Chapter 557 Emotional Until the audition, Shang Yechu still felt like she was living in a dream.
A cacophony of sounds filled her ears, but Shang Yechu couldn't make out what they were hearing. A group of people surrounded her, busily working on her body and face, but Shang Yechu had no idea what they were doing. Holding the script in her hand, covered in writing, Shang Yechu felt like a fugitive who had missed out on basic literacy education.
Some shouted, some gave instructions, and some whispered in his ear: "You must express the Heavenly Lord's budding emotions towards humanity—the tremor of that moment, like the first clap of thunder in spring, or the first life breaking through the earth as the winter snow melts..."
Shang Yechu nodded repeatedly, like a chicken pecking at rice, saying, "Thank you, thank you, I understand."
Seeing her like this, Shao Guangji's brows furrowed even more tightly. Ye Chu was always professional and never brought her off-screen emotions into her roles. No, to be precise, Ye Chu rarely even showed her true personal emotions on set.
This is the style of superstars. He'd seen many actors who not only performed their scripted roles on set, but also acted out their own self-created scripts in real life. These people were extremely concerned about their public image and would never stray from the right path. Throughout their lives, they played the role of perfect superstars in the eyes of others.
For ordinary people, living their entire lives wearing a perfect facade is undoubtedly unbearable. But these celebrities, on the contrary, enjoy it and regard it as part of their lives.
Many people believe that the bigger the star, the harder they are to get along with. Actually, the opposite is true. There are no fools among the small group who climb to the top. The principle that those who act justly gain much support, while those who act unjustly find little, applies everywhere. On the contrary, it's some artists whose popularity is tainted that love to act like divas. Before they even become household names, their reputation for being difficult to work with is already widely known in the industry.
Ye Chu was the former. On set, she was kind to everyone and never made things difficult for any staff member. If someone made a minor mistake, as long as it didn't affect filming, Ye Chu wouldn't pursue it. To people of higher status like Shao Guangji and Ai Xiaodong, Ye Chu was neither servile nor arrogant, but polite and respectful; to ordinary extras, errand runners, and script supervisors, Ye Chu was always smiling. She constantly used "thank you" and "please," and when speaking to anyone, she always looked directly at them with her eyes slightly lowered, ensuring that the person she was speaking to never feel ignored.
With such interpersonal skills and excellent work ability, Ye Chu enjoyed a very good reputation on the set of "The Heavenly Emperor." She never argued with anyone. Even when debating with Shao Guangji about the script, she spoke softly and politely—of course, sometimes she couldn't help but reveal a hint of mockery, which Shao Guangji could see. But she concealed it well; you could say she was unconvinced, not that she was impolite.
Shao Guangji had thought that the subtle, gentle sarcasm that Ye Chu had subtly revealed during their conversation was the limit of her personal emotions. Until today, Yang Huanyi appeared.
Ye Chu, unusually, displayed an extremely emotional side. From the moment Yang Huanyi appeared, half of her soul seemed to have flown away. All manners and etiquette vanished; her responses to Yang Huanyi's hugs and greetings were nonsensical. If Shao Guangji hadn't held her there, this leading actress would probably have already made her escape.
Everything seemed to have returned to that rain.
This is detrimental to the performance. Of course, if used well, it might create a different effect.
The director is aiming for just a few key moments.
Shao Guangji looked at Ye Chu, who was sitting in the chair, still lost in thought, and showed a somewhat annoyed expression.
Can he really make good use of this?
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The first take was a test shoot.
Everything proceeded as usual. Setting up the scene, rehearsing positions, going over lines, and clearing the set. Although it was a test shoot, Shao Guangji still ordered the rain poles to spray a few even drizzles to enhance the sense of immersion and realism.
Compared to the many grand scenes in the movie, this scene is quite simple. It features only Ye Chu, Yang Huanyi, and two actors in motion capture suits playing robots—a total of four people. Only a small portion of the ruins on Earth were actually built; the rest was created using post-production CG.
Previously, the large-scale scenes went smoothly under Shao Guangji's direction and Ye Chu's performance. These smaller scenes, which didn't require a large entourage, should be even easier to handle. —That's what everyone in the crew thought.
Shao Guangji shouted, "Take the plane through the area once!"
Yang Huanyi, carrying the prop baby, staggered toward Shang Yechu.
Postpartum weakness, prolonged spaceship piloting, mental stress, and acid rain... all these factors combined made Yang Huanyi's run extremely difficult. Her only advantage was that the low-level AI, unfamiliar with Earth's garbage dumps, needed constant scanning and mapping to determine its location. Therefore, it ran even slower than her.
Shang Yechu walked by absentmindedly, holding an umbrella. Her absentmindedness wasn't because of Yang Huanyi. Rather, it was because the Heavenly Emperor was currently in a dilemma, caught between two opposing forces: on one side, humanity still fighting amongst itself in the apocalypse, and on the other, AI that treated humans like pigs. He had to choose one of these two to inherit civilization.
At such a moment, being absent-minded is the best state for the Heavenly Emperor.
The soft raindrops tapped on the umbrella, the sound as delicate as white noise. Shang Yechu walked through the realistically constructed ruins when she suddenly saw someone running towards her in the distance, and instinctively stopped in her tracks.
Yang Huanyi, carrying the child, ran towards her through the endless drizzle.
The scene was so eerily familiar that Shang Yechu's eyelids twitched violently. Afraid of being spotted, she reacted in an instant, squinting her eyes and mimicking the expression of someone struggling to see clearly in the rain.
Upon seeing Shang Yechu, Yang Huanyi's face lit up with genuine joy. Hope rekindled his frail body, and he rushed over in a few steps.
The rain fell sparsely. Yang Huanyi made a face as if she was being drenched by acid rain and couldn't open her eyes, with a few raindrops remaining at the corners of her eyes.
"Are you human? Are you a rebel? Save my child!"
Yang Huanyi gripped Shang Yechu's calves to support her own body and prevent herself from falling. She tried to stand up, but her legs, now weakened, had no strength left. She could only half-kneel at Shang Yechu's feet, struggling to lift the child high and hold him up to Shang Yechu's eyes—
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