The More Tragic I Act, the Stronger I Get — My Fans Beg Me to Stop Killing Off My Roles-Chapter 269: All Rise! A Textbook-Level Performance of a Scumbag
The brief three-day break felt like a fleeting dream.
For the crew of "The Lurker," Shen Qingyuan's death did not bring a sense of conclusive release.
Hou Hsiao-hsien didn't even give the crew much time to reminisce.
He unceremoniously pulled everyone out of the lingering, tragic afterglow of Shen Qingyuan's death.
A full crew adjustment.
Three days later, they were to reshoot the key scenes from the initial period of Shen Qingyuan's "descent into darkness."
The shooting location: the Shen Mansion.
Before filming began, Jiang Ci asked the Props Team for an expensive set of French bone china tea ware.
When the Props Team delivered this genuine, valuable set, Jiang Ci personally received it.
He didn't let anyone else intervene, personally arranging it on the redwood long table in the living room.
The skill of the [Master of Organization and Tidying] was utilized to its absolute extreme.
Every teacup, every saucer, was placed with perfect symmetry.
This was a declaration.
A declaration of the complete collapse of the character's old internal order, and the forced establishment of a new, icy regime.
Hou Hsiao-hsien watched this scene through the monitor, silently gesturing to the cinematographer for a close-up.
Three days was enough for He Xiaoping to somewhat detach from the emotional impact of Shen Qingyuan's death.
Now, she had transformed back into that simple, passionate, love-filled Gu Wanbai.
Wearing an elegant white dress, she personally carried a delicate cake box, pushing open the main door of the Shen Mansion with a heart full of joy.
Today was Shen Qingyuan's birthday.
She wanted to give him a surprise.
However, what greeted her was not her lover's embrace.
It was a room full of strangers.
The living room was packed with pot-bellied Japanese merchants and a few bowing and scraping traitor compradors.
They were gathered around the table, greedily tallying some assets.
The air was thick with the cheap smell of cigars and a nauseating stench of greed.
Gu Wanbai (played by He Xiaoping)'s smile froze on her face.
She saw Shen Qingyuan, sitting in the host's seat, his back relaxed against the chair, legs crossed, the picture of a leisurely master of the house.
He Xiaoping, holding the cake, walked step by step closer, the unease in her heart expanding wildly.
Shen Qingyuan, played by Jiang Ci, finally looked up.
His gaze fell on her, devoid of any joy of reunion.
He pulled a pure white silk handkerchief from his pocket,
and unhurriedly, finger by finger, wiped his own hand. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
As if he had just touched something filthy.
"Why have you come?"
His voice was flat, betraying no emotion.
He Xiaoping's heart sank. Suppressing her hurt, she lifted the cake box in her hand. "Qingyuan, today is your birthday..."
Jiang Ci's movements stopped.
He tossed the handkerchief onto the table, like throwing away a piece of trash.
"Miss Gu." He spoke, the form of address already changed. "I have distinguished guests here. The smell you carry might offend them."
"What... smell?" He Xiaoping instinctively sniffed her own clothes.
"The stench of poverty."
Jiang Ci spat out these three words.
These three words stabbed viciously into Gu Wanbai's heart.
The surrounding Japanese merchants and traitors erupted in a burst of malicious laughter.
He Xiaoping's face instantly drained of color, turning deathly pale.
She tried to argue, tried to find the familiar gentleness on his face. "Qingyuan, you... what's wrong with you? You're not like this..."
Jiang Ci directly cut her off.
He turned his head away, no longer looking at her, instead engaging in lively conversation with the Japanese merchant beside him in fluent Japanese.
Under the enhancement of [Language Comprehension], every syllable carried the elegance and composure of the aristocratic class.
He Xiaoping couldn't understand a word he was saying.
But she could feel the humiliation conveyed by that language from the increasingly contemptuous and mocking looks the Japanese men directed at her.
She saw Jiang Ci point at her, say something to that merchant.
Then, that merchant laughed without restraint.
Jiang Ci was evaluating her.
"A dull ornament, belonging to a bygone era."
This sentence was an invisible slap across Gu Wanbai's face,
rendering all her attempts at communication a ridiculous one-woman show.
