Li Chu filmed this scene very smoothly. Ji Yun watched the footage and didn’t even think about having her do a second take to see if the effect would be better.
This was the best.
After filming wrapped, Tang Congnan took Li Chu’s coat, intending to put it on her, but found someone had already done so.
Ning Manqing, standing beside Li Chu, draped the coat over her and watched her put it on. Ning Manqing’s actions were so natural that Tang Congnan didn’t react for a moment.
By the time he did, Li Chu was already in the car urging him.
Tang Congnan’s budding thoughts were scattered. He thought it was probably because Li Chu and Ning Manqing had a good relationship, so he didn’t think much of it and followed.
Li Chu sat in the car drinking hot water to warm herself. In her pocket were the red envelopes Ji Yun and Ning Manqing had just given her.
The amount wasn’t important, it was mainly to ward off bad luck, since she had just filmed a death scene.
“Drink some more tonic later. It’s cold now, and it’ll be even colder when we fly back after filming. You mustn’t get sick.”
Tang Congnan advised, and seeing Li Chu nod, he chatted with her about other topics.
Qian Duoduo had been silent since getting in the car. Li Chu found it strange and, seeing her head drooping, thought she was sleepy.
“Duoduo, if you’re sleepy, you can sleep when we get there.”
“Sister, I’m not sleepy.”
Qian Duoduo raised her head, indicating she wasn’t sleeping.
Tang Congnan was startled: “Whoa, what’s wrong with your eyes? Did someone bully you?”
Qian Duoduo had red, puffy eyes, clearly having cried. She had been fine just now, so why was she like this after getting in the car?
“No, I’m just so sad! I’m so sad!”
Qian Duoduo sniffed, her forced strength crumbling under their concerned gazes. She took a tissue and started blowing her nose.
Qian Duoduo’s tears flowed: “Qin Mu is just gone! My god, it’s so heartbreaking! Are the director and screenwriter even human?!”
Tang Congnan twitched the corner of his mouth: “What’s there to cry about?”
“You don’t understand, Brother Nan, you don’t understand.”
Qian Duoduo had always been with Li Chu. Sometimes, when Li Chu didn’t have scenes, she would go observe other people’s performances, and Qian Duoduo naturally followed.
Although Qian Duoduo hadn’t read the script, she had pieced together some things through various fragmented scenes, and as half a CP fan, she genuinely shipped the CP in the drama because they were so shippable.
As a result, the CP broke up in front of her, and in such a way.
“I originally thought that since Qin Mu had done so many things, if she couldn’t escape, she should die a spectacular death, but I didn’t expect her to die so peacefully, so peacefully that it’s so sad.”
The more Qian Duoduo spoke, the more she couldn’t control her tears, even though the actress playing Qin Mu was sitting right in front of her.
“Think about it from another perspective, this ending is actually quite good. The previous version I saw was Qin Mu committing suicide in front of Xi Yiyun, the kind where she uses a knife and can’t be saved.”
Li Chu thoughtfully handed Qian Duoduo a tissue and stabbed her in the heart again.
Qian Duoduo cried even harder.
Li Chu had passed the point of sadness. Seeing Qian Duoduo crying like this, she didn’t know why she found it a little funny. Perhaps she had also been assimilated into someone who enjoyed inflicting emotional pain.
Because Qian Duoduo was crying so miserably, Tang Congnan handed her a pair of sunglasses when they got out of the car.
Then Tang Congnan felt that it was too conspicuous for the assistant to wear sunglasses, so he put on a pair too. But this was still a bit conspicuous, so he put a pair on Li Chu as well.
The drama’s F3, very stylish.
The filming progressed just as Li Chu had previously guessed. On December 10th, Li Chu finished all her scenes, leaving only the final wrap-up scene.
Before filming this scene, Tang Congnan seemed even more nervous than Li Chu.
If he wasn’t afraid of annoying Ji Yun, Tang Congnan would have nagged countless times.
How much skin will be shown? How long will it take? How many takes will it need?
There was no helping it, this was a heart full of maternal love.
Before filming started, Ji Yun asked Li Chu and Ning Manqing to find the feeling together.
In the break room, Ning Manqing looked at Tang Congnan, who was finally not present, and her expression relaxed considerably.
Every time at this point, she thought it was a good thing her agent, Ran Yanru, wasn’t around.
“Teacher Ning, our last scene together!”
Li Chu wasn’t holding a script because there weren’t any lines in this scene.
She only had three lines, and Ning Manqing only had a few.
Her three lines were “Please mark me,” “Xi Yiyun, hug me,” and “I’m sorry.”
Qin Mu was truly ruthless. If she hadn’t done this, Xi Yiyun might not have found it so hard to forget her. But because she did, Xi Yiyun couldn’t possibly let go so quickly.
So, when she left Xi Yiyun’s room, she apologized to the sleeping Xi Yiyun, but she didn’t regret it, because she wasn’t a good person to begin with.
“It’s the last scene we have together in this drama.”
Ning Manqing seriously corrected her statement. Her scenes would wrap later, probably in a few days.
“Right! We’ll have many more opportunities to work together!”
Li Chu nodded. Perhaps some actors only had the chance to collaborate once in their lives, but she and Ning Manqing could definitely do it more than once. After all, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
She and Teacher Ning were already familiar enough to be negatively distanced, so this ‘way’ was definitely no problem.
“Will you be nervous later?”
