Love Rival Is Getting Prettier Everyday - Chap 29

Chapter 29: He Really Changed
Shen Jintai was overly excited. He had filmed a lot of bed scenes in the past, but this was the first time he had filmed one with a man. Yesterday, the director also specifically asked him about his acceptance limits. From the perspective of dedication to art, he replied, “As long as the plot requires it, I can do it.”

Though the subject matter scale was large, it didn’t mean that the camera lens scale could be large. This world’s attitude towards gay men and women had not reached the point where same-sex marriage was legal yet. The silver lining was that at least there were relatively few restrictions on the subject matter in the creation of film and television dramas.

“Is there a kissing scene?” Xiao Tang asked curiously.

“The script is written more implicitly,” Shen Jintai said, flipping through the script while eating his lunch. “It depends on the director’s request.”

“In fact, we can talk about this with the director in advance,” Li Meilan said. “Isn’t it too passive to acquiesce to the director’s request on the spot?”

Shen Jintai read the script as he wrote on it. “Li Xu has nowhere to retreat. The prince turned him around and tore off his robe from behind.” Based on his many years of filming experience, this was an artistic treatment. It was full of tension and emotions, but not explicit.

To film the scene well, Shen Jintai had returned to his room and taken a shower after eating. When he arrived on set, he saw Zheng Siqi waiting for him. He nodded, and Zheng Siqi returned his nod with a smile. Despite being very kind to Zheng Siqi, Zheng Siqi still seemed a little afraid of him.

In today’s scene, the crowned prince was more domineering. Li Xu, the black lotus, had to pretend to be a small white lotus.

“Should we practice the scene first?” Shen Jintai asked.

Zheng Siqi was also planning this.

“Then let’s go to the dressing room and talk,” Shen Jintai said.

Zheng Siqi nodded. “Okay.” He followed Shen Jintai into the dressing room. There were a lot of lights on the set, and it was a bit hot. Shen Jintai only wore a loose shirt and shorts. His arms were long and white, and his back faintly exposed his shoulder blade. He always unconsciously regarded Shen Jintai as the biggest star of his generation. Looking at his thin figure and small back, he remembered now that Shen Jintai was only 20 years old.

Zheng Siqi breathed a sigh of relief, and then saw Shen Jintai’s butt.

……

Wow.

Zheng Siqi’s face became hot as he quickly averted his eyes.

—

Yan Qiuchi attached great importance to the drama .

Sunshine Media started as an artist and entertainment marketing agency. Later, it began to get involved in film and television production, gradually developing into the comprehensive behemoth of the entertainment industry it was now. In recent years, it had been involved in the direct production of many films and television dramas. These productions had always resulted in TV shows with high ratings and several movies that were dark horses at the box office. The investments in these projects were miniscule, though, compared to how much Sunshine Media had put into , which was a few hundred million.

Costume dramas could easily get popular. Palace fighting dramas* came with their own rating groups. The TV stations were all optimistic about this drama since the production team was top-notch. Everyone had high hopes for it. Sunshine Media failed to IPO previously and was relying on this drama so they could IPO again. Since it was a weekly drama, the most critical point was the first month of filming. The fate of the drama would depend on how well the filming goes. For this month, Yan Qiuchi had to personally keep an eye on everything.

*Drama featuring an ancient Chinese dynasty as the background. The focus is on the characters’ emotional entanglements and political strife for the story line. They are geared towards entertainment and drama rather than historical.

Yan Qiuchi quickly ate his meal and went straight to meet with Director Guo and the others. After meeting Director Guo, he came to the dressing rooms to meet with the principal actors one by one. Finally, he reached Shen Jintai’s room. As he entered, he saw Zheng Siqi holding Shen Jintai’s shirt. The two of them were pushing and shoving as if they were auditioning for a play.

“Your hand can go down a little bit more.” Shen Jintai grabbed Zheng Siqi’s hand and moved it directly down.

Zheng Siqi was clinging to Shen Jintai. He was young and it was his first time filming. He didn’t want to move his hands. His thin lips were pursed, his forehead was sweating, and he looked very serious. If he moved his hands any lower, it would touch Shen Jintai’s ass.

He didn’t expect his first project would have a gay sex scene. He felt that the body of a man was tough and long, which was inconsistent with the softness of a woman. Even if the man had a slender waist, the feeling still wasn’t good.

This was simply a rehearsal. The lines were fixed but the body movements needed to be rehearsed in advance. Zheng Siqi clasped Shen Jintai’s arm and gestured to pull his shirt over his shoulder. As soon as the shirt was pulled up, it revealed Shen Jintai’s bare sides.

