Chapter 182: Good Popularity

Filming is a team effort. If an actor's state isn't right and they can't get a scene done, everyone else has to stay here and wait for the actor to get into the right state.

This is the same as recording a show or attending a gala.

However, it's also a bit different. It's inevitable for an actor to have an off day; no actor can keep their state online all the time.

Therefore, filming delays are a common occurrence.

The relief in the voices of these two staff members made Lu Yan He think of himself.

This was his first time acting, so it would be understandable if he didn't perform well, but what was understandable for him would affect others' normal off-duty times and their rest.

This made Lu Yan He feel somewhat uneasy and nervous.

Lu Yan He observed on set until noon. When the crew broke for lunch, Lu Yan He queued up for a boxed meal himself. He even ran into the assistants of Jiang Yuqian, Huang Kai, and Wang Yunfan. When they saw Lu Yan He in the queue, they were very surprised, seemingly unable to understand why Lu Yan He was queuing for a boxed meal here.

The surprised gazes of the people around him made Lu Yan He feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Lu Yan He thought to himself, here it comes again.

This kind of gaze, being sized up by others with incomprehension.

It was like this when he took the bus to and from school every day, and it was the same now while queuing for a boxed meal.

The him in others' eyes and the him in reality were two completely different concepts.

Yet he had no way to explain why he wasn't as "superior" as they imagined.

Lu Yan He took his boxed meal and found an empty spot to eat by himself.

There was no table, so he had to hold it in his hands to eat; the scene looked somewhat pitiful.

Just as he was eating, suddenly, Jiang Yuqian's assistant came over and said, "Yan He, Sister Yuqian wants you to go to her car to eat."

Lu Yan He was stunned.

Jiang Yuqian's assistant smiled at him and said, "Let's go."

Lu Yan He immediately realized that this young girl must have told Jiang Yuqian about him queuing for a boxed meal alone.

He didn't even know this young girl's name yet.

"Hello, how should I address you?"

"Luo Xiaoyu, you can just call me Xiaoyu." The other party's smile was full of energy; she looked like a girl full of positivity and optimism toward life.

Her energetic smile was highly infectious, making Lu Yan He smile along with her.

"Hello, Xiaoyu." Lu Yan He asked, "If I go to Sister Yuqian's car to eat, won't it look bad if others see?"

Luo Xiaoyu said, "It's fine. Sister Yuqian never cares about others' gazes. She's the one who asked me to call you. Actually, Sister Yuqian asked me if I saw you this morning; she said she saw you on set this morning but couldn't find you when she turned around."

Lu Yan He said, "Oh, that's because I found a corner, afraid of disturbing others."

"You really think of others," Luo Xiaoyu said. "No wonder Sister Yuqian likes you."

Lu Yan He felt a bit embarrassed and scratched his head. "Really?"

"Yeah." Luo Xiaoyu nodded. "You don't know, Sister Yuqian usually doesn't interact much with others, even with artists from the same company, but Sister Yuqian seems to really like you."

Lu Yan He turned to look around; fortunately, there was no one else nearby, otherwise, that sentence from Luo Xiaoyu would have been very easy to misunderstand.

Lu Yan He had known Jiang Yuqian for so long that he wouldn't mistake Jiang Yuqian for having any romantic feelings toward him anymore. He could feel that Jiang Yuqian truly treated him like a younger brother.

When a man treats a woman younger than him like a little sister, nine times out of ten there are ulterior motives; when a woman treats a man younger than her like a little brother, nine times out of ten there are no motives—she really just treats him like a brother.

The last time he went out with Jiang Yuqian, Lu Yan He had already fully felt that.

Jiang Yuqian had an RV parked next to the filming base for her to rest in.

Inside, there were tables and chairs, and even a refrigerator and a kitchen counter.

Jiang Yuqian was just eating.

Lu Yan He got on the car and respectfully called out, "Sister Yuqian."

"You're here, sit down, let's eat together," Jiang Yuqian said to him.

She was wearing a huge bib, which looked out of place with her outfit.

