Chapter 194: Coming to the scene

What kind of experience is it to wrap up filming?

Every actor feels differently.

Lu Yan He feels a bit empty... well, this description sounds a bit sleazy, but that is indeed how it feels.

Acting seriously for the first time, doing it well, and developing a strong interest and hobby in performance—this kind of filming experience is an incredible start for any actor, one that is almost impossible to encounter.

It is hard to encounter a first project with such a great production team, hard to encounter a first role that is so close to one's own personality, and hard to encounter such a natural, gifted sense of performance on one's first shoot.

Why do newcomers discovered by great directors tend to go further? On one hand, their quality is superior, one in ten thousand; on the other hand, they follow great directors from the very beginning to lay the most solid foundation, possessing the most simple and pure understanding of performance without picking up bad habits.

Lu Yan He feels that he has developed many good habits in the *Golden Age* crew.

It was late at night when he arrived in Yuming.

Originally, Lu Yan He had planned to return the next day.

But because there was an event at Jiang Yin Publishing House and they invited Lu Yan He to attend as a guest, after Chen Ziyan communicated with him, they decided to participate. Therefore, after wrapping up filming that day, Lu Yan He hurriedly packed his things and returned to Yuming alone, dragging his suitcase.

Chen Ziyan was waiting for him in her car at the train station.

In the sweltering summer, the evening breeze surged like ocean waves.

Lu Yan He pulled his suitcase and got off at the station.

In the middle of summer, he came out wearing headphones and a mask, his forehead covered in sweat, and found Chen Ziyan's car outside.

Once in the car, Lu Yan He let out a long sigh.

"Look at all that sweat, wipe it off quickly." Chen Ziyan immediately pulled out two tissues and handed them to Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He took the tissues, wiped his sweat, gave Chen Ziyan a bright smile, and said, "Thank you, Sister Ziyan, for coming to pick me up so late."

"You've worked hard. I heard you performed very well in this play." Chen Ziyan's gaze revealed a touch of gentle and appreciative amusement. "Luo Dao Yuzhong speaks very highly of you."

"Yes, Luo Dao has indeed been very good to me, and he even recommended me for another play," Lu Yan He said.

"Luo Dao told me, it's *Phoenix Terrace* by Director Chen Lingling," Chen Ziyan said. "She is also a national-level great director. If you can land this role, your starting point in television dramas will be quite high. You've managed to work with two of the top five television directors in the country in one go; even Jiang Yuqian has only worked with Luo Dao so far."

Lu Yan He was a bit surprised.

He knew the name Chen Lingling. Luo Dao Yuzhong had only told him he was recommending him for an old friend's project, but hadn't told him who that old friend was. He didn't expect it to be Chen Lingling, who had directed *Dream Startling Wind and Glory*. This grand drama, which swept across the country twenty years ago, remains a classic in the hearts of many viewers to this day. The actress who played the little princess in it is now one of the top domestic female stars, Zeng He.

"Director Chen Lingling's team has already contacted me to schedule a meeting. Once it's set, we'll go see her," Chen Ziyan said. "But what kind of actor she wants for this play, what role you'd be playing—we don't know. Everything is a blank slate; there is no information at all."

"A blind audition?" Lu Yan He blurted out a term he had coined himself.

"Something like that. But don't worry, since Luo Dao recommended you to her, it means he definitely believes you are suitable."

"Mm," Lu Yan He nodded.

"Tomorrow's event is at the Guangmao Building; it's a book fair jointly organized by over a dozen publishing houses. Jiang Yin Publishing House hopes you can attend. We already have a cooperation framework with them, so tomorrow's work is essentially to show support for them," Chen Ziyan said. "At tomorrow's book fair, their distributors will be there, as well as some heads of IP procurement departments from film and television companies. It's mainly a promotional meeting."

Lu Yan He indicated he understood and nodded readily.

"Help them stand there and shout a few times."

"That's about the gist of it," Chen Ziyan nodded. "After that, there's no other work for the time being. Rest well and enjoy this summer vacation. By the way, have you made an appointment with your homeroom teacher to pick up your admission letter?"

Lu Yan He shook his head and said, "I haven't contacted Teacher Liu yet; I don't even know if it has arrived."

