CH 31

Gu Qingchi stayed a step behind Wang Haisheng from beginning to end.

He was still in costume. His hair was tied up. It was slightly wavy. 

A few strands of hair by his temples were soaked in sweat and stuck to his cheeks. He was a little tired from the constant outtakes that afternoon.

However, he was still standing tall. His back and waist formed a beautiful arc, straight and good-looking.

Xie Luyu invited them in and sat up straight, a serious look on his face.

Pan Xiaocheng, who had just been dragged out of the blacklist, was still angrily questioning him. Xie Luyu’s notifications were going off nonstop. 

Wang Haisheng was very understanding. After all, he wanted to ask Xie Luyu for a favor, so he spoke politely.

“If you’re busy with something, you can go ahead and deal with it first. I’ll wait.”

So, Xie Luyu looked down at his phone and dragged Pan Xiaocheng, who had just been freed, back into his blacklist.

The world instantly became much more quiet.

“Okay. I’m done.”

Earlier, Wang Haisheng was really just being polite. Now, he wasn’t going to hold back.

“It;s like this. I know your time is precious. This won’t take up too much of your time.”

Xie Luyu responded very earnestly. 

“No, no, no. You’re too kind. My time isn’t precious at all. In fact, it’s the opposite of precious. You can take up as much of my time as you like. You have that right.”

This was the first time that Xie Luyu was being so warm and polite to him. Wang Haisheng actually felt rather uncomfortable.

However, Xie Luyu’s strange attitude was one thing. The favor he was about to ask for was another. He needed to focus on the issue at hand.

“In that case, I’ll be blunt. This kid wasn’t able to get the right feeling during his scene this afternoon. I don’t think you have a lot of scenes coming up, so…” 

Wang Haisheng lowered his voice.

“Can you help give him some pointers?”

Wang Haisheng was prepared for Xie Luyu to make some crazy demand.

He and Xie Luyu were the kind of friends who loved messing with each other. It was a love-hate relationship. If one of them was unlucky, the other one would rejoice. 

The last time he worked with Xie Luyu, he had asked Xie Luyu for a favor. As a result, Xie Luyu wouldn’t stop hanging it over his head. He might as well have written the word “pretentious” across his forehead.

In the end, Xie Luyu managed to get a three-day vacation out of it. However, this didn’t mean he was off the hook.

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Maybe he just liked the satisfaction of having someone owe him. 

Wang Haisheng was making calculations in his head. The schedule was tight this time around. He wouldn’t be able to give him anything more than two days.

Then, he heard Xie Luyu happily agreeing.

“No problem.”

Xie Luyu hurriedly quickly added another sentence. He spoke tactfully. 

“Actually, it doesn’t look like I have that many scenes lined up.”

Wang Haisheng immediately went with the flow. It didn’t really matter what the reason for his behavior was. All that mattered was that he achieved his goal.

“In that case, I’ll let you take care of him.”

Xie Luyu internally gave himself a thumbs up. 

Xiao Xie, you are just too quick-witted!

After Wang Haisheng explained everything, he walked away with his hands behind his back.

He gave them some space to communicate.

As soon as Wang Haisheng left, the room immediately fell quiet. 

Gu Qingchi sat on the sofa next to Xie Luyu.

Xie Luyu’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. There was a lot he wanted to say. He wanted to say that everyone gets stuck sometimes, he wanted to praise him for not getting stage fright, he wanted to tell him not to take everything Wang Haisheng said to heart.

However, in the end, he didn’t speak. Instead, he poured a glass of water for Gu Qingchi.

“Which scene was it?” 

Gu Qingchi shifted his gaze from the cup to Xie Luyu.

“The fourth scene.”

Xie Luyu immediately recalled the scene in question.

“The part with the siege. I’ll run through the scene with you and act as your opponent.” 

As soon as Xie Luyu’s voice fell, his demeanor changed.

Ke Mu’s opponent in this scene was a general of an eastern nation. He was a minor character within the movie.

This scene contained cavalry. Much of the fighting was done on horseback.

