CH 17.2

After the director said that, he went back to the monitor. Wang Cheng and Li Hao sat there holding their laughter in.

“All departments ready, action!”

“Zhang ge ge, you’re drunk…” Su Shen held the newly prepared sobering tea and was ready to feed him.

The woman in front had long black hair flowing down like a waterfall with her fair collarbone becoming more and more charming under the candlelight. Xie Yan dazedly grabbed her hand, “Xue-er!”

CLATTER!

As the bowl of sobering tea fell, Xie Yan grabbed her waist and confined her under. Their eyes met and then, Xie Yan drunkenly kissed down onto her cherry colored lips.

When his lips covered those soft lips, the softness and warmth stunned Xie Yan for a bit. Su Shen also closed her eyes and clenched her hands tightly. 

“CUT!” The director sighed and shouted into the megaphone, “Don’t be so stiff you guys! Xie Yan, you should be more passionate! You’re drunk right now! Who’s so gentle when they’re drunk?”

The megaphone was loud and Wang Cheng couldn’t help but laughed. He said to Li Hao who was also sitting behind the monitor, “Honestly, I was also like this when I filmed my first kiss scene. I don’t even want to mention how embarrassing it was.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Li Hao also laughed and then looked at his script.

“Sorry.” Xie Yan immediately got off from her with sweat droplets all over his forehead.

Su Shen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, wanting to prop herself up from the floor.

Xie Yan pulled her arm up and successfully stopped Zhao Tong, who was about to pass him water, in his tracks.

Su Shen sat on the floor and took the handkerchief handed over by Xiao Zhou to wipe her sweat. She turned around to look at Xie Yan who was also full of sweat, “Why are you more nervous than me?”

She couldn’t help but asked.

Xiao Zhou, on the side, almost laughed out loud. Xie Yan frowned and coughed, then turned around and looked at her conscientiously, “Sorry, I’ll try my best to make this be the last time.”

Just at this moment, the director came over and said that Su Shen was too nervous while Xie Yan was too rigid. It didn’t look like drunken sex at all. He then directed the two of them for a while. Su Shen got her makeup retouched again and took a deep breath, telling herself to relax as much as possible.

“Okay, strive for this to be the last time!” The director sat in front of the monitor and shouted into the megaphone, “Action!”

“Xue–er!” Xie Yan frowned then shook his head and looked at the woman in front of him gently.

Another bowl of sobering tea was spilled and soon, Su Shen was once again confined under. She tried to not be as nervous and looked at the man in front of her bitterly. 

Their eyes met and immediately, Xie Yan fiercely kissed her!

Su Shen opened her eyes with a trace of unwillingness on her face. Her fingers gradually grasped his sleeves until her knuckles turned white. 

The rest of the crew stared fixedly toward them with only Fan Meng sitting there looking at this scene coldly while sipping on her juice.

Xie Yan tore apart her muslin dress, revealing her fair and smooth shoulders. He then held her wrists and pulled it over her head, “Xue–er…”

It was still the same softness and warmth with a hint of sweetness from the lipstick. He felt her tenseness and didn’t dare to go further, just gently caressing her slightly sweet lips. When the camera came closer, he slowly trailed his kisses to her neck, covering her fair and flawless clavicle from view.

Su Shen wrapped her arms around his neck per the director’s instruction, trying to relax herself as much as possible. When the camera was aimed at her face, she opened her eyes with a drop of tear slowly gliding down from the corner of her eye…

“Cut!”

The director looked at the scene on the monitor and reluctantly said, “Okay, passed.”

Sigh, so be it, he won’t ask for a French kiss.

Xie Yan got off her and Xiao Zhou immediately helped Su Shen up from the floor.

“Are you okay?” He took the towel that Zhao Tong handed over but his eyes fell on her as well as her lips with the partially faded lipstick.

Su Shen didn’t look at him, letting Xiao Zhou help her wipe her sweat and said insipidly, “It’s just for filming.” 

With that, she turned around and left with no change in expression.

Zhao Tong finally understood when he saw that Xie Yan was still looking at Su Shen. He leaned over and whispered, “Yan ge, strike while the iron is still hot! Su Shen’s scenes are about to finalize soon, time is running out!”

