Chapter 449 An Unexpected Joy

One afternoon.

Chen Ziyan brought Wen Minglan and Tu Song to visit the set. During a break in filming, Lu Yanhe took them on a tour of the school and explained what kind of story it was.

Both Wen Minglan and Tu Song were hearing the story of this movie for the first time.

After listening to the story, Wen Minglan was deeply moved and said softly, "This story really touched me."

"Would you be moved if I just told you this story so simply?" Lu Yanhe asked.

“Hmm,” Wen Minglan said, “Especially the ending of your story. After so many years, you suddenly realize that the boy who teased you and left a mark on your memory actually had a crush on you back then… I don’t know about you boys, but for us girls, if we find out that such a person existed after so many years, we would probably feel… very warm.”

Lu Yanhe said, "That's good."

Wen Minglan asked, "The story you wrote makes it very easy for people to wonder if you had a crush on a girl like this when you were in school."

It's not just one person saying this anymore.

Lu Yanhe was both amused and exasperated. "If it were really based on my own real experiences, would I have written myself die?"

This response was something Wen Minglan hadn't expected. She said, "Haha, that's true."

Tu Song looked at Lu Yanhe, hesitating to speak several times.

He really wanted to casually mention the movie's theme song, end credits song, or incidental music; he was willing to sing any of them.

However, Chen Ziyan's reminders and admonitions were like a sword of Damocles hanging in front of him.

He ultimately remained silent.

As Lu Yanhe's former teammate, Tu Song has never felt the gap between himself and Lu Yanhe more clearly than now.

This left him feeling somewhat uneasy.

Actually, Tu Song wasn't particularly jealous of Lu Yanhe. He just felt that they were starting from the same point, so why was he falling so far behind?

-

When Wen Minglan saw Zhang Ruozhi, the female lead of the movie, her feelings were quite complicated.

Because she originally felt that she could actually play this role.

She tried to win Chen Ziyan's favor, but Chen Ziyan said that Lu Yanhe had already chosen a newcomer and there was no chance for her.

Wen Minglan also wanted to see what kind of newcomer this was and why Lu Yanhe had chosen him.

She had always felt that she could play a high school student without any problem, and she didn't understand why Chen Ziyan didn't help her get this opportunity.

Now that Wen Minglan has seen Zhang Ruozhi in person, she understands.

Zhang Ruozhi simply sat quietly in a corner of the classroom, surrounded by crew members coming and going, but it seemed to have no effect on her whatsoever.

She was looking down at her book, doing her homework.

Sunlight streamed in through the window and fell upon her.

Wen Minglan thought to herself that if it were her, she would probably stand up immediately and move to a place where there was no direct sunlight.

But Zhang Ruozhi sat fearlessly in the sunlight, and under the sunlight, even the fine downy hairs on her cheeks could be seen.

She wore no makeup at all, her face was bare, but she had a delicate and beautiful appearance, like a lotus emerging from clear water.

Wen Minglan suddenly realized why Lu Yanhe insisted on finding a newcomer, a high school girl, to play the role.

However, she still couldn't suppress the overwhelming jealousy in her heart.

She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help it.

A man reeking of alcohol walked over from the front.

Wen Minglan was stunned.

How come someone on set smells so strongly of alcohol during the day?

She looked at the other person with a puzzled expression.

The other person saw her, smiled, and said, "You must be Wen Minglan?"

Wen Minglan nodded and said, "Hello, may I ask who you are?"

"I'm Bao Wenliang, the cinematographer for this film." Bao Wenliang smiled at Wen Minglan. "Are you here to visit the set?"

“Yes.” Wen Minglan nodded.

Bao Wenliang: "Why are you all alone?"

Wen Minglan said, "I'll go out for a walk by myself."

As soon as she finished speaking, Bao Wenliang's expression suddenly changed. He turned around, braced himself against the wall with one hand, bent over, and vomited.

A foul odor wafted to Wen Minglan's nose.

It smells awful.

But if she simply walked away without paying attention at this point, it would seem like she was being heartless.

She could only manage to stand still and ask, "Teacher Bao, are you alright?"

