Retired Villainess Transmigrates into a Cannon Fodder

Golden Agent of the Adonis (45)

Chu Xiang took the mobile phone next to her and showed it to him, “Every time I practice at home, I will record my sessions with my phone. It would be even better if you can imitate the several different positionings of the cameras in order to realize your own shortcomings by watching the playbacks. After the filming for these couple of days are over, I will find some films for you and you can learn from them properly.”

Fang Zhenxuan was a little unsure about his acting skills, “During my interview the other day, I heard from someone in the company that they have a training department. Shouldn’t a newcomer like me take an acting course?”

Chu Xiang pointed to herself, “With the best teacher in front of you, who else would you want to take lessons from?”

Fang Zhenxuan laughed in surprise, “Will you teach your craft to me the same way in the future as you are now? I assumed that you’re going to be very busy and you’d only seek me out for business matters.”

“That won’t happen since I will be around you for a long time. Before you become popular, I don’t plan to take on any other newbies. You are the first artist who is under my guidance after this new life of mine. It’s like getting a piece of jade— no matter what, I have to find a way to ensure that it becomes a high-quality product before considering anything else, Chu Xiang thought for a while, “It is not accurate to say that one should become a high-quality product; more so a priceless treasure.”

Fang Zhenxuan was the first artist that she was guiding in her reincarnated life. Naturally, he would have to reach the peak. The feeling of personally sending someone to the top of the industry was quite interesting.

Fang Zhenxuan shook his head and laughed along with her.

After only knowing each other for three days, Fang Zhenxuan had gotten used to Chu Xiang’s boastful way of speaking. He had to say that this kind of Chu Xiang also rubbed off a lot of her strong confidence in him. It seemed that sooner or later, they would stand at the top of the entertainment industry and wouldn’t ever fail.

Such a positive influence was exactly what he needed. There were a lot of hardships that everyone needed to face in their lives and sometimes, they could get difficult and tiring. It actually wasn’t all that easy to maintain a positive attitude all the time. The self-confidence that Chu Xiang imparted to him was like a panacea. To be under the tutelage of an agent like this as soon as he debuted was truly a golden miracle.

***

The next day, the cast had to shoot the scene between Fang Zhenxuan and the heroine in the show. He rehearsed it many times, but unexpectedly, he NG-ed(1) it three times from the beginning!

(T/N: In acting jargon, ‘NG’ is an abbreviation for ‘no good’, which meant that the previous cut had mistakes or wasn’t to the director’s satisfaction, leading to a retake)

Director Chen took off his baseball cap and scratched his head, wondering, “Xiao Fang, what’s going on? Your sad and depressed emotions weren’t surfacing and your actions were very inconsistent.”

Fang Zhenxuan sincerely apologized, “I’m sorry Director, can I collect myself for a bit?”

Director Chen glanced at his watch and nodded, “Okay, I’ll give you five minutes; everyone take a break.”

“Thank you, Director, and everyone for your hard work,” Fang Zhenxuan clasped his hands together and bowed slightly, expression full of apology.

He quickly ran to Chu Xiang’s side and was slightly annoyed, “Sister Chu Xiang, she is much worse than you in acting and that makes me unable to tap into the scene. What should I do?”

Chu Xiang didn’t expect this to be the reason for his NG, “Aren’t you a sweet talker? I’m having a good time right now.”

“Stop playing; help me figure out a way. If this goes on, it’s going to waste everyone’s time as well,” Fang Zhenxuan frowned and pursed his lips, “It would be great if you were the one acting. If so, I’m sure that I can act well.”

“It’s a pity that I can’t be your heroine every time. Besides, you will have to face this kind of situation sooner or later. You might even meet a Miss Numbers(2) who’s going to recite numbers to you in the future. However, even if that is the case, you have to continue acting,” Chu Xiang shrugged and said in a low voice, “Let’s do this— look at her forehead later and then imagine that it’s you and me who are acting. Or, you can imagine that someone very important to you is going to leave you and you can’t do a single thing to stop it.”

(T/N: An acting jargon. Used to refer to actresses who don’t have the ability to convey emotions into their scripts and oftentimes only follow orders and instructions to a T. The male version of this is Mr Numbers)

Chu Xiang thought of his older sister and when she turned to look at him, she found that his lips were pursed into a straight line, obviously thinking of the same person. She patted his arm, “Sometimes actors would cry one second and laugh the next, but it’s not that easy to perform such emotions. Sometimes, when you’re really not feeling it, you need to use some real emotions from your memories. Can you do it? You’re actually just a guest star in this play, so you don’t have to go above and beyond.”

Fang Zhenxuan shook his head, “Since I have decided to do it, I must do this well. I think I have found some inspiration for the scene. Don’t worry, it has been several years, so I’m okay now.”

“I’m going to film,” Fang Zhenxuan smiled at Chu Xiang before running over to tell the Director that they could commence.

It was a bit difficult for him as a newcomer to imagine the scene of the shooting like Chu Xiang. Nevertheless, it would be relatively easier for him to substitute his sorrowful emotions for the sake of his work because he actually experienced them before.