Chapter 13: The Yangzhou of Fireworks in March

The director instructed Lan Xiaoshan to bring over a fully equipped makeup case. Lao Ji carefully wiped his hands clean with a wet wipe, opened the case, and somewhat clumsily arranged the makeup brushes and other tools neatly.

Lan Xiaoshan nervously wrung his hands on the side. Team Leader Ji didn’t look like someone who knew how to do makeup! Everyone on the crew knew that Team Leader Ji was indeed a master of styling. He could speak with authority on what clothes each character should wear, what accessories to use, what hairstyle to have, what style of makeup to go for, and even what shoes the extras playing passersby should wear.

But being able to talk about it didn’t necessarily mean he could do it. It was plausible that Team Leader Ji’s hands could make clothes, but no one had ever seen him do makeup.

Taking small steps, Lan Xiaoshan quietly moved next to Sheng Shaoyan and anxiously typed on his phone: Brother, can you talk some sense into him? We can’t just resort to any doctor in a desperate situation!

Sheng Shaoyan glanced at the words on the screen, his hands in his pockets, and only said in a low voice, “Trust your Brother Shen.”

Lao Ji was picking out colors in the makeup case. “I haven’t done this in so many years, I can only guarantee my hands won’t shake. As for the effect, I have no confidence.” As he searched, he asked, “How did you know I could do makeup, kid?”

“More than twenty years ago, Director Wan’s fourth film won an award, and there was an interview program. You were the styling director for that film. You said on the program that your maternal grandfather, Mr. Xu Yunqing, used to be a hairdressing and makeup master in the makeup department of an opera troupe. Later, he became one of the first generation of film makeup artists in the country. Your mother, Teacher Xu Bijun, followed in her father’s footsteps. You grew up running between your mother’s film sets and theaters. With such a deep family tradition, you must know how to do makeup.”

Lao Ji looked up, holding a brush, genuinely surprised. “An interview program from over twenty years ago? That program is older than you are. Where did you dig that up from?”

Shen Xici laughed. “At this moment, I have to thank the powerful internet!”

In fact, Shen Xici had only told half the reason.

In his previous life, he had met Lao Ji, whom he hadn’t seen in three or four years, in the crew’s makeup room. At that time, Lao Ji was travel-worn. When he called him “Team Leader Ji,” Lao Ji was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand and said, “Yo, you still remember. But I’m not a team leader anymore!”

He treated Lao Ji to a meal. After the meal, Lao Ji smoked a ten-yuan pack of Shuangxi cigarettes and said that due to an accident, his left leg had become lame. The intensity of crew work was too high for him to keep up, and not wanting to hold back others in the group—as everyone was just trying to make a living—he voluntarily resigned from Director Wan Shan’s team.

His old mother had Alzheimer’s, and the financial burden on the family was heavy. After leaving the film crew, he opened a film and television styling training class to earn some money. In his spare time, he researched and developed, and with great difficulty, established his own makeup brand, specializing in on-camera makeup.

Establishing a brand was easy, but promoting it was hard. He ran around to various film crews, looking for makeup artists and stylists he used to know, sending samples for free trials and collecting feedback for improvement. Some old acquaintances advised him, “Lao Ji, you’re already fifty. Why are you still struggling with all this?”

Shen Xici still remembered, at the table, Lao Ji flicked the wheel of his lighter, lit a cigarette, and said in a hoarse voice, “I’m fifty. I’ve been with film crews for most of my life and have made a bit of a name for myself. But the older I get, when I lie in bed, what appears in my dreams are scenes from my childhood, ducking under the curtain and running into the backstage of the theater. The air had a strange smell of oil paint, rouge, and elm sap glue mixed together. There were colorful opera costumes embroidered with gold thread everywhere. Those brushes and pens, oil paints and cinnabar, were truly magical. They could create snowy skin and peachy cheeks, dot on crimson lips and red moles, as if painting a decadent, trance-like, beautiful dream.”

He looked up and smiled. “You see, isn’t making a movie also a group of people gathering to create a dream?”

