Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Yan Qingchi hugged Jiang Mochen and acted coquettishly for a while before realizing they had been standing the entire time. So he pulled him down to sit on the sofa.
“Have you eaten yet?” Yan Qingchi asked. “Let’s eat something.”
Jiang Mochen had indeed not eaten yet. He had driven all the way here, and because he wanted to see Yan Qingchi as soon as possible, he didn’t go to eat after arriving but came straight to his room. So, he nodded, “That’s perfect. We can eat together.”
“Okay.” Yan Qingchi ordered and waited for the waiter to bring the food.
Jiang Mochen then asked him, “Was Mo Jianying fired?”
“Yes, Director Fu found out. She couldn’t tolerate this kind of thing happening on her crew, so she fired Mo Jianying.”
“What about his part?”
“He only had one scene left, and it was reworked into a solo scene for me. The previously filmed parts were retained, because reshooting is a hassle, and there were a few scenes where I performed really well, and Director Fu was worried that if we reshoot them, I wouldn’t be able to find that feeling and not perform as well as before, which would be bad for me and the show.”
Jiang Mochen nodded. Fu Minzhi’s concerns were not unreasonable. Acting was often like creating something, where inspiration and excellence came in a moment. Reshooting would indeed be a punishment for Mo Jianying, but the cost and uncertainty involved were too great. Fu Minzhi didn’t want to miss Yan Qingchi’s inspired shots, and he didn’t want Yan Qingchi to take the risk, so this was the only way.
“Let’s just leave it at that. Director Fu’s concerns are justified. Mo Jianying wasn’t caught in the crackdown on po*nography and dr*g abuse, so it won’t affect the screening of the film. It’s just that after something like this happened, his scenes will definitely be cut. But it doesn’t matter. Most films will have a large number of scenes cut when the final film is reviewed. So you don’t have to worry about it. Just leave this matter to Director Fu.”
Yan Qingchi hummed, “I’m not worried about it myself. I’m an actor and I’m only responsible for acting well. The rest is the director’s business.”
Jiang Mochen smiled, “You have a good attitude.”
“When have I ever had a bad attitude?” Yan Qingchi asked him.
Jiang Mochen thought about it and it seemed that he really never had any. He thus reached out and touched Yan Qingchi’s hair, “Then you are very powerful.”
Yan Qingchi glanced at him sideways and asked puzzledly: “What are you doing, do you think I am Qi Qi?”
Jiang Mochen had no choice but to put his hand on his shoulder, “Do you know what it means to kill by patting the head?”
Yan Qingchi was a little surprised, “This trick can also be used on boys?”
“Of course ordinary male friends won’t, but are we ordinary male friends?”
Yan Qingchi had no choice but to silently pick up his hand and put it on his head again, “Then touch it.”
Jiang Mochen: “…”
Jiang Mochen couldn’t help laughing. He didn’t pat his head again, but kissed Yan Qingchi directly, “Why are you so cute.”
Yan Qingchi: “…As long as you are happy.”
“By the way,” Jiang Mochen suddenly thought of it, “Why did you send out the recording in two parts? Wouldn’t it be better to send it out directly the first time so that everyone can understand the whole story? Did Guan Mei ask you to send it in two parts?”
“Of course not. It’s just that we mentioned you during our conversation. I told you, he thinks I like you. He also mentioned that you came to visit the set on New Year’s Day. If that were released, wouldn’t it be even more bloody? So I edited the audio and cut out that part. I wanted to release both at once, but Guan Mei said it would seem like I’d done something wrong, otherwise why would the audio be missing a part? It would be disadvantageous to me. So she asked me to release the first part first. She said that people would definitely talk about the second part, so she asked me to release the second part of the audio later. That way, no one would notice the gap in the middle. Sure enough, no one noticed.”
Jiang Mochen nodded. “You two are quite attentive. If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have noticed. You deliberately released it in two parts just to cut out a part.”
“I just can’t let you know.” Yan Qingchi was very proud.
Jiang Mochen put his arm around him, smiling gently.
A few moments later, the waiter brought in the dishes they ordered. The two ate together, talked for a while, and then prepared to rest.
Yan Qingchi asked him, “Are you sleeping in my room tonight?”
Jiang Mochen thought he was trying to avoid suspicion, so he said softly, “I asked Director Fu’s assistant to book a room for me when I got here. I’ll sleep there.”
Yan Qingchi wasn’t expecting this and was a little surprised. “So you’re not sleeping with me?”
“You want to sleep with me?” Jiang Mochen asked him.
“You came all the way here, and if I let you sleep alone, wouldn’t that make me seem heartless?”
Jiang Mochen hadn’t expected such a treat tonight. “Then I’ll respectfully obey.”
He looked at Yan Qingchi and smiled. “I thought you were trying to avoid suspicion, so you asked me where I was sleeping.”
Yan Qingchi smiled with his eyes curved. “Just be careful. It’s okay. And,” he smiled, “the important thing is, I want to sleep with you tonight.”
“Just want to sleep together?” Jiang Mochen asked him.
Yan Qingchi glanced at him sideways, clicking his tongue. “I haven’t seen you for a few days, and you’re getting more and more yellow. Mr. Jiang, have some self-respect.”
