“Cut!”
Director Xu, who was sitting in front of the monitor, shouted with satisfaction. In the camera, Yan Sheng, who played the leading role, was sweating profusely from the hot lighting and above-level performance, but he felt extremely happy and refreshed. Like drinking a big bottle of cold beer on a boiling hot night and then taking a cold shower.
The makeup artist hurriedly carried their small box over to touch up the makeup for the two of them. Yan Sheng moved his body slightly to face Tao Mu, and said with a serious expression, “The reaction you just gave me was very good.”
Although Tao Mu didn’t speak a single line in the last scene, and even most of his face was hidden in the shadows, Yan Sheng could still feel that Zhou Yuanting was hearing his words from Tao Mu’s expression and minute details of resentment, unwillingness, anger and struggle that followed. The strong emotions even immersed Yan Sheng into the scene. This was also an important reason why Yan Sheng felt that he had broken through his bottleneck after the scene just now finished.
Sometimes if you want to improve your professional level, you would have to study hard and practice hard, and it is useless to scheme against acquaintances or bully those weaker. New and stronger opponents must be actively sought.
This was an important reason why the hero of level-up novels always fights against powerful enemies as if he was always looking for death. Everyone knew that if you put in the effort to jump high, you could pick the fruits of higher places. But a lot of times, not everyone could find the motivation to jump high. Or allow yourself to climb to a higher spot.
At this moment, Yan Sheng squinted his eyes in satisfaction, letting the makeup artist paint over his face. He preferred this kind of play against strong opponents to the relaxed and comfortable steamrolling of weaklings. Especially if he managed to gain the upper hand after the challenging round.
Xu Musen waved to Tao Mu. He was also very satisfied with Yan Sheng’s performance just now. So now, he hoped that Tao Mu’s Zhou Yuanting could maintain the same level. Maybe after the movie was released, this scene would even become a classic.
Yan Sheng looked intently at Tao Mu, who was sitting next to the director, listening carefully to Director Xu’s explanations. He was also analyzing how Tao Mu would perform next. Yan Sheng subconsciously thought in a different position, imagining how to interpret the next explosive scene if he played Zhou Yuanting. Then he thought about how he should respond to Tao Mu’s acting.
He completely didn’t notice Shen Yu, who had eagerly taken the mineral water bottle from the assistant, and then sidled up beside him after the director shouted ‘cut’.
Shen Yu’s disappointment was beyond words. Although he knew that Yan Sheng really liked acting, when he saw Yan Sheng ignore him for acting, he still felt uncomfortable.
“Big brother Yan?” Shen Yu pouted and stuffed the mineral water with a straw into Yan Sheng’s hand: “You must be very thirsty after speaking so many lines just now. Drink some water to moisten your throat.”
After being reminded by Shen Yu, Yan Sheng suddenly realized that he was indeed so thirsty that his throat was practically emitting smoke.
Yan Sheng lowered his head, bit the straw and drank a big half the bottle of mineral water. He thanked Shen Yu with a warm smile.
Being looked at by these affectionate eyes, Shen Yu’s face flushed. He bit his lips in a slightly shy manner: “No need for thanks.”
Yan Sheng looked at Shen Yu thoughtfully. Shen Yu originally thought that Yan Sheng was stunned by his beauty, and was about to tell Yan Sheng not to tease him in front of so many people. When he heard Yan Sheng say very seriously: “You were right before, Tao Mu’s acting skills are really good.”
Shen Yu: “…..?”
Yan Sheng reached out and patted Shen Yu’s shoulder, encouraging: “So you have to work hard. Tomorrow’s scene, don’t let Tao Mu make you look bad.”
Shen Yu was completely speechless now. After joining the crew for so many days, Shen Yu also realized that his acting skills were not at the same level as most of the actors in the crew. Even Du Ze, who had few scenes in the film, could leave him in the dust when he truly began to act seriously. Not to mention others.
Fortunately, Yan Yu, played by Shen Yu, was a naive character with a full sense of justice, which was very similar to his own personality. Shen Yu took advantage of this, coupled with Director Xu’s strict training, he managed to follow until now, if barely.
But pitting his acting chops like how Tao Mu and big brother Yan did just now, wasn’t that making it difficult for him?
Shen Yu suddenly had a bitter face: “I also want to work hard. But I’m so stupid, how could I pit my acting chops with Mu Mu. Big brother Yan, do you think I’m you?”
Shen Yu’s appearance with his white and tender cheeks puffed up, his eyes wide open, and his mouth pouting was really cute. Yan Sheng smiled, and no longer forced Shen Yu to pit his acting chops with Tao Mu. He just said, “Then do your best to be the best you can be.”
Shen Yu nodded obediently. He suddenly smiled proudly as if he was showing off a treasure: “I said before that Mu Mu’s acting is very good. How about it, big brother Yan, I didn’t lie to you, did I?”
On the other side, after listening to Director Xu’s explanations seriously, Tao Mu closed his eyes and thought for a while, then slowly returned to the studio. Yan Sheng also walked over to find a good position. The two regained their previous scene positions before ‘cut’ was shouted.
Yan Qi held the gun pointed at his forehead in one hand and stared at Zhou Yuanting with both eyes. Looking at Zhou Yuanting’s pained expression, the gaze in his own eyes was slightly shaken. However, it soon became firm again. He did nothing wrong. He knelt in front of the grave and promised that he would never let anything bad happen to his little brother. As for others, he couldn’t care that much.
