Acting Out of Character (GL) - Chapter 25

Feng Yunxin witnessed Luo Jingyi eating a two-yuan ice cream cone with a smile all over her face.

As a director—even if she was only an obscure, fifteenth-tier one—Feng Yunxin had a professional habit of recording every scene that interested her.

While she secretly filmed Luo Jingyi eating the cone, Luo Jingyi noticed.

“It’s fine. Ignore me.” Feng Yunxin did not stop recording. “Please continue eating.”

Luo Jingyi asked, “What are you doing?”

“Recording the moment an old tree finally blossoms.”

“…Do you believe I’ll snap both you and your phone in half?”

“Teacher Luo is in such a good mood. You absolutely must not destroy a delicate flower!”

Luo Jingyi smiled and stopped paying attention to her.

“Tomorrow is my final day. The three-day deadline will be over. Once filming ends tomorrow, I’m leaving that night.”

The moment Feng Yunxin heard this, her entire back went numb.

She had originally borrowed Teacher Luo for three days. If they rushed, they should have been able to finish filming no matter what.

But who could have predicted that Xiao Song’s mass-poisoning incident would appear halfway through?

“Don’t, Teacher Luo. That was an accident…”

Feng Yunxin immediately put away her phone and followed Luo Jingyi, pleading bitterly.

Luo Jingyi was also becoming irritated.

“I truly don’t have enough time. Agreeing to those three days was already difficult for me. Besides, where’s the material you promised to gather for me?”

Feng Yunxin said, “…Well, everyone in the production was poisoned and collapsed. We only managed to collect a little.”

“Exactly. That’s why I need to gather the material personally. I still have a mountain of work waiting in Beijing. You’ve already filmed plenty of footage with me. Discuss it properly with the editors, use the material efficiently, and find someone else to replace me afterward.”

Luo Jingyi spoke with complete seriousness. There was clearly no room left for negotiation.

After all, Teacher Luo had several major projects worth hundreds of millions in her hands. Feng Yunxin could not delay her, so she could only close her mouth.

For Luo Jingyi’s final day of filming before wrapping, Feng Yunxin planned to make full use of her. She would record more individual footage during the day and conduct additional follow-up interviews before Luo Jingyi left that night, giving the editors more material to work with.

After resting for a day, most of the production team had basically recovered. Their spirits, however, remained poor.

They still experienced intermittent nausea and the uncomfortable urge to run to the bathroom.

The production had originally been young and energetic. After this incident, everyone looked listless.

The guests had it even worse.

They had barely escaped the shadow of food poisoning, yet in front of the cameras, they still needed to appear lively, optimistic, affectionate, and full of energy.

This created an extremely bizarre image.

Everyone being filmed smiled widely, but their eyelids drooped as they did so. The atmosphere was gloomy and terrifying, covered by a heavy pressure, as though they were filming a horror movie.

That morning, they filmed everyone cooking together in the courtyard.

Chen Ge behaved naturally throughout, working together with Song Ruyu.

She smiled when she was supposed to smile and spoke to Song Ruyu whenever necessary, as though she had completely forgotten everything that had happened before.

Song Ruyu, on the other hand, remained gloomy. The director reminded her several times to manage her expression.

Song Ruyu finally understood what the word “actress” meant.

Chen Ge could truly act.

The less Chen Ge cared about her or took her actions seriously, the more dispirited Song Ruyu became.

During the lunch break, Zhao Lian once again brought several dishes from the hotel and delivered them to Feng Yunxin’s third-floor lounge.

Feng Yunxin, wearing the expression of someone who enjoyed watching chaos, came downstairs to find Chen Ge and invited her to eat with them.

Song Ruyu overheard and could not understand it at all.

What method had Chen Ge used to make Director Feng treat her so well?

She even invited her to eat?

Could it be because of that Luo Xin?

The thought immediately gave Song Ruyu a powerful sense of crisis.

No wonder Chen Ge could behave so arrogantly and disregard everyone else. She had found a new backer.

What if she stirred up trouble with Director Feng? Would they deliberately edit the footage to make Song Ruyu look terrible?

Song Ruyu became alarmed.

Or would they simply cut most of her scenes and leave her with no presence at all? Then this entire trip would have been wasted!

As Song Ruyu thought about it, a strip of potato remained hanging from her mouth. She chewed for ages, yet most of it still remained.

The more she thought, the more frightened she became.

At around three or four in the afternoon, when the sunlight was no longer as fierce, the entire production went outside to pick lychees.

The lychee trees were not particularly tall. The plump fruit around the outer edges naturally hung downward, allowing someone of Chen Ge’s height to reach them simply by raising a hand.

