Chapter 1:

Chapter 1: Bringing capital to the crew

Translated & Edited by KChandraTL

“Prop master, what the hell did you get? Was this vase bought at a stall for 5 yuan a pair?! Which prince’s mansion would display such a shabby vase? Do you think this is the landlord’s house or the village chief’s house?” The director, with his head full of sweat, pointed with disgust at the pair of vases in the corner of the studio. “This color, this pattern, calling it a vase is simply an insult to vases.”

The prop master, who was hiding on the side to cool off, heard the director lose his temper and went forward to explain in a low voice: “Director Zhang, we don’t have enough money in the crew. I can’t help it. These days, the salary paid to the extras is too low. Several of the extras who are usually in our crew already left to play Japs[1] in the production next door.” After saying that, he secretly glanced at the vase he had brought back. The big red rooster painted on it was indeed slightly earthy. No wonder the director, who had always been good-natured, became so angry.

Director Zhang’s face improved a bit when he heard this. He looked around and saw that everyone was honestly going about their own business and wouldn’t overhear what they were going to say, so he lowered his voice and said, “Has the person referred by Producer Yao yesterday arrived? If so, let him come audition.” Their crew was unlucky. First, the male lead they’d booked had to be replaced because of a car accident, and then less than a month after the start of production, the third male lead was arrested for drug use, so he had to find someone to replace him, which wasted not only time, but also the investors’ money.

The prop master immediately understood. Although their crew didn’t have any big artists, the male and female leads were minor celebrities, so it wasn’t unusual for somebody to bring capital to enter the crew[2] to rub some of their fame.

But to think that the son of a coal mine boss was going to play the third male in the drama, a flirtatious but not vulgar man who looked like Pan An[3], he felt his teeth hurt a little. Wouldn’t the fans of the original novel scold them into dogs?

The crew was located in the Longteng Film and Television City which was one of the most famous film and television cities in Flower Country. Countless costume dramas and Republican era dramas were filmed here every year, which not only fed a bunch of extras, but also supported nearby hotels and snack stalls of all sizes, and was also a destination for people with dreams of stardom.
　
Gongxi Qiao slowly drove the new car his dad bought a few days ago through the antique streets and finally found the site of the “Princess of the Closed Moon” crew. When he got out of the car, he saw a bustling scene inside. He took a glance at the crowd and walked towards a young girl in a maid’s outfit, with a smile at the corners of his mouth..

“Hello, is this the ‘Princess of the Closed Moon’ set?” 

Lin Shu never thought that someone would pronounce the ridiculous name of their crew with such a high-class tone. She looked up at the young man who asked the question in front of her and nodded her head in a daze: “Yes.”

“Thanks.”

After the person took out his phone and walked away, she unconsciously cupped her face in her hands. The sun was so strong just now, had her makeup faded? The idea of letting such a good-looking man see her with messy makeup, caused an inexplicable sense of shame.

Rubbing her hot cheeks, she curiously looked at the back of the young man. Was he just visiting the set? Being so handsome like that, with no sign of having gone under the knife, did he save the universe in his past life to have such a good face?

In the second studio, Producer Yao sat on a small stool occupying the most breezy position in front of the electric fan, and was about to talk to the lighting technician when he suddenly heard an eerie silence in the studio. Although it soon returned to normal, he still sensed that the atmosphere was strange and couldn’t help but look towards the door. He saw a young man of about twenty years old walking towards him and couldn’t help but secretly sigh in admiration at his looks, even though he had been in the entertainment circle for many years.

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“Xiao Qiao[4] is here.” Producer Yao smilingly stood up and said to the staff around him, “This is my friend’s son. This youngster has some interest in showbiz. Several of you are seniors in the entertainment circle, so teach him a bit, and help this young man gain some insight.” He and Gongxi Xiong were considered close friends at the dinner table, and now that his child wanted to play around in the entertainment circle, Producer Yao had to give him a little face and help out.

When Gongxi Qiao approached Producer Yao, he just heard what the other party said, so he smiled politely at Producer Yao: “Uncle Yao, sorry I’m a little late. There was a traffic jam.”

“We had an appointment at 10:30, it’s only a little after 10:00, it’s not late, it’s not late, it’s good for a youngster to be punctual.” Producer Yao smiled happily and turned to the others. “I’ll take him to meet the director, you guys get busy first.”

The two assistant directors in charge of shooting the minor supporting roles exchanged glances. It seemed that this was the third male lead who had entered the cast with money. His appearance was quite in line with the original novel.

As long as his acting skills weren’t worse than a robot, their crew could take less abuse from the novel’s original fans.

Mr. Gongxi Qiao walked beside Producer Yao, looking at the crew members who were hurrying around, as if he didn’t notice their seemingly odd glances, making the smile on his face become more natural. 

On the way, Producer Yao briefly introduced him to the main members of the crew, then the topic turned to him: “I heard that you were a history major at Imperial University. Why do you suddenly want to enter show business?” The Imperial Capital University was the most famous university in all of Flower Country. It wasn’t a place where you could get in just because you had money, so he would give a few more points of respect to Gongxi Qiao, who graduated from there.

Gongxi Qiao mused, “My family thinks archaeology is too hard. Plus, I’m interested in acting, so I wanted to try it out.”

In his previous life, he was born in a chaotic world. Although he studied for a few years, and didn’t have any great natural talent, he still managed to become a subordinate of the most prestigious lord of that time. Later, although he wasn’t the most valued strategist, he was trusted by him. This was due to the fact that he knew when to laugh, when to be angry, and when to be silent.

