“I know,” Lu Yi uttered in a flat tone while placing his laptop back on the desk.
“You know?” Luo Lin could hear her voice turning slightly squeaky, nearly on the edge of discordance. She lowered her tone immediately, “You know? How on earth would you know?” Who can tell whether Yan Huan was lying or not just by looking at her? Let’s not forget that she was the best actress, the best actress indeed! Her well polished acting skills had literally attained the pinnacle of perfection. It was nearly impossible for Luo Lin to find out that Yan Huan was lying if she was not the person involved. Yan Huan’s expression was way too genuine and she had an honest and trustworthy persona, so much so that lying seemed to be something that she would never do. The truth was, she lied. Yeah, she was a liar, a big fat liar.
Lu Yi crossed his arms over his chest.
“Yeah, I knew it all along.” There was a sudden lift at the corners of his mouth. “Only vegetables are delicious for my wife, there’s no such thing as delicious meat.”
That was why when Yan Huan mentioned that the meat tasted great, he knew that she was lying.
As for the reason why he did not expose her lies, he decided to let her be as long as she was happy. She could do anything she wanted. Look, this little liar had fallen asleep after telling a lie.
“You guys are really…” Luo Lin sighed as she hung up the phone. She opened the door and entered the room. Her eyes fell on Yan Huan, who was still sleeping despite being only partially covered with her blanket. She had no choice but to go over and tuck her in under the blanket.
Now she finally understood why Yi Ling was so protective of Yan Huan that she had resembled a mother hen. It was all because of Yan Huan’s little chick behavior. Hens were meant to protect their chicks, weren’t they?
Yan Huan woke up early the next morning and rubbed her eyes. Her hands searched through the entire blanket before she managed to find her phone. She glanced over the screen, noting that it was six o’clock in the morning.
She sat up and got dressed with her eyes half closed. The reluctance to wake up was dragging her down, but she was determined to triumph over it. Like it or not, she would not let herself indulge in laziness anymore. She strapped on a pair of light sneakers after getting dressed and started her jog on the pavement outside in the compound. A couple of rounds was adequate for her to feel refreshed. As time passed, people started to join her.
“Morning!” Yan Huan greeted them with a smile. This was their film crew’s morning routine, initiated by Yan Huan, who had feared that she might gain weight from continuously eating without any workout. That had led to her kissing her bed goodbye an hour earlier every morning to jog, and more and more people started to join her, strengthening the jogging gang. It was no doubt that a brief workout in the morning was a useful mind booster. Its effects on improving sleeping quality was remarkable as well, and that resulted in better quality of film production.
Yan Huan calculated her time. She still had a few days of filming to go before completing all her scenes for this television production. After that was time for the leading actress to be in the limelight, featuring the romantic entanglements between the leading actress, leading actor, and the two supporting actors. As for her role as the queen, it was none of her business anymore. That would spare her some time to get some rest before dealing with the matters regarding the establishment of her company.
Thus, she would definitely give her best to these last scenes in order to conclude the empress’ arc gracefully.
The empress looked behind her. The granny who was following her could not stop her shoulders from shaking.
The weeping granny was wiping her tears, but the empress was smiling. However, there was something rather sorrowful in her smile. At this particular moment, she was no longer an empress after shedding her phoenix robe, but instead, an ordinary woman who had lost her husband’s love.
“Why are you crying, Granny?” The queen asked the granny. Yes, what was there to cry over? Being the empress herself, she had yet to cry. She did not cry. Look, she was smiling, was she not?
The granny continued wiping her tears, “I’m just feeling bad for you, my Empress. His Majesty and Your Highness have been married for years, but His Majesty is heartless enough to treat you like this. How could he? You are the empress, the benevolent empress of our Qing Dynasty, the matriarch of our nation, and the first wife of His Majesty.”
“What’s the point of being the empress and the first wife?” The queen was still wearing her smile, but all of a sudden her heart was as heavy as lead. She understood that it was time to let reality sink in. What’s the point? At the end of the day she was a nobody, not any better than a palace maid.
He loves her no more, no more.
“Let’s go, Granny.”
The queen turned away. Her petite figure was moving forward in a slow pace. She looked so fragile and feeble, yet her back was straight. There she went, leaving the palace that she had stayed in for years with dignity. From now on, she was no longer an empress, but a woman who was about to be swallowed by an endless loneliness, guarding an ancient temple and devoting herself to religion for the rest of her life.
Now only did she realize that nothing in the palace was important. Things such as status and power were nothing more than superficial elements. If you had the king’s heart, then you would have everything. If you lost him, then you would lose everything. It made no difference whether she was the empress or not, and she was a living example of it.
The leaves scattered on the ground were blown away in the breeze. The sight of her back was so old and weary at this moment, but her straight figure never wavered as she departed, along with her proud head that would never bow down to anyone.
That was because she was not any regular peasant. She was the empress, the empress of the entire Qing Dynasty who was worshipped by all her people.
The camera panned out until the vision of her silhouette gradually faded out. Thus ended the yet to be legendary but interesting life of the empress.
This was also Yan Huan’s last scene of filming here.
“I look forward to working together again,” Yan Hua held his hands out, deeply satisfied with Yan Huan’s performance.
“Same,” Yan Huan reached out and shook hands with Yan Hua. They would have the chance to cooperate again for sure, but that would be in the future. She would not be filming anything else for now since she expected herself to be rather occupied for a period of time.
When Yan Huan left, she did not bid everyone farewell as she disliked parting. Furthermore, they had thrown her a farewell party the day before yesterday. That was more than enough and they would definitely meet again in the future. They had plenty of opportunities to meet again.
Anyhow, the shooting process went on even after she left. Everything went on as usual, and in fact somebody was pleased that she was gone. Who was that? Of course it was Su Muran. Now that Yan Huan had left, she would be the queen on the set. The halo of the leading actress had always been hers, even more so now that Yan Huan was not there to rob her of her limelight.
Yan Huan was very excited for the release of this film. She wondered whether her acting skill as the empress would overshadow Su Muran’s leading actress halo or vice versa.
“Are you not going to let your man know?” Once again Luo Lin pinched her excess body fat, considering the possibility for her fat to diminish upon several times of pinching.
“It’s better to give him a surprise, isn’t it?” Yan Huan had her sunglasses on and a luggage case in her hand. They had came back without informing anyone. She turned around and saw Luo Lin putting her hand on her waist.
