I'm not mentally ill, I'm a master of a thousand faces!

Chapter 105, Who is the Real Me?

When I was a child, my family was poor. There were five brothers in my family, and sometimes we couldn't even afford to eat porridge.

Sometimes when I was hungry, I would ask my parents why we couldn't even afford porridge, while the county magistrate could not only afford delicacies but also let his wine and meat rot in the backyard.

My parents said that they were civil officials, so they could live a life of comfort and even support multiple concubines.

I'm a bit confused. Why is it that in a year of such a disaster, my family can't even afford porridge, while their meat and wine can go bad?

I had a sliver of hope for entering the palace, for that "court" where I could afford to eat good food and drink rotten wine and meat.

I say.

Can I become the county magistrate?

My parents said no, we are not qualified to touch the Four Books and Five Classics.

Is it because of family reasons?

Yes.

But the county magistrate always says that he came from a poor family and rose from humble beginnings, so why can't we? I can study too, I can study the Four Books and Five Classics, and to change my current life situation, I can put in the effort that ordinary people cannot. I can do it too.

however.

My father only said one sentence, which I only understood after I grew up.

Poor family background.

It's a door too.

When I was ten years old, my parents said...

Since we can't afford to support you all anymore, we'll make a decision on who gets sent to the palace.

I say.

Does entering the palace mean you can afford to eat porridge?

Not only can they afford to eat porridge.

We can still afford to eat meat.

The parents said firmly, "Okay."

I was very happy because my family was on the verge of starvation. This year's harvest was already poor, and if we didn't find a way to make a living, I was afraid I would starve to death, and my mother would starve to death as well.

Therefore, one person must leave the house.

Fortunately, my father had a way to get into the palace.

I put all my effort into praying that I would get the chance to enter the palace.

Fortunately, I finally got the opportunity, and I was so excited I almost jumped for joy.

I don't have to endure the cold and hunger anymore, finally I don't have to.

But why, why are my brothers looking at me like that? Why are their eyes filled with pity?

Later, I arrived at the palace. I never imagined that this magnificent place would be where I would be staying from now on. They took me to the castration room.

The knife took a piece of flesh from my body.

It hurts.

It really hurts. The bleeding went on for a long time and wouldn't stop. I saw someone die because of this.

I cried.

I don't want to die.

I don't know how much time passed before I recovered. Only then did I understand what my brother's pity meant, and I cried. But before me was a steamed bun.

"Eat," said Wang An, the eunuch in charge of ceremonies, looking down at me with an air of superiority.

The steamed buns were very clean, without a speck of dirt, even cleaner than the steamed buns that we only ate during the New Year and other bountiful years.

I tore the steamed bun into my stomach in big bites.

I finally...

We can finally eat our fill.

"From now on, the palace will provide you with plenty of food, allow you to study the Four Books and Five Classics, teach you music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and even martial arts, if you have the talent."

"Remember this: everything you eat, use, and wear is a gift from the Emperor."

So this is the price we people have to pay just to have enough to eat and to learn the Four Books and Five Classics, the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

What those civil officials' wives could obtain so easily, we had to sacrifice our bodies to get.

But I can't think about that much anymore.

At least.

I am able to eat my fill.

They won't starve to death in this torrential snow.

The next day, at dawn, before the sun had risen.

That's how filming is. Getting up early and staying up late are minor things. We haven't even started filming yet, and we're still in the script reading and training phase, but we still need to get up this early.

I had a dream last night.

Li Yun murmured.

I found myself still slumped over the table in the room, with scripts scattered all over the floor beside me.

I didn't go back to bed to sleep last night; I just fell asleep while reading the script.

I drifted into a lucid sleep.

I remember everything from my dream.

At this moment, neither the eunuch from the West Depot nor that cold-blooded villain were present; only the eunuch from the East Depot was there. With his back to Li Yun, the eunuch said calmly, "You've kept us waiting for quite a while now. There's quite a bit to it."

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm sorry."

"snort"

At this moment, Li Yun looked at the eunuch in front of him, paused, and said.

"What's your name?"

"Cao Zhengchun, the supervisor of the Eastern Depot."

At this point, the script reading was nearing its end, and Li Yun's presence was fading, mainly because Liu Songren and Guo Jinan's performances during the reading were absolutely phenomenal.

Even Deng Yancheng was slightly moved.

"Give Cheng Shifei more screen time in the future."

Here, the director also makes minor adjustments to the weighting based on everyone's performance during the script reading. Gui Haiyidao's screen time should be at the bottom, and Cheng Shifei should be at the top.

There are also differences in the importance of the main characters.

There's no way around it; after all, there are differences in the actors' ability to immerse themselves in the role and their expressiveness.

"We need to inform Cao Zhengchun to go for martial arts training." At this moment, Xu Xiaodong, the assistant director who had never had a very high presence in the crew, came out.

