Chapter 17: A Ruthless Person

After the first day of filming concluded, the lead actors, including Chen Kun and Dong Jie, discovered a problem.

They all knew that although Li Dawei was the director of this production, the true final authority rested with his mother, Liu Guoquan.

Everyone naturally assumed that Liu Guoquan would be Li Dawei's backbone.

However, after yesterday's script reading, everyone had a vague feeling that perhaps the young actor named Zhang Yuan was actually Li Dawei's backbone.

From the script to the characters and even the styling, whatever Zhang Yuan said, Li Dawei accepted without a second thought, adopting it almost entirely.

That evening, Zhang Yuan was taken out to dinner by Li Dawei and Liu Guoquan, while the other young actors gathered together.

Chen Kun, Dong Jie, and Xu Lu were there, as was Qiao Zhenyu, despite having limited screen time.

Meanwhile, Liu Xixi had hit it off with Shu Chang, who was of a similar age, and the two had retreated to a room to whisper.

"What do you guys think? What's the deal with that Zhang Yuan?" Dong Jie asked curiously, looking at the others.

"I saw the director listening to him. Could he be the son of some investor?" Xu Lu whispered.

Chen Kun shook his head. "I asked around through some friends. He's not from Central Academy of Drama or Beijing Film Academy."

"He's not from Shanghai Theatre Academy either," Xu Lu added quickly, as she was an alumna of STA.

"I heard he was just an extra two months ago," Chen Kun said with a strange expression.

"What!" Qiao Zhenyu, a fellow student from BFA who was close with Chen Kun, was startled by the news.

Most of the cast of *The Story of a Noble Family* came from BFA, including Chen Kun, Qiao Zhenyu, and Kou Zhenhai; Liu Xixi had also just entered BFA.

The rest were trained professionals from STA, Shanghai Film Studio, or the August First Film Studio. Even Dong Jie, who wasn't part of the "mainstream" elite, was a professional from the Dance Class of the National Defense University.

The sudden appearance of an "outsider" in the lead team made them feel as if a Husky had suddenly appeared in a pack of wolves.

"I don't know what kind of connections he used to get into this crew," Chen Kun mused, unable to figure it out.

"Who cares? We'll see what he's made of once he's on screen," Qiao Zhenyu said with a hint of disdain.

"Coincidentally, I have a scene with him tomorrow. I'll be able to figure him out then," Xu Lu thought to herself, her mind racing.

The next afternoon, the crew arrived at a nearby temple for filming.

Director Li Dawei was quite puzzled. Even though they didn't have scenes with Chen Kun and the others, they had all followed along. Were young actors these days really this eager to learn?

Shu Chang hadn't joined the conversation yesterday, but she had brought Liu Xixi along, clearly wanting to see Zhang Yuan's performance as well.

Television is not like theater; filming does not follow a chronological timeline.

For instance, although they had just joined the production, today's scene was actually the grand finale for the characters played by Xu Lu and Zhang Yuan.

According to the plot, although Liu Chunjiang (played by Zhang Yuan) and Xiao Lian (played by Xu Lu) were deeply in love, they could not overcome the class divide brought by their identities and faced opposition from the Liu family.

To deceive their son, the parents executed a "bride-swapping scheme" using a sedan chair on the wedding day, replacing Xiao Lian with the eldest daughter of the Lin family, hoping to force their son to accept reality once the marriage was a fait accompli.

Ultimately, Xiao Lian became a nun. Upon learning this, Liu Chunjiang rushed to the nunnery, only to see the silhouette of his lover with a shaved head; he collapsed and died on the spot from extreme grief.

This segment actually drew inspiration from the "bride-swapping scheme" between Grandmother Jia and Madam Wang in Gao E's sequel to *Dream of the Red Chamber*, where Xue Baochai marries Baoyu instead of Lin Daiyu, leading to Daiyu's sudden death on the wedding night.

When Liu Guoquan saw this adaptation, he praised its brilliance, saying Zhang Yuan had seen through both *The Story of a Noble Family* and *Dream of the Red Chamber*.

"The Story of a Noble Family, Scene 3, Shot 1, Take 1, ACTION!" The clapperboard snapped, and filming officially began.

Zhang Yuan ran frantically up the stone steps carved into the mountainside toward the summit, desperate to gain even a minute or a second to see his beloved and hold her in his arms.

Once, twice, three times...

The camera crew needed to adjust angles, and because of the unpredictable nature of outdoor filming, it was difficult to get it right in one take.

