Author: plum

Revenge

The flashes all around were flashing incessantly. Su Shen was freezing, but she maintained a smile as she responded, “Xie laoshi is a great senior. We worked well together.”

It was a diplomatic response. The hostess didn’t expect her to say anything newsworthy, so she let her go and went to interview Wang Cheng.

When the hostess asked him who he had the best relationship with among the cast, he said with a smile, “They’re all my great seniors. We worked well together.” 

Su Shen: “……”

She glanced from the corner of her eye and saw Li Hao keeping a smile on his face.

“No wonder you guys are part of the same cast. Director Huang’s the most honest one!” The host laughed and gestured toward the end of the red carpet, “Okay, quickly go inside everyone. Wishing for a box office hit!”

The gown was so long that Su Shen had to lift it. But as she lifted it, she felt that the hem of her gown seemed to be stepped on. She turned around and saw Fan Meng shifting her high heel away.

“I’ll help you.” Seeing that she had been fiddling with the hem of her gown, Wang Cheng couldn’t help but walk behind her to help lift her fluffy white hem.

There were still people coming after them, so they couldn’t dawdle too long. Taking a look at Fan Meng who was walking ahead of them, Su Shen didn’t say anything and followed closely behind.

This was a strapless dress. If she hadn’t lifted her gown at first, the whole gown would’ve fallen down. How much did Fan Meng hate her to let her have a wardrobe malfunction in front of so many cameras?!

As soon as they entered the hall, the whole cast’s seats were at the same place. After the stewardess led them to their seats, the entire hall’s seats were almost full. It was dark and the lights hadn’t lit up yet as it was not time yet.

Li Hao, who was sitting next to Wang Cheng and a seat away from Su Shen, suddenly leaned over and whispered, “Xie Yan really ain’t it. He didn’t even come back for the award ceremony; he could at least come back to see his girlfriend.”

Wang Cheng, who was sitting in the middle, grinned, “Maybe he met a girl over there.”

Su Shen: “…….”

She glanced at the two of them and said lightly, “I’ll tell him.”

“Cough cough, I’m kidding.” Wang Cheng touched his nose awkwardly, and then reached out his hand to compare with her arm with a grin, “Look at how fair you are and how good your cooking is, where on earth could I find another you?”

Su Shen glanced at him helplessly and wrapped her shawl tightly, ignoring him.

Just at this moment, the award ceremony began and the lights lit up on stage. A middle-aged veteran singer was singing on stage just at this time. The camera would occasionally pan at the artists below and whoever would be panned would smile cooperatively.

After the singer finished singing, the host came onto stage and said the opening remarks. This award was one of the biggest awards and had a high bearing. However, as their movie didn’t premiere yet during the nominations, the awards had nothing to do with them. It was just a formality.

Anyway, it had nothing to do with her, so Su Shen continued to scroll through her phone. The award ceremony was broadcasted live, and the red carpet just now was also live. But this time, their cast actually landed on Hot Search.

Netizen A: Wang Cheng and Li Hao’s so kind, helping Su Shen with her gown throughout. This cast is so cute!

Netizen B: AHAHAHA! It must’ve been awkward for Fan Meng!

Netizen C: I feel like the whole cast is isolating Fan Meng. Is it just my theory? [joy]

Netizen D: I also have that feeling. [joy] They both wore long gowns. Why didn’t anyone help Fan Meng? This kind of character, emmmmm

Netizen E: Su Shen’s so pretty! Glowing from within!

Netizen F: That V of a certain someone’s rigid face is almost split to her navel… [smiley face]

Netizen G: There seems to be a tale behind this cast. [joy]

Thinking of the fact that Fan Meng stepped on her gown first, Su Shen didn’t want to bother with her. Since she was vicious enough to let her have a wardrobe malfunction, it would make it seem as if she was too easy to bully if she didn’t do anything.

The Best Actor was won by a veteran action star, and the Best Actress was won by a veteran actress. There was no dark horse in the award ceremony this year. Li Hao was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his previous movie, but he was unable to win it.

When it was over, there were already many paparazzi waiting outside. There must be a lot of people waiting at the airport too. Wang Cheng still had to hurry to his next engagement and Su Shen had to change clothes, so they didn’t take the same flight as Li Hao.

Liu jie didn’t come with and just arranged a few bodyguards for her. When she returned to Shanghai, it was already 1:00 am. After taking a shower, she didn’t know if He Hua had slept yet but she still tried giving him a call.

After ringing thrice, the call got connected. He Hua’s voice immediately transmitted from the other end, “What’s up giving me a call in the middle of the night? Don’t tell me you want to go see Xie Yan again? I’m telling you, I won’t go. If you want to go, go by yourself.”

Su Shen: “…….”

“It’s not about that. I have a matter I want to ask for your help.” She dried her wet hair as she put her phone on speaker.

Hearing this, the typing sounds from the other end finally stopped, “What? Which movie do you have your eyes on? I told you to come over, but you insisted on staying with Starlight. Look at what Starlight can give you?”

Su Shen coughed and said seriously, “Do you know many reporters? Can you help me to follow a person?”

Hearing this, the other end became quiet. He Hua finally became serious and asked, “Who?”

Sitting on the sofa and continuing to dry her hair, Su Shen said unhurriedly, “Fan Meng.”

At that, the other end of the line became silent. He didn’t expect that Su Shen would have such a request. They were part of the entertainment industry, so the meaning of following someone, He Hua knew what that meant. He just didn’t expect that the conflict between Su Shen and Fan Meng had reached such a degree.

“What news do you want?” He Hua asked.

Without hesitation, Su Shen said, “Going as far as to follow her, of course, nothing general.”

She never regarded herself as a noble person. If others could do it, she would definitely pay it back.

“I know a paparazzi who has some information on Fan Meng, it’s about her and one of the upper executives of her company. If you want it, it’s at least ten million. Are you sure you want to mess with her?” He Hua’s tone was a little strange as if he hadn’t expected her to be so ruthless.

“It doesn’t have to be hard evidence, as long as it can arouse doubt.” Su Shen said.

What could be solved with money was never a problem.

At that, He Hua hesitated a bit again. There was no secret in this industry. If he helped Su Shen, it would be equivalent to offending Fan Meng.

“Okay, I’ll go negotiate about the price with them first. I definitely won’t let you spend so much money.” He Hua agreed without hesitation.

There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Su Shen understood that this was different from introducing her to opportunities. Since He Hua agreed to help her, she owed him a favor.

After hanging up, she continued to dry her hair. If the information that He Hua obtained was enough, then Fan Meng’s reputation would definitely be ruined. The news of being a mistress or even turning legal onto of that were enough to destroy the reputation of a female artist. Su Shen did not know what it meant to be softhearted. When Fan Meng wanted her to have a wardrobe malfunction in front of so many cameras, she should’ve thought about whether she would lose face in the future.

When she went to set the next day, the news about yesterday’s award ceremony swept all over social media. However, it was later buried by a catfight between female artists. Everyone wanted to say that their idol was the most beautiful. In comparison, it was not so fierce between male artists in terms of looks, as it would just be comparing a suit with another.

Today, she had a large-scale pursuing scene with a lot of stunts. She even had to jump out of an exploding car. For this scene, she had to show her face. Knowing this, Li Hao didn’t stop her.

The whole road was reserved and blocked off. The car that would explode later was a real car, at least it seemed so on the surface. In reality, it was super rundown. The director was going over the script with Li Hao. Su Shen touched the protective equipment on her elbow and was actually somewhat worried.

“Okay, get ready everyone!”

The director shouted and soon after, Su Shen immediately got into the passenger seat and Li Hao in the driving seat. There would be CGI added in post-production, so they only needed to film the conversation in the car. When the director said that they could jump out of the car, she would just directly jump out.

“Move the camera a little bit over there—yes!” Sitting in front of the monitor, the director stared at the screen and said, “Action!”

There was a camera installed inside the car. Hearing the director’s voice, Su Shen turned to look outside the window and looked perplexed, “Why did they choose such a hard-to-escape path?” 

At that, Li Hao, who was driving, frowned. He quickly turned the steering wheel with both of his hands and said, “See if there’s anyone tailing us behind.”

Su Shen immediately turned around and glanced around, “None.”

At that, Su Shen turned around and so did Li Hao. When their eyes met, their expressions changed drastically. Su Shen immediately braced herself and jumped out of the narrow window. When her entire body fell hard onto the ground, a violent explosion sounded behind her. The heavy smoke made her dizzy.

She didn’t know when the director yelled “cut,” but when Su Shen sat up, her arms and legs were scraped to different degrees, and her ears were buzzing. The several cars behind her were on fire, flames raging. It was very costly to film these kinds of scenes, so they had to succeed all at once. She didn’t know whether they needed to reshoot this scene or not, so Su Shen got up to find the director. 

Xiao Zhou immediately came over to see if she was hurt. After all, her clothes were ripped and she was grasping her arm. It was obvious that something must have happened, but after hearing Su Shen say she was fine, she was relieved.

The whole street was filled with staff putting out the fire by using fire extinguishers. This place was reserved and blocked off from the public, so no one would come here and the fire would not spread.

The director was sitting in front of the monitor, surrounded by several people. He looked up and was talking to a man wearing a black cap. Li Hao also chimed in. When he saw Su Shen coming over, he immediately shut his mouth.

“Director, does this scene need to be shot again?” She walked over to the monitor and wanted to watch the playback.

Seeing her coming, the director was taken aback and said with a smile, “Passed with one take.”

Hearing this, Su Shen finally sighed a breath of relief. She was actually quite afraid of shooting this scene again. After all, it was such a dangerous stunt, and one could easily be injured if one was not careful.

“Can I watch the playback?” I’m afraid that my movements were not in position.” Su Shen said as she neared the monitor.

Just when the director was about to speak, the man in a black cap at the side suddenly said somberly, “Are you going to do it again then?”

Previous | Index | Next

Walking the Red Carpet

“I don’t want to accept any more idol dramas.” Su Shen rejected it without a second thought, “I’ve already done two idol dramas this year. I want to try a different genre.”

At that, there was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before Liu jie compromised, “Alright. I’ll help you select a few scripts of other genres then.”

Hearing this, Su Shen uttered a soft “en”. Liu jie then told her that there’s an award ceremony in a few days, reminding her to attend it. 

After hanging up the phone, Su Shen laid down and rested for a while. If she hadn’t been with Xie Yan and if she was still a newcomer without anything, Liu jie would’ve definitely forced her to accept this drama. It was just because she was now of high commercial value, Liu jie was afraid that she would go to Xie Yan’s agency and so respected her opinion so much.

However, people were like this, especially in the entertainment industry. In fact, it was better to take advantage of one another than stab a knife in each other’s back.

After taking a shower, she laid down and scrolled through her phone again. She had practically been out of the loop for the past few days and wanted to see what had happened in the entertainment industry recently.

To summarize, the discord between Wang Cheng and Jiang Yin’s fans was even more broad. Su Shen went to see the catfight between their fans, and it was simply too vulgar. The leaders of their fanclubs even went out to battle, coming up with plenty of nicknames such as “Wang niangniang” and “Yin* Jiang”, which were more than just personal attacks. After seeing them, Su Shen felt that the attacks she had received before were nothing at all.

Yin Jiang – a play on words, the character for Yin here translates to lewd or obscene  

What a person could receive and endure was always the opposite. In this industry, even a low-profile person like Xie Yan would also have antis, let alone others.

After reading through some other news, Su Shen suddenly noticed a headline. Two days ago, a historical drama announced their male lead, which was Lin Yun, who was one of the four big idols and had the best acting out of all of them. Logically speaking, the female lead of the drama would be a starlet, but Su Shen noticed that the female lead was unexpectedly Tong Le.

She hadn’t been in contact with Tong Le for quite a long time as she had been filming nonstop. It was said that many artists who get into a relationship with one another would always separate due to time apart. There wasn’t even time to date, not to mention the friendship between friends.

It was true that she hadn’t contacted Tong Le for a long time, but she didn’t expect that she would get the female lead role of this drama without saying a word. For this kind of drama, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to invite Yang Zhi to be in it. But, Tong Le had not an ounce of fame, a newcomer through and through. Her family came nowhere close to the entertainment industry. Out of curiosity, she wanted to ask her, but considering how late it was, she didn’t bother her as she thought that Tong Le must’ve had a stroke of luck.

After scrolling through her phone for a while, she then fell asleep. She hadn’t had a good sleep for the past few days, so she didn’t hear the alarm ringing until after a long time the next day.

When she went to set, the makeup artist immediately covered a thick layer of concealer when she saw how dark Su Shen’s eyebags were. There were a lot of action scenes again today. Su Shen felt that her body might really be unable to withstand it. She could fall asleep just sitting there and getting her makeup done.

After pushing through a few days, when Liu jie came to pick her up to go to the award ceremony, she fell asleep as soon as she got on the plane. When they arrived, she was shaken up by Liu jie.

“If you’re tired, I’ll ask for two days of leave from the production crew. Don’t make your body give out.” Liu jie said as she walked in front.

Xiao Zhou was following behind helping her carry her bag. With sunglasses on, Su Shen walked in the middle and could even fall asleep walking.

“AHHHHHH! SU SHEN!”

“SU SHEN, HERE!!!”

