In a very awkward situation, the only thing you can do is not to be more awkward than the person opposite you. Li Ling turned her head and, without any embarrassment, reminded Xiao Liu, "Good morning, you dropped your broom." Xiao Liu responded with an "Oh," bent down to pick up the mop, and said, "Okay, thanks for the reminder. Good morning... No, wait a minute." "What exactly are you two doing? Why do I always catch you like this?" His voice suddenly rose. Jin Jingyao completely ignored him and continued to stare at Li Ling. Perhaps it was an illusion, but she felt the young man's gaze was very low, as if he was looking at her lips. The dim light was like a flickering campfire, deeply probing into a dark cave. She felt a slight tension, her mouth dry, and then recalled the feeling of his thumb pressing against her. Xiao Liu: ? What was going on, why did their eyes meet again? "What do you mean, are you pretending I don't exist?" he said more indignantly, "You know, I've been having nightmares these past few days, all because of that morning when I opened the door..." Li Ling snapped back to reality and looked at him with great sympathy, "Great, tonight's nightmare has new material." Xiao Liu: ? "Just kidding," she changed her tone and said seriously, "Mr. Liu, please don't misunderstand, the director and I were just rehearsing a scene." Jin Jingyao let out a light laugh, "Mr. Liu." He took a few steps forward, grabbed Mr. Liu by the collar, and threw the frail Mr. Liu out the door like a broom. Click. The door was locked tightly. The young man turned around. The interrupted lesson could continue. A huge shadow, like an open spider web, occupied the entire wall, slowly devouring its prey. - It was said that something fell off the shelf and almost hit the director, which gave the props team a scare and prompted a very thorough safety inspection of the set. This caused a slight delay, giving Li Ling just enough time to read through the script again. This scene was about the breaking of the ice between Zhou Jing and A-Ling. A-Ling asked Zhou Jing to carry her into the bathroom for a bath, but she didn't come out for a long time. Zhou Jing broke in and found that she had tried to drown herself. A normal person would be angry, even furious. Zhou Jing was not. He simply restrained A-Ling's hands and feet and washed her from head to toe. Li Ling looked at the small, deep bathtub in front of her, like an open, white mouth filled with dirty water. Soon she would have to lie in it. But for now, the safety inspection was not yet complete. Another staff member even sat in the bathtub to measure the water depth to ensure it met safety standards. "Actually, we've done these checks several times already," the staff member explained to Li Ling, "but the earlier incident made the director very unhappy, and he threw quite a fit." Jin Jingyao pushed the door open and came in at this moment. His brows were straight, his thin lips slightly pursed, his expression gentle yet cold. Compared to usual, there wasn't much difference. It was unclear why the staff thought he was "very unhappy." The assistant director stood next to Jin Jingyao and confirmed with Li Ling, "Ms. Li, you can swim, right?" Li Ling was a bit curious, "What if I can't?" With Director Jin's personality, he might coldly say, 'Then drown.' Unexpectedly, the assistant director nodded without any objection and said, "Then we'll switch to another shooting plan. The director has arranged a stunt double, and you just need to cooperate with us for a few close-up shots." Li Ling looked at them in shock, "You... aren't going to persuade me to try harder myself?" The assistant director said in confusion, "How can you try harder? What if something happens?"The staff in the bathtub also reassured her, "It's okay, Ms. Li, don't push yourself, safety first." They seemed to be serious. Since her debut, Li Ling had never encountered such a conscientious crew, and she almost felt guilty for her earlier nonsense. Just as she was about to explain, Jin Jingyao said calmly, "No need to change." Everyone looked at him in astonishment, while Li Ling felt a subtle sense of relief. How wonderful, he was still himself. "Then what if I drown, Director?" she asked sincerely. "Ask the insurance company yourself," he turned around and walked away in the opposite direction. The assistant director stood there, caught in a dilemma. Li Ling explained to him that she was just joking earlier, that she had done many underwater scenes before and had no problem with swimming or holding her breath. After confirming several times, he reluctantly reminded her, "Alright then, Ms. Li, let me go over the actions with you again. Remember, once you get in the water, we'll be timing you. If you feel uncomfortable at any time, just call out to stop. Safety first..." - The filming began. Zhou Jing finished work early that day and returned to the basement before it got dark. He still refused to show his true face. The clumsy bear mascot turned its back to A-Ling, silently cleaning up the mess she had deliberately left behind. A-Ling said, "I want to take a bath." He obediently picked her up. She suddenly grabbed his arm, staring intently at those foggy glass eyes, "I have no legs, what about you? Is your tongue cut out? Or do you just refuse to talk to me?" Zhou Jing remained