The Movie Queen is Flirtatious and Doting - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ye Yansheng glanced at her manager. Even though he was a man, he knew her inside and out.

Ye Yansheng: “That Gu Yinglian I acted with today—what’s her background? Is she a total rookie?”

Manager: “In the film industry, yes. She’s a music composer. No idea why she suddenly decided to try acting.”

Ye Yansheng: “Oh? A songwriter? Then she’s quite talented. What has she written?”

Manager: “Those massive hits by your old ‘flame’ Zhu MI were written by her. You’re usually humming them yourself.”

Ye Yansheng: “She wrote all of those?”

Manager: “Mhm.”

Ye Yansheng: “Hah, how interesting… find some time to ask her manager for her contact info. I need to ‘discuss’ the script with her.”

Manager: “I don’t think you want to discuss the script. You want to discuss your ‘preferences’ and ‘wicked tastes,’ don’t you? Not that I should lecture you, but you really ought to restrain yourself. What good does it do to ruin your own reputation? She’s not from this circle; she might find your behavior repulsive. If this ever gets leaked, don’t come crying to me…”

Ye Yansheng: “It really is about the script! How did that turn into a whole lecture? Just hurry up and get her number.”

Manager: “Fine, fine. I’ll ask later.”

…

Arriving at the commercial shoot, Ye Yansheng did her makeup and changed clothes. Another busy cycle began. By the time she finished and returned home, it was dark, and she was too exhausted to move.

Ever since she won that award and skyrocketed to fame last year, the offers for films and commercials hadn’t stopped. She was busy to the point of collapse. Her company was like a modern-day slavedriver—as long as she had a single breath left, they would squeeze it out of her. If she didn’t fight for a little rest, the company would probably be burying her body by tomorrow.

After a shower, Ye Yansheng collapsed on the sofa with her iPad to scroll through Weibo. Her account was managed by a team; she was usually too busy to post anything herself. Her feed was almost entirely official promotions for new dramas or ads.

As she scrolled through the boredom, her manager sent her a number.

“Gu Yinglian…” Ye Yansheng muttered the name. It felt unique. “Real name? Or a stage name?” She saved the number and searched the name online. A profile popped up immediately, but she seemed incredibly low-profile—there wasn’t even a photo. The descriptions only mentioned her as a music composer who had written for certain A-list singers. Living in obscurity seemed to be her style.

Then why come out to act? Acting means appearing before the public. Is she lonely?

Ye Yansheng had been in the industry for years and had seen countless beauties, yet for some reason, she was specifically drawn to this one. Recalling that slender waist she’d seen during the day, Ye Yansheng felt an impulse to measure it with her own hands.

“Hello, Zhu MI. Speak,” Ye Yansheng said, answering an incoming call.

“Hello~ big baby, what are you doing?” A voice so cloyingly sweet it could cause goosebumps came from the other end.

“Staying in. What else would I be doing?” Ye Yansheng replied.

Zhu MI: “Come out and play! Staying in is so boring. Let’s go out and break a sweat~”

Ye Yansheng: “Pass. Filming has exhausted me. Right now, I only want to ‘favor’ my bed.”

Zhu MI: “You’re so mean! Why favor a bed? You haven’t favored me in so long. My heart is so lonely~”

Ye Yansheng: “Lonely? Are you ever short on people to favor you? Just crook your finger and they’ll come running.”

Zhu MI: “But they aren’t you~”

Ye Yansheng didn’t want to deal with her anymore. “Alright, alright. Find someone else. I want to sleep. Bye.”

Zhu MI whimpered, “Hmph. Heartless once you’re done with someone.”

Ye Yansheng hung up and lay on the sofa. She couldn’t even remember what stroke of bad luck led her to meet Zhu MI. Back then, she wasn’t “like that,” but Zhu MI certainly was. Now, she had been led so far off the straight path she was as curved as a coil of incense—there was no going back.

Since then, a door to a new world had opened for Ye Yansheng. She found soft, cute girls much more interesting than men. Because she couldn’t bring herself to feel any love for her male leads, she mostly took roles where romance wasn’t the main focus.

This current drama was a bit special. The secretary had quite a lot of scenes, and the screenwriter was very good at catering to her tastes. It was practically written specifically for her heart.

The little secretary had performed well today; Ye Yansheng couldn’t help but look forward to her next performance.

…

The “little secretary,” Gu Yinglian, stayed up late memorizing her script. She had two scenes the next day: one in the office and one in a shopping mall. The plot summary was: The CEO has a whim to go clothes shopping and makes her secretary accompany her.

Mhm, simple enough. But to Gu Yinglian, no matter how simple the plot, she couldn’t let her guard down. She feared that if she made a mistake, flubbed a line, or had the wrong expression, Ye Yansheng would catch her and subject her to cold mockery. she could already imagine that critical face.

“What’s so great about her anyway?” Gu Yinglian thought of her arrogant attitude and let out a disdainful “tch.”

…

The next day, filming officially began.

After Gu Yinglian finished reporting her work in the office (successfully reciting her lines), Ye Yansheng stood up, walked over, and circled around her. She smiled: “Secretary Jin, how about we go shopping for some clothes?”

