"Chatting with the Brocade Seal about the Passing Years" was a very popular ancient Chinese novel five or six years ago. Although it seems a bit outdated now, there are still many fans of the original novel.
The crew had started filming for a while. When they joined the crew in the afternoon, Li Feifei helped pack some clothes for Xu Qiao to take with him.
It took less than two hours to drive to the film and television city. On the way, Xu Qiao opened Weibo and hundreds of messages about him popped up, most of which were tagged #许乔当街玩狂醉#.
The original poster was a local influencer who received a fan submission, saying that he saw Xu Qiao drunkenly arguing with a man on the street, and attached a few photos. Not long after the influencer posted this Weibo, there were over a thousand comments.
Didn’t we already know about the last time he got into a fight? This guy isn’t a very good person.
You are a public figure after all, could you please stop embarrassing yourself
Please don't bring bad luck to my little group Chasing the Light, okay? What sin did Chengxuan brothers commit to be in the same group with this guy
I heard Xu Qiao is going to play Jin Er soon? Congratulations, a bad actor matches a bad role.
Fans of the original novel said that this kind of annoying character is a perfect match for Xu Qiao, and he plays the role in true to himself hahaha.
He flipped through the pages out of boredom, and the malicious ridicule surged, but it did not stir up a ripple in Xu Qiao's heart. Having experienced dozens of worlds, he had seen all kinds of scenes, and this little scolding was not a big deal.
Li Feifei was driving and glanced at him in the rearview mirror: "Brother, it was my fault last night. I didn't notice someone was taking pictures..."
Xu Qiao's smile was harmless and innocent, and he looked well-behaved and innocent: "I took the photo, black and red are still red."
Li Feifei: “…” That’s right, it’s still that stupid brother of mine.
Xu Qiao put away his phone and flipped through the script. He was going to play the third male lead in the play, Jin'er, a prostitute who was trained since childhood in a brothel called Zuihuange.
Zuihuan Pavilion is not only a place for sex trade, but also a place for intelligence trading. In addition to serving customers, Jin'er is also responsible for stealing intelligence.
During a mission, he fell in love with the male protagonist Chun Yu Yuan at first sight, and he pestered him relentlessly, trying every means to destroy the relationship between the male and female protagonists, going further and further down the road of self-destruction.
In short, he is a vicious male supporting character in a bg-oriented novel who has improper thoughts about the male protagonist - the kind of character that will inevitably be drowned in the audience's spit no matter who plays it.
When Xu Qiao saw the character setting, he became more interested in acting.
The brothel was a place he was familiar with. "I was a Crossdresser in a Brothel" was the first book he wrote. From the age of six to twenty-five, he stayed in that world for a full nineteen years.
With his family destroyed and bearing a deep blood feud, Xu Qiao had to hide in a brothel and disguise himself as a woman in order to escape being hunted down and fulfill the will of the world.
In the first ten years, he learned the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as the techniques to seduce men. At the age of sixteen, he began to receive clients, selling his art but not his body.
On the day of listing, the beauty who had been hiding in seclusion officially made her first appearance, causing a sensation throughout Kyoto. Countless princes and nobles fell in love with her and spent a fortune just to see her. For a time, people talked about her with great relish.
In the next nine years, Xu Qiao tried all the techniques of playing with people's hearts. With a gentle look in his eyes and a bright smile, he watched his enemy, who had killed his entire family, become crazy about him and be deserted by his friends and relatives. Finally, Xu Qiao successfully completed the will of the world.
Those faces have long become blurred, but what happened is unexpectedly clear at certain moments.
Li Feifei said, "Brother, the role of Jin'er is indeed unlikable, but you can't get any roles right now, so just treat it as a chance to impress the director and the audience, and we can talk about other things later."
Xu Qiao hummed, leaned back in the car seat and yawned lazily. He turned his head to look out the window, the street scene kept receding, and his face was reflected on the car window glass.
Staring at this face, Xu Qiao blinked slowly, his eyes gradually became soft and affectionate, the corners of his mouth slightly raised in an ambiguous and naive manner.
