57: Did I Interrupt Something?
The next day, back on set, Xia Ruyun sat off to the side with what felt like an anchor attached to her neck. Like most mornings, she felt the toll of her sleep deprivation catching up to her. Yet, unlike past weeks, the morning grogginess seemed insistent on staying. Sipping the last of her coffee, she put down her now-empty cup with a forlorn sigh.
Around her, the rest of the cast and crew seemed to buzz like bees doped with stimulants, rearranging a desk here, and redoing an executive’s makeup there. Numb, and an extra in the upcoming scene, she decided to just sit at her desk like a soulless office worker who hadn’t seen a vacation in years.
“Love your current expression and posture, Xia Ruyun!” Feng Wei called out from his director’s chair. “Just keep that for the coming scene!”
---
Jiang Jinlong’s office remained dark. Lights off. Blinds drawn. Standing against the door, he stared out the crack-like window while holding a phone to his ear. “How did we get scooped…”
“What do you mean scooped?” A gravelly voice came over the line. “Did my advice go wrong?”
“Your advice was good, everything seemed fine,” Jiang Jinlong clenched his fist as his eyes darted from one suited executive to another. “Zeng Xiaojing seemed under control as you expected. But somehow, the moment I revealed my trump card, she one-upped, as if she had been waiting for that exact moment the entire time.”
“… I see,” The sound of a pen tapping against a desk accompanied the man’s voice. “Have you considered that you may have… a mole in your company?”
“I haven’t, but I am now,” Jiang Jinlong clenched his teeth. His eyes narrowed, and his pupils thinned into vertical slits. “I will look into it, thanks for your advice.”
“Of course, and don’t forget that my offer still stands,” The man chuckled. “If you ever run into issues…”
Jiang Jinlong frowned. Yet, in a rare moment of humility, he bit back his retort as the man’s voice continued to snake into his ear like the voice of a gleeful devil.
“For just some equity, I’d love to be an angel investor, Jiang Jinlong.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Jiang Jinlong forced out before pulling the phone away and cutting the call. The phone glowed in the darkness, illuminating his chin and lower face in eerie brightness.
Who could it be…
Once the phone shut off, he smiled. His eyes glowed golden, and pressure radiated out, tousling his hair in invisible wind. In that moment, by chance, his eyes landed on Du Ruolin.
“Whoever it is, don’t expect to see the light of day after I find you.”
---
That night, as shooting ended, Xia Ruyun trudged down the stairs. Pushing the door open one floor down, she swept her eyes over the crowd of bustling crew members. On the left, makeup artists packed up, sliding drawers closed as they shut off the lights. On the right, she found a group of young men goofing off as they recited their lines.
“Your pressure is too much!” “H… How could she push us back!?” “It’s like her phoenix fire is real!” “Oh my god, my queen.”
Oh, to have that type of joy still…
Beautiful.
Turning away with a chuckle, she flinched as she found a woman standing right beside her. “I-“
“Looking for me?” Li Feiling leaned close with a laugh. “Didn’t expect you to be so jumpy, Ruyun.”
“I just didn’t expect someone to appear next to me, okay?” Leaning away, Xia Ruyun patted her chest. “Care to get dinner together?”
“I’d love to,” Li Feiling stood back upright. “Let me grab my bag real quick and we can head down.”
“Take your time,” Xia Ruyun yawned as she stepped forward, letting the door she had been holding open close behind her. “Also, have you seen Han Jingyi? She mentioned wanting to rehearse with us tonight.”
“She should be by the makeup artists,” Li Feiling answered while walking to the chair that held her bag.
“Alright, I’ll let her know that we’re getting dinner and won’t be back immediately,” Xia Ruyun called out. Seeing a thumbs up from Li Feiling, she turned away to search for Han Jingyi amongst the handful of artists still getting their makeup taken off.
---
Later that night, Xia Ruyun laid against Li Feiling’s shoulder, her eyes half-closed as they chatted while waiting for Han Jingyi. “You know, I turned down Chu Changfeng again.”
