CH 10

Lian Qing replied to the top comment that claimed he could be fooled by a barbecue meal: [You can't fool me.]

After that, he took his mobile phone and waited for a long time, but could not wait for Zhao Chengyi's reply. He guessed that the other party might be busy, so he simply followed Sister Sha and went offline.

At the moment when he put down his mobile phone, Cheng Lan said to him, "In the future, take time to check your mobile phone every day, such as Weibo and WeChat. By the way, do you have WeChat?"

Lian Qing shook his head, he didn't.

Cheng Lan then helped him to register an account, added herself and Sister Sha as friends, and taught him how to use it.

After a lot of trouble, Cheng Lan asked them to rest. She also specifically told Lian Qing: "Director Li asked you to try on the costume tomorrow morning. If nothing unexpected happens, you may take the stage to shoot tomorrow. Tonight, you should have a good rest and try to go to the crew in the best condition tomorrow."

Lian Qing nodded his head in agreement. After returning to his room, he went to sleep immediately after washing his face and brushing his teeth.

Early the next day, he got up. When Cheng Lan came to call him, he had already washed up.

Seeing that he was full of energy, Cheng Lan smiled in satisfaction and said, "You are in good shape. Keep it up."

"Okay." Lian Qing answered, only then discovering a robust boy standing behind her.

Cheng Lan introduced him, "This is your assistant, Chen Qi. In the future, You can call him Xiao Chen."

"Hello, Xiao Chen ge." Lian Qing smiled politely.

"Hello." Chen Qi was also very polite and said, "from now on, I will be basically responsible for your food, clothing, housing, and transportation in the future unless Sister Cheng or Sister Sha arranges for you otherwise. If you have any needs at any time, you can also tell me."

Lian Qing nodded. He had seen the work done by Sister Sha's two assistants these past few days, and he was a little aware of their duties.

Cheng Lan then took Lian Qing and Sister Sha to the *set.

Show/Hide Note*剧组 Lit: Cast and crew but I’ll be using set. It fits better.

The production team started early today, and everyone was busy. When Director Li saw Sister Sha and Lian Qing, he came up to her and said, "Sha Man, if you are slow in the morning, you may lose your part in the show. You should go to the side and rest first. Lian Qing, you can go look for the stylist. I have already given her instructions on what to do. She will help you to do the styling."

Sister Sha nodded, and pulled Lian Qing to the dressing room, leaving Cheng Lan and Director Li to talk to each other.

In the following period of time, Lian Qing perfectly *COS a marionette. Except when the male assistant of the makeup artist pulled him into the dressing room to pick up his clothes, he resisted. At other times, he was basically an obedient baby.

Show/Hide Note*COS – not sure about this, but I think it’s cosplayed. Like he completely embodied being a marionette (string-puppet) and sat there letting them do their thing and moving him around as they wanted.

When he appeared in front of Director Li after his troubles, a smile appeared on his serious and somewhat inflexible face.

Wearing a white robe, with a jade crown and black hair, there was a short strand of hair on the front of the forehead, which fell unruly on the side of the face. The face was cold like jade, with clear handsome features, and cold eyes.

Director Li was satisfied and said: "It is in line with the cold temperament described in the original book. The appearance is young, beautiful, and cold, but also grave and stern... Little monk, maintain your current state. Don't collapse when you come on the set later…ah!"

Lian Qing lightly nodded, and his face remained cold for two minutes.

Director Li also called for martial arts instructors and invited several extras to come over.

The martial arts instructor was mainly to guide the movement of the group performance but when they came to Lian Qing, they took the initiative to discuss it with each other.

After a long discussion, the director let everyone go on set.

In the *verdant and lush forest, a girl several years old was running among the trees, her face full of panic. Behind her were several men who were shouting threateningly, chasing after her with the intention to kill.

Show/Hide Note*yu yu cong cong (verdant and lush) – idiom used to describe lush vegetation, emphasizing on its beauty and vigorous appearance.

The girl ran while crying. They were about to overtake her. In a panic, she saw a stone wall ahead of her. She saw a small hole under the stone wall and stooped down trying to squeeze into it.

Even for a young child like her, it was very difficult to get through the hole. If she could not bore through, there was only a *dead end. The girl had to cry, endure the pain of being scratched by the stones on the escarpment, and force her way in.

Show/Hide Note*Road to ruin (idiom) - dead end

She didn't know how long she had been climbing inside when she finally saw a light in front of her. The girl gritted her teeth and made a last burst of effort to drill through.

