I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 115

The wet keys and the crystal sparkled with exceptional brilliance under the bright lights, making the ordinary silver key chain look especially beautiful.

She dried off the excess water and even had a moment to worry that if the keychain, which had been soaked in water, were to rust, she wouldn’t know where to buy an identical one.

That thought barely completed half a circuit in her mind before all of Bai Feifei’s attention was drawn to the beautiful diamond. The quality and color of this diamond looked like the “Pink Star” diamond from a scene they had filmed not long ago.

Due to her personality, Bai Feifei didn’t like to wear jewelry. She hadn’t seen many diamonds, and she had only seen top-quality ones in videos or news articles. It was rare to see one-of-a-kind diamonds, each with its own name.

“This diamond…” The words caught in Bai Feifei’s throat. She said, “It looks like a real diamond…”

“It is.” When Huo Wu said this, her gaze lingered on Bai Feifei’s earlobes for a moment.

In her memory, Bai Feifei’s ears should have been completely pierced, and not just her ears. Her eyebrow ridge, lips, and nose were all locations where it was trendy to wear “hoop” or “stud” accessories, and she should have had piercings in all of those places, and not just a few.

But now, Bai Feifei’s earlobes only had a small hole on each side. Those were pierced when they were both still young, when they were modeling at a festival in an ancient city, and the owner of a shop gave them free piercings, each with a complimentary silver stud.

She pinched Bai Feifei’s soft earlobe. The ear hole, because it had already formed a passage, felt slightly hard to the touch. It felt great to rub and could pass the time without her realizing it.

She pinched for a while, and the normally delicate earlobe, which had never been treated this way, became visibly flushed, but the other side remained its normal color.

Bai Feifei’s ears felt hot. She reached out and rubbed them, touching Huo Wu’s fingers. She quickly put her hand down, letting Huo Wu continue to play with her ear.

Huo Wu said, “I originally wanted to make it into a piece of jewelry for you, but you don’t usually like wearing accessories.”

Bai Feifei didn’t have a habit of wearing jewelry. She found it troublesome and was afraid of pain. This might also be related to her ear piercings not healing well. Wearing accessories for too long would easily cause bleeding, and because the holes were too small and enclosed, they would easily get infected and fester.

She also loved gardening, and washing her hands and digging in the dirt was a daily occurrence. She didn’t wear any accessories on her hands, not even a watch.

It just so happened that Huo Wu was planning to give her keys. In a flash of inspiration, she simply made the small diamond into a decoration for the keychain and had it directly attached to the keys with a chain.

“This is great.” Bai Feifei loved it so much. She held it up to her eyes and examined it in various poses for a long time. Finally, she said with certainty, “This could be a full-page ad on the homepage with just a single photo.”

They hadn’t had much of a chance to talk. During the underwater long-shot filming, Bai Feifei was exhausted, and Huo Wu’s kiss didn’t leave her much time to savor it.

Bai Feifei pursed her lips. Before they separated to get ready, she leaned in and whispered, “Won’t it be bad to kiss for the medium shot?”

Huo Wu smiled brightly and lightly pecked Bai Feifei’s lower lip. She didn’t say anything and just left.

This left Bai Feifei feeling uneasy alone.

Her scenes consumed a massive amount of physical energy. Every time she was underwater for almost a minute, Huo Wu could jump into the water to continue filming.

After filming the medium shot, Li Ke called both of them over to talk to them privately.

Bai Feifei had been in the water for a long time. After the start of autumn, the cold was inevitable. Her face was pale, but her lips were bright red.

As soon as she got there, Li Ke clicked his tongue impatiently.

Huo Wu magically produced a small sun heater and placed it in front of Bai Feifei. When she saw Li Ke looking at Bai Feifei in a strange way, she frowned and said, “Just get to the point.”

“What are you angry about?” Li Ke grabbed his pink wig, which had arrived at the same time as Bai Feifei’s sun heater. “For the close-up shot, we’ll continue with the same idea as the long and medium shots. You’ll give Fu Sang air.”