“Good, good,” Li Feiling wrapped her arm around Xia Ruyun, pulling her close. “Don’t associate yourself with a scumbag like him.”
“I’m not really planning on it,” Xia Ruyun murmured, staring into space as she forced lucidity back into her mind. “Also feel free to speak more, it helps me stay awake…”
“I’m very good at speaking more, don’t worry at all,” Li Feiling patted Xia Ruyun a couple times on her shoulder. “I also turned down a couple meal invitations from Chu Changfeng recently. Though that’s a constant for me. I swear he has the messages on a repeating schedule since they always come in around the same time of day.”
“That does seem like something he’d do,” Xia Ruyun exhaled. “Speaking of messages, did you see Linjie’s?”
“I did. Wait let me check the date again...” Li Feiling pulled out her phone. Unlocking it, she opened the Adoption Center group chat. “He’s coming to visit in a week and a half, yeah? Coming on the weekend to stay for a couple days. It should be a fun time.”
“I’m sure he’ll be so excited to see his Esteemed Senior Li Feiling,” Xia Ruyun chuckled. “Though he has lightened up a lot recently, I think the group chat helped him drop the formality.”
“Probably,” Li Feiling nodded as she swiped through her phone. “Oh, I also received a meal invitation from Wang Tianmin. Ended up turning him down too though.”
“Why’s that…?” Xia Ruyun blinked her eyes open and closed, exaggerating the movement. “He’s the one playing Jiang Jinlong’s angel investor, right?”
“That’s right,” Li Feiling shifted on the couch to let Xia Ruyun sit up a little more. “As for why I said no, we already caught up once when he joined the cast. We’re not too close so we wouldn’t have too much to talk about. Also, for the middle of shooting, I…”
I…
I just wanted to spend more time with you, Ruyun. I know we hang out nearly every night but somehow even one more night with you felt like something more worthwhile than anything else…
Falling silent, Li Feiling frowned as the last few thoughts marched across her mind. Her eyes trembled as her hand around Xia Ruyun’s waist stiffened for a moment.
This.
This is not a normal feeling.
Is it?
“Feiling, are you okay?” Xia Ruyun’s tired voice yanked her out of her thoughts. “For the middle of shooting you…?”
With her thoughts thrown into a jumble, Li Feiling threw her thoughts aside as a few stammers left her mouth. Desperate to salvage the situation, she looked away and relaxed the arm wrapped around Xia Ruyun. “I… I don’t like to hang out with people who distract me.”
“Oh? And I don’t distract you?” Xia Ruyun lifted her head off Li Feiling’s shoulders. Turning, her breath landed on Li Feiling’s earlobe. “Not even a little?”
Li Feiling, for once in her life, felt her cheeks warm uncontrollably. Pins danced across her face as everything around her seemed to blur. Focused on nothing but Xia Ruyun’s faint breathing against her, she felt everything in her mind go blank.
Then, as if the heavens had blessed her, Li Feiling heard a knock at the door as Han Jingyi’s voice floated in. “Hi, are you two in? Can someone open the door?”
Scrambling to her feet, Li Feiling half-walked, half-ran to the door.
Xia Ruyun, left behind like a spurned lover, just stared at her retreating figure with a deepening gaze. Keeping a faint smile on her face as Han Jingyi walked in, she nodded to acknowledge the young woman as she tracked Li Feiling. Yet, as she watched Li Feiling avoid her gaze and go to the kitchen to prepare some tea, she felt, for once, that she had a better mask on her emotions than the Movie Queen.
Her smile brightened, radiant as she watched her little joke pay dividends.
Han Jingyi, meanwhile, stood in the entryway frozen in place. Her eyes flicked between a blushing Li Feiling who seemed to dodge Xia Ruyun like the plague and a Xia Ruyun who wouldn’t stop staring at Li Feilling with a radiant smile.
Did I interrupt something?
I feel like I walked in on my parents and am seeing something I’m not supposed to see…