Why Is the Male Lead Looking at Me Like That [Entertainment Circle] (BL) - Chapter 13

The start of official filming was imminent, and the production crew was rushing things on all fronts. After the poster shoot, the crew distributed the scripts for the first ten episodes.

Xia Xu went back, took a shower, and quickly finished reading the scripts for the first ten episodes during his lunch break.

Compared to the original novel, a lot of content had been added.

The original novel was only a few tens of thousands of words long and involved many characters, and some of the content was a bit explicit. The screenwriter, Teacher Hai Ou (Seagull), made drastic revisions to the plot. At a glance, it surprisingly had the flavor of a serious historical drama.

However, the main storyline hadn’t changed. After reading it, Xia Xu was extremely excited, only wishing he could start filming right away.

Liu Fen and the others also received the script. He came to Xia Xu’s room with Wen Yu, and the three of them held a small script reading.

The three novices kept breaking into laughter.

“Does Nan Qingyan look good bald?” Liu Fen asked.

“Don’t interrupt me while I’m memorizing lines!”

Wen Yu said: “He should look good. I’ve seen some Summer Iceberg CP fans Photoshop him as a monk before. He’s still very handsome.”

“Those people thought Nan Qingyan wouldn’t take the role, so they had a lot of fun Photoshopping. I wonder what their reaction will be when the crew officially announces it,” Liu Fen laughed.

“Summer Iceberg CP fans will definitely have a big New Year,” Wen Yu said.

“Summer Iceberg,” Liu Fen said. “You know, netizens are really good at naming things—it sounds nice and is very distinctive. Summer is you, right? The light of summer, an immediate sense of sunny summer. And Nan Qingyan, needless to say, is the epitome of the ascetic Iceberg Top! One is like summer, the other is like an iceberg!”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Wen Yu stifled two laughs. Liu Fen looked at him: “What is that perverted smile?”

“Nothing. Don’t you guys know the other meaning of this CP name?” Wen Yu’s face was a little red.

Xia Xu put down the script: “What other meaning?”

Wen Yu was too embarrassed to explain it directly to his captain, so he took out his phone, searched online, and handed the phone to Xia Xu.

Liu Fen snatched it, and Xia Xu leaned in behind him to look.

Netizen [I just love the flirty Bottom]: “The cleverness of this CP name lies in the fact that it can have two interpretations. First, Summer and Iceberg. Xia Xu is sweet and bright, just like his name suggests—the feeling of summer sun. And Nan Qingyan, no need to say more, the number one person with an ascetic, cold demeanor! One is like summer, one is like an iceberg!

Second, Xia [Top] Iceberg! Do I need to elaborate on how flirty Xia Xu is? The summer waves aren’t as flirty as him! Between him and Nan Qingyan, he must be the one who takes the initiative.

But be careful not to mistake the CP pairing: Nan is the Top, Xia is the Bottom!

It’s the Riding Top!”

Xia Xu: “…”

Liu Fen: “Holy crap, netizens are so talented.”

Xia Xu: “Nonsense! Report!”

Liu Fen laughed: “Netizens these days are terrifying.”

Terrifying, indeed.

Xia Xu picked up the script, wondering if netizens these days had “fiery eyes” or something.

How did they know Nan Qingyan loved that position the most?

He shook his head, stretched his limbs, put down the script, and did some stretching.

“You know Zhai Xingchen from Red and Blue Signal, right? I heard he’s going to make a guest appearance,” Wen Yu said.

Xia Xu was stretching his legs. Hearing that, he snapped his legs together and immediately stood up like a spring.

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s the pose! Zhai Xingchen’s signature pose!” Liu Fen sat up and exclaimed.

“Is he playing Wu Shiling?!” Xia Xu asked.

In the first season’s Flower Feast, there was a character he immediately associated with Zhai Xingchen, the spokesperson for Xinghai Network and the dance star who emerged from the Red and Blue Signal dating show.

This character was the Empress Dowager’s cousin, a male shaman, beautiful and skilled in dance. He performed an exorcism dance for the Tyrant at the Flower Festival, and his dance captivated the capital. The Tyrant fell for him and almost dragged him into his harem. This was the first dramatic conflict in the whole story.

“I think so too,” Wen Yu said. “But I don’t know for sure. I just heard it through the grapevine in the fan groups.”

“Which fan groups?” Liu Fen asked.

Wen Yu said shyly: “I’m in everyone’s fan groups.”

“You have too much free time,” Liu Fen said.

“Are you in Nan Qingyan’s fan group?” Xia Xu asked.

Liu Fen glanced at him but didn’t say anything.

Wen Yu nodded: “Of course!”

He was a fan of Nan Qingyan!

Xia Xu said: “Do his fans know he’s going to star in Tyrant?”

Wen Yu said: “People in the group have been spreading the rumor, but they don’t believe it.”

That’s even more terrifying.

Who knows what kind of chaos will erupt when the official announcement is made.

In the afternoon, they continued with their classes as usual. Everyone went to the conference room. This time, he didn’t sit in the center but sat with Wen Yu and the others.

“Let’s sit wherever,” he told Wen Yu and the others.

No sooner had he finished speaking than he saw Nan Qingyan enter, holding a cup of coffee.

Nan Qingyan was wearing a baseball cap and black-rimmed glasses, which gave him a completely different look. He calmly greeted Zhou Fengyi and the other teachers. Xia Xu didn’t know what he said to Zhou Fengyi, but Zhou Fengyi pointed backward, and Nan Qingyan looked back.

Xia Xu’s back should not be too straight.

He actually quite liked this feeling.

The next day in class, Xia Xu still didn’t sit in the front row.

Everyone had become familiar with each other and were sitting casually, unlike the first day when they sat strictly by seniority.

