You Need to Rein It In

"Come on, brother, don't be mad. We're a rough bunch. When we're tired, we drink, and when we drink, we make dirty jokes."

An Jingchuan, the cameraman who had started it, realized Shen Qi had a point and hurried to apologize again.

"You're making too much of it, Jingchuan!"

Shen Qi clinked glasses with him, and that was the end of it.

The others stopped making those jokes too.

Only then did everyone remember that Liu Yifei was just seventeen, with a mother at her side who seemed gentle but was fiercely protective of her.

Shen Qi's first scene required him to ride a horse—while the Little Dragon Maiden chased him down.

After more than a week with the crew, it was finally his turn.

Yu Min went to film Huang Xiaoming practicing swordplay one-handed beneath a waterfall.

First assistant director Zhao Guangbin was in charge of Shen Qi's scenes. He started planning camera positions and angles early that morning and had his hands full.

He was determined to get shots Zhang Jizhong would be happy with.

Whether he could direct on his own someday depended on how he performed on The Condor.

Shen Qi got into costume and makeup, then waited to mount up and start filming.

For the riding scene, he had made a point of using the Magic Book to record two pieces of horseback-riding parchment over the past two days.

He already knew how to ride, in fact.

This was just a precaution.

"Hey, brother, why does your outfit look like it fits better than mine? And that hairstyle... Aren't we both from the Quanzhen Order?"

Liu Naiyi, who played Zhao Zhijing, began to question everything.

His character was treacherous and cunning, but Liu Naiyi himself was a decent guy.

When Shen Qi auditioned, Liu Naiyi had even helped him run lines. He hadn't used his superior acting skills to deliberately overshadow Shen Qi.

"What are you talking about? They're the same Daoist robes!"

Shen Qi hadn't expected anyone to notice so quickly.

He was the handsomest Dragon Knight!

It wasn't just his looks. The crew had put plenty of effort into his costume and makeup too.

In light of what Shen Qi had done for the crew, they had repaid him handsomely.

First, there was his pay.

The agreed eight thousand yuan had been raised to thirteen thousand—an extra five thousand.

It was more dignified than handing him a cash bonus.

And the money was already in his account.

With it, Shen Qi planned to bring his father to the capital for treatment.

His father could have been treated back home, but the family had always worried about the cost and stuck with conservative treatment.

Between surgery and follow-up care, it had once been more than Shen Qi could even contemplate.

But things were different now.

In just a few months, Shen Qi had earned twenty thousand yuan.

And this was only the beginning.

Once these dramas aired, more roles would come his way.

His pay would rise with them.

He might even get the chance to play a male lead.

A proper starring role in a TV drama could easily pay over a hundred thousand yuan.

Then there was Zhen Zhibing's costume and makeup.

Stylists, hairstylists, makeup artists, costume designers... Shen Qi had friends throughout the crew.

Each gave him a little preferential treatment.

Zhen Zhibing's look couldn't be too good, really, or he would steal the spotlight.

The actor playing Yang Guo would surely be unhappy.

But there was one thing.

Yang Guo was played by Huang Xiaoming!

Shen Qi had "saved his life," and Huang Xiaoming had yet to repay him.

In Huang Xiaoming's mind, Shen Qi was as close as a brother.

If he ever truly couldn't play Yang Guo, he would rather the role went to Shen Qi than to Nie Yuan.

A costume and makeup look was nothing to him.

If the male lead didn't care, no one else would say a word.

It didn't affect the production as a whole anyway.

"Tsk. If you'd been a little more forward, Yang Guo wouldn't have stood a chance... All right, brother, let's run for our lives!"

Liu Naiyi laughed.

He was already looking forward to the audience's reaction when the drama aired.

Then again...

If Zhen Zhibing was redeemed, wouldn't Zhao Zhijing get even more of the audience's hate?

Oh, shit!

"It shouldn't be hard. Once we're done, let's go out for drinks tonight. Xiaoming's treating..."

Shen Qi passed along Huang Xiaoming's invitation and asked Liu Naiyi to join them.

It was hardly the first time Huang Xiaoming had treated him. Lately, it had been happening every few days.

Xiaoming was a great guy, but Shen Qi couldn't help worrying.

Xiaoming's rise had a certain "legendary" quality to it.

Plenty of gossip reports claimed he had a powerful backer.

