Deep in the Act: Chapter 17

Even though it was a studio shoot, the crew still waited until evening. Zhang Zhun wore his blue suit, looking devastatingly beautiful among a group of rough men. Zhen Xin stood next to him, smelling the faint cologne on his body. Zhang Zhun had his back to him, and each of them looked at their own phone. Over by the monitors, Chen Zhenglin was showing Wu Rong a few intimate scenes they had shot earlier, mainly to set a benchmark, to help him find the feeling.

“Damn!” Wu Rong propped both hands against his cheeks, covering an unnatural expression. “Director, this is… too intense, isn’t it.”

What was playing was the clinic scene. The red couch. Wanton thighs. Ankles twisting with the vibrations. Then close ups. Zhang Zhun’s eyelashes, lips, Adam’s apple. Everything on screen seemed to carry temperature, hot and blazing.

“Your scene is different from theirs,” Director Chen became very serious when talking about the work, his hands gesturing nonstop. “They have feelings in it. You, it’s completely violence. I want you intense. Going a bit over is fine, don’t hold back.”

Wu Rong was still covering his mouth, tilting his head to look at the screen sideways. “Got it. However shameless, that’s how I’ll do it,” he was talking big. The more something made him nervous, the more he acted like he was all for it. “I’ll go at it with everything I’ve got!”

Chen Zhenglin was pleased, exchanging a look with Zhou Zheng. “Then tonight it’s all on you, Teacher Wu!”

All departments prepared. Chen Zhenglin specifically went to smell Zhang Zhun, thought his scent wasn’t strong enough, and had makeup add more cologne. While they were touching up his makeup, Zhen Xin pretended to be casual. “Doing okay?”

Zhang Zhun’s expression shifted, as if he understood what he meant, and as if he didn’t. “What’s okay or not okay, it’s just filming.”

Zhen Xin glanced at him and nodded, only saying after a long while, “Yeah, with anyone, it’s all the same.”

Zhang Zhun seemed to regret his earlier answer, adding, “Or… maybe you shouldn’t watch.”

“Why wouldn’t I watch,” Zhen Xin put on the airs of a male lead. “A minor subplot of rubbing through pants.”

Zhang Zhun found it both annoying and somewhat amusing, the corner of his lips curving up. “Does your mouth have to be so poisonous.”

Wu Rong walked over with vigorous steps, wearing a black hoodie, a baseball cap, and a pair of faded jeans. One arm wrapped around Zhang Zhun’s shoulder, leaning in to sniff at his collar. “Does it have to be this thorough, you’re suffocating me!”

Zhang Zhun used adjusting his tie as an excuse to slip out from under his arm. “I’m even more suffocated than you.”

Zhen Xin lit a cigarette, sizing up Wu Rong through the smoke. His face was slightly flushed, seeming a bit embarrassed. “That, bro hasn’t filmed this kind of thing, seriously… do I need to prepare?”

Zhen Xin snorted out a laugh. “You don’t even take your pants off, what preparation do you need.”

Zhang Zhun was still good to his senior brother, glaring at Zhen Xin, pulling Wu Rong to one side, whispering in his ear. When they got to the embarrassing parts, the two of them would awkwardly stare at each other’s lips, then burst into laughter simultaneously.

“Damn!” Zhen Xin cursed softly, cursing to himself. The director called to clear the set. He walked away from Wu Rong’s side, and before leaving patted him on one shoulder, speaking in soft Taiwanese accented Mandarin. “Bro Rong, take it easy.”

Zhang Zhun took his position. The slate clapped. “Into the Act, AB cameras, Scene 1, shot 1, take 1!”

Action! The lift opened. Zhang Zhun jangled his car keys and walked out, looking to be in a good mood. In the preparation area diagonally across, Wu Rong rolled his neck and walked into frame. The camera followed.

Zhang Zhun opened the car door. The Prussian blue Cayenne. Wu Rong appeared behind him, his gaze tracing down the lean back toward the waist and hips, then suddenly pressing on his neck and shoving him into the car, squeezing in after him, closing the door and locking it. There was a camera in the back seat, facing Zhang Zhun’s face directly. He was panicked, but still relatively calm. “Don’t be impulsive. I won’t resist. How much do you want?”

He reached into his suit jacket for his wallet, fingers trembling, pulling out a thick one, with RMB and US dollars. “Take it, it’s all yours!”

Wu Rong smiled, smiling very roguishly. Suddenly he reclined the seat and punched him in the temple. The leather wallet rolled down, red and green bills scattering all over the car. “You’ve got money, I don’t care about that. Keep that money to find a shrink!”

He pressed his whole body on top, one hand undoing Zhang Zhun’s belt, the other pulling out his phone to take photos. The flash going off chaotically made Zhang Zhun unable to open his eyes. Pants and underwear were pulled down. A pair of large hands rubbed back and forth at the base of his thighs. Only now did real fear hit. Zhang Zhun’s temples throbbed one beat after another. He began to resist in disbelief. Wu Rong was excited by his shame, his half soft half hard crotch pressing against the space between his legs again and again, his hot tongue licking wildly across his face. “Think you’re so great because you’ve got money, you’re still getting fucked just the same!”

