Chapter 19: Absolutely Not, Absolutely Not
Dong Ling knew this day would come. After all, this was the male lead’s script. The male and female leads were currently in the ambiguous stage, and some intimate actions were only natural. 021 had also said there would be such tasks, Dong Ling was mentally prepared, but she didn’t expect it to come so soon.
021 urged her repeatedly in her mind: [That’s 7%!]
Dong Ling stood still, looking at the sleeping person on the bed, her feelings complex.
021 continued to persuade: [Host, she’s asleep anyway, you can just secretly kiss her, she won’t know. And you’re not doing this to satisfy your own desires, but for the sake of the entire world.]
Dong Ling was getting annoyed, she held her breath and walked to Song Mingzhi’s bedside.
As 021 said, Song Mingzhi was sleeping soundly.
Her sleeping posture was very proper, her head and neck exposed above the covers, her black hair spread out, her fair skin and pale pink lips looking serene and beautiful, like a sleeping beauty in a fairy tale.
Dong Ling noticed what seemed to be a small, dark mole on one side of Song Mingzhi’s cheek. She didn’t see clearly and wasn’t sure if it was an illusion.
A faint curiosity arose in her heart. She angled the light from her phone to avoid shining it directly on Song Mingzhi’s face, leaned closer to observe, and indeed saw the small mole on Song Mingzhi’s face.
It was located on the lower middle part of her right cheek, very light in color. Dong Ling hadn’t seen it before, it was probably covered by Song Mingzhi’s makeup.
021 felt this was a perfect opportunity and urged: [7%, host, go for it! There might not be another chance like this next time, a deep kiss might only be worth 1%.]
021 wasn’t trying to scare Dong Ling. Based on its experience with past tasks, the main storyline progress awarded by the task system was linked to changes in the relationship. Sometimes, the reason why some tasks had higher rewards was because they were significant in the relationship.
The same kiss, a stolen kiss during the ambiguous stage, a kiss during a confession, and a kiss after marriage, all had different meanings, and the main storyline progress awarded by the system would also be different.
021’s anxious urging made Dong Ling’s thoughts restless as well. She looked at the lips so close to hers and realized their breaths were mingling ambiguously.
Dong Ling was suddenly very glad that Song Mingzhi was asleep at this moment, not because the task would be easier, but because if she didn’t have to meet Song Mingzhi’s eyes, she wouldn’t be so nervous.
Dong Ling straightened up, left the bedside as quietly as she had approached, and went into the secondary bedroom.
021 was very disappointed: [Host, why didn’t you do it?]
Dong Ling: [You do it if you can.]
She hadn’t planned to accept this task from the beginning. Although there was a momentary impulse, it quickly subsided.
Dong Ling was a person with principles. Although she was forced onto 021’s pirate ship, she wasn’t entirely unwilling.
The tasks she had done so far were all things she was willing to do, exploiting the loopholes of the unintelligent task system and maneuvering to achieve acceptable outcomes.
Actually, if the task system hadn’t issued the task at this moment, she might have racked her brains to complete it. Although she would feel embarrassed, she wasn’t averse to Song Mingzhi. If Song Mingzhi wasn’t averse to her kiss either, then the task could be completed openly.
But it just happened to be now, she couldn’t do something like a stolen kiss. To put it bluntly, what was the difference between that and taking advantage of someone while they were asleep? Her relationship with Song Mingzhi wasn’t ambiguous enough for such actions.
Putting herself in that position, Dong Ling couldn’t stand it, even if the other person was a great beauty like Song Mingzhi.
Dong Ling wanted to wash up, but was worried about waking Song Mingzhi. She removed her makeup in the room, wiped her face clean with a wet wipe, applied some moisturizer, lay down on the bed, thought about what had happened today and speculated about Xuan Du’s motives, and fell into a deep sleep.
In the master bedroom, the seemingly sleeping person’s eyes moved under her eyelids, and she opened her eyes with a complex expression.
Daybreak.
After washing up, Dong Ling asked the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her, and after eating, left the house.
“CEO Dong, didn’t you leave two days ago? You’re back?”
Tang Nuo, sitting on a small stool, waved to Dong Ling with the script in her hand.
“Yes, I’m done with my business. What are you filming?”
Dong Ling looked at the wire rigging equipment and asked curiously.
