Acting as the Movie Queen Love Rival’s Golden Finger GL - Chapter 22.1

Song Jianzhi was actually about to be persuaded.

Ming Xu consciously shifted her chair, turning her back to the room and facing the window. “Hurry and change.”

Her voice was as usual, as if she did not take this as anything at all.

Since Ming Xu was acting like this, Song Jianzhi felt too embarrassed to keep being awkward. And besides…

They had already slept together, right…

The proper matter at hand was more important. She walked to the bedside in a few quick steps and began changing.

Ming Xu was looking out the window.

The sky outside was still gray. The window had been opened to let in air, with a fine drizzle falling outside, while the air inside was damp.

Behind her came the rustling sound of fabric rubbing.

Ming Xu rubbed her fingertips together. They were a little hot.

A light, drifting “aiya” sounded.

Ming Xu tilted her head up slightly, fully revealing her swan neck. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just picked up the costume and almost dropped it.”

Just picked it up?

Ming Xu’s throat moved. Her voice gave nothing away. “Mm. Be careful.”

There was another stretch of silence.

The tiny sounds in the room made one’s heart itch.

It made one want to reach out and scratch, then properly soothe it, fiercely cherish it.

Song Jianzhi’s voice came over. “I-I think my hair got caught in the zipper.”

Ming Xu closed her eyes. “Do you need help?”

“Mm… It’s behind me.”

Ming Xu stood and walked toward Song Jianzhi.

The moment she turned around, she saw Song Jianzhi dressed in red. Her face was charming, and when she wore red, she was as gorgeous as peach blossoms and plums, as if even the corners of her eyes and the ends of her brows had been set off with a faint blush.

Ming Xu walked behind Song Jianzhi. Song Jianzhi’s hair was long, almost reaching her waist. This time, the ends had gotten tangled in the zipper. Her entire back was wrapped in red fabric, exposing a V-shaped stretch of snow-white skin.

At her shoulder blades, one could see the protruding traces of butterfly bones.

As if about to spread wings and fly.

Song Jianzhi sounded a little troubled and turned her head to look back. “If I’d known, I would have brought a hair tie. Sorry for troubling you.”

It’s not trouble.

Ming Xu said in a low voice, “Don’t move.”

So Song Jianzhi obediently stopped moving.

Ming Xu’s fingers wound around the tangled zipper and strands of hair. It actually was not complicated; the hair had merely hooked onto it. Yet she untangled it carefully and slowly.

It was hard to say whether she was afraid of hurting Song Jianzhi, or whether, deep in her heart, she hoped this process could be even slower.

The faint movements at Song Jianzhi’s waist tugged at both of their hearts in the room.

Song Jianzhi lightened her breathing.

She seemed able to feel every gentle tug, able to imagine how her soft, restless hair ends were being freed by Ming Xu’s nimble fingers.

Perhaps they even wound once around her fingertips, twice.

Song Jianzhi suddenly remembered that Ming Xu was very good at organizing things.

Ming Xu brushed all of her hair ends away. As if doing a good deed all the way to the end, she helped Song Jianzhi pull up the long, narrow zipper on her back.

The snow-white skin was entirely swallowed up by fiery red, hidden tightly away.

Ming Xu’s fingers were restrained and proper, not touching even the slightest bit of her.

“All done.”

Both of them sighed in relief inside.

Elder Hu and the others had just barely finished discussing this newly added character when Song Jianzhi and Ming Xu came over.

Song Jianzhi was wearing the second female lead’s costume, and the stylist had simply helped her put up her hair. But logically speaking, auditions did not require styling today, so as she walked over, she attracted quite a lot of attention.

However, Song Jianzhi’s face had not been exposed on Weibo before. She had also arrived early, and very few people had seen that she had come with the director. Most people guessed that she was a staff member helping with scene readings.

She was just a little too good-looking.

“Could she be an amateur actor chosen by the director?” someone boldly guessed.

When Hu Fan saw them come in, his gaze immediately landed on Song Jianzhi. His eyes lit up. “The effect is good. It’s just missing a little…”

Song Jianzhi hurriedly said, “If it’s missing a little, why don’t we just forget it?”

“How could we forget it!” Hu Fan waved his hand. “It’s the outfit that’s a little lacking. You have no problem.”

Bei Hai, who had opposed Song Jianzhi acting, was also pondering at this moment. He stroked his chin as he looked at Song Jianzhi.

Some directors liked using amateurs and digging up actors themselves because they wanted that spiritual spark in outsiders.

But he was used to ready-made actors and had never encountered someone suitable, so he never used newcomers.

Yet looking at Song Jianzhi now, her appearance was vivid and gorgeous, and this kind of beauty always had more impact than other styles. It could be said that she overwhelmed female stars through sheer beauty. Only someone like Ming Xu, whose temperament was outstanding and whose face was also excellent, could stand beside her and still have a foothold.

