"Brother?"
Zhang Yang repeated the way Nazha had addressed him, a teasing glint in his eyes. "Nazha, did you stay up all night studying the script and sleep through your alarm?"
Sleep through my alarm?
Not really. She remembered peeking through the peephole before opening the door, and even putting the security chain on.
But she felt as if she had been through so much.
Nazha looked dazed.
Right. She was Gulnazar, not Zhao Jingniang.
You dreamed about what you thought about during the day. She must have read the script too intently before bed, so she had dreamed about it.
But could a dream feel so real? Could she remember those scenes so clearly?
And the scenes, story, and dialogue in her dream had indeed been just like Zhang Yang's script.
It was probably just a dream.
"I must have slept through my alarm." Nazha gave an awkward smile. "Brother Yang, did you need something?"
"Need something? Shouldn't you be asking if you slept through your alarm? You really did." Zhang Yang unlocked his phone and turned the screen toward her. "Take a look. What time is it?"
"Eight seventeen!" Nazha's pupils shrank, and she came fully awake.
Today was her first scene. She was supposed to go with Lin Feng's crew to film at a nearby Taoist temple. They were scheduled to leave at eight thirty, and there wasn't much time left.
"Ah, Brother Yang, wait a second. I'll be right there."
Feeling the pajamas she was wearing, Nazha cried out in alarm and hurried into her room, not even closing the door behind her.
For some reason, she trusted Zhang Yang completely. She had no guard up around him at all.
Zhang Yang leaned against the doorway. Seeing her standing in front of the sofa, fretting over a pile of clothes, he crossed his arms. "You'll have to change into your costume later. You don't need to dress up. The simpler, the better."
At that, Nazha immediately knew what to do. She picked up a yellow floral dress and laid it on the bed, then started to take off her pajamas.
Zhang Yang: "..."
Should I watch, or should I watch?
Before the light of the Holy Spirit could descend, Zhang Yang reached out and shut the door.
He didn't consider himself a gentleman, but he wasn't some perverted creep who'd spy on a woman, either.
If he wanted to admire Nazha's body, he'd have to earn the right. Otherwise, all that reincarnation and cheating would have been for nothing.
"Ah!"
Just as Nazha was about to change, she suddenly realized Zhang Yang was still watching from the doorway. Instinctively, she stopped and turned around.
Seeing that the door was closed, she breathed a sigh of relief and murmured, "How could I doubt my brother? He escorted me for a thousand li and never once crossed the line..."
Nazha thought she was going crazy.
She'd heard that Experiential School actors sometimes got so deep into a role that they couldn't get out of character, or even fell in love while filming.
But she hadn't even started acting yet. How could she already be unable to get out of character?
Was she a natural?
She took a deep breath to calm herself and stopped letting her mind wander. She took off her pajama bottoms, put on a pair of safety shorts, then slipped into her dress, leaving only her lovely swanlike neck exposed.
She dashed into the bathroom and finished washing up in five minutes. Then she grabbed her phone, room key, and a few pages of the script before opening the door.
"Brother Yang, let's go." Bare-faced, Nazha had a fresh, unearthly beauty.
Zhang Yang said nothing. He accompanied her down to the lobby, where they met up with Lin Feng and the others.
"Everyone's here. Let's get going."
The production had rented a bus, and the small crew rode together to the nearby Taoist temple.
Zhang Yang and Nazha sat together. They didn't talk; both of them were reading the script.
But anyone who looked closely at their eyes could tell they weren't focused.
Nazha was still thinking about last night's dream. Many details were already growing hazy, but the emotions were becoming clearer.
Zhang Yang, meanwhile, was studying the Opportunity Manual in his mind. The benefits he'd gained from entering a dream had given him a taste for more, and he couldn't wait to accumulate Character Points and Opportunity Points.
[Time: March 18, 10:18 a.m. Location: Room X, Floor X, XX Hotel, Hong Kong Guide: (Locked/1 Character Point)] [Time: March 18, 2:21 p.m. Location: Building 1, Block A, Greenland Century City, No. 1 Jinye Road, High-tech Zone, Xi'an (Jiaxing Media) Guide: (Locked/2 Character Points)] [Time: March 18, 7:04 p.m. Location: Hunan. Guide: (Locked/1 Character Point)] [Time: March 19, 7:01 a.m. Location: Old Hengdian Steamed Bun Shop Guide: (Locked/1 Character Point)]
"The first three aren't worth considering. I don't have time to go."
