The Film Emperor Asks For Divorce Every Day 影帝每天都想离婚[穿书] Ch. 37

Translated by Neirith

Ling Qing encouraged him. “You got this!”

Zhong Huan looked at his calm demeanor and felt he’d been cheated, but was unable to muster up any anger. He was just going to beat Ling Qing on the stage. Teach him how to behave!

Having already memorized tomorrow’s lines, he took a few glances before tossing the script aside, beginning to play against Ling Qing.

Seeing that his performance wasn’t natural enough, Ling Qing had him repeat it a few times.

Under his guidance, Zhong Han’s expressions and actions gradually became more natural.

By the end of the scene, Zhong Huan was emboldened. “I did well.”

“You really didn’t set the bar very high.”

“You say that like you set the bar very high.”

“Well, higher than yours.”

Ling Qing sat on the couch as he commented, “You take too long to get into it, and your expressions are sometimes pretty fake. Your movements are really stiff, and…”

Ling Qing asked curiously, “Before, were you always dubbing?”

“Don’t you always dub after the filming is finished?”

Zhong Huan sat down on the other end of the couch and ruminated over his prior evaluation and said enigmatically, “Oh, I forgot. You’re a newcomer, you wouldn’t understand.”

“You don’t understand and you still have the gall to criticize me.” He said disdainfully.

“Not every show uses dubbing.”

Ling Qing said with extreme calmness, “Only actors whose voices don’t match need to be dubbed.” He glanced over at Zhong Huan. “You have a good voice that matches your character, but your dialogue isn’t up to standard. It’s not enough to delay things, but sometimes the emotions aren’t precise enough. If you have any plans on going to the big screen in the future, you’d better start practicing.”

Zhong Huan was blind sided and knit his brows in confusion. “What do you mean my emotions aren’t precise?”

“It’s not that they aren’t precise, it’s that they aren’t precise enough.” Ling Qing swallowed. “The meaning is that it’s not as if you’re not embodying the character, but that you’re not embodying them enough.”

Thinking about it, he continued, “I’ll give you an example.”

“In the line, ‘she misses you very much,’ who is she? She is Zhao Anning, the person you like. Why do I say this? Because you’ve tried every which way to treat her well, but she still holds He Chaoyang in her heart. So, when you came across He Chaoyang, your heart was in turmoil. However, out of your fondness of Zhao Anning, you still told him this line.”

“At this time, your emotions are a mess and you’re unwilling to admit defeat, but you have no alternatives. Rather than being dull, you’re sorrowful. When you said this line, there was no pause and you said it very fluidly. However, the paragraph in the book had a pause ——.”

“Just like that, Qiu Peng opened his mouth to repress the helplessness in his heart. His expression is complex. Obviously, this is a very simple phrase, but it holds a lot of meaning. ‘You should go see her,’ He says. Then he says, ‘She…’ with a pause, in order to muster up some courage. Then, he lowers his eyelashes and says with a indistinct voice, ‘misses you very much.'”

“In this scene, you should be emotional, but do you think you portrayed it accurately? You only portrayed his sadness, sadness out of a sense of gloom. But other than that, there’s nothing else. It can’t be said that you didn’t portray the emotions, but you didn’t portray enough emotions. You can do better.”

Zhong Huan had never heard someone say this to him before. 

He’d switched into the field and had never attended acting school. He had only wanted to act, so he entered the circle.

The directors had told him how to move, and how to look, and how to maneuver. But they’d never taught him how to interpret a character through their lines.

After all, the current trend was to use dubbing. This was the standard.

So much so was the case, that there were artists who were too lazy to remember their lines. They just filmed as they pleased, reciting songs or even random numbers.

Either way, they were all professionals, and when the finish product emerged, the audience would still be able to hear every line clearly. 

Thus, this was the first time he’d heard someone telling him that he could recite his lines better.

“You’ve read the original novel?” Zhong Huan asked.

Ling Qing nodded. “I’m not like you. I’m a newcomer so I have more time.”

Zhong Huan felt a little better —— owing to the fact that Ling Qing admitted he had more time. 

He found the meaning behind this sentence. It wasn’t because he wasn’t attentive enough, but because he didn’t have the time. He hadn’t read the original novel because he’d had so much work and so many promotions.

When he had time to rest, he still had so many things waiting for him. How could he have the attitude or the time to go and read a female romance novel?

So, he’d only read the script, feeling that this was enough.

Everyone in the circle was like this. They were running a million miles a minute, and most of the time, the IP adaptations were quite large. Just read the script, who cares what was written in the original novel.

For those who occasionally attended events, they’d pretend to accidentally reveal the book to hint to the fans that they’d read it. Most of them were just posing for photos and used book fans in order to generate favorable opinions.

Who knew whether the book would be used to prop up a table or thrown in a dusty corner afterwards.

This was not to say that all artists who appeared in IP adaptations didn’t read the original, but most of them didn’t have time or were simply too lazy to read it.

To them, the script was the original work.

Zhong Huan didn’t think there was anything wrong with this type of mentality. After all, everyone was like that.

However, now that Ling Qing had confronted him, he felt a little embarrassed.

He’d throught that Ling Qing had squeezed through the back door in order to take over Chen Hongming’s position as the male lead of this work.

There were similar people in the past, those who were stupid and poor at acting, who would mess around all day and only relied on their backer in order to act into oblivion.

When they got into trouble, they’d just ask their backer to come and clean up the mess.

However, he realized today that this wasn’t the case.

