Actually Chapter 41

“Is of course Ning Yu Ren!”

Director Chen turned over and looked, written on his face was: ‘This great director has yet finished talking, who interrupted me?’

It was Chen Guan Chao.

 

“Although You Ling’s Princess Ling Shan is beautiful, it lacks impact. There are too many of these types of characters on the market!” Chen Guan Chao gestured towards Ning Yu Ren’s direction. “Unlike her. She portrays a female character in a way that has never been done before. Full of subversion, deadly and bewitching!”

After hearing those words, the crowd who had just fallen silent erupted in a new wave of argument.

As a victorious smile emerged on Chen Guan Chao’s face, a voice lazily rang out from the crowd.

 

“Indeed, she has acted very well. It was so good that the entire movie has lost its balance.”

Chen Guan Chao was shocked. He looked towards the voice and saw Shi Zhong Tang touching his chin and smiling. “All everyone cared about was who was better. Did everyone forget the main story of <<The Person Within the Painting>>? What is the most important detail? It was that the male lead was so overly smittened by the person within the painting that his father had no choice but to get the supporting female character to seduce him. Now, look at her again.“

Everyone’s gaze fell upon Ning Yu Ren.

An actress who was dreary, it was like if she stood in a place long enough, the place would start to sprout mushrooms. Chen Guan Chao said she was deadly and bewitching.The bewitching part is up for discussion, but everyone agreed on the deadly part. Very few people looked into her eyes, they were afraid that if they looked too long they would unbearably take out prayer beads or a cross…

 

“A Princess Ling Shan that will make the film come with a ‘Parental Guidance’ label, how do you expect the male lead character to fall in love at first sight with her?” Shi Zhong Tang shrugged. “How do you expect the supporting female character to even utter the line ‘She is too beautiful, I cannot even compare to one of her fingernails’?”

“Wouldn’t you be able to better present the affection of the male lead this way?” Upon seeing the crowd debating over the fact as if they were about to be convinced by Shi Zhong Tang, Chen Guan Chao refused to back down. “Wouldn’t it be more moving if the male lead loved her despite her being ugly and scary?”

Shi Zhong Tang tilted his head and smiled at Chen Guan Chao.

 

Just when Chen Guan Chao thought he was rendered speechless, Shi Zhong Tang spat out four words, “<<Phantom of the Theater>>.”

Chen Guan Chao was mildly taken aback.

“When I looked at the script before, I felt that there was something odd. I didn’t know why, a lot of it gave me a sense of deja vu.” Shi Zhong Tang looked at him, “Now that I’ve listened to you, I finally can confirm where I’ve seen it—<<Phantom of the Theater>>.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Director Shi suddenly said.

“I only feel that this movie is beginning to look like another movie, whether it’s the plot or the character design.” Shi Zhong Tang shook the script in his hand. “Especially the amendments you’ve made recently.”

The content of a script was not immutable, it could be amended in a logical manner according to the needs of the cast and crew.

But it was very obvious that the amendments Chen Guan Chao made had already slowly gone outside the realm of being logical…

 

“A mysterious, frightening female lead character who is willing to kill anyone for the sake of the male lead character.” Shi Zhong Tang parted the crowd and walked towards Chen Guan Chao step by step. “A horror love story that happened in the old home of the Li family.”

He reached out in front of Chen Guan Chao with script in hand.

“I would like to ask you, are you really writing <<The Person within the Painting>>?” Shi Zhong Tang looked at Chen Guan Chao deeply. “Is she really acting as Princess Ling Shan?”

 

Chen Guan Chao stared at Shi Zhong Tang blankly. He wanted to explain himself, but he could not.

Because if any explanations were to be put in front of the truth—in front of the script—they would be found wanting.

He had already unwittingly rewritten <<The Person within the Painting>> into an ancient version of <<Phantom of the Theater>>.

 

“Enough.” Director Shi slapped the armrest of his chair with his right hand, breaking the silence. “I will now announce that the role of Princess Ling Shan will go to You Ling. As for the role of Yan Hong Xiu…”

“I propose that it goes to Ning Yu Ren.”

Director Shi looked at the direction where the voice was coming from, written on his face was ‘Who else interrupted me again?’

It was Ning Ning.

“I propose that Ning Yu Ren gets the role of Yan Hong Xiu.” Ning Ning said as she gazed at Ning Yu Ren in the corner. “She is the best candidate.”

 

After the meeting, Shi Zhong Tang caught up with Ning Ning before she could take two steps and walked abreast of her.

“How was it?” He winked at her with his right eye. “Was I very dashing just now?”

Ning Ning looked at him with a complicated expression. She could not deny that he was dashing this time. He did try to pick her up, but that was not his only objective. If he had not said what he just said, this movie might have turned into ‘Phantom of the Theater’ in an ancient setting. Even if Director Shi realised something was not right in the middle of the shoot, it would already have been a huge waste of resources.

