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Psst! We're moving!
Using the gentlest tone to issue the most audacious threat.
That was probably it.
Sheng Li’s earlobes heated up, her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. She froze for a couple of seconds before coming back to her senses and turning to look at him, but he had already walked away.
Sheng Li: “...?”
She stared at his back, falling into confusion and entanglement. So, should she aim to minimize NGs or intentionally NG four times to give him an excuse to come find her tonight and exchange the code?
This question was too difficult—harder than advanced mathematics!
At this moment, Chen Yuan called out loudly, “Xu Yuan, Zhou Luo, come over to rehearse.”
Sheng Li took a deep breath, calmed her racing heart, and walked over to listen to the scene explanation. She had collaborated with Jing Yiming before, and due to Rong Hua’s relationship, they were quite familiar. However, they had never played lovers or filmed kissing scenes together. Despite years in the industry, Sheng Li always felt a bit nervous every time she filmed a kissing scene. Naturally, she hoped for fewer NGs—it was unappealing and seemed unprofessional. The previous kissing scene with Yu Chi that NG’d more than ten times was already a Waterloo moment in her career.
This scene was about Xu Yuan deciding to take revenge on Zhou Luo, allowing Zhou Luo to get close to her, even deliberately seducing him—
In the dimly lit corridor, Zhou Luo stood outside the door and knocked a few times. Not long after, the door was opened from inside. Xu Yuan stood behind the door, looking at him coldly. Just as Zhou Luo thought she would drive him away again, she turned around and walked in, “Come in.”
The house was small, the lighting dim. Xu Yuan sat on the edge of the bed, crossing her legs casually smoking. She always wore heavy makeup and was always perfumed, appearing restless. Zhou Luo stood at the door, looking at her, thinking about the nasty rumors everyone spread about Xu Yuan, and felt suffocated.
Xu Yuan took a drag of the cigarette and looked up at him, “You said last time that you wanted to compensate me. Alright, I’ll give you a chance. How do you want to compensate?”
Zhou Luo looked at her, “Anything you want me to do.”
Xu Yuan laughed, “Alright, then go to jail.”
Zhou Luo fell silent.
“Don’t want to?” Xu Yuan stood up and walked towards him, “It’s true. You only tricked me out of town, didn’t do anything else, just watched me being dragged away by human traffickers. What crime did you commit?”
Zhou Luo grabbed her shoulders, his voice trembling and hoarse, “Xu Yuan, stop talking. I know I deserve death. I’ve been searching for you these years, everywhere, north and south. I’ve never given up.” He looked at her passionately, “Let’s get married. I’ll treat you well all my life.”
Xu Yuan looked at him and suddenly smiled, nodding, “Alright.”
Zhou Luo froze, unable to believe she actually agreed.
Xu Yuan looked at him, “Do you know how much I liked you back then?”
“I know.” Zhou Luo’s voice was hoarse, lowering his head to hug her tightly.
They held each other quietly for a while. Xu Yuan tilted her head to look at him; her eyes were beautiful. Zhou Luo gazed deeply into them, slowly lowering his head. When their lips were still a few centimeters apart, Xu Yuan suddenly said, “Zhou Luo, I have AIDS.”
Zhou Luo’s face instantly turned pale.
“Fooled you, look how scared you are.” Xu Yuan blew a puff of smoke into his face, laughing so hard she almost shook. She pressed the cigarette onto the door panel, leaving a black mark, and hooked her arms around Zhou Luo’s stiff neck, looking up at him, “Zhou Luo, some things can’t be undone once done. Wrong is wrong.”
“Look, you said you want to marry me, and I can scare you off with one sentence.”
“Actually...”
Before Xu Yuan finished speaking, Zhou Luo kissed her fiercely.
...
Until the end of this scene, Chen Yuan didn’t call cut, but having filmed for more than twenty days in the production team, everyone understood Chen Yuan’s filming style. His lack of calling cut didn’t mean the take was accepted, especially when dealing with such delicate emotional scenes, Chen Yuan preferred not to interrupt the actors’ emotions.
