Chapter 293: The Only Super-Rich Film Star and Yang Mi

Hengdian, Yi'an Garden

When Seeing Yan Li arrived, dinner was just being served, so he decided to eat there and happened to see Deng Chao and Sun Li being affectionate, while Wu Jing glared bitterly from a distance.

When "Painted Skin" first started filming, the male lead arrived earlier.

So initially, the trio of Yan, Deng, and Wu got along well—they'd gather after each day's shoot, work out, grill skewers, and lived quite nicely.

Once the two leads joined the cast, Seeing Yan Li went solo, but the remaining two still kept each other company—until Sun Li joined, and Deng Chao abandoned Wu Jing.

It was only then that Wu Jing realized the "Painted Skin" set was a damn trap.

Seeing Yan Li had the two leads, Deng Chao and Sun Li were a couple, and among all the main creators, he was the only one who came in alone.

Previously, there was Wu Yue, a fellow clansman and martial arts-trained actor, who kept him company—but Wu Yue was also filming "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang 2," had few lines here, and was often absent; he wrapped up two days ago and was now completely gone.

Today, Deng and Sun had no scenes, so they came to the rehearsal hall at Yi'an Garden to train for fight sequences.

Wu Jing had no scenes today either and planned to rest, but Deng Chao dragged him over under the guise of brotherly duty to be their coach—only for Wu Jing to end up as a third wheel, making him furious enough to split Deng Chao in two.

Seeing Yan Li carried his tray, greeted people along the way, and arrived at Wu Jing's table.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"Director Yan…"

Wu Jing started to stand, but Seeing Yan Li pressed him down, then sat himself, placed his soup bowl down, picked up some stir-fried pork, and bit into it with a steamed bun.

"How's the set been these past few days?"

"Everything's normal—we shot a night scene yesterday, so today's a rest day. Today's outdoor ensemble scenes are all on the street set."

Seeing Yan Li nodded, then teased: "You were staring at that couple the moment you walked in—lonely?"

"It's not loneliness—it's that bastard Deng Chao being a total piece of shit."

Wu Jing recounted the whole story; Seeing Yan Li also thought Deng Chao was unprincipled, but since he himself was a habitual case of abandoning friends for beauty, he said nothing.

"If you're upset, go hook up with someone yourself—we've got female actors in the crew."

The main creators of "Painted Skin" are only the two leads plus Sun Li, but that doesn't mean there aren't other female actors—just minor supporting roles and background extras.

Like Xiao Rou, the personal maid to Lady Wang Peirong, or female guests visiting the Wang Fu.

Since these roles involved the two leads and weren't prominent, Seeing Yan Li didn't inquire—he left it to the producer.

The maid seemed to be an actress pushed in by an investor; the female guest was a host from Guangxian making a cameo.

The former's background is unclear—don't suggest Wu Jing approach her; the latter is perfectly fine to get close to.

Even if no one works out in the crew, Hengdian never lacks beauties—go for a stroll, and opportunities will come.

"Forget it—I plan to focus on my career first."

Wu Jing wore the expression of a man who'd given up on love; Seeing Yan Li's eyes flickered slightly.

He smelled a juicy gossip!

A young guy, physically fit, not short on cash, uninterested in women—either he's gay, or he's been heartbroken.

Based on his interactions with Wu Jing over this period, while he was overly warm to his brother, he didn't seem gay—and paired with this melancholy expression, he'd clearly been hurt.

Seeing Yan Li was sharp—he knew that if he pressed directly now, Wu Jing probably wouldn't talk.

Men value face—being dumped isn't something you brag about.

So Seeing Yan Li adopted a roundabout strategy: pretending to support Wu Jing's career first, then complaining about unreliable women, then citing two examples of men hurt by women, making Wu Jing feel understood, and finally prying open his mouth.

In a private setting with a couple drinks, this would've gone much smoother.

But even without alcohol, Seeing Yan Li's social skills were strong, and Wu Jing wasn't a deep or reserved type—by the end of the meal, Seeing Yan Li had pieced together most of it.

This guy really had been hurt by a woman!

When he first debuted, Wu Jing met a Hong Kong actress, gradually developed feelings, and started dating.

