The Entertainment Industry in Turmoil: Young Actresses All Want to Rise to the Top

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The thin script suddenly felt like a hot potato.

Li Qin suddenly realized that she was less than a week away from wrapping up filming.

A strange sense of unease churned within me.

Why does the female lead have so few scenes in this movie?

This was the first time she had ever wanted to add more scenes.

Why did you say that a few days ago?

Why say that this relationship is limited to the "Brotherhood of Blades" crew?

She thought that drawing this line was like putting on armor for herself, making her able to attack or defend as she pleased, both dignified and elegant.

However, this line now resembles a countdown and a death knell.

She regretted it, regretted her foolish limitation.

Her gaze involuntarily drifted to one side of the film set.

Shen Mo was talking to Lu Yang, his expression focused, his profile so clearly defined.

At this moment, what she could recall was the warmth of his palm and the light tickling of his stubble on her neck.

Her thoughts began to wander, and she subconsciously squeezed the script, the paper making a slight crackling sound.

The assistant beside her asked cautiously, "Sister Lin, what's wrong?"

"no."

Li Qin immediately released his grip, his voice so steady that there was no trace of anything amiss.

"You can go home after work. Mr. Shen said he wants to take me to meet the producer of a project."

Li Lin finished work quite early today. After removing her makeup, she came out to find Shen Mo already sitting in the car waiting for her.

She walked over without mentioning any producer; that was just a pretext she made up on the spot.

School started a few days ago, and Liu Haocun has already returned to school. Her role was just a cameo, and filming was already finished.

"There seems to be a park next to Huairou Reservoir nearby."

She opened the passenger door and got in. "We finished work so early today, let's go watch the sunset."

The park is not far away; it only takes a short drive.

It's not a famous tourist attraction, and there's hardly anyone around at this time of day.

Climbing the steps up the small hill, we arrived at a viewing pavilion.

The reservoir is vast, its surface a sprawling expanse of grey-blue, reflecting the warm sunset that is about to dip below the hillside.

A breeze blew from the lake, carrying a cool, misty feeling; no one spoke.

Li Qin stopped and looked up slightly.

The glow of the sunset illuminated her face, outlining her delicate profile, and her long eyelashes looked as if they were sprinkled with gold dust.

Shen Mo stood half a step to her side, his gaze shifting from the magnificent sunset to her face.

"You're almost done filming!"

He suddenly spoke up, "I guessed it the moment you decided to come out to watch the sunset today."

Li Qin's body stiffened for a moment. Without turning her head, she softly hummed in agreement.

"I didn't expect it to be so fast."

Shen Mo didn't reply, but took half a step forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

Their arms brushed against each other unintentionally, and the warm touch came through the thin fabric of their clothes.

"I think I won!"

Li Qin suddenly turned her head to look at him, her eyes filled with malice.

Shen Mo turned his head and smiled as he met her eyes.

"What did you win? Who said you won?"

Shen Mo paused, finding Li Qin's exasperated expression quite endearing.

"You're getting impatient..."

"Who's getting impatient?"

She turned away angrily, her back to Shen Mo.

This guy is so clueless about romance; only straight men care about winning and losing.

"How could I possibly..."

While she was still annoyed, her body was suddenly uncontrollably grabbed by the shoulder and turned 180 degrees.

Shen Mo leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss, silencing her urgency.

Li Qin paused for a moment, then her eyes curved into a smile, and she casually put her arm around his neck.

The lingering anxiety and emptiness in her chest suddenly dissipated.

"By the way, even if you've finished filming, I haven't."

Shen Mo held her in his arms, and the two leaned against the railing, watching the sun gradually disappear into the distance.

"Besides, this is a unilateral restriction on your part; I haven't agreed to it."

She looked up at him, her eyes unblinking, and then the corners of her lips slowly curved into a smile.

"I'll stay for a maximum of one more week after filming wraps up, as filming for 'The Ferryman' is about to begin."

She turned back to look at the sunset, leaning her back closer to his.

The two stood close together, quietly watching the sun finally sink behind the mountain ridge, the colors of the sky fading from vibrant to somber.

"I'm going back."

"Hmm," Li Qin responded, but didn't move.

She suddenly raised her hand, gently tugged at the hem of his T-shirt, and pouted.

Shen Mo looked down at the hand that was clutching the hem of his clothes, shook his head with a chuckle, and then bowed.

Li Qin's eyes suddenly brightened, a radiant smile appeared on her face, and she jumped onto his back.

Then she reached out and hugged his neck tightly, smiling as she pressed her cheek against his.

The parking lot was gloomy after the sun set, with only a faint halo of light in the distance.

