Chapter 449: Chapter 447: Filming Farewell My Concubine

After the concert, filming for *Farewell My Concubine* officially began.

Jiang Qin spent nearly every day on set.

Watching the child actor being beaten on camera, many of the crew members couldn’t bear to look.

Even though they knew it wasn’t real, the child actors’ expressions were so realistic it was heartbreaking, especially the one playing Xiao Douzi.

Some of the more sensitive ones started tearing up immediately.

Cang Hong and Yuan Ling had accompanied Jiang Qin to the set today. Cang Hong’s eyes reddened, but Yuan Ling remained as quiet and impassive as ever.

Perhaps it was because he was more rational, or maybe he had witnessed far crueler sights in his past, so he thought this was nothing. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Cang Hong was different. He’d had a very smooth life. Growing up, he never wanted for anything, and just when he needed to think about his future career, he met his agent.

From then on, his agent arranged everything for him. All he had to do was cooperate occasionally and mostly just do as he pleased.

Best of all, just when it was time to think about settling down, he happened to meet Jiang Qin and they successfully married.

As a result, he had never experienced many setbacks, so it was only natural that he was a bit soft-hearted.

...

The scene being filmed today was the one where Xiao Douzi and Lai Zi run away from the opera troupe, only to return.

The actor playing the troupe master was viciously striking the child actor playing Xiao Douzi, one blow after another.

With tears in his eyes and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, the young actor bit his lip tightly and didn’t make a sound.

Nearby, the child actor playing Lai Zi was performing his part of the scene.

He ate the last of the candied hawthorn in his hand and hanged himself.

"Cut! Good take."

At the sound of Mrs. Yin’s voice, the actors immediately relaxed, their faces returning to their usual, more at-ease expressions.

The child actor playing Lai Zi rushed over to Jiang Qin and exclaimed cheerfully, "Sister Jiang, the candied hawthorn is so yummy! I’ve never eaten anything so delicious!

No wonder Lai Zi likes candied hawthorn. I love it too!"

"Is it really that good?" the other child actors asked, swallowing hard.

"So good. Sweet and sour..." The young actor licked his lips, savoring the memory.

This made the others even more curious and ravenous, but unfortunately, that skewer of candied hawthorn was a prop, so they didn’t get to try any.

They were also too shy to ask Jiang Qin for any, because the prop had been homemade by her partners. You couldn’t buy it in stores.

But the next moment, they saw Jiang Qin pull a large food container from her Space Button. When she opened it, it was filled to the brim with candied fruit skewers.

"Come on, everyone," she announced. "One for each of you. There’s enough for everybody. Come and see for yourselves what makes the candied hawthorn in the film so special."

"Really??"

"Whoa, this is amazing! Thank you, Sister Jiang!"

"Thank you, Sister Jiang, and thanks to your partners, too!"

The sweet-talking child actors played a troupe of miserable children in the film, but off-screen, every one of them was a cheerful, adorable kid.

Once they got a taste of the treats, they all exclaimed one after another, "Wow, this is really delicious!"

"Sniff... I wish I could eat these until I’m stuffed!"

"It’s sweet and sour, so good."

"It’s so delicious! I’m going to save two to bring home for my mom to try."

"I’ll save some too, then..."

Each skewer had five pieces of fruit, so they all decided to save a few to take home for their families to try.

Maybe their dads or uncles would learn how to make them.

Then they’d have an endless supply of candied hawthorn to eat!

Even the adult cast and crew couldn’t resist such a delicious treat.

After all, such flavor combinations were rare in the Interstellar age, and most sweet-and-sour foods were notoriously awful.

But this particular blend of sweet and sour was something that even people who disliked sour flavors couldn’t resist.

...

After they finished their snacks and took a short break, the crew resumed filming.

The upcoming opera scenes were clearly more difficult to film than the everyday-life scenes, often requiring several retakes.

In particular, the child actor playing Xiao Douzi had to go through a scene where another boy, Xiao Shitou, injures his throat by stuffing something in his mouth. It was harrowing just to watch.

It was a scene filled with both sorrow and helplessness.

Jiang Qin worried that the film’s heavy themes might affect the child actors’ mental state, so she brought them small gifts every day.

Sometimes it was little cakes or pastries, other times it was children’s toys she’d bought.

The rest of the crew also took this issue very seriously, worried the children might be unable to separate themselves from their roles.

Fortunately, by the time the child actors had finished filming all their scenes, none of them seemed to be adversely affected.

Still, just to be safe, Jiang Qin gave the production a two-day break and treated the entire crew to a two-day trip to an amusement park.

She only resumed filming after making sure the young actors had a wonderful time and had mentally disconnected from their characters.

The rest of the shoot took another full month to complete.

The main reason was that they weren’t on a tight schedule, so she didn’t pressure the crew, allowing everyone to work at a comfortable, steady pace.

If they filmed a particularly draining scene, she would give the actors the next day off to relax and clear their heads before returning.

In any case, the filming wrapped up successfully, and it was time for post-production.

***

Seeing that Jiang Qin finally had some free time, Lan Yuyan placed an invitation for a variety show in front of her.

"Qinqin, this is from that music variety show last year. They know you’re interested and have been waiting for you to have a free slot in your schedule."

Jiang Qin looked it over.

Strictly speaking, the program was a variety show dedicated to discovering new singers.

Each of the five invited mentors was a composer.

The five mentors would each have to select three contestants from the pool of competing singers, compose songs for them, and guide them through the subsequent competition.

In addition to the title of "Top Mentor," the winning mentor would receive resources provided by the show’s production team, prize money, and other rewards.

The top three singers, meanwhile, would earn an A+ contract with Imperial Era Entertainment.

On top of that, there were resources like advertising endorsements and cash prizes: ten million Star Coins for first place, five million for second, and one million for third.

For someone from a Poverty Star, this kind of opportunity was nothing short of a ticket to a new life.

Most notably, contestants had to be citizens from third-class stars or lower.

That was why the show was called "The Lost Voices."

Their mission was to unearth the voices that had been lost among the ruins.

This was what interested Jiang Qin.

The show’s premise was similar in spirit to the singer sponsorship program she had been running for a long time.

That was why she wanted to participate—to discover these voices.

’But that doesn’t matter,’ she thought. ’If there are other promising ones, I can always contact them privately. That’s my real goal here, anyway.’

She had also learned beforehand that anyone from the Empire, the Federation, or the Myriad Races could sign up.

After registering, applicants would go through a round of online interviews and screenings on the Star Network.

For the contestants who made it to the final round, the production team would cover all their expenses to travel to the Empire for the recording and would arrange for them to be picked up.

This meant that even those from impoverished backgrounds wouldn’t have to worry about being unable to make it to the studio.