Avenge Our Love – The Second Breakup – Part Thirteen, 2 of 2

World Hopping: Avenge Our Love

Translator: translationraven

First Published on Chaleuria

 

Whatever Cao Kun and the others thought of it, the short film Song Yucheng prepared for would start shooting as scheduled.

At the shooting site the next morning, the studio was abuzz with activity though it was just eight. Director Yang and Li Xuyang were the earliest arrivals.

Director Yang, in particular, had brought his own team. Even Ning Lan, his trusted scriptwriter, had tagged along.

“How’s this any different from losing money when you should be paid, huh?” Li Xuyang couldn’t help poking fun at him.

Director Yang, however, did not act like the famed director he was at all, and retorted, “It’s a script written by Wen Ran. How about you then? Isn’t this a monetary loss for you?”

“Yes, it is.” Li Xuyang was not offended by the retort, and he laughed along; he had various expectations.

The actors who came later shared the same feelings. It couldn’t be helped — the script Wen Ran had written was just too good. Every character moved the heart, and the actors were eager to bring these characters to life.

There was no use being anxious since the key person was still not here, but Song Yucheng’s absence did not stop them from looking forward to it. Ning Lan, in particular, was looking forward to it as a fellow scriptwriter.

Wen Ran was like a god to Ning Lan. He was the only scriptwriter in the scriptwriter circles to have reached the rank of major celebrity after all; his popularity was off the charts. He had a Weibo page with nothing on it but the page was still followed by millions of fans.

Everyone wanted to see for themselves what sort of existence this Wen Ran was.

Meanwhile, Song Yucheng had run into a small problem on his end. Shen Yi had received a shock yesterday, and he’d stayed up all night. His body was weak, and his spirits terribly low. The assistant had almost jumped in fright when he’d gone to fetch Shen Yi that morning. He felt that Shen Yi’s situation was hopeless.

His eyes were red, his face pale, and his lips bloodless. He would have probably looked no different from a vengeful ghost if not for his good looks.

Even in this state, however, Shen Yi insisted on going out. The assistant had no other choice. He quickly got him some pills to try to save the situation.

“Brother Xie, Shen Yi has a bit of a fever and he looks like he hasn’t slept the whole night. He threw up the little bit he ate for breakfast too.” Shen Yi’s assistant was anxious. He hurried over to Song Yucheng as soon as he saw him, and gave him a quick summary of the situation.

Song Yucheng acted like he did not see all of this. He pointed frostily to the passenger side of the car to tell Shen Yi to get in.

“Brother Xie…” Xie Qianchen had always been gentle to his charges, and he treated the talents under his wing like his own younger siblings. He really was being too mean to Shen Yi, and the assistant’s heart hurt for the young man. He did not get in Song Yucheng’s way, however, and just watched as Shen Yi shuffled into the car and was driven away.

In the car, Shen Yi leaned against his seat and didn’t utter a word. He didn’t even dare to look at Song Yucheng. Song Yucheng had no interest in chatting with him either.

It was quite a distance from Shen Yi’s dormitory to the shooting location. Shen Yi had not slept the whole night and he was next to Song Yucheng now, a person whom he knew hated him. Still, he settled and fell asleep.

Song Yucheng turned his head to glance at Shen Yi when he heard his breathing become deep and even. He didn’t cover him with a jacket, but he quietly increased the temperature in the car.

System: Isn’t Shen Yi a little too pitiful?

Song Yucheng: Yeah, but there wasn’t a chance for anyone to feel pity for Xie Qianchen before his life ended. Shen Yi won’t die for his sins. I won’t go overboard.

He ended his mental conversation with the System after saying that. They arrived at the venue, and Song Yucheng woke Shen Yi. They went straight in.

They attracted a lot of attention. Almost everyone looked at Song Yucheng when he walked in, and quickly craned their necks to search for someone else behind.

“No, wait. Where is Mr Wen Ran?” Director Yang came looking for him.

