Chapter 63: Declaring Refusal to Startling by Each Step

Li Shengquan had already collaborated with Shen Yan twice.

He had previously directed him in *The Legend of the Textile Maid*.

He held Shen Yan in very high regard.

How should one put it?

Directors, naturally, always favor capable actors.

This capability encompassed both performance skills—the actor's professional proficiency—and, on the other hand, the actor's own contemplation of the characters.

Back during the filming of *The Legend of the Textile Maid*, Shen Yan merely followed the routine steps, delivering whatever performance the director required. By the time of *The Vigilantes in Masks*, however, Shen Yan had started offering suggestions.

Naturally, his suggestions were basically rooted in the characters themselves—those that aligned with the logic of the script and the logic of the personalities.

They were by no means empty generalities detached from the script.

Both Li Shengquan and Li Guoli were quite willing to discuss such matters with him.

Compared to Li Guoli, Shen Yan was even more willing to chat with Li Shengquan.

The reason was simple: Li Guoli was, after all, the founder of Chinese Entertainment, and Shen Yan wasn't signed with them. Even if he discussed things with him, it wouldn't lead to much.

Li Shengquan had two projects on his hands: *Painted Skin* and *True Love Lies*.

In these two productions, although Li Shengquan was credited as co-director, the chief director Gao Linbao was essentially his disciple. It was just that Gao Linbao had gone north to shoot dramas as early as 1997, having directed *Master Swordsman Lu Xiaofeng* and *The Young Detective Bao*.

In the eyes of television stations, Gao Linbao carried more weight than Li Shengquan.

Li Shengquan had mentioned the *Painted Skin* project to Shen Yan.

In truth, it was a spin-off of the film version of *Painted Skin*.

However, Shen Yan had never heard of this drama and guessed the quality probably wasn't great.

Naturally, he didn't refuse outright, simply saying he would "check his schedule."

There was a high probability he wouldn't take it on.

The career path Ji Xiang had arranged for Shen Yan was a typical leading-man route, meaning the protagonist path.

If Shen Yan hadn't already promised Wen Zhang to play a supporting role in the crew of *Snow Leopard*, Ji Xiang wouldn't have wanted him to take on any more supporting roles at all.

***

"I'll take all three songs."

"All of them?"

"Rest assured, I will promote them as much as possible!"

At the restaurant, Cai Yinuo met with Shen Yan, listened to the three songs he had "composed," and was thoroughly satisfied.

Shen Yan was quite indifferent. "Fine, you can discuss the terms and pricing with Ji Xiang..."

He truly didn't mind; *The Vigilantes in Masks* was bound to break out of its niche.

The promotional power that a breakout television drama held over its music went without saying.

"Hmm," Cai Yinuo nodded, then asked, "Ji Xiang sent Shishi an invitation for a movie. Is it a script you wrote?"

"Yes... sort of a romance film. Why do you ask?"

"Filming starts next March?"

"Yes!" Shen Yan frowned. "Do you have other arrangements?"

"Not really," Cai Yinuo shook her head. "Even if I did, I would step aside. After all, it's Shishi's first film, and the script is quite good!"

"Then you mean..."

"I took a look at the script. The role of the male lead's neighbor and older brother is quite interesting. Have you found an actor for it yet?"

"I already have a preliminary idea..."

"Who did you find?"

Shen Yan replied, "There's a comedy troupe in Beijing called Mahua FunAge. Their backbone actor is named Shen Teng. We've approached him!"

Cai Yinuo: "...Mahua FunAge? I've never heard of them..."

"They do stage plays, and they're comedies..."

"Would it be possible to let Yuan Hong have an audition?"

"An audition is certainly not a problem," Shen Yan cautioned, "...but Brother Yuan Hong isn't suited for comedic performance. He cares far too much about his image..."

"...It's fine," Cai Yinuo waved her hand. "I'm just helping him secure an opportunity. Whether he succeeds or fails depends entirely on him!"

Ah well, Yuan Hong's contract was nearing its expiration.

Cai Yinuo probably felt she had let Yuan Hong down somewhat and wanted to make it up to him.

In the television and film productions by Chinese Entertainment, Yuan Hong had always played supporting roles and second male leads.