After leaving the cave, she closed her eyes to adapt to the sudden light.

The moment she opened her eyes again, she thought she was seeing a fairy.

Not far away, a man in white was dancing lightly and gracefully with a long sword under the peach tree. Its movements were sometimes as fast as lightning and sometimes as light as floating cotton wadding. However, no matter how fast or slow his movements were, the hissing sound of his sword blade as it cut through the empty air never ceased.

It seems that he noticed someone coming. The man in white suddenly held hands. A silvery light flashed through the sword blade, and his overturned sleeves were full of *ethereal quality.

Show/Hide Note(Xiãn qi) Magic breath/ethereal quality – From Chinese folklore: a puff of breath from the mouth of a celestial being that can magically transform an object into something else.

The girl had not yet clearly seen how the man put away the sword when the man appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye.

The girl looked up and saw his face. She was *stunned and said two words: "Daoist Immortal..."

Show/Hide Note

The man's face was a little stunned, and the corners of his lips were slightly raised. The chill in his eyes also faded a little, as if the ice had melted slightly.

"OK, pass!" Director Li shouted and said to Cheng Lan and Sister Sha standing behind him with a smile, "This child is pretty good, ah! Although there are so many shortcomings, this performance is already very good for the first time."

Cheng Lan was obviously relieved. The reason why she came to see Lian Qing filming was to see whether he could do it and whether he had that potential. If not, then they could only take variety shows or other routes in the future, and they would try to minimize the acting route.

Fortunately, this cold dice Sha Man dug out was not a *flower vase or a piece of dead wood.

Show/Hide Note*Flower vase – fig: just a pretty face (English equivalent might be ‘dumb blonde’) TN: no offense to any blondes

She said politely, "*No, it's mainly the teacher we invited who taught him well. Besides, the role, as you said, doesn't need too much acting skills. If you ask him to act like a lovelorn character, I reckon it will be difficult."

Show/Hide Note哪里 (Na li) – humble expression denying a compliment. I don’t know what English word could be directly translated from this so I just went with “no”. or maybe I could have used “Aah staaawp”?

Sister Sha also laughed and said, "It hasn’t been that long since he’s been exposed to acting. I think if he studies hard, it will not be long before he can perform a lovelorn role without a problem."

Director Li nodded in agreement: "Anyway, the kid's perception is really good. In particular, the look in his eyes, which was suitably cold. In addition, the last inconspicuous smile, as well as the slightly warmer expression in his eyes, was also pretty good."

Sister Sha smiled and dared not tell him. In fact, she taught him a trick before Lian Qing came on stage.

The crew had to arrange the next scene, and Lian Qing returned to Sister Sha.

He pulled Sister Sha and whispered, "Sister, the method you taught me really works!"

On their way to the set, Sister Sha was teaching him how to act out the Ice Face. She told him to imagine that his only fried chicken wings had been stolen or returned. At the thought of that picture, Lian Qing couldn't help but feel cold, as if he had been robbed of love and his eyes grew cold.

In the last act, when he smiled, Sister Sha asked him to imagine that his chicken wings had been returned. This made his cold heart slightly warm, but it was not enough to make him really happy, because the chicken wings were his own, to begin with!

Although the feeling was somewhat different from that required by the director, Director Li himself did not have many expectations of him, and Lian Qing’s sword dance in this scene had a great bonus, the expressions conformed to the outward appearance and didn’t come off as sudden or abrupt. This led to the first scene of Lian Qing's life being inexplicable.

Sister Sha sighed with emotion: "You are lucky! Little monk, honestly, I really doubt that you are a *koi!"

Show/Hide Note

Just after he came down the mountain, he met her and she solved the problem of food and shelter at once; Of course, this may also be a kind of luck for her. Later, he caught the eye of Zhao Chengyi and was featured on his live broadcast, which directly broke the record of millions of fans. After that, he caught the eye of Director Li again. He got such a role just a few days after he entered the circle. Since he was a newcomer, Director Li was very tolerant towards him and did not have the same attitude of *striving for perfection as before.

Show/Hide Note

Without saying anything else, she just watched the child's performance, and his figure, temperament, face, and sword dance could make people's hearts beat faster every minute.

With her experience, just such a small fragment is enough to attract a large number of fans for the little monk! Not to mention the variety show that will be broadcast in two days. Sister Cheng had communicated with the program team and they would give the little monk some cute shots in the feature production. Almost apart from her own personal clip, which lasted nearly two hours, the program team promised to restore her relationship with the little monk as completely as possible.

