CH 16

Compromise

Their eyes met. Xie Yan didn’t say anything and his expression remained unchanged. He then took out a tea bag from the tin can on the table and placed it into the teapot. Immediately, a fragrance of the tea permeated throughout.

“I didn’t mean anything else, don’t get me wrong.” Su Shen couldn’t help but explain.

“En.” His expression remained unchanged.

Su Shen continued and asked, “Then…”

Xie Yan: “I will tell him.”

Su Shen finally breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this.

“Let’s go.” He suddenly stood up and walked past her with the teapot in his hand.

Su Shen: “…”

Su Shen didn’t expect him to act this quickly and hurriedly followed along. She really hoped that the director could remove it.

As soon as they stepped out, Zhao Tong was just about to enter. When he saw the two of them coming out of the dressing room together, he was shocked, “Hey Su Shen, why’re you here?”

The latter stopped in her steps and replied, “For a little matter.”

“What’s the matter?” Zhao Tong approached her and noticed the bottle of yogurt in her hand. He couldn’t help but laughed, “So you like this kind of flavor too. But it took too long for it to be brought back so sadly, there’s only a week left before the best before date.”

“It’s nothing much.” Su Shen smiled and then looked at the yogurt in her hand, “This is from Xie Yan, I thought that the packaging was quite cute.”

Su Shen didn’t speak much and as she saw Xie Yan walking further away, she immediately followed after.

Zhao Tong looked puzzledly at the dressing room. Where did he get the yogurt from?

The director was talking to Fan Meng and Wang Cheng about the script, their clothes blown by the big fan at the side. When he saw Xie Yan and Su Shen coming over, the director frowned and had a bad premonition.

“There’s a kiss scene tomorrow, I want to remove it.” Xie Yan directly said when he got near.

Director: “…”

A flash of happiness appeared on Fan Meng’s face and she took a sip of the juice her assistant handed over. She coldly glanced at Su Shen and thought, seems that Xie Yan doesn’t dislike her but that he really doesn’t like to film kiss scenes. 

“Okay!” The director agreed without demur then paused and said, “But there will be no gimmicks if both kiss scenes are removed. It’ll be hard to cut for the trailer when the time comes. If there’s no kiss scenes, then we’ll film a bed scene. You guys can choose.”

Su Shen: “…”

After hearing this, Zhao Tong couldn’t help but asked, “How big is the scale?”

Some of the staff in the surroundings secretly looked at this side to see what kind of news they would hear today.

“Since it’s a bed scene, of course the scale would be large. Xie Yan would have to show his upper body and Su Shen, her back. As for the other details, it’s hard to say. You guys are suddenly altering the script as if it’s a trifle matter!” As the director said, his expression darkened and threw the script onto the table. It was quite apparent that he was somewhat angry.

After hearing this, Fan Meng had a hint of mirth in her eyes. She suddenly looked at Su Shen with a smile, “It’s nothing much to reveal your back, you can use a body double anyways.”

“What body double? If you use a body double for everything, then don’t act anymore!” The director glared at Su Shen displeasedly and directed his anger at her.

The other staff members saw that the director was angry and immediately busied themselves with their work. But they have never seen an actor like Xie Yan who doesn’t film kiss scenes. Does he suffer any losses as a man?

Witnessing this, Wang Cheng immediately came out and eased the tension. He jabbed Xie Yan at the arm, “It’s just a kiss scene. Yan ge, it’s not like you have a girlfriend or are you afraid that sao zi* would be angry?”

sao zi* – a term for an older brother’s wife — sister-in-law, can also be used to refer to the wife of the leader between bros

Xie Yan: “The bed scene can use a body double.”

The director once again frowned. If the other party wasn’t Xie Yan, he would’ve cursed at them already. Damn, was filming a kiss scene that hard for you as a man?

“You can use a body double but Su Shen can’t. That scene has to show the back and face!” The director’s tone was firm as if he had conceded to the utmost already.

Zhao Tong somewhat sympathetically looked at Su Shen but it couldn’t be helped since she was a newcomer. The director was full of anger today so if he didn’t vent it at her, who would he vent it to?

Fan Meng sneered and stood at the side, waiting to watch a good show.

