Chapter 51 Chapter 51 How about we study it together...
At 6:30 in the morning, Guan Siyu began her makeup routine promptly. Chen Zhuo also rose early to accompany her throughout the process. After her makeup was complete, she accompanied him to the filming location, where various departments were busy setting up the set.
Chen Zhuo looked around but didn't see the director. He asked and found out that the director was in the editing room next door, checking the material. Chen Zhuo took Guan Siyu to the next room to apologize to the director.
The editing room door was half-open. Shen Zhuo knocked gently, and the director said "Come in" without turning his head.
"Director Wang." Chen Zhuo pushed the door open and entered, smiling. "Si Yu wasn't in good condition yesterday, which delayed the filming. I'm really sorry, but I brought him here to apologize."
Director Wang turned around and saw two people standing at the door, one in front of the other. His face immediately darkened. He snorted coldly and ignored them. He raised his hand and pointed at the computer screen: "Come on, come on, take a look at yesterday's material. What kind of performance is it? We have to make up for it all today."
Chen Zhuo smiled and said, "Don't worry, Director Wang. I will cooperate with you today and reshoot until you are satisfied."
She looked at Guan Siyu again, her eyes sharp. Guan Siyu nodded slightly and whispered, "I'm sorry, Director Wang. I'll adjust my state today."
Coming out of the editing room, Shen Zhuo sighed, a little worried that the director's words would affect his mentality. She asked, "Si Yu, is everything okay today?"
Guan Siyu curled the corner of his lip: "Okay."
The actress who acted with Guan Siyu was not very famous, and she didn't even have an assistant. Chen Zhuo sat next to the supervisor and watched the show all morning. Guan Siyu's condition was obviously not back yet, but she felt that the actress was pretty good.
It wasn't until lunchtime that two performances were over.
The sun in Q City was scorching in early July, and the temperature soared to 35 degrees. In addition, air conditioning could not be used for indoor scenes because it would affect the sound recording. Everyone was sweating profusely, and the director of photography was soaked after carrying the camera to shoot two scenes.
Everyone looked impatient and irritated because of the high temperature and slow progress.
During his lunch break, Chen Zhuo ordered 260 cups of Starbucks to cool down and refresh the crew. When the coffee arrived on set, it filled several large plastic crates, requiring several crew members to make several trips to unload it.
Chen Zhuo took two cups and handed them to the director and producer first. Then she nodded at Xiaoyun. Xiaoyun understood and shouted loudly, "Teacher Guan, please have some coffee. Thank you for your hard work!"
When everyone heard this, they all turned around.
Chen Yi took the iced Americano with a smile and said, "Thank you, Teacher Guan, for the coffee!"
The heads of the photography, lighting, and recording departments also brought coffee to the children in their own groups. They accepted the coffee one by one and kept saying, "Thank you, Teacher Guan, for the treat!" and "Thank you, Teacher Guan, for your hard work!"
Although a cup of coffee may not necessarily solve any substantive problems, it at least shows an attitude, eases the atmosphere, and also saves some points for Guan Siyu's impression.
In the afternoon, Guan Siyu recovered a little. After finishing the two scenes on the notice, he took advantage of the daylight to shoot two more scenes of Du Huaiqing's personal scenes. When they finished working, the director's face finally looked better.
It is not uncommon for the crew to delay progress due to the poor condition of the actors. Everyone is aware of this. Fortunately, Guan Siyu's role is not large to begin with, so as long as one or two more scenes are added later, the overall plan can still be completed within the set time.
In the evening, Chen Zhuo invited the main creators to dinner in the name of Guan Siyu. The director and editor wanted to watch the film and did not come.
Most of the scenes that were delayed yesterday were the rivalry between Du Huaiqing and Lin Yutang. Chen Zhuo specially invited Jiang Rui, who played Lin Yutang, to express his apologies in person.
At the dinner, Chen Zhuo controlled the atmosphere just right, toasting when necessary and making all the jokes he wanted.
After three rounds of drinks, she and Jiang Rui sat together and started chatting.
Jiang Rui, 30, has been performing in plays since graduating from drama school. She has also appeared in a few low-budget art films and even played the leading role in an independent film. That film was directed by a young director who had studied abroad, but due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter, it was ultimately not released in China.
Shen Zhuo was quite interested and asked her where she could watch it. She had watched it at the Grand Prison today and felt that Jiang Rui's acting was quite good. She was not beautiful in the traditional sense, but she had a good figure. She thought she was very suitable for the big screen.
Jiang Rui smiled and said that she had a network disk resource. Then she added WeChat and Jiang Rui sent her a network disk link.
Chen Zhuo said, "Jiang Rui, if you ever consider signing with a company, feel free to contact me."
Chen Yi laughed as he listened, "Chen Zhuo, you're trying to poach people from me."
Chen Zhuo raised his eyebrows slightly, his smile undiminished: "Director Chen has a keen eye. What should I worry about when an actor you've chosen is selected? If I'm a step slower, won't I miss out on a treasure?"
This sentence not only followed Chen Yi's words, but also appropriately elevated Jiang Rui. It was neither offensive nor sincere.
