“Substituting someone at this time?! Director Chen, this must be a mistake! Brother Shen joined the team by signing a contract – how could you possibly let go of him for no good reason? It’s not like he’s a lesser-known artist…”
In the temporary resting-tent set up by the crew, the assistant was still arguing with the director. Beside them, pulling down the tent’s framework, was the deputy director; although he wasn’t watching them himself, he could still feel they were about to overturn the tent.
Sitting on the chair given to him by the grips1, Shen Mingbei’s back was straight, disregarding the people around him.
He was still wearing the costume he’d changed into earlier; a dark, buttoned Chinese jacket with long sleeves, where a pair of fair hands holding a phone stretched out from. Staring at the unanswered news page, nobody knew if he was in a daze or thinking.
After a while, a grip saw Shen Mingbei’s complexion become unnaturally pale; he frowned, and came over to ask, “Did you not eat anything for breakfast?”
Shen Mingbei nodded; Director Chen was a very demanding person. In order to not delay the morning shooting, he made an appointment with the make-up teacher at 5 in the morning for styling; there wasn’t any time for food.
Usually, the assistant would’ve already prepared his breakfast, but Xiao-Zhang was busy helping him argue…
The grip understood and, after another while, sent Shen Mingbei a piece of candy; he even told him some gossip.
“I heard it was requested by the producers; Brother Shen, did you really not catch wind of anything before this?” Although he had good intentions, the grip also wanted to gossip as well.
Shen Mingbei wasn’t in very high spirits. He unwrapped the candy and ate it; only after a moment passed did he look up at the grip. He first said ‘thank you’ before indifferently saying, “I didn’t. I only knew this morning.”
If he’d known earlier, he wouldn’t have woken up so early for styling today.
Still, it’d been so long; they’d been arguing since 6, and it was almost 8.
Shen Mingbei looked at the time. Cai Feng hadn’t replied yet – his insight was truly too poor and his brokerage far too incapable. This problem could only be dealt with himself. Shen Mingbei stood up and, from outside the tent, beckoned Xiao-Zhang over with a wave.
Xiao-Zhang fought very arrogantly, but the moment Shen Mingbei beckoned him, he ran over and asked, “Brother Shen, what’s wrong?”
“Go and arrange a car. Let’s leave.” After Shen Mingbei finished speaking, Xiao-Zhang was taken aback and his expression became unpleasant.
“We can’t just leave like this. If they don’t give us an explanation, then nobody will start work today!”
Xiao-Zhang felt like he was going to be angered to death.
In order to shoot《Feng Yue》, let’s not mention how many announcements were delayed for time and how much money was lost. Just to fit the role, Brother Shen especially practised at a martial arts school for three months so he could play the role beautifully.
Now, unwilling to even give a decent explanation, they wanted to substitute him, saying how they’d pay him to leave; no matter how he thought about it, it was absolutely infuriating!
As soon as Xiao-Zhang’s voice fell, the director and deputy director came over; their faces were filled with smiles directed at Shen Mingbei while their mouths were shouting “Mr Shen!”
But their attitudes were firm. They could pay money and pay for his martial arts tuition fee, but this role must not be given to Shen Mingbei.
“Alright. How are you going to pay?” Shen Mingbei raised his phone up slightly and showed them his screen – which was displaying a voice-recording app – and explained. “I’ve been scammed before; people would only suffer less after they’ve paid their ‘tuition’.”
As soon as the voice-recording app was displayed, the director and deputy director’s expressions became somewhat awkward.
Shen Mingbei was too magnanimous; they weren’t able to say anything either because this situation began with them breaching the contract first. But if they didn’t breach the contract… The Qu family weren’t to be reckoned with either. After the two exchanged a glance, the price they’d negotiated the night before was reported.
”
”
The director and deputy director waited for Shen Mingbei to make a counter-offer, but Shen Mingbei directly nodded in agreement.
