Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 408 isn't that spicy either.

Li Qiutang is busy enough with filming, but she also has to find time to participate in the iQiyi reality show for the cast and crew, called "Intern Ghost Blows Out the Light".

It's said that six up-and-coming actors joined the crew for internships, to complete tasks and such; three men and three women.

"Oh, you're the Wuhan University beauty queen, right?" When Li Qiutang arrived at the film set this afternoon, he noticed a few young people handing out snacks to the staff. The one handing out the snacks to him was Huang Cancan.

Huang Cancan didn't want to call herself the school beauty, so she just said, "Hello director, I'm Huang Cancan, and I'm an intern in our crew."

Li Qiutang disagreed with this kind of on-set reality show, believing it was just creating trouble for herself, but Chen Guofu felt that this format helped to show the filming process to the audience and let the audience's eyes enter the film set.

In front of the program crew's cameras, Li Qiutang didn't say much, just gave a perfunctory reply, and went into the tent.

Li Qiutang sat back in her director's chair, picked up a piece of fruit from the fruit plate in front of the monitor, ate it, and began to communicate about work.

Today's night scene shoot: Hu Bayi, Wang Kaixuan, and Ding Sitian, a group of educated youth, are smashing stone statues in the wild when they encounter an insect plague, resulting in heavy casualties. In the end, they accidentally stumble into a Japanese underground biochemical factory.

They only film scenes on the ground in the grasslands, but they filmed scenes in the underground factory back in the Yanjing studio.

"Where's Tian Tian?" This was also Jing Tian's first scene after joining the crew.

"They're riding horses outside."

"What time is it? Why are you still playing? Don't get lost so late at night. Call him back." Li Qiutang's head ached at the thought of having to stay up all night.

The film crew's spotlights made the set as bright as day, so Jing Tian had no chance of getting lost.

Li Qiutang and a group of educated youth actors were rehearsing their lines next to that truck. And you know what? Once they were made up, dressed in their costumes and hats, they really looked convincing.

This was also thanks to the crew's advance training of the actors. These more than 2 educated youth actors actually lived together for nearly two months, singing revolutionary songs, reciting quotations, giving reports, and even working together.

Jing Tian was dressed up and blended in; if the camera hadn't specifically focused on her, no one would have known she was the female lead in today's show.

"They've memorized all the quotes and can sing all the songs." This scene was relatively easy to film. Li Qiutang didn't have a stern face when directing the actors; she chatted and laughed with them.

"We'll film your arrival at the stone statues and the scenes after that first. We'll film the car ride and the car breakdown later." Li Qiutang said, holding a walkie-talkie. "Makeup, come here and touch up your makeup, then we'll start." She added, "Okay, let's put on a revolutionary spirit and film well. The sooner we finish filming, the sooner we can go home and sleep."

He then left the film set.

But Li Qiutang, that jinx, said he'd finish filming early and wrap up early. As a result, the crew filmed from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day, and there were very few usable shots. His eyebrows furrowed more and more, and then he started swearing and cursing.

He'd yell if the set lights weren't turned off when filming was about to begin; he'd yell if the lights weren't turned on promptly after a cut was made; and he'd fire the assistant director if he couldn't find him in the bathroom after ten minutes.

In this scene, all three actors—Liu Ye, Chen Minghao, and Jing Tian—were scolded by him.

The one who received the most criticism was naturally Jing Tian: "Is this the kind of performance you're giving me? You deserve to be criticized to death by the audience for acting like this."

"Come again."

"Again."

One time, Li Qiutang stopped going to the set altogether. Holding a walkie-talkie, she said, "The audience will judge. If we're fooling ourselves and the audience, and everyone has this mentality, then we shouldn't be making this film."

Everyone else in the director's studio didn't dare to breathe.

With dawn approaching and everyone exhausted, Li Qiutang had no choice but to frown and announce that it was time to call it a day.

The assistant director told the producer, Chen Guofu, about the filming situation that night. Chen Guofu didn't think much of it and just said, "It'll be fine when Liu Yifei returns to the set in a few days."

