Xin Ying is indeed very good; she is gentle and considerate, making her an excellent marriage prospect.
But her gentleness and attentiveness did not stem from love, but rather from fulfilling her responsibilities as a partner.
Lin Leyao knew that her current attitude towards Xin Ying was not right. Xin Ying had done nothing wrong in this marriage, and had even done a very good job.
However, she fell in love with Xin Ying first and became immersed in the atmosphere of their time together.
In fact, what Xin Ying said in the hospital room was not wrong at all, but very rational and very suitable for their marital relationship.
However, for a while, because the two of them were very comfortable and happy together, she began to forget that her marriage with Xin Ying was not based on love, and completely immersed herself in the ivory tower of beautiful love.
Xin Ying's words pulled her out of that ivory tower.
She's thought a lot these past few days and has calmed down considerably.
Actually, even if you can't be intimate lovers after marrying Xin Ying, it would be good if you could treat each other with respect.
In a split second, various thoughts flashed through Lin Leyao's mind, and she turned her gaze to Xin Ying not far away.
Just then, Xin Ying hung up the phone and put it away. As she did so, her gaze turned towards the direction where Lin Leyao was.
Their eyes met.
Chapter 39
The moment their eyes met, Xin Ying had already taken a step towards Lin Leyao.
Xin Ying asked, "Are we going to stay up all night tonight?"
“Yes.” Lin Leyao nodded. “Most of tonight’s scenes will be filmed in this palace. We’ll film through the night to finish, so we don’t have to rebuild the set later.”
Xin Ying didn't show any extra emotion, and simply said, "Okay, I'll go with you."
Lin Leyao raised her eyelids and looked closely at Xin Ying.
Xin Ying was somewhat bewildered when Lin Leyao's bright gaze fell on her face.
She pulled her mask down to her chin, revealing her clearly defined features, and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Without her previous caution, Lin Leyao's gaze followed Xin Ying's delicate eyebrows downwards, across her high nose bridge, and finally to her well-defined chin.
Perhaps she had figured things out, Lin Leyao was now in a very relaxed mood.
She looked away, lowered her eyelids, and chuckled to herself.
She shook her head, responding to Xin Ying's earlier question: "It's nothing. It's so late, where are you staying tonight?"
Xin Ying replied, "I'll stay here with you."
Lin Leyao smiled and said with a slight curve in her eyes, "Why don't you sleep in my hotel room?"
Xin Ying was somewhat surprised, a glint of light flashed in her eyes, and a hint of tenderness appeared in the cool, narrow corners of her eyes.
A faint smile appeared on her face, and her usually cold and aloof demeanor instantly became much warmer because of this smile.
Xin Ying gently shook her head and said, "No need, I'll wait for you here."
Lin Leyao didn't try to persuade Xin Ying anymore: "Okay, if you're sleepy, you can rest in the RV outside."
"Um."
The two were unable to continue their conversation, and the next scene was quickly filmed.
The night flew by, and as Xin Ying had said, she spent the entire night in a corner of the film set, silently watching Lin Leyao film.
Although Lin Leyao couldn't see Xin Ying while filming, for some reason, she could always feel Xin Ying's gaze.
As soon as a scene ended, her gaze would always immediately fall on Xin Ying, who was hiding in a corner of the set. And Xin Ying would always catch her gaze immediately as well.
This is the first time in all her years of acting that Lin Leyao has experienced being the center of attention on set.
Because she had been working so hard, Lin Leyao hadn't noticed the passage of time. It wasn't until dawn broke and Xin Ying said it was time to leave that Lin Leyao snapped out of her reverie.
In a corner of the film set, Lin Leyao, wrapped in a coat, felt her unease, which had lasted all night, finally turn somber because Xin Ying was about to leave.
After a long silence, Lin Leyao asked, "Yesterday, Assistant Kong brought you here. How are you going to get back today? Should I have the driver take you back to S City?"
Xin Ying replied, "No need, Xu Hong is at the film studio, I'll go back with her."
Lin Leyao paused for two seconds, a hint of surprise appearing on her dejected face: "Is Sister Bai filming here?"
Xin Ying: "They just arrived in the early hours of the morning. It seems they're here to film a promotional video for the city's image ambassador."
"Oh." Lin Leyao nodded, not asking any further questions. "Then you should go back to S City and get some rest."
Xin Ying nodded earnestly in response: "Okay."
After saying this, Xin Ying lowered her eyelids, her gaze fixed on Lin Leyao in front of her.
She could sense Lin Leyao's low spirits, and after this visit to the set, she also noticed that something was wrong with Lin Leyao. But she didn't know what was wrong with Lin Leyao.
After pondering for a long time, Xin Ying suddenly spoke up: "Do you remember our agreement before you came to film the movie?"
Lin Leyao looked at her with a blank expression.
Xin Ying repeated what she had said before: "Remember to message me every day when you go out to work."
Lin Leyao's expression froze for a moment before she quickly reacted, "Okay, let's keep in touch on WeChat."
Xin Ying hummed in response, her eyes filled with inexplicable emotions.
“If you don’t contact me, I’ll feel,” Xin Ying paused, as if considering a better word, “that something’s not right.”
"Something's not right?" Lin Leyao asked, puzzled.
Xin Ying frankly said, "Yes, it's probably because I've developed a habit recently. If you don't contact me, I feel like something has happened."
As Xin Ying spoke, she raised her hand and touched a stray lock of hair at Lin Leyao's temple, saying, "So don't forget to contact me."
