IPCFS: Chapter 28 Part 1

“Okay, it is over.” Yao Chuan got up from his position and smiled at Qin Yue. “I didn’t expect that after so many years, your nickname of ‘Qin One’ is getting stronger and stronger.”

Qin One—it meant he passed in one shot in the official filming.

Qin Yue walked back while looking relaxed. “That’s it for today?”

“Yes, the remaining two scenes are tomorrow.” Yao Chuan’s mouth dropped. Today’s scene was just to give QIn Yue and Ji Li some transition time to get into their roles.

“Let’s move. After dinner is over, we will start filming the night scenes of the male and female protagonists.” He gave instructions to the crew before shifting his gaze to Ji Li.

“You and Qin Yue have finished work so go back first. Tomorrow’s scenes are important. Rest early tonight.”

Ji Li responded decisively, “Okay, I’ll go and remove my makeup first.”

He stayed up all night filming yesterday and only took a short break for half an hour at noon. He felt a bit tired the moment he relaxed.

After saying this, he and Qin Yue unknowingly but tacitly looked at each other. The latter nodded at him imperceptibly.

It wasn’t until after Ji Li left that Yao Chuan ‘caught’ Qin Yue to the side and asked quietly, “Qin Yue, tell me the truth. Do you have something with Ji Li?”

“I saw that the boy’s ears and neck were red when you were acting just now.”

Qin Yue delicately raised an eyebrow and silently shook his head. “No, the relationship between the two of us on the Internet is made up blindly.”

“Really?” Yao Chuan obviously didn’t believe it.

“Really. Ji Li was just too into the scene. The first time we filmed together, I found that he likes ‘immersive’ empathy.” Qin Yue analyzed it.

It wasn’t explicitly stated in the script but Xie Yan always had some unclear feelings for Xie Chenyuan.

“He should’ve touched the character so thoroughly that there would be a natural reaction in this moment.”

Yao Chuan nodded in agreement when he heard this. “However, the immersive empathy acting method is very harmful. I don’t think that boy will have an easy time after tomorrow’s two big scenes.”

Qin Yue also thought of this and frowned. “I want to do it quickly tomorrow. The two scenes in the script are indeed too hurtful.”

“I also hope you guys work well together. It is best to give me a pass.”

Yao Chuan patted him on the shoulder and joked, “That boy Ji Li is too good at being his character. Just watching the screen, I thought he was really interested in you.”

Qin Yue’s eyes shone slightly. He patted Yao Chuan’s shoulder and avoided answering. “You are busy. I’ll go and remove the styling first.”

“Yes, go.”

---

30 minutes later, Ji Li packed up and walked out of the dressing room.

“Brother Ji, Sister Yu said that the car is almost at the parking lot.” Baozi walked over with his small bag. “Let’s hurry over there.”

Ji Li looked at Qin Yue’s rest room not far away and a brief hesitation flashed in his eyes. Finally, he didn’t bother this person. “Yes, let’s go.”

He and Qin Yue still weren’t suitable for getting too close in private, so as to not be caught false accusations made.

The two of them left through the back door of the set as usual. Surprisingly, the parking lot that rarely had outsiders coming and going now had a dozen fans standing in the corner.

Ji Li didn’t have anything covering his face. The moment he appeared, he provoked a sensation among fans.

“It is Ji Li! Here he comes!”

“Ji Li! We are all fans who like you. Can you give us an autograph?”

“Brother, you’ve worked hard filming! This is the gift I’ve brought for you.”

The crowd rushed up and instantly surrounded Ji Li. Baozi saw the situation wasn’t right and solemnly reached out to intercept them. “Don’t crowd! Everyone, stop pushing and squeezing!”

Ji Li obviously hadn’t expected this situation. According to common sense, the parking lot should be under the control of the crew.

Most of the fans gathered were female but their excitement gave strength to their pushes and shoves.

Baozi was a bit shorter than Ji Li and it was very difficult for him to stop them. His entire face was red.

In order to soothe the emotions of the people, Ji Li had to free a hand to sign the autographs while slowly saying, “I know that everyone has been waiting a day and it is hard. I will give you an autograph one by one. Please don’t get excited.”

Fans suppressed their eager hearts when they heard this but the hands asking for an autograph were constantly waving.

A black van drove in.

At the same time, someone squeezed up from behind Baozi. “Ji Li, I am your male fan. Can you please take a photo with me?”

Ji Li glanced sideways. The other person was wearing thick glasses, a shabby plaid shirt and an overly long, somewhat scruffy hairstyle.

The man in the shirt didn’t wait for Ji Li to agree and directly touched his shoulder.

Ji Li’s eyes changed sharply and he instinctively dodged sideways.

The man in the shirt seemed completely unaware of Ji Li’s resistance. He was just about to try again when Yu Fuya hurriedly arrived and slapped his hand away.

Yu Fuya pulled Ji Li behind her. “Calm down. Do you want to see Ji Li injured?”

This sentence was shouted loudly and strongly, calming the fans in an instant.

Baozi took the opportunity to escort Ji Li to the car and quickly closed the door.

Yu Fuya blocked the car door. She rolled up her sleeves and looked around sharply. “This is the parking lot that the crew has booked. How did you come in? Did you get the approval of other online fans? I think everyone knows better than me.”

