Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

Chapter 489: Chapter 272 Xu: Is my arm wearing a special grade chef’s armband?_2

It has already turned into something like the opening ceremony ritual, offering sacrifices to heaven and earth. It’s long gone off track, becoming a segment where lead actors take turns showing off, each flaunting their intelligence to pick apart each other.

“Director, I think this…”

Many crews do this, but it doesn’t mean Wei Wufeng will too. His approach is to start filming, getting the simple, emotionless scenes out of the way in one go.

He waits for the actors to develop a feel for their characters before moving on to script readings.

Usually, the first scene shot on the first day of filming isn’t too challenging. It doesn’t follow the sequence of the story either—where to start filming is decided by the director.

After much consideration, Wei Wufeng chose the scene where Bai Zhantang first meets Tong Xiangyu, a story of the original script’s third episode and the tale of their first encounter at the guesthouse.

Luo Yuexiu had just finished her makeup when Xu Qingyan was stunned… The sharp, proud aura she usually carried was completely tucked away, leaving only a naturally occurring air of nobility.

Xu Qingyan remembered clearly when he was digging into “The Legend of Martial Arts.” He had always assumed Tong Xiangyu was around thirty years old, an older woman in a romance with a much younger man.

It wasn’t until an episode titled [The God of Gamblers], through a line spoken by Big Mouth, as well as other clues, that he deduced Tong Xiangyu’s age to be around twenty-four or twenty-five, with Bai Zhantang being somewhat older at twenty-six.

In other words, Bai Zhantang was actually older than Tong Xiangyu.

When Wei Wufeng was casting, he went by the script. Since he didn’t watch the original series, Tong Xiangyu’s role was given to Luo Yuexiu, whose appearance was similar to that of Si Gong Ye Hui Ye.

The actor quickly got into character, and this scene depicted Tong Xiangyu and Bai Zhantang’s first meeting.

An introduction narrated how Tong Xiangyu was supposed to be married, but her fiancé, Mo Xiaobao, died. She waited outside the Qixia Town inn for three days. Her servant urged her to go back, but she refused and left.

Tong Xiangyu’s shouting attracted the attention of the arrest officer, Li Big Mouth, and the arrest officer, Old Punishment. During the altercation, the duo known as the Saints of Thievery happened to see them and, seeing an opportunity for wealth, decided to get involved.

Due to a series of misfortunate events, Bai Zhantang is forced to impersonate Mo Xiaobao.

Luo Yuexiu, underneath a red bridal veil, said in a Shaanxi accent, “Husband, you’re still there, right?”

Her voice was smooth, lacking its usual roughness. Xu Qingyan watched from the sidelines, his eyelids twitching slightly, but he didn’t make a sound.

Comedy doesn’t have to mean making oneself look ridiculous to elicit laughter. For instance, almost all the characters in the “Love Apartment” from the drama archives are beautiful, and comedy is purely related to the performance of the actors.

However, speaking frankly, Luo Yuexiu’s beauty was somewhat excessive.

Just by observing Wei Wufeng’s expression, Xu Qingyan could tell that when Luo Yuexiu called out “Husband,” his brows, too, slightly furrowed.

An actor is like a vessel, and even the slightest addition or omission can cause issues.

The actor playing Bai Zhantang, Li Sheng, said, “Yeah, I’m here.”

As Li Sheng stood up and approached, he deftly removed the Night Pearl from Luo Yuexiu’s waist. In reality, it was just a plastic bead that Zhou Mian had coated with oil to make it look shiny.

Luo Yuexiu, “Let’s go.”

“Go? Where to? Uh… home, right? Where is home?” Li Sheng looked baffled, guessing as he went along.

After some conversation, Luo Yuexiu said.

“You, the son-in-law of the Longmen Escort Agency, have quite the reputation.”

Li Sheng stood up as if electrocuted and walked towards the camera, his face showing a look of shock.

“The son-in-law of the Longmen Escort Agency?”

The scene continued, with Bai Zhantang learning the identity of the other party. Realizing he had gotten himself into trouble, he tried to run but was caught and had no choice but to reluctantly turn around and enter the inn to rest.

“Cut!” Wei Wufeng called out, “That’s a pass, let’s do another take.”

It’s common in filming to record one take as a backup in case of any unexpected issues.

Xu Qingyan stood on set for a while, suddenly realizing that filming was a very tedious and boring task, far from the interesting experience those on the internet made it out to be.

Such as an actor having an explosive performance on set or breaking character and laughing. It seemed as if the set was a relaxed atmosphere, and the camera was a blank canvas for the actors to express themselves on.

In reality, filming is troublesome and high-pressure.@@novelbin@@

For instance, during the successful first take just now, to ensure a good start, the director would not call “cut” unless it was absolutely necessary to do so, even if there were minor issues.

After all, the actors need to guarantee a successful first take for good luck. Wearing the red veil, Luo Yuexiu might not have felt much, but the male actor acting opposite her was under a lot of pressure.

All in all, the filming process seemed highly stressful.

