The Green Tea Actress Has Too Much After-Show Drama - Chapter 14

To save time, Yuan Chengyin filmed all the scenes set at the art exhibition in one block.

These scenes were part of the film’s opening sequence, and fortunately, they didn’t place too much of a burden on the actors. Everyone quickly settled into their roles.

Qiu An’s acting skills were beyond question. Having worked with Yuan Chengyin for so long, she could often grasp his direction with a single glance. The scenes progressed swiftly and smoothly.

Expectations for Ran Long, however, were far lower.

The story of her disastrous first audition had spread like wildfire throughout the crew. Even in Yuan Chengyin’s famously disciplined production, gossip was inevitable.

Her reputation on set had grown so notorious that even passing ants would crane their necks and whisper, “A vase stuffed in by capital—who’s your sugar daddy?”

The first scene she was to film was the same one she had rehearsed during her audition: Shen Zixin seeing Yu Youxuan’s painting at the art exhibition.

As the cameras were set up, everyone on set—whether they had business there or not—found excuses to crowd around and watch, eager to witness her humiliation.

Ran Long glanced impatiently at the gathering crowd, then turned to Yuan Chengyin, gesturing for him to maintain order.

Yuan Chengyin, however, seemed unconcerned. He surveyed the suddenly packed set without making any move to disperse the onlookers.

Seeing this, Qiu An circled around the camera and approached Ran Long. She gently patted her back, offering reassurance, “Don’t be nervous, Xiao Ran. Show everyone you can do this.”

Ran Long grabbed Qiu An’s arm and shoved her backward. “Ugh, I know how to act! Move aside, you’re blocking the camera!”

Ran Long’s sudden, ruthless outburst sent a ripple of gasps through the set. The crowd was bewildered; just two days ago, during the shoot’s opening, their relationship had seemed perfectly amicable. Could this woman have split personality disorder?

Yuan Chengyin watched Qiu An retreat, barely suppressing a smirk. Serves you right for provoking a ticking time bomb. You asked for this, now deal with it.

“Everyone, get ready!”

At the assistant director’s command, the set fell into complete silence.

Ran Long focused her gaze on the painting before her, oblivious to the surrounding crowd.

“Scene 1, Take 1.”

The clapperboard snapped shut with a sharp clap. Qiu An stared intently at Ran Long’s profile, unnoticed by anyone. In her clasped hands, her fingertips were digging into the flesh of her palms. She had told Ran Long to relax, but she was the one who was truly tense.

“Set.”

Ran Long exhaled the last breath she had been holding, expelling the self known as “Ran Long” along with it.

Now she was an empty vessel. Whoever the director said she was, that’s who she became.

“Action.”

The painting before her was a realistic depiction of a butt, rendered in ink and brush.

During her audition, Yuan Chengyin had put it delicately, saying, “The curves in the painting bear a striking resemblance to yours.”

But what Shen Zixin’s eyes now saw was a full-fledged butt, plain and simple.

On the left cheek, a conspicuous peach-colored birthmark stood out—slightly smaller than half a coin, its crescent shape resembling a waning moon.

The birthmark, the distribution of fat, the depth of the gluteal crease—every detail unmistakably revealed that this was Shen Zixin’s butt.

Visitors to the art exhibition strolled past, pausing to gaze. Occasionally, someone would secretly snap a photo, digitizing her butt and storing it permanently on their phone.

As an organizer of the exhibition, she should have stepped forward to stop the prohibited behavior. But she feared those taking photos would see in her urgent gaze the words she desperately wanted to say: “Don’t take pictures! That’s my butt! You’re violating my privacy!”

She was terrified everyone would discover she had a butt identical to the one in the painting. Terrified they would learn that Yu Youxuan, the artist, had seen her bare bottom. Terrified they would remember the naked past she shared with Yu Youxuan…

“Click. Perfect. That’s a take.”

A simple shot, yet the performance was anything but simple. Yuan Chengyin felt a surge of joy; the Ran Long he had once admired had returned.

The onlookers, who had come expecting a long, embarrassing spectacle, were stunned. After traveling so far, they witnessed neither humiliation nor even a full minute of action.

A photography assistant started the applause, and soon the entire exhibition hall erupted in thunderous applause. The staff used this enthusiastic approval to express their apologies for their earlier disrespect.

