Translator: HillarybyHillary
Editor: Eric Rasputin
Quality Check: Isalee
First Published on Chaleuria
The day after that was Chen Hsin and Wu Rong’s fight scene. With the special makeup team and stunt coordinator around, Chen Cheng-sen went over the scene with Chen Hsin. Wu Rong was supposed to have been there listening as well, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he chose to huddle around a few staff members, chatting idly amongst themselves. “Wu-laoshi, with a fight scene of this level, I guess you can ace it with your eyes closed, right?” Xiao-Wang asked admiringly yet tacitly.
“Fine, I’ll go over it,” Wu Rong contemptuously said before he stalked off, mumbling under his breath, “How the f*** can this be counted as a fight scene…”
All of a sudden, a voice excitedly whispered behind him, “I got some news, I got some news!”
Xiao-Wang and the others immediately huddled around again. Although Wu Rong had already walked off, he was curious, so he turned back and joined them once more. A secretly filmed video was buffering on the small phone screen. Without a good WiFi connection on the set, the video was loading very slowly. Unable to figure out what was filmed on the video, he asked, “What is that?”
Everyone was very excited and didn’t hesitate to answer right away. “It’s just the latest development of the ‘YingWu Couple1’.”
‘YingWu Couple’ was the abbreviation for Chen Hsin and Zhang Zhun. All the latest trending headlines recently used this nickname to refer to the two actors; even Wu Rong knew of this.
The video finally loaded, displaying a space that looked like some kind of studio. The camera was a bit shaky, clearly taken secretly on someone’s phone. After stumbling for a second, the camera angle changed. Chen Hsin appeared in the video, chatting politely with a few people. Suddenly his eyes focused somewhere off-screen; something clearly caught his attention as he hurried forward. The camera followed and Zhang Zhun appeared, half leaning against the wall, with his arms outstretched as if he had just stumbled. Chen Hsin looked like he was about to help the other man when he was shoved hard into the opposite wall with a loud thud.
The video came to an abrupt end with the caption: “Those who said our ‘King of the silver screen’ is a bumptious prick, open your f***ing eyes! This was taken by one of the staff on set. Shouldn’t your ‘Wushu Champion’ at least try to ‘convince people by virtue?’ Even an irrelevant passer-by can’t stand his actions!”
The video had just been uploaded for five minutes, and it already had over ten thousand reposts. The staff were quiet for a moment before muttered comments started, “Zhun-ge is really too much… If I were Chen-laoshi, I would also be at odds with him… Damn! He actually pushed him… Back then, when they were filming that steamy sex scene, I actually thought they were…”
Hearing the outrageous comments about Zhang Zhun, Wu Rong started to feel a tightness in his chest. He wanted to say something to defend Zhang Zhun, but at the same time, he felt Chen Hsin was also a little pitiful. Before he could decide what to do, a voice boomed over the loudspeaker: “Everyone to their places, filming is about to start!”
Clad in a leather jacket and camouflage pants, Wu Rong lightly shook out his costume, before walking out to the middle of the road. Standing on his mark, he vaguely noticed the extras strolling around on both sides of the road, as his eyes focused on the man standing about fifty meters from him. Chen Hsin stood at the other end of the road with a pair of frameless glasses.
***
In a separate location, Zhou Zheng was leading Zhang Zhun’s set. They didn’t have many important scenes, just some pick-ups and close-ups that were mainly focused on Qin Xin-er. Whilst they were waiting for the lighting to be adjusted, she sauntered over with a thermos cup in hand. In a hard-to-come-by occurrence, she called out, “Zhang-laoshi.”
Truthfully, Zhang Zhun was a little scared. They had nothing to do with each other and had barely spoken more than a word to one another. In a polite yet cautious tone, Zhang Zhun replied, “Qin-jie.”
“Drop the ‘jie’,” she said as she patted his shoulder, clearly unhappy with the distance he was keeping between the two of them. Fiddling with her shiny black wig, she tilted her head a little before saying, “We were supposed to have a sex scene together.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively, and the kind of beauty she emitted somehow also gave off an oppressive feeling. “It’s such a pity that Chen Cheng-sen decided to change the script.”
Thank goodness it was changed, thought Zhang Zhun to himself, as Qin Xin-er seemed to lean closer and closer. She looked as if she was about to say something, when out of nowhere, Xiao-Deng appeared. “Ge,” he said with an oddly annoyed expression, “Come over here for a second.”
Zhang Zhun escaped from Qin Xin-er and followed Xiao-Deng to a secluded corner. Xiao-Deng handed the phone to him and said, “Look at this. I think it’s legit.”
On the Weibo page, the user ID was: ‘The Biggest Blabbermouth in the Industry.’ This account was well known in the entertainment circle as a blogger that always had the latest celebrity gossip. At a glance, Zhang Zhun could see Chen Hsin’s name. The article seemed to be about his previous relationship with Feng Yunting. He skimmed through the blog and read: “As you all know, Chen Hsin’s rumored marriage was clearly fake — you don’t need this blabbermouth to tell you, even fools can tell. But who is the actual blabbermouth behind these rumors? That is something I think I should let you in on. With third-rate tabloid — Sun Entertainment’s old tactics of stirring up unscrupulous media with speculation…”
“Ah,” Zhang Zhun indifferently answered as he handed the phone back. Xiao-Deng refused to take it but instead insisted, “Open it and read the full article.”
