Chapter 17

After filling her head with gossip, Chen Pingping suddenly remembered that she was supposed to "rectify" Li ZIxi. But thinking about the information that the boy had just revealed, and thinking about Li Zixi's usual instructions to her, she believes in her heart that less trouble, the better. Never paying attention to that girl again.

Anyway, the truth has just been made clear by the boy. If she angers her Xixi again, then that isn't practical.

Several people were laughing and joking, time passed quickly. When it was time for lunch, Chen Pingping and Li Zixi also went to receive two boxes of lunch, then found a quiet and shady place to eat.

Seeing that there's no one around, Chen Pingping whispered gossip to Li Zixi: "Xixi, did you know? Before you, your role was played by Wu Xinran, it became yours after she left it. Do you know why Wu Xinran stopped filming?"

Li Zixi glanced at Chen Pingping and motioned for her to continue.

Chen Pingping said excitedly: "Because Wu Xinran went to shoot Young Master Ye's MV!"

Hearing Chen Pingping's words, Li Zixi frowned. Wu Xinran, she knows she is very popular on Weibo and is frequent on the hot search.

But who is Young Master Ye? Don't seem to see him on the hot search. Seeing Chen Pingping's excitement, Young Master Ye must be a big shot. If she said that she didn't know him at this time, she would definitely arouse suspicion. Pretending to understand Chen Pingping's meaning, she nodded calmly and became motionless.

Although Li Zixi's reaction was very cold, this didn't stop Chen Pingping's enthusiasm for gossip even the slightest. She chewed the vegetables in her mouth and said, "Young Master Ye ah, that's Young Master Ye ah. Handsome and rich, and sings great."

Li Zixi, watching Chen Pingping's *spoony look, became speechless for a while. She really wanted to pry open Chen Pingping's head, to take a look what was inside. She loves every male celebrity, every time she looks so foolish. However, she also got information from Chen Pingping's gossiping just now.

[*spoony – exact characters: 花痴]

No wonder she couldn't remember Young Master Ye's information, it turns out that Young Master Ye is a singer. Since he's a singer, then no need to remember first. She hasn't memorized clearly yet the many actors of the filming right now. The brain is not big enough to remember other fields. Wait once she remembers the actors, she will care about the music industry.

Shortly after finishing lunch, the director called out to start. At this moment, Li Zixi went to start her makeup. This scene is the continuation of the scene filmed this morning. Around three o'clock, it was Li Zixi's turn to shoot. The film crew are very diligent, there is basically no lunch break at noon. After lunchbreak of less than half an hour, all groups started filming.

A lot of the scenes were done filming in three months. But this drama, Director Jin expected the filming period to last for eight months, making sure that everything is to perfection. That's why the word shoddy will never be linked to Director Jin. As long as the film is made by Director Jin, it will be basically bought by the National TV station, don't even think about other TV stations.

Due to the especially long filming period, the crew has been in Hengzhou Film and Television City for several months. Everyone's in exhausted state, particularly the face is sunburnt and the hair is tousled. Looks like there's no difference from migrant workers working on the construction site, no wonder everyone laughs and calls themselves migrant workers from the crew.

If there's no interest in socializing, find a cool place, play with mobile phone and sleep. Want to have fun, then go to the supermarket to buy things. Several people sit together and make dumplings. While eating at noon, Li Zixi was shocked to see them eating hot dumplings. Have to sigh, this is really a bunch of boring people, but also a group of people who are finding entertainment at work. She wants to give a thumbs up to these self-entertaining staff.

Done putting on makeup, Li Zixi sat in the prop room, quietly reading her script. In this scene, she actually didn't have a lot of lines. But this is her first scene in this crew. Li Zixi wants to show her best side, to give a good impression. The lines must be remembered, it is also necessary to practice the actions in her head.

When a staff member called her on the scene, Li Zixi took a deep breath and followed the staff member.

This scene mainly talks about paying respect. Zhu Di and wife, Xu Yihua, were chatting and Princess Yong'an came to pay respect. Their family lived in the *Yan wang fu. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang is not dead yet, Zhu Yunwen is not the emperor, and Zhu Di naturally is not also.

[For those who didn't know, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di were among the many emperors that reigned during the Ming dynasty. So, Zhu Yuanzhang is Zhu Yunwen's grandfather. Supposedly, his father was to be the next emperor after Zhu Yuanzhang but he died even before ascending to the throne. Thus, Zhu Yunwen took his place but his reign didn't last long. When he started executing and demoting his powerful uncles, Zhu Di—his father's fourth brother—raised a rebellion and later became the new emperor.]

[*Yan wang fu - Yan is Zhu Di's feudal title (Prince of Yan); wang fu means a prince's estate]

Princess Yongan is now in her teens and has not yet been married. Not even a princess nor a *Junzhu, just the eldest young mistress of the Yan wang fu.

[*Junzhu – Princess of third rank]

"Imperial Father, Mother Consort." Zhu Yuying, *slender and beautiful, came over.

[*slender and beautiful - 聘聘袅袅 (pīng pīng niǎo niǎo), Chinese idiom meaning to describe a woman who is slender and beautiful, with a light body]

"En." Zhu Di looked at his eldest daughter with a delighted look, "Ah Ying came here so early, there's heavy dew in the morning, wear more clothes, lest catch a cold."

Zhu Yuying smiled and approached Zhu Di. After receiving blessings, she said: "Daughter knows, thanking Father for worrying."

"Ay, in a blink of an eye, Ah Ying grew up so big, don't know which *erlang will be appropriate." Zhu Di looked with emotion at his eldest daughter. This is the eldest daughter of him and Xu Yihua, the feeling is naturally not comparable to other children. "*Miaoyun, you may want to inquire about those erlang."