silent. "You'll regret this," A-Ling continued through gritted teeth. They walked into the bathroom. She watched as he turned on the faucet, filling the bathtub with water. The gray-white mist spread through the room, making the mirror foggy. Their faces were faintly reflected on the surface of the water in the bathtub, like reflections in a pond on a cloudy day. A-Ling was placed into the bathtub, like a white paper boat set adrift in the rippling water. The bear's paw clumsily touched the buttons on her shirt. "Get out," she said. He stopped immediately. A-Ling turned her head, quietly watching the bear mascot leave. The footsteps didn't go far; she knew he was still standing outside the door. She picked up something and weakly threw it at the bathroom door, cursing, "Get farther away." The reluctant footsteps finally moved away; this time, he was really gone. She looked down at the empty pant legs. They floated helplessly on the water's surface, like a piece of drifting duckweed. The paper boat was dissolving; this was the fate of every paper boat. With a splash, the water covered her head. The underwater camera focused on Li Ling's face. She closed her eyes, her hair spreading out in the water. Outside, the sky was dim, gray-white clouds like swollen tides slowly flowing across the dark sky. It was as if a dead fish with its belly cut open lay across the still river. Everything was very quiet. Very slow. There shouldn't be any more sounds. But strangely, Li Ling heard sounds. Many, many sounds rushing towards her, like turbulent water. "Director, she's never acted before, just throwing her into the water like that, aren't you afraid something will happen?" "What's there to be afraid of? It's just filming, no one's going to die." "Young people need more experience. When we were young, we went through much more hardship than she is now..." She heard a "plop." She was so clumsy, not knowing how to swim. No one had taught her to close her eyes, pinch her nose, and hold her breath before diving. She didn't even know whose hand it was that pushed her down so forcefully. She saw the ocean again.It was vast and boundless, like a giant blue eye. She was pushed down again and again, only to climb back up each time. Splash. Splash. She remembered the hand that pushed her, a man's hand, with the slippery touch of a sea serpent. She remembered the mocking laughter in her ears—deep, sharp, and capricious laughter. And the old director, with his hoarse voice, kept shouting, "Keep filming!" "Nobody go over! Let her choke!" "Camera, don't stop!" —So she remembered it all. With a loud splash, a pale hand grabbed her by the nape of her neck, almost roughly pulling her out of the water. Li Ling lay wet and coughing desperately on the edge of the bathtub. She made an unseemly sound from breathing too hard. "Cut," the assistant director called. The coughing stopped immediately. Li Ling was now a good swimmer; there was no way she could choke herself while filming such a scene. It was just acting. She could distinguish between drama and reality, between memories and the present, and she knew she was in a very safe film crew. They timed everything precisely, stopping the stopwatch and, in the next second after shouting "cut," they would ask with concern if she was hurt and if she could continue. Even the young man's hand that held her neck. It wasn't to push her down but to pull her up. Jin Jingyao looked down at her, "This take is good." One take, unbelievably. It was unprecedented. Cheers and applause came through the walkie-talkie. Li Ling also let out a weak laugh, her hand hanging down from the edge of the bathtub. In fact, she was just zoning out, but from an observer's perspective, she looked inexplicably pitiful, as if swept by a violent storm. Her wrists were too thin, her skin too pale. A certain white, sweet taste seemed to flow faintly in her veins, like the sap of a tree, easily tasted with a slight cut. A soft, large towel was thrown over her head, completely covering her. "...A rag?" Li Ling's face was covered, and she asked in a muffled voice. Jin Jingyao said expressionlessly, "Isn't your memory bad? You remember nonsense very clearly." Li Ling stubbornly said, "I remember everything about the director very clearly." "You better," he said indifferently. After a moment, Li Ling finally ended her struggle with the huge towel, revealing her small face from within. She not-so-kindly retorted, "And you, director?" "What?" Li Ling wiped her face, pretending to be expectant but actually sarcastic, "With your great acting skills, you won't need gloves for the next scene, right?" Jin Jingyao suddenly smiled at her. "Looking forward to it?" he asked her gently. The next scene was Zhou Jing helping A-Ling induce vomiting. Li Ling said, "I'm so looking forward to it. In all my years as an actress, I've never been this excited for a scene. I'm starting to get nervous." "Oh." Jin Jingyao looked down at her with a heavy gaze, "Then take your time being nervous." Dim light enveloped them, casting overlapping shadows on the wall. The ceiling fan above turned slowly, creating tiny whirlpools that stirred the shadows. But her face gradually grew hot. It must be because he suddenly started looking at her with a very strange expression. She belatedly realized that this person was staring at her lips again.