Shen Qi was genuinely worried some media outlet would come to Jiuzhaigou for footage and catch the two of them walking around with their arms over each other's shoulders.

So Shen Qi liked to bring other people along.

That was why he had invited Liu Naiyi too.

Liu Naiyi had only arrived today and didn't know Shen Qi had saved Huang Xiaoming.

He was surprised Shen Qi had struck up a friendship with Huang Xiaoming and was naturally happy to meet the rising star through him.

Filming began in earnest!

Shen Qi and Liu Naiyi mounted their horses and struck poses for the camera, acting as though they were fleeing.

Most outdoor chase scenes were shot in wide angles.

Compared with the Hong Kong and Taiwan adaptations, mainland Jin Yong dramas had one great advantage: they filmed on location.

Beautiful scenery was the whole point.

Shen Qi and Liu Naiyi only had to ride their horses properly.

They rarely even shared a frame with the Little Dragon Maiden. When they did, she was far behind them.

Given her martial arts skills, they would never have escaped if she had been close.

As for why, after learning the truth, the Little Dragon Maiden neither reported Zhen Zhibing nor drew a weapon, but simply followed him halfway up the mountain toward the Quanzhen Order...

Right? Why hadn't she killed him?

There were plenty of explanations.

Some said the Little Dragon Maiden was inexperienced and didn't know what to do.

Others said she was innocent and kind, and couldn't bring herself to kill.

Some even said she wanted to make Zhen Zhibing suffer before killing him: wait until he returned to Chongyang Palace, then finish him off in front of all those stinking Daoists.

Each theory had its supporters, but some people had even started shipping the two of them.

Jin Yong had precedent, after all: Ji Xiaofu, the Dream Maiden, A Ke...

It had happened more than once or twice.

Shen Qi didn't need to puzzle over it.

The scene wasn't difficult, and they finished that part in half a day.

He hadn't even needed the Magic Book.

But when they got to the scene where he went to the Ancient Tomb to ask for an antidote, the Magic Book had to come to his rescue.

In this scene, Zhen Zhibing went with his master, Qiu Chuji, to request the antidote.

He sent his master away and chose to linger alone outside the Ancient Tomb.

There was a hint of anticipation in his expression, though he tried hard to suppress it.

Clearly, he knew he was in the wrong. As one of the finest third-generation disciples of the Quanzhen Order, he should not have been so preoccupied with a successor of the Ancient Tomb Sect.

But his thoughts kept wandering toward her, and he couldn't help it.

The earlier part was fairly easy to act.

His resolve was wavering. His reason for being there seemed legitimate, but he had a private motive.

Shen Qi handled that well.

But when Zhen Zhibing actually saw the Little Dragon Maiden, Shen Qi couldn't satisfy Zhao Guangbin.

"Cut!"

Zhao Guangbin took a hard drag on his cigarette, crushed it into the ashtray, then rose from behind the monitor and walked over to Shen Qi.

He studied Shen Qi carefully. Only after confirming that he wasn't the sort who looked lovestruck even when gazing at a dog did he prepare to talk him through the scene.

If he looked besotted even when staring at dog shit, there would be no saving him.

They might as well bury him.

"Director?"

Shen Qi grew a little embarrassed under his scrutiny.

Zhao Guangbin was an assistant director, but Shen Qi had to call him "Director." Calling him "Assistant Director" would be asking for trouble.

Directors and assistant directors were all addressed as "Director." If Yu Min was there too, Shen Qi would call this one "Director Zhao" to distinguish them.

That was how workplace etiquette worked.

As someone from Shandong, Shen Qi certainly wouldn't get it wrong.

"Your eyes aren't right." Zhao Guangbin looked at Shen Qi, then glanced at Liu Yifei beside him. "You look more lovestruck staring at the Little Dragon Maiden than Yang Guo does!"

"But the script..."

Shen Qi wasn't arguing with the director for the sake of it. He genuinely didn't understand.

The script he'd been given had a line of small print beneath this scene explaining it. It clearly used words like "infatuated" and "fervent."

Each generation of the Quanzhen Order was worse than the last.

By the third, it was downright pitiful. Anyone in the martial world with a little skill could beat their top third-generation disciple into the ground.

Zhen Zhibing, that top disciple, was only average at martial arts, but he was a decent person. In time, he could at least preserve what the Quanzhen Order had built.

But one look at the Little Dragon Maiden, and his Daoist resolve was gone.