Chapter 30 Chapter 30 Otherwise, you go to bed? ...
Chen Zhuo suffered from insomnia, which was rare for him.
Her mind was in a mess. She didn't know how to face Shao Chengzhang, nor did she know how to deal with this love.
After all, this was beyond her emotional response.
She was only good at saying no, no matter if it was a senior she met in college or colleagues she met at work, once the other party made it clear or she sensed that the other party had feelings for her, she would always refuse tactfully and gently, and then act as if nothing had happened, maintaining propriety and distance.
But Shao Chengzhang was different. He quietly pulled her closer but never overstepped the line, leaving her unable to refuse and with nowhere to escape.
She had been quite confident in herself, able to choose whether to like him or not, but she discovered that being moved was not what it seemed. No wonder they say love is the corruption of free will.
But does Shao Chengzhang like her... Chen Zhuo thought about it and decided not to be so self-indulgent.
I don’t know what to do. Now that things have come to this, I might as well work and make money first.
She went over the work she needed to do the next day in her mind, and soon, her mind was tired, and she fell into a deep sleep.
Late at night, Shao Chengzhang quietly pushed the door open. He was at the end of the bed, his eyes falling on the sleeping Chen Zhuo. Her brows were relaxed, and her breathing was long.
The emotions in my heart that had been suppressed by reason suddenly seemed to crack.
Perhaps he overestimated his own determination and underestimated Chen Zhuo's charm. He couldn't control himself at all, and wanted more and more.
I want to get close to her, touch her hair, kiss her red lips, hug the soft curve of her waist, pull her into my arms, and completely possess her.
Desire will only grow stronger, like water soaking into cloth, seeping into the skin, flesh, and bones.
*
The next morning, Chen Zhuo had already calmed down.
When she saw Shao Chengzhang at the counter, she took a glance at him and found that his jaw had returned to normal. She exchanged a few normal greetings and then drove to the company after breakfast.
Chen Zhuo received the contract with Li Yaqi's seal, and the male lead of "Fog Lights" officially signed Guan Siyu as the male lead.
She checked Guan Siyu's schedule. There was an awards ceremony in late May, and a film festival opening ceremony in early June with his soon-to-be-released film. The end of June was Guan Siyu's birthday. For the past two years, Guan Siyu's birthday had been celebrated with the crew. This year, after learning there were no announcements, she informed Shen Zhuo that they would celebrate at home. Until she joined the crew of Fog Lights in September, there was no time left.
The director had issued a strict requirement, requiring Guan Siyu to obtain a B2 driver's license for large trucks before joining the crew. Shen Zhuo checked the relevant information and realized it would take at least a month, so she set aside August mainly for him to practice driving.
Thinking about the last time she turned down "Director Please Give Me Advice" and was singled out by her boss, who implied that she was not serious about her work, she wanted to roll her eyes.
In the afternoon, Guan Siyu came to the company for a makeup tryout, preparing for his red carpet look. He wasn't a familiar face, so Chen Zhuo and his stylist decided to keep a low profile.
During the makeup break, Chen Zhuo and Guan Siyu introduced a group message she saw on her WeChat Moments.
It's a web series, but the platform has rated it an S+ project. The creative team is the same crew behind a hit suspense drama, so there's no need to worry about production. There's an interesting character in the biography, a seemingly playboy with aristocratic temperament who's actually a deeply affectionate man. Shen Zhuo thinks he could give it a try.
Although the roles released by this group are mostly male No. 5 and above with few screen time, the roles he has taken on in the past two years are all low-level small characters, which is a bit too stereotyped.
After listening to Chen Zhuo's analysis, Guan Siyu raised his eyes and looked at her in the mirror. Without thinking, he nodded and said that he could take it.
Chen Zhuo almost thought she had misheard. She didn't expect Guan Siyu to agree so readily. She was even prepared to be rejected because Guan Siyu once said that he would only make movies.
"Why did you agree so quickly this time?" Shen Zhuo asked.
"To thank you for helping me get the male lead in Fog Lights." Guan Siyu blinked his affectionate peach blossom eyes at her, "and I trust you very much."
Shen Zhuo groaned, but felt very benefited.
In this realistic industry, fame and fortune fluctuate and people's hearts are unpredictable, but precisely because of this, partnerships based on mutual trust are particularly precious.
"Okay, then I'll contact casting." She stood up with a smile, her tone light.
