44 New Script
Song Qixian got an assistant.
To be precise, he was assigned from the actor department and only served as his assistant when he was acting.
The assistant's name is Quan Yongjun, and Song Qixian calls him "Little Brother Quan." Little Brother Quan is 23 years old, having just graduated from university a year ago. He wears square glasses, and his eyes narrow into slits when he smiles.
Quan Yongjun came to give the script to Song Qixian. "Money and Magic" has not yet finished airing, but a crew has already invited him to play a new role through the company.
After the fifth and sixth episodes of "Money and Magic" were aired, Fang Xiyu, who was already as popular as Meng Tingtai with less than 30 minutes of screen time in the first four episodes, saw his popularity soar, and discussions about him on major Korean forums skyrocketed.
The role of Fang Xiyu is very difficult to perform. Letting Song Qixian, a boy who is not yet an adult, to play the role was a "big gamble" made by the director and screenwriter, and they won the gamble.
Liu Xuan and his fans were caught off guard by this.
No one expected that the first dark horse to emerge in 26 years would be a little-known member of an obscure boy group.
In fact, the role of Meng Tingtai fits squarely within Liu Xuan's comfort zone; it's no exaggeration to describe him as both beautiful, strong, and tragic. However, due to his acting, he didn't quite capture the struggles and personal pain he felt when facing the female lead in episodes 3-4.
Also, because he is not good at outburst scenes, his crying scenes become ugly and awkward.
What's worse is that he once again met a second male lead who is very good at acting.
Episodes 3 and 4 are almost always Meng Tingtai's highlight, while episodes 5 and 6 give Fang Xiyu a chance to shine. Without comparison, there is no gap, and the audience quickly discovered the difference between Meng Tingtai and Fang Xiyu.
Meng Tingtai is a kind yet awkward character, feeling both humbled and pitiful because of his special abilities. Gentleness is his fundamental quality. How can one portray such a near-perfect character? It requires a deep understanding of the role. However, Liu Xuan plays it superficially, constantly adopting a wounded expression.
At first, the audience was quite fond of this, but after seeing it so many times, everyone became immune to it.
In contrast, Fang Xiyu, the arrogant male second who opposes the female lead from the moment he appears, is handsome and funny from the moment he appears.
He's attracted to the female lead, but refuses to admit it. He always appears handsome and then suffers a crushing defeat. The scene where he faints from the spice has been reposted by entertainment media both domestically and internationally, generating both amusement and admiration.
The light comedy setting helped Fang Xiyu. His relationship with the heroine happened to be that of a pair of bickering lovers, a timeless setting.
The whole transition was very natural, from the time he argued with Jiang Zhu in the hospital and almost got into a fight, to the time he fell in love with her when she stood in front of him unconditionally, to the time he finally understood Jiang Zhu's feelings for Meng Tingtai and smiled bitterly.
Fang Xiyu's popularity gradually surpassed Meng Tingtai's, which was something no one expected. What made the crew both happy and afraid was that Liu Xuan's fans were already organizing to defend their rights, and Song Qixian's fans were not to be outdone, and they joined forces with the drama fans to force the crew to change Fang Xiyu's role as the second male lead.
After all this happened, Song Qixian could feel the unusual atmosphere on the crew.
However, when he saw Liu Xuan frowning and getting angry at his assistant, Song Qixian felt more at ease and continued to perform his role seriously.
Hiding the secret joy in his heart, Song Qixian began to devote himself to choosing his next play.
There were quite a few scripts handed over, four or five, with both leading and supporting roles. He eliminated the characters similar to Fang Xiyu, leaving only two.
They are all idol dramas.
One with fantasy themes and one with super powers themes.
He began to carefully read the general plot of the first script.
"Fantasy Fairy Tale": Seo Rui-eun is a corporate slave. One night, she has a dream: she is the second daughter of a wealthy family, and her older sister, Ji-ah, is the heiress. Ji-ah has a fiancé, but for unknown reasons, he and Ji-ah have broken off their engagement. The fiancé, driven by his desire for wealth and fame, sets his sights on Rui-eun. One day, Rui-eun encounters her ex-brother-in-law in the garden, who is deliberately trying to seduce her...
This script... is quite challenging, and Song Qixian became interested.
He looked up the director's name, Qiu Mingsheng. He searched again, but couldn't find it. He was a new director.
Song Qixian called Quan Yongjun over, handed him the script, and said, "Brother Quan, I choose this script."
Quan Yongjun took the script and advised: "Qixian, why don't you think about it again? I heard that this director is about the same age as me."
Song Qixian shook his head and said, "I'll choose this one."
After Quan Yongjun left, Song Qixian started writing a diary. This was a habit he developed when he was filming his first TV series, recording his feelings after filming.
He began to recall the filming of episodes 7 and 8 of "Money and Magic".
Fang Xiyu took the initiative to say that he would help Jiang Zhu confess her feelings to Meng Tingtai, but when he woke up the next day, he regretted it.
Facing the mirror, Fang Xiyu no longer concealed his disgust.
"Are you sick?"
"Are you really sick?"
"What are you helping me with? Do you understand the minds of men and women?"
Fang Xiyu rubbed his tangled hair. At this moment, he no longer looked like a social elite.
But since he had agreed, Fang Xiyu couldn't go back on his word. So he sat in the president's office and openly spied on Meng Tingtai working at his workstation.
After observing for a while, he discovered a problem: Meng Tingtai was very popular.