Xie Yan glanced at him from the corner of his eye and took the water bottle from his hand. He then strode over to where the director was.

After returning to the dressing room, Su Shen had to get her makeup retouched. Contrariwise, Tong Le was there enthusiastically shouting as if she was on steroids.

“Ahaha, I didn’t expect Xie Yan to get stuck on a kiss scene. With just a look, you can tell he’s inexperienced. Su Shen, tell me quickly, how’s his kissing skills?” Tong Le crouched down in front of her and asked curiously.

Su Shen looked at her reflection in the mirror while letting the makeup artist fiddle with her hair, she was unexpectedly calm. It was already over anyway and she would never film this kind of scene henceforth.

Just at this moment, Liu jie came up and stood behind her: “I’m going to go. You still have a few days left, remember to perform well. Also, take a good look at the script I gave you.”

“Okay.” Su Shen insipidly said. 

Liu jie then walked out of the dressing room with her red clutch bag in hand.

Tong Le incessantly kept on asking and even the makeup artist couldn’t stand it anymore, “Su Shen’s still young. Do you think she’s Xie Yan’s diehard fan like you?”

At that, Tong Le went back to her seat and sat down. She didn’t have many scenes and her scenes were going to be wrapped up tomorrow. 

Su Shen just felt very embarrassed and didn’t know how to face Xie Yan in the future. 

There was still a night scene left, she only had a few lines but had to stay on set. The scene was stuck from the very beginning and it took half an hour for this long scene to be OK-ed.

After wrapping up, she didn’t look over to where Xie Yan was. Contrariwise, Wang Cheng placed his hand on her shoulder and laughed: “I heard that you got the female lead role for that drama with Jiang He TV? Not bad, you’re not gonna treat us to dinner?”

“Yea, do you want to go drinking tonight?” It was so hot that Li Hao had to roll up his sleeves and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

The inside of the palace hall was really hot and stuffy. The props team was already tidying things up. Su Shen glanced at Wang Cheng, “I dare not. If we get photographed, your fans will send blades my way.”

“Ahaha!” Li Hao couldn’t help but laughed out loud.

Fan Meng brought her assistant and walked out of the palace hall, unwilling to even glance once at Su Shen.

Wang Cheng smiled embarrassingly and shrugged his shoulders, “Is it my fault for being so handsome?” 

“You’re so shameless!” Li Hao went up and hammered his shoulder.

Su Shen laughed and walked out of the hall while holding the mini fan at her face. The cool breeze blowing outside made her especially comfortable.

After changing her clothes, Su Shen went back to the hotel with Xiao Zhou. Just when she was about to shower, she heard a twinkle of a notification from her phone.

She opened her phone and found that it was Xie Yan’s message.

Xie Yan: I got stuck today, sorry. 

When she saw the message, Su Shen was dazed for a while and didn’t know how to respond. Even if Xie Yan didn’t get cut, that take wouldn’t have been able to pass because she was too nervous at the time. Moreover, Xie Yan didn’t seem to want to film that kiss scene either so the thought of taking advantage of her probably didn’t even cross his mind.

Su Shen: It’s just for filming and it’s normal to get cut. If you didn’t, I would’ve gotten cut too.

Su Shen: I just hope that your fans won’t curse at me when the time comes. ≥﹏≤

After sending that, Su Shen placed her phone down and went to take a shower. In any case, it’s over. Henceforth, she just needed to double check before accepting any productions.

After taking a shower and drying her hair, she laid in bed and noticed that Xie Yan had replied back to her.

Xie Yan: I won’t let that happen.

The light from the screen illuminated on her face. Su Shen arched an eyebrow and moved her fingers once more. 

Su Shen: I’m just joking, this kind of stuff is normal. You’ll understand when you have a girlfriend.

After a while, Xie Yan replied back again dryly.

Xie Yan: Really?

He probably couldn’t understand the feelings of those fans. It was also quite awkward chatting with him so Su Shen just sent a sticker to him. She then said that she was going to sleep. After a while, Xie Yan replied back with a goodnight.

After scrolling through her phone, Su Shen went to sleep.

