After the news about Liu Yunlan and Wang Hong broke out, it finally allowed the online spectators who hadn’t had enough drama to feast to their hearts’ content.
In the past two days, Weibo had been even livelier than the New Year holiday, with trending topics coming one after another. Liu Yunlan’s company tried in vain to do damage control. Adding fuel to the fire was the wealthy businessman Zheng Hao, who had finally been placated only to go berserk again upon learning of Liu Yunlan’s affair with Wang Hong. He immediately jumped into the quarrel.
With Zheng Hao’s involvement, the scandal escalated once more. Wang Hong, Zheng Hao, and Liu Yunlan formed the dream team of the century in tearing each other apart, reveling in smearing one another on Weibo daily. Seeing the situation spiral out of control, Liu Yunlan’s company really could not withstand it any longer. After much deliberation, they finally chose to abandon Liu Yunlan and cut their losses in time.
Without the company’s aid, public opinion completely collapsed, with no way of containing it anymore. During this period of time, Weibo and all kinds of social media had been nothing short of chaos. If Wang Hong had known that trying to smear Ye Zhou would come at such great cost, he would probably regret it to the point of wanting to bash his head against a tree and kill himself.
In contrast to Wang Hong and the others right in the eye of the storm, Ye Zhou, the victim who was previously smeared, had been particularly relaxed lately. After several bumpy months, the crew of A Farce finally succeeded in commencing filming.
Since Zhu Ning had other unfinished work to handle before he could rush over, Ye Zhou decided to film Xie Gefei and Liu Ruihua’s scenes first and leave Zhu Ning’s parts for later when he finished his other projects and could join the set.
Normally, crews tend to pick some easier scenes as the first takes to start off smoothly for good luck. But Ye Zhou deliberately went against convention by choosing the most challenging scenes right off the bat. The assistant director watched Xie Gefei enveloped by the cameras and lights with anxious sweat beading his forehead, afraid that he might inadvertently provoke a fiery explosion from Director Ye at any misstep.
In contrast, Director Ye Zhou was not nervous at all. He sat behind the monitor, unscrewed the lid of the cup, and took a sip of the goji berry tea he had taken from veteran actor Liu Ruihua.
“Lao Meng, don’t be nervous. Come, sit, have some tea to moisten your throat.” Ye Zhou patted the stool next to him and motioned for him to sit down.
The assistant director responded with some helplessness and grievance in his voice, “Director Ye, isn’t this too difficult for Xie Gefei? This is only the first scene, at least give the actor some confidence!”
Of course, Ye Zhou understood his concerns, but he had even greater faith in the abilities of Xie Gefei, the future legendary Best Actor.
He shook his head seriously, “If you think like that, you underestimate Xie Gefei.”
Before the assistant director could figure out the meaning behind Ye Zhou’s words, Xie Gefei walked out of the dressing room. Gone was his usual gentle and casual demeanor. Instead, Xie Gefei now had a solemn and stern expression, exuding an imposing aura that deterred others from approaching.
Seeing this, the assistant director unconsciously smacked his lips, and the tension in his nerves relaxed slightly.
He had to admit…just looking at this bearing, he really did seem convincing for the role!
The plot of A Farce was not complicated, and it did not have a high requirement for sets or props. But it made extremely high demands on the actors.
It could be said that the soul of this film lay in these five characters.
Xu Fei – The only son of wealthy businessman Xu Wei, spoiled by his parents since childhood. Arrogant and conceited, irritable and obsessed with keeping face. A connoisseur of fine cuisine, alcohol, prostitutes, and gambling. He thought he could live as a trust fund baby all his life but didn’t expect a suddenly revealed secret half-brother to disrupt his peaceful life.
Meng Yida – One of Xu Fei’s best friends. He has a flattering personality and is good at flattering. He is good at calculations and has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He often cheats Xu Fei out of money.
Zhang Hongbiao – Meng Yida’s distant cousin. He claimed to be the boss of the Qinglong Gang, a murderer with dozens of lives on his hands. Cruel and vicious in nature.
Fang Wei – Member of the Qinglong Gang, Zhang Hongbiao’s number one henchman. He looks big and thick, intimidating in appearance but actually timid as a mouse.
Killer No. 3 – A real professional hitman who killed for a living. He has no father or mother and is withdrawn. He never speaks more than three words because of his stutter.
On his 30th birthday, wealthy playboy Xu Fei discovered his father Xu Wei had an illegitimate son whom he had been raising in secret, grooming to inherit his business empire. Enraged, egged on by his devious friends, Xu Fei decided to strike first and hire a hitman to get rid of this illegitimate brother who was about to compete with him for the family property…
In order to achieve this goal, a ridiculous farce completely kicked off.
“Cut! Excellent, this one passed.”
Satisfied, Ye Zhou withdrew his gaze from the monitor and waved the assistant director over, vacating a spot for him to watch the playback.
“What do you think?”
The assistant director stared fixedly at the monitor, replaying Xie Gefei’s performance. After a long moment, his face suddenly flushed red, and he opened his mouth as if to say something, but all that came out was a simple: “Very good!”
“This is…this is really a treasure find!” Unable to contain his excitement, the assistant director heartily clapped Ye Zhou on the shoulder.
Ye Zhou didn’t care and smiled smugly, “You’re only realizing it now? I knew all along he could do it.”
It really was a treasure find. This was the future most talented Best Actor!
Xie Gefei walked over while wiping the sweat from his face. “Director Ye, how was my acting just now? Do we need another take?”
His face had long lost the indifference in front of the camera, and instead looked a little worried.
It was not false modesty. Although Xie Gefei had never given up on his acting dreams all these years and persistently kept taking minor roles in productions, it had been a long time since he had such an important character. He cherished this opportunity and worried about letting Ye Zhou down with subpar performance.
Ye Zhou had interacted with hundreds of actors before. One look at Xie Gefei’s expression told him all he needed to know.
He refrained from offering too much reassurance, only stepping aside to allow Xie Gefei to see the recording himself. As Xie Gefei watched the screen, Ye Zhou occasionally provided critique without excessive praise, helping Xie Gefei’s emotions gradually settle down.
“You handled the emotions very well here, but it could be even more perfect. For instance…”
Just as Ye Zhou was analyzing the scene for Xie Gefei, a great commotion suddenly erupted at the studio entrance.
Ye Zhou looked up and saw a few people standing at the door of the set. One distinctly familiar face made him blurt out, “Jiang-ge?”
After saying something to the others, Jiang Tingyuan strode over on his long legs. Before Ye Zhou could react, he first reached out and gently ruffled Ye Zhou’s hair.
Ye Zhou: ???
Boss Jiang: ……
Jiang Tingyuan had barely entered the set when he saw Ye Zhou intimately huddled together with another man, their heads close as they discussed something. For some inexplicable reason, Jiang Tingyuan found that scene…extremely annoying.
Author's Note:
Mr. Jiang held the lemon in his hand and looked at Ye Xiaozhou expressionlessly: “Do you want me to eat it now?”
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please consider supporting the author directly.
You can also follow me on Ko-fi to get the latest updates on my translation progress and new projects. I appreciate your love and feedback.
