Chapter 33: Director’s Praise
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Due to the previous incident of changing the male lead, a lot of time was wasted. Therefore, the filming was done in a rush.
‘Shengs.h.i.+ Weiyang’ was a palace drama. It was about the story of how the heroine, Qin Weiyang, climbed her way up from a palace maid to the Queen Mother.
Xia Ning’s role, Qin Weiyang, was the daughter of a General in the Kingdom of Wei. Wei was eliminated by the Kingdom of Qi, and Weiyang, along with the princesses of Wei, was taken into Qi’s palace. Later, she met the emperor of Qi and became one of the concubines in the Qi palace. The emperor was very affectionate and talented. Naturally, Weiyang fell in love with the emperor. But the emperor was into more than just her. The worst thing was that later she realized the love from the emperor was merely exploitation and she also lost the most important person in her life. In the end, Weiyang became clear-headed and lived past the emperor. She helped her son become the new emperor and became the n.o.blest person in the world.
In the show, Xia Ning has to play the role from 16 to 40 years old, from a girl to a middle-aged woman. This is a big challenge for her, who is playing a leading role for the first time.
The first scene was of the emperor coming back from the war and all the concubines with their servants kneeling before the palace gate.
The Shengkun Emperor of Qi did not have a lot of concubines, only around ten.
The higher-ranked ones were the Empress, Consort Shu, Consort Hui, and two dames. The rest were lower-ranked ones like n.o.ble ladies and beauties. Weiyang was the maid-in-waiting for Beauty Wei. Beauty Wei was a princess of Wei and a good friend of Weiyang’s. Her health was not very good so she had never been liked by the emperor.
The Emperor of Qi sat on the back of a horse, wearing an army suit. He was arrogant, domineering and supercilious. The ones beside him were the ministers and the generals.
It was Xia Ning’s challenge to stand out and become the focus of this grand scene.
Weiyang was bullied and pushed to the back of the palace maids because of her beauty. She was not looking at the handsome emperor with star-crazed eyes. But instead, her eyes were looking down and her beautiful face was calm and quiet.
Suddenly, someone shot a glance at her from the crowd. Weiyang felt it but when she looked up, the crowd stood up and blocked the glance. Her eyes showed a slight surprise.
“Cut! Good job!” Director Li smiled at Xia Ning.
Xia Ning heard this and felt relieved. She walked towards Director Li.
And Zheng Haodong who was in armor also walked over and joked at Xia Ning, “Everyone was looking at me except for you. I’m doubting my charm.”
“Brother Zheng, you are really dedicated. You don’t break out of character even during break,” Xia Ning joked back.
Zheng Haodong grinned and blinked at Xia Ning. “Well done.”
“Thanks Brother Zheng for your good words. Please go get changed first. It looks like this armor is quite heavy,” Xia Ning smiled and said.
“You bet.” Zheng Haodong tapped the helmet on his head. “I will go get changed first then, Director Li.”
As Zheng Haodong left, Director Li praised Xia Ning, “Pretty good job. You’ve improved a lot from the last one. I have to say that you are a genius at acting.”
Xia Ning heard that and smiled at Director Li. “Director Li you are joking. There is so much that I need to learn.”
Director Li glanced at the girl with a sincere smile in front of him. He had seen gifted actresses before, but a modest, careful actress with talent who was not arrogant at all, that was a rare find. If she could continue like that, she would be very popular sooner or later.
“You are not from an acting school. Why did you become an actress?” Director Li smiled. It was said that Xia Ning had a high educational background.
Xia Ning smiled and suddenly looked at the staff who were setting the scene not too far away. “Maybe it was because of my mum. My mum was an actress before.”
“Who is your mum?” Director Li was interested.
Xia Ning turned her head around and smiled. “She was not famous. Director Li would not have remembered her even if you’ve seen her.”