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Today is the day that Yin Tian finished filming, and tomorrow, the crew will have two days off, so everyone is in high spirits.
Xia Zhitang's good mood only lasted until he received a birthday text message from his former parents-in-law.
It turns out it’s her birthday.
She stroked the faded red string around her wrist, feeling somewhat depressed. It seemed like she had nowhere to go, and no one to celebrate her birthday with...
When Xie Lin invited her to the party and specifically told her that if Director Xia didn't mind, she could celebrate her birthday with them, Xia Zhitang hesitated for a moment but finally nodded in agreement.
In the evening, Xia Zhitang walked into Xie Lin's room carrying snacks and beer.
Yin Tian blew up the mini sprinkler, and golden ribbons and sequins fell on Xia Zhitang.
Xie Lin, wearing a cheongsam, rushed over, grabbing the bottle of wine and saying, "The birthday girl is here last, so you have to drink three glasses!"
Xia Zhitang did not refuse. Amidst Yin Tian's screams and Xie Lin's applause, he drank three cups in one go, his cheeks flushed.
"Let's talk about the rules first." Xie Lin kicked the snack bags off the floor and pulled out a bunch of bizarre costumes from the closet. "You lose a round and take off one piece of clothing. The winner gets to change." She picked up the black mesh stockings and shook them. "Sister specially brought ten sets of uniforms."
Yin Tian sat cross-legged in the pile of clothes, shuffling the cards: "If Director Xia gets scared..."
"Deal the cards." Xia Zhitang took off his hairband and threw his denim jacket over the back of the chair.
After the third round, Xie Lin slammed her glass on the table and said, "I admit defeat!" She flung open her backless top and said, "Go with this!"
When Xia Zhitang put on her clothes, the shoulder straps slipped to her elbows. Yin Tian suddenly blew a whistle she hadn't found anywhere: "Foul! Your bra straps are showing!"
"Raise the stakes!" Xie Lin threw out two jokers. "Losers take off their bras!"
At two in the morning, Xia Zhitang collapsed on the couch. She had lost the most money that night, and she had already changed her clothes several times.
She wore a furry cat ear headband on her head, a white backless top, and a JK miniskirt and black retro fishnet stockings on her bottom.
Drunk Xie Lin slumped over the table, dangling her glass and muttering, "JK skirts look good with tights!"
Yin Tian held up her phone and looked around the room for angles: "Director Xia, look at the camera! Posting this on Weibo will increase my followers!"
"Delete it!" Xia Zhitang threw a pillow.
Xie Lin suddenly stumbled to her feet and pulled a leather jacket from the closet: "The ultimate punishment! Wear this and film a TikTok video!"
"That's enough!" Xia Zhitang burped and staggered to his feet, looking for his shoes. "I want to go back..."
The doorbell suddenly rang, and the three of them froze in place.
"Here they come." Xie Lin staggered behind the door, peeking through the peephole and screaming, "Damn it! It's Lin..."
Xia Zhitang grabbed his denim jacket and wrapped himself in it, rushing into the bathroom in a panic. Yin Tian hurriedly threw away the debris and hid under the bed.
Xie Lin opened the door a crack after seeing that everyone was hidden. "Director Lin, are you checking in?"
Lin Jingming's hand holding the notice froze in mid-air. When he couldn't find anyone in Xia Zhitang's room, he guessed that the person had come here.
Lin Jingming's eyes swept over the bottles scattered on the floor and the tilted dressing mirror. He spotted Xia Zhitang in the mirror facing the bathroom. She had furry cat ears, a hint of her snow-white waist peeking out from under her denim jacket, and a pair of black retro fishnet stockings on her shapely feet.
His voice deepened: "Tomorrow morning at seven o'clock..."
"I know! Let's take a picture!" Xie Lin slammed the door. "Take care!"
After locking Lin Jingming outside, the three women crawled back to the bed as if they had survived a disaster. Yin Tian suddenly pointed at Xia Zhitang and exclaimed, "Is there nothing inside you..."