Perhaps Lu Yan He's expression was too shocked and confused, so Jiang Yuqian took the initiative to explain: "This is the crew's costume; I can't get it dirty, I have to continue filming in the afternoon."

So that was it.

Lu Yan He nodded. "Learned something."

Jiang Yuqian asked, "Have you been watching us film from the side all morning?"

"Yeah." Lu Yan He nodded.

"How does it feel?"

"I think you are all amazing; you act as soon as you're told, and your state switches very quickly," Lu Yan He said.

Jiang Yuqian glanced at him and asked, "Then who do you think has better acting skills, me or Li Qian?"

Lu Yan He didn't hesitate. "Your acting is better."

"Why?" Jiang Yuqian actually followed up.

Lu Yan He immediately hesitated.

It wasn't that what he said before was a lie, but rather that Lu Yan He couldn't put it into words; it was hard to give an analytical answer.

A hint of a smile appeared in Jiang Yuqian's eyes. "Are you buttering me up?"

"No, I just don't know how to say it." Lu Yan He's posture of scratching his head was a bit clumsy. "I just feel that your feeling when acting is more natural than hers. She acts well too, but it feels a bit... like she's deliberately putting on airs."

Jiang Yuqian rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Putting on airs, your observation is quite accurate. That's just her style. Actors have all kinds of styles; it just depends on how you want to act," Jiang Yuqian said. "Actually, there are also those whose stage style is quite heavy, but they can blend into the play very well without making people feel it's abrupt. Li Qian just hasn't mastered her craft, so it's still lacking a bit."

Lu Yan He gave an "mm."

Jiang Yuqian's main dish for lunch was steamed sweet potato, plus shrimp and broccoli.

Lu Yan He was completely different; he was eating the boxed meal provided by the crew, two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, and it was quite fragrant.

Jiang Yuqian looked at the chicken wing in Lu Yan He's boxed meal several times.

Lu Yan He saw it and asked, "Sister Yuqian, do you want to eat it?"

He was already prepared to pick up the chicken wing for Jiang Yuqian, but Jiang Yuqian shook her hands as if facing a great enemy and said, "Don't, don't give it to me! I can't eat it!"

Lu Yan He didn't expect Jiang Yuqian to be so strict with herself; in order to maintain her figure, she refused even a chicken wing.

Luo Xiaoyu, sitting on the other side, was also eating with great gusto.

She was eating the same crew boxed meal as Lu Yan He.

"Lu Yan He is also eating the boxed meal?"

When Zhao Yuheng was getting a boxed meal for Lei Shuangcheng, he casually mentioned Lu Yan He queuing for a boxed meal. Lei Shuangcheng was suddenly a bit surprised and asked, "Then did you give him the A-set or something else?"

In the crew, the A-set was prepared for the director, main actors, and core figures of various departments, while other ordinary staff members were given the B-set; the difference between the two sets was not small.

Zhao Yuheng said, "He queued up, so he probably got the B-set."

Lei Shuangcheng glared at him and said, "You saw it, and you still let them give him the B-set? How shabby! He's a pretty popular artist now, and you treat him like this."

Zhao Yuheng immediately complained, "The main thing is that he isn't on the call sheet, so everyone didn't prepare a portion for him."

"Didn't he contact you yesterday to say he was coming to the set today?"

"He did."

"If he contacted you, you should have added him," Lei Shuangcheng said. "You've been working with me for so long, and you still have no sense of observation."

Zhao Yuheng had been with Lei Shuangcheng for a while and knew Lei Shuangcheng's personality; the more he criticized you, the more he trusted you. He wasn't annoyed and chuckled, saying, "I'll pay attention next time."

Lei Shuangcheng nodded: "I saw him standing all morning; find him a chair to sit on this afternoon."

"Got it." Zhao Yuheng nodded readily, then couldn't help but ask in confusion: "Brother Lei, although Lu Yan He is a bit popular now, he's just a small actor here to play a minor role. Why are you so attentive to him?"

