Chapter 62 – Suspicions Arise (3)
When Xu Jin"ge"s foot had been caught in the rat trap, the clamp had removed a small chunk of skin from her ankle. Due to this, she"d asked the staff to wrap a thick layer of gauze over her foot, yet she refused to settle down and chose to jump around instead.
While a makeup artist was applying makeup on Lan Jinyao, Xu Jin"ge was sitting on a stool nearby. Whenever Lan Jinyao wasn"t paying attention, Xu Jin"ge would stealthily glance at her. But, when Lan Jinyao would look at her, Xu Jin"ge would quickly glance away and pretend as if nothing had happened.
Lan Jinyao was suspicious and wondered how many more tricks Xu Jin"ge had up her sleeve. So, even after Xu Jin"ge had poured a basin of cold water over her that afternoon, she"d decided not to pursue the matter. If Xu Jin"ge still wanted to try something, Lan Jinyao didn"t mind spending time with her.
But, Xu Jin"ge was just watching her, that"s all. She didn"t do anything disruptive.
In this afternoon"s scene, the second female lead was feigning an illness to get sympathy, and since Xu Jin"ge just happened to be injured, it wouldn"t affect anything as all she had to do was lay on the bed. An embroidered quilt would cover her body, so no one would be able to see.
The candles illuminating the ancient style room were so bright that it seemed like it was daytime. The makeup artist had applied a thick layer of foundation to Xu Jin"ge"s face, making her looked like a painted wall. Lan Jinyao wanted to laugh upon seeing her.
"Sister, you came to visit me? Please forgive me, I"m feeling unwell and can only lie in bed!"
Lan Jinyao quickly stepped forward and held her hand as she softly said, "It"s alright, you should continue resting for now!"
As their hands were clasped together, Xu Jin"ge applied slight force to her fingers, and her sharp nails almost pierced the skin on the back of Lan Jinyao"s hand.
Lan Jinyao reacted by yanking her hand back, which resulted in Xu Jin"ge almost falling to the ground. However, a fake smile was still plastered across her face.
Xu Jin"ge seemed angry, but she endured it as she gritted her teeth. The glare she gave Lan Jinyao was so vicious that it appeared like she wanted to maul her.
While the two women were secretly bickering, the shot came out particularly good.
"You two make the best partners. Here, have a look, the results are perfect!" Alan excitedly exclaimed.
Lan Jinyao drew closer to take a look and noticed that it was indeed excellent. Especially Xu Jin"ge"s expression. Even though it was the normal expression Xu Jin"ge would show Lan Jinyao, it matched her character perfectly.
Later that evening, when Lan Jinyao and Li Qi were sitting in the hall drinking tea, Xu Jin"ge walked in supported by her a.s.sistant. Watching her limping, Li Qi couldn"t help but smile and say to Lan Jinyao, "Look, she was so unlucky that when she was wandering around the villa, she stepped on a rat trap. There"s a saying for this, what was it again…?"
Lan Jinyao chimed in. "If one"s character is bad, then one"s luck will drop!"
Li Qi slapped his thigh. "Oh! Yes, that was it."
"But…" Lan Jinyao suddenly said. "At that time, she wasn"t really just wandering around; I think she might"ve been secretly following me. When I approached her, she was so shocked that she stepped on the rat trap. That"s why I thought that it was her who placed the rat trap there."
"Xu Jin"ge was following you?"
Li Qi looked over in Xu Jin"ge"s direction. Although they were all in the same hall, Xu Jin"ge was sitting quite far away from them. In this traditionally styled hall, the chairs were arranged in two rows on both sides of the hall, with the corridor in between. Li Qi and Lan Jinyao sat near the main seat, while Xu Jin"ge had chosen to sit near the entrance, glancing at them from time to time.
"If you hadn"t mentioned it, I wouldn"t have realised it. You see how often Xu Jin"ge looks at you?" Li Qi"s expression became weird. "She wouldn"t fancy you, right?"
Lan Jinyao almost spat out her tea at his remark.
"Don"t talk nonsense!"
Although Lan Jinyao was smiling, deep inside she felt that it was increasingly strange. It seemed that after arriving at the villa today, she felt that Xu Jin"ge was behaving oddly. It wasn"t quite like Xu Jin"ge was looking for opportunity to scheme against her, because if Xu Jin"ge really wanted to do something to her, she might"ve already come to her long ago. But, if Xu Jin"ge didn"t intend to harm her, she couldn"t guess what the real reason was for all the staring.
