Chapter 11

Wenren Yan checked the time, gathered up the materials spread across the coffee table and bed one by one, then took out the script. "Come on, let's run through the scene."

Ao Qingyuan swayed slightly before coming back to himself, then nodded obediently. "Okay."

Ao Qingyuan's script clearly showed how much effort he had put into it. He had highlighted every character's lines in different colors and neatly written plenty of character notes and reflections in the margins. It looked much like a high school student's study notes. By comparison, Wenren Yan's script could only be described as clean and tidy. It looked exactly the same as when the production team had handed it out, so new it seemed as though he had never even opened it.

They called it running lines, but really, Wenren Yan was simply accompanying Ao Qingyuan as he practiced. Ao Qingyuan delivered his lines with great feeling, adding little gestures as he spoke and occasionally adjusting his tone. Wenren Yan, meanwhile, wore the same expression throughout the entire scene, with no emotional fluctuations when he recited his lines. Fortunately, the character Wenren Yan played was the soul of a High Immortal cultivating the Supreme One's Emotionless Art. He did not seem out of character while practicing with Ao Qingyuan.

The two rehearsed inside the trailer for over half an hour before a stagehand knocked on the door to remind Wenren Yan and Ao Qingyuan that filming was about to begin. After the stagehand left, Ao Qingyuan stretched and said eagerly, "Let's go down too."

One was an internationally famous superstar at the height of his popularity, while the other was a newcomer with a powerful background whom anyone with eyes could tell was just here to have some fun. Naturally, every move Ao Qingyuan and Wenren Yan made drew attention. Seeing the two approach together, Tian Bao'er, who had been waiting on set for her scene, smiled. "You two get along quite well. What have you been talking about for so long?"

Wenren Yan curled his lips slightly and replied with polite vagueness, "Just chatting."

Hearing that, Ao Qingyuan knew Wenren Yan probably did not want others to know how skilled he was at financial trading and stocks. That made sense. If he had such an impressive way of making money, he probably did not want a bunch of people bothering him for stock recommendations, especially strangers he barely knew.

Ao Qingyuan blinked and added, "Yan Shu was running lines with me. Filming's about to start, so we practiced to get more familiar with them."

Tian Bao'er said with a smile, "You actually memorized your lines in advance. You two are so hardworking."

At that, Ao Qingyuan could not help thinking of another accusation people often leveled at Tian Bao'er. Aside from taking on overlapping productions, it was said that Tian Bao'er never memorized her lines. During filming, she would have her assistant hold up a cue card beside her, with the assistant reading one line and Tian Bao'er repeating it.

A bad feeling rose in Ao Qingyuan's heart, and he asked directly, "Don't tell me you haven't memorized your lines?"

"I read through them a few times." Tian Bao'er smiled carelessly. "Don't worry. I won't delay filming."

Ao Qingyuan was somewhat dissatisfied. This was his first time acting in a costume drama. Although outsiders did not think highly of this kind of xianxia idol drama, Ao Qingyuan personally cared a great deal about it. He liked the role and wanted to play it well. Before the production had even started filming, he had asked his aunt's husband to help train his delivery, and had specifically hired someone to teach him wirework. Despite being busy with concert tours and commercials, he still spent an hour every night suspended in a specially renovated training room, all to familiarize himself with the movements and how to use his core strength.

Ao Qingyuan had worked so hard to prepare, so naturally he did not want to see someone else being so careless and negligent. Given his status and popularity in the industry, he was also qualified to show his displeasure. "I don't care how you act when you're doing scenes with other people. But when you're acting with me, please memorize your lines. Show me some respect."

Tian Bao'er looked at Ao Qingyuan in surprise, not knowing what she had said to make him unhappy.

Was there really any need to lose his temper?

Tian Bao'er grumbled inwardly, but outwardly, she nodded calmly and said with a smile, "Don't worry. I care about this drama too."

That was the truth. After all, this was the first drama she had taken on after revealing her relationship. Tian Bao'er was counting on this drama to make a comeback, so she had not been as careless as she had been with her previous production. She had still done the necessary preparation.

Everything was ready. The director instructed all the actors and extras to take their positions. This scene depicted Jiuxiao, the head of the cultivation world's foremost sect, Nine Heavens Palace, celebrating his two-hundredth birthday. Major sects had come to offer their congratulations. At the ceremony, Jiuxiao announced that the once-in-a-millennium Little Immortal Realm would soon open, inviting the major sects to select outstanding disciples to enter the Little Immortal Realm for training. Upon learning the news, members of the demonic path arrived uninvited and demanded that Nine Heavens Palace give some of the slots to them. Otherwise, they would launch a massacre and slaughter the outstanding disciples of the righteous sects.

This was also the male and female leads' first meeting in the drama. Wenren Yan had no part in this scene. He would be filming the next one, set later in the story, where the female lead, after turning evil, led the demonic path in an assault on Nine Heavens Palace and demanded that they release the male lead. The male lead, who had already begun cultivating the Supreme One's Emotionless Art, broke through his seclusion with the Supreme One's help and suppressed the entire demonic path single-handedly.

When Wenren Yan had read the script, he had thought the plot looked especially like Bai Suzhen flooding Golden Mountain Temple. For a time, he had even wondered whether the screenwriter had some bizarre sense of humor. But after seeing Ao Qingyuan's appearance while cultivating the Supreme One's Emotionless Art, Wenren Yan knew perfectly well that this was definitely not some bizarre joke.

—A male lead with that sort of saintly, abstinent aura should be stolen away by a completely uninhibited witch.

Author's note:

Thank you to all the lovely readers who sent virtual gifts or nutrient fluid between 2020-05-19 11:51:50 and 2020-05-20 11:14:56~

Thank you to the lovely reader who donated nutrient fluid: Blue Sky, 5 bottles;

Thank you all so much for your support. I will continue working hard!

Chapter 11

Filming really was a tedious thing, especially for a large-scale crowd scene like this. Even if a single extra stood in the wrong position, the entire scene had to be reshot. After more than an hour, even Wenren Yan, watching from the side, was getting impatient. Yet Ao Qingyuan still diligently rehearsed his lines, controlled his expressions, and flew back and forth on the wires again and again. After seventeen NGs, there was not the slightest change in his facial expressions or body movements. He was as precise as a robot whose program had been set in advance.