Chen Yuan called Sheng Li and Jing Yiming over to watch the playback.
Yu Chi stood expressionlessly behind Chen Yuan. Sheng Li glanced at him, braced herself, and walked over. Standing in front of Yu Chi, she watched the playback, feeling like needles pricking her back. As Chen Yuan played it back and pointed out a few issues, he said, “Let’s do another take.”
Sheng Li: “...Alright.”
Just as she turned around, she heard the assistant director say, “Teacher Yu, why does your expression... look like you want to kill someone...”
Sheng Li stiffly turned her head and indeed saw Yu Chi wearing a murderous look.
She: “...”
Yu Chi glanced at her inadvertently and sneered, “Nothing, I’m just too immersed in the role.”
Sheng Li: “...”
She coughed and forced a smile to explain, “Indeed, Xu Yuan just flirted with Officer Cheng, and then immediately said she’d marry Zhou Luo. If Officer Cheng knew... he really would want to kill someone.”
Everyone laughed.
Yu Chi self-mockingly tugged at the corner of his mouth, “True.”
Chen Yuan also chuckled and waved his hand, “Alright, let’s continue.”
This scene NG’d four times in total. When Chen Yuan finally called “Pass,” Sheng Li relaxed completely. Looking up towards Chen Yuan’s direction, she didn’t see Yu Chi.
Yu Chi leaned against the doorway smoking, his tall, slender fingers holding the cigarette, hanging by his side.
Sheng Li walked out of the room, passing by the entrance. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of that hand, and her steps abruptly halted.
Yu Chi heard the word “Pass,” took one last drag, lowered his head to extinguish the cigarette, turned around, and walked back in. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he saw Sheng Li. Their eyes met, and he walked towards her. Sheng Li’s heart pounded as she watched him approach. She swallowed.
“Sister.” Yu Chi stopped in front of her.
Sheng Li feigned calmness, “Hmm?”
Yu Chi lowered his gaze and whispered two words very softly.
“Wait for me.”
—
At ten o’clock in the evening, the crew wrapped up for the day. Sheng Li got into her personal van. Two minutes after the car started moving, Zhou Sinuan sent a message.
Queen Zhou: [How about you and Yu Chi? Have you reconciled yet?]
Sheng Li thought for a moment and replied: [Probably not yet.]
Queen Zhou: [What do you mean ‘probably’? Aren’t you both adults? It’s been almost a month since you joined the set, and you haven’t gotten together yet? Didn’t he spend a lot of effort? Isn’t it a loss if you don’t seize the time?]
Sheng Li flicked her hair, about to reply when she suddenly remembered something important. She hurriedly leaned forward, grabbing the back of the seat, shouting, “Wait! Uncle Liu, turn around!”
Yuan Yuan and Old Liu were startled. Old Liu nearly veered the steering wheel off course. He asked nervously, “Miss, you gave me a fright! Back to the set? Did we leave something behind?”
“Yes, I left my earring in the pocket of that coat, forgot to take it.”
Sheng Li’s expression was anxious. It was all Yu Chi’s fault for disturbing her thoughts; otherwise, she wouldn’t have forgotten.
Yuan Yuan hurriedly asked, “Is it the one Brother-in-law gave you?”
Sheng Li hummed and urged, “Uncle Liu, hurry up!”
“That tiny earring, how could you put it in the coat pocket? Give it to me to keep safe!” Yuan Yuan was also worried, muttering, “Isn’t this the first gift Brother-in-law gave you? Also the only one…”
They hadn’t reconciled yet. If it were lost, it would be such bad luck!
There were many machines in the studio, and several staff members slept there overnight to guard it. Upon arriving, Sheng Li and Yuan Yuan went to the room where clothes were kept and found the coat Sheng Li wore that afternoon. She reached into the pockets but found nothing.