Chen Zhuo sent a WeChat message to the acting assistant director, who called shortly afterward to confirm Guan Siyu's participation. For the production crew, a Cannes-nominated actor playing a minor supporting role was the icing on the cake.
Chen Zhuo chatted with the other party. The leading actors were all well-known veteran actors with good acting skills, and the remuneration was not a big problem. She only asked that Guan Siyu's role be concentrated and arranged as early as possible so that all the filming could be completed before August. The other party readily agreed.
After the deal was settled, Chen Zhuo returned to the dressing room. At this time, Guan Siyu's makeup and hairstyle were almost done.
The stylist borrowed two new ready-to-wear suits from the season. One was a slim-fit Dior suit in black embossed fabric with a satin collar, accented by a shiny brooch. The lapels were narrow, highlighting the broad shoulders and narrow waist. The other was a black Louis Vuitton suit, accentuated by a silver tie clip.
Chen Zhuo was very satisfied. These two brands were high-end luxury brands that she liked and matched Guan Siyu's style. She would try to get a cooperation with one of them for Guan Siyu.
The makeup and styling for the two red carpets mainly focused on leveraging marketing opportunities, so it will be easier to negotiate cooperation with brands later.
After deciding on the look, Chen Zhuo went to the publicity team and held a small meeting with Director Nadia, focusing on discussing Guan Siyu's red carpet look, the promotional direction of the new film, and the arrangements for fashion magazines.
As May arrived, the sun seemed reluctant to set. The daylight hours gradually lengthened, and the working hours were also quietly extended. It was already past nine o'clock when Chen Zhuo walked out of the office building.
Shao Chengzhang arrived home earlier than her and was sitting on the single sofa reading a book. Shen Zhuo greeted him and turned to walk towards the bedroom.
After changing into pajamas, Chen Zhuo lay directly on her back on the bed. After a tiring day, she could finally take a break. She closed her eyes and relaxed her body, feeling soreness in every limb.
"Excuse me, may I come in?" Shao Chengzhang knocked on the door.
"Come in." Shen Zhuo sighed, got up again, and watched Shao Chengzhang walk in with a distracted look.
"Are you tired from work today?" Shao Chengzhang asked.
Chen Zhuo nodded: "A little bit."
"I bought a massage chair. Do you want to try it? It's pretty good."
"Huh?" Chen Zhuo was a little surprised. "Why do you want to buy a massage chair?"
Shao Chengzhang shrugged and said nonchalantly, "My waist and back have been feeling a bit uncomfortable lately. Maybe it's because the floor is too hard."
"..." Does he mean to blame her for making him sleep on the floor?
Chen Zhuo refused to respond and asked where the massage chair was. Shao Chengzhang led her to the study. In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, a brand new smart massage chair was prominently displayed.
Shao Chengzhang bought this during his lunch break at the mall. The brand delivered it to his door and installed it in the evening.
Chen Zhuo sat on it, his body sinking into the soft leather surface, his entire waist and back fit in it, which was quite comfortable.
She rarely goes for massage. Besides not having time, another reason is that her body is quite sensitive. No matter whether it is her waist, legs, feet or the inner side of her arms, she will feel itchy as soon as the masseur touches her and cannot relax at all.
During the one-hour massage, she spent most of the time fighting with the master's muscles. Over time, she stopped going for massages because she felt it was too much of a loss.
Shao Chengzhang clicked a few times on his mobile phone, and the massage chair started immediately. From the shoulders and neck, waist to the hips and legs, multiple massage heads began to operate synchronously.
"Ah..." The massage head has a soft yet firm force, bringing a tingling sensation.
Shen Zhuo's body shook subconsciously, and soon she began to cry out in pain, but her whole body was pinned to the chair. She struggled to get up but was sunk deep into the seat and unable to move.
"No, it hurts..." Her breath trembled, and she couldn't help but cry out, "Shao Chengzhang!"
Shao Chengzhang suppressed his laughter and pressed the pause button.
Chen Zhuo calmed down, exhaled, shook his head and said, "It and I are destined to be together, and I am not blessed to enjoy it."
She rubbed her shoulders, pounded her waist, and moved her neck left and right with both hands. She heard the bones crackling, "Ouch, my bones."
"Mind if I come?"
"Ah?" Before Shen Zhuo could react to what he was asking, a big hand was already on the side of her neck, and the other hand was holding her neck.