Song Jianzhi did indeed have spiritual energy about her too, especially those lively eyes. He just did not know what she would be like in front of the camera.

Hu Fan chuckled and said, “I still need to discuss with Director Bei how the script will be changed. I don’t need you to act anything. Just show me a cold face toward Ming Xu.”

Song Jianzhi: ???

What a strange request.

Song Jianzhi thought about it, then restrained her expression and faced Ming Xu coldly.

“Lift your chin a little. Yes, make it more cold and glamorous.” Bei Hai could not help giving direction.

Song Jianzhi adjusted according to his words.

“Not bad, not bad.” Hu Fan was very satisfied. Song Jianzhi was too soft, and what he worried about most was that she would not be able to become cold.

Now, seeing her face like frost, with the most stunning appearance yet putting on the manner of an immortal, it was extremely wonderful.

Ming Xu stood facing Song Jianzhi, directly bearing the impact from the front, and heat rolled through her heart.

But now was not the time to fool around.

She very calmly did what she should and asked Hu Fan for guidance. “Elder Hu, what should I do?”

Hu Fan said, “You haven’t seen the script, but you should have read the original.”

Ming Xu nodded. Over the past few days, aside from going through the film and television adaptations of Elder Hu’s works, she had also studied the original novel.

There were only four main characters in the novel, with immortals, demons, and humans in its setting. The immortal was Li Guyun, and the human was Sun Feng. In addition, there was the supporting female character Lin Wanyi, who chased after Sun Feng, and the great demon-like antagonist, Sike.

Li Guyun was the female lead and also the role Ming Xu was auditioning for. Her overall image was that of a cool, lonely immortal beneath the moon. Her original form was a white lotus left in an immortal’s cave dwelling in the human world.

Nowadays, calling someone a white lotus sounded like an insult, but back then, she had been the goddess in the hearts of countless readers.

Li Guyun entered the world alone and happened to meet Sun Feng, launching a series of events. But unlike most stories, the two leads did not end up together in the end. In fact, one could not even say their feelings were mutual.

The overall romantic line perfectly followed the book’s title, Don’t Believe There Is No Fate. Sike was infatuated with Lin Wanyi, Lin Wanyi was hopelessly in love with Sun Feng, and Sun Feng wholeheartedly followed Li Guyun in pursuit of the Dao.

It could be called the most stable melodramatic four-sided love in the literary world.

Elder Hu said, “I’ve always been thinking about what Li Guyun lacks. When I wrote her, I was young. I liked heavenly immortals, so I created a heavenly immortal. The older I get, the more I feel Guyun is thin.”

“Guyun lacked a past bond before she descended the mountain. I realized this long ago, but I didn’t know how best to handle it. That day, when I saw the two of you, inspiration came to me.”

“Jianzhi’s identity will be a red carp in your lotus pond.” Hu Fan knocked the table and formally explained the scene to Ming Xu. “The immortal has gone, the cave dwelling has fallen into ruin, and only the two of you have accompanied each other for a thousand years.”

“But the red carp is only an ordinary carp, with no immortal root. A thousand years of time are only enough for one morning of taking human form, and after merely three days, she dies and her Dao vanishes. Only after the red carp dies do you enter the world.”

Ming Xu listened seriously, seeming to understand something when she heard this.

Hu Fan winked. “As for Li Guyun’s feelings toward Red Carp, you’ll have to figure that out yourself. Think of the scene yourself. What I want to see now is your scene with Red Carp.”

Ming Xu sank into thought alone.

Listening from the side, Song Jianzhi could not help inwardly clicking her tongue in admiration. Don’t look at how Elder Hu was old—he really could casually produce melodramatic plot at will.

This overwhelming yuri-first aura was practically hitting her in the face.

Elder Hu probably could not bear to let some smelly man touch his heavenly immortal female lead, Li Guyun, so he had set up a red carp instead.

After a short moment of thought, Ming Xu said to Hu Fan, “Elder Hu, I’ve thought it through.”

Bei Hai nodded, signaling for the staff to start recording.

Ming Xu closed her eyes. When she opened them again, no one would think she was the lonely immortal beneath the moon, Li Guyun.

Her face was still that face, and even the curve of her lips had not risen by much, but her eyes were bright, carrying hope, amazement, and even infatuation. No one could ignore her fervor.

Ming Xu’s pupils widened slightly as she reached out toward Song Jianzhi.

That plain white, slender hand lifted to the side of Song Jianzhi’s face and trembled faintly in the air. Her fingertips might have touched Song Jianzhi’s temple hair, or perhaps they had not.

A narrow space separated the two of them.

