Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The camera came collapsing onto Zhou Xufang’s body. She dug her heels into the ground and pushed back against the incoming bracket of the camera. While she had successfully stopped the camera from collapsing any further, unfortunately, one of its parts had slashed deeply into Xufang’s arm, resulting in a wide gash.
She immediately covered the wound with her other hand but blood continued oozing out from between her fingers.
The incident happened during break time which was when Jiang Zhi had just finished his can of milk. Since he was situated quite far away, the ruckus hadn’t reached his ears. As he was feeling rather fatigued that day, he relaxed into his chair to catch some shut-eye.
Assistant Director Zhao walked over and with some slight hesitation, he called out to the resting Jiang Zhi.
“Director Jiang.”
Jiang Zhi raised his eyelids in response. The sun, who had been hiding behind the grayish clouds all morning, had finally revealed itself and was a bit too dazzling. He raised his hands over his face to block out its rays.
Seeing this, Ah Wan stood up over the young master, using his well-built frame to provide shade for Jiang Zhi.
Assistant Director Zhao continued, “The fourth child of the Ming family started a fight with Yu Ran.”
Everyone in the loop knew that the fourth child, the young lady from the Ming family, was obsessed with Director Jiang due to his looks. Yu Ran, being the female lead of Jiang Zhi’s film and also considering her looks, it was natural that the two would come to a deadlock for the sake of love.
However…
“Started a brawl, have they?” Jiang Zhi asked in a disinterested tone.
“No, not yet.” Assistant Director Zhao replied.
“Although, one of the actresses was shoved down due to their scuffle and was wounded.”
Still, the source of this entire incident was due to none other than this sleeping beauty’s charm.
The sleeping beauty was tired. Pinching the middle of his brows, his expression changed for the worse. Impatiently, he ordered, “Bring that person to the hospital.”
Assistant Director Zhao nodded and asked another question.
“What about the child of the Mings’ and Yu Ran?”
Those two clashing cherry blossoms were not your ordinary flowers, for they belonged to the entertainment circle. Especially the spoiled fourth child of the Ming family. She was an iron-fisted dictator of a flower. A slip of the tongue may just earn you a death sentence.
“Page 8 of the contract, activate article 9.”
Director Jiang resolved matters by the book with complete transparency.
Article 9 on page 8 of the acting contract—”Deliberate sabotage or interference with the filming process is strictly prohibited. Anyone found doing so will be liable for losses of profit, cost, and/or lost time by up to tenfold.”
Assistant Director Zhao understood Jiang Zhi’s orders.
“How noisy.”
Ah Wan glanced at the young master who was now lying on his side, his brows furrowed. His tender pink lips had now been sucked in and turned into a straight line. To be honest, his expression as of now was extremely intimidating. However, due to the young master’s good looks, such an expression was still pleasing to gaze at.
Ah Wan, whose brain was not as useful as his fists, stepped forward and asked, “Would you like me to drive out the trespasser?”
The young master remained silent. The only thing close enough to be a response was two coughs. Jiang Zhi slowly rose up from his seat before heading toward the resting area. His footsteps were slow, but that was more than enough for him to run out of breath. His back was arched forward due to his worsened condition, revealing the back of his neck which was so pale that it seemed that the young master had never seen the light of day before.
What did that mean? Should he proceed? Ah Wan thought to himself in confusion for a moment before deciding to go to the bathroom.
As a result of the brief skirmish between both the female leads of the neighboring sets, all shoots were ground to a halt. Fang Lixiang had taken the opportunity to remove what little makeup she had on her face. Her tiny face was brighter than ever due to being recently promoted into a ‘weaver girl’. Even the makeup lady had provided her special access to a separate, private dressing room for a change of clothes. After she had finished changing, she exited the room only to find that Zhou Xufang was nowhere in sight.
Fang Lixiang pulled one of her fellow actresses aside for questioning.
“Have you seen Xufang?”
“Who is Xufang?” The actress responded with another question in turn.
Zhou Xufang was no ordinary introvert who opened up slowly. Her expression would always be as cold as ice, and she severely lagged behind others in terms of social skills. With the exception of Fang Lixiang, she virtually never spoke to anyone else.
Having befriended Zhou Xufang for the past several months, Fang Lixiang still hadn’t received her phone number. Perhaps this was due to the fact that she rarely brought out her phone. She also did not use the WeChat app frequently, which was an indispensable part of life in their country. It was almost as if she was living like a caveman back during the stone-age.
Fang Lixiang provided clues to describe who Zhou “The Caveman” Xufang was to the actress.
“Her hair’s about this long, she’s really pale and pretty. Wears a hat most of the time and her vibe is always kinda off if you know what I mean .”
The little actress’s expression grew even more confused after Lixiang’s butchered explanation.
