Chapter 146: The Mermaid's Tale (4)

Completely unaware that he had misjudged his target in the early hours of the morning, he hurriedly left the recording studio in the dead of night under this "wonderful" misunderstanding.

In contrast, Li Sishi, after Wan Jiamei's advice, became more mindful of her behavior: indeed, now was not the time for her, as a younger generation, to play around with a group of seniors who could be called "elders".

The artists of her generation are much more reserved than their predecessors. Besides their personalities, the tightening of social norms is also a reason. For example, her mentor Le Yun's generation could kiss their same-sex or opposite-sex friends openly at concerts without anyone saying anything. But now, even without rumors, it's easy to attract gossip.

The tricky part is that even if you pay attention to the appropriateness of your words and actions in daily life, you can't be mindful of "distance" in a play.

The mermaid, disguised as a human, came ashore to find the male protagonist, King, hoping to retrieve her original power, the Mermaid Pearl, from him. However, her furtive stalking behavior was spotted by a patrolling policeman, who almost mistook her for a prostitute. Fortunately, King remembered her appearance and came to her aid, explaining that she was a friend from the fishing village and was confused because it was her first time in the city. In the end, the mermaid was saved.

Of course, King wasn't entirely without ulterior motives: he had heard this "village girl from the fishing village" sing on the beach and knew it was a rare and beautiful voice. Coincidentally, the troupe's leading actress, Qiqi, was currently injured and recovering, and they needed a replacement actress for the lead role.

The mermaid realized that she had been careless in coming ashore alone, so she said that she had come to see her friend, Asuka, and followed King back to the theater troupe.

After secretly explaining the truth to Asuka, Asuka could only help her get a fake human identity called "Ren Meiru". He lied that the mermaid was the daughter of his family's close uncle and had just come from the fishing village to the big city to find a job. Then he hit it off with King, who wanted to keep the mermaid in the troupe for training, and let the mermaid join the troupe as a substitute actress.

However, although the troupe leader, King, thought that the mermaid was a promising talent, the other members of the troupe were a little unconvinced. They thought that since everyone recognized that Kiki was temporarily injured and unable to play the female lead, the opportunity for the female lead should go to them, the "insiders," instead of the mermaid, who was an "outsider." They were very dissatisfied with the mermaid, who was a "rustic country girl."

To appease the audience, King and Flying Bird had no choice but to hold an internal competition, pitting the mermaid against other actresses in the troupe who wanted to compete for the lead role.

The participants competed together on-site to fairly determine a winner.

In order to increase their chances of winning the competition, the actresses in the troupe all went to Qiqi for advice, but Qiqi ignored them all.

Because Qiqi felt that they had been acting for so long, while the mermaid was just a newcomer who had only been rehearsing with the troupe for a few days, so the competition itself was unfair to the mermaid, who was a newcomer. Under such circumstances, it would be too much for her to help these people take sides.

After the male lead, King, took over the troupe and made sweeping reforms, Qiqi relied on her strong abilities to crush all her seniors and juniors and become the troupe's leading lady. Now, seeing the mermaid's fate, she was reminded of herself when she was a newcomer and of the chaotic state of the troupe in the past.

She had finally achieved relative "fairness," so for her own sake and for King, the troupe leader who genuinely wanted to improve the troupe, she couldn't allow the troupe to see the same kind of factionalism and exclusion of talented newcomers again.

The following scene is undoubtedly the mermaid's stunning vocals that steal the show – after all, the mermaid had heard her people sing and tell the love story of the birds since she was a child, so although her acting skills were not yet comparable to those of the troupe's actresses, her emotions and singing were more captivating than anyone else's.

Seeing such a talented newcomer, Kiki was quite happy, unlike the other actresses who, despite their admiration, were still somewhat wary: because the troupe also had a classic musical with two female leads, "Two Princesses," which required two equally skilled actresses who could both sing and act.

In her early years, this play was the signature piece of the "Mermaid Melody" theater troupe. She was captivated by this play when she was a child, which inspired her to strive to become a theater actress when she grew up.

