Freeloading Dinner
After a moment’s silence, Su Shen ultimately nodded.
Seeing her agree, the director continued, “No worries. We will fix the sound during editing.”
This was how variety shows worked nowadays. They would enlarge people’s focal point, but in reality, everything depended on post-editing.
“I need to have a try of you guys’ guzheng first,” said Su Shen seriously, or she wouldn’t be able to control the sound and plucking of the guzheng well.
Hearing this, the director naturally said no problem and continued to go over a few more questions with her before asking someone to bring the guzheng over to her.
The rehearsal was held in the afternoon, and the actual recording would be held at night. Su Shen had gotten used to the pattern of these variety shows, and it all depended on post-production.
When the actual recording began at night, the audience had already entered the venue. Su Shen also had fans now. There was a group of fans sitting together in the audience holding her name and shouting it from time to time.
When the show began, she went on stage with several main characters of the cast. Immediately, there was a burst of warm applause from the audience. Su Shen kept a smile on her face as all the cameras focused on them.
“Let’s give a warm welcome to the main cast of Green Blood Sword!” The host said into the mic.
Immediately, a burst of applause erupted from the audience. The hostess then asked them to introduce themselves. Standing in the middle, Su Shen took the mic and smiled at the camera. “Hi everyone, I’m Su Shen, and I played Xuan Yuanjing in the drama.”
“Su Shen, this is the first time you worked with Jiang Yin, right? Was there a good rapport between you two?” The hostess asked.
This had all been rehearsed beforehand, so Su Shen naturally replied with a smile with her prepared answer, “In the beginning, we weren’t familiar with each other, but it got better later on.”
At that, the hostess didn’t follow up and asked Jiang Yin to introduce himself.
After everyone’s introductions, the host asked them to sit down to chat. He took a look at his script and said, “Our theme today is about breakups. In the drama, did the male and female leads ever break up?”
Su Shen held the mic and replied upon hearing that, “The female lead broke up one-sidedly.”
“But the male lead didn’t permit it,” added Jiang Yin.
The hosts across from them all laughed, and the hostess asked with a smile, “The drama seems to be quite melodramatic. So, did they break up or not?”
Thinking of the messy plot later on, Su Shen smiled helplessly and allowed Jiang Yin to answer, “You’ll find out when you watch the drama.”
At that, the hosts nodded. Then, the hostess looked at Jiang Yin again and asked, “Then Jiang Yin, if you break up with your ex-girlfriend, would you not be able to forget her?”
When the camera was aimed at Jiang Yin, the latter pondered for a bit before he looked at Su Shen subconsciously. The latter sat on the stool beside him expressionlessly. She didn’t know why he looked at her. They had never been together.
“I belong to the kind that looks forward. Since I’ve decided to break up, I won’t linger on it, unless it’s an unrequited love.”
As soon as Jiang Yin finished his words, the audience exploded again. Countless fans were crying out loud, and the hosts also exclaimed with a nod. “You’re so good-looking. Why don’t you confess?”
Su Shen changed into another position and was expressionless.
In the face of the host’s question, Jiang Yin just smiled and said, “Sometimes, not just being good-looking is useful.”
“AHHHHHHH!” The fans below were shouting crazily again.
“It sounds like there’s a story.” The host laughed, but he didn’t pry further. Instead, he looked at Zhu Qinqin and asked, “Then Qin Qin, would you be sad over a breakup?”
Seeing that the camera was finally on her, Zhu Qinqin changed to a more ladylike sitting position and covered her face with her hand, pretending to be shy. “I never had a boyfriend.”
Su Shen: “…….”
She covered her mouth with her hand and almost laughed.
“Has no one pursued you in school then?” The host continued to ask.
At that, Zhu Qinqin blinked her eyes innocently and said into the mic, “At that time, my parents didn’t allow me to date. I’m rather obedient, so I have never had a boyfriend.”
Su Shen pursed her lips even though she wanted to laugh.
