Chapter 161: Fake Love

On February 29th, which happens only once every four years, Su Yun, who had already asked for leave from school, came to Fang Mona's office again with a prepared plan.

After listening to Su Yun's report, Fang Mona did not object: "You have always been a person with your own ideas. It is not bad to have such a steady and reliable route."

I flipped through the script outline submitted by Su Yun. It tells the story of a little cousin from the mainland who has a crush on her cousin from Hong Kong, and then because of her good voice, she is persuaded by her cousin and his friends to join the choir to participate in a competition. The subplots are about Cinderella's counterattack and two men competing for one woman. It's a typical commercial film routine, easy to guess and refreshing, and doesn't require much thinking. It's fun.

Such low-budget films usually do not lose money, and their profits are basically proportional to the looks and acting skills of the protagonists - looking at the lineup listed by Su Yun, they are all handsome men and beautiful women. In addition, she herself has studied under many famous foreign directors. This "Song of Youth", which she wrote, directed and starred in, seems to have a very solid foundation for a good start.

After reading Su Yun's project proposal, Fang Mona generously gave her stamp of approval to Su Yun's work, which combines the common plots of youth films such as "High School Musical" and "A Little Thing Called First Love".

"As for the crew, take my approval slip and go to the factory to select them yourself." Fang Mona signed the approval slip for Su Yun to assign staff, and then explained, "Things in Taiwan are looking promising. I will try my best to resolve it before June, so that your movie can be released during the summer vacation."

"I understand." Su Yun nodded, took the approval slip and turned to the Personnel Department, looking through the information of the directors and editors: just pick a few leaders, and then let them pick the next level of people who are used to and easy to use, this is the easiest way.

So Su Yun quickly decided on Xu Anxia, ​​who is currently working as a screenwriter and director at TBB. At that time, Xu Anxia was not yet the great director who established his status with classic films such as "Boat Man", "A Woman of 40", and "A Simple Life". He was just a new screenwriter and director who was nominated for the Golden Horse Award last year.

She is a rare female director, and her consistent artistic style is plain, profound and poetic, which can add some connotation and texture to this weird youth film.

After selecting the assistant director, Su Yun immediately recalled and learned the filming process of Hong Kong films while speeding up the preparations for the early stage of filming.

Five days later, the filming of "Song of Youth" officially started.

Taking various factors into consideration, the required extras had to come after class in the afternoon, and this first scene was a night scene, so after worshiping the gods, Su Yun scheduled the official start time of filming at 7pm.

Since Zhang Querong moved to TBB, Fang Mona began to arrange for him to appear regularly as a guest performer on "Happy Tonight" to make himself familiar to the audience; and Chen Baiyang also had to prepare for the performance rehearsal for the Chinese Golden Melody Awards, so the two of them simply agreed with Su Yun that after they finished their daytime work, they would drive directly from the broadcast channel.

After coordinating the schedules of the leading actors, Su Yun gave some instructions to assistant director Xu Anxia, ​​asking her to lead two other assistants to make the rest of the preparations for the shoot, and then headed to the dressing room to change into their costumes and style.

While the set was busy, in the car on the other side, Chen Boyan and Zhang Querong were also not idle, taking the opportunity to exchange ideas for the next shoot.

While driving, Chen Baiyang silently memorized the lyrics for this scene in his mind. He was still a little uneasy: "How about when we get to the set, I go over the lyrics with Mary first?"

"She is the director, screenwriter and leading actor. She may not be available, but you can try to find her and rehearse the lines first. This should make it easier for you to get into the mood." Zhang Querong, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, flipped through a page of the script and responded.

According to the time on the notice, when the two arrived at the filming location, Su Yun had already dressed up for the role in the play.

Seeing Su Yun's current appearance clearly, both Chen and Zhang were shocked.

"Pinch me, am I still sleepy..." After a while, after avoiding Su Yun who went to explain things, Chen Baiyang stuttered and called Zhang Querong next to him in a low voice.

"You're not dazzled." Zhang Querong said this, but his hands were not idle and he pinched his old friend's cheek.

"How could this happen? It shouldn't be like this..." Chen Boyang looked as if his worldview was about to be shattered. "How could it become like this? I visited her two years ago and she was fine then..."

"Don't be so excited. Strictly speaking, Mary is not really disabled. Her facial features are still the same as before..." Zhang Querong suppressed the regret and helplessness in his heart, and forced himself to comfort Chen Boyang: I had said before that Su Yun's disability was a very technically difficult thing, but I didn't expect that after seeing it today - I can only say that Su Yun really lived up to her miraculous experience over the years and successfully amazed others once again.

