Chapter Forty-Four

  "Stop arguing, Teacher Jiang. You've been shouting since morning and aren't you tired?" Fang Yu put away his phone, stopped scrolling through Weibo, patted his butt, stood up, and with a very leader-like demeanor, he shrunk his neck and waved at some fans who were not far away, smiling and slightly raising his voice, "Don't take pictures anymore, don't take pictures - our family's star hasn't risen yet, it's shy, it's shy."

  The words of Fang Yu caused the fans and staff to burst into laughter, while Jiang Chuan rubbed his ears, muttered a sentence in German that no one understood, and then turned back to reading the script with a straight face, as if the flash had not been directed at him...

  At this time, even Yuan Jin Yan, who was squatting on his shoulder, couldn't help but admire his calmness. Usually, if someone is suddenly photographed like this, even a big star like Yuan Jin Yan, who is used to being in front of the camera, would get nervous - for example, would they look oily and made-up under the flash? Or would their makeup be too thick? Or would they have a bad angle that makes them look ugly? Double chin? Or accidentally expose their acne?

  After all, in this world, apart from various beauty cameras, shop cameras, SLRs and other cameras, there is another kind of camera that defies the heavens, called: the camera in the hands of fans.

  How many black histories were born in this kind of camera, and how many stars fell from the sky with a single misstep, countless.

  He carefully lifted his hind legs and scratched his face with his paws, feeling grateful that he was now a hamster. Even if his face was covered in scars and he looked like a meatball, it didn't matter as long as no one could guess that this hamster was Yuan Jinran - because the real Yuan Jinran was lying beautifully in the hospital bed, a handsome young man in a vegetative state.

  Just as he was about to start his third take and thinking about whether to go for a few more rolls in the sand after going back, there was a sudden notification from the crew that Jiang Chuan was ready - it turned out that Wang Mo had quickly grasped the trick of "transforming from a bandit to a monster" with just a few words of guidance from Director Jiang Luo during the previous take, and after re-shooting, he successfully passed the scene of "樵生 buying clothes" in one go. It wasn't even lunchtime yet, but the progress bar had already reached 80%. Next up was the last shot of the day as originally planned.

  About the encounter between Hamster Pico and the female lead who got a part-time job early on.

  Generally, the rich family's daughter is called "Su Su", and "Su Su" will call Qiao Sheng's name "Nian Ran". In the following script, the rich family girl's full name rarely appears, but is directly referred to as "Su Su", while Qiao Sheng has various names such as "Dead Waste", "Qiao Sheng", "Nian Ran" and so on. The Taoist priest Huajin calls out according to different situations - so, from the script, it can be seen that not every screenwriter is like what they say "loving every character under their pen". At least from this play, the female lead's name "_Mingguo Yihuanlu" has very few strokes. This role is warm and gentle, with few words, soft and weak, a standard rich family girl, basically just changing clothes from Xu Qianqian's previous roles.

  Xu Qianqian is acting very smoothly.

  In the play, the kind-hearted Su Su promised to buy a set of clothes for her loyal little maid Ke Xin's birthday. The two went out shopping happily, but accidentally stumbled upon a strange-looking yet handsome young man being caught by a clothing store owner who shouted "thief". Su Su stepped forward to resolve the situation and paid for the clothes on behalf of the young man. Unexpectedly, this was the first meeting between Su Su and the young man, and they hit it off immediately. They agreed to go have afternoon tea together, leaving Ke Xin behind at the store to try on clothes.

  Apart from the initial lack of chemistry between them, after two takes, they quickly found their rhythm and finished filming this first encounter scene. According to usual practice and theory, the male and female leads' first meeting is also one of the most important scenes, but judging from the atmosphere on set and Jiang Luocheng's performance, it seemed like no one thought so.

  Watching Xu Qianqian and Wang Mo finish their lines, Jiang Luocheng shouted "cut", everyone breathed a sigh of relief and started packing up. Staff A looked foolish, using his elbow to nudge staff B: "Is that it?"

  "Can't it just be over? Wang Mo and Xu Qianqian are both experienced actors, do they still want to rehearse thousands of times?" Staff B shrugged.

  Staff A scratched his head: "Although it's true what you said, but the male and female leads meeting for the first time - such an important scene shouldn't be over so quickly, right?"

  Staff B smiled and said, "That's because the real highlight is on the wedding night when Mu Sheng and Huai Jin meet for the first time... That's the first encounter between the male and female leads - if you have a chance to see the script, you'll know what I mean. It's like the sky is falling apart, the sea is drying up, and the rocks are shattering. Just from the words in the script, I can already see the electricity flashing behind them."

