235: Chapter 235 The Queen's Sacrifice

"No!"

"Absolutely not!"

"I firmly object!"

In the meeting room of the Jinyuan Building.

Liu Jie slammed her palm onto the table. Usually calm and capable, she was so anxious now that her voice cracked.

She stared fiercely at Lin Qingxue sitting opposite her, then turned to glare at Su Zhe: "Su Zhe! Do you have any brains at all?

What kind of character is Liu Sihui?

A single mother who dances pole in a sleazy nightclub just to pay for her daughter's leukemia treatment!

And you want Lin Qingxue to play her?"

Liu Jie grabbed the script on the table, her hands trembling with anger: "What is Qingxue's status right now?

She is an Asian-level top diva!

She is the synonym for cold, pure, and otherworldly.

She is the face of over a dozen international luxury brands.

You want her to take off her coat in front of the camera, wear revealing clothes, and climb that pole?

Once this footage gets out, her commercial value will be cut in half instantly.

Those brands will sue us for astronomical breach-of-contract fees on the grounds of 'image damage.'"

Liu Jie's concerns were definitely not unfounded.

In this conservative and prejudiced entertainment industry.

A female star's image is her life.

Once associated with words like "nightclub" or "pole dancing," black fans and rival companies would definitely pounce like mad dogs and tear Lin Qingxue to shreds.

Facing Liu Jie's roar.

Su Zhe sat in the boss's chair, uncharacteristically not arguing back.

He remained silent, head lowered.

Spinning a signature pen in his hands.

Actually.

When Lin Qingxue took the initiative to find him last night and said she wanted to play the role of "Liu Sihui," his first reaction had been to refuse.

He wasn't afraid of losing endorsements, nor did he care about the breach-of-contract fees.

It was because his heart ached for her.

The character of Liu Sihui was too bitter.

It wasn't just psychological pain, but also physical torture.

Pole dancing looked sexy and hot.

But in reality, it was an extreme sport that defied human limits.

It relied entirely on the friction between skin and the cold steel pole to support the body's weight.

For a girl with delicate skin who had never practiced it before, training for that was practically torture.

"Wife..."

Su Zhe put down the pen and looked up at Lin Qingxue.

His eyes showed a trace of reluctance: "Liu Jie is right, this character's range is too big.

It won't just ruin your image, but... it will be very painful.

How about we find a special guest actor in the circle who has a dance foundation?"

Hearing Su Zhe also backing down.

Lin Qingxue, who had been sitting quietly in her chair, suddenly stood up.

She didn't look at Liu Jie.

Instead, she walked straight up to Su Zhe.

She planted her hands on the table. In those cold, usually calm eyes.

A flame of unprecedented, extreme stubbornness was burning.

"Su Zhe."

Lin Qingxue's voice wasn't loud, but every word was resonant: "Are you speaking to me now as a director, or as a boyfriend?"

Su Zhe was stunned.

Lin Qingxue didn't wait for his answer and continued: "If you are the director.

Tell me, in the entire entertainment industry, besides me, who else can perform the contrast of Liu Sihui—someone who has struggled in the dust but still retains the resilience and maternal love in her bones—without using a stunt double?

If you are my boyfriend."

Lin Qingxue's eyes were slightly red, but her tone was incomparably firm: "Then I have to act even more!

For this movie.

You can make yourself look disheveled and hunch your back to play a greasy, vulgar middle-aged man.

You can force Yin Hua to starve and lose weight, to work as a laborer in a slaughterhouse for a month, smelling of blood.

Why?"

Lin Qingxue's tears swirled in her eyes, but she stubbornly held them back: "Why are you all risking your lives, shedding a layer of skin for this movie.

While I have to be protected in a greenhouse like a vase that can only sing?

This movie is the studio's last stand.

I am not just an investor; I am a part of this team.

If you can play ugly, if Yin Hua can endure hunger, then I, Lin Qingxue...

can dance that damn pole dance!"

These words.

Were like a heavy bell tolling, slamming into the heart of everyone in the meeting room.

Liu Jie opened her mouth but lost her voice.

She looked at Lin Qingxue, who was radiating power like a female war god.

She suddenly realized.

This diva had never been a delicate canary.