The pillow muffled her screams, turning them into sobs. Xie Lin pulled out the last half bottle of wine and said, "Fight till dawn!"
Today was the crew's day off; they would be moving to a new location for filming next week. When Xia Zhitang was woken by her alarm, she finally remembered that Lin Jingming had messaged her in the middle of the night, while she had been drinking and partying with Xie Lin and the others and ignored him.
So, Lin Jingming must have had something to talk to her about last night! Xia Zhitang jumped out of bed and hurriedly replied to him while getting ready.
When she rushed into Lin Jingming's room with the notice in her hand, he was throwing his shirt into the suitcase.
Lin Jingming didn't seem to be very good at cleaning up. Xia Zhitang stepped on the scattered belts on the ground and almost fell down.
Lin Jingming kindly helped her up, and Xia Zhitang stuffed a thick stack of documents into his hand and said, "I'll leave after you sign."
Lin Jingming flipped through the documents and said pointedly, "Room 1603 was quite lively last night."
Xia Zhitang awkwardly straightened the wrinkled expense report on Lin Jingming's desk: "You don't understand female friendship."
"Our friendship is even more special." Lin Jingming suddenly took out the spare black stockings Xia Zhitang had given him from his suitcase, "For example, this one..."
Xia Zhitang blushed and snatched the socks and stuffed them into his trouser pocket: "It's just work."
Lin Jingming slapped the signed document into her hand and said, "Give it back to me. I'm still missing a souvenir from my suitcase. Like the one in your pocket..."
"Go ask Xie Lin!" Xia Zhitang accidentally bumped into the coat rack when she turned and rushed out, and the metal hook caught her ponytail.
Lin Jingming reached out to help her untie it, but she slapped his hand away: "Catch your plane!"
Lin Jingming smiled and grabbed her sleeve: "Why are you so panicked..."
"Please keep your distance!" Xia Zhitang finally freed himself from the metal hook and took two steps back to distance himself from him.
"Please bring a gift for Cheng Shubai." Lin Jingming pointed to the unopened cigar box on the bedside, "Just as..."
"Labor fee?" Xia Zhitang grabbed the documents and walked out. "I'm not going back to the company, you can give it to him personally."
Lin Jingming looked at her back, shook his head and smiled: "The little boat of friendship..."
"It sank a long time ago!" Xia Zhitang slammed the door shut without even turning his head.
Lin Jingming looked at the scattered luggage on the ground and regretted not taking the socks back. But she looked so wronged that she was about to cry, so he couldn't bear to bully her again.
A heavy rain is coming, the sky is gloomy, and the air is filled with a depressing smell.
Xia Zhitang drove her late husband's parents and parked the car in front of the gate of Nanshan Cemetery.
Silently carrying the bag, he crawled over the densely packed tombstones.
She is going to sweep the graves of three people today.
While Xia Zhitang was squatting in front of the grave pulling weeds, his cell phone kept vibrating in his canvas bag.
She used a shovel to pick away the moss from the cracks in the tombstone. Her gloved fingertips were stained with wet mud. After she was done, she took off her gloves and took out her cell phone.
Cheng Shubai's missed calls piled up into red dots on the lock screen. Xia Zhitang took a look and silently pressed the power button.
Smoke rose slowly in front of her parents' graves. She kowtowed in front of the graves, poured wine, and silently prayed for peace.
"Xiaotang." The late husband's mother came over, clutching a bunch of white chrysanthemums. "Your father's blood pressure medication was left in the car."
Xia Zhitang stood up and trotted downstairs to get the medicine.
When I came back, my ex-mother-in-law had already arranged the offerings in front of her late husband's grave.
She silently poured him a glass of wine, and the faded red rope in her hand seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
After returning from the cemetery, she took her late husband's parents out for dinner.
The air conditioning in the restaurant was cranked up extra high today, giving me goosebumps. Xia Zhitang mechanically shoveled at the rice in his bowl, his sense of taste fading with the pain in his heart.
My late husband's father suddenly asked, "Is the company busy lately?"
