Deep in the Act: Chapter 9

In Fang Chi’s consultation room, Director Chen and Zhang Zhun sat in the consultation chairs going over the scene. Zhen Xin leaned against the window smoking, watching the two of them with lonely eyes. Ever since the KTV incident, Zhang Zhun hadn’t spoken to him again. Xie Danyi, who was originally only supposed to stay here for two days, had extended her stay by another week. At this moment she was arguing with Assistant Director Zhou at the door.

“Why can’t I go in,” she seemed somewhat neurotic. “I just want to watch him film.”

“This scene is a closed set,” Assistant Director Zhou was very helpless. “Besides the two leads, only Director Chen, me, and a few staff members will be present the whole time. Why don’t you go walk around nearby instead.”

Saying this, he closed the door. Watching Xie Danyi’s face disappear outside the door, Zhang Zhun breathed a sigh of relief. Director Chen patted his shoulder. “Your personal affairs, I won’t interfere with. But this is work.”

Zhang Zhun nodded to show he understood. Director Chen had the staff prepare. Two camera positions were set up, both at tricky angles. Zhang Zhun’s outfit was very handsome. Crystal cufflinks, jacquard tie, British style fitted suit with a narrow collar, hair slicked back shiny and bright, wearing a low-key agate earring. A staff member handed him a cigarette and lit it for him. The script supervisor came up to slate. “In Character, Cameras A and B, Scene 206, Shot 2, Take 1!”

Chen Zhengsen shouted loudly. “Action!”

The red light came on. Zhang Zhun quietly smoked for a while, then turned around, looking at Zhen Xin provocatively. “You won’t sleep with me, and you won’t let me sleep with anyone else. What do you want.”

This wasn’t a question. Zhen Xin looked at the white wall in panic. “Gao Zhun…”

Zhang Zhun walked toward him, like a cat eyeing a mouse. Smoke swirled around his delicate face. He stopped in front of Zhen Xin, leaving a distance of half a palm. He looked up at him haughtily. Then slowly, he stood on his toes, tilted his head, and pressed his lips against his. This was a careless kiss. A lick, a suck, letting go, then pressing back. His tongue teased at the seam of the lips. As the script required, he revealed a flirtatious, provocative demeanor.

Zhen Xin kept staring at him, staring hard at him. Those brows and eyes were cold yet fiery. His lips were close yet distant. From Zhen Xin’s lips he licked to his chin. From his chin he slid to his Adam’s apple. One by one he undid the buttons of his shirt. He reached his hand inside, lingering at every turn of the muscles. Then his lips descended, wetting each spot. He handed the half-smoked cigarette to Zhen Xin’s lips. The filter was wet, slightly flattened. The smoke stung the eyes. Zhen Xin had wanted to resist this temptation, but in the end he compromised, obediently taking the cigarette in his mouth.

Zhang Zhun patiently licked his chest, lightly bit his abdominal muscles, toyed with his navel. Then he knelt down, both hands resting on his belt buckle. By rights, they should have rehearsed this before filming. Zhen Xin looked down, worried he wouldn’t be able to undo it in one go. But with a crisp click, Zhang Zhun looked up, tangling his gaze with his. One corner of his mouth rose wantonly. In one smooth motion, his hands undid his pants.

Two camera positions, one on Zhang Zhun and one on Zhen Xin. In the close-up shot, Zhang Zhun’s peach-colored eyelids fluttered lightly. He pulled down Zhen Xin’s underwear and made a reaching motion. It looked like he was holding Zhen Xin, but it was only simulated. Through the underwear, Zhen Xin stood up rock hard, swaying slightly left and right. Zhang Zhun closed his eyes. His smooth, wet, thin lips slowly parted, revealing a bright red pointed tongue, appearing submissive as he licked upward.

Zhen Xin picked up his cue, throwing his head back with a heavy groan. The tendons on both sides of his neck bulged out. It seemed as if he was rising and falling with the obscene licking below. In reality, Zhang Zhun’s face was bumping against his straining underwear again and again. There was no way around it. The distance was only that tiny bit. Zhen Xin was being bumped harder and harder. He anxiously sucked on that half cigarette. His other hand reached into Zhang Zhun’s hair, kneading and stroking, scratching against his ear bone. He cursed intermittently. “Damn it… damn it!”

