CH 17

This novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.

Early the next morning was the opening ritual ceremony. Chen Hua’en’s opening ritual is notoriously simple. No media was invited nor requirements for any interviews. Only a table with an incense burner was set up in the shooting site and a piece of red cloth to cover the camera, while the crew members and casts would pay their respects (worship) before the unveiling of the camera when the auspicious moment arrived.

The cast members had all basically arrived and were waiting for the ceremony to begin. There were not many of them since many more have yet to join the team. Zhou Jianchen had also arrived and was reading the script by the side. He had changed into his costume for the shooting and had only a long black down jacket outside. He looked somewhat focused and his eyes were constantly deliberating, as if he was preparing for the filming.

Arriving a little late, Liang Yin apologized repeatedly. She actually got up early this morning but her makeup was done until this moment.

The cast members’ attention was distracted with curiosity and prying eyes by her arrival. The female lead for [Winter] was not announced and they were only told when they arrived here. Everyone was extremely surprised that the female lead is Liang Yin.

The Film Empress Liang who has disappeared for many years.

Thinking back about the news of her appearance at the airport, they couldn’t help but suspect that it was Chen Hua’en who specially invited her to come back. It was said that Director Chen had been unsuccessful after numerous castings.

Unaware or possibly didn’t mind even noticing the crowd’s gazes, Liang Yin just followed Du Yafu towards Chen Hua’en’s side.

Zhou Jianchen stood opposite her. Sensing her arrival, he raised his gaze then looked down again.

Liang Yin was also wrapped in a knee-length down jacket which exposed the hem of the qipao inside.

The ceremony soon began. Chen Hua’en was the first to insert the incense sticks, followed by the group of cast members where Liang Yin and Zhou Jianchen were lined up together.

When Zhou Jianchen handed her the incense sticks, he accidentally touched her hand and noticed its icy coldness.

Liang Yin’s down jacket was a little short and under the qipao was only a thin layer of silk stocking..

After the incense sticks were all inserted, it was precisely the unveiling of the red cloth on the camera and then all the cast members would gather around for a group photo.

The ceremony was over after the group photo taking concluded. All the members took their positions and started to prepare for the shooting, while Hua’en Studio uploaded the photos taken earlier on Weibo.

There were six photos from the opening ritual ceremony followed by the text — “Three years of scripting and two years of preparation, the shooting of [Winter] finally began today!”

Since Hua’en Studio is very low-key, this Weibo was just a routine announcement. Not even anyone was @, yet this Weibo still abuzzed with excitement very soon.

—- Ahhhhhhhh, my Brother Chen finally came back to act in a movie!

—- My goodness ah, I shall live to see my Brother Chen act in a movie again!

—- Who did I see? ! Who did I see? ! Is the person in the beige down jacket standing on the left side of Zhou Jianchen Film Empress Liang Yin?

—- Oh my God, it’s really my goddess! Ahhhhhh my goddess has also come back to act! !

—- My goddess has really made a comeback! My goddess has really made a comeback! Mom, I really want to cry! ! !

—- Congratulations to Brother Chen for getting what he wished for! !

—- ……

Out of those six photos, two were the single photos of Director Chen Hua’en while three were group photos from the opening ritual ceremony and the remaining one was a group photo of all the cast members.

And in one of the group photos, Zhou Jianchen and Liang Yin were standing side by side inserting the incense sticks into the incense burner together.

**********

While the internet was abuzz, the 43rd scene of [Winter] on the set once again ran into a ‘no-good’ take.

The scene was actually not complicated.

Eight years ago, Xu Mengbai faked her death and fled Shanghai while Zhou Zhaozong left in sorrow.

Eight years later, the two had an unavoidable confrontation at a ball held by a high-ranking Japanese official where Zhou Zhaozong barricaded her.

This scene was after Zhou Zhaozong had barricaded Xu Mengbai.

Zhou Zhaozong liked Xu Mengbai and was about to question her when someone came in, and Zhou Zhaozong kissed Xu Mengbai. It was originally just an act, but who knew Zhou Zhaozong’s kiss ended up being real.

The detail of this scene was the process of turning pretense into reality where Zhou Zhaozong must vent out his eight-years emotions in this kiss.

Except that the earlier ‘barricading’ scene was done well and the scene where Xu Mengbai was ‘taken to be back of the door’ was good too, but when it came to the action after ‘someone came over and Zhou Zhaozong would kiss Xu Mengbai’, Zhou Jianchen would nevertheless stopped abruptly.

Zhou Jianchen simply could not kiss her.

“Sorry, I could not get into the character.” Zhou Jianchen retracted his hands and said to Liang Yin who was below him.

