CH 35

Direct Confrontation

“Reality show? Who are the other guests? Do I have time in my schedule?” She asked.

At that, Liu jie naturally replied earnestly, “What I’ve heard is that the production team is already in contact with one of the four major celebrities. As for who, I still don’t know yet. There’s Zhang Jing, and it’s not clear who the rest would be. There’s going to be six fixed guests, and filming will be done season by season. You only need to spare two days to shoot each episode. The show will most likely start in December, so you can squeeze some time to shoot it.” 

Hearing this, Su Shen didn’t say anything. Variety shows paid more and were much more relaxing than filming. No one would say no to money. 

“By the way, are there any other types of scripts lately? I don’t want to take on idol dramas anymore.” Just blindly filming these, the public would also be tired of it. It was better to switch early while young.

“Yes, I’ve already helped you get in touch with a small production film, which is also a school life theme. You can test the water first. There’s also a crime drama invested by our company. The investment in the drama is quite big. Although there’s some people in our company fighting for it, your prospects are not bad now. As long as I fight for it, the company will give you this opportunity.” Liu jie said.

Starlight Entertainment, the company she was at, usually invested in tragic dramas. Although they couldn’t give her much resources for idol dramas, they had a lot of resources for tragic dramas. Liu jie was a veteran employee of the company and was said to hold shares as well. It should not be a big issue for her to get this drama for her.

“If there’s a script, I’ll look through it first.” Taking a deep breath, Su Shen roughly calculated that her schedule was full until June of next year.

Liu jie said okay and didn’t say anything else. It was an hour later when they arrived at the filming site. The people there were busy filming. Su Shen also saw Yang Zhi. She looked a bit shorter than on TV and was somewhat bow-legged. But when covered by the skirt, it couldn’t be seen. Her face looked pretty natural, and she probably hadn’t gone under the knife. 

When Liu jie took her to meet the Director, Wang Cheng just happened to be talking to the Director. When he saw her, he immediately smiled and said, “My little beauty is finally here.”

He had never been upright, so Su Shen walked over and gave him a punch, glancing at him angrily, “If I’m the little beauty, then who’s the big beauty?”  

Hearing this, the other staff members all laughed. It was obvious that Wang Cheng and Su Shen had a great relationship. 

“It’s Liu jie, isn’t she a beauty?” Wang Cheng kept winking at Liu jie.

The latter was also amused by him. The Director, however, suddenly looked at Su Shen and said, “Have you read the script?”

Speaking of business, Su Shen naturally nodded, “Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll have someone take you to change your clothes first. We’ll film your scene in the afternoon.” The Director said and then looked at the Assistant Director beside him, “Take Su Shen to Dressing Room No. 2.” 

At that, the Assistant Director led the way with a smile. Wang Cheng seemed to want to chat with her a bit more, but seeing that Su Shen was going to change her clothes, he stayed behind and continued to listen to the Director explaining the script.  

In Dressing Room No. 2, there were two actresses getting their makeup done, one was a newcomer and the other was a veteran actress, who had debuted years ago but never gained fame. When they saw Su Shen entering, perhaps because they were not familiar with her, they stayed silent. 

Su Shen’s role had very few scenes. If she was famous, then it would be called a cameo. If she was really famous, then it would be called a special appearance. If she was not famous, then it would be called being an extra. The difference in between was tremendous. If it was a special appearance, she would be ranked directly behind the male and female leads. If it was a cameo, it would then depend on how famous she was. If it was being an extra, her name would not even be able to be written in the credits. 

She only had two scenes. The first one was meeting the heroine. The heroine needed to go up the mountains, but she wouldn’t let her unless the heroine gave her the jade pendant around her waist. The heroine later defeated her and went up the mountain. The second scene was just a sweeping shot of her lying on the ground dying. She was actually killed by the villian, but she blamed it on the heroine. 

It was said that Yang Zhi’s acting was great. Su Shen had an itch to give it a go. After all, one could only make progress by comparison. 

After getting her makeup done, she changed into a white, long and gliding hanfu. She played a fairy whose father was a very powerful immortal. After she died, her father almost killed the heroine due to a misunderstanding. Fortunately, the hero came to save her.   

