Chapter 90

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The corridor outside the washroom was short. If they stood there talking, were anyone to look their way, they would definitely be seen.

Xia Xingcheng stared at Yuan Qian and didn’t answer her question.

Instead, Yuan Qian laughed and said, “I heard he went home with you for the New Year.”

Xia Xingcheng endured his erratic emotions and asked Yuan Qian, “Is it convenient to talk somewhere else?”

Yuan Qian nodded. “Sure.”

They left the private room, and nobody noticed as they made their way out of the Japanese restaurant one after another, during which Yuan Qian made a phone call to find someone to fetch her car keys. Afterwards, she and Xia Xingcheng got into her nanny car.

Xia Xingcheng sent Huang Jixin a message, saying that he was currently out to have a chat with Yuan Qian.

The nanny car had tinted windows, and those outside didn’t have a clear view of the inside. They were the only two in the car.

Yuan Qian said, “I just thought it was odd, last time. Why would Yang Youming casually tell someone his home passcode and let someone come over when he’s not home.”

Xia Xingcheng was sitting next to her, one seat separating him from Yuan Qian. There was one issue he cared about. “Qian jie, how did you know Ming ge went home with me for the New Year?”

Yuan Qian propped her head with a hand on the back of the chair. “Don’t be so nervous. After all, Yang Youming and I used to be a couple, it isn’t strange that someone around him is close with me.” With that, she seemed somewhat stunned and softly said, “I just didn’t expect it.”

Xia Xingcheng didn’t know what exactly she was referring to.

Yuan Qian took a closer look at Xia Xingcheng in the faint light of the car. “Why would it be a man?”

This sentence made Xia Xingcheng slightly uncomfortable. He tried his best to maintain a polite tone as he said, “Maybe he likes me too much that even gender doesn’t matter.”

Hearing this, Yuan Qian smiled.

Seeing her smile, Xia Xingcheng again felt that she wasn’t that annoying–after all, she smiled so beautifully.

Xia Xingcheng asked Yuan Qian, “Can you tell me one thing?”

Yuan Qian said, “What is it?”

Xia Xingcheng said, “Why did you want to divorce Yang Youming?”

Yuan Qian was silent for a moment before she said, “There are a lot of things that can’t be explained in a few simple words, but if I really have to say why, it’s probably because that marriage didn’t feel real to me.”

Xia Xingcheng couldn’t help asking, “What does that mean?”

Yuan Qian thought solemnly for a while. “It just wasn’t the life I expected. Even though I liked him a lot before our marriage, our days together had always felt…” Here, she paused for a long time before continuing, “I don’t know, maybe I was just splitting hairs.”

Xia Xingcheng felt she looked a little lonely and spoke up for her, “Was it dull and boring?”

Yuan Qian looked over at him. After a moment, she said, “Maybe.” She smiled and asked Xia Xingcheng, “You think he’s boring?”

“No,” Xia Xingcheng denied without a second thought. “I’m not you.”

Yuan Qian asked, “Your hostility towards me is caused by the fact that Yang Youming and I were once married?”

Xia Xingcheng said, “I’m not hostile towards you, I just think that you should be sorry. You’re the one who wanted to leave him.”

Yuan Qian nodded with a smile and leaned over to Xia Xingcheng’s ear, whispering, “That’s right, that’s why I often linger on the edge of regret.”

Xia Xingcheng didn’t get angry. He calmly said to Yuan Qian, “Do you think he’d be willing to take you back just because you regret it?”

Yuan Qian didn’t say anything.

Xia Xingcheng didn’t know what else to say and moved to get out of the car.

Yuan Qian abruptly said, “I’m a person who’ll pursue anything I like. If I don’t like it, I’ll turn around and will absolutely never look back. At that time, I thought our relationship was over and there was no need to continue on without excitement or joy. But when I really left, I started doubting whether or not I made the right choice.”

Xia Xingcheng opened the car door and got down. He stood out there and said to Yuan Qian, “Don’t doubt it. You made the right choice.”

With a faint smile on her face, Yuan Qian said, “This thing between us won’t affect filming, right?”

“Of course it won’t, “ Xia Xingcheng said. “There’s nothing going on between us, just between you and him, and him and me.”

Yuan Qian nodded approvingly.

Xia Xingcheng took a deep breath and turned to leave.

The next morning, Xia Xingcheng was woken up by a call from the front desk. He got up and got ready to go to make up for today’s shooting.

The scene they shot today was the opening scene of the movie and the first act of the screenplay. It took place in the wealthy middle-aged businessman Qian Buqiong’s home. His entire home was rigged up inside a film studio.

Ding Wenxun and He Zheng’s directing styles were very different. Ding Wenxun was a director who knew what we wanted for each shot; he’d talk to the actors about each and every action and expression in front of the camera, right down to the tone of their voice.

This might sound a little easier, but it actually wasn’t–because if your performance wasn’t in line with Ding Wenxun’s wishes, he would request for a reshoot.

