Chapter 65: Borrowed Position

“Mr. Gu didn’t give any instructions?” Lin Zhiling asked cautiously.

“How would I dare ask him? Of course I had to check with you first,” the script supervisor replied, her face full of careful concern.

Lin Zhiling bit her lip. “Then just arrange the cameras as usual for now. I’ll go ask for guidance shortly.”

“Just… normal arrangement for now? Got it.” The script supervisor was briefly taken aback, but quickly accepted the setup, leaving the room with a faint smile.

As she stepped out, she muttered under her breath, “Normal arrangement? If you want the boss to kiss you, just say it. Pretending to be proper. Once the cameras are set up, how are you going to fake the kiss later?”

Gu Cheng was completely unaware, and no one asked him. There were more than ten indoor scenes to shoot today, his mind was cluttered. Especially after a late-night call with his cousin discussing the profits from “Legend” and asking for money, he was tired and hadn’t paid attention to these details.

The sky hadn’t turned fully dark yet, so the crew blocked out the light outside the cabin suite, and Hua Zelei and Fujiwara Jing found themselves alone in the room, preparing their lines.

This scene’s plot takes place just after the cruise’s dinner party. Daoming Si and Shan Cai accidentally kiss during the lights-out game, and when the lights come on, Hua Zelei witnesses it, feeling upset and returning to his room alone. Fujiwara Jing misunderstands that Hua Zelei has feelings for Shan Cai and tries to win him back. The two end up having a heartfelt conversation, which leads to an impulsive kiss.

The whole indoor sequence is meant to be interspersed throughout half an episode, to be edited into several segments later.

After finishing two lines of dialogue, the camera moved from the wide shot to a corner of the room, adjusting focus for a close-up, angled 30° toward the sofa where Fujiwara Jing would soon be pushed down. This angle perfectly captured Hua Zelei and Fujiwara Jing’s faces.

“All right, next is scene 3-075. Take your places. No special requirements for the kiss scene, right?” Director Cai delivered the line smoothly, as he did dozens of times daily. The last half of his sentence was subconscious, a nod to Gu Cheng as the investor.

“Huh? There’s a kiss scene? Oh, right! There is!” Gu Cheng finally realized. “Should we fake the kiss? Will Zhiling mind?”

He hesitated, not taking his place. Everyone could see he was distracted. He smiled awkwardly, “Sorry, could you give me five minutes? May I look at the scripts with the kiss scenes?”

Director Cai was surprised and shot a sharp look at the script supervisor, who should have made sure everything was confirmed beforehand: Didn’t I ask you to clarify earlier?!

But the investor wanted to check, so Director Cai had to comply. Gu Cheng had always wanted the best for the project, never causing trouble or acting like a diva.

Director Cai was about to agree when Lin Zhiling spoke up. “It’s my oversight. I didn’t confirm the script. From now on, let’s use fake kisses. But this time, both lighting and camera angles are set for this shot; there’s no way to fake it now.”

Gu Cheng turned to look at Lin Zhiling, who nodded gently at him, as if signaling her trust. Gu Cheng hesitated for a couple of seconds, not wishing to cause trouble.

“Let’s just go ahead then.”

With the camera and lighting already arranged, there was no way to stage a fake kiss. To do so, the lighting would have needed to be moved to the side from the start, otherwise the facial details wouldn’t be captured in close-up. Once the actors were in place, the script supervisor called, “ACTION.”

They immediately slipped into their roles.

Hua Zelei rose domineeringly, his cold voice trembling with suppressed emotion, “You always say one thing and mean another, treating everyone with kindness, keeping up your perfect heiress facade. Even when your fickleness hurts others, you never bother to clean up the mess.”

Fujiwara Jing responded nervously, her eyes flickering with confusion. “Lei, that’s not what I meant…”

The lamp in the background cast their faces into backlight as they confessed, seemingly concealing a budding innocence.

“Stop playing with me!” Hua Zelei exploded after a brief moment of tension, “You say I like Shan Cai—let me tell you, the one I like is you!”

With that, he seized Fujiwara Jing’s shoulders, lifting and pushing her gently onto the sofa.

Hua Zelei narrowed his eyes and then kissed her.

Since the camera was positioned at his rear side, his expression wasn’t clearly visible.

Only the brief moment of their lips pressed together was captured—a dry kiss. Then the camera pulled back, sparing them further embarrassment.

“Good, CUT, that’s a wrap!” Director Cai was quite satisfied and moved on to the next scene.

…

After shooting a few scenes between Hua Zelei and Fujiwara Jing in the cabin, night had truly fallen.

Director Cai took the rest of the crew to film Daoming Si and Shan Cai’s scenes with “male best friend” Chen Qing—breath holding and fishing competitions. These scenes were set on the deck at night, so they couldn’t fake the lighting and had to shoot at the actual late hours.

