IPCFS: Chapter 8

Qin Yue passed by the outer field of the studio and saw JI Li’s figure. It was just as Qi An said.

The other person was standing in front of the van of the props team while holding a huge black box in his hands. The sleeves of the beggar’s clothes were rolled up by him and his thin arms were taut.

Ji Li’s face was tense and he looked like it was very strenuous. Suddenly, his arms slipped. The giant black box slammed down and was almost going to hit him.

Qin Yue’s heart tensed and he instinctively stepped forward.

The props team staff in the car jumped down first. “Ji Li, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Thank you, Brother.” Ji Li stared at his arms for a moment before smiling with satisfaction. Then he hurriedly helped to lift the box up.

“Okay, you’ve been helping us for so long. Hurry up and rest.” The props team staff handed him a bottle of pure water before finding Qin Yue standing nearby. “Brother Qin?”

Ji Li also found him and called out, “Teacher Qin Yue.”

Qin Yue didn’t approach. He just stood still and stared at this person. “There will be a rival scene in a while. Why did you come here to do hard work instead of studying the script?”

“If you want to be an actor, act well and don’t waste time on other aspects.”

Leaving the acting aspect alone to help the crew was putting the cart before the horse.

Qi An glanced at his friend and smiled without saying anything.

The props team staff heard the seriousness hidden in Qin Yue’s words and was prepared to say a few words for Ji Li.

Unexpectedly, the latter didn’t panic. Rather, he calmly explained, “Teacher Qin Yue, I am preparing for filming.”

He moved his weak and sore arms and put the bottle of mineral water back where it was. “The makeup teacher asked me to go over and touch up my makeup. Teacher Qin Yue, I’ll go first. I will see you later.”

Then he turned and left.

Qin Yue stared at this person’s back, a flash of light in his eyes. Then he finally stepped toward his exclusive dressing room.

Qi An followed him in an unhurried manner, quietly speaking, “I’ve never seen you so serious toward a newcomer before? Just now, you saw the box falling down and instinctively went forward.”

“Where did you get so many words from? If you don’t want to wait for me, go back to the hotel early.” Qin Yue walked quickly without looking at Qi An.

“Tsk.” Qi An snorted and continued without fear of death, “You are pretending. You are obviously very optimistic about JI Li.”

***

At 7 o’clock in the evening, at the well-arranged camp shooting spot.

The makeup artist ran to fix Qin Yue’s makeup while the crew was checking the lights. The latter sat in his spot with his eyes closed, going through the script fragments that he was so familiar with in his mind.

This scene was the key point in the Song brothers’ plot.

Song Zhao took advantage of the darkness to sneak into the military camp, only to be caught by the soldiers on night patrol. He was detained as an ‘enemy spy’ and sent to Song Yi’s tent.

It was in this particular situation that the two brothers, who had been separated for a long time, recognized each other.

Zheng Anxing came in from outside the tent. “Qin Yue, I shouldn’t need to talk too much about your next scene?”

“Yes.” Qin Yue put down the clean script with a white background and black characters and calmly answered.

Song Yi was a general who had been fighting on the battlefield for a long time. His image was cold and serious. After he was taken in by the royal family, he had never shown his true feelings in front of other people except the king.

At this moment, the mistakenly identified ‘enemy spy’ turned out to be his own long-lost brother.  This measure of emotional change was a great test of the actor’s ability to control their role. Yet it was easy for Qin Yue.

Zheng Anxing believed in this person’s ability. He saw that the lighting engineer had finished checking and called out, “All the irrelevant people, go out with me. Everybody, get ready to shoot.”

The staff retreated in droves.

The next moment, Zheng Anxing’s ‘action’ came through the loudspeaker.

***

Qin Yue stood in front of the sand table, holding up an oil lamp to observe it. The dim light reflected on his side face, showing a type of impersonal, cold taste.

There was the sound of footsteps outside the tent and a soldier shouted, “General, an infiltrator has been found. It is most likely an enemy spy!”

Qin Yue’s eyes narrowed. “Bring him in.”

“Yes!”

