Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

The promotional tactics for the drama in 2017 were not as numerous or flashy as they were later.

Before the show airs, if the production company has the resources, they can have the lead actors record one or two variety shows.

Popular TV show promotion channels include programs like "Happy Camp," "Running Man," and "Go Fighting!"

After the show started airing, there was no need for the actors to do any more promotion.

Things like door-to-door visits, interviews with drama troupes, live streaming interactions, and offline promotional events only gradually became popular after 2019.

Nowadays, when actors launch a new drama, they mostly just promote it on Weibo and ask friends in the industry to help retweet it. They consider that as being loyal to the production team and working hard to cooperate with the promotion.

The most famous one is Zi Mei.

To promote "Ashes of Love," she mobilized many friends in the industry, including Wang Junkai, Li Xian, Ren Jialun, and Dong Zijian, to post messages of support on Weibo, essentially mobilizing a large portion of the entertainment circle.

Many celebrities even posted screenshots of the private WeChat messages that Zi Mei sent them in the comments section.

It pioneered an early large-scale drama promotion case known as the "golden age of attracting attention".

It vividly demonstrates the influence and connections that Zi Mei has built up over a decade in the entertainment industry.

Later, Zhao Lusi and Yu Shuxin followed suit and did the same.

Fortunately, Jiang Bai is not yet in the midst of this booming era of recruiting people, and as a newcomer, he doesn't have many connections to speak of.

So after appearing on a few small shows and doing interviews with Chen Xuedong and his friends, his promotional campaign for "Rush to the Dead Summer" was over.

From the start to the end of this series, it's highly likely that he won't be needed for anything else.

After taking a three-day leave, Jiang Bai returned to the crew of "A Love So Beautiful," a show he had always been loyal to.

He felt more comfortable and at ease filming on set than doing promotional work with Zheng Shuang.

Returning to the film set felt like coming home.

Not only is there a lovely female lead to accompany you, but everyone is also the same age, and there's no issue with billing order, so you all get along very well.

Days passed by one after another. After filming the high school scenes, the crew began filming the college and adulthood scenes.

Compared to filming in a single school, the later filming sessions were much more complicated.

Sometimes, filming requires occupying a small block of street, which inevitably attracts a lot of curious onlookers.

Jiang Bai is alright; he was in the crew of "Rush to the Dead Summer," which gave him a taste of filming an urban drama.

But the other actors are different. They are all newcomers and have never experienced having their performances watched by "pure strangers".

So, the crew's smooth filming schedule inevitably encountered some minor problems and things started to go awry.

This is why a youth drama with only 23 episodes had a planned filming period that was only half a month shorter than that of an idol drama with 48 episodes like "Rush to the Dead Summer".

The production team prepared a 90-day shooting period to allow enough time for trial and error, so that these new actors could gradually adapt to the difficulties of their first shoot.

Just as the new actors were getting into character after a series of trials and errors, the crew was faced with a major scene.

Spring in Jiangnan still carries a damp chill.

The crew dimmed the streetlights under the residential building to a yellowish hue, and the prop master scattered some fallen leaves on the trees. When the wind blew, the leaves fell down in a flurry, perfectly matching the "gentle night with the scent of wine" described in the script.

This scene depicts Jiang Chen taking Chen Xiaoxi home after she gets into Zhejiang University, where they steal a kiss under a streetlamp.

It was also their first kiss.

Tian Xiwei was wearing a thin coat over Chen Xiaoxi's white dress, holding an empty prop beer bottle in her hand, and her cheeks were made up to look rosy by the makeup artist.

She secretly glanced at Jiang Bai, who was standing not far away.

He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, his hands in his pockets, standing there tall and straight.

He was more than half a head taller than Tian Xiwei. When he looked down at her, the light from the streetlamp fell right on his jawline, making his profile look exceptionally clean.

As it was her first on-screen kiss, Tian Xiwei was so nervous that her palms were sweating.

"Have you ever filmed a kissing scene?" To ease her nervousness, she had no choice but to initiate a conversation.

"Yes, I have," Jiang Bai said frankly.

In "Rush to the Dead Summer", he and Zheng Hehuizi have two kissing scenes. One is when they confirm their relationship, and the other is when he turns himself in and sees Yan Mo for the last time at the police station.