When it was almost noon, the Director explained the script to her again. After all, her acting before was not ideal. If it wasn’t because of Wang Cheng, he wouldn’t have given her the role. 

Su Shen could understand the Director’s attitude. As long as that film hasn’t been released, the public’s impression of her would only be her poor acting.

When it was almost time, she fastened the wire stunt harness. Just as she was about to fly up to the tree, Liu jie came over and whispered in her ear, “This is a hard to come by opportunity. You must not be suppressed by Yang Zhi. If your acting can’t win over, then overwhelm her with your aura.” 

It was obvious that Liu jie also thought that her acting was not as good as that of Yang Zhi.

Su Shen didn’t say anything. When the Director said that they were ready, she was suspended up to the tree. Then, she leaned against the flower vine, surrounded by the scenery built by the set-up consisting of fake mountains and trees. When special effects would be added during post-production, this would be full of clouds and mist. 

Over there, there were many people surrounding Yang Zhi, those who touched up her makeup and those who handed her water. When they were almost done, the Director shouted, “Action!”   

This was a distant shot. With a sweep of the camera, a person could be seen leaning against the flower vine. Their dress was fluttering, but their face could not be seen clearly. Just at this moment, Yang Zhi walked forward warily with a longsword in hand, and the camera panned back to shoot her face.

When Yang Zhi got near, the camera slowly drew close to Su Shen, revealing her exquisite face. Just at this moment, her eyes suddenly opened. As if she had noticed Yang Zhi, a trace of curiosity flashed in her eyes. At the same time, Yang Zhi suddenly jumped to the side. 

“Who?!” She looked around sharply. 

It was only then that Su Shen flew down to the ground. With the air blower blowing, her clothes and hair fluttered in the wind again. The Director in front of the monitor stared at Su Shen who just landed on the ground. He had to admit that her appearance was not bad.  

As soon as she landed on the ground, facing the vigilant gaze from Yang Zhi, Su Shen raised her chin slightly, “Who are you? Why did you come to our Junshan*?” 

Junshan  – a place in Hunan

Her voice was light and charming, and her expression was also just right. The Director suddenly became interested and stared closely at the two people in the same frame on the monitor. 

“This humble one is going up the mountain to ask for medicine. I ask this fairy to let me by.” Yang Zhen’s expression remained the same, but the longsword in her hand was still tightly gripped by her. It could be seen that she did not let down her guard.

Hearing this, Su Shen flew to her side and curiously circled her twice. As if she had found something interesting, she couldn’t help but reach out to grab the jade pendant on her waist, but was noticed by Yang Zhi. She attacked with her longsword and the fake stone on the side exploded immediately. 

Su Shen also took a few steps back and glared at her angrily, “Hmph, I just wanted to see your jade pendant. If you don’t give it to me today, don’t even think about going up the mountain!” 

This role would easily appear to be unruly and unreasonable if not portrayed carefully, but Su Shen portrayed it very well. Her eyes were wide open and was slightly pouting. It was clear that she was a child that did not know anything about the world. Not only the Director, but the other staff members were also surprised. How come Su Shen’s acting was different from the rumors online? It was obviously superb, and compared to Yang Zhi, she was unexpectedly not suppressed at all. 

Moreover, with the two of them in frame, it was clear that Su Shen was more beautiful than Yang Zhi.

But when they thought of the catfight between their fans, everyone’s expressions, who saw the scene in front of them, slightly changed.

Yang Zhi was also somewhat astonished. With regard to Su Shen, she had heard a lot about her. When her manager said that her role was snatched by an unknown newcomer, she had only thought that the other party had a strong background, so she searched her up. However, she only saw how horrible her acting was. Only now did she realize that everything seemed to not be like that at all. 

She didn’t stay silent for long and brandished her longsword, her expression still cold, “If you continue to mess around, this humble one would have to offend you.”

At that, Su Shen took the first shot and took off her jade pendant on her waist. Yang Zhi quickly retreated, and the two of them began their fight.  

They were both immortals, and fighting was all about flying hither and thither and gestures. Only Yang Zhi used a longsword while Su Shen did not, so she only learned a few gestures and positioning from the Movement Director. Not long after, she fell on a tree with a scream. 

Seeing this, Yang Zhi put away her longsword and continued up the mountain. 

“Cut!”

