Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The martial arts director taught the two some fight choreography.

After the martial arts director demonstrated a couple of times, Shang Xueyan quickly mastered them, performing the moves cleanly and sharply.

The martial arts director was surprised, "Have you studied martial arts before?"

Shang Xueyan had, but this body hadn't.

Shang Xueyan shook his head, "No."

"Then you must have a natural talent." The martial arts director patted his shoulders and arms, then looked at his face and praised, "You're handsome and clever—you'll go far."

"Director Chen, you're quite handsome yourself. If you hadn’t become a martial arts director, you might have made it as an action star," Shang Xueyan said sincerely. Though over forty, Director Chen had well-defined, handsome features.

Director Chen sighed, "The competition was too fierce when I was young."

Jiang Lan, seeing the two getting along so well, bit back his annoyance.

After about half an hour, Jiang Lan had mostly mastered a few moves, and the director asked them to block the scene. First, the female lead was harassed by Shang Xueyan and his two subordinates, then the male lead made a dramatic entrance to deal with the troublemakers.

The main requirement for this scene was to show off the male lead’s good looks from every angle—good-looking but natural, not forced.

The director sat in front of the monitor, watching Shang Xueyan on screen. When Jiang Lan appeared in the same shot, the director frowned and came out from behind the monitor.

He called over the makeup artist, studied Shang Xueyan’s face, glanced at Jiang Lan’s, and instructed, "Darken Lin Han's makeup. He’s too pale."

Lin Han was Shang Xueyan’s character name in the drama.

The makeup artist quickly darkened Shang Xueyan’s skin tone.

"Is this okay, Director Wang?"

Director Wang shook his head, "No, he’s still too handsome. Make him less attractive."

Makeup artists often enhance actors' looks, so requests to make someone less attractive were rare. Under the director’s direction, the artist added a large dark mole above Shang Xueyan’s lip.

"That’ll do. That'll work."

After the rehearsal, filming officially began.

The female lead was out enjoying the streets when she encountered Shang Xueyan and his two servants harassing her. Just as she was about to teach Shang Xueyan a lesson herself, the male lead appeared as if from nowhere.

Shang Xueyan dodged, and Jiang Lan, following the moves he’d just learned, spun and kicked toward Shang Xueyan’s knee.

According to the choreography, this kick wasn’t supposed to use much force—just make light contact. Shang Xueyan was to step back twice, continue exchanging blows with the male lead, and eventually lose reluctantly.

But Jiang Lan landed a solid kick with a "thud" on Shang Xueyan’s knee, using far more force than during practice. Pain instantly radiated from his knee.

Caught off guard, Shang Xueyan’s face tightened briefly, and he couldn’t smoothly continue the following movements.

"Cut!" The director stood up from behind the monitor. "What happened?"

Jiang Lan looked remorseful, "Director Wang, I got too caught up in the moment and didn’t hold back my strength."

He turned to Shang Xueyan apologetically, "Shang Rong, are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?"

Shang Xueyan shook his head, putting on a show of endurance, "Director, I’m fine. Let’s continue."

The director reset to reshoot the exchange where the two faced off.

As Shang Xueyan reached out to harass the female lead, Jiang Lan suddenly appeared from the side. They exchanged moves, and Jiang Lan lifted his leg for the kick.

Shang Xueyan was prepared. In his past life, he had been a Young Marquis, always surrounded by servants, but he had been kidnapped as a child. His parents hired martial arts instructors to train him and his elder brother. Though he wasn’t exceptionally skilled, his movements were quicker and more agile than the average person’s.

As Jiang Lan fiercely raised his leg, Shang Xueyan staggered back two steps just before Jiang Lan’s foot could connect with his knee.

Jiang Lan looked briefly surprised.

The director didn’t call cut, so Jiang Lan quickly adjusted and continued with the scene.

Shang Xueyan struck first, his arm swinging with force. Jiang Lan grabbed his fist, blocking Shang Xueyan’s move. According to the martial arts director’s instructions, Shang Xueyan was supposed to follow up with an elbow strike, which Jiang Lan would dodge nimbly.

But as Jiang Lan grabbed Shang Xueyan’s right wrist, Shang Xueyan stepped sideways and struck with his left elbow. Jiang Lan tried to dodge, but Shang Xueyan’s move was quicker and sharper than during practice.

