Chapter 26
A month is always a short time, even if you are working day and night on the crew.
As filming in Ducheng drew to a close, typhoon season arrived. Yuan Chengyin became visibly nervous, constantly pulling out his phone to check the latest typhoon forecasts.
It had been a long time since Ranlong had filmed a movie so intensively day after day, and she was really hoping for some heavy rain so that she could take a few days off.
Despite Yuan Chengyin's prayers and the promise of a sunny day, the rainstorm still arrived. Yao Ling was delighted by the gloomy weather and insisted that Yuan Chengyin add a melodramatic scene where they quarreled and hugged each other in the rain.
Of course, the most ridiculous thing is that Yuan Chengyin agreed.
Ranlong refused on the grounds that Qiu An was frail, but Qiu An looked at her with gratitude the whole night, forcing her to come forward and explain:
"Oh, I don't want to get wet in the rain. It's just an excuse. Don't take it too seriously."
-
Ranlong stood in the heavy rain, his eyes misty and shivering, unable to figure out what was going on.
Why did Qiu An inexplicably agree to take a hot spring bath together just because Yuan Chengyin asked her to?
"Why, you're a big star, but you don't have money to go to the hot springs?"
"I was used to being poor before, and even though I'm rich now, I still can't help but be greedy for this little advantage."
"…Are you serious?"
Qiu An shook his head.
…
After returning to the hotel, Ranlong ordered a midnight snack despite having already eaten dinner. It was oden as usual, but with two cups of ginger tea.
After taking a shower and picking up the takeaway, she pretended to be casual and called Qiu An over, saying to her, "It's a group order. I can't finish it by myself."
Qiu An thanked him, took the ginger tea, and sat next to Ran Long, sipping it in small sips. The upturned corners of his mouth were an automatic reaction of his body and difficult to control.
Ranlong saw that she was feeling awkward just sitting there, so he gave her some radish balls to eat.
After finishing the oden, Qiu An took the initiative to clean up the garbage. After that, he returned to his room without saying another word.
Ranlong didn't know what he was expecting.
After the most intimate kissing scene was filmed, Qiu An no longer came to cause trouble for Ran Long from time to time.
He no longer talked about sleeping with her, let alone kissing her.
What bothered Ranlong the most was that Qiu An never even asked her out for dinner again.
It’s not that I really want to have dinner with her, it’s just that everyone in the crew is gathered together in groups, and she seems a little bored by herself.
Even if Qiu An didn't come, Ran Long couldn't let go of his pride and took the initiative to look for him.
She wanted to ask Yuan Chengyin to have dinner together, but Yuan Chengyin was busy, and her relationship with Yuan Chengyin was neither good nor bad. And maybe because of his age, he kept saying some clichés, which made Ranlong want to call her aunt.
So it would be better for Qiu An not to be with her, she didn't want to have two more aunts out of thin air.
In short, the only candidate left to have dinner with Ranlong is Sister Hou, but Sister Hou prefers to be with Xixi rather than Ranlong.
I don't know when those two became so close. Could it be that they quickly became closer by exchanging gossip?
Sometimes they would move a long bench in front of the RV, and Xixi would sit on it and eat with her plate in hand. Sister Hou was small in stature and had small hands, so she couldn't hold the plate, so she would put her lunch box on the bench and squat on the ground to eat.
People were coming and going outside, and passers-by would occasionally bring over a stool and eat with the two of them.
Ranlong and Qiu An sat in two RVs respectively. Looking at the hustle and bustle outside, the RVs seemed empty and deserted.
In order to prevent being secretly photographed, the curtains in Qiu An's RV have been drawn all year round, but in order to let in some light, they are occasionally left half open.
The half window that remains is usually opened on the side facing the color.
Ranlong swears that day was extremely boring.
There was nothing new on the forums and Weibo, so I hid behind the curtain, turned on the camera on my phone, and zoomed in and out on Qiu An's window.
She saw Qiu An staring at her phone with a mysterious smile on her lips.
Ranlong's heart was beating fast, thinking that he would discover Qiu An's love affair before the paparazzi.
