Adam gently stroked Bertha’s brow, “Don’t frown, it looks ugly.”
Bertha took a deep breath, “You help me, and then what?”
She didn’t believe Adam would be so kind for no reason.
“After the scene, I’ll wake you up in my own way.” This was Adam’s real intention.
But Bertha didn’t understand what Adam meant by waking her up in his own way.
Seeing Bertha’s puzzled expression, Adam approached again, bowing his head as if to continue kissing her.
This time Bertha was prepared and stopped Adam from succeeding, but she now understood his meaning: he wanted to bring her into character and then wake her up with a kiss.
“No way!” Bertha refused without even thinking.
“I can’t do it, but that pretty boy can?” Adam was still bothered by the incident of Bertha coming back with Brian Joule last time.
It took Bertha a moment to realize that the pretty boy Adam mentioned was Brian, and her expression changed, “Don’t talk about him like that behind his back, as if you’re not a pretty boy yourself.”
“Of course, I’m not.” Adam denied, thinking he’d never be like Brian.
“I don’t care if you are or aren’t; I won’t agree to your request. Besides, Brian was just worried that I was too emotionally involved, affecting my own health, so he helped me release my emotions and brought me out of the story. But you? You’re just taking advantage of me.”
Bertha’s words only made Adam more uncomfortable, “So what did he do to you that day?”
“Don’t make yourself sound like a man whose wife has made him a cuckold. We have nothing to do with each other, and you don’t have the right to question me like this.” Bertha retorted angrily.
Hearing this, Adam stared at her intently, as if he wanted to devour her, before finally calming down, “Bertha Swift, aren’t you awake yet? I’ve set my heart on you. Do you really want to keep holding back like this? Don’t forget, I was the one who brought you into character last time.”
“So what? Last time was just a coincidence.” Bertha didn’t think it was all thanks to Adam.
“What if I manage to do it again this time? You know David Locke is running out of patience. What if he gets fed up and replaces you because you keep screwing up? I recall you don’t have much money left in your account right now, and you probably don’t have the principal to repay the crew, do you?” Adam said lazily.
Bertha was stunned by his shameless behavior. Wasn’t it because he cheated her out of three million that she didn’t have the money to repay the crew?
And now, he had the nerve to bring it up.
He was the one who broke off the engagement without any reason, and now he says he’s set his heart on her? What does he take her for!
“No way…”
Thirty minutes later.
David Locke brought Bertha Swift back to the filming location. Everyone on set could immediately tell that Bertha was no longer Bertha, but rather the genuine Doreen Ted.
Everyone was quite surprised, and David even raised an eyebrow, glancing at Adam Piers. He didn’t expect Adam to have the ability to bring Bertha into character.
The subsequent filming went much more smoothly.
Over the next two days, Bertha and Adam filmed eight scenes together, each one almost a one-take, and because these scenes were romantic ones between Doreen Ted and Dyson Hardy, Bertha’s attitude towards Adam softened considerably.
The two even managed to go out to dinner after filming.
David watched in amazement and couldn’t resist sending a video to Mary Scott.
Mary and her team were recording in a neighboring city this time, not too far away, just a three-hour drive. They had completed the recording in two days and would return the next morning.
In the video, Mary listened to David and instinctively asked, “Did Adam do something to Bertha?”
“What could he do to Bertha? At most, just put his face up to get slapped. How did your recording go today?” David knew how Adam felt about Bertha; he knew that despite his harsh words, Adam was more tender-hearted than anyone, so he wasn’t worried at all.
“Not bad.” Mary said, and then suddenly saw a message from her brother, applied a face mask, and talked to David while replying to her brother, “What’s up with this guy lately? He even knows to ask for money now, that’s rare.”
“You mean Alfred?” David asked, puzzled.
Mary nodded, “Yeah, says a friend is in urgent need, asking for two hundred thousand.” Saying this, Mary couldn’t help but chuckle, “This guy is so stubborn usually. Aside from tuition, he makes his own living expenses and pocket money; turns out it was to ask for something big right out the gate.”
“Ask what friend it is, make sure he’s not being scammed.” David reminded.
Mary softly agreed and asked her brother a few more questions. The replies were slow but seemed serious, saying he wouldn’t be scammed.
Mary was quite assured about her brother and didn’t think much more of it, “I’ll transfer the money to him later.”
“No need, I’ll send it to him.”
“Hmm?” Mary raised an eyebrow in confusion, wondering what David was up to.
“We’ve been married for so long, and as his brother-in-law, I’ve never given Alfred a red envelope. Consider this two hundred thousand my red envelope for him. You can give next time if he needs it.” David said, already transferring the money to Alfred Scott.
Mary was about to protest—the idea of such a large red envelope was absurd—but then she heard David leisurely add, “Everything I earn is yours.”
“Heh.” Mary chuckled softly and didn’t say anything more.
But over in Swallow City University, Alfred Scott turned a shade paler upon seeing the transfer from David Locke, hastily dialing his sister’s number.
He hung up halfway through, as he and his sister grew up relying on each other and knew each other too well. He might accidentally spill the beans as soon as he spoke, so he held back and texted, “Sis, if you’re short on money, it’s okay, no need for brother-in-law to send it.”
Seeing Alfred’s message, Mary’s smile widened. She knew her brother would say exactly that, “Don’t worry, I’ve got the money, but your brother-in-law says what’s his is mine. Just take it, consider it the welcome gift he owes you.”
After sending that, Mary added, “Of course, after you take the money, be nicer to your brother-in-law when you see him, okay?”
Looking at the two messages from his sister, Alfred’s eyes reddened. He replied with a “hm” and then transferred the two hundred thousand to a bank card before gritting his teeth and leaving the dormitory.