Chapter 100

After two days, Zhang Chengyuan received a response from the director of the reversal drama through Liu Zai石. The director agreed to Zhang Chengyuan's conditions, and in return, Zhang Chengyuan reciprocated by instructing Park Byung-ryul to negotiate with the production team, reducing his own pay by half from what was initially proposed, making it roughly equivalent to Li Zhen's. After all, the pay for such a drama was not much to begin with, so reducing it by half was not a big deal.

The main reason Zhang Chengyuan agreed to star in the reversal drama was, as he said, to work with Li Zhen. Because they were all busy as entertainers, he and the four sisters often had little time together. Zhang Chengyuan was a bit better off, as he frequently had the four sisters taking turns to accompany him, but the four sisters were often alone. This made Zhang Chengyuan feel very guilty. Now, with an opportunity to both work and spend time with Li Zhen, how could he not cherish it?

Secondly, shooting the reversal drama was also an extremely interesting challenge for him. Each episode of the reversal drama was an independent story, and the characters' identities and personalities would change accordingly. Compared to a regular TV series where he could only play one important role, the reversal drama gave Zhang Chengyuan more opportunities to experience various roles. Moreover, he had to vividly portray the character within a short 20 minutes, evoking the audience's empathy, which was not an easy task for him. But the difficulty also meant it was more challenging.

Another reason was that the reversal drama had a good viewership, but the shooting time was not long, meaning it would not consume too much of Zhang Chengyuan's time.

Although the plot of the reversal drama was intricate and unexpected, with a fast pace, each episode was only about 20 minutes long, so there was no need to shoot too many scenes. The settings in the story were also quite ordinary, and there was no need to travel long distances to find suitable locations. Additionally, the shooting did not require the same level of precision as filming a movie. According to Zhang Chengyuan's rough estimate, shooting one episode would take at most 2-3 days, and if they were in a hurry, it could be completed in about a day and a half. This way, he could free up more time to do other things.

On March 3, the day after the celebration banquet for "Hojack Chunhyang," Zhang Chengyuan, accompanied by the enthusiastic Liu Zai石, went to the reversal drama set to meet the director, Jung Yong-tae, and other crew members. He also met actors like Li Zhen, Li Hui才, and Andy, who were currently filming.

During a temporary break, with the introduction of Liu Zai石 and Li Zhen, Zhang Chengyuan greeted and got to know Li Hui才, Andy, and the other actors one by one.

Li Hui才, whose main job was a host, was the same age as Liu Zai石, both born in 1972, just a few months younger. He debuted around the same time as Jiang Hudong and Liu Zai石, and was also a friend of Jiang and Liu. Zhang Chengyuan still remembered his first meeting with Li Hui才, which was several years ago when he and the four sisters were eating at Jiang Hudong's barbecue restaurant. They unexpectedly ran into Jiang Hudong, Liu Zai石, and Li Hui才.

However, Li Hui才 clearly did not remember this incident. When he mentioned "first meeting" to Zhang Chengyuan, he was teased by Liu Zai石 and had to awkwardly explain that he had a poor memory. Zhang Chengyuan was not angry that Li Hui才 did not remember him, as he understood that at the time, he was just starting his career and had little fame, and his appearance and demeanor were quite different from now, making it understandable that Li Hui才 did not recognize him.

Andy, whose real name is Li Xianhao, was a member of the popular boy band Shinhwa. Previously, he had worked with Li Hui才 and Li Zhen on four or five episodes of the reversal drama, which received good feedback. Originally, the three of them had a chance to become a long-term fixed "three Li" partnership, but Zhang Chengyuan's involvement disrupted this. Although Andy did not know the exact reason for his reassignment to another production team with Liu Zai石, he could guess that it had something to do with Zhang Chengyuan.

Although this reassignment did not cause him much loss, he still felt somewhat unhappy, as if he had been outshone. Therefore, when he met Zhang Chengyuan, he could not genuinely smile. It was only later, after Liu Zai石 subtly revealed the true relationship between Li Zhen and Zhang Chengyuan, that he realized the situation and generously forgave Zhang Chengyuan.

Zhang Chengyuan also sensed Andy's thoughts and felt a bit guilty, but he could only apologize in his heart. After all, Li Zhen was a woman he was determined to protect, and he was unwilling to see her act as a couple with other men, even though he could not completely avoid such situations.

A week later, Zhang Chengyuan began filming the reversal drama. The episode was titled "My Wish," and the main plot was as follows: A ten-year-old boy dreams of marrying his teacher when he grows up and makes a wish to grow up quickly. However, this is clearly unrealistic. Soon, he learns that his teacher is getting married to someone else, which greatly upsets him. In a fit of anger, he runs out onto the road and is accidentally hit by a car.

When he wakes up in the hospital, he discovers that he has grown up. Thinking his wish has come true, he excitedly rushes out of the ward to find his teacher. Coincidentally, he meets his teacher at the door and is taken home to live with her temporarily.