“Actually he is quite pitiable.” Shi Zhong Tang suddenly said as he looked forward.

Following his gaze, Ning Ning saw the back of Chen Guan Chao. He was in a completely different spirit as compared to before, he looked very depressed and restless, scratching his head as if there was no one around him, his hair quickly turned into a bird’s nest with all the scratching…

“<<Phantom of the Theater>> made him famous while he was young. By the looks of it now, it doesn’t seem like it was a good thing.” Shi Zhong Tang’s eyes brightened. “He is trapped by his past success. He has been continuously repeating himself these years, writing the same thing over and over, everything he wrote turned into <<Phantom of the Theater>>.”

 

He suddenly turned around as he shed the serious look on his face, the cynical smile was back on again. “Alright, let’s not talk about him. Want to have dinner with me? I know a place that’s not bad.”

“…Next time.” Ning Ning quickly looked around her surroundings. Ning Yu Ren was nowhere to be seen, she had probably returned to her room. “I want to talk to Ning Yu Ren.”

“Wow! You really are a little devil!” Shi Zhong Tang pretended to be surprised. “She has already been demoted to be the supporting character, yet you still aren’t willing to let her off?”

“What are you talking about!” Ning Ning rolled her eyes. “What is wrong with the role of Yan Hong Xiu! She is the true essence of the movie!”

Shi Zhong Tang was taken aback for a while, then smiled and looked at her. When someone looked at you this way, you wouldn’t bear to let him wait too long and continue what you were saying.

 

“…Chen Guan Chao was right about one thing. The character design for Princess Ling Shan is very ordinary.” Ning Ning said, “The limitation set upon an actor when presented with such a character design is very big. It cannot be compared to Yan Hong Xiu’s character design which is down-to earth and full of explosiveness.”

The character design for Princess Ling Shan was too lofty and unrelatable. Although she was the female lead character for <<The Person within the Painting>>, but by the looks of the plot and her lines, the scriptwriter did not put much thought on her. Her main responsibility was beauty! Beauty! Beauty!

But Yan Hong Xiu was different. Although she was also a beautiful girl , she was closer to everyone in the real world. From an ordinary birth, she had lived a tough life. No matter what she wanted, she had to fight for them with her two hands. Fate had never been kind to her, she could only rely on herself. If this character was to be portrayed well, it would be very moving.

 

“… Since you see it this way, why did you switch roles with her?” Shi Zhong Tang asked with a smile.

“As I said.” Ning Ning sighed once again and gazed towards Ning Yu Ren’s direction, “She is the best candidate.”

After Ning Ning went to look for Ning Yu Ren, Shi Zhong Tang stood at the same spot for a moment, a voice that made him languish rang out from behind him.

 

“Shi Tou¹!” Director Shi walked towards Shi Zhong Tang with his three thick layers of beer belly. Although he tried very hard to express his anger, he was born with a Buddha face that could not scare anyone. “You are trying to hook up with girls again!”

“I’m not!” Shi Zhong Tang stoutly denied.

“You dare to deny it?” His father exercised his privilege and pinched Shi Zhong Tang’s ear firmly. “I wrote poems for five years to woo her, copying poems from the Han dynasty to Tagore, forcibly becoming an intellectual from a poser, what about you!”

“Don’t pretend to be an intellectual when you are actually a poser. Mom told me, she almost called the police because the first poem you ever wrote to her was: ‘He fell head over heels, when Bi Yu became a woman’…” Shi Zhong Tang could not even finish his sentence before Director Shi pinched his other ear when his embarrassment turned into anger.

 

Director Shi felt a lot more relaxed after he taught his son a lesson, he had vented all the resentment from getting continuously interrupted. He put his arm around his son’s shoulders and told him sincerely, “You could only be prodigal when you are young, no one would label you as prodigal when you get older, you would just be an old punk. Tell Dad, what kind of girl can make you settle down?”

“Someone with the looks of Xi Shi, the talents of Ban Zhao, the body of Zhao Fei Yan, a smile as beautiful as Audrey Hepburn…” Shi Zhong Tang counted his fingers one by one. As Director Shi was about to lose control of his emotions, Shi Zhong Tang retracted his fingers except for one and wagged it. He smiled and said, “None of the above examples is my girlfriend.”

Director Shi got angry, “What exactly do you want?”

“No rush, no rush.” Shi Zhong Tang avoided the hand that was approaching him and ran away with a smile. “To make it short, if I really want to look for one, I will look for a girl who is stubborn but kind.”

“Little rascal! Stop right there!” Director Shi chased after him madly, but the air resistance against the beer belly was simply too strong…Ten minutes later, Shi Zhong Tang stopped and turned around, there was no one behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief since he had finally shaken Director Shi off. He looked at his surroundings again. What a coincidence, he saw two familiar faces.