Chen Yi was flattered by her praise. He waved his hands and said with a smile, "Your mouth can really make people confused."
Shen Zhuo picked up his wine glass and clinked it with Chen Yi.
The next morning, Shen Zhuo prepared to return to City A. Before leaving, she specifically called Xiaoyun aside and asked her about everything.
Guan Siyu's condition was not right. Even though he had recovered and accepted the script changes and started filming, Chen Zhuo noticed that he was in a very low mood.
But Xiaoyun said that he had been staying in the hotel since he finished work, and had not gone out or met anyone. She didn't know what was wrong with him.
Chen Zhuo told her that if she felt anything was wrong with Guan Siyu, no matter how big or small it was, she should tell her.
*
After arriving in City A, Chen Zhuo took his luggage and went directly to the company. Yang Ruize was furious when he learned that Guan Siyu had caused such a scene on the crew.
“Why didn’t anyone notify me?” Yang Ruize slammed the table and demanded angrily, “I only found out about this from the marketing account.”
Chen Zhuo sat across from him at his desk and said calmly, "Boss Yang, I've already dealt with the crew, and Si Yu has resumed filming as normal. As for this kind of gossip, it's nothing but hearsay."
"What groundless rumors! Those people have already captured it on video. Go see for yourself. There are even people claiming to be from the crew who have confirmed it happened. It's trending right now."
Chen Zhuo frowned. She was on the plane and hadn't had time to check Weibo. She clicked on the trending search and saw the entry: #Guan Siyu's big shot caused the crew to stop work for a day#
It did become a hot topic, but it was at the back and hasn’t fermented yet.
From the early stages of script preparation, "Wild River" has attracted attention because of its creative lineup and subject matter. These paparazzi were originally stalking the leading actors, but accidentally captured a video of Guan Siyu and the director arguing about the plot on the set.
"He didn't make much money for the company, but he cleaned their butts a lot." Yang Ruize sarcastically said, "I've said it before, a young master like Guan Siyu is not suitable for the entertainment industry. How is he now?"
Shen Zhuo listened and glanced at Yang Ruize.
She dislikes the idea of measuring an artist's value by commercial returns. The relationship between an agency and an artist should never be a one-way transaction, but rather one of mutual achievement and complementarity.
But right now, the most urgent task is to deal with the video of the dispute and avoid Guan Siyu being labeled as a big shot.
Chen Zhuo quickly brainstormed, and fortunately, the dispute revolved around the need to revise the script.
"Boss Yang, now's not the time to hold anyone responsible," Chen Zhuo offered a solution. "The trending search is still in the back of the line and hasn't spread widely yet. I'll immediately contact the PR department to control the comments and guide public opinion. We can follow suit with the video..."
She thought for a moment and continued, "Si Yu was so immersed in the play and concerned about the direction of the character that he argued with the director about the plot. This was originally a point that could have been reversed."
The incident was the same, but approached from different angles, leading to diametrically opposed conclusions. Since the video had already been released, Chen Zhuo figured it would be best to capitalize on the situation and portray Guan Siyu as "dedicated, serious, and capable."
Yang Ruize remained silent. As a veteran publicity professional, he had to admit that Shen Zhuo's approach was indeed the optimal solution at the moment. If marketed well, it could even generate a wave of publicity to complement the upcoming film.
"Okay, okay, go ahead and deal with it quickly before anything else happens. Don't make a big deal out of it and make it a hot topic." Yang Ruize waved his hand and told Chen Zhuo to go and deal with it quickly.
After leaving Yang Ruize's office, Chen Zhuo went straight to the public relations department.
Jingxi Entertainment has a number of its own self-media accounts as well as long-term marketing accounts. Their purpose is to divert or clarify the situation when an artist gets into trouble, and then guide public opinion by cooperating with water army accounts to like, forward, and comment, creating the illusion that "most people support the artist."
After hurriedly eating a few mouthfuls of lunch, Chen Zhuo pulled his colleagues from the public relations department together to discuss the matter.
Chen Zhuo listed several points: emphasizing that Guan Siyu was not losing his temper, but was being serious about the role; and highlighting the key words "strong professional sensitivity, respect for the role, and courage to express".
"Oh, right, we need to arrange a reverse trending search." Chen Zhuo didn't even look up. "Tag something like #Guan Siyu fights for his role# or #Is it wrong to be a serious actor# and try to get it to the front, at least to overshadow the "acting like a big shot" trending search."
When the marketing account posted on Weibo, the water army began to flood the comments:
"I've seen actors ask for dramatic changes, but I've never seen an actor defend their character so much. I don't know how the show will turn out, but I'm actually looking forward to it."
"When I first got into Fishbone, I could see that Guan Siyu was very dedicated to the role. I hope more people will see him."
"It seems like Guan Siyu disagrees with the director's changes to the script."
"Guan Siyu is truly dedicated and sincere. I look forward to Wild River!"
"I'm standing by Guan Siyu this time. I've always liked the screenwriter. Can't the director please stop changing the plot and just film it properly?"
“…”
For the entire afternoon, Shen Zhuo sat in front of the computer, refreshing from time to time, staring at the background data and hot search curve.
