Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Playing to Her Strengths

Vincent Reed stared at her, his face grim, as if he thought she wouldn’t dare.

But Wendy Winters pulled on Mrs. Reed’s arm. "Vincent and I are getting married. She’s just having a hard time accepting it. It’s fine, let’s just ignore her."

Yvonne Sutton nodded. ’They forced my hand.’

"You keep talking about the Reed family’s grandchild. Are you so sure she’s pregnant with Vincent Reed’s baby?"

The words landed like a bombshell.

Vincent Reed immediately roared, "Yvonne Sutton, shut your mouth!"

Wendy Winters froze for a second, then said frantically, "What nonsense are you spouting!"

Mrs. Reed’s eyes widened. "How dare you say something like that! You..."

Yvonne Sutton raised an eyebrow. "Don’t you go online? You really don’t know a thing about her and Stanley Lynch?"

"I told you to shut up!" Vincent Reed yelled again, the veins on his forehead popping.

"How... how could you slander me like this? You’ve gone too far." Wendy Winters started to cry.

"You get out here! I’m going to rip that mouth of yours apart!" Mrs. Reed shouted.

"Wow, a whole family ganging up on one person." Claire Lawrence took out her phone and started recording. "Hold on, I’ll make sure you’re all trending online."

They hadn’t even dropped off the trending topics yet; they couldn’t risk getting on there again. Wendy Winters, in particular, hurriedly pushed Mrs. Reed toward the house.

"Forget it. We won’t stoop to her level."

Yvonne Sutton scoffed and shouted at their retreating backs, "Just a friendly reminder to the Reed family—you can get a paternity test done even before the baby’s born!"

Seeing them go inside, slam the courtyard gate shut, and then hurry into the main house, Claire Lawrence finally put away her phone and burst out laughing.

"That family is ridiculous!"

Claire Lawrence laughed for a long time before saying to Yvonne Sutton, "See? From now on, if they try to bully you, just hit them where it hurts!"

The custom-made furniture for the whole house had been installed, and now the appliances were starting to arrive one by one. Mr. Webb told her to stay somewhere else for a few days, saying they needed to air out the formaldehyde.

As it happened, this gave her the perfect opportunity to accompany Claire Lawrence to the set for a few days.

Director Sherman’s project was on a tight schedule. After a simple commencement ceremony on the first day, they dove straight into filming. The production was currently split into three units. The main cast was in the A-unit, while Claire Lawrence, with her minor role, was in the C-unit.

Since Claire Lawrence had few scenes, Yvonne’s duties as her assistant were light. She would occasionally coordinate filming with the assistant director, help the crew clean the set, or just serve tea and water.

The season was dry, and the actors’ irregular schedules, often flipping day and night, inevitably led to internal imbalance. This caused them to break out in acne or develop sore throats, which could seriously affect filming.

When Yvonne Sutton prepared soothing herbal teas for Claire Lawrence, she would also make some for the other actors, even creating special blends based on their individual conditions.

The actors all said the teas were effective, and word spread. Soon, the crew members were asking her for tea as well.

Yvonne Sutton thought about it and simply set up a tea stand for the C-unit. She had about a dozen different ingredient blends for various ailments: dry throats, dry skin, irritability and "heatiness," large pores, nosebleeds, dry and frizzy hair, and so on.

The person in charge of this unit’s filming was an assistant director named Miller. He was a man in his forties with weak lungs. He had started coughing right after filming began, and despite taking medicine, it only got worse.

Yvonne Sutton took his pulse, then prepared a special tea blend for him. She brewed a pot for him every day, and after four or five days, his cough was gone. Not only that, but he felt refreshed and revitalized, and his skin even looked smoother and fairer.

Miller was known for being strict and often chewed out actors and crew on set. But he would light up whenever he saw Yvonne Sutton, and by extension, he became much more pleasant to Claire Lawrence as well.

The atmosphere in the C-unit became very harmonious. After finishing their scenes, everyone loved to gather at the tea stand to chat with Yvonne Sutton about tea and wellness. When they learned she was a gynecologist, they started asking for her advice whenever they felt unwell.

The B-unit was close to the C-unit, and someone—no one knew who started it—led the charge, and they started coming over for Yvonne Sutton’s tea too. The set started to feel more like a friendly get-together, but since productivity was high, the directors didn’t say anything.

"The real reason I asked you to be my assistant is because I was scared." Claire Lawrence sidled up to Yvonne Sutton to chat.

"Scared?" Yvonne Sutton, who was brewing tea, glanced over at Claire Lawrence.

"You know that set I was on before I got married? There was this A-list actress who loved to bully newcomers, and I was her favorite target."

"With your temper, you can still get bullied?"

"She had powerful connections and was vicious. She tormented me so much I lost all my fight. After that movie, I didn’t want to act anymore, and I eventually just got married and quit the industry. So, coming back to a set this time, I was terrified I’d end up in a situation like that again."

"This one seems good. I see you’re getting along well with the crew and the other actors."

"That’s all because of you. You helped me fit in. And because they respect you, when I’m not doing a good job, everyone is willing to help me and be patient with me."

Yvonne Sutton finished brewing the tea and poured a cup for Claire Lawrence.

"Since you’re off to a good start, don’t overthink it. Just focus on your acting. And remember, you’ve got me. No matter what happens, I’ll be here to help you."

"Yvonne, you’re so good to me."

Claire Lawrence hugged Yvonne Sutton.

"Hmph. That Vincent Reed giving you up is the biggest loss of his life."

"Please don’t mention him. He makes me sick."

While everything was going smoothly for the C-unit, the A-unit was struggling, to the point where production almost had to shut down.

Miller came to talk to Yvonne Sutton. He said everyone in the A-unit was extremely stressed out. Director Sherman had heard about her tea stand, found it interesting, and wanted her to go over and brew some cooling tea for them for a day.

Yvonne Sutton nodded. "Sure."

Miller quickly put his hands together in a gesture of thanks. "With an assistant like you, Claire is like a soldier with a divine weapon. She’s bound for success."

Yvonne Sutton smiled. "I can’t speak for the future, but I hope you’ll continue to look after Claire."

"Of course."

The A-unit was on the other side of the film studio. After Yvonne Sutton got there, she started setting up her tea stand and brewing tea.

"CUT, CUT, CUT! The look in your eyes is wrong! The emotion is wrong! You’re supposed to be sisters! You may be like fire and water, but you aren’t mortal enemies! Don’t look at each other with such hatred!"

Yvonne Sutton looked over. The man behind the monitors had to be Director Sherman. She recalled he was in his fifties, but his hair was already completely white. He was tall and heavy-set. After shouting for a bit, he rubbed his temples and told the two actresses to go and reflect on his words.

Just then, Monica Lynch walked out of the soundstage in a period costume. Yvonne Sutton was slightly taken aback—so she was in this movie too. Monica Lynch saw her as well and strode toward her.

"Hah, you’ve even set up your little tea stand in our A-unit. You’ve really got some nerve. There’s no shameless deed you won’t do."

Yvonne Sutton poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of her. "Got chewed out, did you? Have some tea to cool your head."

"You!" Monica Lynch’s face darkened. Seeing other actors approaching, her eyes darted around and she announced to them, "Her name is Yvonne Sutton. She may just be a lowly assistant, but she’s quite resourceful. To get the actress she’s managing into this production, she used every trick in the book and finally managed to climb into Mr. Rhodes’s bed."

At these words, everyone nearby turned to look at Yvonne Sutton.

Monica Lynch picked up the cup of tea Yvonne Sutton had poured for her and flung it onto the ground.

"I bet the tea she brews has a slutty stench to it."