Chapter 214
Midnight Singing was Xiao Biqing’s first period drama in three years. The director was also an old acquaintance of Xiao Biqing, Huaxia’s top literary film master Du Yonghua.
Most of the movie was focused on the heroine. Ming Yu could barely be counter as the male protagonist and his scenes only added up to 20 minutes.
In any case, Ming Yu had no way to free up too much of his schedule to shoot this movie. Therefore, in the first half of June, the entire crew specifically filmed Ming Yu’s scenes before waiting to film the other actors.
A year ago, Ming Xiaoyu’s acting in An Li made Director Xu extremely depressed. The average number of NGs was four or five until halfway through the filming, where his acting skills were slowly tempered by Director Xu. Finally, he made a great breakthrough at the end.
He wanted to thank Xu Yizong for his fierce guidance a year ago. Now when Ming Xiaoyu shot Midnight Singing, his acting wasn’t equivalent to Xiao Biqing but it was enough to make Director Du satisfied.
In Midnight Singing, Ming Yu played Ye Yang, the younger brother of the heroine Ye Xiangchan. He was a 17 year old boy who was beautiful. However, he was sick and lay in bed all year round, causing his skin to be pale and his spirit to be weak.
The background of the movie was the 19th century, more than 200 years ago.
At that time, Huaxia was in an important period of change in the feudal dynasty. Technology and new inst.i.tutions were rising, while the ancient decaying dynasty didn’t want to easily concede defeat. This caused a full 17 years of unrest.
In the second year of the 17 year war, Ye Yang’s parents died in the war, leaving the two siblings behind.
No one knew how but the 12 year old Ye Xiangchan fled from the gunfire to the big city of Shanghai with her seven year old brother. But once they arrived at the so-called sleepless city, they were hungry and about to faint.
Maybe it was due to the lack of good food at the time of birth, but Ye Yang had been weak and sickly since he was a child. He wasn’t able to walk independently until he was 12 years old.
At this time, the big Shanghai was full of smoke. Despite being a peace zone, the feudal forces and revolutionary forces had infiltrated it, making it difficult for the young siblings to survive.
Ye Xiangchan worked as a handyman during the day and carried goods at the port at night. Later, she was unjustly persecuted against because of her beautiful face. In order to take care of herself and her brother, Ye Xiangchan was forced to endure the persecution and came to the biggest ballroom in Shanghai, starting her singing career.
The name Ye Xiangchan was famous to many people in this world.
She came to Shanghai at the age of 12 and spent five years using her body to survive. At the age of 18, she was the most popular singer in Shanghai with her voice and glamorous appearance. Countless people bowed before her skirt and vowed to be her guest.
Ye Xiangyi only loved one person in her life. However, it was only a short term meeting. A revolutionary party member was ambushed by the enemy and lay seriously injured in an alley. Ye Xiangchan had just come home from work and encountered him.
For three days, the lowly singer hid the young revolutionist in her home, listening to his stories about the uprisings in the south, listening to him speak about the raging battlefield and the unknown counties on the other side of the sea. He said that in the hearts of the revolutionaries, men and women were equal and love was free.
Three days later, the man didn’t say goodbye. He knew that Ye Xiangchan couldn’t follow him before of her younger brother so he quietly left. On that day, Ye Xiangchan held the letter left by the other person but didn’t burn it as he said.
This was the last thing that the man gave her.
For the next two years, Ye Xiangchan kept taking care of her younger brother as she sang everyday in the Shanghai Grand Ballroom.
At least, until the reemergence of the revolutionary.
Many of Ye Xiangchan’s guests were from the government. Therefore, he asked Ye Xiangchan to help him by becoming an underground informant for the revolutionary party.
Ye Xiangchan refused at first but the man asked her, “Do you want this world to be unfair forever?”
Since then, Ye Xiangchan became an underground informant of the revolutionary party. She told the revolutionaries what she knew until just before a very important battle, Ye Xiangchan’s ident.i.ty was revealed by a traitor.
The traitor couldn’t bear the punishment and opened up about Ye Xiangchan’s ident.i.ty. This thin woman who was regarded as a lowly singer, she endured all the punishments. Until the last drop of her blood was drained, she still sang softly.
『 The wind is blowing in and dust is leaving. There are so many people in the world, how can you be pa.s.sionate? Sing a song, dance to the music, Shanghai’s song and dance isn’t for you, the water in the harbour, the road is your infatuation… 』
Ye Xiangchan died, leaving only one regret behind.