"Don't you see who his agent is? Chen Ziyan! With this great god supporting him from behind, Lu Yan He is destined to enter the first-tier sequence within three years," Lei Shuangcheng said. "Do you think it's better to be on good terms with someone before they rise to power, or wait until they are popular and become a hit actor before you go and suck up to them?"

Zhao Yuheng was astonished and said, "I really didn't expect you to think so highly of him."

"Otherwise, why do you call me brother, and not me call you brother?"

Zhao Yuheng chuckled and said, "You will always be my brother."

Zhao Yuheng left Lei Shuangcheng's office and immediately went to find the person in charge of logistics to give them instructions.

Zhao Yuheng represented Lei Shuangcheng.

Giving instructions specifically for such a small matter for Lu Yan He—the smaller the matter, the more it made people suspicious and gossiping.

When Cao Yong heard the news, he was stunned.

"Does that kid Zhao Yuheng value Lu Yan He that much?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did he let him come to me for the shuttle bus schedule? Why not arrange a private car for him?"

"Who knows, but it seems Lu Yan He isn't simple; even Zhao Yuheng specifically instructed that his boxed meal should be prepared a bit better."

"He's a popular star after all, right? Is there any star more awesome than him? He scored 657 on the college entrance exam by himself." This was another father with children.

A crew doesn't just consist of directors, photographers, and lighting technicians; there are also the most ordinary drivers, field workers, and laborers.

A crew is a small world; there is the imperial court above and the world of martial arts below.

News spreads back and forth, and basically, it can spread throughout the entire crew in less than half a day.

When Lu Yan He got off Jiang Yuqian's car, someone saw him and called out "Yan He" with an even more enthusiastic smile than in the morning.

Lu Yan He entered the studio, curiously wandering around by himself.

This action of his also left many people confused, not knowing what he was doing.

Lu Yan He mainly had nowhere to go; it was noon, the crew was resting, and Luo Dao Yuzhong had the habit of taking a nap, so he had nothing to do.

"Little Lu, what are you wandering around here for?" Huang Kai asked curiously when he passed by a shelf and saw Lu Yan He wandering between the shelves.

Lu Yan He had no choice but to explain.

When Huang Kai heard that he had nowhere to go at noon, he waved his hand directly and said, "Follow me, just come to my car to rest. For such a small matter, you should have come to me earlier."

Lu Yan He was very embarrassed and said, "It's okay, Brother Ren, you still have to film in the afternoon, you should rest, I won't disturb you."

"What disturbance, I don't sleep at noon anyway," Huang Kai said. "Don't be polite, come on."

As a result, after getting off Jiang Yuqian's car, he followed and got on Huang Kai's car.

Li Qian's RV was right next to the two of them, and she could just see the situation outside.

After Li Qian saw Huang Kai taking Lu Yan He onto his car, she pouted with some frustration.

"Why did Huang Kai also take Lu Yan He onto his car?" Li Qian frowned.

The assistant remained silent.

Li Qian had more important things to worry about now; this matter made her a bit unhappy, but she quickly cast it aside.

She asked her assistant: "How was my acting this morning compared to Jiang Yuqian?"

The assistant immediately said: "You acted with much more tension; she pays too much attention to micro-expressions and details, and instead, her aura was suppressed by you."

Li Qian curled her lips in satisfaction and said: "I said so, although I'm not as popular as her, in terms of acting skills, I don't lose to her."

The assistant said: "Much better than her."

Li Qian: "This time in 'The Golden Age', the character setting of my role is quite attractive, daring to love and hate, with a somewhat ambiguous stance in the early stages, seemingly an opponent of Guan Zhu, and the two fight fiercely, but at critical moments, she stabilizes her bottom line, helps Guan Zhu, and becomes Guan Zhu's best friend. This kind of image reversal will definitely be discussed by many people when it airs. We must do a good job of promotion at that time and grasp the promotional points."

"Yeah." The assistant nodded. "I've noted it down, and I will send it to the company's promotion department later."

