I Ran Away After Flirting with the Goddess - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In the new drama Indulgence, the character An Rongrong plays is named Luo Yue—a “good girl” from a wealthy family with a quiet and gentle personality.

Due to a job transfer, Luo Yue arrives at a new company and encounters the female lead, Ye Tan, played by Shen Lishu.

In the workplace, Ye Tan is Luo Yue’s senior and the person mentoring her. Unlike Luo Yue, Ye Tan is passionate, outgoing, highly professional, and also a lesbian.

Ye Tan never hides her sexual orientation, so when Luo Yue is first assigned to her team, she is teased by male colleagues who tell her to be careful not to be “eaten by Manager Ye until not even the bones are left.”

Perhaps because the “not-too-small” joke Shen Lishu made last night had an effect, An Rongrong ended up dreaming about their characters during the night.

She dreamed that Luo Yue had some sort of falling out with Ye Tan; the two were arguing and angry, only for Luo Yue to be pulled by the waist and pinned against the back of a storage room door by Ye Tan for a deep kiss.

In the dim room, her senses were infinitely magnified. Every touch of their tongues made An Rongrong shiver. It felt so real, as if she were actually there, her face being held by Shen Lishu’s hand as she was kissed until her face burned, her legs went weak, and she couldn’t catch her breath.

A soul-stirring voice whispered low in her ear, “Baby, do you prefer doing it in the car, or on the bed?”

An Rongrong truly couldn’t handle it; her calves went weak and her back began to slide down the door.

The scene suddenly shifted. The surrounding warm lights were ambiguous. Somehow, she and Shen Lishu had wrestled their way into the bedroom and were sitting on the bed.

The other woman was wearing a red silk deep-V camisole dress, her skin snowy white, her long wavy black hair draped casually behind her. She was walking over swaying gracefully with a wine glass in hand, her slender, long legs visible through the slit of the dress, her cleavage partially hidden yet partially visible.

She leaned down toward her, the collar dipping even lower. Shen Lishu didn’t mind at all, slowly exhaling toward An Rongrong’s ear with a faint scent of wine, her eyes shimmering with implication. “Does it look good?”

“Rongrong, Rongrong? An Rongrong!” The makeup artist looked at her in confusion. “Why is your face so red?”

She hadn’t even applied blush yet.

An Rongrong snapped back to reality, her eyes blinking rapidly as she sat in the dressing room. She was too guilty to look at anyone, let alone meet the makeup artist’s gaze in the mirror. “I-it might be a bit hot.”

She used her hand as a fan to blow air toward her face.

This was lethal. An Rongrong thought dreaming about filming an X-rated movie with Shen Lishu last night was stimulating enough; who knew that a momentary lapse in concentration would cause the details of the dream to resurface so vividly?

By the end of the dream, An Rongrong could no longer distinguish if she was Luo Yue or An Rongrong, nor if the person in front of her was Ye Tan or Shen Lishu. She was too busy immersing herself in the whirlpool of heat the other woman created. When she woke up, she was covered in a fine sweat, her legs clutching the quilt and her cheeks flushed deep red.

Before today, An Rongrong wouldn’t have believed for a second that just because the Goddess gave her her contact info, she would already be “speeding on the highway” (having dirty thoughts).

She must have drunk fake alcohol. If she had only eaten a couple of peanuts before drinking last night, it wouldn’t have come to this.

An Rongrong grabbed the small fan on the desk and blew it toward her face, attempting to cool down and clear her head.

“It is quite hot.” It was currently the peak of July heat. The dressing room had no air conditioning, and it was over thirty degrees Celsius outside—dry and scorching.

The makeup artist couldn’t help but complain, “The weather is so hot that it’s hard to set the makeup.”

The slightest movement caused sweat, requiring constant touch-ups and oil control.

“But Rongrong, your skin is truly great.” It was white with a healthy rosy tint, and her face had a bit of “baby fat,” making her look like a fresh, pink peach.

“Thank you.” An Rongrong’s eyes curved into crescents as she spoke sweetly to praise her back, “Sister, your skin is great too. You don’t get any acne; it must be natural.”

Women always have endless things to talk about regarding skincare. When Shen Lishu walked in with some water, the two were chatting happily.

“Teacher Shen.” The makeup artist quickly stopped her work to greet her. “You’ve arrived so early.”

An Rongrong saw Shen Lishu enter through the mirror and felt like a green shrimp dropped into boiling water—she was instantly steamed red, wanting nothing more than to curl up and bury her head in the floor.

Right now, just the thought of Shen Lishu filled her head with the “trashy thoughts” from her dream where the woman drank red wine and leaned down to feed her. How could she dare meet her eyes?

With a red face, An Rongrong greeted her stiffly and nervously, “Teacher Shen.”

Shen Lishu’s beautiful eyebrows arched slightly. She looked at An Rongrong with a half-smile. “Are you completely sober now?”

Last night, while drunk in the car, she had pestered her to call her “Sister,” yet today, once sober, she was back to “Teacher Shen.”

