Ch27 - Frustration

Ji Qinghuai turned his head to look at Xie Yan who looked like he was excitingly waiting to watch a show.

Ji Qinghuai: “…”

He asked Producer Ding, “Isn’t it enough to act out my role well?”

At that time, Ji Qinghuai liked Xiao Siyuan because he only wanted to pursue his aspiration and never wanted to fall in love, so there was no intimate entanglement throughout the entire movie. Whether he succeeded or failed, he could afford the consequences.

If these hit-blooded scenes were added, it would definitely make Xiao Siyuan’s character more complex and pull him from his original setting.

Producer Ding snorted, “Aren’t I giving you more scenes?”

“Do I look like I’m lacking in scenes?” Ji Qinghuai shot back.

Producer Ding: “…”

Ji Qinghuai urged him again, “What is the meaning of these scenes? What impact does the kissing scene have? Our script is set as martial arts, so why make it into a romance movie?”

“This…” Producer Ding himself knew that it was meaningless, but he pressed on stubbornly, “It’s just a few more scenes with the female lead, it won’t affect you too much.”

“No, it will affect my career.”

Producer Ding: “…”

It wasn’t good for Producer Ding to forcefully persuade him so he finally said, “We’ll film later so just think about it first and give me an answer later.”

“Okay.” Ji Qinghuai replied and then pretended to think in front of producer Ding. Then he opened his mouth, “I’ve thought about it already, don’t add these scenes.”

Producer Ding: “…”

Seeing that he couldn’t persuade him, he proceeded to leave.

Watching Producer Ding walk away, Ji Qinghuai pulled out a chair and sat down, looking up at Xie Yan.

This time, Ji Qinghuai didn’t see the keen interest to watch a show on Xie Yan’s face. His expression had reverted to its original calm one as if the matter of Ji Qinghuai adding scenes had nothing to do with him. Ji Qinghuai was a little disappointed. Can’t you care about it once?

His attitude towards the addition of scenes was very obvious. He had already rejected it very bluntly and he thought that this matter would be swept away. Who knew that when the crew started filming in the afternoon, Producer Ding would approach him again.

The purpose this time was still the same as in the morning; convince Ji Qinghuai to accept the extra scenes.

Producer Ding tried to coax him, “Teacher Ji, I went back and looked at the script again. I still feel that your role has fewer scenes than the hero and heroine.”

“That’s normal.” Ji Qinghuai joked, “If I had more scenes than Fangjie, maybe his fans would find fault with me and accuse me of bullying him.”

Producer Ding hurriedly followed up, “Then we should add a few scenes appropriately, it won’t have any impact.”

Seeing that he was unnaturally persistent, Ji Qinghuai finally realized something was wrong. “Why do you have to add more scenes for me? And even a kissing scene at that.”

Producer Ding explained, “This will make your character richer, and it will be more enjoyable for the audience if you are more affectionate.”

Ji Qinghuai disagreed with his opinion, “He’s the one who started a bloody storm, why make him affectionate and lovable? By adding these scenes, will it whitewash him?”

Before producer Ding could make a rebuttal, Ji Qinghuai cut him, “The focus of the movie is martial arts, not love. I don’t object to sentimental movies, but it’s enough to have the male lead and female lead develop feelings. Why involve other people?”

“But this doesn’t affect the plot at all.” Producer Ding argued back.

“How doesn’t it affect the plot?” Ji Qinghuai retorted. “Now the script is almost finalised. If you try to stuff in irrelevant scenes, it will abrupt the flow of the plot. Even if there were more screen time, it’s not much. Can you express how Xiao Siyuan fell in love with He Qingyi in such a short time?”

Ji Qinghuai continued, “What I still don’t understand is the point of adding this line. Is it to show that Xiao Siyuan was crazy and sacrificed himself because he liked the heroine?”

“The ending is fixed and will not be affected by this.”

“Then why do you have to add this line?” Ji Qinghuai continued clinging to this question. He was sure that it wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

Seeing that he was really unable to persuade him, Ding Lei looked embarrassed, “Teacher Ji, I understand what you mean, and I also know that it is unnecessary to add this to the movie, but…”

Producer Ding sighed, “I’ll tell you the truth. Miss Wang asked us to do this. You also know the situation of our crew, and we also… there is nothing we can do.”