“I defend my rights, but I really did like the script I received. I hope this compensation won’t affect your shooting progress and I also hope to see it one day earlier on TV.” The smile on Shen Mingbei’s face remained unchanged; he took out a piece of paper and pen borrowed from the prop group and, after adding the amount onto it, asked the director and deputy director to sign it.
Hn, he didn’t forget to remind them to press their fingerprints either.
Until now, everyone had been pretty polite and restrainedly paid attention to adult courtesies. But when Shen Mingbei turned to leave, the Deputy Director hurriedly chased him and told him, “Mr Shen, remember to leave the costumes the crew gave you earlier. There are accessories included which are very expensive…”
The deputy director said it as if Shen Mingbei wanted to hide this rubbish.
Shen Mingbei lightly glanced at him, but his attitude was still gentle as he smiled towards the deputy director. “Okay.”
Shen Mingbei was very good-looking, and when he smiled he looked even more gentle – as if he had no temper.
Shen Mingbei had an elegant demeanour, was good-looking and had great acting skills.
He never cried during this week of filming; never complained that he was tired; made the downstream become so clear that even the dirt became likeable.
Now that Shen Mingbei was leaving, he didn’t forget to buy everyone a goodbye milk-tea; when a few crew members wanted his autograph, Shen Mingbei signed them patiently before finally leaving.
Leaving this way made the entire《Feng Yue》film crew feel admiration for him.
To suddenly change the lead actor with no explanation for a drama that’d already begun shooting, Shen Mingbei either offended somebody or the person substituting him was very successful.
Considering Shen Mingbei’s performance and past rumours about him, he wasn’t the type to offend anyone.
“So this newcomer must be a big shot – I’m afraid our shooting process is gonna become more difficult.”
After the grip made his analysis to the props teacher, he took a sip of his milk tea and watched as the props teacher helped pack the costumes.
“This matter ends here; no matter what the reason is, we can’t afford to offend him.” The props teacher glanced over and stopped participating in the discussion.
The grip felt a bit angry, but it was true they had to be cautious when working in this industry.
…..
Since he was temporarily substituted during filming, Shen Mingbei and the crew handed over the script; by the time he finished and was tossed back to the Capital by plane – it was already early morning the next day.
When Shen Mingbei left, he’d only brought a carry-on suitcase; everything else was packed and arranged to be delivered back by his assistant. His assistant was going to take the plane that left after his, so he’d arrive slightly later.
Shen Mingbei came back in a hurry, so his company hadn’t even arranged a car to pick him up. Instead, Shen Mingbei stepped out of the airport alone.
Standing by the Capital Airport’s entrance, Shen Mingbei’s 185+cm height stood out in the crowd. If one looked closer, they’d find that Shen Mingbei’s mask-covered face was even more handsome!
As the crowd of people entering the airport increased – and after rejecting the third passerby that came over to take a picture with him – Shen Mingbei knew he couldn’t wait any longer. Restraining his fear of having to face a car, he finally made up his mind and took a taxi directly to Qingtan Bay.
Qingtan Bay’s villa grounds were part of the Capital’s wealthy areas and the houses were very quiet.
After entering his house, it was just as he expected; no one was there.
To be more precise, Qu Lang wasn’t home.
After he arrived home, Shen Mingbei hadn’t even sat down on the couch yet before his phone began to ring like a persistent reminder. Shen Mingbei looked at the contact name; his brows furrowed, but he still answered.
“Mingbei, I only just knew about the substitution matter.”
From the other end, Cai Feng’s tone sounded very flattering, but Shen Mingbei wasn’t buying it.
“Oh.” He didn’t continue.
His agent’s working attitude hadn’t changed even after so many years.
How was it that he couldn’t contact him whilst he was still on-set, yet he began explaining after it was confirmed he was back?
