Chapter 47: A Mermaid Walks Onto the Film Set

After nearly three months of preparation and planning, in early winter, the production team of Feast of the Prisoners finally completed the opening ceremony with incense and ribbon-cutting.

The final lineup was consistent with earlier rumors: Song Ying as director, Sang Zhiyi as the actress for the female lead “Chi Jun,” and Yu Zilin as the actor for the male lead “Shen Yehan.”

Although there had been various leaks beforehand, the official announcement still shocked many people.

One reason was that Yu Zilin had not been accepting roles frequently in recent years.

Producing one work a year was already considered quite diligent.

It had only been two months since his last film wrapped, yet Yu Zilin had already joined a new production.

The other, more critical reason was that the female lead was Sang Zhiyi.

Even though Sang Zhiyi had become famous through her “mermaid” performance and had the stunning clip from the canceled Feng Chun, to the general public, she was still far from qualified to collaborate with Yu Zilin.

[!!!

Best Actor Yu has a new drama so soon?

I’m so looking forward to it!

Anything the Best Actor touches is quality!

But who’s the female lead?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of her?]

[Am I seeing this right?

Ren Xiaoqian?!

How did Ren Xiaoqian get in there?!]

[Yu Zilin, Song Ying, Zhu Qing—every single one is a major heavyweight.

Ren Xiaoqian in the middle is completely out of place [sweat emoji].]

Even Sang Zhiyi’s fans and passersby who had a favorable impression of her were not optimistic.

[Oh my god, this is like a pie falling from the sky that’s so big I don’t dare to eat it…

I thought Best Actor Yu would make a friendly guest appearance in Qian Bao’s drama, but how did he end up as the official male lead?!]

[I feel the same…

I was already surprised and grateful that Qian Bao could collaborate with Director Song.

I never expected this…]

[To be fair, Ren Xiaoqian’s acting skills probably aren’t as terrible as before, since she was consistently outperforming the former Starlight top actress in their scenes together.

But this is Yu Zilin we’re talking about…]

That wasn’t all.

After filming started, the latest news released caused another uproar.

In the film Feast of the Prisoners, Sang Zhiyi had the most and heaviest role, as the female lead with top billing, while Yu Zilin’s male lead was second-billed.

[???

Best Actor Yu playing second fiddle to some little starlet who popped out of nowhere?

Are you serious, production team?!]

[Best Actor Yu, if you’re being held hostage, say something!]

[Live long enough, and you’ll see everything.

Is Best Actor Yu starting to support struggling newcomers now?]

There were also some malicious speculations.

[What kind of background does this Ren Xiaoqian have?

She must have quite the connections~]

[Ren Xiaoqian?

I know her well.

She’s a famous resource sponge.

Starlight tried everything to promote her and failed.

She only got famous recently by showing off her body—that mermaid thing, wearing so little, tsk tsk tsk~]

[Wasn’t Ren Xiaoqian in that popular dating show before?

I often saw people say she turned the dating show into her personal harem, with all the guests in love with her?

Haha, I remember one of the guests was Lou Yanchen, the president of Starlight, right?

At his age, he’s probably not her sugar daddy, so what is he, her sugar brother?]

[Oh, right, that dating show also had Song Ying and Yu Zilin.

Looks like Ren Xiaoqian has quite an appetite, playing pretty wild!]

All kinds of mockery and questioning swirled loudly.

Song Ying, sitting on the set of Feast of the Prisoners during a break, looked at his phone and ground his teeth in anger.

“A bunch of idiots…” Song Ying muttered under his breath.

“What kind of nonsense are they spouting?!”

Did they have anything in their brains besides dirty thoughts all day long?!

Saying that Sang Zhiyi had gotten ahead through underhanded means—he actually wished he could have such a relationship with Sang Zhiyi, but with her abilities, did she need any tricks?

When Sang Zhiyi walked over, what she saw was Song Ying staring at his phone with a slightly ferocious expression.

“Director Song?”

Sang Zhiyi blinked, a bit curious.

“What’s got you so angry?”

Song Ying directly showed Sang Zhiyi his phone screen.