Perhaps it was the case that he came through the back door, but he was more earnest and sincere than any of the other actors.

He had already read the original work, examined their lines, and tried to interpret the characters.

Not only his role, but others as well

Therefore, he was able to recite Qiu Peng’s lines from the original novel without blinking. He was even able to offer a reasonable analysis.

Zhong Huan felt he was quite rare. Not only in his self-confidence, but also his honesty. 

 When they performed a fight scene, Ling Qing adjusted his moments in order to compensate for his mistakes, and cooperated with him in order to make the performance look perfect.

And now, Ling Qing gave him earnest suggestions, not because he wanted to give him a hard time, but because he wanted him to grow. 

As Zhong Huan watched him, he saw himself when he’d originally entered the circle, full of excitement, sincerity, and adoration towards everyone around him.

Over time, he had changed and become more and more like those actors who he abhorred in the past.

There was no more sincerity, they just treated it as a job. No more striving for perfection, just as long as it was good enough to pass.

Although he didn’t show any benevolence towards Ling Qing, Ling Qing had shown benevolence to him.

In this short period of time, Zhong Huan had unknowingly begun to chuckle. Even though he didn’t want to admit it, this newcomer wasn’t the sweet, foolish thing he originally imagined him to be.

“You should already know that I don’t like you, right?” He asked.

Ling Qing laughed for a moment. “There are plenty of people who don’t like me. You should get in line.”

“Is that right?” Zhong Huan asked curiously, “Who else doesn’t like you?”

“There’s too many.” Ling Qing said indifferently, “They’re not as handsome as me, they don’t like that I look better than them. They’re not as smart as me, they don’t like that I’m smarter than them. They don’t like that I’m better than them and that their partners are secretly in love with me, that I’m the only Prince Charming in their heart.”

Zhong Huan was exasperated. “Can you stop being a narcissist and using every opportunity to praise yourself?”

“I’m simply reaffirming my understanding of myself. Is there anything wrong with what I just said?”

Zhong Huan: …

He didn’t want to admit it, but it seemed there really wasn’t anything wrong. 

Ling Qing was extremely smug. “See, I’m so honest, I’m just telling it how it is.”

Zhong Huan: …

Zhong Huan determined that he was entirely unlike a newcomer  in this regard. 

How could there be a newcomer like this? Weren’t newcomers supposed to be adorable, sensible, and obedient?

He was so outspoken, saying whatever he liked without regard for others’ opinions.

The Morning Rise boss was also really impressive. Where the hell did he find this kind of newcomer?

—–

In a far away place, Yu Chen was at home, looking at his WeChat. His heart palpated. What happened? He sent so many WeChat messages to Ling Qing, but didn’t receive a single reply.

Did he fall asleep?

Then he should have said something before going to bed!

The distraught and anxious Yu Chen descended the stairs to get a glass of water. When he passed Ling Qing’s room, he inadvertently stopped and slowly opened the door.

It was pitch-dark. 

Yu Chen looked on in silence for a while before he reached into his pocket and retrieved the handwritten note Ling Qing had left for him.

He wanted to visit the set.

—–

Ling Qing guided Zhong Huan’s expressions, movements, and dialogue for a while before he instructed him to read the original novel and recite poetry in his free time. Then, he sent him back.

Zhong Huan was confused. “Recite poetry?”

“Don’t look down on poetry. Recitations should be full of emotion. A good poetry recitation will make you cry with a single phrase. Got it?”

Zhong Huan nodded. “Then, tomorrow I’ll come back to practice again.”

“Okay.”

Ling Qing said this and shut the door. 

Scratching his head, Zhong Huan returned. After taking a few steps, he suddenly reacted. Wait, he was a senior in the industry, how come he suddenly became a junior?

It shouldn’t be this way. What a disgrace!

But then, he changed his mind. Whatever. As the great philosopher Confucius once said, “Be clever and eager to learn. Don’t be afraid to learn from one’s subordinates.” He should be considered as learning from his subordinate, so he shouldn’t be ashamed. 

Alas, a person like him who respected a newcomer regardless of seniority was really hard to find!

Zhong Huan was profoundly moved by himself!

Hearing a knock on the door, Zhou Sihui opened it and saw her artist standing outside. Surprised, she asked, “What’s wrong? Why are you looking for me in the middle of the night?”

“I thought about it for a while.” Zhong Huan looked at her with a righteous expression, “The second male lead should have the appearance of the second male lead. Only a spiteful person would do something like dragging down the first male lead. I’m such a good person, surely I can’t do something so wicked, right?”

Zhou Sihui: …

Zhong Huan patted himself on the back. “So, Sister Zhou, we can put our plans on hold. We will talk through our strengths. I’ve decided not to battle Ling Qing!”

—–

The author has something to say:

Zhou Sihui: You’re thinking too much, I never had any sort of plan!

Zhong Huan: ??? Aren’t you my closest most intimate agent?

Zhou Sihui: It’s just that you’re too fickle. You changed your mind too much, you’re Hundred Changes Xiao Huan!

Zhong Huan: …

Zhong Huan Acquisition Rate —— 100% Completion.

Zhong Huan: I’m not your little brother.

Ling Qing: In the future, you’re gonna grasp my thigh and call me Daddy. I just know it!

Zhong Huan: …

Ling Qing: Don’t worry, there’s no rush. You’re smart, you should have a clear understanding~

Zhong Huan: … Then I really have to thank you!

Yu Chen: Are you done?!! Let me speak to my wife!! I’ve already been waiting for two whole chapters!!

—–

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