Deep in the Act: Chapter 37

It was three in the morning when work wrapped up. Zhang Zhun went back to his room, washed his face, and was about to get into bed when the doorbell rang. One leg was already on the bed and he didn’t move. The ringing kept going, probably for a minute or two, until he couldn’t stand it anymore and went to open the door.

The door opened to reveal Zhen Xin, who squeezed in through the crack before Zhang Zhun could stop him. “We have to be up at five thirty,” Zhang Zhun said. Zhen Xin kicked off his shoes and started stripping with bold, sweeping motions until he was down to just his underwear, then rolled straight into the covers. Zhang Zhun closed the door, a little afraid to go over. “If you don’t go back, she…”

“We broke up,” Zhen Xin lay flat, the back of his head resting on his own arm. “I’m single now.”

Zhang Zhun’s expression changed, like a stone skimming across water, leaving a trail of shallow ripples that disappeared in the blink of an eye. “Still… no,” he said awkwardly. “There’s more filming later.”

Even as he said this, he walked toward the bed. A big T-shirt was thrown over the chair and he grabbed it and pulled it on. Out of nowhere, Zhen Xin grabbed his wrist and dragged him onto the bed, pinning him from the front. “Come on,” Zhen Xin tugged at the T-shirt and followed it down to his big shorts, the boxer briefs with star stripes. “Are you…” He looked at the exposed upper thighs and suddenly reached into the waistband. “You’re not wearing underwear!”

Zhang Zhun really wasn’t wearing underwear. His butt cheek was grabbed quite rudely. He twisted hard, but Zhen Xin couldn’t hold him down at all, laughing and breathing heavily as he let go. “My girlfriend’s gone now, so it’s okay if I grab your ass, right?”

Zhang Zhun’s face was completely red. He didn’t say anything, turned to switch off the bedside lamp, and lay down with his back to him. “Sleep.”

Zhen Xin was very obedient. He lay down nicely, but before a minute passed, he hugged Zhang Zhun from behind, holding him tight, clamping his legs around his legs, rubbing his chin against his shoulder.

“Didn’t she say anything?” It was so sweet, sweet enough to make a person tremble, Zhang Zhun asked.

“No,” Zhen Xin’s voice was deep, like it was drifting from somewhere far away. “Someone as lousy as me, who could put up with that?”

“Did she cry?”

“She wouldn’t cry. I’m telling you, women are tougher than men.”

Zhang Zhun didn’t speak. Zhen Xin slipped his hand under his T-shirt, stroked his lower belly a couple of times, then grabbed the hem and pulled the shirt clean off over his head. Zhang Zhun did put up a bit of resistance, saying softly, “No…”

Zhen Xin got annoyed by him, whining, “I know!”

He really didn’t cross the line. He just held him quietly. Zhang Zhun was drowsy and about to fall asleep like this when he heard from behind, “Isn’t this… don’t you think this is strange?”

“Strange,” Zhang Zhun said as if discussing a book or a movie. “Too strange…”

“How did it get like this?”

“When you want to stop,” Zhang Zhun turned to look at him, though he couldn’t see clearly in the dark, “just tell me.”

Zhen Xin suddenly felt awful, like someone had punched a big hole in his chest, torn and gaping, but no blood would flow. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll definitely tell you.”

Zhang Zhun nodded. In the darkness there might have been only a sliver of light, just that sliver, reflecting a drop of water in Zhang Zhun’s eyes. Zhen Xin propped himself up, leaned down, and sucked away that drop.

At five twenty, someone knocked on the door. Zhang Zhun squinted and pushed Zhen Xin. “Get up, Xiao Deng.”

Half awake, he got out of bed to open the door. Zhen Xin rolled over and also got up, heading to the bathroom.

“Bro, I even rang the doorbell,” when the door opened, Xiao Deng was leaning against the doorframe with one shoulder, carrying a naive kind of handsome charm. “It’s too early, the restaurant isn’t serving yet. Go to 3815 first, grab some bread to eat on the road.”

“Got it.” Zhang Zhun was about to close the door when Xiao Deng heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. “Bro, someone’s in there?”

Zhang Zhun woke right up. “Ah, I forgot to turn off the faucet…”

Xiao Deng stared at him in disbelief. “No,” he tried to push his way in, but Zhang Zhun held him back firmly. The big guy’s face turned red with anger, pointing at him furiously. “Bro! You…!” He was genuinely mad, so mad his eyes were rimmed with red. He swallowed the harsh words and picked just one thing to say. “Have you ever thought about what Dan Yi will do if she finds out!”

Zhang Zhun’s lips moved, pressed together with difficulty, moved again, and finally he said, “She… knows.”

