Jiang Shuyue trembled as she hugged the pillow to her chest and shrank into the deepest corner of the bed.
Su Wenli walked to the bedside, bent down, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her in front of him.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" He looked down at her. "You always text me saying you miss me, but now that I'm here, you're upset?"
Jiang Shuyue was forced to look up. The face in front of him was impeccable. In court, he would slightly tilt his head to look at the jury, making everyone believe that he was a gentleman.
At that moment, his eyes held a faint smile, like a tender lover waiting for her answer.
But she knew that beneath that smile was nothing, just emptiness.
Amazement, fear, disgust—the emotions churning in her eyes were too complex to contain, finally culminating in a tearful plea. " Wenli, please let me leave... I beg you."
Su Wenli reached out and touched her cheek; his fingers were icy cold.
Jiang Shuyue instinctively shrank back, but he grabbed the back of her neck with his other hand.
Those slender fingers slid down her cheeks, their fingertips tracing her jawline, finally resting on her neck with a very light touch, like caressing a piece of porcelain.
He leaned down, brought his voice close to her ear, and whispered, "Didn't you say you'd never leave, even if it meant death?"
As his fingers slowly closed, Jiang Shuyue's breath caught in her throat. Instinctively, she tried to pry his fingers open, her fingernails leaving several red marks on the back of his hand.
He remained motionless, watching her face flushed from lack of oxygen, as if he were admiring some amusing scene.
"You're lying to me?"
Jiang Shuyue's voice was squeezed out from her throat, broken and intermittent. "I was wrong... Wenli, I was really wrong... cough..."
Su Wenli released his grip, Jiang Shuyue collapsed onto the bed, panting heavily, a fine layer of cold sweat beading on her forehead, her whole body curled up and trembling.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, gently smoothed her loose hair, and tucked it behind her ear, his movements so tender they were almost unrecognizable from before.
" Shuyue, be good, I'll give you whatever you want."
Jiang Shuyue raised her eyes, which were filled with tears and bloodshot veins.
She looked at the man in front of her; his face still held that gentle expression, without even a furrowed brow.
In a hoarse voice, she asked, " Wenli... why...?"
Su Wenli stood up and looked down at her.
He tilted his head, as if he'd heard something amusing, and then chuckled softly, "Oh? Why?"
He walked to the door, glanced back at her, and looked at her with the same look he had given her as if she were a toy that was no longer novel, with a hint of weariness and indifference.
"What were you thinking when you came here?" He looked away, his tone returning to its usual calm. "I have work to do. I'll come visit you next time."
The door closed, and the footsteps faded into the distance.
Jiang Shuyue collapsed onto the bed, tears silently streaming down her face and soaking into the pillow.
"Card!"
The lights came on, Li Yaqi sat up in bed, wiping away the tears on her face with the back of her hand. It took her a while to calm herself down.
Song Shi'an quickly came over. He had been holding back throughout the scene, afraid that he might have hurt his senior if he hadn't been careful.
The director rewound to the monitor and watched the playback again, becoming more and more satisfied with it.
This extreme tension is both alluring and ruthless, fully revealing Su Wenli's indifference and controlling nature that emanates from his very bones.
The only problem is that the fleeting look of amazement in Jiang Shuyue's eyes when she was pulled over was too obvious. Viewers might think that Jiang Shuyue still has feelings for Su Wenli, which won't do. She needs to tone it down.
"Teacher Yaqi, let's do some close-up shots of her face later. The initial shock should be suppressed; the focus should be on fear."
Li Yaqi gave an OK sign.
She sat on the edge of the bed as the makeup artist touched up her makeup, her heart still pounding.
Su Wenli was so close just now that she could see the fine hairs on his face.
When those eyes looked at someone up close, she suddenly understood why some people online said Song Shi'an "looked at dogs with deep affection."
If she really were Jiang Shuyue, she might also be captivated by those eyes for a second.
But then I thought about it again, and Jiang Shuyue in the script wasn't a good person either; she never had good intentions when she approached Su Wenli.
Neither of them is clean, so it's like they've found kindred spirits in a stinky place.
They filmed for another two hours.
The final shot shows Jiang Shuyue lying in a blood-red bathtub, the wound on her wrist no longer bleeding; she had chosen to slit her wrists.
The bathroom door was ajar, Su Wenli stood outside, staring expressionlessly at the pale face reflected in the bathtub.
The moment he pulled out his phone and pressed the emergency call button, his voice suddenly became terrified, hurried, and incoherent, completely disconnected from the expression on his face.
After hanging up the phone, the corners of his mouth slowly curled up, the smile creeping upwards until it reached his eyes, cold and chilling.
The director felt a chill run down his spine watching from behind the monitor. This kind of person was truly evil, evil to the core; their expression and words were completely separate.
After filming finally wrapped up, Li Yaqi climbed out of the prop bathtub, and her assistant quickly draped a coat over her shoulders.
Song Shi'an had been avoiding eye contact with her during filming, but now that their eyes met, he scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed.
Li Yaqi was amused by his innocent appearance and walked over to pat him on the shoulder generously. "Aren't you embarrassed? I didn't even show anything. My scenes are done for today, so let's exchange contact information. Don't forget me if you get a good role in the future."
Song Shi'an happily took out his phone and scanned the QR code. More people, more options—he always adhered to this principle.
Li Yaqi put away her phone, waved to him, and said, "I hope we can work together again next time." Then she went to change her clothes.
In the afternoon, Song Shi'an asked Lin Fan to order some barbecue skewers before he filmed his last scene.
As soon as he finished work and returned to the RV, without even removing his makeup, he loosened his suit and tie, collapsed onto the sofa, and began to eat heartily with Lin Fan.
The boss kindly gave them two extra bottles of beer, but Song Shi'an doesn't drink, so Lin Fan drank them all.
While munching on a skewer, Lin Fan mumbled, "Brother, your acting today was absolutely amazing. That last laugh was truly chilling."
Song Shi'an took a bite of potato chip and gulped down some Cola: "I've done the hardest part. The rest are all superficially polite scenes. I can't take any more leave after this is finished, or the school probably won't let me off the hook."
Lin Fan seemed to suddenly remember something, and slapped his thigh. "Brother! Isn't today's episode of ' The Emperor's Ambition ' your final scene?"
Song Shi'an, with a skewer of barbecue in his mouth, took out his tablet, set it up, opened the latest episode of " The Emperor's Ambition," and casually turned on the subtitles.
A series of bullet comments floated across the screen.
He saw someone commenting in the live chat, " Song Shi'an's acting is really good; it's not easy to portray this kind of character with such depth," and he couldn't help but smile.
The plot gradually builds to its climax. In the imperial study, the candlelight flickers, and Qin Yan grips a knife, its tip pressed against Meng Zhen's heart.
Viewers who haven't read the original novel never imagined that the Grand Eunuch, who held absolute power and did countless dirty jobs for the emperor, would die so easily at the hands of the very monarch he had protected for half his life.