The young Wu Jing was head-over-heels in love with her—even his move into the Hong Kong scene was partly because of her.

But he loved the wrong person—she later met a wealthy man who looked down on Wu Jing for being poor and left him for the richer man.

She'd done something particularly cruel back then, inflicting deep wounds on Wu Jing; it had been years, but he still couldn't get over it.

Seeing Yan Li ate his gossip while finishing the last sip of soup, then asked:

"That wealthy guy's surname is Luo—is he the Hong Kong real estate prodigy?"

Wu Jing looked at him and nodded: "Yes, him. You once stood up for Zhang Zhilin and his wife and took care of that guy—you've already helped me settle a score."

Well then!

Seeing Yan Li had thought Wu Jing had been acting familiar from the start—he'd assumed it was just flattery, since that was common.

Later, he'd sensed Wu Jing wasn't blatantly sucking up, and had been puzzled, wondering if it was his own charisma or prestige.

Now he understood—the root was this: he'd accidentally avenged Wu Jing's "wife-stealing" grudge.

Come to think of it, that Luo guy had been boastful in Xiangjiang for years and had made many enemies; by dealing with him, I probably gained more than just the goodwill of Zhang, Yuan, and Wu.

But Seeing Yan Li didn't care much about that.

Like Wu Jing—a minor actor, barely even considered second-tier—what use was his goodwill to Seeing Yan Li?

Satisfied with his gossip, Seeing Yan Li offered a few casual words of comfort—everyone steps into pits in life.

Wu Jing's career is decent, he's not bad-looking—he'll definitely find a wife he likes and suits him.

Seeing Yan Li didn't have time to be a matchmaker, but Wu Jing could ask the woman-abandoning Deng Chao—this kid had good connections and Sun Li; maybe he could introduce someone decent.

…

After eating, Seeing Yan Li figured he had no scenes today, so he went to the office area to review some of Hengdian's work summaries.

Currently filming in Hengdian and related to Yi'an are multiple dramas, including "Painted Skin," "In the Darkness," "The Last Gege," and "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang 2."

In addition, "Xiao Shiyilang" and "Xiao Yanzhi" are in pre-production and set design; once "Painted Skin" wraps, Fan Xiaopang, Deng Chao, and others will seamlessly move into the next project.

Other dramas like "Xue Dingshan Conquers the West" and "The Right Path of Humanity" are still in the project approval stage, haven't reached set design yet, and may not even film in Hengdian.

Overall, this year Yi'an's television drama output has grown only slightly, due to its heavy involvement in films.

And the investment ratio was reduced, with Yian Primary Producer as the main driver, promoting centralization of projects under Yian Primary Producer.

Previously, Yian Primary Producer had few projects, partly due to limited funding, but the key issue was lack of personnel and team—good projects were hard to find.

Now, while not all of Yian's problems have been solved, they have been significantly improved.

With ample funds itself, and Ju Xin ready to help if needed, as the company grows, it attracts a steady stream of industry talent and projects.

Thus, Yian, lacking neither money nor people, naturally prioritizes its own projects, earning more profit and gaining greater influence.

External drama investments will still happen, but only if the project is good or Yian's funds are relatively abundant.

Of course, this applies to TV dramas; for films, due to high risk, Yian maintains a conservative stance on primary control, still favoring investment.

Even when taking primary control, such as with "Painted Skin," it brings in multiple investors, integrating resources and sharing risk.

However, if "Painted Skin" gains fame next year, it will greatly boost Yian's film development.

If combined with Yi'an, with upstream and downstream channels fully connected, both companies benefit, forming a strategic alliance.

In fact, there has long been internal discussion about merging the two companies, leveraging their full industry chain advantages—production, distribution, cinema chains—to pursue an IPO.

This would be far more explosive than either Yian or Yi'an going public alone.

Yi'an's physical assets can anchor Yian's floor, while Yian's constant exposure can drive stock profits; their union offers many benefits.

Seeing Yan Li has also considered this issue, but merging Yian and Yi'an is a thorny problem.

It's not just a matter of changing a name—weighting, management team value, resource allocation, and most importantly, equity, are all extremely difficult to untangle.

Especially the equity issue: Seeing Yan Li owns Yian entirely; if merged with Yi'an, how many shares should he get?

