The Rise of Chinese Entertainment in 2008

That evening, Gu Ning hosted a small wrap party for Liu Yifei at the hotel.

He thought Liu Yifei would leave after filming wrapped.

I was thinking that after Liu Yifei left, I wouldn't have to wait for Shu to sing until so late every time.

But for some reason, Liu Yifei didn't leave the group.

She even proactively approached Fan Chunxi, saying she wanted to save money for the production team, so she moved into Shu Chang's room and gave up her room.

Gu Ning had no choice; she couldn't very well just kick them out.

The next morning, Liu Yifei and Shu Chang sat down opposite Gu Ning with breakfast. After hesitating, she said, "Director Gu, your method was very effective, but I still feel a bit awkward around other people. I can't keep doing that for every film, can I?"

"It's not impossible, and this is the most effective way to achieve the desired results," Gu Ning said.

"But what if word gets out? People will think I'm crazy."

Liu Yifei asked hesitantly, "Director Gu, do you have any other good ideas?"

She wanted to make a breakthrough in her acting skills, but she couldn't accept using such shameful methods all the time.

"I'm busy filming..."

Gu Ning knew that Liu Yifei stayed on set for this reason, so naturally she was unwilling to help her.

Except for the first day, no matter what he said, Shu Chang refused to come to him in the middle of the night these past few days.

He couldn't wait for Liu Yifei to leave; he wouldn't help her at all.

But just as he was about to refuse, he saw Shu Chang looking at him with a pleading expression.

Gu Ning gave her a look, and seeing her nod slightly, she turned to Liu Yifei and said, "It's not that there's no way. After we finish work tonight, I'll take you out for a walk, but you have to listen to me!"

"good!"

Liu Yifei nodded and said gratefully, "Thank you so much, Director Gu!"

"You are welcome."

Gu Ning glanced at Shu Chang and smiled slightly, saying, "Just have Changchang thank me properly later."

Upon hearing this, Shu Chang panicked and said, "Director Gu, what nonsense are you talking about? It's normal for you to help Qianqian improve her acting skills and repay the favor when she's just making a cameo appearance."

Besides, why should I thank them on behalf of Sisi?

"Yifei is busy with work, she doesn't have time to stay on set for long. You and she are good friends, so why don't you treat me to a meal on her behalf? That's only right," Gu Ning said with a smile.

"Director Gu, let me invite you."

Liu Yifei quickly replied, "No matter how busy I am, I will still have time to treat Director Gu to a meal before I leave."

"Okay then."

Gu Ning felt Shu Chang kick him under the table and didn't dare to say anything more.

"Changchang, how's it going with your lessons from Teacher Gui Yalei these past few days? You have scenes to film today," Gu Ning said.

Filming is not done by shooting the entire movie from beginning to end, but by shooting scenes from each scene together.

Liu Yifei is making a cameo appearance, and her role is small; her scenes were only filmed a few days ago.

However, Shu Chang, as the female lead, appears in some scenes both when the female lead is old and when she becomes young.

The scenes in these locations will be filmed intensively.

Today's filming focused on scenes at the mahjong parlor, and Shu Chang also has a few scenes.

"Teacher Gui taught me a lot in his spare time, so there shouldn't be any problem!" Shu Chang said confidently.

…………

Shu Chang was not exaggerating. When filming her scenes, her every move and tone of voice were very similar to Gui Yalei's performance in the play.

She is not from a professional acting background. Although she has systematically studied acting, her studies only covered some theories and techniques.

Her excellent acting skills are not only due to her talent, but also largely due to her frequent observation of other actors on set.

Therefore, she was very good at imitation, and with Gui Yalei's hands-on teaching, she naturally looked very similar.

To Gu Ning's surprise, she could actually sing, and she sang quite well.

When filming the scene where he sings in the mahjong parlor, he originally wanted Shu to just lip-sync so that they could record it line by line in post-production.

Ke Shu sang very well, and he immediately decided to record the sound live.

After finishing a day of filming, Gu Ning returned to the hotel in the evening, changed her clothes, and waited at the back door of the hotel in a car rented by the film crew.

A dozen minutes later, Shu Chang and Liu Yifei, fully armed, came out from the back door, opened the car door, and got into the back seat.

"Director Gu, where are you planning to take us?" Liu Yifei asked.

"Let's go to the night market," Gu Ning said.