Jiang Lan couldn’t avoid it.

His elbow hit Jiang Lan’s ribs with a solid, dull thud. Jiang Lan let out a pained grunt, forgetting all the moves he’d been taught, and clutched at his ribs.

Shang Xueyan feigned confusion and innocence, "Jiang Lan, why didn’t you dodge? Good thing I didn’t use much force."

Jiang Lan’s face contorted for a second. Meeting Shang Xueyan’s apparently innocent look, he gritted his teeth and turned to the director, saying weakly, "Director Wang, I need to go to the hospital. My ribs hurt badly—they might be fractured."

Director Wang was taken aback, "Is it that serious?"

Shang Xueyan explained, "Director Wang, I really didn’t use much force."

Jiang Lan said in a pained voice, "But it really hurts. So much."

Jiang Lan’s agent hurried over, holding him up and glaring at Shang Xueyan, "Shang Rong, you’re clearly settling a score! Do you have any idea how packed Jiang Lan’s schedule is? He has work every day. If something really happens, can you take responsibility?"

He then imperiously demanded the crew call an ambulance and send Jiang Lan to the hospital.

The director looked uncomfortably at Jiang Lan.

Suddenly, Shang Xueyan spoke up, "Director Wang, there are quite a few fight scenes for the male lead in this drama, right? I really didn’t use much force—you all saw how I moved. If the male lead is this physically weak, I’m worried about whether the show can wrap smoothly."

Shang Xueyan wasn’t afraid of actually harming Jiang Lan. He had done it on purpose, using enough force to make it hurt more than Jiang Lan’s kick to his knee, but not enough to cause serious injury.

Unless Jiang Lan was made of glass.

And if he was, even better!

"Director Wang, Director Chen mentioned earlier that Jiang Lan was already slow to learn the moves. If he also has a body as fragile as tofu…" Shang Xueyan sighed with exaggerated concern.

Director Wang’s expression grew serious.

At that moment, a cool, low voice interjected, "Jiang Lan, are you sure you still want to go to the hospital now?"

Shang Xueyan glanced over. The speaker was a young man he didn’t recognize, dressed in a clearly expensive black suit, quite tall—a few centimeters taller than Shang Xueyan. He was frowning at Jiang Lan but gave him a slight, friendly eyebrow raise when he saw Shang Xueyan looking.

Director Wang quickly stepped forward and shook his hand, "Feng Yu, when did you get here?"

Feng Yu: "Just arrived a short while ago."

Feng Yu glanced at Shang Xueyan, "He’s right. There are plenty of fight sequences for the male lead in this drama. If our male lead is this fragile, perhaps this project isn’t right for him."

Feng Yu smirked meaningfully, "Fortunately, we’ve only just started filming a few days ago."

Jiang Lan's expression changed. This wasn't a major production, but it wasn't some no-name small project either. The man before him, Feng Yu, was the largest investor in this drama. If Feng Yu insisted on replacing the male lead, even if Lu Han was unwilling, Lu Han might not be able to prevail against him.

Feng Yu stared at Jiang Lan: "Does it still hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Everyone was staring at him, especially Shang Xueyan, who was observing him with calm composure.

Jiang Lan held back his resentment and managed a gentle smile. "I've rested a moment; it doesn't hurt as much as before. Probably not necessary to go to the hospital."

Feng Yu didn't answer, merely giving him a dismissive glance as if he didn't take him seriously at all. Instead, he looked at Shang Xueyan: "Your fight scene earlier was quite impressive. Your movements were very sharp."

Shang Xueyan was pleased with the praise, his eyes sparkling as he said, "The fight choreographer just praised me for being smart and talented."

A few minutes later, the director confirmed Jiang Lan could continue filming and yelled "action."

Today's scene was this one; once finished, he could get three hundred yuan (about $40).

Shang Xueyan was thinking that if they finished early, he could still do some other part-time work in the afternoon. As long as Jiang Lan didn’t continue playing tricks to set him up, Shang Xueyan also wanted to finish filming quickly.

But even if Jiang Lan didn’t pull any tricks, this scene was originally about the cannon fodder character played by Shang Xueyan being taught a lesson by Jiang Lan. In the end, Shang Xueyan was still kicked to the ground by him.