Seeing Yan Qiuchi at the door, Shen Jintai wanted to pull his shirt back down, but his hands were held together by Zheng Siqi. In Zheng Siqi’s eyes, his resistance seemed to be cooperating with their rehearsal. It wasn’t until Zheng Siqi caught sight of Yan Qiuchi that he quickly let go of Shen Jintai’s hands and bowed to greet him. “President Yan.”

Yan Qiuchi was an important figure in the entertainment industry.

Yan Qiuchi nodded and said, “You guys are rehearsing?”

Zheng Siqi responded with a “Nn.”

Yan Qiuchi said, “You can continue.”

After Yan Qiuchi had left, Zheng Siqi breathed a sigh of relief. Yan Qiuchi was a very imposing person. He rarely saw him smile. He exuded the aura of a cold, domineering president. His boss, Ji Fengxing, didn’t like Yan Qiuchi much. He would call him Little Yama1 in private. It was said he was just as ruthless as his father, Lord Yama2, but his methods were not as deep.

1(小阎王) Son of Yama lord of the fifth hall of the underwood. English equivalent would be like the son of the devil or son of hades.
2(阎罗王) Lord of the fifth hall of the underworld. The decrees judgements over the dead. English equivalent would be like the devil or hades. However, note that Yama is not the sole ruler of hell in Chinese culture. There are 10 kings in Chinese Hell.

On the outside, he looked like an outstanding young man and a perfect gentleman, wearing a civilized skin, but in fact, on the inside he was born as a wolf cub ready to attack. Due to all the rumors, Zheng Siqi had a preconceived view of Yan Qiuchi, causing him to be very fearful of him. It wasn’t easy for him, a newcomer, to land this role, considering the competitive relationship between Sunshine Media and Monsoon Entertainment. Ji Fengxing told him to keep a low profile.

Unexpectedly, what surprised him most was that just now Shen Jintai and Yan Qiuchi seemed to treat each other as if they were air. He knew about the scandal between the two of them when he was an amateur. Shen Jintai had chased Yan Qiuchi wildly. At the peak of his career, Shen Jintai retired for love, but Yan Qiuchi, who was troubled by the whole affair, politely said to a reporter, “I don’t date people within the entertainment circle.”

“Let’s continue,” Shen Jintai said.

Zheng Siqi nodded and looked at Shen Jintai’s untidied clothes that were revealing a section of his waist.

—

Guo Rui also attached great importance to this bed scene. To allow Shen Jintai and Zheng Siqi to act better, he cleared the set. Except for the necessary staff members needed for filming, everyone else wasn’t allowed inside.

Many actors and crew members wanted to come and watch. Intimate scenes between two men were rarely seen on screen. They wanted to see something new and wondered what kind of scene Guo Rui would direct and Shen Jintai would make.

When filming was about to officially start, Guo Rui watched their rehearsal again and made some adjustments.

Yan Qiuchi sat behind the monitor in the distance. Behind him were Gao Qiao and the other crew members.

Shen Jintai was a little uncomfortable at first, but after his mind entered into a working state, he forgot about Yan Qiuchi.

As one of the important blackening factors of the villain eunuch, this scene had to show a love that was poignant and moving. Outside the window, the scenery was full of roses. The halls were blown by fans that caused the curtains to flap back and forth. The palace lanterns’ light was faint. Except for natural light from candles, there was nothing else.

Li Xu’s costume was not the same one he wore for the makeup test shoot. The current costume looked more refined. The corners of the robes were embroidered with large clusters of rose patterns. He walked through the halls with a lamp in his hand. He entered the inner chambers, but there was no sign of the crown prince. As he put the lamp down, a person suddenly jumped out from behind him and hugged him. It was Zhou Ying.

Despite only wearing a loose inner shirt, Zhou Ying still maintained his noble and cold temperament. The dim candlelight dulled his aura a little. Li Xu was surprised. He stretched out his hands and held Zhou Ying’s hands. The hall was silent. There was only the subtle sound of two people struggling. The wooden floor made a “creak” followed by a rustling sound of entangling feet. Li Xu’s green robe was pulled away. He wasn’t wearing an inner shirt. A white back and slender shoulders were revealed as the robe fell below the waist, exposing Li Xu.

This shot was done in slow motion to highlight the robe drifting off into the night. It wasn’t easy to capture that beautiful feeling, so the scene had to be shot several times.

