Chapter 296: Difficulty Making Choices – That's just how she is…
"Beauty on the High Platform" won popularity and critical acclaim on its opening night. Its core theme of awakening female independence, which was both unexpected and reasonable, was highly praised by various women's groups in Hong Kong. If nothing unexpected happens, the film should be able to gross no less than ten million at the box office in Hong Kong.
This film lived up to expectations, not only winning Best Actress awards overseas, but also exceeding 10 million yuan in box office revenue in its first week, breaking the cost mark and even making a profit.
What's most striking is that "Beauty on the High Platform" has generated a lot of discussion and is one of the few films that focuses on female empowerment. It is well-made and touching, and for a time, it not only received excellent reviews and generated a lot of buzz in Hong Kong, but also achieved impressive box office results in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Those behind the scenes, witnessing this win-win situation, were all grinning from ear to ear. However, Li Sishi, the lead actress, had no time to keep an eye on the film's performance. Whenever she had free time, she was busy filming with various crews. Between resting on her laurels and continuing to strive for even greater success, she naturally chose the latter.
Today, all the scenes for the "People in the Jianghu 3" crew were scheduled for daytime shooting, avoiding the nighttime scenes for "Pretty Girl's Seven Marriages". Therefore, Li Sishi inevitably had to run between the two locations today.
Of course, Cheng Erjian and Xiao Xie, who also had roles in "The Seven Marriages of a Beautiful Woman," were also running between two film sets, just like her.
Whether it was a coincidence of scheduling or the fact that the three of them were filming at the same time, all three of their scenes required them to be on set these past few days. Although they were filming at two different locations, it gave people a strange feeling of being on two separate occasions.
Li Sishi fared somewhat better; her characters in these two films were actually quite similar, and given her current acting skills, she handled both roles quite well. As for Cheng Erjian and Xiao Xie, their roles were practically reversed, making them rather laughable...
Especially Xiao Xie, whose acting skills are the most immature due to his age and experience, had to switch roles after playing the scheming younger brother in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and then the first love and fiancé in "The Seven Marriages of a Beautiful Woman". Just understanding the mindset of the corresponding characters was already giving him a headache.
Of course, no matter how big the headache is, he certainly won't let go of such a rare opportunity. Just like the tenacity he showed when practicing martial arts and learning music, whatever he chooses, he will grit his teeth and persevere to the end, doing his best.
Li Sishi greatly appreciated his attitude and would occasionally help him out when she had free time.
She gave him a few pointers—and that was the only thing that made Li Sishi "slightly criticize" him.
Perhaps this young boy had indeed inherited his philandering father's "talent." After receiving Li Sishi's kind guidance, Xiao Xie frequently used the excuse of seeking her advice to get closer to her...
Even Cheng Erjian, the extremely oblivious big gray rabbit, could see through his pretentious and carefree demeanor—but thankfully, Xiao Xie was too young to pose any real threat, and Li Sishi acted with such grace and poise that everyone in the crew, even those with "sharp eyes," could only guess that he was trying to pull a little trick, but somehow it looked more like he was clinging to his sister, afraid to let go.
They basically all had a maternal smile on their faces, like watching a kid do something silly...
Under these circumstances, Xiao Xie, who was playing tricks like a spoiled child, should be secretly laughing if he didn't get rid of paparazzi as Li Sishi's new rumored boyfriend, let alone "getting the job he wanted".
After finishing filming her scenes for "The Legend of the Condor Heroes 3" relatively smoothly, Li Sishi packed her things and headed to the restaurant where she would be filming the first few scenes of "The Seven Marriages of a Beautiful Woman".
Seeing Cheng Erjian, who had changed back into his clothes, about to get into Li Sishi's van, Xiao Xie, who was originally going to review her work for the day, suddenly became a little uneasy and hurriedly followed and asked, "Sister May, why is he in your car too?"
"Huh?" Li Sishi was slightly taken aback, then realized what he meant and explained with a smile, "Yimian's car was taken to the garage for maintenance today, so he came by subway. Since we're both going to the same restaurant, I thought I'd give him a ride."
"I'm also going to that restaurant to film a scene!" Xiao Xie blinked and immediately seized the opportunity to say, "I also took the subway here today..."
“Since we’re going the same way, let’s go together. There’s still room in the car.” Before Li Sishi could respond to Xiao Xie’s words, Cheng Erjian said it very casually.
However, he quickly realized that he should have asked Li Sishi's opinion first, so he quickly added, "May, you wouldn't mind bringing one more person, would you?"
“No problem. We’re all going to the same destination, so going together will save us from having to wait for everyone to gather there.” Li Sishi naturally had no objections to this.
After all, although these two "hurt" each other with such sparks in the play, in real life they are quite different.
One disadvantage is personality, the other is age...
For Li Sishi, who has been pursued by boys since childhood, being caught in this kind of complicated situation is not a problem at all.
