The film "Black Curtain" is a typical gunfight crime film.
The story is set in the fictional city of D and tells a tale of struggle between the forces of good and evil.
The ending is, of course, the classic trope of good triumphing over evil, but as the film's title suggests, where there is light, there is darkness. Even if the darkness in the movie disappears, the darkness in reality will always exist.
Ji Yan plays Li Yu, a hidden villain in the series.
According to Xi Ming, when the script for "The Curtain" was first handed to him, he immediately thought of Ji Yan. Among all the actors in the industry, Ji Yan was the only one whose age and acting skills were suitable for the role. Director Qu Xiyu's only concern was whether Ji Yan could fight, but Xi Ming told him not to worry.
Although Ji Yan is not from a professional acting background and has never acted in action scenes, Xi Ming felt that Ji Yan had a strong sense of never giving up. He was the type of actor who would overcome any obstacle and was willing to endure hardship to make a good movie.
For a long time, Chinese action films have been dominated by Hong Kong. The older generation of Hong Kong stars often gave the audience the impression of being able to fight and withstand blows. However, with the new generation, Hong Kong has become somewhat out of touch. Nowadays, the ones active on the big screen are still the same group of older action stars.
Qu Xiyu is an anomaly in the film industry, focusing on making crime action films, and her achievements are getting better and better. However, as a female director, she has really worked hard to make a name for herself in the male-dominated film industry. Ji Yan had never worked with Qu Xiyu before, but her colleagues who had worked with her had only one impression of her: ruthless.
They are ruthless towards the actors and have high standards for the plot; if a shot is even slightly off, it must be reshot.
It is said that Qu Xiyu's personality is less easygoing than many hot-tempered male directors, and can even be described as very demanding. Although she is not very old, she is known as "the Abbess of Extinction" among many actors.
Xie Mingxuan and the others were quite surprised to hear that Ji Yan would be collaborating with Qu Xiyu on his next film.
Ji Yan understood Qu Xiyu's style very well—the entertainment industry is inherently unfriendly to women, especially for a profession like director who leads a film crew. The directors of various films are almost monopolized by men. Qu Xiyu was able to break through the competition with a group of male directors. How much effort she put in is probably unknown.
Moreover, the director's personality also involves the issue of authority. For directors, being feared is always better than being unable to command the actors on set.
Based on his experience, a fierce director can actually reduce a lot of trouble during filming. When filming "The Vanished Murderer," Lu Ming's good temper did make the actors feel happy, but many problems did arise during the filming process.
...
"Teacher Ji, good luck with your new film!"
The promotion for the album "Mountains and Seas" has come to an end, and the "Wings" are also preparing for their concert in the second half of the year. With the experience of the first one, the preparation for the second one is naturally much easier. However, the new concert is a national tour, which is larger in scale and requires more preparation. Ji Yan has to join the filming of "Black Curtain" and naturally cannot devote himself to the concert preparation work with Xie Mingxuan and the others. Therefore, during the free time of filming "Black Curtain", he will keep in touch with Xie Mingxuan and the others to confirm some details of the concert.
Although he hasn't officially started filming yet, Ji Yan already feels overwhelmed just thinking about the busy schedule ahead.
Most of his fans also knew that he would be joining the cast of "Black Curtain". Although the preparation of the film was in secret, it was highly anticipated since the preparation began, with the participation of two Chang Kong Award Best Actor winners, Xi Ming and Ji Yan. It was considered to be a blockbuster that would impact the film market next year.
After all, both Xi Ming and Ji Yan are known for their excellent eye for selecting films.
Before joining the crew, Ji Yan managed to free up two days to spend with Ning Wei.
The two went out for a stroll together, and stayed home to pet the cat and play games. Ji Yan even got to taste his wife Ning's cooking. The only downside was that the time was too short; he didn't even get to touch the seashell enough.
"I really want to retire," Ji Yan said quietly. "I also want to be a shut-in."
Ning Wei's life is truly his ideal state. He has cats to play with, a collection of his favorite records, a big house, and a large balcony. Even when he is just staying quietly, he will not feel bored.
"We'll be launching our concert tour in the second half of the year, and we plan to release a new album next year," Ning Wei said. "It's just a plan, though; the specifics will depend on everyone's schedule."
"A new album?" Ji Yan's eyes lit up.
"The Song of the Little Panda will also be included."
“I like that song.” Ji Yan thought for a moment, then reached out his hand to Ning Wei, “I’ll book the concert tickets in advance.”
How many do you want?
“There are many.” Ji Yan counted them. “I also want to take my brother and the others to see them.”
However, his brother might not have time. Ji Qing also has to grade homework and perform tasks outside of training and teaching during his holidays.
Ning Wei rested her head on Ji Yan's shoulder: "How about I hold a concert in Z County?"
Ji Yan turned his head and looked at him curiously: "Can we arrange a session in Z County?"
