Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Reading the familiar words on her screen, she momentarily lost control of her powers and crushed the can of milk in her hands as though it was nothing.
“Someone’s planning to abduct him.”
Zhou Xufang went quiet for a moment. The indifferent expression she always wore on the outside returned to her face. “Abduct him for what?”
“The client did not specify much about it. Only the time and venue for the plan to be carried out. The price was set pretty high, too.” Shuang Jiang then sent over a numerical figure.
Seven zeroes. Ten million yuan.
This was the highest price she had ever seen offered in the market.
Just who was it that was willing to spend so much, just to abduct Jiang Zhi.
Zhou Xufang placed the half-full can of milk down on her table. She had lost her appetite to continue drinking. “I need more details. What is the reason for his abduction?”
There were ground rules which she followed religiously when considering whether or not the job should be accepted. Firstly, the purpose of her mission had to be stated, and her task mustn’t involve a serious violation of the law or her own set of morals. Should her client tell even a single lie, the contract was over.
Shuang Jiang’s reply came a full 5 minutes later.
“The client is tight-lipped. However, the price was further increased again. 20 million yuan.”
Whoever this person was, to be able to fork out 20 million yuan meant that he had to be someone with considerable power. Zhou Xufang looked at her reflection on the black screen of her other monitor. Her brows were furrowed as she asked restlessly, “Do you think you can find out who this client is?”
“He’s using a proxy IP address, can’t do that.”
For Shuang Jiang to give up on tracing his identity, this client was no simpleton. What was more, the price offered for completing the task was sky-high as far as Xufang knew. For him to remain silent about the mission’s purpose, this client must have a plan that no one should know about. Perhaps this client wanted to actualize his or her sexual fantasies with Jiang Zhi… Zhou Xufang sunk into her thoughts.
“Are we going to accept this?”
Zhou Xufang pulled the drawstring of her hoodie out and tied a secure knot underneath her chin. “Yes.”
If she didn’t accept the job, some other person would. Should that be the case, there would only be one outcome—Jiang Zhi being defiled.
Zhou Xufang did not like the thought of him being taken advantage of. Beautiful things must be protected and cared for, like the glass container for her marshmallows. She had been using it for so many years now, but there wasn’t even a single scratch on it. Xufang wished for Jiang Zhi to be like that container, so she could gaze at him forever and ever.
However, if she chose to breach the agreement or if the mission backfired, she would have to pay double the amount of the offer back to her client as compensation. In this case, she would have to pay 40 million yuan…
Zhou Xufang felt a little disheartened. “Guess I’ll have to postpone my plans on purchasing that island.”
As the saying goes, beauty comes at a steep price.
This was bad. She had to work extra hard to get that amount. Picking up her phone, she sent a message to her group leader on WeChat: [Is there any film I can play in that pays more?]
The group leader, Lao Wei’s reply came after just 3 minutes.
Lao Wei: [You can play in any film?]
Xufang: [Yes.]
Lao Wei: [Would you like to play as a stand-in, then?]
Xufang: [No problem.]
Zhou Xufang had seen other people work as stand-ins for action flicks, so she figured that it must’ve been pretty simple. As long as she maintained good control over her strength, she could avoid killing other actors with her inhuman powers.
[Send me your weight, your height, and your three-sizes. And a full-body photo too.] Lao Wei assumed that she already had plenty of experience on set, hence, leaving out what he deemed as “unnecessary details”. [There’s no guarantee that you’ll be picked though. I’ll try regardless.]
[Alright.]
Zhou Xufang proceeded to do as she was told, sending the required details as well as the photo over to the group leader.
Half an hour later, just as Zhou Xufang was about to hit the sack, Lao Wei’s answer finally came. [Yu Ran is satisfied with you. Come to the set tomorrow to be her body double. You will be paid 8000 yuan for each scene.]
8000 yuan.
It sounded like a lot of money. She didn’t know that being a stand-in was such a lucrative job.
She had never been offered so much money before. Feeling elated, she responded immediately: [I’ll be there tomorrow.]
Lao Wei: [Once you’re there, look for Anna. She’s in charge of the costumes.]
Xufang: [Okay.]