The movie’s first shot was a spliced long take in the Qian family’s mansion. Qian Buqiong opened his eyes in the early morning, got out of bed in his pajamas, went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, made his way outside–passing behind his wife Jia Lizhi who was applying lipstick at her dressing table in the process–before finally stepping out into the corridor. At this time, the camera turned to the corridor’s wallpaper and continued onward as if Qian Buqiong was moving forward, before finally turning to Qian Buqiong once more as he descended the stairs. The shot followed his back as he turned a corner and reached the first floor, then cut ahead from his side as if they were entering the dining room from his perspective. In the dining room, his two children Qian Chengjin and Qian Qian were having breakfast. Qian Qian obediently called out “dad” while Qian Chengjin merely raised his head and shot a glance at him before he continued playing with his phone as he scooped oatmeal into his bowl. The shot turned and landed back on Qian Buqiong, filming him sitting down at the dining table, then swivelled on towards the entrance of the dining room. Wearing a short skirt and with gaudy makeup on her face, Jia Lizhi walked into the shot, and the camera followed her until she sat down at the dining table. The shot ended there, and a cut of close-ups started.

Although it wasn’t a complete long take, the cut of the shot that followed along the wallpaper would give the audience the illusion that the entire shot was done in one fell swoop.

Moreover, from the moment Qian Buqiong started going down the stairs, the entire shot was a complete long take.

In this shot, Xia Xingcheng didn’t have that many parts, but as one of the elements in the scene, he must not make any mistakes.

Qian Chengjin was a university student, but his character was completely unlike university student Fang Jianyuan. His family was well-off, his mother had passed away early, and his father was too busy making money to have the time to discipline him. He had a rebellious nature, was a licentious playboy, and barely had any contact with his father and little sister–altogether, he was the embodiment of a rich family’s young master.

Xia Xingcheng had analyzed this role for a long time; how Qian Chengjin usually laughed, how indifferently he looked at people. He had also designed some subconscious little actions for this character which would appear inadvertently whenever he was nervous. Compared to his dazed helplessness when he first acted in a movie, he could now adjust his emotions and composure better.

Before filming, Xia Xingcheng talked to Ding Wenxun about Qian Chengjin’s emotional state when facing different people. He believed that Qian Chengjin ought to be slightly disdainful of his father Qian Buqiong, treat Jia Lizhi with a relatively insipid attitude, and not care at all about his sister Qian Qian–at least in the first part of the movie. Ding Wenxun approved of his thinking.

Therefore, once Qian Buqiong came down the stairs and entered the dining room, he looked up with indifference, then quickly lowered his head and looked at his phone once more. His sitting posture was always improper, he either had one foot on the chair or leaned against the dining table.

After Jia Lizhi sat down, the family began to chat as they ate breakfast.

Qian Chengjin wore a pair of ripped jeans and a baseball jacket over a dark, low-necked T-shirt that just about revealed the tattoo above his collarbone.

This was a part of the plot that Ding Wenxun had added after he saw Xia Xingcheng’s tattoo.

Noticing Qian Chengjin’s tattoo, Qian Buqiong slammed his chopsticks down and pointed at him, saying, “What’s with that tattoo of yours?”

Qian Chengjin looked up at him. “What’s with what?”

Qian Buqiong said, “What kind of university student are you!”

Qian Chengjin sneered coldly, pushed away his bowl of food that was still half full, then stood up and said, “I’m full.” He headed out soon after.

Compared to ‘Gradual Distance’, ‘Accidental Murder’ was much easier movie for Xia Xingcheng to shoot. First of all, his scenes weren’t very weighty, the main parts of the movie fell to Bao Kai and Yuan Qian, and secondly, there wasn’t much psychological drama. After all, Ding Wenxun’s movie was categorized as a comedy, and the entire movie was brightly coloured. It was only the final portion of the movie that the shots would darken.

Xia Xingcheng didn’t have to suffer so much psychological pressure in the least–in this movie, he didn’t need to love within an inch of his life once more.

Qian Buqiong’s company was caught up in a debt crisis. He left home early in the morning to go to the bank to negotiate a loan, but it didn’t go well at all. That evening, when he returned home completely worn out, his beautiful young wife and son were still not back. Only his daughter was inside, practicing the piano, but this high schooler daughter of his was not the least bit fond of talking to him.

Seeing that it was already late at night and Jia Lizhi hadn’t come home yet, Qian Buqiong fished out his phone and gave her a call. After he heard the sounds of mahjong coming from her side, she told him not to wait up for her and that he should sleep first.

Qian Buqiong hung up, threw his phone on the bed, then opened the safety deposit box in his wardrobe and rummaged through several insurance policies. Afterwards, he stared at insurance policies, deep in thought.

This was where the story began.

Because it was a comedy film, in addition to the storyline, what Ding Wenxun considered the most was how to make the audience laugh when watching the movie. He regularly conferred with the screenwriter as well as Bao Kai, who had ample experience in comedy, on how to make the plot and scenes even more amusing.

One of the scenes had Xia Xingcheng wearing women’s clothing.

In this scene, Qian Chengjin’s stepmother’s beau had mistaken the him in women’s clothing as his lover, and thus he learnt that his stepmother was having a bit on the side.

Before that though, the actor Zhu Tianjie, who played Jia Lizhi’s lover Gao Hai, joined the crew.

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⟵ Chapter 89 | TOC | Chapter 91 ⟶

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