  Staff A fell silent for a moment: “... Jiang Luocheng's writing isn't bad?”

  Staff B laughed: "It's great, full of emotions - I don't know if he was writing a script for himself or bringing himself into some role."

  Above.

  Two people were discussing, Wang Mo and Xu Qianqian had already finished their work smoothly - the original plan for today was completed at around 11:30, when the director's assistant announced that everyone would disperse on the spot, prepare lunch, and then take a one-and-a-half-hour break in the afternoon.

  When the message came out, Ronnie's script fell to the ground with a "slap", and Jiang Chuan was also stunned when he heard the notice. He originally thought that Jiang Luocheng would seize the opportunity to take another shot, but... Having food to eat made him quite happy, after all, during the New Year's days, he had been eating instant noodles at home every day and almost forgot what meat looked like.

  Jiang Chuan and Ronnie were apologized by Xiao Pao's little cannon.

  Loni didn't know if it was because of excessive tension or what, but when she said "it's okay", her face stiffened a bit.

  Jiang Chuan stretched his neck and asked directly: "Where's the lunch box? Is there meat?"

  Then, under the expression of the drama staff's utter speechlessness and the agent's disdainful disappointment, Jiang Chuan smoothly took over the lunchbox from his own hardworking little assistant, opened it, and was satisfied to see the braised pork inside. He clumsily picked up his chopsticks and began eating silently.

  Fang Yu: "Can't you be a bit more tense?"

  Jiang Chuan: "What's there to be nervous about?"

  Fang Yu: "This afternoon, you have a long string of lines to recite - I'm telling you, don't think that just because you dropped the Wu Xia in the morning, it's impressive. The real test is this afternoon with so many lines. If you make a mistake..."

  "Can skipping meals really prevent trouble?"

  "Huh?"

  "That's it."

  Jiang Chuan lowered his head and continued eating.

  As Fang Yu said, according to the plan, the first shot of the afternoon was Jiang Chuan and Luoni's opponent scene. The plot is about Huai Jin chasing along the demon energy all the way to "Xu Ji Chengyi Shop", who knew that at that time Qiao Sheng had already bought clothes and met Mei Jia Ren, the two left hand in hand, and Huai Jin, who was empty-handed, was completely unaware of it. Regardless of the boss's obstruction, he rushed straight to the dressing room where the demon energy was most abundant, and pushed open the door with one push.

  Behind the door is Su Su's maid Ke Xin.

  As a result, he was at odds with Hua Jin and Ke Xin, both of whom were upright and honest, and was relegated to the ranks of "rascals".

  Jiang Chuan: "I've been wanting to ask for a long time, what is yaoqi?"

  Fang Yu: "So it's like this..."

  Jiang Chuan: "When I was in college, I had a roommate who would always leave a strange smell in the bathroom after showering..."

  "...that's called body odor."

  "Evil spirit."

  "Fox smell."

  "Yao energy."

  Fang Yu: "Go ask Jiang Luocheng about it, just ask him 'Is Huai Jin able to chase after Qiao Sheng because it has a strong body odor?' - Try it and see if Jiang Luocheng will beat you to death. If you come back alive, I'll admit that demonic aura is equal to body odor."

  "Let's just eat instead."

  He turned his head away, and squatted down to eat his lunch... At this time, due to the smooth progress of the morning's shooting work, the entire crew was filled with a relaxed and happy atmosphere. Jiang Luocheng held a lunch box, just like the other staff members, eating while speaking in a low voice to the director beside him. The director was eating a lovingly prepared lunch sent by his loved one, and he sat up straight, savoring each bite of rice and sip of tea as he chatted with Jiang Luocheng about the play, looking quite comfortable.

  The only one who didn't fit in with the atmosphere was Loni, a little girl who had been tense all morning. She just received news that her play had been postponed to the afternoon and she didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved. The conflicting emotions finally turned into anxiety, and while everyone else happily ate their free lunchboxes, she sat aside and only drank a few sips of water. Her small face was pale, and some people couldn't bear to watch her and asked her to eat a bit more. She shook her head and said: "I'm afraid that if I eat too much, my brain will become dull and I won't be able to remember the lines."

  Fang Yu listened to this statement, which was completely opposite of Jiang Chuan's "can't eat rice without getting into trouble", and bluntly spat the rice in his mouth back into the rice box. Jiang Chuan looked at him with disdain and moved aside, while jumping out a piece of plain white rice that hadn't been stained with oil into the mouse's mouth on his lap - the mouse was also very cooperative, opening its mouth to eat whatever it was given, and was so touched by the taste of the rice entering its mouth that it almost cried: it had never known that plain white rice without any dishes could be so fragrant. At this moment, he had an unprecedented sense of solidity, as if he had really been a human being, and he spun around in circles, as if freely flying in the fragrant steam of the white rice.

