**15**

The moment this thought popped up, it was as if someone had struck a broken copper gong loudly right next to her ear, making it ring, but it also woke her up instantly.

What was she thinking? Ning Zhi despised herself fiercely.

Had she become so pitiful that she had to seek solace in a movie?

She rushed into the bathroom, splashed several handfuls of cold water on her face, and the dazed feeling brought on by immersing herself in the role today was mostly gone.

It had just begun, and she had been on set for less than a week.

If she got scared now and became resistant, what would she do for the next two months?

Shen Yizhi saw the message from the puppy pop up on the screen and calculated that it had been less than half an hour since she parted ways with Ning Zhi.

Based on her understanding of Ning Zhi, once he came to his senses, he would probably think the incident in the car was just her teasing him.

She opened the message and sure enough saw Ning Zhi’s full-screen complaints.

My colleague is getting more and more unreasonable. I made a small mistake in the team project, and instead of comforting me, she teased me after work.

There was a long string of her angry rants following that.

Anyone who saw it would think this colleague was really terrible.

Shen Yizhi typed in the chat box: “Then do well and prove it to her.”

She clicked send.

The puppy replied instantly: “Absolutely!”

Shen Yizhi smiled, but after a moment, her smile faded.

The filming had just started, and there were still many scenes to shoot later.

Ningning was too easily emotionally affected by her role.

She thought of herself.

When she first started acting in films, she also easily got into character, was easily influenced, and often couldn’t distinguish between herself and the role.

But at that time, she had an “anchor.” No matter how deeply immersed she was in acting, the moment she received a call from Ning Zhi and heard her voice, that drifting feeling would disappear, like a ship caught in a storm being firmly held steady by an anchor, solid and reliable.

The next day on set, Ning Zhi was much more stable.

Mei Lan explained the script to her alone.

In that era, not only was same-sex marriage illegal, but the internet wasn’t even widespread yet. Society was very conservative. Before meeting Ruan Yinmeng, Chi Sheng had never known that two women could have a story together.

Meilan said this, looking at Ning Zhi with a gentle voice, “Do you know what this means?”

Ning Zhi nodded.

Meilan was somewhat surprised, “Tell me.”

Ning Zhi shared his understanding: “Both naive and obvious, both evasive and fearless, uncontrollable.”

Meilan said with interest, “Tell me more in detail.”

Being clueless is because you’ve never encountered it before, like walking into a fog. Being certain is because the heart doesn’t lie; the fog will eventually clear. Avoidance comes from fear, fear comes from a premonition, a premonition that one wrong step ahead could lead to an abyss, shattering into pieces. But the heart never lies, and the heart doesn’t weigh the situation; there are always times when love makes one fearless. None of these are controlled by reason.

Meilan listened carefully, smiled, and thought to herself, quite poetic.

She unconsciously sized up the person before her, the one she had carefully chosen after much consideration, and once again felt, truly like Chisheng.

She continued, “So when she met Ruan Yinmeng during the day, she was involuntarily drawn to her, but she didn’t understand what this attraction really was. She was just following her instincts, wanting to get to know her, to get close to her. You need to keep this in check and not go too far.”

Ning Zhi nodded.

In the middle of the day in the residential area, some were at work, some at school, and Chi Sheng saw very few people along the way—it was very quiet.

But she was in a good mood; although the teacher gave her a few snide remarks, who cared?

She rode her bike straight to the entrance of the building, then firmly squeezed the brake valve, casually parked the bicycle, took out the stack of drawing paper from the basket, slightly adjusted the backpack slung over her shoulder with her right hand, and then lightly jogged into the hallway.

She took two steps at a time, running fast, and bumped into someone at the corner.

“Sorry, are you okay?” Chi Sheng quickly apologized, and when he looked up, he saw it was that woman.

“It’s nothing.” The woman’s voice was very pleasant. Despite her stunning appearance, her voice was neither seductive nor coquettish; it sounded like a soft and elegant Wu dialect, yet without any accent. In short, it was extremely beautiful to hear.

Chi Sheng looked up at her just as she bent down to pick up the sheet of paper that had fallen by her feet. In that moment of looking up and bending down, the distance between them shortened.

She didn’t look as strikingly beautiful in the daytime as she did at night. She wore a simple, elegant long dress, graceful and refined, with light and delicate makeup on her face.

Just like a well-behaved young lady who never steps outside the front door.

As Chi Sheng was observing her, the woman picked up the few sheets of paper at her feet. She took her time, leisurely looking through each one, then smiled and said, “Did you draw these?”

“Ah.” Chi Sheng responded cheerfully, but her gaze still involuntarily drifted to the woman’s face, only to find the woman looking at her calmly and kindly, like a stranger they happened to meet on the street.

