Chapter 156: Star Fortune

On a bench in front of the artificial lake in the park.

In the frame, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei sat together, their fingers tightly interlocked.

"Before, I stood outside the hospital room, looking at you through the glass.

After this, it might be your turn to look at me like that, until…"

"What happened?"

The female lead played by Liu Liu Yifei looked up at Lin Nan in panic, tears welling in her eyes.

"It… has metastasized. All over my body."

In an instant, the girl seemed to have her spine pulled out, slumping limply on the bench.

She leaned into Lin Nan's arms, tears flowing uncontrollably.

"Stop crying. Help me write a eulogy, to be delivered at my funeral."

Lin Nan gently wiped the tears from Liu Liu Yifei's face and said softly.

"Woo-woo… what did we do wrong? Why, why are you doing this to us…"

At this moment, Liu Liu Yifei was fully immersed in her performance, crying her eyes out.

Behind the monitor, Director Lu Yang held back the "Cut."

After a long while, a single "Cut" finally ended the scene.

Liu Liu Yifei was still sobbing, unable to stop.

Lin Nan was also a little caught up in it; the two of them just leaned on each other like that, sitting for a long time.

"Watching that even made me feel a bit uncomfortable."

Zhu Zhu Yawen smacked his lips and muttered a line. The people around nodded in agreement.

"When a real-life couple acts out a scene like this, the effect is exactly like what you just saw from them.

They get into character easily, and it feels very real, very moving."

Director Lu Yang explained to the group.

There was one more thing he didn't say — this also avoided the situation where actors couldn't get out of character and it affected their real-life romantic relationships.

After all, there were far too many cases of people falling in love on set.

"I've acted in so many productions, and even added together, I haven't shed as many tears as in this film."

Liu Liu Yifei picked up a tissue, tidied herself up a bit, her tone still slightly sorrowful — she hadn't pulled herself together yet.

"Liu Qianqian, you really did an amazing job this time."

Lin Nan said with a smile, affirming her.

"Really?"

"What do you think?"

"Mm, I think so too. Also, that part just now wasn't acting…"

When she gets tsundere, she's still the same old Liu Liu Yifei.

…………

Outside, the Golden Horse Awards had also become a joke.

Taiwan pulled out all the stops to prop up its own people.

Some guy surnamed Ruan actually beat out mainland's Wang Wang Xueqi, Ni Ni Dahong, and Qin Hao to take Best Actor.

Ning Hao, as one of the jurors, had his Weibo comment section swarmed by nosy netizens.

"Anyone who knows, knows."

His reply of just eight characters, though deleted within half an hour, caused quite a stir — it became an incident.

The industry was full of doubt, and online there was a flood of mockery and abuse.

"I just had a little to drink, didn't think too much before posting it."

Ning Hao brought it up with Lin Nan, also at a loss for words.

He clearly had the fewest votes, but when it was announced, he became Best Actor — who could you even argue with about that?

"Same as Hong Kong — they've got no one left to carry the torch. So they can only use methods like this to forcibly save face…" Lin Nan guessed.

…………

Love Is Not Blind had performed somewhat beyond market expectations.

It was clearly just a somewhat funny romantic film, yet its box office growth was unusually explosive.

Zhu Zhu Yawen, on the set of Star Fortune, kept glancing at the news every now and then, then laughing like a fool.

"Right now, your bro here is about to be the male lead of a 200-million-yuan box office film.

Who knows, in a few more days, I might be the male lead of a 300-million-yuan one."

Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei watched Zhu Zhu Yawen's look of finally "making it," and both found it a bit funny.

"Alright, once it's out of theaters, I'll throw you a celebration banquet. For now, go get your makeup done and get ready for the next scene."

Star Fortune was a romantic art-house film, but its ending was not a happy one.

The next scene to be filmed had Zhu Zhu Yawen's supporting male character also beginning to deteriorate.

His one remaining eye was about to be removed, and his big-busted girlfriend was about to abandon him…

While the crew was preparing, the hairdresser the logistics team had called for Lin Nan arrived.

