Chapter 72 The Substitute "What is an older man/woman?"
Filming has stalled.
Jing Chen didn't say anything, and everyone assumed that she and Cyril weren't familiar with each other, so they didn't have any tacit understanding.
Later, His Majesty, who came to visit the set, solved the problem. Since the scenes that were stuck were all with Cyril, His Majesty simply acted as a temporary stand-in to help Shi Wei finish filming those scenes, and then His Majesty's face was replaced with Cyril's in post-production.
With today's technology, face swapping is incredibly easy; you could swap your face from head to toe without the naked eye noticing anything amiss.
Moreover, they are father and son, so their faces are already very similar; swapping them would be incredibly easy.
With His Majesty in charge of filming the scenes, Shi Wei felt much more relaxed. Moreover, the male lead was originally written based on him, so the scenes were filmed quickly.
The perceptive Jing Chen suggested that since His Majesty was free today, he could help shoot some extra footage, which might be needed during editing.
His Majesty was clearly happy to participate in this interesting role-playing game, and quickly took the lead, while the two princes, bored, started watching the monitor—
"Look at you, you finally managed to snag this male lead role, and now you're just a stand-in." Similan, seeing the two of them being all lovey-dovey in the shot, was furious and started mocking Cyril.
Cyril remained calm, but his pale fingertips betrayed a hint of his emotions.
After a while, Similan heard his brother's voice: "And what can you do about it?"
The two young brothers looked at each other, both understanding that they had just been filming these past few days.
Shi Wei doesn't like Similan, and Cyril isn't her male lead.
She loved their father.
It is an existence that even if they join forces, they cannot contend with.
Not to mention their father, even their real rumored lover, Yi Lan, is someone the two of them can't handle.
Real-life couples playing on-screen couples definitely have a unique charm. Jing Chen didn't hold back in praising Shi Wei's performance and showered His Majesty with compliments, completely ignoring the two silent princes.
Filming took only a few days. Half a month later, Shi Wei received the draft version of this 40-minute documentary about "caring for the mental health of Omega"—well, it was just a soap opera disguised as a documentary.
Shi Wei couldn't help but turn off the video after watching it for five minutes, but Jing Chen said that she needed to review it personally and hoped that she could give different suggestions for modification in various aspects.
Such a masochistic contractor would have been subjected to endless torment and torture by the evil Dawei on any other project.
However, she simply couldn't bear to watch the documentary. After thinking it over, Shi Wei decided that she couldn't suffer alone, so she dragged Sklag II to watch it with her that night.
It can only be said that His Majesty is indeed His Majesty. He can watch such a melodramatic plot without changing his expression and can even make fun of her acting skills. He only frowns a little when he sees her kissing and hugging the male supporting character.
“Delete this part—” the man said, squeezing Shi Wei’s hand: “Your acting isn’t quite right either. You were clearly being forced, but the excitement in your eyes was almost overflowing.”
Shi Wei rubbed her forehead, saying helplessly, "I've already tried my best to hold back my laughter."
Although she was indeed a little excited at the time, cough cough.
"Was it enjoyable filming with Similan?" the man asked casually, seemingly nonchalant.
Knowing his personality well, Shi Wei's alarm bells went off immediately, and she said, "It wasn't pleasant at all! He insisted on dyeing his hair red and said it would make him look handsome. How is that handsome... It made me want to burst out laughing every time I made eye contact with him. And now you just casually deleted it. Do you know how long I spent filming that scene?!"
"Okay, okay, I won't delete it." The man patted her head to show that he wasn't that strict: "Actually, it was filmed quite well. You can see that the emotions in the latter part are very well done."
Shi Wei followed his gaze and saw that he was talking about the part where the female lead and the male lead got married. The evil male supporting character was unwilling to give up and tried to steal the bride, but was firmly rejected by the female lead. The male supporting character, unwilling to give up, tried to kidnap the female lead, but was killed by the righteous male lead.
If she remembered correctly, this should be the most intense fight scene in this soap opera. Given that Prince Cyril's fighting skills were inferior to Prince Similan's, His Majesty also acted as his stunt double in this scene—Similan was beaten up badly.
Looking at the red hair and miserable injuries of the male supporting character in the drama, Shi Wei felt that His Majesty was somewhat influenced by personal feelings.
Actually, there was nothing that needed to be modified, but Manla had its own national circumstances, and it would be unconventional to pass it directly. Shi Wei randomly picked out two or three minor flaws and asked Jing Chen to take it back and revise it.
The director clearly valued the lead actor's opinions highly, stating that he would definitely make the necessary revisions. When the film was sent back, Shi Wei immediately forwarded the original footage to Secretary Wang, asking her to handle the follow-up.
The main reason was that Shi Wei really couldn't bear to watch it again and feel the impact on her soul. At the same time, Jing Chen's flattery was too frequent, and she just couldn't stand it.
Soon, the documentary was released. After learning about the documentary's impressive stand-ins and cast, the official department in charge of internal publicity allocated a lot of resources to its promotion. As a result, the film became a hit amidst Shi Wei's speechlessness.
Yes, it's very popular.
Humans have always loved watching melodramatic dramas, especially when the main characters are of noble status and exceptionally good looks—the two princes are undeniably handsome, their charming and contrasting personalities are captivating, and every gesture they make can drive countless young men and women crazy.
In contrast, Shi Wei, whose looks aren't as striking but who has the most screen time, has generated a lot of discussion.
"The Omega Association is pulling another stunt, managing to get two princes involved. What kind of connections does this director have? If he's got that kind of ability, why is he even making a documentary?"
Shi Wei silently liked this comment using her alternate account.
