SM Chapter 10
by VolareRain always follows a stuffy and humid summer night. Ye Lai had a premonition after returning from the pub yesterday. His body would ache faintly whenever it was cloudy and rainy. Half-asleep in the deep night, Ye Lai heard the pitter-patter of rain on the glass window.
It’s raining even harder now. Ye Lai reached for the remote control and opened the curtains. Outside the window, the rain was misty, and dark clouds hung low in the sky. The faint streaks of rain on the glass window kept streaming down, and the water vapor separated the interior and exterior into two different worlds.
The phone was on speaker, and Ning Yuan’s excited voice never stopped.
“Sang Mei’s agent just called our director and said she agreed to participate in the show recording! I didn’t take it seriously when you mentioned it yesterday. Just one night, Ye Lai, how did you manage to convince Sang Mei? Our director has been inviting her since the year before last, and she never agreed.”
Ye Lai had just woken up and said in a muffled voice, “It wasn’t me, it was a friend… of a friend, who happened to know Sang Mei. It was just a coincidence.”
“After getting home last night, the director even called me. We were worried, but now that Sang Mei has agreed, the director is thrilled!” Ning Yuan said.
Ye Lai turned over, and his eye socket accidentally rubbed against the pillow, causing him to wake up instantly with a sharp pain. His voice also became heavier, “By the way, Brother Yuan, what happened to Zhou Ran yesterday?”
“The director told me that he was dragged away directly by his agent afterward. He even made threatening remarks before leaving.” Ning Yuan said, then sneered.
“Will he cause trouble?” Ye Lai worried.
“It’s okay, the cameras were all on yesterday. The part where he jumped up and hit someone was recorded very clearly. Zhou Ran’s agent knows what’s up and even discussed with the director about deleting that video.”
…
Ning Yuan didn’t say whether the video was deleted or not. Ye Lai only saw the time after hanging up the phone. It was already past ten o’clock.
He didn’t sleep well all night, his head felt heavy, his steps were unsteady, and the body pain was no longer so obvious. Ye Lai propped himself up and got out of bed. The swelling around his eyes had subsided, slightly red. He couldn’t feel the pain if he didn’t touch it.
Ye Lai didn’t have much appetite, but his stomach was empty and sour. He still made himself a cup of milk and oatmeal. Some milk splashed on his clothes. After finishing, Ye Lai took another shower. When he came out, he found one of Sheng Mingqian’s shirts from the closet and put it on. The hem of the shirt barely covered his thighs. Ye Lai walked barefoot into the viewing room.
–
–
He opened the video, and the top viewing record was Sheng Mingqian’s movie “Live Dissection” that he had starred in before. The last time he watched this movie was with Sheng Mingqian. Later, the movie was not finished, and the double sofa was flattened by someone.
After an afternoon of upside down, he didn’t get to watch the movie. He fell asleep in Sheng Mingqian’s arms. When he woke up, he was already lying in the soft big bed upstairs.
Ye Lai was holding the remote control, and his hand that wanted to change the movie stopped. His thumb rubbed the circular button a few times, but in the end, he still clicked continue. The movie screen happened to freeze on his face.
The projector magnified his face. It was a close-up shot. His character, Chi Wen, was standing on the top of an unfinished building after the rain, opening his arms to jump down and commit suicide, but finally giving up because he was unwilling.
After giving up, he closed his eyes and walked down the stairs. There were still the last two wet steps left. Chi Wen opened a slit in his eyes, and the camera focused on that slit, the still dripping hair, the thick eyelashes, the black mud spots on the bridge of his nose, and the subtle emotions in his eyes were all captured in the camera.
He looked at his toes standing on the steps, and finally opened his arms to imitate the posture of jumping off the building and jumped down. In the movie, he broke his leg.
Every time Ye Lai saw this, his calf would ache. Not only did he break his leg in the play, but because of the prop team’s mistake in that scene, he had a fractured calf and sat in a wheelchair for more than a month.
