Part 3 of Chapter 75
Please Like Her 26
“Huh?” Lin Yanyan became the one in Song Zeqian’s production team to wear a perplexed expression and asked directly, “Aren’t we about to start filming? Are we changing actors now? Who’s going to replace him?”
Jiang Jing also looked at Song Zeqian with a puzzled expression.
The filming will start soon, where could they find more suitable candidates now?
Song Zeqian remained silent.
Because, in his mind, there was a very suitable candidate that came to him in an absurd way, and he couldn’t even bring himself to say it directly.
To others, Song Zeqian’s silence seemed like a dilemma.
However, when he looked at Ye Lu for the third time, Ye Lu touched his arm and said, “Why are you staring at me? I don’t have any actor friends to introduce to you.”
Song Zeqian closed his eyes.
So be it.
There are so many good actors in the world; he couldn’t possibly fail to find a suitable candidate to play the role of the second son.
But in his mind, numerous faces of actors flashed by, and in the end, the one he least wanted to see was the one that stopped.
Finally, Song Zeqian seemed to accept his fate.
He looked at Ye Lu with a serious expression and asked, “Are you considering acting?”
Everyone : “?”
What did Song Zeqian mean by this?
Ye Lu : “?”
Did he have a hearing problem, or did Song Zeqian have a mental lapse?
“Not considering,” Ye Lu rejected without hesitation, and even made a joke at Song Zeqian’s expense, “I’ve said it so many times, I’m an idol, not an actor. Are you too desperate because your actor ran away right before the filming starts?”
Shang Lu naturally knew that Song Zeqian would never treat his film so casually. The only possible reason for his statement was that he was serious.
Shang Lu tentatively asked, “Because the scene where he just rode a pig is similar to a scene in the script?”
“More than that,” Song Zeqian replied, “On the way here, I also saw a collection of videos of him acting arrogantly, which is also very similar.”
Everyone : “…”
Wow, unexpected reasons are piling up.
Ye Lu immediately defended himself, “Don’t tarnish my reputation. There were reasons behind those actions!”
Clearly, Song Zeqian didn’t care whether he was genuinely being arrogant and continued, “Do you remember the episode of ‘True or False Friends’? It was because of Ye Lu that I made a wrong judgment that day. It made me realize that surface foolishness can confuse reality and fiction, and that’s when the second son character’s personality was finally set.”
And most importantly, the chemistry between Ye Lu and Shang Lu is right, although it hasn’t reached the level he requires yet, but it’s there.
Ye Lu is arrogant and unruly, while Shang Lu is perfunctory and cooperative, their movements and stillness perfectly complement each other.
Everyone fell silent.
It sounds like this character was created just for Ye Lu.
Ye Lu : “Are you calling me foolish?”
Song Zeqian : “…”
—Is this the main point?
Ye Lu scratched his head and said, “Thank you, but I still don’t want to act.”
Song Zeqian couldn’t understand and asked him directly, “Why are you so resistant? Don’t you like acting?”
“I don’t dislike it,” Ye Lu thought for a while, looking somewhat confused, but he said, “Actually, I don’t really understand, but everyone says idols shouldn’t act. I’m the most qualified idol, so I naturally have to follow this rule and not disappoint my fans.”
Song Zeqian then refuted Ye Lu’s statement: “What everyone hates is not that idols go to act, but that idols who are both weak in singing and dancing take the stage that others dream of as a springboard, and then turn to acting after they have gained traffic. When they are criticized for their poor acting, they will explain that it is normal for idols to be a little worse. When they are criticized for their stage performance, they will say that they have already turned to acting. They want to enjoy the benefits of both sides, but they don’t put in effort on either side.”
Ye Lu : “!”
Is that so?
Others : “!”
Song Zeqian is really good at criticizing.
Song Zeqian continued, “If you can succeed in both idol singing and dancing and have a successful film or TV work, then you’ll be even more outstanding. As long as you can do well, your fans won’t be angry. They will only take pride in you and consider you their pride.”
Ye Lu : “!”
Oops, he’s starting to be tempted.
Others : “!”