Too few, and Seeing Yan Li won't agree—he knows Yian already earns substantial profits.

Too many, and Seeing Yan Li, already the largest shareholder, will make other shareholders uneasy.

Is the merger for the company's sake or for personal power grabs?

If mishandled, Yi'an could even split internally, dragging Yian into the mess.

Seeing Yan Li has also regretted that, when starting the cinema chain, he could have simply done it under Yian's name.

But thinking that way feels like hindsight bias.

Starting the cinema chain was a high-stakes gamble, requiring massive equity dilution; Yian had its own business and profit points then, and forcing cinema expansion would have required heavy capital infusion, significantly impacting Yian's rapid growth phase.

Perhaps Yi'an's cinema chain wouldn't have succeeded, and Yian's thriving business would have been dragged down instead.

So Seeing Yan Li's original strategy of putting eggs in two baskets was correct.

Now, as the eggs in both baskets multiply, it's entirely feasible to create a larger container to hold them—and potentially cultivate an entire poultry farm.

Seeing Yan Li shook his head, abandoning this troubling and difficult issue for now.

Whether or not they merge in the future, or whether it's good or bad, making both baskets bigger and filling them with more eggs is certainly right.

…

The next day, after makeup, Seeing Yan Li saw Sun Li and Deng Chao fully geared up.

Today's scene was a "domestic violence" sequence.

Deng Chao, portraying a lizard spirit, ambushes Sun Li, the demon hunter, slashing wildly, leaving her battered and desperate—only Wu Jing's intervention allowed them to drive him back.

When he agreed to play the demon hunter for Sun Li, one major reason was the extensive fight scenes with Deng Chao.

A "real opponent"—they slash at each other fiercely on-screen, and ultimately Deng Chao dies at Sun Li's hands.

The couple had previously co-starred in two dramas, both romantic; this is the only one where they kill each other—huge publicity.

They themselves enjoy performing it: Deng Chao is a joker who treasures this "legally beating his girlfriend" opportunity; Sun Li, sleeping in the same bed as him, is no pushover, constantly researching how to "kill her husband" more satisfyingly.

Seeing Yan Li privately told Fan Xiaopang to stay away from Sun Li, lest she get infected by these two crazy spouses.

Fan Xiaopang, however, finds it fascinating—she's "killed" Seeing Yan Li before, in "Fortune Star Blesses Zhu Bajie," though it was more like mutual destruction.

So she's intrigued by the idea of personally "killing" Seeing Yan Li and is considering when they might do a fight scene together.

Seeing Yan Li was speechless, venting to Li Bingbing—only to find Li Bingbing also thought it sounded interesting.

"…"

What kind of people are these!

Deng Chao and Sun Li have fight scenes today; Seeing Yan Li also has fight scenes with Li Bingbing and Fan Xiaopang, with him as the lead.

"Painted Skin" is about demons, but speaks of love.

More bluntly, it's the story of a fox spirit mistress who targets a married man, tries to destroy his marriage and take his wife's place, but fails.

Fan Xiaopang is the mistress, Li Bingbing is the wife; their rivalry is the most intense, but Seeing Yan Li's character, the husband, remains the crucial pivot.

Seeing Yan Li initially thought Wang Sheng would be easy to play—just a man torn between his wife and mistress, something he had experience with.

But once filming began, he realized the role was far more complex than he imagined.

Wang Sheng's core is an extremely intricate contradiction—trapped between desire and morality, instinct and duty, hypocrisy and sincerity; his appeal—or revulsion—lies in the authentic portrayal of human dilemma and struggle.

Playing this role well is actually harder than playing Peirong or Xiao Wei.

Peirong embodies true goodness and beauty, sacrificing herself for love—wounded, yielding, yet resolute—a classic image of gentle yet resilient femininity.

This role is actually the easiest of the three.

Xiao Wei is harder, because she isn't purely a villain—her evil differs from human evil; she has her own cognition, innocent and pure yet brutally cruel.

One must portray both her contradictions and her arc of growth—from demonic nature to humanity.

Seeing Yan Li believes Wang Sheng is harder than Xiao Wei because his contradictions are passive, and his moments of brilliance and climax are fewer.

