Chapter 16: Absolutely Not, Absolutely Not
Dong Ling didn’t notice what Song Mingzhi was thinking. She tilted her head up slightly, held her skirt, curtsied, and asked with a smile: “Does it look good?”
“It looks good.”
Song Mingzhi nodded, taking in the faint sweet fragrance emanating from Dong Ling, not hiding her amazed expression.
The curve of Dong Ling’s lips widened, a look of satisfaction and composure on her face.
For the sake of a smooth shoot, Dong Ling and Song Mingzhi rehearsed a few times. After figuring out their positions and movements, Cheng Ge signaled the official start.
Dong Ling wasn’t nervous facing the gazes of the crowd and the camera. Although she had never acted before, she played the violin and had been on stage many times at school. Moreover, she had grown up surrounded by people, so she acted very naturally.
She grabbed Song Mingzhi’s hand and pulled her into the shadow cast by her body. Song Mingzhi was slightly taller than her, but the height difference was compensated for by Dong Ling’s high heels and Song Mingzhi’s flat shoes, so she could easily reach the other’s lips.
Of course, this was done with camera angles. Dong Ling tilted her face to the side, creating the illusion of a kiss from the camera’s perspective.
They were very close, their breaths mingling.
Dong Ling again smelled the faint fragrance on Song Mingzhi, looked into her dark eyes, and unconsciously closed her eyes.
“Cut, the emotion is wrong, again.”
Cheng Ge’s voice made Dong Ling flinch subconsciously. She looked towards Cheng Ge and pulled her face away from Song Mingzhi’s.
What was she doing just now? Why did she subconsciously close her eyes? It wasn’t a real kiss!
Dong Ling thought guiltily, the script didn’t specify whether the woman should have her eyes open or closed during this scene, and the camera couldn’t see anyway, so it shouldn’t matter, right?
“Not you. Yan Ting, your emotions lack depth, you need to be more expressive. You’re suddenly kissed by a stranger, you need to show your resistance and stiffness through your body language, even if your face isn’t visible, just with your hand movements, understand?”
Cheng Ge called Song Mingzhi by her character’s name. For better immersion during filming, he always addressed the actors by their characters’ names, not their real names.
Song Mingzhi nodded. She had actually intended to do that, but at that moment, Dong Ling got too close, the sweet fragrance enveloped her, her beautiful face was faintly visible behind the veil, and she even closed her eyes.
That look wasn’t like a forced kiss, but more like asking for a kiss, which made her mind go blank for a moment.
The scene reset, it was a one-take shot, and Dong Ling pulled Song Mingzhi in again.
This time, the problem was with her. When the extras rushed over, her expression of being interrupted wasn’t strong enough, resulting in a lack of tension in the scene.
They reshot it three times like this, each time with a different problem.
Cheng Ge was frowning so hard he could kill a fly. If it weren’t for the investor being in the scene, he would have thrown down the script and yelled at her about her acting. But it would be pointless to ask, investors weren’t actors.
Because the director was in a bad mood, the atmosphere on set was also quite heavy. Tang Nuo and Peng Ke didn’t dare to speak, only communicating through sign language.
They felt that the boss’s performance in the last two takes was quite glamorous and domineering, but Cheng Ge felt the emotions weren’t strong enough. They couldn’t do anything about it, only worry silently.
After several NGs, Dong Ling’s temper flared up.
Dong Ling had a smooth upbringing, which meant she had rarely experienced rejection or setbacks. The more this happened, the more stubborn she became.
She didn’t think being rejected a few times was embarrassing, but rather thought about where she wasn’t good enough and how she could improve. She knew she wasn’t a professional, but she wouldn’t allow herself to perform poorly after being explicitly instructed several times.
The scene reset, and they started again.
When Song Mingzhi came around the corner, Dong Ling grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards herself, trapping her between her body and the wall.
The flowers emitted a sweet and rich fragrance, making the moonlight even more hazy.
Dong Ling bent down with some force. Cheng Ge had said that since it was a forced kiss, it shouldn’t be a light peck, even if it was fake, it had to look real to the audience.
But Dong Ling seemed to have used a little too much force and pressed directly onto Song Mingzhi’s lips.
Both of them froze. Song Mingzhi’s hand on Dong Ling’s waist paused for a moment, then unconsciously tightened, and a few seconds later, as if realizing something, loosened slightly.
Cheng Ge and Tong Ao’s eyes were glued to the screen, seeing the emotions conveyed by the close-up hand movements, Cheng Ge nodded with satisfaction, but he wasn’t completely relieved and continued watching.
The sound of hurried footsteps came from around the corner, snapping Dong Ling back to reality. She was a little annoyed, but in this situation, she had to continue acting.
