Superstar Aspirations-Chapter 5
SA: Chapter 5 – Everyone loves Wanqi Yao.
Translator: Vian
Editor: Shem
Despite the difference in history, there were always some similarities.
While this Hengdian and the Hengdian in Movie and Television City that Rong Xu often went to film in his last life was indeed the same place, but after he really entered the city, Rong Xu couldn't help but be surprised at all the abundant and various filming facilities.
The more diverse the filming venues were, the more vast the film and television area. This Movie and Television City was much more prosperous than the one in Rong Xu's last life but it also made it more convenient with the filming for the crew.
This was Rong Xu's first time coming to this M&T City but for "Vie for Supremacy" crew, Tang Menglan and Dong Zheng had long been here for filming countless dramas before. Everyone quickly got used to the atmosphere of filming here and the progress quickly advanced by leaps and bounds.
Early in the morning, Rong Xu had already long got up, taking advantage of the still lightening sky to head over to the crew to start getting his makeup done.
Tang Menglan and Dong Zheng both have their own personal makeup artist, but Rong Xu did not have. He was shooting the first scene today so he had to get up early.
The makeup artist Xu jie lightly applied the foundation to the face gently, making the originally white and smooth skin shine even more when the makeup was done. It looked like a white porcelain, reflecting a brilliant gem-like luster with the little pores appearing almost invisible.
Rong Xu has very good skin with thick long slender eyelashes, but it doesn't mean that he didn’t need make-up.
In front of the high-resolution camera, everyone's shortcomings would be limitlessly amplified, causing most of their advantages to be ignored.
If you want to become an actor, unless you go through the hard road, you need to experience the hardships at every step. Otherwise, having a good appearance was essential. For example, the lens would make a person's face appear much larger, so most of the actors have rather small faces. Small palm size faces were not uncommon.
Half an hour later, the complicated makeup was finally done. At first glance, it would look like Rong Xu didn't have any makeup on but under the camera, his pair of phoenix eyes would appear more clear and reserved. So people could not help but focus on his eyes first. His face was also made to look more three-dimensional.
Xu jie lamented: "You've already came to Hengdian for six days but still didn't get any pimples. Xiao Xu, you have to take care of yourself ah. Filming is really hard recently and you often had to stay up late for overtime. You can't be like Ye Qiao, who ended up getting a pimple on his forehead."
Just as she said this, Ye Qiao already pushed open the door to the dressing room and hearing this, he could only helplessly laugh: "Xu jie, I also didn't want this."
Ye Qiao's manager quickly helped him sort out his costume then it was Ye Qiao's turn for makeup. At the side, Rong Xu's lip involuntarily hooked up in a hint of a smile when he saw Xu jie's and Ye Qiao's joking around.
When he was about to leave the dressing room, Ye Qiao shouted out to him: "Rong Xu, we have a scene together in the afternoon, you want to practice?"
Rong Xu lightly smiled and nodded: "Sure."
***
Once the sky completely lightened, the crew went to work and began filming the first scene.
This scene took place after Wanqi Yao was invited to leave Wang Qiu Pavilion by Xiao Xiang and finally gained Xiao family army's trust.
Xiao family army was Chu State's well-known iron-blood military army and a greenhorn youngster wanted them to bow down to him? That was absolutely impossible! When Wanqi Yao first came to the barracks, everyone treated him as air. Even after he deployed the missions, although everyone was forced to complete the order, they all had no whatsoever morale, always holding a listless look.
So Wanqi Yao arranged for a match. He made a wager with Xiao Xiang, only using Xiao Xiang's three thousand personal guards to defeat this group of thirty thousand troops that doesn't listen to orders. And the scene they had to film today was where after Xiao Xiang lost the wager and personally offered up the tiger tally.
Amidst the green hills and clear rivers, the young military adviser of peerless talent, dressed in a white changpao, indifferently and leisurely received that half of the tiger tally.
All of the soldiers in the Xiao family army felt shameful while a group of deputy generals continuously tried to persuade Xiao Xiang. Xiao Xiang kept silent, watching the tiger tally fell into Wanqi Yao's palm. That ink colored jade glistened brightly in the sunlight, the dark jade and white skin contrasted against each other when together, creating a kind of indescribable glaring that was unpleasant to the eyes.