The tent entrance was lifted and two soldiers escorted a thin body in. “General, this is the man. He sneaked into the grain tent just now and was caught by the soldiers on night patrol.”

In the middle of the night, a person dressed like this sneaked into the tent where grain was piled up. Did he want to burn the army’s food?

“Have you searched him?” Qin Yue coldly examined the man in front of him.

The other person had his head lowered and was silent, not struggling. It was just that the clothing was a bit familiar.

The soldier said, “No suspicious weapons have been found.”

Qin Yue approached, pushing up the spy’s chin to force him to look at Qin Yue. The moment they made eye contact, he blurted out, “I’ve seen you. You were at the city gates this afternoon.”

This was added temporarily by Qin Yue after consulting and getting the screenwriter’s consent. Song Yi was a general and his memory was naturally powerful. The two people had a face-to-face encounter on the street and he would definitely remember it.

Ji Li’s jaw was pinched by rough fingers with such force that it hurt. Ji Li met this cold, unfeeling gaze and couldn’t help trembling with fear. “I…”

Song Zhao recognized his brother but after all, they had been separated for 12 years. The other person was different from what he remembered. In the face of the pressure from Song Yi, he instinctively felt fear from his years of fleeing.

Qin Yue’s hand slipped down and directly grabbed the other person’s neck. “Who sent you?”

“Don’t you know that there is only one ending for spies who break into a military camp?”

Qin Yue’s lines were very good. His calm words were full of ruthlessness. The veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly as he seemed to be moving in to kill.

Many staff members saw this scene and instinctively protected their throats. “God, anyone who doesn’t know anything would think that Brother Qin will really kill people!”

“I have goose bumps on my hands.”

Zheng Anxing ignored the whispers around him and fixed his eyes on the lower right corner of the monitor.

Qin Yue’s acting was undoubtedly good but the one he was most worried about was Song Zhao. Under such pressure, could Ji Li catch the other side’s acting?

Soon, the one-sidedly suppressed Ji Li took action. There was no special make-up effect. Due to the ‘lack of oxygen’ from the choking sensation, blood gradually filled his eyes. Physiological tears built up in them and his eyes were dull.

In the short 10 second close-up, Ji Li showed the characteristics of a person on the verge of death.

Song Zhao didn’t lose control or struggle. Nor did he fight back against his death. He just raised his right arm with great difficulty. “…Brother, do you, do you still recognize me?”

His inquiring voice was intermittent and the sound was weak. The young man’s tears fell on Qin Yue’s wrist and the temperature was amazingly hot.

The strength of Qin Yue’s hand instantly weakened and his always cold eyes loosened for a moment.

The assistant director outside the field clapped his hands together. “Director Zheng, it is divine! The timing of this tear is just right! This wasn’t intentionally controlled, was it? Or did it just happen by chance?”

Was Ji Li really a newcomer acting for the first time? So far, he hadn’t been suppressed by Brother Qin at all. This talent was great!

Zheng Anxing naturally knew the subtlety of this tear and he waved his hand to signal for the assistant director to be quiet for the time being. The close-up shot on the monitor was already shooting the scar on Ji Li’s right arm.

Qin Yue looked down at Ji Li’s raised arm. Soon, he noticed a subtle, special feature. The other person’s arm was faintly trembling. This trembling was very light and it was like the body’s instinctive reaction to fear and anxiety. It wasn’t deliberate or exaggerated.

The small screen on the monitor might not be able to see it but he could definitely see it now with his naked eyes and on the big screens of the cinemas in the future.

‘Why did you come here to do hard work instead of studying the script?’

‘Teacher Qin Yue, this is what I’m doing to prepare for filming.’

At this moment, Qin Yue understood. Was this the natural response of Ji Li’s arm after doing heavy work? He actually refined the emotional expression of the characters to this point?

Qin Yue’s brief loss of mind coincided with Song Yi falling into his memories in the script.

This scar was left on Song Zhao when he was very young.

Back then, Song Yi was still a child and he was a fan of climbing trees to pick fruit. Meanwhile, his younger brother waited eagerly under the trees.

