The Perfect Relationship

Chapter 93 Recording Machine

Yin Chang was taken aback. "What did you say?"

Shao Junling's words hit too many sore points for Yin Chang. The key was that his tone did not sound like he was belittling him at all, but as if he was stating an objective fact. This made Yin Chang feel a simmering anger that he couldn't express, which was swirling in his chest.

He was silly? Where was he silly?

Your IQ is high, but does having a high IQ mean you can look down on your brother, an ordinary person?

Amongst actors, there are many with worse insight than him. How can someone with five years of experience as an actor not be able to play a mere Cao Pi?

Furthermore, what's up with this kid? Was he too indulgent? When did this punk start using this kind of attitude to talk to him?

......

Actually, Shao Junling admitted that his brother's taste in scripts was good, although he rarely inquired about them. He has watched every movie and TV series Yin Chang has acted in. Several of them Yin Chang was even praised for his good performance and excellent acting skills.

But the characters Yin Chang played in these dramas also happen to have some traits that were consistent with Yin Chang's own. As long as he presented his true self, he would become a shining point in the eyes of the audience. Strictly speaking, that wasn't acting, but naturalness.

Therefore, if the drama his brother spoke of was a historical drama that was true to history, Shao Junling did not think that the role of Cao Pi was suitable for Yin Chang.

Ignoring Yin Chang's reaction, Shao Junling asked, "Have you read the script? What's the story about?"

"It's about the power struggles in the Three Kingdoms. I only read a part of it, it's a big cast drama, and it's pretty exciting..." Yin Chang replied vaguely.

Listening to Yin Chang's tone, Shao Junling was more sure in his heart that this script was a last-minute choice and the role was chosen hastily. Because Yin Chang usually read every script he picked up thoroughly and even talked to Shao Junling a few times about his favorite parts.

But this time, Yin Chang couldn't come up with much to say, and he even chose a drama that would last for eight months just to ease his mind about going abroad.

This self-harming behavior... was it not silly?

Shao Junling asked, "Will you be able to adapt to being in the unit for eight months?"

Yin Chang's feeling of discomfort was slowly dispelled by Shao Junling's question. "It's okay, I won't be there for the entire eight months. I'll occasionally go out to participate in variety shows or something. Plus, Mi Xiu also accepted this drama, so when the time comes, I..."

Shao Junling interrupted him. "Mi Xiu is going too?"

"Yes." Yin Chang glanced at him from the corner of his eyes  "I've told you many times, stop calling him 'Mi Xiu.' Call him 'Mi Xiu gege.'"

Shao Junling asked, "What role is he playing?"

Yin Chang smiled. "He's playing 'my' younger brother, Cao Zhi, haha."

Shao Junling thought he had guessed it with eighty to ninety percent accuracy. This drama was indeed decided after Yin Chang considered Shao Junling's going abroad. The only difference was the role was not chosen hastily. Three months ago, Yin Chang had received an invitation to this drama, and he had known for a long time that Mi Xiu would play "Cao Zhi." At that time, Mi Xiu texted him to ask if he was interested in trying it out and even joked that if Yin Chang wished, the two of them could act out a "love-hate" brotherhood in the drama.

Yin Chang didn't take it to heart at the time. He was considering the fact that the shooting time for that drama was too long, and he was afraid he wouldn't adapt to being in the unit for too long. Moreover, he wasn't too familiar with the Three Kingdoms history, and he was too busy to read the script.

It wasn't until half a month ago that he inadvertently heard Shao Junling and He Hongjun's conversation...

These days, not only was Shao Junling hesitating, Yin Chang was also struggling with his own thoughts. He had thought about it a lot and later realized that Shao Junling's obsession might be related to their relationship over the past few years.

Perhaps it was because Yin Chang had been left behind by Yin Dong for years when he was young, and now that he had become a parent and an actor, he would consider Shao Junling's feelings for each job he took - whether he would be away from home for too long, whether he would make Shao Junling worry, whether he would cause any rumors that would reflect badly on his family...

He knew that Shao Junling would grow up and have his own life in the future, but subconsciously, he still treated the other as a child and didn't adjust his attitude properly.

All the conflicts between the two of them over the past year were caused by this wrong self-positioning.

As Shao Junling still hadn't made a decision, Yin Chang also felt a lot of pressure, fearing that this kid would be too resistant to change.

Two days ago, he chatted with Mi Xiu for a little while, and Mi Xiu mentioned "The Romance of Three Kingdoms" again. He said that the casting crew had been unable to find a suitable actor to play "Cao Pi," and that the director was quite interested in Yin Chang and asked if he wanted to try out.

Yin Chang thought about it and felt it was a good opportunity for a change. So he made up his mind and accepted the drama.

Shao Junling sat there and suddenly lowered his head to recite: "Boiling beans to make a soup, filtering the solids to get the liquid. The cattail is lit, and the beans weep in the pot..."

"What?" Yin Chang didn't react.

Shao Junling looked at him and said, "'Your' younger brother wrote this poem to you."

"My brother? You mean Cao Zhi?" Yin Chang asked, confused. "What does this poem mean?"

