Chapter 31.2
Director Zhang laughed, “Alright, alright, I admit I really have quite the evil clutches.” In the past two months or so, with the exception of the three days when they went to the Golden Pine Awards ceremony, Qi Chang’an and Xu Luoyang had only taken ten days off. The rest of the time, they were shooting day and night. He was very demanding about the film and would start over if something wasn’t right, both of them staying with him to grind out the shots without a single complaint.
“It’s good that you know!” Full, Xu Luoyang leaned lazily against Qi Chang’an, “But why exactly did you come here? You are making me anxious!”
“There’s an opportunity.” Director Zhang didn’t beat around the bush, “Director Chu Wei is making a historical film ‘It’s quite cold’. You guys know about it, right?”
Xu Luoyang looked at Qi Chang’an first, then nodded, “Yes.”
Chu Wei was the first director in the country and this was widely recognized both at home and abroad. He was also the one who discovered Qi Chang’an. It is said that it was by chance that Chu Wei invited Qi Chang’an, who was still studying business at the time, to audition for the film. After that, he settled on him straight away.
And Qi Chang’an didn’t let him down. The two worked together on ‘The Snowstorm’ and ‘The Last Hunter’, both films sweeping the film festivals with both films winning awards.
“Chu Wei is very picky. He has a fallen emperor in this film. It’s not a major role, but he has changed three actors in a row and kicked them all out, saying he wasn’t satisfied with them, so I recommended you.”
Xu Luoyang was dumbfounded. Pointing his finger at the tip of his nose, he asked, “Recommended… me?”
“Yes, you.” Director Zhang laughed at his expression, “But it’s only a recommendation. It’s up to you whether you can get the role or not, and it’s basically zero pay for the film. You have to discuss it with Zheng Dong.”
“That’s Chu Wei! Even if I have to pay myself to be a walk-in, that’s fine too!” Xu Luoyang finally responded, looking at Director Zhang with a sincere expression on his face, “I take back what I said before. You have no evil clutches, you have the wings of angels behind you!”
Director Zhang left after saying this, ready to go back to grab a twenty minute nap.
Xu Luoyang walked around the dressing room twice and still unable to calm down, plopped his body onto Qi Chang’an’s back, “Chang’an, Chang’an I’m so excited!”
“Mmm, I’m excited too.” Qi Chang’an allowed him lie on his back, thought about it then said, “Chu Wei usually doesn’t talk much and doesn’t care much about anything, but he’ll coach every actor in the crew on their acting skills very carefully. If you go under him, you will be able to learn a lot.”
Xu Luoyang nodded repeatedly. An actor who met a good director was a very lucky thing.
“I feel that in this film my acting has improved a lot, but now it seems to have reached a bottleneck. And I can feel it myself. It’s basically you carrying me into scenes, there’s still a big gap between the two of us, but it’s a bit hard to narrow it down though.”
“You’re already very good. For example, I’m unable to realize where my limitations and shortcomings are, so I can’t progress.”
Xu Luoyang didn’t really understand this ‘academic’s melancholy’ but he still said excitedly, “Then Mr. Qi, let’s work hard together!”
“En, let’s work hard together.”
The rain that had been going on for days finally stopped and a little bit of sunshine appeared. Director Zhang raised his megaphone, “This is the last scene. Chang’an and Luoyang, let’s try to finish it in one go! Let’s cut the knot as smoothly as we tied it!”
Xu Luoyang and Qi Chang’an had icecubes in their mouths, as when talking in the winter there had be vapor, but it was the end of summer in the movie. One slip up and they would give themselves away. Raising his voice, Xu Luoyang shouted back at Director Zhang, “Director Zhang, do you know how to use idioms?” He spat out the ice in a hurry after saying this. The tip of his tongue was freezing.
“I’m in charge on set! Come on, come on come on. Start the filming, start the filming!”
The surroundings quickly quietened down.
Xu Zhan, played by Qi Chang’an, stood straight and looked at Qin Chao, his expression very calm. On the tree trunk beside him, were two lines of words carved crookedly.
“Qin Chao wants to be a policeman when he grows up.”
“Xu Zhan wants to be a painter when he grows up.”
He ran his fingers over the two lines of writing inch by inch, a slow smile escaping. “We carved this together when we were nine years old.”
Qin Chao answered briefly, a gun in his hand, “Yes.”
Xu Zhan didn’t speak for a while, then his eyes looked at Qin Chao, the look in them very clean, “Haven’t you always wanted to know why I klled the three Guo brothers? And why I used such a brutal method?”
“Yes.” Qin Chao’s eyes turned sharp, then after a two-second pause he said, “The Xu Zhan I know doesn’t kl people.”
“Heh, the Xu Zhan you know.” The smile at the corner of his mouth slowly disappeared and a touch of sadness as well as a hint of mockery appeared, “The Xu Zhan you know is already dead.” He laughed again, “Do you know how he died?”
Immediately, Qin Chao flinched for a moment. He had a feeling he might not be able to afford this long chased truth at all.