“Everyone loves and supports Ji Li. As an agent, I appreciate it. However, in relatively private occasions, please pay attention to being measured when chasing stars. I look forward to meeting you at official regular occasions in the future. Thank you.”

Then she bowed to the fans before entering the car and ordering the driver to quickly leave.

Ji Li leaned against the car seat and looked at the fans who were moving away, his expression somewhat complicated.

Baozi patted his chest and sighed with relief. “That scared me to death. How did they get in? How long has it been since Brother Ji debuted? How come there are fans chasing him offline?”

“Ji Li’s popularity rose too fast some time ago and there isn’t enough material to support the fans’ desires. It led to this result.”

As a newcomer who just debuted, his popularity momentarily exploded and bad ‘complications were inevitable.

For the time being, Ji Li didn’t have many movie and television works or magazine interviews. Some fans got hot-headed and wanted to come to the set to block the real person.

“Ji Li, don’t be too soft-hearted with the fans. Some people will only take advantage of this,” Yu Fuya leaned over and instructed him.

“I will tell the crew and the company to strengthen the venue control. However, you should do more business on Weibo and don’t put the fans aside too much.”

Normal business online and distance offline were the best modes of getting along.

Ji Li nodded silently, his expression still not improved.

The crowding of fans just now reminded him of the unpleasantness that happened in the real world.

Yu Fuya and Baozi looked at each other, both a bit worried.

“Okay, just don’t get hurt.”

The former took out a thick file of documents and handed it over like she was coaxing a child.

“Open it and take a look? Comfort your frightened heart and I will take you to eat delicious food at night.”

Ji Li was amused by her tone. “Sister Yu, I’m not a three year old child.”

He opened the file as he spoke.

Inside was a brand new movie screen. The clean cover had the words ‘Time Lobbyist – 3rd Edition’ written on it with big letters.

Ji Li was overjoyed. “Sister Yu, have you finished discussing the third male lead role?”

“What is so hard about this?” Yu Fuya smiled and told the truth. “I might believe in your vision but as your agent, I still have to take on certain responsibilities.”

Thus, she spent time reading the first version of the script.

“The subject matter is indeed different from previous youth movies and the third edition has been revised to improve the details. Based on the number of scenes for the third male lead, you will only be filming for a maximum of one month. This isn’t too time consuming.”

Chaoying Culture didn’t have any particularly strong movie or television scripts in the second of the year. Since the young man had taken a fancy to this project, they should take it.

It didn’t matter the size of the third male lead role. It was always a good thing to have accumulated works.

“It is just that the investment in this movie is quite unremarkable. If there aren’t enough publicity funds after the release, it is likely to be buried.”

Yu Fuya brought up the ugly matters. “I have the obligation to remind you to be mentally prepared ‘to fight on the street’.”

In the market, some so-called ‘popular dramas’ and ‘ticket kings’ were completely marketed but the scripts were actually very low-level and had a bad reputation.

On the other hand, some high quality scripts had no one care about them after release due to insufficient funds in the early stage and insufficient publicity in the later stage.

“I know.” Ji Li stroked the glossy cover of the script with anticipation in his eyes. “I always believe that a good script won’t be buried.”

Yu Fuya heard these words and couldn’t help smiling. “After two years, you will be able to have half a month to rest and adjust.”

She checked the script and arranged it properly. “You will enter this crew in the middle of next month.”

“Yes.”

---

As filming reached the later stage, the stronger the cohesion of the entire crew. All of them were tense and didn’t dare slack off in the slightest.

Early the next morning, Ji Li got up before 6 o’clock to do his hair and makeup.

Today was the day he finished filming and there were also two very important and hard battles to be fought.

Ji Li took the script and headed to the filming location with a serious expression. Inside the ornate hall, Qin Yue was already sitting with Yao Chuan and Fang Zhixing. They seemed to be discussing the next plot.

Qin Yue was the first to notice Ji Li and beckoned softly. “Come here. Did you rest well last night?”

“Yes. Good morning, Brother Yue.” Ji Li carried his little stool and sat obediently beside the three people. “Good morning Director Yao and Teacher Fang.”

“You have to work harder today. I’ve already prepared the red envelope for you.” Yao Chuan patted Ji Li’s shoulder.

Ji Li nodded. He once again opened the script full of writing. All the plots had already been memorized by heart.

In the 37th year of the Dazong era, the former emperor died.

Xie Yan was about to ascend the throne with the ‘will’ he received in the morning but at the last moment, Xie Chenyuan suddenly joined forces with the empress to strike back, catching Xie Yan by surprise.

They pushed the 11th prince, who was only 10 years old, to the throne. The empress became the empress dowager and Xie Chenyuan became the regent under the name of an ‘assistant.’

King Jin Xie Yan failed to seize the throne and was placed under house arrest.

Under the name of ‘house arrest’, people in high ranking positions sent people to poison him several times. After knowing he had escaped, they intensified their efforts and sent people to assassinate him.

Being betrayed and hurt by the most trusted person for no reason was like being pushed to the cliff of doom. Xie Yan went mad with hatred and numb with pain. He then became a strange, indifferent monster.

The ‘seize the throne’ plot wasn’t just the root of the breakdown in the uncle and nephew relationship but was also the beginning of Xie Yan’s blackening.