She was a snow leopard that would bare its sharp fangs to protect what she cherished.

Su Zhe looked at Lin Qingxue in front of him.

Looking at the stubbornness in her eyes.

He knew he couldn't stop her.

Hoo...

Su Zhe exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

He stood up abruptly.

Pulled Lin Qingxue into his arms and hugged her tightly.

Then he turned to look at Liu Jie, his expression becoming incomparably cold and resolute: "Liu Jie, did you hear that?

The role of Liu Sihui is set!

As for those brands that are afraid of affecting their image..."

Su Zhe sneered: "Tell them, if they want to stay, stay; if not, get out!

After this movie is released, I will let them know what kind of actor is worthy of being called a true priceless treasure!"

...

After the role was decided.

Lin Qingxue immediately entered a state of extreme, crazy preparation.

To master this high-difficulty dance in a short time.

Su Zhe spent a fortune to hire a devil coach—Natasha—who had won the International Pole Dance Championship from Russia.

Beijing, a private dance studio.

Dynamic music echoed in the spacious room.

"Exert force, tighten your core.

Use the inside of your thighs to grip the pole; don't pull with your hands.

If your skin cannot generate enough friction with the pole, you will fall and break your neck."

Natasha held a pointer and scolded sternly in broken Chinese.

In front of a three-meter-high chrome pole.

Lin Qingxue was wearing minimal athletic shorts and a sports bra.

She gritted her teeth.

Attempting to climb and spin again and again.

The principle of pole dancing is to use the stickiness of human skin to cling to the smooth steel pole.

This requires extremely strong muscle control.

For a beginner, every slide of skin on the pole felt like being rubbed hard with sandpaper!

"Ah!"

Lin Qingxue tried to perform a "hook" move.

But because of insufficient leg strength and sweat reducing friction.

She slid down from a height of over a meter.

Her delicate inner thigh skin made a harsh "shhh" sound against the pole!

"Bang!"

She fell heavily onto the protective mat on the floor.

Intense pain instantly swept through her body.

"Hiss..."

Lin Qingxue gasped, curling up in pain.

Cold sweat instantly soaked her back.

Natasha walked over and looked at her expressionlessly: "Ms. Lin, your physical fitness is too poor.

And you are afraid of pain.

You are subconsciously resisting this friction.

If you cannot overcome this fear, you will never be able to dance with the enchanting vitality of Liu Sihui in the midst of desperation.

Do you want to rest?"

Lin Qingxue lay on the mat, panting heavily.

The sweat on her forehead dripped onto the mat.

Rest?

There was less than half a month left before filming started.

Su Zhe was disfiguring himself for the role, Yin Hua was suffering in the slaughterhouse, and Zhang Song was grinding away at the script in the basement.

How could she rest?

"No..."

Lin Qingxue bit her lip and tasted blood.

She braced her arms and forced herself up from the mat.

"Continue."

...

And so.

One day.

Two days.

Seven days.

Lin Qingxue canceled all her engagements and cut off all contact with the outside world.

Every day in this enclosed dance studio, she trained intensively for a full ten hours.

Except for eating and sleeping, she was almost grown onto that pole.

From frequent falls at the beginning.

To barely being able to hang on.

To being able to endure the severe pain and perform one spinning move after another full of power and wild beauty.

Her progress was rapid.

But behind this rapid progress was something traded for with countless blood and tears.

...

The tenth day.

Evening.

Su Zhe, having just finished a meeting at the film production site.

Brought some medicinal soup that Lin Qingxue loved to the dance studio.

The hallway was very quiet.

Su Zhe softened his footsteps.

He walked to the door of the No. 2 VIP studio.

He didn't knock.

Instead, he looked quietly through the long, narrow glass on the door.

In the room.

The music was playing a heavy metal dance track with an extremely strong rhythm.

Su Zhe's gaze was instantly locked onto the figure on the pole.

It was Lin Qingxue.

At this moment, she was hanging upside down by one leg on the pole more than two meters high.

Her hands stretched backward, her whole body presenting an extremely exaggerated, yet breathtakingly beautiful, back-arched shape.

Her long hair danced wildly in the air with the rotation.

Her eyes were hazy, wild, with a tension of being trapped in a quagmire but still wanting to grow wildly.

