Chapter 38: The Aura of a General

Over the next few days, Jiang Wenting and Yi Lan began running lines together.
Jiang Wenting’s acting skills were, without question, top-tier in the industry.
Although Yi Lan was a novice, her exceptional talent more than made up for it.
Their collaboration was even more in sync than imagined, which greatly pleased the perfectionist Teacher Zhou.

She praised them in front of Shen Jinglan on more than one occasion.
And while praising them, she was already beginning to plan her next project in her mind.

“I’m telling you, I’ve been carefully studying that video of her with the water gun again recently. Have you noticed? For a split second, Yi Lan’s eyes truly hold the aura of a general who has fought on the battlefield.”

Shen Jinglan remained expressionless: “What is Teacher Zhou trying to say?”

“I’m saying, once this show is done filming…” Zhou Jing said, her fox-like eyes curving into a cunning arc.

Shen Jinglan had already guessed her intentions with eighty to ninety percent accuracy the moment she opened her mouth.
At this point, she just gave a faint reminder, “We’ve only just started on ‘Beauty’s Bones’, Teacher Zhou.”

From filming to broadcast, a television series would take at least half a year, and that was assuming everything went very smoothly.
If any part of the process ran into unexpected trouble, it was possible to be delayed by a year or even more than two.

Unfortunately, Teacher Zhou’s head was full of excitement at the moment; how could she consider all that?
She raised an eyebrow confidently: “The filming couldn’t be going any smoother. At their current pace, we can wrap up in less than three months, and at high quality, too. I’ve never had such a high-quality shoot before!”

Shen Jinglan resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
She was the one who hadn’t been optimistic at first, and now she was the one showing off every day.

After her long spiel, Zhou lightly patted Shen Jinglan’s shoulder: “CEO Shen, you won’t have to work so hard in the future. Just leave the acting to these young people!”

Shen Jinglan: …

However, one couldn’t blame Zhou Jing for her excitement.
A filming pace where every take was a success was indeed something many directors dreamed of.

“Beauty’s Bones” began with the Wolf Girl biting the female lead, and the female lead enduring the pain to take her home.
For a long time after that, the scenes were about the two of them slowly getting along and adjusting to each other.
There were no particularly difficult action scenes, but it demanded extremely high levels of concentration and emotional immersion from the actors.

Therefore, for the past few days, Jiang Wenting and Yi Lan had been practically drowning in their scripts.
This was especially true for Yi Lan.
When she was too deep in character, she could even temporarily forget the past and do all sorts of intimate and close things with her as the Wolf Girl.

Of course, when she was fully conscious, she couldn’t help but think that it would be nice if everything they had experienced in their past life had just been a play.

“OK, that’s a wrap for today’s filming. Thank you for your hard work, everyone. Let’s hang in there a bit longer, the first stage of our filming will be over soon,” Zhou Jing said, then raised her eyes to look at Jiang Wenting, a hint of a capitalist’s cunning in her beautiful, fox-like eyes.

“And thank you to our two leads as well. After this phase of filming is over, I’ll give you both a three-day break to rest and recuperate.”

Jiang Wenting’s eyes curved in a similar smile: “Teacher Zhou, after this three-day break is over, are we going to be worked to the bone?”

The staff members present all laughed.

Zhou Jing pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses and started doling out some words of encouragement: “Oh, it’s just the separation scene after the female lead’s identity is revealed. With the skills of you two, it won’t be a big problem!”

Jiang Wenting: “Thank you for your vote of confidence, Teacher Zhou. We will continue to work hard!”

After she spoke, another round of laughter erupted from the crowd.

It had to be said, the atmosphere during this phase of filming was truly relaxed.
The originally mysterious and strict Director Zhou, the goddess of acting, had gradually turned into a master of making grand promises under the highly coordinated cooperation of the two female leads.

Even though the daily scenes didn’t have much major action, filming a lot of shots was still very physically draining.
Jiang Wenting joked around for a bit, then left with Yi Lan.

Even though there were many physically and emotionally torturous scenes to come, the thought of a three-day holiday still made Jiang Wenting very happy.
On the way back, she secretly took Yi Lan’s hand, leaned in with her mouth close to her ear, and whispered, “Do you want to go to the city to have some fun?”

Yi Lan’s ear was tickled by her, and she flinched away, turning her head to look at her.

Jiang Wenting smiled, her pair of peach blossom eyes curving, the mole at the corner of her eye looking enchantingly moist.

Yi Lan felt scorched by her gaze and looked away.

These small actions were all perfectly captured in the rearview mirror by the driver, Xiao Ru.
Her hands on the steering wheel tightened and tightened, and finally, she couldn’t take it anymore: “Jiang Wenting, have some decency! Can’t you see others don’t want to bother with you? Yet you keep sticking to them!”

Jiang Wenting wasn’t annoyed at being rebuffed and said with a grin, “Babe, want to go to the city and have fun tomorrow?”

Babe?
Yi Lan’s averted gaze finally returned, and a flicker of an imperceptible ripple appeared in her placid eyes.

Then she heard Xiao Ru’s irritated tone: “If you’re not afraid of being tired, then go. Staying at home is just staring blankly at certain people anyway. It’s better to go out for a walk.”

She was much more restrained now than before, but she would still occasionally make veiled digs at Yi Lan.

At this moment, the gentle big sister, Jiang Wenting, squeezed the fingertips of the person beside her, her soft, placating tone tinged with a bit of pride, “Our Yi Lan isn’t freeloading now, you know. She’s doing a great job acting!”

In the front seat, Xiao Ru snorted coldly and said no more.

