The Movie Queen is Flirtatious and Doting - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next day. The scheduled filming time was 10:00 AM. Gu Yinglian arrived punctually at 9:00 AM—exactly one hour early, not a minute more or less.

The secretary’s makeup was extremely simple, while the CEO’s was much more exquisite. Once the makeup was finished, Ye Yansheng actually approached her to go over their lines.

Ye Yansheng spoke seriously about her ideas, the scenario design, and the reactions the other party should make… Gu Yinglian listened, completely stunned. She thought to herself: I’m just a CEO’s secretary, an insignificant character in this drama. Why would someone of Best Actress caliber waste time and energy running lines with me? Isn’t this a bit overkill?

The playful tone from yesterday’s phone call had vanished, replaced only by professional discussion. Yes, professional.

Ye Yansheng smiled slightly. “If you keep staring at me like that, I might lose my self-control.”

Gu Yinglian: “…”

Gu Yinglian decided to take back her previous thought. She was professional, alright—a professional rogue.

Ye Yansheng: “Did you take in everything I said, or were you too busy lusting after my beauty to remember a thing?”

Gu Yinglian looked at her blankly, looking somewhat “daimeng” (cluelessly cute). Ye Yansheng burst out laughing. “It’s fine. You aren’t that important anyway; you just need to be responsible for being cute.”

Gu Yinglian: “Since I’m not important, why do you put so much effort into running lines with me?”

Ye Yansheng: “Being unimportant in the drama doesn’t mean you’re unimportant outside of it. I told you, I fell for you at first sight and I can’t get over it.”

When she wasn’t being cold or mocking, Gu Yinglian found her quite easy to talk to—except for the fact that she constantly said such outrageous things…

“Do you like me even a little bit?” Ye Yansheng asked.

“No. I’m not interested in women,” Gu Yinglian said.

“Oh? Then you’re quite a challenge for me,” Ye Yansheng remarked. “After all, it might take some time to bend you ‘gay’.”

Gu Yinglian gave no reaction. Ye Yansheng added, “May I ask if you have a boyfriend? I don’t want to be anyone’s ‘third party’.”

“No.” Gu Yinglian sighed. She had been single for all twenty-five years of her life. While she knew men existed in the world, she had never considered a boyfriend as a relevant species.

Ye Yansheng: “Hmm? Isn’t that perfect then? Why not join me in this wonderful wonderland? You’ll find it quite nice. Or are you afraid of what people might say?”

Gu Yinglian rolled her eyes. Were they really this close? They were talking as if they were sharing heart-to-hearts. What was with this bizarre, “instant-familiarity” vibe?

Just then, the director called for filming to begin.

…

During filming, Gu Yinglian noticed a problem. She wasn’t sure if the director felt her role was unimportant or what, but he rarely gave her direction. The scenes just… happened. The director didn’t criticize her, but he didn’t praise her either.

Perhaps the director was giving her a pass for Ye Yansheng’s sake? After all, when acting opposite Ye Yansheng, Gu was pulled into the scene almost instantly. It felt like she was just being herself; it was very natural, no forced acting required.

In this scene, they were heading out to discuss business. Besides the CEO and the secretary, there were other high-level executives. The director wanted to capture that “walking with the wind” power-walk vibe. “I roam the world as I please, admired by the masses…” Wait, wrong background music. Reset. “In a single moment, there are a million possibilities…”

They came; they walked with the wind. The CEO was in the center with the secretary on her right, a line of five people. Wind machines whirred on the side—it was as cool as could be.

Gu Yinglian performed well at first, but because they were walking so fast (everyone had such long legs), she struggled to keep up. Her legs got tangled, she accidentally stepped on a wet patch, and her high heel slipped forward.

“Ah!” Gu Yinglian cried out in shock, her body falling backward.

Ye Yansheng was quick. She reached out and hooked an arm around Gu’s waist, catching her just in time. “Are you alright, Secretary Jin?” A gentle, concerned voice drifted from above.

“?” Gu Yinglian saw the corners of Ye’s mouth curling up slightly, as if she were gloating. “I’m fine,” Gu Yinglian replied, her face flushing as she stood up straight.

This little interlude was a total accident, but the director didn’t call “cut,” so they kept walking forward.

Watching the monitor, the director rubbed his beard. “Mhm, not bad, not bad. Very authentic. One close-up and it’ll be perfect.”

…

Once the scene finished, Ye Yansheng sought out the director. “Director, the set needs to be cleaned better in the future. There was water on the floor. What if someone slipped and got hurt? We’re all wearing high heels.”

The director promised to be more careful and called Gu Yinglian over to ask if she was hurt. Gu Yinglian was truly flattered by the attention, repeatedly saying she was fine. Tripping in heels was a tiny issue to her, not even worth mentioning. Besides, it was her own fault for being nervous; she was just glad the director didn’t scold her.

Gu Yinglian glanced at Ye Yansheng. Ye Yansheng looked back and gave her a smile—a wicked, charming smile that made Gu’s heart go thump-thump. Before, Gu Yinglian couldn’t understand how two women could fall in love. Now, she was starting to get it. There really were women in this world who were both flirty and doting, with a total “overbearing CEO” vibe. Who could resist that?

Seeing that she wasn’t needed, Gu Yinglian quickly found a chance to slip away. Ye Yansheng stayed to discuss the plot and character with the director. The next part was a scene between Ye Yansheng and someone else.

…

Most of Gu Yinglian’s scenes were with Ye Yansheng, mostly set in the “office,” with a few trivial outdoor scenes. They were filmed, but she wasn’t sure if they’d be cut in the end.

Gu Yinglian’s scenes were filmed in chronological order. Ye Yansheng’s, however, were not.

As the female lead, Ye Yansheng had a romantic subplot with the male lead. In Gu Yinglian’s memory, the two characters hadn’t even officially met in the script yet, but today they were filming an intimate “kabedon” (wall-pinning) scene. This was supposed to happen later in the story after the male lead developed feelings for her. It’s a real test of acting for two strangers to immediately pour such emotion into a scene and pretend they’ve known each other, but for a professional, it was standard.

Gu Yinglian observed from the sidelines. The playboy male lead was arguing with Ye Yansheng about something, then grabbed her hand, pinned it against the wall, and leaned his face in close…

Gu Yinglian felt it was very “off.” Ye Yansheng shouldn’t be like this; she shouldn’t have a weak persona that gets pinned to a wall. It would make more sense if the roles were reversed and she was pinning the guy.

“Cut!” the director shouted. “Xiao Ye, put some emotion into it! Where are you looking? Look at the male lead in front of you!” The director felt like his worries would never end.

Ye Yansheng looked at the director, glanced over toward Gu Yinglian’s direction, and replied, “Alright, Director.”

The director thought for a moment and added, “Let’s add a kiss scene. What you’re filming is too superficial; it lacks explosive power…”

Before the director could finish, Ye Yansheng cut him off. “Add a scene? If you want to add scenes, please talk to my management agency. We can film once that’s settled.”

“Oh, come on, it’s just one shot,” the director said with some dissatisfaction. “A camera trick? We can just fake the angle.”

“I don’t do kiss scenes. If you want a kiss scene, get a stunt double,” Ye Yansheng said firmly.

“Where am I going to find a stunt double at this hour…” The director glanced at Gu Yinglian. “How about you? You go in?”

Gu Yinglian shook her head violently. “No, no, Director, I can’t do it…”

“Hoh?” Ye Yansheng walked over, reached out to tilt Gu Yinglian’s chin up, and said to the director, “You want to film a kiss scene between me and her? I can do as many of those as you want~”

Director: “…”