Bao Wenliang ignored him completely and vomited again.

Wen Minglan: "..."

She rummaged through her clothes, found a pack of tissues, pulled out a tissue, and handed it to Bao Wenliang.

-

Suddenly, the crew members seemed to have been turned on and became restless.

Lu Yanhe was initially a little confused, not knowing what was going on.

He turned to look at everyone, and they were all looking down at their phones, even Chen Ziyan.

Lu Yanhe picked up his phone in confusion and then realized what had happened.

The Xu Qinyin pregnancy incident, which caused quite a stir before, has finally been addressed by Ma Zhiyuan and Xu Qinyin themselves.

Xu Qinyin and Ma Zhiyuan announced that they will raise the child together and fulfill their responsibilities as parents.

Fans on both sides were devastated at that moment.

Fans often deceive themselves.

As long as their idol doesn't come forward to respond to this matter, they're willing to believe their idol is false, that all the reports are fake, all the evidence is fake; in this era, anything can be fake—

Until their idol came forward and admitted it.

The last straw, which I thought I had been clinging to, was also pulled away.

-

This incident has caused a huge stir in the entertainment industry.

Their response also avoided the main point and omitted the relationship between Ma Zhiyuan and Xu Qinyin.

It seems that Ma Zhiyuan has no intention of getting back together with Xu Qinyin just because her pregnancy was exposed.

They still don't want to be together.

No one knows what kind of agreement they reached or what consensus they achieved.

In conclusion, this response serves as a way of putting an end to the matter.

Ma Zhiyuan and Xu Qinyin will not respond further.

If Ma Zhiyuan's conversation with his friends after drinking hadn't been leaked, this matter might have truly ended there.

"Either Li Zhibai deliberately told the media about this, or Lu Yanhe deliberately told the media. Only the two of them had the opportunity to know about Xu Qinyin's pregnancy." Ma Zhiyuan was clearly unaware that his words were being recorded. "Xu Qinyin only told the people at Longyan Film Studio about this and withdrew from the role. She has a role in a movie, and later, in Liu Bige's new film, Li Zhibai plays the male lead. So who could have leaked this information? Aren't they the only two people who can't stand to see me succeed?"

Ma Zhiyuan's accusations and complaints, delivered while he was intoxicated, even revealed a hint of grievance in the recording.

Ma Zhiyuan's remarks also sent Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai trending on social media.

The main point is that Ma Zhiyuan specifically named names in the recording, saying that it must have been one of the two of them who deliberately leaked the information to the media.

This essentially put Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai right in front of the pent-up anger of their die-hard fans.

Many people even say—

Regardless of what happened between Ma Zhiyuan and Xu Qinyin, it was a matter between the two of them. This kind of backstabbing behavior is disgusting.

This statement has received many likes and endorsements.

Nobody likes a snitch, and nobody likes someone who stabs others in the back or kicks them while they're down.

Even if this person really did something wrong.

Xu Qinyin's fans are even more furious about this matter.

If Li Zhibai and Lu Yanhe leaked this information to the media because of a personal grudge against Ma Zhiyuan and to retaliate against him, then Xu Qinyin had absolutely no connection with them.

Why should Xu Qinyin be harmed because of this?

Isn't this incident more harmful to Xu Qinyin?

Because of this recording, Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai were heavily criticized by fans of both sides.

Lu Yanhe was furious after seeing the situation online.

First, the person who leaked this to the media wasn't him, and he believes it wasn't Li Zhibai either. Neither of them is so despicable. If this only involved Ma Zhiyuan, they might have actually done it, but since it involves others, they wouldn't rashly cause such harm. This whole thing is just Ma Zhiyuan's imagination.

Secondly, Xu Qinyin's fans also annoyed him.

Ma Zhiyuan, a man who slept with your idol, got your idol pregnant, and then refused to take responsibility, only reluctantly agreeing to be a father after the affair was exposed. In this situation, instead of condemning him, you're condemning the person who exposed this? Have you all lost your minds and don't know what's important?

Lu Yanhe really took a long, deep breath.

His gaze met Chen Ziyan's.