"The fourth opportunity is close by. I'll get up early tomorrow and check it out."
These past few days, Zhang Yang had been keeping an eye on the opportunities that appeared in the Opportunity Manual.
Some were too far away to reach in time, while others sounded too difficult just from their locations.
He still had nine Character Points. He couldn't seize every opportunity, so he had to choose carefully.
"Still, it's not like I can't seize an opportunity without Opportunity Points."
"Using Opportunity Points just tells me how to take advantage of an opportunity. That doesn't mean I can't seize it through my own abilities."
"I wonder if I'll get Opportunity Points for seizing one by myself."
"Opportunity Points let me enter a character's dream and randomly inherit their abilities."
"Maybe someday I'll get a cultivation technique or cutting-edge technology."
Zhang Yang remembered that when he inherited a character, their abilities would change according to the world's rules. Even so, he couldn't help imagining all the possibilities.
"Brother Yang." Nazha suddenly tugged at his sleeve.
"Hmm?" Zhang Yang pulled himself out of his thoughts and smiled at her.
"Do you believe in past lives?" Nazha looked at him expectantly.
"I do." Zhang Yang replied without hesitation.
"Really?" Nazha's eyes lit up.
"Of course." Zhang Yang answered solemnly. "I think I was Qin Shi Huang in my previous life."
"I'm Qin Shi Huang. Send me money!"
Nazha: "..."
If you'd said you were Emperor Taizu of Song in your previous life, I would've sent you money.
"Forget it. I'm not talking to you." Nazha rolled her eyes.
She really must have been going crazy.
Maybe she'd been Zhao Jingniang in her past life, but Zhang Yang definitely hadn't been Zhao Kuangyin.
"Haha." Zhang Yang found Nazha amusing and chuckled. "Let's run through our lines."
"All right." Nazha focused.
The most important thing now was to play her role well.
But when they started practicing their lines, she felt a little dazed.
Why did this all feel so familiar?
A little over an hour later, the bus pulled into a parking lot.
The crew got off one by one and headed to the Taoist temple, where they followed Lin Feng's instructions to set up the cameras.
Before filming began, Zhang Yang went over to him. "Brother Lin, I've got some new ideas for tomorrow's horse-riding and fight scenes. Could I run them by you?"
Lin Feng had worked his way up from a martial arts stunt performer to a stand-in and then a renowned action director. He had a solid foundation, plenty of ideas, and was happy to hear actors' suggestions—as long as they were useful.
"Weren't the moves we worked out a few days ago pretty good?" Lin Feng asked, puzzled.
He'd come to admire Zhang Yang. He wasn't just a top-tier idol with good looks; he was also a trained martial artist, a natural for action films.
Among the young people he knew, only Liu Yifei, whom he'd worked with on The Return of the Condor Heroes, was as good-looking and willing to work hard on action scenes as Zhang Yang. She was a capable female action lead.
Come to think of it, Liu Yifei seemed to be filming The Four Great Constables on a nearby set lately.
"I've been looking through some reference material and learned something. Zhao Kuangyin was equally skilled with fists and staff. Besides Grand Ancestor's Long Fist, which everyone knows about, his greatest skill was the Grand Ancestor's Coiled Dragon Staff. I want to design a set of moves using a staff." Zhang Yang spoke frankly to Lin Feng.
In fact, he'd known all along that Zhao Kuangyin was equally skilled with fists and staff. But since he wasn't very good with a staff, he'd defaulted to designing sword and spear moves, focusing on making them look cool.
It was a melodramatic romance drama. There was no need to be too particular; looking cool was enough.
But things were different now. He was Emperor Taizu of Song himself.
Not only was he skilled with the Coiled Dragon Staff, it was also impressive and commanding.
"Staff work." Lin Feng pondered. "Can you do it well?"
He hadn't rejected the idea outright, which meant there was a chance.
Zhang Yang smiled. "Want to see?"
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