"Whoa! Made it!"

  With Hou Qingyu's directorial shout, Wang Jinglu and Shen Tiantian's parts in the crew of "Datang Knife Guest" have all come to an end.

  Yes, although there are only eight or nine shots in total, and although there aren't many lines, Wang Jinglu's portrayal of Ping'er should have at least one or two close-up shots, which is already a very big role for a newcomer.

  Although, both girls knew in their hearts that they were really bad at acting.

  After all the scenes of the role were completed, the two girls took advantage of the crew's adjustment of the camera to prepare for the next scene and ran over to thank Director Hou Qingyu.

  Hou Duo's face was filled with emotion, and he said: "No wonder you were able to get into the Huaji Theater Performance Department! You have great talent and are making rapid progress! Your future achievements will definitely be impressive. Who knows, maybe in a few years, I'll be relying on you guys for my livelihood!"

  This is simply unbearable!

  Whoever believes it is an idiot!

  If this were the first day of filming, Wang Jinglu and Shen Tiantian might still be excited, but now, they have come to realize that Director Hou would never speak ill of them, his approach is to praise from start to finish, so his words are basically not credible.

  At this time, Wang Jinglu and Shen Tiantian still politely thanked Director Hou before taking their leave to remove their makeup and change clothes.

  After being hit on the head by someone after the first performance ended, the two girls went back to discuss what to do.

  Wang Jinglu said, "My family just bought a VCD player. Let's go rent some discs and watch them. We'll learn from others by watching how they portray young maidservants and palace girls."

  Shen Tian Tian said, then how do you learn? Do you really think watching DVDs can teach you acting? Instead of watching DVDs, why don't we start from today and go to the filming location every day to see how others act!

  Yeah, no kidding. This suggestion moved Wang Jinglu immediately, and then the two little girls, although they didn't have any connections, would get up early every day to run to Huairou Film and TV City. They didn't know many people in the group, and when Hou Qingyu's assistant and deputy director Xiao Yuan saw them, they came over to ask a couple of questions, but when they found out that they were really just there to watch the performance, they stopped paying attention to them. At most, they would arrange for a free lunch for the two girls during the noon break.

  Then the two girls spent their days like this, standing in a place that wouldn't get in the way to watch the crew film, the male lead, female lead, male supporting actor, female supporting actor... basically all the scenes that needed to be filmed at Lin Qi's mansion would be concentrated here, so naturally all the actors who appeared in these scenes would let the two girls see their fill.

  To be honest, this isn't a big deal and there aren't any superstars with truly outstanding acting skills. This is according to Li Qian's evaluation when we sat together watching DVDs back then. I reckon not one of the actors' performances on site would meet his standards.

  However, sitting in front of a screen watching a movie and being on site watching the filming process are two completely different concepts.

  In front of the screen, everything you see is in the play, it's what the director and producer want you to see. You can easily enter the story, enter the actor's performance, and even evaluate the actor's performance and the scriptwriter's story.

  But on the scene, except for that small piece of space in front of the camera, everything around it, including cameras, lighting equipment, recording equipment, and even the staff on site, all remind you: they are just acting!

  But, surprisingly, despite being watched by so many people. Those old actors can quickly get into character, don't mind if they overact or not, they immediately get into the play, just like they really lived in ancient times!

  Although it's really just an ordinary TV series that doesn't require high acting skills, after watching the performances of those actors on set for a few days, Wang Jinglu and Shen Tiantian were still deeply moved.

  Then, they started learning from others' performances and when it was their turn again for the second take, after finishing filming, both girls felt that there should be some progress, but to be honest, it was just that they were a bit calmer than the first time, and with their little part in the play, it's really hard to tell how good their acting skills are.

  But unfortunately, they didn't know anyone here, and director Hou Qingyu was busy from head to toe. The two girls couldn't possibly go find him for guidance on acting or anything else.

  As for today, with their last few shots in this play, the two of them are still continuing to take it easy, but after finishing filming, they themselves are still a bit confused, completely unsure how well they performed, and whether there was even a tiny bit of progress.