  Then, he drank some fresh juice from Jiang Chuan's paper cup. When Jiang Chuan rolled over to read the script, the hamster, who had eaten and drunk his fill, slowly crawled into his owner's warm down jacket, where he could hear the strong heartbeat of the man beneath the thin costume. He let out a contented belch, suppressing the feeling of fullness that threatened to overflow, adjusted his sleeping position, and drifted off to sleep accompanied by Jiang Chuan's low, resonant voice as he recited his lines.

  …………………

  I didn't know how long I had slept.

  Anyway, he just knew he had a dream, dreaming that he suddenly woke up from the hospital and got out of his vegetative state - Big mouth Fang Yu hugged his own legs and begged for forgiveness, kneeling down to apologize, asking him not to take back the villa and sports car; Jiang Luo Cheng knelt by the bed, crying and begging for forgiveness, offering a sky-high price of 10 million yuan for him to continue playing the role of Qiao Sheng. Of course, he refused, and Jiang Luo Cheng cried out loud in anxiety. Just then, Jiang Chuan pushed open the door from outside the ward and walked in, remaining silent for a moment before saying: "Just agree, I also want you to act, I just want to take advantage of our interaction in the play to hug you."

  He sat up straight in bed, his face suddenly flushed, thinking to himself "this Tom Suey-like plot development must be a dream", then... he heard the unusually three-dimensional voice of his agent rising from a distance of just a few inches from his ear -

  "Is that fat mouse dead yet? If it's not dead, give it to me, I'm ready to start filming."

  The dream is over.

  Jian Ran: "......"

  The hamster in the master's arms opened its eyes and found that everything around it was indeed still at a "rat's perspective", with the especially sinister face of Fang Dajing, the manager, approaching, while separating him from his beloved owner, saying: "Still holding it in your arms, aren't you afraid of getting the plague... This little fat hamster eats so much, are you afraid it will get cold?"

  Mr. Jiang was ridiculed by his agent, put away the script and stood up to take off his down jacket, just about to walk towards Jiang Luocheng to see if he had any suggestions, when suddenly a small hand stretched out from behind him and grabbed his sleeve - The man was slightly stunned, frowned and turned around, only to find that it was the little girl who delivered face masks to him yesterday, now looking at him with a pitiful expression.

  Jiang Chuan: "What's going on?"

  "Brother Chuan, this is my first time acting in a play. In the past, I only acted in school plays," Ronnie said softly, "If I don't do well and drag you down, don't blame me - I'll try my best too."

  Jiang Chuan thought to himself: Although you're a newcomer, aren't you a proper graduate of a drama academy?

  No acting skills at all, how did you pass the interview?

  After some thought, he suddenly remembered that there was a type of person who would say "the exam is so hard, I don't know anything at all, I just filled in the multiple-choice questions" and then scored first in the class. So, he casually put the girl in front of him into this strange category, not knowing how to react, but subtly taking his sleeve back from her hand, nodding and saying woodenly: "It's okay, as long as you're happy."

  He didn't know where the comforting effect of this sentence came from, anyway. After hearing this sentence, Loni looked particularly happy and gave him a dazzling smile.

  Jiang Chuan: "What's going on?"

  Loni: "Thank you!"

  The little girl jumped up and gave the man a big hug, then turned around and ran away with a hop and a skip... Jiang Chuan stood in place watching her back for a while, then turned around to see his agent, Mr. Fang, staring at him with a blank expression and rolling his eyes, as well as his hamster, Ah Fei, sitting on his palm, also staring at him with a blank expression (probably).

  Jiang Chuan raised his hand, scratched his head through the wig that reached down to his waist, and then, amidst the stylist's loud cries of "stop right there", he withdrew his hand and walked in the direction where Jiang Luo Cheng was - at this time, Jiang Luo Cheng was already rehearsing lines with Luo Ni, and upon seeing Jiang Chuan approach, he beckoned him over and simply had the two of them rehearse together.

  At around 2 pm today, the sixth shot was officially started.

  ……

  A young man wearing a Taoist robe, with an ancient-style sword on his back, runs into the frame - roughly because of the previous run, his black hair hanging down behind him looks a bit disheveled. Among the crowd coming and going, the man's height is also particularly eye-catching, but at this time he doesn't care about the strange gaze of the people around him, looking around as if searching for something.

