Chapter 7

Shen Shujie and Jiang Haofeng chatted for a while, before the director called for him. The director was actually quite a close acquaintance of his, as Shen Shujie had been a part of some of his past films. Even though each time he had just been one of the many male actors, the director had always liked Shen Shujie. He had even shown interest in helping him, but because Shen Shujie really wasn’t cut-out for movies, that plan had ultimately been discarded.

Seeing him walk over, the director motioned for him to sit down, then he took out a copy of the script and told him, “Little Shen, I might be adding some scenes for you, they might be a bit difficult for you, but your on-scene partner will be Chen Yi, and he said he could help you get into character. This scene will be very important, so you have to work hard alright Little Shen?”

Shen Shujie didn’t really think much of it, having extra scenes to do was a good thing, but he was still pretty worried about his own abilities. This film project was actually one of those projects that had a bigger budget and was one of the year’s large-scale projects. The male and female leads were all the level of film emperor and film empress, so it really was lucky that he had caught the director’s eye. He also wanted to break out of his comfort zone so he said, “You can explain it to me.”

The storyline of the movie was mainly about the rise and fall of a large noble family. From the moment when the main character’s father brought his family up to unbridled glory and power from commoner origins, to the moment where the noble house deteriorated as a result of increasing in-fighting amongst familial relations. The character Shen Shujie played wasn’t really important, but it was a somewhat necessary character, the Sixth Young Nobleman. The Sixth Young Nobleman was a sickly male, who stood no chance at vying for control over the family’s wealth and property, nor was he in any way an asset to the business operations of the family. His only merit was that he was the male lead’s younger brother by blood, and as a result of the male lead’s halo effect, the Sixth Young Nobleman also managed to stay alive until the last episode. The part that was being added for him was initially a scene for the female lead, the female lead was to be kidnapped by the antagonist, then forced to put up with lying across the back of a horse galloping wildly. Then, the antagonist would find himself backed into a corner by the male lead, ultimately he would give up the female lead and run away. This was also the turning point for the development of emotions between the male and female lead, so it really was quite an important scene.

After listening to the director’s explanation, Shen Shujie didn’t really know what reaction to give him. Could any male extra take the scenes of a female lead so easily nowadays?

When the director saw his expression he knew that Shen Shujie must have found it hard to understand, so he hastily tried to explain, “Just recently Lu Xin was injured, so she isn’t able to film much of the scenes that require a lot of action and movement. And as you know, her schedule is so packed we can’t really put it off and wait much longer. If her part in the scene is replaced with the character of the male lead’s younger brother it also makes sense, and there are only a few parts in the scene that you need to personally film. The harder parts will be filmed together with Chen Yi, so this might be a challenge for you. For the dangerous movements we have stand-ins ready, so all you need to do is practice your lines.”

Just as they were discussing this, the male lead walked over to them. He nodded to Shen Shujie, who hurriedly got to his feet and bowed in his direction, “Elder Brother Yi.”

Chen Yi smiled at him, “Sit down Little Shen, later let’s practice the scene.”

The moment they began filming, everything seemed to go smoothly. Chen Yi was an individual whose acting skills were quite sublime, and the people around him also seemed to be positively affected by his performance. As he led the scene, even Shen Shujie himself felt like he had improved lots. He even thought to himself that once this was over he wanted to approach Chen Yi for some more tips and advice. And thus the originally difficult parts of the scene were easily completed in a few takes, but just when everything seemed error free, an accident occurred. In taking the close-up shots, all he had to do was lie still on the back of the horse and recite a few lines. Yet, for some reason, the horse was spooked and suddenly began wildly galloping. Shen Shujie had both his hands tied so it was not possible for him to do anything, and as a result, he fell hard from the horse. Luckily, the place they were shooting was actually a sandy area, so his fall wasn’t very severe. Shen Shujie ate a mouthful of sand before being pulled back onto his feet by the director and others. Seeing him fall from the horse, the director felt cold sweat beading on his head, “Are you alright Little Shen, where did you fall on? Are you injured?”

Shen Shujie’s arms and legs were all covered with some scratches and grazes, he hurriedly gulped down a mouthful of water from the water one of the staff members brought to him so he could rinse his mouth. Then, he turned toward the anxious director, smiling as he shook his head, “Luckily it was in a sandy area, otherwise director you would’ve had to replace your go-to male extra.”

The director saw how he still had the energy to joke around, and used a finger to flick his forehead a couple times, “Still laughing huh, it must have been a soft fall.”

Shen Shujie shot to this feet with a toothy grin, “It was nothing, just a few scratches.”

It just so happened that some fans had come to the set that day, and the instant Shen Shujie fell from the horse, was soon uploaded by those fans onto Weibo, accompanied by the words “Shushu fell from a horse while filming today, just looking at it felt painful. But Shushu was so resilient, he even continued to make the director laugh, I feel so pitiful though, I saw that his leg was even bleeding, I wonder if it’s serious.”

Shen Shujie returned to his room to take care of his wounds. Finally, he let out a breath of relief, his entire body was so sore that it felt like it was seconds away from falling apart. All he wanted to do was lie in bed and rest. Yet when he woke up, he saw Jiang Haofeng sitting in front of his bed, Shen Shujie looked dazedly at him through sleepy eyes, then he murmured “I’m dreaming” before falling back asleep.

Young Master Jiang swept his gaze over the person who had just immediately gone back to sleep, clenching his fists forcefully as he said, “You’re not dreaming.”

”Hmm?”

Young Master Jiang’s voice now had a noticeably icier tone, “I said, you’re not dreaming.”

It was only then that Shen Shujie rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, alas, his movements meant that he accidentally came into contact with the wounds on his leg and the pain instantly woke him up. He seemed quite pleasantly surprised to see Jiang Haofeng as he asked, “Why are you here?”

Instantly, Jiang Haofeng looked a tad anxious, before he looked at Shen Shujie’s legs. After checking that nothing was wrong his expression grew stony again, “Work visit.”

Shen Shujie ecstatically hugged his neck, “Is it because you found out that I fell, that’s why you came to see me? Did President Li tell you? When did our company’s communication become so smooth?!”

Jiang Haofeng somberly moved his hand away, helping him to sit upright before he said, “Shen Shujie.”

”Present!”

“……”

”Be serious.”

”Yes sir!”

Jiang Haofeng saw how Shen Shujie struggled to hide his smile, and this made him frown as he said, “I’ve never asked you for anything.”

”But this time, I want to ask you to do something.”

”I’m not discussing this with you, so I hope you can do this.”

Shen Shujie could hear how serious his tone was, and quietly looked at him as he listened.

”Next time, if you’re in a situation where there’s unavoidable danger, you must call me immediately, understand?”

”Got it.” Shen Shujie nodded at him as his eyes curved.

Jiang Haofeng felt helpless and pained as he looked at the green and purple markings on Shen Shujie’s body. Slowly, he pulled the other into his arms, “Is it painful?”

Shen Shujie wriggled his body a bit, then he sucked in a faint breath, “A little bit.”

”Just a little bit?”

”Maybe a little bit more.”

Jiang Haofeng lovingly massaged Shujie’s soft hair, his voice was gravelly deep and belied a sort of bewitching tone, “If it’s painful just tell me, you don’t need to hold it in in front of me.”

Shen Shujie tightly wrapped his arms around Jiang Haofeng’s waist, burrowing his face into the other’s chest, he sounded a little aggrieved as he replied, “Jiang Haofeng… It’s so painful I could die.”