Chapter 19: CH 13.1

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The male and female leads for [Winter] were soon decided. After honing his acting skills for these many years, Zhou Jianchen had attained the acme of perfection and a mere audition was not a problem, not to mention he had come prepared.

All those things done were just formality.

Except he was not happy when he came back. He is someone who has difficulty getting into a role and even harder to disengage from it. After immersing in the role for the whole night yesterday, he has yet to come out of it.

Zhou Zhaozong was a very challenging role. He was ruthless and fearless, but in actuality, he was terribly soft-hearted and once he loved someone, he was simply the same as himself.

He felt a little depressed, as he sensed that his heart was being ripped open with nowhere to hide.

Sister Shao was particularly happy when she heard that he finally came out to act and it was nevertheless Chen Hua’en’s movie, but she became silent again once she learned who the female lead was.

She looked profoundly at Zhou Jianchen but was ignored by him, thus she could only swallow all the words.

However, Zhou Zuokang was fine since he is only responsible for making money and doesn’t care about anything else, and he believes in Chen Hua’en’s vision.

With Chen Hua’en’s golden name, the other castings were particularly smooth. Although the remuneration paid by Chen Hua’en was very low, there’s no shortage of artists as some don’t even want to be paid just to strive for the chance to participate. Zhou Jianchen’s fee was reduced a lot too, but he himself didn’t care at all.

The final shooting date had also been set for January 8th, which is two months later.

As Chen Hua’en has been preparing for 2 years, most preparations have been completed and it is now left with only the final implementation.

Since Chen Hua’en is someone who speaks with his work and doesn’t like bragging, everything was not publicized. The actors and actresses have to sign a confidentiality agreement when they sign the contracts — no one is allowed to disclose a word before the official announcement.

The confidentiality job was done so well, thus many of the casts do not even know who the finalized male and female leads are. The male lead was undoubtedly rumored to be Zhou Jianchen, but no one got wind of the female lead.

Today was exactly the styling appointment with Du Yafu.

The country’s most outstanding art director and styling designer, Du Yafu has won many awards and critical acclaim.

As Chen Hua’en has very strict requirements for the costume designs and styling, he naturally was enlisted this time too.

The appointment was at 9 in the morning and Zhou Jianchen arrived first while Liang Ying was running a little late.

“Sorry, I’m late.” Liang Yin apologized as soon as she entered the door. She left home very early but got caught in heavy traffic. Wearing the black coat from the airport, she looked a little pale. It was rather cold outside and she was obviously underdressed.

Zhou Jianchen was originally sitting on the sofa reading the script. When he saw her come in,he moved uneasily to get up at once. He was also wearing a black coat today.

He then remembered those ‘couple matching outfits’ previously implied on Weibo.

Liang Yin had already greeted everyone, Chen Hua’en just nodded; while Du Yafu was very happy since he had worked with Liang Yin before; Zhou Jianchen originally wanted to stand up, but ultimately he just sat on the sofa and nodded at her.

He didn’t know how to face Liang Yin.

The pair of sunglasses was still on his face and he had yet to take it off after he came in.

Seeing his reaction, Du Yafu opened his mouth, “Jianchen, didn’t you say you are a fan of Yinyin, why are you so indifferent now?” He is someone who likes to joke, at times he will unwittingly pick the kettle that is not boiling*.

[T/N: “哪壶不开提哪壶 (Nǎ hú bù kāi tí nǎ hú) – pick the kettle that is not boiling indicate that saying or doing something that shouldn’t be mentioned in front of others, or that a sensitive subject was brought up.]

Somewhat dumbfounded hearing that, Zhou Jianchen immediately averted his eyes and spoke sullenly, “I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m a little tired.”

He should really display some enthusiasm and cheerfulness, just like how he behaved in front of others, but he just couldn’t do it. Liang Yin was right in front of him and he didn’t want to be pretentious.

Thinking about it, he still stood up languidly and extended his hand again, “I’m glad to work with you.”

Liang Yin had already walked over and was about to sit down by the side.

Even if he was unwilling, he still had to do what he ought to do. He didn’t want to be seen through by those around him.

Looking at his outstretched hand, Liang Yin reached out hastily to shake his, but once both hands clasped, the two people had a momentary hesitation.

They both remembered when they met on the set of [Spring Light] that year. The first phrase he said to her seemed to be — “I’m glad we can work together.”

Zhou Jianchen had withdrew his hand and sat down again. When he recalled how he appeared at that time, his mood was even worse.

But once he recollected the tactile sensation on his hand, his heart throbbed for a moment.

Her hand was cold, yet was deadly soft.

Liang Yin originally wanted to return a verse “I’m very happy to work with you”, but she could only swallow it back seeing that Zhou Jianchen had sat back down on the sofa.

She could feel the little contradictory Zhou Jianchen had towards herself, but she didn’t know why.

After all, Zhou Jianchen is rather temperamental, so she wasn’t sure if it was because of herself.