“He’s not coming.” Song Yucheng shook his head. “The script’s been sent to you all. What would Wen Ran need to come here for?”

“. . .”

That was true. However, Director Yang asked one more question. “Are you close with Wen Ran?”

“Yeah. Wen Ran is family.”

Song Yucheng said it so matter-of-factly that it stunned those who heard it — but they did not doubt him. Xie Qianchen had been the one to promote Wen Ran’s debut piece after all. Wen Ran had become famous because of that drama too.

It really was no big deal now for Wen Ran to write a script for Xie Qianchen when he asked for it. It was a pity that they did not get to see Wen Ran, but the people still held this project in high regard. The general feeling was that this would definitely be a big hit though it was a public welfare short film.

They were all experienced and skilled, so this short film was short work for them. When it got to Shen Yi, however, there were problems.

His character had a complicated set of emotions, and Shen Yi was too young, too inexperienced. A character like this was difficult for him to portray properly, though he tried his very hardest. There was a nagging impression of incompatibility.

“Shen Yi! What’s happening there?”

“Cut! This won’t work. See here, you’ve lost all sense of being human, but you still have faith that you can protect your children. You understand what I mean?”

“No, still not right. You’re using too much violence!”

“Take a break. Go and try to get a grasp of the feeling.” Director Yang switched off his camera in frustration and signalled to the other workers to take a break.

Next to him, Li Xuyang saw his frustration and quickly soothed him. “Don’t get too upset. Shen Yi’s trying his best. This isn’t very easy to grasp, and even I will…”

“I know. But this part here that Shen Yi has is the climax of the film. If he can’t do it then all the buildup to this point will be wasted.”

The other actors started getting worried too, but they were no help.

Shen Yi got to his feet shakily, and walked up to Song Yucheng. He didn’t know what to say.

He’d tried his best but could not fully meet the requirements for the character. After dozens of continuous yells of ‘cut’ from the director, Shen Yi was not just physically exhausted but mentally too. He was starting to think that he was not suited to be an actor.

But Song Yucheng spoke in his ear in a voice as cold as permafrost. “Don’t think that I will feel sympathy for you if you act pitiful, Shen Yi. You’ll never be able to pay me back for what you owe.”

Shen Yi’s knees went weak and he fell forward, only getting his balance back when he caught the corners of the table.

He looked at Song Yucheng with a complicated look in his eyes, as if what Song Yucheng had said earlier had not been said to him but to someone else.

He tilted his head, and thought for a while, then turned away from Song Yucheng to look for Director Yang and let him know that they could continue filming.

To everyone’s surprise, Shen Yi was done in one take. Quite a few people gave Song Yucheng looks of surprise and wondered what he’d said to Shen Yi. Director Yang sighed, and had a rare bit of disapproval for Xie Qianchen.

“You’re being really hard on him, pushing him to this degree.” He watched Shen Yi struggle through the camera lens, acting to match the plot. There was no need to go on to the later stage; just this was enough to pull at the heart-strings.

Song Yucheng, however, smiled. “No worries, he can take it. Shen Yi’s acting skills are limited, so this is the only way for him to improve quickly. There’s no other method. Besides, Shen Yi’s features are too delicate. Faces like his are more suitable for idol dramas where the focus is looks. There are too many restrictions to get him on the big screen. If he wants a breakthrough, then he has to pay the price.”

“True. But you’re the only one who can use a method like this. Others won’t bear to do it, and they lack your acting skills too.” Director Yang shook his head and sighed. After a few seconds, he suddenly asked, “Hey, Qianchen. Are you really not going to act anymore?”

“No more acting.” Song Yucheng gave a laugh. “My days are long gone. It’s a good life for me to be a manager and enjoy retirement. I’ll leave Shen Yi to you. His assistant will come fetch him when filming is done.”

Song Yucheng left after that conversation. He didn’t even stay to watch Shen Yi shoot his last scene.

