Chapter 41

Time flew by during the intense filming. Most of the scenes in the royal city had already been filmed.

The filming for that day was a highlight: a three-minute monologue by Bao Si in a palace corridor late at night. With no antagonist or lines, she walked alone amidst the moonlight and flickering palace lanterns. She needed to rely entirely on facial expressions and body language to convey the immense turmoil and ultimate silence within.

This is a huge challenge.

Before filming began, Liu Yifan gathered his emotions alone at one end of the corridor. The staff prepared quietly in the distance, not daring to disturb him.

Lin Na stood beside the monitor, her expression serious, with a subtle hint of nervousness. This scene was incredibly demanding on the actors' abilities.

At this moment, her executive producer walked over quickly and whispered something in her ear.

Lin Na's brows furrowed in thought, a trace of obvious surprise and... embarrassment crossing her face. She glanced at Liu Yifan, who was lost in his own world in the distance, hesitated for a few seconds, and finally walked over.

"Yifan," Lin Na said softly, with a hint of tentativeness, "There's an emergency. Mr. Zhou... has arrived in Xiangbei. He just got off the plane and is on his way to the cinema. He said he wanted to... stop by to check on the project's progress."

Liu Yifan slowly raised his head, his eyes slowly focusing from his deep immersion as he looked at Lin Na. Her face was expressionless, as if she had just heard a work notification that had nothing to do with her.

There were a few seconds of absolute silence.

Then, she took a very light, almost imperceptible breath and slowly exhaled. The icy emptiness in her eyes, which belonged to Bao Si, seemed to fluctuate for a moment before settling, revealing a deeper, indescribable complex expression underneath.

She nodded, her voice calm and composed:

"I see. Let him see."

After she finished speaking, she lowered her eyelids again, and focused all her attention and energy back on the silent ocean in her heart that was about to stir up a storm, as if the news just now was just an insignificant speck of dust that could not affect her in the slightest.

Lin Na watched her quickly get back into the state and felt relieved, but at the same time, she felt a stronger sense of anticipation and curiosity.

Several black cars parked silently in the dedicated parking lot outside the palace area of ​​the cinema.

Zhou Ping'an pushed the door and got out of the car, still in the same dark casual clothes. There was no expression on his face. Only when his eyes fell on the towering royal city that had been completely completed in front of him, he paused almost imperceptibly, and quickly swept across the rammed earth texture of the city wall and the fluttering black royal flag, as if he was conducting some kind of extremely efficient project acceptance.

Su Ying and several project leaders were already waiting there and hurried over to greet them. Without much greeting, Zhou Ping'an simply nodded slightly and, surrounded by a group of people, walked steadily into the palace.

His appearance did not cause much commotion. Only a few core staff members saw him from afar and exchanged surprised glances, but they soon returned to their busy work. Although Mr. Zhou's sudden visit was not common, it was not the first time. He never liked ostentatious displays.

The filming location was a long, secluded palace corridor. The columns cast long shadows, the floor was paved with rough, antique-style stone slabs, and swaying palace lanterns hung on the walls, creating a quiet and solemn atmosphere at night. The air was filled with the faint scent of burning pine resin.

Zhou Ping'an and his team stopped in the shadows outside the surveillance area, not disturbing the ongoing preparations. Lin Na looked up from behind the monitor and saw Zhou Ping'an. She nodded to him, her face focused on her work, without any excessive politeness. Zhou Ping'an nodded slightly in response, then looked past her to the end of the corridor.

Liu Yifan was already standing there.

She wore a simple, elegant gown, her long hair tied up in a simple bun. Her unpainted face looked pale in the dim light. Her eyes were slightly lowered, and she seemed to blend seamlessly into the gloomy surroundings, emanating a sense of detached silence. She seemed completely immersed in her own world, oblivious to the movements around her, including Zhou Ping'an's arrival.

Lin Na picked up the intercom and lowered her voice to ensure she wouldn't disturb the actors. "All departments, prepare. Maintain absolute silence. Actors, take your positions. We're going to film a take."

The clapperboard closed gently.

“Action!”

Liu Yifan moved.

She slowly raised her head, her gaze vacant, as if she were looking at a road of destiny with no end in sight. Her footsteps were light, barely audible on the stone slabs, yet each step carried a heavy, stagnant feeling, as if being dragged along by invisible shackles.

Moonlight and lamplight flickered across her face, the light and dark varying. The camera followed closely on her face in close-up.

There were no lines, no exaggerated expressions. All the dramatic tension was concentrated in her eyes.

At first, there was a bottomless exhaustion, a weariness consumed by the glamour of the cage and the emptiness of emotion. Then, a tiny flicker of light flickered across her pupils, as if recalling a sharp moment, perhaps a promise, perhaps a warm touch. But the light was fleeting, quickly swallowed by the deeper desolation. The corners of her mouth twitched downwards ever so faintly, not in tears, but in a sense of emptiness that didn't even bother to express sadness.

She continued to walk forward, her body slightly tense, as if resisting some immense pressure, or perhaps gathering strength. Her eyes gradually grew sharper, revealing a cold, almost cruel clarity, as if she had finally seen through the essence of all the hypocritical rituals and emotional ties.

In the end, all the waves faded into a dead silence, leaving only a resigned yet strangely calm determination. It was a kind of emptiness and freedom that comes from completely sacrificing oneself.

The entire performance, like a silent elegy, vividly depicts a person's inner journey from struggle to disillusionment and ultimately to self-sacrifice.

The corridor was silent except for the subtle friction of the camera track. All the staff held their breath, gripped by this infectious performance.