Zhu Qinqin went the innocent campus belle route, so these statements matched her image.
Fortunately, the host didn’t care about the truthfulness of her responses. He then placed his sight on Su Shen, “Then Su Shen, would you be sad over a breakup?”
When the camera was aimed at her face, Su Shen pondered for a bit before saying into the mic, “I won’t break up easily. Since I’ve decided to be together with someone, I will slowly learn how to manage the relationship, unless there’s something that is really intolerable. But if that day really came, I may have already given up on him and wouldn’t be sad over it.”
“Are you the more active one in a relationship then?” The male gave her a meaningful smile.
The fact that she was with Xie Yan was not a big secret in the industry. Su Shen knew what the host was referring to, but she just smiled and answered truthfully, “I’m the more passive one. I’ve almost never taken the initiative.”
It was because Xie Yan was too proactive. He completely seized the initiative between them.
“Then in this kind of situation, it’s mostly the man who’s more overbearing. Would you often quarrel with each other?” The host continued to ask curiously.
Quarrel?
After pondering for a bit, Su Shen was somewhat embarrassed and said into the mic, “We seemed to have never quarreled. He never lost his temper with me nor was he too overbearing. Contrarily, he’s very respectful of me. If I had a different opinion than him, he would listen to me. However, we haven’t contacted each other for a long time.”
Seeing that she added emphasis on the last sentence, the hosts laughed meaningfully. “What a pity. He sounds like the best boyfriend of the century.”
At that, Jiang Yin, who was beside her, couldn’t help but glance at her. Su Shen just smiled and said nothing. Recalling it now, Xie Yan was indeed very good to her, but she was still very passive.
“We all know that you can play the guzheng. Can you show us a bit?” The host asked.
Su Shen naturally nodded and said, “Okay.”
After everyone walked to one side, the staff immediately brought a guzheng onto the stage. After Su Shen sat down, she then slowly put on the fake nails. After the camera was adjusted to aim at her, she then slowly began to pluck the strings.
The hostess squatted beside it and aimed the mic in front of the strings to magnify the sounds. As Su Shen plucked the strings, everyone noticed that this was a song that they had never heard of, but it held an inexplicable oriental nostalgia.
This was a piece of a music score that her master had taught her. It was said that it was composed by a favored concubine of the previous dynasty. At that time, the favored concubine was very favored by the Emperor, but everyone said that she was a femme fatale and brought ruin to the country. The favored concubine then disappeared. Some said that she had died in the well of the Cold Palace, and so, the previous dynasty was destroyed due to the incompetence of the weak Emperor. There was only the first part of the music score remaining with the second part missing.
Without any accompaniment, there was only the sound of the strings clanging, producing a poignant and beautiful melody. The woman looked down slightly, her side profile exquisite. Her eyes were slightly open, and her slender fingers moving along the strings. Her focused gaze seemed to only contain the guzheng.
As soon as Su Shen finished playing, she looked up at the hostess beside her and said with a smile, “I forgot the remaining part.”
“No, no, no, it was great.” The hostess immediately shook her head. “I didn’t go to school much, and I can only say that it sounded great.”
Everyone else also burst into laughter. There was also a warm round of applause from the audience. The host also exclaimed, “Before, our director said that you weren’t confident in yourself, so we were thinking of adding BGM later on. But with this, you’re slapping our production team in the face!”
Although they couldn’t hear what techniques were used, they could still sense the tempo. The tempo and tuning of the song were basically integrated into one with not a hint of abruptness at all.
“When the director asked me about it before, I was hesitant because I’ve forgotten many music scores, so I had to practice at the last minute.” Su Shen explained with a smile.
Actually, she didn’t want to play it at first because she was afraid of being suspected. But on second thought, she didn’t have to hide. Even if others suspected her, she could say that she was just innately talented.
After the performance, the variety show set up some small games. After finishing recording, it was already 10:00 pm. Jiang Yin offered to drive her, but Su Shen declined saying she had a chauffeur.
