Chapter 142: The Mermaid's Tale (1)
This is probably what a father's double standards are like: if he sees a handsome young man who seems like he's trying to abduct his precious daughter, he immediately assumes he's a "bastard"; but if he's cleared of suspicion, then he's a "young man"...
Unaware of the complex emotions swirling within the people on the second floor, Cheng Erjian hoisted Li Sishi up like a sack of potatoes, then promptly laid her back on the edge of the pool, muttering a ridiculously heavy remark: "You're so heavy..."
Such a reckless remark shocked even their master, Le Yun, who unusually refrained from intervening in their playful fight, allowing Li Sishi, whose heart was already in turmoil, to vent her anger by splashing water on Cheng Erjian.
"That's because I wore this tail and it got wet, not because I'm heavy!" Li Sishi almost struggled to stand up and grab his hair.
"So it's heavier when you add them all up!" Cheng Erjian continued, with a slightly aggrieved yet matter-of-fact expression.
"You're just being a hypocrite!" Li Sishi angrily punched him. "You're complaining about things that others would envy!"
"Alright, alright, stop teasing your senior brother. It's not like you've only known him for a day." Le Yun watched the two disciples bickering for a while with amusement before slowly coming out to stop them.
Le Yun was also exhausted: Sigh, if it weren't for his attitude of "women only affect my gaming speed", he might not still be a single dog now.
Look, Li Sishi, who is several years younger than him, already has quite a few suitors—unfortunately, Li Sishi, this little apprentice, is currently in her rising period, and those suitors are all excellent in their own way, so he can only continue to observe for the time being and let nature take its course and wait for fate to arrange things.
Li Sishi hummed and hawed, and only out of respect for her master Le Yun did she continue to try various fancy moves such as diving while wearing a mermaid costume.
Considering the visual effects of the film, these fancy moves are not about achieving the most perfect form, but about achieving the most graceful posture.
After spending most of the day trying on the costumes and confirming that Li Sishi and the mermaid costume fit each other perfectly, the filming of the fantasy romance movie "Mermaid Romance" officially began.
As one of the film resources that Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting were striving for, the most outstanding plot and role in this movie undoubtedly belonged to the mermaid heroine. Li Sishi was quite suitable in terms of age, appearance, popularity, and salary at the time, and her performance at the costume fitting was even more stunning than expected. Director Le Yun bluntly stated that she was the undisputed heroine, and with her outstanding performance as a precedent, all other candidates were completely outmatched.
Each department is still a step behind.
However, since this movie mainly focuses on promoting the female lead, it was impossible to invite those well-known A-list male artists for the male lead. Instead, the criteria had to be lowered to select from second- or third-tier actors. As a result, Cheng Erjian, who had already reached the top of the television industry and made a name for himself in the film industry but whose salary was still relatively low, was chosen by director Le Yun.
It just so happens that these two are both apprentices of the music legend Yue Yun, and the two senior and junior disciples have a good relationship. Choosing these two as the male and female leads can save the trouble of cultivating and adjusting their relationship in the early stages.
As for the other two roles, which also have quite a lot of screen time, director Le Yun, after auditioning a group of people, finally selected Wu Shanluan and Wan Jiamei, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, to play the second male lead "Feiniao" and the second female lead "Qiqi" respectively.
Upon seeing her long-lost friends on set, Li Sishi immediately hugged Wan Jiamei happily and chatted for a while about the years they had spent developing their careers separately.
“I’ve seen all your news in the newspapers and magazines!” Wan Jiamei smiled and patted Li Sishi on the shoulder, then pointed to herself. “As for me, I just film TV series and movies, playing supporting roles. Although the work is quite hard, it’s very fulfilling.”
Since filming the TV short drama "Runway Beauty" as one of the two female leads, Wan Jiamei has mostly received supporting roles.
Although TBL wanted to promote her, her image and experience were not really suitable for the virtuous wife and loving mother type, so she mainly played glamorous and beautiful villains and pretty supporting actresses in TV dramas. However, because she had many acting opportunities, she accumulated a lot over the past year, which was busy and fulfilling, and the remuneration met her expectations.
Of course, young people always want to move forward, so not long ago, Wan Jiamei started trying to make it in the film industry, starting with supporting roles as well.
She took it all in stride, treating it as an opportunity to gain experience and hone her acting skills. To her surprise, her foray into the film industry went quite well. After playing several minor roles, she landed an audition for the second female lead in "Mermaid Romance" and landed the part.
And this time, the second female lead in the movie is "Qiqi"
This is probably the best resource she can get right now.
This is also because, in addition to her stunning appearance, she can also sing a few lines – since the second female lead in this movie is a key member of the troupe before the mermaid protagonist joined the troupe, she not only needs to be beautiful, but also needs to have a good singing voice and singing skills.