The action notes in the script read. Gao Zhun licked with great skill, skillfully taking him in and out. Fang Chi enjoyed the pleasure he brought him, while jealously interrogating him, interrogating his promiscuity.

“How many people have you licked?” Zhen Xin grabbed Zhang Zhun’s hair, forcing him to look up at him. His eyes were viciously red. “Men.”

Zhang Zhun didn’t even think, answering frivolously. “Seven.”

Zhen Xin hauled him up, hauling him right in front of him. He had wanted to curse him, but instead he was like a clumsy lover, kissing him with wholehearted sincerity and no turning back. Zhang Zhun hummed softly in his embrace, so alluring he seemed boneless. Zhen Xin grabbed his collar and pulled hard. It didn’t come open. He pulled again with more force. With a ding, the crystal cufflink broke in two, bouncing out and falling to the floor. Zhang Zhun smiled lazily, sighing with pleasure. “Ninety thousand Hong Kong dollars…”

He was talking about the price of the cufflink. Zhen Xin was startled. In that brief moment of pause, Zhang Zhun took the opportunity to wrap his arms around his shoulders, lean close to his ear, and say in a barely audible voice. “Fuck me!”

He was talking about the price of the cufflink. Zhen Xin was startled. In that brief moment of pause, Zhang Zhun took the opportunity to wrap his arms around his shoulders, lean close to his ear, and say in a barely audible voice. “Fuck me!”

Regarding this line, Zhou Zheng was afraid it wouldn’t pass censorship and wanted to cut it. Director Chen and Zhang Zhun discussed it and decided to handle it as a whisper. In the finished cut, no subtitles would be added. If the censorship board flagged it, they would do a second dub. In that instant, Zhen Xin’s heart tightened so much it felt like it was being squeezed. Those two short words made him unable to tell illusion from reality. He looked at Zhang Zhun rashly, investing more than half genuine feeling.

In a flash, Director Chen called cut. “One take!” He excitedly lit a cigar. “Zhang Zhun was very precise. Keep it up! Five minute break!”

The staff withdrew. Zhen Xin stood there stunned for a long time before coming out of character. Zhang Zhun let go of him, stepping back two paces to maintain a cautious distance. Zhen Xin first traced him with his eyes. Then he mustered his courage and said sullenly. “That day I drank too much…”

Zhang Zhun glanced at him, didn’t speak, and didn’t walk away.

“I don’t know what came over me. Maybe I thought of you as Gao Zhun. I thought I was Fang Chi…”

Zhang Zhun sighed, came over and took his hand, raised it to his eyes and looked at it. He said lightly. “Go rinse it.”

Zhen Xin followed his gaze and only then discovered there was a cut in his palm. Blood was seeping out, staining the palm lines. He had been injured pulling at Zhang Zhun’s cufflink just now.

“In the scene, out of the scene, you have to tell them apart.” Zhang Zhun’s words left no trace. Zhen Xin looked at his neat sideburns and pale pink eye sockets. He wanted to say something. At that moment, Director Chen returned to the monitor and called out loudly. “Actors, get ready!”

The two of them exchanged a look, silently beginning to take off their clothes. This scene required full nudity. No underwear. No tape. In Chen Zhengsen’s words, they needed to fight flesh to flesh. At the innermost part of the consultation room was a large red Freudian couch. In most scenes of this film, it was merely a prop to set the atmosphere. Only in this one, Scene 206, was it crucial.

Zhen Xin stripped first, lying on his back on the long couch. One camera position followed him, focusing from a horizontal angle. Another camera position followed Zhang Zhun. He straddled Zhen Xin with his back to him. His pert buttocks were right against his erect groin. In a moment he would sit down on him without reservation. Zhen Xin had to hold his breath. This body in front of him made every hair on his body stand on end. He so looked forward to him sitting down, yet feared that sitting down would make him so aroused he’d look like a fool.

Zhang Zhun’s camera position took a while to find. In the end the director decided to shoot from behind, putting the audience in Fang Chi’s perspective. The script supervisor slates. “In Character, Cameras A and B, Scene 206, Shot 3, Take 1!”