This was not because he was abusing Shen Yi on purpose, but because his time was tight. He had many things to do.

It was quite easy for Song Yucheng to keep his title as a professional manager, according to the requirements set. The rules were that he needed just two minor celebrities. He had Shen Yi as a minor celebrity, and he could use Wen Ran as a booster if needed, so there was no need for him to worry. If he wanted to maintain his status as an elite manager, however, he would need three or more celebrities who were at least major celebrities, and one A-lister.

Song Yucheng had a plan to get his A-lister. Three major celebrities though… there was no time to train any, so his plan was to grab some.

What had Luo Tong and the others said back then? Oh, right. They’d said that Xie Qianchen was someone who had got to his position through being a pimp, and that he had no real ability. He was going to get these sheeple to open their eyes. He was going to make them see just what ‘ability’ was.

Song Yucheng gave his subordinate his first order when he got back to the company. He was going to go through the statistics and count the number of celebrities who were almost past their prime, or who were in some sort of trouble. Celebrities under Luo Tong’s management were best.

“Brother Xie, isn’t this too…” The assistant didn’t understand why Song Yucheng was doing this. He felt that this was a waste of time. These were celebrities who had stained reputations but it wasn’t so easy to get them to jump ship. Sure, they could be persuaded, but this was just too absurd.

“No need to fret. Just do as I tell you.” Song Yucheng gestured for the assistant to leave after he spoke. He was busy here — he had to work on the publicity for the film.

Song Yucheng was not planning on taking the traditional publicity routes this time. To put it plainly, he had got so many skilled actors to work on this to push Shen Yi up there with them. The publicity for this had to be unique too. Song Yucheng did have his interests invested in this after all.

There wasn’t much of a budget for this public welfare short film, and Song Yucheng was not planning on dumping money into it either.

There were a lot of ways to get the word out without having to spend money after all. This was why Song Yucheng decided to turn the heat up.

Who would have thought that this little idea of his would start a storm on Weibo again.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Fans would usually feel themselves very blessed if they could post the first comment on their idol’s Weibo page. There was no way for them to know when their idols would update their page after all, so being first to comment was a blessing.

Today, though, was a disaster for these fans looking to be the first to comment. They had never seen anyone as fast as Song Yucheng. The thing which rendered them speechless was that he seemed to have the timing just right, like he knew when the celebrities would be updating their Weibo pages in advance. He posted his comments as soon as the pages were updated.

And his posts had pretty much the same message.

Actress X uploaded a selfie!
Xie Qianchen: The short film that Picture Domain is shooting now is awesome! Please look forward to it!

Singer X is recording a new song!
Xie Qianchen: The short film that Picture Domain is shooting now is awesome! Please look forward to it!

Actor X, showing off his son!
Xie Qianchen: The short film that Picture Domain is shooting now is awesome! Please look forward to it!

It would have been fine if it were just one or two, but ten?! The fans could not sit still anymore.

“What the heck? What’s going on here? Is this an advertisement?”

“Hey, what is this disrespect? What does he take our goddess for?”

“I saw this Xie Qianchen guy’s comment on another goddess’s Weibo page too. How is this guy doing it? These two goddesses updated their pages at almost the same time, and he still managed to get top comment on both pages.”

“Argh, I can’t take it anymore. I wanna stamp out this retard.” Many fans were pissed. What the hell is wrong with this Xie Qianchen?!

What followed was even more frustrating. This ‘Xie Qianchen’ was going after the big official Weibo gossip pages too! His comment was particularly eye-catching under the gossip Yuan Yue posted.

Xie Qianchen: The short film that Picture Domain is shooting now is awesome! Please look forward to it!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to show support for this translation?

Avenge Our Love: advance chapters on Patreon (monthly subscription type)!
https://www.patreon.com/translationraven

Plain support on Ko-fi (one-off token of appreciation)!

https://ko-fi.com/tlraven