A strange neighbor uncle appears and starts pursuing the boy's teacher, which makes the boy very unhappy. He tries every way to sabotage the uncle's pursuit. After some time, the boy romantically confesses his love to his teacher, but just as she is about to respond, she receives a call from the strange uncle, who invites her to meet on a nearby mountain the next day. She then ignores the boy.

The next day, the boy finds a note from his teacher, saying she has gone to the meeting. Worried, he runs to the neighbor's house and discovers that the uncle is a pervert and a peeping tom. He rushes to the mountain and sees the uncle molesting his teacher, so he tries to stop him. However, being still a child at heart, he is no match for the pervert. Just as the pervert is about to beat him, the teacher takes advantage of the situation and knocks the pervert unconscious, then escapes with the boy.

On the mountain, they meet a man who was supposed to marry the teacher. The boy is shocked to find that this man has aged by over a decade. He later learns that he is not ten years old but twenty-five, having been in a coma for fifteen years. The woman he sees is not his former teacher but her niece, who also happens to be his doctor. She had hidden the truth to avoid shocking him and affecting his recovery. The real teacher, who had saved him in the car accident, remains in a coma.

Later, the boy visits the hospital to see his teacher, looking at her haggard and dazed face, he is overwhelmed with emotion, and tears stream down his face.

In this episode, Zhang Chengyuan plays the role of the grown-up boy, while Li Zhen plays both the boy's teacher and the doctor. Li Hui才 plays the perverted neighbor.

Although there were not many scenes to shoot in this episode of the reversal drama, the shooting was quite challenging because the roles required a high level of acting skill, especially Zhang Chengyuan's role.

It is already difficult for an adult to convincingly portray the innocence and behavior of a ten-year-old child, and Zhang Chengyuan aimed to make the audience overlook his appearance and accept that "this big guy named Zhang Chengyuan is more like a child than a real child, and only by acting like Zhang Chengyuan is the most appropriate way to portray the role." This was even more challenging.

To achieve this, after receiving the script, Zhang Chengyuan, through the arrangement of Park Byung-ryul, went to a private elementary school to observe the behavior of ten-year-old children for two days. He then practiced in front of a mirror and found that with his tall and robust build, it was difficult to gain the audience's acceptance through childlike movements alone. The key was to express it through his eyes.

Children's eyes are almost completely unguarded, clearly expressing their emotions, and their feelings are usually pure and simple, rarely mixed with other factors. This is something adults find hard to do.

However, Zhang Chengyuan could achieve this. In his previous life, he was a cultivator who knew how to control and eliminate various desires and unnecessary emotions, keeping his heart as innocent as a child's. In this life, although he had experienced many trials, his childlike heart still remained, and with the help of his primordial spirit, he could temporarily suppress other complex emotions and release his pure, childlike nature.

With this ability, Zhang Chengyuan performed very well during the shooting, and his performance was genuinely recognized by the crew members, who no longer saw him as just an idol actor. Li Hui才 often sought his advice on acting. Li Zhen, after working with Chengyuan following Sung Yuri, personally experienced the feeling of acting with him. When Zhang Chengyuan looked at her with pure admiration, she was instantly captivated and took a while to recover, almost causing a funny situation.

After finishing the day's shooting, Li Zhen told Zhang Chengyuan, "In the future, you cannot use the same look you used in the scene with anyone other than the four of us, even during filming." She was worried that Zhang Chengyuan's intense, loving gaze might make the female co-stars fall for him.

Zhang Chengyuan countered, "What should I do when shooting romantic scenes? Without love in my eyes, how can I perform well in a love story?"

Li Zhen thought for a moment and said, "Then you should tone down that intense love, at least by half!" In her view, even if Zhang Chengyuan toned down his love by half, it would still be enough for him to perform well in romantic scenes.

Zhang Chengyuan replied, "Okay, Sister Zhen, I will try my best to do that."

Li Zhen continued, "Also, it seems you were too immersed in the scene. Many times, I had to push you to snap you out of it. What's going on?"

Zhang Chengyuan said, "It's nothing! I just got too into the role, and many good actors are like that." He was already used to this state of acting and did not mind it.

Li Zhen, with some doubt, said, "But you get too immersed too often, which is not good."

Zhang Chengyuan replied, "When I was filming 'Hojack Chunhyang,' I was always like that, and nothing bad happened, so don't worry. Oh, by the way, Sister Zhen, today's episode is called 'My Wish.' Do you know what my wish is?" To avoid Li Zhen worrying about him, he changed the topic to something that would catch her attention.

Li Zhen blushed, understanding but said, "How would I know?"

Zhang Chengyuan leaned close to Li Zhen's ear and whispered, "Sister Zhen, my greatest wish now is to be with you four forever." Perhaps only this guy would say such a ridiculous thing so naturally and not get slapped by the girl.