Chapter 2 Part2 (2/2)
Yi Wenze did a simple rehearsal through the lines with Liao Jing and then glanced over at Jia He.
With this one look from him, the bitter resentfulness that Jia He had just managed to build up with her practicing now all crumbled again…
And so, she carried on with keeping her head down. Head down and practice hard.
Fortunately, in this scene, she only needed to carry a tray and briefly show half her face. Most of the scene's action was with the male and female lead. Naturally, then, it was quite a bit easier than she had imagined. Once the director p.r.o.nounced an ”Okay!” she breathed out in relief, set the tray aside, and turned her eyes fixedly onto Qiao Qiao to check with her. Qiao Qiao was not at all about to let pa.s.s by this chance to poke fun at her. ”Not bad, not bad. The love was intense, and the jealousy even more so. Your acting brought it all to life.”
Through gritted teeth, Jia He bit back, ”Thank you.”
The next scene very easily caused her to become dejected and frustrated.
When Yi Wenze saw that she, facing the little boy, her hand raised with a cake in it, had gone blank in the mind for the fourth time, he motioned to his a.s.sistant, signaling that he wanted to have some water. In reality, everyone could tell that this was to allow Jia He to ease her tension a bit. The director understood, and turning his head, he began speaking to Liao Jing. Qiao Qiao also went along with him, saying that milk tea had been delivered and telling everyone to take a break.
Taking in the sight of all this, Jia He felt even more remorseful. Who knew how long they would have to keep at it like this today?
As Yi Wenze drank his water, he instructed his a.s.sistant to bring a paper cup over. He poured a warm drink for Jia He as well. ”Have something to drink. There's no rush.”
Filled with guilt, Jia He took the water from him. ”Thank you.”
The liquid was a faint, warm-brown colour, and when she took a sip, it was sweet in flavour and tasted like malva nuts.
”This is your first cameo?” Yi Wenze drank very slowly.
Jia He gave a firm nod of her head. It truly was her first one.
Yi Wenze was not surprised in the least, and he began to slowly talk through and very meticulously and carefully explain the scene to her. Jia He listened as he spoke each sentence. As he and she were both in ancient-period costumes, she actually was caught in a daze for a moment. It truly seemed as if they had gone back to ancient times, and inexplicably, she began to somewhat get into her role.
Detecting that her frame of mind had changed, she once more feelingly sighed to herself, it was no wonder he was her idol; he understood this scene even better than she did…
Everyone rested for another while. When Qiao Qiao saw that Yi Wenze had moved away, she stepped over and, with a grin, said quietly, ”You're just awesome. With other people, it's the screenwriter who talks through the scenes with the actors, but when it's you, you get this exception. This is my first time ever seeing an actor explaining the scene to the screenwriter.”
One sentence completely transformed her infinite admiration for her idol into deep disdain for herself.
”Actually, this scene of yours is really simple,” Qiao Qiao suddenly remarked.
Jia He scoffed, ”It's easy for you to say. You want to take my place?”
With a glance at Liao Jing, Qiao Qiao murmured to her, ”Just think of Liao Jing as Tian Chu. I guarantee you'll get into the role then.”
Jia He wholly believed Qiao Qiao had come to watch her make a fool of herself, plus throw some mocking jabs at her.
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After Yi Wenze's help, when they were acting out the scene with everyone again, Jia He noticeably was much better.
She fed the little boy the cake without a hitch, smiling so very much like a woman who was virtuous, kind, and understanding, and then after Yi Wenze strode in and she was discovered, she displayed her panic. Then, when she was faced with his silent aggression… her mind went blank. Those raindrops-caressing-a pear-blossom tears wouldn't come out.
Using eye drops would look too fake. No matter what, for this drama that was her own creation, she would persist and force herself to make it more realistic. But as a little cameo actress who had no formal training and who simply sat in front of her computer every day, pounding words out on it, how could she just cry whenever she felt like it?
And so, Qiao Qiao once more began inviting everyone to have milk tea.
Yi Wenze was not anxious and, in fact, started talking to his cameo ”son.” Liao Jing, on the other hand, was somewhat impatient and annoyed and began making calls on her mobile phone. Jia He was vaguely able to make out the voice on the other end of the call and whom it belonged to. Actually, Liao Jing had already been very cautious, but Jia He and Gu Yu had been together for such a long time that she had long become so familiar with him that it was as if they were one person. She was simply too familiar with the way he spoke, such that even though Liao Jing had merely given a few sentences in answer, she was already able to guess who was asking the questions.
She suddenly remembered, back then, when Gu Yu was travelling for work, in order to save on mobile phone fees, she would pretend that she needed to work overtime, and then when there was no one left in the office, she would finally call him using the landline telephone. It was not until later, when they had broken up, that she learned that in that period when Gu Yu's business trips had been most frequent, he had actually been together with her department manager. It might very well have been that such late phone calls from her had spoiled their ”fun.”
There was a tingly, aching feeling in her heart. Jia He all of a sudden spoke up. ”I'm good now, Director.”
Let's just hurry and get acting, hurry and get acting. My mood's going to pa.s.s soon.
Though everyone was somewhat bemused, filming nonetheless started once more.
This time, the take went smoothly. Discovered in the middle of her attempt to poison the child, she turned her head and then, seeing Yi Wenze, instantly began to weep like she had been wronged. Tears flooded over unabatedly, to the extent that even if she were to try, she would not be able to stem them. And Yi Wenze's stony expression that was facing her only served to intensify her feelings of misery and abjection.
Holding himself tall as he stood where he was, Yi Wenze watched her wordlessly for a long time. Then, suddenly, he reached forth a hand and brushed away her tears.
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[1] 肥水不流外人田. Literally, this translates as ”the fertile waters should not be allowed to flow into other people's fields,” which basically means you should keep the ”good stuff” within your own inner circle and not give outsiders the opportunity.
[2] This originated as Internet slang. 油菜 ”you cai” is the name of a Chinese green vegetable that is commonly transliterated in English as yu choy or, sometimes, choy sum. It's p.r.o.nunciation, ”you cai,” is h.o.m.ophonic with 有才, which means a person has talents or is capable.
[3] Sina Corporation is the company that created the currently most popular microblogging service in China, Weibo, which actually has the full name of Sina Weibo.
This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or re-posting 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
5 of 58 Chapter segments
0 of 4 Epilogues
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