“Huh? Oh, okay… sure.” Gu Yinglian said hurriedly. In Gu Yinglian’s mental rehearsal, Ye Yansheng was supposed to be sitting behind the desk when she said this, using a slightly cold tone: “Secretary Jin, how about we go shopping for some clothes?”—total “overbearing CEO” style. Who knew she would act so “personable”? It was startling.

“Cut! Move to the next location!” the director called out.

This scene was a success; nothing went wrong. Gu Yinglian took a deep breath.

Moving to the mall, Ye Yansheng looked around pickily. She picked up a snow-white lace dress, held it up against Gu Yinglian, and compared them. “Mhm, this one isn’t bad. Go try it on.”

Gu Yinglian looked up at her. The line was correct, but wasn’t the CEO supposed to try it on herself? Wait, had she missed something? Was there a part where she had to try on clothes?

When the director didn’t get a response, he called out, “Cut! Xiao Gu, why are you dazed? Aren’t you prepared?”

“Oh, sorry, Director. Let’s do it again.” Gu Yinglian turned and bowed to the director.

Ye Yansheng huffed. “So, it is necessary to discuss the script after all. Are you stupid? You can’t even follow the lines.”

Hearing the cold mockery, Gu Yinglian’s temples throbbed, but she could only suppress her anger and start over. In Gu Yinglian’s own plan, the CEO should have liked the dress, tried it on herself, and then bought it. Now it was all reversed. Why was she the one trying it on? She wasn’t the one buying clothes!

Starting over, Ye Yansheng again held the white lace dress against her. “Mhm, this one isn’t bad. Go try it on.”

“Alright.” Gu Yinglian took the dress and walked toward the fitting room.

While Gu Yinglian was changing, the camera outside captured Ye Yansheng sitting on the sofa, waiting with an intriguing expression.

Gu Yinglian quickly changed and pulled the curtain open with a swish. Ye Yansheng stared. Bathed in the bright lights, Gu Yinglian looked like a beautiful, pure angel. Ye Yansheng was stunned. As Gu Yinglian walked toward her, Ye Yansheng stood up. She couldn’t help but reach out and take off Gu’s glasses, then let down her carefully pinned bun. Gu Yinglian was left dazed. What… what is going on?

“Cut!” the director shouted. “Xiao Gu, the makeover looks great. Let’s do a few more sets.”

“…” Gu Yinglian often saw this kind of plot on TV, but acting it out herself felt extremely bizarre. Wasn’t the CEO here to buy clothes? Why was she trying them on? And why a few more sets?

Following the director’s orders, Gu Yinglian had to try on several more outfits. Finally, Ye Yansheng said grandly, “I’ll take all of these.”

Although the clothes were borrowed props, they were quite expensive to ensure a high-quality look. Hearing Ye Yansheng say she wanted them all, Gu Yinglian suddenly had the illusion they were really shopping. After all, with Ye Yansheng’s status, “taking them all” fit her big-shot persona perfectly.

Both scenes were filmed smoothly. Gu Yinglian felt increasingly strange. Why does this feel so… “orange” (lesbian/yuri coded)? Besides, Ye Yansheng was that kind of person—the rumors said as much. Surely they wouldn’t have a romantic subplot? At this thought, Gu Yinglian was startled. She grabbed the script and flipped through it meticulously again. Indeed, there were no overly intimate actions.

Gu Yinglian tried to comfort herself; she was probably just being paranoid. It wasn’t necessarily like that. Even if they filmed it that way, it wouldn’t be allowed to air, right? Things weren’t that open yet.

While removing makeup, Ye Yansheng was there too. In private, she didn’t act like a diva, but she couldn’t help her cold mockery. Hearing her act like this actually made Gu Yinglian feel a bit relieved. A strange sense of security.

“Gu Yinglian,” Ye Yansheng called her. Gu Yinglian couldn’t help but look at her. “What is it?”

Ye Yansheng looked at her. “How do you think you performed today?”

“Oh, it was okay, I guess…” Gu Yinglian said uncertainly. She had a premonition the nitpicking was starting again.

Sure enough, Ye Yansheng let out a cold snort. “I’m not very satisfied. You can’t keep up with my rhythm.”

“Then I’ll try my best to cooperate with you…” Gu Yinglian said softly.

“Trying isn’t enough,” Ye Yansheng said. “We need to interact more and communicate more. Understand?”

Gu Yinglian didn’t dare argue. She could only say, “Yes.”

Ye Yansheng held out her hand. “Give me your phone for a second.”

Gu Yinglian looked at her in surprise and silently handed it over.

Ye Yansheng took the phone and typed something, talking as she did: “This is my phone number. I’ve added myself on WeChat, too. No blocking allowed. We need to communicate more in the future. Don’t think I actually wanted to add you; it’s only for the sake of the filming and for art. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.”

Gu Yinglian: “Oh…”

In reality, Ye Yansheng’s heart was screaming: Oh yeah! Finally got the cutie’s WeChat! La la la~