Chapter 104

Chapter 104 [VIP] Extra 2 (Romantic Movie)

After ten years in the industry, An Ye finally landed a role in a romantic movie. It was the one Director Yang Zhengyi had introduced to her after the filming of The City of Sunshine—a commercial romantic fairy tale movie titled Cinderella.

It was a complete love story, with a poor girl with a rich soul falling for a wealthy, indifferent man from an unknown generation. The filming took place in picturesque locations, and the male lead was Luo Yin, a well-known actor famous for his art films. He was 35, at the peak of his looks and charm.

To immerse herself in the role, An Ye had been watching all of Luo Yin’s movies and interviews recently.

Luo Yin’s appearance was similar to Chi Tuo’s: both had a masculine look, tall builds, and weren't the delicate, handsome type, but they fit An Ye’s aesthetic perfectly.

So, she watched his movies with great interest.

At first, Chi Tuo didn’t react much, but An Ye watched Luo Yin’s entire filmography in a week and then started going through his variety shows and interviews. She even clicked on Luo Yin’s photo album.

Chi Tuo: "…"

He walked over, paused the projector, picked An Ye up, and placed her on the sofa. He then knelt in front of her, meeting her eyes.

An Ye: "?"

“You know,” Chi Tuo began, “I won’t interfere with your work.”

An Ye: "Hmm?"

“But looking at photo albums and underwear commercials, isn’t that a bit unnecessary?” Chi Tuo squinted at her.

An Ye glanced at the paused image. Luo Yin was on a sunny beach, drinking beer with sweat rolling down his face, the scene looking quite sensual.

She turned to look at Chi Tuo. He had just finished showering, his body smelling of orange-scented shower gel, and his hair was still half-damp from his rough drying method. He looked fresh, having caught up on some sleep recently, so his complexion had improved. But at this moment, his expression wasn’t pleasant.

An Ye sighed.

Chi Tuo’s eyes narrowed to a slit, and he turned off the projector, staring at her in the darkness.

An Ye rested her head against his chin and sighed again.

Chi Tuo, annoyed, pinched her chin and forced her to look him in the eye in the darkness. "Try sighing one more time."

She was just looking at another man’s photo album with the projector paused, and she was still going back and forth comparing them! And she even sighed?!

“I can’t get into character,” An Ye said softly, her eyes full of mild complaint as she looked at him.

Chi Tuo froze. “…What?”

“You’re way better looking than him…” An Ye sighed again, this time with a hint of sorrow. “I’ve watched all his stuff, but still couldn’t find anyone who compares to you…”

Chi Tuo: “…”

An Ye’s sudden praise caught him off guard.

“What am I supposed to do if I can’t fall in love with him…” An Ye was really frustrated. She had been watching him for a week, but still couldn’t feel any chemistry. In the script, their love was supposed to be intense, the kind where they’d live and die for each other. She at least needed to feel that emotion during their scenes together.

Chi Tuo: “…”

He finally realized the seriousness of the situation.

"Why do you have to fall in love with him?" It’s just acting! Why does she have to fall in love with him before even starting the shoot?!

“No, what do you mean, 'fall in love' with him?""Those three words, you’ve never said them to me!"

He was finally genuinely angry, standing up and turning on the living room lights. He stood there with his lips pressed together, staring at her.

An Ye looked at this person with a reaction time of eight hundred meters and reminded him, "I’m acting in a romance movie. My way of getting into character is by becoming that person."

"So…" She pointed to the now-black screen of the projector, "The woman in the movie, her love for that man earlier is deep to the bone…"

Even if she couldn’t feel it that deeply, she still had to get close to it, didn’t she?

Chi Tuo’s lips remained straight, his actions frozen, and his expression unchanged.

An Ye: "…"

He wasn’t making that expression because of work issues. He’d gotten angry while talking, and it didn’t seem to be about work at all.

An Ye: "…Ah."

She hadn’t said those three words...

“No, you haven’t said those three words to me either…” An Ye thought she might get angry herself.

Chi Tuo froze, his expression blank for a moment.

"You haven’t said them to me." An Ye started counting on her fingers. "You’ve never said those three words, you didn’t propose properly, there was no wedding, and you even shoved the ring on my finger... Ah, what are you doing?"

"To prevent you from getting carried away like me while talking, and as for the wedding—who said they didn’t want one? Don’t blame it on me." Chi Tuo picked her up and held her in his arms, again questioning his life choices. "Didn’t I say them?"

Had he really not said them?

An Ye stared at him.

Chi Tuo cleared his throat, saying one word: "I…"

An Ye tilted her head, narrowing her eyes.

Chi Tuo shut his mouth. If he said those three words now, An Ye would probably eat him alive.

There was no sense of ceremony at all.

Although, they both knew very well that neither of them needed to say those three words aloud. If there was truly love in this world, it was probably what they had right now.

“Where’s the script?” Chi Tuo flicked An Ye’s earlobe. “I’ll help you with the key lines.”

"Romance movies don’t need key lines…" An Ye mumbled, turning over to find the script.

The tension from earlier had disappeared without a trace. As she grabbed the script, An Ye casually picked up an apple for herself. Chi Tuo raised an eyebrow at her, and she took a bite before shoving the rest to him. "One is too much for me to finish, put your eyebrow back down. You used to look better when your face was relaxed, now you look like a gangster with that raised eyebrow."

Chi Tuo took the apple, flipping through the script while laughing.

The apple was sour enough to make her die. She swallowed it and then took another bite. By the time she was done, the apple was gnawed down unevenly, and she didn’t want it anymore, leaving the rest for him.