The kissing scenes are all quite simple, just lips touching lips, after all, this is an idol drama aimed at teenagers.

The two kissing scenes were incredibly effective; one was the sweetest moment in the entire series, and the other was the most heart-wrenching.

Well, it would have been better not to ask. Tian Xiwei was no longer nervous, but she couldn't be happy at all.

She lowered her head and muttered softly, "You'd better be gentle later, I... I have no experience."

"Go easy?" Jiang Bai's expression was strange; he couldn't bring himself to go for a heavy kiss in this scene.

What nonsense is this little girl talking about?

"Attention all departments! Actors, take your positions!" The director's voice came through the loudspeaker.

"Oda, get even more out of control when you're drunk, your eyes should be unfocused."

"Jiang Bai, you're controlling your emotions; it's the kind of secret, furtive attraction you feel. When you kiss her, be gentle, don't wake her!"

The clapperboard slammed shut with a "snap," and the sound of the clapperboard fell.

Tian Xiwei immediately swayed and leaned against Jiang Bai, muttering, "Jiang Chen... I got into Zhejiang University... I can go to school with you from now on..."

Jiang Bai gently supported her arm, as if afraid of breaking it.

He looked down at her flushed cheeks, at her slightly parted lips as she yawned, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. Then, following the script, he spoke in a low voice, deeper than usual, with a hint of barely perceptible gentleness: "If you remember, call me tomorrow."

The moment the lines were spoken, the staff around held their breath.

Jiang Bai leaned down slightly, his gaze first falling on her eyes. Tian Xiwei's eyelids were drooping, and she did indeed look like she was drunk and unconscious.

He hesitated for half a second before slowly leaning closer and gently touching her lips with his.

It was very light, as light as a feather.

Tian Xiwei's eyelashes trembled violently, and she almost opened her eyes on the spot.

She held her breath tightly, closed her eyes even more, and even yawned slowly, just like in the script, her lips unconsciously twitching.

The moment Jiang Bai kissed him, his heart skipped a beat.

He originally thought he would complete the scene calmly, as easily as drinking a glass of water.

After all, it was just a simple lip-to-lip contact, which couldn't sway the heart of this seasoned veteran in the financial world.

did not expect.

When the faint scent of shampoo lingered in her hair, mixed with the malty aroma of the prop beer, and her soft touch pressed against his skin, Jiang Bai's mind went blank for a moment. Even his action of immediately pulling away was a beat too slow.

"Cut!" the director suddenly yelled, his voice laced with amusement. "Jiang Bai! That's enough!"

"If you kiss her any longer, Chen Xiaoxi will wake up!"

The whole room burst into laughter.

Jiang Bai suddenly sat up straight, his ears turning bright red. He hadn't expected to stumble like that.

He quickly took a half step back, raised his hand to rub his nose, and pretended to cough to cover up his embarrassment: "Sorry, director, I didn't control the distance well."

Tian Xiwei couldn't help but laugh too, covering her burning lips as she straightened up. "I almost opened my eyes just now, you were way too close!"

The assistant director leaned over and joked, "Not bad, Jiang Bai! That look in your eyes just now was totally Jiang Chen himself!"

"It was a half-beat too slow, let's do another take, this time pay attention to the rhythm!"

During the second shoot, both of them were much more relaxed.

Tian Xiwei was still drunk, leaning on Jiang Bai's arm and muttering about her joy at being admitted to Zhejiang University.

Jiang Bai looked down at her, his voice softening as he recited his lines: "If you remember, call me tomorrow."

As soon as he finished speaking, he leaned down and gently touched her lips with his own, this time quickly and decisively, leaving her lips immediately after the touch.

Tian Xiwei yawned long in cooperation and snuggled closer to him.

"Perfect!" The director slammed his hand on the monitor. "Cut!"

Jiang Bai breathed a sigh of relief and quickly helped Tian Xiwei, who almost slipped, and draped the coat that his assistant handed him over her shoulders.

Tian Xiwei wrapped her coat tighter, looked up at him, and the two exchanged a glance before simultaneously looking away.

The streetlights still cast a dim yellow light, and fallen leaves continued to flutter down.

The two of them didn't say a word, but it was as if they had said everything.