Xiao Deng felt a metallic “ding” in his ears, like a cymbal being struck, vibrating until his head hurt. Zhang Zhun grabbed him, wanting to say something, but he pushed him away. “Crazy…” He burst out the door. “Bro, you’ve lost your mind!”

“Deng Zicheng!” Zhang Zhun shouted from the doorway. It was past five, the whole world was still asleep, but theirs had woken up. Zhen Xin rushed out of the bathroom, face unwiped, dripping wet, staring at Zhang Zhun with some nervousness. “He won’t go around talking, right?”

Zhang Zhun looked back at him in despair and shook his head.

At 3815, Zhen Xin and Zhang Zhun arrived fairly late. Xiao Wang was sitting on the bed by the door guarding half a basket of bread. On the other bed was Chen Zhengsen, disheveled, looking like he hadn’t slept all night. He waved when he saw the two of them. “Come here!”

The ashtray by his hand was stuffed full of cigarette butts. On the small table opposite were two computers running. Zhen Xin plopped down beside him. “Editing all night?”

“Not all night, just two hours,” Chen Zhengsen rubbed his eyes, saw Zhang Zhun standing, and scooted over to make room for him to sit. “Last night’s scenes, take a look.”

It was just a rough cut, no noise reduction, no soundtrack. Zhen Xin got out of the crookedly parked Volvo, striding forward, the wind messing up his hair, revealing a smooth forehead and a pair of eyes that held a thousand unspoken words. “Great eyes,” Chen Zhengsen offered his commentary at just the right moment.

Zhang Zhun waited for him under the hazy streetlight, his thin tie lifted by the autumn wind, making him look as fragile as a fallen leaf. As Zhen Xin drew closer, he seemed about to sprout branches and buds, coming back to life entirely.

“What’s in your hand?” There was a rustling sound, and Zhen Xin’s voice sounded somewhat distant.

Zhang Zhun opened his hand. It was a crumpled business card. The camera moved from the wrist up the arm toward the face. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Zhang Zhun wouldn’t have believed he could make such an expression, like some pitiful worshipper, wishing he could devote his entire being. He covered his mouth, more embarrassed than surprised, far more at a loss than watching a playback of a bed scene.

“Zhang Zhun’s feeling is spot on,” Chen Zhengsen lit a new cigarette. “Very convincing.”

Convincing meant making the audience believe he had truly fallen for him. A long, distant shot, the foreground filled with dense branches of an old tree. The two walked along the pitch-black tree-lined path, Zhang Zhun leaning his shoulder toward Zhen Xin’s side. A close-up shot: Zhen Xin grabbed his hand in the darkness, and he almost immediately grasped back, firmly, trembling, like a fluttering sparrow.

“Tell me about your dream?”

“I don’t dare…” Zhang Zhun’s voice was ethereal and unreal, tears falling down his cheeks onto the dark suit collar. Zhen Xin looked at him with a complicated expression, putting his arm around a spot two inches from his shoulder, as if he had done this many times before, pulling him into his embrace. “See, you can accept being touched by someone. Fear can be overcome too.”

Zhang Zhun lifted his head, like branded livestock, looking straight at his master. “…Only you.”

“Ahem…” Zhen Xin couldn’t watch anymore, his face swelling purple. Chen Zhengsen kept shaking his head. “This feeling won’t happen again…” The cigarette was burning down to his fingers and he didn’t even notice. “This is a masterpiece that belongs only to the two of you.”

Zhen Xin and Zhang Zhun exchanged a glance, then quickly looked away like guilty thieves. Xiao Wang urged them from the doorway, saying Zhou Zheng was waiting downstairs to send the cars off, and they were the only three missing.

Scene 99, at Gao Zhun’s home. He was wearing champagne-colored silk pajamas, having a conversation with Fang Chi about Justin. This scene had Zuo Linlin in it, but Qin Xun’er hadn’t returned to the set yet, so except for one shot using a hand double, the rest was all two-person scenes between Zhang Zhun and Zhen Xin.

Zhang Zhun put on that high-end pajama. The silky fabric draped over every hollow of his torso. The makeup artist held his chin, drawing his eyeliner, giving him a cat-like, proud demeanor. Chen Zhengsen and Zhen Xin were chatting casually, and the meddlesome Chen asked, “Are you two… you know?”

Zhen Xin didn’t answer. Chen Zhengsen added, “That little girlfriend of yours is nice, stop messing around.”

Zhen Xin said something, and in the corner a few female staff members looking at their phones suddenly started making a commotion. Zhou Zheng roared at them and they quieted down. One of them, face red, held up her phone to Zhen Xin. “Teacher Zhen, are you getting married?”

