The next day, around noon.
Amidst a ticklish sensation, Jiang Nian woke up in the huge bed at the villa.
That’s right—right after finishing his last film, Jiang Nian had come straight to Yang Mi’s place to celebrate with her.
Right now, seeing Yang Mi lying on his chest with a mischievous grin, using a strand of hair to tickle his nose…
Maybe it’s because he’s lived in the capital for so long, but Jiang Nian suddenly felt a craving for something authentic.
“Woman, you’re playing with fire.”
Imitating that overbearing CEO kind of tone, Jiang Nian let out a puff of hot breath through his nose.
Hearing that, Yang Mi, who had been acting all playful just a second ago, froze.
Because she thought about how crazy last night had been, and she got a little nervous—doesn’t this guy even know what exhaustion means?
“Don’t you dare. I’m still sore.”
“Then why did you wake me up?” Jiang Nian shot back.
“Well, obviously because I have something to talk to you about.” To prevent this brute Jiang Nian from going off the rails, Yang Mi quickly said, “Didn’t you say yesterday that you’d wrapped up your film and didn’t have any roles lined up right now?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“Nothing much. It’s just that I happen to know of a movie that’s casting right now. Was wondering if you’d be interested?”
Hearing that, Jiang Nian’s interest was immediately piqued. He asked, “What movie?”
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate!
“Oh?” Jiang Nian sounded intrigued. “Is that Director Xu Ke’s new film?”
“That’s right!”
Yang Mi nodded with a hint of pride.
Xu Ke is a hugely famous director in the Chinese film industry.
He’s shot many classic movies and, just last year, won the Best Director award at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards.
He’s incredibly talented, and his films are very consistent at the box office.
For this new film, he’s even managed to cast top-tier stars like Li Lianjie (Jet Li) and Zhou Xun as the leads.
So, as soon as word got out that he was making a new movie, a bunch of people wanted a piece of the action.
And Yang Mi was one of the competitors who managed to snag a spot.
That really shows how strong her connections and resources are.
Jiang Nian had no idea what Yang Mi was thinking.
Right now, all his attention was focused on Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.
He had a strong impression of this film.
But not because the plot was amazing or because it was packed with deep meaning.
It was because of one character in the film who stood out—Yu Huatian!
He’s a eunuch in the story.
But you could also say he’s the soul of the whole film.
Thanks to the line: “You ask me, what is the Western Depot? Let me tell you—the things your Eastern Depot doesn’t dare to handle, our Western Depot handles. The people your Eastern Depot doesn’t dare to kill, our Western Depot kills.”
That almost biblical quote, combined with the image created by actor Chen Kun,
helped the character break out of the film and become one of the most iconic eunuch characters in cinema history.
Actor Chen Kun even got nominated for Best Actor at awards like the Asian Film Awards and the Hundred Flowers Awards, all because of this role.
And that’s just the external benefit of the character.
If you factor in the internal qualities, like his martial arts skills and abilities…
“Mi姐 (Mi Jie), I’ve never really begged anyone for anything in my life.”
“But I’m begging you—please, please get me the role of Yu Huatian.”
Jiang Nian said this with a completely earnest look on his face.
Hearing that, Yang Mi was a little stunned: “How do you even know there’s a character named Yu Huatian in this film?”
Jiang Nian pointed to his head and said, “It’s my intuition for good scripts.”
“That’s total bull!” Yang Mi rolled her eyes. “Whose intuition is so spot on that they know the characters without even reading the script?”
“Alright, fine. Actually, I did some digging before and heard that this film has a really good eunuch role called Yu Huatian. He’s supposed to have a strong personality and a lot of charisma, so I was hoping to play him.”
Jiang Nian lied through his teeth, making it up as he went.
Yang Mi looked at him suspiciously: “Really?”
“Really!” Jiang Nian said, his face full of sincerity.
“Well, since you already did your homework, why not go for the lead role, Zhao Huai’an?” Yang Mi pressed.
As soon as she said that, Jiang Nian was completely stunned.
It took him a good while to snap out of it. Then, he silently pulled out his phone, found an audio clip, and looked at Yang Mi with that ‘are you stupid or what’ expression and said, “Are you okay? Trying to steal the lead role from Li Lianjie? Are you crazy, or am I crazy?”
“…”
Seeing that annoying, punchable ‘you’re-an-idiot’ look on Jiang Nian’s face, and listening to the endless loop of her own voice from a past commercial saying, “Are you okay?” playing from his phone, Yang Mi’s fists clenched.
This jerk. Not only does he make fun of me, but he uses my own voice pack to do it.
“I take it back. You’re not getting the role.”
“Whoa, hey, don’t be like that. Sis, I was wrong, okay? Wrong!”
“Then turn off that stupid voice recording right now.”
“No way. I’m not wrong. What was I even wrong about?”
“Jiang Nian, you son of a—!”
After some playful bickering,
it ended with Yang Mi climbing on top of Jiang Nian, snatching his phone away, and turning off the audio.
Of course, this was definitely Jiang Nian letting Yang Mi win.
Otherwise, with those little arms and legs of hers, Jiang Nian could have just flicked his ‘Old Beijing Chicken Roll’ move and sent her spinning like a top.
As for Jiang Nian’s request to play Yu Huatian…
“I’ll talk to the director in a bit. Hey, do you have a demo reel?” Yang Mi asked.
Hearing that, Jiang Nian raised an eyebrow: “Demo reel?”
“Yeah, you know, clips of you acting before. Do you have any? I need to show the director something,” Yang Mi explained.
She couldn’t just walk up and demand they give Jiang Nian the role, right?
She has some influence, but not that much.
Especially not with a top-tier director.
Messing around like that might annoy the director, and if he got mad and took back the casting spot, Yang Mi would have no one to cry to.
Jiang Nian understood: “No, I don’t, but I can ask for one. Hang on.”
With that, he picked up his phone, found the director’s WeChat, asked him for some behind-the-scenes footage, and sent it to Yang Mi.
Yang Mi took one look and was immediately drawn in by what she saw.
She compared the footage to Jiang Nian, over and over, unable to believe it: “This is you acting?”
“Yeah, can’t you tell?”
“Honestly? No, I really can’t!”
Yang Mi said, looking amazed.
Without exaggerating, the Jiang Nian in that footage and the Jiang Nian lying right in front of her were like two completely different people!
She had initially thought that if Jiang Nian’s acting wasn’t great, she’d aim lower, maybe try to get him the second or third male villain role.
But obviously, that wasn’t necessary anymore.
All she had to do was send this footage over, and Director Xu Ke himself would be begging Jiang Nian to play the main villain, Yu Huatian!
