Chapter 295: Too Deep Into the Play

Hengdian in the early summer morning seems like an ancient capital covered by the dust of time. The dim sunlight shines through the mottled leaves and falls on the quaint palace buildings.

The red walls and golden tiles, under the caress of the sun, sparkle with the luster of time, making people travel through time and space in a trance, back to the turbulent Qing Dynasty.

In a corner of the set, Liu Shishi was like a proud green lotus, dressed in a simple and elegant Manchu dress with delicate patterns embroidered on the light blue satin, looking dignified and elegant.

Her hair was carefully tied up and adorned with exquisite pearls and jade. It swayed gently with her every move, emitting a soft glow.

At this moment, Tangren Yijie was sitting with Liu Xinyou and Li Chengyuan, talking in low voices.

"Master, are you okay?"

Liu Xinyou looked at Tangren Yijie, whose brows were filled with depression, and couldn't help feeling a little worried.

It has been a while since the filming of "Startling by Each Step" started, and she has witnessed the changes in Liu Shishi with her own eyes.

When Yi Jie started filming, she was always chatting and laughing with everyone, with a lively light in her bright eyes. Her cheerful and lively energy was like a flower blooming in spring, which made people unable to help but look at her a few more times.

But as the filming progressed, Liu Shishi gradually immersed herself in the role and put her whole heart into the character of Ruoxi. The original sister who was laughing and full of energy with everyone disappeared, and was replaced by a woman shrouded in melancholy in the deep palace.

Li Chengyuan at the side was also very concerned: "Shishi, do you want to discuss with the director and take a two-day break to slow down the pace? Your current condition is very worrying."

Liu Shishi shook her head slightly, with a hint of stubbornness on her face: "It's okay, I'm just filming. I know my condition well. If I really can't hold on any longer, I will tell the director."

Liu Xinyou and Li Chengyuan looked at each other and saw worry in each other's eyes. Yijie's condition was really worrying.

After some persuasion, Liu Shishi had made up her mind and insisted on not taking a rest. She wanted to finish filming her recent scenes in one go. The two had no choice but to give up and left with worry.

After watching her two friends leave, Liu Shishi returned to the rest shed alone, silently flipping through the script, understanding Ruoxi's inner world, feeling her joys and sorrows, ups and downs.

In recent scenes, as the plot deepens, Ruoxi's situation in the palace becomes more and more difficult.

The emotional entanglement between her and the fourth and eighth princes, and the grievances between her and the various princes, made Liu Shishi begin to bear a heavy burden of emotions.

Often in the dead of night, I feel sad about Ruoxi's fate.

After a while, the stagehand hurried to the rest shed and announced: "Teacher Liu, it's your turn soon. Director Li asked you to touch up your makeup."

Liu Shishi realized it later and woke up from her thoughts. Her eyes were hazy and it took her a long time to respond, "Okay." There was a hint of fatigue in her voice, as if she had been through a long journey.

Accompanied by her assistant, she came to the dressing room to touch up her makeup. Yijie sat down quietly, looking at herself in the mirror in ancient costume, and felt a little dazed for a moment.

His eyes were full of melancholy, and he murmured from time to time, as if he was expressing his inner confusion.

Jiang Yuanyuan felt distressed about the young lady's condition: "Shishi, don't get too caught up in the play, you'll hurt yourself."

Liu Shishi smiled bitterly: "I'm fine, Yuanyuan. I just want to feel Ruoxi's state of mind more, so that the filming will be realistic and the audience can empathize with it."

After finishing her makeup, Liu Shishi came to the set, cheered herself up, took a deep breath, and started filming today's scenes.

This was a monologue, and Yijie was immersed in the role almost instantly, or it could be said that she was immersed in the role recently, whether she was filming or spending the rest of her time, and she could no longer tell whether she was Liu Shishi or Ruoxi.

In front of the camera, Liu Shishi's eyes revealed resentment and helplessness, two lines of tears slowly slid down her cheeks, and she whispered softly: "I know the ending of everyone, but I don't know my own ending..."

The sound is mournful, like resentment, like longing, like crying and like complaining!

The soft and trembling voice, every word seemed to burst out from the depths of the soul, full of Ruoxi's loneliness, helplessness and confusion in the deep palace.

In front of the monitor, Li Guoli watched the performance of his own sister and nodded affirmatively. Just now, Liu Shishi interpreted the feeling of helplessness and isolation of a young woman in the deep palace almost perfectly.

I couldn't help but sigh: "Shishi has put her heart and soul into it. But Ruoxi is a very tragic character. She uses an experiential acting style. I'm afraid it will take some time for her to come out of it after filming."

As time passed, the filming of "Startling by Each Step" proceeded in an orderly manner, and soon it was the end of April.

On the 28th, Forbes magazine released the 2010 Forbes Chinese Celebrity List, which is the seventh comprehensive ranking list of Chinese celebrities released by the magazine.