"Lin Dao, you're sure about the bald look?"

"The plot's already at the chemo stage, of course it's a bald head."

Lin Nan had just finished speaking when he heard Director Lu Yang calling over the cinematographer.

"Quick, this is going to be behind-the-scenes footage when the film releases later — we have to record it, hahaha…"

Regarding this kind of behind-the-scenes material, Lin Nan had no reason to refuse.

Ten-odd minutes later, the new look was done; the cool, breezy feeling left Lin Nan a bit unaccustomed for a while.

Suddenly, a hand appeared on his head—icy cold.

"Cut it out—a man's head, a woman's waist…"

"Oh my, it really does look like a peeled hard-boiled egg."

The more Liu Liu Yifei spoke, the more excited she got.

In the distance, Zhu Zhu Yawen and the others were already urging, "Lin Dao, stop flirting, time to get to work."

"When we get back tonight, let me have a good feel…"

…………

As an art-house film, more than half of "The Fault in Our Stars" had now been shot.

A single "Action."

Zhu Zhu Yawen, wearing sunglasses and holding a white cane, stepped into frame.

Under the double blow to body and spirit, this supporting character was no different from a living dead.

"Don't be so down—at least you're alive. And I don't have much time left."

Zhu Zhu Yawen's portrayal of a blind man was passable; clumsily following the direction of the voice, he "looked" toward Lin Nan.

"Sorry."

Lin Nan struggled to move in front of Zhu Zhu Yawen, grabbed the other's hand, and stuffed a letter into it.

"This is?"

"Keep it safe. After I'm gone, give it to her…"

"I—I'll do it."

One particularly important shot, and that was that. From here on, the filming of the entire movie began wrapping up.

……

One call after another came into the crew, among them from Ye Ning, Han Han Sanping, and others.

"Director Han, what is it? I'm awfully busy."

"Nothing much, just wanted to let you know—that film of yours is badass."

Lin Nan was a bit dumbfounded; after hanging up, he went to check the news.

Holy smokes, it really was badass—two weeks in and it had already hit 280 million.

Then he thought of Zhu Zhu Yawen's earlier look of wanting to say something but holding back, that cheeky little expression—must have been about this.

"Lin Dao, there are a lot of reporters outside who want to visit the set."

Lin Nan shook his head. "This film doesn't open its set to visitors. If anything comes up, let Yue Jun handle it."

"Stargirl" was an art-house film—not suited to the kind of promotion a commercial film gets, especially set visits.

Filming continued.

The male lead didn't have much time left; the two began to cherish every day they had together.

Under the golden sunset.

A girl wearing a tracheostomy tube pushed a wheelchair, on which sat a boy in a hat.

The two chatted and laughed, gradually walking off into the sunset…

"Lin Dao, next up is your wrap shot—let's grab a meal after we finish it?"

Director Lu Yang said jokingly, drawing laughter from the entire crew.

"It's me wrapping, not the film wrapping. Let's wait for the wrap party."

Lin Nan declined with a smile—still trying to get a free meal out of him?

The camera started rolling again; this time it was the shot of Lin Nan lying in a hospital bed being resuscitated.

"Rapid renal failure, rapid cardiac failure, pulmonary function…"

……

"Resuscitation unsuccessful. We did our best…"

……

"Cut!"

The instant Director Lu Yang's voice landed, everyone quickly gathered around the hospital bed.

"What? It's not like I'm really dead."

Seeing a crowd gathered around him, as if paying respects to the deceased, Lin Nan grumpily shot back a line.

"Congratulations, Lin Dao—you've wrapped!"

"Lin Dao, congrats on wrapping."

……

"Actor Lin Nan has wrapped, but Lin Dao Nan hasn't yet." Liu Liu Yifei also called out with a smile.

"Liu Qianqian, there's still a part with your scenes coming up—it's on you now."

"Mm, don't worry."

Miss Liu nodded and said very seriously.

In the scenes that followed, she had quite a few shots that required tears.