"To the night market?"

Liu Yifei asked doubtfully, "Can this really improve acting skills?"

Shu Chang looked at Gu Ning with suspicion upon hearing this.

"Think about it yourself, how long has it been since you went shopping, especially in crowded places?" Gu Ning asked.

Don't be fooled by the fact that later on, the "Fairy Sister" was often photographed shopping, only accompanied by an assistant.

But that was Liu Yifei, who had been blacklisted and silent for a long time.

Liu Yifei's mindset back then was completely different from her mindset now.

At this point, Liu Yifei had not yet completed her transformation, otherwise she wouldn't have been so reserved.

Having undergone a transformation, Liu Yifei possesses a certain resilience that remains steadfast despite countless trials and tribulations, undeterred by any adversity.

Right now, we're still a long way off.

After thinking about it carefully, Liu Yifei realized that she hadn't gone shopping in China for quite some time.

There's no way around it; these past few years have been the peak of her popularity, and if she goes out and gets recognized, it will attract a large crowd.

"It's not just about going shopping; we'll also be buying things later, and you'll have to haggle with the vendors!" Gu Ning said.

"Want to negotiate?"

Liu Yifei hesitated and asked, "Won't I be recognized?"

"Yes, there are too many people at the night market. It would be troublesome if we were recognized," Shu Chang said with some concern.

Gu Ning glanced at the two of them and said, "With your fashion sense, even without any disguise, no one would recognize you in the dim lighting at night."

Leaving aside Liu Yifei's fashion sense, Shu Chang's fashion sense is also quite average, whether she was used to being frugal since childhood or influenced by Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei wore a retro-style light pink fitted wool coat with a wide white fur collar.

To put it nicely, it's called retro style; to put it bluntly, it makes you look old.

Shu Chang was wearing a thin black down jacket over a long-necked red sweater.

With that old-fashioned outfit, plus a baseball cap and mask, it would be really hard to be recognized in the night market.

Is there something wrong with our clothes?

Liu Yifei and Shu Chang glanced down at each other, feeling quite pleased with themselves.

"Anyway, as long as you don't take off your masks and hats, it'll be hard for you to be recognized," Gu Ning said, starting the car.

"Changchang, I've never bargained with anyone before. How do I bargain?" Liu Yifei whispered.

"In places like night markets, don't show it if you see something you like. Just haggle as hard as you can. If someone asks for a hundred, you say five dollars; if they ask for ten, you say one dollar." Shu Chang was very familiar with these things and was passing on her experience to Liu Yifei.

"what?"

Liu Yifei was stunned and murmured, "Won't I get beaten up for this?"

"How could that be? The actual prices at the night market are very cheap. The inflated prices are just to make people haggle," Shu Chang said.

"Oh." Liu Yifei nodded, seemingly understanding.

Gu Ning drove for more than twenty minutes to a night market.

Entering the night market, you can see that it is crowded with people, and the air is filled with the aroma of snacks, full of lively atmosphere.

Liu Yifei lacks a down-to-earth quality, but there's nothing she can do about it. Her family was well-off when she was young, and she later went to the United States with her mother.

After returning to China, she became an actress and quickly gained widespread popularity.

I've never been to a place like this before, I look around curiously.

"Be careful, don't get separated," Gu Ning reminded her.

"oh oh!"

The two women linked arms and followed behind Gu Ning.

Gu Ning saw a stall selling plush toys, stopped, pointed to a large panda plush toy hanging on the wall, and said, "Go buy that one, the price can't exceed twenty."

"oh."

Remembering what Shu Chang had taught her, Liu Yifei suddenly felt confident and walked towards the boss who was introducing the product to someone.

In less than a minute, the three left the stall.

The main problem was that the "Fairy Sister" bargained too decisively. She went up to him and asked if he would sell it for twenty. When the shop owner said he couldn't, she turned around and left.

The shop owner said the lowest price was eighty, but she said she would only take twenty, not a penny more.

"Changchang, didn't you say that if we pretended to leave, the boss would lower the price?"

"Didn't they lower their prices?"

"But eighty is still a long way from the twenty that Director Gu mentioned."

"You can't possibly buy that doll for twenty. He probably didn't pay twenty for it, but selling it for twenty would be too low a profit, so he won't sell it," Shu Chang said.

That doll is almost a meter tall when it's sitting down, how could anyone sell it?