For the first time, the list expanded its selection scope to cover both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, covering mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and covering actors, singers, athletes and other fields.

The commercial value and social influence of celebrities are comprehensively evaluated through multiple indicators such as income, exposure, and influence of their works.

The famous basketball player Yao Ming retained the top spot on the income list with an income of 255 million yuan. The big brother of the entertainment industry, Cheng Long, ranked first in the overall list thanks to his global influence and the success of many commercial films.

Jay Chou crossed over to the fields of film, television and directing as a singer, ranking second overall, demonstrating the advantages of multi-faceted development.

At noon when the sun was high in the sky, in the luxury RV of the first sister, Li Chengyuan and Liu Xinyou were looking at the trending searches on Weibo and enthusiastically discussing the Forbes Celebrity List.

"Shishi, you are amazing. You are on the list at such a young age."

Liu Shishi supported her chin with one hand, staring blankly through the car window at the magnificent Hengdian Forbidden City not far away. She seemed oblivious to her best friend's envy, and her thoughts seemed to have drifted away long ago.

Looking back at 2009, Yi Jie won awards at the College Student Film Festival at the beginning of the year and became a legend for her role as Long Kui in Summer Vacation, in addition to the income from her investment in Love Apartment and brand endorsements.

With an annual income of 24.3 million, he made his first appearance on the Forbes Celebrity List, ranking 57th overall on the celebrity list.

Although the ranking is not very high and is only in the middle level, it is also an honor for Liu Shishi, leaving many female stars of the same age behind.

"Ah!" Sister Yi sighed, her voice soft and gentle, as if she was worried and complaining, extremely melancholy: "Will Ruoxi envy me for being able to stand outside and look at the Forbidden City?"

Here it comes again. Liu Xinyou and Li Chengyuan have become accustomed to Liu Shishi talking to herself from time to time, but they feel helpless.

These two days, even the director noticed that something was wrong with Yi Jie, and he intentionally slowed down the pace, hoping that she could adjust her mentality.

Jiang Yuanyuan, who was in the same car, silently observed Yijie's every move. Even the good news of being on the celebrity list today did not make the young lady smile.

She decided to ignore Liu Shishi's instructions and report everything to Boss Song. If something happened to Yijie and the richest man got really angry, the whole crew would not be able to bear it.

After opening the car door and getting out of the RV quietly, Jiang Yuanyuan immediately took out her cell phone and called Song Ci. She waited for a long time before the call was connected.

"Mr. Song, are you available to talk now?" Thinking of the young lady's condition, Jiang Yuanyuan felt inexplicably nervous, and sweat broke out on the palms of her hands that were holding the phone tightly.

"explain!"

The richest man's cold words made Jiang Yuanyuan's heart skip a beat, and she didn't know where to start for a moment.

Fortunately, Song Ci on the other end of the phone did not urge her. After a long pause, Jiang Yuanyuan spoke cautiously: "Director Song, I want to report something to you.

Recently, my senior sister was filming a drama and was so immersed in the role of Ruoxi that she couldn't extricate herself. During this period, she was very depressed and restless. I was very worried about her and wanted her to take a break, but she refused.

I really have no choice. I am afraid that if Senior Sister continues in this mental state, something bad will happen if it goes on any longer. I can only report this to you."

"Why are you telling me today?"

Jiang Yuanyuan hesitated, her voice so low that it was almost inaudible: "Shishi won't let me..."

"Cai Yinong knows about this?"

The richest man's extremely calm voice made the assistant even more uneasy, and a sense of panic suddenly arose in his heart: "Mr. Cai knows! I talked to Mr. Cai once a few days ago."

"What did she say?"

"Mr. Cai said that entering and exiting a role is a necessary process for an actor to grow. If you want to grow, you have to go through this stage."

The call fell into silence again, as if time had stood still.

After a long while, Song Ci sighed and said faintly, "I will be in Hengdian in about an hour. Let's talk about it when I get there."

Jiang Yuanyuan was very surprised when she heard this: "Director Song, are you going to Hengdian?"

"Do you think that I wouldn't be able to notice Shishi's abnormality just because she only told me good news and not bad news? I am her husband, the person who loves her the most and understands her the best in this world.

I knew clearly that she had been unhappy and depressed these days, but Shishi had her own insistence, so I pretended not to know and wanted to give her some time to adjust herself.

But it seems that things are not developing in a good direction, so I have no choice but to go there in person to comfort her."

Hearing the helplessness and distress in the richest man's voice, Jiang Yuanyuan couldn't help but sigh that Boss Song was truly an ideal person on earth. His love and care for Yijie came from the bottom of his heart and were undisguised, which really made other women envious.