The female lead's identity was a hot topic of discussion in the comments section.
"Although the plot is terrible, does anyone know who this female lead is? How come I've never heard of her before, given that she's playing supporting roles to two princes?"
"I looked up this Sino name and only found one person who works for the royal family. Their resume is unremarkable; they seem to have worked in the publicity department before?"
"Why not find a prettier Omega to play the role? There are plenty of beautiful actors who can act alongside a prince."
"This seems to be... the female lead from 'Star'! I remember the female lead from 'Star' was pronounced this way when she was first revealed! My goodness!"
Soon someone found the photos, many of which were from the batch released by Secretary Wang. After comparing the photos, the audience was shocked.
"Damn! It really is! No wonder they were able to invite two princes. Wait, is she His Majesty's mistress or one of the princes? She was the one who was kidnapped by mercenaries last time. There were rumors that she was having an affair with a certain prince, but I never believed it... Ugh."
"Surely not. The Emperor himself accepted her and fought such a huge battle against the mercenaries for her sake. And you're telling me she's your son's girlfriend?"
"Age-wise, she's definitely a better match for the two princes! I prefer younger ones! Younger Alphas are so delicious!"
"Please, this is a proper documentary. It's hilarious how people upstairs are shipping couples like this. If you want to ship couples, go ship them in the entertainment industry. Stop spreading rumors here. The female lead was rescued with great difficulty. She's an Omega. I don't know how much courage she mustered to come out and film this kind of documentary. And you guys are shipping her with the male supporting character. It's disgusting."
"Come on, which of these Omega Association documentaries is respectable? If she dares to make it, why can't we comment on it? Besides, we didn't criticize her. We're shipping her because she made a good film and didn't lead anyone in a bad direction. The male supporting character really deserves to die. His methods were despicable and disrespectful, even though he's really handsome, hehehe!"
"Yes, yes, the red hair is absolutely stunning! The Second Prince always appears with blond hair in public, and I always thought he was more handsome than the First Prince, but I never imagined the red hair would be so handsome too!"
"But then again, is this redhead subtly referring to someone...?"
The comments section was particularly interesting. Shi Wei glanced through it and found that at least four or five groups of people were controlling the direction of public opinion in the comments section of this short documentary. It seemed that the mercenaries had known about it in advance, and shortly after the video was released, comments were already stirring up trouble.
The following day, an official media outlet published an article reviewing the documentary, criticizing the arrogant and disrespectful Alphas who disrespected Omega, stating that "forcible acquisition" is not the behavior of a gentleman, and all actions that infringe upon the interests of Omega should be punished. Only a union based on mutual respect and understanding can be truly beautiful.
The accompanying picture is also quite intriguing; it's the one of Shi Wei and His Majesty looking at the stars.
Shi Wei has been digging her toes so much these past few days that they could practically build a small planet. She's stopped going to His Majesty's afternoon tea parties—she could guess with her toes that she'd be teased by his confidants.
However, Shi Wei still received a message from Lu Qi. He first teased her about becoming a big star, then gave her some very important information, adding the following note:
"The documentary is well made. The evil red-haired villain is going to be furious, but don't worry, His Majesty the Righteous will punish him."
Shi Wei coldly read the message and did not reply.
Under the control of the team and official media, the documentary was very successful, and it can be seen as a tacit response to the controversy caused by launching the war—that one cannot do whatever one wants under the banner of love, and that even the sheep's clothing of true love cannot hide the arrogance and evil in the bones of some Alphas.
"A person who loves you will respect you and would rather restrain their own emotions than hurt you."
In a recent live broadcast, as expected, His Majesty was asked for his opinion on the documentary, and the blue-eyed, noble emperor gave the following response.
He smiled, a rare occurrence, and said, "Actually, I was also involved in this documentary. Cyril isn't good at fighting, so I was his stunt double for a few of the fight scenes."
The viewers in the live chat were stunned.
"Huh? You're participating too? This is so cheesy... wait, is there anything special about this script?"
"It's probably for the female lead, no wonder I always felt those intimate scenes between the male and female leads were too cloying. Your Majesty, if you have so much free time, why don't you go and film this year's recruitment propaganda video? (disdain)"
King Skolag II saw this comment and casually remarked, "No recruitment ad is as interesting as this."
The comments section was even more speechless.
"Why do I always feel like he's subtly showing off his relationship? If he wants to make this kind of film so badly, why doesn't he play the male lead himself?"
"They must have been stopped. I watched that documentary, and it felt like it was based on a true story... Look at the Emperor's smug expression. If they could film it, he would definitely step in and make a sarcastic remark himself."
"Haha, it's definitely a subtle dig. It's a pity the real Red Hair Brother won't be in the film. Otherwise, if these three people involved acted in it themselves, the effect would be absolutely explosive."
"Actually, I feel that His Majesty is more suitable to play the male lead. Both princes are a bit too young. To be honest, I prefer an older man!"
His Majesty singled out this comment and read it aloud, asking in a puzzled tone, "What does 'older' mean?"
Immediately, someone in the live chat explained to His Majesty the difference between "older" and "younger".
"Oh—I see. It's true that young people are prone to being impetuous and acting rashly, often ending up losing more than they gain," His Majesty said casually.
Out of the camera's view, Shi Wei rolled her eyes dramatically. She was 100% certain that this guy knew what "older man" meant, and was just saying it out of the blue to feel secretly pleased, right? He was also making a big fuss about teasing a certain "red-haired guy".
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The author says: I used to dislike eating food eaten during the Lunar New Year, but I later discovered that it has its own unique flavor—enthusiastic, energetic, and easy to get hooked on…
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