Chapter 4: The shooting for the Pursuit of the Wind
Translator: Aafkee
Proofreader: ChaiTea
Just as Mary was grumbling about her boss while she worked, Shen Yu awoke as well.
Being an actor was an exhausting job. More often than not, work started early and ended late. It could be as miserable as being a high school student. Thank goodness it earned more than when he was a high school student. That thought alone made it much more bearable.
His assistant, Dachuan, had yet to return. Shen Yu quickly washed up and went downstairs to his car. Only when he saw the cup of coffee from the convenience store, did he then recall the series of events from last night. He shook his head, tossed the coffee into the bin and used the small time gap he had when he was queueing to drive his car out to look at his Weibo.
Shen Yu had not participated in a popular film before. Since he graduated six years ago, he did not have many fans. However, it was because of his timing that his fan circle was relatively clean. Everyone would clip some videos, make some jokes and interact joyously and harmoniously while minding their own business in the corner. Shen Yu would sneakily peep at his fans’ activities when he had free time, treating it as a relaxing pastime.
Shen Yu browsed through his own tag and the newest and most popular Weibo was from one of his oldest fans. It was his sixth anniversary since his debut, so the video was a compilation video of him to commemorate his anniversary. The compilation consisted of all the carefully clipped and edited videos of every big or small role Shen Yu had acted, from ancient costume to pre-modern to modern times, you name it; he saw it. Shen Yu watched as the young lad in the monitor gradually grew into a young man, his acting skills moved from being under ripe to being mature. He could not help but break into a smile.
It has already been six years.
When he finished the video, Shen Yu scrolled down to the comment section and the comment that had the most likes caught his eyes.
“Ahhhh, your compilation video is too amazing! Our Brother Yu has both face and skills, just why is he not popular? Why, oh why?”
Why was he not popular? Shen Yu let out a laugh and put down his phone on the side as he focused on driving. There was no point in asking why most of the time. If the fate was unfavourable, what was not yours will never be yours. Shen Yu had long passed the age of hoping for himself to get popular. As long as he could continue to act and have such a loyal group of cute fans, Shen Yu was satisfied.
Shen Yu arrived at the filming location for ‘Pursuit of the Wind’ right before eight and began his day of work like any other day.
‘Pursuit of the Wind’ was a very typical web novel that mainly focused on the female main character and some sort of strong spirit or demon.
The main character, Jiu Yao, was born in a small village. She and her grandfather lived relying on each other. She was optimistic and cheerful and when she smiled, her dimples would appear. When she was 16 years old, there was a rainstorm in their village. Suddenly, as if he had gone mad, her grandfather insisted on going into the mountains no matter how she tried to convince him not to. When her grandfather came back a few days later, he was already breathing his last breath and passed away not long later.
Before Jiu Yao could recover from the pain of losing her only family member, a strange person appeared in her village.
This person told her that her grandfather was a Windcatcher from the legends. In this world, wind was the symbolised power. A normal person could only acquire the power of a thread of wind through training, but a Windcatcher could capture the natural wind, taming it to do their bidding.
Because it was a nature-defying power, it was extremely difficult to pass on the powers of a Windcatcher. Only if you meet three conditions could you learn how to capture wind: to be born in that bloodline, knowledge, and innate skills. Therefore, the Windcatchers in the world, which could probably be counted with one hand alone, were all treated as VIPs.
The strange person who came to the village was the male lead, Nie Lao, who was shouldering a deep hatred and was seeking revenge. In order to acquire the power he needed to take his revenge, Nie Lao came to the village according to his father’s notes before his passing in search of Jiu Yao’s grandfather. Unfortunately, he was a step too late as Jiu Yao’s grandfather had just passed away.
Fortunately, despite all the despair, there was a way through. When Nie Lao was discouraged by the news, he suddenly found out that the Windcatcher’s granddaughter, Jiu Yao, had an extremely rare talent for capturing wind. As for Jiu Yao, who had read her grandfather’s notes, she speculated that her grandfather’s death was not as simple as it seemed. As such, she was determined to seek the truth behind his death.
The two, with no one else to rely on, hit it off easily and decided to go on a journey of pursuing the wind.
Shen Yu had his makeup done in the makeup room, wore his white fluttery clothes which looked celestial, pulled on his wig and walked out of the room.
In this film, he was not acting as the male lead Nie Lao, but the second male lead, who also had an important role in the film, He Qi.
He Qi was a gust of wind, literally.
He was one of the strongest winds in that world, originating from the wind blown from the cold waves of a deep icy sea during a severe winter. He had trained tens of thousands of years and was capable of transforming into a human form. In other words, he was the personification of wind.
This role was not that difficult, but Shen Yu took his fair share of suffering to display the character’s gracefulness and elegance.
According to the screenwriter, which was also the original author’s intention, the film must display He Qi’s pressing celestial aura and his outstanding elegance. Just for that, the author even rented a gigantic fan from god-knows-where. Whenever it was Shen Yu’s scene, the fan would be turned on, blowing him from different angles, maintaining the feeling of having a level eight typhoon passing through any time, anywhere.
Shen Yu walked over to the staff who was in charge of operating the fan and greeted him and jokingly asked for him to blow at him lighter before he adjusted his mood and condition before starting to film his first scene of the day.
“And where did you come from, little girl? Why have you broken into my territory?”
“Hmph, which area of heaven and earth isn’t under my control?”
“You should learn embroidery in the lady’s chamber. It was too much of a waste to have your talisman used this way.”
It was a scene when the female lead broke into He Qi’s territory by accident. Noticing that she was his deceased friend's daughter, he decided not to kill her but tease her.
His lines could easily be considered overly self-aware and arrogant or greasy if not said properly. Shen Yu seized the essence of the line perfectly, the young man dressed in white was floating in the air, his long robes were fluttering even without the wind. There was a faintly discernible smile on his face, yet his gaze was drifting and disassociated. Being alone for ten thousand years was too long. He did not know what he should look like in his mortal self.
“Cut.”
Shen Yu came back down from the wire, the stifling hot weather had made him sweat buckets.
The director nodded his head satisfactorily and let Shen Yu take a break at the side. Shen Yu’s skill in such a web drama was overkill. After all, he had graduated from the famous academy recognised throughout the acting industry and even had six years of practical experience. Most of his scenes could be done in one shot, creating a clear contrast between him and the other rookies from all sorts of backgrounds.
After wiping off his sweat and drinking half a cup of water, Shen Yu went back to continue with his filming. He did not have many scenes to film today so he finished all his scenes by the afternoon. However, he decided not to remove his makeup in case he needed to reshoot some scenes. Instead, he stayed on set to watch from the side.
“Brother Shen, your manager is looking for you.” Between filming, a person walked over to Shen Yu and told him this. Surprised, Shen Yu took out his silenced phone. Indeed, there was a missed call from his manager, Mei Fei. The inconvenience of not having an assistant appeared once again. Shen Yu thanked the staff who notified him before he walked back to his makeup room hurriedly.
---------- Translator’s note:
Happy Christmas everyone!!
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