Upon hearing this, Ji Qinghuai frowned slightly, “Wang Jiajia?”

“Yes.”

Xie Yan, who had been listening the entire time on the sidelines, finally understood that someone was missing Ji Qinghuai.

Xie Yan put away his phone and looked at Ji Qinghuai.

Ji Qinghuai: “…”

He immediately sternly said to Producer Ding, “If it is to improve the script or adjust the plot, I can accept the addition or deletion of any scenes, but if it is for the selfish desires of others, I am very sorry but I refuse.”

Producer Ding also knew that this matter was difficult and sighed, “Okay, I will talk to her again.”

Ji Qinghuai remained silent. It wasn’t just because of Xie Yan’s presence that he refused. This matter itself was ridiculous. He, Ji Qinghuai always loved himself, and he wouldn’t refuse those who came.

Not before, not now. He looked towards Xie Yan.

The one he yearned for, Gui Ruzhang, was right in front of him.

But to Ji Qinghuai’s surprise, this incident was far from over. When everything was prepared to film Wang Jiajia’s scene, she refused to film again.

This had happened several times in the past week since the shooting had started. At first, everyone would indulge her a little bit, but this kind of inconsiderate action was repeated several times, affecting the crew’s shooting.

Huang Minghai had a headache because of this. The assistant director and the film crew tried to persuade her one by one, but they all returned to no avail. As a result, Producer Ding sought out Ji Qinghuai for the third time.

He knew Ding Lei’s intention to add extra scenes and his attitude was very firm, “No.”

Producer Ding was exhausted and pleaded, “Teacher Ji, for the sake of the director, please agree.”

Ji Qinghuai remained indifferent, “Then let the director come and ask me.”

Producer Ding choked on his words and continued persuading with all his heart, “Just adding a few scenes won’t have much of an impact. Besides, you’re a man, you won’t lose out in kissing scenes.”

Ji Qinghuai disagreed, “I don’t like it.”

Producer Ding: “…”

Seeing that Ji Qinghuai refused to enter the oil and salt and was not moved, Ding Lei became even more anxious. “It’s not a bad thing to add more scenes to you. When the contract was signed, it was clearly stated that you would obey the crew’s arrangements. In addition, we can’t stay here for long.”

With a “bang”, the stool in front of Ji Qinghuai was kicked over, and Xie Yan’s half-empty cup of coffee fell to the ground, spilling all over the floor.

Producer Ding stood dumbfounded.

Ji Qinghuai stood up, his face unusually cold. He narrowed his eyes at Producer Ding, “She, Wang Jiajia, is someone you can’t afford to mess with, but does that mean that I, Ji Qinghuai, can take it at will?” A deathly silence fell over the lounge.

Ji Qinghuai had also been in the group for more than a week, but he had never lost his temper in front of everyone. Before Xie Yan came, he would tease the make-up artist and the atmosphere around him had always been harmonious. Today was the first time Ji Qinghuai had gotten angry.

Producer Ding regained his senses. Knowing that he had overstepped his boundaries, he wanted to slap himself. He had said the wrong thing in a moment of haste and instead of persuading Ji Qinghuai, he had pissed him off.

No one dared to say anything in the lounge. The only one who could speak was sitting next to him. The make-up artist had no choice but to speak up, “Teacher Ji, let me touch up the make-up for you.”

Facing the opposite gender, Ji Qinghuai would naturally be more polite. He waved his hand, “I won’t touch up. I’m a little tired, please ask the director for a leave of absence. I won’t shoot today.”

Since Ji Qinghuai said that he wasn’t shooting, there was no point persuading him otherwise. He changed out of the costume, removed his make-up and hair ornaments and said to Xie Yan, “Let’s go back to the hotel.”

Xie Yan got up and without wasting a moment more, the two of them headed straight back to the hotel.

