Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

Chapter 102 The Distant Feeling of a Past Life

The actor's voice had already started trembling after only reading a few lines of the script for the scene where Jiang Yang is released from prison.

That scene depicts Jiang Yang being released after serving three years in prison, with Zhu Wei waiting for him outside. The two don't talk much, and every sentence feels like being cut by a dull knife.

A fierce and meaningful confrontation.

Jiang Yang said, "I thought you would come to pick me up."

Zhu Wei said, "I'm here now, aren't I?"

Jiang Yang said, "I wasn't talking about you, I meant forget it."

After Bai Yu finished reading this passage, the conference room remained quiet for a long time.

Old Yan took off his glasses and wiped them, his voice a little hoarse: "You wrote 'Never mind,' so the audience would guess for themselves who Jiang Yang was originally referring to?"

Luo Jinnian said, "It specifically refers to those he thought would stand by him, but in the end, no one stood up for him."

Old Yan was silent for a moment, then asked a question that drew everyone's attention to Luo Jinnian: "They say the older you get, the more cunning you become, it's hard to imagine what your future will be like."

Luo Jinnian did not answer.

After the reading session, Director Qin treated everyone to dinner. Bai Yu, sitting next to Luo Jinnian, took a bite of food and suddenly said something seemingly random but that everyone understood: "I will lose twenty pounds for this role."

Luo Jinnian turned to look at him, "Okay. And you also have to try to hunch your back, make your voice hoarse, and drag your walk. Jiang Yang spent three years in prison, and when he came out, he was no longer the same Jiang Yang."

Bai Yu typed a few lines in his phone's memo app and seriously went about his work.

In mid-October, filming for "The Silent Truth" officially began in Chongqing.

The choice of Chongqing was no accident. Luo Jinnian insisted on capturing the city's real-life cityscape—its old streets with their varied elevations and perpetually misty skies—as the "Jiangtan City" in the story should be.

Director Qin originally wanted to build the set in the studio, which was cheaper and more controllable, but Luo Jinnian said something that made him change his mind: "You can't build the staircase that Jiangyang has been climbing for twenty years in a studio. The moss on the steps, the little GG on the wall, the broken bicycles piled up in the corridors, these things are not made in the set, they are grown in that city."

Director Qin and his team spent three days shooting on location in Chongqing, and finally decided on an old residential area in the NA district as the main location.

It was a residential area built on a hillside. To get to the tallest building from the roadside, you had to climb more than 130 steps. Luo Jinnian had been there once, and his legs were shaking when he reached the top. Standing on the top floor of that building, he looked down at the entire city, which was faintly visible in the mist, with the Yangtze River in the distance resembling a gray ribbon.

He recalled that after the broadcast of "The Silent Truth" in his previous life, someone asked online, "Why did Jiang Yang climb such a high staircase?" Someone replied, "Because his life was always going uphill. Every step was difficult, and every step was upward. He walked his whole life, but in the end, he never reached flat ground."

It drizzled in Chongqing on the day the filming started.

Director Qin didn't hold a launch ceremony; he felt it was unnecessary. The crew set up a simple tent at the filming location, placed a few tables, some fruit and drinks, and everyone stood and chatted for a while before filming began.

The first scene we filmed was the one where Jiang Yang was stopped by Zhang Chao at the subway station.

The script describes Jiang Yang dragging a suitcase into the subway station, Zhang Chao chasing after him. The two argue at the subway entrance, and Jiang Yang is pinned to the ground. The suitcase is opened, revealing a corpse inside. This is the starting point of the whole story.

Bai Yu dragged his suitcase across the street. The suitcase wheels made a loud noise on the rough cement ground.

He wasn't wearing makeup and was wearing Jiang Yang's faded plaid shirt.

Luo Jinnian stood behind the monitor, watching Bai Yu approach step by step. Suddenly, an indescribable feeling arose in his heart. He recognized this person, this face, this character, but not from this world.

Bai Yu approached, his expression obscured on the monitor, but Luo Jinnian knew he was in character. The way he walked, the direction of his gaze, the way he kept his head slightly bowed, avoiding eye contact—that was Jiang Yang.

Director Qin shouted "Action!"

Bai Yu stopped, as if he had a premonition. The camera lingered on his profile for two seconds, and Luo Jinnian saw on the monitor that Bai Yu's Adam's apple moved up and down as he swallowed, a sign of nervousness during the performance.

Director Qin did not call "cut".

Zhang Chao ran up from behind, panting, grabbed Jiang Yang's arm, and said a line from his script: "Jiang Yang, don't go."

Luo Jinnian revised this line many times before finally settling on these six characters. Just the right amount to make the audience realize that there's a story between these two people, and it's not a good one.

The first day of filming proceeded at a slow and dull pace.

Director Qin didn't rush the schedule; he filmed each shot at least five times. The scene where Bai Yu dragged his suitcase was filmed over a dozen times, from different angles, distances, and speeds. When Luo Jinnian was watching the sixth take on the monitor, Director Qin suddenly yelled "Cut!" and turned to him, asking, "Which take do you think is best?"

Luo Jinnian thought for a moment, "The third point. He stopped and turned around a fraction of a second too early."

Director Qin pulled up the playback and compared it, "You're right."

Bai Yu was drinking water nearby, unaware of what they were saying.

Luo Jinnian walked over to him and said, "You turned around a fraction of a second too early on the third take. It's not that it's bad, but it gives off a 'knowing someone' vibe' feeling. Next time, use the expression from the third take, but match the timing of the turn around on the sixth take."

Bai Yu finished drinking the water, put the bottle on the ground, and said, "Okay."

On the fourteenth take, Director Qin shouted "Cut!"

It was already past 8 p.m. when we finished work.

A night breeze blew through Chongqing's steel forest, carrying the fishy smell of the river. Luo Jinnian stood by the film set, watching the crew pack up the equipment. Bai Yu, dragging his suitcase, walked back from the direction of the subway station, saw him still standing there, and asked, "Aren't you leaving?"

Luo Jinnian took out his phone and glanced at it. Chu Qingning had sent him over a dozen messages asking how the filming went. Gu Yanxi sent one message with only four words: "Don't overwork yourself."

"Let's go right away."

Bai Yu looked at him and suddenly said something he didn't know how to respond to: "What you wrote, but now that I'm actually standing here, I realize that my acting might be different from what you imagined. Do you mind?"

Luo Jinnian looked up at his face. The subway station lights shone from a distance, cutting a line across Bai Yu's face.

"It's better that they're different," he said. "Jiang Yang isn't just mine; you played him."

Bai Yu smiled, dragged his suitcase, and walked away. The wheels made a rumbling sound on the concrete, growing fainter and fainter as they went. Luo Jinnian stood there watching his figure disappear into the night, then turned to find Director Qin's car.

There are still scenes to film tomorrow, and scenes to film the day after tomorrow. Jiang Yang's three years in prison haven't been filmed yet, Zhu Wei's twenty years haven't been filmed yet, and Li Jing's words "You did it" at Jiang Yang's grave haven't been filmed yet.

Frame after frame of beautiful footage are lined up in that folder called "Future".

Luo Jinnian got into the car, leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes.

"A sense of remoteness, a sense of remoteness from a past life."