Chapter 30

Chapter 30

In the original novel, Ye Mingzhao's biological mother was delivered to him on his twenty-second birthday under the pretense of a "birthday gift" by the male lead of the book, Chu Hengyi.

Ye Mingzhao briefly recalled the plot from the original novel—it had been a chaotic and unexpected birthday.

Through the text alone, Ye Mingzhao had already accurately sketched the scene's disorder and disgrace in his mind.

The person who was supposed to be the star of the banquet, under the gaze of everyone, had their façade of dignified attire stripped away, revealing their ugly and lowly nature. A carefully prepared clown took the stage, tearfully recounting their own helplessness and hardships to the audience below, kneeling to ask for forgiveness from the child they had abandoned, only to be pushed away by the child who disdained poverty and loved wealth.

A twenty-two-layer birthday cake and champagne tower were knocked over during the scuffle, with soft cream cake and light golden champagne splashing everywhere. The gleaming crystal cup tower fell to the ground amidst the guests' screams, and the crystal glasses shattered upon the polished marble floor, emitting crisp sounds. The accumulated wine residue and scattered glass fragments reflected the crystal chandelier on the ceiling and the angel murals. The guests, now disheveled, dodged the chaos but then curiously observed everything, while scheming conspirators secretly enjoyed the scene from within the crowd.

The entire birthday banquet seemed trapped in a kaleidoscope of shredded paper and cheap glass beads, twisted, fragmented, and patchwork, presenting an unimaginable absurdity.

In that book, the life of the antagonist Ye Mingzhao seemed to be divided by that day. The first twenty-one years were peaceful and prosperous, but from his twenty-second birthday onwards, the meticulously built castle collapsed instantly, with all the gleaming past turning into sand, slipping away faster the harder one tried to hold onto it.

In the end, there was estrangement from all and nothing left, dying alone in a rented apartment.

In reality, Ye Mingzhao had stared at his tragic fate countless times, never wavering in his resolve. He continuously examined and refined his understanding of the antagonist's plotline, then quietly waited.

*

"Cut!"

On the set of *Prince of Beggars*, Director Li Zhengzheng looked at the playback on the monitor with surprise. After a moment, he loudly said to Ye Mingzhao, "That improvisation just now was very good, let's do another take!"

The veteran actor who was acting opposite Ye Mingzhao also praised with a smile, "The reaction here was indeed better than what was written in the script."

The veteran actor paused, then added, "It fits the character of Fu Shen even more."

What they had just filmed was a scene where Fu Shen's secret of impersonating Gu Mingchao was exposed, leading to an argument with Gu Mingchao's parents who came to confront him.

Upon learning the truth, Gu Mingchao's parents angrily denounced Fu Shen for his greed and despicable nature.

"A piece of trash from the slums actually dares to covet the position of the heir of the Gu family business. Is that the kind of despicable life you deserve?"

The veteran actor playing Gu Mingchao's father pointed at Fu Shen's nose and cursed, "You shameless bastard, how shameless are you to pretend to be someone else's son just to live a better life?"

"Do you think you can deceive everyone? With modern technology, all it takes is a paternity test to expose you as a fraud. Do you really think we're all fools?"

"Born of a drunkard and a whore, you have the nerve to impersonate my son. I will make you pay for your greed!"

According to Yu Mingze's original plot design, after the truth was revealed, Gu Mingchao's parents and Ye Mingzhao's character Fu Shen had a fierce conflict. Unable to accept the truth, Gu Mingchao's parents insulted Fu Shen with extremely harsh and vicious language, stripping away his usual pretense and revealing his greed and ruthless nature.

To vividly establish Fu Shen's cunning and extreme viciousness, Yu Mingze designed a five-minute monologue. This allowed Ye Mingzhao to recount Fu Shen's experiences from his perspective and explain his motivations for climbing the social ladder. Due to their different values and stances, an ultimate conflict erupted, and in a fit of emotional agitation, Fu Shen accidentally killed the Gu family elders.

However, in the just-completed shoot, Ye Mingzhao abandoned the lengthy monologue. Upon hearing Chairman Gu's disgraceful insults, he merely sneered contemptuously, "That's just your opinion; it doesn't matter to me."

Then, he grabbed a bottle of red wine and swung it at Chairman Gu's head. The unprepared Chairman Gu was knocked unconscious on the spot. Gu Mingchao's mother screamed in terror and was also knocked out by Fu Shen with the wine bottle.

The cameraman filming Ye Mingzhao instinctively zoomed in, finally focusing on Fu Shen's eyes.

At the joint signal of Director Li Zhengzheng and screenwriter Yu Mingze, the makeup artist stepped forward to touch up Ye Mingzhao's makeup. The final shot on the monitor was a low-angle close-up of Fu Shen's face, capturing every detail.

A deep blue light from above illuminated his neatly combed hair, now disheveled, falling over his broad forehead. A splash of blood flew onto Fu Shen's young and handsome face, a drop of fresh blood entering his right eye, turning his dark pupil a vivid red. The blood trickled down his right cheek, leaving a striking trail of tears on his fair face. Yet Fu Shen's gaze, locked on the lens, was eerily calm, deeply intense, and borderline insane.

It was as if it contained the calm sea surface harboring a thunderstorm, seemingly peaceful yet capable of unleashing a hurricane at any moment.

When Ye Mingzhao looked up at the lens, the entire set fell silent, stunned by the scene.