Alright, Lixiang concluded that Zhou Xufang had completely zero presence among her fellow actors. Then, an idea lit up in Lixiang’s mind.
“The one that was wounded just now.”
“Oh, she’s been sent to the resting area to treat her wounds.”
The film crew only had four resting rooms. One each for the male and female leads, one for communal use, and one exclusively for the director. Despite her wounds, Zhou Xufang had refused to be sent to the hospital, and so, the supervisor sent her over to the resting area, more specifically, the one for communal use.
The problem was that all resting rooms were full with the exception of one room.
In the corridor, the sound of coughing could occasionally be heard.
“Jiang Zhi.”
The woman’s tone was cheerful, her swift footsteps reflecting her excitement.
Jiang Zhi slowly turned back in response to his name being called. He then asked with genuine interest, “When were you discharged from the hospital?”
Yesterday, with the aid of Xue Baoyi, this lady had been thrown into the sea. It was just last night that she was lying helplessly on the hospital bed, so just what magic had she used for her to be up-and-about so soon.
Ming Saiying showed not even the slightest bit of anger in the face of Jiang Zhi. Instead, she wore a great big smile and replied, “Today.”
Frankly speaking, Ming Saiying was faring pretty well in every aspect. The Ming family owned a well-known business of handling building materials, and as the youngest female daughter who was born when her father was of considerable age, she had been spoiled to the core with affection. Her looks weren’t too bad either with a good volume in both her bosom and bottom. She had a pair of almond eyes and cherry lips, the standard of a pretty lady, and although her acting skills were pretty bad, she had always come out on top in the entertainment industry. It was just that–
It was just that she was lacking in the brain department. In fact, Jiang Zhi doubted whether she even had one at all.
Jiang Zhi glanced at her. “Then it seems that you’ve not had enough seawater.”
“…”
Ming Saiying usually carried with her a sassy personality. However, that seemed to die down whenever she was in Jiang Zhi’s presence. In fact, her attitude would simply fade away whenever she was around the man. Still donning the costume of an imperial consort, she admitted to her guilt meekly.
“I beg for your forgiveness. It was my fault for being too rash during that incident.”
She then made a promise.
“I will, from now on, come after you with honest tactics. I swear there will be no more foul play or trickery involved.”
So why was she so obsessed with Jiang Zhi?
The reason was more straightforward than you’d think. It was simply because of his face. Everyone liked beautiful things, and so did she. Ever since she had laid eyes on Jiang Zhi two years ago at a cocktail party, his face had forever been etched into her memory.
On the other hand, Jiang Zhi would forever show nothing to her but an expression of indifference.
“I do not like women.” He said without hesitation.
His eighteen-year coming-of-age ceremony came into mind.
Everyone in the entertainment circle knew that he was genuinely, without a doubt, a hundred percent gay. From what they had heard, never once did he get hard even in the face of the hottest straight pornography mankind could conjure.
Ming Saiying then went into deep thought for a moment before replying, “Then what if I underwent a sex-change operation?”
Jiang Zhi’s dreamy eyes fizzled out into extreme coldness upon hearing that. It may be due to her shameless words that had pissed him off, so much so that it triggered an intense coughing fit.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…”
His face was now paler than ever. After coughing once more, a large spot of red appeared on his hands. A fog started appearing in his vision as his mind began to blur out while dizziness set in.
Tsk tsk…no man could be so beautiful even when seemingly on the verge of dying.
Ming Saiying rushed forward to take advantage of the sickly prince.
Despite his deteriorating physical state, Jiang Zhi mustered up all his strength to take a step back, dodging Ming Saiying’s death grip. He glared past Ming Saiying’s shoulders and scolded.
“Where the hell did you piss off to!?”
This glare rained down like a cold hailstorm, smashing into the body of the person he was scolding. Ah Wan, who had arrived late for the rescue, muttered something under his breath before replying, “I was taking a dump.”
He had diarrhea today.
Meanwhile, Jiang Zhi’s patience had run dry.
“What are you waiting for? Take her away from me.”
Immediately after his order, another round of coughing started, his pale neck turning red as a result.
Ming Saiying, feeling her heart utterly crushed at the sight of her beloved man’s terrible condition, retreated a few steps back.
“Please don’t be angry with me. I’ll go, I’ll go.”
She left after that, but it was apparent that it was against her will, seeing as she turned back to look at the young master once almost every three steps she took.
Wan hesitated for a moment before deciding to trail behind the lady.
Jiang Zhi stood there, waiting to recoup his energy, before pushing open the doors to his private resting room. The room, to his surprise, was pitch black, and it took some fumbling around in the darkness before his fingers found the light switch which he flicked on. As soon as he did so, a face unexpectedly entered his view.