  His thin lips were pressed into a straight line, revealing his anxious emotions at this moment.

  Finally, when he swept his gaze over a clothing store called "Xu's Ready-to-Wear Store", his eyes slightly condensed and then walked in without hesitation - as soon as he arrived at the storefront, the owner of the ready-to-wear store had already come up to greet him, rubbing his hands and smiling: "Hello sir, do you need some clothes? I'm not bragging, but my old Xu's clothes are the best on this street. Even those foreigners back then would specifically ask me to make them myself... You look like a rich young master with taste, do you need clothes for a ball or something?"

  The owner of the clothing store had a smile on his face as bright as a blooming chrysanthemum, muttering to himself, but Hua Jin seemed to be completely ignoring him, stretching out his hand and directly pulling down the long sword from his back. As the owner was startled into raising his hands in surrender, he pushed aside the person blocking his way without even looking at him and strode towards the fitting room behind him.

  At this time, the boss seemed to have come back to his senses, shouting and shouting "Oh oh" twice: "Guest, you can't go in, there is still a lady inside at this moment——"

  Before the boss finished speaking, Huai Jin had already kicked open the door with a loud "thud". At the same time, behind the door, Ke Xin, who was in the middle of putting on a garment with one shoulder exposed, suddenly shuddered and turned around to see a tall figure standing outside the door with an expressionless face, holding a sharp sword pointed at her. She was so frightened that she lost her composure and let out a shrill scream!

  Huajin: "......"

  Ke Xin: "......"

  The two men stared at each other for seven or eight seconds before the man with the long sword turned his head and said, "Forgot my lines."

  Everyone: "......"

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on, hold on! Looney, your scream just now was too exaggerated and too excited. What are you so excited about? If you guys don't forget the lyrics, I'm ready to call a halt."

  Loni poked out the tip of her tongue, and in that second when she made eye contact with Jiang Chuan, her whole body turned bright red, her heart racing. She couldn't remember any lines, it was as if her scalp had exploded and her pores were wide open, and that sharp cry came out naturally without needing to be faked - of course, this cry wasn't the "frightened" cry required by the script either.

  "Alright, think of your lines, have you thought of them? If not, we won't wait any longer. All positions, prepare - three - two!"

  The man in the Taoist robe stretched out his hand, pushed away the boss who was boasting about how great he was, and with a "swish" sound, pulled out the sword behind him. Amidst the gasps of amazement from the clothes shop owner and the urgent voices trying to stop him, he strode swiftly towards the fitting room again, and once more kicked open the door with one foot.

  The girl in the doorway turned around, stared at him and shrieked.

  Jiang Luocheng: "Ka!"

  The director sitting behind the monitor glanced at the screen in front of him and said without lifting his head, "The scream is too fast, pause for two seconds after the close-up, this time the voice isn't so exaggerated but still has a strange flavor. And you, Jiang Chuan, give some expression, are you paralyzed?"

  "Oh, no paralysis."

  "Cut!" The director behind the monitor raised his head with a look of collapse, "What the f**k are you doing? We've already started filming and you're still saying 'oh' to me?"

  Jiang Chuan: "...... You didn't call 321 either."

  The staff behind the scenes burst into laughter, especially the assistant girl who laughed so hard she was shaking. Jiang Luocheng was almost driven mad with rage, and he glared at the little girl fiercely before waving his hand and retreating back behind the monitor: "All positions ready... three... two..."

  The man kicked open the door with his foot.

  The girl in the dressing room turned around and screamed.

  Just as Jiang Chuan moved his lips to say the line "yao qi", the door prop suddenly collapsed with a loud crash.

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  Loni: “......”

  The scene fell silent for five seconds, and when Jiang Luocheng's face turned iron-green and slammed the script to the ground with a "bang", the outside erupted in a burst of maniacal laughter - as the scene was filled with various sounds of "hahaha" "hehehe" "kekkek" "hehehe", even the hamster squatting on the agent's lap couldn't help but laugh until its whole body shook: it used to be that when filming, it didn't know what was going on, but now as a pure bystander watching from the sidelines, these various absurd NG reasons were really entertaining.

  Especially when the director's face was darker than anything, the logistics brother who was in charge of the follow-up still had to bravely use the camera to take close-ups, preparing for post-production - looking at Jiang Luocheng pushing away the camera and yelling "what are you taking pictures of" then again yelling at the staff to hurry up and change doors, after finishing, he scolded Jiang Chuan non-stop "is it sick to kick the door with such force", so busy, yet still with a face that looked like it was about to explode from anger, Jian Ran felt particularly relieved.

