That morning, they filmed the scene where Zhao Ziru said goodbye to Lin Jiexuan. That afternoon, they would film the scene where Zhao Ziru perished together with the invaders in the theater. Shen Xuanrun would finish filming that night.
Shen Xuanrun was full of enthusiasm too. I'm going to wrap! I'm going home!
"Action!"
After hearing what had happened at the opera troupe, Lin Jiexuan hurried over. He saw the young man with his head lowered and a calm expression on his face.
"Ziru, are you all right?" Lin Jiexuan asked worriedly.
"Why are you here?" Zhao Ziru did not answer Lin Jiexuan's question directly, asking him a question instead.
"I heard what happened at the troupe. I was worried about you, so I came to check on you."
"I'm fine. Don't worry too much."
"Then promise me first that you won't do anything foolish, all right?" Looking at Zhao Ziru, who had grown much quieter, Lin Jiexuan asked anxiously.
"Master brought me back from the wilderness in his arms, raised me from childhood, and trained me to succeed him at the troupe. My senior sister always looked after me. She was the first to teach me what love was." Zhao Ziru kept his head lowered as he spoke in a low, hoarse voice.
Lin Jiexuan understood what the young man meant. He looked at the young man before him, who seemed to have grown up in an instant. His innocence was gone, and all that radiated from him was pain.
"I understand." With that, Lin Jiexuan turned to leave.
"Brother Jiexuan."
The young man suddenly raised his head and called him back. Lin Jiexuan turned around, and the young man looked at him and said,
"As we part this time, may everything go smoothly for you. The road ahead will always have its tides and ebbs, but that is what gives life meaning."
Lin Jiexuan understood that the young man was comforting him. The young man wanted to say that he was merely a passerby in Lin Jiexuan's life, and hoped he would not dwell on this for the rest of his days.
Flowers bloomed and withered, tides rose and fell, and people came together, but parting would always come.
He looked into the young man's bloodshot eyes. There was no longer any light in them.
Unable to change the young man's decision, Lin Jiexuan could only flee. He turned and hurried out of the troupe's quarters, not wanting the young man to see his reddened eyes.
And he was a deserter.
And this parting would be their last.
"Cut!"
Cheng Hao was no longer as excited as before. Precisely because Shen Xuanrun had acted so well, Cheng Hao had felt through him the pain of an ordinary person choosing to shoulder the hatred born of wrongs against his family and country. In truth, he was alone on that battlefield, even if what he could do was insignificant, even if he would soon be forgotten.
This was the sorrow of an ordinary person, but it was also an ordinary person's resistance. If the world is unjust, then I'll stake my life against it!
In fact, it was not just Cheng Hao. Shen Xuanrun also felt oppressed and saddened by this atmosphere. After filming, he sat silently on a stool with his head lowered.
Yet Yang Jiayu sat down beside him.
"You can't get out of character." Yang Jiayu was not asking a question, but stating a fact.
Shen Xuanrun raised his head to look at Yang Jiayu, then quickly lowered it again and said quietly,
"I'm just very sad."
"People in every era have their own circumstances and responsibilities. No one has ever been as insignificant as a feather; everyone carries the weight of a mountain. And you have chosen to act out their stories." Yang Jiayu patted Shen Xuanrun's shoulder and spoke earnestly.
Shen Xuanrun froze for a moment, then quickly came to his senses and said gratefully,
"Thank you!"
By that afternoon, Shen Xuanrun had recovered and was ready to film his final scene.
Zhao Ziru changed into his opera costume and applied elaborate makeup. He quietly gazed at himself in the mirror, carefully shaping every stroke.
Step by step, he walked onto the stage and looked at his enemies before him. His flowing sleeves fluttered, his steps danced gracefully, and his delicate lips parted to pour out his heart.
"Parting in life and death filled my heart with sorrow, leaving Liu Chen in heart-rending pain."
The moment Shen Xuanrun began to sing, the entire crew was stunned. Cheng Hao's eyes immediately lit up. Nothing could be better than being able to use the actor's own voice for the filming.
"In vain am I a gallant man of seven feet. Above, I cannot secure the nation and protect my homeland; between, I cannot protect my wife and fulfill a husband's duty; below, I cannot safeguard my children from calamity. I cannot save my country, and my family too is lost. How could I bring myself to sever all feeling..."
The people below the stage clapped and spoke words Zhao Ziru could not understand, but he did not care at all. He looked at the group below. It was them. Without betraying anything, he walked to the spot onstage that had clearly been tampered with and stepped down on it.
With that step, flames of war erupted all around; with that step, every debt of gratitude and vengeance became clear.
Zhao Ziru paid it no mind. He kept singing and dancing, even as flames rose around him. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Unable to remain standing, he fell to the ground.
It really hurts. Yet Zhao Ziru smiled. As he smiled, tears spilled from his eyes. "Master, senior sister, wait..."
Blood stained his opera costume red. In the end, he never finished his words. A great fire burned it all away.
A foot-long flowing sleeve flung out anger and sorrow; a rattan rod carried one ten thousand miles and back in an instant; a table paid tribute to the warmth and cruelty of the world; a great curtain veiled heaven and earth.
He was merely a visitor experiencing the mortal world. Even if he was small and utterly unremarkable, he had not failed his family or country.
"Cut!"
People all over the set were already crying. Everyone desperately kept their voices down, afraid of disrupting the filming.
As soon as the director finished speaking, Shen Xuanrun immediately scrambled up and found Little Li.
"Little Li, quick, pack up! We're going home!" No longer his usual gentle self, Shen Xuanrun spoke excitedly.
Everyone on set: Is wrapping really that exciting? Give me back my tears first!
Cheng Hao immediately said, "Don't rush off. We still have a few shots to pick up!"
Before their eyes, Shen Xuanrun immediately wilted, looking pitiful.
Everyone on set: Hmph, serves you right!
Once everything had been filmed, Shen Xuanrun was already humming excitedly when Cheng Hao immediately added,
"You haven't even had the wrap party dinner yet. What's the rush?"
Shen Xuanrun: Do I absolutely have to eat this meal?
At the dinner table, Shen Xuanrun was very happy. Cheng Hao and Yang Jiayu took turns getting him to drink a few extra glasses, and then... then he passed out drunk, successfully falling asleep.
It was another day when he could not go home.
Cheng Hao and Yang Jiayu: Haha, we did it on purpose. Seeing him finish work so early and show off over there made us unhappy. What are you going to do about it?
At noon the next day, Shen Xuanrun woke up, rubbed his head, which hurt terribly from his hangover, and decisively fled with his bags.
Shen Xuanrun: I can't stay with this crew a moment longer! Going home!!! So happy!
By the time Gu Weichen arrived from abroad to deliver flowers, all that remained was an empty room.
Gu Weichen: Do you absolutely have to go home right now? (ノ=Д=)ノ┻━┻
Cheng Hao: President Gu, I really did my best! ⊙﹏⊙