Liang Shi walked heavily upstairs back to his room.
As the door closed, Xu Qingya took off her headphones, glanced back at the second floor, and sent her mother a text message: "Going to sleep in another room."
//
The room was darker than the living room, with only a small bedside nightlight on.
It's still near the balcony.
When Liang Shi first entered the room, he was not yet used to the dimness and almost bumped his head on the wall.
Even though she wasn't the one who was drunk, she felt somewhat disoriented.
Xu Qingzhu was fast asleep, or rather, in a deep sleep.
The room was filled with the sound of even, long breaths.
She is extremely well-behaved when she is asleep, showing no signs of the commotion she caused at night.
Liang Shi sat on the edge of the bed for a while, then curled up in the corner sofa.
She was tall and had long legs, and felt too cramped sitting on the sofa, so she looked at Xu Qingzhu in the dim light.
She really wanted to ask the system: Hello? Are you there? Please arrange a bed for me.
Unfortunately, no one answered.
The system wouldn't bother with her trivial matters.
But for Liang Shi, this was a big deal.
She has always been particular about her sleep, and even when filming night scenes, she will always make sure to take a nap in a comfortable bed.
She'd rather not sleep at all than not have a bed.
Unable to sleep on the sofa, she got up again, tossing and turning several times, becoming somewhat irritable.
A moment later, she turned on the dim bedside lamp.
I pulled a book out of the bedside drawer; it was a collection of poems.
Judging from the traces of browsing, it seems to belong to Xu Qingzhu.
The poetry collection was entirely in English, which Liang Shi couldn't understand very well. Her English level was limited to oral communication, and even then, only simple communication.
This was all thanks to her agent's foresight. They believed that she would one day go international, and to prevent her from being ridiculed for being uncultured when she went abroad to receive awards, they specially hired a teacher to help her improve her spoken English.
Liang Shi casually flipped through a few pages and then put them back in their original place.
There was nothing in the room to amuse her, so she took out her phone, opened a video app, and randomly selected a movie to watch.
She leaned against the headboard; the soft cushions were quite comfortable, relieving her fatigue from a long day of running around.
She piled the huge double quilt over Xu Qingzhu's side, the rolled-up quilt clearly dividing the bed into two distinct sections: one side was fast asleep, while the other side didn't even have a chance to turn over.
However, if there were a place where Liang Shi could be a little more comfortable, he wouldn't be so agitated.
The movie was an old film. Liang Shi discovered that some of the movies she liked were in this world, as were some new movies that she had never heard of. The production of new movies would inevitably use new stars, and Liang Shi did not recognize any of these stars.
She clearly realized that this was not the entertainment industry of her world.
However, being able to start over in a new place is still something to look forward to.
Although he hasn't gotten his body back yet, Liang Shi is already looking forward to entering the acting industry.
After all these years, acting is the thing that gives her the greatest sense of accomplishment and allows her to realize her self-worth.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look at Xu Qingzhu.
He thought to himself: How can I win you over?
The system's original words were: to gain her favor, trust, and affection.
That's a really technical job.
It is already difficult to do the first two things.
But as I always say, let's take it one step at a time.
Liang Shi never wasted today's time worrying about tomorrow.
The film is a gay film, and the story is set before the ABO gender differentiation.
The opening frame features a black background with white text: "Once upon a time, societal norms forbade us from loving each other."
The second line—But we insist on embracing tightly and kissing passionately in the crowd.
These two sentences alone stirred Liang Shi's emotions, and she lowered her eyelashes to read quietly.
This movie tells the story of two girls falling in love in college. One of them is a dance student, majoring in ballet. She is a typical campus goddess, bright and dazzling, and is the object of admiration for many boys in the school. She participates in all kinds of competitions and wins awards left and right. The title of campus beauty is hers.
The other female lead appears unremarkable in comparison. She is timid and insecure. Although she is pretty, she doesn't show off her talents and looks unsophisticated because she doesn't know how to dress. On the first day of school, the two move into the same dormitory and become roommates.
Insecure people clumsily imitate those who shine.
I want to live like her, to be as popular as she is.
But she always stayed out of the crowd; she was always left out when the dorm had meals together, and she was always left out when everyone went on trips.
They chatted about clothes, bags, and cosmetics, while she could only quietly observe.
Once she mustered the courage to interject, she would become the conversation killer, instantly cooling down the pleasant atmosphere that had just been going on.
Gradually, she stopped joining in on these topics and kept to herself.
Along with her, the outstanding Shining Ones were also isolated.