A phone is quite a private item, and since Song Ying brought it to her, Sang Zhiyi didn’t disappoint him by refusing, but she didn’t look too carefully either.

She only glanced at it briefly before looking away.

That brief glance was enough for Sang Zhiyi to understand what was on there.

She couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“So it’s this.”

Although she had been living and eating in the crew these days, she was still quite aware of the rumors and trends outside.

Hearing Sang Zhiyi’s calm tone, Song Ying raised an eyebrow.

“You have a good temperament, not minding all this nonsense.”

Honestly, Song Ying wanted to directly use his own account to fight back.

He had always done as he pleased in the entertainment industry anyway; there would be nothing wrong with him going head-to-head with netizens.

Sang Zhiyi gently shook her head.

“I just don’t think it’s necessary.”

Song Ying: “…”

Song Ying let out a long breath.

“Right, it’s not necessary.”

No matter how much he wanted to proclaim to the world how outstanding Sang Zhiyi was, Song Ying ultimately didn’t do it, precisely because “it wasn’t necessary.”

More bluntly, it wouldn’t help even if he did speak up.

Song Ying wasn’t a clueless youth who would act rashly without thinking.

On the contrary, having grown up watching his stepmother’s face and having worked in the entertainment industry for several years, Song Ying knew very well what impact it would have if he spoke out.

First of all, there would certainly be no way to directly dispel those malicious remarks.

The core of the debate was whether Sang Zhiyi had the ability, whether she was worthy of her position.

The other side could produce plenty of examples, as Ren Xiaoqian’s acting skills from the previous two years were famously wooden and stiff.

On their side, they had no concrete evidence to refute it.

Feast of the Prisoners had just started filming; there was still a long way to go before any results could be shown.

No matter how stunning the clip from Feng Chun was, it was only a few minutes long.

Moreover, since the drama itself was gone, the clip’s circulation was limited.

Song Ying silently cursed Zhong Yueyi, the culprit, and her ancestors for eighteen generations.

He had only cold-shouldered Zhong Yueyi on the show Love of a Limited Season—that was far too lenient for that woman.

If Feng Chun had aired normally, things wouldn’t be like this.

Secondly, if he stood up to speak for Sang Zhiyi, it would actually reinforce the idea that she had obtained resources through unsavory means.

It couldn’t be helped—any girl who was even a little pretty tended to attract rumors, especially in the entertainment industry.

Those people whose minds were full of vulgar thoughts, seeing filth because they were filthy themselves, even felt smug about it, thinking they had grasped the truth.

Similarly, Song Ying knew very well that completing Feast of the Prisoners well and using it to slap those people in the face later was the most important thing to do now.

But he was still resentful.

“What the hell is Lou Yanchen doing?”

Song Ying ground his molars fiercely.

“Wasn’t he so attentive to you before?

How come when you actually need him to do something, he shrinks away and disappears?!”

As the president of Starlight, Lou Yanchen at least had the ability to buy bots to guide public opinion, right?

Yet he just let Sang Zhiyi be maliciously speculated about like this?

“Him?”

Sang Zhiyi tilted her head, smiling sweetly.

“He just got dumped by his white moonlight not long ago.

He’s been wallowing in self-pity.”

Jiang Yingru had, of course, told Sang Zhiyi everything she had said to Lou Yanchen before getting into the ambulance.

Although the plot had now changed completely, and Jiang Yingru and Lou Yanchen had never started a relationship, Jiang Yingru had indeed cut Lou Yanchen off completely.

Given Jiang Yingru’s personality and character, those words were already quite severe.

Lou Yanchen had harbored feelings for Jiang Yingru for so many years; how could he not know this?

Therefore, he had been dejected all this time, with almost no word from him.

He also didn’t have the time to pester Sang Zhiyi.

Sang Zhiyi was happy to be free.

She hired her own reliable assistant to help her on the set.

Song Ying was also aware that Jiang Yingru was Lou Yanchen’s white moonlight.

From Sang Zhiyi’s words, he could roughly guess what had happened, especially since Jiang Yingru and Sang Zhiyi were so close.

Song Ying finally felt a bit better.

