Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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After the makeup was finalized in the morning, the production team of “Waiting for Spring” officially announced in the afternoon that Yan Qingchi would play the male lead, Yan Ling. Yan Qingchi reposted the official announcement on Weibo, adding the caption: “New role, new beginning.”
His popularity was currently at its peak, and his every move was closely watched. Soon, the forums began discussing the drama “Waiting for Spring.”
“Holy crap, I thought it was some kind of idol drama or a lighthearted, artsy show with that title, but it’s actually a serious military drama. Is Yan Qingchi planning to change his image?”
“What kind of image change? He hasn’t even settled on one yet!”
“I checked his profile, this director is amazing, the top director of military dramas. Yan Qingchi’s resources are enviable.”
“His resources have always been pretty good. It feels like he’s taken a very steady step since his debut.”
“I told you Nan Cheng is really pushing him, what’s wrong with you guys?”
“Small fame comes from promotion, big fame comes from fate. There are many who can’t be promoted. His current popularity means he’s truly destined for stardom.”
“I’m genuinely envious.”
“I’m not saying this lightly, Yan Qingchi’s resource conversion rate is really high. Basically, every drama or variety show he takes on has a high return on investment. That’s a skill in itself.”
“The scariest thing is that he even took a year off! A year without filming, and he still didn’t fall behind.”
“The stock is reliable. That year, it was all thanks to Meng Luo and Lin Yi’ang’s double boost, both on the big screen and the small screen, plus the popularity of ‘Come Fight! Friends!’ before, so it didn’t have much of an impact.”
“666, I wish our brother could be as successful as him.”
“Yeah.”
Amidst everyone’s discussion, at the end of October, Yan Qingchi officially joined the cast of “Waiting for Spring” and began filming his new drama. On the day of the start of filming, Yan Qingchi discovered that Li Mo was also in the crew.
Li Mo tilted her head and asked him with a smile, “Aren’t you surprised?”
Yan Qingchi nodded, “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I wanted to give you a surprise.” Li Mo said, “If I told you too early, it wouldn’t have the same effect.”
Yan Qingchi smiled helplessly and asked her, “Who are you playing?”
Li Mo was a little embarrassed and pointed at him, “I’ll play your girlfriend.”
This time, Yan Qingchi was really surprised. There weren’t many female characters in this drama, and the few that were didn’t have many scenes. Yan Ling’s girlfriend, Peng Xiaoai, was one of them.
Xiao Ai and Yan Ling were high school classmates. Xiao Ai had liked Yan Ling since their school days. When they went to college, she finally confessed her feelings to him, but Yan Ling didn’t feel the same way. After being rejected, Xiao Ai was not discouraged and continued to actively pursue Yan Ling. Even after Yan Ling joined the army, she would visit him regularly and come to see him when he came home on leave.
During the period when Yan Ling was emotionally unstable, he took a vacation and went home. Looking at Xiao Ai, who had been pursuing him relentlessly, he was somewhat puzzled and asked her, “Aren’t you tired?”
Xiao Ai thought for a moment and said seriously, “Not really. It’s my own business that I like you. Relationships aren’t something where I like you and you like me back. I’m just trying to achieve my own goal. After all, besides you, I haven’t met anyone else who makes my heart flutter. And look, I’m standing right next to you now, which is enough.”
Yan Ling didn’t say anything until they parted that night. He then said to Xiao Ai, “Waiting for someone is exhausting. With my current job, even if we were together, we’d only see each other less and less. If you’re sure you can wait, then we can give it a try.”
Xiao Ai looked at him with surprise and delight. After a moment of stunned silence, she nodded repeatedly and said excitedly, “I can! I definitely can! I’m the most patient person!”
She hugged Yan Ling in the night and then happily ran up the stairs to her apartment.
Peng Xiaoai could be described as a very idealized female character— lively, adorable, sweet, and considerate. She could watch an entire movie with Yan Ling without saying a word when he didn’t want to talk; she could also find ways to cheer him up when he was unhappy. She respected every decision Yan Ling made and was willing to wait for him to return.
Yan Qingchi and Jiang Mochen had even discussed the role, saying that whoever plays the female lead will be incredibly successful if the show becomes a hit. Peng Xiaoai’s character was simply too good; even though she only had a few dozen scenes, it didn’t diminish the brilliance of her character. However, Yan Qingchi never expected that it would be played by Li Mo.
Seeing his surprise, Li Mo quickly explained the whole story behind how she got the role: “I’ve known Uncle Kang since I was a kid, but I thought he was just a friend of my dad’s. You know, my dad is quite popular, so he has a lot of friends, some of whom often come to our house for dinner. I’m a sophomore in college this year, so I can start acting. I just wanted to do a few movies to hone my skills, but my dad didn’t like any of the scripts I chose. Then, Uncle Kang said that the female lead for his movie hadn’t been cast yet, and he suggested I give it a try.”
“How could I possibly agree?” Li Mo said. “I’ve never acted before. I’ve only ever performed in school plays. To play the female lead right off the bat is definitely not an option. I kept saying no, no. But Uncle Kang said it was fine because the female lead doesn’t actually have many scenes, and the acting requirements aren’t high. He just needed the actress to be young and pretty. When I looked at the script later, it really didn’t have many scenes, so I agreed. But I didn’t expect my dad to recommend you for the male lead.”