Because they are too outstanding, they are seen as show-offs who are out of place with ordinary people and become objects of dislike.
Their connection began with a song; because they both loved the song, they had dinner together.
Gradually, they got to know each other better; one was a dancer, and the other could play the piano elegantly.
They developed a unique understanding between them. When they went out, they would hold hands, link arms, and act coquettishly towards each other. They understood each other with just a glance.
The goddess rejected all suitors and remained single.
This led to rumors that the two were a couple and that the goddess didn't date because she had a problem with her sexual orientation.
The rumors intensified, and the insecure person distanced himself from her, suppressing his feelings while feeling gloomy during the day and unable to sleep at night. At the same time, he couldn't help but care about her whereabouts, from who she ate with, how many classes she attended, to who she met.
This strained relationship lasted for several months.
Until one day, on a bus, the goddess was groped. For the first time, the insecure woman bravely stood up and condemned the man from her moral high ground, even taking his hand.
In that instant, their fingers intertwined.
That was the bravest moment of her life.
After getting off the bus, on the azure seashore, the insecure person mustered up the courage to ask, "May I kiss you?"
The film reaches a climax here, with a restrained yet intimate kiss.
The film has a very comfortable color palette, and the kissing scene against this backdrop has a tragic feel. The two female leads have very different looks; one has striking features, while the other has a pure and innocent look.
A pure person is tainted by unspoken desires and kisses passionately and unrestrainedly.
Those who seem passionate can only respond clumsily.
This kissing scene lasted two minutes, and the comments section was going crazy.
Liang Shi found it annoying and turned off all the bullet comments.
To be blunt, she wasn't immersed in the emotions between the two main characters; instead, she was watching the camera work.
After all, as an actress, she knows how these kissing scenes are filmed.
There were more than a dozen cameras set up around her and dozens of staff members on site. When they were shooting close-ups, the actress herself kissed the camera, so the scene didn't create a strong stimulus for her.
The film's pace quickens at this moment, and after the kiss, it's time for the night scene with the lights off.
The director's control over this part of the shot was so strong that Liang Shi once suspected that the person had a background in making Category III films. Before this scene with the lights off, she even searched for it and found that he was not.
This person started out making serious documentaries, specifically documentaries about cultural relics. He suddenly switched careers halfway through and decided to make movies. This is the first movie he made after switching channels.
It has to be said that this director has some talent.
The scene where the lights are turned off was filmed in a way that was both innocent and sensual.
The close-up shot of the fingers unbuttoning the shirt revealed a heart pounding with tension and breathless breathing, all focused on the second and third buttons.
The female lead has long, slender fingers, but she appears clumsy when unbuttoning her clothes, which heightens the audience's expectations.
The other female lead, impatient because she was moving too slowly, reached out to help her.
The moment their fingers touched, it sparked a new round of kissing.
Then the camera cut to a close-up of the lights, zooming out, but the sound from the receiver remained unchanged.
These voices are usually dubbed by professional voice actors, and they are highly compatible with the actor's own voice.
At moments like these, the absence of a camera is more effective than having one.
After the scene cut, there's a close-up of the characters; two people are wrapped in a blanket, it's a very passionate sex scene.
Liang Shi was hesitating whether to skip this scene, his finger not yet touching the screen, when a weak voice suddenly came from beside him, "Water..."
Xu Qingzhu was half-asleep, her throat so dry she couldn't speak. Even when she tried her best to utter a single word, her throat felt like it had been rubbed with sand, and it hurt terribly.
She frowned; the pain in her body had not yet fully subsided.
Upon hearing this, Liang Shi immediately put down his phone and got up to get her a water glass.
Then he walked to her side, helped her up to drink water.
She was like a traveler walking in the desert, extremely parched, her damp palms gently brushing against Liang Shi's hand holding the water glass.
He gulped down the whole glass, with water stains still remaining at the corners of his mouth.
But her lips, glistening with moisture, were the only thing that stood out.
It easily evokes images of a rippling sea, as if the setting sun has cast its golden rays upon it, making it appear shimmering and lustrous.
Even though she was half asleep, she still politely thanked him.
Liang Shi originally thought she would wipe the water stains from the corners of her mouth before going to sleep, but it was obvious that she was not conscious of doing so at the moment. After drinking the water, she lay back on the bed, but her palm was still on the back of Liang Shi's hand, and she pulled her down a little.
Liang Shi's heart had wandered off somewhere, and his thoughts were slightly off-track, but she pulled him back down effortlessly.