The first time Lan Jinyao had met Xu Jin"ge was at the restaurant. At that time, Xu Jin"ge was having lunch with Fu Bainian. She remembered that at the time, there was a lot of news about Xu Jin"ge and Fu Bainian; enough to fill up the sky. The second time she met Xu Jin"ge again was at the Fu residence.
The only thing she had in common with Xu Jin"ge was about Fu Bainian.
Soon, an idea popped into Lan Jinyao"s mind. Maybe Xu Jin"ge wanted to observe her, and then think about how to s.n.a.t.c.h Fu Bainian away!
Lan Jinyao guessed that Xu Jin"ge wouldn"t stop, so she secretly thought of a plan.
There weren"t that many scenes to shoot that evening, and they had to be filmed in the same room as before. But, these scenes were the climax of the film. Lan Jinyao, who was acting as the female lead, would be forced into a desperate situation without any way of retreat, which later lead to her being reborn.
Xu Jin"ge, who was playing the second female lead, now held a silver hairpin as she stood up. Her eyes were narrowed, and she smiled viciously as she slowly approached the female lead, step by step. The female lead, who was forced into a corner, weakly curled her body into herself and looked at the other party with tearful eyes. Her body constantly trembled, causing the smile on Xu Jin"ge"s face to become more malicious.
"This face of yours really makes people nauseous!"
The silver hairpin swept ferociously across Lan Jinyao"s cheek. In that split moment, Lan Jinyao"s pupils abruptly shrunk. She was genuinely worried that Xu Jin"ge would use this opportunity to damage her face.
As she closed her eyes, a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Sis-sister…why…why are you so ruthless?" she sobbed softly, her voice wobbling as she questioned.
"Cut!"
Alan spoke to the makeup artist. "Hurry and change her makeup. Right, the wound on her face, try to make it a little more realistic; it"s best to make it a bit more b.l.o.o.d.y. This shot will certainly arouse a deep emotional resonance in the heart of the audience."
"Yes!" the makeup artist responded and quickly went to change Lan Jinyao"s makeup.
At that moment, Xu Jin"ge, who was holding the silver hairpin, didn"t move for a long time, her eyes glued to Lan Jinyao. The atmosphere was somewhat awkward.
The makeup artist then pushed Xu Jin"ge. "Jin"ge, can you move aside? I have to change Chen Meimei"s makeup!"
Everyone thought that Xu Jin"ge would get angry. However, contrary to everyone"s expectations, once the makeup artist pushed her she silently moved to the side.
Lan Jinyao looked at her in amazement and saw Xu Jin"ge"s mouth opening and closing as if she was muttering something. Reading Xu Jin"ge"s lips, it seemed that she was saying, "Not the same, it was truly not the same."
Lan Jinyao wasn"t sure why, but she had a bad omen in her heart.
Chapter 63 – Sowing Dissension (1)
At 10 PM, Lan Jinyao had just come out of the bathroom when she saw that her phone screen was on. She thought it was a notification from a news app, but when she took a look, she found that it was a text message.
"Do you miss me?"
It was a text from Fu Bainian.
Lan Jinyao stared at the text message, and suddenly, Fu Bainian"s face with his deep eyes popped into her mind. The corner of her lips raised into a faint arc.
So, she decisively sent a text back. "I don"t miss you!!!"
Before long, she received another text message. Lan Jinyao thought that Fu Bainian must currently be staring at his phone. She looked at the time for when the first message came; it was half an hour ago.
Thinking of this, the smile on her lips widened.
"But I miss you!"
At the end of the second text, there was even a cute emoji, which was simply unimaginable. Great President Fu, who was as cold as ice, could unexpectedly play with emojis.
Lan Jinyao lay on the bed as she looked at the text. She was thinking about how to reply to him, but after a while, she still didn"t type a word and instead took a ring out of her bag.
A hexagon shaped diamond sparkled under the light.
She suddenly recalled how before, when they"d decided to get a marriage certificate, Fu Bainian had given her a ring. It was a pair with the one he had on his finger, and it was a very ordinary ring; the type of ring that anyone could buy in a jewellery store. Later, when the groom hadn"t appeared at the wedding ceremony, she"d become a laughingstock. Furious, she"d thrown the ring onto a dressing table in the presence of Mother Fu. She still remembered the expression on Mother Fu"s face at that time; shame and regret.
