CH 2

February 18, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 2: The First Scene

Translated and Edited by KChandraTL

Gongxi Qiao was brought into the makeup room for a makeup trial. The person who did his makeup was a woman of about thirty years old. The staff member who brought him in called her Sister Yao.

After looking at the long row of brushes on the makeup table, which he couldn’t name, Gongxi Qiao smiled gently at Sister Yao, and then chose a position most conducive to the other party’s work and sat down.

Sister Yao looked at the communal cosmetics on the table. She turned her head to her little assistant and said, “Bring my personal makeup bag.”

The little assistant gave Gongxi Qiao a quiet glance, turned around and quickly fetched the makeup bag.

After carefully examining Gongxi Qiao’s face for a while and discussing with the stylist, she asked someone to bring a white costume with silver embroidery for him to change into and fix his wig before she started to do his makeup.

“Your features are very nice and malleable, very suitable for this role.” After the makeup was done, Sister Yao looked at the wall clock to see that it was already past noon. “Everyone is ready to eat lunch now. Go with the staff outside to meet with Director Zhang to see if there are any changes needed.”

“Thank you, Sister Yao.” Gongxi Qiao nodded at her with a smile, got up and pushed in his chair.

“Wait a minute,” Sister Yao took a red incense bag from the next shelf and tied it around his waist, stepped back and said, “Now go out. If this look is suitable, someone may take your final photo later.”

Gongxi Qiao smiled gratefully at Sister Yao, turned around and walked out.

When he went out, the young assistant who had not spoken much next to him asked curiously, “Sister Yao, is there anything special about this newcomer?”

Sister Yao packed her makeup bag without looking up and said, “I’ve been in the circle for nearly ten years, so I can tell if someone will be popular or not.”

The young assistant blushed a bit and thought, just now that young man did look quite outstanding. Just looking at his smile could make your heartbeat quicken.

Sister Yao looked back at the assistant with a faint smile. There was no shortage of outstanding-looking men and women in this circle, but there were very few that could make people feel comfortable from the inside out like this newcomer.

White clothes and beautiful decorations, jade crowns and folding fans – this was simply the necessary equipment for noblemen in film and television dramas. Liang Dong, who used to play the role of Xu Ruiheng, was also selected by Director Zhang precisely because of his excellent appearance. When his final photo was released, it attracted many viewers who liked his face.

The crew originally also felt that Liang Dong was very suitable for the role, but when they saw Gongxi Qiao come out, they realized that there was a difference between good-looking and dazzling.

The first time they saw Gongxi Qiao, they almost thought this was a real nobleman who came through time and space, not an actor.

This was a kind of feeling they couldn’t describe, but anyone who saw the current Gongxi Qiao would sigh in the bottom of his heart – so an ancient nobleman is like this, ah!

Not to mention the ordinary staff, even the male lead and female lead talking about the scene with Director Zhang froze for a moment. The unhappiness in the director’s heart had disappeared without a trace. If not for the fact that there were too many people around, he would have slapped his thighs and exclaimed that he had found a treasure!

He was so happy that he neglected to speak to the two main actors about the scene, and immediately called to the cameraman at the top of his lungs: “Take advantage of his good condition now. Take a few photos of his current look. Go back and ask the post production to work overnight, and try to release the photos within three days.”

In the heat of the day, the effect of the sun on the makeup would be bad, and his current makeup looked very good.

“What a noble young gentleman,” the female lead Chen Wen praised with a smile. “So handsome. When the drama airs, there will be many young girls jealous of me.”

Male lead actor Zhou Huaisheng likewise laughed. “It seems that with a little fresh meat on the scene, our big beauty Chen has tossed aside these old bones of mine.”

“Simply filming with you, Brother Zhou, even before the drama has aired, there are already many of your fans who are jealous of me.” The corners of Chen Wen’s mouth rose. “And I don’t know how many of your fans are talking about me behind my back.”

Hearing this, the smile on Zhou Huaisheng’s face became even more obvious: “It’s mutual. Your fans leave messages under my Weibo every day, asking me to take good care of you. I’m the one with a lot of responsibility.”

The two people belonged to different agencies. Usually they were harmonious in the crew, and sometimes they even forwarded each other’s Weibos to hype their popularity. As to how much friendship they actually had, probably only they themselves really knew.

The cameraman dragged Gongxi Qiao to take photos for more than an hour. He was so hungry that his chest was touching his back. At that time, someone from the support staff gave him two disposable lunch boxes that were still emitting hot air.

He wasn’t pretentious so he found a corner and started picking up his rice. The taste of the food wasn’t very good and the rice was a bit hard, but he finished the lunch box as if nothing was wrong. He received two wet towelettes from a friendly female staff member in the middle of his meal.

Director Zhang watched Gongxi Qiao’s every move. After Gongxi Qiao threw the lunch box into the trash can, he asked the assistant director to call Gongxi Qiao over.

“I heard from Producer Yao that you read the script before coming here?” Director Zhang pulled out a small stool from the corner and put it in front of Gongxi Qiao, gesturing for him to sit down. “Do you have any impression of the content?”