Xu Zhan continued, “After we graduated from high school, you went to the police academy and I went to study painting. The summer of my freshman year, I came home but didn’t know at that time that my mother and sister were being harassed by those three scumbags from the Guo family.”
His voice was soft, as if he was telling someone else’s story.
“I went out sketching once and I came back home early, only to see those three guys bullying my mum and my sister. I was so angry that I rushed straight in.”
Hearing this, Qin Chao could almost imagine what happened later, and that the truth Xu Zhan would tell would be even more shocking than what he had imagined and even more difficult to accept.
“Not only was I not able to save them, I was also tied to the bedpost and was made to watch how those three people from the Guo family bullied, abused, humiliated and kled my relatives. In the end, they used knives to cut off their flesh piece by piece.”
“After that… why didn’t you call the police?”
“Call the police? The Guo family is so arrogant, don’t they have the capital? If I had called the police, would they have been able to shoot them to deth?” Xu Zhan laughed out loud but even as he laughed, tears poured out. “Besides, if I had reported to the police, do you know what kind of vilification my mother and sister would have received? They would have been said to be unclean and that they seduced wild men. It would be said that it was their fault, that’s why they lost their lives, that they deserved it. There is something worse, do you want to hear it?”
He didn’t wait for Qin Chao’s answer, speaking slowly, “I didn’t want them to die without peace. Even if they died, they would be clean.”
Qin Chao was silent.
“So I dropped out of the art college, came back and became a carpenter. I spent two years, planned step by step and finally unknowingly klled those three people from the Guo family.”
Looking at Qin Chao’s hand holding the gun, Xu Zhan said one word at a time, “I’m not the Xu Zhan you know anymore.”
Saying this, he lifted his hand, his palm covering the back of Qin Chao’s hand.
“I know that a life would have to pay for a life.” He moved his finger, pressing Qin Chao’s finger that was on the trigger, “So let me die by your hand.”
“Congratulations on the kl!” “Congratulations!”
After the last scene was shot, Qi Chang’an and Xu Luoyang’s scene was over. Xu Luoyang put down the ‘gun’ in his hand and looked at Qi Chang’an, smiling as he said, “Congratulations on the completion of the film!”
Every time he finished a scene it would take a few minutes for Qi Chang’an to come out of it and this time was no different. It took a long time before Qi Chang’an replied, “Congratulations.”
Accepting the clothes handed over by Lu Di, Xu Luoyang first turned around and draped one on Qi Chang’an before putting the other on himself.
Director Zhang had already walked over quickly, “Go, go, go, the life production has already booked the table. The whole crew will be invited to dinner once production here is over. You two settle the bill, no one is allowed to run away!”
Xu Luoyang nodded then borrowed his megaphone. “Chang’an and I are treating everyone to dinner at the Haoting Hotel. Order whatever you like!”
There was a cheer from the surrounding crew.
The crew had to shoot the next day and couldn’t drink, but they still made a scene until eleven o’clock before returning to the hotel. As Xu Luoyang and Qi Chang’an walked out of the elevator together, they saw that the corridor was empty. It was so quiet that one could hear the wind howling outside.
None of them spoke.
It was only when they reached the door of their room that Xu Luoyang spoke, “I’m flying at 7:30 tomorrow, going straight to director Chu Wei to audition for the role.” He felt mixed emotions and his heart was sour, but his tone was as relaxed as possible, “What about you?”
“I’m taking the eleven o’clock flight back to B City for two days.”
“That’s true. Then there’s no way we can go to the airport together.”
Silence fell again.
After ten seconds or so, Xu Luoyang looked at the side of Qi Chang’an’s face, “The weather forecast says it will be only two degrees tomorrow. Remember to wear thicker clothes when you go out and wear your scarf well, otherwise you’ll cough easily. Remember to fill your thermos with hot water so you can drink a little when it’s cold. You don’t like the food on the plane, but you get hungry easily so bring some of your own. You can buy two of the vegetarian buns at the second place downstairs on the left that you said were quite good tomorrow morning, but don’t eat too much, otherwise you’ll upset your stomach again.”
Qi Chang’an listened attentively and when Xu Luoyang stopped, he replied, “Okay.”
“Then you…. must take care of your health, take care of yourself.” Xu Luoyang rested his hand on the door handle, feeling a little sad in his heart. He couldn’t help but stress again, “Be sure to take care of yourself.”
Qi Chang’an smiled softly, “En, I’ll remember. When we meet again next time, you can check.”
The smile reappearing on his face, Xu Luoyang nodded his head vigorously. “Mhmm, I will definitely see you again soon.” After saying this, he suddenly remembered something, opened the door and hurried inside. Not a moment later, he ran out with something in his arms.
Shoving his plush piggy into Qi Chang’an’s arms, Xu Luoyang’s eyebrows curved slightly, “This is for you, you can put it on the bed.”
Qi Chang’an was stunned, then smiled somewhat helplessly, “Alright, I’ll take it back to sleep with me.”
Xu Nao Nao’s little emotions:
Bye.
I’ll miss you… Plush piggy.
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Thank you for the chapters and the coming chapsssss! imma read continously so thank you for all pf the chalters!
Thank you for the update