APCF – Chapter 39 Being Slandered

The two words “practice” sound simple, but when it comes to putting them into action, it’s difficult. Normally, he could chat casually with Bo Ye about anything, but when it came to the topic of “pursuing someone,” he found himself at a loss for words.

Qi Xingchen returned to the hotel with the crew’s car. Like a shrimp, he curled up on the large bed and thought about the jokes he had seen online during this time. He quickly typed out a message: [I’m off work.]

… Then his phone seemed to malfunction, with nothing happening.

Well, his first experience of love was a failure. Qi Xingchen irritably shoved the phone under the pillow and took out the script.

Thus, the poor An Ran became Bo Ye’s scapegoat.

At 10 PM, An Ran yawned. “Xingxing, is it ready?”

“How’s my expression? Does it look a bit more like a little wolf dog?”

“…Better than last time, but it still needs improvement.”

“Then stay with me for a bit longer.”

At 11 PM, An Ran’s mind was a mess. “Xingxing, is it ready?”

“Am I reading the lines too fast? A little wolf dog shouldn’t speak this quickly, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then…” Qi Xingchen looked at An Ran, whose eyes were almost glazed over. “You should go back and sleep, thank you, An Ran.”

An Ran cheered, then quickly reacted, “What about you?”

“I’ll practice a bit more.”

“Your scene is tomorrow morning. I’ll wake you up at 7 AM, don’t sleep in!”

“I can’t,” Qi Xingchen pushed her out, “Go get some beauty sleep.”

An Ran reluctantly returned to her room, and Qi Xingchen locked the door behind her, walking in front of the mirror.

He had never acted before, and the original owner’s experience was almost negligible. Now, with only the theoretical knowledge he learned before joining the production, he had thought it would be enough. But after finishing two scenes today, he realized he had underestimated how difficult it would be.

He needed practice—lots and lots of practice. He also needed to understand himself better, mastering his speech, tone, and controlling his facial expressions.

He picked out a few key scenes from the script—some of them were his, others were other actors’. He stood in front of the mirror, repeatedly rehearsing the lines, practicing the movements, and trying to immerse himself in the emotions.

After rehearsing the scene where Lin Xiao’s pet seal falls ill and dies, his mood was unsettled for a long time. He crawled back into bed and glanced at the wall clock.

It was already 3 AM—almost time to get up!

He turned off the light, hoping to get some rest, but as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw the image of the seal dying, which caused his chest to ache.

Tossing and turning, unable to sleep, he suddenly remembered that Bo Ye hadn’t replied to his message. He pulled out his phone from under the pillow.

[You have received a WeChat message]

Did Bo Ye reply? He immediately opened the message.

Bo: [Sorry, I’ve been shooting on location and my phone was with Allen. I didn’t see it.]

The message arrived over three hours ago, right when he was most immersed in his practice.

Before, he had been annoyed that others weren’t replying to his messages. Now, after three hours of not responding himself, Qi Xingchen’s heart felt as empty as it could get.

He placed his fingers on the screen and typed out an explanation in a flurry. After finishing, he paused and thought—what if the other person was asleep and hadn’t turned off their phone? Wouldn’t he be disturbing them?

But then, he thought again—if he didn’t explain, and Bo Ye woke up tomorrow morning thinking he was angry, what should he do? Bo Ye had been kind enough to practice with him, and he couldn’t leave things hanging like this.

He deleted and retyped, deleted and retyped. So, when Bo Ye hummed a beat and checked his phone for what seemed like the nth time tonight, this is what he saw: [The other party is typing…]

This situation felt a bit familiar; it seemed to have happened before. Bo Ye could even imagine the conflicted expression of his little fan and couldn’t help but tease him: [Writing a love letter?]

The phone vibrated, and Qi Xingchen almost dropped it—was Bo Ye still not asleep at 3 AM?

And what did the “love letter” comment mean?

His mind, not quite functioning well after the overwhelming sadness, blanked for a moment before he realized—he was currently “pursuing” Bo Ye.

