Chapter 144: The Mermaid's Tale (3)
After realizing that he might be experiencing heart discomfort due to staying up too late the night before, Cheng Erjian felt a bit embarrassed: he had just said he was healthy enough to stay up late, and now he was feeling unwell; karma had come on so quickly…
The director quickly went to communicate with the extras to arrange the subsequent shooting positions, while Cheng Erjian quickly found a rock to lean against, trying to calm the turmoil in his chest.
"What's wrong?" Li Sishi saw his furrowed brows and was afraid that he had some kind of invisible "internal injury," so she quickly went over and asked with concern.
Even if he were just a male lead actor in the same production, let alone her senior brother, she would still care about him – after all, if he were unwell, it would affect the entire production's filming schedule.
However, with a large fish tail weighing several tens of kilograms dragging beneath Li Sishi, she consciously "hurried"—to Cheng Erjian, her speed was barely more than that of an ant crawling…
Moreover, because she had to consider the rarity of this custom-made costume, she was especially careful not to get it dirty or torn when she crawled over, so not only was she incredibly slow, but she also looked ridiculously... kind of strangely cute.
Cheng Erjian pressed on his chest again, noticing the unusual rise and fall of his chest, and sighed, "You probably guessed right. I stayed up too late last night, and my chest feels a little uncomfortable..."
"Can you keep going?" Li Sishi crawled over with the affection of a senior brother and sister, then asked in a very ruthless way.
It's not fair to blame her for becoming "cold" following the trends in this industry; it's just that's the current perception—unless it's a life-or-death situation, filming should be finished before seeking medical attention...
"There shouldn't be any problems. The next scene isn't anything major; I'll just continue pretending to be unconscious and being rescued." Cheng Erjian nodded.
Upon receiving this reply, Li Sishi nodded and then turned to her assistant to inform the director.
After arranging things for the others, the director came over to check on Cheng Erjian again. After confirming that he seemed to be fine, he waved his hand and said that they should try to finish filming this part of the scene first.
So Li Sishi returned to the marked mermaid hiding spot, leaning against the rocks again and facing the light, letting the photographer take close-up shots of her face and half-body shots.
This is the scene where the mermaid hides behind the reef and peeks at the villagers rescuing the male protagonist, King. After confirming that King has been rescued, the mermaid will continue to wait for her friend, Asuka, to arrive so she can tell him that this year's festival has failed again.
"Keep up the good work next year, you'll succeed someday, I believe in you." Wu Shanluan, playing the role of Fei Niao, rushed over and told the mermaid why he hadn't kept his promise.
Upon learning that Asuka was late because his reincarnated lover had been injured, the mermaid gave him some mermaid medicine and told him how to use it, saying that if he used it as instructed, Kiki's leg injury would recover half as fast as the hospital had predicted.
Thanks to the perfect mermaid for the healing medicine, the bird was very grateful and took the mermaid ashore, using magic to cover them as they secretly cleaned up the trash left by the humans.
As the sea appears gentle and calm under the moonlight, the annual Sea God Festival officially comes to an end.
Under such a deep blue, bright moonlight
The mermaid and the bird finally had a chance to catch up, so the mermaid subtly asked the bird some questions about the male protagonist, King.
She didn't mention that she used the Mermaid Pearl, the source of her power, when she saved the male protagonist, King. She only mentioned that due to her carelessness, King, who came to deliver the news, was bewitched by the mermaid's song and accidentally drowned. Therefore, Asuka didn't suspect anything and directly told the mermaid some information about King.
Having received information from the male lead, King, the mermaid will transform into a human for the first time in the next scene and go ashore to find King, intending to retrieve the mermaid pearl herself.
After capturing the close-up of the mermaid's slightly guilty expression as she looked away, today's location shooting mission was successfully completed.
The rest of the scenes are mostly set in the city, so there's no need to travel so far to shoot on location. With the help of her assistant and staff, when Li Sishi finally got rid of the huge fishtail that had been dragging her all night, the feeling of instantly losing dozens of kilograms of weight was as if she could take off on the spot...
This is not much different from the kind of light-body skills that martial artists practice by wearing sandbags to practice, such as flying on grass. Although she does not need to run with sandbags tied to her, the weight of this fish tail is far greater than that of ordinary training sandbags.
Because the film crew chartered a boat to transport everyone and the props here, it wasn't appropriate for anyone to leave before the crew had finished cleaning up the set.
Li Sishi, whose body is still stiff, can sit on a chair in the corner and massage her legs to adjust her condition. As for the others, especially the male artists, they all have to help with the hard work of moving a lot of props and filming equipment into boxes and organizing them.
"Hey, have you noticed—Pasta seems a little off tonight?"
Wan Jiamei helped tidy up some lightweight props, and then came over to help lift Li Sishi's other calf, massaging it while whispering gossip.
“Something’s definitely not right. I stayed up all night playing video games with A-Wu last night. I’m just grateful he managed to finish filming today, instead of having to film all night or come back another time.” Li Sishi snorted.
"No, no, haven't you noticed?" Wan Jiamei slapped her leg in exasperation. "Don't you think that ever since you filmed that kissing scene with him, he seems to have changed a bit towards you?"
