Chapter 31

Lin Na was frowning over her storyboard, clearly brooding over the impasse. Seeing Liu Yifan come in, she put down her pen, skipped the small talk, and asked directly, "Feeling better?"

Liu Yifan didn't sit down. She stood in the middle of the room, took a deep breath, looked directly at Lin Na, and said in a calm but firm tone, "Director Lin, I've found the problem."

"Oh?" Lin Na raised her eyebrows and leaned forward slightly.

"I can't 'hate' him because the character I created, 'King You of Zhou,' is based on President Zhou." Liu Yifan spoke steadily, getting straight to the point. "I feel gratitude and awe for him... and these emotions hindered me from completing my final resistance. This can't be solved by adjusting my acting skills."

Lin Na's eyes narrowed, but she didn't interrupt and motioned for her to continue.

"This reverence has become a shackle on my performance. If I don't break it, I'll never be able to portray Bao Si's final, resolute resistance." Liu Yifan paused and spoke out his carefully considered plan. "I need time, and I need a change of scenery. I plan to... adjust my rhythm."

"How do you want to adjust?"

"I need time. From now on, I want to set aside three days a week to go to Rongcheng," she met Lin Na's inquiring gaze. "Not to work, but to live. Observe Zhou Ping'an up close and find his 'ordinary person' side in his daily life. I must complete the psychological 'demystification' to pull him down from the altar and turn him into a symbol worthy of hatred."

Lin Na's pupils contracted slightly, and she was obviously shocked by this plan. She opened her mouth, as if she wanted to question whether this was appropriate.

"This isn't a personal appeal," Liu Yifan said, shutting down her question with a calm, professional tone. "This is a necessary 'method' practice. I'm an actor, and he's my 'observation specimen.' Only by seeing his most authentic, even most vulnerable, state outside of work can I find the fulcrum for my 'resistance.'"

She paused, her tone more resolute: "This is the most direct and possibly the only effective way I can think of to break through the bottleneck."

Lin Na leaned back in her chair, remaining silent for a long time. Her sharp eyes darted back and forth across Liu Yifan's face, as if assessing the madness and feasibility of this plan.

Finally, she let out a long breath and looked at Liu Yifan with complicated eyes: "Are you sure you want to do this? This path... may be more difficult than acting to the air."

"I'm sure." Liu Yifan answered without hesitation, "I'm confident I can overcome the difficulties in performing. But the psychological shackles must be broken through by unconventional means."

After a long while, Lin Na finally spoke slowly, her tone unable to tell whether she was happy or angry: "Do you want to live in Zhou Ping'an's house?"

Liu Yifan did not deny it: "That is his most vulnerable space, and it is also the best place to observe his true state."

Lin Na suddenly chuckled, a hint of helplessness, yet also a hint of understanding. "You're not going there to experience life, you're going to 'raid' someone's house." She paused, her expression turning serious. "Have you considered this? This is very risky. What if... what you see makes you even more unable to resist? Or, perhaps, the process itself will bring about some unforeseen consequences?"

Liu Yifan's expression remained unwavering. "I know there are risks. But this is the only way I can think of to break the deadlock. Continuing to force things on the set is just a waste of time. As for the consequences..." She pursed her lips slightly. "For Bao Si, I'm willing to bear them."

Lin Na fell silent again, her gaze fixed on the silent royal city outside the window. She knew Liu Yifan was telling the truth. At this level of performance, technique was secondary; the underlying meaning was paramount. Without destruction, there is no construction.

"Funding and time aren't issues," Lin Na finally spoke, her voice regaining the decisiveness of a director. "Mr. Zhou won't hold back on the budget, and we have ample time to shoot. The exterior scenes and transitional scenes are definitely enough to take two or three months to shoot."

She paused and added, "During this time, the crew can focus on filming other scenes. The city walls and beacon towers are already built, so the large number of exterior scenes, group scenes, and Bao Si's early scenes that are relatively restrained and don't require intense confrontation can all be filmed first. The core scenes that require showing 'hatred' and 'resistance' can be postponed. Once you've truly achieved a breakthrough in your heart, then we can focus on the breakthrough."

She turned back and looked at Liu Yifan, "The key is, will Zhou Ping'an agree? This kind of request... is almost an invasion of privacy.

"I'll talk to him," Liu Yifan said, "in the name of the project. In order to achieve the ultimate performance effect, I think he might agree." She knew Zhou Ping'an, and as long as it was for that "more beautiful" result, he would really accept this unconventional "data collection" method.

"...Okay." Lin Na let out a long breath. "I agree. I'll make adjustments to the crew. Just go ahead and do it." She looked at Liu Yifan with a complicated look. "I hope you can find something to break the deadlock during this 'house search'."

"Thank you, Director Lin." Liu Yifan breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

Leaving the director's studio, Liu Yifan felt no sense of relief; instead, the burden on her shoulders grew heavier. A more secretive and challenging "drama" was about to begin in Rongcheng. She knew that every step forward would require even more meticulous planning and a stronger sense of conviction than before the camera.

She took out her cell phone and dialed the familiar number. When the call was connected, she tried to make her voice sound calm and professional:

"Mr. Zhou, it's me. I have a new idea for the upcoming shoot and need to discuss it with you in person. When would you like to meet?"