As soon as the Director’s words fell, the makeup artist immediately came to touch up her makeup. There would be a close-up of her lying dead on the ground later, but it wouldn’t show how the villain killed  her. 

She just needed to lie on the ground for the close-up shot, so filming was soon over. After she went back to the dressing room and changed her clothes, Liu jie came over and praised her, “Great job, your acting has improved a lot lately.”

Su Shen tied her hair into a ponytail in front of the mirror while smiling helplessly, “Everyone strives to improve, no one will stay the same forever.” 

Having said that, Liu jie just smiled and said, “The Director thought you did well and said that he’d like to work with you again if there are opportunities in the future. Although it was a polite remark, it can be seen that he’s pretty satisfied with your performance.” 

“Currently, the acting paths for starlets are all the same. Don’t look at how great Yang Zhi’s acting is among the starlets, once she switches to tragedy, her acting skills are simply not enough. Else, she would have changed paths already. If she goes on like this, her acting career would be limited as the Gen Zs’ catch up. That’s why, you must expand to other types of productions while you are young, and strive to break into the mainstream film industry as soon as possible. But it’s too early to say those things right now, let’s focus on building up your popularity.” Liu jie seemed to be in a good mood, with a smile on her face.

Su Shen didn’t say anything. It was too early to talk about those things currently. What she needed now was to have a representative work and to increase her popularity. She had to remove the label of poor acting from her, otherwise those big directors would never notice her. 

When they were leaving, Wang Cheng said that he wanted to treat her to dinner, but Su Shen ignored it. She got in the car and rushed to the airport. When she got home, it was almost midnight. After a long day, she quickly took a shower and went to bed.

In the following half a month, Su Shen was busy with running from one engagement to another. She had also accepted some endorsements for consumer goods. After all, the money could be earned quickly. As a seasonal spokesperson, she could earn two million. Although it was not as much as Wang Cheng and the others’ ten million, it was still money. 

For half a month, she had been running to and fro for each engagement, but she had earned a lot of money. It was not until the modern drama started filming that she finally ended her days of running back and forth.

On the day of the opening ceremony, a lot of reporters gathered outside. This was a modern drama, so there was no need to go to Shanghai Film Park. It was basically apartments rented by the production crew and sets built by them.

The first scene was a big action scene. Perhaps because the production team attracted a lot of investment, they went so far as to reserve a whole floor of a shopping mall to film. The heroine was a news reporter and was going to interview the owner of a beauty salon to follow closely the entrepreneur lifestyle that was trending presently. Who knew that after the interview, several gangsters suddenly raided the bank at the shopping mall. The heroine and several other people were forced into a clothing store and taken hostage. The hero appeared, and after a fierce shootout, the hero finally rescued the hostages. However, the gangsters almost shot the heroine during the frenzy but was luckily blocked by the hero. Subsequently, the hero’s arm was shot. 

The aim of idol dramas was that all coincidences were for the encounter of the hero and the heroine, to ignite the sparks of love.

She didn’t think so when she read the script before, but now, Su Shen felt very weird when she recalled that the other party was Xie Yan. There were many lovey dovey scenes and lines of ambiguity. It was hard to imagine how Xie Yan would act it out.

Xie Yan arrived just in time. Seeing that he was brought by his agent, Su Shen didn’t go and greet him. It was not until the Director asked everyone to burn incense that they walked together side by side. 

After worship, everyone dispersed again. They still had to film in the afternoon. There were still reporters remaining and gathered outside. Remembering that she was drunk in front of him last time, Su Shen only felt very embarrassed. 

“Last time… thank you for sending me back.” She stepped forward and thanked him. 

He Hua, on the side, walked away expressionlessly. He didn’t dare to disturb this big bro’s romance.

When Xie Yan walked to the door of his dressing room, he suddenly stopped and turned around to look at her, “Don’t drink so much in the future.” 

If another man had sent her back…

“En.” Su Shen lightly said with an embarrassed laugh.

After saying that, Su Shen remembered that she still had to go change her clothes, so she turned around and was about to leave, “I’ll go first then.” 

But before she turned around fully, her arm was suddenly grabbed by a big hand. She turned around stiffly and happened to meet a pair of dark eyes. 

Xie Yan raised the script in his hand, “Let’s go over that scene.”