CH 21.2

Do You Still Hate Her? 11 – Where do you get the confidence that I would pick up trash like you?

Early the next morning, accompanied by her assistant, Shang Lu arrived at the set of the drama <Life’s Journey>.

A staff member took care of sending Shang Lu’s luggage to the hotel. Shang Lu joined the set a day earlier than expected. Her first scene would be filmed tomorrow afternoon, so she had free time now to familiarize herself with the set and the surrounding environment.

Therefore, Shang Lu had already replaced the script in her hands with the complete version. Holding a foldable chair she bought from Taobao, she quickly found a suitable spot in the set as her own little sanctuary.

It is a very convenient place to watch the shooting, and it can ensure that she does not affect other staff members.

The lead actress in <Life’s Journey> is Jiang Jing. She plays a female police officer, and all the stories are derived from her investigative storyline.

And it’s quite coincidental that today’s scene is a very important one for Jiang Jing’s character. It requires strong emotions and explosiveness, placing extremely high demands on the actress.

After looking at the filming schedule of the crew, Shang Lu decided to join early in order to witness the live version of this scene.

Although Shang Lu and Jiang Jing have met several times on variety shows, this is the first time Shang Lu has seen Jiang Jing’s acting.

The reigning actress truly lives up to her title. Every movement and step she takes is carefully designed, presenting this character to perfection. Each of her expressions is of textbook level.

This scene was considered the most difficult by everyone, but because the actress was Jiang Jing, she got it right in one take.

With Han Cheng’s satisfied nod of approval, the surrounding staff members are all beaming with joy.

No staff member likes a scene that requires multiple takes, as it would hold back the progress of the entire production.

It seems like they can leave work early today—

Oh, whoops.

The actor’s name who is acting with Jiang Jing is Cheng Zhe. He is almost thirty years old but has a baby face, looking like he’s in his early twenties.

However, there’s a problem in this scene because Cheng Zhe can’t keep up with Jiang Jing’s acting.

When Jiang Jing acts, she doesn’t consider her scene partner and sometimes intentionally dominates the scene, which is widely known in the industry. If she acts with an equally talented actor, it’s not a big issue. But if the scene partner’s acting skills are slightly inferior, the gap becomes extremely noticeable.

After several attempts, it still doesn’t satisfy Han Cheng, and the atmosphere on set becomes tense.

Shang Lu rests her hand on her chin, flipping through the script, and starts thinking about what she would do if she were Cheng Zhe.

Jiang Jing won’t make any changes or compromises, and Cheng Zhe’s acting skills won’t improve to the level of the lead actress in a short period.

If we compare acting to a stage, where each person occupies half of the space, that would be a fair competition. But if Jiang Jing wants to take over, the actor acting with her can only retreat and be led by her rhythm, becoming completely subordinate.

“Teacher Shang?” a gentle female voice sounded, expressing some doubt, as if not entirely sure if the person in front of her was Shang Lu.

Only then did Shang Lu shift her attention from the script, raised her head, and quickly stood up, bowing and greeting the person in front of her. “Writer Yu.”

The person is Yu Qi, the screenwriter who was present during the audition day.

She had always had a good impression of Shang Lu, so when she saw Shang Lu sitting here, she couldn’t help but approach Shang Lu curiously. At that moment, she noticed the script in Shang Lu’s hand, densely marked with annotations. So she said, “Can I take a look at your script?”

Shang Lu nodded and handed the script to Yu Qi.

Yu Qi lowered her head, but when she saw the pages of the script, she looked up at the nearby filming location and understood why Shang Lu was here.

However, what surprised her was that this scene, which had nothing to do with Shang Lu, was also marked by her with some annotations.

There were praises and insights about Jiang Jing’s performance, as well as some of her own analysis.

When she saw several question marks drawn next to Cheng Zhe’s character, with several keywords marked beside them, Yu Qi couldn’t help but ask curiously, “What do these ‘spirit,’ ‘avoidance,’ and ‘self-protection’ mean?”

Shang Lu felt a bit embarrassed to answer and said, “It’s nothing, just some of my understanding of this character.”

If she wanted to act well, she had to become Song Yanxue. In order to do that, she needed to view this world from Song Yanxue’s perspective, even if these characters were not closely related.

Yu Qi immediately became interested and said, “There’s no one else here. Could you talk to me in detail about it?”

Encouragement filled Yu Qi’s eyes, and her voice was gentle.

Shanglu explained, “The argument between them is not as simple as it seems on the surface. They are stubbornly holding onto their own beliefs rather than focusing on right or wrong in this matter. If he doesn’t deliberately engage in a conflict with Jiang Jing, but instead focuses more on expressing his own attitude, to some extent, he can even ignore the female lead and better fit the character’s paranoid and crazy personality.”

More importantly, if this kind of performance can minimize the impact Jiang Jing has on Cheng Zhe’s state of mind.

Yu Qi furrowed her brows slightly and began to contemplate.

Shanglu quickly added, “This is just my thought, it may not be right.”

Yu Qi shook her head and said, “No, you’re right.”

The key issue is that Cheng Zhe’s abilities simply can’t handle this conflict scene, so it’s better not to forcefully engage in it. They should change direction and avoid the conflict altogether.

So she returned the script to Shang Lu and said, “Wait for me a moment.”

Yu Qi quickly walked over to Han Cheng’s side. The two of them were tacit partners and reached a consensus in a few minutes of communication.

Soon, the staff called Cheng Zhe again, and he was given individual guidance by Han Cheng.

And this time, the filming went much smoother.

After two takes, the scene finally succeeded.

Cheng Zhe let out a sigh of relief, finally finishing the scene he was most worried about, the scene with Jiang Jing.

At the same time, Cheng Zhe was also grateful to be able to join the cast of <Life’s Journey>.

He started his career in idol dramas and as he grew older, he wanted to transition into other roles. However, his average acting skills put him in an awkward position where he couldn’t reach high achievements nor settle for low ones. Continuing to act in idol dramas no longer appealed to the audience, but transitioning wasn’t that easy either.

Finally being able to join Director Han Cheng’s production was a great learning opportunity for him. Even if he was just a trivial supporting role, he gritted his teeth and performed despite the studio’s opposition.

When he learned that Shang Lu had also come to this production, Cheng Zhe felt disdainful.

Strictly speaking, how could Shang Lu, a variety show celebrity, rank ahead of him? It seemed that there were very few young artists in the entertainment industry who could succeed.

From a distance, their gazes met.

Shang Lu seemed to sense a subtle hostility.

Although she didn’t know why, it seemed that this senior Cheng Zhe didn’t quite like her.

However, Shang Lu didn’t pay much attention to it. Instead, she held onto her script and lowered her head to flip through it, searching for the plot of the next scene to be filmed.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of wheels rolling on the ground from a small cart.

Shang Lu raised her head in confusion and saw several staff members preparing milk tea, fruit, and desserts. The carts were filled with these items.

One of the staff members handed a box of strawberries to Shang Lu. It was a young and beautiful girl who seemed a bit embarrassed, as if she had gathered a lot of courage to speak up. She said, “Teacher Shang, this is for you. It’s very sweet. Also… I really like you, and I will always support you. Good luck with the shooting! Keep up the good work!”

Shang Lu took the strawberries and smiled at the girl, saying, “Thank you.”

The girl quickly waved her hand, blushed, and walked away.

However, not long after, Shang Lu suddenly felt her hand empty as someone snatched the strawberries right from her hand.

She was puzzled and turned her head to see someone familiar standing beside her.