Song Zeqian’s mouth isn’t just for criticism; it’s also for painting a rosy picture.
Actually, Ye Lu still didn’t quite understand what Song Zeqian was saying, but as long as he thought that his fans would take pride in him, he couldn’t resist the power of this statement.
Ye Lu said : “It’s possible, but I’ve never acted before. Can I do it?”
Shang Lu also looked at Song Zeqian with some concern.
To be honest, she still didn’t quite understand Song Zeqian’s current decision. In any case, Ye Lu had never acted in a single play, and even though the role of the second son had the least lines, he was still one of the main characters. Especially the character’s performance had the most significant difficulty in portraying the nuances of good and evil. Song Zeqian had chosen Ye Lu for this role, but could Ye Lu’s performance really satisfy Song Zeqian?
If they were to replace the cast later, it would only delay things further.
However, Song Zeqian looked at Ye Lu and said, “I believe in myself.”
Ye Lu thought for a moment and replied, “I can give it a try, but filming must not interfere with my stage performances.”
Song Zeqian immediately responded, “We can negotiate the timing.”
When Ye Lu nodded, Song Zeqian continued, “Everyone, cancel the break time. I will arrange for your luggage to be sent over. Now, all of you come with me, and the training begins.”
Everyone : “?”
Huh? Isn’t this a bit too sudden?
So, on that day, everyone embarked on a journey to the villa arranged by Song Zeqian.
The cameraman, holding a camera, asked, “Director, can we still use this footage?”
The director laughed heartily and said, “Keep it. We’ll give it to the fans as a gift when the movie is released.”
The next morning.
After a grueling training session, everyone had a good night’s sleep. However, when they woke up, they saw Song Zeqian, whose eyes were bloodshot, and Ye Lu, who was reading the script while showering him with praise.
With surprise in his voice, Ye Lu said, “Why did no one told me this is the role of a major villain boss. This is so cool, I want to play it!”
Everyone : “?”
The second son is a major villain boss? What is Ye Lu talking about?
Lin Yanyan tugged at Shang Lu’s sleeve and whispered, “Don’t talk about acting; he hasn’t even understood the script, has he?”
But Song Zeqian looked at them and said, “None of you brought the script, right? Good, I’ve prepared new ones for you.”
There were several scripts on the coffee table.
Song Zeqian was reminding them to read the scripts for this project.
Everyone immediately picked up a script and began reading, all falling into silence.
Because of the script they see now is different from what they’ve been seeing all along.
But all the changes are on the second son, with numerous psychological descriptions added to him.
Including these psychological descriptions in the script is a mistake that only beginners make, and it’s obvious that Song Zeqian intentionally do it.
With these added psychological descriptions, without major changes to the plot, they’ve actually turned the second son into an antagonist.
Shang Lu : “…”
She suddenly understands the red bloodshot eyes in Song Zeqian’s eyes and the dark circles under his eyes. He must have stayed up all night to create this ‘new’ script.
Having Ye Lu play ‘evil’ with ‘good,’ his lack of acting skills has become an advantage, making it appear to the audience that he is trying to conceal the ‘good’ with the ‘evil’ unconsciously leaking out in order to protect his family, putting on a show to deceive others.
Whether it’s the first or second script, it all makes sense.
It perfectly solves the biggest challenge they faced when casting at the beginning.
Ye Lu is actually the most suitable choice for this role.
I don’t understand. As far as I understand from school and lectures about literatures, the “antagonist” is the most basic setting of a character in fiction. Then, the author adds more details setting and traits to the “antagonist” to distinguish her/him from the other existing characters.
If SZQ changed the second son character from the “chaotic” anti-hero protagonist to “chaotic” antagonist… It should need a huge change in the script. Because the other MC (his siblings) are anti-hero protagonist and the main antagonist in story is Father Wang (the murder victim), the only way YL’s character become the “villain final boss” is he’s the mastermind to manipulate all of his siblings to join him in his patricide. He should show some degree of intellectual trait for it while YL is…. We all know how YL is. 😅😅😅🙈🙉🙊🙈
Let him act so bad it’s good. Truely revolutional actor.