Lao Wei then sent her an emoji.
Zhou Xufang replied with a full stop.
Lao Wei sent her another emoji.
Zhou Xufang replied with yet another full stop.
Lao Wei: [That’s enough. Stop sending these dots to me. Hurry up and go to bed.]
Xufang: [.]
‘What was with this girl!? She’d always end a conversation with a full stop!’
The next morning, Zhou Xufang pulled on an army greatcoat and as usual, plopped a hat onto her head. She made sure to wrap herself up from head to toe before heading out early in the morning to Film City. Excluding the staff members, not a single actor could be seen when she arrived. Even Fang Lixiang was nowhere to be seen.
She headed straight to the costume department.
Anna was already waiting there. She scanned Xufang’s body for quite a while before finally asking, “Are you the stand-in that Lao Wei found yesterday?”
Zhou Xufang nodded.
Anna looked up and down Xufang’s body as if she was appraising some sort of antique item.
‘She’s wearing way too much. Pretty conservative in her dressing, huh? I can’t even make out her actual body,’ Anna thought to herself.
“Have you ever done this job before?”
“No,” Zhou Xufang replied. She had never even considered working as a body double for fear of accidentally breaking someone’s bones, especially in scenes where fighting was involved.
The only thing Anna could see was that child-like face peeking out from underneath her cap. At least she appeared pretty calm, which made her breathe out in relief. “The Assistant Director will explain the scene later on. There will be people guiding you in the scene, so there’s no need to be so nervous.”
Zhou Xufang wore a blank expression on her face. She wasn’t nervous, not one bit…
Unbeknownst to her, there were 2 kinds of body doubles. The first kind was the sort you would see in action flicks, and the second kind was the ones you would hire for sex scenes where full nudity was involved.
As the morning sun rose, the sky gradually brightened up. Sunlight on winter mornings only partially penetrated the thick layer of fog that hugged the ground, so it was still quite dim.
Probably due to waking up too early, Jiang Zhi did not get enough sleep, and so, his mood was extra-vile for today. He nestled himself into the chair on which he went into a half-asleep state, his eyelids slowly peeling open from time to time, revealing eyes that seemed as misty as today’s morning.
“What are you waiting for?”
Sleepiness still lingered in the air around him, but one could already feel the displeasure in his voice.
There was nothing else in the world that Assistant Director Zhao feared more than Jiang Zhi, so with a trembling voice, he replied meekly, “S-sir, the actors are s-still halfway through their preparations.”
Jiang Zhi lifted his wrist as he glanced down at his watch. “8:47 am”. Looking up, he turned toward Assistant Director Zhao. “To leave an entire crew waiting for a single person? Is this her first day working here? Is she unaware of my rules?”
They were in the middle of winter and yet, Assistant Director Zhao was sweating bullets.
The female lead, Yu Ran’s manager hurried over to apologize on her behalf. “We’re really, really sorry Director Jiang, but Yu Ran’s stand-in is still not ready. I’ve already urged her to hurry up though, so we should be able to start soon.”
“Stand-in?”
Jiang Zhi looked at his pale-white hands and then at his fingertips which had turned beet red due to the freezing temperature. The cold weather today ticked him off more than usual. Throwing the script aside, he tucked his hands under his blanket.
“Tell me, when exactly did I agree to use a stand-in for her?” Jiang Zhi asked as he casually raised his eyelids to look at the manager.
During winter, Jiang Zhi’s face would be drained of its color which made him look all the more sapped of energy.
Even so, this soulless face managed to strike fear into the people around him without fail. Xu Lu almost felt her heart explode from the surmounting pressure, but swallowing down her pride, she begged the Director for mercy. “Sir, please, Yu Ran is just a rookie actress. She has a lot more to learn and you should know that her fanbase is made up entirely of men. We’ve discussed this over and over again in the office and we’ve concluded that having a stand-in for this scene would be much better.”
The film had a patriotic theme. It was a story about espionage and warfare, with the female lead working as a spy for her nation. Of course, what use would a female spy be without honey potting an enemy target? This scene called for the female lead to be naked from the back of her neck down to her waist.