 

In the courtyard, Ning Ning and Ning Yu Ren did not notice someone approaching, or you could say, the atmosphere between the two of them was too tense, they could only see each other and no one else.

“Princess Ling Shan is already yours.” Ning Yu Ren’s eyes were slightly red, she looked like she had just cried. “What more do you want!”

“I am here to discuss the role of Yan Hong Xiu with you.” Ning Ning told her, “This role might be a little different from your expectations…”

 

Ning Yu Ren interrupted her with a scream.

“Enough!! Stop being a hypocrite!!” Ning Yu Ren covered her ears with both hands like she didn’t want to listen anymore. She was also unwilling to believe anything Ning Ning had to say.

She looked at Ning Ning with her reddish eyes, with jealousy and sadness, with envy and hatred.

 

“Why is Heaven so unfair.” Ning Yu Ren mumbled, “You have everything. The daughter of a banker, you are young and pretty, your whole family supports you in your acting career, you get everything you want, you get to act as anything you want.”

She slowly lowered her head, looking at the letter in her hand and said acrimoniously, “What about me?”

Ning Ning followed the direction of her vision, “…That is?”

“The letter my mom wrote to me. She said I am not getting any younger while I’m out here, but I have yet to achieve anything, I might as well go home and get married…You’ve got to be kidding me!!” Ning Yu Ren clenched her right hand and crushed the letter in her palm, her voice was very agitated, “After all the trouble of escaping from her, I would rather die than to go back! I would rather die than to become someone like her!!”

 

Finally she resolved herself not because of what Ning Ning said, but because of the letter.

“…I’m not even afraid of death.” Ning Yu Ren slowly raised her head. “Why would I be afraid of you?”

The once lifeless eyes were now burning with flames.

“…I want to act as Yan Hong Xiu.” Ning Yu Ren stared at Ning Ning as she said, “If Yan Hong Xiu can beat Princess Ling Shan, so can I! I will act better than you, I will be more popular than you, I will fight for everything I don’t have!”

 

Ning Ning originally had a lot of things to say to Ning Yu Ren, but at this moment she did not want to say anything.

Why would she?

Ning Yu Ren finally had the eyes of Yan Hong Xiu.

“I will wait for you.” Finally, Ning Ning smiled at her. “Continue chasing after me.”

 

Mama, don’t stop, don’t be trapped in the shadow of Wen Xiao Ning. Come out of the cage, continue running forward.

Once you start running, you will quickly run past me. When you turn back once again, you will realise that the people who once troubled you were not that good.

Because she was but a pitiful person who had been trapped in your shadow for many years, continuously chasing after you.

 

Ning Yu Ren was flushed, she mistook Ning Ning’s smile as one of a mocking nature. She unbearably walked up and gave Ning Ning a push. “Leave! Get out! I don’t want to see you again!”

Ning Ning took two steps back, then quickly turned around so that Ning Yu Ren would not see her tearful eyes.

Even if she knew that this was for Mama’s own good, she could not help but cry when she was hated and loathed this way by the person she liked the most.

 

Once Mama returned to her room and the door was shut, Ning Ning let her tears flow.

Clapping sound rang out from beside her.

Ning Ning took a look at the other party, then walked towards him and shushed him. She asked him quietly, “Why are you here?”

Shi Zhong Tang looked at her with two bright eyes. “That was pretty good acting.”

Once he said that, he wiped her tears.

 

“… But why did you do that?” He looked down at the tear on his fingertip, as if he was looking at a pretty butterfly. “This doesn’t do you any good.”

“It does.” Ning Ning said, “If she acts well, this movie will sell better right?”

“What I mean to say is that…” Shi Zhong Tang smiled as he looked up, “This, doesn’t, do, you, any, good.”

Ning Ning fell silent.

It was too difficult to explain her actions. Why would she treat another actress whom she barely knew this well, especially when it was an actress she did not know how to deal with?

 

After hesitating for a long time, she looked up at him and said in a serious manner, “She will become the best actress once she gets past this obstacle.”

“You don’t know whether she will become the best actress.” Shi Zhong Tang was not smiling anymore, he looked at her seriously. “But you definitely could be the world’s most blissful woman.”

 

Ning Ning was stunned.

“I like you.” Shi Zhong Tang loosened his expression, sunlight shone through the flower and leaves of the tree canopy beside him, sprinkled on him between his brows, as if they were golden snow. He looked at her gently and seriously. “Give me a chance, let me dote on you and make you the world’s most blissful woman.”

Ning Ning, “…Huh?”

 

1990 April 15th, the first confession (she ever got) in her life.

There were still three months before Ning Yu Ren got her first movie ticket.

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¹This is a wordplay on their family name, creating a nickname that means stone or rock.