Oh No, My Tail Has Been Seen! - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Will You Be Jealous?

Su Miao looked down at her legs. In an instant, those slender, straight legs transformed into a white fish tail. With a little effort, she leaped and plunged into the water.

The moment she hit the water, Su Miao finally let out a comfortable sigh. She could finally soak in the water comfortably. During the variety show, she was afraid of being discovered and could only take a quick shower. Although her body was wet, not being able to soak in the water always felt like something was missing.

As soon as she was in the water, she couldn’t wait to take off her shirt and skirt. Her long fish tail emerged from the water, and there was a fist-sized wound on the originally pristine white tail.

She hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she saw the wound, Su Miao felt a persistent pain.

However, soaking in the water now, the pain had been significantly relieved compared to before she touched the water.

Su Miao cupped her hands and splashed water on her face, repeating the action a few times. As the water washed over her, her mood slowly improved.

It was half an hour later when she was completely clean. If she were at home, she could stay in the water all day, but she was at a hotel and had to go to the film set later, so she couldn’t play for too long.

Su Miao got up and took the towel she had prepared earlier to dry her body. After she was dry, she let her fish tail turn back into human legs.

While changing into her skirt, she took another look at her legs.

After the bath, it seemed a little better, and the swelling had gone down.

Although mermaids can live out of water, their bodies become very fragile without the nourishment of water, and their wounds take a long time to heal. It seemed she needed to soak in the water more often.

After getting dressed, Su Miao called for Xu Qingqing.

“Sister Su Miao, I’m here.” Xu Qingqing’s footsteps were hurried. She didn’t relax until she stood in front of the bathroom and saw Su Miao standing steadily.

“Sister Bai Jin brought breakfast,” Xu Qingqing said, carefully helping Su Miao walk to the living room. Bai Jin was waiting for them at the dining table.

When Su Miao sat down, Bai Jin put a serving of steamed buns and soy milk in front of her. “Let’s go after you’re done eating.”

“Okay.” Su Miao took a bite of a steamed bun. It had a vegetarian filling with crispy wood ear mushrooms inside. The taste was really good.

Xu Qingqing also sat down and began to eat. “The steamed buns from this place are still as delicious as ever.”

On the way here, Su Miao had looked up the area and found that many film crews had shot here before. It seemed that the artists Xu Qingqing had taken care of before had also filmed here.

And Bai Jin must have been here many times as well.

After breakfast, Su Miao refused Xu Qingqing’s help and slowly moved to the wheelchair and sat down.

It seemed that she had recovered quite a bit. When she came back, if she soaked in the water more, she should be fine in a couple of days, and she wouldn’t have to keep taking those bitter medicines.

Bai Jin took in all her movements. She looked at the time. It was indeed getting late. Even if she didn’t have a scene today, as a newcomer, it was better to get to the set early.

Xu Qingqing saw Bai Jin get up. With a year of working together, she knew this meant it was time to go, so she pushed Su Miao out.

The three of them arrived at the elevator together.

The elevator stopped on the third floor. Two men entered when the doors opened. The taller one had an excellent appearance, and Su Miao’s first thought was that she had seen him somewhere before.

The man smiled slightly when he saw Bai Jin.

This smile matched that of Lin You, the male lead from the opening ceremony she had seen yesterday. She then realized his identity.

However, it seemed a little off to run into the male lead at this time.

She didn’t have a scene today, so it was no big deal to go a little later as a learner, but could he, the male lead, be this late to the set?

Just now, when she was upstairs, she had noticed that the director and the other actors were already in place, but filming hadn’t started yet. The director’s assistant had been on the phone, seemingly waiting for someone.

Seeing Lin You in front of her, she already had her answer.

“Morning, Sister Bai Jin,” Lin You said with a crescent-eyed smile, greeting Bai Jin. He didn’t even spare a glance for Su Miao and Xu Qingqing.

“Morning,” Bai Jin’s lips curled up in a polite smile. She took three steps back to make room for the two men who had just entered.

Xu Qingqing also moved Su Miao back a little.

Lin You looked at their movements, raised his chin, and walked in silently, then turned to face the elevator doors.

The elevator soon arrived on the first floor. Lin You and his assistant got out first. Before they had taken two steps, Lin You suddenly turned back, waved to Bai Jin, and said, “I’m heading out now.”

Bai Jin nodded in response.

“He’s… late, isn’t he?” Su Miao said in a low voice. “I saw everyone getting ready upstairs, but they still hadn’t started filming.”

“It looks like it,” Bai Jin replied indifferently. “Let’s not discuss these things next time. We should just do our own thing.”

It was better for public figures to say less about these things. If someone with bad intentions overheard, they might say she was gossiping behind people’s backs.

