Part 3 of Chapter 48
Do You Still Hate Her? 38 – Absurd Romance Compilation
[Did Shang Lu misunderstand the princess’s intentions? I feel like the princess doesn’t want to continue practicing; not that she wants Shang Lu to teach her]
[Hahaha, the princess looks so confused, as if Shang Lu is now on the opposite side, and her whole world has abandoned her.]
Shang Lu and Song Zeqian quickly reached a consensus on the performance requirements for the actors and decided to have Lin Yanyan perform the complete version again for Shang Lu to see.
After hearing their decision, Lin Yanyan reluctantly performed it again, and when she saw their serious expressions, she couldn’t hold back her frustration.
Lin Yanyan bit her lip, and tears were about to flow this time. “Is it that bad? I said I didn’t want to perform again. We already had a usable take. Why do we have to do it over and over again?”
In an instant, Shang Lu also realized that she might have misunderstood Lin Yanyan’s intentions.
After hesitating for a moment, Shang Lu looked at Lin Yanyan and asked directly, “Do you like this role?”
Lin Yanyan was briefly surprised but still spoke the truth. “Yes, I do. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken it.”
In fact, idol dramas with double female leads didn’t have much popularity, and for actors, it wasn’t the best choice. Moreover, the market was flooded with school dramas. If Lin Yanyan didn’t genuinely like the role, she wouldn’t have accepted this drama.
“Can you contact the <Sweet Cherry> production team?” Shang Lu said directly. “Let’s go and see what the quality of your usable take is like.”
Due to a series of reasons, they only had access to the raw footage from the original shoot, but it would suffice.
As an observer, Lin Yanyan realized just how poor her performance had been. This scene was a showdown between her and Tang Qingqing, and she had been completely overshadowed by Tang Qingqing, leaving her bewildered.
Such a terrible performance… was that really her?
Lin Yanyan’s acting reputation had always been summed up in two words : “passable.”
It was enough for acting in idol dramas, and since she didn’t strive for big productions, she usually didn’t attract much attention in annual acting assessments, whether her acting was good or bad.
Lin Yanyan has always had the same expectations for herself; as long as she enjoys her performance, it’s all good for everyone else.
Shang Lu no longer tries to persuade Lin Yanyan. Instead, she gives the choice back to Lin Yanyan and asks, “Do you want to continue practicing your performance or have a normal date?”
Without hesitation, Lin Yanyan makes her choice, “Practice.”
Next, Shang Lu takes on the role that was originally played by Tang Qingqing and practices with Lin Yanyan.
This is a scene of argument where two teenage girls, due to a misunderstanding, turn from friends into enemies. However, deep down, they still consider each other as friends. Therefore, the emotions in this scene are complex and restrained. The argument is sparked by a trivial matter, serving as an outlet for both sides.
Shang Lu patiently guides Lin Yanyan into the performance state and encourages Lin Yanyan when Song Zeqian criticizes with sharp words.
Lin Yanyan is the type of person who responds better to softness than harshness, and through repeated performances, she gradually finds her rhythm.
Except for the final crying scene.
“Stop,” Shang Lu shouts, “Your emotions are too outward.”
Song Zeqian nods slightly, in agreement with Shang Lu’s assessment.
Since Song Zeqian noticed that Shang Lu’s guidance for Lin Yanyan seems more effective than his own, he chooses to silently observe without interrupting.
There’s a hint of confusion in Lin Yanyan’s eyes.
Shang Lu says, “Just imagine that you’re arguing with me instead of Tang Qingqing. If we were to argue…”
Lin Yanyan immediately interjects, “I don’t want to argue with you.”
“Imagine,” Shang Lu pats Lin Yanyan’s shoulder to reassure her and continues, “I’ll be right at the door. You want to cry, but you’re afraid I might come back and see your current state, so you want to cry while maintaining your composure.”
Lin Yanyan understands, but not entirely.
Shang Lu stands directly in front of Lin Yanyan and says, “You can cry freely when I’m not looking, but you must stop as quickly as possible when I start looking.”
The two of them begin to practice.
Every time Lin Yanyan starts crying, she immediately makes eye contact with Shang Lu, and in a moment of panic, she hurriedly wipes away her tears, trying to remain composed. Through continuous and repetitive training, Shang Lu gradually extends the time Lin Ynayan can keep her head down, allowing Lin Yanyan to rehearse this crying scene more deeply.
On the side, Song Zeqian watches, and the furrowed brows on his face slowly relax.
From the feedback on the current performance, just looking at this segment, Lin Yanyan isn’t as bad as before.
He glanced at Shang Lu.
Even if Shang Lu was just supposed to be an emotional training tool for Lin Yanyan, and she didn’t even have a single line now, she was still completely in the performance state required for Tang Qingqing’s character.
Suddenly, Song Zeqian remembered the praise Han Cheng had given Shang Lu during a previous dinner.
—”Acting can be improved through hard work, but talent determines an actor’s limits. Someone like Shang Lu who can completely become a character anytime, anywhere, is rare. Such a great actress, why didn’t any director discover her before? It’s a pity she wasted so many years, but as soon as I discovered her, Yue Qi picked up the ready-made her.”
Han Cheng’s next drama had also essentially confirmed Shang Lu, and the script was about to be completed. He was waiting for Shang Lu’s schedule after finishing <Salvation Plan>.
And at this moment, Song Zeqian suddenly remembered a script outline in his computer that he had liked but had been idle for a long time.
Because of the age limit for the female lead, he had never seen an actress in the domestic entertainment industry who fit his ideal female lead character. He knew that even if he wrote it, he couldn’t find an actress to play it, so he had left it aside.
Unlike Han Cheng and Yue Qi, who were accustomed to working with screenwriters, Song Zeqian had strong creative abilities himself, and most of the scripts were his own creations, which were then polished by professional screenwriters.
He suddenly felt an urge to bring that script to life. He wanted to see if having Shang Lu as the female lead would satisfy him.
In the end, Song Zeqian and Lin Yanyan’s date role-play turned into an acting training session.
Out of the three pairs, Shang Lu directly eliminated Ye Lu and then disrupted Song Zeqian and Lin Yanyan. In the end, only Xu Ze and Jiang Jing’s group barely completed a few small tasks assigned by the program team.
The program team had originally wanted to stop them, but after seeing the increasing number of viewers in the live stream, they decided to—
Let it be.
They could tell that although every time they recorded, it always seemed to have little to do with their plans, as long as Shang Lu was there, the viewers loved it.