From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Half-dreaming, half-awake, like a dream, like an illusion.

Rachel was completely immersed in it, her heart pounding like a drum, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion, her head in the clouds, her legs beneath the sea, the whole world spinning due to severe oxygen deprivation, yet she could feel a pure happiness and elation, slowly descending in a cluster of colorful flowers.

Then.

Utter confusion.

Nose… …Nosebleed?

Why would a nosebleed appear here?

Rachel was in a daze, trying to refocus and capture the scene before her, finally managing to see the familiar eyes, only to have her thoughts interrupted, her brain clearly unable to keep up, frozen in place.

Involuntarily, a pause.

Her gaze wandered in the air, trying to dodge, to avoid the other person's eyes, but found there was nowhere to escape, and eventually collided with them again.

Her wildly beating heart dragged her down in a freefall, a burst of excitement, a burst of tension, only to be interrupted the next second by the noise from the walkie-talkie, the intertwined gazes abruptly pulled apart once more.

Only now did she finally remember one thing—

Breathing.

Originally, breathing had become an instinct; forgetting anything else was possible, but forgetting to breathe was not, yet she had never imagined that she had just forgotten about it.

Inhale. Exhale.

Repeat it again.

Inhale. Exhale.

Oxygen entered her lungs, and her brain finally began to function again, the ambiguous haze and the lingering heat slowly settling down.

Then.

Reason finally returned to her brain, and the whole sequence of events played back quickly in her mind like a revolving lantern.

A rush of blushing and heart palpitations.

Rachel finally realized what had happened, what she had done in front of the camera, which made her bite her lower lip, a low moan escaping from deep in her throat.

“Oh, God.”

Between bewilderment and confusion, she curled up her hands and feet, burying her face deep in her palms, her only thought being to dig a hole and bury herself.

This scene, as seen by Anson—

He was also somewhat dazed, unable to fully withdraw from the performance for a moment, but unlike other roles, this time his withdrawal was faster.

Because in the past two years, he had explored the edge between truth and illusion more than once, and the final conclusion was always the same:

This is reality, and he needs to firmly grasp, cherish, and fully enjoy this second life.

Like the spinning top in "Inception."

The difference is that "Inception" needs the spinning top to confirm its situation; but he doesn't need it, he is more convinced and more certain than ever before.

So, after a brief moment of daze, Anson let out a long breath, the throbbing and passion surging in his chest gradually subsided.

Then.

Anson noticed Rachel.

Thump. Thump.

His heart was still pounding wildly.

He looked up to survey his surroundings, but quickly realized they were in the bedroom, unable to see the situation outside, still completely in the dark.

His gaze returned to Rachel, hesitating for a moment.

“So, was the nosebleed what they were talking about outside just now?”

Rachel had her hands buried in her palms, and was taken aback by Anson's voice, cautiously raising her head, the two exchanging a glance.

Poof.

Unable to hold back, she burst out laughing.

Ha. Haha.

After laughing heartily, she paused for a moment, secretly glancing upwards, inadvertently crashing into Anson's eyes again, her laughter once again out of control, the two of them laughing so hard they were doubled over.

Clearly, they didn't know what had happened, clearly it wasn't that funny, but the laughter just wouldn't stop, they hadn't been so happy in a long time, the contrast and abruptness of the whole scene and situation filled everything with humor, there was just a kind of indescribable absurdity and humor.

Just then, Mackie entered the bedroom, “Sorry, there was a slight accident just now, Eric suddenly had a nosebleed, but it's under control now…”

Poof.

Anson and Rachel both burst out laughing again as if their funny bones had been tickled, clutching their stomachs and laughing uncontrollably, even though they didn't know what was going on, the fact that Eric had a nosebleed while filming a sex scene was inherently hilarious, and just as they had calmed down, they lost control again.

Mackie: ???

Completely bewildered, had he just told a joke? Why didn't he know? Should he say it, could he join them in laughing?

Anson and Rachel looked at Mackie's puzzled expression, laughing even more brightly, the two actors staggering and laughing until they had no strength left, which made Mackie very helpless:

What exactly is going on, tell him so he can laugh too.

With great difficulty, they finally managed to control themselves, Rachel laughing to the point of tears, silently wiping them away, anyone who didn't know would have thought Anson had hit her.

Anson's cheek muscles were also stiff, and he had to rub them.

“Sorry, Director, we were a little out of control just now.”

Mackie: Just "a little"? Are you sure?

“So, Director, how was the filming effect just now? Is there anything that needs to be improved?”

Anson's words finally pulled Mackie back on track, and he remembered the real business—

Mackie looked up at the sky, seriously recalling what he wanted to say.

In fact, Mackie was a little angry.

In this scene, Anson and Rachel secretly changed the script themselves, not only modifying the lines, but also some of the details and context were different, not unrecognizable, but it made people feel particularly uncomfortable.

Mackie and Eric spent seven years on this script, every detail was polished and thought out, every line was not written casually, not perfect but infinitely close to perfect.

And the result?

During the cooperation negotiations, Anson's first thing was to question the script; today, filming the first scene, Anson and Rachel took it upon themselves to change the lines again.

Mackie thought, he just asked the actors to perform word for word according to the script, was that so difficult?

Anger continued to burn in his chest. Although when sitting behind the monitor watching, his thoughts were completely drawn into it, involuntarily rising and falling with the atmosphere in the picture; but calming down, he couldn't help but feel depressed and lost.

Especially thinking of Eric's incompetence, as if he had never seen the world, he felt even more aggrieved.

No matter what, this was the script they had poured time and effort into creating, there had been countless romantic fantasies before the start of filming, but the first scene of filming deviated from their expected track.

This, is not good.

Mackie thought, he should let Anson know this.

However! But! Actually!

Mackie's mind was blank, he couldn't remember anything for a moment.

That is, just now he was interrupted by Anson and Rachel's laughter, logically speaking, he was already in a state of uncontrollable anger, followed by not getting enough respect, he should have been burning with anger; but strangely, Mackie wasn't.

Not only didn't he, but he also vaguely felt that it didn't seem to matter.

To be more precise, Mackie believed that everything in front of him seemed to be natural, seamless, this was the correct way to open it.

Wait, wait!

Mackie felt that something was a little wrong, was he being led into a ditch? Or was he leading himself into a ditch.

Mackie looked at Anson, frowning and glaring:

You are very wrong.