I Was Taken by the Female Lead After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 75

“Even if you do this, she might not know about it. And even if she does, she might not appreciate it,” Li Ke said, purposefully tapping the script. “What’s this, are you trying to be like Li Ran?”

“Someone who doesn’t understand their place, gets caught up in unrequited feelings, and expects something in return is a simp,” Huo Wu replied, not falling for it at all. “What’s my place, and what’s Li Ran’s?”

The five words “what’s my place” made Li Ke ponder for a long time.

He only came to his senses when the lighting crew was ready and the shoot officially began.

This scene had a kiss that wasn’t exactly a kiss.

Li Ran bought a drink for Fusang and had been following her for so long. He saw himself as her protector and finally wanted to talk to her, but Fusang still maintained the same attitude and didn’t care about him.

At that moment, Li Ran suddenly had the urge to kiss her and acted on it.

Li Ran held his script with a frustrated look on his face. “Why on earth does he have to go up and forcefully kiss her? Isn’t that sexual harassment?”

Bai Feifei also couldn’t understand this.

Li Ke said, “Because Li Ran wants to show his devotion. Devotion in the sense of being sincere.”

The two of them didn’t understand this. Li Ke pointed to Li Ran’s line in the script. “Did you understand the four words ‘I’ll protect you’?”

Both of them nodded at the same time.

This was when the necessity of a director came into play.

There was only one line in the script: [Li Ran: (Sigh) From now on, I’ll protect you.]

Followed by the action: [Leans down and kisses Fusang.]

The emotion behind it, if the director didn’t explain it, could easily turn into something very strange if the actors relied on their own interpretation.

“Li Ran’s line wasn’t said to Fusang or to himself,” Li Ke said with a chuckle, not knowing who he was mocking, and made a terribly cold joke. “He said it to a ghost.”

Because neither of the two people present believed in the authenticity of his words.

Li Ran still didn’t understand, but Bai Feifei suddenly thought of the first day of school.

That scene was difficult to film. She had to change into the same clothes more than a dozen times, and her skin was almost soaked with water until the red dye was completely washed off.

When Li Ran first saw Fusang, he was stunned, but he did nothing.

Even later, when Fusang went to save Qiyang, Li Ran witnessed everything, but he still did nothing.

It wasn’t until now that Fusang had become a model with her grades and her appearance in middle school. Her ads were even out, and she had a bit of fame in certain circles… that Li Ran suddenly became a hero.

The phrase “I’ll protect you” was said under the premise that “there was no longer any danger.” This was why Li Ke said he was “talking to a ghost.”

Because only a ghost would believe him.

Li Ke explained it to Li Ran in detail, and Li Ran suddenly understood. For the first time, he fully grasped the contradictions in Li Ran’s character. Not long after, when he got the second half of his script, he completely understood what kind of person Li Ran was.

After the lecture, the shoot officially began.

This time, the emotions of both actors flowed much more smoothly.

Li Ran gave Fusang the drink, but she ignored him and turned to leave without a word.

Li Ran was stunned. He had been nervous and anxious, but at that moment, an inexplicable anger and a mix of emotions welled up in him.

He grabbed Fusang’s wrist with a lot of force. “Fusang!”

His voice was filled with anger. Fusang was hurt by his grip and involuntarily turned around. Her brow furrowed, and her cold face was filled with disgust. “Let go of me.”

Li Ran took a step forward, seemingly wanting to do something, but he stopped himself.

After a moment, he stared at Fusang’s refined, not-like-an-ordinary-person face, a little distracted. “Wuling isn’t with you today. Aren’t you scared?”

Fusang didn’t answer his question. She had already pulled her hand away from his. She remained cold and silent at his words.

Li Ran talked to himself. “I know Wuling takes you to your part-time job every day, but there will be times when she’s not around. From now on, you don’t have to be scared. I don’t have anything to do after school, so I can go with you every day and pick you up…”

The emotions began to rise here. Li Ran’s tone became higher and higher, as if he had finally convinced himself.

He finally said, “From now on, I’ll protect you.”

After saying that, he looked at her face and the glimmer of light in her eyes that had always been there since the first time he saw her—so bright that it was hard to look away.

It was as if there was an unseen force pushing him forward. Li Ran murmured, “From now on, I’ll protect you…”

Then, he lowered his head, held his breath, and kissed her devoutly.

But Fusang easily dodged the kiss.

She sneered and ignored her swollen and scraped hand. She gave a cold laugh. “Li Ran, I don’t need you to.”

Li Ke signaled the camera to zoom in, getting a close-up of Bai Feifei’s wrist.

There was no need to stop and cut for makeup. Bai Feifei was easily marked, and the scrapes and redness on her wrist were all very real and even trembled slightly.

This detail made Li Ke very satisfied.

Many shows now would film one scene after another, focusing on where the acting was needed rather than having the actors be fully invested. When shooting close-ups, they would only show facial expressions, and the rest of their body would be doing God-knows-what. When the behind-the-scenes footage was released, a bunch of people would praise them for being able to multitask.

On camera, Bai Feifei continued to deliver her lines. With every word she said, Li Ran’s face became more and more pale.

“Your love and protection are built after the storm has passed,” Fusang’s words were sharp. “Where were you when I was being isolated during gym class? Where were you when I was called to the back and hit and cursed during recess? Where were you when I was sitting with a trash can on my head and getting ugly photos taken of me during study hall? Protection? Heh.”

Li Ran couldn’t speak anymore. The entire set, accompanied by the chirping of cicadas, fell into an absurd silence.

Fusang coldly raised her wrist. Some blood had seeped out, making it even more noticeable on her fair skin. “Your strength is so great. Why don’t you share some of it with your courage?”

Fusang left in big strides without a pause.

