Crossover Actors

Translator: Hua

As soon as a person lost his face, his sanity would also be lost, and he would behave even more tragically. Lu Wen bluntly added: “I have a lot of international fans.”

　　

Qu Yanting didn’t tear his face down, “What do they like about you? Your face? Your body?”

　　

 Lu Wen’s scalp was hard: “I think it is my characteristic.”

　　

“Which aspect?” Qu Yanting calmly analyzed, “There are not many scholars among actors. As for you, you don’t even write homework so your grades in school might not be that good either.”

　　

 Acting skills, popularity, academic background, Lu Wen’s key points have been poked from every direction. But what Qu Yanting said was also true. Instead of being angry, he felt a sense of shame that could not be refuted.

　　

Lu Wen got up and wanted to leave: “Teacher Qu, I will go back first.”

　　

Qu Yanting raised his eyes and said in a soft tone: “Do I allow you to leave?”

　　

How could a small transparent actor dare to disobey the big screenwriter, but Lu Wen was an exception.

 

The anger that had been accumulated for quite sometimes finally erupted and Lu Wen shot his mouth: “The legs are on my body. I want to leave. Why do I need your permission? You are powerful, I can’t afford to provoke you. But you won’t let me stay away? I performed badly, so you scold me and I admit it. You humiliate me, why do you want me to suffer? You want me to obey you? That’s fine. First you pay me one hundred million yuan then increase my salary!”

　　

 After shouting and risking everything, Lu Wen waited for Qu Yanting to fire back at him.

　　

However, Qu Yanting was still sitting upright, not angry or annoyed, as if he had just listened to some kind of poem.

　　

He skipped everything and responded to the last sentence: “Are you worth it?”

　　

Lu Wen stripped off his jacket and threw it away: “I’m not worth it, I won’t wait for you!”

　　

Qu Yanting picked up the school uniform: “You can resign and pay for the breach of contract. If you are in a hurry, the crew can announce the change of roles tonight.”

　　

 Lu Wen didn’t want to stay for a moment: “Whatever!”

　　

He turned around and walked to the door. As he was holding the doorknob, Qu Yanting whispered behind his back: “From the moment you leave the crew, everyone in the circle will know that you were replaced after the opening banquet. This will probably be your most famous period in your career. You have offended me, a big name screenwriter. In the future, no directors in the mainland will cast you, and no screenwriters will let you pick up their scripts.”

　　

In other words, after being banned, you should conduct yourself.

　　

Lu Wen paused at the same place, the hand that was holding the doorknob also froze.

　　

Qu Yanting stood up and said, “But those are later stories. When the crew releases the news about the change of roles, it is more important that you share it with each chat group first before you are banned. There are children, classmates, relatives, neighbors… who else is there?”

　　

Lu Wen whispered: “Security guard.”

　　

With a bang, the string in his head broke.

　　

He lost the job as soon as he started and was even blocked until he was out of the circle. How would he go back and face his friends and family? Especially his dad, he said all of those brave words when he left the house. If he went back losing everything like this, could he still lift up his head in this entire life?

　　

Maybe…

　　

It was a better idea to endure the humiliation in front of one person instead of facing everyone.

　　

Releasing his hand from the doorknob, Lu Wen turned around tragically.

　　

Qu Yanting patted the dust on the school uniform and said, “Come here, put on the coat.”

　　

Lu Wen walked back and suddenly understood that Qu Yanting didn’t want to have a heart to heart talk with him at all. From probing around to driving him into a corner, he just wanted to humiliate him. 

　　

He asked unwillingly: “You look down on me so much, why did you choose me as the male number one?”

　　

Qu Yanting replied calmly: “Because you are cheap.”

　　

Lu Wen’s dignity was completely shattered: “Just because…I’m cheap?”

　　

“Do you know,” Qu Yanting said, “Your pay is less than one-third of Ruan Feng’s.”