Li Mo’s expression was a little subtle. “Brother, do you believe me? I’m just a little sister fan!”
“What do you mean?” Yan Qingchi didn’t quite understand why she suddenly said this.
“It means I’m not a girlfriend fan!” Li Mo was very upset. “If I were a girlfriend fan, this would be a dream come true, but I’m a little sister fan, which is a bit awkward.”
Although Yan Qingchi knew about the various fan groups within the fandom because he often read forums, he really didn’t understand the different mindsets of these different fans.
So he selectively skipped this part he didn’t understand and silently sent Jiang Mochen a WeChat message: [Guess who plays Peng Xiaoai?]
Jiang Mochen asked him, [I know her?]
[That’s right.]
Jiang Mochen thought for a moment, [Not Li Mo, right?]
Yan Qingchi looked around, [You’re really not nearby?]
[I’m guessing. Since I know her. The only one who could be involved in this drama is Li Mo.]
[Then congratulations on guessing correctly, it’s her.]
[Then you two are quite destined. Have a good filming.]
As soon as Jiang Mochen finished speaking, he went to privately contact Li Mo.
[Xiao Mo, you’re playing Peng Xiaoai?]
Li Mo looked up at Yan Qingchi. Yan Qingchi asked her, “What’s wrong?”
Li Mo said somewhat guiltily, “Nothing, nothing, just checking on you.”
Yan Qingchi found her strange and squinted at her, which startled Li Mo so much that she immediately lowered her head and turned to reply to Jiang Mochen’s WeChat message, [Yes.]
Yan Qingchi looked at her guilty look and remained silent, picking up her script and deciding to let her off the hook.
Meanwhile, Jiang Mochen and Li Mo were having a friendly conversation.
[So, do you want to kiss, hug, and be lifted up high with your Qingchi brother?] Jiang Mochen asked Li Mo.
Li Mo, seeing this familiar phrase, felt a surge of emotion and replied, [No, I don’t!]
Jiang Mochen responded with a smile, [Good girl.]
Li Mo inwardly wailed; she was just a little sister fan! Little sister fans just hope their idols have better careers, but they never dare to even dream of them!
Li Mo looked at the word “good girl” in the chat box, slowly put away her phone, and sighed.
Li Mo wasn’t stupid; she could sense that there was something between Jiang Mochen and Yan Qingchi, otherwise Jiang Mochen wouldn’t have asked her this question before filming started. But because she wasn’t stupid, since the parties involved hadn’t said anything, she didn’t want to speculate. Anyway, she liked both Jiang Mochen and Yan Qingchi; as long as her two idols were happy, she felt that was enough.
Li Mo was only officially announced when filming for “Waiting for Spring” began. Her role was small, and as a newcomer, she wouldn’t have attracted much attention initially. It was only because of the popularity of “Best Partner” that people’s enthusiasm for her hadn’t waned, so they were surprised to see her playing the male and female leads alongside Yan Qingchi in this drama.
However, after people looked into Li Bozhong’s resume, they understood.
“Teacher Li worked with so many directors when he was young.”
“He doesn’t need to be in contact with all of them, but even if he had a good relationship with just a few, Li Mo’s career is guaranteed.”
“She already had no worries, okay? At 19, before even graduating from university, she is already playing the lead role, and opposite Yan Qingchi! She completely outshines her contemporaries.”
“Speaking of which, Yan Qingchi probably got this opportunity through Li Bozhong’s recommendation. Otherwise, Yan Qingchi wouldn’t know Director Kang Sheng’s group, and Director Kang has his own in-house team.”
“He’s really impressive. He became friends with Jiang Mochen after filming ‘Lost,’ got a good relationship with Sun Xun and Chen Xuanlang in ‘Come On, Friends!’, and needs no introduction with ‘Cotton Candy.’ Even Wei Lan directly confronted someone for his sake. Now, after filming ‘Best Partner,’ he’s received a recommendation from a senior actor. His resource conversion rate is truly amazing.”
“But it’s normal for Li Bozhong to like him too. Li Mo is a fan of him and Jiang Mochen, right? If the daughter likes him, the father will definitely like him too. Besides, during ‘Best Partner,’ Jiang Mochen and Yan Qingchi always took good care of Li Mo and the others.”
“Holy crap! A terrible thought popped into my head: could Teacher Li be trying to help his daughter chase after her idols and bring them together?!”
“Wake up, upstairs! Leave Li Mo alone! She’s got a strong survival instinct. She said on Weibo as soon as filming started that she’s a fan of Yan Qingchi and only wants to support her brother; she doesn’t dare think about anything else.”
“Hahaha, she’s kind of cute.”
Because “Waiting for Spring” was a joint production with the PLA Film Studio, the director filmed the city scenes first for convenience before moving on to the military scenes.
The city scenes weren’t many; they mainly revolved around Yan Ling and his father, and Yan Ling and Peng Xiaoai. To save money, Director Kang directly brought in Li Bozhong for a cameo role, letting him play Yan Ling’s father. Li Bozhong had been retired from acting for many years and originally only wanted to spend his later years at home raising birds and walking dogs. However, he couldn’t resist the invitation from his old friend, and moreover, his daughter was still in his old friend’s film crew, so he had no choice but to come out of retirement and resume his acting career.
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