After entering their room, Ji Qinghuai turned off his phone and took another shower. The air conditioner was turned on in the room and was blowing out cool air with a whoosh. After the shower, the room was cold and refreshing. Lying on the cool bed after a shower was the most comfortable thing. But he was a little absent-minded.

Xie Yan asked curiously, “What do you plan to do about this matter?”

“Take one step at a time.” Ji Qinghuai sat up, “Mr Xie, can I borrow your phone to play games for a while?”

Xie Yan passed his phone over.

Ji Qinghuai played a game for two hours. When the sun was setting, someone knocked on their door.

Xie Yan opened the door and saw Huang Minghai.

Huang Minghai knew that Xie Yan had been living with Ji Qinghuai for the past two days and asked, “Mr Xie, is Ji Qinghuai inside?”

“Yes.” Xie Yan stepped aside and gave Huang Minghai space to walk in. Inside, Ji Qinghuai was still playing the game and didn’t raise his head even though someone had entered.

Xie Yan knew that Huang Minghai had something to say to Ji Qinghuai so he made an excuse to leave saying, “I’m going to buy dinner.” Then he took his wallet and left.

Since Huang Minghai had entered, Ji Qinghuai didn’t even glance at him. Huang Minghai knew that Ji Qinghuai was angry but he was not anxious. He sat by the side and patiently waited for him to finish the game. After waiting for about ten minutes, Ji Qinghuai won the game and raised his head.

Only then did he start to speak, “I only learned about this today.” He was referring to Wang Jiajia’s ulterior motives towards Ji Qinghuai.

He explained, “At that time, they thought you were a suitable match for Qi Feng. I read the script and thought it was good as well, so I approached you. However, you said you preferred Xiao Siyuan and I was fine with it. But, I didn’t expect another matter to crop up.”

Ji Qinghuai was not interested in this long-winded conversation and directly stated, “Fire her.”

Huang Minghai knew very well who this “she” referred to.

“You think I don’t want to?” Huang Minghai’s head ached when he talked about this subject. “You know the situation of our crew. She dares to be so arrogant because we are short of money and she even stated that if we didn’t agree to it by tomorrow, she would withdraw our funds.

Ji Qinghuai instantly became furious, “Then let her withdraw!”

When Huang Minghai heard this, his eyes widened, “What can we do if we have no funds?”

Ji Qinghuai had never been so frustrated in the many years he lived. You want to use the crew to pressure me? Keep dreaming!

“Isn’t it just an investment? I’ll help you.”

Huang Minghai was delighted, “Are you serious?”

Ji Qinghuai questioned, “Will I lie to you about this kind of thing?”

On the other hand, Huang Minghai was overjoyed, “Very good, I’ll wait for your news.”

Director Huang was miserable when he arrived, but he was ecstatic when he left. Ji Qinghuai sent him, returned to the bed, picked up the mobile phone, and hesitated slightly before turning it on.

T/N: Here’s the long explanation for “The one he yearned for, Gui Ruzhang, was right in front of him.”

The first part comes in a phrase actually but in the raw, only half is included. 心之所向: translates to ‘direction of the heart’, the full sentence I found online is ‘direction of the heart and the direction of the body’, which means ‘the place of inner yearning and longing, and the place where our body wants to go’.

The second part; 如圭如璋 (rú guī rú zhāng) doesn’t really have a translation (?) and metaphors a person’s elegance or appearance. I wasn’t sure how to add this into the sentence so I just left it in its original form.

Lastly; this is also split in half from the original sentence. The original is 远在天边，近在眼前 (yuǎn zài tiān biān, jìn zài yǎn qián) which translates to ‘far in the sky, close in front of you’ and basically means the person/thing you are looking for is right in front of you. In the raw, the first part (far in the sky) is missing. Okay that’s it, this took me a long time sigh.

Also, JQH aruguing with the producuer is basically me irl. I love to argue for fun, I will give you the most absurd sentences that still make sense (much to my friends’s disappointment because they realise they can’t win LOL). But for me, arguing in a lighthearted way about small things helps me broaden my perspectives. Eternally grateful to my friends who bear with my random logic because it helps me a lot in my personal development, also it’s a fun way to relieve stress because it’s funny most of the time XD