How is it that just these soldiers felt shameful? Xiao Xiang felt it even more.
Her soldiers were unexpectedly left powerless to this extent and Wanqi Yao only used three thousand personal guards to thoroughly defeat them. This was Xiao Xiang's shame.
As if he heard the remorse in Xiao Xiang's heart, Wanqi Yao put away the tiger tally, softly calling: "General."
Tang Menglan subconsciously raised her head to look at Rong Xu and was suddenly stunned.
On the set, countless eyes were all focused on Tang Menglan and Rong Xu. The blast fan continuously blew onto the two people, imitating a strong gale whistling from the valley. Rong Xu slightly covered his eye, his silky black hair scattering due to the wind, his extremely elegant appearance made people involuntarily held their breath.
The gentle and elegant but convincing atmosphere slowly left. Everyone's heart stilled as they looked at this young man, all impulsive restless thoughts settling down.
Rong Xu's bright and clear limpid eyes flashed with a shallow radiance, just softly smiling. Everyone's heart all inexplicably produced this one thought: You just need to trust in him and there would be nothing that is impossible. He is a legend that is able to to change the whole world!
At this moment, Rong Xu's lip hooked up in a small smile, an illusory shadow overlapping on him.
The Wang Qiu Pavilion Master Wanqi Yao, the obtaining Wanqi meant obtaining the world Wanqi Yao, was currently right here!
Director Guo's gaze was tightly locked onto Rong Xu, his body straightened up, closely watching this scene. He saw the young boy clothed in white extend his right hand to lightly pull Tang Menglan's hand and in a gentle action, slowly putting the tiger tally in the center of her palm.
Seeing Tang Menglan seemed a bit dazed, Director Guo furrowed his brows but didn't call cut. This response was indeed correct, although he could see right through her and could tell that Tang Menglan seems to be stunned for whatever reason and wasn't acting, but at least it fits the script.
Rong Xu smiled: "The tiger tally ought to be in General's hands." Pausing for a bit, the young man's smile deepened by a few degrees, his voice penetrated the air, reverberating through the vast expanse of the forest: "But as for the heart of this thirty thousand troops……Wanqi Yao has received it."
The moment these words came out, Rong Xu's eyes moved like the glistening waves in the sunlight, seemingly to carelessly looked at the surrounding of thirty thousand troops. His expression was calm and composed, as if what he just handed over was not the tiger tally that could command a thousand army but instead was an extremely ordinary jade.
This one sentence let the thirty thousand troops fell into an absolute silence that neither a crow or sparrow could be heard.
You can receive the tiger tally, but can not receive the people's hearts.
The tiger tally might be in Wanqi Yao's hands, but the people's heart were not with him. They were still with Xiao Xiang; however, now that the tiger tally was returned to Xiao Xiang, he won over the people's hearts. The most formidable thing in the world is not the power you could hold in your hand but is the power you hold in the heart!
At this point, the scene was over.
Director Guo checked the scene that was shot and repeatedly nodded in satisfaction. He first shouted out to Rong Xu and praised him well but at the same time pointed out a flow: "Hold back a bit, that scene just now wasn't Wanqi Yao's main scenes. You're pulling out your best right now but what if it's the important scenes later on? If you can't perform even better than just now, then the gains really do not make up for the losses."
Performing too good could also be wrong?
Yes, performing too good could also be wrong.
There were some scenes in a script that could just be passed over with no need to bother with the details. However, some scenes were there to establish the whole plot of the story, play a role in plot development or express a character's disposition which were all important to attract the audience's attention.
For Director Guo, to remind Rong Xu like this means he already saw him as his people. Otherwise there was absolutely no need for him to do this because Wanqi Yao's interpretation wasn't remarkable enough to be eye-catching and his impact on the story also wasn't that big. After all, Rong Xu only appeared in a short, short twenty-five episodes, the remaining forty episodes have no relation to him whatsoever.
In this regard, Rong Xu humbly nodded in understanding: "Thank you, Director Guo."
Director Guo nodded, waiting till Rong Xu was about to go did he casually asked: "Can you continue to perform this well?"
Rong Xu stopped his steps, turning his head around to smiled back: "I will do my best."
Guo Long's face revealed a hint of a satisfied smile while assistant director Wang thoughtfully watched Rong Xu at the side.
