Chapter 477

Jilin, Mount Zhangbai.

At this time, the makeup and costume team of the Journey to the West production, along with script supervisor Li Chengru and Yu Hong, had already arrived at the location.

Besides setting up the set, they needed to finalize the costume design for the main character of this episode, Hong Haier.

At this moment!

I’m a big name myself—almost the biggest male actor in the Journey to the West crew, a Golden Rooster Award winner at that; among the actresses, it’s Snow Mom and Lin Jie.

And this drama will be watched by so many people—what if Sister Wang Fei sees me naked? That would be so embarrassing!

Seeing Wei Xi’s firm resistance, Li Chengru gave Wei Jiefang a look: Uncle, you go ahead!

As Wei Xi’s temporary agent, Wei Jiefang cleared his throat twice: “Xi Zha, where are you naked? You’re still wearing that red belly band.”

Xi Zi: “But that belly band doesn’t cover my butt!”

Wei Jiefang: “As a man, is your butt important? As long as the front’s covered, isn’t that enough?”

Xi Zi stopped: “Is that true? I’m young—don’t you lie to me.”

Wei Jiefang stepped forward: “Besides, actors have to make sacrifices. Brother Chen Qiang from Beiyingchang nearly got shot dead during filming. We can’t compare with those old artists, but we can at least sacrifice a butt, right? It’s a bit chilly, but it won’t get slapped.”

“This…”

Seeing Wei Xi wavering, Wei Jiefang pressed on: “Xi Zha, I’ll tell you—I’ve met a little animal out here recently. Let it lead us to find a thousand-year-old ginseng, how about that?”

“Huh? A thousand-year-old ginseng? That’d be a spirit by now!”

Wei Jiefang: “Exactly—that’s why we have to catch it. As soon as a person approaches, it runs off. Without a local guide from Mount Zhangbai, you’d never find it.”

“Then… alright, alright.”

Old Wei gave Li Chengru an OK gesture: Done.

Li Chengru bowed with both hands: You’re the one, Uncle.

Then he pulled Wei Jiefang aside: “Uncle Wei, can you really find a thousand-year-old mountain ginseng?”

“That was just teasing the kid—how can you take it seriously?” Old Wei laughed heartily.

Early the next morning, Old Wei took Xi Zi into the mountains following a purple sable.

The purple sable is native to Mount Zhangbai, shy by nature, fleeing at the approach of humans—but this one took two steps, then turned back to wait for them, even climbing onto Old Wei’s shoulder and pointing ahead.

The official shoot was still days away, so Xi Zi had relative freedom until then.

At this time, the director, cinematographer, and main crew had returned to Jingcheng to wrap up the “Daughter Kingdom” episode.

Zhu Lin returned with them and had been at CCTV these past two days, since she was dubbing her own lines.

While dubbing, she watched her own performance—seeing her noble, elegant demeanor, her tender, longing eyes—she couldn’t help shivering: Eww, how could Tang San endure this? Impressive, impressive—if it were Little Wei, I’d be stuck in bed forever.

“Director Yang, what’s troubling you?” After finishing her morning dubbing, she stepped out and saw Director Yang Jie with a worried expression.

Director Yang pulled out another sheet of paper with lyrics: “This is the one written by Yan Su, called ‘Meeting Is Hard, Parting Is Hard Too.’ Good, very good—it’s on par with Little Wei’s ‘Daughter’s Emotion,’ but more restrained emotionally.”

She was torn over which song to choose. Zhu Lin asked: “Is it illegal to use both?”

Yang Jie froze, then laughed: “I fell into a mental trap. Of course—why must there be only one insert song per episode? These two songs express different emotions—I can place them in different scenes. You young people really think outside the box.”

Zhu Lin didn’t think it was particularly clever—she’d simply learned it from Wei Ming.

He always wanted both if he liked two things—and even if it broke the rules, he’d do it anyway. What’s the big deal about wanting two songs?