Gu Cheng and Lin Zhiling were done for the day. By the time they finished packing up, everyone else had left. A few lunch boxes sat on the nightstand in the corner.

Gu Cheng, ever the gentleman, picked up a lunch box and handed it to Lin Zhiling. “Sorry, I was careless—last night I was on the phone with my cousin till late, asking for money, and only called Aunt Chai this morning. I’ve had to oversee that matter personally, so I wasn’t at my best today and didn’t review the schedule.”

Lin Zhiling smiled gently. “It’s fine, I wouldn’t blame you. I’m grateful you don’t blame me. I’m twenty-five, not a young girl, and this isn’t my first kiss. We’re professionals; I didn’t lose out.”

She spoke as she opened a box of three-cup chicken, eating it with rice, seeming utterly unconcerned.

Gu Cheng, being easygoing, said no more, opening his own lunch box and eating in silence.

Lin Zhiling ate hastily, choking a little. She twisted open a bottle of oolong tea, gulped it down, and seeing Gu Cheng’s concerned gaze, explained further, “Honestly, I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you. When you said you needed to check the script before deciding, I knew you didn’t mind using a real kiss to get through the scene.”

Gu Cheng’s face flushed, and he lowered his head, shoveling a mouthful of scallion omelet and rice before muttering, “Why?”

He didn’t seem to have the courage to articulate the question clearly.

Lin Zhiling’s eyes sparkled, and she smiled with understanding. “If you minded kissing me, would you need to check the script? You probably want to see if there are any other kiss scenes with other actresses. You want to know if you’ll need to use the excuse of ‘treating everyone equally.’”

“Maybe I just wanted to see how many kiss scenes I have with you—if it’s only one, I could just grit my teeth and get it over with.” Gu Cheng insisted, though he realized his excuse was weak.

Lin Zhiling looked at him with the knowing gaze of someone who had seen through everything.

Fine, he was indeed more resistant to a kiss scene with Xu Xiyuan, who played Shan Cai. He conceded.

Lin Zhiling’s arrangement ultimately spared Gu Cheng from further real kisses.

Everyone understood, and the matter was settled.

Gu Cheng finished his meal at three times his usual speed, cleaned his mouth, drank some bottled oolong tea, and got up to return to his room to attend to business.

As he was leaving, he turned and cleared his throat. “Actually, back home, I have an older sister who’s very good to me. Perhaps she’s too good. I find myself weary of overly attentive older sisters. I can accept their help and repay them with money and friendship, but I would never consider dating one.”

“All right, I’ll discreetly hint this to the other actresses—except Xiaolin,” Lin Zhiling replied with a graceful smile, as if the awkward topic had nothing to do with her.

She truly was a woman fit for social circles.

And she didn’t forget to gently tease Gu Cheng as she countered.

Xiaolin? Frankly, with Yang Chenlin’s looks, who would be interested in her?

…

The four-day cruise ended swiftly, and the two episodes were completed on schedule. The planned kiss scenes with Xu Xiyuan were all avoided by using camera tricks.

Chai Zhiping and Director Cai announced the wrap and holiday break. The cast settled their wages and prepared to go home for the New Year, returning in half a month to shoot the remaining seven or eight episodes.

Yan Chengxu and Zhou Yumin each received 110,000 (settled in local currency), the highest among the male cast. Among the women, Xu Xiyuan got 150,000, while the others received at most a third of that.

Gu Cheng and Lin Zhiling had no pay; their participation was counted as Eslite Audio’s equity investment.

On the day of departure, Gu Cheng flew back to Qiantang. Besides spending New Year with his family, he had two things to do over the next two weeks.

First, he’d just heard that Chen Tianqiao’s “Dragon Clan” had officially launched paid operations—its public test period was much shorter than “Legend,” going live in haste. Clearly Chen Tianqiao was eager to capitalize on the winter break, the peak period for online gaming profits.

Gu Cheng had to devote time to counter Dragon Clan and the upcoming “Red Moon.” Strategic decisions requiring a broad outlook couldn’t be left to Pan Jieying alone.

The leadership of the most successful internet companies always included a bold strategist as CEO and a meticulous chief of operations as COO. Like Ma Feng needed Cai Chongxin, Jobs needed Cook.

The second task came from Chai Zhiping. The drama “Meteor Garden” originally intended to enlist renowned musician Yu Chengqing from Taiwan for the theme song. After Gu Cheng’s repeated investments, Eslite Audio’s stake exceeded 50%. Knowing Gu Cheng had trained professionally as a singer, Chai Zhiping asked him to try singing both the opening and ending themes.

The results were excellent.

So Chai Zhiping instructed Gu Cheng to use the half-month break in the mainland to find a studio and record the two songs. If there were no flaws, they would be used directly as the drama’s soundtrack.