This young man was not bad ah, there really too little people that can satisfy Director Guo this much. Talented and also has a high EQ, it seems like he was born to be an actor. It looks like he hasn't signed with any company yet?
Wang Zhao secretly calculated and turned around to give Luo Zhentao a call.
Waiting till Wang Zhao also left, Director Guo called Tang Menglan over. All at once, Director Guo's expression sank, nowhere was the friendliness he used to face Rong Xu.
Director Guo furrowed his brow and frowned: "Why did you suddenly make a mistake just now? Menglan, I worked with you twice before, you're not such a careless person. That scene now was passable, but this kind of thing cannot happen again, okay? It's hard to come by someone like Rong Xu who acted so well, if you were to NG, then you as a senior is really wronging this small time actor."
Tang Menglan could only reluctantly nod before Director Guo waved his hand to let her leave.
However, Tang Menglan's face immediately became down-casted the next moment as she depressingly watched Rong Xu's figure from behind.
How was this because she personally wanted to make a mistake? It was obviously because she was carelessly lead around the nose by Rong Xu!
Tang Menglan had never tried playing Xiao Xiang's type of character before, in "Vie for Supremacy", all of her emotional scenes were only related to the male lead but the script also laid out a bit of foreshadowing: Wanqi Yao also appeared to have his heart moved by her.
This kind of feeling naturally wasn't clear, if you say he had it then he had it, if you say he did not have it then he did not have it.
But how would the audience ever had imagined that while the plot implied that Wanqi Yao admires Xiao Xiang, when it comes to filming time, Tang Menglan would inexplicably feel that she was always lead around by the nose by Rong Xu!
These days after filming, Tang Menglan would lie in bed but couldn't fall asleep no matter want. The night before yesterday, she opened her phone and pulled up the script, looking at it for about an hour. The more she looked, the more she thought; why didn't Xiao Xiang fell in love with Wanqi Yao?
For Tang Menglan, as the closest person to Xiao Xiang, she and Dong Zheng as crown prince Xie Jingxian had already acted together in many scenes and had also many contacts with Ye Qiao acting as Dongli Lan. But no matter how many times these two men performed with her, the one who truly left a deep impression on her was nevertheless only Wanqi Yao.
Xie Jingxian was a person of great self-control and patience, Xiao Xiang was also a childhood sweetheart, the two had liked each other since childhood; Dongli Lan and Xiao Xiang were completely rivals with absolutely no emotional development. But why did Xiao Xiang choose Xie Jingxian and not Wanqi Yao?
Could it be just like how all the viewers said, the male lead was for the heroine to like, the second male lead—Wanqi Yao, was only one of the characters to have feeling for the heroine, which could be considered as an emotional development for the second male lead—was for outsiders like them to like?
The corner of Tang Menglan's mouth drew out in a line and headed towards Rong Xu's direction. When she found the other, she opened her mouth and said: "Don't worry Xiao Xu, you don't have to be too sad, I will choose you."
A confused Rong Xu: "……?"
***
When it was time for lunch, Rong Xu took the initiative to go find Ye Qiao for the practice session.
While Ye Qiao was only a second-tier actor right now, Rong Xu's status was currently still a junior, so he naturally could not really wait for Ye Qiao to take the initiative to find him. His kind of "getting close to" behavior also made Ye Qiao's heart feel very comfortable and the two quickly started the practice session.
Dong Zheng just finished eating when he saw Rong Xu and Ye Qiao practicing together.
Ye Qiao looks were rather handsome. However, he kind of have an evil feeling admitting from his bones which was the reason why he wasn't well received by the masses, no matter how many times he acted as a protagonist before. Most of the protagonists usually require a positive image. Ye Qiao's face recognition was very high nor was it so awe-inspiring righteousness so it naturally did not make people like it enough to remember him.
But Ye Qiao was really the right person for the role of Dongli Lan.
This role was nefarious, wantonly doing as he pleases without restraint, cruel and harsh, and had once killed ten thousand of Chu State's soldiers. Yet, this two were brothers that accompanied each other when growing up, this screenwriter's setting was truly quite interesting.
Dong Zheng silently watched Ye Qiao's and Rong Xu's practice. When his small assistant came out of the restroom after washing his hands and saw this scene, he strangely asked: "Dong ge, what's wrong? What are you looking at?"