“Teacher Song is filming the scene where someone tries to bribe her. She’ll jump down from that window later. This scene has already been filmed once, but Director Cheng said the effect wasn’t good enough, so they’re doing a second take.”
Tang Nuo pointed to a room on the third floor. These scenes had nothing to do with her, but in order to live up to the boss’s 500,000 and subsequent investment, Tang Nuo had been diligently staying on set to observe.
Dong Ling went over the story Tong Ao sent her in her mind and figured out which scene it was.
After escaping from the banquet, Yan Ting was targeted. She did have some evidence in her hands, but it wasn’t crucial. The mastermind behind the scenes didn’t know how much she knew, so they sent someone to bribe her. If Yan Ting took the money, she would be on their side. Yan Ting refused and, to avoid their attack, jumped out of the window and escaped gracefully.
Yan Ting was a good cop. She didn’t have time to report the evidence she had obtained before being suspended for some fabricated charges and reasons. Then, on a rainy night, she received a funeral invitation. When she went there, she brought the key of unknown purpose given to her by the mysterious woman.
This isolated game wasn’t set up by the suspect Yan Ting was tracking, it came from a deeper darkness. The other eleven guests, besides Yan Ting, also had their own stories.
With Cheng Ge’s participation and additions, Tong Ao had laid out a very elaborate plot. If each thread was developed, they could not only make a second movie, but even a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth “Mysterious Person’s Funeral” movie. However, this also depended on the response to “A Mysterious Person’s Funeral 1,” the one currently being filmed.
As Dong Ling was recalling the story, the person on the wire rigging landed.
Song Mingzhi landed steadily on the mat and looked up to see Dong Ling standing not far away.
Dong Ling was wearing a beige knit top and a light purple winter skirt today, long socks covering her slender legs. The color combination of her outfit looked particularly gentle.
Song Mingzhi inevitably recalled her actions yesterday and the warm breath on her face. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know how close they were at that moment, probably just like the distance between them during that attempted camera-angled kiss in the kissing scene.
“Director Cheng said it’s good. Teacher Song, don’t move, I’ll unhook you.”
The staff member in charge of the wire rigging put away the walkie-talkie and ran over, bringing Song Mingzhi back to reality.
Dong Ling only approached after Song Mingzhi finished filming, took the cup from assistant Xiao Tan’s hand, and handed it to Song Mingzhi for her to drink.
“I decided to come back last night after all. I didn’t wake you up with all the noise, did I?”
Dong Ling wasn’t trying to probe, but just making small talk. If she knew Song Mingzhi had woken up last night, she definitely wouldn’t have asked this question and repeatedly killed herself.
Hearing her mention last night, Song Mingzhi’s lips straightened slightly, and she gently shook her head at Dong Ling.
“No, I’m a heavy sleeper, I don’t wake up easily once I’m asleep.”
This was a lie. Song Mingzhi was a light sleeper, especially when not in her own private space, so last night, not long after Dong Ling approached, she had already woken up.
Dong Ling didn’t detect the hidden meaning in Song Mingzhi’s words and smiled at her.
Song Mingzhi had another scene to film. Dong Ling made an encouraging gesture and went to check on the other newcomers in the company, also giving them some encouragement.
After watching for a while, Dong Ling prepared to leave. She didn’t fly back overnight just to avoid Xuan Du, she also had her own business to attend to.
This city was called Hengyan, a second-tier city.
This city didn’t have any special characteristics or famous attractions, but many years ago, it was a famous tourist city, with many visitors even on non-holidays, because Hengyan once had the largest talent agency in mainland China, Dream Machine.
It had trained many idols and even driven and changed this city. Just like its name, it was like a dream-making machine, creating its own dream-making era, and was extremely prominent for a time.
But due to management problems, the company not only evaded taxes and engaged in questionable transactions, but was also involved in organized crime, becoming a key target for crackdowns. After a few years of glory, it quickly declined, and subsequent attempts to revive were defeated by the changing landscape of the industry.
It didn’t disappear completely. After changing management, the company continued to train its own idol groups, but the groups it launched were always attacked for the company’s dark history and didn’t make a splash. So the new management changed the company’s model, becoming an idol training institution, selecting and training suitable trainees, and then recommending them to other companies.