Seeing that Song Ying’s state had improved, Sang Zhiyi took out the purpose of her visit—a cup of fruit tea—from the bag in her hand.

“Fresh orange lemon black tea, extra ice, fifty percent sugar, here,” Sang Zhiyi said with a smile, handing it to Song Ying. “You’ve worked hard today.”

Song Ying’s fingers, still holding his phone, paused.

The combination for this fruit tea was exactly his favorite.

He had only been to a bubble tea shop with Sang Zhiyi once or twice, yet she remembered so clearly.

“Thanks.”

Song Ying took the fresh orange lemon black tea.

He inserted a straw, and the cool, sweet-and-sour drink slid down his throat, finally smoothing over the last of his irritation.

He thought, no wonder he liked Sang Zhiyi.

How could he not like such a poised, intelligent, and considerate girl?

Song Ying bit his straw and switched his phone screen to the work page.

When Feast of the Prisoners was officially released, he wanted to see how badly those people’s faces would sting!

***

After delivering that cup of fresh orange lemon black tea to Song Ying, Sang Zhiyi still had two drinks in her bag.

One was her own black rice milk tea, and the other was for Yu Zilin.

Osmanthus green tea, no sugar, heated.

What Yu Zilin’s taste preferences were, Sang Zhiyi had limited samples to go on.

Combined with her understanding of Zhu Qing, she ultimately chose this option, which was unlikely to be wrong.

In fact, this time Sang Zhiyi had personally delivered drinks that each of her acquaintances on set would like, with Song Ying and Yu Zilin being the last to receive them.

In these details, Sang Zhiyi was always thoughtful.

It was now a break time on set.

Yu Zilin was in the break room, holding the script for Feast of the Prisoners, his eyes lowered in focused reading.

When he received the hot tea from Sang Zhiyi, Yu Zilin was a bit surprised, but he thanked her and accepted her goodwill.

Sang Zhiyi also took out her own cup of milk tea and naturally sat down next to Yu Zilin, starting to discuss the script with him.

As the actors playing the male and female leads in Feast of the Prisoners, their collaboration was of utmost importance.

Just as she had diligently sought advice from Jiang Yingru before, Sang Zhiyi now diligently learned from another actor at the peak of acting in this world, Yu Zilin.

Sang Zhiyi spoke seriously.

When discussing a relatively critical plot point, she leaned her upper body slightly, moved closer to the script in Yu Zilin’s hand, and pointed at the corresponding passage.

From Yu Zilin’s perspective, a fluffy head suddenly appeared in his embrace.

Yu Zilin immediately sat up straight and raised the drink in his hand a little higher, to avoid bumping into Sang Zhiyi.

He really liked this osmanthus green tea; after taking a sip, he hadn’t put it down.

Looking down slightly at Sang Zhiyi’s hair swirl, Yu Zilin, rarely, found his mind wandering a bit during a serious discussion.

…Quite cute.

He looked away and took a sip of his drink.

***

After the break ended, the set bustled again.

The scene to be filmed was the first encounter between the female lead, Chi Jun, and the male lead, Shen Yehan.

The film Feast of the Prisoners revolved around the female lead, Chi Jun.

The script had been tailor-made for Sang Zhiyi from the start, so the characterization of the female lead also bore obvious traces of Sang Zhiyi’s influence.

For example, Chi Jun’s true identity was a mermaid living deep in the ocean.

However, this mermaid was not the kind from Western fairy tales, but more like the jiaoren from Eastern mythology.

The world of Feast of the Prisoners was also set in a magical modern background.

When Chi Jun and Shen Yehan first met, Chi Jun was disguised as a human, drinking at a bar.

The set had been prepared, Sang Zhiyi had done her makeup and changed her clothes.

One second she was smiling and saying something to her new assistant, the next, she suddenly seemed to become a different person.

She sat limply on a bar stool, her body lazily slumped halfway against the bar, her face slightly flushed, her eyes hazy and moist, looking at everything as if out of focus.

Song Ying looked at the close-up of Sang Zhiyi’s face in the camera lens and couldn’t help but praise her fiercely in his heart.

Few actors could achieve this kind of masterful acting of instantly switching states.

Sang Zhiyi had become Chi Jun.