During the lunch break, Luo Yuexiu approached Xu Qingyan.

“How was my performance?”

“Pretty good, um…” Xu Qingyan pondered on easing the relationship with someone named Luo, and responded, “Vivid and interesting, yet serious and lively.”

“Hey, why are you leaving?”

Zhou Mian, listening in from the side, couldn’t help but feel schadenfreude about the entire conversation.

“Brother Xu, she might be going for the cleaver.”

Xu Qingyan, upon hearing this, instantly understood and turned to look at Zhou Mian.

“Bridegroom lad, what did you just say? The wind was too strong; I didn’t catch it.”

Zhou Mian: “…”

Seriously, it’s like a freaking free market, this messed-up life!

Actually, Xu Qingyan wasn’t really trying to attack Zhou Mian; it was just to provoke him a bit. He wanted to momentarily distract him from his vexing problems and didn’t bring up anything too deliberately.

It wasn’t a good time to mention the divorce, so they had to talk about something else.

For lunch, a group of them ate takeout together.

Zhou Mian and Xu Qingyan sat at the same table, discussing how they would spend their money if they had a hundred million. Zhou Mian’s ideas were more traditional: get married, have kids, save it up.

Stroking his chin thoughtfully, Xu Qingyan said, “I would spend it all on wine and women, living a life of pleasure.

“Brother Xu, that idea is just not… sympathetic or brotherly,” Zhou Mian criticized. “Even if it’s what you truly think, you can’t just say it out loud.”

Xu Qingyan remained unphased by this.

“When fortune falls into your lap, you have to spend it all to feel its existence. But if you earn it bit by bit, then you need to use it wisely to be aware of its worth.”

Hearing this, Zhou Mian frowned and thoughtfully said,

“There’s something I probably didn’t tell you. Right after the love reality show ended, I got married because my wife was pregnant. But actually, she wasn’t. She just wanted to see what my attitude would be.”

“Oh, snap.” Xu Qingyan reacted nonchalantly, as he had grown accustomed to not being surprised by any outrageous news he heard from Zhou Mian.

Some people are born to shoulder more than others, as if heaven has bestowed a great responsibility upon them…

“I think concrete mix number forty-two gives spaghetti a better texture.”

Zhou Mian was left speechless; every time he brought up marriage, regardless of the context, Xu Qingyan would start giving random responses. Last time, he said fried chicken goes well with 98 octane gasoline.

In the afternoon, Xu Qingyan planned to say goodbye to Wei Wufeng before leaving.

Suddenly, Wei Wufeng called out to him.

“Producer Xu, since you’re here, why not cook a dish!”

Xu Qingyan: “????”

“Here’s the thing, we need to shoot a dining scene in the afternoon,” Wei Wufeng explained. “The script calls for a table full of dishes, but the production budget is limited, so…”

“Ah, I can’t cook,” Xu Qingyan refused without hesitation, waving his hand.

Before he could speak again, Wei Wufeng took out his phone and thrust it in front of him. The screen played a video clip from the reality show, with Xu Qingyan’s own words.

“Just average, not at the level of a state banquet, but like a regular chef.

Instantly, the actors around him all turned to look at Xu Qingyan. Luo Yuexiu was also looking at him, blinking her eyes in surprise with her mouth slightly agape.

Xu Qingyan was momentarily speechless, thinking to himself, damn it! As if I have some shining special-grade chef badge on my arm to blind your damn eyes with.

“Fine, fine, I’ll do it.” He was quite reluctant, but found himself in a dilemma, especially since he was the one always complaining about the lack of funds.

“You really can cook?” Luo Yuexiu, still dressed in her bright red wedding gown, approached him curiously.

Xu Qingyan glanced at her and had no mood to play nice anymore. That’s enough, as long as he didn’t offend her further; it would be a headache if she decided to walk out on the performance.

So, he could only respond vaguely.

“Sort of.”

There were quite a few actors present, including the cameramen and lighting crew, totaling several dozen people. A few who knew how to cook came forward to help, while the rest stood around to watch Xu Qingyan busily stir-frying dishes.

A burst of flame shot up, and the crowd couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.

Xu Qingyan skillfully tossed in the ingredients, thinking to himself, oh, oh, oh, to hell with your “ohs”! If you keep this up, I swear I’ll light up the gas canister for you.

Zhou Mian set up his phone to capture this scene.

Thanks to some pre-preparation by others, there were a total of fourteen dishes. Xu Qingyan took roughly forty minutes to finish stir-frying everything, filling the table completely.

“Wow!” Luo Yuexiu also took out her phone and took some videos, “Teacher Xu sure has some skills, they look exactly like what a hotel chef would make.”

“Not too bad, I guess, but I’ve got things to do, gotta go,” Xu Qingyan chuckled, brushing them off with a few words before taking his leave.

He had to prepare gifts, as Pei Muchan and Lin Wanzhou’s album was releasing tomorrow. He had a flight to Capital City the day after but still needed to show his support.

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