She had no close friends in her life and her romantic love never received an ending. She only had her younger brother and wished him a good life, hoping that he wouldn’t be dragged down by her. However, she didn’t know that after she was exposed, the private letter she was hiding was found. The same name, the younger brother she was so concerned about experienced countless tortures and died a tragic death in prison.
His fingers were broken and his thin body injected with stimulating agents so he could keep being tortured. This weak both was tortured until he died, not a single intact piece of skin being left behind.
Nothing was left before Ye Yang died. But when these people forcefully asked him about Ye Xiangchan, he just smiled.
It was impossible for a 17 year old boy to be ignorant about the world. He was a useless waste. After so many years, how could he not know his sister’s work? But for the first time, today he didn’t feel like a waste. At least he could do one last thing for his sister and keep her secret.
The Ye brother and sister, the revolution wasn’t over and they became victims in this long 17 year war.
Their short-lived and humble lives made them like moths to a flame. They might’ve been buried in the endless fire but they were fuel for the fire.
The last scene that Ming Yu shot was Ye Yang using the help of his neighbours to sneak around on crutches. He wanted to use his own strength to go and buy an apricot cake for his sister.
Before their parents died, the siblings loved to eat apricot cakes. Over the years, Ye Yang didn’t dare ask for any delicious snacks but today was his sister’s birthday. He saved for more than a year as he thought about buying the biggest and more beautiful cake in the store.
As he was walking along the street on his crutches, Ye Yang saw his sister.
She was dressed in a red cheongsam, looking graceful and attractive. Her bright red lips and beautiful smile made countless pedestrians stare. But Ye Yang only had eyes for his sister.
He leaned on the crutches. Regardless of his weak legs, he wanted to keep up with this familiar yet unfamiliar woman.
Ye Xiangchan walked too fast and disappeared around the corner. Ye Yang couldn’t keep up, eventually falling to the ground. Ignoring the strange eyes of the pa.s.sersby, the frail youth used both hands to move step by step, finally seeing the biggest poster at the gate of the ballroom.
The poster contained an image of his sister who said she was acting as a nanny everyday. She was wearing a beautiful cheongsam and had bright red lips, her eyes filled with bewitchment. The lower right corner of the poster said:
『 Red Peony 』.
In the midst of the crowd, Ye Yang lay on the ground and couldn’t suppress his cries.
The world didn’t give justice to these two people but these two people used their lives to make the world a fairer place…
……
After the shoot was finished, Ming Xiaoyu officially tied in the drama. Therefore, he smiled and accepted the various red packets.
At dinner that evening, Xiao Biqing drank too much and smothered and held the small mushroom, drunkenly saying, “Mushroom, I told you, this role is for you…oh, I look so good, apart from you, who is qualified to be my brother…”
Ming Yu felt like laughing and crying as he held Xiao Biqing and said, “Yes yes, Sister Xiao. It is really my honour.”
Xiao Biqing cried out strongly, “Yes! I’m telling you, I am the big pink leader of the mushroom circle! I am the lead mushroom! What is the name Z? He doesn’t even have a fraction of my fans. I am the lead mushroom!”
Ming Xiaoyu, “…^＿^”
It was said that the more chess pieces that were taken, the more confident one would become.
The more he said, the more Xiao Biqing started to move her hands. She first touched Ming Yu’s face, pinched his cheeks and then the salty pig hand went down to his chest!
Ming Yu hurriedly moved away the female wolf’s hand and gently pushed her into her a.s.sistant’s arms.
Xi Ze arrived at this time and snorted with a dark expression. He looked at the poor a.s.sistant and said, “Look after your family… your family’s Xiao Biqing. Be careful not to be photographed by a paparazzi.”
The small a.s.sistant immediately nodded.
Since their relationship was exposed, this man opened moved to the parking lot with his arm around his mushroom’s waist. They were photographed by a few paparazzi along the way but Mr. Xi continued to have a dark expression.
Once they entered the car, Ming Xiaoyu asked tentatively, “Vinegar?”
Xi Ze raised his eyebrows. “The vinegar is skyrocketing.”
Ming Xiaoyu smiled. “Good, I want to eat sour food today.”
After hearing these words, Xi Ze looked at a paparazzi lens not far away and didn’t hesitate to kiss his mushroom’s lips. Small Mushroom wasn’t angry at being taken advantage of but Xi Ze quickly changed the topic. “This month’s supermodel rankings has been released.”