Chapter 104: I Am Going to Slap That Bastard!
Xiao Xu was so furious his face turned red, and he was about to rebut the ladies when Yan Qingsi stopped him.
Xu Qianxi continued, “You’re right... She’s just a disgusting lowlife, not even worth me getting angry over.”
The production crew notified them that shooting was about to resume, so Yan Qingsi stood up, walked over to Xu Qianxi’s group, and gave them her sweetest smile.
Xu Qianxi almost blew her top.
Seeing Yan Qingsi stretch her hands while walking, Xiao Xu asked curiously, “Miss Qingsi, what are you doing?”
“We’re doing a fight scene this afternoon.”
“Huh?”
Xiao Xu was perplexed, why did he not know there was a fight scene?
It was only on set that Xiao Xu understood what she meant by fight scene—she was going to slap that bastard.
For the afternoon scene, Yan Qingsi’s Zhao consort was the dominant concubine at the time, while Xu Qianxi’s female lead was a lowly servant who had just entered the palace, and she was bestowed upon the honor of spending a night with the emperor. Zhao consort had just found out about the incident and was looking for a way to punish her.
Yan Qingsi gave her a tight big slap across the face. “Who do you think you are, how dare you talk back to me like that,” she spat intimidatingly.
Everyone knows the actors in these slapping scenes usually just go through the motions, but that slap from Yan Qingsi was as real as can be, and a very forceful one to boot.
The ferocity in Yan Qingsi’s eyes, the swiftness of the slap, that cold smile at the corner of her mouth, and the disdain playing on her brows—Yan Qingsi was so in character the director shouted out in approval.
However, while the director thought it was excellent, someone else evidently did not. Xu Qianxi was stunned for a second, holding her face in her hands. She then came back to her senses and started to yell at Yan Qingsi, “Did you just f*cking hit me?”
Yan Qingsi frowned. “I’m sorry, it’s my first time on set, I didn’t control it well,” she remarked dryly.
The director was fuming, Yan Qingsi had set the tone for the scene excellently, but Xu Qianxi botched it entirely. Throwing his headphones on the ground, the director stood up and bellowed, “Xu Qianxi, what the hell are you doing? If you don’t want to be part of this series, please get the hell out of here.”
Xu Qianxi felt so aggrieved tears started to well up in her eyes. “But director, she actually hit me?”
“Hitting you was exactly what I wanted from the scene,” Director Feng Jun fumed, “I really have never seen an actress as unprofessional as you. It’s bad enough that your acting skills are so poor, you don’t even have an ounce of professionalism in you. I never should have signed you up for this movie.”
Xu Qianxi was shaking in anger. “But she really hit me...”
“Get out.” he yelled at her, “Right now...” Not giving her any chance to finish her sentence.
Director Feng Jun was well-known to have a short fuse on set, but he had never actually chased anyone off the set before so he must be really mad this time.
Xu Qianxi’s manager quickly rushed over and started to apologize profusely to the director, after which he also went over to coax Xu Qianxi back on set.
Half an hour later, filming continued.
Half of Xu Qianxi’s face was visibly reddish and swollen. She had to apply some heavy touch-up until it was barely visible. “I will not let this go,” she said as she hissed through gritted teeth at Yan Qingsi.
Yan Qingsi shrugged nonchalantly and said, ” Don’t worry, I will try harder—to slap you.”
Filming then resumed, and once again Yan Qingsi landed a big slap on her face with all her might. A real tight slap right on the face.
This time Xu Qianxi held it all inside and did not lash out, but still, the director stopped her.
“You’re supposed to be sad and aggrieved here, not full of hatred, do you understand?” the director instructed. “Let’s try it again”.
Xu Qianxi almost passed out from rage because she knew Yan Qingsi was obviously enjoying her revenge, and would gladly continue to do so as long as they keep repeating the scene. All she could do was hold it in and get the job done.
Focusing on her breathing, it took Xu Qianxi six tries to wrap up the scene.
“How was it? Are you satisfied now?” Yan Qingsi asked with a sneer.