When they exited the arriving gate, the screams instantly woke Su Shen up. Through her sunglasses, she saw a group of girls holding signs with her name rushing toward her like a swarm of bees.

“Shit, I forgot to hire bodyguards.” Liu jie’s complexion immediately changed and immediately stood in front of Su Shen.

Before long, a group of fans surrounded Su Shen tightly. The other passersby all moved aside, and some even took out their phones to take photos. 

“Pardon us. Su Shen still has other engagements. Thank you for everyone’s support.” Liu jie led the way with a smile.

However, there were too many fans around. Liu jie could only advance forward slowly. The fans all screamed crazily and aimed their phones straight at Su Shen’s face, taking photos with a burst. Su Shen’s drowsiness immediately vanished and could only follow Liu jie closely.

“AHHHHH! SU SHEN, I REALLY LIKE YOU!

“CAN YOU GIVE ME AN AUTOGRAPH!”

Su Shen kept a smile on her face. The piercing screams could almost pierce her eardrums. The fans had crowded to her side, and the notebooks in their hands could almost poke her face.

It was not that Su Shen was unwilling to sign for them, but that she might not be able to leave as soon as she stopped.

Thankfully, the airport security guards quickly came. After separating the fans, Su Shen finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed Liu jie.

After she got in the car, the fans were still there taking photos of her. They clearly knew that they wouldn’t be able to capture anything, but they were still reluctant to leave.

After the car drove away, Su Shen only then took off her sunglasses and exhaled. Fortunately, she came out.

“This is an accident. I’m in contact with all the superfans, and they definitely wouldn’t bring so many people to wait for you at the airport.” Liu jie explained, sitting in the front.

Su Shen knew that she also had a fan club now, which had different member tiers. There would be superfans who would manage the disordered fans. Generally, they would go support their idol whenever they would take part in a variety show. Additionally, those superfans would inform others to go and control the comments whenever any bad rumors about their idol were circulating online.

Generally speaking, the real rational fans would never interfere in the private life of their idol. The airport incident was truly an accident. After all, she had just become popular, so fans coming to wait at the airport for her as soon as they got her flight information was truly beyond her expectation.

“Don’t accept any engagements for me for a while, I’m exhausted.” She leaned against the seat and closed her eyes wearily.

“Besides today’s award ceremony and the variety show recording on Saturday, I’ll help you cancel the rest.” Liu jie turned around and looked at her seriously. “However, the wuxia drama starring you and Jiang Yin has been set to air, so there will definitely be a string of promotional activities you have to attend.”

Su Shen didn’t say anything. She suddenly envied Xie Yan. All he needed to do was film and didn’t need to care about the rest.

However, she had no choice. She didn’t have his status, nor did she have the right to refuse to participate in all of the promotional activities. 

The airport was bound to be full of reporters today. After all, there were at least a hundred artists attending the award ceremony with many A-listers. There would definitely be a comparison of airport photos between artists, where fans would have a catfight with one another again.

It was a common occurrence in the entertainment industry. When Su Shen arrived at a well-known makeup studio, Liu jie had her change into the gown that she had prepared in advance and then asked the makeup artist and hairstylist to style her.

The red carpet was where all the female artists competed with each other in looks, so they would make a splash every time. If they could expose their legs, then they would expose their legs. If not, then they would expose their chest. If they didn’t have a chest, then they would expose their back. There would definitely be a place that could be exposed. However, Liu jie knew that she wouldn’t wear those revealing gowns, so the gown she chose was a simple long strapless one, exposing just her collarbone. It was already very conservative with respect to the others, so Su Shen did not reject it.  

The award ceremony began at 8:00 pm, but artists had to walk the red carpet an hour in advance. Naturally, the order for walking the red carpet was also rather particular. The higher the status, the later one would walk. Naturally, the finale didn’t need to be mentioned. Su Shen walked the red carpet along with the rest of the crew, and the director was naturally present. The film’s lineup was already not bad, it was just that Xie Yan did not come. The organizers had informed them to walk at around 7:45 pm, which was already quite near the end.

When she arrived outside of the red carpet, there were already many cars waiting in line to walk the red carpet. Su Shen wrapped herself in a cotton puffer with Xiao Zhou lifting the hem of her gown as she quickly found the van for their cast.

Inside, Wang Cheng, Li Hao, Fan Meng, and the others were already there. The director was sitting in the front talking to Li Hao. Seeing Su Shen get in, Wang Cheng immediately scooted over and gave her a seat. 

“Su Shen, didn’t you take the flight earlier than mine? Why are you so late?” Li Hao asked, sitting in the front.

Leaning against the plush seat, Su Shen wrapped herself tightly with her cotton puffer as Wang Cheng explained, “Hao ge, you don’t understand. Girls need to change and do their makeup. Do you think they will come out if it hasn’t been a few hours?” 

It was apparent that Wang Cheng knew more about this than him. Su Shen glanced at him with a smile and said, “What girls? Look at you; you had your hair done today, right? How many hours did you spend on it?”

The van was quite large. Fan Meng was the only one sitting in the back and playing on her phone without uttering a word. She was wearing a deep V gown, with that slit almost open to her navel. It was apparent that she didn’t want Su Shen to steal the limelight.

“That’s right. I’m telling you, if you dye your hair too much, you’ll become infertile.” Li Hao said euphemistically.

With a light cough, Su Shen looked down and didn’t say anything. Wang Cheng punched Li Hao in the front discontentedly, “There are people who dyed their hair more than me. Why would it be that I’ll be infertile? You’re just jealous that I’m more handsome than you!”

The two of them were bickering and having a great time. Leaning against the seat, Su Shen was exhausted and tensed all over. If she could sleep, she could definitely sleep for a day and a night.

Time passed so quickly that soon a staff outside yelled at them to get out of the car. When Su Shen woke up, she lifted her gown as she carefully got down from the car.

Almost all the artists had gone in, leaving only a few people who were part of the finale here. Su Shen knew that there was a veteran superstar still waiting. It was already quite good for them to have this order in the lineup.

The red carpet was long and windy, but Su Shen had no choice but to give her cotton puffer to Xiao Zhou and then followed the director and the others to walk the red carpet.

Li Hao and Wang Cheng were rather considerate of her, so they had her walk in between them and stopped to help adjust the hem of her gown from time to time. Cameras were flashing on both sides of the red carpet incessantly. Many people liked this feeling of being watched by thousands of people like Fan Meng, who was striking poses along the way, trying to make herself more graceful. Su Shen, however, didn’t care too much about this as it was simply too cold.

When they finally reached the middle, the host immediately asked them to take position and said with a smile, “Wow, Director Huang, you’re so lucky. There are beauties on both sides.”

There were cameras all around. Director Huang was rather indulgent in the host’s teasing and said with a smile with a microphone in hand, “You only notice the beauties. Aren’t the handsome men not handsome?”

Hearing this, another hostess immediately laughed and said, “Of course they’re handsome! Hao ge’s my prince charming!”

“Go and quickly hug your prince charming!” The host stepped aside with a smile.

The flashes around them incessantly flashed. The hostess was a little embarrassed, but Li Hao stepped forward with a smile, so she plucked up her courage and hugged him.

Then, she laughed excitedly, “I’ve finally completed my fangirling dream.”

Hearing this, the others laughed in cooperation. Just at this moment, the host then started to get back on track and asked everyone to introduce themself and their role in the movie.

When the microphone arrived in Su Shen’s hand, she faced the rows of cameras and despite it being so cold, she still maintained a slight smile on her face and introduced herself, “I played as the Emperor’s favorite concubine in The Song of Trouble Times and was a villainess. Everything she did was for the male lead. I feel that this role was quite pitiful.”

After her introduction, the hostess immediately zeroed in on the topic and asked, “I heard that in this movie Xie Yan had given his first onscreen kiss to you. You both then collaborated on a drama afterward. Do you have a good relationship with him then?”

Previous | Index | Next

Rise in Fame

She looked down and gently pinched the corner of his shirt. After a roll of his throat, Xie Yan ultimately pulled her hand away and said mellowly, “But I don’t believe in myself.”

Su Shen: “……”

She blinked and blushed, “But… He Hua said there are snakes here at night.”

There seemed to be a hint of timidity in her soft voice. Taking a deep breath, Xie Yan pinched her cheek helplessly and said, “Don’t regret it.”

His gaze was so passionate that Su Shen’s heart beat faster than ever before, but she believed in Xie Yan.

The wooden bed was enough for the two of them to lie down. With a thin blanket covering, Su Shen slept on the inside of the bed. After Xie Yan turned off the hanging lamp, the entire tent fell into darkness.

When the side of the bed sank, she indistinctly saw him lie down. With her eyes closed, Su Shen could feel her heart beating rapidly.

The sound of them playing cards loudly could be heard from outside from time to time. Su Shen opened her eyes slightly and found that everything was hazy in the darkness.

“They’re too noisy.”

His sudden voice startled Su Shen for a beat and saw Xie Yan sitting up immediately, walking out of the tent with a few strides.

Amidst the darkness, there was no light in the tent. Not long after, the tent was opened again with Xie Yan returning, only that the noise outside was gone.

Noticing that he laid down again, Su Shen asked curiously, “What did you say to them?”

“Nothing much.” Xie Yan turned over. Although nothing could be seen in the darkness, he couldn’t help but reach out to hold her waist.

Feeling his burning hand on her waist, Su Shen blushed, but she didn’t say anything, quietly letting him hold her silently. 

However, sleeping like this, she felt that the person beside her was breathing a little unstably. She couldn’t help but look up and asked softly, “You can’t fall asleep?”

Amidst the darkness, his eyesight was superb. Through a gap, a faint beam of moonlight shone through. The woman laid on her side in his arms, with her collar wide open, that snowiness only made him restless. 

How could he fall asleep at this time? 

Su Shen couldn’t see a thing and could only tuck him in. She accidentally touched his waist and said softly blushingly, “Sleep early, you still have to film tomorrow.”

At this time, the person was moving around oblivious to everything. Xie Yan closed his eyes and tried his best to adjust his breathing.

With her eyes closed, Su Shen was sleeping without a worry. Unbeknownst as to when, a warm touch suddenly appeared on her lips. She instantly opened her eyes and met with a pair of obsidian eyes.

He pried open her lips, breathing heavily as if he couldn’t wait to taste her last sweetness. The scent permeating from her seemed to destroy his willpower.

“Xie Yan…” Su Shen felt muddle-headed and panted heavily. Didn’t he want to sleep? Why was he so impulsive all of a sudden? 

As he left hot kisses on her neck, he bit her neck and said hoarsely, “I won’t do anything. Trust me.”

As he spoke, his hot hand slipped into her shirt, and her smooth skin destroyed his last hint of sanity.

In the darkness, the temperature seemed to have risen a little. Blushing, Su Shen grasped the thin blanket powerlessly and believed his words for no reason.

Seeing that she seemed to have believed him, Xie Yan just wanted to smile bitterly. She was too naive. How could she believe that he really would do nothing at this time?

However, he ultimately stopped. He buried his head into her neck and took a deep breath. “Sleep, I’ll only hug you.”

Su Shen: “…….”

Hug… Why did he have to put his hand into her shirt…

Her face was almost red like a tomato, but no one could see it clearly in the darkness. Thinking of Xie Yan’s character, she closed her eyes and fell asleep nevertheless.

Seeing that her breathing became even and slow, Xie Yan sighed, with a trace of helplessness in his eyes. Why did he have to torture himself like this…

……

Su Shen didn’t know when she fell asleep but she was woken up by the heat. When she opened her eyes, the blazing sun outside had already illuminated the tent. From time to time, voices could be heard, and the figure beside her was already no longer there.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up from the bed in a daze. When she was fully awake, she folded the blanket and went outside after changing her clothes. The sunshine outside immediately shone on her blazingly and painfully.

“Su Shen, quickly eat breakfast. We have to get going.”

Just at this moment, He Hua came over with a pot of water. He couldn’t bear the awful weather and couldn’t wait to leave.

“Got it.” Hearing this, Su Shen went back into the tent to get her toothbrush and face towel.

After washing up, she immediately put on her sunscreen. Then, she saw Xie Yan coming over with a few bags of breakfast.

He had already changed into the film’s camouflage costume. He was tall and steady. At the sight of him, Su Shen thought of last night and couldn’t help but blush. It was not like she knew nothing. After enduring for a night, Xie Yan must’ve been very uncomfortable.

“What are you putting on?” He asked casually.

Hearing this, Su Shen placed her sunscreen into her suitcase then walked to the table, and sat down. She took a cup of soymilk and had a sip.

“Sunscreen.” She stretched out her fair and slender arm, swaying it in front of his palm, “Look how tanned you are.”

Looking at her swaying arm, Xie Yan grabbed her arm and said mellowly, “So long as you aren’t.”

Su Shen wanted to withdraw her hand, but his grip was tight. Blushing, she could only use her other hand to grab the soymilk.

Just at this moment, He Hua came in. Seeing that the two were still eating, he urged, “Su Shen, quick. We have to wait for the bus in town later.” 

Su Shen also knew that transportation here was not very convenient, so she got up and said to Xie Yan, “I’m leaving now.”

Xie Yan glanced at He Hua from the corner of his eye without saying anything.