“I found the person who joined the team after you left – someone called Lin Xiang. It’s said that he stuffed ten-million into this and even invited Mr Fu Hua from《Da Qing》to make an appearance. The more specific negotiations are still unclear. Lin Xiang this-“
Cai Feng was suddenly interrupted by Shen Mingbei; he didn’t really want to hear all of this.
“I know him.” Of course Shen Mingbei knew Lin Xiang. In fact, they could even be considered familiars. But why did Lin come back so suddenly?
Shen Mingbei suddenly remembered the contents of a novel he’d read many years ago.
Lin was Qu Lang’s White Moonlight.
He didn’t pay much attention until now, but the plot actually developed to the point where the White Moonlight returned to China. Was it already trending across the entertainment industry?
Since Lin was back, Qu Lang would probably divorce him soon…
But ten-million was a very generous amount.
Even if Shen Mingbei knew he wouldn’t obtain many assets from marriage, he still felt stunned by Qu Lang’s generosity. Qu Lang must really love Lin.
Tut, if he’d known Qu Lang would give ten-million, he would’ve bargained more with the director.
He was too hasty!
After a good while, Shen Mingbei spoke again. “Brother Cai, give me a few days off. I’ll come back to work after a short period.”
He didn’t know how the plot would develop specifically, but the divorce should be soon.
Shen Mingbei felt Qu Lang would soon dismiss their relationship and search for his second youthful romance2. After thinking about it, he decided to take some time out for himself to deal with all these troublesome matters, so he asked his agent for a few days off.
Actually, even if Shen Mingbei didn’t ask for a few days off, there hadn’t been any recent notices for him to take part in anything-
He’d just been kicked off from set, so his schedule was completely messed up; at the very least, he’d have these few days to himself.
“Mingbei, take a good rest. If you want to start work again, just tell me; we’re not short of good scripts anyway.” Cai Feng continued rambling on about some nonsense. No matter what, Shen Mingbei was still the company’s top gun. Tomorrow, he’d let someone send over a few scripts to Shen Mingbei for him to read through – and this time they’d have to choose properly!
Shen Mingbei agreed; it’d been years since his first debut, what problem hadn’t he encountered?
Even if he wasn’t the White Moonlight protagonist, he’d been robbed of his role before; in such a capitalist world, purely relying on one’s talent for a livelihood was pretty difficult.
Now that the White Moonlight Lin was back, he didn’t want to make too many extravagant demands.
…..
Shen Mingbei didn’t have any tasks to complete and found himself with nothing to do in the villa. He’d read many new scripts, but none of them were suitable for him.
As he wandered around the courtyard, he remembered the dragon-fruits seeds he’d forgotten to water; looking at the dry and clumped coco-peats, Shen Mingbei felt an endless regret.
Speaking of this, it was all because Qu Lang didn’t like him doing these things. He’d always tell him to let the gardener do all the work and just admire the end result; this caused Shen Mingbei to subconsciously hide his petri dish.
Whenever Qu Lang said this, it was hard for Shen Mingbei to tell him he disliked how the gardener made everything look lifeless and how joyless it was to not do the work himself.
After all, the two of them had different ideologies; they’d separate sooner or later, so there wasn’t a need to force their three views3 to align and cause everyone to feel unhappy.
Shen Mingbei shook his head and gloomily dealt with the petri dish; he searched through the fridge and found that instead of dragon fruits, there was a bag of small loquats.
He ate one and found it very sweet. Shen Mingbei’s eyes lit up – this one then!
Shen Mingbei spent a few days in his villa germinating the loquats whilst the internet exploded with discussions.
#Qu Lang’s late-night visit to the《Feng Yue》set
Footnotes
A career in filmmaking. A grip’s responsibility is to build and maintain any equipment supporting cameras, e.g. tripods.
Second youthful romance (第二春) – the development of a romantic relationship after one’s first marriage.
A general interpretation of the Chinese ‘three views’ (三观) is one’s ‘worldview’. The specific three views it refers to, however, include one’s perspective of the world, their life and their values.