I Ran Away After Flirting with the Goddess - Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Director Mao spent a long time explaining the scene to Shen Lishu. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the Best Actress, but rather that she had never touched a girls’ love (GL) drama before.

To be honest, this was the movie in which Shen Lishu had the most intimate scenes, and it was also a pure emotional-flow drama. There were no national hatreds or grand ambitions for the state; there was only a fierce, intense love between two girls that rivaled any romance between a man and a woman.

This was also why Shen Lishu agreed to take on Sink in the first place it was a breakthrough and a challenge for herself.

The character she played, Ye Tan, was far from perfect. Her past was tragic to call it “gloomy” would be an understatement. Ye Tan’s high school years were not easy. She was a mid-term transfer student, moving from a prestigious provincial high school to this “pheasant” school (low-tier, rowdy school).

The new high school had serious bullying issues, and they were not friendly to the newly arrived Ye Tan. Deliberately shoving her or bumping shoulders while passing through doors was nothing. Worse yet, they would openly corner her in the girls’ restroom to mock and insult her, even hanging her bra on an index finger to swing it around the girls’ dormitory.

These were things girls did to other girls.

They would clip her hair while she slept on her desk, take up-skirt photos with phones to blackmail her, and the most extreme act was locking her in a storage room with a boy.

During that time, Ye Tan had just experienced a family upheaval. Her father had an affair, and the mistress brought her son to their doorstep to speak in riddles and taunts. Her mother had a fierce temperament; in a fit of rage and grief, she jumped from the building and committed suicide. This left the scum man and the cheap woman living in her house while kicking out her daughter.

Ye Tan lived in a daze, numb as if she lacked human emotions. She allowed others to step on her and kick her around like a stone beneath their feet. She felt she might rot and stink in this mud ditch just like them, unable to see light or a future.

Until one girl couldn’t stand it anymore. She sharply rebuked the boys making crude jokes about Ye Tan: “Shut up!”

The girl’s hands were clenched into fists, her shoulders trembling slightly. Even though she was clearly terrified, she stood up for Ye Tan with feigned courage: “If you speak again, I’ll record your names!”

Ye Tan turned her eyes woodenly to look over. The speaker was her seatmate, the class study monitor and Chinese language representative. She looked very quiet and gentle, and rumor had it her family was well-off. Ye Tan didn’t understand why she was in a school like this, but later she found out the girl’s father was the school’s Dean of Students.

That was why the boys shut their mouths sullenly and turned to talk about other topics. They weren’t afraid of her recording their names; they were afraid of her father.

“Just do your studying. Ignore them. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me.” The girl sat down, opened her bag, and took out her books.

The study monitor had been sick for a while and had just returned today; only then did Ye Tan realize she actually had a desk-mate. After this desk-mate returned to school, she accompanied Ye Tan to meals, recited texts with her, and supervised her studies. It was actually funny because most of the time, it was Ye Tan tutoring the study monitor. That was the reason the teacher had placed her next to the monitor in the first place. Back then, Ye Tan’s grades were among the best even in the provincial high school.

With someone by her side, Ye Tan, who felt like she was trapped in a plastic bag, finally had a chance to breathe. Even this “pheasant” school looked much better than usual.

Just when Ye Tan thought she had finally seen the light even fantasizing that the two of them could get into the same university in the future someone suddenly started a rumor, saying she and the study monitor were “lesbians”.

In this school, you could be a “good girl” if you engaged in underage dating, abortions, or outdoor trysts, but being a lesbian was not okay. A girl liking a girl made her an anomaly, a heinous sin that required enduring the strange looks and ostracization of others.

The rumors spread fiercely. Ye Tan and her desk-mate were instantly nailed to a cross of “shame.” Everywhere they went, people pointed and whispered. Two people who were originally open and honorable were forced to the point where they didn’t even dare eat together.

That was only the beginning. After driving a wedge between them, the school notified both sets of parents.

That day, the four parents gathered in the Principal’s office to discuss how to solve the matter. Upon meeting, the study monitor’s mother used her sharp voice to say cruel things. She belittled everyone present before looking at the culprit who “ruined” her daughter. Her right hand, painted with bright red nail polish, viciously pinched Ye Tan’s arm, asking why she couldn’t just be a failure herself—why did she have to drag her daughter down too!

Ye Tan was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt; her lips trembled from the pain, but she gritted her teeth and didn’t make a sound. No one believed they were innocent, all because someone saw that Ye Tan had written the study monitor’s name in a notebook. A whole page of it, in neat script, in scribbles, in all sorts of handwriting. At that moment, even the study monitor herself looked at Ye Tan in surprise.

Ye Tan’s father, disgusted and embarrassed by her, pointed at her in public and asked, “How did I father such a shameful daughter? You might as well go die with your mother!”

Ye Tan stood numbly, looking toward her desk-mate. The other girl kept her head down behind her mother the entire time, her hands twisted tightly in front of her, refusing to meet Ye Tan’s eyes.