Driven by the control and reposting of comments, the original critical voices were gradually covered by the image of "seriousness and dedication".
Chen Zhuo also found a screenshot of Guan Siyu's emotional speech when he received the award, as well as several high-energy clips of the movie "Fishbone", which was nominated for the Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards and won the Best Newcomer Award, and sent them to the marketing account he cooperated with, rehashing some old content.
By five o'clock in the afternoon, the hot search #关思煜将执為人物# had climbed to fifth place, with over 100 million views on the topic, and almost all the likes and comments were positive.
Shen Zhuo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
*
Shao Chengzhang knew that she was coming back today, so he left work on time, went home, washed his hands, and cooked soup to wait for her. It was not until eight o'clock that Chen Zhuo came back.
He smiled and walked forward to take Chen Zhuo's suitcase, but was caught off guard and hugged by Chen Zhuo.
"I'm tired. Let me recharge for a while." There have been too many things going on these past two days, and she always felt that all her energy and spirit had been sucked away.
She rested her head on his chest. He had a faint scent of perfume, like the ocean, very refreshing. Shen Zhuo couldn't help but took a deep breath.
"You're so tired, do you want super-fast charging?" She felt the slight trembling of his chest, and it felt a little itchy when she put her ear against it.
"Hmm?" Shen Zhuo raised his head and looked at him.
Shao Chengzhang directly hugged Shen Zhuo. He liked to hug her face to face like this. At this time, Shen Zhuo would hug his neck, legs clamped around his waist, chest to chest pressed so tightly that they could feel each other's breathing and heartbeat.
Shao Chengzhang even pecked her lightly on the mouth.
Chen Zhuo smiled and said, "Wow, it's already charged to 50% in one go."
"Are you hungry? Let's eat first." Shao Chengzhang also smiled and carried her to the island counter.
Shen Zhuo got off him and washed his hands in the sink. Shao Chengzhang put the warmed dishes into the microwave for a few seconds and then put them on the table.
Chen Zhuo is someone who is very good at providing emotional value. I don’t know if she does this because she needs to treat artists in this way and has developed a habit, or because she has this talent, so she can use it in her work like a duck in water.
Chen Zhuo's compliments were never perfunctory or superficial, just like the three dishes and one soup Shao Chengzhang made for her at this moment. She would accurately say that the saltiness was just right, the scrambled eggs were tender, and the soup was delicious. Shao Chengzhang's mouth would curl up in satisfaction.
She didn't eat much at noon, and she was starving after persisting until now. Shao Chengzhang kept picking food for her and told her to eat slowly.
While eating, Chen Zhuo talked about what happened in the past two days.
After hearing this, Shao Chengzhang shook his head, blaming Guan Siyu for being too ignorant.
Chen Zhuo said: "There's nothing we can do. Because they're entertainers, all their actions will be magnified. Often, even unintentional actions will be taken out of context and used to smear them."
Shao Chengzhang remained silent. He added, "But I'm very worried now..."
Shen Zhuo was puzzled: "What are you worried about?"
"I'm worried that my wife is so outstanding, beautiful, capable, and can handle everything well. What if she dumps me one day?"
"Tsk." Chen Zhuo smiled. "Actually, when I said I was tired just now, I thought you would say something like, 'Then don't work anymore, I'll support you'."
"That's exactly what I wanted to say," Shao Chengzhang said, "but I know you actually enjoy your work. When you were talking about work just now, you were gesticulating and speaking in a rhythmic manner. It was so... cute. If one day you don't want to work anymore, it must be because you don't want to, not because I won't let you."
"...Okay." Shen Zhuo nodded. Shao Chengzhang knew her quite well, but she never thought that her complaints could be linked to the word "cute".
She felt that Shao Chengzhang looked at her through eight hundred layers of filters.
But when it comes to work, she casually asked: "But why do you want to make blind box toys?"
"You want to understand me now?" Shao Chengzhang asked with a smile.
"That's not..." Chen Zhuo paused, "Did I misunderstand you before? I couldn't ask you in detail at that time. Did I ask you to recommend any toys? Or did I ask you to introduce some sex toys to me?"
Shao Chengzhang raised his eyebrows, his eyes fixed on her: "Does my wife have any research in this area..."
"No." Chen Zhuo retorted, "I was just talking nonsense."
Shao Chengzhang's eyes were burning: "How about we do some research together? Develop some new areas."
"Okay." Chen Zhuo paused, then snorted and laughed, unwilling to be outdone, "I like men wearing cuffs, collars, and chest chains... Do you want to bring them to me?"
Shao Chengzhang's eyes flickered, and his Adam's apple moved: "Do you like these?"
Chen Zhuo stood up and leaned over. Her fingertips gently pinched his earlobe. The action was both intimate and a little controlling. Her voice was gentle and a little seductive: "Yes, I am looking forward to it."
Shao Chengzhang's eyes darkened, and he subconsciously turned his face to the side, wanting to kiss the inside of her wrist. Chen Zhuo seemed to have anticipated this and pulled his hand back neatly.
His kiss fell flat on his face.
Chen Zhuo tilted his head and smiled slyly at him.
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