After Transmigrating As The Film Empress Sister’s Kept Alpha - Chapter 14

The makeup artists came forward to touch up both women’s makeup, restoring the lip color that had been rubbed away during the kiss.

Ji Xiangyu lowered her eyes and reflected on why she had fallen out of character just now.

Throughout all her years in the industry, she had rarely broken character of her own accord. That was especially true over the past two years, when she had frequently taken roles in IP adaptations that did not demand particularly advanced acting skills. She had hardly ever made a mistake.

A faint softness seemed to linger on her lips.

Shen Yishu’s kiss had been inexperienced and utterly lacking in technique. It bore no resemblance whatsoever to the rumored scumbag Alpha who attracted countless admirers and wandered effortlessly through a garden of flowers.

She had seemed more like an innocent university student.

Ji Xiangyu looked past the makeup artist dabbing color onto her lips and glanced at Shen Yishu not far away.

Shen Yishu was smiling as she chatted with the young makeup artist attending to her. She made the woman laugh so hard that even the brush in her hand went astray.

Ji Xiangyu withdrew her gaze and decided that her earlier impression must have been an illusion.

No matter how she looked at this young Alpha, she did not resemble an innocent one.

Shen Yishu had just remembered something from university.

One of her roommates had once worked as an extra on a film set. There had been too many extras and not enough makeup artists, so the crew told them to apply their own makeup however they could.

Her roommate accidentally picked up the wrong lipstick and painted her lips purple. Before she had time to wipe it off, the director called everyone onto the set.

As a result, Shen Yishu’s roommate became the only person in the entire scene wearing purple lipstick.

When the drama aired, viewers even took screenshots and laughed about it online.

That incident caused her roommate to abandon her dream of entering the entertainment industry.

Shen Yishu had just finished telling the story to the makeup artist. The woman laughed so hard that her body shook, and only then did Shen Yishu’s nervousness ease slightly.

Once the touch-ups were complete, the director called everyone back to their marks.

The makeup artists began leaving the set. The young woman who had just fixed Shen Yishu’s makeup waved the brush in her direction.

“That story you told was really funny.”

Shen Yishu politely replied, “I’ll tell you another one sometime.”

The equipment gradually moved into place, though the boom microphone had not yet arrived.

Ji Xiangyu suddenly asked, “What were you thinking about just now?”

Had it not been for the look in Shen Yishu’s eyes, Ji Xiangyu would not have fallen out of character. They should have completed the scene in a single take.

“Huh?”

Shen Yishu did not know which moment Ji Xiangyu meant and looked confused.

“When we stopped.”

“I was wondering how sincere Li Jin truly was at that moment, and whether everything she did was really just calculation.”

After reading the script and online discussions, Shen Yishu had noticed that many people debated how much genuine affection Li Jin had ever felt for Zhou Yi—or whether she had merely used her from beginning to end.

The royal family’s struggles were filled with bloodshed and filth.

During the years when Zhou Yi served as Li Jin’s study companion, Li Jin could sleep peacefully only when Zhou Yi was beside her. Whenever Zhou Yi left, Li Jin would awaken immediately.

Emotionally, she had depended on Zhou Yi to an extreme degree.

Yet if Li Jin truly loved her, why had she never cared about Zhou Yi’s feelings when she ruthlessly confiscated the Zhou family’s property and sentenced them to exile?

“When she asked Zhou Yi for a kiss, was she only testing how much she mattered to Zhou Yi so she could control her more effectively later?”

The boom microphone was pushed above them.

Ji Xiangyu had time to answer only briefly.

“Sincerity and exploitation aren’t necessarily complete opposites.”

Shen Yishu nodded thoughtfully.

The director resumed filming from the point where they had stopped.

“Scene two—action!”

Ji Xiangyu entered character remarkably quickly.

Perhaps because she had made a rare mistake during the previous take, Shen Yishu felt that she now resembled Zhou Yi even more than she had ten minutes earlier.

Her gaze was flustered and faintly evasive. Her eyelashes trembled like butterfly wings, and her moist lips glimmered beneath the moonlight.