  Shen Tiantian was quite happy, the two of them removed their makeup and changed clothes from the dressing room, the director's assistant had been waiting at the door, then personally took the two girls to settle the pay, as a result Wang Jinglu had a few lines, got 1500 yuan, Shen Tiantian didn't have any lines from start to finish, also got 1200 yuan.

  After receiving the money, Shen Tiantian thanked the assistant director and put the dozen or so banknotes into her pocket. She turned around to see Wang Jinglu looking distracted, and laughed: "Hey, it's okay, who cares if she acts well or not? As long as we get paid, that's all that matters! It's just a few shots, over a thousand yuan, wow, this is the first time I've ever earned money in my life, and it's even a film fee! Awesome!"

  Wang Jinglu just smiled at her and didn't say anything.

  Actually, in recent days, she suddenly began to frequently recall the times when she went to the cinema with Li Qian to watch movies, and snuggled up together watching DVDs in the small house that Li Qian rented.

  Especially when the camera is finished, and she doesn't know how she performed at all, she will recall every detail of what happened before.

  It's okay to watch movies in a movie theater, after all it's a public place. Even if they finish watching, Li Qian can only comment on the story or filming techniques that Wang Jinglu doesn't quite understand at first. As for the actors' performances, he rarely says anything. But when the two of them are snuggled up on the couch watching DVDs, they have more freedom. When they see a certain actor's performance, either too bad or too good, Li Qian will unconsciously comment a few words.

  At first, Wang Jinglu didn't quite understand and wasn't very concerned, she was completely immersed in the intimate contact between the two people, and that unspeakable beauty and sweetness. But later, as she gained more understanding of film performances, she began to pay more attention to what Li Qian said.

  What's with the method acting? What's with the experiential acting? So-and-so is very natural, so-and-so has always been carrying on with the acting and whatnot...

  Although she had no idea where Li Qian learned so much, after the fact, she thought back to it repeatedly. Even when Li Qian commented on an actor's performance, Wang Jinglu could roughly recall some of those scenes and would often suddenly have a realization - although that so-called realization was actually quite vague and elusive.

  Now that the play is over and she has received her pay, she suddenly thinks: "If he could be by my side to guide me constantly while I'm acting, wouldn't I act much better than now? Wouldn't I avoid being ridiculed behind my back?"

  …………

  Wang Jinglu returned home when it was already very late.

  Although it's still a heavy heart, after all, it's the first time acting, the first time getting paid for filming, and it's over 1,000 yuan, which is still worth celebrating. So, the two girls went to have another meal together.

  The lights were off in the house. She opened the door and went in. As she turned on the light, changed her shoes, she walked inside with a thud.

  It's not bad, having dinner and being comforted by Shen Tiantian for a while. Although she didn't agree with Shen's statement that "an actor who can get paid well is a good actor", Wang Jingluo also knew that acting wasn't something you could learn immediately or master overnight. Besides, she would be going to college to study formally in the future, so there was no need to worry about it now. As a result, her original worries dissipated a lot, and the joy of receiving her first paycheck grew stronger.

  She flicked on the living room light with a "click", and was about to go back and turn off the hallway light, when she caught sight of someone on the sofa out of the corner of her eye. She let out a startled yelp - "Ah! Eh... sis? What are you doing? Have you eaten dinner? Why didn't you turn on the lights?"

  Wang Jingxue sat on the sofa, turned her head and glanced at her lightly, her body seemed to be stiffened. After a while, she moved slightly, "Nothing, just sitting and staring! Too lazy to move!"

  Wang Jinglu said "oh" and saw her sister's calm face, then went back to turn off the light at the door, walked over with a swagger, hugged Wang Jingxue's shoulder, and said with some pride: "I've finished filming my part, and when I got back, I received my pay, and even signed an additional contract!" As she spoke, she pulled out the money, "Here, they gave me 1,500 yuan!"

  She was particularly clever and deliberately counted out 500 yuan, handed it over with a flourish, and said with a smile: "Here, my meal allowance!"