After saying that, he turned to look at Chen Hua’en and said, “Let’s do it again.”

This was already his third ‘no good’ take.”

Everyone present was rather surprised. Zhou Jianchen has the reputation of being ‘one-take-through’. Originally this take was thought to be smooth, but who would have thought that he would get stuck as soon as he began.

Standing at the side, Ah Zhao was also a little nervous as Brother Chen’s expression had evidently changed.

Chen Hua’en who sat in front of the camera did not react much and just spoke to the crowd, “Take a ten minutes break.”

As if he had already anticipated this.

Xiao Tian had already stepped forward to help Liang Yin drape her clothes. Even with a small white fur cloak on her upper body, Liang Yin was still cold in such weather. She took a look at Zhou Jianchen with doubts flashed in her eyes.

She didn’t expect Zhou Jianchen to be like this either.

Although there was a certain degree of difficulty in this scene, it should be familiar and easy for him to handle.

She was also a little surprised at first with Chen Hua’en’s arrangement, but she soon felt at ease about it. She knew there would be such a scene, so it did not matter if it was filmed earlier or later. She had done kissing scenes before and that was even her first kiss, but the kiss was relatively simple since it only required her to lightly peck the male lead’s lips.

Sitting back on his chair, Zhou Jianchen took a sip of water that Ah Zhao handed to him. His gaze had become cold as he was completely out of the character.

He had prepared the whole night and was completely immersed in it this morning. He originally thought it would be shot smoothly but the outcome was not.

He simply could not kiss her.

Zhou Zhaozong would prop Xu Mengbai against the wall. When he heard the sound of the door behind, he would then kiss her. Everything was so simple, yet once he saw the person below him was Liang Yin, he came out of the character instantly which was simply uncontrollable.

It’s not that he hasn’t done kissing scenes before. Though it was rare, he had done it but not once was it like this.

Zhou Jianchen was in a rather bad mood.

He knew there was this scene too. He thought it would be shot later when the two of them had reached a certain stage of filming, but who knew it would be shot at once.

“Jianchen, relax.” Chen Hua’en had already walked over.

Zhou Jianchen turned his head, but he did not respond.

“Do you need the stage to be vacated?” Chen Hua’en asked again.

“No need.” Zhou Jianchen replied. This is not the issue of vacating the stage.

“I probably didn’t sleep well last night and could not get into the character momentarily.” He then explained again.

Chen Hua’en smiled and added, “Zhou Zhaozong likes Xu Mengbai very much, but he has never said it out, so you only need to grasp this point.”

Zhou Jianchen listened without saying anything, but his heart suddenly felt aggrieved.

Chen Hua’en then left after saying a few more words. Putting down the cup, Zhou Jianchen’s eyes fell on Liang Yin across the room. She was sitting on the chair, talking to her assistant with a hand warmer in her hands, apparently feeling a little cold.

She had been wearing silk stockings and high heels shoes all along. There was no central heating in the shooting site, so it was obviously cold.

Zhou Jianchen retracted his gaze and felt somehow a little reluctant.

Fifteen minutes later, the 43rd scene of [Winter] started filming again for the 4th time.

“Action!” Chen Hua’en shouted.

Zhou Jianchen pushed Liang Yin against the wall, his gaze was gloomily cold.

“What are you going to do?” Liang Yin looked at him with eyes full of vigilance and wariness. Her body was tense too as she leaned closely against the wall while the hand holding the handbag was tightly clenched all at once.

There was a handgun hidden in the handbag in case of an emergency.

Stung by her gaze, Zhou Jianchen still smiled grimly, “What am I going to do? Don’t you know?”

“Xu Mengbai, aren’t you dead? Or, should I call you Mo’ke?” He hissed hard while his arms were shaking when Xu Mengbai’s handbag was in his hand all of a sudden.

Mo’ke, was precisely the codename used when Xu Mengbai was undercover in Shanghai back then.

There was panic in Xu Mengbai’s eyes which soon became icy-cold again.

At this moment, someone outside the door suddenly walked in. Sensing this, Zhou Jianchen quickly turned around to block Liang Yin.

Liang Yin was surprised when Zhou Jianchen looked at her again.

Zhou Jianchen’s eyes turned cold yet became profound again …

**********

In this instant, everyone braced their heart as the scene had reached the critical moment again.

Liang Yin braced her heart too. This was where Zhou Jianchen called out stop during the previous few times.

She looked at Zhou Jianchen with a quivering gaze.

At this moment, Zhou Jianchen was glancing at her and he nevertheless lowered his head.

Liang Yin only felt softness on her lips when her whole person stiffened up.