Seeing that Cheng Erjian showed no displeasure at all after she made the decision to bring one more person along, Li Sishi's last little worry disappeared.
Perhaps it was due to Cheng Erjian's personality, and the fact that the two of them, besides their friendship from their humble beginnings, also shared a senior-junior bond, that they both had feelings for her. However, Cheng Erjian's daily behavior clearly made her feel more relaxed around other people.
Firstly, it's probably because he doesn't have as high a level of favorability as others, and he often seems to understand but not quite; secondly, it's because of his passive personality—he's ahead of his time and thinks that whatever he likes is his own business, and he won't relentlessly pursue or bother others.
It's like having a "I like you, but it has nothing to do with you" feeling—a pure, unadulterated affection for another person that goes beyond friendship. He enjoys this solitary affection regardless of whether the other person reciprocates.
He always does things his own way.
This kind of passive guy's thinking is that simple—because he likes you, he wants to be good to you. As for other things and whether you want to respond or not, he never thinks about them that much or that far ahead.
This approach is gentler than Ling Chen, who openly displays his affections and relentlessly pursues them whenever the opportunity arises; it is also more relaxed than Shang Hanyou, who subtly and patiently waits, carefully planning and gradually taking action.
Before she could figure out her answer, Li Sishi accepted and enjoyed the advances of others, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at times.
Humans are contradictory; when they have no choice, they easily become anxious; when they have too many choices, they also become anxious.
However, it depends on the situation. She is considering this issue, but reality will never perfectly follow the predetermined plan.
Especially in such a "war of love"—when all the competitors are waiting for the day when quantitative change leads to qualitative change, she, as the judge, really needs that moment of clarity to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Like many couples, those who love each other the most often don't get what they want. Those who stay together until the end, besides perseverance and hard work, the most crucial thing is making the right choice at the right time.
So even though Li Sishi had a relatively rational ranking in mind, the opportunity to make her final decision had not yet arrived.
However, the final result may not necessarily be the one currently ranked first among the competitors.
However, the more comfortable and relaxed she appears, the lower that competitor's unannounced ranking will definitely be...
She's the kind of person who's single-minded once she signs a contract, but suffers from extreme indecisiveness before signing.
Especially now that the choices before her each have their advantages and disadvantages, but also have certain aspects that attract her.
On the surface, most people think she'll be paired with a superstar, as they're well-matched in age and status within the industry. Even many of her friends in the industry are speculating about which of the two she'll choose, with some even becoming fans of the couple.
For example, based on her looks, they always urge her to be with her friends like Wan Jiamei and Lü Yutong in the early morning, fantasizing about creating the perfect couple in their minds.
For example, Pei Yansang, who ambitiously hopes to pair her up with Shang Hanyou, is quite obvious in her attempt to use her connection to overpower Shang Hanyou and become the boss...
Of course, besides those who have already joined in on the shipping, there are also many smart people like Wen Huihui who quietly watch the show from the sidelines.
The only one with a rather peculiar style is probably Rong Juezhang, the cousin who's always watching the drama unfold, afraid things will get out of hand, but when things really escalate, he rushes to help. And because he has the super-advantageous dual role of being both a close relative of the woman and a senior figure to the man, he can laugh at Lingchen for being love-struck and then laugh at Shang Hanyou for being an old cat overreacting. He's jumping around like a complete gossipmonger, busy digging up gossip and having a good time...
Having witnessed these people's "tricks," Li Sishi couldn't help but chuckle at Xiao Xie's incredibly naive little scheme of deliberately taking the back seat next to her.
"Sister May, what are you laughing at?" Xiao Xie asked curiously.
"I just suddenly remembered some interesting things..." Li Sishi shook her head, changing the subject, "By the way, I should be going to Japan later. If there's a chance, maybe you can be my 'host' and take me out for some fun..."
"Great! After class, I go to the bar in Xia Yeyuan every weekend to sing and practice my stage presence. It's so much fun there! I'll definitely take you there!" Xiao Xie launched into a long, smug speech, while secretly glancing at Cheng Erjian sitting in the front passenger seat. The feeling of slightly outmaneuvering an adult was simply too good to be true...
But to Xiao Xie's surprise, Cheng Erjian, a "clever" guy, was clearly more interested in Natsuhahara, the two-dimensional mecca he had heard of but never had the chance to visit, than the person he had been spending a lot of time with and had a crush on. So he suddenly turned around and grabbed Xiao Xie, who was feeling smug but was about to face a disaster, and started talking non-stop.
Until the car arrived at the restaurant, he didn't let Xiao Xie and Li Sishi exchange even a single word...
Watching this rare, comical scene of seemingly effortless skill coming together from the car, and then seeing Xiao Xie's utterly bewildered expression as he got out of the car, Li Sishi suppressed her laughter and waved to the two clowns: "Alright, we're here. Let's go in quickly, don't keep the director waiting..."
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