Li Xu broke free from the shackles of the crown prince. He knelt down to the ground as if he was greatly frightened. The crown prince eagerly stepped forward, causing Li Xu to suddenly fall backwards. The hairpin on his head untied, causing his jet-black hair to fall loose. He panted as he looked up at his royal highness, the crown prince.

“Give Li Xu a close-up,” Guo Rui said as he stared at the monitor.

Everyone around didn’t dare to breathe. The camera zoomed in closer to Li Xu’s moist eyes. It moved back and forth several times to capture the scene. Li Xu’s forehead was damped as it reflected the light of the candles. When the staff moved the light board, Li Xu’s face became more emotional. Though his facial features weren’t beautiful, the eyebrows were tightly knit as if they were surging with desire. Looking through the monitor, the scene was even more vivid and intriguing.

This Shen Jintai was completely unfamiliar to Yan Qiuchi. He was no longer Shen Jintai, but Li Xu. There was no trace of Shen Jintai in his body.

“Afraid of me?” Zhou Ying asked.

Li Xu grabbed the robe off the ground and said, “This slave is not afraid. This one is only afraid they will defile your royal highness.”

“Since you are afraid of contaminating this crown prince*, why are you wearing nothing underneath?”

*[Taizi] (太子) Title of the crown prince. He’s calling himself by his title.

Li Xu looked at the prince and said, “Because this slave not only has the most shameless body, but also the most shameless heart. He wants to stain his Royal Highness.”

Li Xu’s chest was heaving. His expression was cowardly, but his hand moved away from the covering robe and showed the prince the body of the eunuch that he had always been ashamed of.

Yan Qiuchi stared at the monitor, feeling his heart beating wildly.

“Cut!”

The lights suddenly became chaotic, and Zheng Siqi quickly pulled Shen Jintai up.

Since Shen Jintai was playing a scheming little eunuch in the scene, he had no clothes on. The cameras didn’t focus on private parts, so he was still wearing his underwear. To him, it was simply work, so he didn’t feel embarrassed at all. The staff picked up his robe and handed it to him. Shen Jintai grabbed it and smiled at Zhang Siqi. “You tore off all the buttons.”

Guo Rui noticed Shen Jintai’s butt and was astounded. He suddenly got an inspiration. Every director had an unrestricted heart when it came to art. TV dramas weren’t as good as movies in a sense that they couldn’t be filmed if the scale was too large. However, he had his ways.

After the next shot, he changed the scene to the two of them embracing while they slept.

Shen Jintai’s role was Li Xu, who was supposed to be a beautiful young eunuch. In terms of beauty, however, Shen Jintai was a bit lacking. To offset this, Guo Rui decided to focus more on his physique. Shen Jintai was in good shape and his figure looked good. He didn’t want the focus to show off his masculinity but rather to make the story seem more reasonable.

He wanted to tap into the most attractive point of Shen Jintai’s body, so that the audience could feel that it was understandable for the crown prince to fall for such a person and love him all his life.

In the footage afterwards, he asked Shen Jintai to wear the prince’s robe. The clothes that his lover had just taken off were wrapped around his body as it was sprayed with water mist. It created a look of love that was visible from the shoulders to the body, to the feet.

Guo Rui personally helped to make this look. Shen Jintai felt embarrassed at first, but after thinking about it, wasn’t his beauty part of his career?

For the sake of his career, being naked was not a problem!

He let go, thinking like this.

In the dim candlelight, he was wrapped in a silk robe. His long hair was scattered, and the camera swayed from behind him to the side. With wide shoulders and slender hips, the scene showed an indescribable sensuality.

Yan Qiuchi remained motionless, sitting behind the monitor. He gently rubbed his lips with his fingers, as if he had a premonition that Shen Jintai’s reborn appearance might be able to shine on screen when it was broadcast in the future.

He was convinced that Shen Jintai had really changed. The Shen Jintai he had known no longer existed. He had changed from an idol with a mixed reputation to a real actor.

Prince Zhou Ying’s character design was simple, making it easy to play. Zheng Siqi’s inexperience fitted well into this particular scene. While it looks like the prince was the stronger character, in fact, it was really the eunuch, Li Xu, who was in full control of the situation.

After the shooting, it was already late at night. Shen Jintai wrapped a robe around himself and came to the monitor to watch the replay. He was very satisfied with the scene.

Everyone was very excited. Guo Rui said with a smile, “You guys have worked hard. Go back and have a good rest.”

