The palace gates open to the heavens, and officials from all nations pay homage to the emperor.
Amidst magnificent buildings and towering palaces, an emperor in black robes sits on his throne, his vermilion brush flying across the page as he reviews memorials.
After reviewing a stack of memorials, the eunuch respectfully stepped forward and presented the emperor with a brocade box. He was bent so low that his head seemed to be touching the ground.
The eunuch placed the brocade box on the dragon table and then made a barely perceptible gesture.
As his hand fell, all the servants and maids in the palace withdrew from the hall in an orderly fashion, leaving only the emperor in the vast palace in the blink of an eye.
The emperor used a dagger to scrape off the secret sealing wax from the brocade box and slowly opened it.
The emperor took out a stack of thin, secret documents from the brocade box and unfolded them one by one on the table. The writing on the documents was strange and unusual, as if it were some kind of secret code.
The emperor picked up a fine vermilion brush, drew a red circle on the first secret memorial, and then casually tossed it aside.
The emperor unfolded the second sheet of paper, his handsome eyebrows twitched slightly, and then he picked up his pen and drew an X on the paper.
When he made those two strokes, the emperor's face was expressionless, but a chilling killing intent flashed in his eyes.
Without a word, everyone knew that the person mentioned in the second secret memorial was already dead in the emperor's heart.
Just as the emperor unfolded the third memorial, he suddenly heard an eunuch outside the palace gate exclaim, "Princess, you cannot go in!"
The emperor paused in his work, casually grabbed a few memorials, and covered the secret memorial with them.
At the same time, a slender figure stumbled into the hall. Before the emperor could even see her face clearly, she fell to the ground, crying out, "Father, you must do justice for your son!"
The newcomer was none other than the emperor's eldest daughter, the empire's grand princess. But at this moment, she displayed none of the dignity and grace expected of a princess, kneeling on the ground and sobbing uncontrollably: "Father!"
The emperor pinched the bridge of his nose, a sign of his impatience: "Pingzhao, what's wrong with you now?"
Princess Pingzhao raised her head, revealing a face streaked with tears. "Father, the Prince Consort is disrespectful and shows contempt for imperial authority!"
The emperor's gaze suddenly sharpened: "What did the prince consort do?"
“Pingzhao dares not conceal the truth.” Princess Pingzhao sobbed, “Because the Prince Consort dislikes that I am infertile, he keeps dozens of singing girls in his residence, indulging in debauchery. I did not want to trouble Father with such sordid matters, but last night, after the Prince Consort got drunk, he actually said in his drunken state…”
The emperor stood up, his voice revealing neither joy nor anger: "What did you say?"
Princess Pingzhao sobbed, "The insects respond to the sound, the dog flies away from the fence, and the crows perch on the phoenix branches!"
"presumptuous!"
With a sweep of his hand, the emperor knocked everything off the dragon table to the ground!
The emperor's wrath was like a thunderbolt. Princess Pingzhao could no longer suppress her fear and could only kneel on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. Her body shook violently, as if she wished she could disappear into the ground. She looked like a truly pitiful creature.
As soon as the emperor raised his hand, several ghostly shadows emerged from the darkness.
"Clean up the area outside the palace gates," the emperor said calmly.
Princess Pingzhao remained prostrate on the ground. The emperor stepped down from his throne, walked to her side, and gently helped her up.
Princess Pingzhao shrank back, not daring to look her father in the eye.
The emperor reached out a hand and gently wiped away the tears on her face, saying softly, "Si'er."
Princess Pingzhao trembled even more violently.
"Si'er." The emperor ignored her fear and continued, "Don't be afraid. I am your father. What is there to be afraid of in front of your father?"
Beneath the feet of the father and daughter, a dark red shadow slowly approached their toes. Princess Pingzhao looked closely and realized it was blood flowing into the hall from outside the palace gates. The river of blood spread into the hall, about to stain Princess Pingzhao's shoes.
Princess Pingzhao trembled violently and couldn't help but try to dodge to the side.
The emperor held her down firmly; his hands, with their distinct knuckles, contained a terrifying strength, rendering Princess Pingzhao immobile.
The emperor said gently, "Si'er, this is the first lesson your father is teaching you. If the person who came was not you, but any of your brothers or sisters, they would be at your feet right now."
Princess Pingzhao's lips trembled slightly, her knees buckled, and she instinctively wanted to kneel down.
"Hey, hey." The emperor patted her head soothingly. "Don't be afraid, child. You are different from them."
The emperor's tone was full of warmth, but his eyes were devoid of any emotion.
The indifferent eagle eyes met the blurry, tearful eyes, and the latter's outline shrank almost imperceptibly.
Princess Pingzhao trembled as she asked, "My brothers and sisters... how are they different from me?"
The emperor's voice was gentle and soothing: "You are your mother's child."
"Cut!"
"OK, passed."
As Zheng Bohan's voice rang out, the tense atmosphere in the crew immediately eased, and all the staff breathed a sigh of relief.
This was the scene that went most smoothly for the crew in the past few days.
It was a one-take success. No forgotten lines, no laughing during filming, no missteps in blocking, and none of those damned (as the staff whispered) moments when certain young ladies suddenly stood frozen like statues. Even the notoriously picky Zheng Bohan didn't point out any mistakes. On the contrary, during filming, the screenwriter and director nodded frequently, seemingly extremely satisfied with the scene.
Because the filming went smoothly and saved a lot of time, Zheng Bohan was generous and gave the crew members half an hour to rest.
During halftime, many staff members discussed this extensively.
"Thank God! After filming this scene today, I finally feel like I'm on a real film set!"
"Didn't you see Director Zheng pluck the feathers off the iron chicken? Everyone was—well, scared out of their wits. Haha ...
"Qin Tianye's acting is really good. I was standing diagonally opposite him just now, and when he got angry, his eyes swept right over me. I was so scared that I peed my pants."
"That woman who acted opposite Teacher Qin was quite good too. What was her name again?"
"I think her surname is Ye? I heard Director Zheng call her Ye Zi."
"Who cares? She acted really well, but she was too pathetic, which made people feel uncomfortable watching her."
"You're being picky? It's only because she played such a pathetic role that we can eat ice cream here. If she played a 'rich lady', we'd be in big trouble!"
This last double entendre drew laughter from everyone, filling the set with a joyful atmosphere.
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