At this time, a few staff members came over holding an opened magazine. “Zhang-laoshi,” they called out. Gesturing to the double-page spread of seven or eight almost naked men and women doused in glistening body oil, posing in various bodybuilding and provocative poses, they asked, “In your professional opinion, can you comment on which body shape is the best?” Looking quite embarrassed, they continued, “We’ve been arguing about this since this morning!”
Zhang Zhun titled his head to look at the glistening bodies of the handsome men — there were Asians as well as Westerners. In terms of body shapes, he pointed at one of them, “This one, I guess. His figure’s quite built but with a sense of beauty…”
He hadn’t even finished his sentence before he was cut off halfway. A few of the boys snickered awkwardly, “No, no, no, Zhang-laoshi…” With an embarrassed expression, they said, “We were asking about the women…”
Consumed by a shameful panic, his cheeks reddened as he realized his obvious misstep. “Oh…” Only then did he look at the women. A sudden realization dawned on him. The moment he saw the magazine, he was instantly mesmerized by the bodies of the toned and muscled men. Catching himself, he quickly added, “This one is better. Her muscles are well-proportioned and there’s a feminine beauty.”
Usually, this wouldn’t have been considered a serious matter. However, Zhang Zhun experienced a deep inner turmoil; rather than feeling ashamed, he felt a growing panic. A thought occurred to him; he must have been influenced by Chen Hsin’s wild lovemaking. Xiao-Deng once again pushed the phone toward him. This time, it was opened to the full article. Zhang Zhun skimmed through the article absent-mindedly as his mind was preoccupied with his previous revelation. A change in one’s sexual orientation can easily make one’s mind and heart tremble with fear and trepidation. So it wasn’t until his eyes landed on the figure ‘twenty million’ did he abruptly snap out of it.
He pulled the phone right in front of his face and reread the article: “Do you all actually believe in this peaceful break-up of the ‘King of the silver screen?’ Because this blabbermouth definitely doesn’t believe it. According to Feng Yunting’s close male friend surnamed M, the break-up fee was nothing short of twenty million, as well as various acting opportunities. I’m not sure what she has on Chen-dage2, but even I feel for Chen Hsin! Anyways, that’s all for the gossip on ‘YingWu Couple’. See you all next time, and please do remember to give a ‘thumbs up’!”
Zhang Zhun’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably, unable to hold onto the phone any longer as it started to slip through his fingers. With a solemn atmosphere, Xiao-Deng pointed out, “Ge, this isn’t a small number. He was willing to spend twenty…”
Zhang Zhun didn’t let him finish before storming out. He ran downstairs and asked a crew member for a car, then drove all the way to the other filming location. He stopped the car on the side of the road as he noticed a group of people crowding around in the distance. He ran up, jumping over the barrier and saw a few staff members trying to stop a fight. Amongst the chaos, limbs were swinging left and right, as well as Wu Rong’s bloodied face and look of ferociousness.
Zhang Zhun wasn’t sure where the energy came from, but he quickly pushed through everyone and shoved Chen Hsin standing in the middle of the crowd. Chen Hsin stared at him, surprised. Unlike the other actor, his face was perfect without a single scratch or bruise. Chen Hsin was a little confused, glancing at the man standing behind Zhang Zhun. He wanted to explain, “I didn’t…”
Chen Hsin hadn’t meant to start a fight. Although he thought the first take went smoothly, Chen Cheng-sen wasn’t satisfied with Wu Rong’s performance, complaining that his timing was slightly off. Once the camera started recording again, he and Wu Rong stood chest to chest, ready for the second take. With their entangled limbs once again acting out a choreographed fight scene, everything was going smoothly. Until out of nowhere, Wu Rong gritted out in a low voice, “Stay away from him!”
The script clearly didn’t have this line. In that split second, Chen Hsin couldn’t decipher whether the man before him was Wu Rong or Zou Yun. Surprised and confused, Chen Hsin tried to struggle free of the other man’s grasp. Clearly annoyed about something, Wu Rong continued to trigger him. “Look at what you’ve f***ing done to Zhun-er!”
That one line was all it took to push Chen Hsin over the edge. His fist came out of nowhere and connected directly with Wu Rong’s nose, blood dripping everywhere. Chen Hsin staggered back, shocked at his own reaction.
At that moment, Zhang Zhun looked like a rough gangster, advancing on him. Being pushed around for the second time that day, Chen Hsin felt wronged and a little hurt. But Zhang Zhun did not back down, still as aggressive as before, he grabbed him by the collar and pulled the younger man until they were face to face. “Twenty million,” he asked, looking straight in his eyes, “Is that true?”
Chen Hsin’s pupils dilated, and Zhang Zhun instantly got his answer. Pushing him away for the third time, Zhang Zhun turned and left. Chen Hsin immediately ran after him and reached out, wanting to hug the other man. Entirely out of reflex as a martial arts practitioner, Zhang Zhun caught Chen Hsin’s palm, twisted it, and pressed down hard on a specific point. Caught completely off guard, Chen Hsin screamed out in pain and fell to the ground.
Footnotes:
- YingWu Couple – (影武组)
It is the nickname for Chen Hsin and Zhang Zhun. It combines the first characters of (影帝 – yǐngdì) ‘King of the silver screen’ and (武术冠军 – Wǔshù guànjūn) ‘Martial arts champion.’ - Chen-dage – (甄大哥)
Instead of just ‘ge’, the blogger refers to Chen Hsin as ‘dage/big brother.’