Dong Ling wanted to take a look and sign anyone she deemed suitable, but it was just a thought, maybe they wouldn’t even look at her company.
When she arrived at the entrance, her assistant, Yuki, was already waiting for her.
“CEO Dong, this is the pricing and treatment information you asked me to look into.” Yuki opened the car door for Dong Ling, and after closing the door, placed the folder in the car in front of her. After the car started, she continued, “Based on the company’s situation and development goals, I suggest we first sign trainees with high potential and continue to train them…”
After reading the information, Dong Ling understood Yuki’s implication.
It meant that their company was just starting out and was still too small, they couldn’t afford the more talented and well-known trainees from Dream Machine, and their resources might not be able to keep up. So Yuki suggested that she sign some talented but undiscovered individuals and train them herself.
Dong Ling nodded, then seemed to remember something and asked: “How’s the headquarters construction coming along?”
As the future workplace for her employees, Dong Ling was quite concerned about the company headquarters. However, the money to buy the building didn’t come from her, because the building originally belonged to her family. The Qingbai Road house was the employees’ temporary office.
“The renovation will be completed in about half a month.”
Yuki reported on the work progress one by one. While Dong Ling signed two documents, they arrived at their destination.
Dong Ling declined the recommendations from Dream Machine staff and wandered around the various training rooms herself.
Both boys and girls were working hard in the training rooms. Dong Ling went from the top floor, which housed the most talented trainees, to the fifth floor, and had a few candidates in mind, but didn’t say anything, signing contracts wasn’t urgent.
Most of the trainees on the fifth floor were newcomers. Some who didn’t perform well were criticized by the teachers. As Dong Ling passed by, she happened to hear a teacher say helplessly: “Idols need to pay attention to expression management. Zhong Zhong, your expressions are too stiff. You can’t always have a cold face, it will make you look impatient on camera. Even if you’re good-looking, you’ll attract haters.”
This made Dong Ling slightly curious, just how good-looking was she?
The girl being scolded looked up, and Dong Ling was surprised when she saw her.
The reason was simple, this face was 50% similar to Song Mingzhi’s. At first glance, they looked quite alike, like a younger version of Song Mingzhi, but upon closer inspection, they weren’t that similar. At least Dong Ling could tell the difference at a glance.
Dong Ling poked 021 in her mind: [Is this an important character?]
021 replied guiltily: [Due to the data turbulence, my database also has some problems, I don’t know.]
Dong Ling had never seen such a useless system, 021 felt wronged and didn’t dare to reply.
Out of caution, Dong Ling didn’t sign her, just made eye contact with her, and then left Dream Machine headquarters without choosing anyone.
When Dong Ling returned to the manor, the film crew was busy. Dong Ling quietly watched for a while, then walked towards the house.
Just as she reached the second floor, someone covered her eyes from behind.
The person said with a giggle: “Guess who I am.”
“Shang Shang, why are you here?”
Dong Ling turned around in surprise. Chen Shang Shang withdrew her hand and made a face at Dong Ling.
Chen Shang Shang: “I haven’t seen you out having fun for days, and my dad is here on business, so I came along to see you, surprise!”
“Surprise, surprise, dinner’s on me tonight.”
Chen Shang Shang nodded, then seemed to remember something and said: “If you hear any gossip when you go back, don’t take it to heart.”
“About Xuan Du?”
“No, I don’t know who’s spreading it. Since you started a company and invested in a movie, some people are saying you’re doing it to promote your lover, and even asked me when you started liking girls.”
Dong Ling felt a little guilty, it wasn’t entirely wrong. But just as she was about to refute it, the task system voice, which usually played dead but always appeared to cause her social death, rang out in her mind again.
[Task: Declare your love for the female lead and assert your claim in front of others. Countdown: three minutes. Completing this task will reward 3% progress.]
Dong Ling cleared her throat: “Actually, I…”
This task was quite easy, she could exploit the loopholes and use the “muse” excuse.
Dong Ling was facing the stairs and saw Song Mingzhi about to come up. She froze, their eyes meeting.
021: [Countdown: two minutes and twenty-one seconds.]
Chen Shang Shang, with her back to the stairs, didn’t notice anyone below, and said as if suddenly realizing something: “Actually, do you really like girls?”
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