Chapter 59: Untouched by the Worldly Dust

Liu Yifei was wearing a white deep-robe, a pale blue silk ribbon tied around her waist, and her hair was styled in a bun adorned with a few jade hairpin flowers; with her long robes and wide sleeves, her garments fluttering, she walked toward this side accompanied by her mother.

Aside from the makeup on her face being slightly tacky by the standards of Chen Nuo’s 2024 aesthetic, everything else was quite good.

"Look, the appearance is truly excellent. I dare say, in all of China, no one looks more like the Little Dragon Maiden than her," Zhang Ji said quite proudly.

Chen Nuo nodded sensibly and said, "Indeed, indeed. Beautiful, truly beautiful. Director Zhang’s eye is just excellent."

"Hahaha, with you and Yifei here, I haven’t slept well for over half a year, but now my heart is finally at ease."

Following this, the process of shooting the character stills went very smoothly, but Chen Nuo and Liu Yifei had no interaction throughout the entire time.

He treated himself as a tool; whatever pose the photographer wanted, he would strike it. In any case, his experience as an internet celebrity in his past life allowed him to display joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness on command for these PPT-style shots.

After the shoot, the photographer said somewhat grandiosely, "Unparalleled and unmatched, a handsome young man and a beautiful lady."

Zhang Ji stood beside him, stroking his large beard, smiling like a blooming old chrysanthemum.

After the character stills were finished and the contract was successfully signed, the business with Zhang Ji came to a temporary close, waiting only for the notification to head to Jiuzhaigou to begin filming.

According to Zhang Ji, if things went quickly, it would be within a week.

The next day, Chen Nuo returned to Xichuan.

He stayed at home for a week; during this time, aside from occasionally looking at his textbooks, he spent most of his time not reviewing, but reading novels and scripts.

This is because television scripts are different from film scripts. Film scripts are relatively short, so the scripts directors send to lead actors are generally complete, but because television dramas have more shooting locations and characters, scripts are usually distributed in parts—meaning only the script for the part currently being filmed is provided.

For an actor like Chen Nuo, this undoubtedly increased the difficulty of immersing himself in the character. After reading through the script in his hand, he couldn't grasp the main points. Afterward, he went to a bookstore and bought a copy of *The Return of the Condor Heroes* to read.

Before this, he had only watched the TV series intermittently and had never held the book to read the story in its entirety.

He had originally opened the first page with the mindset of reading a script.

"The Yue girl picks lotus by the autumn water, narrow sleeves and light silk, revealing two golden bracelets.

Reflecting her image while picking flowers, the flowers resemble her face, her fragrant heart tangled only with the silk.

At the head of the Chicken-Foot Creek, the wind and waves are late, mist is heavy and smoke is light, the companion from the journey is nowhere to be seen.

Faint singing returns with the boat from afar, the sorrow of parting leads the gaze to the Jiangnan shore."

After this poem by Ouyang Xiu, the story of the pugilistic world was told in detail. Chen Nuo read for an entire day. He lost his appetite and didn't sleep or rest.

After finishing it, he slept for half a day, and upon waking, he specifically picked out the passages where Yang Guo appeared to read them again. This time he read even more carefully; although he read fewer words, he read them slower, one character at a time, taking two full days to finish.

After finishing, he went to the roof garden of his flat to water the flowers and then played *World of Warcraft* on his computer for a while. At this time, *World of Warcraft* had just entered internal public beta, and this beta account was given to him by Wang Jia after he contacted him upon returning to Xichuan.

In his previous life, Chen Nuo was a hardcore casual player of *World of Warcraft*, playing from the level 45 era until the national server closed. But in this life, he didn't play a human mage again; instead, he created an undead mage account and didn't log off until he finished the quests in Deathknell at level ten.

He went to bed early that day and woke up early the next day. Then he picked up the script.

This time, he finally saw the clash of blades and the tenderness of the chivalrous heart within it.

During this time, Yang Mi called him, thanking him profusely; she had secured the role of Guo Xiang. The time to join the crew hadn't been set yet, but she wouldn't be participating in this shoot in Jiuzhaigou.

Between reading the script and reviewing, a week passed quickly.

Zhang Ji and his team truly couldn't wait any longer; after confirming him as the male lead, they began transporting a large amount of equipment to Jiuzhaigou without pause. One must know that Jiuzhaigou is not a place with developed transportation and broad roads, especially in 2005; from Chengdu, there was only one winding provincial road that would weave through mountains and ridges, then wind along the river, with jagged cliffs overhead one moment and bottomless valleys by the roadside the next.

People could take a plane, but the equipment had to rely on trucks. According to what Zhang Ji said later, just transporting the filming equipment from Jingcheng to Jiuzhaigou cost over six hundred thousand.

But for a major production, they didn't care about that bit of money; in Xiangshan, Zhejiang, he had even specifically built a massive Condor Heroes Film City for this drama.

When Chen Nuo arrived in Jiuzhaigou, Zhang Ji and the others had already arrived two days prior. As he stepped out of the car, the damp, cold air of the mountains hit his face, and he immediately let out a sneeze.

When he came, Zhang Ji had specifically had someone tell him that the mountains were freezing and he must be well-prepared. So, Chen Nuo was wearing thermal pants underneath and a down jacket on top; even though the cold wind whipped against his face, he didn't feel cold.

Liu Yifei happened to be coming out of the hotel at this moment and immediately saw the big white bear sneezing not far away.

"Looks like he just arrived. Come on, let's go up and say hello." Ms. Liu had come with her, and she pulled her along, wanting to go forward.

Liu Yifei’s body swayed, but her feet didn't move.

"Xixi, what’s wrong? I thought you were specifically going to meet him."

Ms. Liu sighed, "Xixi, you and he are colleagues, be a bit warmer to each other, it’s fine. Listen to Mom, come on, let’s go say hello."

Chen Nuo was listening to Qi Yuntian complain about the weather while moving luggage from the car when suddenly a beautiful woman walked over with a warm smile, with Liu Yifei following behind her, pouting her little mouth, looking completely unwilling.

"Hello, Auntie Liu, hello, Senior Liu. No need, we are two grown men, how could we let you help?"

Qi Yuntian snorted from the side, "Don't lump me in with you, okay?"

Ms. Liu had lived abroad for many years and was long accustomed to beauties like Qi Yuntian, so she smiled and said, "Little Qi is a beauty, even more beautiful than our Xixi."

Qi Yuntian waved her hand; surprisingly, she didn't nod and say that was a given, but instead said, "No, no, we have different styles."

"Xixi, come quickly and say hello to Chen Nuo and Little Qi," Ms. Liu said.

Liu Yifei stepped forward with an expressionless face and said softly, "Hello."

Chen Nuo and Qi Yuntian exchanged a glance, smiled awkwardly, greeted her in return, and then carried their luggage to the hotel to settle in.

(End of chapter)