She focused the camera on the phone that Qiu An was holding tightly, but saw a retro-style page on the screen.
Looks so familiar! It turns out Qiu An also reads entertainment forums.
Yes, she was the one who first watched it with Qiu An.
No wonder she enjoyed watching it so much. The posts related to her in the forum were either praising her or supporting her and Yuan Chengyin. Which one wouldn't she like to watch?
Just as she was muttering to herself, Qiu An suddenly turned her head and looked straight in her direction.
Ranlong was so frightened that his hands shook and his phone dropped, landing right in the gap between the seats...
While searching for her cell phone, Ran Long was thinking that Qiu An was like an addictive poison to her.
You know clearly that this woman is not a good person, saying one thing in front of you and another behind your back, and she keeps lying to you. But when she hasn't been close to you for a long time, you will miss her again.
It's like a withdrawal reaction.
Especially when you can see her in the blink of an eye.
Yu Youxuan's husband, children, and other actors who finished filming in Ducheng have already left. There are fewer and fewer people left in Ducheng, and the hotel is becoming increasingly empty.
Ranlong couldn't help but wonder, after they finished filming and she received the remaining salary, would Qiu An feel that he had atoned for his sins and would no longer contact her?
Will the relationship between them end once the film is completed?
Logically speaking, there will be a lot of follow-up activities such as publicity and premieres. If the film is submitted for major awards and is fortunate enough to be nominated, it can last for a year or two.
So, will she still attend these events? If she is criticized by the media and faces backlash from radical fans, will she continue?
How far will Qiu An go to fulfill her guilt, and how long will it last?
-
Sister Hou leaned over the bench, patting the juicy egg custard in the lunch box with a spoon.
There was a shallow puddle under her feet that had not yet evaporated after the rain. She patted the egg custard and then stepped into the puddle, having a lot of fun.
Xixi sat aside and looked at Sister Hou with amusement.
Taking advantage of Xixi's relaxed mood, Sister Hou asked her, "Do you know what gossip they're spreading? None of them are telling me. It's clearly related to Ranlong, so asking me is the most direct way."
Xixi smiled and said, "Some gossip is only interesting when it can't be disproven."
"For example?" Sister Hou's eyes were bright, and she was very proud of herself for coming up with such a brilliant set of words.
Sissi couldn't bear to let her hope go unfulfilled, so she told her, "For example, Ranlong and Qiu An didn't fall in love because of the play."
Qiu An's love affair didn't happen overnight, and as for Ran Long, at least not yet, Xixi added in her heart.
"Tsk, that's it. Even if we put aside sexual orientation, it's obvious that those two people are not in a relationship." Sister Hou immediately realized the boredom and ignorance of human beings.
Seeing that she was not satisfied with this answer, Xixi changed it: "For example, they have never been together."
"Well, I can probably guess."
Anyway, she couldn't imagine what Ranlong would be like in a relationship. Would he act coquettish all day like he did during the live broadcast? The thought of it made her feel a little sick.
Sister Hou wanted to continue to trick Xixi, but seeing that Xixi had no intention of continuing to reveal more information, she decided to throw a straight ball.
"Xixi~" She imitated the way Ranlong spoke during the live broadcast and raised her voice in a coquettish voice.
Sissi was startled by the familiar voice.
"What, what are you doing?"
"Are we familiar with each other?"
Xixi thought for a moment and said, "It's just barely okay."
"Do you want to have a further relationship with me?"
Xixi was stunned, and the Kung Pao Chicken in her mouth suddenly lost its flavor.
"What?" she asked blankly.
"Can we be friends?"
Sister Hou’s straight-woman mind didn’t think in any other direction at all. She just thought it sounded more mysterious.
Sissi was different. She felt like she was being played a trick on her. Her face turned green and she subconsciously refused, "I don't want it."
"Huh?" This time it was Sister Hou's turn to be upset. "No way, shouldn't a normal person just agree at this point?"
"If you want to know what happened back then, you don't have to worry so much. I can tell you what I know."
"But, do you really not want to be friends with me?" Sister Hou showed the expression of a poor puppy who had been rejected.