Dong Zheng shook his head.
After a while, Dong Zheng raised his hand and pointed at Rong Xu, saying: "Do you think that both of them can create a stir?"
How such things like that be said in public! The small assistant looked around to both sides and said in a whisper after finding that there was no one near: "Rong Xu is very handsome, Director Guo also praises his acting so he should be able to. As for Ye Qiao……he already failed for so many years, I reckon that it would be quite hard for him."
Dong Zheng didn't respond when he heard this and after waiting a while again, he asked: "Which studio did the screenwriter for this come from?"
The small assistant confusedly answered: "It should be Qili Studio."
Dong Zheng suddenly realized: "If I remembered correctly, it really is Qili Studio. I think that Ye Qiao might make a break this time, after all, we're both from the same company. We should make a friend in advance instead of dealing with a rival. Don't you see that Tang Menglan is already always taking care of Rong Xu? I think she already has the idea to bring Rong Xu into their Huaxia Entertainment."
The small assistant offhandedly felt a bit stupid, not understanding why Dong Zheng suddenly thought about so many things. However, Dong Zheng ordered him to earnestly write it all down, only in the end, he couldn't help but ask a bit: "Dong ge, what does Ye Qiao making a break have to do with Qili Studio?"
Dong Zheng meaningfully looked at him and said: "What film did Qili Studio write last year that was a major hit?"
The small assistant still knew this little point: "Grand Solitary!" It was nominated in Venice as the best film too!"
Dong Zheng smiled: "Then you just watch, I say that Ye Qiao can follow Rong Xu to create a big stir together."
Finishing what he wanted to say, Dong Zheng first left as the small assistant hurriedly and diligently keeping up. But he kept bringing it up in a small voice: "In the end what's the relationship between them ah…. "Grand Solitary"? Rong Xu and Ye Qiao? Could it be that they have some strange relationship?"
So to say, why was it that Tang Menglan and Dong Zheng could become the new generation of popular artists while a small assistant could only be a small assistant?
To be able to become famous in the highly competitive Huaxia Entertainment, relying on your face and acting alone would definitely be not enough. A high EQ would be the most important thing.
"Grand Solitary" was a domestic movie that caused a big sensation last year and took China's box office title in August. It was a dark horse that no one expected. This movie made the two newbies who starred in it became famous in an instant. It was their first time filming and they were already bump up to be a second-tier actor with a huge fan base.
Yes, this movie was a same sex romance film.
___
The crew rested for a while till it was time to shoot the first afternoon scene, the scene between second male lead Dongli Lan and supporting character Wanqi Yao. This scene was when the two brothers met for the first time after separating for so many years, this meeting will be across a ten thousand people battlefield, a bleak and cold wind; it really had been many years, to meet you on the battlefield!
The author has something to say:
Luo Zhentao: Why did I come here, this role's popularity is very high! [Please pay attention]
Rong Xu: If this role wasn't good enough, did you think I still would had wanted it? [Smiling]
The name of the little Gong that just appeared: ……When will I appear?
Fuwa: Very soon 2333333333
I know, it’s the same Author’s note in ch 4 but I forgot the last part ;-; Well, I was half asleep when I was posting 4…….
Fuwa – "Friendlies" They are five mascots that were made for Beijing 2008 Olympics that the majority of Chinese seems to dislike. Its been made into a meme that all bad things are because of them, "Curse of the Fuwa" or something like that.
Ironic considering the official Beijing 2008 Website wrote that they're "a message of friendship and peace—and good wishes from China—to children all over the world" plus they are adorable why would anyone hate them
2333333333 – laughing, the more 3s there are the harder you're laughing
Dark Horse: Something or someone that is little known but surprises others by unexpectedly winning a competition, race etc
Shem: OMG XD Dong Zheng is shipping our family's Rong Xu to Ye Qiao. XD
Vian: Haha I'm more surprised at Tang Menglan's response LOL
Ι Ι
I wonder how many of you actually click the ‘Next’ button \(^.^ \) But I still leave this here since it’s not till the next chap
Regarding word plays/puns, do you guys prefer if I
a) Englishnize it the chap then explain in footnotes
or
b) Kept the pingyin and everything then explain in footnotes
So either one would end up with a long footnote xD
