"The Legend of Qingyun" is a major drama to kick off the new year, scheduled to premiere at the end of January or the beginning of February. "The Tale of Yun Qing" will also air around the same time to compete head-on with it.
It's almost November now, and there are still more than three months until the premiere of "Yun Qing Ji".
Shang Yechu couldn't possibly allow himself to be out of the spotlight for three months. Even a top star would fade into obscurity if he idled away his time for three months.
"The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion" is a good opportunity to fill the gap.
As Shang Yechu expected, the next day, she received a notice from the production team asking her to go to the "Tianji Tower" set to film three days later.
Along with the notification came a portion of the script belonging to the courtesan Mianmian, an electronic contract, and the contact information for dance teacher Du Xiaotang.
The script was short, only four pages. Shang Yechu read it through once. Besides a dance scene, Mianmian only had two scenes left. One was being interrogated by Xiao Fengque and his companions on suspicion of murder, and the other was making up her mind to leave the brothel and saying goodbye to Xiao Fengque.
The scene of the interrogation is the highlight of the courtesan's story and is given considerable screen time. The other two scenes are only briefly mentioned.
Shang Yechu certainly couldn't ask the production crew to adjust the filming schedule for her. In other words, she had three days to salvage her absurdly bad dancing skills.
Even if Shang Yechu were the reincarnation of the Asian dance king, it would be impossible for him to learn any dance properly in just three days!
Shang Yechu looked at the script. Regarding the courtesan Mianmian's dance, the script only had one short line: "Slow singing and graceful dancing, after the dance, tears fall."
It seems that Director Yi Tianzhao and Teacher Du Xiaotang have reached some kind of consensus. Since the production team gave Shang Yechu the dance teacher's contact information, it means they want her to consult with her.
Even though Shang Ye Chu was fearless, he was now having a bit of a headache.
Does Du Xiaotang like Shang Yechu? This question is like asking whether Chinese people like strawberry mapo tofu or Italians like pineapple pizza.
What are the chances that Shang Yechu would be severely offended if she took the initiative to seek out Du Xiaotang to learn dance?
...
Shang Yechu could only console herself that Du Xiaotang must be skilled to be invited by the production team to be the dance director, and she was far better than those unknown, untrained dance classes outside.
Most dance classes are still large group classes, and hiring a private instructor is very expensive. Now, with such a top-notch dance teacher providing one-on-one instruction, what, you're not satisfied?
After mentally preparing himself, Shang Yechu shamelessly added Du Xiaotang on WeChat.
The request was approved quickly. Shang Yechu immediately sent a message with a very student-like tone:
【Hello, Teacher Du! I'm so sorry to bother you. I'd like to ask you some questions about the dance of "Tianjilou". Would it be convenient for you to ask?】
Without wasting any words, Du Xiaotang directly gave Shang Yechu an address.
Shang Yechu enjoys dealing with straightforward people like her. Whether Du Xiaotang likes her or not is irrelevant, as long as she can learn something from her.
Shang Yechu replied to Du Xiaotang's call, then left the bookstore, hailed a taxi, and headed to the agreed-upon address.
-----
After a whole day.
The two sides had a cordial and friendly exchange, fully sharing their opinions. In the end, Du Xiaotang convinced Shang Yechu with her professional expertise.
When Shang Yechu finished training, there wasn't a single piece of flesh left on his body.
From his neck to his shoulder blades, and then to his arms and thighs, every part of Shang Yechu's body ached terribly, even the gaps between his bones seemed to be screaming in pain.
Even the hormone-regulating 103 isn't working anymore. The hormonal deception is temporary, but the physical pain is persistent.
Shang Yechu was especially hungry today, so she bought a whole roast duck on the pedestrian street. The duck was roasted to a shiny brown color and was dripping with oil.
When Shang Ye first entered the roast duck shop, he looked like a starving ghost, which startled the roast duck shop owner he knew.
The roast duck restaurant was almost closing time. The owners, a husband and wife, valued the restaurant's reputation and would destroy any unsold stock, never putting it back on the shelves the next day.
