“——When I found out that Master Ye updated his Weibo again, I was extremely unwilling to believe it. After all, how could my master be so diligent! However, I still clicked on this photo without any precautions, hehe, eternal sorrow!!”
“——Holy crap, Master, come find me quickly! The poison has spread throughout your whole body! Obviously, your hair used to just be green, but now it’s directly multicolored! Everyone, help me get this noticed, I have the antidote!”
“——Dewy Little Immortal Man, are you sure you want to upgrade to Rainbow Little Immortal Man? Even if you can’t return to the heavens, are you still willing?”
“——On a vast and rough plain,”
“——After a torrential rain,”
“——After the rain clears, on the vast plain, a beautiful rainbow appears,”
Director Zhang commented and reposted, “The rainbow is very eye-catching,” and also tagged Zheng Dong.
Zheng Dong replied quickly, with just four words, “Already deceased, do not disturb.”
When the gossip crowd learned that Ye Shanshan was going to play the role of Hu Yan, they formed a sightseeing group and came to watch. What they saw was a bizarre selfie and equally bizarre fan comments, leaving messages one after another.
“——Holy crap!”
“——Holy crap!”
“——Holy crap, people upstairs, stop using foul language!”
“——One day, I actually find this punk Mary Sue ancestor style so good-looking, I must be blind, self-assessment completed.”
“——You’re not alone up there, I’m getting ready to dye my hair, don’t stop me!”
So, just as the heat of the variety show was fading, “Ye Shanshan rainbow hair” was trending again.
※※※
As soon as Ye Shanshan noticed his fans starting to line up neatly to write essays again, he quickly exited Weibo, refusing to endure the storm-like bombardment.
He sneakily took a picture of Gong Yue, then knelt on the sofa and looked in Gong Yue’s direction, thinking he was being very discreet, but his hair was too conspicuous, impossible to ignore.
Gong Yue put down the pen in his hand, glanced at Ye Shanshan’s hair, and finally said, “Come over.”
Receiving the command, Ye Shanshan cheered quietly and quickly ran to Gong Yue’s side, exaggeratingly sighing,
“Bro, I’m about to join the crew.”
“Okay.” Thirty-nine more hours.
“Wait until I’m gone, you have to eat well, take care of yourself, don’t be picky with food, and don’t always stay up too late. Your work is so hard, pay attention to nutrition. As the weather gets colder, wear more clothes. I’ll definitely miss you, remember to think of me a hundred times every day, uh, I don’t mind if it’s two hundred times!”
The more he said, the more reluctant he felt. Ye Shanshan felt like once he left, it would be forever. Looking at the big devil, he felt worried everywhere.
“…” Gong Yue pinched his brow, seriously saying, “Shanshan.”
“Huh?” Ye Shanshan blinked, listening to his brother’s words.
“Although you’re going to the set to film, you’re not far from home. You’ll come back every night.”
Ye Shanshan paused in his sniffling, looking at Gong Yue with a face full of grief and indignation. “Brother, you’ll really lose me like this!”
※※※
Early on the third day, Ye Shanshan took Zheng Dong’s car to the set. Throughout the journey, his mood was quite good. He noticed that Zheng Dong didn’t say a word the whole time, emanating an aura of resentment. Ye Shanshan found it strange and asked, “Zheng Ge, are you hungry?”
Zheng Dong looked at Ye Shanshan’s concerned expression and felt a sharp pain in his heart. Especially when Director Zhang reposted the Weibo and even called, laughing heartily, “Zheng Dong, the artist you brought is really interesting!”
Holding the phone, Zheng Dong stared with dead fish eyes, feeling that no one in this world could understand his inner sorrow. It was like a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat, unable to spit out or swallow. Yet he still dutifully told Director Zhang, “Shanshan is still a child at heart, likes to try new things, please forgive him!”
So early in the morning, when Zheng Dong saw Ye Shanshan with his normal hair color restored, he still couldn’t bring himself to speak. Every time he looked at Ye Shanshan, he could see the vast rough plains and the rising rainbow in his mind’s eye.
Such a nuisance.
After arriving at the set, Zheng Dong took Ye Shanshan to find the director.
Director Zhang was waiting for them, and when they arrived, he glanced at Ye Shanshan’s hair.
“Changed the color? What a pity, your rainbow hair color was quite nice. My daughter especially liked it, she kept mentioning it to me eighty-one hundred times, making me want to dye my hair and try it.”