Seeing this, Su Shen went to take her suitcase. She had brought a lot of things with her when she came here. Now that they have all been taken out, the suitcase was pretty light.

As she exited the tent, Xie Yan followed after. The staff outside were still adjusting the equipment, and it seemed that today was the day of the skydiving scene.

Seeing that He Hua and Su Shen were about to leave, everyone wished them farewell one after another, while the director was talking to the props team. Under the blazing hot sun, everyone was sweating profusely.

They were going to be sent to town using the water van that the production crew used to purchase water with. After the driver had put her suitcase onto the car, Su Shen turned around and looked at Xie Yan gravely. “Remember what you said. You must use a body double for any dangerous stunts.”

She looked rather serious. Xie Yan stepped forward and held her petite body in his arms. He then buried his head into her neck and took a deep breath, “Remember to eat well.”

He Hua, who was sitting in the car, couldn’t help but poked his head out and shouted at the two still clinging to each other, “Let’s go, let’s go! It’s not like it’s a separation of life and death!”

The driver couldn’t help but burst into laughter. It was the first time that he had seen Xie Yan being so lovey-dovey with his girlfriend. It really didn’t match his style.

Hearing his urging, Su Shen pushed him away blushingly, “I’m leaving now, you can go back.”

She then turned around immediately and got into the car, closing the door hard, trying her hardest not to look back at Xie Yan.

The car started to drive soon after. In the car, He Hua said unhappily, “He can stay here all he wants to. In any case, I won’t come here ever again.”

Knowing that he was still angry at the fact that Xie Yan accepted this film, Su Shen didn’t say anything. Instead, she took out her phone to check if there was any signal.

To go into the city, they still had to wait for the bus. It was already 3:00 pm when the two of them got on the plane, and then, after a ten-hour flight, they had to change to a domestic flight. When they returned to Shanghai, it was already 1:00 pm the next day. Without any time to rest, Su Shen took a shower and changed her clothes in the hotel before rushing to set.

When the director saw her return, he immediately asked her to change into her costume and shoot the next scene.

It was another action scene. Perhaps it was because of the jet lag, Su Shen was so tired that she NGed several times. After wrapping up at 9:00 pm, she felt light-headed all over.

As Su Shen was returning to the hotel, she didn’t know if it was her illusion, but she felt that the car behind had been following them. After returning to the hotel, only then did she have the time to check her phone.

When Liu jie asked her if she had come back, Su Shen just replied with a “yes”. She then went online to check the comments and arched her brow. She suspected that the company had bought enough hype for her to last the whole year. Her name was still on Hot Search after all this time.

At this time, the movie’s box office had already exceeded 900 million and movie sales gradually declined, same with the other movies. Among them, there was a dark horse. It was a small production comedy film. Its leading actors were not very famous, but its box office had unexpectedly reached one billion. 

Although their movie was not a huge hit, it wasn’t a flop either—just mediocre. However, these things didn’t have anything to do with her, a supporting actress. She didn’t know if it was because the company had spent too much on marketing, but her popularity was too high. The selfie that she had posted yesterday at the airport had over 50,000 comments unexpectedly. In the past, she only had six or seven thousand comments at most.

Netizen A: Isn’t she afraid of hyping overboard? Just a supporting actress, yet she hyped like she’s a leading actress. [smiley face]

Netizen B: I feel sorry for Fan Meng. This b***h is too disgusting. No matter what, Fan Meng’s still a Best Actress. Her acting’s better than yours by a mile!

Netizen C: The antis are hilarious. What’s wrong with being a supporting actress? You’re saying like everyone in this industry hasn’t played a supporting role before. Nevertheless, the supporting character is still better than that rigid face of the female lead. [smiley face]

Netizen D: After watching the movie, I really dislike the female lead. On one hand, saying that she would let go, and on the other hand, not allowing the male lead to get in touch with the imperial concubine. Ahaha, what a green tea b***h!

green tea b***h – a girl who seems innocent and charming but is actually calculating and manipulative

Netizen E: Love the imperial concubine that Su Shen played as! Before entering the palace, she was innocent. After being corrupted, she was still so beautiful. In particular, her acting in the scene where she suicided was off the charts!!! 

Netizen F: Fan Meng’s die-hard fans are so disgusting. Don’t they have a clue about their idol’s acting? No wonder Xie Yan was willing to film a kiss scene with Su Shen and not her. Just that rigid face of Fan Meng’s, who would kiss her after seeing it? [smiley face]

Currently, there were catfights ensuing in forums and on social media platforms where people compared her and Fan Meng. Su Shen couldn’t tell which comments were real and which were bought by the company. In any case, there indeed existed a grudge between her and Fan Meng. Even if their fans didn’t fight with each other, their relationship wouldn’t get better anyways.

Perhaps knowing that she was back, Liu jie just so happened to call her. Su Shen leaned against the headboard exhausted and pressed the speaker button.

“When did you arrive?”

Hearing the voice from the other end of the phone, Su Shen answered insipidly, “In the afternoon. Shot several scenes. Exhausted.”

Hearing this, the person on the other end paused before saying conscientiously, “Have a good rest. Be careful lately, there may be paparazzi following you.” 

“En?” Su Shen was somewhat confused.

“You’re a hot topic right now, the subject of talk. There have been several FMCG* brands who’ve asked you to endorse them. But I’m still negotiating the price. It won’t do if the compensation is any less. With your fame high right now, those paparazzi definitely want to follow you and see if there’s anything to expose, so you have to be careful and don’t go out for dinner with anyone casually.” Liu jie said seriously.

FMCG – fast-moving consumer goods

At that, it suddenly occurred to Su Shen that the car following behind them just now seemed to be paparazzi. 

“Got it. Don’t accept any new scripts for me for the time being. I want to have a rest.” She rubbed her temples, her eyelids heavy as a thousand pounds.

At that, Liu jie said conscientiously, “You can have a week of rest, but no longer. Your career just started. By the way, there’s a modern romance drama that’s seeking you. The pay’s pretty high too, a total of ten million. I heard that they booked Jiang Yin as the male lead. Think about it. I’ll send you the script later.”

Previous | Index | Next

Sleep

“I… I was dragged here by He Hua. He said that you insisted on doing those dangerous stunts, so he asked me to come over and watch you.” After saying that, Su Shen looked at him gravely and said, “Didn’t you promise me to use a body double? But what happened?”

Xie Yan: “…….”

He picked up some noodles into his bowl and said earnestly, “These noodles are delicious.”

Seeing him pretending to be deaf and dumb, Su Shen snorted coldly and placed her chopsticks down, gravely saying, “I’m serious. I don’t want you to do those dangerous stunts anymore.”  

There was always a possibility in everything. What if something really did happen?

Xie Yan paused and saw that she was staring at him fixedly. There was a seriousness that he had never seen before from her. From avoidance at the beginning to taking the initiative to care about his safety now, this feeling of being restricted was as sweet as syrup. 

“Okay.” He continued to eat the noodles with his head down.

Su Shen didn’t believe him, so she decided to ask He Hua to find a spy to watch over him, in case he would turn around and forget what he had just said.

Thinking of this, she kept staring at him. But when she saw him finish the pot of noodles in a matter of minutes, she immediately put another piece of noodles into the pot. At this moment, she suddenly had the urge to have him quit the film.

When they finished eating, it was already dark outside. Xie Yan took the pot outside to wash.

The people outside teased him one after another when they saw him coming out with the pot. 

“Yan ge, you’re glowing with health! Are you full?”

Zhong Quan and the rest gathered around playing cards. When they saw Xie Yan’s quick steps, they all burst into laughter.

“If you have the ability, go find a wife yourself too. What’s the use of being jealous of others!” Fang Kong said teasingly with a cigarette in his mouth. Abruptly, he slapped his cards down, “Three fives and a pair!”

“No, no, we can’t be compared to him. He went so far as to shoot an idol drama, risking everything for a wife.” Zhong Quan said as he threw down three eights and a pair. 

Hearing this, Ding Yi at the side couldn’t help laughing, “I also thought that Yan ge was going the idol route, but I didn’t expect there was something behind it.”

It was dark outside and hot in the tent. Someone had moved a small table outside with a big lamp on. Everyone gathered around there and played cards. Dozens of people gathered around chatting and laughing. The smell of smoke permeated the air and mosquitoes were flying around.

When Xie Yan walked over, Zhong Quan was laughing the most ferociously. He turned around slowly when he felt that everyone was looking behind him in silence. His complexion instantly changed.

“Yan ge… I… I’m complimenting you for chasing a girlfriend. There’s absolutely no other meaning!” As an actor, he naturally had a firm expression on, allowing for no doubts.

Xie Yan glanced at him, “That’s why you’re single.”

Zhong Quan: “…….”

After saying that, he took the pot and left, leaving dozens of people who wanted to laugh but dared not to.

Returning to the tent, he saw Su Shen sitting on the chair scrolling through her phone. However, there was still not much of a signal. Seeing that Xie Yan was back, she thought of something and blushed, stammering as she spoke.

“I… where am I going to sleep tonight?” 

At that, Xie Yan, who was fixing the light bulb, looked down and said with all seriousness, “Of course, with me.”

Hearing this, Su Shen was even more at a loss. She was actually quite afraid as she wasn’t ready at all.

Xie Yan couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw her blushing face, “I won’t eat you.”

Facing his teasing gaze, Su Shen blushed and turned her head aside.

Although there was a shortage of water here, the production crew was considered quite rich and wouldn’t skimp when needed usually. When Su Shen wanted to take a shower, Xie Yan boiled hot water and especially spared a tent for her to take a shower. He even stayed on guard outside the tent, not afraid of the mosquitoes outside.

It was an eye-opener for those who were playing cards. They didn’t expect that the man, who wouldn’t spare a glance at a woman, would be so passionate deep down. As expected, you couldn’t judge a book by its cover.

When Su Shen came out, she felt much better, holding a pile of clothes that she just changed out of and needed to be washed. Seeing Xie Yan sitting outside being food for the mosquitoes, her heart softened. She walked over and gently patted him on the shoulder, “Go take a shower. I’ll help you wash your clothes later.”

When he turned around, he found Su Shen wearing a T-shirt and casual shorts; her arms slender. Under the faint moonlight, her fair skin seemed to glow. He wanted to hold her hands, but he ultimately controlled himself. It wouldn’t be too late to hold her hands after he took a shower.

“Okay!”

He went back to get his clothes without demur. Following behind him, Su Shen could feel the mosquitoes circling around her.

When she returned to the tent and waited for Xie Yan to take a shower, Su Shen sat down and scrolled through her phone. It just so happened there was finally a signal. There were many people who had messaged her, and Liu jie even called her several times and sent her some messages, telling her to return earlier. The production crew was in a rush to proceed further, and there were still some scripts waiting for her to accept.

The signal was bad. It took her the longest time to send the message that she would be returning tomorrow.

When she looked at the comments online, it was basically a catfight, especially after the recent episode of the variety show broadcasted. It was a simmer of chaos, where fans of several artists tore each other up. In just a few days, her followers on Weibo increased by three million and finally exceeded ten million. More importantly, her impression on passersby was better, but it could also be due to the company manipulating things behind the scenes. Nonetheless, it was not always good to be in the limelight.

Just looking at Hot Search, it was filled with #Su Shen & Jiang Yin#, #Su Shen’s Acting#, #Su Shen, Yang Zhi, & Mu Yao#, and #Su Shen’s Long Legs#.

Netizen A: Miss Su, you’re indeed a Hot Search professional, taking over year-round? [smiley face] 

Netizen B: Is there any meaning to hyping your acting every day? If you continue to hype, it’ll be beyond the sky. [vomit]

Netizen C: No matter how hard Yao’s dogs bite, it’s useless. Our Su Su’s acting KOs Mu Yao’s in a second. [smiley face]

Netizen D: After watching this episode with the three of them in the same frame, gotta admit that Su Shen, whether in appearance or aura, KOs the other two. [joy]

Netizen E: AHHHHH! Su Shen actually knows calligraphy. How could there be such a perfect person in the world? I don’t care! The goddess is mine! [kiss]

Netizen F: Miss Su’s water army is too superb, stepping on Fan Meng and KO-ing Yang Zhi and Mu Yao. Will the next step be ascending to be a goddess? [smiley face] 

Netizen G: Is it just me who noticed the chemistry between Su Shen and Jiang Yin? The way he looked at her was so tender. This CP’s so sweet!

Netizen H: I don’t know if anyone has noticed that there was not any interaction between Wang Cheng and Jiang Yin. Are they really at odds?

The signal was bad, so Su Shen didn’t continue to scroll through the comments. It was basically a few fans who were making a fuss, and it seemed that the catfight would continue for a few more days. Currently, at the box office, the movie had exceeded 600 million and was practically the highest-selling movie of the period. However, two other movies were also following closely behind, seemingly able to surpass their movie at any given time.

The competition in the movie market was fierce. As a commercial movie, Su Shen felt it could only be given 60 points because the romance plot was too rough and abrupt. Moreover, other movies had a large-scale bed scene as a gimmick, but there had only been a short kiss scene in theirs. However, it couldn’t be helped since Xie Yan refused to shoot it at that time. But thinking about it now, it was fortunate that they hadn’t filmed it.