Generally speaking, concerts by big-name singers are only held in major cities and second- and third-tier cities. First- and second-tier cities have mature operating mechanisms and large venues, which can sell a sufficient number of concert tickets. Third-tier cities can offer more discounts to the organizers and can reuse stage design, costumes, etc., which can save a lot of expenses. However, in a small county like his hometown, the old stadium simply cannot host a concert. There have been one or two concerts before, but they were basically mixed shows, and it was basically impossible to invite popular singers.
“Sure,” Ning Wei explained. “When we first started holding concerts, we each held one in our hometown.”
It was a small-scale event, and "Blue" hadn't become a huge hit yet, so there weren't nearly as many fans supporting them as there are now.
However, holding a concert in their hometown is different. In the "blue" group, whether it's Ning Wei, Duan Yiran, or Du Jian, no matter how busy they are with work, they will definitely go home for the Spring Festival.
"Then I'll talk to Lao Xie and the others about it."
Ji Yan felt that "Yi" could also hold a concert in their respective hometowns. It didn't need to be a big event; just letting their families know that they were doing very well now would be enough.
"Would you be free to be a guest at our concert?" Ning Wei asked Ji Yan.
“If Teacher Ning were to be a guest at our concert, we could consider it.” Ji Yan glanced at Ning Wei. “I’m going to start filming a new movie now. When the director is choosing the singer for the theme song, I’ll ask her. I haven’t forgotten our promise, Teacher Ning. Good luck!”
Ji Yan reached out his hand, hooked his little finger around Ning Wei's little finger, and gently shook it.
Then his teacher Ning suddenly became a beast and hugged Ji Yan tightly, refusing to let go.
Because Ji Yan's time in the "Black Curtain" crew ranges from a few months to half a year, and given Ji Yan's habits, he is very focused during filming and rarely distracted by other things. Ning Wei generally doesn't interfere with Ji Yan's career, but that doesn't mean he won't miss Ji Yan.
The same was true when filming "The Vanishing Murderer". Even though Ji Yan had finished filming all his scenes in City A, the two of them met very rarely.
Ning Wei didn't want Ji Yan to focus all his energy on him. He knew very well how serious Ji Yan was about his work, and he always appreciated Ji Yan's hard work and dedication.
However... as a lover, he still had some selfish motives.
Ji Yan felt that Teacher Ning was a little too enthusiastic this time, which resulted in him being unable to straighten his back the next day. The two of them could only watch TV at home all day and didn't even have the energy to take care of the conch.
Ji Yan could tell the cat was angry, so he could only kick Ning Wei off the bed and order him to serve Grandpa Conch.
"Teacher Ning, why do you have more energy than me?"
Ji Yan was puzzled.
Honestly, he had seen fanfiction on Weibo about "Blue" before, all of which were about Duan Yiran x Ning Wei and Du Jian x Ning Wei, giving Teacher Ning no chance to fight back. Moreover, in the fans' descriptions, Ning Wei was a weak and powerless boy who was immersed in his own musical world.
...It's all fake, all fake, this world full of deception!
When Ning Wei asked Ji Yan for the keywords of CP (couple) stories, even the usually calm Ji Yan couldn't help but show a "..." expression.
He opened Weibo, a platform he doesn't use much, and followed the tags, reporting all entries related to "X Ningwei" and "all Ningwei".
After a while, he showed his phone to Ji Yan.
"What?" Ji Yan took the phone and looked at the content Ning Wei pointed to.
Ji Yan: "..."
He discovered that Teacher Ning could be quite boring at times.
Of course, netizens are even more bored.
What Ning Wei pointed out to him was a fanfiction about him and Ning Wei as a couple. Ji Yan's only question was why, when Ning Wei, whose "blue" aura was zero, was paired with him, it was always Ning Wei x Ji Yan. Moreover, not only did fans write fanfiction about them, but they also edited short videos, divided into several parts: "First Encounter," "Soulmates," and "Lifetime." His collaboration with Ning Wei at the New Year's Eve concert was the focus of the edits, with one scene being reused several times. There were also clips of him and Ning Wei meeting in private.
In fact, Ji Yan probably wouldn't have found out if it hadn't been edited into a video by fans.
It turns out that even before he started dating Ning Wei, the smile in her eyes was already so clear when they met, and after they started dating... the joy they felt when they met was simply undeniable.
Ji Yan originally thought he had disguised himself very well.
But—while others might not notice, the expressions on their faces were all too obvious to those directly involved.
In the edited video, the "close friends" segment was actually fine, but when it came to the "lifetime" segment, even though there was a lot of footage of him and Ning Wei when they weren't familiar with each other, the editing technique was so superb that it seemed as if they were meant to be a couple.
...
Ji Yan discovered that his boredom was on par with Teacher Ning's. The two of them actually watched the CP video with great interest. Ning Wei even went online to search for other edited videos of the two of them. Ji Yan kept saying he was disgusted, but when Ning Wei asked him to watch, he didn't miss a single one.
It has to be said, it is indeed a bit perverted.
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