As Shen Mo sat in the driver's seat, preparing to fasten his seatbelt, a slightly cool hand pressed down on his wrist.

He paused, then turned his head.

Suddenly, a small face appeared in front of her.

She practically squeezed in with him, half of her body still on the passenger side.

In the dimly lit space, those eyes shone exceptionally bright.

The warm breath hit his cheeks.

He didn't even have time to see her full expression before she kissed him.

He was a bit hasty, a bit fierce, and even bumped his teeth.

After an initial half-second of surprise, Shen Mo immediately realized what was happening.

He didn't push her away, but let her lips rub against his.

His hand was still being held down by her, and the cool touch of her fingertips was on his wrist.

Li Qin's body gradually softened, and her free hand quietly pressed the seat adjustment button, causing the seat back to slowly lower.

She opened her eyes, her eyelashes trembling, only when the surface was almost completely flat.

Shen Mo stepped back slightly, their hot breaths mingling.

Li Qin wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes filled with seductive allure.

A soft voice, mingled with a fragrant aroma, wafted towards you.

Occasionally, car headlights flashed by on the distant national highway, only to quickly disappear into the night.

Only this car in the park parking lot was hidden in a dimly lit corner.

Fine beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead.

"I'm too tired, I don't want to move."

Shen Mo grinned mischievously and pinched her cheeks with both hands, pulling them left and right.

"Sister Qin, this won't do!"

Li Lin let him manipulate her face and slowly got up.

"ber~"

Shen Mo reached behind her and hugged her tightly, giving her a light peck on her cherry-like lips.

He whispered with a wicked grin in her ear, "Now, the real show is about to begin!"

About several dozen meters away, in another car parked in the darkness, Wang Zheng reached out and flicked the ash from his cigarette outside the window before putting the cigarette back in his mouth.

He took out his phone, opened the WeChat interface, and clicked on a chat box.

It only contained two words posted last month: [Bai Lu].

He pondered for a moment, then typed in two more characters: [Li Qin].

He turned off WeChat and shut down his phone, then continued looking at the vehicles in the distance.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Lin, now fully dressed, lay quietly on Shen Mo's chest.

Shen Mo looked at her face so close to his, her excessively bright eyes misted over, gazing at him dreamily.

"What's wrong?" He gently stroked her slightly swollen lower lip. "Suddenly here, and so fierce."

Li Qin's chest heaved as she looked at him for several seconds, then suddenly leaned in and lightly pecked the corner of his lips in a slightly ingratiating manner.

"I might really have lost."

She rested her forehead on his shoulder, her voice muffled and slightly nasal.

"But I don't want to admit defeat; I want to take the initiative."

Shen Mo pursed his lips, put his arm around her, and gently patted her back.

Between you and me, there is no winner or loser.

"If you're willing, you'll always be the one who beats my sister, Qin."

After a long pause, Li Qin nodded and said softly, "It's time to go back."

"Mmm." Shen Mo responded, but didn't move immediately. He hugged her for a while longer before slowly letting go and returning to the driver's seat.

Shen Mo started the car, the low hum of the engine breaking the silence. The headlights came on, and the car slowly drove out of the parking lot, merging into the sparse traffic.

Li Qin turned her head to look at the blurry tree shadows rushing past the window, her face still flushed and slightly dazed.

But suddenly, a warm sensation covered the back of my hand.

Shen Mo reached out his hand, interlocked his fingers, and placed it on the central armrest.

Li Qin looked down at their clasped hands, her fingers twitched, and she clasped them back.

The warmth of palms touching soothed my heart, quietly suppressing my dazedness and unease.

In the hotel's underground parking garage, Shen Mo watched Li Lin walk into the elevator, and only looked away after the door closed.

Wang Zheng got out of another car and walked to Shen Mo's side.

"Sent it?"

Shen Mo's voice sounded exceptionally clear in the empty garage.

Wang Zheng paused for a moment, then turned his phone around in his palm. The screen lit up, displaying his chat with Li Yitong.

At the very top are two lonely characters: [Bai Lu].

The following is a newly released message: [Li Qin].

"Boss," Wang Zheng said, a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Is it really necessary to let President Li know?"

He paused, seemingly considering his words.

"Won't this damage your relationship with Mr. Li?"

His concerns were obvious: Li Yitong was the co-founder of Mohen and Shen Mo's girlfriend.

He couldn't imagine what these two pieces of information would trigger.

Shen Mo's gaze fell on the chat box, and he smiled slightly.

"Precisely because it's her, we can't keep it a secret."

Shen Mo looked at Wang Zheng and said, "Keeping it from her is what led to this big problem."