The little monk was so cute in the program. Was there a need to be afraid that there would be no fans?! In the absence of a *backer, the little monk's fortune was really super smooth, comparable to the koi!

Show/Hide Note*Hou tai – behind-the-scenes supporter/ backer

The koi Lian Qing was a little confused. He habitually went to scratch his head, only to come in contact with the wig. He had to resentfully put down his hand and said seriously, "I was born in the year of the tiger."

"Yo, so powerful, the king of beasts!" Sister Sha teased him.

Lian Qing smiled sheepishly: "No, the animal signs are deceptive. I'm a tiger, but I never beat my master. He is a mouse."

"Hahaha......" Sister Sha laughed, "Why are you so honest?"

Lian Qing looked at her blankly. What he said was true. What's more, is it not good to be honest?

The staff quickly set up the next scene, and Director Li also called Lian Qing to act. After that, Lian Qing was seriously involved in filming. Although there were occasional bumps, the whole process was quite smooth.

This role played by him had only appeared three times in the story, with very few scenes. By evening, he'd already finished filming all the scenes.

Director Li gave him a red envelope and said with a smile, "It was a good performance. I hope we can cooperate again in the future. Here is the red envelope. I wish you a prosperous career. Take it."

Lian Qing looked at Sister Sha helplessly and saw her smiling and nodding. Then he took her over. At that moment, he suddenly had the illusion that there were pilgrims coming to add incense to the mountain.

At that time, he was still young, and pilgrims often came to the temple. On the 15th day of the lunar new year, he stood near the merit box and knocked on the *Muyu. When pilgrims came to put money in the merit box, he always looked up and thanked them.

Show/Hide Note

At this time, pilgrims would touch his head, which was still bald at that time, smiling and saying, "Little Monk, you are so nice!"

Shaking his head in his heart, he smiled and said, "Thank you, Director Li!"

Director Li patted him on the shoulder and joked, "First of all, I declare that there is not much money in it. This red envelope means something. It's a good omen for you."

Lian Qing said seriously, "Director Li's intentions and blessings are far more than those of others! I also wish Director Li good health and success!"

Looking at the serious appearance of the child, Director Li felt a little nervous, and suddenly felt that his wallet was a little less

After Lian Qing finished, he did not stay with the crew anymore but was taken to the car by Sister Cheng.

In the back seat of the nanny's car, he opened the red envelope expectantly, looked inside, and his eyes instantly lit up!

Sister Cheng could not help laughing and scolding at his appearance as a little mouse stealing sesame oil: "Look at your little promise. How much money is worth your success!"

Lian Qing carefully rewrapped the red envelope and stuffed it into his pocket. He did not forget to pat it with his hands, which looked "dependable".

He smiled brightly and said, "Six hundred yuan. Director Li gave me six hundred yuan!" That's six hundred yuan. If he saved a little, he could have a hot pot or several hamburgers!

"*Chu xi!" Cheng Lan's words were full of disgust, but her face could not help smiling. Assistant Chen, who was driving in the front seat, could not help laughing. He thought that the star was very cute, and it should be easy to work for him.

Show/Hide Note*chu xi – to yield interest, profit/ to exhale (Buddhism). Someone help with this I have no idea what to translate it to

Lian Qing smiled revealing a row of neat white teeth. His puffed shoulders unconsciously swung left and right in a small arc, and he didn’t forget to say to himself, "I will read the prayer for blessings sutra for Director Li for half an hour when I get back!"

Sister Cheng was dissatisfied: "What about me?"

The little monk said solemnly, "For You and Sister Sha, I have read them all. If I read them too much, Buddha will be annoyed. I must not read anymore!"

Cheng Lan couldn't help laughing, "You have a conscience."

"Well, I remember who is good to me!" Lian Qing said and began to figure out how to spend the money well.

Is it better to buy 40 hamburgers or eat a hot pot?

The author has something to say:

The little monk made a small calculation in his heart: Zhao Chengyi said that hot pot is expensive, but it's delicious. I haven't eaten it yet! But if he eats hot pot, he may lose his money. Hamburgers can be eaten for about ten meals, which is relatively cost-effective.

Is it a question of quality or quantity?

I changed Xiannan (Immortal Male) into a Xianren (Daoist Immortal). Xiannan is actually a play within the play, which will be brought up in later chapters. Changing Xiannan to Xianren, it's not much worse.

TN:

So I have decided not to set a schedule and just release the chapters as soon as I finish them. It's going to be extremely sporadic so bear with me