Chapter 7
Zong Mo checked his resume and discovered that the “meals” Ruan Chi had fed him in the past were all dramas with positive, mainstream themes. In any case, he never filmed anything that was likely to become popular.
Although he was inevitably criticized for his acting, in a way, only filming these types of dramas was also a way of protecting his reputation. It was all his own fault for not living up to expectations.
Ruan Chi’s image in Zong Mo’s mind suddenly rose a notch.
An Lan delivered the script as promised. It was a movie called Chasing the Light Boy, and it came with a complimentary copy of DAVID magazine.
“The magazine is sold out and still being reprinted. This is the last copy. It’s your first time on the cover, so keep it as a memento.”
Zong Mo: …
An Lan was truly thoughtful, so considerate he wanted to cry.
After dropping off the items, An Lan earnestly instructed him again, “It’s also because the previously cast male lead for this movie bailed that they came to you. Filming starts in the middle of the month, so there are only a few days left. You need to decide within two days. Regardless of whether you take the role or not, you have to watch what you eat recently. Even if you’re not filming a drama, there will be other photoshoots. Also, keep exercising, don’t slack off.”
Keep exercising.
Zong Mo: “…Okay.”
An Lan clapped her hands and stood up. “Alright then, I’m leaving. When will CEO Ruan be back? Remember to ask him.”
“Around seven-thirty.”
An Lan: ?
He can even be accurate to the half hour?
As An Lan was leaving, she happened to see a security guard bringing in takeout food. The meat was fresh and tender, the vegetables crisp and dewy.
An Lan: …How strange. Why would they order raw vegetables for takeout?
Forget it. She should just go. As long as Zong Mo wasn’t eating junk food behind her back, it was fine.
Ruan Chi wasn’t back from work yet, so Zong Mo curled up on the sofa by himself to read the script.
He washed his hands, served himself some tea, and began to flip through the first script he had ever seen in his life.
He used to be a D-list web novel author. Although he had read hundreds, if not thousands, of novels and had written several million words himself, he had never had the good fortune of having one of his works adapted into a script.
Fortunately, novels and scripts were somewhat similar. He opened it and found that the plot was indeed very melodramatic.
It was a campus film, but the kind with fighting, truancy, young love, and school violence.
A “youth-pain” story.
The male lead was named Yu Chi, and he was an orphan. Coincidentally, he had a similar background to both Zong Mos.
Yu Chi’s situation was even worse than his, where both parents had died. Yu Chi’s mother died from domestic violence, and he was only sent to the orphanage after his scumbag dad went to jail.
He was bullied and ostracized throughout his childhood in the orphanage. Everyone called him a murderer’s son, pointing fingers and tormenting him. After graduating from junior high at the age of 16, he started working to support himself and moved out. Life gradually began to improve.
But this wasn’t the dawn of a new day; it was the beginning of a nightmare.
His murderer father was released from prison, and he had also developed a drug addiction. Not only did he steal all the little money Yu Chi earned, but whenever his addiction flared up or he lost his temper, he would grab Yu Chi and subject him to a torrent of beatings and verbal abuse.
Once, in a drunken stupor, he even mistook the delicate-looking Yu Chi for his long-dead mother and tried to rape him.
Zong Mo’s pupils contracted in shock.
He marveled at how incredibly unrestrained the censorship system in this book’s world was.
He read on, through one wave of melodrama after another, one shocking plot twist after another.
Thankfully, this explicit storyline was only interspersed in occasional flashbacks, serving to foreshadow the tragedy of Yu Chi’s life.
Yu Chi was terrified of any form of intimate contact, but that didn’t stop him from fighting.
Although he was a tough fighter, he was ultimately just one person. After being beaten to the ground by a group one time, the leader discovered that the “battle-damaged” Yu Chi was unbelievably beautiful and actually suggested that he wanted to…
…gang-rape him.
Zong Mo: …Fine.
He was well-versed in these things; he’d seen this kind of plot before in his original world, in a certain place where the haitang flowers bloom.