She was completely ignored.
Behind the monitor, the crew members who understood Japanese stiffened.
This sentence hurt more than any direct insult.
He Xiaoping's eyes instantly reddened, tears welling up.
But stubbornly, she pushed the cake in her hands forward a little more.
This was her last, humble act of persistence.
"This is... I made it for you myself."
Jiang Ci finally turned his gaze back to her.
He took the cake box.
For that one second, a faint flicker of hope even ignited in the depths of He Xiaoping's heart.
However, the next second.
Jiang Ci turned and whistled towards the corner, at the wolfhound belonging to a Japanese officer.
He opened the cake box, casually scooped out a large piece with his finger,
and, amidst the wolfhound's excited tail-wagging and begging, threw the cake, which held all of the young girl's heartfelt intentions, onto the floor.
He was even smiling.
That brilliant smile was more cruel than any expression.
"See," he said to the Japanese merchant beside him.
"Even a beast is worthy of tasting the craftsmanship of the eldest Miss Gu."
He Xiaoping's body swayed violently.
Even though she had read the script countless times, even though she knew this was all fake.
When Jiang Ci's eyes, which had once been filled with tenderness,
now looked at her with a completely unfamiliar, garbage-like finality,
an intense physical revulsion instantly seized her.
The tears could no longer be controlled, breaking through the dam and flooding down.
She wasn't acting.
At this moment, she *was* Gu Wanbai.
The Gu Wanbai whose sincere heart had been personally trampled underfoot and ground to dust by her lover.
In Jiang Ci's mind, the system panel was refreshing frantically.
[Heartbreak Value +555 from character Gu Wanbai!]
[Heartbreak Value +38 from lighting technician assistant Li Qian. She remembered her own experience of being cheated on by her ex-boyfriend...]
[Heartbreak Value +42 from makeup artist Sister Wang. She understood—this was hurting her to protect her. It's too painful!]
[...Total Heartbreak Value: +648 points!]
The character's heartbreak and the bystanders' heartbreak resonated in this moment.
They thought of Shen Qingyuan's true undercover identity. This extreme harm inflicted "for her own good" caused the Heartbreak Value to multiply exponentially.
Jiang Ci gave Gu Wanbai no chance to catch her breath.
He waved his hand impatiently, like shooing away a fly.
"Someone, escort Miss Gu out. Don't let her be here, offending the eyes of our distinguished guests."
Two servants immediately stepped forward, flanking He Xiaoping, who had long since lost all strength and was on the verge of collapsing.
She was dragged roughly towards the door.
In her line of sight, the man's back was cold, hard, devoid of any trace of its former warmth.
The heavy door slammed shut behind her with a loud "bang."
Completely cutting off all her sobs and despair.
Inside the door.
Shen Qingyuan, played by Jiang Ci, stood with his back to the door, his face still wearing that ingratiating, fawning smile,
as he raised his wine glass to the Japanese merchant.
No one saw.
His hand hanging by his side, holding the red wine glass,
was trembling slightly from the extreme force he was exerting.
A very faint, crisp sound.
The stem of the wine glass actually developed a fine crack from his unconscious strength.
The crimson liquid, mixed with his own blood from his hand, dripped down the crack, drop by drop, onto the polished floor.
It was a silent sacrifice.
"Cut!"
Hou Hsiao-hsien's voice finally shattered the silence.
Everyone was still immersed in that extreme cruelty and heartbreak, unable to break free.
Outside the door.
He Xiaoping crouched on the ground, face buried in her arms, shoulders shaking violently, crying so hard she was almost hyperventilating.
She couldn't stand up.
Jiang Ci shook his head, shedding the lingering emotions of the character, and quickly walked over, instinctively reaching out to help her up.
"Teacher He, you..."
His hand had just extended.
But He Xiaoping, like a startled hedgehog, looked up and slapped his hand away.
"Don't touch me!"
She cried out, her reddened eyes filled with genuine fear and rejection.
She was too deep into the role.
Before she could detach from the emotions, she couldn't face the face that had just subjected her to the most cruel torture.
Jiang Ci's hand hung awkwardly in mid-air.
The surrounding crew members watched this scene, unsure of what to do.