An Rongrong didn’t even dare lift her head. She gripped the cool bottle of mineral water, wishing she could roll her face against it.

Some people clearly can’t handle their liquor, yet wish they could stay drunk forever.

Shen Lishu smiled and handed one bottle of water to the makeup artist and the other to An Rongrong. She naturally faced An Rongrong, leaning against the makeup table beside her, looking down at the girl who was almost “cooked” through. “Director Mao wants us to run through our lines early.”

The past few days were a brief period of adjustment—actors, crew, directors, and screenwriters all needed to get familiar with one another. Thus, today was the official start of filming.

What does “official start” mean? It meant the two female leads were about to have romantic scenes and interactions from their “honeymoon phase.”

Before this, they had filmed separately. Even though they were in the same crew, they had almost no scenes together.

The makeup artist immediately tidied An Rongrong’s hair and gave an ‘OK’ sign. “All done.”

Director Mao was afraid An Rongrong would be too reserved, so he had Shen Lishu come over early to lead her.

The makeup artist nimbly packed her things, took her water, and left, thoughtfully closing the door behind her.

Click. The sound of the doorknob turning exploded in An Rongrong’s head like a thunderclap. She desperately wanted to bolt out the door.

In reality, however, she sat huddled in her chair like a quail, her eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.

Shen Lishu chuckled and said softly, “I’m sorry.”

An Rongrong was slightly stunned. She looked up in confusion, asking with a red face, “W-why are you saying sorry?”

“The joke I played on you yesterday was a bit much; I scared you,” Shen Lishu said. “My intention was to remind you not to trust others so easily, and certainly not to jump into someone’s car to go home on a whim. In this circle, you never know if the person is a human or a ghost under their skin. Even if it’s another woman, things can still go wrong.”

But then, seeing how cute An Rongrong was—sleeping like a Samoyed puppy with its paws in the air—she couldn’t help but want to pinch her ears and “rua” (pet) her, so she teased her.

Who knew An Rongrong was so timid and couldn’t take a joke?

Shen Lishu had been in the industry too long; she had seen all kinds of people and situations, including those who were gay or those who intentionally pretended to be for resources and connections.

She thought An Rongrong’s expression today was because she took yesterday’s joke seriously and thought she was a lesbian. So, she offered an explanation: “Have you seen my scandals/rumors?”

An Rongrong couldn’t quite keep up with Shen Lishu’s train of thought. She was still immersed in the deep self-blame of the fact that the Goddess was so good, yet she had had that kind of dream.

Though she didn’t know what Shen Lishu meant, An Rongrong still nodded. “I have.”

She had seen too many.

Success brings many rumors.

In the first two years of Shen Lishu’s debut, whenever she went out to eat, any male near her was labeled as her rumored boyfriend, regardless of age.

Once, she was photographed dining privately with a middle-aged man who looked about forty, well-maintained, and driving a luxury car.

The marketing accounts exploded instantly, releasing articles everywhere saying Shen Lishu was being “kept” (sugar baby) and that all her resources since entering the industry were provided by this “sugar daddy.”

It made Shen Lishu laugh in anger, and she used her main account to clap back personally. The rumors about the “Best Actress Shen” having a big temper and a bad personality started from that time as well.

At the time, the marketing accounts were all stubborn, insisting Shen Lishu had a benefactor behind her, and even vowed that if they were wrong, they would kneel and apologize!

As it turned out, the middle-aged man dining with Shen Lishu was indeed her father—her biological father, the kind on the same household registry.

When the truth came out, the marketing accounts all shut up, quiet as chickens.

Seeing that An Rongrong had seen them all, and remembering how she had listed her works like family treasures last night, Shen Lishu felt a bit subtle.

Could she have memorized all those rumored boyfriends too?

“They were all men,” Shen Lishu concluded. “So you don’t have to worry about me trying to ‘hidden rule’ (casting couch) you.”

Although the scandals were all fake—Shen Lishu had been so busy these years she had no time for romance—using fake news to dispel An Rongrong’s worries was more than enough.

After hearing Shen Lishu speak, An Rongrong’s originally boiling blood instantly went cold.

The Goddess was straight—straight as a ruler.

Although An Rongrong was somewhat prepared, hearing it from her mouth still felt terrible, like being subtly rejected by a crush.

The problem was that she had just dreamed about “doing it” with her crush last night.

An Rongrong put down her water and picked up the script beside her as a cover, flipping it open to change the subject. “Which scene should we run through first?”

There was a lot to film today. Fortunately, An Rongrong had memorized everything in advance and wasn’t afraid of “Teaching Director” Shen Lishu’s inspection.

Shen Lishu went “Mm” and looked a bit embarrassed. Her red lips curled up, and her voice carried a hint of a smile. “According to Director Mao’s wishes, we’re running the kiss scene first.”

The heat that had just faded from An Rongrong’s face rushed back up. Her eyes went wide instantly, and she let out a sharp gasp.

Is it the kind where you use tongues?

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