Zhou Pingan on the other end of the phone was as concise as ever:

"Sure. You decide the time."

Thanks to the convenience of a private jet, Liu Yifan arrived in Rongcheng that evening. The flight shortened both the geographical distance and the psychological buffer period. She didn't give herself time to hesitate, heading straight for the familiar office at the Anping Battery Factory almost immediately after landing.

Zhou Ping'an seemed to have just finished a technical meeting; the office still smelled of heated discussion and the bitter aroma of coffee. He was a little surprised that Liu Yifan had arrived so quickly, but he didn't ask any further questions, simply motioning for her to sit down.

Liu Yifan didn't mince words; she chose a straightforward, honest approach, maintaining the professionalism of someone seeking artistic solutions. She laid out her need for "close observation" to achieve "psychological disenchantment," emphasizing that this was ultimately to achieve the ultimate expression of "resistance."

As expected, Zhou Ping'an might calmly evaluate the situation and then simply agree or refuse.

Yet, the moment he heard her request, Liu Yifan, with her actor's exquisite ability to discern subtle expressions, clearly captured the unusual flicker of emotion across his face—not reflection, not evaluation, but an almost instinctive wavering and retreat. For a moment, he even subconsciously avoided her gaze, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the tabletop lightly.

That's fear.

This discovery gave Liu Yifan a slight jolt. She hadn't expected to see this. Zhou Ping'an was afraid? What was he afraid of? Was he afraid of being observed? Was he afraid of his private life being invaded? Or was he... afraid of her?

But this loss of composure was extremely brief, suppressed almost within a second by his immense self-control. He quickly contained all his outward emotions, his expression returning to his usual calm, though his eyes seemed a little darker than usual.

He was silent for a moment, as if recalibrating his inner balance. Finally, he nodded and agreed in a steady voice, "Okay. For the sake of the project, I'll cooperate."

But then he added a very practical fact that left Liu Yifan slightly stunned. His tone was emotionless, as if he was simply stating an objective fact: "However, my house only has two bedrooms. I live in the master bedroom. The second bedroom is very small and usually empty, so it can be considered half a storage room."

He paused briefly, as if considering how to describe it accurately. "There's also a separate small study. If you come and stay here, the conditions might be rather simple and inconvenient."

This detail completely caught Liu Yifan off guard. She had imagined all sorts of reasons why he might refuse, but she had never imagined it would be this kind of… life-like, almost embarrassing, obstacle.

A man worth tens of billions of dollars living in a house with only two bedrooms, with the second bedroom also serving as a storage room? This extreme simplicity forms a sharp contrast with the vast business empire he controls, revealing a puzzling, almost ascetic restraint.

At this moment, the aura of omnipotence and divinity on Zhou Ping'an seemed to have quietly cracked a tiny crack because of the words "two bedrooms", revealing a bit of the ordinary person's, even a little clumsy and lonely background.

Seeing Liu Yifan hesitate, Zhou Ping'an offered a more common-sense suggestion, his tone even carrying a subtle hint of relief. "You should stay at the hotel today. I'll have someone tidy up the second bedroom, and then you can come over."

The suggestion was reasonable, even considerate.

But Liu Yifan refused almost immediately. She shook her head and looked at him firmly: "Mr. Zhou, thank you. But the hotel is not necessary."

Her tone was calm and serious, as if she was stating a key point for the shoot. "What I need to observe isn't your life after all the arrangements are made, while you're entertaining guests. Rather, it's your most everyday, most authentic, even most...original state. 'Inconvenience' and 'constraints' themselves are part of what I need to understand and feel. This is crucial to my role."

These words are completely tenable from the perspective of project logic.

However, deep down in Liu Yifan's heart, what drove her to so eagerly, and even somewhat impolitely, refuse to postpone the event wasn't simply her professionalism as an actor. An almost unquenchable curiosity burned within her.

Any woman would probably be unable to resist this curiosity - what does the most private space of a man with huge wealth and influence look like after he takes off all his social identities?

Is it the ultimate cold simplicity? The unexpected clutter? Or is there a hidden quirk that completely contradicts his outward appearance?

She desperately wanted to witness with her own eyes, to touch with her own hands, the traces of Zhou Ping'an's life, the real one, stripped of all its halo. This urge even overwhelmed etiquette and the potential embarrassment she might face.

Zhou Ping'an obviously hadn't expected her to reject the buffer plan so directly. He looked at the unquestionable determination and... a hint of unconcealed curiosity in her eyes, and remained silent for a few seconds.

Finally, he seemed to compromise, letting out an almost imperceptible sigh. His tone remained steady, yet a hint of indifference, a calmness that hinted at a resignation from resistance, "Alright. Since you think it's necessary, then... let's go now?"

"Okay." Liu Yifan's answer was concise and powerful, and the flame of curiosity in his heart burned even more vigorously.

At this moment, the aura of omnipotence and "divinity" on Zhou Ping'an seemed to have quietly cracked into a more obvious gap because of the "fear" he had just revealed and the "compromise" of being forced to open his private sphere in advance.

Liu Yifan felt that this expedition called "Disenchantment" had made unexpected progress on the way to the battlefield.