Leaving aside the fact that he played it, Ye Lai believed that his performance in the movie had outstanding aspects. That year, this role was also nominated for the Platinum Award for Best Supporting Actor. Although he didn’t win the award, it was already a recognition of him.
That year, he stopped Sheng Mingqian in the hallway and won himself a chance to re-audition. Sheng Mingqian finally told him that the crew would notify him when the crew started.
But when the crew started, he didn’t receive any calls. Zhang Yihao told him that the role of Chi Wen had been temporarily replaced, and he had no chance. That was three months after the successful audition.
After returning home from the hotel audition, Ye Lai didn’t dare to delay for a moment. He studied the script every day, carefully polishing every line and every action in his mind.
Ye Lai rolled every scene in his mind again and again, memorizing the lines over and over, for fear of making a mistake.
In those few months, Ye Lai seemed to be possessed. He dreamed that he had become Chi Wen, and he spoke the lines from the movie. In life, he also seemed to have become Chi Wen, with his expressions, movements, language, and even eating habits.
Zhang Yihao saw him again half a month after his audition and was frightened by him. He thought he had a mental disorder and wanted to take him to the hospital for a check-up.
It wasn’t until the breath that Ye Lai had been holding on to was released that it took a long time to get out of Chi Wen’s world. He told Zhang Yihao that he was letting himself enter the role in advance.
Zhang Yihao said that he was obsessed with the role. For an actor, this was good and not good. Actors should be invested in the role, but not too invested in the role.
What Ye Lai didn’t explain to him was that it wasn’t acting that made him so obsessed, nor was it that the role of Chi Wen was so attractive. The role of Chi Wen was gloomy and negative. If he could choose, Ye Lai would prefer a more sunny character. What was fatally attractive to him was Sheng Mingqian, the opportunity to get closer to Sheng Mingqian.
He was sinking in the water, wanting to reach out and touch the approaching star. He wanted to grab him and feel the light of the star.
It’s just that Ye Lai never expected that Sheng Mingqian had personally said that the role was his, but no one notified him to join the crew before the start of filming. There were even promotional photos of the new drama about to start on the news. It wasn’t until Zhang Yihao told him that he knew the role had been changed.
Ye Lai felt like he had been struck by lightning, piercing through from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. The bursting loud noise rippled in his ears.
Zhang Yihao couldn’t bear to see him looking lost, so he put his arm around his shoulder: “It’s my fault for being useless. If I had the ability, I would definitely keep the role for you.”
Ye Lai stood blankly on the roadside, then raised his head after a long time, his eyes moist.
That afternoon, Ye Lai drank a lot of wine with Zhang Yihao, and got the filming location of the crew from Zhang Yihao. Obviously Zhang Yihao had already sent him home, but he still went to the crew.
The drunk was swaying as he walked. He forced himself to calm down, rehearsing the draft over and over again.
He wanted to ask Sheng Mingqian face to face, why? Why change the role that was promised, why give him hope and then crush it?
Even if this kind of thing is very common in the entertainment industry, not to mention changing the role before the start of filming, it is not uncommon to replace you after the start of filming.
But Ye Lai was unwilling, unwilling that his efforts for so long had withered before he saw the results. The fire in his heart was about to burn him dry.
He just wanted to know the answer now.
There were not many people in the crew, but it was very chaotic. Only half of the set was built, and several actors wearing costumes were huddled together chatting and drinking tea. The monitor was there, but no one was behind the monitor, only a canopy.
Ye Lai walked over drunkenly, and no one stopped him. He grabbed a stagehand who was moving props: “A break? Not filming yet?”
The stagehand who was grabbed by the arm thought he was an actor from the crew: “Film what film, whether it can be filmed is another matter.”
“What’s wrong? What do you mean?”
The stagehand impatiently pulled out his hand: “I’m just a worker, how would I know so much?”
“Where’s Sheng Mingqian?” Ye Lai asked, pressing on.
Perhaps it was rare for someone to call Sheng Mingqian’s name directly like this. The stagehand’s eyes changed when he looked at Ye Lai. He couldn’t tell what he was, so he thought about it and pointed to him: “He’s inside, having a meeting with the investors.”