The two temperaments of innocence and worldliness are revealed on the same face, a strange combination and unexpected harmony.
When they arrived at the film and television city, Li Feifei parked the car, picked up the suitcase, took out his ID, signaled to the security guard, and took Xu Qiao in with familiarity.
Li Feifei took out a room card and stuffed it into Xu Qiao's down jacket pocket, pointing to a hotel not far away: "Brother, this is your room card. We'll rest in that hotel after filming tonight."
After walking for five or six minutes, Li Feifei pointed forward and said, "It's right in front."
Xu Qiao looked over and saw an antique courtyard and several small attics not far away. The filming set of "Liao Jiang" was set up in the courtyard in recent days. There were many people in it, and machinery and equipment were placed everywhere. It looked crowded and messy.
Most of Jin'er's scenes were completed indoors, so Xu Qiao didn't need to contact other sets later and could basically complete all his scenes here.
In order to save costs, especially for web dramas with limited investment like "Liao Jiang", it is impossible to shoot in the order of plot development, but the scenes of the same scene will be concentrated together to shoot.
It's normal to shoot the beginning and then immediately shoot the ending in the same scene.
Moving his eyes away from the set of "Liao Jiang", Xu Qiao turned his attention to another set right next to it.
In comparison, this set was bigger and tidier. Xu Qiao vaguely saw white silk floating in the air, and a lot of props like white candles and paper money placed on the ground, as if they were filming a funeral scene.
Seeing Xu Qiao looking at the next set, Li Feifei said, "Brother, that one is not like our small web series. It's a big production, Hundred Ghosts, a series of supernatural and ghost-themed dramas directed by Hu Zhenghua. The crew built the set in the mountains themselves. This time we came to the film and television city, just to find a location."
Director Hu Zhenghua is a well-known veteran director in China. He has won the Lunar New Year box office champion and the annual box office champion several times, and was promoted to the rank of directors in the domestic billion box office club early on.
Li Feifei said with emotion: "Speaking of it, although the crew of "Liao Jiang" is small, it is also humane. If a lazy person like you went to the other crew, you would be exhausted. They are rushing to make progress, and the electricity rate is cheap at night in the film and television city, so they really shoot all night long."
Xu Qiao tilted his head and said lightly, "A big production should have plenty of money, right? Are you trying so hard to save on electricity?"
"Hey, you can't say that. The budget was saved up. Besides, when they shoot ghost stories, there are more scenes at night." Li Feifei said, and looked over there a few more times, as if she was looking for someone.
Xu Qiao turned his head, the soft afternoon sunlight shone on his face, and his delicate jawline became clearer: "What are you looking at?"
"Xu Siyi is also starring in the cast of Hundred Ghosts. If you're lucky, you might be able to see him!"
Xu Qiao looked at Li Feifei's excited eyes and searched through his memory. It seemed that he was a very popular traffic star and Li Feifei was his fan.
Li Feifei didn't see anyone for a long time, so she looked away in disappointment, then looked at Xu Qiao with resentment: "Brother, when will you be famous enough to have the opportunity to work with others? I really want an autograph."
Xu Qiao didn't bother to pay attention to him and continued walking forward.
When they entered the crew, director Jiang Wen was directing the movie and the staff on the set were busy. Xu Qiao did not say anything to disturb them, but pulled Li Feifei to stand aside and wait.
Someone noticed him, looked at him for a few seconds and said nothing.
Xu Qiao has always had a bad reputation, and today he just got into a drunken scandal, so no one wants to be the first to provoke him.
After Jiang Wen finished shooting this intermission, he turned around and saw Xu Qiao in the crowd.
He stood there quietly, with the winter afternoon sun clustered behind him. Against the light, the boy's face could not be seen clearly, but his soft, harmless and light temperament was so prominent.
Jiang Wen wondered who this person was. Was there such a person in the crew? When he got closer, he recognized that it was Xu Qiao.
"Hey, Xu Qiao is here!" After greeting Xu Qiao, Jiang Wen looked him up and down and frowned slightly.
In the original novel, the character of Jin'er is extremely hateful and has homosexual tendencies. Generally, no male star is willing to play the role, and those who are willing to play the role don't have a good image, so the role has remained vacant.