Although this is not as smooth as Li Sishi's smooth sailing, where she started as the female lead in TV dramas or one of the female leads in ensemble films.
But Li Sishi is both her good friend and a beauty pageant legend. When she occasionally sees the news, she feels nothing but amazement and envy, and even feels secretly moved and happy for her good friend.
The only downside is that everyone is too busy with work and it's difficult to have a chance to meet up.
Making a special appointment to meet for coffee is too much of a luxury for these busy newcomers, so the two of them basically have no contact other than occasionally keeping in touch by phone.
"Now we can finally have a proper get-together!" Li Sishi said with a smile.
"Yes, I'm so happy too!" Wan Jiamei clapped her hands happily.
After all, the two had known each other since they were humble beginnings and had gone through that dreamlike journey to fame through a beauty pageant together. This special emotional connection was something that no one else could compare to or replicate.
The only problem is that even though Wan Jiamei has grown from her setbacks, her gossipy personality hasn't changed. After the two finished catching up, she immediately leaned closer with a sparkling look in her eyes: "By the way, who is your favorite?"
"Which one?" Feeling a sense of déjà vu about the question, Li Sishi immediately became alert.
"Don't tell me all those rumored lovers of yours are fake, I don't believe it!" Wan Jiamei counted on her fingers and finally sighed, "I still think you and Leo are the best match. That Lo Kee Telecom mobile phone commercial was so good, I wish it could be extended into a movie!"
"You're in the industry yourself, how can you believe in this?" Li Sishi was speechless.
"I'm in this industry myself, and it has nothing to do with whether I like reading gossip magazines. Handsome guys and beautiful girls collaborating and matching well will definitely attract a lot of people," Wan Jiamei replied confidently.
Too lazy to deal with the gossipy girl who was shipping her friend's couple, Li Sishi turned to another young man who was supposed to be the second male lead but also had quite a few scenes with her: "Hi, long time no see."
"Hi." Wu Shanluan greeted Li Sishi simply, as always, and then the two fell into an awkward silence.
Li Sishi, who was speechless, wanted to slap herself: she had momentarily forgotten that this guy had a social anxiety.
What's most amusing is that it's easy to see from his expression that he really wanted to continue the conversation to warm things up, but unfortunately, this socially awkward, introverted guy really can't do anything without a catalyst.
The reason he "took the initiative" to invite her to ride on the back of his motorcycle was because he worked hard.
After saving up enough money, I bought my dream motorcycle and decided to try carrying passengers to see the difference between riding it empty and riding it with passengers...
Sigh, unless something unexpected happens, it's really best to avoid people with social anxiety.
Especially for someone like Wu Shanluan, who has extreme social anxiety, not only does he, as the one initiating the awkward silence, feel embarrassed, but he, as the one being passively received, will probably also experience a period of inner panic...
"Hey, Wu, why don't you come find me? I recently bought several new games!" Fortunately, Cheng Erjian's shout came from behind, which broke the relatively silent and awkward atmosphere.
Seeing Cheng Erjian come out and take Wu Shanluan away, Li Sishi finally breathed a sigh of relief: when two socially awkward people meet, one of them will inevitably evolve into a social butterfly temporarily. And so, her cheap senior brother, whom she had "trained" for a while, came over to help warm up the atmosphere.
Now that all the lead actors had arrived, director Le Yun immediately ushered the four of them into a small conference room next door and began explaining the latest version of the script to them.
"Simply put, this story is about a human and a mermaid who meet by chance, fall in love, and develop a love story..."
"Erjian plays King, Awu plays Flying Bird, and Jiamei plays Qiqi. They are all members of the 'Mermaid Melody' theater troupe, which is most famous for its various beautiful and melodious musicals..."
"However, due to the rise of modern film and television production, traditional theater performances have undoubtedly suffered a major blow, so the 'Mermaid Melody' theater troupe was already in a somewhat declining state at the beginning of the film..."
"King, the newly appointed troupe leader, returned from studying abroad to take over the family business. After investigating the situation and reorganizing the troupe to turn it from loss to profit, he planned to put on a new play to allow the 'Mermaid Melody' troupe to regain its former glory as a well-known troupe in Hong Kong..."
"But a new play isn't so easy to write, and a new play also requires the addition of new musical actors. King racked his brains for many days but couldn't find a solution, so he decided to agree to the troupe's suggestion for a team activity and take the troupe to Daru Mountain for a few days to change their mood and see if they could inspire any ideas by the sea..."
"Then, he unexpectedly met our heroine, a real mermaid who sang exceptionally well..."
⊿
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