After the director called "cut," Shang Xueyan saw the mocking look in Jiang Lan's eyes.

Shang Xueyan averted his eyes, brushed the dust off the ground, and cheerfully asked the director. "Director, how was my performance just now?"

The director praised: "Not bad. Your fall was very clean. As for you, Jiang Lan, do you even know how to act? You're the male lead, not some cunning, treacherous villain."

Jiang Lan bottled up his resentment. It had always been like this—clearly, in both acting and looks, he was no worse than Shang Rong. But Shang Rong could get lead roles in short dramas, while he could only play second or third male leads. Even after signing with a major company through his own efforts, Shang Rong luckily got a second male lead role in a long series, while his own fourth male lead role was about to be recast by the production team.

Fortunately, a person's luck isn't endless.

Now Shang Rong was just a background actor, while he was the male lead of this production. Shang Rong no longer had the right to compete with him for anything and wasn’t even worth his attention.

After three more takes, the director was finally satisfied. When the scene ended, Shang Xueyan stood up, and a crew member came forward to remove the harness attached to him.

Shang Xueyan went to the production's costume trailer to take off his wig and change back into his own clothes, preparing to go home.

No shared bikes were nearby, so he walked toward the subway entrance, looking for one along the way.

He walked quickly because the sky was getting darker. While changing earlier, several background actors had worried whether it would rain later.

As he was thinking this, a flash of lightning cut through the dark sky, and bean-sized raindrops began to fall. At first, it wasn’t too heavy, and Shang Xueyan could speed up toward the subway entrance. But within minutes, the rain grew heavier, drenching Shang Xueyan's hair. He hurried under the overhang of a roadside building to take shelter.

Standing under the eaves, Shang Xueyan pulled out his phone. The weather forecast showed heavy rain for the next six hours.

He wasn’t on the schedule at the coffee shop today, and he had planned to do food delivery in the afternoon. But with the heavy rain, his biking skills weren’t great. Although the delivery pay was better on rainy days, if he had an accident, the cost would be even greater.

Shang Xueyan thought about his next move.

Amid the pouring rain, a low, rumbling engine sound gradually approached.

Shang Xueyan looked up and saw a black Bentley stop on the road beside him. The car window slowly slid down, and a familiar face appeared in Shang Xueyan's line of sight.

During a break in filming earlier, Shang Xueyan had asked the makeup artist about the man called Mr. Feng. The makeup artist told him his name was Feng Yu, the CEO of Xinghai Entertainment and the biggest investor in this drama.

He had chosen Jiang Lan as the male lead, so Shang Xueyan naturally didn’t have a good impression of him. But earlier, Feng Yu had taken an objective and fair stance, which improved Shang Xueyan's opinion of him.

Seeing the window roll down, Shang Xueyan flashed him a grin. "Mr. Feng."

Feng Yu nodded, smiled, and said, "Get in. I'll give you a ride."

He opened the car door.

Seeing this, Shang Xueyan didn’t hesitate. Beaming, he said, "Thank you, Mr. Feng."

He bent down, afraid of getting his head wet, and quickly slipped into the car, sitting down beside him.

Handsome young men like Shang Xueyan were quite rare. So were young men like Shang Xueyan who, after learning his identity, neither flattered him nor acted awkwardly to please him, but instead interacted with him naturally.

Feng Yu turned his head and asked, "Where to?"

Shang Xueyan: "Just drop me off at the nearest subway entrance."

"Just to the subway entrance?"

Shang Xueyan smiled, revealing a set of snow-white, even teeth: "Yes, dropping me at the subway entrance would be a huge help."

"Alright."

A few minutes later, the Bentley arrived at the nearest subway entrance.

The stopping spot was dozens of meters away from the subway entrance. Fortunately, the rain had lightened compared to a few minutes earlier. Shang Xueyan turned his head, once again expressing his gratitude to Feng Yu. He lowered his head, pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, and pushed the car door open with his dry, slender fingers.

The rain fell diagonally, and the young man's figure was somewhat striking under the hazy rain. His sweatshirt was soaked by the rain, clinging to his shoulder line and outlining a beautiful and sharp silhouette.

Author's Note:

----------------------