Shen Jintai didn’t have any scenes tomorrow. He gave Guo Rui a bow and said to the staff on set, “Everyone has worked hard. I invite you all to have supper if you want to come.”

There were many young members among the crew on set, and they all cheered in unison at the invitation. Guo Rui turned to Yan Qiuchi and said, “President Yan has worked hard today.”

Yan Qiuchi saw Shen Jintai smile and glance at him when he heard the words. He didn’t know if it was because of the lighting, but his eyes were particularly bright.

He was about to answer Guo Rui when he saw Shen Jintai turn his eyes and invite the crew to supper. The scene became chaotic as all the lights were turned back on. It was a bit dazzling. Zheng Siqi was among those who were thrilled. He was talking eagerly with Shen Jintai as they exited the set. Shen Jintai was still wrapped in a loose robe that was rolled up, exposing his thin white calves.

“Not bad, right?” Guo Rui asked proudly.

Yan Qiuchi retracted his eyes and said lightly, “He has changed a lot.”

Tremendously! Gao Qiao thought. It’s almost like a different person! Besides his acting skills, which have improved leaps and bounds, his attitude towards President Yan has changed as well. When he looked at President Yan, his eyes were sober and had no feeling of clinginess at all.

Standing behind the monitor with Yan Qiuchi just now, for a moment, Gao Qiao even felt that Shen Jintai had a different temperament. Determined and calm.

It was already late at this time, and Yan Qiuchi planned to head back. When he was about to get into the car, he saw Shen Jintai again, who was discussing with Zheng Siqi and the others about where to go eat. When his car drove past them, he deliberately stared at Shen Jintai, trying to catch any subtle movements from him, such as pretending not to care but secretly looking at his car.

There was nothing.

Shen Jintai didn’t seem to even know that it was his car. He was wearing a white shirt, baggy pants, and was in sandals, holding a cigarette in his hand.

—

Perhaps it was because Guo Rui was pleased with the shooting, because the next day, the official blog posted a new poster. It was a picture of Shen Jintai’s back, wrapped in a robe, half hidden in the dark night. It was tempting and seductive.

“Holy crap! What is this?!”

“This ass, I want*!”

*I can (我可以) Slang to refer to someone or something that you like very much with intense affection. Like “I can sleep with him” or “I am willing to date him“.

“It looks like a man. Can anyone tell who it is?”

“There’s a small imprint in the upper left corner. It’s Shen Jintai!”

“Fuck! It turns out to be Shen Touhua?”

“Shen Touhua has such a good figure. He’s so fine.”

“ will be like no other drama. Even the posters are really well made. It deserves to be a masterpiece of the year.”

“What should I do? Now I’m looking forward to it. I originally decided not to watch it because I couldn’t stand seeing Shen Touhua’s acting. Is it really fragrant*?”

*Reminder: (真香) Slang that means vowing not to do something but did it in the end. || In this context she’s saying I made up my mind not to watch it but I might be changing it now (because it’s so fragrant).

“It’s really fragrant. I talked about it in the building next door yesterday. The biggest highlight of this drama must be Shen Touhua. He must have good sense if he’s playing that role!”

“The Touhua water army is here again. What can a random poster analyze? We can pass judgement when the trailer comes out.”

“This poster can only say that this drama is worthy of being the masterpiece of the year. What good is there to boast about Shen Touhua. There’s a kind of beauty in this world called MeituPic*. I hope you know it well.”

*Image editing software that is mostly used in Mainland China that provides tools for editing photos like filters, retouching ect.

“Touhua has many enemies and he’s been all over the news these days. I really hated him at first, but I still can’t bear to see him being scolded so badly. To be honest, his image has been good since he made his comeback. It’s not a surprise that his appearance has also changed. Can’t we all just look forward to it?”

“It really feels like he was reborn recently. I don’t think it’s a matter of physique but temperament. The temperament of the whole person has changed.”

“Ahhhhh! I was really shocked by this poster today. My head now has yellow waste*. You have to listen to it!”

*(黄色废) Dirty/pornographic/vulgar ect..

“I’m willing to listen to that ass.”

At this moment, someone suddenly posted a GIF. It was a GIF at the launch conference. At the time, the cast was invited to play a small game on stage. Shen Jintai, who had his back to the stage, had bent over. His slim-fit pants were wrapped tightly around his slender legs and exposed his ankles, but that wasn’t the most eye-catching part. It was his ass.

“Fucking hell.”

“I want to watch this show!”

“Touhua deserves to have the number one ass in the entertainment industry!”

The author has something to say:

Tender ass man.