Volume Two: Shadows of the Past Chapter Thirty-Two: Turmoil on the Set

Beyond the fact that on the very night of its release it had already climbed to the top of various charts—which was hardly surprising anymore—there was also the matter that by the very next day after its release, the song "Lonely Sandbar in the Cold" was playing in every street and alley across the country.

This was fine by Chen Jing. He was happy that Huang Wenhao could ride this song back to fame. When it came to friends, or for that matter anyone at all, Chen Jing had never been the type to envy others for being better than him.

On the set of Bloody Battle at Gushan Ridge, a scene was being filmed with great intensity.

"G-Greetings, everyone. My name is Zhao... Er." Zhao Er, played by Liu Manqiang, looked timidly at the people before him and introduced himself nervously.

"Zhao Er? Hahaha, then I'll be Zhao San."

"Should I be called Zhao Yi or Zhao Da?"

"Wahahaha..."

Seeing Zhao Er's cowering demeanor, the old seasoned soldiers burst into laughter on the spot.

Zhao Er, seeing everyone laughing at him, felt even more ashamed and could only lower his head, not daring to speak.

The political instructor standing nearby couldn't bear to watch any longer. He stopped them, saying, "What's all this racket? Stop horsing around. Save that energy for the Japs." Then he thought for a moment and shouted, "Gu'an, step forward!"

"Here!" Finally, it was time for Gu'an, played by Chen Jing, to appear. With a loud shout, Gu'an stepped out of the formation, his expression somewhat listless.

"From now on, you're in charge of looking after Zhao Er. He just enlisted, so make sure you take good care of him."

"Huh?" Chen Jing looked taken aback.

"What 'huh'?! That's an order. Carry it out immediately. Alright, if there's nothing else, dismissed."

"Hahaha, Gu'an, you've got yourself a cushy job." The moment they were dismissed, the old soldiers ran up to Gu'an with smirks on their faces.

"Scram, all of you! Get lost!" Gu'an waved them away with a look of disgust.

The crowd dispersed with a chorus of laughter.

Zhao Er walked up to Gu'an, not knowing what to say, and could only greet him again: "Hello, I'm..."

Gu'an cut him off impatiently, saying directly, "Stop. Zhao Er, right? From now on, you stick with me. Do whatever I do. Talk less, work more. Don't cause me any trouble, got it?"

Zhao Er was intimidated by Gu'an's tone and could only reply timidly, "Oh..."

"Cut!"

"Alright, perfect. One take, done." Zhang Qishan stood up and said to Chen Jing with a smile, "You've really got something, A Jing. First time acting and you nail it in one take. Not bad at all. Hehehe. Looks like you're cut out for acting."

Only after hearing the call of "Cut!" did Chen Jing's body finally relax. Hearing Zhang Qishan say it was done in one take, he let out a deep breath and said with a smile, "It's mainly because you explained the scene so well just now, Director Zhang." He was, in fact, a little pleased to have nailed his very first acting scene in one take.

However, to be honest, this wasn't really something worth bragging about, because Chen Jing had specifically studied performing—no, to be more precise, he'd studied something more advanced than performing: disguise. In his previous training, in order to infiltrate certain places more smoothly and easily, he had been specially trained in disguise. Compared to having to transform into a certain person at all times without arousing anyone's suspicion, acting was child's play.

"Not bad, not bad." Zhang Qishan reviewed the footage they'd just shot once more, extremely satisfied. "Alright, let's set up for the next shot. Props team, get ready."

"A Jing, how does it feel to act for the first time?" The next shot wasn't Liu Manqiang's scene, so he came over and asked Chen Jing with a grin.

Chen Jing shrugged. "Feels pretty good." Then he praised Liu Manqiang, "Manqiang, your acting is really good. You play that rookie Zhao Er perfectly."

Liu Manqiang smiled. "When you study the script deeply enough, acting like the character comes naturally."

Chen Jing nodded in heartfelt agreement.

It wasn't until late afternoon that Chen Jing and Liu Manqiang finally got their second scene, and it was an extremely short shot. It was just Zhao Er following Gu'an to get a meal—no close-ups, merely a brief pass-through in front of the main leads.

"Cut!"

"That's a wrap. We're done for today. We'll continue tomorrow. That's it for now." Zhang Qishan announced the end of the day's filming, and everyone packed up and left the set.

Chen Jing and Liu Manqiang changed out of their costumes, chatted and laughed as they walked to the entrance of the set, and were about to head their separate ways home when they suddenly ran into a person approaching them.

Chen Jing recognized him—Zhang Ke, the male lead number three of Bloody Battle at Gushan Ridge. He was about the same age as Chen Jing, and quite handsome. He was pretty much the sole "fresh meat" pretty boy of the whole film, if Chen Jing didn't count himself.

In this world, it was common knowledge that for a film to be considered good, aside from the leads carrying the weight with their acting, there had to be a male lead number two or number three with passable acting skills and strong looks. That way, the film would reach a wider audience.

Needless to say, Zhang Ke was definitely the designated pretty face of this production.

"So you're that so-called music prodigy Chen Jing?" Zhang Ke walked up to the two of them and gave Chen Jing a once-over, his tone less than friendly.

Chen Jing and Liu Manqiang exchanged glances, utterly baffled.

