Chapters 95-96: New Drama Premieres
“Since that’s the case…” Si Shi followed his words, feigning gratitude, and then looked up to meet his serious yet slightly nervous eyes. “I have no way to repay your great kindness, so how about I offer myself to you?”
Ling Chen was startled by Li Sishi's answer, but then couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Okay, I was just joking, you don't have to be so serious, do you?"
"If I'm not serious, you're afraid you'll become serious again," Li Sishi replied with a smile.
"It doesn't matter, I've already married you in the movie anyway." Ling Chen shrugged and then started packing his things. "I have to go back quickly, otherwise Brother Jun will scold me again."
His agent, Lei Jun, is great in every way, except he's a bit controlling and very strict about his career planning. Previously, he turned down many commercial activities to participate in a charity fundraising event for the children's sugar pill program, and Lei Jun gave him a long lecture, saying that he had worked so hard to promote him, but he was always uninterested in his career…
Li Sishi raised an eyebrow: "The agent takes a cut from the artist's salary. If he reduces his workload to do charity work in the early morning, it will definitely affect Lei Jun's income as his agent. No wonder Lei Jun is angry."
However, charity events can also be seen as a way to boost popularity. If one truly cares about Ling Chen, there should be limits to being angry. Of course, even in this era where family and friends are still valued, it's hard to resist the temptation of money. It's only natural that Lei Jun values the other side more.
That's what she said, but as an artist herself, she still vaguely felt that this manager was disrespecting the artist's wishes and was being a bit too controlling...
"Thank you so much this time. Without you, my plan to add more scenes might not have been so successful." Thinking of this, Li Sishi sincerely thanked him once again.
"Didn't you already thank me? We're friends, there's no need to be so polite!" Ling Chen quickly waved his hand and comforted her in return, "Besides, this is 'proper' work. I'll explain it properly when I get back, and Brother Jun shouldn't mind too much."
"That puts my mind at ease." Li Sishi nodded, waved goodbye to Ling Chen, and hurriedly returned to the small folding chair to read the script, waiting for the set to be changed before continuing filming.
With the most crucial changes to the script and the addition of scenes resolved, the rest of the filming proceeded without major issues.
Although Zhou Shengyi still maintained his tyrannical demeanor on set, pontificating and lecturing, his attitude towards Li Sishi had noticeably improved.
Sometimes, when he suddenly had a new idea, he would invite Li Sishi to his private meetings beforehand, treating her as one of his own.
Over time, Li Sishi was gradually influenced by him. After each scene was filmed, she would often feel that she could have performed even better, and then she would take the initiative to ask to reshoot it.
Thus, following in Zhou Shengyi's footsteps, Li Sishi also embarked on a one-way street of reshooting so many scenes that she eventually had to pay for the "unusual footage" herself...
If it weren't for recently gaining a wealthy stepfather and a doting grandmother, Li Sishi probably wouldn't have had the money to pay for the extra film, even if she had the desire to be meticulous...
Zhou Shengyi praised her highly, patted Li Sishi who was silently keeping accounts with a pained expression, and said that she was making more and more progress and would surely achieve great things in time.
Zhuang Menghua once had a rare free time to visit the set. He saw that Li Sishi was not only not disliked by Zhou Shengyi, but had even caught his eye. He even praised Li Sishi in private, saying that she was actually noticed by Zhou Shengyi, a guy with a bad temper but great abilities, and that she had a bright future ahead of her.
Li Sishi thought: Zhou Shengyi's temperament, high standards, and the quality of his works are probably "renowned throughout the Hong Kong entertainment industry, to the point that even someone of Zhuang Menghua's level gave him this evaluation."
As someone currently "making a living" in the film crew he leads, I can truly feel Zhou Shengyi's talent, as well as how difficult he is to deal with...
After sighing at the fact that she had taken on such a challenging boss in her first film, Li Sishi sped up her lunch to prepare for the next round of "infinite loop shooting."
Of course, given the current production speed of Hong Kong films, apart from a certain director in sunglasses who is both loved and hated by investors and artists, other production teams still have a certain limit on production time. They know what the most important and essential elements of their film are, so they don't let the production budget and time exceed the limit too much.
To make up for the production funding gap of this film, Zhou Shengyi took on several brand advertisements midway through the production. However, because of his collaboration with Qu Dexiao in writing these advertisements, they were either witty or "seamlessly" embedded in the film's plot. In any case, when Li Sishi saw these scripts, she could fully appreciate the excellence of these embedded advertisements that were connected to the plot.
Especially in the scene where the male supporting character, Giant Bear, first leads a group to ambush the female lead, Lili, leading to the male lead, Wen, arriving as a masked hero to save her, Lili struggles desperately before the male lead arrives and accidentally knocks off Giant Bear's designer glasses.
Then the way the giant bear roared to the sky, "My 'blocking Mom' glasses'!"... whether in written form or live, it was so hilarious.