Ran Long, listening to the applause, scowled and rolled her eyes.

The performance was flawless, but her pettiness remained.

The crowd, having received Ran Long’s withering glare, silently stopped clapping and awkwardly dispersed.

Once the curious onlookers had cleared out, Yuan Chengyin murmured, “Wait a minute. Let’s do that scene again. The extras were too tense. Everyone, try to relax and move more naturally.”

Tch, annoying.

Ran Long knew Yuan Chengyin was an ambitious director—or at least, he used to be.

Back in college, when Yuan Chengyin had asked her to act in his film, it wasn’t because of her past as a child star, nor was it because of her father, Ran Cheng.

That’s why Ran Long never worried about portraying complex emotions. Her real concern was the upcoming scene: a kiss with Qiu An.

In that scene, Shen Zixin seeks out Yu Youxuan, hoping to persuade her to take down the painting. Yu Youxuan agrees, but only on the condition that Shen Zixin pose nude for her again.

Shen Zixin agrees, and during that moment of undressing, the kiss occurs.

Ran Long stared at the script, her frustration mounting.

First, she had never acted in such a scene before. Second, she had never even kissed anyone.

And to make matters worse, the person she had to kiss was Qiu An.

A hated enemy, despised to her very core.

Though she’d never tasted pork, she’d seen pigs run. But the problem was, whenever she imagined kissing Qiu An, the discomfort became so overwhelming that she couldn’t even bear to watch pigs run.

The filming had been progressing smoothly for the past few days.

Ran Long sometimes wished Yuan Chengyin would give her more trouble. Otherwise, whenever she had downtime, her thoughts would inevitably drift to the upcoming kiss scene.

When she signed the contract, she had been confident she could handle it. But now, seeing the explicit description in the script, she felt like she might not be up to the task.

Agitated, Ran Long wandered around the rest area for half the day. Just as she was about to return to her trailer for a break, she noticed the glow of a phone screen through the window.

Peering closer, she saw Sister Hou typing “Ran Cheng cheating,” “Ran Cheng gambling,” and “Ran Cheng investment scam” into the browser.

Ran Long jumped in anger.

While she was working tirelessly on set, agonizing over the script, her manager and assistant were lounging in the air-conditioned trailer, using that damned Baidu search engine to dig up dirt on her damned father!

To be fair, Sister Hou couldn’t entirely be blamed.

As a manager, it was her job to thoroughly understand her artist’s background. But Ran Long’s past was sensitive, and Sister Hou didn’t dare ask her directly. With no other contacts to turn to, she had resorted to this desperate measure.

Ran Long wasn’t unreasonable. She understood that this was part of Sister Hou’s job. After pacing around the RV five times, her anger gradually subsided.

With a sigh, she climbed into the RV, deliberately stomping her feet to make loud thudding sounds. But Sister Hou was so engrossed in gossip on her phone that she didn’t even notice Ran Long’s arrival.

Ran Long’s fiery temper flared up again.

“Sister Hou!”

“Ah!” Sister Hou snapped out of her trance, hastily putting away her phone.

“Dinner’s about to be served, right? What’s on the menu?”

“Let me check… Today we have garlic shrimp balls, stir-fried soybean sprouts, and Mapo tofu.”

“Not bad. Remove the garlic from the shrimp balls, trim the ends off the soybean sprouts, and drain all the sauce from the Mapo tofu. I want it to taste like it was steamed in plain water.”

“But…”

“But what?! No ordering takeout! If it’s not cleaned up, I won’t eat it! Hurry up and get to it! If you delay tonight’s shoot, I’ll hold you responsible!”

Sister Hou’s miserable days had officially begun.

After wrapping up the night shoot, Ran Long returned to the hotel, her mood soured.

Qiu An hadn’t returned to her room yet, so Ran Long quickly showered, brushed her teeth, and climbed into bed, ensuring they wouldn’t cross paths that night.

Lying in bed, bored out of her mind, she glanced at the script on the table and began fretting again about tomorrow’s kissing scene with Qiu An.

She considered doing a live stream to distract herself, but since she’d already removed her makeup, it wasn’t convenient to go on camera.

In truth, since joining the production, she’d often missed her scheduled streams due to night shoots or exhaustion. Her already dwindling viewership had plummeted further, and with her “Top Big Brother” never showing up anymore, she’d simply reduced her streaming frequency.