"Hey——" She subconsciously wanted to dodge.
"Don't move." Shao Chengzhang said, and began to massage her. "Your muscles are tense, and there's a rustling sound inside when I pinch them."
She knew she had a problem with her cervical spine. After working for long periods of time, her pinky and ring fingers would go numb all the way up to her elbows.
Shao Chengzhang pressed from Fengchi acupoint to Jianjing acupoint, gradually increasing the strength, but Chen Zhuo was not strong enough and cried out in pain before he had even rubbed it twice.
She shrank her neck, and the shoulder that was pressed couldn't help but slump down, trying to escape from his clutches as soon as possible.
"Shao Chengzhang, are you doing this on purpose? Ouch, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much!!!" Then Shen Zhuo howled, shrinking his body and begging, "Really, I beg you, stop, stop."
Shao Chengzhang smiled, "That's what you call intentional. I didn't use much strength just now."
"You're too strong." Shen Zhuo said angrily.
Shao Chengzhang smiled teasingly: "I don't mind if you press it back for me."
Chen Zhuo glanced at him and said, "You wish."
Shao Chengzhang said, "Move around and feel if you feel better."
Chen Zhuo turned his right shoulder and seemed to feel a little relieved. "It seems to be of some use."
Shao Chengzhang snorted and turned to leave, but was stopped by Shen Zhuo again. He turned around and looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"What about this side?"
"Ms. Shen, the experience is over, and the next step is the paid items." Shao Chengzhang raised his eyebrows.
Chen Zhuo tutted, "Boss Shao, you can't do business like this. If you want to take, you must first give. How can you be so stingy?"
Shao Chengzhang became interested: "Then I want to know what I can get?"
Shen Zhuo pursed his lips and thought for two seconds: "Or, why don't you go to bed?"
As soon as he said this, Shen Zhuo regretted it.
Shao Chengzhang asked: "Is it okay? If you are not used to sleeping with someone next to you, it's okay for me to sleep on the floor."
Although she knew that he was just chatting and trying to retreat in order to advance, Chen Zhuo couldn't say anything like "Then you can sleep on the floor" because she didn't reject his approach at all, but was looking forward to it.
However, she still warned Shao Chengzhang that if he crossed the line, she would kick him out immediately.
*
While Chen Zhuo was washing up, Shao Chengzhang took his pillow and quilt and put them on the bed. The bed was actually big enough that even if two people lay together, there would still be some space between them.
When Shen Zhuo came back from drying his hair, he found that Shao Chengzhang had already washed up and was leaning against the bedside looking at his phone.
Isn't that right? Shouldn't he be working at this hour?
"Don't you have to work tonight?" Shen Zhuo asked.
Shao Chengzhang shook his head and said, "No need."
"Oh." Chen Zhuo thought, maybe everyone had had enough fun during the holidays and the peak period of needing fun had passed.
But he's here, it's so embarrassing.
She couldn't stand all the time, so she had to go to bed and start playing with her phone. She was used to checking various platforms before going to bed, especially a well-known barrage app, which could tell her what the audience was complaining about or what plots or artists they were supporting, and understand some of the public's thoughts.
A movie interpretation on the homepage attracted her. She had seen the movie and her review was very negative. However, Shen Zhuo liked reading the interpretations very much, as she could sometimes gain different perspectives.
She clicked on the video, skipped the summary, and moved the progress bar to the analysis part. She frowned after listening to a few words.
"Hey, have you seen the movie "Poor Thing"? " Shen Zhuo asked casually.
Shao Chengzhang put down his phone and said he had seen it.
The two of them started chatting about the movie.
Chen Zhuo believes that putting a baby's brain into a mature woman's body to explore the world through sex is simply the fantasy of an old white man, and is essentially an infringement on women.
Shao Chengzhang cannot deny it, but he also said that this film sets the protagonist as a special person. The protagonist's purpose of choosing to be a prostitute is probably to reveal the oppression of patriarchy on women in marriage.
Shen Zhuo was a little excited. He turned from lying flat on his back to lying on his side, supporting his head with his hands. After listening to Shao Chengzhang's point of view, he sat up cross-legged.
Shen Zhuo was unconvinced. Why use a woman's body? Why over-glamorize the life of a prostitute?
Very masculine.
The two people talked about sexual liberation and feminism, and from "Sisters Stand Up" back to "Poor Things", talking back and forth as if they were in a debate.