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At the end of October, the filming of "Hero in My Heart" was finally completed after many twists and turns. After filming the last scene, Li Sishi reluctantly said goodbye to everyone in the crew and returned to the TV station to join the team that was doing promotional activities for the broadcast of "Mr. Morning".
As one of the two anniversary dramas this year, "Mr. Morning" has long been highly anticipated. Moreover, the drama also features the gimmicks of the four Heavenly Kings appearing on the same stage for the first time, the last TV series under TBL's contract period in the early morning, and Li Sishi's first TV series. It has become quite popular even before it airs, making people have high hopes for it.
"Come on, come on! Tonight, our 'Light of Liaojie' is premiering its first TV series! Tonight, everything at our Lucky Tea Restaurant will be... on my dad's tab!" Since it wasn't his own money, Zhou Huiguang had no qualms about advertising it.
Of course, to show their support for their cousin Li Sishi, he and his sister Zhou Huichang had been calling their classmates and friends to promote the TV series ever since they confirmed its release date a few days ago, determined to boost the ratings for Li Sishi's first TV series.
However, often they don't even need to say anything; the mere hype of the TV series is enough to attract many people to sit in front of their TVs on time, waiting to watch it as soon as it airs.
Soon, the hands of the wall clock, amidst everyone's expectant gaze, reached the broadcast time of "Mr. Morning".
"The road is long and winding, but no matter where I go, you make me feel like I'm passing on the edge of romance..." As the theme song "Morning Light" sung in the early morning rang out, this highly anticipated TV series finally met the audience in a light and lively melody.
At the very beginning, Lee Sze-sze's housewife look immediately surprised the audience who were used to her stunning beauty: Goodness, this legendary Miss Hong Kong is really "unconventional". On her first appearance on the screen, she was able to put aside her Miss Hong Kong aura and wear such ugly makeup!
If it were any other female celebrity, people might question whether it's simply a decline in looks due to age—but who is Lee Sze-Sze? She's a beauty pageant legend who fought her way up from Miss Hong Kong to Miss Universe, and she just turned eighteen this year. Unless she suffers some unforeseen and devastating accident, it's unlikely her looks will be shaken.
Is beauty a good thing?
However, as the plot unfolded, Li Sishi's transformation from a housewife to a slightly mature, sickly beauty after some makeup and styling gave the audience a refreshing feeling.
The male lead, "Lai Tin-sang," who also opted for a more mature look, offered a refreshing change for viewers accustomed to seeing him play a playboy on screen.
But what's strange is why these two were already an old married couple from the very beginning?
Although the two look like a perfect match, the premise of being married for seven years right from the start is unlikely to be about the seven-year itch and their on-again, off-again relationship, right?
Or should we tell the love story of the male and female protagonists in reverse chronological order?
Based on past viewing experiences, the audience in the tea restaurant instantly split into two camps regarding the subsequent plot developments.
The only thing they all agreed on was that Li Sishi and Ling Chen were indeed extremely well-matched in appearance. No wonder the rumors about them after they filmed an advertisement together weren't like the previous rumors about Ling Chen, where his fans were very critical of her and had many complaints. Instead, many people were quite happy to see them become CP fans...
Especially after Li Sishi became a wealthy heiress through her mother's remarriage, aside from her less impressive debut resume, she was in no way inferior to Ling Chen, and even surpassed him in many aspects... Although some dissenting voices emerged that the two were not a good match, in reality...
Most people felt that Li Sishi's legendary and complicated background might not be "suitable" for someone with a calm and easygoing personality like Ling Chen. It's rare to see a woman being disliked.
After all, Li Sishi has become a new generation of "golden goose" in the entertainment circle. Although she is still young and has not yet achieved great success, she is like a diamond bachelor among the wealthy and famous, attracting many people.
Turning our attention back to the TV series, as viewers followed the show with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, the female lead discovered that the male lead was suspected of cheating. She then took a whole bunch of new health supplements and finally reverted to her sixteen-year-old self in front of the mirror, leaving both the audience and viewers in the show astonished!
The plot of a sickly housewife suddenly transforming back into a sixteen-year-old beauty is truly fresh and captivating!
The viewers, hooked by the plot, watched with great anticipation and soon learned the reasons and developments behind the female protagonist's rejuvenation in the subsequent plot.
The first episode unfolds quickly and in detail: from the moment the female protagonist "Yi Sang," played by Li Sishi, unexpectedly returns to the age of sixteen, until she makes a pact with President Zhang of the Zhang Corporation to return to school and experience youth in order to investigate the truth behind her husband's suspected infidelity, the ins and outs and main plot of this TV series are fully revealed to the audience's amazement and amusement.
Watching the female lead, Yi Sang, dressed in a school uniform skirt, slowly walk from the other side of the street and greet the unsuspecting male lead, Li Tiansheng, with a "Good morning, sir"... everyone's anticipation for what would happen next in the drama instantly soared.
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