Jiang Wenting didn’t let go of her hand.
The car sped along the highway.
The darkening sky was like a soft curtain, gently covering the fatigue of a long day.
The person on the other side of the back seat had already fallen into a deep sleep, and Jiang Wenting also closed her eyes to doze off.

Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of the residential building.
Jiang Wenting woke up with a start.
Seeing the person beside her sleeping soundly, she couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile.
Xiao Ru glanced at the interior rearview mirror, the emotions she had been bottling up all the way finally having an outlet.

“Damn it, sleeping like a pig!” she muttered under her breath as she got out of the driver’s seat.

Jiang Wenting chose to ignore it, swiftly unbuckled her seatbelt, went around the car to open the door, and carried her out.
At this moment, the person who had been sleeping soundly slowly opened her eyes. Seeing Jiang Wenting carrying her, she didn’t struggle, looking completely dazed.

“We’re home,” Jiang Wenting whispered in her ear.

It was a long while before the other person gave a soft “Mm,” but she showed no intention of getting down to walk on her own.

Jiang Wenting hesitated for a moment, then lifted the person out of the car and carried her towards the house.
Xiao Ru had already reached the front door.
She happened to glance back and saw this scene, and the sourness in her heart surged to its peak.
She didn’t dare to linger, slammed the door heavily, and walked towards her room.

Jiang Wenting carried her to the entrance, reached out to push the door, but found it a bit difficult to free a hand.
Only then did Yi Lan come to her senses and struggled a bit in her arms, getting down to stand on her own two feet.

When the two of them entered the living room, Xiao Ru was already back in her room.
Hearing the noise, Beiye poked half her head out from upstairs: “Finished so early today?”

Jiang Wenting gave a “Mm.”
In the time it took for her to change her shoes, that person had already run downstairs, whispering secretively in her ear, “What’s wrong with the kid?”

“What do you mean, what’s wrong?” Jiang Wenting asked, a beat behind.

“She came back just now and went straight to her room without even saying hello. What did you two do to provoke her again?”

It dawned on Jiang Wenting.
She smiled and said casually, “She’s probably jealous. I carried Yi Lan out of the car just now.”

Then she added, “You know what she’s like.”

Jiang Wenting was quite a considerate person, but she had never considered Xiao Ru’s bad moods in any other way.
Beiye, on the other hand, had a tiny inkling of suspicion.

“Jiangjiang, do you think the kid might…” She looked at Jiang Wenting, hesitating to continue.

Jiang Wenting: “What?”

“Nothing,” Beiye swallowed the words in her heart.

“You’re crazy!” Jiang Wenting rolled her eyes, pulled Yi Lan towards the sofa.
Beiye quickly followed, sat cross-legged on the sofa, and turned on the TV.

The volume of the TV wasn’t loud, but it created a very homey atmosphere.
Jiang Wenting was exhausted after a full day of filming.
She took two cans of iced Coke from the fridge, one for Beiye and one for herself.
For Yi Lan, she got a bottle of room-temperature mineral water.

“You’re giving her this to drink?” Beiye asked while opening her can.

Jiang Wenting said, “It’s too cold. I’ll go buy her some milk later.”

Beiye gave her a thumbs-up: “Awesome!”

“So weird,” Jiang Wenting opened her can and took a big gulp of the iced Coke, smacking her lips as she felt fully revived.

Beiye struggled to open her can for a while, then handed the Coke to Jiang Wenting.

Jiang Wenting complained with a look of disdain, “Ever since you married Sister Lan, you’ve become like an overgrown baby!”

Beiye giggled, her puppy-dog eyes unable to hide her happiness: “I have a wifey to spoil me~”

Her voice was sweet and delicate.
After speaking, she deliberately glanced at Yi Lan: “How about it? Are you jealous? If you are, just get Jiangjiang to spoil you a bit more!”

Jiang Wenting glared in anger, wishing she could pour the opened Coke over her head.

A few of them sat on the sofa watching TV.
Before long, Shen Jinglan also finished her work and came downstairs.
The moment Beiye saw her, she rushed over and burrowed into her arms like a big dog: “Wifey, you’re here!”

Shen Jinglan hummed in response, bent down, and placed a light kiss on her forehead.
The two of them embraced, a sight almost too cringey to watch.

Jiang Wenting asked curiously, “Sister Lan, you two are stuck together kissing every day, don’t your lips hurt?”

Shen Jinglan’s voice was faint: “Don’t be jealous. You two can do it too.”

Jiang Wenting: …

Alright, she admitted, she couldn’t gain any advantage in a verbal spar with a woman like Shen Jinglan.

“By the way, are you guys free tomorrow? Want to go to the city for fun?” Jiang Wenting asked.

“Of course! Why not!” Before Shen Jinglan could speak, Beiye had already agreed.
Only after agreeing did she remember to ask, “You guys don’t have to film tomorrow?”

Jiang Wenting said, “Nope, Teacher Zhou gave us a three-day break.”

Hearing this, Shen Jinglan chuckled lightly: “Then after this three-day break, you two are probably in for a tough time.”

She was an artist personally cultivated by Zhou Jing; no one knew that woman’s style better than her.

Jiang Wenting was a bit of an optimist: “Who cares about her, let’s have fun first and worry later!”

Beiye: “Exactly! Even if we have to be workhorses, we need to eat and play our fill first!”

At this moment, the two of them were of one mind.

Jiang Wenting tilted her head towards Yi Lan, her beautiful peach blossom eyes curving: “Right? We’ll go into the city tomorrow and buy a big cake for Yi Lan, okay?”

The woman who was usually like a block of wood, now under the gaze of the other’s bright eyes, actually nodded her head as if bewitched.