Hu Ge basically always played the male protagonist with Yuan Hong as the foil. As time went on, the outside world even circulated the saying, "Yuan Hong is merely Hu Ge's accessory."

Yuan Hong had also made up his mind to leave the moment his contract expired.

Shen Yan didn't care much either way; he didn't think Yuan Hong would be able to pass You Dazhi's audition.

*Architecture 101* was You Dazhi's first film project after heading north; he would undoubtedly treat it with utmost importance.

"I've been looking at your new work. It's called *Legend of Fei*, right?"

"...Yes, Boss Cai, do you even follow web serials?"

Cai Yinuo replied, "It was recommended to me by the girls in the office. They said it's a rare story centered around a female protagonist's growth..."

Shen Yan nodded. "Yes, because whenever martial arts are mentioned, the first things that come to mind are probably the passionate pugilistic worlds and fine heroes from the pens of Jin Yong and Guolong, while female characters mostly serve as foils or appendages to male heroes... So I thought about writing a female protagonist instead..."

"Has the adaptation right for this work been sold yet?"

Shen Yan scratched his head. "...*Legend of Fei* is rather difficult to adapt; the scale of the settings is just too vast!"

Cai Yinuo retorted, "...And is *Chinese Paladin* easy to adapt?"

"...Well, that's true..."

"If you're going to sell the adaptation rights, make sure I'm your first consideration, okay?"

"Mn."

Shen Yan nodded, just as he was about to continue talking about *Legend of Fei*, when Cai Yinuo suddenly asked, "Does Shishi live in the same room as you?"

"O—occasionally..." Shen Yan swallowed hard. "...Most of the time she stays in her own room!"

"You two be careful, don't let anything happen!"

"We won't. We have a very strong sense of safety."

"You'd better!" Cai Yinuo asked again, "Do you know about *Startling by Each Step*?"

"What?"

"*Startling by Each Step*, a time-travel novel set in the Qing Dynasty court..."

"Oh, I know it! Qing dynasty time-travel genre, quite popular, I've read it..."

"You know it? That's wonderful!" Cai Yinuo immediately extended an invitation. "Any interest in playing the Fourteenth Prince?"

"No," Shen Yan shook his head. "I'm not interested in Qing court dramas..."

"Why? Do you think shaving your head doesn't look good? Or do you think the Fourteenth is a supporting role and find it unappealing?"

"No," Shen Yan frowned, but still offered an explanation. "It's just a purely physiological aversion..."

Hearing this, Cai Yinuo wore a look of deep regret. "...Then there's nothing to be done!"

***

Oh, the reason Cai Yinuo had thought of filming *Startling by Each Step* in the first place was thanks to Yu Zheng!

Yu Zheng had consulted Tong Hua, wanting to buy the adaptation rights to *Startling by Each Step*, and Tong Hua had informed him that the rights were already in the hands of Chinese Entertainment.

Cai Yinuo immediately decided to rush the production of *Startling by Each Step*...

The two individuals and their respective companies were purely bitter competitors!

Yu Zheng's company, much like Chinese Entertainment, modeled itself after Hong Kong and Taiwanese television dramas, shooting currently popular market trends and utilizing handsome actors and beautiful actresses for "costume idol dramas."

Since Yu Zheng was going to make a Qing time-travel drama, Cai Yinuo certainly couldn't fall behind.

Unfortunately, she had still been a step too slow!

Yu Zheng had hurriedly cobbled together a script of his own—*Palace*—completed filming ahead of Chinese Entertainment, and sold it straight to Mango TV!

To be completely honest, the costumes and styling in *Palace* weren't bad; it was just that the post-production was absolute trash, filled with tacky pinkish-purple filters, heavy skin-smoothing, and sloppy chroma keying...

Even so, Shen Yan definitely wouldn't accept *Startling by Each Step*.

In fact, he was prepared to stall Liu Shishi and keep her from taking on *Startling by Each Step* either...

After all, the essence of Qing time-travel dramas was essentially a cross-temporal delivery service of bootlicking...

It wasn't a good look!

Well, worrying that they might develop genuine romantic feelings on set was also one of the reasons...

He had to nip the danger in the bud!