Song Yi slipped and fell from the tree. The young Song Zhao didn’t understand anything. He only relied on the instinct of family affection to catch his older brother but how could his small body endure it?

The big and small children fell together. Song Zhao’s arm was marked with a deep and long wound due to the sharp stones on the ground. Later, it left such a long scar. Apart from the Song family who had all passed away, no one else in the world knew about this.

The past was vivid.

The mist in Qin Yue’s eyes flashed briefly and seemed like the illusion of others. However, Zheng Anxing was familiar with the script and knew that Song Yi’s frozen family affection had once again melted open.

Qin Yue wanted to speak, only to stop. Eventually, he said in a hoarse voice, “…Are you Zhao’er?’

***

“Cut! That’s it!”

Qin Yue quickly withdrew from the role when he heard these words. On the contrary, it was Ji Li standing to the side with red eyes who hadn’t recovered.

“Qin Yue, Ji Li, come out and watch the replay.”

There was the sound from the loudspeaker outside the tent. Only then did Ji Li cover his eyes and disengage from his character. “Teacher Qin Yue, you acted really well just now.”

He had acted against many actors in his previous life but it was only with Qin Yue that he could shoot so comfortably after only knowing each other for less than a day.

Qin Yue paused before slowly saying, “Let’s go and watch the replay.”

“Okay.”

The hardest scene of the day was passed in one go and it was impeccable. As the director, Zheng Anxing smiled at them and wasn’t stingy with his praise. “Very good, very good. There is no need to talk about Qin Yue. You are always excellent.”

“Ji Li, I was prepared for you to NG over a dozen times. I didn’t expect this kid to be so competitive that you saved time for the whole crew.”

“Thank you, Director Zheng.” Ji Li smiled. It was a wonderful sense of happiness to be acknowledged by others when playing a good role.

Qin Yue glanced at him with a smile flickering in his eyes. They watched the replay and after confirming that there were no problems, Zheng Anxing announced the end of the work for the day.

***

30 minutes later, Qin Yue took off his headgear and costume and walked out of the dressing room with ease.

Zhang Ming had just passed by the dressing room and greeted him. “Brother Qin, have you seen Ji Li? He said he was going to change his clothes but I don’t know where he went. I have to leave in a hurry but his backpack and script are still with me.”

Qin Yue glimpsed the objects in his hand and answered, “Give it to me. I’ll wait for him here.”

“Give it to you?” Zhang Ming was surprised.

Qin Yue realized and steadied his mind. “It will just take a few minutes. I can wait. If you have something to do first then don’t delay.”

“Then… thank you, Brother Qin.” Zhang Ming handed the things over without thinking too much. The other crew knew that the other person never acted self-important.

A few seconds later, Qin Yue sighed inaudibly as he looked at the two items that suddenly appeared in his hands.

He opened the thin script that was different from his clean script. It was less than three pages but it was covered in marks left by Ji Li.

On the side of the scene just now, there was a circled sentence in beautiful handwriting.

“The character’s arm is trembling. I must carry a heavy object before shooting! Lift it hard! Remove my strength!”

Qin Yue’s eyes swept over this and he couldn’t help shaking his head and chuckling.

As Ji Li approached, he recognized Qin Yue’s back at first glance. The man’s strong muscle lines were faintly visible under the thin t-shirt.

The other party not only had a good-looking face but his body was also excellent. He wore ordinary clothes and showed a charm that was different from when he was acting.

Ji Li once again agreed with this sentence in his heart while his eyes brightened. “Teacher Qin Yue.”

The familiar voice was heard. Qin Yue turned and this person entered his eyes.

The other person had changed into simple clothes and even the beggar makeup on his face was completely removed. Ji Li’s hair was tied up casually but there were still a handful of strands that escaped and fell on the side of his delicate and thin face.

The young man’s original complexion was very white and his eyes were especially bright. Without the base makeup that darkened him, the small, light brown mole on the tall bridge of his nose was exposed. It made him pure, soft and se*y. He was particularly good-looking.

Qin Yue looked at Ji Li and felt dazzled.

He found a star that was destined to be eye-catching. It was so close to him that he could reach out and get it.