Li Qian was feeling triumphant when she suddenly remembered something, sighed, and said: "If only I were a bit more popular. 'The True Crossroads' rejected me directly; I didn't even have the chance to audition when they had to choose between Zhang Lan and Jiang Yuqian."

The assistant said: "Qianqian, don't be anxious. They also came from your stage. When they were your age, they weren't as popular as you."

Hearing this from the assistant, Li Qian's mood eased a bit.

"Li Qian, she didn't say anything nasty to you last night, did she?"

As soon as he got on the car, Huang Kai asked tentatively.

Actually, he and Jiang Yuqian heard it when they were standing at the door.

Lu Yan He shook his head and said, "No, why?"

Huang Kai gave a bitter smile and said, "I have to apologize to you. I used you as a shield yesterday; it was my fault. If Li Qian said anything nasty to you, it was probably taking her anger out on you."

Lu Yan He was astonished.

He didn't expect Huang Kai to take the initiative to apologize to him.

This really made him somewhat stunned.

Especially compared to the one from the morning, it paled in comparison.

Huang Kai said: "You should have seen it too."

"Yeah." Lu Yan He nodded, then smiled and said: "Brother Ren, Li Qian likes you. If you don't like her, just reject her. Why drag it out like this?"

"She hasn't taken the initiative to tell me she likes me either. If I just blurted it out like that, how awkward would it be?" Huang Kai was very helpless. "There should be quite a few girls who like you; do you go and tell them one by one that you don't like them and ask them not to like you?"

Lu Yan He imagined the scene and instantly empathized.

"Then I think I'm a moron," he said with a smile.

Huang Kai: "You know it too."

He took out his script, glanced at it, and asked: "When does your scene start filming?"

"Probably in a week," Lu Yan He said.

Huang Kai was a bit surprised. "Then why did you join the crew so early?"

Lu Yan He: "Because this is my first time filming, so I wanted to come to the crew to learn first."

Huang Kai showed an expression of both surprise and admiration, gave him a thumbs up, and said: "You're amazing. This kind of learning spirit, worthy of a top student."

He remembered something else and said: "If you have anything you don't understand, just ask me."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Ren." Lu Yan He nodded with a smile.

"Don't thank me, consider it me thanking you for helping me as a shield yesterday."

Filming in the afternoon, they changed to another studio, filming the rival scene between Huang Kai and Jiang Yuqian, while Li Qian and Wang Yunfan's scenes were filmed by assistant director He Xun in another studio.

The filming volume of a TV series is too large; if it weren't split into two groups, the filming time would be extended by at least one-third, and the production cost would be too high.

Lu Yan He didn't expect a chair marked with his name to suddenly appear on the set, placed in the row behind the director's seat.

Lu Yan He was flattered and wanted to find someone to ask who put it there, but he couldn't find anyone to ask.

It wasn't until this moment that he had the chance to meet Luo Yuzhong.

"Little Lu is here." Luo Yuzhong nodded at him. "When did you arrive?"

"This morning."

Luo Yuzhong nodded, didn't ask any more, and went to talk to others about the subsequent filming.

Lu Yan He just sat silently in the back, observing everything.

This observation lasted for a week.

Everyone in "The Golden Age" was stunned.

It's not uncommon for an artist to maintain such a learning posture for two or three days, but it's rare to maintain it for a week.

Lu Yan He was really there from morning until the end of the day's work every day.

He also held a small notebook in his hand, taking notes from time to time.

This scene made many people feel inconceivable.

They had never seen an actor act like this.

Li Qian heard about it and mocked behind his back: "He thinks he's sitting in a classroom taking a class, even taking notes."

Lu Yan He also heard the discussions and doubts of the people around him.

He didn't care about anything.

Everyone has their own way of getting familiar with an industry. Actors actually have many technical operations on set, such as finding the camera, such as the cooperation between actors. This isn't something that can make you a brilliant, talented actor in others' mouths just because your emotions are in place or you have a flash of inspiration.

All talented actors know how to use the "four ounces to move a thousand pounds" technique to grab the camera.