After leaving CCTV, Zhu Lin returned to her home on Naluogu Lane. Summer was coming, and living here was more comfortable; besides, its security had long surpassed all other residences.

She had already filled the swimming pool with water; a few more days of sun and she could swim—but sadly, Xiao Xue and Xiao Wei weren’t around, so she had no motivation to wear a bikini.

After returning to Jingcheng, she received a letter from Gong Ying: Xiao Xue had taken a job in Hong Kong, co-starring with Siqin Gaowa in a co-production by Xia Meng Company. She said the script deeply moved her, but her role was a woman who had lived in Hong Kong for twenty years—a difficult part for her, so she’d need to live there for a while to experience the life.

For actresses of their caliber, landing a leading film role isn’t hard—it’s finding a good team and a good story that’s difficult.

Several scripts had been offered to Zhu Lin before; she asked Wei Ming to review them, and Xiao Wei said there was no point filming them—they wouldn’t win awards, wouldn’t spread widely, and in a few years, no one would remember them.

To shoot such films meant traveling to remote areas, suffering and exhausting yourself—better to stay in Yanjing and perform theater.

If not for Journey to the West being a national key project, Zhu Lin, the lead of Donkey Gets Water, would still be rehearsing theater now.

Without a man around, Zhu Lin poured all her energy into rehearsal; the play should premiere this year, and everyone at the People’s Art Theatre believed its reception might surpass even Double Donkey Records.

“I want you beside me, I want you to fix my hair, the night wind blows, making my heart itch—my beloved…”

Humming the song from the play, Zhu Lin arrived at the People’s Art Theatre, then saw Vice President Yu Shi and Lan Tianye, along with several senior figures, chatting with a woman in the corridor.

Hearing Zhu Lin’s singing, the woman turned to look at her; Yu Shi immediately introduced her.

Zhu Lin didn’t need introduction—few in China didn’t know her. Yu Lao emphasized the woman in her forties: “This is Huang Shuqin from Shangyingchang.”

Zhu Lin knew her—she was Xie Jin’s longtime assistant director; Gong Ying had worked with her on The Herdsman.

Zhu Lin thought: Oh no, is she here to offer me a film role?

Zhu Lin only half-understood; Lan Lao added: “Director Huang is a film director, but she has deep ties to our theater world—her father is Master Huang Zuolin. Whenever she comes to Jingcheng, if she has time, she always visits the People’s Art Theatre.”

Oh!

Now Zhu Lin understood: Huang Zuolin—alongside Jiao Juyin, one of the two giants of theater, Jiao founding the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, Huang leading the Shanghai Theatre Academy; together, they shaped today’s theater landscape.

Huang Shuqin had since graduated from Xie Jin’s tutelage; last year, she directed Youth Forever, adapted from Wang Meng’s novel, her first major work.

This time, Huang Shuqin had indeed come to Jingcheng for her new film. Recently, she had read Jiang Zilong’s reportage, “The Man with Long Hair,” about the life of Peking Opera performer Pei Yanling, from childhood hardship to stardom.

Jiang Zilong was from Cang County, Cangzhou; Pei Yanling was from Suining County, Cangzhou—right next to Wei Ming’s hometown. Wei Ming had even gone with his grandmother and second grandmother to see Pei Yanling perform in the neighboring county as a child.

Huang Shuqin found the story remarkable: a woman portraying a man so successfully was already a miracle; now, a woman portraying a male ghost—so many untold stories could be imagined.

So she found Pei Yanling, lived with her troupe, ate and slept with her, interviewed and dug into her life and details, then returned home to write the script.

The final script was titled “Man, Ghost, Love,” telling the life story of Qiu Yun, a female opera performer.

Though it no longer featured Hebei Bangzi and differed greatly from Pei Yanling’s real life, the story was solid and had passed Shangyingchang’s review.

The male lead in this script was Qiu Yun’s father—actually her adoptive father, betrayed by her mother—and as Huang Shuqin wrote, one name flashed in her mind: Li Baotian.