"I'm filming a new movie." She swallowed the plastic-tasting rice. "I'm going to Qingdao next month to shoot."
Between the clinking of porcelain spoons on their soup bowls, the waiter poured them lemonade. The old man looked at her over the top of his reading glasses: "The crew has the right person..."
Xia Zhitang stood up and interrupted his former father-in-law: "I'm going to the bathroom."
She turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face. The person in the mirror had a lifeless face.
Xia Zhitang remembered that Cheng Shubai had missed a message. She took out her cell phone and pressed the power button. The phone vibrated wildly and a message from Cheng Shubai popped up: "At 8 o'clock in the evening, at Yuehai Hall, the capital side will hold a temporary meeting."
Xia Zhitang replied: "Okay."
Just as I got home, Cheng Shubai called me: "Do you need a car to pick me up?"
"No need. Send the information to my email."
"Dress formally." Cheng Shubai paused. "Boss Li brought two new actors."
The water from the shower washed away the scent of incense in the cemetery. Xia Zhitang put on his suit pants and put on some makeup in front of the makeup mirror, giving himself a neat look.
She drove through the rain-soaked city in a depressed mood and parked her car in the parking lot of a luxury hotel.
Before getting out of the car, she put on some bright red lipstick under the dome light.
Xia Zhitang, you don’t have time to be sad, the battle has just begun.
She muttered to herself, and when she got off the car, she had adjusted her expression.
Amidst the clinking glasses of wine, Xia Zhitang held a goblet in his hand and maintained a proper smile in the corner.
Mr. Li brought two young men in their early twenties. One of them was a tall, handsome guy with small canine teeth. He came over and clinked glasses with her.
Looking at the fragrant young Master Gu, Xia Zhitang couldn't help but sigh: It's good to be young, always so sunny and energetic.
After several rounds of exchanging cups, the men's voices gradually became louder.
Cheng Shubai was holding onto the back of Mr. Li's assistant's chair and chatting and laughing. The glare from the cufflinks made her dizzy.
"Newcomers, add three fight scenes." Lin Jingming slapped the script onto the turntable, causing the glass surface to tremble. "Audition tomorrow..."
After several rounds of bargaining, a deal was struck. The investor left satisfied, leaving the three of them to clean up the mess.
At twelve o'clock in the morning, Lin Jingming pulled off his tie and checked the storyboard: "Should the double use wirework or..."
"Use a body double," Xia Zhitang said, shaking her wine glass. "Just like you men use a tie to cover your Adam's apple." She suddenly laughed as she spoke. "How convenient! You can change it anytime."
When the waiter took away the seventh empty bottle, Lin Jingming finally threw his pen and said, "Can you be more professional?"
"I can't." Xia Zhitang laughed miserably. "I visited the graves of three dead people today, and now I have to act with the living."
Lin Jingming was stunned for a moment, then suddenly grabbed a pen and said, "Newcomers, you want a sex scene, right? I'll write it!"
Lin Jingming snatched the pen from her hand: "You've drunk too much."
"No match for Mr. Cheng." Xia Zhitang pointed at the vomit marks at the door. "At least he can go home and vomit."
Lin Jingming suddenly said: "That year your father..."
"Shut up!" Xia Zhitang threw a glass in despair.
Amidst the sound of the cup mask shattering, the heartstrings that had been tense all night snapped: "Why...why do you have the right to live so easily..."
Lin Jingming finally realized that something was wrong with her and put his arm around her trembling shoulders.
Xia Zhitang smelled the intertwined scent of cigarettes and alcohol on him, suddenly grabbed his wrist and bit it, her tears mixed with foundation stained the cuffs of his shirt.
"Why are you crying?" He held his arms stiffly, not daring to move. "I'll need your approval for tomorrow's announcement."
Xia Zhitang cried for two minutes before finally controlling her surging emotions. She said in a hoarse voice, "I want to go back."
Lin Jingming took out his car keys and said, "I still have to go to the hotel to revise the script."
"Yes, even if the sky falls, we must finish the task at hand first." Xia Zhitang looked at the ceiling and put his hand on the wine glass again.