Chen Ziyan immediately saw what he wanted to do.

She shook her head at him, signaling him not to act impulsively.

Lu Yanhe took another long breath.

A minute later, Chen Ziyan sent a message.

She came to his side: "Send this."

Lu Yanhe picked up his phone and glanced at it.

—A huge burden has fallen from the sky. Now that you're a father, you should learn to shoulder your responsibilities and stop shirking them whenever something goes wrong.

Lu Yanhe looked up in shock at Chen Ziyan.

ha?

Is this the same look you gave me earlier, signaling me not to act impulsively?

The sheer destructive power of those words was such that even now, Lu Yanhe had a premonition that Ma Zhiyuan would be enraged and his blood would boil upon seeing them.

Chen Ziyan said, "Just send it like this. Say everything that needs to be said, and let him lose control of his mouth and start talking nonsense."

Lu Yanhe happily copied, pasted, and posted the sentence.

Weibo crashed.

-

When Wen Minglan and Bao Wenliang arrived outside the classroom, they were stunned by the atmosphere.

For the first time, the film set was so quiet, yet there were undercurrents of tension between the people.

Even Bao Wenliang was a little confused. He grabbed someone and asked, "What's wrong?"

So they made up for what had happened while they were absent.

They were all dumbfounded, especially after they learned what Lu Yanhe had just done.

Bao Wenliang whispered to Wen Minglan, "Is Lu Yanhe... really that fierce?"

"That's rare, but he can be quite ruthless sometimes. If anyone really crosses his line, he can be terrifying."

Bao Wenliang took a deep breath. "Isn't he... a rather gentle person? I've never seen him lose his temper."

“Of course he won’t lose his temper with you; he’s a very emotionally stable person,” Wen Minglan said. “But if you’re his enemy or foe, that’s a different story. I’ve never seen anyone who becomes his enemy or foe and still manage to gain the upper hand in a power struggle with him.”

Bao Wenliang swallowed hard, and the little bit of alcohol he had drunk at noon suddenly made him sober.

-

This way.

Li Zhibai complained over the phone: "I was just about to curse that dog when I found I couldn't post it! Weibo crashed! Then I looked again, and damn it, it was you who did it! Damn it!"

Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "Don't bother sending it anymore, I've already sent it."

Li Zhibai: "Why should I? You've vented your anger, but I haven't! I'm not going to vent this anger; I have to suppress it myself."

Half an hour later, Weibo was finally salvaged and returned to normal.

Li Zhibaifa: If I had known beforehand that you had this scumbag affair of clinging to someone and then becoming a father, would I have secretly leaked it to the media? Would they even have a chance? Don't you underestimate how much I despise you? Just let it rot away.

Weibo has crashed again.

-

Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai's responses, one after the other, showed no intention of apologizing, and of course, there was no way they would apologize.

However, their united and uncompromising attitude, as if they were taking a stand, caused an uproar online.

As I said before, everyone wants to see the real, human side of celebrities, not the perfect image that has been packaged by their companies and teams.

From a popular entertainment perspective, who doesn't love watching real-life drama?

Moreover, he personally participated.

However, neither Lu Yanhe nor Li Zhibai wanted to get caught up in this kind of conflict.

To be honest, there was absolutely no need for them to do so. However, they had already been swept up in the overwhelming public opinion and attacks, and could not remain uninvolved. No matter how this vortex continued to spin, they could not stop it; they could only make themselves more aggressive in order to avoid being swept away by this vortex.

Weibo crashed twice —

This has become a viral meme. On one hand, the collapse caused by Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai's statements has been dubbed by many as "Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai's battle to vindicate top celebrities." If you're not a top celebrity, you can't crash Weibo. On the other hand, their attitude also directly countered the large-scale online attacks that had previously targeted them.

Their stance was clear: they would not take the blame for informing the media.

The controversy, which had finally subsided, has returned to Ma Zhiyuan.

However, under these circumstances, Ma Zhiyuan once again pretended to be dead.

It disappeared again.

-

Lu Yanhe did not expect that after this incident, many staff members in the crew suddenly became much more respectful to him.