Bai Feifei looked up in surprise. “Ah, you saw that?”

Li Ke said, “I only saw the general movement. It was hard to tell from the long shot, but it was confirmed in the medium shot. It’s a good thing. Filming is all about it; it’s normal to have small changes along the way.”

Bai Feifei didn’t say anything at first. After a moment, she whispered, “A real kiss?”

She knew they couldn’t capture a kiss in the long shot, and she knew it wouldn’t be very clear in the medium shot… but a kiss in a close-up shot felt a bit embarrassing.

Li Ke started to grin in that strange way of his again.

After Huo Wu gave him a light look, he put away his mischievous expression and gestured towards Huo Wu. He said, “Why don’t you explain it to her?”

Li Ke left after saying that, leaving Bai Feifei to slowly move next to Huo Wu. With Huo Wu there, the atmosphere, no matter how awkward, never fell silent. Bai Feifei whispered, “How are we going to kiss later? Do I need to respond? The script didn’t say there was a real kiss scene. Wow, shouldn’t there be an emotional build-up for a kiss scene? I don’t feel like Fu Sang and Wu Ling have the kind of relationship where they would just kiss.”

Bai Feifei was overthinking, talking a mile a minute. Huo Wu had to tell her to drink water to get her to stop talking.

Only after watching Bai Feifei finish her drink and her face become a little rosier did Huo Wu laugh and explain, “Li Ke said ‘give air,’ not ‘kiss.'”

Bai Feifei then realized she had misunderstood Li Ke’s meaning.

She mumbled awkwardly, “I must have been frozen stupid just now.”

Bai Feifei’s imagination was too rich. As soon as the words left her mouth, a scene of the close-up shot of the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation appeared in her mind. After all, they had been working together for a few months, and Bai Feifei was well aware of Li Ke’s demands.

Since the request was for mouth-to-mouth, it had to be authentic mouth-to-mouth, and it had nothing to do with romantic bubbles. Bai Feifei had just been worried that a kiss in the medium shot would be bad, and now she had to have a kiss in the close-up shot.

She looked at the camera’s position. It wasn’t a close-up on her face, but it was very, very close.

“You only need to remember one thing later,” Huo Wu said, moving closer to her. As always, she temporarily took on the role of a director and gave Bai Feifei acting instructions. “In this state, what is Fu Sang’s state?”

Bai Feifei fell into thought.

They officially entered the water, and Bai Feifei let herself sink.

She was already used to opening her eyes underwater. The cameraman, who was carrying equipment, followed her for a close-up on her expression. At this moment, her eyes had lost their light.

She opened her mouth, and only a small string of residual bubbles emerged. Her nose and mouth were full of water. Fu Sang looked past the water’s surface, which was so close yet so far away, and finally closed her eyes unwillingly.

She wanted to save herself and had been trying desperately, but after trying, she found out that some things just couldn’t be done. The ropes on her hands wouldn’t come loose, and she had already lost all her strength. Whether she waited on the surface for her body to freeze to death or sank underwater from exhaustion and suffocated to death, the difference was only a few minutes or a few dozen minutes.

In the camera, her body twitched from time to time, desperately trying to grip the slippery edge of the pool, but only leaving behind blood and torn flesh that kept gushing out. She quickly became pained and distorted once again, losing consciousness.

At this moment, a pair of hands wrapped around her chest and lifted her up in the water. Soon, a long-lost warmth enveloped her whole body, and another warm and soft pair of lips covered her own.

A continuous stream of air rushed into her mouth. Before her sanity was about to break and she tried to struggle, Bai Feifei barely remembered that she was Fu Sang at this moment. Her head rested on Huo Wu’s shoulder. She used the last bit of air in her lungs to kick upwards in the pool, which was filled with a constant stream of blood.