Lu Yan He learned a lot from Huang Kai and Jiang Yuqian.

Huang Kai's acting is a bit too "upright"; his emotional explosion and rendering power are not as good as Jiang Yuqian's, but he is the kind of actor with solid basic skills and experience, who will use lines and performance details to fill this gap, and finally give people infectious power as well.

Lu Yan He observed for many days and gradually became familiar with the different performance styles of different people.

They are all actors, but their acting methods are not the same; everyone has their own unique points.

This surprised Lu Yan He a bit.

This also indirectly shows how powerful the cast of "The Golden Age" is.

Luo Yuzhong is still choosing actors according to their suitability for the roles; every actor has similarities with their character.

While Lu Yan He was pleasantly surprised, he also felt a trace of pressure.

Everyone is so strong, when it's his turn to act, won't he be completely overshadowed?

When it was time for him to start acting, Lu Yan He was so nervous that he babbled in the group chat for a long time.

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang were encouraging him and cheering him on at first, but Lu Yan He couldn't relieve his nervousness no matter what. Li Zhibai lost patience and retorted: Stop BBing, sticking your head out is a knife, shrinking your head is also a knife. At worst, if you mess up the acting, just come back to sing; it's not like you don't know how to sing.

Li Zhibai just said it impatiently, but it hit the mark and gave Lu Yan He a shot in the arm.

Also, if it really doesn't work out, just become a singer. Even if you can't become a big hit, you can still get some work, right? At that time, save the music library in your hands, one song a year, operate it well, and you should be able to support yourself?

Lu Yan He's nervousness immediately eased a lot.

He realized that all his nervousness came from treating acting as the last path of his artist career.

If this path proved that he wasn't suitable to be an actor, then he wouldn't have the confidence to hang out in the entertainment industry.

Then how about... Lu Yan He thought, turning to behind-the-scenes? Becoming a producer?

"Yan He, the director is calling you." Luo Yuzhong's assistant, Mo Zhi, came over.

Lu Yan He hurriedly stopped his journey of fantasizing about a backup plan and went to see Luo Yuzhong.

Luo Yuzhong said to Lu Yan He: "Tomorrow we are going to film your scene with Yuqian. We are going to film on location. Are you familiar with the script?"

"Familiar." Lu Yan He nodded.

Luo Yuzhong also nodded and said: "As long as you are familiar with it."

Besides that, he didn't say anything else.

Seeing that it was about to wrap up, Lu Yan He went to the restroom, preparing to return to the hotel later.

Just as he entered the stall, two people came in from outside.

"Tomorrow we are going to Nanhe University to film. I heard that only five days have been finalized this time. The director has a bit of a headache."

"Five days? Didn't they say they were going to film there for nine days?" the other person asked immediately in a surprised voice.

"Yeah, but in the end, they only agreed to five days. I don't know if we can finish filming smoothly."

"Uh, then I think it's risky. The scenes filmed at Nanhe University are all Lu Yan He and Jiang Yuqian's scenes. Isn't Lu Yan He acting for the first time? He has never learned acting, and Luo Dao's requirements are high. I guess Lu Yan He won't be able to meet Luo Dao's requirements."

"Tsk, also, this play is the only one with an actor who has never acted before. I don't know what the specific situation is."

Lu Yan He stood in the stall, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

So, everyone privately held such a low opinion of him.

However, thinking about it, Lu Yan He felt their thoughts were also normal.

He could only work hard himself.

Lu Yan He thought to himself, regardless of anything else, at least he must not drop the chain on things he can handle.

After coming out of the restroom, Lu Yan He got on the shuttle bus back to the hotel.

The driver was Cao Yong.

These past few days, Lu Yan He often took his car back and forth between the hotel and the set.

Lu Yan He greeted him and found a seat to sit down.

Others saw him and were also used to seeing him on this bus.

Those who knew him greeted him, and those who didn't just acknowledged him with their eyes.

Lu Yan He looked at the vast night scene flowing past the car window, and sweat oozed from his palms. ===== CHAPTER 183 =====