After returning to her condo, she told Liu jie about the later part of the variety show and hoped that the production team would not cut randomly and make her and Jiang Yin into a cp.
For the following while, there were only a few engagements. Meanwhile, Su Shen delved into the script of the Republican era movie. This was an opportunity for her; whether she could enter the mainstream film industry depended on this. Xie Yan could provide her with connections and opportunities, but it couldn’t change the way those directors saw her.
Xie Yan came back on the 8th, but Su Shen didn’t go see him because the award ceremony was on the 9th. This time, Li Hao was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Xie Yan for Best Actor, and she was nominated for Best Newcomer. Frankly, she didn’t think that Xie Yan could win the Best Actor award because the script was not the best. The other actors that were nominated for the award were either of a literary, commercial, or action movie. It was hard for historical war films to ever win an award.
On the 9th, Liu jie brought her a light sage green fluffy dress. She had to slightly lift the dress up to walk. This kind of dress was very inconvenient, but it was already a lot better than those that bore the chest and back.
“You have to go on set on the 12th, so I already declined the rest of your engagements for the next few days. You can be stuck together with Xie Yan,” said Liu jie, sitting in front.
Sitting in the rear, Su Shen just blinked her eyes and coughed upon hearing that before she looked out the window, saying nothing.
“By the way, the producer for the drama of you and Xie Yan intends for you guys to do a couple’s OST duet. What do you think?” Liu jie asked suddenly.
Su Shen: “……”
A couple’s duet?
She wanted to laugh upon hearing that. Even if she was beaten to death, she didn’t believe that Xie Yan would go sing.
“Even I haven’t heard him sing before and it’s unnecessary. He can just sing for me only,” said Su Shen indifferently.
Liu jie: “…….”
Turning around and glancing at Su Shen, she suddenly found that the two of them were getting more and more lovey-dovey despite meeting each other only a few times recently.
When the car stopped outside of the red carpet, there were already many cars parked outside. Some artists were queuing up to walk the red carpet. This time, they also walked together as a cast and were rather toward the end too.
Currently, the weather was not that cold. Putting on a thin coat, Su Shen followed Xiao Zhou to the commercial SUV for the cast. As soon as the door opened, the inside was full of people. Li Hao, Wang Cheng, and the others were already there.
Seeing her coming, Li Hao immediately moved to the front and said with a smile, “I won’t be third wheeling.”
At that, Wang Cheng, who was at the side, couldn’t help laughing. Su Shen blushed. When she was about to get in the car, Xie Yan, who was inside, immediately reached out to hold her arm and helped her in.
In the back, Fan Meng still had a long face and looked at Su Shen with scorn.
After sitting down, Su Shen took off her high heels. This pair of heels would cause blisters if she wore them for a long time, but if she put on some band-aids, they would be caught in the photos.
“Not cold?” Xie Yan glanced at her bare feet.
Su Shen pulled her coat closer and then lifted up the hem of her gown, revealing a pair of fleece leggings. “Look, I’m wearing another one inside.”
Seeing that the people in front also turned around, Xie Yan immediately pulled down the hem of her dress and held her slender wrist, frowning before saying, “You didn’t eat well again?”
The people in front were exasperated. Being lovey-dovey every day, don’t they ever consider their feelings?
“I… didn’t lose weight. You’re delusioning. I clearly gained a pound.” Su Shen glanced at him from the corner of her eye and pursed her lips.
Glancing at her, Xie Yan took off his suit jacket and placed it on her legs. He then caressed her head, “But, I’m thinner. Do you want to replenish me?”
Su Shen: “…….”
She blushed and stopped talking.
Looking at the two of them being lovey-dovey as if no one was around, Wang Cheng, who was in the front, couldn’t help but interjected, “Right, right, right, Su Shen, if you’re gonna cook today, you wouldn’t mind Li Hao and me freeloading a dinner, right?”
At that, Xie Yan glanced at him insipidly and said without changing his expression. “No can do.”
