Vase cannon fodder is pampered by the group again

Chapter 74.1

Editor: Princess

Lu An patted Shen Ci’s shoulder and used his eyes to signal him to relax.

This kind of experience felt like being called away alone by the homeroom teacher after failing an exam, except the homeroom teacher happened to be your father. It was terrifying.

Shen Ci forced out a smile and nervously picked up his script before following behind Min Shoubei with trepidation.

“Dad…” His teeth chattered nervously.

Min Shoubei was about to sit down in the monitoring position when he caught sight of Shen Ci looking like a frightened roe deer. He felt quite helpless.

He was just going to chat with him about the emotional expression in the upcoming scenes. Was there really a need to be this scared?

This child was more difficult to handle than his mother, and it was definitely Lu Xiao who had spoiled him this way.

“Come here.” Min Shoubei rubbed his forehead and sighed, mentally calculating how to coax him.

Shen Ci approached cautiously.

Min Shoubei stiffly extended his hand and patted Shen Ci’s hair awkwardly.

The messy strands had been deliberately dusted to look rough, so Min Shoubei didn’t dare use too much force for fear of ruining the styling. His large palm lightly swept across the edges, looking rather comical.

Shen Ci’s head felt ticklish from the light patting, but he didn’t understand what was happening and was too scared to speak.

Brother Zhang, who was watching from a distance, looked confused. “Xiao Lu, what do you think they’re doing?”

Lu An was equally puzzled. “Maybe it’s a unique way of communication between father and son?”

Brother Zhang replied, “It looks more like a big dog petting a puppy, and the puppy doesn’t want it.”

After patting for a while, Min Shoubei thought Shen Ci should be calmed down now, so he sat in the monitoring position and opened the script to discuss business in a low voice. “Dawn is approaching, and time is tight, so I’ll keep this brief.”

The atmosphere had been inexplicably warm and gentle just moments ago, but now it suddenly became serious and tense. Shen Ci was completely bewildered and could only cautiously adopt a listening posture.

“Do you remember what we discussed last night about the emotional state for this scene?” Min Shoubei tapped the script and pointed out the few lines they would be performing shortly, which were covered with detailed small annotations.

Shen Ci nodded and briefly summarized: “Because of bipolar disorder, the protagonist Wen Yu’s emotions surge and become excited without reason. After staying awake all night, he arrives at school early and meets Ah Sheng. For the first time, he has a friend who cares about him, and during his carefree running with Ah Sheng, he feels relaxed. Therefore, he briefly escapes the influence of his condition and begins to express his emotions normally.”

“Mm.” Min Shoubei stroked his chin. “Build up the emotions and perform it for me once.”

Building up emotions… Last night, Min Shoubei had gone through the script with him, jointly analyzing Wen Yu’s inner world and presenting each possible layer of feeling on paper. Shen Ci closed his eyes and concentrated on recalling.

For someone with genuine bipolar disorder, the emotion at this moment might be quite simple—just beginning to descend from a state of pure excitement, without any identifiable cause.

However, an actor needed to excavate the character’s experiences, feel their psychology, and strive to empathize to the point of “complete unity”, performing this “excitement” and “descent” naturally.

How to achieve this empathy depended on the actor’s perception and foundation.

Last night, while looking at the script, Min Shoubei had suddenly said in a hoarse voice, “Ah Sheng is who I used to be, and Wen Yu is your mother.” When his deep eyes looked at Shen Ci, they seemed empty and unfocused, as if he were seeing someone else through Shen Ci.

Those words and that gaze had immediately touched Shen Ci, inspiration flowed like a spring, and he almost instantly found his “point”.

His mind was still relatively clear in the early morning. With his eyes closed, Shen Ci’s brow gradually furrowed as he tried hard to recall the feeling from last night.

Min Shoubei patiently provided appropriate guidance. After about five minutes, Shen Ci finally found his state.

He wanted to perform for his father, but Min Shoubei squinted toward the east, where morning light was already faintly breaking through the night sky, and waved his hand. “There’s no time, let’s go directly.”

“If it doesn’t work out, we can reshoot in a few days. Don’t feel any psychological pressure.” Min Shoubei patted Shen Ci’s back and gave him a gentle push, urging him to go touch up his makeup.

The first shot of this scene had already been completed, but to ensure smooth continuity, the actors still needed to perform from the beginning.

The two returned to their shooting positions while lighting and cameras made final adjustments to confirm the final image quality.

Min Shoubei held up the megaphone: “All departments, attention—Action!”

The slate followed with a “clap”: “Scene one, shot two, take one!”

“What are you sitting here doing? Aren’t you hungry?” Lu An grinned with a shallow, light smile that looked particularly silly.

Shen Ci sat outside the school gate hugging his knees, his eyes wide with curious examination, his lips pressed together in a smile that neither increased nor decreased.

“Are you concerned about me?” Shen Ci’s bright eyes curved as he stared into Lu An’s eyes with an investigating look, along with vague wariness.

“That sounds oddly affected.” Lu An ruffled Shen Ci’s hair vigorously. “It’s this early, and you’re already this excited? Have you eaten breakfast?”

Shen Ci slowly shook his head, smiling happily as if unable to control himself.

Lu An felt something was strange but didn’t think much of it. He pulled Shen Ci’s hand to help him up. “We’re both Chinese in H country, so meeting is fate. Come with me, I’ll take you to eat something delicious!”