Filming began. Zhen Xin, following the script’s direction, appeared hesitant and nervous. “Why,” he asked uneasily. “Why are you turning your back to me?”

The camera was behind him. Zhang Zhun had to act toward him. So he twisted his waist, moving the beautiful muscles of his shoulders and back. Under the bright white light, like a flower about to bloom, he half turned his head, revealing that red agate earring. One hand pretended to hold Zhen Xin’s groin. As he sat down, he said frivolously. “I’m afraid if I face you, you won’t be able to get it up.”

He hummed softly, boldly playing a man who actively engaged in same sex intercourse, facing the camera. Zhen Xin watched him sit down on his groin, skin pressed against skin, flesh bumping against flesh. The tender valley between his buttocks and the hard penis nested into each other. Zhang Zhun shivered. The skin of his buttocks quickly grew hot and red, then spread to his back, waist, and thighs. This wave of red swept over his whole body. Zhen Xin began breathing heavily. Instinctively he wanted to thrust upward. But Zhang Zhun said in a trembling, out of control voice. “Di… Director, I’m sorry, stop for a moment!”

He couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone on set knew. So the lights went off, waiting for him to adjust. He sat on Zhen Xin’s vigorous groin. That slippery, burning sensation he couldn’t describe. He could only wait, waiting for the sense of shame to gradually numb. Zhen Xin wasn’t faring well either, being ground against dry. As if possessed, he reached up to touch his thin shoulder blades, rubbing that area in an obscene, sticky manner. Zhang Zhun’s breathing was chaotic. He dodged, pulling his hand down. Zhen Xin stubbornly tangled with him. “I’m suffering too, you know!”

Zhang Zhun turned his head. The agate earring caught the harsh light, flashing. “Then don’t get hard.”

His words carried a barb. Zhen Xin held back a surge of anger, pinching his buttock flesh hard, making as if to sit up. Zhang Zhun immediately called out to the director. “Director Chen, I’m ready.”

Zhen Xin had no choice but to lie back down, waiting properly for Zhang Zhun to move. This time Zhang Zhun was much more at ease. One leg hung casually off the couch. His hip bones spread wide. The curve of his leg wound like a shameless whore. All eyes in the consultation room were focused on this white leg reflecting against the red couch. Director Chen pulled open his collar and said to the camera following Zhen Xin. “Camera B, close up. Zhang Zhun’s ankle bone, and his toes!”

Zhang Zhun licked his lips, moaning desperately. His buttocks thrust rapidly on Zhen Xin’s groin. Zhen Xin bit his teeth, furrowed his brows, breathing roughly. Listening to Zhang Zhun’s hoarse cries growing more urgent, higher and higher, then suddenly stopping. “Gao Zhun” came.

Zhang Zhun made a crying sound through his nose, accompanied by exhausted panting, shuddering and not moving. Zhen Xin twisted his hips obscenely, slowly delivering his line. “You… that fast?”

Zhang Zhun didn’t make a sound. Zhen Xin anxiously bent his knees, gently thrusting upward from below. Zhang Zhun’s entire back was red through and through, like swollen, full fruit pulp, trembling, about to fall from the branch. Zhen Xin sat up from behind and hugged him, biting his gracefully curved neck. “I haven’t come yet…”

As he spoke, he pushed him forward, making him prop himself up on the chair with both hands, buttocks raised high. He himself hugged that waist and knelt up. “You’re so tight, I’ll be quick too…”

His hand refused to leave Zhang Zhun’s buttocks, kneading wantonly in front of the camera. During this brief pause, he couldn’t control himself. His gaze dropped down, dropping between Zhang Zhun’s two buttocks. There was a hidden crevice there. He told himself, this was purely out of curiosity, just an inadvertent glance where his eyes happened to fall. But who knew what reason, clearly in the midst of haste he saw nothing at all, yet he still burned up with shameless excitement.

If not for Zhen Xin’s status as an award winning actor, Zhou Zheng was genuinely worried he would break Zhang Zhun. Every thrust was for real, like a beast in heat, with the suspicion of taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable moment. Chen Zhengsen signaled the camera to move. The shot on Zhen Xin stayed still. The shot on Zhang Zhun moved from behind, circling around to the front to film a facial close up.

