207 Phone Call
After Shen Ruojing messaged Lu Cheng, she put her phone into her pocket.
When she looked up and wanted to say something, Shen Qianhui and Jing Zhen suddenly stood up. Shen Ruojing followed their gazes and realized that the director was walking over.
Director Liu was a famous director in the industry.
In the past, Director Liu had produced a palace drama that became popular all over the country and even overseas. Hence, his reputation in the industry was very great. This film that focused on the female lead received a lot of investment, and many actors and actresses were placed in by the investors.
Jing Zhen was one of them.
Royal Ocean Entertainment had also invested in the film. Jing Zhen, who was placed in his production, played the role of the great villain, the emperor.
This character had great characteristics and if played well, the actor could easily become famous.
Before Jing Zhen came, the director was worried that this old gigolo wouldn’t be able to play the role well. However, he was given a slap in the face. Jing Zhen’s acting skills could be said to be on the level of a best-actor-award winner.
This made Director Liu feel very satisfied.
However, at this moment, he walked over with a hint of awkwardness on his face.
Noticing Director Liu’s expression, Jing Zhen immediately asked, “Director Liu, what’s wrong? Did I not act well earlier?”
“No, you acted too well.” Liu Zheng sighed. “It’s because you acted too well that Yun Lu complains that you intentionally acted this well to suppress her.”
Jing Zhen. “?”
Shen Qianhui was also perplexed. “?”
Seeing that both of them were perplexed, Director Liu’s face flushed up. He coughed and said, “Teacher Jing Zhen acted too well, excellently bringing out the fury of a great emperor. On the cameras, it was majestic. However, Yun Lu is a newcomer after all and might not be able to keep up with your acting. Therefore, when we start filming again later, can Teacher Jing try to control your disposition a little?”
Shen Ruojing understood now.
It turned out that Yun Lu was unable to keep up with the acting, so she was blaming Jing Zhen for acting too well.
Jing Zhen frowned. “Director Liu, about the emperor, I’ve studied the script. Back then, he had suppressed his might as an emperor because of the important officials’ authority. This is why he started a great upheaval in the officialdom. Since then, he wielded the authority in his hands. A person like him must not appear flustered and exasperated when a rebellion is planned against him. He mustn’t appear too weak either. This goes against his character of being the villain boss…”
As the greatest boss in the drama, how could Jing Zhen become weak and submissive when facing the female lead?
Director Liu naturally understood this. He was even pleasantly surprised by Jing Zhen’s acting skills.
However, at the thought of the Yun Family, he sighed. He lowered his voice and said, “Teacher Jing, let me be honest with you. Yun Lu is the young miss of the Yun Family’s second son, from Prosper Entertainment. The Yun Family is our drama’s main investor and just now, she threw a great tantrum. I’m finding this a little tricky too. Sigh.”
Director Liu also despised himself for yielding to capitalism. However, sometimes, it was really too difficult to film a good drama.
As expected, it was the Yun Family!
Jing Zhen’s lips twitched.
Could the young miss of the Yun Family’s second house act in such an arrogant manner?
Jing Zhen’s wife was the daughter of the previous head!
Regardless of the family, the family head’s status would always be supreme. If Shen Qianhui were to return to the Yun Family and acknowledge her ancestry, it could be said that no one would have a higher status than Shen Qianhui other than the current head, Yun Zhengyang.
However, Shen Qianhui’s identity hadn’t been announced to the public before, so after giving it some thought, Jing Zhen said, “Why don’t we film separately? Film my parts first, then when we’re filming the female lead’s parts, I’ll lower my presence. With that, the drama’s effects can be presented and she will be able to act too. Will that do?”
This would pose a greater challenge to Jing Zhen. It’d be equivalent to asking him to repeatedly get in and out of his character very frequently in a single scene.
Director Liu was overjoyed. “This is the best of both worlds!”
Both of them then decided on the concrete details.
All the staff in the production team also heaved a sigh of relief.
Everyone had seen that there were so many ‘Ng’ earlier. They weren’t fools, so how could they not be able to tell whose problem this was?
As expected, the take was passed with this arrangement.
Without the pressure from Jing Zhen, after Yun Lu’s part was passed, she inevitably felt proud. However, when she turned around, she saw that all the staff members were giving Jing Zhen a thumbs-up.
Despite getting in and out of his character so frequently, when the camera was turned to Jing Zhen, he could immerse himself into his role very quickly. Today, he used his acting skills to convince everyone on the set!
When Yun Lu saw this, her brows furrowed tightly.
As a veteran actor, why was he trying to flaunt his acting skills in front of her?