Ning Manqing sat opposite Li Chu, their legs almost touching, neither of them showing any unusual expression.
“Probably not.”
Li Chu thought for a moment and said that she and Teacher Ning were so familiar after all. If it weren’t for the previous events, she might be nervous, but now she shouldn’t be.
“That’s good. Director Ji will probably clear the set.”
Ning Manqing’s fingertips danced over to Li Chu’s leg, sliding on the black fabric.
“Teacher Ning… that tickles…”
Li Chu felt a little itchy. Her thighs were very sensitive. If she touched them herself, it was fine, but if someone else touched them, she couldn’t help but flinch.
“Where does it tickle?”
Ning Manqing’s voice rose slightly, carrying a lazy lilt that was somewhat alluring.
Her actions were casual, but with a hint of playful innuendo that could make someone blush instantly.
“Teacher Ning!”
Li Chu’s face was flushed with embarrassment, a layer of red dyeing her pink and white cheeks.
Of course, it was her heart that was itching, sister, waaaaaah!
Li Chu’s heart was full of dirty talk, but she couldn’t say it to Ning Manqing.
Ning Manqing always left her defenseless, feeling clumsy.
“What’s wrong?”
Ning Manqing’s expression was one of pure innocence, as if she had just asked about the weather.
“Let’s rehearse instead.”
Li Chu pulled the topic back to where it started. Her leg was held by Ning Manqing, the warmth of her palm seeping through the fabric to her skin, overriding the previous itchiness.
“For realism, I might release pheromones later. I’ll try to control it, but if you feel very uncomfortable, you must call a stop. Director Ji will probably tell you this later as well.”
Ning Manqing’s expression became more serious, but her hand on Li Chu’s leg remained.
“Okay, I understand.”
Li Chu nodded. Although she had always been receptive to Ning Manqing’s pheromones, even the aggressive ones Ning Manqing released towards others felt gentle around her.
But she couldn’t gamble on this kind of thing. Although Li Chu didn’t have a thorough understanding of pheromone glands and the like, she knew their importance.
The two began to simulate the scene, going through the motions. In this simulation, Ning Manqing didn’t release any pheromones, and they relied purely on acting.
After one run-through, Ning Manqing offered suggestions.
“Your performance needs layers. After I open the door, the pheromone concentration will change in stages. You can express resistance or discomfort at a level you feel is appropriate.”
Li Chu listened carefully and nodded.
Outside the door, Qian Duoduo looked at Tang Congnan, who was plastered against the door in a lewd posture, with a speechless expression.
“Brother, is this necessary?”
Tang Congnan straightened up, patted the dust off his clothes, and said happily, “Teacher Ning is indeed a good person.”
He had heard most of it. Inside, Ning Manqing was indeed guiding Li Chu’s performance, and his heart was put at ease.
He felt that he might have been overthinking it. After all, when Ning Manqing saved Li Chu a long time ago, she didn’t do anything either.
When Li Chu came out, he looked at her clothes, which weren’t messed up at all, and her normal, undisturbed demeanor, and felt even more reassured.
Before filming, Ji Yun cleared the set. As her manager, Tang Congnan could stay and watch.
Li Chu first filmed the scene of injecting the drug. A layer of artificial skin was attached to her hand, with clear veins, looking no different from real skin.
Qin Mu was truly a ruthless woman. She was ruthless to others and to herself.
The KR was something she had anonymously coerced Zhang Ming into making before she planned to kill him.
More than ten years ago, Zhang Ming was a key member of that pharmaceutical research institute and knew the KR formula. After KR was banned, the institute disbanded, and he was preparing to move to another city for development. At this time, Li Sudong found him.
Zhang Ming was a cautious person. He wouldn’t dare to make such a banned drug again, but the money Li Sudong offered was enough, and he even introduced him to a state-owned enterprise.
Qin Mu was able to buy it from him not with money, but with evidence that Zhang Ming feared.
Zhang Ming’s child had actually died due to Zhang Ming’s negligence, but Zhang Ming’s negligence wasn’t because he was resting, as he said, but because he was having an affair.
Qin Mu was able to get Zhang Ming’s wife to help her dispose of the body, plant explosives in Zhang Ming’s bag, and instruct Zhang Ming to buy things on the street where she and Li Rui were, all relying on the evidence she had collected and Zhang Ming’s wife’s determination for revenge.
In fact, few people knew that KR, the drug that could make omegas infertile, was actually developed by an omega. Her initial purpose was to protect herself and the rights of omegas.
She firmly believed in uterine and reproductive freedom, that an omega’s right to bear children should be controlled by themselves. When an omega didn’t want to be marked and bear children by an alpha, they had the right to make themselves infertile.
The KR drug worked by fusing gland cells to block conception, so that even if an alpha forcibly marked an omega, the omega wouldn’t get pregnant.
But this pioneering omega rights activist probably didn’t expect that the drug she developed would also become a double-edged sword, a tool for those with ulterior motives to cause omega infertility.
Qin Mu didn’t plan to get pregnant, nor did she want to experience another accident like the one with the thugs, so she injected herself with KR.
The last words she said to Xi Yiyun, on the surface, were comforting, but in reality, they were another stab at Xi Yiyun’s heart.
She was a parasitic plant, harmless in appearance, but poisonous at heart.
—Don’t worry, officer, I injected KR.
Don’t worry, I won’t get pregnant. I’m not taking your child with me to die.
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