Bored, Ran Long put on her headphones, played some music to relax, and sprawled on the bed, scrolling through Weibo. She checked to see if any industry friends had made any new public blunders worth mocking.

These people weren’t really friends anymore.

Back when Ran Cheng was still in good standing, many had eagerly added Ran Long on WeChat to curry favor with him. During holidays, they’d rush to send greetings and even red envelopes.

But now, aside from Ran Cheng’s downfall, Ran Long herself had been ostracized by the industry after the slapping video incident. In the immediate aftermath, she’d humbled herself and pleaded for help, only to be met with read receipts and no replies. The few responses she did receive were either elaborate excuses or cold mockery.

Who could still be considered a “friend”?

Ran Long lay on her stomach, scrolling through entertainment news for a while. Her neck began to ache, so she flipped over, intending to rest for a bit. Suddenly, a shadow fell across her face, and an overly close face loomed into view.

“Aaaah! Ah—a ghost! A ghost—!”

Terrified to the point of near-mental breakdown, Ran Long screamed and scooted backward repeatedly. If her legs hadn’t gone weak with fear, she would have already scrambled up and jumped out the window.

The intruder was none other than that damned Qiu An.

Qiu An kept one hand in her pocket and lightly raised the other, pointing to her ear.

Ran Long’s heart pounded. Following Qiu An’s gesture, she reached for her ear and touched something icy cold.

Her fingers curled into a fist, nearly spasming with terror, before she realized she was still wearing her earphones.

Gasping for breath, Ran Long ripped off the earphones and unleashed a torrent of abuse at Qiu An: “Are you insane? What are you doing barging into my room like this? No warning? You could have scared me to death!”

“I’m sorry… I saw your light was on and you didn’t answer when I knocked. I was worried something had happened and came to check on you.”

“You—you couldn’t have just called me first?”

Qiu An’s eyebrows arched in confusion. “Called you?”

After speaking, she suddenly lowered her head, her expression darkening into a pitiful, wronged look.

Ran Long was utterly bewildered. “What act is this now?”

Qiu An remained silent for a long moment before whispering, “You blocked my phone number and WeChat.” Her voice trembled with a hint of tears.

“Oh, ha ha, sorry about that,” Ran Long said awkwardly.

Now it was Ran Long’s turn to feel embarrassed.

After slapping Qiu An and Yuan Chengyin, both had relentlessly pleaded for her forgiveness using the same tired excuses. Annoyed, Ran Long had simply blocked them both. Now that they were working together, she had unblocked Yuan Chengyin, so naturally, she should unblock Qiu An as well.

Ran Long picked up her phone and tapped a few times. “There, unblocked. Next time, don’t sneak into my room without a word.”

“Okay,” Qiu An replied. She glanced at the phone in Ran Long’s hand, but her gaze recoiled as if burned, darting away unnaturally.

Puzzled, Ran Long looked down at her phone. Everything seemed normal, but then she realized the problem lay in her own attire. Without the blanket covering her, she was sitting cross-legged in a revealing nightgown, the hem hiked up to her thighs.

Well, that was rather indecent.

Ran Long calmly smoothed down her skirt, glancing up to see that Qiu An wasn’t dressed properly either.

Qiu An had just emerged from the bathroom, wearing only a bathrobe loosely tied at the waist. The collar hung open, revealing a wide expanse of skin flushed pink from the hot water.

Ran Long swallowed hard, though she couldn’t quite explain what she was swallowing.

It certainly had nothing to do with Qiu An’s naturally radiant face, her small, full lips glistening from the steam, or the way her loosely draped robe couldn’t conceal her stunning figure.

Fine.

Just because Ran Long disliked Qiu An didn’t mean her heart wouldn’t race when faced with such a beautiful woman, fresh from the bath and dressed like this.

A kiss wouldn’t hurt, right? I wouldn’t be the one losing out, would I?

What am I thinking?

Ran Long shook her head and asked, “Why are you dressed like this? What do you want?”

Her mind was racing too fast. She shouldn’t have added “dressed like this” to her question, making it sound like she cared or desired something.

Sure enough, a hint of bashfulness flickered across Qiu An’s usually icy face. “We’re filming that scene tomorrow. I came to ask if you’ve considered Director Yuan’s suggestion.”

“What suggestion?”

“To sleep together tonight.”