"He's always been like this, so thin-skinned, yet he always seems to land some really weird roles." Li Sishi said matter-of-factly, then added with a touch of wistfulness, "This time, the male lead, Ah King, is actually one of the less 'weird' but more normal roles in his acting career..."
"Wait, that's not what I meant!" Wan Jiamei patted her again. "It's true what they say, those involved are often blinded, while bystanders see clearly. You might not have noticed it yourself, but I saw it very clearly from the other side. When he was talking to you, his face was red and his hands and feet were stiff, just like my unsuccessful first love back then..."
"That's how it is with guys like Spaghetti, who are particularly slow-witted. Once they sense something at a certain point, they never realize or admit that they're attracted to it. Instead, they childishly pretend to be indifferent, or even deliberately distance themselves..."
At this point, Wan Jiamei slapped her thigh angrily: "Sigh, if that handsome guy had been brave enough to face himself instead of acting like a kindergarten student and arguing with me, I might have been with him long ago, and I wouldn't have met that bastard later!"
Li Sishi watched her sigh and lament how unreliable boys were in school, and then interjected, "Since you're so hung up on him, why don't you contact that 'handsome guy' again?"
Wan Jiamei looked around before leaning close to Li Sishi's ear and whispering, "To be honest, I don't even remember what that handsome guy looked like or his name anymore. I'm just reminiscing about my youth..."
"However, whether you don't know or pretend you don't know, pasta is a slow learner. Without enough stimulation, it's hard for it to pick up. So I came here to tell you this as a reminder."
Wan Jiamei shrugged, "After all, you two are still filming romantic scenes."
Ultimately, it's only Li Sishi herself who feels her acting skills aren't good enough, but actually, among newcomers of the same age and generation, these leading actors...
No one can compare to her.
Li Sishi's mermaid look this time is so beautiful and pure that even she, a woman, couldn't help but be moved by it, let alone Cheng Erjian, who was acting opposite her.
What if, without careful attention, feelings develop between them, or their on-screen romance becomes real... then wouldn't her Chen Shi CP be broken up?!
Even if it's just Cheng Erjian who's captivated, his status as her "senior brother" could easily create some obstacles for her Chen Shi CP!
Li Sishi probably didn't expect that there was a potential CP fan next to her, after listening to Wan Jiamei's "reminder".
Afterwards, Li Sishi recalled Cheng Erjian's unusual behavior just now and immediately nodded: "Okay, I understand. Thank you for reminding me."
Logically speaking, it's inevitable to get a little "in character" when filming romantic scenes, but once you consider Cheng Erjian's "senior brother" status and his thin-skinned nature... if something "unexpected" were to happen, it would be a bit awkward for everyone to get along in the future.
"It's best if you don't think I'm being nosy. Although Wan Jiamei is a shipper, she's not the kind of brainless CP fan who has to pair her best friend with a handsome idol. The main reason she reminded Li Sishi about this was to prevent her from getting into any jealousy or rivalry."
Ultimately, beautiful women are always surrounded by gossip. Whether it's intentional or unintentional on the woman's part, there's no shortage of suitors who flock to her, and the entertainment industry is particularly harsh on female artists.
Even though Li Sishi has now transformed from a "fallen heiress" into a true heiress, the Hong Kong media remains stubbornly unchanged. They reverse the usual narrative of male celebrities or wealthy tycoons hunting down "newlywed ladies," and it's not unimaginable that they would say Li Sishi collects handsome men in the entertainment industry...
Wan Jiamei thought she was being very considerate of her friend and the couple, but to her surprise, she had finally reminded Li Sishi to be careful about her distance from Cheng Erjian, the male lead and senior; but she never expected that after turning around, Li Sishi would be chatting with Wu Shanluan, the second male lead and the composer of the interlude, in the recording studio late at night.
In this situation, Wan Jiamei really couldn't interfere anymore—although a version of the chant had already been recorded, there were other versions with variations and key changes, which would require further communication and collaboration between the singer and the composer.
Looking through the recording studio window at the two chatting happily inside, Wan Jiamei, standing in the corridor, couldn't help but sigh: the quality of a couple's chemistry really does depend on looks.
Good-looking guys and girls who reach a certain level of attractiveness are universally compatible, even if they're sitting properly together.
Their speech was harmonious and beautiful, like a painting.
Moreover, Wu Shanluan's inspiration for this piece came from Li Sishi—although the details are unclear, the idea of "writing a song for you" sounds so romantic...
"What's so romantic?" came a curious male voice from the side.
"It's Ah Wu's song that was created because of Ah May, isn't that romantic?" Wan Jiamei answered subconsciously, then looked back at the source of the sound—
“Le……
"Shh, it's late at night, please turn down the volume." Ling Chen put a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture, then held up the late-night snack and sweet drink in his hand and waved it at her, laughing, "I didn't bring much late-night snack this time when I came to visit the set. If you invite too many people, there won't be enough to go around here."
Although the two have never officially met, they have learned about each other from television. Now that he is free from the pressure of his manager, Ling Chen is naturally much more relaxed and even has the heart to chat and laugh with his good friend Li Sishi.
As he finished speaking, he wanted to invite Li Sishi from the recording studio out for a late-night snack.
But when he turned and looked through the patterned window of the recording studio, and saw that familiar figure talking very closely to Li Sishi, his smile froze on his face.
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