Feeling that Xie Yan might be done with showering soon, Su Shen placed her phone down and walked out of the tent. It just so happened that Xie Yan walked out of the shower tent. Su Shen took his clothes and went to wash them at the side, while Xie Yan sat down next to her and used a fan to drive away the mosquitoes.   

While she was washing, Su Shen suddenly found that Xie Yan seemed to have given her one less garment. Blushing, she didn’t ask and continued to twist his camouflage clothing.

Someone, who was playing cards over there, couldn’t help but yell, “Hey, Yan ge, you’re not gonna come play today?”

At that, the group of people burst into laughter again. It was truly an eye-opener for them. They didn’t expect that Xie Yan in love would be like this. His image collapsed to the point of not being able to look at him in the face.

Xie Yan ignored them and continued to fan Su Shen quietly. Her figure could only be seen in his obsidian eyes.

After washing the clothes, Su Shen hung them in the drying area over there. When she turned around and went back to the tent, the group of people was still playing cards, with the smell of smoke permeating the air. Meanwhile, He Hua was sitting in a place where no one was, typing, seemingly making a form.

Returning to the tent, Su Shen felt a little sleepy. The wooden bed was not big or small, and there was a bamboo mat on it. But she felt nervous at the thought of sleeping with Xie Yan. 

Noticing her sleepiness, Xie Yan went to make the bed for her and said, “It’s cold at night. Remember to cover yourself with a blanket.”

Looking at his muscular back, Su Shen pursed her lips and asked softly, “You’re… not going to sleep with me?”

Xie Yan turned on the fan, adjusted the angle for her, turned around, and held her in his arms. He touched her head and whispered, “You sleep here, I’ll go to He Hua.”

It was indeed a little cold at night. Su Shen looked up and looked into his eyes.

There was the scent of body wash on her. Her fair collarbone seemed to glow in the dim yellow light; her whole body tender. Xie Yan’s eyes darkened and he quickly looked away, coughing, “I’ll leave first, come find me if you need anything.”

He then picked up the cup on the table and was about to leave.

Blinking, Su Shen suddenly stepped forward and gently grabbed the corner of his shirt, successfully stopping a certain someone’s steps and causing him to turn around in confusion.

Blushing, she looked down and said quietly, “You… can sleep here. I… I trust you.”

Previous | Index | Next

Personal Space

Skydiving?

Su Shen’s complexion changed slightly. Meanwhile, He Hua was in a bad mood. Without saying anything, he walked forward with his suitcase.

Su Shen followed him into a green tent. It was equipped with everything, clean and tidy, but it was too stuffy and had no air circulation. 

He Hua placed his suitcase there and then said casually, “This is Xie Yan’s tent. You can rest here first.”

Su Shen raised her phone up high into the air at all angles, but there was no signal at all. Seeing her like this, He Hua chuckled, “There’s no signal here. You have to go to town, or you have to wait until 10:00 pm. At that time, the signal will be better than now.”

Su Shen: “…….”

“Got it.”

She placed her purse on the wooden table and then opened her suitcase to look for her sunscreen. She didn’t want to get so tanned like them. 

“I’m going to go look for Xie Yan. Don’t walk around, there’re many poisonous snakes around here.” He Hua said gravely.

After a pause, Su Shen naturally nodded. After He Hua left, she wanted to put on sunscreen, but she also wanted to take a shower, but there was no water in sight inside the tent.

This place was indeed tough. Su Shen felt that she was not as professional as Xie Yan, but it was not an excuse for him to ignore the risk. He had promised her to use a body double, but it was all lip service.  

Leaning against the wooden bed, she scrolled through her phone again. After ten minutes, there was still no signal at all. Today was the day that her variety show would be broadcasted. It should be midnight in China right now, and the show should’ve been aired already. Moreover, she didn’t know how the movie’s box office was. After all, the sales of the other movies inched very close.

……

Although it was getting dark, the lingering heat still made people sweat profusely. Some of the staff still had to pack up the props, and the busy day seemed to have passed like this.

He Hua followed Xie Yan with a cigarette in his mouth while greeting the staff calmly.

“He ge’s here again. May you have a prosperous year!” A staff who was carrying a stand grinned, revealing their pearl white teeth.

With a laugh, He Hua took out a big red envelope from his pocket and threw it at him, “May everyone be prosperous, and may you find a wife soon.”

“With your blessing, I definitely will!” The staff smiled and walked past the two of them with the stand on his shoulder.

Walking in front, with a camouflage jacket on his shoulder, Xie Yan rubbed his wrist that he had twisted before. When he heard He Hua wishing fortune from all ends, he couldn’t help but look back at him, “Why don’t you go home to find your wife during the new year?”

He Hua: “……”

He took another smoke of his cigarette and slowly exhaled a smoke ring. In a very calm voice, he said, “I thought you would be lonely abroad, so I’m here to give you a surprise.”

Xie Yan glanced at him and said unperturbedly, “I much prefer you to go home and find your wife.” 

He Hua resisted the urge to swear at him and watched as he opened the flap of the tent.

When a beam of light shone into the tent, Su Shen looked back subconsciously and saw two people coming in. Perhaps they saw her as they suddenly stopped and seemed to be a little shocked.

Not seeing him for half a month, Su Shen thought that Xie Yan would be super tanned, but unexpectedly, he didn’t tan too much and was only a shade tanner than before. However, there was gauze on his forehead, seemingly injured.

“Xie Yan.” She sat up slowly from the bed.

Her gentle voice was all so familiar. When the familiar figure appeared in his sight, Xie Yan was stunned and his eyes were tightly locked on her.

“What do you think? I gave you a surprise, yeah?” He Hua sneered and walked out of the tent tactfully. He wouldn’t lower himself to the same level as Xie Yan, this heartless man.

Seeing that he was staring at her, Su Shen felt a little embarrassed and slowly walked over. Their eyes met, and she suddenly reached out to gently touch the gauze on his forehead, “You’re injured?”

The person in front of him blinked her big eyes and looked at him with concern. When he came to his senses, Xie Yan suddenly reached out and held her in his arms. He buried his head into her neck and took a deep breath, “It doesn’t hurt. Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming here?”

As soon as he mentioned this, Su Shen was a little angry. She pushed him away with effort and said discontentedly, “You promised me not to do those dangerous action scenes, but in the end?”

“Liar!” She snorted.

Xie Yan: “…….”

He coughed slightly, with a trace of embarrassment on his face. He could only reach out and hold her tightly in his arms. He kissed her on the forehead, “I’ll definitely use a body double in the future.”

“You… You think I’ll believe you again?” Blushing, Su Shen tried to push him away as she feebly said that.

But his grip was so strong that Su Shen couldn’t push him away after half a day, so she could only glare at him with discontent.

She was too lovable, her big watery eyes seemingly seducing him. Xie Yan kissed her bright red lips, crazily sucking them just like when people found water in the desert. 

“Mhmm…” Su Shen blushed, she clearly hadn’t finished speaking yet. 

It was not until she had liked someone that she knew how it felt to miss someone.

He wrapped his arms around her slender waist and pressed her down onto the bed unbeknownst as to when. Hot kisses fell onto her fair and tender neck. His hot hands grasped her fair shank, seemingly wandering upwards. 

“Xie… Xie Yan…” She panted slightly, her face flushed, eyes watery, and voice feeble, “I… I sweated a lot today…”

Smelling the sweet scent from her body, he knew that she was shy, so he didn’t continue. Instead, he buried his head in her neck and muttered, “I miss you lots.”

His hot breath puffed onto her neck. Blushing and heart rapidly beating, Su Shen’s mind was blank at this moment.

Even if she didn’t come, Xie Yan had planned to go back to see her after a few days. But he didn’t expect her to come here without saying a word.

The atmosphere between the two was full of ambiguity. Feeling that he was too heavy, Su Shen could only pluck up the courage to poke his shoulder. “Can you let me up?”

Xie Yan: “Kiss me, and I’ll get up.”

Su Shen: “……”

She felt her cheeks burning. Blinking her eyes, she kissed him on the cheek shyly. Then, she turned to the side as her heart beat rapidly, “Get up quickly.”

The warm touch seemed to linger on his cheek. Looking at her being shy, Xie Yan smiled helplessly and whispered in her ear, “Remember to kiss here next time.”

All of a sudden, a warm touch appeared on her lips before she came to her senses. Blushing, she patted him on the shoulder and said, “I… I got it… Get up quickly…”

He had never seen someone as shy as her before. With a smile, Xie Yan got up and sat to the side.

Su Shen immediately sat up from the bed and walked to the entrance of the tent blushingly. She opened a flap and saw that it was getting dark outside. He Hua was sitting there with several members of the crew chatting happily. 

“Are all of you guys’ meals takeout?” She turned around and asked.

Xie Yan was fiddling with an electricity generator and insipidly answered, “Someone will go to town to buy food at 5:00 pm; not good.”

Su Shen: “……”

She came to her suitcase and took out a few bags of dehydrated veggies, “If you have time, go buy a small electrical cooker. It can be eaten after a few minutes. I also bought you seasoning packets, and you can just put them in directly.”

When he saw the things she took out, Xie Yan was taken aback. Suddenly, he thought of something and stood up, asking her to wait here for a moment, and then walked out of the tent.

Su Shen had no clue what he was doing, so she just took all the things she had brought for him out. Not long after, Xie Yan came back with a small electric cooker in his hand.

“They used this for hotpot last time, “ said Xie Yan, giving the cooker to her.

Su Shen: “…….”

It was getting late, and it was time for dinner. Su Shen asked Xie Yan to fetch some water, and she then added the veggies to the pot after the water boiled. In passing, she also added two portions of noodles. After a while, the whole tent smelled aromatic.   

Su Shen wasn’t very hungry and felt a little distressed at the thought of Xie Yan eating zhacai all this while. He had high physical activity every day, so what nutrients could those provide?

“AH! It turns out that Yan ge’s secretly cooking!”

Just at this moment, the tent suddenly peered open and several figures in black tank tops suddenly broke in. Su Shen was taken aback and looked back, only to find that they were all super tanned. 

However, it was still clear who’s who. The leader was Zhong Quan and like Li Hao, he went the man of steel route. However, he acted only in movies. Although he was not very famous, he had great opportunities in the film industry.

As for the other two, Su Shen didn’t know them very well, but they looked familiar. It was just that she couldn’t name them.

When they saw the pot of fresh vegetable noodles, they immediately came to the table and their eyes lit up. “Vegetables! There’re actually vegetables!”

Seeing how excited they were, Xie Yan immediately covered the pot with the lid and said, “This is mine.”

They were stupefied. In their impression, Yan ge was not such a stingy person.

As they noticed Su Shen at the side and heard of the rumors, they immediately nodded with a smile and said, “Happy New Year, saozi.”

Su Shen was too fair and was so beautiful, everyone envied Xie Yan in their hearts. No wonder he didn’t come out the whole afternoon. It turned out that there was a lover in his abode. They had been curious why Xie Yan had gone to shoot an idol drama before, but when they saw Su Shen, they finally understood.

The hanging lamp in the tent shook. Looking at the people being so courteous in front of her, Su Shen said with a smile, “Do you all want some? I brought a few bags here, you guys can go back and cook it yourself.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Hearing that, Zhong Quan and the rest were overjoyed. They hadn’t eaten any vegetables for the longest time.

Xie Yan frowned. Just at this moment, two more people came in from outside the tent. It turned out to be the director and He Hua. Seeing that the two of them had already eaten, He Hua was a little unhappy. Fancy that he brought Su Shen here from afar, but the two of them didn’t even call him for dinner.

“Oh, you guys are cooking noodles.” There was a takeout box in Fang Kong’s hand. When he saw vegetables, he immediately came over and said, “I was wondering why Xie Yan didn’t come out for dinner. It turns out that his girlfriend is cooking for him.”

“That’s right, that’s right. How could you just eat it all when there’s good food!”

“Exactly! I was wondering why Yan ge took my electric cooker. It turns out he’s eating good food!”

The tent was full of people all of a sudden. Everyone bickered noisily with each other. Xie Yan frowned and tapped his chopsticks onto the table, “Do you know what’s personal space?”

As his words fell, the others glanced at him and Su Shen meaningfully. Fang Kong waved his hand and said, “We understand. Get out quickly! Don’t disturb others’ personal space!”

As he said that, the others couldn’t help from laughing as they walked out of the tent, stealing the bag of dehydrated vegetables on the table in passing.

Only He Hua sat down with all politeness, took a disposable rice bowl, and picked up more than half of the noodles into his bowl before he was willing to get up and go. 

Xie Yan was a little upset, so Su Shen silently placed another portion of noodles into the pot. Fortunately, she had brought over a large bag of it.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. You can cook noodles in the future, don’t always just eat those unhealthy things,” she sat at the table and scattered the noodles in the water with chopsticks.

The hanging lamp shook, but the person in front of him was as calm and beautiful as a painting. Her fair face looked unreal in the dim light. After staring at her for a while, he asked softly, “Did you miss me?”

“Of course not!” Su Shen glared at him and pursed her lips, not looking at him.

Looking at her slightly red ears, Xie Yan leaned in and smiled, “Else, why did you suddenly come to visit me?”

Previous | Index | Next

Visiting Him on Set

Su Shen immediately froze but quickly reacted. She continued to eat while answering, “Yeah, we collaborated on two productions before—pretty familiar.” 