The stone steps were only about 50 meters long, not particularly long, but quite steep. To convey the character's desperation, Zhang Yuan had to run for his life.

After several attempts, Liu Hai was drenched in sweat, the front of his shirt soaked through.

He was panting heavily, but in a film crew, time is money, and no one waits.

"The Story of a Noble Family, Scene 3, Shot 1, Take 9, ACTION!"

At the command, ignoring his exhaustion, Zhang Yuan gritted his teeth and charged up the steps again. But this time, a momentary lapse in caution caused him to stumble halfway up...

With a loud "thud," he tripped on the stone steps and lunged forward, his knee slamming hard against the sharp edge of a step.

"Cut! Someone go help him!" Li Dawei shouted urgently.

"Does he need to go to the hospital?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure you're fine?"

"I can push through," Zhang Yuan said, grimacing as he rubbed his knee and shook his head.

"Alright then, we'll use the footage from the previous takes for this part. We've calculated the time; let's move to the temple scenes to let your leg rest."

The entire crew moved to the temple at the summit and set up the equipment.

The following scene had no dialogue; it relied entirely on facial expressions and body language to convey the character's emotions.

Xu Lu, wearing a bald cap, knelt before the Buddha statue, ready.

"ACTION!"

Zhang Yuan's character, Liu Chunjiang, was panting like an ox, staggering toward the temple gates with heavy, exhausted steps.

He leaned tremulously against the doorframe, his face deathly pale and his eyes slightly red, looking like a wild bull fighting a losing battle, as if he might collapse at any second, held up only by sheer willpower.

Upon seeing the now-shaved Xiao Lian, Zhang Yuan's eyes first froze, then turned vacant, as if he couldn't believe what was happening before him.

A few seconds later, his cheeks began to tremble slightly, and his gaze shifted from confusion to utter despair.

"His eyes changed three times in just a few seconds..." Chen Kun, watching from a distance, was slightly surprised. Beside him, Qiao Zhenyu squinted his eyes with intense focus.

However, despair was only the beginning. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed, becoming as still as stagnant water. Accompanied by a twitch in his throat, it looked as if something was about to erupt from Zhang Yuan's chest.

*Pfft!*

A spray of blood hung in the air, and streaks of bright red slid from the corner of Zhang Yuan's mouth.

At that moment, his already pale face lost even more color, becoming as white as the walls of a hospital operating room.

His entire body seemed to lose its spine, and he slowly fell backward.

*Thud!*

His body hit the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. In that moment, Zhang Yuan seemed to turn to dust himself, bidding a final farewell to the world.

"Cut!" Li Dawei called out with a choked voice, wiping tears from his eyes with his arm.

Many of the crew members felt the same; they were all moved by Zhang Yuan's performance, their eyes reddening as they felt the tragedy of the character.

"Brilliant!" Li Dawei composed himself and led the applause.

To be honest, he had been worried before filming. Although Gao Qunshu had told him Zhang Yuan's acting was flawless, and he had seen his screen test, he wasn't sure how the live effect would be.

Now, seeing it, he had nothing to say except to give a thumbs up; the emotional depth was even better than he had imagined.

Nearby, Chen Kun was wiping away tears; actors' emotions are naturally more intense than those of ordinary people.

"Kun, this guy has real talent!" Qiao Zhenyu wiped his tears on Chen Kun's clothes, only to be pushed away in disgust.

"He certainly has ability. The eyes, the expressions, the body language—it was all spot on. But there's one thing I can't wrap my head around."

"What is it?"

"How did he make his face get progressively paler? You can't control that manually."

As someone who considered himself a professional, Chen Kun was puzzled and even felt a bit of a desire to learn the trick.

As luck would have it, during the break, Zhang Yuan came to a nearby stone bench to catch his breath, less than five meters away from the "peeping" group.

They watched as Zhang Yuan slowly rolled up the legs of his trousers, all the way up to his knees.

A large area of bruising, ranging from deep purple to black, appeared on Zhang Yuan's right knee. Forget just hitting it once—it looked terrifying just to look at!

"Holy crap! You were hurt that badly just now? Medic! Someone, get a medical kit!" Li Dawei was startled and hurriedly called for help.

Chen Kun opened his mouth, then a bitter expression crossed his face.

"Now I know why his face turned white, and why his expression of pain while spitting blood was so realistic."

"I know too," Qiao Zhenyu added, his hands trembling in fear.

This wasn't acting; it was real pain!

Chen Kun thought to himself: *How am I supposed to learn that?*

"Kun, we've run into a hardcore one!"