That finger just pointed roughly in one direction. One door after another was on the other end of the finger. Ye Lai knocked on each room. The first room was empty, the people in the second room were resting, the third room was a makeup room, and the last room, he found it.
As soon as the door opened, the smoke smell in the room made Ye Lai’s scalp tingle. There were three people behind the smoke, and Ye Lai immediately found Sheng Mingqian, staring straight at him.
“Sheng Mingqian,” Ye Lai used the courage of alcohol to call him loudly, “I have something to ask you.”
Several gazes from behind the smoke fell on his face, like a burning sensation. Ye Lai only looked at Sheng Mingqian inside. Sheng Mingqian was also looking at him, but compared with the other sharp gazes, Sheng Mingqian’s eyes could hardly be felt behind the smoke, as if he was just disturbed and wanted to see who it was.
Just when Ye Lai thought he wouldn’t come out, Sheng Mingqian slowly stood up and walked out the door.
“What’s the matter?” Sheng Mingqian asked as he stepped out, with the most casual attitude.
Sheng Mingqian was too tall, and as soon as he came out, a shadow fell on Ye Lai’s head. Ye Lai stood in that stressful shadow and raised his neck: “Sheng Mingqian, do you remember me?”
Sheng Mingqian put his hands in his trouser pockets, leaned lazily against the door frame, and looked down at him, as if he was sizing him up, or as if he was recalling.
“I’m Ye Lai.” Seeing that he hadn’t spoken, Ye Lai took the initiative to open his mouth. His tongue was stiff from drinking, and his pronunciation was stiff.
The other two men in the room walked out. The slightly fat man in the front stopped at the door, looked at Ye Lai, and then at Sheng Mingqian, with an obvious unhappy but helpless expression on his face: “Director Sheng, it’s up to you.”
Sheng Mingqian straightened his body slightly and nodded slightly to the man who spoke indifferently: “President Li, walk slowly.”
The two people looked back as they walked, and after they had completely walked away, Ye Lai took a deep breath and pulled back to the most important question: “Sheng Mingqian, why did you go back on your word? Didn’t you say that the role of Chi Wen was mine? Didn’t you say that the crew would notify me before the start of filming?”
Ye Lai asked a series of questions, but Sheng Mingqian didn’t answer. He waited until he was completely silent before slightly bending over.
Ye Lai only felt that the area of the shadow on his head was getting bigger and bigger. Sheng Mingqian’s aura was too strong, like a cage with hands and feet, which could trap his whole person inside. He couldn’t move now.
Ye Lai’s feet were weak, and he held onto the window frame next to him to keep himself from falling.
Sheng Mingqian’s nose stopped at a distance that was neither too far nor too close, and the gradually amplified voice entered Ye Lai’s ears.
“Such a heavy smell of alcohol…”
Sheng Mingqian’s breath sprayed on Ye Lai’s neck, and with a bang, it felt like it had exploded in his body. A sense of suffocation struck, and Ye Lai retorted before he could breathe: “Wh, what?”
“The crew has regulations that you can’t drink casually during filming,” Sheng Mingqian stood up straight and looked at the time by turning his wrist to look at his watch, “Ye Lai, right? The official start of filming is tonight. Since you’re here, I don’t need to notify you separately, right?”
At that moment, the wine that Ye Lai drank blossomed in his stomach. The roots of the flowers sprouted and grew rapidly under the rain and dew, and finally bloomed into flowers that could cover his body. The pressure on his head slowly subsided under the overflowing fragrance of flowers.
“You didn’t change the role? The role of Chi Wen is still mine?”
Ye Lai felt incredible. His brain was sluggish and rusty. Great joy, then great sorrow, and then great sorrow and great joy, he could no longer think normally.
Sheng Mingqian stopped looking at him, rolled up his shirt sleeves a few times, and clapped his hands at the people yawning on the set: “Everyone cheer up, let’s start work…”