Ming Xu tried several times before she finally managed to speak. “Red Carp… Red Carp, you’ve taken human form?”

So the scene she had chosen was Red Carp taking human form.

Song Jianzhi had never acted opposite anyone before, and facing this “abnormal” Ming Xu, she felt somewhat at a loss. She nodded messily.

An even stronger joy burst from Ming Xu’s eyes, and the corners of her lips lifted too. “Wonderful. Wonderful—”

“We won’t have to stay here anymore. We can enter the world together! Haven’t you never seen others of your kind before? We’ll go see them together.”

Ming Xu’s delivery was far too easy to move people with. Song Jianzhi was also involuntarily pulled into the scene by her. Looking at Ming Xu’s suddenly radiant face, she lost focus slightly and said, “But I can only live for three days.”

Li Guyun’s smile stopped.

She stared fixedly at Red Carp, but the light in her eyes did not go out. “Three days…”

She repeated it.

“Mm. Three days.”

Li Guyun smiled. Her hand finally, truly touched Red Carp. She took Red Carp’s hand and tugged lightly, making the beautiful woman in red fall into her arms.

Like a beautiful, vivid red butterfly lightly fluttering its wings.

She embraced the person in her arms.

“If it’s three days, then three days.”

She gave a shallow sigh.

“I can finally hold you. How wonderful.”

Those final two sentences held joy, satisfaction, and no sorrow.

Yet they made Song Jianzhi, who had been pulled into the scene with her, instantly grow wet-eyed.

There was no need for anyone to say it. She knew Ming Xu had succeeded, and Elder Hu had also succeeded.

She should be Li Guyun.

Li Guyun should be like this.

“Good!” A shout of praise startled the two people in the scene awake. Ming Xu’s arms around Song Jianzhi contracted lightly, holding her even tighter, before she restrained herself and let go.

Their gazes briefly met, and they each separated and stood properly.

After Bei Hai shouted “good,” he said, “Ming Xu’s acting has gotten better and better. The role of Li Guyun has come alive.”

“Thank you, Director Bei.”

Hu Fan was also very satisfied. “I said the two of you together would definitely be suitable. Ming Xu performed very well. That was the feeling I wanted for Li Guyun.”

“That you could accomplish this surprises me.” Hu Fan looked deeply at her.

Ming Xu’s good looks could be said to be heaven feeding her, and good acting skill was a quality an actress ought to possess. But if she had not put in enough effort to understand him, she absolutely would not have been able to grasp the feeling he wanted so accurately.

She must have prepared seriously, thoroughly studying and smoothing out the preferences and habits of an old bag of bones like him before coming to take this role as easily as reaching into a pouch.

Ming Xu bowed. “Thank you, Elder Hu. I have always loved reading your works.”

Hu Fan smiled, then turned to Bei Hai and said, “Let’s settle it like this. What do you think?”

Previously, when he had said to choose Ming Xu directly, Bei Hai had insisted on seeing a few more actors. But now that he had personally seen Ming Xu’s interpretation of Li Guyun, Bei Hai mentally went through the few actors who had come to audition. Hey, there really was no one who could surpass Ming Xu.

However, he still said, “Ming Xu, go back and wait for news first.”

No matter what, even if the others were just running alongside her, he still had to watch them all.

He had not directly opposed Hu Fan’s words, which meant this role was almost certainly hers.

Ming Xu understood this clearly and left the conference hall with Song Jianzhi.

Song Jianzhi changed out of the costume and had Li Man return it. The group prepared to leave the hotel.

When Ming Xu had arrived, she had gone through the front entrance. When leaving, there was no need to appear publicly, so they left from the underground parking lot.

As soon as they arrived at the parking lot, they ran into He Xilan.

He Xilan was still dressed in her plain, graceful style. She smiled and said, “Ah, Ming Xu. What a coincidence.”

Ming Xu also said, “Good morning.”

At this time, everyone around them was their own people. The two of them were both polite yet distant in attitude, looking very plastic.

He Xilan then looked at Ye Ziqing, and her heart filled with sourness. Why was Ming Xu able to have Ye Ziqing take over the moment she changed companies, while He Xilan had been at Xinghan for all these years and still had never received such treatment?

He Xilan was crazily eating lemons inside, but on the surface, she said kindly, “Sister Ziqing, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“This must be Miss Song, right?”

“Hello,” Song Jianzhi answered, curiously sizing up He Xilan, the magical supporting female character in the novel.

What was strange about He Xilan was that other supporting female characters used their bodies to climb upward, while she relied on acting skill.

She had vividly acted the role of a woman willing to give everything for Wei Xiao, yet who also insisted that Wei Xiao could only belong to her alone. In any other CEO romance, this would have gotten her thrown out long ago for not knowing what was good for her. But what kind of person was Wei Xiao?