Chen Ziyan: "It's about time, but if she hasn't contacted you yet, it probably hasn't arrived."

"Mm," Lu Yan He nodded.

When they arrived at the entrance of the Hongfu residential complex, Chen Ziyan stopped the car.

"Jiang Yin Publishing House will arrange for someone to pick you up tomorrow morning," Chen Ziyan said.

"Okay."

Lu Yan He got out of the car, took his suitcase, and stood by the roadside waving at Chen Ziyan in the car.

"Bye-bye," Lu Yan He said.

"Bye-bye."

Chen Ziyan drove away.

Lu Yan He pulled out the handle and dragged his suitcase into the complex.

There was no one in the house.

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang both had work and were not there.

Lu Yan He put down his suitcase and went to take a shower immediately.

Covered in sweat, a shower left him feeling refreshed.

He asked in the group chat of three: Where are you all? I'm back.

Yan Liang: In Jiangguang, I have a commercial performance tomorrow.

Li Zhibai: Recording a show, probably going to record until three or four in the morning today.

Lu Yan He: Hard work, hard work.

Yan Liang: You wrapped up filming? So fast? Didn't you say you were going to shoot until the end of July?

Lu Yan He: A lot of my scenes were moved up, so I wrapped up early.

Yan Liang: Congratulations. By the way, tomorrow is Sunday, is the documentary you collaborated on with Ye Mai Network going online?

Lu Yan He: That's right.

Yan Liang: Waiting to watch.

Lu Yan He: Tomorrow I have to go to the Guangmao Building for a book fair event.

Li Zhibai: Have you become a spokesperson for a publishing house?

Lu Yan He: There's a cooperation agreement, not a spokesperson.

Li Zhibai: Not bad, you intellectual.

Lu Yan He: Blacklist warning.

He smiled and put down his phone, glancing at the time; it was almost midnight.

Sleepy.

Getting ready to sleep.

Just as Lu Yan He was about to plug in his phone to charge and turn off the lights, the phone suddenly buzzed again.

Taking a look, it was Chen Siqi.

Lu Yan He sat back up immediately.

Chen Siqi: Asleep yet?

Lu Yan He: Not yet.

Chen Siqi: I saw that Jiang Yin Publishing House posted a preview for tomorrow's event, and it says you'll be attending their book fair at the Guangmao Building tomorrow?

Lu Yan He: Yes.

Chen Siqi: Aren't you still filming with the crew?

Lu Yan He: I wrapped up today and just got home.

Chen Siqi: You're back in Yuming, then when are you going to the Guangmao Building tomorrow?

Lu Yan He: They are coming to pick me up at nine tomorrow morning, so I should arrive by nine-thirty.

Chen Siqi: OK.

Lu Yan He: Are you coming?

Chen Siqi: Mm, I'll go over and take a look. You can recommend a few books to me then.

Lu Yan He: Okay.

Lu Yan He waited for a while, but Chen Siqi didn't send any new messages.

So he sent a "Goodnight" over.

Chen Siqi didn't reply again.

Is she asleep?

Lu Yan He put down his phone, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.

Just at this moment, the phone buzzed again.

Lu Yan He opened his eyes, which he had just closed.

He picked up the phone again and opened it.

It wasn't a message from Chen Siqi, but from Editor Xu Xiaoyin of Jiang Yin Publishing House.

She said: Yan He, we'll be waiting for you at the entrance of the Hongfu residential complex at nine in the morning.

Lu Yan He replied: Okay, no problem.

Lu Yan He turned off the phone, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Ten minutes later, Lu Yan He opened his eyes again and glanced at the phone in the darkness.

Only the small breathing light indicating it was charging was on.

No messages had come in.

Lu Yan He sighed in resignation.

Looks like she's really asleep.

At the Guangmao Building, starting from eight in the morning, many people had already gathered at the entrance, waiting to enter.

Today was the book fair, and every publishing house had put in a lot of effort to make this event happen.

Author signings, celebrity dialogues, live cosplay performances—all kinds of activities would be staged in turns.

Chen Siqi arrived at eight-thirty.

She looked at the sea of people at the scene and was somewhat shocked.