Zhen Xin held a paper cup in one hand, the other pointing at the monitor, glaring at Chen Zhenglin beside him. “Didn’t you say no taking off pants!”

“That’s what we told Zhang Zhun,” Chen Zhenglin’s full attention was on the scene, too lazy to deal with him. “That expression just now was so real, so effective!”

Zhen Xin had a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent. His fury, jealousy, and worry were known only to himself. The lust on the monitor continued. Wu Rong pulled open his fly, fiercely grabbing Zhang Zhun’s hair, breathing heavily against his ear. “You’re so rich, your back door hasn’t been pleasured yet, has it? Let me give you a free ride!”

The dialogue was amplified through the microphone, coming through the director’s headphones. Zhen Xin stared dead at the screen, the paper cup in his hand crushed out of shape, the already cold water dripping down. Chen Zhenglin noticed his pants were wet, turned his head, and saw the expression on his face.

In the enclosed space, apart from Zhang Zhun’s face and the dotted lights outside the car, Wu Rong couldn’t see anything. The evaporating cologne mixed with their body odors, becoming an erotic scent. He felt he was really hard now, his heart racing, the body beneath his crotch unusually hot and pliant, making him want to thrust up hard. That tightly pressed mouth was right before his eyes, yet he didn’t dare kiss it. The more he didn’t dare, the more he stupidly stared at it without moving. In this moment of hesitation, the director called cut.

He covered his lower body and got up from Zhang Zhun, his face full of frustration. Zhang Zhun lay panting in the car seat. Crew members surrounded them from all sides. Wu Rong’s first reaction was to cover Zhang Zhun’s lower body with his cap. Water was passed in through the car window. Chen Zhenglin didn’t use the walkie talkie, standing directly outside the car talking to the two of them about the scene. “Teacher Wu, you’re still not there yet. A rapist beats people. You’re not into him, you’re going to do him!”

Wu Rong tucked his neck and nodded, his eyes glancing down as he did so, his hand still on Zhang Zhun’s bare leg. The space in the car was too small, and it was full of that damned cologne smell. Chen Zhenglin emphasized again and again. “It’s not making love, it’s rape. Okay?”

After speaking he went to scold the lighting crew. Zhen Xin came over at this moment, standing outside the car window staring straight in. Zhang Zhun didn’t know what expression to use to see him, his face turned inward, slightly hiding toward Wu Rong’s embrace. Wu Rong sensed it, and said to Zhen Xin with a smile. “Don’t look don’t look, this is embarrassing.”

The way Zhen Xin looked at him was practically like knives, standing his ground and not moving. Wu Rong stared him down for a while, couldn’t outstare him, and simply rolled up the window, cursing at him. “Are you sick or what!”

Who knew Zhen Xin would walk around the front of the car, actually pull open the door and sit in the passenger seat. Wu Rong was dumbstruck, very rudely shoving him. “You get the hell out of here!”

Zhen Xin didn’t back down, extending his arm to shove back. The two of them were at it like this. Zhang Zhun knew Wu Rong’s hand strength, afraid he would hurt Zhen Xin, one hand awkwardly holding his pants, the other going to hold Wu Rong’s arm, calling out “senior brother” again and again. Hearing him call out to someone else, Zhen Xin’s heart suddenly went empty. Silently taking a few hits from Wu Rong, he self destructively slammed the door and left.

The director and all departments got back into position. Zhang Zhun held his head, his eyelashes fluttering. Wu Rong didn’t take Zhen Xin seriously at all, letting out a sigh. “Bro, I’m really going for it this time.”

Zhang Zhun smiled helplessly. “You weren’t going for it just now? You were killing me.”

Wu Rong climbed on top, both arms propped on either side of his forehead, like looking at a woman in his own bed. “Can’t take it already? Bro’s got even more intense moves!”

Zhang Zhun made as if to knee him, laughing as he cursed. “Go to hell!”

They both knew this was playfulness before getting serious. After laughing, Wu Rong’s face darkened. Zhang Zhun watched Zhen Xin’s retreating figure through the tinted car window. The director gave orders through the headphones. “Action!”

Wu Rong immediately buried his face in Zhang Zhun’s neck, inhaling the provocative scent of cologne. Both hands traced up along the waistline, stopping at the shirt on Zhang Zhun’s chest, reaching in to slowly feel around for a couple of strokes, then grabbing the fabric and ripping it open violently. The ultramarine buttons scattered and flew, one hitting the camera lens with a ding, bouncing back to hit the window glass with another ding.

This sense of realism made Zhen Xin, in front of the monitor, hold his breath involuntarily. Next, Wu Rong slid his tongue across that honey colored skin, from behind the ear to the collarbone, from the chin to the eye socket. Zhang Zhun trembled as he begged. “Let me go… I’ll give you money!”

What answered him was a fierce and powerful fist. Wu Rong spat into his palm, making as if to wipe downward. “That’d make you paying me, wouldn’t work.”