“I understand,” Su Miao said, taking Bai Jin’s words to heart.

When the three of them arrived at the set, it was already ten minutes later.

The atmosphere was completely different from what she had seen upstairs. Everyone’s attention was on the two lead actors in the center of the set.

The clapper loader was holding the board, waiting for the director’s command.

The director saw that the actors were in character and immediately shouted, “Action!”

Lin You and Zhang Bingyue looked at each other with deep affection, clearly a pair of lovers deeply in love.

But tears gradually welled up in Zhang Bingyue’s eyes and slowly fell down her cheeks. Lin You tenderly wiped them away, then leaned in and kissed her lips.

“Cut!” The camera stopped on this scene. The director looked at the two actors with satisfaction. “Good, good. Your first scene is a kissing scene, and you’re not even that familiar with each other, but you’re doing a great job.”

Lin You smiled and said, “That’s because Sister Zhang taught me well. She just taught me a lot of kissing techniques.”

Zhang Bingyue knew she was being teased. She lightly patted his shoulder and chided, “Don’t talk nonsense. I probably have less kissing experience than you, Teacher Lin.”

With the two leads joking around, the atmosphere on set gradually became livelier.

Su Miao took out her phone and quietly made a note in her memo.

You have to know how to adjust the atmosphere. Even at work, you should complete it happily.

The director was in a frenzy when she saw him from a distance earlier, but now, facing two good actors, he was all smiles.

It seemed that in the director’s eyes, performance came first.

“Okay, let’s continue. That take was good. Now we’re going into a long shot.” The director gestured for the clapper loader to go over and mark the scene.

Immediately, the next take began.

Lin You and Zhang Bingyue kept kissing. A subtle, ambiguous atmosphere began to spread.

This was the first time Su Miao had seen a kissing scene so up close.

By a strange impulse, she turned to look at Bai Jin beside her. Her eyes were also on the embracing, kissing couple.

If it were her filming a kissing scene, would Bai Jin watch so calmly?

She really wanted Bai Jin to be jealous, but in reality, she knew it wouldn’t happen.

Bai Jin was a very business-oriented person. A kissing scene was just for the plot. Besides, they were just colleagues. Who would get jealous of a colleague?

Thinking this, she felt a little heartache and slowly looked away.

But what she didn’t know was that Bai Jin had already noticed her gaze but hadn’t responded. Her arms, which were crossed over her chest, tightened.

Suddenly, Zhang Bingyue couldn’t help but break into a laugh.

Lin You opened his eyes and immediately let go of her. The two of them took a step back to maintain their distance.

“Is that a wrap, director? My lips are getting numb,” Lin You said, his ears red from the kissing, still feigning a calm demeanor as he asked the director.

The director looked away from the monitor, sighed, and shook his head.

“We’re almost there, Bingyue. Your emotion wasn’t quite there yet this time. Let’s do it one more time and try to get it in one take, okay?” The director took out the script again and explained the emotion of the scene to Zhang Bingyue.

“Sorry, I’ll be serious this time,” Zhang Bingyue said. After being called out, the smile on her face faded a little, and she listened more attentively to the director’s instructions. When the director finished, she looked at Lin You and started to get back into character again.

The two of them looked at each other for a while, then kissed again.

This time, the director didn’t shout. He just gestured with his eyes for the others to start filming.

Su Miao watched them. It was actually quite difficult to kiss so passionately in front of so many people, but as actors, these were things they had to overcome.

This time, neither of them laughed until the director called, “Cut!”

The scene had no dialogue and relied entirely on expressions and body language to convey emotion.

Su Miao thought back to her own script. She also had a few scenes that relied on her eyes. She needed to go back and figure out how to portray them.

After the kissing scene, the director told them to quickly change and reapply their makeup for the next scene.

It was almost non-stop all morning. The leads, some of the supporting actors, and the crew worked tirelessly.

At noon, the director told everyone to take a break and handed out lunch boxes. Although Su Miao wasn’t filming, the director saw how seriously she was learning and had someone give her a lunch box.

Su Miao opened the box. The food was simple: mostly vegetables and one meat patty. She had never been on a film set before, so she didn’t know if this was a good meal, but it was enough to fill her stomach.

In the afternoon, the director told everyone to gather. A staff member hurriedly ran over and whispered something in the director’s ear.

The director suddenly stomped his foot and said angrily, “He was late this morning, and now he’s leaving early in the afternoon? Are we even going to film this show?”

Su Miao looked at him in confusion, then looked at the people gathering. Lin You wasn’t among them.

She figured the director was talking about him.

When the people around them saw the director get angry, they all instinctively took two steps back. Even the female lead, Zhang Bingyue, who had been about to step up and say a few words for her co-star, was held back by her manager.