Zhou Ping'an stood in the shadows, his gaze fixed calmly on Liu Yifan. His face remained expressionless, neither praise nor criticism apparent; he simply watched intently. Only when his gaze passed over her eyes, which bore such weight, did it linger a little longer than assessing other details, his fingertips unconsciously tapping lightly at his side.

The performance ended. Liu Yifan stopped at the other end of the corridor, breathing slightly, still immersed in the immense emotional drain.

“Crack!”

Lin Na's voice was filled with suppressed excitement, even trembling slightly. "Perfect! Passed! This one is so good! The emotional level is so accurate!"

Liu Yifan slowly withdrew from her role, her eyes gradually regaining clarity. She raised her hand and gently pressed her temples, only then noticing the group of people standing in the shadows outside the surveillance area, and the familiar figure.

Her eyes met Zhou Ping'an's briefly in the air.

There was no expected panic or nervousness; her eyes were unusually calm, even carrying a hint of Bao Si's distant and cold demeanor, still lingering after her performance. She looked at him as if she were a bystander who had stumbled into the scene and had nothing to do with this grand sacrifice.

Zhou Ping'an met her gaze, his face remaining calm. He just nodded very slightly, so small that it was almost imperceptible.

Then, he shifted his gaze to Su Ying beside him and asked in a low voice about the construction status of a certain building detail. His tone was as steady as usual, as if the soul-touching performance just now was just a data stream that needed to be recorded and evaluated.

Liu Yifan withdrew her gaze and, accompanied by her assistant, silently walked towards the rest area. She took the warm water offered to her and drank it in small sips, feeling the exhaustion that came with calming down.

Accompanied by Lin Na and others, Zhou Pingan began to inspect the filming site and other areas of the palace. He looked carefully, occasionally stopping to feel the texture of the earthen walls or look up to examine the details of the bracket structures.

Throughout the inspection, he didn't glance in Liu Yifan's direction, nor did he express any opinion on the performance. His presence seemed to be a simple inspection of the project progress.

However, before he left the palace area and headed for the next inspection point, he paused imperceptibly. His gaze seemed to accidentally sweep over where Liu Yifan was resting. He saw her with her eyes closed, her makeup being gently touched up by a makeup artist. Her profile was half-lit, half-dark in the light, revealing a sense of fragility that came from extreme exhaustion.

His gaze lingered for perhaps less than half a second before quickly withdrawing without anyone noticing. He continued to walk forward, his expression still stern, only the fingers hanging at his sides curled up imperceptibly before loosening again.

After the inspection, Zhou Ping'an left the studio without staying for long, just as quietly as he came.

Liu Yifan rested for a moment before diving into preparations for the next scene. Zhou Ping'an's arrival was like a pebble dropped into a deep pond, stirring up a tiny ripple that quickly sank to the bottom, seemingly without any real impact on the filming process.

Only she herself knew that in that exhausting one-man show just now, at the moment her eyes met his, there was an extremely secret, indescribable feeling, like an extremely thin silk thread, quietly connecting the ultimate nothingness of the performance with the absolute reality of his existence.

The feeling was fleeting, but it left a faint mark in her heart.

As night fell and the filming ended, Liu Yifan returned to his hotel room and leaned back on the sofa, exhausted.

The phone screen was quietly lit, with no new messages.

She looked out the window at the night scene of Xiangbei, which was deeper and more desolate than Rongcheng.

This royal city, built by him, now enveloped her in silence. And he, after completing a silent "inspection," retreated back into his own world.

An unprecedented sense of loneliness, like an icy tide, slowly flooded my heart. Yet within this loneliness, strangely, lay a powerful force, almost nirvana.

The next part of the filming entered the core and most difficult part of the entire film - the beacon fire trick on the princes.

For this final scene, the crew found a mountain top with dangerous terrain and wide views outside of Xiangbei Film City, and spent a huge amount of money to build an extremely spectacular beacon tower real scene.

Filming took several days, mobilizing a large extra cast and boasting exquisite pyrotechnics. As the smoke billowed upwards, the camera panned across the grand scene of the "vassal" troops frantically rushing to the rescue below, finally settling on the city walls above, the entire crew held their breath.

Bao Si, played by Liu Yifan, needs to show her "smile" in that moment that is destined to go down in film history.

It wasn't a smile of joy, a smile of mockery, or even a smile of relief. It was a smile so extreme, so complex, it defied description, the soul of a smile that captivated a nation.

Lin Na watched Liu Yifan's performance from behind the monitor. His smile was faint at first, like a crack on ice, then spread slowly like ripples, but it didn't reach his eyes, making them appear even deeper and hollower.

The smile carries a hint of childlike innocence and cruelty, a thorough deconstruction of grand narratives and power games, a kind of emptiness and... beauty that comes after sacrificing oneself. A devastating, heart-wrenching beauty.

“Crack!”

Lin Na's voice was hoarse with excitement, and even a little choked up. "It passed! It's perfect! This is what I wanted! This is the smile that will captivate the whole country!"

The entire crew breathed a sigh of relief, then erupted in low cheers and applause. Everyone agreed that this was a truly divine performance, impeccable.

Chen Feng nodded vigorously, his eyes shining. Even the usually demanding production director, watching the playback, smiled with relief. The film's biggest hurdle had finally been overcome.

However, in the excited atmosphere, Liu Yifan, the absolute protagonist, seemed unusually silent.

She didn't join in the celebration, nor did she even watch the replay. She walked alone to the city wall, looking at the smoke of war that had not yet dissipated in the distance, her brows slightly furrowed, and her back revealed a lingering sense of... dissatisfaction.