When Nan Qingyan entered, he actually sat directly in the back row.

Filming was about to begin. Tomorrow, they would collectively shoot the promotional trailer, which would be live-streamed across the entire network.

During the break, the crew played two pieces of background music from Tyrant. One was a vocal chorus. As the music started, accompanied by the pounding drumbeats, the atmosphere of the harem immediately emerged.

Everyone was very excited.

“I’m so happy,” Wen Yu whispered excitedly. “My favorite captain is going to star with my Nan God.”

Liu Fen glanced at Xia Xu with a smile. Xia Xu’s face was expressionless, practically possessed by Nan Qingyan.

He noticed that compared to his anxiety and restraint on the first day, Xia Xu had become much calmer and firmer over the past two days.

Full of Top energy.

The original Tyrant novel was set in a fictional dynasty. After much discussion, Director Zhang and his team finally decided to film it as a fictional story, but to present it on screen, the etiquette, costumes, and customs had to be modeled after a specific dynasty. They chose the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The biggest characteristic of this period was the country’s fragmentation, the rapid succession of dynasties, and the emergence of countless mad tyrants. The most famous among them were the two Qis in the North and South.

The professor on stage lectured earnestly, and the actors below listened attentively.

Apart from Nan Qingyan, most of the people present were poor students when they were students, and many historical allusions from the Northern and Southern Dynasties were unfamiliar to them. Every time the professor spoke of the debauchery and atrocities of those mad emperors, they were filled with astonishment.

Xia Xu listened with particular concentration. He was playing a tyrant, after all. This was very helpful for him to understand and portray the character.

He diligently took notes, his back perfectly straight.

He wasn’t this serious even under Nan Qingyan’s direct supervision back then.

Nan Qingyan looked across the crowd at Xia Xu’s back.

Then he saw the young, short-haired male student sitting behind Xia Xu lean forward slightly and rest his head on the desk. A gust of wind blew through the window, making Xia Xu’s T-shirt flutter slightly. That person smiled and poked him with a finger.

Xia Xu looked back, and the person smiled at him.

His smile was young and bright.

They had class all morning. During lunchtime, that person indeed followed Xia Xu and his group to eat with them.

Judging by his personality, he was quite outgoing.

Although everyone usually pretended to be approachable, this group of people did form cliques. It wasn’t intentional, but people with bigger reputations naturally spent more time together, and newcomers rarely dared to sit with them.

Zhou Fengyi invited Nan Qingyan and the others to eat together.

During the meal, they mentioned the new actors they were working with. Nan Qingyan, who hadn’t spoken much, suddenly asked: “There’s a boy with a buzz cut. Does anyone know his name?”

“You mean Ding Yiwei. He’s from Bei Yi [North Arts]. My junior brother, I think he’s only in his second year.”

“Can a second-year student from Bei Yi already come out to film?”

“The rules have changed a long time ago. There are even first-year students who come out to film. That handsome little guy from Nan Yi [South Arts] is a first-year, isn’t he?”

“You mean Pei Songrun? He’s my junior brother. I always thought he looks a bit like Qingyan.”

Zhou Fengyi immediately nodded: “Yes, yes, yes, I think he looks a bit alike too. Especially the demeanor.”

Nan Qingyan didn’t notice anyone who looked like him. Besides that Ding Yiwei, he hadn’t really paid attention to any of the other newcomers.

Didn’t care, didn’t notice.

The afternoon was for physical training. Fewer people attended, primarily training new actors like Xia Xu who hadn’t filmed period dramas before.

There were many differences between period and modern dramas, and physical posture and carriage were extremely important elements.

The back must not only be straight but also natural. This time, everyone practiced wearing their costumes. The crew’s requirements for Xia Xu were the most stringent, with the most detailed demands.

After all, he was an emperor of noble birth. Even if he was crazy, his madness was different from that of ordinary people.

His clothes were more beautiful than those of the other actors. Beauty came at a price: the attire was intricate and heavy. Moreover, the beauty of the Southern and Northern Dynasties’ costumes lay in their wide, flowing sleeves, and larger sleeves made the performance more challenging. He needed to embody both the imperial demeanor and the reckless abandon of a mad tyrant. Director Zhang and a group of people surrounded him, teaching him how to stand, sit, walk, and lie down. In the end, all the other actors were resting, but only he was still practicing.

Nan Qingyan was training with a few other new actors playing monks, right next door.

He just realized that Ding Yiwei was also playing a monk. As soon as the training ended, Ding Yiwei ran to the next room.

When Nan Qingyan emerged from the next room after training, he saw Xia Xu sitting on a chair with a fan, his robe hiked up, casually resting one leg over the other.

Except for the absence of the wig cap, he was fully dressed in his ancient costume. The weather was hot, and his thick clothing made him sweat a little. He was fanning himself vigorously. He didn’t know what the person next to him said, but he laughed with the others, his hair blowing in the fan’s wind, looking majestic and elegant, unrestrainedly charming. The Zhao Xuanmei described in the story as “skilled in horsemanship and archery, with a beautiful countenance that made onlookers think he was a god,” was almost leaping off the page.

A crowd surrounded him. The one with the widest grin was that Ding Yiwei.

Next was Liu Fen, who looked like a seductive consort, leaning on Xia Xu’s shoulder to catch the cool breeze.

Wen Yu and Wei Qiang were sitting on the ground. There were also a few new faces, one of whom was sitting properly in a corner. Judging by his features, he was probably the Pei Songrun whom Zhou Fengyi and the others had been praising, looking exactly like his high school counterpart.

What a sight: the Tyrant and his favored consorts.

Author’s Note:

Concubine Nan (the disgraced one): There are really a lot of men in this palace.