When the two of them floated to the surface, Bai Feifei instinctively coughed. Her whole nasal cavity, tear ducts, and mouth were in pain.

She felt her body had reached its limit, but Li Ke liked her look of being truly on the verge of drowning and death. He mercilessly said through the intercom, “Continue. Film the scene of you coming out of the water. Keep your current state, and be careful not to breathe too evenly.”

The words “I can’t” had not even surfaced in Bai Feifei’s mind when Huo Wu dove underwater before her. At that moment, she thought of nothing. She held back the cough in her throat and re-submerged herself.

This time, the time she held her breath was shorter. After watching it a few times, Li Ke was very satisfied. While Bai Feifei was getting her injuries treated, he squatted by the side of the pool and said with a strange look, “Did you notice? Bai Feifei is a natural.”

He didn’t wait for Huo Wu to answer and continued on his own, “The more she’s pushed to the brink, the more brilliant, realistic, and shocking her reactions are.”

Then, he paused and said, “You’ve seen people who have drowned before. The way Bai Feifei performs when she’s pushed to the brink is exactly how those people were.”

Most ordinary people can’t overcome their physical instincts. Most will jump out of the water the moment they are about to lose their breath. However, in this situation, it was usually a one-time effort. The second and third times, they would definitely feel fear, and their performance would certainly not be as good as the first time.

The fact that Bai Feifei could follow instructions in that instant and push herself beyond her limits exceeded Li Ke’s expectations.

Huo Wu didn’t explain. Bai Feifei was staring at the water, lost in thought. She seemed to notice Huo Wu’s gaze on her. Bai Feifei turned her head very sensitively and her eyes curved into a smile the moment they met Huo Wu’s.

So Huo Wu said, “Of course, she can. You forgot about that car crash scene in the rainy night so quickly?”

Of course, he hadn’t forgotten.

Li Ke had already submitted that scene for an award.

Thinking of that, Li Ke’s topic shifted. He said, “Although this show has two female protagonists, to be honest, the one with the better acting skills will become the protagonist in the audience’s hearts. Are you not afraid that you’ll end up being her runner-up? You’ve won so many Best Actress awards, Teacher Huo. It’s been so many years. Can you handle it if a newcomer wins the award?”

Huo Wu didn’t answer the question directly. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Her gaze was on Bai Feifei, who was not far away.

The scene required her to constantly try to grip the side of the pool with her hands and feet. Her fingertips and toes were inevitably injured, and her index and middle fingernails had varying degrees of cracking. This added a lot of difficulty to the filming.

Li Ke was a person with a conscience. He would not make actors suffer for nothing, and he also liked actors who were willing to suffer for the sake of realism. All of Bai Feifei’s injuries for this scene would be truthfully portrayed by him.

Li Ke chuckled lightly. His voice had an envy that even he didn’t realize. “Of course, it’s a good thing.”

Bai Feifei’s scenes ended here.

She felt a little dazed.

Waves of people came and left in a hurry. The goodbyes were all very rushed. As a newcomer, she didn’t have many fans, and her status was definitely not high enough for the crew to hold a wrap party or a farewell party just for her.

The protagonist’s lounge was filled with flowers and gifts. Fu Xiaoxiao registered all the valuable ones and returned them, leaving only some less valuable but more meaningful small things, including but not limited to props from the crew.

Bai Feifei was still soaking wet. The gauze wrapped around her hands was already stained red, but the bleeding had stopped. There was only a soul-crushing pain.

She sat wearily in front of the makeup mirror, listening to Fu Xiaoxiao complain unhappily, “What kind of people are these? The temperature is less than 20 degrees Celsius at night, and they’re not cold, but they don’t even consider that you just came out of the water. Aren’t they afraid you’ll get a fever, rushing to see you one after another like this?”

“They’re all well-meaning,” Bai Feifei sighed. She looked at the bouquets of vibrant flowers and said, “Flowers aren’t cheap. These fresh flowers are so beautiful.”