However, the fruit closer to the trunk was higher and required a ladder.

Director Hu asked someone to bring over a ladder and asked who wanted to climb up. The person would receive more screen time.

Song Ruyu immediately volunteered.

“I’ll do it!”

Song Ruyu had trained in dance and was light on her feet. Climbing the ladder presented no difficulty.

Under the blazing sun, she stood among the branches wearing gloves and using scissors, laboriously cutting lychees.

Director Hu reminded her:

“Xiao Song, your expression is too tense. Look happier. Do you remember how the theme song from that talent show you joined goes? Sing a few lines while picking the lychees.”

Song Ruyu could only follow his instructions, singing while cutting fruit.

Sweat streamed down her neck, making her itch and feel terribly uncomfortable. For the sake of the camera, she endured it.

Dizzy from the heat, Song Ruyu lowered her head and saw Chen Ge.

Chen Ge was with that Luo Xin again.

Standing slightly on tiptoe, Chen Ge easily picked the entire outer ring of lychees.

Although the camera showed her only occasionally and focused primarily on those climbing the ladder, this was Chen Ge’s first time picking lychees, so she found it quite interesting.

She placed the fruit into the bamboo basket and happened to notice Luo Jingyi on the opposite side supporting her lower back.

“Sister Luo,” Chen Ge asked, “is your back bothering you again?”

Luo Jingyi saw the genuine concern on her face.

She sighed internally. She truly pays attention to me wherever we are.

“It’s nothing,” Luo Jingyi said. “If I stand or sit for too long, my lower back becomes sore. It’s an occupational problem.”

Luo Jingyi’s voice was low. With some distance between them, Chen Ge could not hear clearly, so she took two steps toward her.

“Have you gone to a hospital for it?”

“I have. It didn’t help. The doctor told me to walk around more, but my work requires sitting for long periods. I can’t constantly get up and move, so the old problem has remained.”

Chen Ge asked curiously, “What kind of work do you do, Sister Luo?”

As an excellent screenwriter, Luo Jingyi invented an answer without hesitation.

“Office work.”

Chen Ge found that perfectly reasonable. “That certainly is a profession with a high risk of lower-back pain.”

They were merely chatting casually, yet whenever they saw each other, even while working, both felt quite cheerful.

Smiles appeared unconsciously on their faces.

Watching from the ladder, Song Ruyu could not hear exactly what they were saying. She only saw the two standing close together, talking continuously and looking very happy.

Song Ruyu gripped a large branch of the lychee tree.

At the end of the heavy branch hung extremely fresh, plump lychees with hard shells.

Luo Xin said something. Chen Ge looked slightly surprised, then pressed her lips together and smiled.

Why was Chen Ge so happy?

More sweat poured down Song Ruyu’s body. The blazing sunlight baked her back through the leaves, while rage surged wildly inside her mind.

Were they talking badly about her?

Song Ruyu’s eyelids twitched twice. When she returned to her senses, she realized that the large cluster of lychees she had just cut had already fallen toward Chen Ge and Luo Xin.

Luo Jingyi had her back turned toward Song Ruyu and did not notice the heavy object falling quickly from above.

Chen Ge saw it clearly.

“Ah! Watch out—!”

Luo Jingyi saw Ren Yan on the other side shout in panic. Before she could turn around and understand what was happening, Chen Ge suddenly lunged forward and pulled Luo Jingyi tightly into her arms.

The lychee branch scraped across the top of Chen Ge’s head and crashed onto the ground. The sound drew the attention of the entire production.

“What happened?!”

Feng Yunxin ran quickly from the monitors. She looked toward Song Ruyu and shouted:

“Xiao Song, have you lost your mind? You threw such a large branch at someone’s head?!”

Song Ruyu panicked.

“Ah! I didn’t do it deliberately, Director Feng! The branch was too heavy. I lost my grip and dropped it. Chen Ge, Sister Luo, are you all right?”

Chen Ge had wrapped Luo Jingyi completely in her arms. When they finally separated, Chen Ge anxiously asked the person she had protected:

“Sister Luo, are you hurt?”

Luo Jingyi shook her head. “You held me so tightly. How could I possibly be hurt? What about you? Did it scratch you?”

Chen Ge shook her head. She had been about to smile and deny it when she suddenly felt some pain on her forehead.

She touched it and found blood on her finger.

The instant Luo Jingyi saw the bright red blood, her expression turned cold.

Feng Yunxin and the rest of the production hurried over.

“She’s injured. Don’t move, Xiao Chen! Where’s the production coordinator? Bring the first-aid kit immediately!”