A heavy silence settled over the set, the tension palpable.

In the original script, Yu Mingze intended for Fu Shen to accidentally kill someone during the argument. However, under Ye Mingzhao's interpretation, Fu Shen became someone who lashed out and killed in a fit of rage after his identity was exposed.

The line he delivered before the attack, "That's just your opinion, it doesn't matter to me," blatantly and unapologetically revealed Fu Shen's cruelty, arrogance, and brutality.

He wasn't even angered by Chairman Gu's vicious words; he simply killed to protect his secret. His indifference to Chairman Gu's malicious curses wasn't due to a broad-minded ability to endure what others couldn't; rather, in Fu Shen's eyes, Chairman Gu was already a dead man.

To Fu Shen, the curses of a dying man were just the last gasps of a weakling—meaningless noise.

At this point, a greedy, ruthless, selfish, and utterly evil antagonist who would stop at nothing to climb higher and viewed life as worthless was vividly brought to life on screen.

The crew members standing by watched in silence, a chill running down their spines, and for a moment, they were afraid to make eye contact with Ye Mingzhao.

Even Yu Mingze hadn't expected that under Ye Mingzhao's interpretation, the character of the villain Fu Shen would reach such a level.

Mad, brutal, perverted, and disgusting—a complete sociopath.

If there was any pity for Fu Shen because of his tragic childhood before, now, anyone with a shred of decency would never sympathize with such a deranged villain.

"How did you come up with this scene?" Yu Mingze asked Ye Mingzhao, puzzled. In all his years as a screenwriter, he had never created such a twisted character.

Ye Mingzhao frowned slightly. "It just came to me during the shoot, like I was possessed by the character. I don't even know why I said that line myself."

Yu Mingze suddenly realized and explained to Ye Mingzhao, "Don't worry, you were just immersed in the role. Many actors have moments of inspired improvisation when they're fully in character. Usually, these improvisations become the highlight of the entire drama. You know so-and-so..."

As Yu Mingze spoke, he began to give Ye Mingzhao several well-known examples from the industry. After listing a few, Yu Mingze smiled and reassured him, "This is a good thing. A mature and thoughtful actor always has flashes of inspiration during performances. Otherwise, they'd just be a puppet following the script. Such people may still be called actors, but they'll never achieve mastery!"

"After all, in the eyes of a thousand people, there can be a thousand Hamlets. As an actor, as long as you fully immerse yourself in the character and live through their past, how could you not have your own ideas?"

Yu Mingze patted Ye Mingzhao on the shoulder. "So I firmly believe that you will become a great master of acting. You are a born actor."

"Absolutely," Director Li Zhengzheng, who was sitting nearby, and the veteran actors who had scenes with Ye Mingzhao nodded in agreement. "You really have acting talent."

"Do I?" Ye Mingzhao's eyes were like water, sparkling as he looked at everyone, clearly moved by the heartfelt encouragement from the group.

As they spoke, a commotion suddenly came from outside the set. The sounds of the crowd mixed with the voice of the assistant director trying to maintain order were like a boiling kettle.

"Everyone, please calm down and don't disturb the normal filming of the crew—"

At the *Prince of Beggars* filming site, the assistant director, along with several production assistants, tried their best to hold back the swarm of media reporters, but with little success.

"Can we get a comment from Ye Mingzhao?"

"We received a tip-off from netizens claiming to know the whereabouts of Ye Mingzhao's biological parents and have even revealed the name and identity of his biological mother. How does Mr. Ye feel about this?"

"There are rumors that Chairman Ye Linyuan of the Ye family business recently transferred 1% of his shares to his adopted son, Ye Mingzhao. Will this affect whether Ye Mingzhao will reunite with his biological parents?"

The reporters' shrill questions, amplified by microphones, echoed through the set, and everyone looked at each other, instinctively glancing at Ye Mingzhao.

Ye Mingzhao kept up his innocent smile, but for some reason, his usually tender and romantic eyes now carried a hidden edge.

"Let them in," Ye Mingzhao nodded to Director Li and Yu Mingze.

Yu Mingze looked at Ye Mingzhao with concern. He had seen the tabloid news about Ye Mingzhao's biological parents early that morning and had immediately informed Ye Mingzhao, intending to issue a statement on his behalf through the crew. But Ye Mingzhao insisted on ignoring it and continued filming as scheduled.

Now that the reporters had come knocking, it seemed they couldn't be fended off with just any excuse.

Yu Mingze was somewhat worried, but Ye Mingzhao remained unaffected.

After all, in the original novel, he had gone over similar scenes word for word many times. As Yu Mingze said, a mature actor always knows how to improvise. Although he wasn't the male lead and didn't have the so-called protagonist's aura, he could still seize the right moment to push things in a direction favorable to him.

Just like now, it wasn't the male lead, Chu Hengyi, who was frantically searching for Ye Mingzhao's biological parents. It was Zhou Yueze, out of options after being pushed to his limits by Ye Mingzhao. And the important revelation of his biological mother's role was obviously not going to happen on Ye Mingzhao's twenty-second birthday but more than two months earlier than described in the original novel.

This change was quite necessary for Ye Mingzhao. He didn't want his birthday marred by the schemes of these despicable conspirators.

Ye Mingzhao closed the script, stood up with a radiant smile, and walked towards the rapidly encircling reporters, beaming.

A skilled player knows how to turn the tide to their advantage, rather than leave things to chance.