The camera finally stopped on Li Ran’s face, which was a mixture of embarrassment, humiliation, and anger. It seemed that with every word Fusang said, he could recall everything he had witnessed.

He liked Fusang, and he wanted to protect Fusang… But during her most difficult time, he was a silent bystander. When she finally got out of the darkness, he wanted to jump out and enjoy the fruits, seeing himself as a protector.

Just like Fusang said.

He had followed her for two months under the premise that there was no longer any danger.

During her most dangerous time… he hadn’t even said a word to her.

Li Ran’s face turned pale. He had hit his own shameful core.

He had deluded himself into being a hero who could save Fusang from fire and water. However, in the face of reality, he was just a coward who knew only how to avoid things and an ant who shouted praises after the fact.

The number of depressed people went from just Ling Xinghe to him and Li Ran.

Li Ke chuckled, showing off to everyone. “It proves that I’m a good mentor. Give them emotional support? What emotional support? It doesn’t exist. Why would they be depressed for two weeks? Their emotions were just getting into the role. They’ll snap out of it after going out and taking a stroll.”

In the end, he had to add, “You think I’m right, don’t you?”

After taking a stroll, Li Ke, who had been having an exceptionally smooth time filming recently, found that Huo Wu and Bai Feifei had disappeared together.

He thought about it for a while and didn’t go looking for them. He went on to the next storyboard.

Bai Feifei was being pressed down by Huo Wu, who was applying medicine for her.

She mumbled, “That’s strange. Why do I always get medicine applied to me since I joined the crew…”

Due to both in-show and out-of-show reasons, she had a constant stream of minor and major injuries—the kind that would heal if she waited a little longer. But Huo Wu was always able to pinpoint them and disinfect them in time.

She wasn’t using any high-tech, special medicine, just the timeless povidone-iodine. And she could only use it when there were no scenes or when the camera couldn’t capture it.

(Translator’s note: The original text has an extra ‘闲竹赋整理’ here, which means ‘organized by Xianzhufu’. It’s likely a note from the novel publisher or a reading site and has been omitted from the translated text as it is not part of the narrative.)

Huo Wu also found it funny. “Only you can get hurt every day even when filming a modern show. There’s no one else but you.”

Sometimes, an actor’s injuries in a modern drama can break the illusion, and other times, they can add to the sense of reality.

The former, like a privileged, dignified character, would not be suitable for having small, messy wounds. But the latter, like Fusang, who was in a bullied role, having some wounds and bruises on her body would make the character more realistic.

The only downside was that the filming wasn’t in chronological order of the show’s timeline. If some wounds from a later part of the story appeared and the ones from an earlier part of the story had already healed, they would have to be covered up.

Bai Feifei giggled. “It’s not so bad. It’s better than when I was a kid.”

When she was a kid, she and Fu Xiaoxiao were truly covered in injuries. There were always bruises on their bodies that never healed. She would bump into something and get a large bruise that wouldn’t go away for a long time.

Now, even a small scrape could cause her a sharp pain. Bai Feifei said, “Why do I feel like the older I get, the less I’m able to endure pain like I used to? When I was a kid, I could hop around on one foot even after breaking my leg.”

Huo Wu held back from correcting her.

No one is not afraid of pain. It was just that her childhood memories were so far away that she had forgotten. Bai Feifei could only remember the happy things. The current pain was the most profound, but Bai Feifei would also forget it just as quickly.

She played along and acted dumb, but her praise wasn’t very sincere. “Then you must be very amazing.”

Bai Feifei looked up at her. “You’re being perfunctory.”

“I’m not.”

Bai Feifei was acting like a childish kid, and Huo Wu played along with her.

The two repeated “You are” and “I’m not” several times until Huo Wu finally ended the conversation.

She threw away the cotton swab, put the rest away in the medicine box, and asked slowly, “Then tell me, what would not be perfunctory?”

Outside, it was the familiar twilight. The sunlight inevitably cast a hazy and intimate glow on the same scene.

The time they spent alone wasn’t long. When they were in the trailer, they would mess around and get intimate, but many times, they would go out with their scripts, which looked like they were doing serious work.

In her eyes, even Bai Feifei’s random glances, her eyes that didn’t quite dare to meet hers, her hand unconsciously playing with the blanket, and her slightly upturned lips all became extraordinarily cute.

Huo Wu chuckled softly. “I know how to not be perfunctory.”

Bai Feifei’s joyful expression was on her entire face. Before Huo Wu even had a chance to kiss her, Bai Feifei had already kissed her.

Without any skill, Bai Feifei’s kiss was like a child hugging and gnawing on a dog.

The kind that was satisfied after a few pecks and then left.

Huo Wu’s face was full of dark lines. She unconsciously took the dominant position. Bai Feifei was always so cooperative that it made her want to be a little more mischievous and see how far she was willing to go.

This was not a good sign.

Huo Wu forced herself to stop. After leaving a kiss on the corner of Bai Feifei’s lips and pursing her soft lips, she suddenly whispered, “Actually, in the original script, Li Ran kissed Fusang on the side of her face.”

Bai Feifei’s vision was still blurred. She murmured, “Then why was it changed…?”

“Because there was no need,” Huo Wu whispered.

She had indeed discussed it with Li Ke a few times, and they concluded that there was no need for it, so they deleted it.

But it was undeniable that she also made the same mistake that everyone else would. She would get jealous and possessive.

Li Ke had once asked her what she would do if Bai Feifei were to film in the future. With her current path of development, she probably wouldn’t get any explicit scenes, but there would definitely be a lot of romantic scenes. What would she do then?

Huo Wu could barely imagine how bad her mood was at that time. She could only keep a straight face and reply flatly, “I wouldn’t do anything.”

I would watch, be jealous, and possessive.

And then, one by one, get them all back.