  Wang Jingxue glanced at her and took it over, opened it, and said lightly: "Is that all? You've been eating and drinking for free here for more than a year, and you're just going to leave with 500 yuan?"

  Wang Jinglu heard this and chuckled, immediately stopped pretending to be cool, put away the money, affectionately wrapped his arms around his sister's neck, chuckled and said: "Five hundred yuan is not a small amount, I eat less! Besides, one-third of it was given to you, that's all for now, wait until I get rich and make up for it later!"

  Wang Jingxue let out a snort of laughter and handed her the money. "Alright, take it and go buy some clothes. Stop showing off!"

  Yeah, such a sister is the best, never takes advantage of me for pocket money.

  Wang Jinglu didn't feel embarrassed at all, and quickly took over, giving her sister a "smack" on the cheek and saying "thank you, sis!" Then she jumped off the sofa and said "I'm going to take a bath!" before running towards the bathroom.

  She had no intention of telling her sister about her confusion regarding acting and performing, but she didn't notice that her sister hadn't been quite normal these past few days.

  Wang Jinglu went to take a bath, and Wang Jingshu continued to shrink back into the sofa, staring blankly at a certain wall in the room, falling into a daze again - because she was directly killed by Liao Liao in the extremely hot three major female voice wars, resulting in a huge loss of popularity for Wuxu, the company has made a decision not to give them any commercial performances for the next few months, no need to practice dance, no need to practice singing, no need to make an album, and no commercial performances, this led to Wang Jingshu, who had always been busy, suddenly becoming idle.

  "Let Me Fly" has fallen, it can be said that in the music circle, everyone knows that Wu Xing Wu Su, a newly popular girl group, was quickly brought back to its original shape by Li Qian and Liao Liao's joint efforts. However, for their song fans, especially those die-hard fans, they just think that Wu Xing Wu Su's new album is not as good as the previous one.

  The popularity of Wu Mochou's songs may not be as high as before, but the domestic situation has always been like this. Even if only one representative work becomes popular, it is enough for a singer to live on for many years.

  It doesn't matter if the new song is not as popular, it's okay if they're not that red-hot anymore. At least there are still many fans who especially like some of their songs. As for the performance market, even if you're not that popular, at most the price will just drop, but the opportunities to perform commercially will still be plentiful - if first-tier cities don't have much appeal, you can still go to second-tier cities! The country is so big and has such a large population, even if you only go to one city once, adding them up would be enough for three years of performances.

  So, in fact, Wu Xus' five elements did not really fall from the clouds into the mud.

  For girls like Wang Jingxue and Sima Dudu who have some career ambitions, or for those who are used to the past glory like Sun Ruoxuan and Zhou Pingping, this fall is indeed a bit ruthless.

  The company is said to be actively contacting Li Qian's agent Qi Jie, but the other party's reaction is not very positive - it's understandable that they would still be angry.

  But, Wang Jingxue felt that she had no face to call Li Qian, and Xie Bing was resolute in not making the call, remaining silent from start to finish. As a result, for Wu Xingwusu, who was trying to extricate himself from this awkward situation, it seemed that the layer of ice had appeared so quickly and was becoming increasingly difficult to break through.

  Perhaps, as Agent Wu said, only when Li Qian returns to Shuntian Prefecture, the five girls will go together to apologize to Li Qian, and this layer of tangible and intangible frost will have a chance to be broken.

  Wang Jingxue had just finished her bath, wrapped in a towel with bare feet, and walked out with a hot air, with still some water droplets on the ends of her hair. "Sis, I want to watch a DVD, you're not watching TV, are you?"

  Wang Jingxue looked up at her and shook his head, saying: "Don't look, you take a look!"

  Wang Jinglu ran over and rummaged through the pile of DVDs she had recently rented, which were all TV dramas and movies that Li Qian had recommended to her over the phone, including both domestic and foreign productions, as well as two Chinese plays.

  Wang Jingxue stared blankly at her back and suddenly asked: "Have you been in touch with Li Qian recently?"

  ***

  The first update, 4,000 words!