Gongxi Qiao lifted up the corner of his costume and sat down on the small stool: “Uncle Yao only showed me some fragments of Xu Ruiheng’s scenes, so I don’t know much about the script. But before I came, I read the original novel once.”

“Did you understand it?” Director Zhang asked in a mild tone.

Gongxi Qiao thought about it and said, “I memorized the plot, but there are some parts that I don’t quite understand.”

Director Zhang smiled, knowing that for a manly man like Gongxi Qiao, romance novels really wouldn’t have much appeal. He didn’t say anything penetrating though. “In that case, later on, you will shoot the scene of your first encounter with the female lead. It’s your first time shooting. Don’t be too nervous, memorize the lines first.” After saying that, he took a script from the side table and stuffed it into Gongxi Qiao’s hand then turned around and walked away.

The encounter between the third male lead and the female lead was described in the original novel as very tense but romantic.

The princess who escaped from the army to flee her marriage, the gentleman playing the zither in the gazebo by the lake, everything was as beautiful as a picture scroll.

However, things were too good to be true. The dazzling gentleman’s actual identity was the crown prince of the enemy, getting close to the princess only to steal secrets.

As for why a noble prince would be personally involved in stealing the enemy’s secrets, and why he would approach a princess who didn’t manage court affairs at all, the author and screenwriter both said that it didn’t matter. The important thing was that the prince would definitely fall in love with the princess later.

Although the plot was a little dog blooded[1], the role of the third male lead, as long as the highlights were captured, was still very attractive to the audience. Gongxi Qiao closed the script in his hand. He looked at the group of staff members who were setting up the location not far away. His long and beautiful index finger lightly tapped the cover of the script.

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Acting was his specialty.

When the scene between Gongxi Qiao and the female lead was finally going to start at 5:00 pm, he went to fix his makeup once because it was too hot.

He walked into the pavilion. He saw the guqin placed on the stone table as a prop, and casually reversed it because it was placed backwards. Then he gently plucked the guqin for a bit. The sound quality wasn’t superior, but it was just barely fit to listen to.

Director Zhang noticed his action and asked, “Xiao Qiao, you know how to play the guqin?”

“I learned it a few years ago.” Gongxi Qiao sat down in front of the guqin and found that the height of the stone bench and table was a bit off, not reaching the most ideal sitting position for playing, so he slightly adjusted his posture.

Once a true expert made a move, the difference was obvious. After Gongxi Qiao sat down, the crowd suddenly felt that he suddenly became taller, as if he had an aura of competence. The whole person had been elevated.

“Okay, prepare camera one and two,” Director Zhang took the lead and made a gesture towards Chen Wen who was ready to enter the camera, “Start the camera!”

The moment the camera was turned on, Gongxi Qiao’s fingers were on the strings, strumming, picking, plucking and playing. His nimble fingers played a flowing musical sound, so pleasing that it was like a soundtrack, not a musical sound played by his own hands.

Chen Wen looked at the unrestrained white robed nobleman in the gazebo. Her running footsteps unconsciously slowed down. Even her next line and next action were forgotten.

“Cough, cough.” Director Zhang dry coughed twice to get the crowd back on focus. “Everyone get ready to start the scene over.”

Only then did the crowd suddenly return to their senses. Prop Master Chen even wiped his face. Who said that the sons of rich men were nothing but rich playboys? If you have the ability to come forward, he promised not to hit you in the face!

What the hell, how was there such a talented rich second generation son? The posture of playing the guqin was simply very handsome. Compared with Gongxi Qiao, what could you call Liang Dong’s performance?

Under the peach blossom pavilion, the pretty princess carefully tilted her head to look at the gentleman playing the zither: “What tune are you playing? It’s really nice.”

The gentleman’s fingers halted and the pleasant sound of the zither stopped abruptly. He turned his head so that the princess could see his smiling handsome face: “It’s just a countryside tune. It’s an honor to attract the attention of a beautiful woman.”

The breeze picked up, flower petals rose up in the sky, pink petals fell on his shoulders, on the guqin in front of him, and in the stream outside the gazebo.

Director Zhang looked at the close-up of Gongxi Qiao on the monitor with excitement. If he had known that this rich kid who brought capital into the crew was so incredible, he would have agreed long ago and wouldn’t have delayed until now.

“Very good, very good,” he praised. “Wen Wen’s sense of drama is very good. Just now the performance of your eyes was spot on. Xiao Qiao, you and Wen prepare for the next scene. After shooting the next scene you can go home today.”

Chen Wen breathed a sigh of relief. In that moment when Gongxi Qiao turned back just now, her heart skipped a beat. If the plot didn’t also require her to perform a lost look, she was afraid that she would have to eat another NG.

When she thought of this, she couldn’t help but take a look at Gongxi Qiao. He wasn’t a professionally trained actor and still managed to be so good. It was simply shocking. When she shot her own first-ever scene, she didn’t even know where to put her hands and feet. Gongxi Qiao was really no comparison.

Just from this scene alone, Gongxi Qiao really brought the role of Xu Ruiheng to life.

T/N:

[1]: Dog blooded: a saying that means something is unbelievably over dramatic and cliched. Comes from an ancient superstition that dog blood can ward against evil.