"I'll give you a day off after you're done with this." Lin Jingming took the wine from Xia Zhitang's hand and pulled her out of the restaurant.
When the designated driver turned on the radio, Xia Zhitang was smiling and pasting the revised storyboard on Lin Jingming's face.
Lin Jingming silently took the script from his face and started reading it under the dome light.
At five o'clock in the morning, Xia Zhitang and Lin Jingming continued to argue about the script in the hotel room.
"The sex scene must be deleted!" Xia Zhitang threw the script in Lin Jingming's face.
"You added it yourself last night!" Lin Jingming picked up the scattered script. "Look at this line! 'Tear off your shirt so that your abdominal muscles tremble!'"
Xia Zhitang snatched the document: "I clearly wrote 'trembling hands'!" Lin Jingming took out his phone and shook it: "Do you want to listen to the recording at 3:20 in the morning? You insisted on adding the open-air hot spring..."
"Pervert!" Xia Zhitang rushed over to grab the phone and accidentally knocked over the snack rack in the minibar.
Amid the sound of the potato chip bag exploding, she bit Lin Jingming's wrist.
"You're born in the Year of the Dog!" Lin Jingming shook his hands lightly and accidentally bumped into the coffee table.
Xia Zhitang took the opportunity to stuff the revised script into the freezer: "If you have the guts, don't use it!"
At six in the morning, the two men slumped on either side of an overturned sofa.
Xia Zhitang rolled up the script and slapped it on the sofa: "Newcomers must shoot the fight scenes shirtless."
"Too vulgar." Lin Jingming snatched the wrinkled script. "The costumes are designed to constrict the chest muscles."
"Do you think this is an action scene?" Xia Zhitang threw a pillow over.
At eight o'clock, when the morning light shone through the gaps in the curtains, Xia Zhitang found himself sleeping on the carpet with the script as his pillow.
She stumbled into the bathroom, holding her head which was dizzy from the hangover, and found Lin Jingming curled up in the bathtub.
"Wake up!" She nudged Lin Jingxiang. "I have to meet the martial arts instructor at nine o'clock."
Lin Jingming opened his eyes with difficulty, wiped his face, and staggered to his feet.
He turned on the tap and washed his face. Looking at his shirt wrinkled like a pickle in the mirror, he complained, "You got mascara on my shirt."
"You deserve it." Xia Zhitang applied lipstick in front of the glass door of the refrigerator.
The phone vibrated. Xia Zhitang threw away Lin Jingming's coat and took out the phone lying on the blanket. Cheng Shubai's message popped up: "Newcomer will be here at 10 o'clock, prepare for the audition."
Lin Jingming scratched his messy hair: "Last night's open-air hot spring..."
"Delete it!" Xia Zhitang picked up the revised draft and began a new round of revisions. "Change it to a fight in the bamboo forest."
The room fell silent for a moment. Lin Jingming, while taking the time to fix himself in the mirror, stole a glance at Xia Zhitang, who was sitting at the coffee table, diligently revising a script. The morning light shone on Xia Zhitang, who looked disheveled, but Lin Jingming felt that she was radiantly beautiful.
When the waiter knocked on the door to deliver breakfast, they both looked up at the same time: "Put it at the door!"
Lin Jingming opened the door, brought in breakfast, and placed it on the table one by one.
Xia Zhitang took a sandwich and ate while working. Lin Jingming also grabbed a storyboard and revised it while eating breakfast.
At 8:50, Xia Zhitang pressed the print button and the portable printer hummed.
She stretched, turned her head to look at Lin Jingming and suddenly laughed out loud: "There is bubble bath gel on the back of your head."
"Better than your panda eyes." Lin Jingming grabbed the cold coffee and took a sip. "Have you finished revising the script?"
Xia Zhitang patted the newly printed, still warm, revised manuscript against his chest: "I suggest you change your shirt. You look like you've been abused."
Lin Jingming quickly flipped through the script, picked up his phone, buttoned his shirt, and rushed out: "See you in studio 3 this afternoon!"
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