“It had always been fair,” Yan Huan hovered her finger in front of her nose. The medicine smelled fragrant, it was not bad at all.
She pulled her coat tighter around herself in case she got cold. On the film set, a scene between the empress dowager and Qing Jun was ongoing.
“Guards, slap this woman!” With a loud smash, the empress dowager hurled the cup in her hands on the table. “You can’t even be bothered with the proper salutations in front of me. It feels like things are getting more and more out of hand in this palace. Do you even respect me?”
The empress was picked by the empress dowager and represented her. Now that the emperor had slapped the empress, was he not disrespecting the empress dowager too? She could not lay a hand on the emperor, but she could definitely do something about this lowly palace maid who had been stirring up unrest in the harem.
A few grannies stepped forward and started slapping Qing Jun’s face. The cards had been stacked against Qing Jun at every turn recently, so she had learned to be submissive instead. This was not her year. Although she did know how history would unfold, she could not rewrite history. This was the royal palace, the palace of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty. The monarchy reigned supreme. At this moment, she could only resign to be held down by these bulky women with their large hands raining down blows on her face.
Perhaps it was a matter of the camera angle, but they could only hear the sounds without seeing the actions.
“The effect might be better if the slaps were real,” the cameraman said. “The other scene with Yan Huan was obviously better.”
“Would you have the guts to actually smack her face?” Yan Hua asked the cameraman. “I wouldn’t.”
That was why they needed a professional cameraman to film Su Muran’s scenes. Otherwise, it would be difficult to find the appropriate angles.
Everyone on the set gathered together at night. Sometimes they would discuss the script, sometimes they would talk about something else. Yan Huan was already familiar with these people, so they could laugh and mingle, and time would pass quickly. Although no other entertainment could be found around here, this was not too bad.
Everyone would be reciting their own lines or rehearsing with other people most of the time. They would review their strengths and weaknesses and then refine them further. Thus, everyone’s acting skills improved significantly.
Yan Hua hired a dance teacher to teach Su Muran, as dancing would be required in the later scenes. However, Director Yan’s worries were worse than he thought. Su Muran could act, but she could not dance at all. This was a matter of talent; her arms and legs were stiff, and her movements were uncoordinated. No matter how much she tried, she looked weird when she danced.
After a few days, the dance teacher came to Yan Hua.
“I think you should find me another student. This one is beyond all help, she has zero dancing talent and her limbs keep flailing around without any measure of grace.”
Yan Hua was caught by surprise. How could he just replace her with someone? Su Muran was the main female lead, not some random character. She had to do this dance.
“Please think of a way,” Yan Hua could not think of a solution, so he could only beg the dance teacher to try harder. She had to be carved into something even if she was rotten wood.
“Sorry, my hands are tied.” There was nothing the teacher could do. Her current student was obviously not cut out for dancing. It was fated that with her stiff arms and legs, it would not be a lovely sight even if Su Muran danced.
“I think you should hire a body double.”
That was the dance teacher’s heartfelt advice to Yan Hua. Rather than teaching someone who would never be able to master it, it would be better for him to find one who could dance. In any case, they could edit their faces during post-production. That was the easier solution, instead of forcing the original actress to dance.
Yan Hua thought about it and sighed. “I guess that is the only way.”
This Su Muran had been causing trouble in every film she made. Couldn’t she help lessen his burden by not being such a spoiled brat?
Yan Hua found a stunt dancer subsequently. Some of the cast found the dance interesting during the rehearsal, so they joined in to learn as well.
Yan Huan would go and learn too when she was bored, and took it as an exercise for her body. When she was home, she would run on the treadmill with Lu Yi. It had been a long while since she exercised properly.
Eventually, the number of people who joined in the rehearsals grew. It started to look like a choreographed dance in a public square.
Su Muran pursed her lips and shut her door, locking herself off in her trailer.
After a few days, a gloomy man appeared on set. He was none other than Lu Qin. The wound on Lu Qin’s head had healed, but it did leave a number of scars behind.
He lifted his poisonous eyes and glared directly at Yan Huan.
Yan Huan saw him, but she just pursed her red lips lightly. She stood up and got ready to rehearse her lines with the others. They rehearsed the lines back and forth so that their thoughts were in sync. It was better for them to synchronize with each other now rather than wasting time later.
Yan Hua had arranged for Lu Qin to stay in Xu Nuo’s house. Xu Nuo was staying alone initially, but he would be glad that there was another resident now. Two is better than one. Furthermore, they could discuss the plot of the drama together. However, Lu Qin’s unfriendly eyes deterred any of Xu Nuo’s wishes to be friends.
Lu Qin’s scenes were up the next day. However, as he was unfamiliar with everyone else, his scenes were cut by Yan Hua several times. He took up to five cuts to film a scene. When he was stopped by Director Yan the fifth time, the thundercloud on Lu Qin’s face had darkened considerably. Yan Huan had a feeling that someone was constantly glaring at her back. She knew very well who the person was doing it.
There was no choice but to admit that Lu Qin’s acting was not very good. None of his takes could be considered as average. Sometimes his performance showed some brilliance, but the best comment that Yan Huan had heard was that he was just being himself.
Lu Qin was the second male lead and the antagonist in the show. He was a cunning and ruthless person who caused the death of his own wife for Qing Jun.
Even though his second lead charisma had started to unravel now, everyone knew that he was part of the cannon fodders whose sole purpose was to complement the main characters. However, the actors of these characters had believed that even if they were mere cannon fodder, they still had to be the most successful and memorable cannon fodders ever.
However, looking at the current situation, Su Muran seemed to be suppressed mercilessly by Yan Huan whenever they acted together. It was not anyone’s fault, but rather the fact that the disparity between their skills was just too great.
As for Lu Qin, he had never worked with Yan Huan before, so he did not know what Yan Huan’s acting skills were really like. However, after a few scenes together, Lu Qin started to feel like he was in a pickle. Yan Huan knew Lu Qin’s acting skills very well. In her past lifetime, Yan Huan was the one who had always stuck with Lu Qin throughout his journey. She was the one who propelled him to fame. How could she not know his habits and behavior after more than five years of marriage with him?