He had received Western education since childhood, could speak four languages, knew how to ski and ride horses, but was not familiar with ancient Chinese history.

Shao Junling said, "Cao Zhi was more favored by Cao Cao than Cao Pi when they were young because of his eloquence. After Cao Cao passed away, Cao Pi succeeded the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, overthrowing the Han dynasty. Perhaps due to the differential treatment by their father since childhood, Cao Pi felt that his younger brother would threaten his position and suppressed him at every turn, exiling him to live in a faraway place. As if that wasn't enough, Cao Pi even wanted to kill him on the charge of 'rebellion', but gave him a chance at the last moment. He told him to compose a poem with seven steps, and if the poem satisfied him, he would spare his life. Therefore, this poem was also known as the 'Seven Steps Poem'. There were two additional lines at the end, which meant 'we are born of the same root, why so quick to kill each other?' One was to accuse his brother of being heartless, and the other was to beg for mercy to save his own life... This poem was very famous. We learned it in junior high school."

"What happened next? Did Cao Pi spare him?" Yin Chang asked eagerly.

"He did spare him, but our Chinese teacher said in class that because Cao Zhi lived in fear of being killed by his brother every day, the rest of his life was not easy either." Shao Junling finished and looked at Yin Chang with a look of disbelief. "Brother, you're too softhearted. You can't play Cao Pi."

Yin Chang listened and was completely lost in thought...

Wait, weren't they discussing Shao Junling? Was he going abroad or not? He hasn't given me an answer yet!

Realizing that playing Cao Pi may not be as he imagined, Yin Chang quickly found time to carefully read the script again.

Because it was a historical drama, there was indeed the plot that Shao Junling mentioned, although it was slightly different from the script. Moreover, Cao Pi in the script was even more cold-blooded and ruthless, making Yin Chang's heart ache.

In addition to the script, Yin Chang also took the opportunity to learn more about the history of the Three Kingdoms. Recently, Lu Lingjuan accompanied him on their filming schedule and saw Yin Chang reading materials and commenting in the nanny car every day.

"What's wrong with Cao Pi? It's true that Cao Zhi had a secret crush on Zhen Mi, but Zhen Mi was innocent..."

"Cao Cao was a bit biased, but there was nothing he could do. Cao Zhi was more like him..."

"Cao Zhi didn't treat his brother badly, but why did Cao Pi always take it out on him..."

"What? Cao Pi also framed him when he was drunk? Why is he so petty!"

One time, Yin Chang saw something in the plot, and was devastated. He asked Lu Lingjuan weakly, "Lingjuan, can I switch roles in this script?"

"Huh?" Lu Lingjuan was taken aback. "You want to switch? But we've already signed the contract with the production team!"

Yin Chang stared blankly ahead. Shao Junling was right. He might not be able to play Cao Pi...

But how did Shao Junling understand him so well?

Lu Lingjuan comforted him by saying, "Why do you want to switch? Do you think it's not suitable for you? When we signed the contract with the production team, the director said he really liked you, and initially wanted you to play Cao Pi."

"That's just a polite thing to say," Yin Chang smiled wryly. "Every director who wants to work with me says that, but whether or not I can play this role well, I know better than anyone..."

"Is it because you're feeling too much pressure? Many people have been praising your acting skills recently," Lu Lingjuan paused and suddenly remembered something. She rummaged through her bag and said, "Oh, by the way, Chairman Yao gave me a movie. He said your father directed it, and it's also about the Three Kingdoms. He asked you to take a look when you have time."

"My dad directed a Three Kingdoms movie?" Yin Chang didn't remember.

"It seems to be from fifteen years ago. For some special reasons, it didn't pass the review and couldn't be released, so few people know about it." Lu Lingjuan took out a video tape and handed it to him.

Yin Chang was curious. "When was this movie made?"

"About fifteen years ago. Chairman Yao said they couldn't find the digital format, so this is the only copy." 

That night, after dinner, Yin Chang wanted to watch the movie Lu Lingjuan gave him. The video tape required a special machine, but because of his father's profession, their home had various playback devices, so Yin Chang found a projector under the TV and tried to play it. However, he struggled for a long time but couldn't get the machine to start.

"What are you doing, Brother?" Shao Junling's voice came from behind.

"Why won't this thing start?" Yin Chang muttered to himself.

"I'll take a look." Shao Junling crouched down and tried the plug, moving the machine slightly while telling Yin Chang, "Go to my study and take the black box from the bottom of the bookshelf."

Yin Chang went to the study and found the box as Shao Junling had instructed, "What's this? It's heavy."

"Some basic tools for building robots." Shao Junling explained casually, opened the box, and took out the largest screwdriver... He skillfully disassembled the machine.

Yin Chang watched him in amazement.

Looking at the side of Shao Junling's face, Yin Chang inexplicably overlapped him with the childish face from six years ago, equally focused and serious, but at that time, Shao Junling was playing with Lego...

"It should be that the circuit board is broken." Shao Junling found the root of the problem and said, "If you're not in a hurry, I'll take it to the school workshop to fix it tomorrow."

"...Okay." Yin Chang originally wanted to buy a new one online, but seeing how "capable" Shao Junling was, he was also looking forward to what he could do.