If you look more carefully, Su Yun's look with black-framed glasses and two long braids is a bit rustic, but if she was as elegant as before, she would definitely appear scholarly, quiet and intellectual.

The strange thing is that Su Yun's facial features are still the same as before, and she should be a standard beauty - but somehow, the stunning charm of the past has disappeared without a trace, and the whole person gives people the impression of being rustic, dull and rough, as if those beautiful facial features were wasted.

Especially the dull and haggard complexion and lifeless eyes caused by the typical nerd staying up late to study, which instantly made his good facial features obscured from everyone else, and even made him look more stupid and dull than the female students of the same age who knew how to dress up.

While Zhang Querong was still using his knowledge of aesthetics to analyze the reasons for Su Yun's "long-term disability", Chen Boyang was already becoming more and more sad and lamentable, and he almost burst into tears on the spot: It's not that he looked down on people with ordinary looks. In addition to regret and heartache for Su Yun, his feelings now also included a deeper level of sadness, that is, the memories of the past that he had hidden deep in his heart were suddenly shattered by the ruthlessness and cruelty of time.

Although he had let go of his momentary surprise after he found out the truth when he chased her to America, the girl who played the guitar and sang softly amidst the scent of bauhinia flowers is still the only white moonlight in his heart.

Even if they couldn't be together for the time being, he hoped that a little girl like Su Yun, who was born with a natural beauty and an interesting soul, could grow up smoothly into a beautiful girl like that illusion, enough to amaze the world.

It’s a pity that the world is so cruel.

However, compared to him as a bystander, Su Yun, who witnessed his own fall from the peak to the mortal world, must be the most helpless and sad, right?

When he thought of this, Chen Boyang subconsciously suppressed a lot of his surging emotions and began to think about how to comfort Su Yun.

No, maybe it's best to try to use the same attitude as before...

Su Yun was so busy that she didn't notice the difference between Chen and Zhang. She held the hand of Xu Anxia, ​​who was also shocked by her nerdy and nerdy look, and explained with a smile, "This is a look I made especially to fit the original character design. Look at my 'haggard makeup'. Is it done well?"

This is the haggard makeup that all the scandalous artists use to gain sympathy when they come out to apologize. Its biggest feature is the use of different shades of foundation powder to create a strong weakening of the complexion, thereby creating a significant drop in appearance.

No matter how beautiful a person is, once her complexion starts to deteriorate, her beauty will at least be reduced by half.

Su Yun is so cruel to herself, painting a few pimples, using different shades of foundation to create a dull and uneven "bare face", and using poisonous and weird-colored lipstick to turn her originally blessed rosy lips into a dull light pink-white... This is really the most thorough time for Su Yun to make herself look ugly.

Look how many people were scared, especially Chen Baiyang and Zhang Querong who came over and saw the effect of her makeup. I'm afraid they must have started to question their lives...

Especially the tangled and somewhat cautious look on Chen Boyang's face as he stole a glance at her - this poor child, don't you think that her appearance is the result of the combined destruction of the past two years of studying abroad with not much good food and the scorching sun in California?

But it just so happens that his look is very similar to the male protagonist Ah Yue's feeling of being speechless and dissatisfied with the female protagonist Yun Yun's curled up quail-like look when he was pushed onto the stage to sing a chorus.

Worried that Chen Baiyang would be distracted after revealing the truth, Su Yun simply went with the flow and asked Xu Anxia to start preparing, then turned around and asked everyone to get ready for filming.

The scene to be filmed is about the ignorant mainland cousin Yunyun being brought to a party in a bar by her impatient cousin Langxing. Unexpectedly, she is drawn a number and is asked to perform a song on stage in exchange for a small gift.

Yunyun was new here and didn't know how to host a party, so she had to ask her cousin, whom she had a crush on, for help.

However, her cousin Lang Xing, who was a playboy at school and was particularly good at flirting with girls, had already seen through her little cousin's girlish thoughts.

Lang Xing, who felt that he did not like this kind of naive girl, did not think much about the request for help. He just encouraged and watched the show. He gently pushed his little cousin onto the small stage and gently reminded her to abide by the rules of the activity and try to open up to the world as much as possible.

So, another male protagonist, A Yue, who was drawn a number, was also pushed up by his companions at this time.