“This is what you want to say?” Zhou Yuanting was very ferocious just now, but when he heard Yan Qi’s words, he wiped away all his expressions. He let Yan Qi stretch out his hand to hold the gun, but still had it raised and pressed in between Yan Qi’s eyebrows, firm and motionless.
“You don’t want your little brother to be thrown into the fire pit, so it doesn’t matter if others live or die. You want to leave a son for the Yan family. But have you ever thought that my parents only have one son——”
“You chose it yourself.”
Zhou Yuanting’s complaints came to an abrupt halt. As the camera moved forward, Zhou Yuanting’s eyes became extraordinarily bright because of his anger. With the cooperation of the lighting board, it exuded a compelling light in the dark shadow.
What kind of eyes were those! Like a trapped beast with many scars forced into a corner. Anger, unwillingness, resentment, struggle, and a madness that was full of desire. Tao Mu progressively revealed several emotions layer by layer, and the interpretation was very full and realistic. Director Xu, who was sitting in front of the monitor, was so excited he nearly floated away.
Just with this look, this scene was as good as guaranteed!
Yan Qi looked at Zhou Yuanting calmly, this young man who succeeded the old Hei as an undercover agent, and now complained about his unfair fate: “It’s you who didn’t follow the rules. On the eve of graduation, you skipped classes and went to the bar, and you even got into a fight, and was arrested. If you violate the rules of the school, even if you don’t come to be an undercover agent, you would have been expelled from the police academy. You forfeited your chance to be a police officer a long time ago.”
“I was expelled from the police station, and I was directly transferred to be an undercover agent. It was a task assigned by the above. I didn’t have a choice. But you had a choice.”
Even if you were expelled from the police academy, you could have changed careers to do other things. If Zhou Yuanting wanted to, he still had a choice. After all, no matter how strict the Hong Kong police were, they would not force a student to accept a task. It was Zhou Yuanting who was not reconciled with his situation, did not want his work to be in vain, and was eager to return to the police station as a superintendent after successfully completing the task. So he accepted the task under the persuasion of the school.
Being an undercover agent was really hard work. All the humiliation and struggle that Zhou Yuanting was facing now, and even the abandonment by his family and friends, were all experienced by Yan Qi a long time ago. He could empathize with the other.
But Yan Qi couldn’t understand Zhou Yuanting’s anger and complaints towards him. As he said before, Zhou Yuanting was different from them, he had a choice.
If it was said that the person standing in front of Yan Qi today was any of his police colleagues. In the face of their questioning, Yan Qi might feel a little guilty. But for Zhou Yuanting, Yan Qi could admit that he did not need to be responsible for another adult’s deliberate choice.
In fact, when Yan Qi was initially informed that they wanted to choose a student from the police academy to replace old Hei as his partner, Yan Qi disagreed. Not only because the initial candidate was his younger brother. The most important reason was that Yan Qi thought this decision was too risky. Police academy students have no professional training, and their minds and wills were not tempered enough. If they rashly accept such a daunting task, accidents are likely to happen.
But Yan Qi had no way to influence the decisions from above. Convincing the above to give up Yan Yu becoming an undercover agent was already the limit of his ability. Yan Qi was only an undercover agent now and couldn’t do much.
However, he felt that there was no need to tell Zhou Yuanting these words. Besides, this was not a place where one could talk in peace.
“As I said before. As a police officer, I had no choice when I was given an order. You are different from us. You still had a choice.” Yan Qi patted Zhou Yuanting on the shoulder and said, “If you really can’t hold on, you can quit. Even if you can’t be a police officer, you can do some small business. Live a peaceful life and provide for your parents in their retirement.”
After saying this, Yan Qi allowed Zhou Yuanting to keep holding the gun, took a step back, and passed Zhou Yuanting. The two stood on the rooftop again because of their previous positions in the scene.
With the cooperation of the lighting and the camera lens, in the screen of the monitor, the two were standing face to face, with the high-rise buildings of Hong Kong in the background. The night was just beginning, the lights were bright and colorful. And against the colorful neon background, the two passed by and walked in opposite directions.
Yan Qi strode to the iron door on the rooftop and was about to open it when he heard a gunshot.
Yan Qi looked at the bullet which had hit the iron door handle, and turned around suddenly.
Zhou Yuanting stood on the spot with a gun. He tilted his head slightly, and habitually curved his lips in a roguish arc, revealing a bright smile that was slightly unhinged. His eyes were also amazingly bright. The wind on the roof was very strong, and the cold evening wind tugged at people’s shirts and clothes fiercely. The dark night dyed Zhou Yuanting’s features even more intensely.
In the scene shown in the camera, Zhou Yuanting was standing on the highest point of the rooftop, and his thin figure was in sharp contrast with the stars in the night above his head. Under the starlight and neon lights, his shadow meandered in sinister veins. In the flickering shadows, there seemed to be some monster struggling to break free.
Zhou Yuanting pointed the gun at Yan Qi’s head, raised his eyebrows, and said with a wickedness: “You are right. You don’t have a choice, but I have a choice.”
Same line. When spoken from Yan Qi’s mouth, it was helpless but also held feelings of recognition and glory for his profession. Although the job of an undercover agent was hard, dangerous and could not be brought to light, as a police officer, his profession required him to take this risk.
In order to allow more people like his little brother to live under the sunshine safely, someone must hide in the dark and carry the burden. To fight against the bad guys who were bathed in blood. Safeguard the world with one’s blood and life.
However, when the same words were spoken from Zhou Yuanting’s mouth it only made people feel a chill from the bottom of their hearts.
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