Wham!
The wind blew the door shut.
“Who are you?”
Jiang Zhi’s pupils constricted as light flooded his vision.
Those eyes…he had seen them before. They were too beautiful, but like the weather, they were cold. Her eyes were so bright that they seemed to glow in the darkness, showing hints of pessimism as well as a slightly dejected look.
The owner of those eyes ignored Jiang Zhi’s question.
His eyes scanned over her, finally settling on her arm which was dripping with blood. She was caught off-guard and nervously tried to cover his eyes with a palm that was still soaked with fresh blood.
He was frozen in place. His ears, however, heard the gentle voice of a girl, so soft that it felt like a wisp of smoke.
“Don’t look.” She said.
Her arm was healing itself, and the speedy regeneration which was visible to the naked eye may seem grotesque to many, hence why she had chosen to hide away in this room.
With her hand on his face, he noticed that there was a difference between their temperature. His skin was slightly warmer than usual due to his intense coughing, but her fingers were as cold as blocks of ice, and they were dripping with blood, the metallic smell wafting into his nose as he breathed.
Theoretically speaking, he should have reacted repulsively as he had an obsession with cleanliness, yet, he completely forgot all about that. His jaws remained agape for quite a while and silently, he stood there. That smoke-like voice drifted into his ears, intoxicating Jiang Zhi.
“Don’t call out either. I won’t hurt you.”
Her bloodied palm was still covering his eyes, leaving only tiny slivers of light coming in from between her fingers. The light, however, was tinted bright red from her still-fresh blood.
The smell of blood was overwhelming.
Jiang Zhi stepped back and simultaneously raised his hand to grab at her wrists. Just as he was about to push her away, his shoulders were blocked by an elbow. In an instant, he found himself pressed against the wall.
The force exerted on his back was so strong that he struggled to breathe.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…”
It was almost as if he was about to cough his lungs out.
Hearing his coughing, Zhou Xufang cut down the strength she was exerting on Jiang Zhi. One hand remained over his eyes while the other pushed against the back of his shoulders. Her wound had already stopped bleeding quite a while ago and yet, she had still managed to smear blood all over his body and his face.
She noticed that Jiang Zhi was feeling under-the-weather and so, her strength softened yet again.
“I’ll leave after I finish wrapping up my injury. Don’t yell, don’t look. Is that okay?”
Perhaps it was due to his coughing but he could feel a wave of heat surge across his body. Licking his lips, his Adam’s apple bounced up and down as he replied, “No way.”
Her brows furrowed.
Click.
She reached over and turned off the lights. At the same time, she released her grip on Jiang Zhi.
Propping himself against the wall, an irritating aura that was teeming with mystery filled his nose. In the pitch-black room, his eyes scanned the darkness for that pair of eyes.
“What are yo-”
Halfway through his sentence, his jaw was pinched by someone else’s fingers. The person was extremely close, so close that the spine-chilling smell of blood filled his nose.
“Don’t speak. You’ll be in a world of pain if I choose to use force.”
Her strength was immense, multitudes stronger than a regular human. A lot of pain could be inflicted with just a gentle pinch. In fact, she could quite possibly pinch him to death, and so, Zhou Xufang reminded herself constantly to reduce her strength. She could not afford to let this man scream out for help.
Jiang Zhi’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down once more.
Never in his life had someone of the opposite sex been so close to him. Such an aggressive intrusion into his personal space made him extremely uncomfortable. His jaw remained pinched by a pair of icy-cold fingers that dug deep into his flesh. The difference between temperatures was so distinct that he felt a wave of numbness rising within his body.
The place was so quiet that he could even hear the sound of his own swallowing.
“Further…move further away from me.”
For the first time in his life, Jiang Zhi had actually stuttered.
“Alright.”
The other person replied, following a period of deathly silence.
She stepped back, and after further contemplation, released her grip on the unexpected hostage. Then, with her now free hand, she reached into her pocket to retrieve a field dressing given to her by the supervisor. Using her teeth, she bit onto one end of the strip as her other hand carefully wrapped over the now almost-completely-healed wound.
The sound of breathing was loud, but it was Jiang Zhi’s. He had remained still for a long time, silently touching the walls before finally finding the light switch. Just as he was about to flick the lights on, Zhou Xufang heard a slight rustle and immediately pinched down hard on his hand.
Immediately after, she heard the crunchy sound of bones breaking.
Jiang Zhi inhaled as the sound reached his own ears, his previously handsome face was now deathly-pale and writhing from the pain.
She froze for a moment. “I think it’s dislocated.”
She truly had not exerted that much force. It was just that her strength exceeded that of a normal human being by over thirty times. Shit had now hit the fan as she really had broken him with a pinch.