So, she also thinks I’m an anomaly.

Seeing Ye Tan acting like a mute, her father grew impatient and raised his palm to slap her across the face. “Speak!”

A crisp smack rang out. The blow caused a ringing in Ye Tan’s ears; she fell to the ground, dizzy and disoriented, her lip bleeding.

“Explain! Say you only like men!”

Her face burned, and it quickly swelled up like a steamed bun. Ye Tan’s fingers on the ground slowly contracted and clenched as she struggled to climb up.

“Men?” Ye Tan sneered.

“If the men in this world are all like you, I’d rather like women!” She didn’t know where the strength came from, but as she scrambled up, she grabbed a wooden chair with one hand and smashed it toward her father.

Let it be, then. We might as well all go to hell together!

Ye Tan hit hard and with great strength; several teachers couldn’t stop her at the time. She smashed the chair into pieces, took a chair leg to whip her father, and kicked him in the groin. Not only was her father terrified, but even the previously haughty woman was scared witless. While calling Ye Tan a lunatic, she pushed her daughter’s shoulder and ran out.

“How could she be my daughter’s seatmate? How could the school accept this kind of student?” Her voice was shrill. “Go, go, go! Leave quickly!”

Before leaving, the study monitor looked back at Ye Tan with a complex gaze, then, with red eyes and stiff movements, turned her face away and left.

That was the last time Ye Tan saw her. From that day on, she transferred schools and was never heard from again.

Without the study monitor, Ye Tan, who should have been bullied to death, instead became an existence whose name no one dared mention in school. She finally became the version of herself she hated a stinking fish in a stinking ditch. Her father cut off all her financial support, leaving her to fend for herself. If the Principal hadn’t sponsored her because of her good grades (to maintain the school’s college admission rate), there was no telling where Ye Tan would be now.

Smoking, drinking, and fighting these were all things she learned during those three years.

Three years later, Ye Tan ranked second in the province and was admitted to a key university, successfully escaping the quagmire and waving goodbye to her past.

Although it was over, Ye Tan was still unwilling to remember those years, which was why she didn’t want to tell Luo Yue. She was afraid that if she spoke of this dark, stinking past, she would scare away this clean, pure girl.

Returning to her old alma mater tonight, the scenes of others bullying her and her bullying others returned to her eyes. These nightmares, which she wanted to forget but couldn’t, were like a rope around her neck, slowly tightening until her breathing felt suffocated.

The equipment was ready. The flashback portions would be filmed during the “intense period” of Sink; what they were filming today was the plot following the memories.

The night wind grew colder and colder. The last trace of light overhead vanished, and it looked like it was going to rain. Summer was always like this the weather changed on a whim, and rain came without warning.

The assistant director looked at Director Mao, hesitating.

“Film!” Director Mao gritted his teeth and made the decision, telling the assistant director to prepare raincoats and umbrellas in advance. “Never mind rain even if it rains knives tonight, we’re filming!”

Assistant Director: “…” Really, sir? Is there a risk to life in acting too?

Director Mao was a “drama addict.” If he said they were filming, it was impossible to finish early.

Everything was ready, and the filming officially began.

Shen Lishu entered the role very quickly. The person who was joking with An Rongrong just a moment ago could enter the character in the blink of an eye. An Rongrong watched in awe, once again marveling at the Best Actress’s prowess!

“I stayed here for three whole years, and since graduation, there hasn’t been a single day I wanted to come back.” Ye Tan had her hands in her shorts’ pockets, her eyes drifting toward the teaching building as she slightly tilted her head. “I wish I could destroy this place.”

It wasn’t just that she didn’t want to return; even passing by here occasionally made her want to stay far away. But that past followed her like a shadow, impossible to shake off.

Ye Tan usually loved joking with Luo Yue to make her happy, but from the moment she entered the school, there wasn’t a trace of expression on her face. She looked exceptionally cold and strange, carrying a dangerous sense of detachment that warned others not to approach. Like an out-of-control leopard on the edge of a rage, she could snap and hurt someone at any moment.

If she had the power, Ye Tan would have wiped this school away along with her past.

A storm was brewing, and the air pressure was low, making it hard to breathe. This weather was just like Ye Tan’s mood heavy and low.

Only now did Luo Yue realize how much her behavior of prying into every detail had hurt Ye Tan, who was unwilling to mention her past. It was no different from making her rip open a scab to once again reveal a wound that was deep enough to see the bone.

“I’m sorry.” Luo Yue looked at Ye Tan, her fingers helplessly picking at the seam of her skirt, her gaze flickering as she whispered, “I shouldn’t have asked.”

Born and raised in a privileged family, Luo Yue couldn’t imagine what Ye Tan had gone through, nor did she dare to think about it. Just hearing her narrate the past in a calm tone made her heart feel like it was filled with lead, sinking until it could barely beat. Her chest felt stifled and painful, a sense of suffocation more painful than if she were the one being bullied.

