Accidental Mark

Chapter 36

In the blink of an eye, the Folding Paper crew had been filming for a week.

In accordance with the schedule, Liu Xueyi completed all the solo scenes of several actors in winter. Due to the tacit cooperation between Cheng Xia and Ye Mingqian, the rival scenes of Qin Nian and Xu Fei in the original novel were also completed.

It was the weekend and it started to snow again.

Liu Xueyi called Cheng Xia and Shen Kai aside early in the morning and patiently spoke to them, “The two of you are now more familiar with each other? Today, I will mainly film the scenes with Qin Nian and Lu Fengyang. Don’t be nervous. Go to the side first and prepare your lines.”

The two men came to a quiet corner with their scripts and started practicing their lines.

Cheng Xia didn’t have a deep impression of this alpha. In the past few days, they had basically been filming separately and didn’t have much contact. Shen Kai’s attitude toward him was fairly friendly. If they met, they would greet each other and chat casually. Yet familiar? They weren’t really familiar.

Shen Kai wore a school uniform with a black down jacket. He was half a head taller than Cheng Xia. Since Lu Fengyang’s initial setting was a ‘stubborn bad student’, his hair style was a bit more non-mainstream. The chestnut hair with hairspray looked cool but it was actually quite chuuni.

Cheng Xia’s Qin Nian was the top three students in the entrance examination. They stood face to face and the image contrast was quite big. In addition, they were too familiar with each other. Their expressions were a bit embarrassed as they looked at each other.

Fortunately, Director Liu adjusted the atmosphere. “Come come, first try the lines of the first three acts. From now on, you are Qin Nian and you are Lu Fengyang. Let’s start.”

Cheng Xia and Shen Kai looked at each other and started to follow the script.

The two of them were going to film a total of four scenes today. The first three acts were literary ones and there weren’t many characters present. The two of them only needed to make good facial expressions and recite lines. Moreover, in order to take care of them, the rival scenes that Director Liu chose today were when they were still at the friends stage. Cheng Xia didn’t need to show the complex emotions of secretly liking this person.

It was naturally much better to act in the friends stage than liking the other person.

Under Liu Xueyi’s guidance, the two of them finished checking their lines. If their eyes, movements and other performance areas weren’t detailed enough then Liu Xueyi would teach them by hand. Cheng Xia gradually got into the role and his acting against Shen Kai became smoother.

Once the practice was over, Director Liu went to examine the layout of the scene. Cheng Xia looked around, unknowingly searching for President Pei in the crowd. However, the familiar tall figure wasn’t seen. Cheng Xia was a bit puzzled. President Pei had been coming to the studio every day for a few days to supervise. Why wasn’t he here today?

“Cheng Xia.” A voice entered his ears and his thoughts were broken. Cheng Xia’s mind returned and he smiled at Shen Kai. “Later, I will try to catch your acting. Don’t worry too much and just let go.”

Cheng Xia’s script never left him every day and he memorized the script wherever he went. The crew had seen his seriousness for the past few days. In addition, his acting against Ye Mingqian had gone very smoothly. Today, Shen Kai was under a lot of pressure acting against Cheng Xia. Cheng Xia was a newcomer and NGs could be blamed on insufficient experience. He had acted in a few online dramas. Wouldn’t it be shameful if he wasn’t as good as Cheng Xia?

Cheng Xia heard these words and nodded earnestly. “Yes, we just need to let go of our acting. This morning, we just need to perform like good friends. I just listened to Director Liu and felt it isn’t very difficult.”

Shen Kai took the initiative to hand over his phone. “Since we are acting as friends, why don’t we become friends first?”

The alpha in front of him had an open-minded gaze, calm smile and cool expression. He seemed to have entered the role of ‘Lu Fengyang.’ Cheng Xia also simply took out his mobile phone and added the other person as a friend. The interpersonal relationships in this circle were complicated and this cooperation with Shen Kai could be considered pre-destined. Cheng Xia didn’t think there was a problem adding him as a friend.

After adding each other as friends, they chatted for a while. It was only at this time that Cheng Xia learned Shen Kai was studying fine art and he wasn’t a student of a film academy. Cheng Xia couldn’t help feeling admiration. “You aren’t from an acting class background but your acting skills are still so good. Too amazing!”

Shen Kai smiled and touched his nose. “Well, many people scolded me in my last drama. They said I turned a rich second generation into a country bumpkin.”

“They are black fans and don’t take their words to heart. I saw your last drama and you did a really good job…”

After a few minutes of chatting, the two of them were closer and felt less awkward about acting against each other compared to before.

Some time later, Director Liu’s shooting location was ready. Today, there were a lot of roles such as the younger sister and childhood friends. Newcomers such as Xue Ling and Qi Xiaoting also performed well. Four acts were completed in an hour and the progress was gratifying.