In less than 30 minutes, three women invited him out for coffee, two women fed him food, and quite a few men even approached him to chat.
As a boss, Fang Xiyu immediately began to suspect that they had not been given enough work, otherwise how could they have the mind to think about other things.
He clenched his left fist and coughed loudly. The employees sitting in front of the door immediately knew that Mr. Fang had come out. The office, which had been bustling just a moment ago, instantly turned into a cold, silent morgue.
The employees had serious expressions on their faces and sat in front of their computers.
Fang Xiyu pretended to take a look around. In fact, he knew that many employees were slacking off, but as long as they handed in their plans, he would turn a blind eye.
But today, he stopped behind Meng Tingtai for a few minutes and pointed out several of Meng Tingtai's mistakes.
When Fang Xiyu left, all the employees breathed a sigh of relief.
Someone comforted Meng Tingtai: "It's okay, you're an intern, so it's normal to make mistakes. What's more, our boss is a top student who graduated from MIT. He often scolds us."
"Yes, don't take it to heart. Actually, Mr. Fang is a very nice person. As long as you correct the mistakes he made in time, he won't make things difficult for you."
Meng Tingtai accepted the kindness of his predecessors with a smile, but he looked at the closed door and thought about something.
Fang Xiyu was also worried about how to help Jiang Zhu pursue Meng Tingtai. He was a newbie and was the one being pursued when he was abroad.
Unable to find a suitable solution, Fang Xiyu began to avoid Jiang Zhu. He hadn't passed by Jiang's Spicy Hot Pot for several days. Until one day, Jiang Zhu called him over.
Facing Jiang Zhu again, Fang Xiyu felt guilty for no reason.
Jiang Zhu put her hands on her hips, her cheeks slightly flushed, and she still looked full of energy.
Fang Xiyu suddenly discovered that Jiang Zhu was actually quite pretty.
She has long black hair, big watery eyes, and a playful cuteness when she looks at people seriously.
Jiang Zhu frowned and waved her hand in front of Fang Xiyu. Seeing that he didn't respond, she began to worry.
Could it be that he was allergic to chili peppers and couldn't even smell the scent? She quickly pulled Fang Xiyu to the side of the street and didn't stop until she could no longer smell the chili peppers in the air.
"Are you okay?" Jiang Zhu asked worriedly.
Fang Xiyu finally reacted and was stunned again when he saw Jiang Zhu holding his hand.
Jiang Zhu followed his gaze and quickly put it down. "Sorry, I was anxious just now."
Fang Xiyu's mind was racing. He saw that this was exactly the place where he, Jiang Zhu and Meng Tingtai sat together for the first time, so he took Jiang Zhu in.
"One iced Americano and one sugar-coated latte."
When the coffee arrived, Fang Xiyu pushed the latte over.
Jiang Zhu took a sip of the latte, squinted her eyes, and said with a smile, "You still remember that I like the taste with sugar."
Fang Xiyu rested his chin on one hand and said casually, "I still remember a lot."
Jiang Zhu asked curiously, "You must have an exceptional memory, right? The male protagonist in the TV series I watched could memorize an entire article at a glance. Can you do the same?"
Fang Xiyu smiled mysteriously, "I think it's okay."
Jiang Zhu was really curious, so she took out the store's newly-made menu from her mobile phone and asked Fang Xiyu to try it.
Fang Xiyu looked at the menu for five seconds, then he looked up at the sky and began to repeat: "Spicy cabbage-flavored spicy hot pot, tomato soup spicy hot pot, spicy hot pot-flavored spicy hot pot..."
Every word was said, without missing a single word.
The expression on Jiang Zhu's face changed from curiosity to admiration. She forgot that this was a cafe and applauded Fang Xiyu.
"You are so awesome!" Jiang Zhu said excitedly, with little stars in her eyes.
Fang Xiyu stopped Jiang Zhu's action, but he began to recite poems like a child, reciting the text that Jiang Zhu had never finished reciting when she was a child.
Jiang Zhu's eyes were full of stars. She liked smart people very much, so she accepted the confession of her first love, just because her first love was a top student.
Fang Xiyu felt like he was losing his mind, but seeing Jiang Zhu's happy expression, he couldn't help but want to make Jiang Zhu happier. He didn't know what was wrong with him.
It happened that at this moment Meng Tingtai and his male colleague came back from delivering a proposal to a client. Meng Tingtai saw Jiang Zhu smiling happily with Fang Xiyu.
Just like the scene Fang Xiyu saw not long ago, the bystander this time became Meng Tingtai.
A colleague also saw this and exclaimed, "Boss Fang actually laughed! Who's that girl across from him? This is such a huge piece of gossip! I have to film this, or those women will accuse me of lying."
Meng Tingtai turned into a stone. He silently watched the expression on Jiang Zhu's face in the cafe and found that she was really happy. The smile on her face was not the reserved and shy smile when she was with him, but a big smile showing all eight teeth.
The shouting of his colleagues became a fading background noise, and for the first time, Meng Tingtai showed an expressionless face.
Fang Xiyu, who was having a pleasant conversation, realized something. He looked outside and happened to meet Meng Tingtai's eyes.
He was stunned and subconsciously wanted to avoid it, but soon, he stopped running.
Across a glass wall, Fang Xiyu and Meng Tingtai exchanged silent glances.
Jiang Zhu, who was sitting opposite Fang Xiyu, was unaware of anything.
【Author’s words】
Shura Field, ah Shura Field~
The new script is also very interesting [covering face and peeking]
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