The first to react to this was Zhang Zhun. He whipped his head around, and the eyeliner pencil slipped into his eye. The makeup artist cried out, and Chen Zhengsen and Zhou Zheng hurried over to look. Zhang Zhun covered his eye with both hands, looking like he was really hurt. The gathered staff members pried at his face from all sides, and when they turned it around to look, his face was covered in tears.

“Get some tissue!” Zhou Zheng wiped his face haphazardly, then pulled away his hands. “Teacher Zhang, can you open your eye?”

He didn’t know if they noticed, but Zhang Zhun’s uninjured eye was wet too. He just wanted to look at Zhen Xin, but surrounded by so many irrelevant people, he had no choice but to smile for them. “It’s fine, just a little sore.”

Zhen Xin didn’t dare go over. He was stunned, with only one thought in his head: make a phone call. His phone was in his pants pocket, and he was about to pull it out when the ringtone suddenly went off, startling him: goodbye my almost…

He answered almost immediately, and Zhang Zhun heard him shout into the phone, “Hello!”

The caller ID showed Feng Yunting. Her first words were, “Saw Weibo, right?” Zhen Xin gritted his teeth to hold back the urge to curse at her, but she was unhurried, saying, “It’s not a problem on my end.”

Zhen Xin’s voice sounded strange. “So it’s my problem?”

“My manager has already called the police, so wait…”

“Wait until Weibo tells me the marriage paperwork is all done!”

The set fell into dead silence. On the other end of the line came a sigh. “Rumors forwarded five hundred times can land you in prison,” Feng Yunting didn’t seem to be lying. “The police can trace the IP. You’re on set, right? Come back and we’ll talk.”

Zhen Xin didn’t hang up. The other side added, “Oh right, there’s good news,” she seemed to be in a good mood. “That endorsement of mine, thanks to the fake news, signing the contract today.”

The call cut off, leaving only the busy signal in his ear. Zhen Xin put down his phone and turned around. Everyone was looking at him, with one kind of look or another. He should have been ashamed or afraid, but he still put on an arrogant face, pushed through the crowd surrounding Zhang Zhun, and asked the belated question, “Are you okay?”

Zhang Zhun had to say something, speaking up would make him look calm, but his mouth just wouldn’t open, and when it did it trembled. At this moment Chen Zhengsen shouted, “Alright, the eye is fine, touch up the makeup and back to work!”

Gao Zhun and Fang Chi, one on the bed, one off the bed. The one on the bed was timid, face half buried in the covers, revealing two red eyes. “I’m sorry…” There was a cold, unreadable anger on those cheeks.

In comparison, Zhen Xin was the one who looked guilty. “Did something happen?”

“Justin…” The covers hiding his face slid down, and the camera zoomed in on Zhang Zhun’s narrow chin and open collar. In just a few short minutes, he suddenly looked withered, as if burned and ground down, about to dissipate into a wisp of smoke in the air. Zhen Xin couldn’t help reaching out, just wanting to smooth his hair, just a tiny, harmless gesture.

With a smack, Zhang Zhun swatted his hand away. This surprised everyone, and the director immediately called “cut.”

Zhang Zhun himself seemed surprised too. First he was silent, then he hung his head and apologized in shame. Chen Zhengsen was already agitated by today’s string of small incidents, agitated by the strange atmosphere between the two male leads, and he sprang up from behind the monitor, the rolled-up script originally pointed at Zhang Zhun, but when he saw his shattered, nearly broken expression, it veered slightly to the side. “Zhen Xin!” He scolded him like a bit player on his first day. “Who told you to change the action, is this your first day on set!”

It was the first time Chen Zhengsen had publicly embarrassed him. Zhang Zhun’s instinctive physical resistance, Zhen Xin didn’t know which was more terrifying, the humiliation or the suspicion. He stood up dizzily and walked out. Staff members tried to stop him, but Chen Zhengsen was in a rage and wouldn’t let them. “Don’t stop him, let him go!”

Zhen Xin really left. Soon Zhou Zheng’s phone rang, it was the driver downstairs calling him, saying Zhen Xin had driven off with the crew’s van. Chen Zhengsen was a little panicked but didn’t dare show it, cursing as he sat back in his director’s chair. “I’ll wait! If you’ve got the guts, break the contract and don’t come back!”

Zhang Zhun’s ten fingers were twisted together in nervousness. He wanted to rush out right now, but he couldn’t. He got off the bed to find his phone, and under the gaze of so many people, dialed Zhen Xin’s number again and again, trembling.

Half an hour, forty minutes at most, Zhen Xin came back. He kicked the door open, still with that fluffy curly hair, that arrogant face, perfectly fine, as if he had never left. The staff members went back to their busy work, thinking the matter was over. Chen Zhengsen suddenly roared at the top of his lungs, “Are you out of your mind!” He pointed at Zhen Xin’s swollen left ear. “What kind of ear piercing did you go and get for no reason!”