Everyone on the pedestrian street knew that Shang Yechu had a big appetite. As neighbors, it was only right for them to take care of Grandma Hu's little shop assistant. Uncle Ke, the owner, fried a big paper bag of duck carcasses and necks that he was going to throw away, and also stir-fried some duck offal for Shang Yechu. Aunt Meng, the owner's wife, packed a large stack of leftover pancakes and cucumber strips for Shang Yechu.
"Ye Zi," Aunt Meng cautioned, "if you can't finish it today, don't eat it tomorrow. The duck fat will solidify overnight, which is bad for your stomach!"
Shang Yechu nodded gratefully and said weakly, "Thank you so much, Aunt Meng."
"Xiao Ye," Uncle Ke called out loudly, "after you've finished eating, remember to give your colleagues a good shout-out for our restaurant!"
Shang Yechu managed a weak smile: "Of course, Uncle Ke." His voice was as low as a lonely ghost that hadn't eaten for ten years.
Shang Yechu staggered out of the roast duck shop, her back view looking like a pitiful little old lady.
Uncle Ke sighed, "Being an actor is so hard, why does Xiao Ye work so hard? She might as well set up a stall on the pedestrian street and sell hand-pulled pancakes."
Aunt Meng nudged him and said, "Look at your ambitions! I just think Ye Zi will definitely become famous in the future."
Shang Yechu climbed back to the bookstore, placed a large bag of roast duck on her secondhand dining table, and went to the restroom to wash her hands and face.
As she wiped her face, Shang Yechu looked at her tired reflection in the mirror and still felt a lingering fear.
Du Xiaotang's professionalism is unquestionable; she doesn't let any personal feelings interfere with her work. — This "not letting personal feelings interfere" means that she doesn't treat Shang Yechu as a living person, but rather as a piece of clay to be manipulated.
In addition, Shang Yechu was not afraid of hardship or fatigue, and she gritted her teeth and persevered without uttering a sound no matter how painful or difficult it was, which made Du Xiaotang even more unscrupulous.
In Du Xiaotang's words, "The early bird catches the worm, and the bird without wings has to work even harder to fly!"
The grueling training was indeed effective; at least, after a day, Shang Yechu was able to smoothly perform the thirty-second rendition of "Butterfly Lovers."
According to Shang Yechu's experience, for the sake of visual appeal, a single-act song and dance performance in a film usually doesn't exceed one and a half minutes. This one and a half minutes also includes close-ups of the actors' faces, hands, and feet, establishing shots, skirts, and ribbons. It involves overlapping close-ups and long shots, plus some audience reactions. Therefore, a pure dance scene is usually only thirty or forty seconds long.
Yi Tianzhao had clearly given Du Xiaotang the same instructions. During today's training, although Du Xiaotang kept a long face, she didn't ask Shang Yechu to practice any other dances, focusing only on these thirty seconds.
Du Xiaotang was very strict. Any mistake in Shang Yechu's demeanor, posture, gaze, or movements would result in a scathing rebuke, followed by five or six repetitions. Even the simplest gesture of raising her hand took Shang Yechu over fifty repetitions.
Practice continued until noon, but Du Xiaotang didn't mention going to lunch at all, continuing to meticulously supervise Shang Yechu's practice. Shang Yechu naturally couldn't shamelessly ask the teacher to let him leave so he could eat, so he could only grit his teeth and continue practicing on an empty stomach.
Shang Yechu has a large appetite and eats three meals a day without fail; she always eats more than usual. Suddenly finding herself on an empty stomach, coupled with a much higher level of physical activity than usual, is incredibly uncomfortable.
After washing her face, Shang Yechu returned to her meager dining table, viciously tore off a duck leg, and stuffed it into her mouth!
Ah~
The aroma of the meat and the rich flavor of the fat enveloped her taste buds, and the happiness she felt at that moment almost brought tears to Shang Yechu's eyes.
The first duck leg slid right into her belly, and Shang Yechu's burning stomach finally felt a little better.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