Du Yafu soon got to work. Hair-do, makeup and costume, all needed detailed designs, thus he did not have much time to waste.

The role of ‘Zhou Zhaozong’ was relatively simple to deal with since his portrayal was military intelligence from beginning to the end. Apart from the Nationalist Party uniforms, there were simply a few western suits which complied with the historical design and would do without much changes as long as it was slightly close to the temperament of Zhou Jianchen himself. However, ‘Xu Mengbai’ was much more complicated. Whether it was the social butterfly identity in the early stage, or the disguise of a wealthy businessman’s wife in the middle, or the final reinstatement to her real identity, different costumes and hair-dos were needed to interpret all these roles.

The most important was how Da Yafu portrayed Liang Yin.

Zhou Jianchen’s actual appointment was tomorrow, but he was not free since there was a company’s event, so it had to be arranged together today.

And Du Yafu is also busy as he is traveling abroad to attend a film festival the day after tomorrow.

But Du Yafu had already prepared for two days. He had worked with both Zhou Jianchen and Liang Yin before, and had long known Chen Hua’en’s preferences, so everything went very smoothly.

Two hours later, the first looks of both Zhou Jianchen and Liang Yin were done.

Zhou Jianchen came out first. Wearing a gray-black suit with white shirt, a black and gray striped tie with swept-back hair, his penetrating and aloof eyes were revealed once the sunglasses were taken off.

He has very good skin even without any powdery makeup, hence Du Yafu merely trimmed the shapes of his eyebrows a little.

Chen Hua’en nodded when he saw Zhou Jianchen as he was indeed the ‘Zhou Zhaozong’ that he visualized. He even pressed a few shutters of the video camera which was in his hand.

In order to better blend into the atmosphere, the room had been decorated with the characteristics of the Republic of China. Merely standing by the sofa without superfluous adornment, Zhou Jianchen looked just like a gentleman of the Republic of China.

With the help of the assistant chief designer, Liang Yin had also changed her clothes and walked out. This was the appearance of ‘Xu Mengbai’ for the middle part where she impersonated a rich family’s wife in an attempt to assassinate a Japanese senior official. Dressed in a dark blue embellished brocade qipao which conformed to the norms of society, she appeared rich and poised; her hair was permed into curls and loosely gathered behind her head. With make-up, long thin eyebrows and dark red lips, she looked downright classical.

Du Yafu eventually felt something was missing looking at her. Opening the jewelry box, he picked out a pair of pearl earrings and wanted to put them on for her.

“I’ll do it.” As the ears area was too intimate, Liang Yin tilted her head a little out of ticklishness and took over the earrings as she said so.

Du Yafu didn’t mind at all but Zhou Jianchen on the side was relieved.

The scene where Du Yafu wanted to put on the earrings for her just now was too ambiguous.

He had been looking at Liang Yin. Even knowing perfectly well that there was nothing to see, he still couldn’t help looking.

Liang Yin has never acted in any film of the Republic of China’s era and is never seen wearing a qipao. It was originally thought that she might not look good in qipao since she is so slender, but once she came out, she looked attractively exquisite and her every gesture was lithely graceful.

Zhou Jianchen shot a glance at Liang Yin’s chest then turned his head away. It was obviously cold from the northern wind outside, yet he contrarily felt parched.

He remembered when ‘Zhou Zhaozong’ met ‘Xu Mengbai’ again, he pushed her hard against the wall and interrogated her, “Aren’t you dead already …”

Liang Yin had put the earrings on, but something was still missing when Du Yafu looked at her.

On the side, Chen Hua’en opened his mouth, “Liang Yin, take note of the expression in your eyes. You are disguising as Mrs. Jia Siping and about to assassinate Harada, but who knows you caught sight of Zhou Zhaozong. You turn around as you dare not let him see you.”

Liang Yin didn’t expect him to have such a request, but she still did as she was told.

After a brief deliberation, she lowered her head. When she raised her head again, she turned her face slightly sideways and glanced from the corner of her eyes to the back. Her expression was tense while nervousness, shock and even a slight panic flashed in her eyes.

“Okay.” Liang Yin paused for a few seconds when Chen Hua’en called to stop.

Pulling herself back, Liang Yin was instantly out of the role. She has always been quick getting into the role and also easily disengaged from it.

“Awesome!” Watching Liang Yin return to normalcy, Du Yafu clapped his hands abruptly, “I eventually thought Yinyin was still a little contrast from the character just now, but when the expression in the eyes came out, the whole person was there. Oh my, I even have goosebumps.” Saying that, he rubbed his arms again.

Zhou Jianchen was shocked too. Although Liang Yin’s acting skills were amazing five years ago, there were still noticeable traces of inexperience. But now she has become stellar in passing.

Chen Hua’en smiled without saying a word as there were already many more images in the video camera that he was holding.

The cropped screenshot just now could suitably be used as the character photoshoot.

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He knew that Liang Yin is not out of practice these years. Although she hasn’t done any acting, she has been mulling over.

Though 5 years might seem like a gap, in reality it was amassment.