After waking up the next day, she noticed that Liu jie had called her several times but she didn’t hear it as she had set her phone on mute.

Su Shen was still a little bit sleepy but she could’ve guessed what had happened. As expected, when she opened Weibo, her and Mu Yao’s names were trending first on hot search.

When she opened the trendings page, the topic of #Thief Empress# occupied her entire screen.

Netizen A: It’s true that connections really are everything. An 18th-tier actress actually snatched Mu Yao’s role???

Netizen B: Honestly, if it wasn’t because it was trending, I wouldn’t even have known who Su Shen was. Is any Tom, Dick or Harry able to snatch other people’s roles now? Miss Su’s background must be hella strong then. But it’s a pity that her shitty acting will just drag Jiang Yin down. I’m dropping this drama!

Netizen C: Lemme take Yao Yao away, we’ll have better options. We refuse the publicity stunt by the 18th-tier!

Netizen D: As soon as she debuted, she got the role of the female lead. She also snatched Mu Yao’s role too. Her first film had Xie Yan and Fan Meng as well. I heard there’s also a kiss scene. Miss Su’s background really can’t be defiled! To have Xie Yan, who never films kiss scenes, to have a kiss scene with her, you’ve got to hand it to her!

Netizen E: As a passerby, please don’t involve our Yan ge. With no herald, we reject all rumors. [smiley face]

Netizen F: What’s with the producers’ eyesight? With her acting like this, did they want to ruin the film?

Just at this time, someone had already dugged up her family background and alma mater. Although they had also found out the relationship between her and her sister, it wasn’t widely circulated. Those people were more willing to believe that she had a sugar daddy. 

There’s already more than a hundred thousand comments under her latest Weibo post, all were malicious attacks, obscenities and even touched upon her family. Most of the netizens, however, went to the drama’s official Weibo to boycott her from appearing in this drama or they’d drop it.

The source of all this was from a post that a gossip Weibo account posted which said that she had snatched Mu Yao’s role and had gotten the female lead for that drama. Then, with the help of whoever pushed the waves, things became like this.

Fortunately, Xie Yan’s fans don’t believe that he would film a kiss scene so his fans didn’t maliciously attack her.

“Ding dong.”

The doorbell suddenly rang. Su Shen placed her phone down and went to open the door. As soon as the door opened, Xiao Zhou hurriedly went in whilst carrying her breakfast. 

“Su jie, I just ran into Wang Cheng downstairs and he told you to be careful. It seems like the paparazzi’s already eyeing you.” Xiao Zhou placed the breakfast down onto the table timidly.

Su Shen took a deep breath and after running her fingers through her hair, she sat on the sofa and was about to call Liu jie when her call came in.

“Su Shen?” Liu jie’s voice still sounded versed.

Su Shen got up and came to the window, drawing the curtains in the living area shut, “What’s the matter? I was just about to ask you why there’s paparazzi following me?”

This kind of thing was fine so long as it stayed on the internet. What’s the use of following after her?

Liu jie on the other side of the phone uprightly said, “It’s all because your kiss scene with Xie Yan got photographed and now, it’s been uploaded to the internet. Although the news hasn’t spread yet, it’ll only take half a day’s time for it to be hyped. Of course, those paparazzi want to see if there’s something between you and Xie Yan.”

Su Shen: “……”

In order to prevent any spoilers, the production crew normally prohibits taking pictures. Whoever could be this unethical obviously wanted to harm her. 

Liu jie on the other end of the phone paused and then gravely said, “I don’t know how Xie Yan’s fans will react but it definitely won’t be positive. As for the matter with Mu Yao, let’s put it aside for now. Before news of the photo spreads, let’s take preventative measures first.”

“What measures?” Su Shen was also somewhat helpless and didn’t know if this counted as a disaster from heaven or not.

“How’s your relationship with Xie Yan?” Liu jie suddenly asked.

Su Shen helplessly smiled and said, “You also think that we have something going on?”

She was already embarassed to the point that she couldn’t even look directly at Xie Yan.

Liu jie on the other end of the phone conscientiously said, “If you did have something with him, that’d be great. What I mean is, you go and ask him if he’s able to, can he come forward and clarify?”