"The director even scolded Lian Yifei." He just scolded her less harshly.

“But Liu Yifei was able to persuade him,” Chen Guofu said with a smile. “It’s better if she’s around.”

What is Liu Yifei doing now?

She's currently eating hot and sour noodles at Wulin Restaurant. Her assistant, Cindy, filmed a short video of her, planning to upload it to Weibo, saying that Lucy came to eat hot and sour noodles, sharing her daily life and promoting "Lucy".

Cindy held up her phone and laughed, "Let netizens see your true colors when you're eating."

Liu Yifei said, "What's so interesting about filming a meal?" When the hot and sour noodles were served, Liu Yifei took a sniff; they smelled delicious and made her very hungry.

She took a small bite, and it was spicy! It immediately hit her face! Liu Yifei's face turned bright red.

Cindy even teased her, saying, "You clearly can't handle spicy food, but you still love it."

"Delicious." Liu Yifei twirled her chopsticks twice, then picked up a glass of vermicelli and ate it.

It's so spicy it makes you hiss and sizzle.

As Liu Yifei ate, Cindy filmed her, saying, "I've noticed you don't know how to slurp noodles properly."

Liu Yifei thought for a moment and then laughed, "It seems like I don't know how, so what should I do?"

"Give it a try," Cindy urged her.

Liu Yifei was very obedient and tried to slurp the noodles. Slurping noodles is not difficult to learn, but this bowl of hot and sour noodles in front of her was probably too spicy. She slurped too much at once and couldn't handle it.

Cindy then mocked her, "It's spicy, isn't it? If you can't eat it, don't eat it."

Liu Yifei, with her hair down, holding a spoon in one hand and chopsticks in the other, her cheeks flushed, stubbornly said to the camera, "Look, this is alright, isn't it? It's just this much, and it doesn't look very spicy."

Cindy laughed at her, "Your face is all red."

Liu Yifei continued to deny it, saying, "I was just affected by the heat. This hot and sour noodle soup is alright."

Cindy edited the video and posted it on Liu Yifei's Weibo that night.

"I just love seeing her stubbornness."

"His face turned bright red from the spiciness, but he insisted it wasn't spicy, hahaha!"

Besides praising Liu Yifei's beauty, her fans are also quite adept at making jokes about her.

The next day, Liu Yifei appeared at a fan meeting in Chengdu. When you arrive in Chengdu, hot pot is naturally the topic of conversation.

Liu Yifei said she is a seasoned hot pot lover: "My record is eating hot pot six times in three days. Except for breakfast, I eat hot pot for everything else." She said it as if she was very proud.

When it comes to food, she gets really excited, saying that she'll go eat hot pot after the event. When asked what dishes she likes to eat with hot pot, she rattled off five or six dishes, just like reciting a menu: "Just thinking about it makes my mouth water, haha."

The reporters were amused by her.

After discussing the good things, we moved on to another side of her life.

"We know that Yifei usually enjoys reading and often shares her reading experiences on Weibo. What books is she reading lately? Is there any book you can recommend to our viewers?"

Unexpectedly, she said, "I haven't finished reading any books recently, so I'm embarrassed to share."

How can we continue this conversation?

In the end, we returned to the movie, but let's talk about "Lucy" for now. The reporter steered the conversation toward "The Invisible Guest".

Liu Yifei naturally knew the reporter's purpose, so she chose to use platitudes to fool the reporter: "I haven't watched it yet, but I heard it's very good and very mind-bending, right?"

"Didn't Director Qiu Tang invite you to watch it?"

No.

"Does he talk to you about 'The Invisible Guest' at home?"

Liu Yifei immediately realized what was going on, looked at the reporter with amusement, and said, "Do you know what he's like at home?"

Liu Yifei's staff told reporters to ask questions related to "Lucy" instead, saying that if they continued to ask such questions, Liu Yifei would eventually fall into the reporters' trap.

Having been rebuffed, the reporter didn't want to make a fool of himself and continued chatting with Liu Yifei about "Lucy".

(End of this chapter)