Her tone was calm without any ups and downs. Seeing this, Mama Su could only hand over the phone to her, “Don’t get too close to these men. Everyone in the entertainment industry is messy.”

After taking her phone, Su Shen didn’t answer it immediately. Instead, she said to her mom in all seriousness, “You can’t tar with the same brush. I’m also part of the entertainment industry. Am I not a good person?”

“What kind of analogy is this? I’m saying most are. Do you think you can find a good needle in a haystack?” Mama Su placed her chopsticks down and became more stirred up the more she spoke about it.

Hearing this, Su Shen immediately countered, “Why do you not have faith in me? What if I can really find a good one?”

“You…”

“Alright, alright. Stop arguing. The phone’s still ringing.” Papa Su immediately waved his hand, indicating for the two of them to stop talking.

Seeing this, Su Shen could only answer the phone and specially turned the volume down to the lowest. As soon as she answered, a deep and mellow voice came from the other end of the phone, “Have you eaten?”

“En. Happy New Year! You’re one year older,” said Su Shen as she ate and mumbled. 

Xie Yan: “…….”

“How could you say that to someone!” Papa Su glared at her, “No manners!”

Su Shen: “……”

“When I come back, it’s necessary to let you see whether I’m old or not.” Xie Yan stressed.

Su Shen couldn’t help but blush. In order not to let her parents see her peculiarity, she kept her head down as she ate. She felt that Xie Yan had gotten corrupt. 

Perhaps knowing that she was thin-skinned, Xie Yan coughed again and said insipidly, “Do you miss me?”

Su Shen immediately felt her face burning and didn’t dare say anything. When her dad looked at her again, she then said into the phone, “I’m eating dinner right now. Talk to you next time, bye.”

After saying that, she continued to eat while being afraid that her parents would see her peculiarity as her ears were a little red. 

Papa Su took a sip of the baijiu*, and then picked up a piece of beef into his bowl. He suddenly looked up as if he remembered something, “Is this Xie Yan the actor that acted in Fleeting Time Like Water?”

baijiu – colorless Chinese liquor typically coming in between 35% and 60% alcohol by volume

At that, Su Shen was taken aback. She picked up the glass of water at the side and took a sip. She looked at the person sitting across from her curiously and asked, “You’ve seen it before?”

The film Fleeting Time Like Water was the one that Xie Yan worked on with Director Li. He played as a teacher in the olden days, but he fell in love with his own student. The film had won a lot of awards that year, but she didn’t expect that her dad had also watched it. 

“You think I only know how to work every day? We also have to keep up with the times.” Papa Su snorted, picked up his glass, and took a sip of baijiu. He clicked his tongue and said, “I’ve even heard that a film could earn him hundreds of millions. What about you?”

Su Shen: “……”

“I’m still just starting my career. When I become famous in the future, I can also make a lot of money.” Su Shen pursed her lips and continued to pick up veggies into her bowl. She didn’t know how much she had to work to reach Xie Yan’s level, and it was also possible that she would never reach it.

Although it was quick to earn money in the entertainment industry, the fastest way was not to shoot films, but to take part in commercial productions, or to accept endorsements. For example, Wang Cheng earned ten million for one endorsement right now. He only needed to shoot a commercial and take part in some events. Additionally, taking part in variety shows was even more lucrative. For Wang Cheng, a season of a variety show would earn him 20 million. The time for shooting an entire season would be no more than 15 days added up, and 20 million would be in his hands.

But it would be a short-lived career. Once one’s fame diminished, there would definitely not be as many brands seeking one to endorse them. So now, many stars would invest behind the scenes, or they would change careers to be a director or producer.

“It’s already not bad that you can support yourself.” Papa Su smiled. 

Hearing that, although Su Shen wanted to refute, she didn’t say anything more. Instead of words, she would prove it to him. She decided that she would buy an Aston Martin for her dad’s birthday when the time comes.

After dinner, she washed the dishes. The Spring Festival Gala was broadcasting live on TV, but Su Shen didn’t want to watch it, so she returned to her room to scroll on her phone.

By this time, the movie had been released for more than two hours, and the ratings online varied. However, the kiss scene between her and Xie Yan was ranked first on Hot Search again. But, this time, Xie Yan’s fans were calmer. After all, with the previous foreshadowing, the impact did not hit them so hard. Furthermore, ranked second on Hot Search were hers and Fan Meng’s names. 

Netizen A: That imperial concubine’s actually Su Shen!!! 

Netizen B: After watching the movie, I went to watch Su Shen’s previous works to calm down a bit. In the end, I could only come to the conclusion that Director Huang is really a wonder!

Netizen C: I used to dislike Su Shen since she didn’t have much fame yet liked to steal other people’s roles. But after watching this movie, I suddenly turned into a fan. Xiao jiejie’s acting is off the charts!!!

Netizen D: I unexpectedly ship Xie Yan and Su Shen’s CP. They’re too good-looking. [joy]

Netizen E: I cried when the imperial concubine died at the end. She was so pitiful. The male lead must’ve still liked her. Nevertheless, Su Shen’s performance was great. Fan Meng’s rigid face can’t be looked at anymore. [smiley face]

Netizen F: I just wanted to say when I saw that kiss scene, “Let go of that man, and let me do it!!!”

Netizen G: This is a huge leap forward for Su Shen, and I hope it can be maintained. After all, there are indeed too few starlets with the looks and acting now. [joy] 

The movie was released not a while ago, but the agency would still need to control the comments later because Su Shen knew that there would be people who wanted to slander her again. Fan Meng would definitely be one of them. No one would be willing to let their limelight be taken away by a supporting actress.

The next day, movie sales exceeded 200 million in 12 hours since the movie aired. Naturally, pre-sales were included in that amount. The other movies were also very popular during the Spring Festival. However, the producer of this movie had connections that enabled the airing times of the movie to be increased across the country. Although some people said it was unfair online, it was a capitalist market where there was no fairness at all.

On Chinese New Year, she was still on set. The director and producer had given them red envelopes. As one of the youngest in the crew, Su Shen received not a small amount of red envelopes, but she also had Xiao Zhou go and give some to the staff. You couldn’t go wrong with making a good impression.

In the afternoon, when Liu jie came over, Su Shen wished her a prosperous year, and she took out two big red envelopes with a smile to give to her and Xiao Zhou. Although it was not a lot, it was still a festivity.

“On the eighth day of the Lunar Year, there will be an award ceremony. You will walk the red carpet with the rest of the cast. Although you won’t win an award, you can still have a bit of exposure. There’re some directors observing you now. If the following movie does well, your reputation will only then be reversed.” Sitting on the sofa, Liu jie took a sip of her piping hot tea and said earnestly, “However, popularity is still the most important thing. Your followers on social media accounts are increasing every day. You can post some videos of you cooking or short quotes to attract more fans.”

She knew that Liu jie wanted her to go the personality and image route, but Su Shen didn’t have much time to post on Weibo. She practically ate takeout lunch every day; there was simply no time to even cook.

“Send me the schedule, I’ll take a look at it,” said Su Shen while reading the script and taking notes. 

There was a heater in the dressing room, so it was quite warm. Liu jie lazily leaned against the sofa in a red windbreaker, holding a cup of tea in hand, and glanced at her meaningfully, “Being together with Xie Yan, have you ever thought of going to the same agency as him?”

At that, Su Shen continued writing notes on the script, “It’s the same whether I go or not.”

Her tone was of indifference and seemed unconcerned. Liu jie stared at her for a while before putting down her teacup and standing up.

“Frankly, I don’t want you to leave. After all, I brought you to where you are at myself. However, your resources and access to better opportunities are definitely better if you follow Xie Yan. It depends on you.” After that, Liu jie picked up her bag and said, “I’m leaving first, remember to come back early.”

At that, Su Shen just uttered an “en,” and didn’t pay heed to Liu jie’s words. She knew that Liu jie certainly didn’t want her to leave, but there were some things that needed to be dealt with depending on the timing. When Starlight no longer suited her, Su Shen would definitely leave. But for the time being, she would not leave yet.

Filming wrapped up at 8:00 pm, and it was snowing heavily again. Su Shen asked for five days’ leave, and it would take four days to fly there and back plus layovers. In actuality, she could only stay with Xie Yan for a day only.

After returning to the hotel, she packed her luggage with summer clothes and some sunscreen. The next day, when He Hua came to pick her up early in the morning, Su Shen paid her new year’s respects and received another red envelope. It was so thick that she thought there was a lot of money inside, but found it was all ones after taking a peek at it.

“Why are you bringing so many zhacai* and Lao Gan Ma*?”

zhacai – a Chinese mustard green usually spicy, but there are non-spicy options too, long known to the rest as “Sichuan preserved vegetables”

Lao Gan Ma – a very well-known and popular brand of chili oil, can cook it with anything, but not spicy enough for me (TL – plum) ahaha 

Sitting in the back, Su Shen felt numb when she saw the large box of zhacai. Was he bringing this for Xie Yan to eat?

“Vegetables are expensive in Africa, and the filming site of their crew is pretty remote. They would only be able to have a meal of vegetables in four or five days. But you know that Xie Yan doesn’t eat meat, so he lives on these every day.” Even He Hua felt sad talking about it, but this was also what Xie Yan asked for.

Hearing this, Su Shen also felt somewhat rattled. Eating zhacai every day was not nutritious whatsoever. After driving for a while, she suddenly asked He Hua to stop the car and then went into a supermarket to buy some dehydrated vegetables. Although they were not as nutritious as fresh vegetables, it was better than nothing.

When they arrived at the airport, they sat for a 10-hour flight, then had a layover and switched to another plane before finally arriving at their destination the next day at 3:00 pm. As soon as they exited the airport, they felt the scorching sun burning their arms. There were many people at the airport from various countries. But as they got on the bus and arrived at the filming location of the crew, there were mainly Africans. The appearance of the petite and fair Su Shen was particularly conspicuous.

After sitting on a motorcycle for a while, they finally arrived at the filming site. From afar, they could see a huge forest. There were many tents pitched in front of a large open space in front of the forest. In order to prevent invaders, the crew hired many security guards. The security guards recognized He Hua and allowed them in after asking a few questions.

Su Shen broke into a sweat and could only wipe the sweat off her forehead with a tissue. As soon as she appeared, all the big men in the cast looked at her. She was really too fair, contrasting greatly against them tanned from being exposed to the sun for long durations of time.

“He Hua, why are you here again?!”

Just at this moment, a middle-aged man in a black tank top with a cigarette in his mouth suddenly came over. He was very tanned, perhaps because of the recent exposure to the sun. He looked coarse and rough, and people could hear him from miles away.

The other staff were checking the equipment. When He Hua saw who was coming over, he snorted impolitely, “I’m here to see how many arms and legs Xie Yan have left.”

As he said that, the staff passing by couldn’t help but laugh. When the man in the black tank top came near, he arched his thick eyebrow in disdain and said, “Whatcha mean by that? How can I cripple my leading actor?”

As he spoke, he took another smoke of his cigarette and looked at Su Shen. He then looked at He Hua with a smile, “This, your daughter?”

Su Shen: “……”

“My daughter’s only eleven! This is Xie Yan’s girlfriend!” He Hua was in an extremely bad mood, and on top of how hot it was, his temper became even more irritable.

Su Shen took a look at the middle-aged man and knew that he was the director of this film, Fang Kong, the leading figure of action films domestically.

“Xie Yan has a girlfriend?” All of a sudden, Fang Kong looked at Su Shen in surprise. Today, she was wearing a yellow dress. She was petite but very good-looking and fair. Even in the entertainment industry, her appearance was near the top.

“Why won’t Xie Yan have a girlfriend?” He Hua snorted and began to look around, “Where’s Xie Yan?”

Amidst the wide open space, there were staff moving props from time to time and a few actors drinking water. The sun above their heads would really bask them to death. Everyone in the crew was tanned, and Su Shen standing there was like a glowing candle.

Seeing that they were looking for Xie Yan, Fang Kong smiled. He then threw the cigarette butt onto the ground and stepped on it two times. Then, he turned around and looked at the forest behind him, “You guys go rest inside the tent first. He’s practicing skydiving over there. He’ll be back soon.”

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The Movie Aired

After he finished speaking, Su Shen refused without any hesitation, “Thank you, but I’m not hungry.”

“Are you trying to avert suspicion?” Without changing his expression, Jiang Yin looked at her fixedly.

Su Shen didn’t let him in. She wrapped her jacket tightly and smiled, “It’s not to avert suspicion, but just that I’m a coward. It doesn’t feel good to be attacked maliciously. If you want to go, we can go in the daytime.”

“Moreover…” Su Shen held the door knob and glanced at him indifferently, “I already have a boyfriend.”

At that, Jiang Yin’s expression changed slightly. After a moment of silence, he looked at her and asked, “Xie Yan?”

They were all part of the same industry. Everyone knew what was going on. It was not strange for him to know. Su Shen didn’t deny it and just smiled.

Seeing this, Jiang Yin sighed, “I’ll go eat with Song Yan then. Rest early.”

Su Shen smiled and closed the door as soon as he turned around.

When she returned to her room, she wanted to call He Hua and ask if he had arrived in Africa yet. But after calling for the longest time, there was no signal over there. It could be implied that he must’ve found Xie Yan, because his phone had no signal either.