The timing of the wrap was just a little off. Most of the people who came to say goodbye left after a few words when they saw her condition. After all, there would be a formal wrap party after the entire crew finished filming, but many people probably wouldn’t attend then.

After she finished speaking, she looked around and whispered, “Is that about it? I don’t think anyone else will come, right?”

“Pretty much,” Fu Xiaoxiao said as she checked the names on the flowers against the names she had on her notebook. She said, “Go take a shower and change. Do you want me to help…”

Her words were interrupted by a knock on the door. Fu Xiaoxiao’s expression instantly soured, but it returned to a smile in a short instant. She said loudly, “Come in.”

When Huo Wu came in, she saw Bai Feifei wrapped in a big towel but still clearly wet all over.

She was sitting alone in front of the makeup mirror. A small puddle of water had already gathered on the floor. Her hair wasn’t dripping, but she could tell it wouldn’t be comfortable sticking to her body wet.

Huo Wu frowned. “Go change quickly.”

Bai Feifei was wilting. She had already run out of strength a long time ago. The only reason she held on until now was because she knew it was hard being a newcomer. She had to use her fragile body to greet guests. She also wanted to have a few more words with Huo Wu before she left. After all, they were going to drive back to the city next door, and it would only take a little more than two hours to get home.

Huo Wu led Bai Feifei into the bathroom, and Fu Xiaoxiao locked the door behind them and hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign outside.

“How are your hands and feet?” Huo Wu checked. Almost every one of her fingers was wrapped in a thick bandage.

After autumn began, the day and night temperature difference gradually increased, and the wounds were also prone to infection. She didn’t know how deep the wounds were. She had only gotten a glance before Li Ke rushed her away, but she felt a heartache so profound it hurt.

“It’s just a little bit of torn skin. It’s already been treated, and the bleeding has stopped,” Bai Feifei said, rubbing her head against Huo Wu’s stomach to please her. “It just hurts so much, it’s annoying.”

Huo Wu didn’t dare to touch her or use any force.

The temperature in the bathroom rose. She carefully washed Bai Feifei’s hands and feet and took off her soaked clothes, helping her rinse off.

Huo Wu asked her, “Where did you throw your socks?”

Bai Feifei shook her head, leaning her full weight on Huo Wu in a dependent way. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re on the floor outside. Does the costume designer still need those socks?”

“They need them for a documentary and a few photos,” Huo Wu paused and looked at Bai Feifei’s feet, which were also tightly bandaged. Her feet were injured almost as badly as her hands. Even her pinky toes were wrapped up. The final shots with the socks would probably look spectacular since they were so torn up.

She didn’t care about her own wet clothes. She carefully rinsed off Bai Feifei and then scrubbed her palms. After washing them, she patted Bai Feifei’s knees, motioning for her to lift her feet and step on the stool.

Bai Feifei finally came back to her senses from her daze. She murmured, “A’Wu, am I really done filming?”

“The last scene has been filmed,” Huo Wu said. She carefully cleaned Bai Feifei’s feet and pinched the fleshy arch of her foot, which didn’t match her thin body. After standing up, she said, “Congratulations on wrapping. You worked hard.”

—It felt like a dream.

Bai Feifei came out of the bathroom dressed in new clothes, looking at the lounge that Fu Xiaoxiao had cleaned up in a very short amount of time. A sad feeling belatedly started to rise in her.

Two tears welled up in her eyes. She looked at Huo Wu with watery eyes, wanting to say something, but she didn’t even know what to say herself.

“Are you very sad?” Huo Wu very gently wiped away her tears. She held Bai Feifei in a way a person would hold a child, letting her face her as she comforted her.

Bai Feifei nodded, sobbing.

“It feels like there’s an empty space,” she said, her head resting on Huo Wu’s chest, breathing in Huo Wu’s scent. “It feels like I had a very long dream, and then the dream ended, and I suddenly feel so empty.”

