161: Don't hold me back

Shen Lian didn't fall asleep until the latter half of the night. Propped up against the headboard, he carefully traced the features of the person beside him in the dim, yellow light.

Chu Yilan must have been very cute as a child.

Had it not been for this instance of drunkenness, Shen Lian feared he would only have been able to guess at those tortures and hardships.

But even if he had guessed, he never could have imagined that Chu Changqi's mind was twisted to such an extent.

By raising 'defective products' as a means of repeatedly exacting revenge, what Chu Yilan had specifically endured remained unknown to him.

And this time, Shen Lian didn't dare to ask for details.

The next morning, Chu Yilan woke up with a slight bout of dizziness.

He sat up, holding his forehead, and looked around. Shen Lian wasn't there, but his phone was still on the pillow. Without thinking much, Chu Yilan took it and entered the password. They had already shared everything with each other; Shen Lian had said, "Feel free," so Chu Yilan didn't seem to have any psychological burden about it.

As soon as he unlocked it, the interface stayed on a chat window.

Sun Binghe's last message was from ten minutes ago: [Boss does indeed like to eat a bowl of hot noodle soup when he wakes up from a hangover. Teacher Shen, you could make a heart-shaped fried egg.]

Shen Lian replied with a "No problem" emoji.

Chu Yilan couldn't help but laugh out loud. These two...

Shen Lian was indeed busy in the kitchen cooking noodles, making two heart-shaped fried eggs at once. Chu Yilan came downstairs after showering and changing, looking refreshed, just as Shen Lian was bringing out the noodles.

"Quick," Shen Lian said with a smile in his eyes. "It's hot."

"It's nine o'clock," Chu Yilan said in a deep voice. "Aren't you going to the set?"

"I took an extra half-day off," Shen Lian said. "Going over at noon is fine."

Shen Lian put down the chopsticks, only to be unexpectedly hugged from behind. Chu Yilan's chin rested gently on his shoulder, and he didn't move for quite a while.

Shen Lian waited a moment before lightly patting the back of the hand on his waist. "Eat first."

Chu Yilan wanted to laugh as soon as he saw that heart-shaped fried egg. It was true he liked hot noodle soup after drinking, but the so-called heart-shaped egg was likely some nonsense Assistant Sun had cooked up based on his own meager views on romance.

It was close enough, though.

Sun Binghe had once accidentally seen a certain director at the company—a man, a perennial bachelor—who had finally started dating. The girl had sent him a bento with a heart-shaped fried egg in it, and that director had paraded the bento box around to show off the whole way. Sun Binghe didn't understand it, but he respected it.

When Shen Lian chatted with him just now, Sun Binghe thought of that incident and typed it out on a whim.

After Chu Yilan finished eating, Shen Lian finally asked, "Where did Zhu Mi run off to?"

"Isn't he on the balcony where he usually stays?"

"No," Shen Lian said. "I saw him briefly this morning; he rubbed against me twice, and then he was gone again."

"He's grown up and likes to play," Chu Yilan wasn't worried. "That fat cat is very clever."

Shen Lian nodded; that was true.

Chu Yilan didn't drop Shen Lian off this time. There seemed to be something at the company that Sun Binghe also needed to attend. Jiang You drove to pick him up. By the time Shen Lian returned to the film set, everyone was on their lunch break.

Director Zhao had a thin page of lines covering his face and was lying on a chair taking a nap.

Shen Lian didn't disturb him and went to bother the stylist for makeup first.

Jiang You carefully observed Shen Lian's expression. Although Teacher Shen seemed the same as usual, Jiang You felt he was excessively quiet. Usually, he would chat a bit with people, but from the moment he got in the car until now, he hadn't spoken.

Shen Lian wasn't in the mood.

He could still mask it slightly in front of Chu Yilan, acting as if he hadn't taken the man's drunken words from last night to heart. This was because Chu Yilan had a kind of 'self-esteem' that guarded his bottom line regarding this matter. Perhaps because he had once been too wretched, living a life worse than livestock while being stepped on by Chu Changqi, Chu Yilan only gave a general outline and had no intention of letting Shen Lian know everything.

But Shen Lian was fuming inside.