Lu Yanhe didn't realize it at first; he felt it first from photographer Bao Wenliang, and then from the others.

He could sense Bao Wenliang's previous attitude towards him, even if he didn't say it.

As a new director, and a young director who transitioned from acting and was only in his early twenties, it was impossible for veterans like Bao Wenliang, who were in their forties and had been working in the entertainment industry for many years, to take him seriously.

Even Bao Wenliang's complaint about Zhang Ruozhi to Lu Yanhe's face on the first day of filming was a provocation in itself, a symbol of disrespect for Lu Yanhe. Otherwise, which staff member would dare to criticize the lead actor in front of the director on the very first day of filming? If anyone should be criticizing, it should be the director—that would be an affront to the director's authority.

However, Lu Yanhe didn't want to dwell on these things too much.

As long as they don't interfere with the filming and can help the film be made smoothly.

Unexpectedly, while Lu Yanhe's attitude remained unchanged, Bao Wenliang's stance shifted in the last two days. Suddenly, Lu Yanhe could no longer hear his complaints.

Then, not only Bao Wenliang, but also other veterans in similar situations suddenly stopped putting on airs.

Lu Yanhe did not expect that his counterattack against Ma Zhiyuan would have such an unexpected effect.

-

"This Lu Yanhe doesn't seem as gentle as he usually appears."

"What's there to say? This is perfectly normal. He's so young and he's already achieved this much. Do you think he's some kind of clay idol that you can knead and mold at will?"

"You're being so wise after the event. Who was it that said he was young, knew nothing, and could only rely on us?"

“These past few days have passed, and he hasn’t shown any fear at all. He hasn’t made any brainless or insane demands, nor has he caused us any trouble. He’s doing great. So why should I argue with him?” someone said. “Look at his attitude towards Ma Zhiyuan. He shows no mercy at all. When he gets angry, he directly confronts us openly. If we really piss him off, can we handle his wrath?”

"If you're chickening out, just say so."

"If you're not going to back down, then keep pushing your luck."

"What am I supposed to defend? What's so great about me defending myself?"

"..."

This conversation did not arouse any resentment in anyone; on the contrary, everyone on set respected Lu Yanhe even more.

-

"Have you noticed that the crew members are all very respectful towards you now?" Xin Zixing asked Lu Yanhe quietly during dinner that day.

Lu Yanhe nodded.

"It seems they were frightened by my previous rebuttal of Ma Zhiyuan."

Xin Zixing said, "They probably realized that you are not the easy-to-bully young director they imagined."

“They…didn’t bully me, it wasn’t that bad, they just weren’t very respectful to me,” Lu Yanhe said. “I wouldn’t have been so lenient if they hadn’t done their jobs properly.”

“Their abilities and skills are truly exceptional; it’s no wonder they were hired at great expense,” Xin Zixing said. “I admire the fact that ‘Love Letter’ was able to spend so much money on its behind-the-scenes technical staff. The set design for this film is truly first-class.”

Love Letter contains many everyday scenes.

However, the more ordinary the scene, the more difficult it is to create a unique cinematic feel.

At least, the classroom and library scenes were specially built by the art team.

For example, the library needed to be designed to evoke the feeling of old times and piles of old papers, with its layered bookshelves as described in Lu Yanhe's script. The art team meticulously created seven or eight different renderings for Lu Yanhe to choose from.

At Jiangzhi Center, the angle between the book lending counter and the sunlit window was not originally intended to meet the requirements for film shooting.

In order to capture this crucial scene in the movie, the layout was completely changed. The counter for registering and borrowing books was knocked down and a new one was built, just like the one Lu Yanhe remembered from the movie.

The color of the wood, the degree of aging to be achieved, the distance between the bookshelves, and the timing of lighting and shadows to best suit the requirements of film shooting—all these were meticulously planned.

This is why Xin Zixing said that the set design of this movie is first-class.

Because a great deal of thought was put into the shapes, colors, and layout, every frame of the film was made harmonious.

Most viewers may not realize the secret behind it, but seeing such scenes will subconsciously make everyone feel comfortable.

(End of this chapter)