After having a good night’s sleep, they left the island in batches. Why in batches? It was because Yang Zhi and Mu Yao were on bad terms, so they definitely wouldn’t want to be on the same flight. Furthermore, Yang Zhi and Mu Yao disliked her, so they certainly wouldn’t want to take the same flight as her either. However, Su Shen didn’t think it was a big deal. She booked the earliest flight, and Wang Cheng was on it too, and so was Jiang Yin.

Coincidentally, they were seated not far away from each other. However, Wang Cheng and Jiang Yin vied for the same resources, so the two of them were not on great terms. Although their seats were close, they didn’t say a word to each other, whereas Su Shen just slept for the entire flight.

When they got off the plane, there were a lot of fans waiting outside the airport, most of them were Jiang Yin and Wang Cheng’s. These fans were very well-informed, and they were very clear about the flight time of their stars, so usually, artists would buy tickets momentarily. However, sometimes, it was difficult to avoid such a thing happening. 

“Wanna go eat?” Wang Cheng followed her and was about to pat her on the shoulder.

Su Shen blocked his outstretched hand with her sunglasses and said without looking back, “Take it easy there.”

Hearing this, Wang Cheng grinned and pulled some distance away from her. The arriving gate was full of crazy fans holding up signs and shouting crazily. He was afraid of implicating Su Shen, so he wore sunglasses and a cap, covering his face up as much as possible.

When Su Shen exited the airport, she took a look back and just saw Wang Cheng being submerged in the crowd. Luckily, she didn’t have as many fans as Wang Cheng, else it would be really uncomfortable to have one’s personal life exposed to the public at all times.

She got in the car, and it was 6:00 pm when she arrived at set. There was not enough time to eat dinner, and the Director asked her to prepare for a few pressing scenes.

Filming didn’t wrap up until 8:00 pm. Su Shen was so exhausted that her muscles ached. After returning to the hotel, she took a shower and was about to go to bed when she found that Xie Yan had suddenly posted a post on Weibo.

The kind of place where there was not even a signal to make a call, how on earth did he get internet access. He took a picture of a takeout box, which was full of pickles and veggies, with the meat all to the one side. He sat on a pile of rocks, with the sun shining down on him brightly, causing his hand that was holding chopsticks to be seen only. 

The photo looked very depressing, causing fans to be distressed. Li Hao, on the other hand, replied with a photo of him eating barbecue, seemingly taking revenge on him for posting his dinner on the Laba Festival.

Netizen A: AHAHA, Li Hao’s too wicked. Feeling sorry for our Yan ge [kiss]

Netizen B: OMG! You deserve it. [smiley face]

Netizen C: It turns out that hubby doesn’t like meat. [joy]

Netizen D: I really want to cry. How can they film with this kind of food? It will cause malnutrition. [pitiful]

Netizen E: Is it just me who noticed that Xie Yan got tanner again? [joy]

Netizen F: OMG!!! WANT TO GO COOK FOR HUBBY!!!

Netizen G: Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. Who told you to show off your dinner, and now you’re showing shit. [joy]

When Su Shen saw the photo that Li Hao posted, she really wanted to laugh. It was true that he had gone out to drink with several men from the crew just now, but he unexpectedly had the time to provoke Xie Yan. However, Xie Yan’s life indeed looked pretty miserable.

Moreover,  he got tanner again.

Curling up in the blanket, Su Shen wanted to call Xie Yan, but there was still no signal over there. She could only send him a message, telling him to eat well.

But in less than two days, He Hua suddenly paid a visit to her set.

“Well, look at it yourself!”

A flash drive was suddenly thrown onto the table. Su Shen glanced at Xiao Zhou, and the latter immediately brought a laptop over and exited the dressing room after.

When it was just the two of them in the dressing room, Su Shen inserted the flash drive into the laptop and looked up at him, “Why did you come back so soon? How’s Xie Yan?”

He Hua leaned against the sofa, and it was distinct that he got a shade tanner. When he heard that, he chuckled, “If I don’t come back, you’ll be in trouble.”

Hearing what he meant, Su Shen didn’t ask more. When she saw the video on the flash drive, her complexion changed.

“That paparazzi have been following Jiang Yin for more than half a year. Who knew they would follow to your doorsteps? If I hadn’t stopped them in a hurry after getting wind of the news, you would’ve been dead!” He Hua lit a cigarette and took a deep breath. He then slowly exhaled a smoke ring, “Luckily, I’m familiar with the CEO of that studio. But, this was not free. They said that they want first-hand exclusive information when Xie Yan goes public with his relationship with you.”

Looking at the familiar scene, she could see that it was taken at the corner of the hallway. It was so far away that she couldn’t see it from her door. Unexpectedly, they were photographed.

Closing the laptop, she leaned against the sofa and took a sip of hot water, and said unhurriedly, “Thank you.”

He Hua had indeed helped her a lot.

“You just need to be more careful in the future. I’m supporting you as if you’re an artist of ours now. As you can see, if it was Starling Entertainment, they wouldn’t have done anything! He Hua leaned against the sofa and went about peddling the idea again.

With an insipid laugh, Su Shen glanced at him, “How’s Xie Yan?”

Seeing that she changed the topic, He Hua didn’t continue to pursue the matter. Instead, he frowned and inhaled a smoke, “I’m going to Africa on the second day of the Lunar New Year again. You can go with me.”

“He’s learning skydiving right now. He’s jumping from thirty meters high. He didn’t listen to me and even urged me to go. When I arrived, I saw that his arm was dislocated. Next time, his leg might be broken.” He slowly exhaled a ring of smoke, his tone full of helplessness.

Hearing this, Su Shen immediately frowned and her expression became all the more serious, “Okay, I’ll ask for two days off from the director around that time.”

This man was too reckless. He promised her to use a body double yet he did such a dangerous thing. What if something happened?

At that, He Hua couldn’t help but glance at her. He suddenly got up and smiled meaningfully, “Well, don’t tell him yet. We’ll give him a surprise then.”

Su Shen: “……”

After He Hua left, she put away the flash drive and informed Liu jie about this matter.

Liu jie only told her to be more careful and had no objection to her going to Africa. She just asked her to come back earlier and not delay too much of the filming. After all, she had to join another set afterward.

Naturally, Su Shen knew what she should do. She just wanted to take a look at him.

Filming went pretty smoothly the next few days, and it snowed heavily in the city. The movie finally aired on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

That day, Su Shen asked for leave and went home. It was just her parents at home, so it was impossible for her not to come back.

The snow was swirling outside, but it was warm as spring inside the house. There were twelve dishes on the long dinner table, including chicken, duck, fish, and all sorts of meat. Sitting at the table, Su Shen only dared to scoop half a bowl of rice.

“You’re already so skinny, yet you’re still dieting. Do you want to be skinny like a stick?” Mama Su glanced at her from the corner of her eye, frightening Su Shen to immediately fill her bowl with another scoop of rice.

“I remember you said that you have a movie to be released today?” Papa Su took a sip of wine and glanced at her.

Su Shen picked up some veggies into her bowl and nodded casually when she heard that, “Oh, nothing to see.”

It had only been aired for an hour, so the results hadn’t come out yet. If her parents saw her kiss scene with Xie Yan, they might make her retire from the entertainment industry.

“Look at what you’re busy with every day. You’re 25 already. When I was 25, I gave birth to your sis already!” Mama Su picked up a dish and glared at her with discontentment.

Looking down, Su Shen didn’t dare make a sound and just focused on eating.

Speaking of this, Papa Su put down his glass and looked at her seriously, “Your mom is right. I’m getting old, and this company still has to be inherited by you in the future. You can enter the entertainment industry for fun, but you still have to come back to inherit the company.”

“That’s right. The company belongs to you and your sister. You’d better retire from the entertainment industry as soon as possible and come back to learn how to run a company from your sister.” Mama Su said gravely.

Taking a deep breath, Su Shen was just about to say something when her phone suddenly rang. But just now, she had placed her phone on the wine cabinet as she was helping her dad take out a bottle of wine. Seeing this, Mama Su frowned and took her phone from the wine cabinet.

“Don’t tell me you have to attend an event on Chinese New Year’s Eve. Else, don’t ever come back!” Mama Su said very unhappily. She brought the phone closer as she saw something, “Xie Yan?”

After saying that, she turned to look at Su Shen and asked suspiciously, “A man?”

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Calligraphy

This part of the beach had been reserved by the production team, and there were only a few people left after the site was cleared. After everyone gathered, it was obvious that Yang Zhi and Mu Yao didn’t want to stand together with Ma Li, which would highlight their inferior figure. However, Yang Zhi and Mu Yao didn’t get along with each other, yet they both wanted to stand at the center, so Ma Zhiqun was sandwiched between the two of them.

Just getting into position was a bloody storm. Ten people walked back and forth for more than five minutes before they finally confirmed their position. 

Su Shen wanted to stand with Zhang Jing, but she didn’t know when Jiang Yin came over. She had no choice but to run to the edge and stand with Song Yan.

The Director was probably used to these kinds of schemes between artists, so after the positioning was finally settled, he then asked for the cameras to be adjusted to position.

Director: “Okay, let’s welcome the new guests first.”

At that, Su Shen and the rest of the fixed members clapped their hands, all in a polite manner.

Director: “Today, your mission is to divide into two people per team, and each team would win clues through competitions to find the King of Coconuts on this island. The team that finds the King of Coconuts would be the final victor.”   

At that, the group of people began to discuss spiritedly again, especially Mu Yao and Yang Zhi. The two of them wanted to talk with Ma Zhiqun to steal the limelight, but Ma Zhiqun, who was standing at the center, didn’t want to offend anyone and swiftly talked with the Director.

Director: “We will divide into teams through girls choosing to team with a guy or not. Now, separate into boys and girls.”

At that, everyone, including Su Shen, didn’t expect that the production team would ask them to form teams like this. Wasn’t it arranged beforehand by the production team?

Despite this, everyone split apart into two groups and stood next to another. Yang Zhi didn’t want to stand next to Mu Yao, so Zhang Jing was sandwiched by the two of them, while Su Shen stood next to Ma Li. It had to be said that Ma Li’s figure was too superb, but Su Shen wasn’t afraid, because she was fairer than everyone!

Director: “Ma Li, step forward. Boys who want to team up with her can also step forward.”

At that, the boys on the other side looked at each other at a loss. After hesitating for a while, Jin Qingzhou, Ma Zhiqun, and Wang Cheng stepped forward.

“Actually, I really wanted to step forward, but Ma Li’s too tall! I can’t stand next to her!” Song Yan even stood on tiptoe to compare his height with that of Ma Li’s.

Everyone else couldn’t help refrain from laughing. Ma Zhiqun even extended his leg out, “I was very smart to put insoles into my shoe today.”

“AHAHAHA!” Seeing him make fun of himself, everyone else couldn’t help laughing.

Director: “Take off your shoes later.”

Ma Zhiqun: “……”

Everyone else laughed even louder, and so did Su Shen. Just at this moment, the Director urged Ma Li to select someone again.

It was super windy at the beach, blowing her hair to fly in the air. With a flick of her hand, she walked straight to Wang Cheng without hesitation.

Su Shen knew that Wang Cheng wanted to slap Yang Zhi in the face first.

“Why did you choose Wang Cheng?” Ma Zhiqun suddenly turned around and asked. It was a habit of being a host.

Ma Li looked at Wang Cheng insipidly upon hearing that and suddenly smiled, “He’s handsome.”

Hearing this, Wang Cheng seemed to be a little embarrassed and turned his head to the side because Ma Li’s figure was indeed too superb and too hot.

“So you mean Qing Zhou and I are ugly then?” Ma Zhiqun pretended to be angry and stood back into position.

“No, you guys are especially ugly!” Song Yan suddenly added oil to the fire!

“AHAHAHA….”

The production team also laughed. Ma Zhiqun acted as if he was going to beat up Song Yan, and after fighting with each other for a while, they stood back into position.

Director: “Okay, please step forward, Su Shen. Anyone who wants to team up with her can step forward.”

As soon as Su Shen took a step forward, the remaining four boys stepped forward in unison, and the camera was immediately aimed straight at them. Su Shen had a pretty good relationship with all of them, so it was not a big deal to team up with them.

“Oh~ Su Shen, who do you choose?” Zhang Jing kicked up a fuss.

Only Yang Zhi and Mu Yao looked at this scene expressionlessly, as if they didn’t care at all.

After pondering for a while, Su Shen walked toward Song Yan when everyone thought that she would go to Jiang Yin.

Song Yan was also puzzled. After all, he was not the most popular one. However, Ma Zhiqun, who was next to him, immediately added oil to the fire, “I got it. Su Shen must’ve wanted to choose the ugliest one out. What a good person!”

“Of course not. Su Shen obviously must’ve been charmed by my looks.” With a snort, Song Yan walked to the side with Su Shen.

While everyone was laughing and joking, only Jiang Yin looked at Su Shen subtly, as if he didn’t understand why she chose Song Yan. 

Simple. Since Song Yan had a girlfriend, he wouldn’t cause a scandal. Moreover, he was close with Su Shen, so there would be a tacit understanding between them when competing in games.