Later, the lord established a hegemony. Many people were alienated and scorned by the lord, but only he was rich at the end of his life, and until his death, he was deeply trusted by the lord.

Sometimes talent was important, but things other than talent were equally important. Otherwise how could he, Gongxi Qiao, get the last laugh?

Acting had almost become his instinct, even engraved into his bones, so what could be more suitable for him in this life than the profession of an actor?

“Producer Yao.” The prop master came out of the studio and saw Producer Yao walking this way with a young man, so he said, “This is the young man you mentioned to us, right?”

 

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“Yes, this is the new third male lead in our cast. He’s still a newcomer, so you should take care of him and give him a lot of attention.” Producer Yao didn’t detect the prop master’s ambiguous attitude, but since he had given a promise to Old Xiong, he would definitely do it.

The prop master, sensing Producer Yao’s tough attitude, smiled vaguely and didn’t comment. He couldn’t make any decisions as a prop master anyway. He politely looked at Gongxi Qiao. This appearance almost startled him. This didn’t meet the conditions of the persona of a coal mine boss’s son in his mind, okay?

Preconceptions were really not a good habit, the ancients didn’t deceive me.

After seeing Gongxi Qiao’s looks, the prop master wasn’t a bit worried that the director would contradict the producer because of the casting. Anyway, based on this young man’s face, it was enough to make the audience of young girls scream. 

The person was introduced by Producer Yao, his family had money and his appearance was good, so the prop master was happy to kiss his ass in front of Producer Yao, and the praise in his eyes was almost overflowing: “What a handsome young man. Producer Yao, you have a good eye. Such a young man with an outstanding appearance, you couldn’t find more than a few in the whole circle.”

Producer Yao was very satisfied with the prop master’s understanding. He felt very dignified in front of Gongxi Qiao and said to him with a smile: “Xiao Qiao, this is Mr. Chen, who’s in charge of the props of our production. His name is in the credits of many famous film and television productions.”

“Hello, Mr. Chen.” Gongxi Qiao smilingly greeted Prop Master Chen, as if he couldn’t hear the cross talk between the two and had a sunny, innocent and harmless look.

Prop Master Chen smilingly praised him two more times, then said: “Right now, it just happens that Director Zhang has time. Producer Yao, do you want me to take mister…. “

“Just call me Xiao Qiao.”

“Then I won’t be polite,” Prop Master Chen ‘haha’ laughed twice. “Then, Xiao Qiao, come with me to meet Director Zhang. The more communication with the director, the easier it’s to get into the scene when filming.”

Despite these words, Prop Master Chen knew very well in his heart that this young man wasn’t professionally trained, and was a rich second generation and had Producer Yao to back him up. He was afraid his scenes wouldn’t be very good.

When the three of them entered the studio, some of the surrounding people quietly exchanged pleasantries and expressed great curiosity about the background of the new actor who had entered the cast with money.

“Chances are 9 out of 10 he’s someone’s “god-son”[5], right?” an actor playing a small supporting role said sourly.

The others didn’t respond to him. Being somebody’s god-son god-daughter god-sister god-brother and so on in this circle was nothing strange. They didn’t have any conflicts with each other, so they didn’t need to talk nonsense to offend people. Who knew if they would accidentally screw themselves over?

The actor saw no one around to talk to. He huffed and puffed and stopped talking. In his heart he knew that there was really no comparison with this person. To say the least, such a good-looking face was really a gift from god.

“Director, Producer Yao escorted the new actor over here.” Prop Master Chen walked into the studio and saw that Director Zhang was sitting in front of the monitor watching a scene he had shot before, so he quickly stepped forward and reminded him, focusing on the word “escorted.”  

Director Zhang turned his head to take a look, then his eyes fell on Gongxi Qiao’s face. That face instantly brought out an enthusiastic smile: “So our third male lead has arrived. Producer Yao has a good eye. This young man is simply a living Xu Ruiheng. He was born to play this role, he absolutely can’t be beaten.”

“Come, come, come, he’s an amateur, and a newcomer. Director Zhang, I hope you can nurture him, this child’s parents spoil him a lot, you need to hone him just right.”

“Oh.” Director Zhang wiped his face silently. Old man, you’ve said so much already. How would he dare not take good care of him? As for the audition matter, he no longer mentioned it. Anyway, the result of the audition or not was the same, it was better to do Mr. Yao a favor.

Forget it, at least his appearance wasn’t bad, as for his acting skills…

If his acting wasn’t good, just change the script and move things around during editing, it wouldn’t spoil the drama. Anyway, it was just a third male lead, not the male protagonist or supporting male character.

T/N:

[1] “play Japs”: The literal term was “play devils”. Devil is a WWII era slur for Japanese soldiers, thus I used the English WWII slur “Japs” here. Apparently because of the large number of anti-Japanese dramas, the real Film and Television City is full of extras playing Japanese soldiers, and these extras routinely “die” several times a day in war scenes.

[2]: “Bring capital”: Basically, it means buying a role in a tv show/movie. When a rich person invests in a production for the primary purpose of securing a role for somebody.

[3]: “Pan An”: Chinese poet known for his beauty, who has become a byword for a beautiful young man.

[4]: Xiao Qiao: literally “Little Qiao”, an affectionate/familiar form of address. I think Xiao Qiao sounds less awkward than “Little Qiao”

[5] God-son/daughter/etc: used euphemistically for somebody who is supported by a wealthy person in return for favors of a presumably sexual manner.

Note about place names: It’s common in CN novels to not use real place names, but names that allude to them. “Imperial Capital” is Beijing. “Flower Country” is obviously China (Flower Country from 中华 Zhōng huá, a formal name for China).

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