Slight Modification

The female lead of Architecture 101 is indeed a bit hard to like...
The heroine doesn't know what she wants, or rather, she wants too much, which makes people feel annoyed.
She likes the handsome and wealthy jerk of a senior, yet she also fancies the naive and considerate protagonist.
She wants to ride in the senior's car, while simultaneously wanting to kiss the male lead's lips.
As for the male protagonist...
He must have been quite insecure!
Coming from a single-parent family with a poor background, the life the heroine desired was simply something the male protagonist could not provide...
Therefore, he was always the one who stepped back...
As for why he let go after reaching adulthood?
It is quite easy to understand. In one's youth, one always believes that love is the entire world—wild, reckless, and entirely consumed by her.
Yet, after youth has passed and faced with numerous choices in life, love can no longer afford to be completely unrestrained, let alone when it was merely a nascent sentiment.
As a man, he had to shoulder his responsibilities, and this romance could only serve as an episode in his life, a scenic spot in his journey of youthful rawness to be remembered with nostalgia.
In the end, the heroine opens the CD player from ten years ago, sits by the window, and plugs in her earphones.
Outside the window, the sea is vast and empty, and that song drifts gently along with the sea breeze, traversing a span of ten years.
Turns out, he had been there back then too.
That was enough!
Shen Yan said, "Ji Xiang has already messaged Old K. We reckon we will kick things off in March and aim for a release by Qixi Festival next year!"
"...Is it really that fast?"
"For a romance film like this, filming basically takes around forty-five days, two months for post-production, a month for promotion, and then it hits the screens..."
Shi Shi looked at him with admiration. "...You're amazing. You say you're going to make a movie, and you can just do it right away!"
"Making a movie isn't that complicated. It's not like we're trying to create an enduring classic. A decent script, coupled with a competent director, and the rest is just shooting and releasing..."
"Chinese Entertainment has made movies too!"
"I know... but Chinese Entertainment lacks distribution capability and has no connection with theater chains..."
Cai Yinong had indeed tried her hand at filmmaking early on, collaborating with the Shanghai Film Studio on *Mahjong Dragon*...
This film sold quite well, and its overseas copyrights supported Chinese Entertainment's first television series, *The Legend of Suzhou*, establishing their foothold!
In 2004, they shot *Ghost Encounters*... cooperating with the Emei Film Studio.
A horror film!
Actually, the strategy was sound: use small stakes for big gains across three genres—horror, comedy, and youth films!
A youth film was out of the question, and comedy relied too heavily on specific actors, so horror it was...
Pity that the release of *Ghost Encounters* collided with *Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith*...
The box office was dismal!
Later, they also made *Beautiful Sundown*, which simply wasn't released in mainland theaters...
After three films, Cai Yinong extinguished her ambitions for filmmaking and dedicated herself wholeheartedly to television dramas!

After all, making movies is a one-off transaction, and the production of every single film is fraught with too many uncertainties, making the intermediate process extremely complicated...
Shi Shi checked the time. "I'm heading back..."
Shen Yan looked slightly puzzled. "Why are you going back?"
"Of course I have to go back. I haven't memorized my script yet!"
"...Just have your assistant send it over... Memorize it right here!"
"No way, I can't find peace of mind here."
Shen Yan waved his hand. "...Rest assured, I won't distract you. I'm going to start writing my manuscript right away."
"But I'm afraid I won't be able to help myself..."
"...Help yourself from what?"
Shi Shi cast her gaze downward, and Shen Yan understood. "...You little pervert!"
    "I am not..."
......
On the first day of shooting a television drama, the difficulty level is generally kept low!
It's just common sense. Isn't everything difficult at the start? If you turn up the intensity on the very first day, there will be too many NGs, and the crew will start murmuring doubts...
The story of *The Vigilantes in Masks* is quite simple, likely drawing inspiration from Gu Long's *The Joyful Heroes*...
Why make *The Vigilantes in Masks*?
To some extent, it was riding the wave of popularity!
The Korean version of *Iljimae* was extremely popular, and producing a version of *The Vigilantes in Masks* at that time came with built-in buzz!
It must be mentioned that the script for the Korean version of *Iljimae* was adapted from the same-named comic by Gao Yuyong, the "pioneer of the Korean comic industry." This Korean-born creator who grew up in China was particularly fond of Chinese culture, and most of his comic plots were drawn from Chinese historical chronicles such as *The Story of Lim Keojung*, *Water Margin*, and *Records of Chu and Han*.
*Iljimae* was a story he adapted based on characters from the Chinese vernacular novel *The Joyful Couple*...