Xixi's heart softened: "I was just joking, we can be friends."
"Yeah!"
Xixi recounted the events of the past to Sister Hou, though she deliberately omitted the fact that Qiu An had a crush on Ran Long. She had no way of knowing the details of the relationship between Qiu An and Yuan Chengyin, but judging by Qiu An's evasiveness, it was likely not a good thing.
The story of Ranlong and Qiu An actually started with Yuan Chengyin. Qiu An said it wasn't a tragic love triangle, but Xixi didn't quite believe it.
That year, Yuan Chengyin had just graduated and joined Lingdong Films as an assistant director. Although he was called an assistant director, he was essentially a generalist, responsible for casting, location scouting, scheduling, and other trivial tasks.
At that time, she was unknown, but she got the equally unknown script "Half Life".
Yuan Chengyin wrote a plan for the script and submitted it to the company's top management with a try-it-or-luck mentality.
Unexpectedly, the company's top management was very optimistic about this script.
However, senior management, believing Yuan Chengyin lacked experience, wanted to bypass him and give the script to someone else. Fortunately, Yao Ling, the screenwriter of "Half Life," insisted on refusing. Lingdong Films had no choice but to give in.
The final result of the negotiation was that Lingdong Film and Television would provide the funding and Yuan Chengyin would be the director; but the company was required to have the final decision on casting matters.
"Is it under these circumstances that Qiu An snatched away Ran Long's role?"
"You could say that, but the situation is more complicated than that."
With Yuan Chengyin's strong recommendation, the company has almost decided to let Ranlong play the leading female role.
However, Lingdong Film and Television was not only interested in Ranlong's acting skills, but more importantly, they wanted to take advantage of the fame of her father Rancheng.
However, shortly before the contract was drafted, Ran Cheng was exposed for gambling debts.
"I remember there was cheating, right?"
"The infidelity happened even earlier, but it was brought up again at that time."
"oh."
After Ran Cheng lost both his money and reputation, Lingdong Film and Television felt that Ran Long was no longer of any use and that it was risky to use him as the protagonist, so they immediately decided to replace him.
"Huh? Wait a minute, then why is Lingdong Film and Television willing to let Ranlong play the leading role? Her reputation and image are not so good right now, right?"
"This is because... this film wasn't produced by Lingdong Films. They received external investment and only provided the production team headed by Yuan Chengyin."
"Huh? Is that so? How come I didn't know?"
"Hmm... maybe it's because the producer is relatively low-key."
"So Lingdong Films replaced Ran Long with Qiu An because of Ran Cheng's incident?"
"You could say that."
Seeing that there was no way to save Ranlong, Yuan Chengyin recommended Qiu An, the candidate she had in mind.
Of course, Qiu An had no background. She passed layers of auditions and selections before she was favored by Lingdong Film and Television.
"This is the fact I know. But Ranlong doesn't agree with this statement. She always feels that it was Qiu An who designed the Rancheng affair to be exposed at that time, and..." Xixi stopped hesitantly halfway through her words.
"And what?"
Xixi turned her head to look in the direction of the RV to make sure Qiu An and Ran Long were still staying there peacefully. She continued, "Ran Long also suspected that Qiu An got the role through an improper relationship with Yuan Chengyin."
"Oh yeah! She seemed to have mentioned something like that in that slap video. This, this is considered a rumor, right? How can Ranlong be so emotional?"
Sister Hou’s elbow almost bent into Xixi’s arms.
Sissi remained silent.
When Qiu An first founded her studio, she encountered many obstacles. Xixi had witnessed her ruthless and even insidious methods.
She knew that Qiu An's public image was carefully packaged and agreed upon with her agent. She also knew that even though Qiu An deliberately forbeared, he had an extremely strong desire to control Ran Long.
After spending more than a month with Ranlong, Xixi finally saw through her.
His brain may not be very good, but his heart is not really a bad one.
If you haven't seen any evidence, it's impossible to make up such a false rumor.
Xixi didn’t know what evidence Ranlong saw. She only knew that no matter how angry Ranlong was, that evidence had never been circulated on the Internet.
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