“Mrs. Jiang, weren’t you the one who deliberately tricked me into thinking about mountains and seas?”
“I was just simply stating the noun ‘sleep,’ and who told you to think of it as a verb!”
Jiang Mochen was amused by his statement. “You must have been very good at Chinese in school. Your Chinese teacher must have liked you very much.”
Yan Qingchi chuckled and said nothing.
As always, this debate ended in Yan Qingchi’s victory. However, when they actually got to bed, tucked under the quilt and simply sleeping, Yan Qingchi felt that Jiang Mochen’s behavior seemed a little pitiful.
He thought for a moment, then poked Jiang Mochen. “Want to drive? Actually, it’s not impossible. Just don’t leave any marks on me.”
“Don’t you want to?”
“I don’t not want to, I was just worried it’ll affect filming.”
“So you’re not worried now?”
Yan Qingchi leaned into his arms and whispered, “Well, I feel bad for you, too.”
Jiang Mochen felt that his words were enough. He hadn’t come all this way here just to drive to the city with Yan Qingchi, but simply to see him, to be by his side at this moment. Nothing else mattered.
So he hugged Yan Qingchi and whispered, “It’s okay, I was just teasing you, I don’t really want it. Filming comes first. Once you’re done, we’ll have plenty of time.”
Yan Qingchi looked up at him.
Jiang Mochen bent down and kissed his forehead. “Really? I’m not lying.”
“Okay then.” Yan Qingchi leaned back into his arms. In the quiet night, he could hear Jiang Mochen’s heartbeat, each beat a comforting, nostalgic beat.
He was really a good lover.
“Good night,” Yan Qingchi said.
“Good night,” Jiang Mochen reached out and turned off the bedside lamp.
The next day, Mo Jianying finally couldn’t stand the online abuse and posted an apology to Yan Qingchi on Weibo. He said that he had done such a wrong thing out of his love for Yan Qingchi. He apologized to Yan Qingchi and also apologized to the netizens for letting them down. However, netizens weren’t buying his rhetoric. Their comments were filled with cynicism, devoid of any sympathy. “Don’t you think everyone is stupid and will side with you? And you’ve betrayed our kindness. You’re just being so righteous, but do you really take our respect for you seriously?”
Netizens continued their fury, and Sister Oats responded with a scathing response, “Come on, you still like him? Is our brother really unlucky enough to have you fall for him? You old scoundrel!”
Yan Qingchi had no time to pay attention to any of this as he was filming a crucial scene with the actor playing Saito—the sword duel between him and Saito in the martial arts gym.
In this scene, Yan Qingchi used a traditional sword, while Saito used a Japanese katana. The sword-versus-katana clash, ostensibly a duel between Wen Yao and Saito, was actually a clash between the Chinese and Japanese peoples.
Fu Minzhi explained the scene to both actors, explaining the key points of the shoot, and then called out “Action.”
Jiang Mochen sat on the chair where Yan Qingchi usually rested, looking at him wearing a white training suit and holding a sword. This was a Yan Qingchi, whom Jiang Mochen was not familiar with. He had a calm expression and bright eyes but not much warmth. His movements were fast and his body movements were beautiful. Facing Saito, his eyes were calm and composed, but he didn’t know where he got the confidence and sharpness of a young man.
They filmed this set of action scenes for a long time. Fu Minzhi was very meticulous about the movements and expressions of the two people and kept asking them to stop and start over again and again. After each shot, she asked Yan Qingchi and Saito to watch the playback in the camera and analyzed for them what kind of expressions and movements they should have at what time, and what benefits would come from such performance.
The two of them continued filming until seven in the evening before they called it a day and went out for a meal. Yan Qingchi walked up to Jiang Mochen and asked him, “Are you bored?”
“Not bad,” Jiang Mochen said, “looking at you isn’t too boring, and being able to listen to Director Fu explaining the play to you is also something I’ve gained.”
“You only needed to say the first half of the sentence at this point.”
Jiang Mochen readily agreed, “Looking at you, how can I be bored?”
Yan Qingchi nodded, “You’re a teachable boy.”
Jiang Mochen left on the morning of the third day. He only gave himself three days off, so when the time came, it was time for him to leave. Yan Qingchi felt that his trip was quite tiring. “Three days of vacation, two days on the road, so we actually only spent a full day together. You worked so hard.”
“How could that be? Seeing you was worth it.”
“Why are you so talkative today?” Yan Qingchi looked at him with a smile.
Jiang Mochen reached out and pulled him into a hug, kissing him. He then whispered, “It’s just the truth.”
Yan Qingchi reached out and hugged him, pressing his shoulder against his. “I’ll have Guan Mei take that variety show. Once I finish filming this drama, we can spend some quality time together.”
“Okay.”
Yan Qingchi looked up at him. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too,” Jiang Mochen said gently.
After seeing Jiang Mochen off, Yan Qingchi plunged back into his busy filming schedule, which lasted until early April. On April 13th, Yan Qingchi officially wrapped filming. He took a photo with Fu Minzhi and Yan Zi and posted on Weibo, expressing his gratitude for the encounter and his anticipation for this drama to bring new surprises to everyone.
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