He playfully winked at Shen Ci, smiled brightly, got up, and started running.

Shen Ci stared blankly at his retreating figure, then after a few seconds chose to follow behind Lu An, running in small steps to catch up.

The camera mounted on the dolly and the reflector immediately began moving along the track, with cameras from all directions firmly locked onto Shen Ci and Lu An, capturing their subtle facial expressions.

Shen Ci ran faster and faster but still couldn’t keep up with the long legs ahead of him. However, his face maintained a brilliant smile, as if he were immersed in the joy of chasing.

The monitor synchronized all the cameras, recording important angles from different shots. Min Shoubei’s brows furrowed tightly as he observed, his hand gripping his chin unconsciously applying more and more pressure.

He had to admit he hadn’t held much hope and had been gambling all morning.

After all, this was Shen Ci’s first scene, and starting with such a difficult segment was indeed asking too much of him…

The morning light grew higher and higher, with half a red sun gradually emerging—the emotional transition point was about to arrive. Min Shoubei couldn’t help but break into a sweat for Shen Ci and was already mentally calculating the reshoot schedule.

Just as they were about to reach the predetermined location, Shen Ci’s toe suddenly caught on a stone, causing his body to pitch forward and fall to the ground, scraping harshly against the surface covered with gravel and debris.

“!!!”

A major mistake! Everyone in the crew instantly tensed up.

Even Min Shoubei’s brow twitched sharply, but he suppressed the command to stop forcefully and ruthlessly continued filming.

Shen Ci seemed to still be engaged, and he didn’t want to disturb his immersed state.

Without Min Shoubei’s order, no one dared to stop filming on their own. They could only continue shooting according to the original plan without even daring to make a sound of concern.

What surprised them was that Shen Ci didn’t make a sound and immediately got up while still smiling.

His face showed complete indifference, and his running movements even became more urgent as he excitedly followed Lu An from a dozen meters away.

Everyone felt a chill in their hearts and couldn’t help but focus their attention, with cameras and lighting following closely.

Even after accidentally falling, Shen Ci remained completely in character without any separation from his role.

However, gradually his movements began to slow down, the corners of his mouth gradually fell, his eyelashes trembled, and he struggled to maintain his remaining positive emotions.

The emotions naturally began to transform. Shen Ci seemed to wake up from a long dream and just now felt the pain in his leg.

He limped and gritted his teeth to keep running, but finally couldn’t bear the pain and stopped, slowly dragging his leg as he walked.

The smile on his face had disappeared at some point. He lowered his head and wiped away tears, with subtle sobbing sounds fully recorded by the sound microphone.

By this time, the actors for the next scene had already arrived and put down their scripts long ago, gathering around the set to watch.

Lu An was from a professional background and was reportedly first in his class both at admission and in daily performance. Everyone already had expectations about his acting skills.

The focus of the observers had always been on Shen Ci.

“It looks very natural.” Tang Yingying watched Shen Ci’s performance from afar, amazement flashing in her eyes. “Although it’s not Wen Yu’s most intense and complex emotional scene, it’s still quite difficult to perform.”

“Xiao Shen didn’t deliberately use any techniques. He integrated well with the character. Rather than performing… it’s more like he’s expressing.”

“He’s indeed impressive as a newcomer. His talent and perception are very strong. I underestimated him before, haha.”

“…”

Several actors had previously collaborated with Min Shoubei’s regular team and knew each other, so they chatted quietly while watching the set from a distance.

Everyone suddenly began to understand why Min Shoubei had insisted on seizing today’s sunrise timing and opening with one of the script’s minor climaxes.

The special aspect of this scene was that Shen Ci served as its aesthetic core, having to carry the entire plot segment on his own.

This was both a test of Shen Ci’s acting skills and a demonstration for the entire crew.

Min Shoubei knew that the newcomers were all heavyweight stars with high standards who would naturally look down on newcomers closely related to the director. However, he didn’t want this disguised contempt to continue too long, affecting both the filming atmosphere and the lead actor’s mindset.

Therefore, Min Shoubei attempted to let Shen Ci’s outstanding performance fire the opening shot, using facts to silently tell everyone that Shen Ci’s ability was sufficient and worthy of matching their performances.

Fortunately, Min Shoubei had won his gamble.

At the filming center, Lu An, who was running, quickly noticed something unusual behind him and hurriedly turned back.

“You… your leg is injured and you didn’t say a word!” Lu An anxiously helped him sit down by the roadside.

Shen Ci didn’t speak and just kept crying. Lu An was at a loss and could only suddenly hug him.

“You brat, stop crying!” Lu An comforted him roughly.

Shen Ci’s sobbing gradually grew louder as he hugged Lu An’s shoulder, tears flowing continuously.

Behind the two of them, the morning sun gradually rose…

“Cut! That’s a wrap!”

Min Shoubei shouted through the megaphone, and the crew immediately erupted in excitement, with scattered applause breaking out.

Everyone in the crew knew how demanding Director Min was from their multiple collaborations. In their memory, they had hardly ever seen a single-take shot pass, yet Shen Ci and Lu An had actually achieved it.

This had nothing to do with Shen Ci’s relationship with the director. The two young men’s performance just now was indeed close to perfect and beyond reproach.