His words fell, and the entire crew's machinery instantly sprang to life.
"All departnts, attention! 'Longing Across Ti,' Scene One, Take One!"
The clapper loader stepped in front of the cara, and a crisp clap sounded.
"Action!"
The only sound left on set was the rustling of wind through the artificial forest leaves.
Su Qingying erged from behind a massive, imitation ancient divine tree.
She was dressed in modern attire—a white hoodie and blue jeans—creating a stark, jarring sense of temporal dislocation against the surrounding ancient, desolate scenery.
Her cool, aloof face carried the bewildernt of a newcor and a wariness towards the unknown environnt.
When her gaze fell upon Jiang Ci, leaning against a tree trunk not far away, that wariness instantly lted away, transforming into pure concern.
She walked over quickly, unscrewing the lid of the insulated lunchbox in her hand, which was printed with a cartoon design.
A plu of white steam, carrying the aroma of grilled at and rice, wafted up.
Su Qingying's performance was exquisitely nuanced.
She carefully took out a rice ball, her eyes shimring with unadulterated expectation and kindness.
She extended the rice ball towards Jiang Ci.
"Ye Chen, try the grilled at rice ball I made. It's a modern recipe."
Following Zhang Mouyi's direction, the mont the rice ball was offered before him, Jiang Ci's brow furrowed slightly, and his head instinctively turned away.
"A half-demon would never eat such mortal fare."
He raised a hand, his movent carrying an aloofness that kept others at a thousand miles' distance, and pushed Su Qingying's hand away.
The gesture wasn't large, but the physiological revulsion of a higher being towards lowly food, mixed with the stubborn arrogance of denial, was portrayed to perfection.
Not bad.
Jiang Ci ntally gave himself a stamp of approval.
The inner layer of physiological rejection, the outer layer of tsundere arrogance—both levels were conveyed.
However—
"Cut!"
Zhang Mouyi's icy voice, transmitted through the walkie-talkie, echoed across the entire film set, instantly severing the atmosphere that had just been brewing.
NG.
Zhang Mouyi strode out from behind the monitor.
He didn't look at Jiang Ci, but instead glanced at the innocent rice ball in Su Qingying's hand.
"Your performance just now was telling , 'I'm very uncomfortable.'"
He lifted his head, his gaze sharp as a torch, staring directly at Jiang Ci.
"You were 'acting' a half-demon's physiological revulsion."
"The acting is too heavy-handed."
"What I want isn't sothing acted out; I want your genuine physiological reaction!"
Jiang Ci looked at the playback footage and offered no defense.
What Zhang Mouyi wanted was that, before the expression of that "tsundere" emotion, there had to be an instinctive reaction stemming from the half-demon's physical constitution.
This layer was much deeper than simple duplicity.
And much more difficult.
Zhang Mouyi's voice rang out again, carrying an undeniable pressure.
"Before you deliver that line, I must see a mont where you are 'offended' by this sll."
"This disgust must precede all your other emotions. Understood?"
"Understood." Jiang Ci nodded, crisp and decisive.
He closed his eyes and stood still for a few seconds.
In his mind, he rapidly reconstructed the performance logic.
He needed to portray a beast that had just awakened, facing a type of food it had never encountered before, experiencing that instinctive wariness and rejection.
Beside him, Su Qingying watched quietly, still holding that cartoon lunchbox.
Her focus had already shifted from how to perform her own role well to how Jiang Ci would handle this test.
This was no longer a scene between two actors.
This was a silent, high-level duel between an actor and the director.
"Alright, all departnts, get ready!" the Assistant Director shouted loudly.
"Scene One, Take Two!"
The clapperboard fell again.
Filming resud.
Su Qingying's performance was identical to the first take.
She erged from behind the tree, opened the lunchbox, her eyes still holding that unsullied, pure kindness and expectation.
Steam rose.
Just as that wave of heat, mingled with the scent of food, drifted before Jiang Ci's face—
A sudden change occurred!
Jiang Ci's brow furrowed sharply and abruptly, as if pricked by a needle!
His nostrils followed with an extrely subtle twitch.
It was the kind of visceral, physiological disgust a germaphobe might feel on a crowded subway, suddenly catching a whiff of the pungent, cheap perfu on the person next to them.
This reaction lasted only 0.3 seconds.
So fast it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
But the cara captured it.
Imdiately after.
That instinctive revulsion was forcefully suppressed by a more powerful sense of aloofness and arrogance belonging to the character Ye Chen himself.
It was as if he felt offended by his own montary loss of control.
He pushed the rice ball away and uttered that line coldly.
"A half-demon would never eat such mortal fare."
This ti, the brief pause of his gaze on the rice ball carried a completely different aning.
It was no longer the duplicity of "wanting to eat but feeling too embarrassed."
It was a confusion over "why does this thing affect ?"—a bewildernt towards his body's unfamiliar reaction.
One action, two layers.
One physiological, one psychological.
Perfect!
Behind the monitor, on Zhang Mouyi's perpetually stern face, the corner of his mouth lifted for the first ti in what felt like ages.
"Cut, print."
"Prepare for the next setup."
Upon hearing the words "cut, print," the crew first collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, a wave of incredulous shock surged from the depths of everyone's hearts.
Especially the cara and lighting crews who had worked with Zhang Mouyi for years; they exchanged glances as if they'd seen a ghost.
Two takes for a pass with Director Zhang?
And for a scene with such ridiculously demanding details?
"Ten-minute break!"
The Assistant Director's voice broke the silence on set.
Jiang Ci detached himself from the character's state and walked over to sit on a rest chair in the corner.
On the other side, Su Qingying took the water her assistant handed her but didn't drink imdiately.
She stood there, seemingly lost in thought.
A mont later, she walked towards Jiang Ci.
Sensing the faint, watchful gazes from all around, Su Qingying spoke in her usual cool, even-toned voice.
"That mont just now was really well perford."
A simple acknowledgnt from a top-tier Best Actress.
Jiang Ci looked up at Su Qingying and accepted the praise frankly.
"Thank you."
He paused, then added.
"I was just imagining it was a durian-stuffed stinky tofu rice ball."
Su Qingying: "?"
Her motion to turn and leave froze right there.
She looked at Jiang Ci's completely serious face, and her mind buzzed.
Durian... stuffed... stinky tofu rice ball?
Cracks began to appear on that perpetually calm and professional icy facade.
In the end, she said nothing.
She turned and walked away, her pace twice as fast as when she arrived.
Right then, Zhang Mouyi's utterly toneless voice sounded again.
He glanced at Jiang Ci, still pondering "rice ball flavors" in the corner, then at Luo Yu on the other side, who had already changed into costu and was emanating a gloomy aura.
He issued the next instruction directly.
"Clear the set, prepare for Scene Two."
"Ye Chen's first encounter with Chi Jie."
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