A "Little" Man's Revenge

So no matter how hard Lu Heng tried, everything he did during this period was futile.

When Lu Heng arrived at Yan Film Studio, he found that aside from director Fang Kaizhi and screenwriter Yao Suhua, only Rong Xiu, who played the second male lead Han Lusheng, was there.

This surprised Lu Heng slightly—he had thought he would be the first to arrive.

Rong Xiu also spotted Lu Heng standing at the makeup room door and greeted him with a beaming smile. "So little Lusheng is here. I told you your look was perfect. See? You really are playing my younger self."

Lu Heng smiled faintly and called him Brother Rong. He then greeted Director Fang and Yao Suhua.

Both Fang Kaizhi and Yao Suhua looked a little awkward. It was probably guilt over choosing Zhao Miao to play the young Cen Qiubai. In truth, Zhao Miao's audition had not been better than Lu Heng's, but the production team and investors had to consider more than acting ability—they also had to consider costs and returns.

All in all, it was not a matter of losing on merit.

Fang Kaizhi picked up a script from the table and handed it to Lu Heng with a smile. "This is the script for Autumn Dew White. Read it whenever you have time."

This was the first time Lu Heng had received the complete script since confirming his role in Autumn Dew White.

According to the production's rules, complete scripts were generally distributed only to some of the main cast. This was mainly to prevent important plot details from being leaked during filming and causing losses for the production.

Given Lu Heng's status, he should only have received the portions involving his scenes. However, Fang Kaizhi ultimately gave him the full script to make up for his guilt. He probably hoped that after reading it, Lu Heng would better understand the character Han Lusheng.

This decision stemmed from trust in Lu Heng's talent and character.

Lu Heng understood this perfectly and solemnly thanked Director Fang. Then, before the others arrived, he tucked himself into a corner to read the script.

Although he had watched the finished version of Autumn Dew White in his previous life, too much time had passed, and many of the details had grown hazy.

It was a romance woven from war and sacrifice. The male lead, Cen Qiubai, came from a Peking opera family. Thanks to his family training, he had become a renowned performer in the city at a young age. He used his status to move among high society, constantly gathering military intelligence. During this time, he met the female lead, Leng Shuang.

Leng Shuang was an intelligence agent for our Party. She had come to Beijing to steal the classified information on the traitorous Wu Guowei's betrayal of the country. However, Wu Guowei was cunning and vigilant by nature; ordinary people could not get close to him at all. Yet Wu Guowei had one hobby—he loved opera, especially romantic plays.

Leng Shuang and Cen Qiubai decided to use this to get close to Wu Guowei. But they had not expected their plot to be exposed by a traitor. Not only did Leng Shuang and Cen Qiubai fail to obtain Wu Guowei's treasonous secrets, they alerted the enemy. Cen Qiubai was also thrown into prison by Wu Guowei on charges of being a rebel.

To rescue the male lead and the Yunji Troupe, which had been dragged into the disaster, Han Lusheng, the second male lead who had secretly loved Cen Qiubai all along, exhausted every means to convince Wu Guowei that Cen Qiubai was not a revolutionary. Wu Guowei released Cen Qiubai from prison, and Han Lusheng urged his senior brother to leave the capital as soon as possible. But for the lives and safety of hundreds of our Party's intelligence agents, Cen Qiubai insisted on stealing the secrets. Han Lusheng had no choice but to help his senior brother. He returned alone to Wu Guowei's residence, secretly slipped into Wu Guowei's bedroom, and found the document Cen Qiubai wanted in the safe. But as he was leaving, he discovered that the document was fake.

It turned out Wu Guowei had never believed him. From beginning to end, he had remained convinced that Cen Qiubai was a revolutionary. The only reason he had released him was to cast a long line for a big catch. The document Han Lusheng had been allowed to steal was merely part of the arrest plan.

Han Lusheng wanted to tell his senior brother the truth, but he was already under Wu Guowei's control. If he took the document to Cen Qiubai, the people following him would discover the hiding places of Cen Qiubai and the Beijing revolutionaries.

In despair, Han Lusheng ran to the city wall, sang "The Empty Fort Strategy," and jumped to his death.

Chapter 13: A "Little" Man's Revenge

The preliminary training for Autumn Dew White lasted more than three months. During that time, most of the main cast members with opera scenes had to join the production early. To better portray his role as the second male lead, Rong Xiu spent more than four hours every day learning opera at Yan Film Studio.

Rong Xiu's movement instructor was Madam Zhu Xiumei, a renowned Peking opera artist in Beijing. To help Rong Xiu fully recreate the authentic essence of a Peking opera huadan on camera, Zhu Xiumei not only imposed strict requirements on his movements and singing, but also advised him to read biographies of great Peking opera performers.

Perhaps because the two played the same character, Fang Kaizhi simply sent Lu Heng to Madam Zhu Xiumei for instruction as well.

Lu Heng felt he was benefiting from Rong Xiu's good fortune. At first, he had been quite pleased about it. But once training began, that feeling turned into endless misery.

Because during training, Zhu Xiumei truly treated Rong Xiu and Lu Heng as apprentices learning the craft. Her demands were so strict they made people want to cry. Even Lu Heng, who prided himself on having a solid martial arts foundation and had learned several wusheng roles under his grandfather's influence, had nearly failed to endure it.

Three months of hardship for ten minutes on stage.

This was definitely not treatment a minor supporting character in a drama should receive!

Those twenty thousand yuan had been painfully earned!

Lu Heng joked about himself to find amusement amid the hardship. Yet precisely because he had suffered so much, he admired Rong Xiu, who had trained alongside him, all the more.

A thirty-year-old man with no martial arts foundation, older than Lu Heng, and far less flexible, had somehow mastered several huadan opera excerpts so flawlessly in just three months.

"Brother Rong, winning Best Supporting Actor at Cannes for this role would be absolutely deserved."

Lost in emotion, Lu Heng accidentally spoiled someone's future.

Rong Xiu, who was stretching his legs, was startled by Lu Heng's grand claim. Once he recovered, he could not help smiling warmly. "Then I'll accept your good wishes."

Perhaps because they had shared hardships over the past three months, the relationships among most of the production's main cast and crew had grown closer, and they got along far more smoothly than at the beginning. However, there were still many actors Lu Heng had yet to meet—