Zuo Yuanliang admitted that, as an actor, he wasn’t exactly qualified.
He had poor acting skills, liked to slack off, and on the very first day of filming, he threw his weight around with the director thanks to his investor connections.
All he could think about was how to get close to the female lead.
But… today’s problem really wasn’t his fault!
Jiang Nian was the one who changed the script without permission, so why was he getting blamed?
Zuo Yuanliang was full of grievances and felt completely unjustly treated.
He was convinced that even if the Emperor of Heaven himself showed up, he would still be in the right today.
Seeing how confident he looked, the director laughed sarcastically. “Are you an idiot?”
“Huh?” Zuo Yuanliang blinked in confusion.
“Huh, what? I asked you, are you an idiot?” the director repeated. Then, not waiting for an answer, he slammed his hand on the table and shouted, “Do you have no brain? If you can’t come up with the right line, can’t you at least say ‘one, two, three, four, five’?”
“Don’t you know what post-production dubbing is? Do you have any idea what this shot means? Huh?!”
When he finished, the whole set fell completely silent.
Everyone stared at the furious director. No one knew what to say, and no one dared to say anything.
Zuo Yuanliang was dumbfounded. He just stared at the director, stammering, “Wait… you… I…”
He couldn’t believe that a mouth running at a normal 37 degrees Celsius could spit out such cold, heartless words.
The worst part was, Zuo Yuanliang couldn’t even argue back.
Because whenever he acted in the past, he often got lazy halfway through and just mumbled “one, two, three, four, five,” leaving the dubbing for post-production.
If he now said that post-production dubbing wasn’t acceptable, the least of his worries would be embarrassing himself. The real problem would be the director using that against him and refusing to let him lip-sync in the future.
But if he admitted it, that would just prove the director was right to yell at him.
“…”
So, Zuo Yuanliang stayed silent.
Seeing this, the director couldn’t be bothered to waste any more breath on him.
He turned to look at Jiang Nian, and his face, which had been full of anger just a moment ago, instantly changed. He smiled and said, “Sorry, Teacher Jiang. As you can see, there was a little hiccup. Could I trouble you to do that again?”
He maintained a very humble posture, his attitude extremely respectful.
Because the shot Jiang Nian had just given was simply perfect.
Without any exaggeration, that single shot alone could at least double the viewership of his TV drama!
And that meant real money!
Who doesn’t like money?
Besides money, it would also bring potential fame and other benefits.
It was a win-win situation.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nian nodded. “Since the director asks, of course I can.”
That look might be hard for others to achieve in a single take.
But for Jiang Nian, he just needed to be himself to pull it off. There was no difficulty at all.
So, after a short break to adjust his state,
Scene Two, Section One started filming again.
Learning from the last time, even though Jiang Nian’s presence still made it hard for Zuo Yuanliang to breathe, he wasn’t as flustered as before.
However, whenever Jiang Nian stared at him, he still couldn’t help but be intimidated.
But with the director shouting from the sidelines, he could barely manage to respond and say lip-sync words like “one, two, three, four, five.”
Seeing him in such a pathetic state,
Honestly, Jiang Nian wanted to laugh.
Because in “Du Gao’s” memories, this main character, while not incredibly powerful, was at least “righteous and unafraid of authority.”
But Zuo Yuanliang’s performance of those eight words had reduced them to just one word: “shit.”
It was really hard for Jiang Nian to keep a straight face.
The plot continued to move forward.
Someone had ruined “Du Gao’s” fun, and given Du Gao’s personality, he wasn’t about to let it slide.
So, he ordered his men to arrest the hero.
But the hero’s martial arts were impressive.
In no time, he had beaten all the imperial agents Du Gao brought to the ground.
“Useless!”
Seeing this, Jiang Nian’s character, “Du Gao,” scowled and decided to take matters into his own hands.
He stamped his foot.
Crack!
The floor let out a pitiful groan and split in two.
Jiang Nian’s figure shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, reaching the hero in an instant.
He lifted his knee, then swung his leg in a vicious kick.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of wind rushed straight towards Zuo Yuanliang’s face, blowing his hair backwards.
Watching the leg growing larger and larger in his field of vision,
Zuo Yuanliang’s heart sank.
At this distance, with this kind of power…
“I’m going to die!”
An unprecedented fear seized Zuo Yuanliang’s mind.
His instincts were screaming at him, trying to make him react.
But locked in place by Jiang Nian’s aura, Zuo Yuanliang couldn’t move at all.
He could only watch in despair as Jiang Nian’s leg got closer and closer.
“Cut!”
Just then, the director’s voice rang out.
Upon hearing it,
Whoosh!
Jiang Nian’s leg stopped less than ten centimeters away from Zuo Yuanliang’s neck, then he pulled it back.
Ignoring Zuo Yuanliang, who was frozen stiff,
Jiang Nian turned his head, looking at the director with a slight frown of confusion.
To be fair, Jiang Nian felt he had performed this part quite well. He had simply copied the reaction and movements of “Du Gao” from his memories of when Du Gao first encountered the hero.
Logically, there shouldn’t be any problem. So why had they cut?
“Director, is there something wrong with my performance?”
Jiang Nian hadn’t fully stepped out of “Du Gao’s” character yet, so he unconsciously used some of the eunuch’s speech patterns.
Meeting Jiang Nian’s gaze, the director suddenly understood, right at that moment, why Zuo Yuanliang couldn’t even deliver a simple line earlier.
Jiang Nian’s presence was simply too powerful.
It wasn’t just acting opposite him; even making eye contact with him was incredibly stressful.
The director swallowed nervously. “Um… Teacher Jiang, your movements were too fast. We couldn’t keep up.”
“Hmm?”
Jiang Nian grunted softly in confusion. Couldn’t keep up?
“What do you mean?” Jiang Nian asked.
“Could you maybe… tone it down a bit?” the director suggested.
He honestly hadn’t expected Jiang Nian to move that fast.
In almost an instant, he was right in front of Zuo Yuanliang, launching his attack.
Although the shot was still usable, in the director’s mind, it wasn’t perfect.
“Teacher Jiang, my vision was for the camera to stay locked on you the entire time after you started moving. That way, the shot would be even better – full of impact.”
“What do you think?”
After explaining his idea to Jiang Nian,
the director asked for his opinion.
As for what Jiang Nian thought of this, who could say?
But Zuo Yuanliang, standing nearby, was absolutely crushed when he learned they would have to reshoot the scene and that he would have to be kicked by Jiang Nian again.
What the hell? Why does he keep tormenting only me?
Jiang Nian’s kick from earlier had almost scared him into wetting himself.
If he had to endure another one…
Thinking back to that terrifying moment, Zuo Yuanliang couldn’t help but shiver. He completely failed to notice a warm, silent stream trickling down from beneath him.
