It seems like this is the only solution, Yan Hua thought as he rubbed his temples. He was quite unhappy since today’s filming was not going well. A morning like this was a sign that the rest of the day would not go well.
“Muran, come over here.”
Yan Hua beckoned Muran toward him.
Su Muran then walked over, standing in front of Yan Hua.
“Your stunt dancer was injured and she won’t be coming, so you’ll have to dance instead,” Yan Hua declared. He then glanced at his wristwatch, taking note of the time which was a quarter to ten o’clock. “It’s almost time, you should change into your outfit now. We don’t have much time to spare.”
“Director, I…” This was too sudden for Su Muran. How could it be possible for her to dance? If she could dance, they did not have to hire a stunt dancer in the first place. What could she do now? The stunt dancer was injured and she had to do it herself? She could not even recall the dance moves, let alone actually performing the dance.
“My dancing is inadequate,” Su Muran said after some hesitation. Due to her sense of pride, she said that her dancing was inadequate instead of telling him that she did not know the moves or she could not dance at all.
“It’s okay if it’s imperfect, we’ll figure out how to edit afterward.”
Yan Hua immediately called for the makeup artist, not giving Su Muran a single chance to escape. “Bring her over for a brushup, be quick, we’re running out of time.”
The makeup artist quickly led Su Muran to the changing room. Su Muran was forced to do something way beyond her ability. She had no choice but to change her clothes and get her makeup on.
The dance had a variety of dance moves which required the dancer to look as soft as if she was boneless while performing it. However, she was unable to do so because her movements were rather stiff.
Despite that, the dancing outfit that she was wearing was slim fit which showed off her body figure very well. Together with the light effect which they would be adding in, this would definitely be the most classic scene in the film.
Well, of course the outfit itself was rather expensive, as it was a custom-made by a well-known local designer. It was embroidered with artificial flowers of high quality and a variety of genuine crystals. In order to make it lifelike, they had used real crystals instead of fake crystals.
So, it was definitely true that this costume was worth a great cost. As a result, it did measure up to the price tag – it was truly breathtaking. When Su Muran was dressed in it, she looked much more beautiful than she was. She knew that sooner or later she would be wearing it, but not now.
As soon as she came out from the changing room, everyone’s eyes were locked on her with astonishment. However, that failed to brighten her up as she was asked to dance right then and there in the outfit. Unfortunately, she did not know how to dance. It was not just that she could not dance well, but rather that she was totally unable to dance. Ever since the day she knew that a stunt dancer was hired, she did not continue to learn the dance moves and she had even forgotten those that she had already learned.
Yan Hua raised his hand, “Everyone get ready for action.”
“Ready, set, action.”
Su Muran was really being pushed to do something way beyond her ability. After the fog was cleared, Su Muran was already there, standing on the stage which was decorated beautifully by then.
Since the film crew was not short of funds, Yan Hua had paid a lot of attention to every detail of the film. He was well-known for his generosity in using the funds for this purpose. All the films he made would have beautiful props, glittering with jewelries, and costing a fortune.
Everything was well prepared except for one person.
Su Muran was standing on the stage. She had been thinking for ages but she had no idea on how to start. Right, move the hand first or raise the leg first? To the left or to the right?
She had really forgotten all the moves. She was born and raised well by her family, and she was a fast learner. The only weakness she had was the unsightly coordination of her limbs. She had tried to learn dancing before this for a very long time, but one must have talent in order to dance, and she just did not have the talent for this.
Half a day crawled past painstakingly. Everyone was already prepared to shoot the scene, but the main actress was just standing still on the stage. What is she doing? Spacing out? Acting dumb? Or she is having stage fright?
Start dancing please. Everyone else was so nervous that their palms were sweating. Even Su Muran had a wave cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.
“Cut, stop!” Yan Hua shouted angrily, he was not the only one who had had enough, but everyone there had almost gone insane. They had filmed for so many times, but they had never met an actress who just stood there like a lamp post, doing nothing.
“What’s wrong with you?” Yan Hua questioned Su Muran in front of everyone. He would have scolded her if she were somebody else. He did not do it simply because she was Su Muran.
He was trying hard to save her pride.
“Director, I can’t dance well.”
Su Muran licked her lips, repeating the same sentence.
“It’s okay,” Yan Hua was always more lenient toward Su Muran than anyone else. This was probably due to the pressure given by the Su family, otherwise Su Muran would never be his top choice actress, acting in almost all of his films. Nobody could deny the fact that Su Muran was so popular because of him.
“You don’t have to worry too much, just dance. It’s okay even if it is not perfect, we will see how to edit afterwards.”
“Can’t we come back to this part someday later?” Su Muran asked Yan Hua, “I can’t dance right now. We can film the other parts first, then come back to this another day.”
Yan Hua raised an eyebrow. “Missy, do you know how many days we have spent to set up this stage? Do you know how many fresh flowers we have used for the flower stand? Do you know that our crew have no fixed schedule this time? Do you know how many guests are waiting for you to dance? Do you know how hard it is for us?”
“Now you are saying that you don’t want to dance, don’t want to settle on this part and want to change the schedule to some other day, just because you feel like doing so. Are you the director? Or am I?”
Su Muran knew that Yan Hua was not going to tolerate her antics anymore this time, so she finally went up the stage again, biting her lips in consideration. Then, she lurched to the side, spraining her ankle on purpose.
“Ahh!” Noticing her scream, the crew members at the side rushed to her aid immediately. However, there was one person who was faster than anyone else, darting toward her. All the others could see was a shadow flashing by, his braid swaying in the air.
Right then, Yan Huan was reminded of the lyrics of a song.
Hair swaying, walking away, no mercy for the sorrow in her heart.
She had been sitting for so long that she could feel the pain in her backside. Besides, with the heavy headdress on her head, her neck was starting to ache as well. She massaged her shoulders for a while, then she held the headdress up again to avoid her neck from suffering too much pressure from it.