Li Jin grasped her arms and drew her two steps closer, looking at her with sparkling eyes filled with delight and anticipation.

Anticipation.

Between lovers, anticipation was founded upon love, faith in a shared future, and trust in the person beside them.

That gaze caused Zhou Yi’s panic to fade, replaced by determination.

This was the path she had chosen.

She wanted to remain with Li Jin through every lifetime.

Li Jin cupped her face as though holding a precious treasure.

Even the most beautiful pearls and gemstones in the world would pale in comparison. No rare treasure could equal the value of the face held between her hands.

Zhou Yi’s jawline was delicate and cleanly defined. She obediently allowed Li Jin’s thumb to stroke it.

The moonlight flowed like water, stirring the heart.

Their gazes clung to one another.

Li Jin smiled shyly, looking like any ordinary young woman about to kiss the person she loved.

She stared at those pink lips for two seconds before lowering her head and kissing them with care and tenderness.

Their lips met, soft against one another.

A sweet fragrance passed between their breaths.

The fingers Zhou Yi had curled around Li Jin’s arm tightened, gripping the black sleeve and trembling slightly.

When Zhou Yi opened her eyes, Li Jin was still looking directly at her.

Her gaze overflowed with affection, revealing not the slightest trace of anything unusual.

At that moment, Zhou Yi suddenly wanted to cry.

The moonlight caught her tears.

The camera also captured the glistening moisture in her eyes.

To avoid revealing herself, Li Jin reluctantly pulled away.

She tenderly wiped away the pearl-like tear, leaned closer, and kissed the reddened corner of Zhou Yi’s eye.

“Sister,” she whispered, “I’ll keep loving you forever and ever—until the day you stop loving me.”

Even a vow intended to draw out information could sound completely sincere when spoken at the height of emotion.

Zhou Yi saw the concern in Li Jin’s eyes and engraved it deeply within her heart.

That look later became one of the reasons she hesitated again and again.

Zhou Yi embraced her tightly, like someone clinging to a piece of driftwood in the water.

At that time, she had a lover and a family standing behind her.

She had never imagined that one day she would lose everything.

She simply held the person before her as tightly as she could, resting her head on Li Jin’s shoulder.

Their chests pressed together, their full hearts beating against one another and continuously conveying their affection.

The matching fragrance of their shower gel intertwined within the private space belonging only to them.

The familiar warmth of the body in her arms was the same warmth their palms had once measured while gripping each other’s necks.

For a moment, Ji Xiangyu could no longer tell whether the person she was holding was Li Jin—

Or Shen Yishu.

Li Jin wrapped her arms tightly around the woman in her embrace, as though she wanted their flesh and bones to merge.

Yet where Zhou Yi could not see, the corners of her lips curved into a smile.

The smile of a victor.

“Pass!”

“That was excellent! As expected of Best Actress Ji—absolutely wonderful!”

The director praised Ji Xiangyu’s performance endlessly. He leaned out from behind the camera and raised his thumb.

Ji Xiangyu had already withdrawn from Shen Yishu’s embrace the moment the director spoke.

Her assistant hurried over and handed her a tissue, which she used to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“You flatter me, Director.”

She smiled faintly.

The corners of her eyes and the tip of her nose were still red, giving her an unexpectedly tragic beauty.

“Xiao Shen did well too. I was worried you wouldn’t be able to keep up with Best Actress Ji’s performance. Ah, someone who has won awards truly is different. Acting in television dramas is almost beneath her talent.”

The director could not resist praising Ji Xiangyu again after remembering her performance.

“It’s different when someone is simply playing herself.”

A clear, bright voice cut into their conversation.

Shen Yishu glanced over and saw Lin Luosheng standing behind Ji Xiangyu.

Shen Yishu: “…”

So cause and effect truly were predetermined.

Even though she had gone to great lengths to avoid the original plotline in which she harmed the female lead, the story still found another way to restore Lin Luosheng’s hatred toward her.

“Sister Ji, don’t you agree?” Lin Luosheng asked.

“Completely.”

Ji Xiangyu dabbed a wet wipe over the place Shen Yishu had just kissed and nodded.