Not too much skin would be shown though, and it could be taken care of with some special effects.
“The things you say…” Jiang Zhi replied slowly, word by word. In between his words, he would even cough once or twice. Dragging on his speech, as if he was running out of strength, he finally put an end to his sentence. “…what…does it have to do with my film?”
Jiang Zhi was not ready to back down.
“But Yu Ran…” Xu Lu accidentally let slip something which she should not have said. “She has a scar on her back from a previous injury. I fear it won’t look good on camera.” How could a female actress undress so easily in front of a camera!? The reason why Yu Ran was able to make it in the industry was due to her innocent appeal. It was precisely due to this reason that she dared to defy Yang Fengyin’s orders back then.
Jiang Zhi swirled the can of milk in his hands silently.
Xu Lu hurriedly added on to further support her proposition. “The stand-in I’ve found is very suited for the role. I believe we can have better results with her. Director Jiang, could you possibly let us try using the stand-in first?”
It was Assistant Director Zhao’s turn to butt into their exchange. “Have you had a look at that stand-in actress? You have to look at her back befo-”
Before he was even able to finish his sentence.
“Boss! Boss!”
The 6-foot-2 meathead that was Ah Wan came scrambling over, panting heavily as he did so.
“Miss Zhou, she…” Ah Wan was completely out of breath. “She…”
He was too busy filling his lungs with the cold winter air.
Jiang Zhi shot him a glance with disgust written all over his face. “Come on, we haven’t got all day.”
Ah Wan took another deep breath before yelling out to the world, “Miss Zhou is gonna go nude in a sex scene!”
Go nude…
Jiang Zhi blinked a few times before sitting upright. This time, his soul returned to his eyes which now reflected the color of the light blue sky.
“Who was the one who assigned her to this job?”
‘Who the hell knows!?’
Well, Assistant Director Zhao knew. “Lao Wei!” he called out urgently. “Lao Weiiii!”
Lao Wei was the most significant group leader in Film City. His team consisted of different characters, from body doubles to mass actors to even some specialized roles. Since the start of his career, Assistant Director Zhao had always known this man and had worked with him for quite a long time already.
Lao Wei came running over from afar after being called upon. “What’s up, Assistant Director?”
“What’s the stand-in’s name?”
“She’s called Zhou Xufang.” Lao Wei scratched his head. “What’s the matter?”
Yet another young lady whose surname was Zhou.
Assistant Director Zhao wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked silently at Jiang Zhi, whose facial expression was growing darker by the second.
We have just lost cabin pressure.
This was the first time Lao Wei had met the great director face-to-face, so he was clueless about his fiery temper. To add insult to injury, he even remembered to sing a few lines of praise for Zhou Xufang, the stand-in actress. “Director, this Zhou Xufang is really an accomplished actress. While she’s never worked as a double before, I can guarantee you that she has tons of experience from mass acting. The boys in charge of filming and I have all seen her photo, and I’ve gotta say, her body shape is really-”
Thunk.
The milk can in Jiang Zhi’s hand was rolling across the ground.
At that moment, everybody around the director held their breaths out of fear.
“We’ll take a break for 20 minutes.” Jiang Zhi uttered under his breath.
Standing up, his gaze shifted over to Yu Ran, who had come running late to set. “You’re telling me you can’t be in a scene where your back is exposed?”
She bit her lip and said nothing.
Jiang Zhi stared straight into her eyes. His slender fingers slowly worked around the buttons of his overcoat. With a deadpan look on his face, he said, “If you can’t do that, then we’ll get one who can.”
Xu Lu panicked upon hearing that. “Director Jiang!”
Yu Ran pulled her manager back. “I’ll do it!” Her face was as pale as snow. One word at a time, she repeated. “I’ll do it.”
She knew very well that if she said otherwise, Jiang Zhi would not hesitate to wipe her completely off his film.
It was a chilly day which was made colder by the blowing breeze.
“Where is she?”
Ah Wan jumped.
Jiang Zhi’s footsteps stopped. Turning back, his ink-dark eyes were shielded by a wall that made one unable to perceive neither his emotions nor his thoughts.
“Zhou Xufang. Where is she?”