Sheng Li’s heart sank, panicking, “How could it be gone?” After changing out of the coat, the wardrobe and makeup staff hung it up. No one should have touched it, but after checking both pockets, she only found a small transparent earplug.
Yuan Yuan turned on her phone flashlight, crouching on the ground to look carefully, “Did it fall on the floor? Let me look...”
Several staff members, knowing they were looking for something, helped search. In the end, they searched everywhere inside and outside the studio and the car, but couldn’t find it.
If it hadn’t fallen on the road, it must have dropped during the afternoon shoot.
Such a small thing, once dropped, would be hard to find. Sheng Li felt empty and distressed.
At half past eleven, Sheng Li returned to the hotel, physically and mentally exhausted. She took off her shoes and down jacket, collapsing onto the bed.
Yuan Yuan hung up her down jacket and softly said, “Why not tell Brother-in-law directly? Once you reconcile, he can give you another one...”
“A replacement won’t be the same one.”
Sheng Li listlessly picked up her phone, feeling like tonight she was doomed. NGing four times was one thing, but losing the earring Yu Chi gave her as a token made it worse. She opened her phone and received a weather alert reminding citizens that it might snow early this morning.
“I’ll take a shower first.” Sheng Li moodily got up, sitting on the edge of the bed, irritably scratching her hair, “I’ll tell him when he comes to find me later.”
Yuan Yuan gasped in disbelief, excitedly stuttering, “Brother-in-law is coming to find you? Wh-when did you reconcile? Are you exchanging codes?”
Sheng Li stood up, seeing her excitement, and finally smiled, “Your Brother-in-law is jealous. Before filming the kissing scene this afternoon, he threatened me—if I NG more than four times, he would come to settle accounts with me.” If she hadn’t lost the earring, her current mood might have been expectant and nervous, but losing the earring scattered those feelings.
Yuan Yuan ecstatically said, “Then I’ll go back, I won’t be the third wheel.”
Just as Yuan Yuan planned to leave, her phone rang. A minute later, she received a video clip from the photography brother, capturing a behind-the-scenes moment from the afternoon shoot. In the video, Sheng Li removed the earring and placed it in the coat pocket. A gust of wind blew open the coat, and the earring didn’t land in the pocket but slid along the edge, falling to the ground.
After watching the video, Sheng Li perked up.
Yuan Yuan excitedly said, “Now we know where it fell. Let’s go find it tomorrow.”
“The weather forecast says it might snow tonight. If we wait till tomorrow, it will be impossible to find.” Sheng Li frowned.
Yuan Yuan shrank back, weakly saying, “But... it’s too scary to go now, late at night to the cemetery...”
At this moment, Sheng Li’s phone, lying on the bed, rang. She glanced at it—the screen displayed “Yu Xiao Chi.” Sheng Li froze for a moment. After they broke up, Yu Chi blocked her number, and they hadn’t talked on the phone for more than three years.
Yu Chi hadn’t changed his number, and she hadn’t deleted his contact either. The note hadn’t been changed; the letter Y was second to last, and she rarely scrolled to the end of her contacts.
She held her breath and answered.
Click—
A sound entered her ears.
It was the sound of opening a door.
Immediately following was Yu Chi’s deep voice, “Sister, not asleep yet? Open the door for me.”
The night was so quiet. Sheng Li heard the sound of him closing the door and the subtle footsteps, step by step, as if walking on her heartstrings. She walked to the door and softly said, “Alright, wait for your code, and I’ll open the door.”
From 1036 to 1027, Yu Chi took eighteen steps.
The hotel’s soundproofing wasn’t great, and occasionally you could hear faint sounds from closed doors.
For more than three years, he had countless dreams of such scenes—her stomping to chase mosquitoes outside the rental house, or himself standing emotionlessly at the hotel door.
Once considered insane, the code was unforgettable.
He stood in front of room 1027, softly uttering, “Squeak.”
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