It seemed she had completely forgotten the night they had exchanged glances across the floors.

Chi Sheng somehow felt a small sense of regret, but found a reasonable excuse for it—maybe it was just too dark.

“I study fine arts,” she explained, bending down to pick up the remaining sheets of paper.

The woman also helped her pick up the papers, continuing until all the drawing papers on the ground were gathered. She carefully stacked the ones in her hand into a neat pile and handed them to Chi Sheng.

Chi Sheng took them, and the woman smiled politely at her. Her calm and gentle eyes glanced up and down Chi Sheng’s face before she walked down the stairs beside her.

As she left, her bare, smooth arm brushed lightly against Chi Sheng’s arm, like a dragonfly skimming the water—soft, cool, and carrying the unique warmth of skin. This brief contact left Chi Sheng with an indescribable sense of longing.

She had changed into a pair of wedge heels, so the sound of her heels tapping on the ground was less loud, but still came one tap at a time—clear and crisp, with an inexplicable allure.

Chi Sheng couldn’t help but turn around and called out, “Hey.”

The woman stopped walking; she had already reached the corner of the next floor and had to look up to speak to Chi Sheng.

Chi Sheng met those expressive eyes and was instantly at a loss for words. He didn’t know her name, nor how to address her properly. He couldn’t just call her “the lady” like the gossipy neighbors did.

But young people’s minds are light and lively, and he quickly let go of the hesitation, saying directly, “Do you want a portrait? I can draw.”

The woman tilted her head back, looking up at Chi Sheng, their eyes meeting at different heights, just like that night. She showed a hint of surprise, as if Chi Sheng’s words were completely out of the blue and confusing.

Only then did Chi Sheng realize she hadn’t explained clearly. Her face flushed as she explained, “I can help you draw it.”

After speaking, she realized she still hadn’t made herself clear, so she hurriedly added, “It’s free!”

With one sentence after another, even she felt an indescribable awkwardness.

Like a clueless fool. She thought regretfully to herself.

The woman obviously found it amusing too, a faint trace of suppressed laughter in her eyes, clearly smiling subtly, yet with a certain charm that made Chi Sheng unable to look away.

Throughout this scene, there were several close-up shots where Chi Sheng was completely unguarded, his captivated expression fully visible on his face. That kind of innocent bewilderment, free of any desire, the youthful naivety, all had to be portrayed by Ning Zhi.

At first, Ning Zhi’s performance was hesitant and stumbling, but it was much better than the stiffness and resistance from yesterday.

Mei Lan repeated several times, “Loosen up more.” At the beginning, Ning Zhi was still a bit guarded, afraid of getting too immersed again, but later on, he no longer held back and threw himself into it wholeheartedly, focusing completely on entering Chi Sheng’s state.

Filming continued until evening. Perhaps she herself hadn’t quite figured out matters of the heart, and the innocent naivety she displayed pleasantly surprised Meilan.

“We’ll just shoot two more scenes tomorrow and then we’re done,” she said.

Ning Zhi gave herself a thumbs-up and rushed back to the hotel as soon as work ended.

She deliberately avoided looking at Shen Yizhi, and as soon as she stepped out of the frame, she kept her distance far away.

Not contacting Shen Yizhi, this should be fine, right? It’s not like she couldn’t distinguish between on-stage and off-stage. That’s what she thought.

But after today’s performance, her state was indeed much better than yesterday, although there were still a few minutes of distraction, and a few seconds when her thoughts drifted to the distant past, recalling times in her life when she was just as naive and confused, uncontrollably drawn to someone, genuinely happy at the sight of that person.

But she cut off those memories in time, not letting herself get so immersed that she became anxious.

Ning Zhi decided to continue like this from now on, only interacting with Ruan Yinmeng, staying as far away from Shen Yizhi as possible.

As for the thoughts she had last night, about being liked by Shen Yizhi in the movie or such feelings, Ning Zhi didn’t even dare to touch on them.

She was clear-headed, knowing that if she really did that, what awaited her would only be endless ruin.

Her mood was still fairly good, and as she prepared for tomorrow’s scenes, she lay down and played on her phone for a while. After some thought, she pulled up 0929 and reported her good news to her: “I did really well today.”

After sending the message, Ning Zhi was moved by herself—who else in this world was as diligent as she was, chatting with online friends full of work-related messages?

But 0929 seemed quite busy and didn’t reply immediately. It wasn’t until Ning Zhi was about to go to bed that she asked, “Congratulations, did your colleagues praise you?”

Of course not. She dodged quickly, but saying that would make her seem very timid. So Ning Zhi shamelessly replied, “Naturally, my colleagues gave me a thumbs up!”

—–

Author’s note:

Shen Yizhi: I was really upset that Ningning was ignoring me.