"Besides, sex between men is more naked, more full of desire, and more disgusting than sex between women. It seems like anyone can do it."
"So you hate sex?"
What Chen Zhuo hated was gazes filled with lust. Although she had no sexual experience, she would not refuse if it was with someone she liked.
She told about an incident that happened to her.
At the time, she had just become an executive agent and had been with the artist on set for half a year. After filming wrapped, the assistant director invited them to a Thai massage. Chen Zhuo knew the assistant director's assistant well, so they stayed in the same room with her. She changed into her massage clothes and came in. The assistant director, sitting on the edge of the bed, watched Chen Zhuo walk over and remarked, "Chen Zhuo's calves are so nice."
At that moment, she was not happy at all about being praised, but felt offended, stared at, and sexualized.
Shao Chengzhang expressed his understanding. He condemned the assistant director from Shen Zhuo's perspective, then added, "In terms of social structure, it cannot be denied that men are still the default superiors. Even for a powerful female leader, the general public may be more interested in her family or relationship rather than her career achievements. This is essentially a form of discipline for women. It can only be said that there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality."
Chen Zhuo nodded. This was the most pleasant sentence she had heard tonight.
Shao Chengzhang was silent for a moment, then suddenly turned his head to look at her, his eyes so serious that it made people uncomfortable: "What about me?"
"Huh?" Shen Zhuo was stunned.
"Have I ever made you feel uncomfortable?" Shao Chengzhang stared into her eyes, his voice lowered a little, with a hint of subtle nervousness, "Have I ever made you feel offended?"
She tilted her head, the corner of her mouth curled up slightly, "If there was anything, I would have said it earlier. In fact, you are one of the men I know who has a good sense of propriety."
"That's good." Shao Chengzhang smiled.
"What time is it?" The two chatted for a long time, and her mouth was dry. She got out of bed to drink some water, and turned on the screen of her mobile phone to take a look. The time displayed was 02:39.
"Oh my god, it's already past 2:30 in the morning." Chen Zhuo opened his eyes wide, "Does time pass so quickly?"
She walked out in shock, and Shao Chengzhang stared at her back and couldn't help laughing.
When Shen Zhuo came back from drinking water, he urged Shao Chengzhang to go to bed quickly, but she couldn't fall asleep even after lying down. She felt uncomfortable because her pajamas were wrinkled under her body or because her pillow was not comfortable. In short, she couldn't fall asleep for various reasons. Shao Chengzhang was lying on her other side, so she had to be very careful every time she turned over, for fear of disturbing him.
Finally, she couldn't help but asked quietly, "Shao Chengzhang, are you asleep?" The voice was not loud, but she could still hear it clearly in the quiet environment.
Shao Chengzhang opened his eyes and looked sideways at her: "No."
"It's over, I can't sleep." Chen Zhuo was so excited from the conversation just now that he was completely high.
Shao Chengzhang smiled silently: "What to do, me too."
In fact, Shen Zhuo has always been quite curious about Shao Chengzhang's career. Why did he want to do this job? But since they had just talked about related topics, Shen Zhuo didn't want to ask anymore.
Shao Chengzhang turned sideways and faced Chen Zhuo, "Tell me about your industry?" The experiences Chen Zhuo shared had already made him prejudiced against people working in the entertainment industry. Most crews were a mixed bag.
Speaking of the entertainment industry, Shen Zhuo really opened up, "Hey, let me tell you..." She also turned sideways and started talking about gossip.
For example, she especially hated who was having an affair with whom, who had a financial backer, and who was acting like a big shot... Shao Chengzhang listened silently, and sometimes he would share the same hatred with Shen Zhuo, saying why someone was like that.
Time slips away quietly without anyone noticing.
"I can't do it anymore. I'm sleepy. Let's go to bed." It was almost four o'clock when Chen Zhuo finally yawned. "If I don't sleep now, I really won't be able to get up tomorrow morning. Oh, no, it's this morning."
The two of them stayed up all night. Shao Chengzhang was happy but also worried that Shen Zhuo would not be in good condition after waking up and would delay work, so he quickly said, "Well, go to sleep. I'm sleepy too."
After saying goodnight to each other, Shen Zhuo fell asleep almost immediately. Shao Chengzhang stared at her, his eyes lingering for a long time before slowly closing his eyes.
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