Lin Nan returned to the director's post.

Tomorrow would be the funeral scene—Liu Liu Yifei's one-woman show.

……

In the evening on the way back, Miss Liu held Lin Nan's arm and fell asleep right there in the car.

Perhaps she was dreaming; tears soaked Lin Nan's sleeve.

The anniversary of Beijing Film Academy was terribly timed.

"We're at a critical stage of filming; we truly cannot make it.

I imagine many alumni are also unable to spare the time, right?"

After the school set the anniversary date, Lin Nan had already given Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang a heads-up in advance.

He just hadn't expected the school to contact them again today, specifically choosing a time when the crew wrapped up.

"Come if you can; coming after the afternoon wrap is fine too. Bring Fei along..."

The anniversary runs from morning till night; that's actually a pretty good idea.

When they arrived at the set the next day, the logistics team was already ready.

As soon as Liu Liu Yifei got out of the car, she went to the makeup room.

The speech shot in today's scenes was crucial; she needed to maintain that sorrowful state, tears flowing, and deliver the entire speech.

"Lin Dao, here's a red envelope for you."

"Good."

This was industry custom; Lin Nan couldn't exempt himself, after all, the person on the funeral photo in a moment would be him.

When Liu Liu Yifei emerged from the makeup room, she seemed to have already entered the state.

Dressed entirely in black, she looked solemn. Her pale, haggard cheeks were heartbreaking to see.

Lin Nan walked over and pulled her into his arms.

"Go for it in a moment."

"Mm, I'm ready."

Everyone returned to their positions; Lin Nan sat before the monitor.

"Action!"

Liu Liu Yifei was seen walking heavily to the front row, tears already quietly falling...

She opened her mouth but couldn't get a word out; her eyes grew redder.

Seeing this, Lin Nan didn't know how much of Liu Liu Yifei's performance in this drama was acting and how much was her directly projecting the two of them.

"Perhaps after wrapping, I should let her rest for a while," Lin Nan thought to himself.

After a long while, Miss Liu spoke: "You, you are the warm sun in my life, the only love..."

Tears accompanied her choked words, spoken one character at a time, appearing lonely and helpless.

In Lin Nan's view, Liu Liu Yifei's performance in this scene was very good.

Crying scenes are exhausting. Clearly, Miss Liu had poured her emotions in while looking at Lin Nan's photo.

After a single "Cut," this shot ended.

"That's it for the morning. In the afternoon, we'll shoot the final scene."

At lunch, Liu Liu Yifei ate very little.

She stayed with Lin Nan, leaning against him like that.

"I feel that after wrapping, I need to sleep well at home for a few days to shake off the emotions from the movie..."

Hearing Liu Liu Yifei say this, Lin Nan nodded; she did need to rest. In this drama, she had overexerted herself.

Miss Liu's heart had always been very strong; there was no issue of being unable to get out of character.

Back then, facing online rumors, it was relying on that strong heart that she purified all negative emotions.

If all else failed, she had a trump card: sleep a few more times and clear her mind!

The final scene began.

In the shot, Liu Liu Xiaoli was comforting her self-isolated daughter.

Zhu Zhu Yawen arrived, leaning on a white cane.

"He asked me to give you this letter after he left."

These words made a glimmer of life return to the girl's eyes once more.

In the monitor, only Liu Liu Yifei remained.

She trembled as she opened the letter and read it aloud softly; tears once again poured out uncontrollably.

"You asked, what did we do wrong? Why treat us this way?

I want to tell you, actually we did nothing wrong; no one did anything wrong.

The fault lies with this fate; it is all fate's fault.

To use Shakespeare's lines, it is all 'the fault of the stars.'

Live well, face each day positively and brightly, and defeat fate for me...

Even if I am no longer here, I still love you."

"Woo-woo..."

"Cut!"

Lin Nan hurriedly shouted; Miss Liu had cried until her voice gave out.

He walked over and embraced her.

"Liu Qianqian, we've wrapped."

"Wuwu... I know, but I just can't hold back the tears..."