He was an idiot discarded by Ming Xu like a worn-out shoe. His male pride could only be repaired through the little lovers at his side.

Could he really not know that women all had possessiveness? So he actually accepted He Xilan’s setup of “I love you, but I cannot tolerate you possessing me while you also possess them; I can only endure pain and stay by your side.”

To Wei Xiao, He Xilan was the mosquito blood on the wall between the red rose and the white rose. Although he did not particularly like her, she still had to exist.

An idiot like this always had to rely on women to obtain satisfaction and confidence.

Perhaps Song Jianzhi’s gaze was too direct, and the emotions in her eyes accidentally too rich. He Xilan’s expression paused, and she said softly, “What is Miss Song looking at?”

He Xilan held back the urge to take out a mirror, thinking that perhaps the concealer had failed to cover the dark circles from staying up all night gaming.

Damn Wei Zhixuan! Every few days, she dragged her into an all-night queue, wuwuwu.

Song Jianzhi was just about to answer when she saw Ming Xu silently shift sideways, blocking her line of sight.

Ming Xu said to He Xilan, “Aren’t you going up to audition?”

He Xilan looked meaningfully at Ming Xu. But time was indeed a little tight, so she did not say anything more and went upstairs—in any case, she did not want to say anything to Ming Xu either. Seeing Ming Xu made her uncomfortable.

The group returned to Xinghan nearby.

After all, Song Jianzhi needed to survive in this world, not just complete a mission and leave like in the novel.

With Ming Xu-related matters as her top priority, she was also learning in her daily life how to become a real director. As soon as she returned to Xinghan, she went back to her office to busy herself.

Song Jianzhi’s director office was on the nineteenth floor. As a gold-medal manager, Ye Ziqing’s office was on the eighteenth.

Ming Xu returned with Ye Ziqing. There were still some loose ends to clean up.

After Ye Ziqing contacted the people responsible for PR operations, she said to Ming Xu, “The news media from this morning has already gone out. The online response is within expectations.”

As she spoke, Ye Ziqing handed the tablet to Ming Xu.

Ming Xu, Caught in Contract Termination Storm, Auditions for Bei-Hu New Film; Accompanied by Xinghan Gold-Medal Manager

“Ahhhhh, I grew up watching Elder Hu’s films!”

“Dad! Your daughter-in-law is going to act in your male god’s film!”

“Xinghan is awesome!! (voice crack)”

“Woc, Xinghan is so generous! But didn’t the paparazzi next door say He Xilan went too? Can’t rule out the suspicion that Xinghan is making Ming Xu run alongside He Xilan. Dog head.”

“? Who did you say is running alongside whom?? He Xilan is worthy? I spit!”

“Upstairs black-hearted Cotton? Barf, barf. Don’t try to drag our Lanlan into this.”

“Fight, fight. jg”

Ye Ziqing said, “When it comes to the official press conference, I’ve already coordinated with the crew. At that time, Elder Hu will bring up that this audition was given to you long ago and that it wasn’t because of the company.”

“That will be better for your personal image. As for right now, there’s no need to deliberately release it. This is enough. We’ll take it wave by wave.”

“Mm.” Ming Xu nodded.

“At present, you still can’t accept endorsements, but there are several programs already in negotiation. If they’re suitable, I’ll negotiate them for you first. You don’t need to worry about your schedule. Jianzhi instructed that you must have plenty of personal time.”

At this point, Ye Ziqing glanced at Ming Xu, a little teasingly. “So your future work arrangements will be fairly relaxed.”

Ming Xu shook her head lightly. “More work can be added, as long as it helps my career.”

“Sister Ye, I trust your professionalism.” Ming Xu enunciated clearly and slowly. “As long as you think there’s no issue, you can bring them to me.”

“You never rested properly at Xiwang. You don’t want to slow down before pushing forward again?” Ye Ziqing was a little surprised. “I heard you only like acting.”

Ming Xu smiled. “I do only like acting. But now, I want to climb higher even more.”

Ye Ziqing looked at her thoughtfully.

“All right. I understand. Oh, also, the apartment you lived in before was arranged by Xiwang, right? You probably won’t be able to live there much longer before they notify you to move out. Since we’re at it, we’ll change your residence too. As long as it’s still in this city, you can choose anywhere.”

Ming Xu’s light brown pupils moved faintly, and she curved her lips. “Is this also a Xinghan benefit?”

Ye Ziqing smiled generously. “This is special handling for a special case.”

Ming Xu said simply, “Then Ganlin Garden. The environment and security there are both good.”

Ye Ziqing was not surprised at all. “I’ll have someone contact the real estate agency.”

“Thank you, Sister Ye.”