The following pairings were also beyond everyone’s expectations. Zheng Luo and Mu Yao, Jin Qingzhou and Yang Zhi, Jiang Yin and Zhang Jing, leaving Ma Zhiqun as the referee. 

This time, no CPs were paired up, with Zheng Luo and Mu Yao having a hint of a ship. The production team would surely cut their scenes and paint it pink during post-production.

Director: “Okay, now that the teams are formed, the first game would have the ladies ashore and the guys into the water. By answering questions, the team that gets it correct can swim forward for ten seconds. The team that gets the swimming ring in the middle of the water first will win this round’s game.” 

After saying that, the staff moved a few desks over, with a marker and whiteboard. Su Shen and the rest quickly found their seats and sat down.

The sea breeze stung quite a bit. It was the feeling of fine sand on the body. After adjusting the cameras, the guys stood by the sea, with a red line blocking them. 

Ma Zhiqun held the script card and quickly found the camera: “In ancient times, what were the three obediences and four virtues for women?”

This was simply a free point question. Without a thought, Su Shen quickly wrote something down on the whiteboard. When she raised her whiteboard, the other girls still didn’t even know what to write.

“Su Shen’s so fast!” Ma Zhiqun went to take a closer look, “Obedience to her father before marriage, obedience to her husband after marriage, obedience to her son in widowhood; the four virtues: fidelity, propriety in speech, modest in appearance, and skilled in needlework. Congrats, it’s completely right! Song Yan, you can rush forward for ten seconds!” 

At that, Song Yan immediately ran past the red line into the water, while the others were still puzzled.

“Su Shen, you must’ve been the representative of history class, right?” Zhang Jing couldn’t help from shouting.

Su Shen laughed, “My maternal grandfather was a history professor.”

“No wonder you can play the guzheng and the bamboo flute. Your grandfather must’ve wanted to nurture you into a lady!” Zhang Jing said admiringly. 

Mu Yao and Yang Zhi didn’t say anything. In a sense, they have had conflicts with Su Shen. Su Shen also knew that when she was being maliciously attacked, Mu Yao and Yang Zhi’s managers had definitely been involved. Ultimately, grudges have been made.

After ten seconds, Song Yan stopped, but he was still far from the swimming ring.

Seeing this, Ma Zhiqun continued, “The second question, who won the 36th Golden Flower Best Actress award?”

At that, Su Shen pondered for a bit, but she really didn’t know. Who would remember the number, most would only remember the year. But this time, Zhang Jing answered it correctly.

With a look, it could be seen that she guessed it. Contrarily, Yang Zhi and Mu Yao were not quite outstanding. Yang Zhi would still keep a smile on her face, but Mu Yao was expressionless.

The following questions, Su Shen answered a few correctly. But, Zhang Jing was also amazing. In the end, Zhang Jing’s team won and got a clue.

In the next few rounds, Su Shen won a clue as well as Yang Zhi. Mu Yao and Ma Li got nothing though.

When they set out to look for the King of Coconuts, Su Shen’s clue was the Yunqi Study. However, Jiang Yin and Zhang Jing kept following her, so she had no choice but to let her do as such.

With cameramen and several bodyguards following them, Su Shen and Song Yan asked people along the way and finally found the Yunqi Study.

“Hi, everyone.”

An old man in a Tang suit walked out of the study; he looked very kind. The study was filled with the scent of ink. Su Shen and the rest greeted him politely.

“Wow, Grandpa, is this your calligraphy?” Zhang Jing walked inside and was surprised to see Chinese scripts hanging on the wall.

The cameramen, who were following them, aimed the camera at the calligraphy on the wall. The old man took out a piece of paper with a smile and handed it to Song Yan, “This is a clue.”

There was a lot of calligraphy hanging in the study, and the Four Treasures of the Study* was even on the desk. There was a sense of classical heritage all around. It was hard to imagine that there would be such a place on such a small island. 

Four Treasures of the Study – an expression to denote the brush, ink, paper, and ink stone used in Chinese and other East Asian calligraphic traditions

“Su Shen, since your grandfather nurtured you to be a lady, had he nurtured you in these things?” Zhang Jing asked casually.

At that, Su Shen smiled. She came to the desk and looked at the old man, “Can I use these?”

She was referring to the Four Treasures of the Study. The old man naturally nodded. This was all set up by the production team, else they wouldn’t give such a clue to Su Shen.

Seeing that she really knew how to do calligraphy, everyone else all came over. They saw Su Shen pick up a brush, dipped some ink in it, and then placed it down on the writing paper. Following her stroke and writing style, a trace of surprise flashed through the old man’s eyes. He immediately took another look at Su Shen. He had thought that these kinds of girls only knew a little bit, but he did not expect her to have such a deep foundation.

Naturally, laymen would not be able to perceive this. But, Su Shen’s handwriting was indeed pretty. She was wearing a blue dress, her skin fair, and was leaning forward slightly. The expression on her exquisite face was of indifference. At this moment, the temperament that she gave to people was indescribable. Jiang Yin stared at her fixedly, regardless of the camera at the side.

As soon as she finished her last stroke, Song Yan exclaimed, “OMG! Su Shen, you’re too amazing!”

“You’re too amazing!” Zhang Jing said admiringly. She knew that it would take many years to learn this type of thing and to be at this level.

Su Shen wrote her own name on the paper and then also wrote Zhang Jing’s name on the paper upon hearing her words. The old man seemed to have wanted to chat with her a little bit more, but there was not much time left. They had to leave first, and they went to find the King of Coconuts according to the clue from the old man.

After searching for the longest time, they were beaten there first by Wang Cheng’s team. Thus, today’s victory went to Wang Cheng’s team. 

Although it was just a game, who didn’t want to win. However, no one showed any discontentment. It was already dark after the end of the show. Su Shen was packing up and preparing to go back to set early tomorrow morning.

It was just that in the middle of the night, there was suddenly a knock on the door.

She thought it was Xiao Zhou, but when she opened the door and saw the person outside, she couldn’t help but frown, “Do you need something?”

Jiang Yin was wearing an all black attire standing in front of her door with no cap on. A smile appeared on his face when he saw her and he said, “Would you like to go out for a late-night supper?”

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Phone Call

After taking her phone, Su Shen saw that it was an unknown number at a glance, and even their location was unknown. These types of calls were clearly advertisements, so she hung up the phone without any thought.

In passing, she handed the phone to Xiao Zhou and said, “Don’t answer these types of unknown calls henceforth.”

Hearing this, Xiao Zhou naturally nodded, while Su Shen proceeded to go up to the rooftop.

Before filming, she sat on the edge of the rooftop while wearing a wire stunt harness. Looking at the people coming and going down below, their figures instantly shrank several sizes in her sight. If she fell, the lightest aftermath would be breaking at least one of her legs, and the most severe would be losing her life.

This kind of high-risk wire stunt was now controlled by machinery to avoid the accident of people accidentally loosening their grip. There was a lot of filthiness in this industry. Sometimes, if people thought that you were blocking their way, they would do anything to you. It was hard to guarantee that they wouldn’t do anything. At that time, if you were to break an arm or leg, your entire career would be completely ruined.

She contemplated at the edge of the rooftop for a while. It wasn’t until the Director shouted into the loudspeaker that she made an OK sign.

The Movement Director made a cameo as the fugitive, so he was naturally not afraid. When the Director shouted action, the fugitive flusteredly ran toward the rooftop. Seeing that he came to a deadend, he jumped down from the edge of the rooftop to the floor below without hesitation.

Su Shen followed closely behind. When she saw the huge difference in height, she didn’t hesitate and jumped down from the edge of the rooftop in half a second. The cold wind painfully blew against her face. Her waist tightened, and it was not until she was about to land that she quickly rolled onto the floor. She took out the gun from her waist and aimed it at the person running away in front of her, “Stop!”

“Cut!”

Immediately, Su Shen kneaded her shoulders as she walked down the stairs. Although it didn’t seem as if she had fallen super hard, rolling on the floor back and forth would put pressure on her arms nonetheless. She had thought that these action scenes wouldn’t be too dangerous, but she hadn’t expected that it would hurt so much. If she had to repeat this scene a few more times, she might not even be able to lift her arms. She didn’t understand why Xie Yan and the others liked to film these kinds of productions. In any case, she would never accept this kind of production ever again. Her arms and legs could not withstand it.

When she came down, the Director saw her coming over and smiled while smoking, “Not bad, this take passed. However, your expression needs to be more cold for the action scene later. You can be expressionless, but your eyes must be fixed on the fugitive. Got it?”

Su Shen nodded. Later, she would fight the fugitive, so she had to go back up to the rooftop, but her arms were still sore.

The action scene was already configured in advance. Normally, it was just fake fighting, but the Movement Director had told her to attack for real, with him restraining his strength. Su Shen knew that he must’ve thought that she didn’t have much strength, so even if she did hit him for real, it would just be a tickle to him. Thus, Su Shen listened to him and attacked him for real.

The whole action scene had to be filmed several times due to NGs. The following scenes were all pretty normal. When she returned to the hotel at night, Su Shen felt as if her whole body was about to fall apart. Sure enough, these kinds of action scenes were not as simple as she had thought. 

After taking a shower, she rubbed her shoulders with some medicinal wine. Just at this moment, her phone suddenly rang.

As soon as she saw that it was a call from Xie Yan, she immediately turned on the speaker, while she was sitting on the edge of the bed and rubbing her shoulders.

“Why did you hang up on me?”

There was a buzzing sound coming from the other end of the phone, seemingly the signal being bad.

Su Shen was taken aback and somewhat confused. But on second thought, she suddenly thought of that marketing number she saw at first. It wasn’t her fault. Who would use that kind of number unless it was a marketer?

“Your number was too strange, so I didn’t pick it up. Why didn’t you call using your own phone?” Su Shen rubbed her shoulders hard and frowned, sucking her breath in pain with a ssh.

Hearing her voice, the person on the other end asked solemnly, “What’s wrong?”

“I accidentally cut my finger while peeling an apple,” said Su Shen indifferently, putting away the medicinal wine.

If Xie Yan knew that she had filmed such a dangerous action scene, he would definitely force her to use a body double again.

After saying that, there was silence from the other end of the phone. From time to time, there was a buzzing sound transmitted, as if there was about to be no signal at any moment. Xie Yan’s voice was intermittent, and Su Shen couldn’t hear what he said for the longest time, so she went over to the balcony with her phone. 

“Say it again. I didn’t hear it clearly.” She said.

It was so cold outside, and Su Shen momentarily forgot to put on a jacket before coming out. Just at this moment, there were no more buzzing sounds from the other end, and Xie Yan’s voice was particularly clear, “Li Hao sent me a video of you jumping off a building.”

Su Shen: “……”

“What? Say it again, I didn’t hear it clearly.” She raised her voice on purpose.

The person on the other end of the phone was silent for a while before he said solemnly with his deep voice, “You can do low scale action scenes by yourself, but you must use a body double for such a dangerous action scene like today.”

Hearing the words from the phone, Su Shen was about to say something before the other party uttered, “If you give me lip service again, I’ll go find Director Zhou. We just so happen to know each other.” 

Su Shen: “……”

She sighed and leaned against the railing of the balcony. Looking at the still swimming pool below, she uttered a light “hmph”.

“Isn’t it also dangerous for you? Why don’t you use a body double?” Su Shen looked up and said in a light voice.

At this, the person on the other end said insipidly, “We’re different.”

“What’s the difference? I heard that He Hua’s going to visit you in a few days. If he tells me what dangerous action scene you’re doing again, I’ll…” After a pause, Su Shen said with all seriousness, “I’ll never cook for you again!”

After saying that, a buzzing sound came from the other end again. Su Shen realized that it might’ve been because his phone had no signal, so he used another phone to call her. However, when she thought of the fact that one of his arms had been broken before, she was a little worried that he would continue to risk his life.

It was not until there were not as many buzzing sounds that Su Shen said with utmost seriousness, “You can’t say one thing and do another, else…”

“Are you worried about me?”

The voice from the other end of the phone contained a hint of a chuckle. As a gust of cold wind blew, Su Shen immediately went inside to put on a jacket while snorting blushingly, “You can worry about me. Why can’t I worry about you?”

After saying that, Su Shen threw her phone onto the bed as if she got an electric shock. She covered her flushing face with her hands while telling herself not to be so shy. It was normal for a couple to care about each other.

“Then with reciprocity, I miss you a lot. Do you miss me too?”

The phone was on speaker. Although it was far away, the words transmitted were still very clear. Su Shen hugged her knees at the edge of the bed. Looking at the phone without saying anything, she felt that her face was burning hot. 

Both of them kept silent for a while. It was not until there was a buzzing sound, which indicated that the signal was bad, that Su Shen crawled to the side of the bed that her phone was on. Wrapped in a blanket and hearing the buzzing sound, she suddenly whispered into the phone, “I miss you a teeny tiny bit.”

After saying that, she immediately hung up regardless of whether the other party heard it or not. She then went to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water before getting into bed.

She didn’t know whether Xie Yan had heard her or not. She rolled back and forth in bed for more than half an hour before gradually falling asleep.

There were still a lot of action scenes the following day. However, Su Shen went to find the Director and decided to use a body double for some of the more dangerous scenes. The Director wasn’t surprised and just thought that she couldn’t withstand these types of high intensity scenes, so he had the Assistant Director go and have the body double that was prepared to come over. 