When she returned to the carriage again, Jiang Yuanyuan's heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally settled down. With Boss Song personally taking action, it seemed that Senior Sister Shi would be able to get out of the quagmire of the role soon.

Jiang Yuanyuan couldn't contain her joy. She didn't care that there were other people in the carriage. She said to Yijie happily, "Shishi, I have good news for you."

Sister Yi cast her gaze from the clear sky outside the window to the assistant: "What's the good news?"

"Shishi, Mr. Song is coming to Hengdian!"

When Liu Shishi heard this, her heart was suddenly moved. Her eyes, which had been silent for a long time, finally blossomed with a gleam of light. She said in disbelief, "My husband is coming?"

The assistant smiled and said, "It's not that we're coming, but we're almost here. We're on the way now. Director Song just informed me that we'll be here in an hour."

"Yuanyuan, quickly bring me my makeup bag!" Liu Shishi seemed to be injected with energy when her beloved came to visit her on set. She stood up suddenly and forgot about Ruoxi at this moment.

Women dress up to please themselves. Liu Shishi also understood that she had been sympathizing with Ruoxi recently, and she was anxious and looked dull, so she had to put on beautiful makeup before her husband arrived.

On the one hand, she wanted to show her best side in front of Mr. Song, and on the other hand, she wanted to hide the haggardness on her face so as not to worry her husband.

"Husband? Shishi has a boyfriend?" Liu Xinyu, who was standing by, was very curious when he heard Liu Shishi's words. He wondered secretly, because he had never heard that Tangren's No. 1 sister had a boyfriend.

Li Chengyuan's eyes lit up. This was not the first time she had heard people mention "Mr. Song" who had a close relationship with Yijie. Cai Yinong and Hu Ge had both mentioned this man before, and their words were quite respectful, so it seemed that he was of high status.

Liu Shishi took the makeup bag handed over by the assistant, and hurriedly sat in front of the mirror to start putting on makeup. At the same time, she said to the two sisters: "Xin Jie, Yuan Jie, my husband will be here soon, and he has a bit of a cold temper..."

How could Liu Xinyou and Li Chengyuan not understand the implication of Yijie's words? She was going to have a private meeting with her lover, so she asked them to leave first.

"Shishi, we're about to start filming. Cheng Yuan and I will go to the set first."

"Sister Yuan, please tell Director Li that I won't be filming this afternoon. Just say Mr. Song is here and Director Li will understand."

Li Chengyuan was stunned. She didn't expect that Liu Shishi, who had always insisted on not asking for leave, would skip work immediately because of Mr. Song's arrival. She nodded and said, "Okay."

The two of them got off the RV together, and Liu Xinyou couldn't help but ask, "Cheng Yuan, is Mr. Song Shishi's boyfriend?"

Li Chengyuan replied uncertainly: "Probably."

"Should you? Aren't you an artist from Tang Ren? Don't you know Shishi's situation?"

Facing Liu Xinyou's doubts, Li Chengyuan patiently explained: "Shishi is the top lady in the company and has a very high status in Tangren. I don't usually have much contact with her, and President Cai has issued a gag order on her affairs, and she is not allowed to talk about it casually."

Liu Xinyou's beautiful eyes widened and he secretly smacked his lips: "Is Shishi so amazing?"

"You will understand the value of Sister Yi in the future."

The two walked and talked, and soon arrived at the set. As soon as they entered the studio, Ye Zuxin, who played the role of the Tenth Prince, was sharp-eyed and shouted, "Oh, the Fourth and Eighth Sisters-in-law are here! Everyone, come and greet them."

Sun Yizhou, Lin Gengxin and others also joined in the fun, and for a while the studio was filled with laughter.

Li Chengyuan was joking around with a few male actors, and happened to see Director Li Guoli there, so she hurried over to ask for leave for Liu Shishi: "Director Li, Shishi asked me to tell you that Mr. Song is here, and she's asking for leave this afternoon."

Li Guoli was surprised when he heard this: "Mr. Song is here? Where is he?"

Facing the director's excited question, Li Chengyuan felt confused and shook her head: "Shishi didn't say that!"

The other people around, except Yuan Hong and Sun Yizhou, were confused about "Mr. Song", but they were very curious about his identity.

Lin Gengxin was very good at observing people's words and expressions. Seeing that everyone else had a curious look on their faces, only Yuan Hong and Sun Yizhou looked calm. He thought that the two of them should know the background of the "Mr. Song" who shocked Li Guoli.

He quietly moved closer to Yuan Hong and asked in a low voice, "Brother, who is Mr. Song?"

Yuan Hong glanced at him and said, "This is Sister Yi's private matter, don't ask about it."

Although it is said that one should not hit a smiling person, Lin Gengxin was very polite and respectful to the old man on the crew, but after all, he would compete with him for resources in the future, so he was still a little annoyed in his heart and didn't want to say much.

(End of this chapter)