An extra scene

Being called "Mr. Yan" made Yan Ningke flush bright red. "No, no, no, just call me by my name!"

The cameraman smiled. "Don't be modest. Your acting really was great!"

Director Zheng De was a stickler; even the male lead rarely got a scene in one take.

Yan Ningke waved his hands. "I can't compare with professionals. It's just an easy scene."

The cameraman disagreed. He had been filming for many years, and ordinary, everyday scenes like this were actually much harder than explosive ones.

Very, very few people could get through an entire scene from beginning to end in one take.

Yan Ningke pressed his palms together in surrender. "Thank you for thinking so highly of me. Let's hurry down."

He was still a little apprehensive when he entered the director's tent. To his surprise, Zheng De said nothing and simply told him to prepare for the next scene.

Because of scheduling constraints, his scenes, though few, were all concentrated into these three days. After Yan Ningke climbed the stairs again and came down after finishing his second scene, there was another person in the tent.

"Come here." Zheng De beckoned to him. "Let me introduce you. This is Liu Yunzhou, the male lead."

He was playing the younger version of this man's character.

Yan Ningke respectfully held out his hand. "Hello, Mr. Liu."

Liu Yunzhou was a refined, easygoing middle-aged man, hailed online as the ultimate older-man heartthrob. It was easy to imagine how charming he was.

"Hello. The younger generation really is formidable. You acted wonderfully."

"You're too kind," Yan Ningke said modestly. "I still have so much to learn from you."

"All right, all right, enough with the pleasantries. Yan Ningke, come here."

Zheng De hated these social niceties most of all. He beckoned him over to discuss the scene. "Look here. Your gaze clearly lost focus. And here-what happened to your blocking?"

After finishing his last scene, Yan Ningke was too exhausted even to speak. He only wanted to lie down right there and stay that way until the end of time.

Dragging his weary body slowly back to his room, he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

In his daze, he kept feeling that he had forgotten something.

His phone, completely forgotten, lay all alone on the bedside table.

Far away overseas, Shao Ke sat in a conference room holding his phone, his brow slightly furrowed.

Being unable to reach someone felt awful.

The executive giving his report thought he had made some mistake and instinctively stopped.

The room suddenly fell silent.

After a moment, Shao Ke tapped his index finger lightly on the table. "Continue."

The people in the conference room slowly exhaled.

Having a young body really was wonderful. After a night's sleep and a shower, he was a handsome, refreshed young man again.

As usual, he hid in a corner to eat breakfast. Halfway through his second steamed bun, he finally remembered something.

He slapped his thigh and hurriedly fished out his phone.

A message stood out starkly in the chat window.

[Run off?]

He could no longer worry about being late. Stuffing the last bun in his hand into his mouth, he began clattering away at the screen.

[You jump straight to saying I've run off? Then what does all my working from dawn till dusk count as?]

The reply came quite quickly.

Shao Ke: [It makes you a qualified workhorse.]

Yan Ningke smiled. [You're talking too much.]

A wonderful day began with being annoyed by a sharp-tongued man.

Yan Ningke had no acting experience. Everything he did relied entirely on his past experiences.

He had none of a professional actor's techniques. Like a blank sheet of paper, he simply and sincerely took whatever his scene partner gave him, as though he really were a real estate agent.

Watching the monitor, Zheng De saw Yan Ningke sitting beside a flower bed in the residential complex, finishing a boxed lunch in an utterly ordinary, unremarkable way, without a trace of acting.

Then he picked up his bottled water and drank half of it without the slightest concern for his image.

The stubbly man sitting beside him gave an exclamation. "Whoa! Where did you find this extra? He's got something."

Zheng De appeared expressionless, but his eyes were full of satisfaction. "His name is Yan Ningke. He's an actor."

"Where did he come from? How have I never heard of him?"

A hint of pride entered Zheng De's voice. "Xinghe Entertainment. The company's not much, but the kid's good."

The bearded man looked over in surprise. The people this fussy bastard would call good could be counted on one hand.

Zheng De called cut and told the crew to prepare for the next scene, then added, "If you have any good roles, you can use him. He's a decent person and doesn't make trouble."

The bearded man teased him. "Looks like this kid really has caught your eye. It's rare to see you actually recommending someone."

Zheng De turned a deaf ear, pretending he had heard nothing, and got up to shoo him away. "Go, go, go. I'm busy! Go do whatever you're supposed to be doing!"

The bearded man laughed heartily. Not daring to truly annoy him, he obligingly left the tent, though he went to chat with the executive director before leaving.

Yan Ningke had finished his second day's scenes and was about to return to his room when Zheng De stopped him.

Upon entering the director's tent, he found the producer and screenwriter there as well as Zheng De. He sat on a stool and listened blankly for a while before he understood.

They wanted to give him an extra scene with the male lead-a kind of dialogue between his younger self and his successful, accomplished self.

Zheng De said, "There's no dialogue, just the two of you looking at each other and smiling. You could call it looking back at your former self, or you could say it's the younger you saying goodbye to the future 'him.'"

Yan Ningke understood. "Being proud of 'him,' and wishing 'him' the courage to keep moving forward without looking back."

"Perfect! That's exactly it!"

The screenwriter nodded vigorously in excitement. Having a character they had written understood so thoroughly was a wonderful feeling.

Unlike so many so-called top stars, who never understood the characters themselves and only cared about looking cool, making a complete mess of the acting.

Once both sides were on the same page, Liu Yunzhou was notified too, and Zheng De quickly arranged the set.

The two "Xu Kaichengs" took their places. At the call of action, the set instantly fell quiet.

Yan Ningke gazed at the man opposite him in his smart suit and suddenly smiled.

As he smiled, his eyes grew red.

The screenwriter abruptly tightened their grip on the script.

After a long exchange of looks, Yan Ningke suddenly took two steps back, then turned and waved casually.

The camera followed his retreating figure until he was no more than a tiny dot, yet the director still did not call cut.

In the silence, a clear voice suddenly rang out.

"Xu Kaicheng, keep going!"

"Cut! That's a take."

Thunderous applause instantly broke out from everyone on set. Some of the girls who cried easily watched the young man running back from the distance with tears in their eyes.

"Ahh, how is his acting so good?"

"That was so moving. I never expected this part to make me cry!"

On Yan Ningke's way back, everyone showered him with praise.

To be honest, when someone who rarely received praise suddenly received so much of it, his first reaction was not delight, but panic.

Did he deserve it?

What had he ever done to deserve this?

Someone who had always stayed on the fringes had suddenly become the center of attention, and everyone around him had a kindly light in their eyes.

Yan Ningke felt an ungrounded sense of unreality.

"Not bad. You nearly made me cry."

Liu Yunzhou patted his shoulder, his face full of smiles.

The producer and screenwriter clapped enthusiastically for him. "Amazing, amazing, amazing!"

Yan Ningke looked toward the director.

Zheng De said nothing for several seconds, then gave a soft chuckle. "You acted very well. Yan Ningke, keep going."