Xie Luyu raised his head and leaned his upper body forward, just as if he were on a horse. Even the upward tilt of his smile seemed to contain the readiness to kill. 

After running through the scene a couple of times, Xie Luyu had a good idea of what the problem was.

Xie Luyu thought about it for a bit. Then, he started guiding Gu Qingchi.

“What do you think someone like Ke Mu would do when he’s faced with a desperate situation? What will he think?”

Gu Qingchi responded quickly. 

“I—He won’t be thinking about anything.”

Xie Luyu noticed that Gu Qingchi subconsciously used the word “I” at first, not “he”. This showed that, at least in that moment, he truly thought of himself as Ke Mu.

Xie Luyu shook his head.

“No. Ke Mu is mentally disabled. There are a lot of things he doesn’t think about, but it’s exactly for this reason that he’s incredibly straightforward. When things go his way, he’s happy, and, when things don’t, he loses his temper. When he encounters a situation he cannot solve, he gets angry.” 

Not even Xie Luyu was aware of the gentle smile he had on his face. He spoke patiently.

“Let’s run through it again.”

In just a single night, Gu Qingchi managed to fix all the problems from that afternoon.

To be honest, it wasn’t that much of a problem. In Xie Luyu’s opinion, this was just a minor misanalysis. This resulted in his performance not being as delicate and vivid as it could be. 

At the same time, Xie Luyu discovered that Gu Qingchi had an astonishing ability to empathize.

This would explain why Gu Qingchi’s performance was so natural and proficient.

However, he would still make low-level mistakes, such as not being able to find the correct angle and forgetting where the camera is.

Gu Qingchi had completely put himself within that character’s shoes. 

His method of expression was completely different from that of Xie Luyu.

Xie Luyu relied on his extensive observations of people. He memorized hundreds or even thousands of reactions and small gestures used to express emotions.

Then, he would use precise control of his own body to express his character. He relied entirely on skill. The character’s emotions had nothing to do with his own emotions.

However, Gu Qingchi was different. He was in the play. 

He was actually experiencing both the sorrows and joys of his characters.

This wasn’t too good.

Xie Luyu frowned.

He stared at Gu Qingchi. Every expression was alive and vivid. As soon as his line ended, the expression belonging to Ke Mu slowly disappeared. 

When Gu Qingchi looked up, he had returned to his quiet and calm self.

Once Xie Luyu made sure of this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness.

His amazing ability to enter character was paired with a strong ability to get out of character. 

There were only a total of four scenes with Gu Qingchi. Xie Luyu asked Wang Haisheng to adjust the schedule a little bit. By scheduling these scenes close together, Gu Qingchi would be able to finish filming his scenes in one go.

Gu Qingchi’s method of acting was very extreme. It didn’t involve any unnecessary things. Other actors might somewhat empathize with their characters, but Gu Qingchi was getting the complete experience.

Although he didn’t have any problems getting out of character, Xie Luyu was still a little worried.

The entire filming process may last for several months. It would be incredibly tiring for him to have to maintain such a state for such a long period of time. Plus, it would be exhausting for him to go in and out of character repeatedly. 

Although filming hadn’t been finished yet, the crew would occasionally release a few tidbits in order to maintain the audience’s enthusiasm.

They didn’t have a lot of spoiler-free material to work with.

“Aren’t they just making things hard for me? It has to have something to do with the movie, but it can’t have anything to do with the plot. I can’t even use any footage of the actors in costume…”

The social media manager mumbled to himself. 

He hovered his mouse over each video, one by one.

“Forget it. Let’s see what the newbie has for me.”

The social media manager opened a folder called Meng Xin’s Homework.

“Not a single one is usable. This is way too blurry—” 

His words suddenly came to a stop. The video shook a few times before the image slowly started becoming clear.

Gu Qingchi had his head thrown back. It was reminiscent of a famous ballet dance—The Dying Swan.

The video slowly zoomed in.

Gu Qingchi’s jaw twitched. Then, he turned his head, and his eyelashes trembled. He expressionlessly looked over. After pausing for a bit, he shot the camera a clear and bright smile. 

Spring was in bloom.