Chen Siqi had originally thought that the publishing industry was long past its prime and had no future, but she didn't expect so many people to come here to attend the book fair.

"Chen Siqi!" Suddenly, someone called her name.

Chen Siqi turned her head in surprise; she didn't expect to run into acquaintances here.

When she looked, oh, it was Li Pengfei, Linyu, and Chen Qin.

"What a coincidence, are you here to see Old Lu too?" Li Pengfei asked.

Chen Siqi: "No."

She denied it immediately.

Li Pengfei had a look of disbelief, his face full of teasing, a look that made Chen Siqi want to punch him.

Linyu smiled with pursed lips and said, "Let's go together. There are so many people today, let's just support Lu Yan He together."

Chen Siqi looked at them in surprise, "Support him?"

"When he comes out, we'll pretend to be his fans and shout his name loudly," Linyu said with a smile.

Chen Siqi looked at them in disbelief and said, "Are you guys really that supportive of him?"

"Of course," Li Pengfei said with a matter-of-fact expression, nodding, "If we don't support him, who else would we support?"

Chen Siqi put away her look of surprise, nodded, and said, "Fine."

Li Pengfei hooked his arm around Chen Qin's neck and headed forward.

Chen Siqi and Linyu walked together.

Chen Siqi looked at Chen Qin and asked Linyu, "Which university will you be attending?"

Linyu said, "We haven't received the admission letters yet, but we should both be staying in Yuming."

Chen Siqi nodded and said, "That's great, so you won't have to be in a long-distance relationship."

Linyu glanced at Chen Qin, then looked at Chen Siqi, smiled slightly, and said, "Yeah, what about you?"

"Hm?"

"Will you stay in Yuming?"

"No," Chen Siqi shook her head, "I didn't apply to any universities in Yuming."

Linyu was a bit surprised and said, "You're from Yuming, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I want to try living in a different city."

"Then you're very cool," Linyu said, "daring to go to a strange city alone for university."

"Many people are like that; it's just that many people aren't willing to leave Yuming."

Yuming is one of the largest cities in the country, with the best opportunities and the best resources.

A place of prosperity, everyone wants to come, and few want to leave.

Chen Siqi leaving so decisively was what surprised Linyu.

Jiang Yin Publishing House's booth was on the fifth floor.

After Liu Cheng and the Jiang Yin Publishing House staff, led by her, finished setting up the booth with some temporary workers, she went to confirm their guests for the day.

At today's book fair, Jiang Yin Publishing House would have eight authors holding signings, and they had also invited Lu Yan He to come and greet everyone.

Liu Cheng confirmed the current status of the guests with her assistant.

"Xu Mingyue just picked up Lu Yan He," Xu Xiaoyin told Liu Cheng.

Liu Cheng nodded and asked, "Sending only Xu Mingyue to pick up Lu Yan He, Lu Yan He doesn't have any objections, right?"

"I explained it to him. Because Xiao Mei suddenly had acute gastroenteritis, I had to come to the site to fill her spot. He was very understanding," Xu Xiaoyin said. "Don't worry, Lu Yan He is different from the average artist; he is a very sincere person."

"Good," Liu Cheng nodded. "Have the devices been checked?"

"They've all been tested once, no problems," Xu Xiaoyin nodded.

"Teacher Lu—"

"Please don't call me Teacher, just call me Yan He," Lu Yan He interrupted Xu Mingyue, smiling, "If my teachers heard others calling me Teacher, they would probably scold me severely."

Xu Mingyue was stunned, then immediately nodded, "Okay."

She was a bit nervous, worried that her address just now had made Lu Yan He unhappy.

Lu Yan He, however, didn't seem to take it to heart and changed the subject, asking, "After I go over later, I just need to go on stage to greet everyone and then answer a few questions, right?"

"Yes," Xu Mingyue nodded. She handed a page of paper to Lu Yan He and said, "This is the script we prepared for you."

Lu Yan He took it, glanced at it, and nodded, "Okay."

Xu Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Yan He didn't know that he had reached the point where he could make an intern hold her breath.

He carefully read through the script silently. It was actually written very well, with excellent literary talent; it was a speech about reading that mentioned quite a few books.

Lu Yan He thought for a moment and started using his phone to make edits.