Director Liu was in a good mood and called for Cheng Xia and Shen Kai. The makeup artist immediately helped them neaten up their makeup and hairstyle. Then they took off their warm down jackets. It was snowing heavily and in the blink of an eye, a layer of snowflakes fell on their hair.

Director Liu called out ‘start’ and Cheng Xia quickly entered the role of Qin Nian once the cameras were pointed at himself. He looked at Shen Kai with a natural smile. “Fengyang, why are you here?” After all, it wasn’t hard to act as friends.

Director Liu admired Cheng Xia’s line skills. This newcomer was too serious and it wasn’t known how many times he memorized the lines in private. There were very few NGs due to ‘forgetting words.’ The lone lines always emerged smoothly from his mouth and he obviously worked hard.

Rather, it was Shen Kai who played several online dramas who couldn’t keep up for a while. Shen Kai bowed to the director. “I’m sorry, I forgot the words. Cheng Xia called out for Fengyang and I was stunned!”

Cheng Xia smiled. “Fengyang, Fengyang. You will get used to it after a few more times.”

Shen Kai nodded. “Yes, let’s start again.”

The filming started again. Cheng Xia’s lines were still very smooth and his movements were in place. He obviously remembered the things Director Liu had taught him just now. The young man had a bright smile and he was very smooth when he called out ‘Fengyang.’ Gradually, Shen Kai was also brought into the act and their cooperation became more tacit. The first act was done three times while the second and third acts passed in one go.

Liu Xueyi excitedly told Xu Moran, “I thought it would take a long time for Cheng Xia, Ye Mingqian and Shen Kai to be accustomed to it and eight to ten NGs would be normal. I didn’t expect their tacit understanding to be so high!”

Xu Moran nodded. “These newcomers are very serious and they are familiar with their lines. I hope the emotional dramas later can also be filmed smoothly.”

Acting as friends was completely different from acting as lovers. Regardless of how well Shen Kai and Cheng Xia’s scenes were filmed today, the key was if they could act well once the plot progressed to them liking each other.

Director Liu thought about it carefully. “The focus is still on tonight’s group scene. I will talk to them later.”

At noon, Pei Shaoze still hadn’t come to the set. The staff took advantage of lunchtime to whisper to each other, “Why didn’t President Pei come today? He has been here all week. He suddenly didn’t come today and I’m not used to it!”

”I don’t know. He is Tianxuan’s boss after all. He should be very busy, right? It is impossible to stare at the set every day.”

Cheng Xia heard the discussion and was also very puzzled. It just so happened that Director Liu found him to eat together. Cheng Xia sat next to Director Liu, took a few bites and pretended to casually ask, “Director Liu, isn’t President Pei coming today?”

Liu Xueyi explained as he ate, “President Pei flew to Ya’an early this morning. The terms have been negotiated with Mindge High School so he went to confirm the schedule and sign the contract. The part of our drama involving the winter scenes are filmed at the 17th High School but all spring, summer and autumn plots, as well as indoor scenes, will be filmed in Ya’an.”

Cheng Xia suddenly realized. “It turned out to be like this. President Pei is really attentive. I haven’t been to Ya’an before. I heard the flowers and trees grow all year round and the scenery is very good.”

Liu Xueyi was emotional. “Yes, all the crew will be going to Ya’an and a lot of money will be spent on food and accommodation! President Pei shouldn’t be coming to the set in the next few days. In addition to going to Ya’an on business, he needs to get more investments. The crew’s funds might be sufficient but with more money, we can use it for special effects and music in the later stages.”

Screenwriter Xu added, “President Pei really cares about this drama. Cheng Xia, he praised you yesterday saying that you are a particularly talented newcomer. After watching the shooting progress in the last few days, he is very satisfied with you and feels assured of your performance.”

Cheng Xia’s cheeks turned hot hearing that President Pei had privately praised him to others and he couldn’t help his heartbeat becoming faster. He was very happy, just like when he reached the top of his class as a student and was praised by his parents.

This type of joy was reflected in his eyes. The young man’s eyes were particularly bright and his eyes were full of smiles. “Thank you Director Liu and Teacher Xu. I am a newcomer and I have a lot more to learn from all the teachers.”

Liu Xueyi especially liked those who worked hard and patted his shoulder lovingly. “The filming has been going very smoothly these days and your credit in this is absolutely first. There is a more complicated group scene tonight. You should prepare well in the afternoon and strive to finish the filming smoothly.”

Cheng Xia got the notice last night. Today’s daytime scenes were relatively simple and only had dialogue. He and Shen Kai spoke well so after becoming family with each other, the filming was smooth.

However, this evening’s group scene involved a certain amount of action. Lu Fengyang came home in the evening after studying and got involved with some gangsters in an alley. Qin Nian was passing by and saw it. He found that Lu Fengyang was fighting one against five and gradually weakening, so he stepped forward to help. In addition to Qin Nian and Lu Fengyang, there were five extras who acted as the gangsters in this scene.