It was a coincidence that Li Chengxuan introduced Xu Qiao.
Speaking of Xu Qiao, Jiang Wen had some understanding of him.
No acting skills? Not a big problem. He's a villain, and a typical villain in a typical opera. It doesn't matter if his acting skills are a little worse. The key is to have that flavor.
This Xu Qiao looks much more lively than in previous photos. His appearance is impeccable, which meets the requirements of the role - although Jin'er is a bad girl in the original novel, she is the most popular prostitute in the brothel, so good looks are needed to be convincing.
But the temperament is too inconsistent, isn't it
Xu Qiao in front of him looked like a pure and innocent little white flower standing there, without any of the feminine charm that a prostitute should have. What was going on? Jiang Wen seemed to have seen the effect of Xu Qiao's performance of a weird performance.
Someone was discussing in low voices nearby.
"who is this?"
"Xu Qiao, from the group Chasing Light, played the role of Jin'er."
“He plays Jin’er? That’s too…” The rest of the words were vague, with a somewhat ambiguous smile, and everyone felt that Xu Qiao was too far away from the role.
Li Feifei pretended not to hear those voices, and approached Jiang Wen with a smile on her face: "Director Jiang, we're leaving Xu Qiao in your care. This is his first time filming a movie, so he may not have much experience. Director Jiang, please bear with me and take care of me!"
No matter how unhappy Jiang Wen was, he could only force a smile and nodded to Xu Qiao, saying, "Okay, if you don't have enough experience, just watch and learn more."
"Of course, of course." Li Feifei nodded hurriedly.
Xu Qiao smiled lightly, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, his two petal-like lips opened and closed, the ending tone habitually rose, sounding a little frivolous:
"I will study hard."
Jiang Wen and Li Feifei were both stunned by this voice.
These few plain words from Xu Qiao had the same effect as a feather scratching the soles of his feet.
Especially, I don't know whether he put the emphasis on the three words "study hard" intentionally or unintentionally, and dragged it out lazily, which inexplicably reminded people of some beautiful and decadent scenes.
The two of them looked at Xu Qiao with puzzlement. He was still the same, with a non-aggressive face, pure and innocent.
Jiang Wen and Li Feifei couldn't help but wonder if they had misheard just now.
After coughing, Jiang Wen's expression softened a bit. He called the stylist next to him and said to Xu Qiao, "Go take some makeup photos first. After that, familiarize yourself with the script. You have a scene tonight."
Xu Qiao responded, and the stylist led him and Li Feifei to the dressing room.
He is not well-known now, and there are rumors that he will terminate his contract with the management company. There has always been a trend of stepping down and praising the high in the circle, so it is inevitable that some people look down on him. Halfway through the walk, I heard a few laughs from behind.
"He can play Jin Er? You'd better do it."
"What am I supposed to do? You have to be wild enough to play Jin'er."
When Li Feifei heard the implicit meaning of Xu Qiao's words, she immediately got angry and was about to turn around, but Xu Qiao quickly grabbed her hand.
Xu Qiao raised his eyelids and looked back at the two boys who were talking. He looked at them from head to toe with a scrutinizing and critical gaze, and Xu Qiao's clear eyes like glass balls were tinged with a playful smile.
The two of them felt a little uneasy when he looked at them so directly, and their eyes were evasive.
The next moment, Xu Qiao showed a sweet and innocent smile, and her voice was full of malice: "Fei Fei, how does the book describe Jin'er?"
Li Feifei had good tacit understanding with him. She looked them up and down like him and hummed, "Slender waist, rosy face, round butt and long legs."
Before Xu Qiao could say anything, Li Feifei continued in a sarcastic tone, "Hey, you still want to play Jin'er? Your waist is not thin enough, your butt is not perky enough, and your face is too ugly."
Yo, who doesn't know how to use ginseng attack? Li Feifei rolled her eyes, and the little stylist beside her couldn't help laughing and covered her mouth.
Xu Qiao turned around and continued walking forward, leaving the two boys with pale faces.