The plot of *The Vigilantes in Masks* is grand in scale, dropping a major twist right at the beginning: three hundred thousand taels of imperial relief gold are intercepted, and the eunuch faction runs rampant in the imperial court. Conducting only superficial investigations, Ying Wuqiu, the highest commander of the Brocade Guard who must bear the blame, has no other choice. To prevent his subordinate brothers from being executed, he seeks out Li Gexiao, whom he has not seen for many years.
The subsequent plot feels somewhat like *League of Legends*. Li Gexiao, who has long since lost faith in the imperial court, agrees to retrieve the gold but refuses to use imperial manpower. Instead, he recruits three partners with unique abilities to form a four-person gang—thus marking the birth of the "Vigilantes in Masks"!
Li Gexiao: The leader of the Vigilantes team, the brains of the group, possessing astonishing intellect. He excels at planning and executing missions, playing the role of the primary leader whose plans are meticulous and execution strong.
Yan Siniang: An assassin and a top-tier pickpocket, a high-level technical talent skilled in lightness techniques (qinggong). Siniang is responsible for combat and executing high-difficulty missions within the team, and her addition makes the team more flexible and formidable.
He Xiaomei: Skilled in the art of facial disguise, capable of transforming into various identities for missions. Xiaomei is in charge of camouflage and intelligence gathering, and his skills make the team's operations more covert and secure.
Chai Hu: A righteous hero given to fighting injustice, adept at resolving disputes and mediating conflicts. Chai Hu handles external relations and coordinates internal team issues, and his presence makes the team more united and harmonious.
Shen Yan analyzed the script and noted that, according to the storyline, the character he played, Ying Wuqiu, could be described as a martial arts prodigy.
Look at it this way: his combat strength should be second only to Li Gexiao, steadily surpassing the other three members of the Vigilantes team. Yet those people had basically been practicing martial arts since childhood through traditional foundational training, whereas how many years had he practiced?
Of course, standard scripts often come with the trope of "whitewashing reduces strength by seven points, while turning dark increases strength tenfold"...
From this perspective, Ying Wuqiu's combat effectiveness could also be explained...
Ying Wuqiu was by no means a good person. To overthrow Yan Song's father and son and prove himself superior to Li Gexiao, he stopped at nothing!
His hands were stained with the blood of the innocent...
He even killed Li Gexiao's revered mentor, who was also his own instructor, Zheng Dongliu!
Playing Zheng Dongliu was Liao Qizhi...
A Hong Kong actor, whom Shen Yan remembered most vividly for the cup-smashing scene in *SPL: Sha Po Lang*...
That particular confrontation with Simon Yam: Simon Yam and Liao Qizhi were eating noodles together in a restaurant when Yam suddenly said, "I have cancer."
Liao Qizhi paused for a moment and asked casually, "Where?"
"The brain!"
Liao Qizhi asked again, "Is it treatable?"
Simon Yam said, "I don't know."
Liao Qizhi: "Then it's nothing."
After finishing his meal, Simon Yam left first, turning back to tell Liao Qizhi, "Eat up and come out to work!"
After he left, Liao Qizhi picked up his cup, took a sip of tea, and then forcefully slammed the cup down onto the table. In that instant, his suppressed emotions burst out directly.
However, actors coming from TVB, especially those playing supporting roles, have a common flaw: character precedence...
This is by no means a compliment; it means their emotional baseline for a character remains stubbornly uniform...
Applied to this drama, Zheng Dongliu looked down on Ying Wuqiu, so he looked down on him all the way through...
That wasn't quite right. Later, when Zheng Dongliu offended the powerful elite and was thrown into prison, and Li Gexiao risked his life to rescue him, Ying Wuqiu helped out as well...
Regardless of past grievances, at that moment, adversity reveals true feelings!
Yet, what did Zheng Dongliu say? Something like, "This kid is already walking on the edge..."
On what grounds would you say that?
Just because you know the subsequent plot?
That wasn't right... It didn't hold up logically.
Therefore, Shen Yan discussed it with Liao Qizhi, and the two of them approached the screenwriter to request a slight modification to this section of the plot.
Otherwise, Zheng Dongliu's personal integrity would appear rather poor!
The screenwriter for *The Vigilantes in Masks* was Deng Liqi...
A Hong Kong screenwriter... who hung out with Soi Cheang and was closely affiliated with Milkyway Image.
His representative works include *Accident*, *Monster*, and *Flash Point*...
He was a well-known screenwriter as well!
Had Shen Yan approached the screenwriter on his own...
Even if the screenwriter deigned to engage with him, he likely would have felt displeased internally...
After all, Shen Yan's star status was simply too low!
Thus, having Liao Qizhi go himself turned out to be a much better approach.