Su Shen: “I don’t want to film a bed scene.”

The director’s expression changed, he had never seen a newcomer disobey him.

“You can use positioning.” Xie Yan suddenly said.

The director glanced at him and then darkened his face, “You guys didn’t read the script? Do you guys think that this scene can use positioning?”

This was a sex scene in which the male lead got drunk and then mistook the supporting female lead as the female lead. After they kissed, the supporting female lead would be carried to bed by the male lead and the ending would just be a shot of sweeping to the floor. But if there’s no kiss scene, then an extra bed scene would need to be added.

Moreover, this scene was tomorrow.

“Just shoot this kiss scene then. Look at how pretty Su Shen is, it’s not like you’ll suffer any losses?” Wang Cheng pulled at Xie Yan’s sleeves, hoping that he would compromise.

Xie Yan seemed to want to say something after seeing that Su Shen was silent. The director dubiously glanced at him and probingly said, “Then, let’s keep it as is?”

Su Shen turned around and walked away while clutching onto the bottle of yogurt. Xie Yan also turned around and followed after.

“Does this mean he agreed?” The director turned his gaze toward Zhao Tong.

The latter was also dumbfounded, “This… probably?”

Actually, he didn’t quite understand. The director clearly said that he could use a body double for the bed scene yet why did their Yan ge wind back to filming the kiss scene?

Fan Meng clasped her hands tightly and stared at the direction where the two of them went to. She was a best actress yet Xie Yan wouldn’t film it with her, but would compromise with an 18th tier actress?  

As she walked, Su Shen noticed that there was another person beside her. She slightly turned around and found that it was Xie Yan following after her. She smiled, “If you don’t want to film it, you can tell the director. Anyways, I don’t want to film that bed scene.”

He saw that she was somewhat unhappy but his expression remained unchanged: “If you don’t want to film that kiss scene, you don’t have to.” 

How was it that easy? If she doesn’t film the kiss scene then she has to do the bed scene and have to reveal her back which was more severe than the former.

Su Shen pursed her lips and said, “I’m okay, it’s up to you.”

This was also a lesson to remind her to check whether there were any intimate scenes for any roles henceforth. But if she doesn’t film it this time, then all her efforts would be wasted and… Xie Yan’s not bad, it should be alright for a nibble or two?

“If you don’t want to, remember to say it. It’s just a film.” Xie Yan looked at her seriously then turned around and went the other way.

Su Shen turned around and looked at him. She sighed and then went back to her dressing room.

Any news or gossip would always spread quickly throughout the crew. When Tong Le knew that she was going to have a kiss scene with Xie Yan, her excitement was as if it was her that was going to do the scene. 

“Ahhhh! I have never seen Xie Yan do a kiss scene before, all his roles before had little to no romance. You’re so lucky!” Tong Le shook Su Shen’s arm enthusiastically, “But it’s also scary. When his diehard fans find out that their idol’s first onscreen kiss was given to you, be ready for blades to come your way.”

“Actually, this is a great exposure opportunity. With Xie Yan making your name well-known, your popularity would definitely not be low. In the entertainment industry nowadays, you can have no representative works but you can’t be unknown. But you have to clarify, if you don’t then your popularity with passerbys would be bad. Anyways, it might bring a wave of favorability for you.” The makeup artist calmly analyzed.

Su Shen didn’t think too much. She felt a little knot in her heart and leaned against the sofa with mixed feelings. 

In the afternoon, her mind wandered around. Fortunately, she didn’t have too many lines and after getting cut twice, she was done for the day. When Su Shen returned back to the hotel, she received a call from Liu jie. 

“I have good and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?” Liu jie said in a relaxed tone.

Su Shen laid in bed exhausted and closed her eyes. She turned the speaker on and said, “Bad news.”

Liu jie: “Soon, you might be hated on and will be maliciously attacked fiercely. You have to be mentally prepared.”

The hate before was just on a small scale. The severe cases were like Li Xue who was hated and maliciously attacked on the internet and in real life so much that it even involved her family. To make Liu jie say this, it was clear that this time was going to be very serious.

She took a deep breath and indifferently said toward the phone, “What’s the good news?”