[T.N: This is a coded reference to a Taiwanese BL (Boys’ Love) web novel site]
After all, the protagonist was an underage teenager, so the plot couldn’t really stay wild all the way through.
Yu Chi was saved by the female lead, who descended from the heavens. And this timid, frail girl, trembling all over but holding up her phone and firmly saying, “I’ve already called the police,” would become his lifelong salvation.
Ruan Chi came home on time. The heating was on, the air was filled with the aroma of food, and someone was sitting on the sofa waiting for him.
He seemed to be in a very good mood.
“The script?” Ruan Chi was the first to ask.
“Mm.” Zong Mo was a little nervous. An Lan had given him an important mission before she left.
-
There is a kiss scene in this drama;
-
Ruan Chi must not find out;
-
Accept the role first. The kiss scene can be discussed later; a solution like using a stand-in or a forced perspective shot can always be found.
In short, do not let CEO Ruan reject this job because of a kiss scene.
An actor who doesn’t do kiss scenes would be ridiculous in reality, but it was perfectly reasonable in a novel. Zong Mo even felt it was completely normal and didn’t show any strange expression. After all, this was a novel from “Green JJ”; the main shou‘s first kiss, of course…
[Green JJ : A common nickname for the web novel platform Jinjiang Literature City . The “green” refers to its strict censorship policies, which prohibit explicit content, making it a “clean” or “green” platform. The jj is an abbreviation of Jinjiang.]
…had to be saved for the main gong, the film emperor Lu Bo.
He had to say, Ruan Chi was really a good wingman.
An Lan had also said that Ruan Chi had neither the interest nor the energy to read scripts; at most, he would listen to a five-minute summary.
It would have been fine if she hadn’t said anything, fine if he hadn’t known. But now that An Lan had laid everything out, Zong Mo had to consciously and actively deceive Ruan Chi, and he started to get nervous.
As expected, Ruan Chi asked him to summarize the plot.
Zong Mo briefly glossed over the parts where the male lead was almost raped by men and mainly focused on the subsequent salvation plotline.
The female lead, Yun Jie, came from a poor family, but she had both parents, and her life was simple yet warm. Because of their poverty, she had often been looked down upon by others, but she usually just laughed it off and wouldn’t get into conflicts. She was also very low-key at school, always keeping her head down and speaking softly, to the point that Yu Chi had never even noticed her.
Her experiences, similar yet opposite to Yu Chi’s, had cultivated a resilient, brave, gentle, and kind personality in her. It was precisely because of this that she became the person who could open Yu Chi’s heart.
“This drama…” Ruan Chi suddenly spoke, interrupting Zong Mo. “It should have a bed scene, right?”
Zong Mo: …
So direct. He didn’t know how to respond.
Didn’t An Lan say Ruan Chi never read scripts? How could he so accurately guess that this script had a risqué scene?
He asked curiously, “Why?”
“Putting a bed scene in a campus film has a similar effect to not taking off underwear in an adult magazine.”
Zong Mo: …
“There’s no bed scene. Both protagonists are minors.”
Ruan Chi let out a “heh,” unconvinced.
It made sense. After all, the male lead had almost been raped by men several times. If his scenes with the female lead weren’t a bit intimate, the sexual orientation of this drama would have to be changed.
Zong Mo told the truth: “There is a kiss scene on a bed.”
He had no choice but to hand the script to Ruan Chi to prove he wasn’t lying.
This kiss scene was a very important turning point. Because of Yun Jie’s kindness to Yu Chi, it triggered his almost paranoid possessiveness. Once, after being seriously injured in a fight, Yun Jie took him home and treated his wounds. This physical contact and meticulous care completely overturned the rationality of the hot-blooded young man.
He flipped over and pinned Yun Jie to the bed, kissing her fiercely.
Because this scene involved the tall male lead pressing the female lead onto the bed, and the director wanted a strong impact rather than an ambiguous push-and-pull, they would only use a long shot plus a few close-ups of the female lead’s surprised eyes, making it very convenient to fake the kiss with a forced perspective.
Zong Mo explained at just the right moment, “We can use a forced perspective shot here.”