He arrived at the Guangmao Building at 9:15 sharp and entered through a special passage.

At this time, the Guangmao Building was not yet open to the public, and many people were standing at the entrance, waiting to enter.

Lu Yan He glanced from a distance; there were more people here today than expected.

He was a bit surprised.

"There are a lot of people today."

Xu Mingyue nodded and said, "The number of people who arrived also exceeded our expectations."

Lu Yan He arrived at the fifth floor, and Liu Cheng and Xu Xiaoyin had already received the news in advance and were waiting for him at the elevator entrance.

As soon as he came out, Liu Cheng came over enthusiastically to shake his hand.

"Yan He, hello! I heard you rushed back to Yuming late last night, thank you for your hard work!" Liu Cheng said. "Thank you for making this trip for our event."

Lu Yan He: "Hello, Editor-in-Chief, you're too kind. I'm very happy to be able to participate in such an event."

After some pleasantries, Lu Yan He was taken to the lounge.

Xu Xiaoyin told him that his appearance time was expected to be around ten o'clock.

Lu Yan He nodded and continued to revise what he was going to say later in the lounge.

Seeing him focused on his own business, Xu Mingyue didn't disturb him and came out of the lounge, saying, "I'll come back at 9:50."

Lu Yan He thought with single-minded focus for a while and determined the points he wanted to share.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Please come in," he called out.

The person knocking was Liu Jiazhen, the author of *Nineteen Years of Crime Records*.

"Brother Jiazhen," Lu Yan He smiled when he saw it was him.

Liu Jiazhen still seemed a bit socially anxious and said, "I heard you were here too, so I came to greet you."

"Is there a signing today?" Lu Yan He asked.

Liu Jiazhen nodded and said, "Yes."

Lu Yan He: "That's great. Can I buy three more books later and ask you to sign them? I promised a few fans in the livestream room earlier that I would send them signed copies of your book."

"No problem," Liu Jiazhen said. "Thank you for always helping me promote it."

"I really do like *Nineteen Years of Crime Records*; it's written exceptionally well," Lu Yan He smiled.

"It's going to be adapted into a movie and a TV series," Liu Jiazhen said. "I had really hoped you would play the lead."

"Hm?"

"It's a pity, the producers have their own candidates," Liu Jiazhen said, a look of genuine regret appearing on his face.

"It's okay. I was worried that if I played it, I might delay such a good story from being seen by more viewers," Lu Yan He said. "Later, when I'm more famous and can carry the lead role, I'll star in a story you write."

Liu Jiazhen nodded, "It's a deal then. I will keep writing."

"Okay," Lu Yan He smiled happily.

"Long time no see, you two," Mingyin suddenly appeared as well.

This female writer who wrote *Star Orbit* had braided her hair into a very artistic thick braid today and was wearing a white knitted dress, radiating a forest-like aura from head to toe.

Her bright smile made both men pause for a moment.

Mingyin first congratulated Liu Jiazhen: "I heard *Nineteen Years of Crime Records* sold its film and television rights and production has already started. Congratulations."

Liu Jiazhen's cheeks flushed red, and he said, "Thank you."

Mingyin looked at Lu Yan He again and asked, "I saw in the news earlier, weren't you filming with a crew? Did you specifically take time off today to support us?"

"I already wrapped up yesterday," Lu Yan He said. "My scenes weren't that many, so there wasn't that much to shoot."

Mingyin: "Then I still have to congratulate you. Achieving such great results in the college entrance exam and filming your first play in your life during the summer after graduating high school—it's enviable. My eighteen-year-old self wasn't beautiful at all."

Lu Yan He: "Really?"

"Really, I did terribly on my college entrance exam," Mingyin smiled and said, "My parents both cried, as if the whole sky had collapsed."

Lu Yan He didn't expect Mingyin to say that.

"Okay," he said, "but you've published your own book now and become a writer loved by so many readers. They must be very proud of you, right?"

"Not at all. Now they think I don't have a formal job every day and just know how to stay in my room and type. They think I'll get depression and are very worried," Mingyin smiled helplessly.

(Please refresh, the following two paragraphs are repeated.) ===== CHAPTER 195 =====