Jing Zhen must be intentionally wanting her to make a fool of herself!
He was really overboard!
A hint of resentment flashed across Yun Lu’s eyes.
After this take was over, the next scene was the emperor, played by Jing Zhen, being imprisoned. The crown prince and the crown princess then forced him to write his confession and apologize to the people.
In the dim palace, the only one remaining was an old eunuch who served the emperor. The eunuch had his head lowered and was standing next to the emperor. The emperor’s hair was a little messy, but his back remained straight and upright.
He looked coldly at the crown prince and crown princess.
The crown princess, Yun Lu, took a step forward. “Your Majesty killed the wrong person, causing my father to be wronged and imprisoned, and my entire family to be executed. Since you’ve committed wrongdoing, this should be announced to the public.”
The emperor, Jing Zhen, leaned on the chair, staring at the yellow scroll for the imperial decree in front of him. He suddenly smiled, picked up the brush, and wrote some words on it.
Yun Lu heaved a sigh of relief. She then took a step forward before the crown prince did, picking up the imperial decree, thinking that it was the emperor’s confession. However, she didn’t expect that what was written was: The fall of the monarchy, the source of disaster for the country!
These words caused the crown princess to fly into a rage.
She clenched her fists tightly, her gaze revealing a determined, resentful, and hatred-filled gaze. Suddenly, she picked up the ink stone on the table and smashed it fiercely at Jing Zhen!
Bang!
Jing Zhen shifted his head and the ink stone smashed into the wall behind him.
The director immediately shouted, “Cut!”
After that, the director said to Yun Lu, “Crown princess, our arrangement is to throw the imperial decree onto the table. Why did you suddenly throw the ink stone?”
Yun Lu turned back, her expression as if she was struck by a realization. “Director, I feel that the female lead should be enraged that she has been played with. Thinking of her father, it would be more reasonable for her to smash the ink stone.”
Jing Zhen retorted, “That’s not right. Your father and yourself are from ancient times. Back then, it was instinctive for people to be loyal to the emperor. Even though you’ve won, I’m still the emperor. Therefore, the crown princess wouldn’t dare to throw something at me. This is why the script has it as throwing the imperial decree. I think that the scriptwriter was right when writing this.”
Yun Lu smiled. “How can that be? Our drama advocates for the female lead to begin with. If there are still pedantic thoughts of being loyal to the emperor, it won’t fit the theme. Therefore, I think we should be smashing the ink stone. Why did Teacher Jing dodge? You should get hit in the head. That would bring out the theme more.”
Jing Zhen wanted to say something when Yun Lu continued, “Is Teacher Jing worried about getting hurt, so that’s why you keep disagreeing? I heard that veteran actors and actresses are all very professional. But don’t you worry, I’ll ‘throw’ it very well.”
After saying that, she looked at the director with a heavy gaze. “Director, if you think that this isn’t suitable, should I get my Eldest Uncle to have a chat with you? But I feel that there’s no need to trouble my Eldest Uncle about small details like this, right? The scriptwriter is present too. Why don’t we ask his opinion on this?”
The scriptwriter was contracted under the Yun Family’s entertainment company. As Yun Lu had amended so many scenes before this, how could the scriptwriter retort when hearing her words? He said, “I feel that what Teacher Yun says is right. Director, why don’t we do this? We can film two versions, one with the throwing of the ink stone and the other with the imperial decree. We’ll talk about which version to use at a later time. Right now, the most important thing is to shoot the scenes and finish up in these two days. Our expenses for each day cost a lot of money!”
Director Liu. “…”
Since the scriptwriter had said this, what else could he do?
Director Liu could tell that Yun Lu was clearly using her position for personal gain.
He looked apologetically at Jing Zhen. “Teacher Jing, we’ll… have to put you through this grief then.”
Jing Zhen’s gaze became heavy, but he continued to wear a smile. “It’s alright. I don’t feel any grief. For the sake of the film, this is something I should do.”
Yun Lu looked at Jing Zhen and smiled. “Then Teacher Jing, when I throw the ink stone later, don’t dodge. It’s best if I were to hit your head. This will show my contempt toward royal authority. Isn’t that right?”
After saying that, she looked at the director proudly. “Director, I’m ready!”
The director looked at Jing Zhen. Seeing him gesturing an ‘okay’ sign, he sighed and waved his hand. “Cameramen, get ready. Everyone, get ready… action!”
Shen Ruojing, who was watching from the side, wore an extremely grim expression.
There was no hint of emotions in her peach blossom eyes at this moment. Suddenly, her phone in her pocket rang.