[*erlang – male;man;son]

[*Miaoyun – still Empress Xu. From what I know, in Chinese culture, aside from their birthname, they'll still have other names for different purposes. I think they still do that today but maybe not as intense as back then, especially for royalties.]

Xu Yihua held her handkerchief over her mouth, looked at her daughter, and smiled. The next said: "Knowing that you dote on daughter, no worries, I'll be sure to inquire about it properly."

Zhu Yuying, hearing the conversation between her imperial father and mother consort, shyly lowered her head, tightly clenched her hand on the handkerchief, and her face is also slightly uncomfortable.

After hearing these words, Zhu Di nodded in satisfaction, picked up the tea on the table and drank.

"Cut! Very good." Jin Cheng said excitedly. Unexpectedly, this newcomer ah, did not show any timidity in front of the two seasoned actors, especially in some details, handled it very well. It's better than the film by Chen Guoxing that he watched before, and in this way, the future development of such a newcomer must be limitless ah.

Thinking of her role before as a little maid for Chen Guoxing, he sighed with emotion in his heart: Also, she wasn't casted much in the past. Although there are still not many scenes in this play, it is obviously not comparable to a simple *dragon set.

[*dragon set – extras]

He feels lucky for his original choice at this time. He generally wouldn't make such a bold decision. But something urgent happened, he also had to choose the best plan. Fortunately, the results now are quite satisfying, maybe even better than the previous ones.

After watching the clip for a while, Director Jin said: "Do it again, camera three, pay attention. Makeup artist, come over, touch up on makeup." After the director finished speaking, the makeup artist quickly ran over to the three actors to put on makeup. Done touching up, several people quickly entered the frame again, repeating the scene just now.

After the second shot, the director announced with satisfaction that the scene was over. Actress Chen Qingyun, who played Empress Xu, immediately said happily: "Aiya, filming is over at last. Shooting seven or eight hours when younger, now the old arms and legs can't bear it anymore."

Director Jin said with a helpless smile: "What you are old ah, just starting to get old. If you are old, then I should be on the verge of death."

Chen Qingyun rubbed her waist and said, "Although the age is not very old, I suffered too many injuries from filming in the early years. I should go back and have a good rest."

Director Jin laughed and joked: "It's been only seven or eight hours and can't stand it anymore, weren't you known as *desperate San Niang before? What about your desperate energy?"

[*Desperate San Niang – Chinese metaphor for someone who is brave and not afraid of death; someone who does their best to serve]

Chen Qingyun rolled her eyes at the director and said, "You can't talk of leg pain while sitting, how old I am ah. The title desperate San Niang should have been given to younger people long ago. Do you see this young person here? Director, where did you dig this treasure from?" After talking, Chen Qingyun smiled kindly at Li Zixi.

Director Jin also glanced at Li Zixi, nodded in satisfaction, and said, "Director Chen introduced her."

Chen Qingyun said knowingly, "Oh", then said half-jokingly in a loud voice: "You are a blessing in disguise ah."

Director Jin and Chen Qingyun looked at each other, Yan Xuan smiled and interjected: "You ah, just bad mouthing, dare say anything, "

Chen Qingyun looked at him and said: "I am too lazy to care about you all, I'm going first. You continue to shoot." After speaking, Chen Qingyun went out, when passing by Li Zixi's side, she said, "Little girl, *jiayou ah, don't think about something that aren't there all day long. Filming well is the right way as an actor."

[*Jiayou – literally means add oil; equivalent to the Korean 'hwaiting'; to boost someone's courage or confidence up]

From the conversation just now, Li Zixi roughly understood Chen Qingyun's character and the insinuation in her words. People with Chen Qingyun's personality are the rarest in the entertainment industry, having a true temperament of *growing out of the mud unsullied. Hearing what she said, Li Zixi smiled and said, "Understood, thank you Yun Jie."

[*Growing out of the mud unsullied – principled and incorruptible]

Director Jin and Yan Xuan who're watching Chen Qingyun's behavior shook their heads helplessly.

Chen Qingyun and Zhu Di's scene is over, Li Zixi's scene is not finished yet. Next, she has to shoot a scene together with Yu You, her partner in the drama. The two secretly met in the back garden of the Yan wang fu.

Zhu Yuying looked at the handsome young man standing under the vibrant peach blossom tree, secretly going behind him, stood on tiptoe, covered his eyes, and deliberately said in a rough voice, "Guess who I am?"

Yuan Rong said with a smile. "Could it be the girl who took care of the peach blossom tree? This young gentleman is grateful for watering it for many years, wants to find them to repay gratitude."

Zhu Yuying hummed angrily: "Giving you another chance, hurry up and guess. Guess wrong and you won't ever see me."

Yuan Rong hurriedly said after hearing this, "This young gentleman just said it wrong. The girl must be a peach blossom fairy named Ah Ying. Am I right?" Saying that, Yuan Rong grabbed Zhu Yuying's arm and turned around to face Zhu Yuying.

Zhu Yuying didn't expect the man in front of her to move so quickly, she was surprised. But looking at the man smiling in front, she also smiled shyly: "I hate you; you are the peach blossom spirit."

Yuan Rong looked at Zhu Yuying foolishly and said, "My Ah Ying is not a peach tree spirit, but a fairy. It's peach blossom fairy. It was I, the Third Young Master, who was lucky enough to meet you."

"Cut!"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The author has something to say:

The Hengdian crew really made dumplings and ate near the filming site. Went there to play and saw it, haha~