What did it feel like to be wildly thrust from behind by a man with an erect groin? Zhang Zhun had imagined it before the actual filming. But he hadn’t expected it to be like this. The area between his legs was sore and numb. He actually got hard. His soft moans and sighs weren’t all fake. His engorged nipples and dripping sweat also had their genuine meaning. He even began pushing back to meet him. The slapping sounds of impact made him flush red all over.

“Zhang Zhun, lift your face!” Director Chen gave the order.

Zhang Zhun wanted to do as he said. But his sensitive body had lost its strength. His whole upper body collapsed on the couch. Only his thighs were spread wide, propped under Zhen Xin’s groin. Chen Zhengsen called out again. “Zhang Zhun, face the camera!”

Zhang Zhun was both shy and anxious. Even his tear glands felt somewhat sore. At that moment, Zhen Xin reached one hand from behind, cupping his chin and lifting his face. His thumb rubbed back and forth on his sensual jawbone.

The face of Zhang Zhun that appeared on the monitor left Chen Zhengsen and Zhou Zheng both stunned. Of course it was flushed red, burning hot and full of carnal desire. But what was rare was that he had charm. That springtime charm radiated from his bones, grew from between his brows and eyes. Unforgettable at a single glance.

At this critical juncture, Zhang Zhun had a line. He worked his upper and lower lips with effort, speaking intermittently. “Call me…”

His voice was like a murmur, tempting one to press closer. Zhen Xin pressed his whole chest against his back, pressing his face against his face. He heard him say coquettishly. “Call… call my name!”

They were pressed tightly together, not a gap to be found. Zhang Zhun was like a clingy cat, constantly rubbing his face against Zhen Xin’s palm. Zhen Xin groaned. That hand of his was injured. The script didn’t write how they should end this sex scene. In a daze, Zhang Zhun must have been lost in passion. He actually hooked out his tongue and licked Zhen Xin’s bloodied wound. And shamelessly, he couldn’t stop.

Zhen Xin had originally had the confidence to see things through to the end. But with just one tongue, Zhang Zhun made him lose all his armor. “Zhang Zhun… Zhang Zhun!” He called out passionately, almost without any chance to react, tightly hugging that round buttocks, coming in waves.

His cries were loud, even somewhat rough. The hot semen all shot into the crevice of Zhang Zhun’s buttocks, sticky and dripping down along the base of his thighs. Chen Zhengsen seemed dumbfounded, not calling cut for a long time. Zhou Zheng came to his senses first, reminding him. “Director, that’s enough.”

Only then did the machine stop. The two people on the couch had their thighs tangled around thighs, their arms twisted around arms, immersed in some indescribable lingering afterglow. It looked like they wouldn’t be getting down anytime soon. Chen Zhengsen had the staff pack up the equipment. Unusually considerate, he said to Zhou Zheng. “Let’s go first. Give them some space.”

Zhen Xin didn’t pay them any attention at all. He hooked his arm around his waist and flipped the person underneath over. Zhang Zhun used his arm to cover his face. He was still hard below. Between his legs was a white, sticky mess.

“Want me to help you?” Zhen Xin asked with his mouth, but his hand was already touching him. Zhang Zhun didn’t know if he was still dazed, or if he was really holding it in with difficulty. He didn’t refuse him. He just draped one arm loosely over his shoulder and closed his eyes.

Closing the door properly from outside, Chen Zhengsen and the staff walked toward the elevator. Zhou Zheng pulled him from behind. “Director,” he said quietly. “Just now Zhen Xin seemed to call the wrong name. He called ‘Zhang Zhun!'”

“It’s fine, there’s post production,” Chen Zhengsen didn’t mind. He had probably noticed it long ago. “Zhen Xin already came. Are we going to make him do it again? Make a note of this scene. Wait until…”

As he was speaking, a person came from the opposite end of the corridor, looking at them with swollen red eyes. It was Xie Danyi. She had been waiting the whole time. Clearly she had been crying. At this moment she was searching among them with a tragic gaze. Very quickly, she revealed a shocked expression. “The two of them… they haven’t come out?