Chapter 80.2
Editor: Jodi
“I want to go!”
Qi Chang’an stroked his hair, feeling a little helpless, “Who was it that said before that his legs are so weak, he can’t stand anymore?”
“It’s definitely not me!” Xu Luoyang denied strongly, repeating, “Anyway, I’m going!”
In the end, it was proven that in such situations, the winning party would always be Xu Luoyang.
After sending Qi Chang’an off, Xu Luoyang spent the next three months filming diligently. After breaking through his bottleneck, he realized that he was portraying his roles with more depth, and when Meng Huazhang suggested that he wanted complex emotions in certain scenes, he nailed them completely. In this way, filming was accelerated quite a bit.
By December, it was chilly. Yet, in the movie, it was still late autumn. Xu Luoyang, wearing a V-neck plaid sweater and glasses on his nose that showed signs of wear was sitting in a deserted garden with a chess set in front.
Meng Huazhang was sitting across from him, discussing a scene.
“This scene happens during You Su’s second going back in time. His eldest child passed away and later, he couldn’t stop his mentor from using a flawed theory to design a highly lethal weapon that relies on new energy and during its final test, the energy substances collided, directly leading to an explosion that destroyed the entire lab base.”
He observed Xu Luoyang’s expression, then slowed his tone gradually, “You realize that even after going back in time, you can’t change anything. You can’t stop the untimely death of your eldest son, your can’t stop your beloved wife from wanting to divorce you, you can’t prevent your ex-wife from falling ill and dying, and you can’t stop your mentor from using the results of wrong theories to form a collaboration with the authorities to develop weapons.”
Standing up slowly, Meng Huazhang concluded, “You also can’t prevent the death of over two thousand people that resulted from the explosion in the lab’s base. You can’t change society’s scorn and hostility towards your theories.”
While he was saying all this, Xu Luoyang’s gaze was fixed on the chessboard, and having worked with him for nearly five months, Meng Huazhang understood him very well and knew that he was already in character, so he moved back behind the monitor slowly then signaled the crew.
“Scene 872, take 1 of ‘Turn Back Time’!”
The swing set in the garden was rusty, and the vines that once climbed it were now withered, leaving only their dark stems.
You Su was sitting in a chair, a stubble growing on his chin. He was holding a pen in his left hand, poking nervously at the armrest of the chair, leaving messy ink marks when suddenly, his breathing grew heavier and with a violent movement, threw the pen. His actions were violent, however his expression was eerily calm.
A few seconds later, he reached out and lifted a dried leaf that had fallen onto the chessboard gently, picking up the chess piece that represented the ‘rook’.
His eyes were distant and his back was hunched, looking extremely frail amidst the bleak autumn breeze. He examined the chess piece carefully, then after a moment, he placed it back in its original position. Then, without the expression on his face changing, he picked up a fruit knife from beside the board and after a few attempts, as if having decided on a spot, pressed the blade against his wrist with a very steady hand.
In that moment, curiosity, even excitement and anticipation, flashed in his previously tranquil eyes, as if he was deeply intrigued by what was about to happen.
Then Meng Huazhang’s voice rang out, “Hold on for a moment. Special effects team, come in. We’ll continue in five minutes!”
Xu Luoyang remained seated, not putting the fruit knife down, and once the makeup artist from the special effects team arrived and created a fake wound on his wrist, applying ample fake blood, he raised his right hand, making a gesture at Meng Huazhang.
The clapperboard sounded, “Scene 873, Take 1 of ‘Turn Back Time’!”
Immediately afterwards, Xu Luoyang leaned over the chessboard, his eyes focused intently on the wound which appeared to be oozing blood. Then slowly, a faint smile crept on his lips, as if he had found relief.
The camera rose to capture a top-down shot, then confirming that the shot looked good, Meng Huazhang stood up, “Clean up the sucde scene. Luoyang put on your down jacket, don’t catch a cold!”
Xu Luoyang responded loudly, then extended his hand for the special effects team to help clean the fake wound. Then noticing that a down jacket was being handed to him, he reached out to take it and was about to say thank you when he realized that something was off. Looking up, sure enough, it was Zheng Dong.
“Holy crap, am I seeing a ghost in broad daylight?”
“…..” Zheng Dong, risking his own image, rolled his eyes at him, “It’s only been a few weeks since we last met and this is how you greet me?”
Xu Luoyang laughed happily, “Isn’t it because I’m too excited to see you?” The ‘blood’ as well as the’wound’ on his wrist had already been cleaned up. After putting on the jacket, Xu Luoyang took the thermos cup and quickly drank half a cup of hot cocoa, finally warming up.
“Zheng Ge, why did you suddenly come?”
Reaching out to fix the hat for him, Zheng Dong said with a hint of disgust, “You really have become muddleheaded from filming. Today is 7th December.”
“I know, today is indeed the 7th.”
“The Flanders Film Festival, the Silver Awards, which date are they?”
Squeezing the thermos cup tightly, Xu Luoyang’s eyes widened, “Damn, it’s on the 16th!” He slapped his forehead, then remembering something, turned to run towards Meng Huazhang.
“Director Meng, there’s just one more week to the film festival!”
Meng Huazhang was reviewing the footage they had just taken, and seeing Xu Luoyang rush over, he chuckled pleasantly, “I’ve already booked my flight. I think you’re probably the only one in the whole crew who forgot completely. My assistant director and I were betting yesterday on when exactly you’d remember and come to ask for leave.”
Wrapping his down jacket around him awkwardly, Xu Luoyang admitted that he really had forgotten. The news about ‘Divergent Road’ being selected for the film festival had been shared in July, and Director Zhang had indeed told him about it. But that was already five months ago, and there had been no news since. He had been immersed completely in his role as ‘You Su’ and other than the script, the only thing on his mind was Qi Chang’an; he hadn’t been paying attention to anything else.
Zheng Dong caught up with him, “I’ve already asked for leave on your behalf from Director Meng. Pack up, we’re heading to the airport tonight.”
Xu Luoyang didn’t understand, “Isn’t the Flanders Film Festival still more than a week away? Why are we going so early?”
No longer wanting to comment on Xu Luoyang’s memory, Zheng Dong reminded him, “Didn’t the movie you worked on with Director Chu get released?”
Xu Luoyang nodded to show that he remembered, “You already told me about it. Isn’t it ‘Chaotic World’? It was released last month and was the box office champion for the month. Director Chu even sent me a generous red packet from afar.”
“Yes, ‘Chaotic World’. You played the twisted Emperor Chu in it who eventually dies for his country. That role has been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Maple Awards.”
The words ‘The Golden Maple Awards’ hit Xu Luoyang like a ton of bricks, and he almost dropped the thermos cup in his hand in shock.
The Golden Maple Awards, along with the Golden Pine Awards and the Golden Leaf Awards, were the three most prestigious awards in C Country, and among them, the Golden Maple Award was the most esteemed.
“Alright, snap out of it. Stu has already sent your outfit for the ceremony over. We will be flying directly to S City, and after the awards ceremony, we’ll head straight to the Flanders Film Festival from S City.”
Xu Luoyang didn’t respond immediately but looked towards Meng Huazhang.
Meng Huazhang waved with a smile, “Go on, you’ve almost finished filming your scenes, so go and relax. Just go over the script in your free time.”
Only then did Xu Luoyang leave with Zheng Dong.
Xu Nao Nao’s little emotions:
Qi Qi, I regret it! Next time I absolutely won’t tease you again! qaq
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