"On the contrary, it made her feel that these things were under her control, so there were no problems."

He turned around and walked outside, with Wang Zheng following behind him.

I know what she did before the New Year.

"She helped you settle down in Beijing through the special talent introduction program."

"I even bought you a house to live in."

"Most importantly, it also solved the problem of your child having a place in a school."

Shen Mo stopped and turned to look at him.

"Right?"

Wang Zheng suddenly looked up, staring at Shen Mo in shock.

Then he quickly lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Shen."

Shen Mo smiled, turned around, and continued walking forward.

"There's nothing to apologize for. Even if she doesn't make arrangements, I will make them for you."

"Only when everything is arranged properly can I truly entrust my life to your protection."

Wang Zheng quickly began to explain.

"After Mr. Li settled me in, he only gave me one request."

"It means I need to protect you."

"Apart from that, nothing else was explained."

Shen Mo gave a soft "hmm," which he believed.

Wang Zheng didn't understand.

Li Yitong did so much, but she never made any other requests besides protecting her.

While Shen Mo himself was speaking out for Li Yitong, he took the initiative to "report" to her.

So, what does this mean?

Am I part of you?

"Aren't you afraid that President Li will have all sorts of thoughts?" Wang Zheng couldn't help but ask.

Shen Mo walked out of the hotel lobby and looked up at the moon in the sky.

"Because I'm afraid, I need to tell her even more."

He looked away and patted Wang Zheng on the shoulder.

"Go and get some rest. You've worked hard tonight."

Wang Zheng nodded, put away his phone, and turned to walk into the hotel.

Shen Mo stood there for a while, then took out his phone and opened the chat window with Li Yitong.

The screen remained on this morning's casual chat, with people complaining about the film crew's boxed lunches.

He hovered his finger above the screen, paused for a moment, and finally sent only "Goodnight".

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Li Lin's filming wrapped up inevitably.

She gave her assistant a week off and arranged to meet the "Soul Ferry" crew a week later.

Then she secretly ran back to the hotel where the "Brotherhood of Blades" crew was staying. This time, however, she didn't book a room alone; instead, she checked into Shen Mo's room directly.

In the past few days, she has come to understand what it means to be addicted to something new.

Basically, since she didn't have to film or think about going out, she would approach Shen Mo as soon as he returned and start exercising with him.

She wanted to challenge her limits and, incidentally, test just how capable he really was.

The battleground expanded from the bedroom to the living room sofa, in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, coffee table, washbasin, bathtub...

How so?

Although she has now admitted defeat.

But she didn't want to admit defeat; she didn't want to see any other younger sisters appear by his side in the future.

If you can't even satisfy him yourself, what reason do you have to make him refuse other temptations in the future?

Therefore, unable to win in a direct confrontation, she suddenly had the idea to try unorthodox and unorthodox methods.

Fully armed, I drove dozens of kilometers to a secluded 24-hour unmanned self-service store to buy a bottle of lubricating "water".

Before that, I drank milk for two days and went online to learn how to clean it in advance.

However, when it came to actually implementing it, she began to doubt herself, wondering if it was really necessary to go to such lengths.

However, seeing Shen Mo's loving and tender expression, she suddenly felt that the past two days of trouble had been worthwhile.

As a result, she could only lie on her stomach and sleep all day the next day, waiting with teary eyes for Shen Mo to bring her food back.

The competition was suspended for the last two days.

Shen Mo simply held her close, chatting about the past, gossip, and their relationship.

He didn't want her to feel that the only thing they did together was be that one thing.

As he left, Shen Mo hugged her and whispered a thank you.

Li Qin's body stiffened for a moment, then she looked up into his eyes.

Although he didn't say anything in return, she understood.

These past few days, when she had nothing to do during the day, she didn't go out; she just focused on studying him.

He prefers iced Americano coffee and doesn't like it too sweet.

She would order an iced Americano every day, then go downstairs in the morning to get it and put it on her bedside table before snuggling into his arms for a nap.

He has a habit of using a specific pen to make annotations when reading scripts, and even when he is very tired, he likes to read a book or deal with company documents for a while in the evening.

Every day after he went to film, she would help him organize his documents and books, and fill his fountain pen with ink.

She also slipped away to a nearby supermarket and bought the fruits and snacks he had mentioned he liked the night before.

……

He saw through all her little thoughts and actions.

Li Lin shook her head, smiled, gave him a light peck on the lips, and then turned and left.

Actually, she's the one who should be thanking us.

Thank you for allowing me to cross the line, thank you for accepting my disturbance, thank you for your response and appreciation.

Shen Mo, see you next time.