The next step after a passionate kiss was, of course, taking off clothes. Just as Yu Chi was about to lift the girl’s skirt, a slap brought him back to his senses.
The girl in the white dress left. Yu Chi, left alone in the shabby room, discovered in horror that he was no different from his beastly father…
Ruan Chi calmly took a sip of tea and said, “You can take this role.”
Zong Mo: ?
“But your kissing skills are terrible. You need to practice.”
Zong Mo: “…We’re not faking it?”
Ruan Chi: “Faking it requires even more skill.”
Zong Mo was silent for a moment, then asked, “How do you know my kissing skills are terrible?”
Could he be comparing him to someone else? Besides his work outside, his CEO Ruan had to work overtime five nights a week at home. How could he have extra time to find a mistress?
Ruan Chi put down his teacup and said, “I discovered I have a canker sore today. It was probably from you biting me yesterday. It got inflamed.”
Zong Mo: …
But he felt that Ruan Chi’s kissing skills were also terrible.
That’s why every time they kissed it was like dogs biting each other. A few random nibbles, and once they got in the mood, they would quickly get down to business.
How could two people with terrible kissing skills practice?
Ruan Chi quickly gave him the answer, sending over several web links.
[A Practical Guide to Kissing]
[Five Types of Kisses and Key Techniques]
[Peck｜Lick Kiss｜Sucking Kiss｜Sliding Kiss｜French Kiss]
Zong Mo: ?
“There are also tutorial videos. You can watch and learn tonight.”
What Ruan Chi meant was, no overtime tonight.
“I’ll check your progress tomorrow night.”
Overtime tomorrow night.
Two weeks later, it was time to leave for the film set.
Just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Zong Mo was shaken awake by Ruan Chi.
He pried his eyelids open a crack and saw that it was still early. He rolled over and hugged his pillow, resisting Ruan Chi who was pulling at his shoulder, and mumbled, “It’s still early. The flight is at nine-something. Let me sleep a little longer…”
“Zong Mo,” Ruan Chi called his name again.
Zong Mo: …
Fine. He’d go to the airport early and catch up on sleep there.
“Didn’t you say I don’t have to cook when I have work…”
He was awake, but not completely resigned. He remained lying down, just looking up at Ruan Chi above him.
The morning light was cold. Ruan Chi’s face was expressionless, making him look even colder and more unapproachable—if they weren’t sleeping in the same bed.
The morning light was also like it had been washed with water, making Ruan Chi’s face seem cleansed as well, crisp and clean.
…Clean my ass.
“You’re going to be gone for a month and a half, right?”
“A month and a half is the entire shooting schedule. Maybe I can leave early?”
It was just that the male lead wrapping up early might be a bit much.
Ruan Chi ignored his empty promises and got straight to work with his hands.
One’s vitality was naturally high in the morning. The soft, delicate fingertips were the fuse, burning inch by inch. It didn’t burn the string of reason in his brain, but some places were always flammable and explosive.
Zong Mo: ?
Ruan Chi: “We can go until seven.”
Zong Mo quickly understood which verb he had omitted before “go until seven.”
Ruan Chi insisted on messing around, and in the end, he tired himself out so much he couldn’t get out of bed.
Zong Mo didn’t want to get up either, but he had a plane to catch.
Before falling asleep, Ruan Chi thoughtfully said, “I won’t see you off. You can take a taxi to the airport.”
Fine.
Zong Mo took a quick shower, got dressed, put on a mask, and went to the airport to meet An Lan.
He didn’t need to wear sunglasses; his eyes came with their own, the semi-permanent kind.
During the time he served his sponsor, he had indeed had a good time, but the feeling of being confined was also real.
Zong Mo got out of the taxi. The airport, located in the suburbs, had a vast, open view, stretching as far as the eye could see. The distant mountains were hidden in a thick white fog.
He took a deep breath of the damp, cold air of the late autumn morning.
Tsk.
It was the taste of freedom.
Author’s Note:
CEO Ruan, your golden canary has run away!!!
Ruan Chi: Heh.