Shen Lishu, with her consummate acting skills, perfectly displayed Ye Tan’s state. That fragile sense of danger like standing with one foot hanging over the edge of a cliff made everyone’s heart leap into their throats for her. They wished they could beg her to stop remembering, to forget, to forget it all.

An Rongrong empathized with Luo Yue, looking at Shen Lishu with bloodshot eyes, her fingers slowly clenching.

She shouldn’t have asked. Why did she ask these things?

She didn’t know what she could do to make Ye Tan feel a bit better. Luo Yue, who was always quiet and shy, bit her lower lip with red eyes. For the first time, she felt an impulse to take revenge on society.

She wished she could go back to the past and kill all those people for Ye Tan!

Her heart ached for Ye Tan ached until her heart convulsed and tears fell uncontrollably.

A streak of silver light slid across the sky, followed shortly by a roar of thunder. The wind picked up, blowing the hem of the skirt until it wrapped around An Rongrong’s calves. Following the script, An Rongrong said words to coax Ye Tan, trying to divert her attention so she wouldn’t be immersed in the past.

Raindrops began to fall. One, then two.

Director Mao looked at the two people on the screen in front of him, feeling an inexplicable dissatisfaction. An Rongrong was acting exactly according to the script, but Director Mao just felt it wasn’t right. It seemed like it was missing something.

He didn’t call “Cut.” Even though it was raining, he didn’t call “Cut,” letting the two on the sports field continue to walk side-by-side.

In the frame, An Rongrong suddenly stopped. She reached out and grabbed Shen Lishu’s wrist, looking up at her. An Rongrong felt terrible an indescribable sense of frustration. It felt as if her heart was being gripped tightly by a hand, an ache so stifled it was about to explode.

Those words meant to divert attention were useless to the injured Ye Tan; they didn’t provide a bit of comfort! Those past events were already carved into Ye Tan’s memory; she needed something else to replace them, to make her forget.

Right today, An Rongrong suddenly understood how to resonate with a character. The pain and impulse in her heart all came from Luo Yue’s love and heartache for Ye Tan.

An Rongrong grabbed Shen Lishu’s cool wrist, her eyes full of tears. She choked out, “Ye Tan, forget the past. Remember me. Only remember me.”

After saying that, she took the initiative and boldly tilted her head to kiss Shen Lishu’s lips!

An Rongrong wrapped her arms tightly around Shen Lishu’s neck, closed her eyes, and kissed her forcefully while crying. This move was a sudden whim added by An Rongrong on the spot; she hadn’t communicated it with anyone beforehand, including Shen Lishu.

So when her cool lips pressed against hers and the tip of her tongue touched the gap in her lips, an electric current seemed to pass through Shen Lishu’s heart. Her gaze trembled, and her heart skipped a beat.

Even the extremely professional Best Actress actually fell out of character for that one split second. But she reacted quickly, swiftly catching An Rongrong’s scene, and hugged her to respond fiercely.

The three years of high school were dark and bitter for Ye Tan. Luo Yue couldn’t travel back to change the past; all she could do was give the current Ye Tan a little bit of sweetness. Use this sweetness to smooth over the bitterness of the past.

The two kissed intensely, inseparable, until the raindrops turned into a downpour and still didn’t separate them.

Director Mao dazed for a moment. Looking at the two people hugging and kissing tightly on the screen, his eyes grew brighter and brighter! He suddenly understood why it felt wrong just now. Verbal comfort was only on the surface; it couldn’t heal the scars in the heart at all. Ye Tan needed a deeper stimulus to replace the past.

Nothing is more healing than a new flower blooming in the ruins.

In this school where she suffered countless injuries, in the place where the darkest part of her past occurred, Ye Tan embraced her current lover and kissed passionately wishing she could vent right there and then by doing it!

This feeling… this is called rebirth.

Director Mao was silently excited. He directed the cameraman to push the lens forward to capture the details of the kiss.

The rain turned into a deluge, changing from drips to a pour. Ye Tan’s gloomy past, just like this summer rain, fell heartily during this French kiss, completely left in the past.

When the kiss ended and Director Mao called “Cut,” Shen Lishu and An Rongrong were already drenched like drowned rats. Xiao Zhang and the assistant director ran toward the two on the sports field with large umbrellas.

In the curtain of rain, Shen Lishu’s heart thumped, her lips felt numb, and she looked down at An Rongrong. Rainwater blurred the girl’s face, yet An Rongrong still stood on her tiptoes, using both hands to form an “umbrella” over Shen Lishu’s head in an attempt to shield her from the rain.

Shen Lishu laughed from her heart. She couldn’t resist wrapping her arm around An Rongrong’s waist and pulling her into her embrace once more. She pressed her palm against the back of the girl’s head, tucking her into the crook of her neck.

Shen Lishu thought she must have water in her brain. Otherwise, why would she feel more and more sensation when kissing a woman?

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