Sweet Wife in My Arms

“Luo Lin, her furniture had already taken up most of the space in her quarters. Where would her assistant sleep?”

Two people in a room, that was already decided.

“Probably on the floor,” Luo Lin shrugged. She closed the door and started to play with her cellphone. It was so much better being Yan Huan’s manager. Yan Huan did not have a bad temper and could tolerate hardships too. At least she would never do things like change the provided furniture into better ones. If this got out to the public, it might become a PR catastrophe.

Yan Huan went back in and laid down on the mattress while hugging her pillow. She decided to continue sleeping. The commotion out there was none of her business.

After that, they realized that the furniture could not be moved into the room because they could not fit through the narrow door, and there was not enough space for everything. A Simmons bed had already taken up most of the room. As for Su Muran’s manager, she did not end up sleeping on the floor, but was allocated to another place instead. Someone had added a bed to another room and she had to squeeze in it with both of the original occupants. On the other hand, the spoiled princess Miss Su got to sleep on her big and soft Simmons bed. However, ever since she knew that Yan Huan would be in this drama, she had been anxious.

The next day, Yan Huan came to the set in a warm coat. She plunked herself down into a comfy chair to watch Su Muran act her parts. As the female lead, it was natural that Su Muran would have the most screen time.

The shot started with Su Muran’s character, Qing Jun, breaking up with her boyfriend. She cried with heart-wrenching sorrow. That night, she continued to cry while hugging her blanket all night long. The scene outside had appropriately started to pour with rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning.

She stood up to check if the windows were properly closed.

When she pulled the curtains aside, she saw a white flash shining through the windows. The flash was getting brighter and brighter. She immediately shielded her eyes with her hand. Another flash of lightning struck. The curtains fluttered in the wind, revealing that there was no one left inside.

The scene changed again.

Qing Jun was standing in front of the Forbidden City with her eyes wide open. The people milling about the place were all wearing traditional clothing from a dynasty that had passed a long time ago.

She extended her hand and waved it in front of her eyes.

Is this real?

She pinched her thigh. Ouch!

She stood up shakily, glancing down at the brick-laden road that had withstood the test of time while still staring blankly at the scene around her.

Is this a dream?

“Cut!” Yan Hua shouted. The first scene had ended.

“What do you think?” Luo Lin asked Yan Huan.

“It was really awkward, but redeemed by the clean and minimalistic presentation of the plot,” Yan Huan evaluated as she leaned back on her chair lazily.

Luo Lin agreed with her. Were her expectations too high, causing her to feel that Su Muran’s stiff acting left a lot to be desired?

As for the minimalistic presentation, of course the credit was to Yan Hua’s skillful directing, the costumes, and atmosphere that he had created. This made Su Muran’s obviously scripted acting stand out even more in contrast to the natural setting.

At the very least, her face could have been more expressive.

The entire day was spent on filming Su Muran’s scenes. At times, Yan Huan really wanted to voice her feelings.

Miss Su, can you be even dumber? Can you be more emotionless? Yan Huan practically dozed off while looking at her, actually starting to fall asleep.

In the afternoon, the film crew distributed packed lunches to everyone. It was clear that Su Muran would not join them for lunch. Her assistant had already prepared three meals a day for her, as if she was the queen here.

Surely, the female lead had to be different from the others. Otherwise, how could she set herself apart from the common folk and their kind?

Besides, the Su family did not lack money. What’s the cost of a lunch box to them?

In contrast, Yan Huan joined everyone else. Luo Lin took two servings of food and passed one of them to Yan Huan, who sat down right beside her and started to eat. A man walked past and smiled when he saw them.

“Can I sit here?” He pointed at the vacant spot beside Yan Huan and Luo Lin. Since there’s an available space for him to eat his lunch, he would not pass it up unless it was already reserved for someone else.

“Sure,” Luo Lin nodded at the seat beside her. “No one’s sitting here, feel free to take it.”

Yan Huan smiled at him too.

The male lead for When The Song Ends was the most recent recipient of the Best Actor Award, Xu Nuo. His name was easy to remember. He was a dashing idol, and his acting skills were not too shabby either. Otherwise, he would not have a chance to lead such a major show.

Yan Huan certainly knew that he would have a bright future. However, in his previous life, he was suppressed by Lu Qin, because Lu Qin had resources that others did not have access to.

Just like Su Muran, they had a headstart to their acting career so they certainly fared better than the rest. In the current life, without Lu Qin as a formidable rival, Xu Nuo’s progress was incredible. If everything went well, he might start to gain fame overseas, too.

“Miss Yan, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Xu Nuo greeted as he extended his hand.

“Hi,” Yan Huan reached out and shook his hand, just like any other actor. She would stay wherever they stay and eat whatever they eat without fussing about the quality. It was like she had forgotten her own status.

Xu Nuo was a talkative person. The rambling conversation between both of them made their lunch that day enjoyable. Although the food was nothing luxurious, but they felt happy eating it. This light-heartedness might even speed up digestion.

At night, before they ended their work, they had to go through a Qing Palace’s etiquette training. Yan Huan had already gone through it many times but the more she did it, the more she learned. Practice makes perfect after all.

The etiquette teacher started with an explanation about the Qing Dynasty. Yan Huan was taking notes diligently while listening. She was serious about the lesson but some others were not, such as the young lady of the Su family. Su Muran had started to feel impatient after listening for just a little while.

The teacher talked about notable historical events, and the habits of those who resided in the palace and their sexual proclivities. Yan Huan had learned a lot during the training. Although she had been involved in filming shows that were set in the Qing Dynasty before, this was her first time learning in detail about all these things.

They had to film in the day and train in the night. Yan Hua was the real deal. His filming method was extraordinary. This suddenly reminded her of the filming of Dream of The Red Chamber, which was almost alike. The main lead had to learn the four arts of the Chinese scholars: harp, chess, calligraphy, and painting, while filming. That was how it became an insurmountable classic.

Perhaps there were many actresses that played the character of Lin Daiyu out there, but the one that came first into peoples’ minds would be the one in Yan Hua’s adaptation. That particular portrayal of Lin Daiyu had captured the essence of the original character created by Cao Xueqing, the author of the original story.

They also needed to learn about the Qing Dynasty’s influential culture.

Yan Huan had a very good feeling on this. She felt that everyone was enjoying the training and they were immersed in the atmosphere and the culture. They would even talk in character during their mundane chats.