But a love letter… Qi Xingchen’s face turned red: [No, I’m not writing one.]

Xingxing: [Why aren’t you asleep yet?]

Bo: [I have work.]

Xingxing: [Oh, is your work done now?]

Bo: [Almost done, you go ahead and sleep.]

Xingxing: [Okay, good night!]

In order not to delay Bo Ye’s work and let him finish quickly so he could sleep, Qi Xingchen said good night and quickly locked his screen.

Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he turned his phone back on, found Allen in the “Let’s Budget Travel” group, and sent a friend request.

With the image of the seal flickering in his mind, he tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.

At 5:30 AM, he cautiously knocked on An Ran’s door.

An Ran immediately opened the door, fully dressed, and was surprised: “Xingxing, you got up by yourself… Wait, why are your eyes so dark? Did you have trouble sleeping?”

“Yeah, I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Then go back to sleep. I was about to make you breakfast, but I’ll come wake you up after I’m done.”

It turns out that An Ran always woke up early to make him breakfast. Qi Xingchen waved his hand. “No need. Let’s go out and change things up. I want to eat shrimp congee.”

With that, he dragged An Ran out and, together with Old Qin, had a lavish shrimp congee breakfast, packing up a dozen or so portions to take with them.

At the aquarium, the other actors hadn’t arrived yet, and only the makeup artists and props team were present. He asked An Ran to distribute the congee to the props team and took a portion to the makeup room. “Good morning, I brought you congee!”

Tao Tao and Feng Qingyuan had their own styling teams, so the crew’s stylist mainly worked with supporting roles.

The makeup artist couldn’t help but laugh when he heard his cheerful tone: “Why are you here so early today?”

Qi Xingchen said, “I finished eating and came over right away. You go ahead and drink the congee first, and then help me with my makeup.”

“No need,” the makeup artist gently pushed him into a chair, “Your face is small, and your features are clear—it’s easy to work with, I can finish in 20 minutes… but your dark circles are pretty big today…”

After his makeup and styling were done, Qi Xingchen went to his main shooting location—the seal training area.

His brother, Xiang Xiang, had already woken up and was doing exercises in front of the trainer.

Qi Xingchen asked a few tips for bonding with the seal and noted them in his phone’s memo, then asked the trainer to go backstage and drink some congee.

Then he stayed in the field, walking thirteen steps from the training area, climbing over the iron fence, jumping into the constant temperature pool, walking another seventeen steps, and stopping at the same spot.

He continued walking like this, over and over again.

The first scene of the day was scheduled to start at 8:30 AM. Shang Yuliang arrived at the set at 8:00 and saw Qi Xingchen walking back and forth. He grabbed the trainer who had finished with Xiang Xiang and asked, “What time did he get here?”

“Probably around seven o’clock, I’m not sure, but he entered the training area at 7:30.”

“Then how many times has he walked back and forth?”

“Let me think… Probably twenty or thirty times.”

“Thanks,” Shang Yuliang said, dismissing the trainer.

The trainer didn’t understand what Qi Xingchen was doing and thought he was just wandering around aimlessly, but Shang Yuliang knew—Qi Xingchen was practicing his positioning.

In small scenes, like those inside a residential house, the size of the room is limited, and once the lighting is set, any spot will have good lighting.

But the aquarium is a large set, and because of the consideration for the native marine life, the crew didn’t install lights throughout the entire building. Instead, they used small spotlights and reflectors, a more primitive method of adjusting the lighting. Therefore, the best shooting range is limited, and actors need to position themselves precisely.

Especially for Qi Xingchen in today’s morning scene, where Lin Xiao had to move from the seal training area to the white whale’s temperature-controlled pool to find Ji Yan. The distance was long, and there were many steps. If one step was off, they would have to start over.

So, Qi Xingchen arrived early.

Shang Yuliang watched him repeatedly climbing over the fence and smiled before returning to his position.

Thanks to Qi Xingchen’s intense practice last night and this morning, the first scene of the day, where Ji Yan and Lin Xiao had a scene together, went very smoothly, passing in one take.