More importantly, Seeing Yan Li underestimated the role's complexity and found it hard to identify with.

Wang Sheng's moral collapse and descent shatter his self-perception, transforming him from a resolute, decisive general into a hesitant, fragile "coward."

This strongly conflicts with some of Seeing Yan Li's own traits; he also cannot empathize with the character's so-called inner struggle.

Wang Sheng, as a husband, violently vacillates between cheating and remaining faithful; Seeing Yan Li is accustomed to cheating and has formed his own fixed worldview.

Playing deep affection is manageable—he does that regularly—but portraying this weak, hypocritical contradiction, he can't quite grasp the right tone.

Sometimes he inevitably ended up portraying Wang Sheng as a jerk.

This made Seeing Yan Li have a strong dislike for the character Wang Sheng—either be a complete jerk or a sincere man; what he hated most was this half-jerk, half-honest kind.

The mismatch between actor and character, plus the lack of immersion, made Seeing Yan Li struggle to portray Wang Sheng.

On top of that, due to various work commitments, he couldn't fully devote himself to filming, so he had to put in extra effort in his free time.

On regular nights spent with Shuang Bing, he didn't just busy himself with casual chat—he also genuinely set aside time to study the character and rehearse scenes with them.

Sometimes, when deeply immersed in the role, he would even carry the character's emotions into their interactions.

In the film, they didn't talk, but off-screen, Wang Sheng begged for forgiveness and made Peirong cry and forgive him many times; Xiao Wei wasn't spared either, constantly being hunted down and exorcised.

Besides putting in hard work, Seeing Yan Li also considered taking shortcuts—getting Shuang Bing to cooperate, letting them play supporting roles at times to give him space.

Filming, especially scenes with co-stars, isn't just about individual performance—it's about teamwork; if the co-star cooperates, the character's portrayal improves dramatically.

But often, you can't make a co-star give you space, especially someone like Shuang Bing.

Fortunately, Seeing Yan Li's reputation held weight, and his private compensation was generous enough that Shuang Bing were quite cooperative.

Seeing Yan Li experienced firsthand the feeling of two leading actresses building the stage for him—admittedly, it felt great to act like that.

Of course, Seeing Yan Li wasn't someone who only took and gave nothing—in Shuang Bing's high-light scenes, he willingly played the supporting role to highlight them.

Seeing Yan Li wasn't particularly eager to steal scenes or hog the spotlight; if not for the male lead being crucial, he'd have been happy to make "Painted Skin" a true dual female-led film.

This wasn't Seeing Yan Li boasting—he'd previously discussed "Painted Skin 2" with the screenwriter, and there were two ideas.

If a second part were to be made, keeping the entire original cast, Seeing Yan Li considered reducing his own share and giving more screen time to Shuang Bing.

They could even consider adding a yuri element—Seeing Yan Li thought Shuang Bing as a couple might be more compelling than their rivalry over men.

It didn't even have to wait for "Painted Skin 2"—Yi An's planned spy-thriller film could be a chance to make Shuang Bing allies.

But whether this project could actually bring Shuang Bing back together, Seeing Yan Li couldn't guarantee.

Although the "Painted Skin" set seemed stable for now, private tensions were frequent; Shuang Bing would occasionally exchange polite greetings.

Under these circumstances, whether Shuang Bing would be willing to continue collaborating remained uncertain.

Moreover, repeatedly pairing Shuang Bing and pushing the "Shuang Bing" brand might trigger market resistance or fatigue—something that couldn't be ignored.

Of course, from another angle, if "Painted Skin" succeeded and the "Shuang Bing" brand built a strong reputation, continuously tying them together in a strong alliance and releasing multiple works would greatly elevate Shuang Bing's career influence.

Perhaps, what Seeing Yan Li originally envisioned as "Four Dan and Shuang Bing" could one day become "Shuang Bing and Four Dan."

With this idea in mind, during filming breaks, Seeing Yan Li began brainwashing Fan Xiaopang and Li Bingbing again.

Both were slightly tempted, but each had their own thoughts.

For instance, Li Bingbing actually wanted to venture into Hollywood; besides, collaborating once with Yi An was fine, but multiple collaborations might make Huayi uneasy.