Chen Ge took out her phone, switched to the front-facing camera, and examined herself.

“It’s fine. It’s only a small cut. There’s no need for the entire first-aid kit. Just give me a bandage. It’s a minor injury…”

Chen Ge was still reassuring everyone when Luo Jingyi said unhappily:

“What do you mean, ‘a minor injury’? Do you understand what your face means when you’re an actress? Both your face and your performance should be flawless works of art!”

Luo Jingyi greatly admired Chen Ge’s face and the aura created by her features.

From the first night she met Chen Ge, Luo Jingyi had been certain that Chen Ge was the embodiment of beauty—someone worth studying and appreciating seriously.

She was a person who could be placed inside any intense, private, quiet, or publicly exposed story filled with dramatic turns.

Chen Ge had no idea what kind of treasure she possessed.

Seeing Luo Jingyi’s angry expression made Chen Ge nervous, and she instinctively apologized.

“I’m sorry…”

The apology brought Luo Jingyi back to her senses.

How could she shout at someone who had disregarded danger to save her?

Luo Jingyi asked the production coordinator to bring the first-aid kit and personally disinfected Chen Ge’s injury.

“You don’t need to apologize. I should be thanking you. This may sting. Bear with it.”

Seeing that Luo Jingyi did not seem genuinely angry with her, Chen Ge relaxed considerably.

“It’s fine. I’m not afraid of pain. Go ahead.”

After disinfecting the injury, Luo Jingyi carefully examined the cut on the left side of Chen Ge’s forehead.

It was approximately half a centimeter long. Fortunately, it was not serious and had only broken the skin.

Because of the bloody cut, Chen Ge’s beautiful face now carried a wounded kind of beauty.

Chen Ge quietly closed her eyes and endured the pain while Luo Jingyi treated her injury.

The sight once again overlapped with a scene from A Minor’s Final Wish in Luo Jingyi’s mind.

Luo Jingyi’s emotions surged slightly. After covering the injury with a large adhesive bandage, she turned toward Song Ruyu.

Song Ruyu had already climbed down from the tree and was speaking with the assistant director as though nothing had happened.

Luo Jingyi had witnessed everything Song Ruyu had done to Chen Ge.

She had also noticed all the earlier instances of openly praising Chen Ge while subtly putting her down.

So because no one challenged her, she continued pushing further?

Luo Jingyi’s gaze settled on Song Ruyu’s sweetly smiling profile, frightening Feng Yunxin.

It was obvious that Luo Jingyi was furious.

The Empress Dowager looked as though she wanted to execute Xiao Song’s entire family…

But Luo Jingyi was supposed to leave that night, wasn’t she?

Would she still have enough time to act?

“Come.”

Luo Jingyi spoke a single word to Feng Yunxin, then walked deeper into the orchard.

Feng Yunxin immediately followed.

As she walked, Luo Jingyi called Zhao Lian.

“Yes. Postpone it. I’m not leaving tonight. Wait for my instructions about the exact departure time.”

After ending the call with Zhao Lian, she called Director Tao.

“I can’t return tomorrow. Have the three actresses you found audition by video.”

Director Tao said, “Huh? Video auditions? Wouldn’t it be a little careless without seeing them in person?”

“How is that careless? When audiences watch the film later, they’ll see them through a screen too. They won’t see the actresses in person, will they?”

Feng Yunxin’s heart jolted.

Wasn’t that the exact argument she had used before?

Director Tao: “…”

“It’s settled.”

Without giving Director Tao a chance to reply, Luo Jingyi ended the call. Holding her phone, she turned toward Feng Yunxin.

“Change the CPs.”

Feng Yunxin did not immediately understand. “Huh?”

Fire still burned in Luo Jingyi’s eyes.

“Pair Chen Ge with me. Give Song Ruyu to Qian Yu.”

“Well, they work for the same company…”

“I don’t care.”

“But…”

“I’ll write the script. You deal with their agency.”

Feng Yunxin thought she had misheard.

“What?! You’ve agreed to write the script? The script for my web variety show?!”

“Just tell me whether you can do it.”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Feng Yunxin nearly nodded her head off.

“As long as Your Excellency is willing to write the script, forget splitting up a CP—I’d agree to dismantle Song Ruyu herself!”

Luo Jingyi gave a cold laugh.

“The CP must be dismantled, and so must Song Ruyu.”

Feng Yunxin said, “…I was only speaking figuratively. Don’t kill anyone, Sister Yi. This is a society governed by law.”

Luo Jingyi ignored her and walked deeper into the orchard to make another call.

Author’s Note:

Luo Jingyi (activates skill): Drop dead.