His “wouldn’t work” was said very coquettishly, carrying a shameless hooligan air. Riding this coquettish energy, he pretended to thrust his lower body into Zhang Zhun’s body.

A whimper came through the headphones, low and sharp, purely pain. Cold sweat dripped down Zhang Zhun’s cheeks. He didn’t struggle much anymore. Both hands weakly gripping Wu Rong’s hoodie, his eyes staring blankly at the car roof. His long lashes, made transparent by the parking lot white light, trembled on their own, with teardrops condensing on them.

“Damn!” Wu Rong moved with large motions, his face and body also wet with sweat, brows furrowed, jaw muscles tensed. “This is fucking intense!”

He lifted one of Zhang Zhun’s legs, straddling it on his shoulder like a warlord, turning his head to suck out a string of hickeys. “Feels good, huh?”

Zhang Zhun let out fragmented moans from his nose, as if unable to bear it, and as if tasting the marrow and knowing the flavor, his slender waist twisting into an unnatural angle. Wu Rong’s mind was still clear at this point. He knew he had to push harder. So one hand pinched Zhang Zhun’s small nipple, the other reaching toward his open crotch.

The distinct sensation startled Zhang Zhun. After a brief eye contact with Wu Rong, he gave up and ran a hand through his hair. Both of them were going all out. Zhen Xin, staring dead at the monitor, sensed that tension. Between man and man, perverted, enticing, making one want to take the risk and try this inverted passion. He knew it all too well.

The sounds in the headphones changed, sometimes short and sometimes long and deep, both Wu Rong’s and Zhang Zhun’s. The two of them were sticky and tangled together. One violently plundering, the other responding lingeringly. This didn’t look like acting, but like real lovemaking. Zhen Xin crushed the empty paper cup in one grip, threw it on the ground, stood up and walked away with his head turned.

The director and crew were all staring at the monitor, nobody noticed him. Zhang Zhun and Wu Rong were entangled, tightly pressed together, like two fish out of water, desperately rubbing against each other. Wu Rong’s nose pressed against Zhang Zhun’s throat, acting so entranced he was about to lose himself. Just as he was about to sink into this inescapable pleasure, a barely audible moan suddenly came by his ear. “Xin… Zhen Xin!”

In the surging sea of desire, Wu Rong knew he had called the wrong name, but didn’t clearly hear who he was calling. Although the microphone couldn’t pick up such a small sound, he still cursed. “Damn, I’m gonna die on top of you!”

Then he sealed Zhang Zhun’s slightly open mouth with his burning hot lips. This was a gut wrenching kiss. Wu Rong admitted to himself, he had never kissed his wife this crazily. He almost exchanged souls with the person beneath him through this kiss. Zhang Zhun’s two hands wrapped around his head, beginning to moan loudly, his hips rhythmically thrusting upward, swaying as he pressed into Wu Rong’s embrace.

This was the moment for the final push. The whole Cayenne shook violently. The cameras outside the car were aimed at the front and rear respectively. At this moment Chen Zhenglin suddenly wanted to add a scene. Zhou Zheng immediately went to arrange the actors. Wu Rong only heard through the headphones, “Teacher Wu, hold on a bit longer.”

“Damn, I’m about to come!” Whether this was a line or said for the director to hear, he mustered his last bit of strength, bouncing his hips even harder and heavier.

Soon a man and a woman came out from the elevator area, arm in arm. The man was clearly drunk, flirting with the woman. Walking near the Cayenne, the man pointed at the car. “Car sex, how shameless!”

Taking advantage of the alcohol, he went to peek through the window. “Driving a nice car makes you so great, rich people are just perverts!”

The woman pulled at him, but he insisted on looking. One camera followed him, another camera aimed at the passenger window. The man made a shocked expression, staggering back to his girlfriend’s side, spitting on the ground. “Damn, two men!”

The two cursed as they walked away. The Cayenne shook heavily two more times, then slowly stopped moving. In the director’s headphones, only the lingering panting sounds remained. The cameras were still rolling. Wu Rong propped up his upper body, looking down at Zhang Zhun from above. Pinkish face, a dazed and infatuated expression. He combed back his disheveled hair. “When you report it to the police, don’t say I didn’t fuck you good!”

He slapped his cheeks with a pop pop, browsing his naked body from top to bottom like admiring a trophy. Director Chen took off his headphones and called, “Cut!”

Wu Rong didn’t even have the strength to open the car door. His hands were sticky. It was Zhang Zhun’s. He had come on Zhang Zhun’s leg. He secretly glanced down between those legs. He had rubbed him red. Taking off his hoodie to cover Zhang Zhun’s body, Wu Rong bared his torso, wiping his hands on his pants, pushing open the door. The moment his feet hit the ground his legs were weak. “This is a huge loss, I didn’t get this tired filming fight scenes!”

The door slammed shut. Zhang Zhun lay alone in the car. The crew considerately didn’t come over. Through the tinted car window, he looked toward the monitor area again. Zhen Xin wasn’t there. He pressed his forehead and cursed, “Damn!”