The B group didn’t go out today. Feng Qingyuan, who had a good relationship with Shang Yuliang, stood behind him and said, “This young man not only looks good, but his acting’s not bad either.”

“Don’t flatter him,” Shang Yuliang rolled his eyes, “You didn’t see him yesterday, he was like a wooden board.”

“Impossible,” Feng Qingyuan didn’t believe it, “There’s no way the difference could be so big after just one night.”

“He must have stayed up practicing, look at those dark circles.” Shang Yuliang pointed at the playback on the monitor.

Feng Qingyuan stepped forward, and sure enough, Qi Xingchen had dark circles under his eyes that the concealer couldn’t hide. But it didn’t affect the image.

Feng Qingyuan pondered for a moment, then said, “This kid… if he doesn’t go down the wrong path and continues down this route, he’s definitely going to make it.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Feng Qingyuan teased Shang Yuliang, “Using just one night to go from a wooden board to this level, can that be achieved just by hard work? He’s talented and smart.”

“Don’t be too absolute about everything.” Shang Yuliang seemed to be rejecting Feng Qingyuan’s comment, but he was smiling.

At this moment, Qi Xingchen went down to wipe off the water splashed by the white whale, and the next scene with Xu Sheng started. Shang Yuliang clicked his tongue. “Little Xu and Little Qi are two extremes. They both tend to overexert themselves in their acting.”

Feng Qingyuan, being a good-natured person, only said good things: “Little Xu is also not bad. Maybe he was just a bit uncomfortable yesterday, but he should be fine today.”

Shang Yuliang nodded, and the scene recorder hit the clapperboard. Xu Sheng, wearing a coat, walked into the aquarium with a confident stride, calling out Ji Yan’s name.

Ji Yan hurried out: “What’s wrong?”

Xu Sheng: “…”

Shang Yuliang: “Cut! Little Xu, where’s your line? Don’t just stand there without saying anything! Did you not sleep last night…?”

However, Qi Xingchen had no idea how Xu Sheng performed. After changing out of his wet clothes, he saw that there was still some time before the next scene. He sent a red envelope to Allen, who had accepted his friend request.

Xingxing: [Allen, take the red envelope. I’ll buy your boss some vitamins when I have time.]

Allen: [Okay.]

Allen: [No need for the red envelope, I’ve been stocking up on various supplements for the boss.]

Xingxing: [Alright, but make sure to remind him to take them. Vitamins help with fatigue, and since he worked late last night, he really needs to replenish.]

Allen: [Got it.]

Then Allen felt something was off: [Xingxing, when you say “so late,” how late do you mean?]

Qi Xingchen, naturally: [Around 3 AM, to be exact, it wasn’t done until after 3.]

[Are you sure?] Allen asked. [My boss finished work and went back to the hotel at 11 PM. Are you sure you didn’t get mixed up?]

Qi Xingchen was confused: [That’s impossible. I was still texting him at 3 AM. You can check the messages.]

Qi Xingchen took a screenshot of his last chat with Bo Ye, carefully avoiding the “love letter” part, and sent it to Allen, showing clear timestamps.

After reading it, Allen couldn’t help but laugh: [Ah, my boss was probably messing with you. He definitely went back early last night. If he’s texting you that late, he was probably waiting for your reply.]

After saying this, Allen got busy and left his phone.

Leaving Qi Xingchen confused.

So… Bo Ye really waited for his message until 3 AM?

Maybe he should casually ask about it later, Qi Xingchen thought. If it was true, he would apologize properly and maybe buy something…

“Xingxing! Xingxing!”

Qi Xingchen was lost in thought, trying to figure out what to buy Bo Ye, when An Ran suddenly rushed in.

She was usually more composed than other girls her age and rarely seemed this anxious. Qi Xingchen had a bad feeling and stood up: “What happened? Take it slow and tell me.”

“It’s… nothing,” An Ran caught her breath and handed her phone to Qi Xingchen, “Xingxing, you’ve been slandered!”