He used to think that since he couldn't participate in Chu Yilan's past, he would have his future. But Chu Changqi's existence was like a maggot in the bone, reminding Shen Lian that this wasn't a clean break, but a cycle of cause and effect. Chu Yilan clearly could have lived very well.

Instead of the lifeless state he was in when Shen Lian first arrived, looking ready to die at any moment.

In the book, Chu Yilan's ending wasn't just about Zhou Tangsi and Zheng Ge; it was also his decade-long painful experience that had created a soul prone to self-destruction.

"You're back?" Director Zhao had just woken up and was still groggy. Seeing Shen Lian come out of the dressing room, he said with a smile, "If there's an emergency at home, deal with that first; your progress is fast anyway."

"It's handled," Shen Lian replied warmly. "Work is equally important."

Director Zhao felt comforted, but then his heart went cold at the thought of the other 'noobs' in the crew.

Shi Zhujie had only been stable for a few days before relapsing into his old ways. Chen Yan had already finished her scenes and left. His role wasn't much larger than Chen Yan's, but the result was that he couldn't complete it smoothly.

This afternoon, there was a scene where the Young Marquis of Dingyuan loses his sister in the rain. Director Zhao didn't even dare to imagine what a disaster it would be when Shi Zhujie performed this kind of sequence that required explosive power and excellent crying skills.

It could only be said that Director Zhao's expectations were still a bit too optimistic.

Shi Zhujie had a ton of issues before even starting. It had been hot lately with no rain at all, so they had to rely on machines and set arrangements. The crew had borrowed a large water truck and spray hoses, but Shi Zhujie whined, thinking the water wasn't clean, saying he'd tried it and it left a smell on him.

The Assistant Director had already been tormented into a state of madness, possessing a kind of dead-hearted calm. No matter what Shi Zhujie's assistant said, he just held his thermos and didn't open his mouth.

Everything was ready, but Shi Zhujie wouldn't budge.

"They'll probably have to film your parts first again." Liu Tang was also fed up, complaining to Shen Lian, "Let Director Zhao slowly grind it out with them later."

As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Lian stood up and walked forward.

"This water was loaded last night, how can it be dirty?!" Director Zhao communicated while suppressing his anger.

Shi Zhujie glanced over and said indifferently, "The weather is so hot now, it's probably already stinking. It's not even purified water..."

"Why do you need purified water to film a three-minute emotional scene?" Shen Lian interrupted.

Director Zhao looked back in surprise. Shen Lian looked down on Shi Zhujie, but except for the time Song Yuan came, the two hadn't had much of a conflict since. Director Zhao could also see that despite Shen Lian's flamboyant personality, he had an attitude of "better to have one less thing to deal with." He always prioritized finishing on schedule, and if someone was acting up before, he would just go on first to accommodate the time.

"Hurry up and film," Shen Lian said. "I have another scene this afternoon. If you want to wash yourself clean, go home and shower. Don't waste my time."

Shi Zhujie was a bit displeased. "Who are you talking to..."

"I'm talking to you!" Shen Lian's tone was unfriendly. "Do you have ears? How many times have I yielded to you? How many times has Director Zhao coaxed you? Do you really think you're some big shot? Your lines are a mess, your expressions are a mess; it's truly painful acting with you. Luminous only invested a portion, not the whole thing. If you were even slightly smart, you'd produce some results to make Song Yuan look good. You look down on Chen Mu every day, but in terms of acting alone, you aren't even fit to carry his shoes!"

Shi Zhujie's face instantly turned ashen. He instinctively wanted to curse back, but when he thought of Song Yuan's instructions, he dropped the idea.

Song Yuan had said: "Avoid Shen Lian; we can't afford to offend him."

"If he won't film, then replace him," Shen Lian said to Director Zhao. "Anyway, his part isn't much. Find a capable actor, and the progress can be settled in five days. I'll introduce someone to you. As for those investments, I'll get you better ones."

Shi Zhujie immediately shouted, "Who said I'm not filming?!"

Shen Lian pointed to the open space in the middle. "Get in there now."

Shi Zhujie knew Shen Lian wasn't joking. Once this man got serious, he had an aura like he was grabbing you by the neck to make you see for yourself whether he dared or not.