Chapter 1 Part1 (2/2)

”Almost done. I'll give you a copy tonight.” Jia He hastily pulled herself together and jumped straight into her battle-ready work mode. ”But there are a few scenes that still have some issues—”

”Okay.” Director Jiang interrupted her with a smile. ”We'll talk about it more when we get to Hengdian.”

Jia He nodded with embarra.s.sment, discovering that she had been so nervous she had forgotten this was currently a press conference and there were still reporters waiting nearby to ask questions. However, with this sudden halt in the conversation, she actually did not know what she should say and could only stand gloomily beside the two others and pretend she was watching the lead actress's interview. Yi Wenze and the director began chatting casually in Cantonese. She could roughly understand bits and pieces of what they were saying, the general gist being things about the script.

While she was trying to figure out how she could subtly escape from there unnoticed, a reporter had already jumped first at this opportunity and come over to interview the director.

Yi Wenze looked at her. ”Let's go get a drink.”

Jia He had no excuse she could use to run away and could only anxiously follow him over to the long table and take the orange juice he handed to her.

He, too, took a gla.s.s of orange juice. His fingers clasping the wall of the gla.s.s were long and slender, and his joints were extremely well cared for. His palms, though, were like all other actors, with small injuries and roughness that had acc.u.mulated over the years.

”Is there a problem?” he unexpectedly asked.

It was not until Jia He lifted her head and met his puzzled look that she realized she had actually been staring fixedly at his hands. She hurriedly smiled. ”Oh, no, nothing really. I was just sighing over how hard it is for all you actors.”

Understanding what she was referring to, Yi Wenze gave a chuckle. ”It's actually not a big deal. However, actresses do get a bit of the short end of the stick. No matter how well taken care of the backs of their hands are, its unavoidable that their palms will become rough, especially when acting in period dramas.”

Jia He laughed. ”Yeah. If your hands are brutalized every day by swords, reins, and wires, even the best hand cream is useless.”

Modest and courteous in the way he treated everyone, and low-key—this was the evaluation of him given by many of the people who had previously worked with him.

And now, based on what she could see, it truly was what the actual person was like.

Jia He chatted with him in this way, a sentence or two here and there, as she held her orange juice with feigned composure. After taking half a sip, she dared not continue. This feeling was just like being in your first job interview after graduating from university, where on the surface you are calm and collected, but inside you have long since been in a state of turmoil, afraid that any look from your eyes or any subtle action may leave a bad impression on people.

Moreover, the person in front of her was her idol of more than ten years.

Back when Yi Wenze made his debut in the entertainment industry, she had only just graduated from middle school.

The Yi Wenze of her girlhood was an idol to young people. In that era when not many movies were being produced in Mainland China, he had received some unexpected opportunities and since been popular for many years in the Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Nowadays, though, the number of onscreen works he put out was a lot less. However, despite having half-withdrawn himself into the background to work behind the screen, he was still doing extremely well.

All of a sudden, Qiao Qiao's voice resonated, the general idea of her message being a reminder to everyone that they should hurry and make use of this opportunity to conduct their interviews, for the cast and production team would be leaving soon.

As a result of these words, many reporters who had been watching them from a distance now moved in closer and kindly interrupted the two of them, wanting to separately ask some more questions. Jia He very astutely made way for them and, stepping out of that function hall, she got some light snacks from the long refreshment table. After hastily appeasing her stomach, she sat in a discreet corner to wait for Qiao Qiao's a.s.sistant to bring her to the vehicle.

After some time, her mobile phone suddenly vibrated.

When she answered the call, Qiao Qioa's voice surprisingly came at her. ”Help me find Yi Wenze. His a.s.sistant is by my side and is so ridiculously dense. She doesn't even know where he is.” The blowing wind m.u.f.fled her voice. She seemed to be outdoors and in an extremely surly mood. ”That wife of his whom he just divorced is in the middle of being interviewed right at this moment. Let's hurry up and get him into the van before the media gets wind of this news. My boss hates it the most when people use gossip to gain hype. This is such a darn bother!”

Listening to this, Jia He fell into a fl.u.s.ter, and it was only after she hung up the phone that she realized she, the screenwriter, was being ordered around like an a.s.sistant by Qiao Qiao.

However, she, too, knew that at this time, they had better find Yi Wenze. It was not only Qiao Qiao's boss who hated hype created by gossip; Yi Wenze had always avoided this type of news as well. Even she, the hardcore fan of his that she was, had only learned in this last half a month, when she read the news story of the breakup, that he and that woman had been married for two years.

She had come here several times previously and was therefore relatively familiar with the surroundings. Setting down her gla.s.s, she inconspicuously slipped amongst the actors and reporters, surveying each nook and corner, but no trace of him was found.

After circling through the venue approximately two or three times, Jia He at last remembered that this place had a stairwell that very few people pa.s.sed through.

When she pushed open the door of the stairwell, there was only the white glow of the lights inside. It was very quiet.

Yi Wenze was standing at the spot where the staircase turned a corner. As he completely shut off his mobile phone, the white light in his palm blinked and then disappeared. A cigarette pinched between two of his fingers, he was silent for a while, and only after the cigarette was lit did he glance at Jia He, who was at the foot of the stairs.

Jia He felt an inexplicable sense of guilty discomfiture from the look he gave her. ”Qiao Qiao told me to take you downstairs.”

He nodded. ”All right. Thank you.”

Yi Wenze, who for the entire press conference had been smiling politely, was presently not showing even hints of a smile. He simply smoked quietly and did not look at Jia He again.

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

[1] The Tang dynasty was the ruling imperial dynasty in China from 618 to 907 CE.

[2] By approximately the eighth century, the preference for beauty in the Tang dynasty tended towards women who had more full, voluptuous, buxom figures.

[3] 大明宫 Daming Palace (Daming Gong) was the imperial palace of the Tang dynasty and was located in the city of Chang'an, which is present-day Xi'an. Ruins still remain of some of the imperial complex, and its site is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site.

This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or reposting are not authorized. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the copy is unauthorized and has been taken without consent of the translator.

Completed:

1 of 1 Prologue

1 of 58 Chapter segments

0 of 4 Epilogues

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