Lin Leyao gazed intently at Xin Ying with her clear, bright eyes. Xin Ying met her gaze directly, and the two stared at each other silently for a while without uttering a word.
Lin Leyao's eyes flickered with conflicting emotions. After a long while, she asked, "Then why didn't you message me first? If I didn't message you, were you just going to wait for me alone?"
Seemingly not expecting Lin Leyao to say that, Xin Ying's face went blank for a moment.
Without waiting for Xin Ying's response, Lin Leyao continued, "Does that mean if I never take the initiative to contact you, you won't take the initiative to contact me either? If you want us to stay in touch, then you should take the initiative. It's exhausting when only one person takes the initiative in a relationship, and I'll also feel like giving up when I'm tired."
As Lin Leyao spoke, her emotions suddenly shifted dramatically. She stared at Xin Ying with wide eyes and an unusually serious expression.
Xin Ying was quite surprised to see Lin Leyao in this state.
Unsure of the reason, Xin Ying patted Lin Leyao's head and gently comforted her, "Okay, I understand. I'll be more careful in the future."
Lin Leyao didn't expect Xin Ying to understand the hidden meaning in her words; she just wanted to take the opportunity to say some things from her heart.
After saying all that, Lin Leyao felt much more relaxed.
Because Lin Leyao still had a role to play, she escorted Xin Ying to the entrance of the bedroom, and the two parted ways.
In early winter, the air at dawn is filled with frost and dew. Walking through the crisscrossing alleyways, the wind makes your clothes flutter.
Xin Ying's figure grew smaller and smaller. When she reached the bend, she turned around and saw a hazy figure in the morning mist in the distance.
As if seeing Xin Ying stop, Lin Leyao waved goodbye to her.
Xin Ying withdrew her gaze and turned to leave.
In the parking lot of the film studio, Xin Ying's gaze landed precisely on a rose gold Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
Xin Ying pulled open the passenger door and got in. A cool voice came from the driver's seat: "Oh my, isn't this the famous President Xin? You were in another city just the day before, how come you've disappeared overnight?"
Xin Ying glanced at Xu Hong indifferently, too lazy to pay attention to her: "Take me back to S City."
Xu Hong kicked her angrily, "Get lost. I just got here and you want me to take you home? Do you want to fly to the moon?"
Xin Ying scoffed: "You've been here for over an hour, haven't you? You haven't even gone into Sister Bai's room in over an hour. I think you don't need to stay here anymore. Pack up and come back to S City with me."
Xu Hong's eyes widened: "Pah! What were you doing at the film studio last night? Have you really fallen for your wife?"
Xin Ying raised an eyebrow, saying noncommittally, "Isn't it normal to visit your legal partner? Unlike you, even visiting someone on set is illegitimate."
The needle had hit her lung, and Xu Hong felt her blood rush to her head. She yelled, "Damn it, get off the bus!"
Xin Ying hadn't slept all night and was too lazy to joke around with Xu Hong anymore. She said, "If you're not going back, give me the car. I'll drive it back to S City myself. You can stay here."
Xu Hong looked Xin Ying up and down, her round eyes darting around.
The next second, she immediately dialed a phone number.
Xu Hong's voice immediately softened, filled with grievance: "Hey, sister. Shadow drove my car away, and I'm all alone in the film studio parking lot now. It's so cold with the wind blowing like this. All the hotels are full, and I can't book one. Sister, could you let me stay at your place for a little while, just for a bit and then I'll leave?"
After exchanging a few more words, Xu Hong hung up the phone, her face beaming with a smug smile.
Xin Ying, who witnessed the whole thing, had a look of disgust on her face and complained, "You're so dirty, you filthy thing, get off the bus."
Xu Hong snorted lightly. In a good mood, she stopped arguing with Xin Ying and said, "To win over a wife, you have to use the Thirty-Six Stratagems. Mine is called the Self-Inflicted Injury Stratagem. Do you understand? If you want to learn it in the future, I can teach you for free."
Xin Ying said disdainfully, "Forget it, only Sister Bai would fall for your act. Besides, I'm not as useless as you, I don't need you!"
Xu Hong said expressionlessly, "I take back what I just said. You'll have to kneel down and kowtow to me three times, calling me 'ancestor,' before I'll consider whether or not to teach you."
Xu Hong quickly got out of the car, and Xin Ying drove her gold G-Class away from the film studio.
When Lin Leyao was filming her last scene, it was already getting bright.
When Xiaomi received Xin Ying's message, she went to the RV outside and came back looking shocked.
The scene had to be filmed twice before it was deemed unsatisfactory. Lin Leyao asked the makeup artist to touch up her makeup. She noticed that when Xiao Mi returned from outside, she seemed very uneasy and found it strange.
Lin Leyao asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Xiao Mi leaned close to Lin Leyao's ear and whispered, "Miss Xin bought gifts for everyone in the crew, and there's a small truck parked outside right now!"
Lin Leyao paused in adjusting her costume and asked, "What did she buy?"
Xiaomi's mouth dropped open, her face filled with disbelief: "They're all designer brands, super expensive! That whole truckload of stuff is worth a house!"
Lin Leyao didn't have time to go out and check right now, so she said, "You arrange for them to be distributed, and remember to tell the director."
Xiaomi: "Okay!"
After the last scene was filmed, the director announced that the crew would have the morning off to rest and would continue filming in the afternoon.
At this time, Xiaomi had already arranged for the crew to move in the gifts that Xin Ying had sent.