Xie Yan didn’t call her today. Su Shen just asked He Hua when he was going to go to Africa. When she knew that he would go the day after tomorrow, she asked him to look after Xie Yan and definitely not allow him to do any dangerous action scenes.

He Hua was going to visit because he was worried that something would happen to Xie Yan. He didn’t have any objections when he heard her words, as if he wished that Xie Yan would stop filming this movie already. The living conditions in the forest were poor, so he didn’t know why Xie Yan had to accept this movie.

Su Shen was also very busy. She went to record the second episode of the variety show on Friday. It seemed to be too cold in China that the production team set the filming location this time to be on a touristy island abroad. The island was very warm, and you could just wear short sleeves. 

Afraid that others would steal her limelight, Liu jie brought a stylist with her. It seemed that she didn’t trust the stylist from the production team.

The guests invited this time were Jiang Yin, Mu Yao, Yang Zhi, Ma Li, and Ma Zhiqun. Ma Li went the sexy route; her figure was splendid and was the subject of talk. Ma Zhiqun was a host of a variety show and had a strong ability to control the stage. The production team was also afraid that all these people together would cause chaos, so they invited him as a guest and to control the stage in passing.

Although the appearance fee for Jiang Yin and them were very high, the production team definitely wouldn’t fork out so much money. As a first tier TV station, many celebrities wanted to have a good relationship with them. For example, Mu Yao and Yang Zhi would have dramas broadcasted on Hunan TV in the future, so it was an exchange of resources. No one would be so stupid as to demand an exorbitant fee. Offending this kind of TV station was definitely not a good thing.

The island was very warm, so Su Shen only wore a long white dress. That afternoon, she arrived at the hotel. She saw Yang Zhi’s female assistant, who seemed to be going out to buy something. After checking in, Su Shen went upstairs with Liu jie.

There was no one else in the elevator, so Liu jie said, “This episode of the variety show would most likely be broadcasted after New Year’s. At that time, that movie should already have been aired, so if your performance in this episode is great, then it’s another topic of conversation. With the hype of your movie, it’s most suitable to improve your popularity.”

It was killing two birds with one stone. This would greatly increase her exposure. Moreover, a lot of high traffic celebrities appeared in this episode, so topics of talk were definitely not a worry.

“I know.” As Su Shen’s words fell, the elevator door just so happened to open.

They arrived at her room, with Liu jie staying next door. Wang Cheng was finishing his engagements, so he didn’t arrive at the hotel until dawn, else he would’ve definitely dragged her out to dinner.

The recording was at 9:00 am, but Su Shen got up at 7:00 am to get her makeup done. Liu jie said that with actresses being in the same frame, even if you didn’t do your best, as long as your appearance was good, you’ll steal half of the limelight.

Liu jie said that she needed to go the fresh and innocent route, and couldn’t act like a femme fatale. So, she asked her to change into a simple blue dress, put her hair into a bun and had some light makeup applied.

When she arrived at the beach where the recording was going to take place, everyone else had already arrived. Ma Li was wearing a low cut tank top with her chest bursting out and a pair of shorts, causing her figure to appear glamorous. Mu Yao was also wearing shorts with a white T-shirt, seemingly wanting to make her legs long and fair. However, her figure was not as good as that of Ma Li’s, and her chest was not as big as of her’s. Her legs weren’t as long as the other party and wasn’t as charismatic as Ma Li. Standing together, she appeared to be still an immature girl.

Yang Zhi wore a top that bared her midriff and a long maxi skirt. Before the recording started, everyone leaned against the beach chairs and sunbathed as if they were all on vacation.

Seeing her coming, Wang Cheng walked towards her with a ball in his arms. When he approached her, he said in a very serious quiet voice, “Why didn’t I know that you had been with Xie Yan for so long?”

Su Shen: “……”

She leaned against the beach chair, wearing sunglasses, and said insipidly, “It’s so obvious, yet you couldn’t see it. What can I do?”

From time to time, there were staff passing by. Wang Cheng, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, sat in the sand with a ball in his arms. He looked around and said with dissatisfaction, “No wonder I don’t have Xie Yan’s number, whereas you’re so close to him. He even went to film a drama for you. Not bad!”

Su Shen took off her sunglasses and glanced at him, “I heard that the production team wants you and Yang Zhi to be a CP?”

At this, Wang Cheng’s complexion immediately changed. He threw the ball onto the ground angrily and said with contempt, “Don’t mention her to me. She likes Jiang Yin and had specifically asked her manager to tell the production team to place her and Jiang Yin to be in the same team. I didn’t even want to be in the same team as her in the beginning. It was her who asked me to hype before, but now she dumped me. Isn’t this slapping me in the face!”

The hype between idols was very ordinary. Everyone has had a few CPs, but it was rare to see someone like Yang Zhi, who threw away someone after using them and then immediately ran to Wang Cheng’s rival to hype. No wonder Wang Cheng would be unhappy.

The Director over there was calling for everyone to gather around. Su Shen sat up and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him. With a smile, she said, “You can also slap her in the face.”

“What do you mean?” Wang Cheng leaned over and asked.

Su Shen stood up with a smile and stretched. “Let’s go. Your teammate, Mu Yao, is waiting for you.”

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Dangerous

These kinds of variety shows liked to make gimmicks the most, even if there was nothing going on between two people, they would edit the footage to make you guys into a cp. Moreover, there was a scandal between her and Jiang Yin before, so the production team would definitely try their best to make them appear in the same frame. No matter whether there was chemistry or not, they would edit it to make it appear as so.

In the past, she didn’t have to worry about anything since she was single, but now that she was dating Xie Yan, even if it was done during post-production, if she still permitted this kind of hype at this time, it was disrespectful to Xie Yan.

“I know what to do. After all, you will go public with Xie Yan in the future. If we do this kind of thing now, it will be more difficult for Xie Yan’s fans to accept you in the future.” Liu jie said seriously, “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to the production team. But, there must be some kind of gimmick for these kinds of variety shows. Without a breaking point, you have to dip your hands into something else.”

Liu jie’s tone was flat and calm, but Su Shen knew that she was digging for her talents and wanted to see if she had anything else to attract fans.

“I know calligraphy.” She said insipidly.

Hearing this, Liu jie, at the front, smiled, “Okay.”

The outstanding talents of guests were also a highlight of the show. The production team had heard that she and Wang Qingzhou were both good at cooking, so they set up a game segment like before. If Liu jie was to go tell the show that she could do calligraphy, they would definitely set up a segment for her to present her skills.

It was all scripted. Su Shen, however, didn’t mention that she could paint because it couldn’t be said nor kept hidden. However, calligraphy was easy to hide. The original Su Shen had lived with her maternal grandfather when she was little, and he had been obsessed with mastering calligraphy. Thus, the original Su Shen had learned a little bit when she was a child, but it was really only a little. Her grandfather had passed away, and since the original Su Shen hadn’t shown this in front of her parents often, no one knew how well her calligraphy was. 

When she got home, Su Shen went to pack up her clothes since she was going on set tomorrow. It was an action filled drama, so scrapes would be inevitable. She could only bring more disinfectant, gauze, and bandaids.

Thinking of Xie Yan’s long flight, Su Shen didn’t send him a message. The next morning, the chauffeur picked her up and drove her to the filming site. As there were no popular artists in this drama, there were few paparazzi waiting outside, and the opening ceremony was over very quickly.

The first scene was to pursue a fugitive. Originally, Su Shen was very excited, but when she saw the elevation from where she was standing, her back broke into a cold sweat. 

“Su Shen, you have to jump from that floor to the second one later. Remember to roll on the ground before standing up.” With a cigarette in his mouth, the Director pointed at the floor which was more than ten meters high in front of him and said, “Don’t be afraid. There’s a stunt harness. But if you can’t, we’ll prepare a body double for you.”

The Director had thought that such a delicate girl would definitely not be able to do such a dangerous stunt, so he had prepared a body double in advance. But this was not surprising. Filming this kind of action filled drama, everyone would use a body double for some dangerous stunts. Not using any body double in this industry, only a few retired veteran stuntman actors had done so.

Su Shen looked up at the towering floor. If she were to fall, at least one of her arms would be broken. After staring at it for a while, she took a deep breath and suddenly turned to the Director, “I don’t need a body double.”

At that, the Director looked at her in surprise and then nodded, “Okay, go to the Movement Director and practice the stunt for a bit.”

Hearing this, Su Shen took her script and walked back. It was a residential building, and the surroundings were reserved for filming. The staff were busy arranging the props, including the vehicles and prop guns.

This was a crime drama, where the female lead was an interpol and the male lead was a police officer. Moreover, he was also the female lead’s superior. However, because he offended the underworld due to a case, the other party set a trap to frame him as a killer. Because of some matters, the male lead had no choice but to escape. Furthermore, he knew an important witness to the case. The whole plot of the drama was based on this case. The scene today was the beginning of the female lead’s chase of the fugitive. Along the way, she obtained an important trunk. However, no one knew what was the use of the things in the trunk. The male lead, however, hid it. This trunk was super important to the villain of the drama; so the plot began.

The Movement Director of this drama had won an award before. He specifically taught Su Shen some particulars of rolling on the ground and holding a gun, including how to fight. But in the middle of teaching, Li Hao came over. 

“Su Shen, I heard that you don’t want a body double?” He looked a little solemn. Remembering Xie Yan’s imploration, if anything happened to Su Shen, he wouldn’t know how to explain it to him. 

The Movement Director glanced at the two of them and left, perhaps because he had other matters to tend to.

With a prop gun in her hand, Su Shen practiced loading the gun, “Yep, what’s wrong?”

There were people coming and going around, and they were all very busy. There were some supporting actors also practicing their fighting movements, and there were also a lot of extras. Li Hao looked around and grabbed her arm, pulling her all the way to a place where residents parked their bikes in the residential building.

He was wearing the costume police uniform and pointed at the building exaggeratedly, “You want to die? If you break an arm or leg, Xie Yan’s gonna ask me to compensate!”

Su Shen: “…….”

She smiled dismissively and shoved the prop gun into her pocket, “It’s not that serious. Isn’t there also a stunt harness? You didn’t use a body double as well, no?”

There were so many layers of protective measures, so there would definitely be no mishaps. Moreover, she couldn’t possibly always use a body double since there were so many action scenes in this drama. Her reputation of poor collaboration would certainly spread in the industry. 

“Our skin’s rough and thick, so it’s not a worry. If you were to break something, how can I explain it to Xie Yan?” Li Hao’s expression gradually became more and more solemn, as if he was talking about something important.

Su Shen: “…….”

She blinked and smiled in surprise, “Hao ge, you’re exaggerating. It’s normal to knock or bump into something when filming. Sometimes you’ll also cut your hand when cooking. Don’t worry, as long as you don’t tell Xie Yan, he definitely won’t know.”

After saying that, Su Shen immediately went over after hearing the Director call roll-call.

Li Hao felt a headache and didn’t know what to say. He could only call Xie Yan and tell him, but there seemed to be no signal over there, as the call didn’t get accepted after calling for what seemed to be the longest time ever.

He had no choice but to send a message to Xie Yan, telling him that his girlfriend insisted on jumping off a building and couldn’t be stopped.

Just at this time, Su Shen had already gone up to the rooftop and was in a stunt harness. Later, she would need to jump to another rooftop. The distance between the two rooftops was five or six meters, but since she was tied up in a wire stunt harness, there shouldn’t be a mishap.

“Su Shen, are you ready?” The Director shouted into a loudspeaker down below.

Hearing this, Su Shen immediately made an OK gesture. When the Director called action, a drone flew towards her. Just in time, Su Shen stepped onto the edge of the rooftop and jumped down after taking a deep breath!

It was not until her waist tightened and the wire slowed her down that she rolled onto the floor. She took out her gun and aimed it straight at the fugitive that was running away in front of her, “Stop!”

Suddenly, a camera panned over and gave her side profile a close-up. The Director immediately shouted, “Cut!”

Instantly, Su Shen rubbed her aching arm, but she didn’t dare to look down. She was actually really afraid, but it was alright after taking the first step forward.

When she went downstairs, the Director sat in front of the monitor and motioned for her. Su Shen immediately walked over, and Li Hao was also staring at the monitor, seemingly watching her performance just now.

Seeing her coming, the Director frowned and said conscientiously, “Su Shen, you were still a little hesitant when you jumped down, and the rolling movement was too slow. Can you see if you can do it again?”

Although he knew that Director Zhou liked to constantly improve, Li Hao couldn’t help interjecting, “It’s better to use a body double. Su Shen doesn’t seem to be quite skilled yet, let her get used to it first. Such a hard action scene, it’d be hard for us men to get it right on the first try, let alone a girl.”

Li Hao was very professional. He would never use a body double unless it was a very dangerous action scene. The Director hadn’t expected him to say such words, so he turned to look at him, but understood when he remembered that these two knew each other.

“No, I’ll do it again.” Su Shen massaged her wrist and stretched her neck twice in opposite directions.

Seeing this, Li Hao was about to say something when the Director quickly asked Su Shen to go up and prepare.

But just when Su Shen was about to go up to the rooftop again, Xiao Zhou trotted towards her with her phone in hand, “Su jie, you have a call!”

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