Seeing Yunyun's pitiful look as if she wanted to curl up into a ball, A Yue shook his head. Just as he was about to give up the small gift and go downstairs, he suddenly saw his old friend Lang Xing, whom he hadn't seen for many years, greeting him.

For the sake of her old friend, Ah Yue had no choice but to stay on the stage and sing the first two lines.

Seeing that Yunyun still didn't move, A Yue planned to turn around and leave.

At this moment, Yunyun, who had finally mustered up the courage, finally spoke, and her sweet voice that sounded like the sound of nature instantly stunned the entire audience.

Ah Yue's steps that were about to leave also stopped on the spot, and then he turned around with an expression of surprise as if he had met his worthy opponent, and quickly continued with the next line of the male lyrics.

The beautiful and melodious chorus made the whole audience excited, and they swayed happily to the rhythm, and the two people on the small stage sang more and more happily.

The originally nerdy and rustic appearance was given endless vitality by the infectious singing. In Ah Yue's eyes, she had the illusion that this plain-looking chorus singer actually possessed a unique beauty with boundless charm.

The surprise and excitement of the people on and off the stage happened in an instant. However, Ah Yue and Lang Xing's surprise and excitement did not come from love between men and women, but from the memory of the agreement they had made.

They once agreed to form a band, but unfortunately they couldn't find a suitable female lead singer. Also, due to family reasons, they went to study in different countries and only returned to Hong Kong recently.

Now that we have the rare opportunity to meet again, and we have directly found a satisfactory female lead singer, shouldn’t we act quickly?

Young people think and act quickly, and they do it immediately when they think of it. With the help of Lang Xing's persuasion, the little cousin was coaxed into the band and became the lead singer.

Of course, this kind of indoor scene can be shot at any time and is convenient after all, so after finishing this section, Xu Anxia moved all the crew members to the clothing store next door according to the original plan.

The scene to be filmed is about little cousin Yunyun, who was laughed at by other opponents because of her rustic outfit after the preliminary round, so the protective A Yue and Lang Xing emptied their wallets and collected some money to take her to a beauty salon to get her dressed and buy her new clothes.

Cinderella's transformation into a great beauty or something like that - it's definitely the simplest and most classic scene, yet it's a thrill that the audience never tires of watching.

The filming went smoothly that night, but Chen Boyan and Zhang Querong took Su Yun's current condition into consideration and privately practiced the stunning expression she was going to perform before filming began: Although Su Yun looked better after changing her hairstyle to a princess bun, it would be difficult to create a beautiful skyscraper if her foundation was too poor. In order to ensure a smooth filming and to save face for her friends, it was better to practice in advance.

“I wonder what effect it will have?”

"At least it's better than what she looks like now..."

After the filming started, the two young men sat on the sofa and chatted about the lines in the script.

"I... am done." The soft, shy and uneasy voice sounded behind them. The two young men sitting on the sofa turned their heads subconsciously. Time seemed to stop at this moment.

Even the slight noise of the air conditioner seemed to become cute. The black-framed glasses that originally concealed her beautiful eyes were replaced with the recently popular colored contact lenses. The dark and uneven dark yellow skin tone was also portrayed into a bright and beautiful warm white by the clear light makeup. Under the light, it was as charming as the finest warm jade.

The wind, flowers, stars and moon of the whole sunny March seem to fall into this pure white snow-like skirt, floating into a beautiful dream on earth that makes people reluctant to wake up.

He thought he was used to seeing the romantic affairs between men and women in the night and that all the prosperity was gone. But, at the most inadvertent moment, he looked up at the new moon hanging high in the sky.

Perhaps the emotions in this world are so contradictory and sudden. The more you think you are invincible, the more vulnerable you will be in the end.

Compared to Ah Yue's astonished and infatuated gaze, Lang Xing, who probably sensed something, came back to his senses from his astonishment. His eyes were filled with an indescribable complexity, and he secretly glanced at his old friend beside him.

"CUT! Good Take!"

"knock off!"

"Today's performance was much better, there has been progress!" Unexpectedly, the filming went so smoothly. Su Yun walked over happily and patted Chen Boyang, which woke him up from his daze.

Now that the director had made the announcement, everyone else quickly followed suit to congratulate him, asking him if he had practiced secretly to be able to shoot so smoothly, and making endless jokes.

Unable to resist taking another look at Su Yun's true face, Chen Boyang suddenly looked away and answered irrelevantly in an almost inaudible voice: "Hmm."

Everyone says that his acting today is good and he has made progress, but only he knows that it is not because of his good acting or improvement, but a 100% true expression of his feelings.