  Those who scolded me when I filmed "The Sound of Years" have been avenged.

  Under the harmonious (and not) atmosphere, the prop group held back their laughter and replaced the door with a new one. Everyone took another break to calm down the director's anger, and the photographers at each position returned to their cameras. The producer teacher started drinking health tea, while Jiang Luocheng gave a ruthless warning to Jiang Chuan and Luo Ni, and then resumed filming.

  This time, everything went smoothly and Jiang Chuan finished his lines. Loni's expressions and movements barely passed muster. As the scene entered the formal confrontation between the two, Xin Yue grasped Huajin's collar and said: "Which eye of yours saw me as a demon? Your mouth looks pretty good, but why is it so bad?"

  Huajin: "There is a strong yin energy in the dressing room."

  Ke Xin, a big girl, was told that she had a "strong smell", and at this moment, she didn't know whether it was anger or shyness that made her face flush red. She raised her white wrist and put it under Hua Jin's nose: "What strong smell! You smell it, you smell it, where does the smell come from on my body——"

  Huajin: "......"

  The Taoist retreated three steps in succession.

  "Ka! Ka ka ka! Ka ka ka! --- Jiang Chuan, didn't you say your face would turn red?! " Jiāng Luòchéng's voice rose in exasperation, "What's with this shocked expression of yours - blush! Do you understand?!"

  Loni blushed and withdrew her hand, turning her head to glance at Jiang Chuan with the corner of her eye, jokingly saying: "Could it be that I really have a scent on me?"

  Jiang Chuan shook his head.

  Jiang Luocheng's temples bulged with rage: "Come on, Jiang Chuan, no matter what you think next, just make me see some red on your face!"

  Jiang Chuan let out a soft "oh" and furrowed his brow, looking rather troubled. However, with everyone watching, he couldn't very well say that he didn't know how to blush, so he had no choice but to continue acting. This time, when Loni, who was standing in front of him, followed the script and tiptoed up to grab his collar, bringing her hand close to his nose and saying "What a strong smell! You take a sniff, you take a sniff, where's this smell coming from on me?"

  As he was being shaken, Jiang Chuan suddenly saw a hamster lying across the agent's hand... Jiang Chuan was slightly stunned, and the hamster's enchanting posture inadvertently evoked his brief memories.

  That day.

  Jiang Chuan had just arrived at the film and television company that needed to audition, not long after, there was no one around him, it seemed like no one dared to come up and talk to him proactively, even the staff who led the way hastily pointed out a direction and fled in a hurry... He could only follow the other party's directions, and randomly found a dressing room among many, pushed open the door, and there was no one inside.

  Fortunately, he successfully found what was probably a costume for acting.

  In the dressing room, he was quietly changing clothes, who knew that someone suddenly came in behind him - the comer probably didn't see himself, walked into the house and went to the sofa, raised his legs and started shaking them, while shaking, he also held a white script book and began to recite lines.

  That person played two roles by himself, reciting the part where Qiao Sheng and Huai Jin were on the cliff, not only reciting but also vividly portraying the scene.

  He recited the lines with great emotional depth, and then couldn't help but mock the script, saying that it was ridiculous for the Taoist to tell a story to the mouse spirit at this time. He said something like: "You're about to die, hurry up and distribute your inheritance, what's the point of telling stories? As the last Taoist after the founding of the country, you must have some magical tools on you, if you don't use them, then hurry up and tell your concubine how to use them with your last breath, so that she can reach the peak of her life as a mouse..."

  Jiang Chuan found it interesting at the time, so he went forward and recited the lines he had memorized - it was the story about the Dragon King that Huai Jin wanted to tell Qiao Sheng.

  He also remembered that after he finished speaking, the young man with black hair who had just discovered that there were other people in the dressing room suddenly sat up from the sofa, his hair slightly disheveled, staring at him with a shocked expression.

  In the light of the dressing room, the two seemed to stare at each other in silence for a few seconds... Jiang Chuan still remembered those black pupils that appeared even more crystal clear under the light.

  Jiang Chuan: “......”

  For a moment, an unusual emotion flashed in the beautiful eyes, and the man subconsciously raised his hand to press against his lips, awkwardly retreating three steps, at the same time, he felt his cheeks warming up.

  Haven't even had time to react and figure out what's going on.

  He then heard Jiang Luocheng's contented voice rising from behind him——

  "Wow! That's great, just like that - look at you, Jiang Chuan, aren't you blushing with success? What did I say couldn't be done... Ai represents the curiosity of the masses and asks, what were you thinking about earlier to blush so beautifully?"