He didn’t particularly like sour things, but recently, he had started to enjoy the aftertaste of these painfully sour apples because of her.

This was the first time he was reading the script for this romance movie. It was a pure love story that would be released domestically, so the content wasn’t too explicit.

It was a very youthful, painful love story, but deep enough, with dialogues that carried weight.

In the script, the man and woman indeed loved each other deeply, with passion and devotion.Chi Tuo spent over an hour reading through the entire script, while An Ye had already finished looking at Luo Yin’s photos and had started watching the award-winning art film he starred in.

In the scene, the man with a scruffy beard stood on a desolate winter street, his eyes filled with fragmented pain. It was a long take, and An Ye watched it over and over again, replaying it more than ten times.

Once Chi Tuo finished the script, he sat with An Ye, watching her replay the scene repeatedly. He knew her obsession with acting. She would analyze long takes frame by frame, looking for the hidden emotions in people—the joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness that people often hide.

"Actually, you don’t need to fall in love with this person," Chi Tuo spoke after An Ye had finished watching the movie.

An Ye: "Hmm?"

"The love in this movie is more like... a concrete intention," Chi Tuo, the academic, hesitated before speaking. "It’s like the model you liked in Xiangyang City."

An Ye tilted her head.

"She didn’t fall in love with him," Chi Tuo pointed to the script, the light of his wedding ring catching on his long fingers. "She fell in love with life."

An Ye opened her mouth.

"Unlike us," Chi Tuo smiled and closed her mouth with his hand. "We fell in love with each other. With a specific person. The kind of love that says, 'I can’t live without you.'"

"The female lead in this movie only got help from the male lead when she was in a very difficult place. He showed her a part of life. Actually, whether it was this man or someone else doesn’t matter. What she needed was someone who could open the door for her to touch life," Chi Tuo summarized.

An Ye: "…"

Chi Tuo stood up, throwing the apple core away. When he turned around, he saw her expression was very subtle. "…What’s wrong?"

"You’re shameless..." An Ye sighed, "You praise one person while stepping on another. If the screenwriter knew, they’d want to swallow you whole..."

"…Did you not notice after reading the script so many times that the female lead doesn’t actually need him specifically?"

"At that point in time, anyone who extended a hand to her could have led to the same result."

"She was just too tired and needed a place to rest."

"Later, when she was willing to die for him, the reason became more complicated. I think it was more like a form of repayment."

An Ye: "…Damn."

Chi Tuo raised an eyebrow. "Don’t curse."

"You can’t tell me what to do!" An Ye shot back, then began pondering Chi Tuo’s words.

Chi Tuo, who was normally so calm, was still going on about it.

"So this kind of relationship is different from ours."

"When you were in a tough spot, you also considered asking that person for help… That Qing thing, whatever it was, but even lawyers weren’t necessary for you."

"But you definitely wouldn’t fall in love with them."

"You were already tired, but you wouldn’t just grab onto someone else’s hand just because they offered to help."

"You’d solve the problem yourself, but if the person solving it wasn’t me, you wouldn’t let your guard down."

An Ye was stunned, resting her chin on her hand. "Why?"

"We are guarded against others. When someone gives, we think about how to repay them. When someone distances themselves, we automatically pull away even further. For us, if love happens with someone else, we might drive them crazy."

"But the female lead is different. She needs love. She understands how to love. So love allows her to land safely."An Ye squinted slightly, reflecting on what Chi Tuo had said.

Chi Tuo was very skilled at convincing people, but An Ye knew that he often dug holes even when telling the truth, waiting for her to fall into them.

Like now. She felt somewhat impressed by his ability to present the topic, yet she had a vague feeling that his purpose in bringing it up wasn’t entirely to help her get into character.

"Don’t I understand how to love?" An Ye finally found the hole that Chi Tuo had dug.

"Mm." Chi Tuo didn’t hide it at all. "I don’t understand either."

An Ye: "…"

"That’s why we never said those three words even after we got our marriage certificate."

Chi Tuo crouched down in front of An Ye, kneeling on one knee.

An Ye pressed her lips together, her heart suddenly speeding up. She couldn’t help but smile, then cursed, "Are you crazy? Do you really need to go around in such a big circle just to say this?"

"Because this is important," Chi Tuo said, his eyes filled with a smile.

"An Jiu Jiu, I love you," he said.

After he spoke, they both fell into a brief silence.

Chi Tuo lowered his head and let out a light sigh.

An Ye’s smile faded slightly, and she felt a little surprised, but couldn’t stop herself from wanting to laugh. "I thought when I heard that, my heart wouldn’t race this fast."

Chi Tuo laughed too. "I thought when I said it, I wouldn’t be so nervous either…"

"You even shook at the end."

"…You didn’t have to point that out."

"Chi Tuo."

"Mm?"

"I love you."

She didn’t say "me too," because her love for him and his love for her were equal. There was no "me too" because one of them hadn’t fallen in love first and the other just followed.

It was because he was the one, so there was no "me too."

And indeed, this was different from the love story in the movie.

Author's Note:

Today’s chapter is a bit shorter~~~

Yesterday’s long image of Chi Tuo was also a multiple of 3!

Ah, right, if you feel like the plot is jumping around, check the title. The extra chapters started a couple of days ago and are mostly just little daily moments, so the timeline isn’t followed strictly.

Oh, and by the way, yesterday there was a convoy of luxury cars that passed by!

As for the honeymoon, I’m still looking up information. I don’t know why I need to research it for the honeymoon... just rambling here.

I’m counting, so I’m not being all disorganized! Hmph!