Cheng Xia was filming an action scene for the first time and didn’t have much confidence. Director Liu looked at him and said, “There will be guidance in the afternoon. The teacher will personally teach you how to shoot this scene. You and Shen Kai should practice with the extras. Follow along and study hard.”

Cheng Xia nodded. “I know, Director Liu.”

Just then, the phone dinged with a notification from WeChat. Cheng Xia opened it and took a look. It was actually a photo sent by Pei Shaoze.

The photo showed a path lined with tall trees on both sides. The verdant canopy blended with each other and seemed to be a purely natural green umbrella. The sky was very sunny and the sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled fragments of light and shadow on the ground. The quiet corridor was as beautiful as an animated landscape with fresh colors.

Pei Shaoze followed up with a sentence. [The scenery here in Ya’an is good. I inadvertently found that this is a holy place for dating.]

Cheng Xia’s heart jumped. Holy place for dating? What did this mean?

The next moment, he saw another message. [In the grand finale when you give Lu Fengyang the origami boat, it can be filmed here.]

Cheng Xia, “……”

Sure enough, this was a workaholic. President Pei saw such a good place and just thought about filming.

Cheng Xia replied, [President Pei is in Ya’an? The sky looks great over there.]

Pei Shaoze, [Yes, Ya’an has been sunny recently. The sun is good and the temperature is around 28 degrees Celsius. You can wear short sleeves.]

Cheng Xia sent over two photos of the snow scene this morning. [It is snowing again in Rong City. It is more spectacular than a few days ago.]

At this time, the two of them were separated by half a country. One side was covered with trees and flowers while the other side was silver and desolate. The photos they sent to each other were like two different worlds and gave them a subtle feeling.

Since his father died too early, Pei Shaoze was busy with work and he was constantly spinning around every day. Every time he went on a business trip, he was in a hurry and wasn’t in the mood to enjoy the scenery. Then today, he saw this scenery and suddenly thought of Cheng Xia. He unknowingly took a photo and shared it with Cheng Xia.

He thought that Cheng Xia would be very happy to see such beautiful scenery. If this scenery was used to shoot the finale of the drama, the effect would be absolutely perfect. Cheng Xia wouldn’t have practiced origami for so long in vain.

Pei Shaoze smoothly clicked into Cheng Xia’s Moments. This morning, Cheng Xia posted to his Moments and wrote, [I piled up a snowman in front of the door last night. As a result, I got up this morning and found it gained a lot of weight. The snow was so heavy that the eyes and nose were covered…]

The snowman in the photo was indeed fat. Its eyes and nose were invisible. There was a black towel on its head as hair and a strange red scarf tied around its neck that was tied crookedly.

…It was cute.

Pei Shaoze looked at the snowman with a smile in his eyes. He gave it a like and replied, [Your child-like heart isn’t lost.]

Cheng Xia saw it and his ears turned red. He suddenly felt the embarrassment of a ‘naughty child caught by his parents.’ Child-like heart—didn’t this mean he was childish?

Yesterday, the crew finished at 6:30 p.m. The snow in front of his door was thick, white and clean. Cheng Xia was bored so he made a snowman to play. He didn’t expect President Pei to see his circle of friends. Cheng Xia clicked into Pei Shaoze’s Moments and found it was empty. All the previous ones were deleted.

He had to reply to President Pei in his Moments, [Reporting to the boss, I’m not being lazy. The snowman was made after work ended yesterday. I will go back and practice the script now ^_^]

The reply made Pei Shaoze’s smile more obvious.

Pei Shaoyan was having a meal with his brother. He saw his older brother taking out his mobile phone and sending a few messages, only to suddenly smile. His older brother was usually serious. Even if he smiled, it wouldn’t be exaggerated like other people. His brother’s smile was just raising the corners of his lips but this faint smile made the originally indifferent, serious man become warmer.

Pei Shaoyan thought to himself that his brother must’ve sent a message to Cheng Xia. People in love would indeed become gentle.

There were no more than five people who added both Cheng Xia and President Pei. Only mutual friends of both parties could see this message. Zhou Yan happened to be a friend. After seeing the notification, she clicked in curiously and saw that President Pei had left a message for Cheng Xia.

Since Pei Shaoze officially started coming to work at Tianxuan in the past month, he had never posted in Moments or replied to one. She thought that President Pei didn’t check the Moments at all. Now he suddenly replied to Cheng Xia?

Zhou Yan frowned suspiciously. Perhaps he just happened to see it and replied? It was a simple message and she didn’t see anything special.

She didn’t know that Pei Shaoze had specifically clicked into Cheng Xia’s Moments to check the latest news. As for other people’s Moments and daily updates, he wasn’t interested in paying any attention to them.

Proofreader: Cat