After all, this is a martial arts drama, so action scenes are absolutely essential.

Even with advancements in special effects, we can't rely solely on them; that's the bottom line for martial arts films.

"Hmm, he's been a bit quiet lately. I heard he has some martial arts skills?"

"Even if you have some skill, you still need to familiarize yourself with the moves. Cao Zhengchun should be considered one of the top three masters in the entire 'World's Number One', so you need to show his martial arts performance."

Excluding Gu Santong, the first is Tie Dan Shenhou, the second is Cheng Shifei who has mastered the Vajra Indestructible Technique, and the third should be Cao Duzhu who has mastered the Heavenly Gang Child Skill.

They also talked about Supervisor Cao, and Xu Xiaodong inquired about the script reading, as he had been training the actors in Duan Tianya's group recently.

"Well, how should I put it, our Chief Supervisor Cao's personality is a bit aloof. He always likes to be alone and has a very low profile. I don't really know him."

"The reclusive type, isn't that similar to Liang Chaowei and Jin Chengwu's personalities? Oh right, there's also Zheng Yijian."

These are all veteran male celebrities in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, and they are quite well-known.

"No, I just feel... never mind, I don't really know how to put it. In short, it's just filming. What other people's personalities are like is none of our business. As long as we can film the movie according to the requirements, that's fine," Deng Yancheng said.

"Please call Xiao Li for me."

"It's done."

At this moment, Deng Yancheng also sent a message to Li Yun, saying that it was Cao Zhengchun's turn to design the action performance.

Often, action scenes can be done by stunt doubles, but if you can do it yourself, do it as much as possible.

When Li Yun arrived here.

Deng Yancheng stared at Li Yun, somewhat stunned.

"What's wrong, Director Deng? Is there something on our face?"

Li Yun walked over and smiled slightly.

"It's nothing. Go and design the action sequences with Xu Xiaodong."

"OK."

At this moment, looking at Li Yun's back.

Deng Yancheng always felt that Li Yun was different in some way, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

"This, Mr. Li."

At this moment, Xu Xiaodong was stunned.

When I saw Li Yun, I didn't instinctively call him "Little Li," but instead blurted out "Mr. Li."

"Ahem, ahem, we have a set of kung fu here. I know you have a kung fu foundation, but some things are always new and interesting. We have our own kung fu fighting style."

Xu Xiaodong spoke seriously at this moment.

Cao Zhengchun was proficient in a skill called Tiangang Tongzi Gong, which is extremely masculine and powerful. Therefore, the movement design needed to be expansive and dynamic while emphasizing the feeling of "masculinity".

But one cannot lose the aura of Cao Zhengchun, the eunuch.

That's the beauty of motion design.

Just like Jackie Chan, his martial arts style immediately brings to mind Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, and Jet Li, each of whom has their own unique style that suits their roles.

Martial arts is also a form of acting, and it should serve the character and the script itself.

Li Yun listened attentively from the side.

He nodded.

"I understand, Director Xu."

"Well, you'd better really understand. I'm giving you some private training, not as special treatment, but because the action design for this character really needs some ideas. However, you also have your own advantages, and your basic action skills are quite good."

At this moment, Xu Xiaodong wanted to explain the movement patterns and performance style of the "Tiangang Boy Skill" that he had come up with to Li Yun.

Li Yun, however, spoke differently.

"Director Xu, I have some ideas of my own."

"Hmm?" Xu Xiaodong looked at Li Yun and sighed inwardly. This was already a standard plot point.

Just like actors often give their opinions on their roles to the director during filming, this kind of behavior is actually quite common.

In the end, the actors always admire the professionalism of the directing team.

This time will probably be the same.

Or rather, it has to be this way.

Xu Xiaodong didn't think Li Yun was ignorant of his own limitations. After all, he was a young mainland actor who probably didn't know the history of action films in Hong Kong, which was a foundation built through real, hands-on experience.

If he truly has the ability to appreciate martial arts, wait until Xu Xiaodong performs another set, and you'll probably see the difference.

"Alright, let me see what you think." Xu Xiaodong smiled, arms crossed, looking quite interested.

then.

A series of punches flew over.

Xu Xiaodong had no time to dodge.

Just as the fist stopped at the tip of his nose, it suddenly stopped, then flipped over, the fist turning into a palm, and the palm into fingers.

Xu Xiaodong was stunned.

Tiangang Boy Skill is an extremely powerful and yang-oriented martial art for boys.

But at this moment, the person using him was a eunuch, a castrated man.

Legs, feet, fists, and wind—powerful and domineering.

But when Li Yun uses it, he can combine this skill with feminine softness.

He was clearly incredibly masculine.

They are clearly so powerful.

But Li Yun brought a unique feel to this set of masculine kung fu.

A set of feelings that belong only to him, only to Cao Zhengchun.

(End of this chapter)