Unfortunately, after she overcame numerous difficulties to become the leading actress of the "Mermaid Melody" theater troupe, she never found a partner who could rival her on stage.

Until the appearance of this girl who seemed to exude a fresh, spring-like aura.

When Qiqi was still a promising newcomer, she once co-starred with a senior member of the troupe in "Two Princesses". She played the ruthless Queen of Winter who would do anything for power, while the senior member played the kind and gentle Princess of Spring.

According to the original plot, the warm spring breeze would eventually dispel the harsh winter.

Unfortunately, the older generation can no longer match the younger one; the difference in strength between the two princesses is already obvious. With Kiki giving it her all, she should be kind, gentle, and loved by everyone.

Princess Spring was portrayed as a hypocritical white lotus, prompting viewers to express their support for Queen Winter to continue ruling. In the end, even the script was changed, making the equally matched "Two Princesses" stand out as "Queen Winter".

After discovering that her favorite play had been destroyed, Qiqi refused to perform in it anymore. As a result, the play, along with Ah King's reforms and the departing actors, was sealed away in the memories of some people.

Looking at the mermaid who was exceptionally talented in both singing and acting, Qiqi felt that perhaps the show that was like a white moonlight in her memory would have a chance to see the light of day again.

With the combined help of King, Asuka, and Kiki, the mermaid's progress was particularly noticeable.

Meanwhile, the mermaid's deliberate attempts to get close to King in order to retrieve the mermaid pearl led everyone to believe that she had fallen for their handsome troupe leader. This also led to the troupe frequently teasing the couple Asuka and Kiki, with jokes circulating that two happy events were bound to happen sooner or later...

Soon, a new round of performances began.

The mermaid, who was replacing the princess, took the stage and won countless cheers with her beautiful singing and moving performance, which made everyone in the troupe feel very gratified.

Following this, with the strong support of Qiqi, who has recovered from her injuries, the classic play "Two Princesses" is about to be performed again.

Qiqi understood very well: now that there are two leading actresses in the troupe, if they don't "open up new sources," then she and her promising junior, the mermaid, will have competition and estrangement. Therefore, they must start a new play so that everyone has the opportunity to play the leading role.

The mermaid, who gradually realized the impact of emotions on singing in the troupe, naturally did not refuse Qiqi's suggestion. She even took the initiative to train with Qiqi, wanting to bring the classic play "Two Princesses" back to the audience as soon as possible.

The scene of two beautiful girls working hard and sweating for their dreams was so touching. After filming this scene, Wan Jiamei, who is particularly emotional and expressive, couldn't help but hug Li Sishi next to her: "Just thinking about how they're going to turn against each other soon makes me so sad!"

"It's okay, we'll make up sooner or later. The main characters in this drama aren't bad people." Li Sishi comforted her, both amused and exasperated, and then began preparing for the next round of filming.

The subsequent plot follows the clichéd yet classic "darkening" trope—after the re-release of "Two Princesses," Kiki faces increasing pressure from the increasingly powerful mermaid.

From initially feeling powerless to gradually realizing that I had finally become that senior who held me back back then...

Therefore, when Kiki overheard some members of the troupe whispering about how her recent performance was clearly not as good as The Mermaid's, the thread in her heart snapped instantly.

Meanwhile, the mermaid was discussing her new story with King. Seeing the two chatting and laughing, Kiki, who actually had feelings for King, became even angrier. Soon after, she resigned and left the troupe.

With the loss of their star performer, Qiqi, and the fact that the Mermaid Troupe was temporarily unable to fully shoulder the responsibility, coupled with the fact that another troupe, which was their old rival, had recently changed owners and spent a lot of money hiring outside help for promotion, the "Mermaid Melody" troupe once again returned to its former predicament.

To help the theater troupe overcome its financial crisis, the mermaid, on Asuka's recommendation, transformed back into her mermaid form. Then, she found a bunch of supposedly tear-jerking movies and TV series to watch in her dorm, hoping to cry enough pearls to string together a pearl necklace to exchange for money...