“Excuse me, miss, may I…”
The actor in the foreground recited their lines, continuing the scene.
“Scram.”
Dong Ling was still in a bad mood from the previous moment, a strange tingling sensation lingered on her lips, so her tone was a bit harsh.
Under the dim moonlight, her face was hidden behind the black veil, only her slightly raised chin and red lips were visible, exuding the thick, heavy coldness of a classical oil painting.
The extras glanced at the lover who seemed to be kissing this distinguished guest and hurriedly left to search for the next target.
After they left, the woman in the black dress didn’t look at the woman she had just kissed, and left as mysteriously as she had arrived.
Leaving the woman in the suit standing there with a complex expression, she slightly parted her lips, revealing a delicate, small key of unknown purpose.
“Perfect!”
Cheng Ge beamed, as if he wasn’t the person who had been filled with tension and irritability just moments ago.
“Finally, the feeling and performance are in place. I was going to have you actually kiss if you messed up again.”
Cheng Ge said jokingly, but Dong Ling couldn’t laugh.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Why, why, why!
Dong Ling really wanted to wipe her lips at this moment, but she knew such an action would completely betray her, but the feeling on her lips was too strange. Thinking of the feeling of kissing Song Mingzhi just now, she still felt unnatural.
It wasn’t disgust, but… Dong Ling’s lips were naturally sensitive. During the makeup process, the makeup artist had removed her lipstick several times to achieve the color Cheng Ge wanted, so the skin on her lips was already thin. Thus, even a light touch made her feel weak, not to mention Song Mingzhi’s required hand movements.
“So I’m done filming?”
Dong Ling changed the subject, silently praying that the task system wouldn’t give her any more acting tasks, no matter how much it offered, she wouldn’t accept!
“Sort of, there might be some foreshadowing later, you might have to film a few more shots.”
Cheng Ge said uncertainly, looking at Tong Ao.
Tong Ao said the same: “I plan to write “A Mysterious Person’s Funeral 2,” so depending on the response to the first one, I’ll plant some seeds, so CEO Dong, you might have to work hard again then.”
“Okay, then I’ll go rest. This dress is quite cold. I’ll have the kitchen make some sweet soup later, there’s enough for everyone.”
Dong Ling said to the crew, looking in Song Mingzhi’s direction, but avoiding eye contact.
After this scene, assistant Xiao Tan brought mouthwash and wet wipes. The prop key had been disinfected before Song Mingzhi put it in her mouth, and it had to be wiped clean and disinfected again after being taken out.
After rinsing her mouth, Song Mingzhi looked at Dong Ling, who was still avoiding eye contact, and inexplicably sensed a hint of fleeing in her hurried steps.
What happened just now should have been an accident, Song Mingzhi could feel it, because the moment their lips touched, Dong Ling’s physical reaction was also very obvious.
She stiffened for a moment, her downcast eyes showing brief shock and confusion. Her reaction was even greater than hers, the “kissee.” The waist she was holding softened for a moment, but before she could feel anything more, the extras appeared.
Her mind had also gone blank for a moment at the touch, subconsciously wanting to push away, but after the brief contact, unconsciously wanting to hold on tighter, and then realizing they were on camera.
Now, recalling the taste, she found the girl’s lips were quite soft, and she didn’t seem to reject it?
She glanced in the direction Dong Ling left, also a little unsure of her own thoughts. Thinking of Dong Ling’s misty eyes and full red lips, she continued with the next scene at the director’s call.
Back in the makeup room, Dong Ling cried to 021 in her mind.
She was dying of embarrassment, worried that Song Mingzhi would misunderstand, but specifically explaining it seemed to double the awkwardness.
021 also sighed, wanting to beat its chest and lament: [What a loss, girl, what a loss!]
[Why did it have to be a real kiss? There will definitely be kissing tasks later, and the main storyline progress reward definitely won’t be small, but now it happened for free, no task progress, heartbreaking!]
Dong Ling’s thoughts froze for a moment, a little unsure whether it was her or 021 who had been taken advantage of.
No, it should be her taking advantage of Song Mingzhi, because she was the one who bumped into her. Song Mingzhi was innocently kissed, the shock in her eyes no less than hers.
But, but this was her first kiss, she had never kissed anyone before.
Hearing her thoughts, 021 subconsciously responded: [According to the plot, the male lead is the female lead’s first love, this was her first time too.]
021 continued to mutter resentfully: [Ahhhhhhhh! The more I think about it, the more I feel it’s a loss, main storyline progress, main storyline progress.]
The AI didn’t care who was with whom, it only cared about the task.
Dong Ling’s emotions were stirred by 021, and even the embarrassment and awkwardness disappeared, leaving only the question of who had taken advantage of whom.
This time, she was lost in the fog, unable to distinguish who had taken advantage of whom.
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