As Zheng Dong watched the smiling Director Zhang beside him and realized that he wasn’t mocking, but genuinely thinking that way, Zheng Dong’s dead fish eyes died a thorough death—Ye Shanshan was really toxic!
※※※
It has always been a tradition in Hua country’s film crews to light incense before filming, probably for peace of mind, hoping that various deities will bless them, ensuring smooth filming without any hiccups.
Ye Shanshan joined halfway through, but Director Zhang still brought out three sticks of incense for him to show respect.
Ye Shanshan didn’t refuse, taking them with both hands and sincerely offering the incense. In his heart, he silently prayed,
“Great Demon King, bless me to be able to come home early for dinner every day!”
He repeated it five times, feeling it was enough, then placed the incense in the censer.
Completely unaware of which deity Ye Shanshan was praying to, Director Zhang was very satisfied and called out, “Let’s go, while Xu Tian is taking the day off for a TV show today, Yan the Actor will also be two hours late. We’ll take Hu Yan’s makeup photos this morning, touch them up, and release them tonight.”
Director Zhang was a man of action; as soon as he finished speaking, he went off to find someone. Ye Shanshan was led into the makeup room by the director’s assistant.
There weren’t many people inside, so he found a seat and sat down.
Before long, Director Zhang hurriedly brought the makeup artist and stylist over. The original look for the character of Hu Yan was mostly set, but after seeing Ye Shanshan in person, all three of them felt it wasn’t quite right and discussed some changes.
Five minutes later, the makeup artist stood in front of Ye Shanshan, carefully examining his face, and finally said to Director Zhang, “This face of his, there’s really not much to work with. He already has eyeliner and false eyelashes, so we just need to change his hairstyle.”
Finishing up, the makeup artist added, “I saw the rainbow color you dyed your hair, it looks really good and makes your skin appear very fair.”
Zheng Dong, standing aside, covered his heart and felt hurt again.
Makeup and changing clothes took less than half an hour. Director Zhang patted Ye Shanshan’s shoulder and said, “I like actors like you who save money for the crew!”
Ye Shanshan smiled shyly, his eyes shining, “Can the money saved be used to add some meat to my boxed lunch?”
To avoid being treated specially, he hadn’t brought his own lunch. But the boxed lunches from the crew really weren’t filling enough!
Director Zhang chuckled, “Alright, I’ll add two meat dishes for you!”
The makeup photos for Ye Shanshan were to be taken in two sets: one showing the mild-mannered and helpful music college student for the first half of the movie presented to the audience, and the other disguised as the real Hu Yan.
Standing at the spot designated by the photographer, Ye Shanshan habitually closed his eyes first. When he opened them again, there was a noticeable change in his posture, expression, and even the subtle emotions on his face.
Director Zhang watched Ye Shanshan through the camera lens, surprised once again and confirmed that he seemed to have struck gold.
The photographer also felt that this state was excellent and excitedly took several shots in succession. Then he asked Ye Shanshan to pick up the violin that was being used as a prop because Hu Yan’s character was supposed to be a violin student.
Ye Shanshan took the violin handed to him by the staff, placed it on his shoulder in a proper posture, and even tried a few notes.
Director Zhang was somewhat surprised and said to Zheng Dong, “Shanshan really saves money for the crew. For the scene where Hu Yan performs on the street, I was thinking of hiring a professional violinist to stand in, but I didn’t expect Shanshan to be a professional himself. Why didn’t he mention it before?”
Zheng Dong was speechless. Could he say that he only found out now that Ye Shanshan can actually play the violin?
At this moment, he really doubted whether he was Ye Shanshan’s manager.
Hmm, maybe it’s a fake.
The first set of makeup photos were quickly taken, and the photographer hadn’t had such a smooth shoot in a long time. He shouted for the set crew to quickly change the background, “Shanshan, onto the second set!”
The stylist was helping with his hair, and Ye Shanshan made an OK gesture before closing his eyes again.
When there was only Ye Shanshan left in front of the camera, Director Zhang recalled yesterday’s expression and inexplicably felt a bit nervous, as if experiencing a lingering effect.
Ten seconds later, Ye Shanshan opened his eyes again and smiled towards the camera.
The smile was the same as before, but slightly covering his eyebrows with his bangs, everything else about his appearance remained unchanged. However, everyone present noticed that Ye Shanshan, no, Hu Yan, had completely transformed.
If the previous image was gentle and sunny, then now it was completely the opposite.