As luck would have it, Kiki, who had already figured things out, arrived at the mermaid's dormitory with King, who had just come up with a new story idea.

This naturally led to another chaotic scene as they tried to cover up the truth. However, to avoid King and Kiki misunderstanding, the mermaid finally removed the large towel from her body and revealed her fish tail, which was completely different from human legs.

Unable to accept the truth that the girl he had feelings for was actually of a different race, King broke down and turned to run away, startling the mermaid who quickly transformed back into human form to chase after him.

Qiqi, however, was pulled into the small dormitory by Feibiao and slowly told him stories about alien races, about Feibiao and mermaids, and about past and present lives.

Kiki, moved by the fact that Asuka had protected her for so long in both her past and present lives, quickly accepted Asuka's alien identity; unfortunately, the mermaid who went to pursue King did not have such a smooth journey.

Perhaps to create atmosphere, these kinds of chase scenes always inevitably include a torrential downpour.

Hearing the thud of something heavy fall behind him, King instinctively turned around with a concerned expression, only to see something not far away.

It was a shimmering, colorful fish tail—mermaids would revert to their original form if they came into contact with too much water. On such a rainy day, it was quite dangerous for her to come out so rashly, as she could be seen by passersby at any time.

According to the script, in this scene, King, realizing his own feelings, rushes back to help Mei up.

The scene depicts the mermaid and the two sharing a passionate kiss.

To be honest, rain scenes like this are not easy to film. Not only are you soaked from head to toe, but everything in front of you is also blurry and you can't see anything clearly.

Knowing that there would be such a difficult scene tonight, Cheng Erjian dared not stay up all night this time—in fact, he went to see a doctor as soon as possible after experiencing the discomfort of abnormal heart fluctuations on the beach.

Unfortunately, I had to undergo a lot of tests at the doctor's.

However, no useful results were obtained.

In the end, the doctor could only rely on experience to determine that this strange situation was because he, as a modern young man, was too playful, stayed up too late, and overworked, so his body was giving him feedback to improve his lifestyle, reminding him to rest more and take care of his health.

So, apart from filming, Cheng Erjian made sure to go to bed early and get up early to rest during this period, just in case he contracted some strange illness...

The problem is that even though he's been taking such good care of his health lately, he still experiences these strange heart palpitations from time to time when he's working with Li Sishi.

Sometimes, not only his heart but also his stomach would feel strange, as if he were allergic to Li Sishi, and he would feel uncomfortable all over when he was near her.

If he hadn't known that Li Sishi never wore perfume or face powder, he would have almost had a long talk with his junior sister about his strange illness and asked her to be a little aggrieved and not use any of the allergens that caused his "allergy" until the two of them finished filming the movie...

Li Sishi was often left speechless by his "wild ideas," but she also realized something: it seemed that her senior brother was somewhat attracted to her but hadn't realized it yet—this was the legendary feeling of being attracted to someone.

This budding, innocent affection isn't necessarily a bad thing. If Li Sishi were just a carefree newcomer at this moment, she might not mind accepting this quietly growing affection from her handsome senior brother, whom she knows well and can easily manipulate.

Unfortunately, it seems she has more than one suitor who brings her both sweetness and trouble...

Under these circumstances, Li Sishi, being cautious for a while, had Cheng Erjian claim that his "condition" seemed to have improved...

Hearing this response, Li Sishi relaxed a little, but when she thought about the upcoming scenes, she felt a sense of helplessness again, thinking that "what is bound to happen will happen."

The issue of developing feelings for someone while filming is incredibly difficult to handle. No matter how much she tried to guard against it, she couldn't refuse this particular scene.

This damp kiss, carrying the scent of moisture, was just like that beach kiss, making the male lead, both on and off screen, feel a strange surge in his chest.

This feeling...

It seems... it wasn't a problem after all, but rather a kind of infatuation that I should have realized long ago.