Not knowing what the other party wanted, Chen Jing could only nod and say, "That's me. Is there something you need?" In all his days on this set, Chen Jing had barely exchanged a word with Zhang Ke. He had no idea why the man had suddenly come looking for him.

Zhang Ke looked at Chen Jing with a provocative gaze. "You're a singer, aren't you? What's a singer doing coming here to play an actor, huh?"

Oh-ho. Someone's here to pick a fight. Interesting. Chen Jing raised an eyebrow and gave the man standing before him a slightly more careful look.

Chen Jing was just about to say "Mind your own damn business," but Liu Manqiang beside him had already tugged on his arm first. Liu Manqiang stepped forward, forcing a smile and lowering his posture to say humbly, "Hahaha, Young Master Zhang really knows how to joke. A Jing's just here on set to mess around a bit. He won't cause any trouble."

Zhang Ke glanced at Liu Manqiang dismissively. "Who's this extra who picks up meal boxes? What makes you think you've got a say here?"

Liu Manqiang's smile froze on his face. Chen Jing frowned and was about to step forward, but Liu Manqiang moved first, standing in front of him again.

Forcing another smile, Liu Manqiang said, "Yes, yes, of course. We'll be on our way now." With that, he pulled Chen Jing away.

Chen Jing hesitated for a moment, then let Liu Manqiang lead him off.

"Tch!" Zhang Ke watched the two of them "flee in disarray" with a triumphant sneer. He'd thought they were big shots, but they didn't even have the guts to trade a few words with him. He simply couldn't stand singers like Chen Jing coming into the film industry to steal their rice bowls.

On the other side, Liu Manqiang pulled Chen Jing aside. Only when he saw Zhang Ke leave did he let out a sigh of relief. Then he explained to Chen Jing with a wry smile: "That Zhang Ke, he's got some background. He's also connected to Director Zhang in some way—relatives, I think. In any case, it's best not to get into a conflict with him. Trust me, on set, peace is the best policy."

Chen Jing shrugged nonchalantly. In truth, he couldn't care less what kind of background Zhang Ke had. Peace was all well and good, of course, but it needed a precondition: that others didn't come looking to provoke him. It didn't mean he'd yield unconditionally.

But since Liu Manqiang had insisted on pulling him away this time, Chen Jing didn't mind letting Zhang Ke off the hook. After all, the man hadn't really done anything to offend him.

Perhaps sensing Chen Jing's indifference, Liu Manqiang continued to explain: "Zhang Ke didn't come looking for trouble with us for no reason. I heard that because Director Zhang added scenes for us, some of Zhang Ke's own scenes got trimmed. That's why he's picking a fight with us. He's just a young actor, after all, heh."

Liu Manqiang actually couldn't stand these pretty-boy pretty faces either—no acting skills to speak of, yet demanding sky-high pay, practically an insult to the acting profession. But what good did his resentment do? That was the trend these days—every film chased after traffic, packaging, and promotion. It felt like a lot of audiences weren't going for the story anymore, but for some trending celebrity. That thought left Liu Manqiang feeling deeply lost. If this went on, did the Chinese film industry even have a future?

That was also the reason Liu Manqiang kept following Director Zhang Qishan's crew as an extra—Zhang Qishan was one of the few directors who didn't rely much on pretty-boy stars.

Hearing Liu Manqiang's explanation, Chen Jing suddenly understood. So it was because his own scenes had cut into the man's screen time—no wonder the guy had come looking for a fight. After all, for actors, taking someone else's role or scenes was one of the biggest taboos of the trade. It was only natural for them to see red when they met.

Forget it. He'd originally planned to find an opportunity to make Zhang Ke taste some hardship, but now he'd let it go. Chen Jing thought to himself.

But although Chen Jing didn't want trouble, trouble came looking for Chen Jing anyway.

The next day, Chen Jing arrived at the set as usual to run his small extra's role. During the lunch break, Zhang Ke came looking for Chen Jing again. And he'd brought a whole entourage with him.

Chen Jing took a look—all fairly young faces. They could all more or less be considered pretty boys.

Seeing Zhang Ke and his crew storming over with menace, the extras who'd been squatting with Chen Jing eating their boxed lunches scattered in an instant, leaving only Liu Manqiang still standing by Chen Jing's side.

Chen Jing smiled at Liu Manqiang and tested the waters: "You're not leaving? They're probably only after me."

Liu Manqiang gave a wry shake of his head, then said seriously, "No. I'm not leaving. Putting everything else aside, I had a hand in cutting that guy's scenes too, so I can't just stay out of it. Besides, aren't we friends? I could never do something like abandoning a friend."

Chen Jing patted Liu Manqiang's shoulder and nodded with a grin. "Ha, I accept you as a friend."

Liu Manqiang pretended to be relaxed and said honestly, "Heh, honestly, the main reason is I know we're on set. No matter how bold Zhang Ke is, he wouldn't dare make a big scene here. So me staying is no big deal."

That was what he said, but both Chen Jing and Liu Manqiang knew full well in their hearts: by not leaving, Liu Manqiang was making a clear statement that he stood on Chen Jing's side.

Zhang Ke might not dare pull anything too outrageous on set, but openly declaring opposition to him—everyone knew what that meant.