The smile at the corner of Hu Yan’s mouth carried a hint of sarcasm, appearing somewhat indifferent. His eyes seemed to be facing a dark abyss, struggling to avoid it but unable to escape, emitting an aura of despair from within.
The contradictory image left a deep impression on everyone. The photographer was stunned for two seconds before quickly pressing the shutter button, then wiped away a sweat, feeling as if he was being influenced by Ye Shanshan’s gaze, feeling uneasy.
Director Zhang watched “Hu Yan” intently, without saying another word.
After spending half a day shooting makeup photos, Ye Shanshan had nothing else to do until the next morning when he had his scenes. So for the entire afternoon, he basically watched Ye Kuo and the female lead rehearse their scenes. Both of them were talented actors, but Director Zhang had perfectionism, so repeating a line ten times was normal.
The more Ye Shanshan watched, the more anxious he felt. “Zheng-ge, I feel like this movie will take at least ten years to finish.”
Zheng Dong couldn’t help but retort, “Can you have a little bit of optimism?”
Ye Shanshan widened his eyes, “Zheng-ge, you’re finally talking to me properly!”
“…” Zheng Dong felt like he had been tricked.
Because both the male and female leads had excellent acting skills, even though Director Zhang had gone over the scenes repeatedly, the whole crew was preparing to wrap up by four o’clock in the afternoon.
After discussing the script for tomorrow with Ye Kuo, Zhang was preparing to invite Ye Shanshan to join them for barbecue when he realized that he was nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Hu Yan?”
The director’s assistant replied from the side, “When you said it was a wrap, he immediately packed up and left. Seeing you discussing the script with Ye Kuo, he didn’t want to disturb you, so he told me to inform you that he went home for dinner. See you tomorrow.” He chuckled to himself.
Director Zhang rolled up the script and slapped it against his hand, unable to hold back his laughter. “He went home for dinner? This Ye Shanshan is quite interesting!”
The director’s assistant nodded, finding it quite amusing. Before leaving, Ye Shanshan even asked him for two artificial blood packs used as props. He didn’t know what he needed them for.
After returning home, Ye Shanshan found that Gong Yue hadn’t come back yet. After quickly eating dinner, he solemnly told the butler that he would be resting upstairs and not to disturb him.
Considering Ye Shanshan often had sudden whims, Butler Hawk nodded habitually, “I won’t go upstairs, Young Master Ye, rest assured.” He added, “If you need any help, you can find me. I’ll keep it confidential.”
Without asking for Butler Hawk’s help, Ye Shanshan went upstairs to the study. He hesitated between the study and the bedroom, thinking that if Gong Yue came back, he would probably go to the study first, so he opened the door to the study and began to choose a spot.
The spot had to be conspicuous, so Gong Yue could see it as soon as he opened the door, but it couldn’t be too deliberate, or it would seem too fake.
So Ye Shanshan alternated between lying down and standing, calculating the angle of sight and estimating the distance length. After busy for more than half an hour, he finally settled on a spot. Then he closed the door, turned off the lights, put the artificial blood pack in his mouth, and lay down on the floor.
He was playing dead for the first time, feeling a bit nervous inside. But after lying down, various little scenes started playing out in his mind.
When Gong Yue returned home, turned on the lights in the study, and found his sweetheart with blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth, lying motionless on the ground, would he shout, “Shanshan, don’t die!”? Or rush over and lift him up, crying bitterly?
The more he thought about it, the more excited Ye Shanshan became, looking at the chandelier on the ceiling, unable to help but laugh foolishly a few times.
With his posture set and props in place, everything was ready, now all that was left was for Gong Yue to come home.
However, after lying on the floor for over an hour, there was still no movement downstairs. Ye Shanshan wandered in his thoughts, wondering if Gong Yue was stuck in traffic or working overtime? Didn’t they agree he would come home earlier tonight?
Yawning twice in a row, Ye Shanshan felt that he might achieve a better effect if he fell asleep, so he couldn’t resist the call of drowsiness and closed his eyes.
Then, Ye Shanshan was rudely awakened.
The floor was covered with long-pile sheepskin carpet, so it wasn’t cold, but he had forgotten to close the study window. The late autumn breeze blew in, slightly chilly, waking Ye Shanshan up directly.
Lying on the floor in the same position, Ye Shanshan’s eyes were somewhat dull— I’ve already had a nap, why hasn’t Gong Yue come back yet? So should I continue playing dead or not?
1TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you ❤️”