　　

Lu Wen’s whole body was stiff. For the first time he experienced the embarrassment of money. He couldn’t vent his emotions, and his chest swelled.

　　

Qu Yanting looked at his watch and said, “Anyway, it’s up to you to stay or leave.”

　　

Each group had returned to their positions, and Qu Yanting returned to the classroom first and sat down in front of the monitor again.

　　

Ren Shu said: “I didn’t see you and Xiao Lu just now, did you give him some guidance?”

　　

Qu Yanting said: “Just don’t blame me for interfering too much.”

　　

Ren Shu said, “What blaming. I invite you to watch the shooting just to save myself a little trouble. Xiao Lu is not deep enough in the character, so I have to help him find Ye Shan’s feelings.”

　　

Qu Yanting said: “Try another shot.”

　　

Two minutes later, the shooting was about to begin.

　　

Lu Wen returned to the scene and his change was visible to the naked eye. When the close-up shot was pushed, Ren Shu was instantly satisfied. In the first half of the first act, he gave a praise “entering the play”.

　　

Lu Wen was wronged to the extreme, facing bullying, feeling powerless, self-esteem and reality fighting each other, feeling of only submission… He couldn’t tell whether he was playing Ye Shan or himself.

　　

The first two scenes were filmed smoothly. In the third scene, Ye Shan was forced to move to the corner of the last row.

　　

Ye Xiaowu’s role was that deep so being carefree and annoying was enough. On the other hand, The introverted Ye Shan was very difficult to play. No matter which newcomer came, the director’s hand-in-hand teaching was indispensable.

　　

In such a short period of time, the performance was remarkable. Ren Shu asked curiously: “How did you teach him?”

　　

Qu Yanting replied: “I can’t talk about it. Just chatting casually”

　　

Ren Shu was an expert so he noticed the change in Lu Wen, “Looking at Xiao Lu’s performance, you two had a pretty good chat, right?”

　　

Qu Yanting said: “If he remembered this feeling, he would play Ye Shan well.”

　　

He was very clear about Lu Wen’s crucial reason. A rich person who had never faced shortage of money would never understand how to feel distress for a twenty yuan book.

In the face of bullying and humiliation, the people who could afford to get angry would not understand what forbearance and tolerance was. The optimist who had never had their self-esteem trampled on, would not understand the powerlessness of the weak.

　

What was missing was empathy.

 

After the director called to stop, Lu Wen didn’t get up, and lay his head on the seat, like a frosted eggplant.

　　

Ren Shule said: “This blow seems to be a bit big, does he know that you are helping him find his feelings?”

　　

Qu Yanting said: “He doesn’t need to know.”

　　

Unknowingly, dusk was approaching, and the remaining two scenes were probably not a big problem. Qu Yanting stayed in the crowd all afternoon, he did not feel very well. He wanted to go back to the hotel to rest in advance.

 

He quietly left through the back door. In the corridor, he saw Sun Xiaojian hovering back and forth holding a kettle and snacks, like a grandma waiting for her grandson to finish school.

　　

Qu Yanting turned to the corner and went downstairs, just as Xiao Zhang was coming up from the first floor.

　　

 Xiao Zhang said: “Mr Qu, you are leaving already, have you called the driver?”

　　

Qu Yanting gave a “hmm” and patted his shoulder. Then he suddenly paused after going down two steps.

　　

He stopped the other party, and Xiao Zhang hurriedly asked: “Mr. Qu, what’s the problem?”

　　

Qu Yanting said: “Lu Wen only brought an agent?”

　　

Xiao Zhang replied: “Yes, he was very low-key.”

　　

Qu Yanting thought for a while, thinking of the phrase “it must be nice to sit next to you”, thinking of the hot bowl of millet porridge, and thinking of the overlapping silhouette of Lu Wen and Ye Shan.

　　

He ordered: “Give him a crew assistant until he finishes filming.”