She had lived as Fu Sang for a few months. Everyone called her Fu Sang. Bai Feifei herself had already accepted this name. But suddenly, one day, the right to use this name was taken away.

Everyone’s name for her had uniformly changed to ‘Feifei’ or ‘Sister Feifei,’ or ‘Teacher Bai.’ Fu Sang seemed to have become another person. Even though she was also a part of her, she was no longer her.

Huo Wu still had to film the final ending.

Li Jianshu was brought to justice. The remaining criminals were hunted down using the chain of evidence provided by Li Qinqin. Among them, some committed suicide, and others lived in disgrace.

The end of the story was in the audience seats after the court’s verdict. A long shot passed through the door and the long corridor, heading towards the courthouse’s front door. The faces of parents who had lost their children were each marked with the time they first appeared on screen. After a long shot, Wu Ling, who was at a window, looked up and saw Fu Sang pulling a suitcase, walking alone towards an unknown but perhaps brilliant path.

The screen went black. A hurried but powerful sound of footsteps began to ring out, taking one step after another, little by little, towards the door.

Bai Feifei cried for a while, but when she thought of the ending, she felt a little better.

She looked up, a little embarrassed, at the small, wet spot on Huo Wu’s chest from her tears. She futilely wiped it twice with her hand, as if mending a broken fence after the sheep were gone.

The wet part was still wet. It wouldn’t dry just because she wiped it twice.

Huo Wu smiled. “Did you put away the keys I gave you?”

Bai Feifei nodded, her voice still a little nasal. “I put them all away. They’re in my bag.”

Huo Wu said, “The best way to get out of character is to keep yourself busy. I’ll be back in a week. You can use this week to move. Then wait for me at home.”

It was a strange feeling. The “home” that Huo Wu was talking about this time was the small nest they would live in together for a long time, their home.

This word was very special to Bai Feifei because she had never really had a home of her own.

The place she was living in now was the original owner’s parents’ house. Even though she had been with them since she was born and had feelings for them, before this, she was still an adult, and a completely independent one at that. She didn’t have a family or close relatives and didn’t know how to get along with her elders.

Her thoughts drifted for a moment, but Huo Wu’s voice quickly pulled her back.

Bai Feifei calculated. The distance to Huo Wu’s place was still a bit far, not too close, not too far. A little over an hour’s drive. Moving would be fast, but she had a lot of scattered things, especially her gardening tools, which were a little troublesome.

When she finished tidying everything up, a week would still be a tight schedule.

Her voice was still nasal, and her face still showed the sad and lost look from when her mind had wandered. But she was already beginning to look forward to her future with Huo Wu.

Huo Wu gently patted Bai Feifei’s arm.

Bai Feifei’s heart, which had just felt so empty, was now filled. She said excitedly, “Can I decorate it however I want?”

Huo Wu agreed in one breath. “You can.”

Bai Feifei thought of the two dogs and one cat at home, who would soon be living with their owner. “Anything goes? Can I change the layout?”

“Everyth…” The words “everything goes” were on the tip of her tongue, but Huo Wu suddenly thought of something. She changed her words to, “You’re not allowed to put the cat bed or dog bed in the master bedroom, and especially not on the bed. I’ve already set aside rooms for them.”

Bai Feifei looked disappointed.

Huo Wu immediately said, “Everything else is up to you.”

After resting on Huo Wu for a while, Bai Feifei looked up pitifully again. “So, when you’re not home this week, can they temporarily be in the master bedroom?”

What Bai Feifei was really asking was if the two dogs and one cat had the “privilege of serving the bed” while Huo Wu was away for the week.

Huo Wu was silent for a moment, thinking to herself that she could just wash the sheets when she got back. She said, “…You can.”

Bai Feifei’s eyes curved into a smile. She kissed Huo Wu’s chest excitedly, then put her head back down. She said, “Then I’ll wait for you at home.”