At this moment.

She was no longer that ice-pure diva.

She was that single mother—Liu Sihui—who could take off her disguise in front of any man and dance wildly in the night club to pay for her daughter's medical treatment!

"Good!"

Su Zhe couldn't help but exclaim in his heart.

This look!

This posture!

It brought the soul of the character to life.

However.

As Lin Qingxue slid down from the pole and landed steadily.

When Su Zhe's gaze fell on her two legs exposed to the air.

Su Zhe's pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks.

His heart.

Felt like it had been grabbed and brutally crushed by an invisible iron hand.

A feeling of indescribable suffocation and heartache instantly rushed to his head.

Seeing her legs, originally as white and flawless as snow, now covered with dense, shocking bruises of all sizes.

The inside of her thighs, the outside of her calves, her ankles...

Some places were dark purple, which was old bruising.

Some places were bright red, even broken skin, still oozing tiny beads of blood.

Bruised and purple.

It was a horrific sight.

It was as if she had just experienced inhuman torture.

"Hiss..."

Because of the high-difficulty spin just now, the wound was rubbed hard by the pole again.

The moment she landed, Lin Qingxue's legs went soft.

She knelt directly on the ground.

She clutched her thighs in pain, her shoulders trembling violently.

Tears mixed with sweat dripped onto the floor.

She cried.

It hurt!

It hurt so much!

The pain of flesh and skin being torn apart was destroying her sanity every moment.

"Ms. Lin."

The Russian coach, Natasha, walked over, frowning slightly: "Your training volume today has exceeded the limit.

Your leg muscles have already cramped. If you continue training, you will be left with permanent scars.

Let's stop the class for today."

Outside the door.

Su Zhe gripped the doorknob.

His knuckles turned pale from extreme force.

His eyes were red.

He subconsciously wanted to push the door open and rush in to hug the girl who was trembling with pain.

He wanted to tell her: stop training, we won't act, at worst I'll change the script.

But.

Just at the moment his hand was about to push the door open.

He stopped.

Inside the door.

Lin Qingxue took a deep breath.

She wiped the tears and sweat off her face with the back of her hand.

Gritting her teeth.

Leaning on the cold steel pole, tremblingly, she stood up again.

"Teacher Natasha."

Lin Qingxue's voice was hoarse, carrying a trace of unquestionable determination: "I'm fine.

The parabolic arc of that spin just now, I don't think it was smooth enough.

When Liu Sihui dances this, she is doing it to make money to save a life; her movements should be full of wildness and proficiency, not hesitant like I was just now."

She closed her eyes.

Adjusted her breathing.

When she opened them again, the fragility in her eyes had disappeared.

"Please play the music again, let's do it one more time!"

Looking at the girl covered in bruises, yet still stubbornly climbing onto the pole.

Su Zhe outside the door slowly loosened his grip on the doorknob.

He didn't go in to disturb her.

Because he understood.

This was the pride belonging to a true actor.

It was also a sacred nirvana she was experiencing on this battlefield called "art."

If he rushed in to stop her now, that would be the greatest desecration of all the pain and sacrifice she had endured over these ten days.

Su Zhe turned around.

Leaning his back against the cold wall.

He looked up at the incandescent light on the ceiling.

His eyes were burning.

His fists were clenched tightly.

His nails almost embedded into his flesh.

A substantial aura of ferocity and fanatical ambition surged and exploded in his chest!

Capital.

Theaters.

Rules.

In his heart, Su Zhe word by word made a blood-stained vow.

"Don't you want to blacklist me?

Don't you think movies are just toys for you to make money?

Good.

Very good."

He glanced at the girl spinning through gritted teeth inside the door glass.

He thought of Zhang Song in the basement, who had practiced his lines ten thousand times in front of the mirror.

He thought of Yin Hua in the slaughterhouse, enduring the stench and being ordered around like a dog.

"If this movie...

cannot poke a hole in this sky, if it cannot rub you capitalists into the ground and smash your theater chains to pieces, if it cannot make the whole country cry and cheer for it."

Su Zhe took a deep breath, his eyes like an abyss demon: "Then I, Su Zhe,

will have failed this group of...

movie fanatics who have bet their lives in my hands!"