Looking carefully, she discovered that the ring was completely different from the previous one. The diamond was slightly more prominent, and the design was clearly more beautiful. It looked like it was meticulously designed with the utmost care.
When she"d woken up in Fu Bainian"s bed that morning, she"d felt something on her finger. But, at that time, she hadn"t paid it any attention. She"d only noticed it after getting in the car and had then taken advantage of when Li Qi had closed his eyes to rest to quickly slip the ring into her bag.
On a whim, she sent Fu Bainian a text message, asking him, "Why is this ring different from the previous one?"
"Because that ring was for Chen Meimei, and this ring originally belonged to you!"
This sentence wasn"t a text message. Instead, it was a real voice which drifted through the door of her room.
Like a snapped string, Lan Jinyao shot up from her bed and rushed to the door with large strides before slowly unlocking it. The next second, President Fu"s n.o.ble and threatening face appeared before her eyes.
Fu Bainian pushed the door open wider and walked in, then tightly hugged her.
Lan Jinyao heard him say, "I lost. I missed you so very much, although it was only a day that pa.s.sed."
Lan Jinyao felt her heart thumping wildly, and she let Fu Bainian hug her as she clenched her hands at her side. Yet, she didn"t push him away.
After a while, he released her. With a low voice, he said in her ears in a slightly wronged tone, "But, you didn"t miss me."
She didn"t say anything. In fact, even during her free time, his figure would appear in her mind, but she subconsciously ignored it.
She"d initially thought that as long as they were holding hands that they could be happy for a lifetime. Even if she was wearing Chen Meimei"s body and face, they could slowly nurture their feelings. But, later, reality gave her a heavy blow and let her understand how ridiculous her dream was.
She wasn"t Chen Meimei, but she might not be able to escape Chen Meimei"s ident.i.ty in her lifetime, which caused many problems between them. She had a career, and she also had a grievance that had yet to be settled. She wanted to take revenge, but she also didn"t want him to get involved.
In fact, the most important thing was that she was worried about was being hurt.
In over 20 years of her life, this was the first time she"d met someone that she liked. Her love had a relatively late awakening, and the ones who fell in love late were quite affectionate. After loving once, there would be no second time, so she was anxious about being hurt.
"Fu Bainian, how come you"re suddenly here?"
"I was worried that you missed me, so I came!" he righteously answered.
Lan Jinyao quietly muttered, "Didn"t you say that you missed me?"
When she looked at Fu Bainian again, she saw the evil smile on his face that was too late for him to hide.
After looking around the room, Fu Bainian asked her, "There"s only one bed?"
Before Lan Jinyao could respond, she heard him continue, "However, this bed is quite big. It"s just the right size for the two of us."
"For the two of us?! Who said that I wanted to sleep with you…?!"
An hour later, Lan Jinyao had already shut her eyes and had fallen asleep. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Fu Bainian watched her sleeping, a smile forming on his face.
She"d obviously said that she liked him before, so now she was playing hard to get?
In the middle of the night, Fu Bainian had just lied down when he heard movements at the door. It was a very quiet voice, but it was particularly evident in the silence of the night; someone was at the door.
Fu Bainian slightly frowned.
The shooting of Rouge Fermentation would take several days, so all the rooms in this villa had been booked in advance. Logically speaking, excluding the crew members, there should be no outsiders here. In that case, could it be someone from the crew?
The first thing he thought of was Rouge Fermentation"s male lead. That man was an honest teen idol with dewy eyes that could shock anyone who gazed into them.
He carefully unwrapped his arm from Lan Jinyao"s waist, then lightly walked step by step towards the door. The dark room was extremely quiet, so he could hear the sounds of the person outside opening the door with a key.
Fu Bainian watched the lock rotating, the tight frown on his face expressing his displeasure. No matter who the person outside was, as long as he had the key to this room, there was no excuse. What"s more, Lan Jinyao seemed completely unaware of this.
The moment the door opened, Xu Jin"ge stood blankly outside as she met the angry glare of a man. The rage within his eyes was terrible, making her want to run away in terror.
"Bai-Bainian, you"re here?" she stuttered, her hands restlessly clutching her clothes.
Upon seeing that it was Xu Jin"ge who"d unlocked the door, Fu Bainian felt relieved. Fortunately, it was only this woman who was standing outside. However, when he recalled the red mark on Lan Jinyao"s face that couldn"t even be covered with foundation, he found it almost unbearable.