“I’m fifty, down and out, old. Only now do I know what I’ve wanted all my life. But if I really do nothing, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

The head of the makeup and styling team for that film had been trained by Lao Ji. That afternoon, before Lao Ji left, with permission, he personally made a few adjustments to Shen Xici’s makeup details to make the look better fit the character.

The makeup lights were bright. Lao Ji’s gaze was so focused it was almost stern. Wearing a mask, his rough fingers held a fine-tipped brush, painting a cinnabar mark between Shen Xici’s eyebrows. Then, with the same brush, he drew a rich red eyeliner. “You have good eyes, clear and bright, as if they can speak. In an opera troupe a hundred years ago, you would definitely be a famous actor.”

Shen Xici closed his eyes and smiled. “Thank you for the compliment, Team Leader.”

“Having good looks isn’t a compliment, it’s just stating the truth. Your skin is fair, so the cinnabar red is very prominent on your face. The result is more beautiful than I imagined.” Lao Ji sized up the person in front of him, then switched to another fine-tipped brush, dipped it in some white paint, and above the eyeliner that winged out from the corner of Shen Xici’s eye, he added a wisp of white, a flowing line of cloud, as nimble as a white crane preening its feathers.

Standing up straight and examining it carefully, Lao Ji said with satisfaction, “The scene to be filmed in a while is the one before entering the mountain, where the indigenous people in the village are sacrificing to the mountain god. Come, hold out your hand.”

Shen Xici had already changed into the mute boy’s coarse white robe. He pulled up his sleeve a little, revealing his slender wrist. He saw Lao Ji dip the brush tip in red and place it on the knuckle of his middle finger, tracing a bright and dazzling cinnabar-red pattern along the line of the bone.

“There, this looks more like a sacrifice to the mountain god!” The more Lao Ji looked, the more satisfied he was. He put the makeup tools back into the case one by one. “There are still twenty minutes before filming starts. You definitely won’t be late if you go now.”

“Thank you. Otherwise, I would have definitely been scolded by Director Wan today,” Shen Xici said, afraid that the paint on his hand was not yet dry, he dared not move randomly. He looked in the mirror and said to the person behind him, “I haven’t put on my earring yet.”

Lan Xiaoshan didn’t move.

Sheng Shaoyan strode over with his long legs.

Shen Xici glanced at him. Thinking it was just putting on an earring and it didn’t matter who did it, he didn’t say anything and sat on the chair, waiting.

In the translucent square box, several identical earrings were made, fearing that this important prop might be damaged or lost. Sheng Shaoyan picked one up, leaned down, and his fingers touched Shen Xici’s earlobe.

It was cool, with a fine, smooth, and soft touch. A small silver stud adorned it, reflecting a faint light.

Afraid of hurting Shen Xici, he put on the earring with an extremely gentle motion.

He released his fingers, and the blue crystal stone swayed. Sheng Shaoyan stood up straight again, only then daring to breathe.

Shen Xici looked at himself in the mirror and felt that Lao Ji’s makeup style was different from the other makeup artists on the crew. Perhaps because his family had been involved in the opera world, his eye makeup was applied with a heavier hand, and the colors he used were bolder and richer.

He asked Sheng Shaoyan, “Doesn’t it look good? I think it’s exceptionally beautiful!”

His gaze met Shen Xici’s in the mirror. The red mark between his eyebrows was like a flame, and his already beautiful eyes, smudged with rich colors, instantly possessed a bewitching power. Yet, his gaze was pure, and the extreme contrast made one dare not look for too long.

Sheng Shaoyan averted his gaze and looked at the back of Shen Xici’s hand. The splash of color was like a red plum on snow. He nodded. “Yes, it looks very good.”

In the cluttered filming location, a female host in a thin sportswear held a microphone and spoke to the camera, “…I knew Teacher Zhong Yue was handsome, but I didn’t expect him to be this handsome! Okay, we are now going to find the next actor.”

As she walked, she looked at the real-time bullet comments on her phone. “Let me see what you all have said. Yes, there are a lot of mosquitoes here. I’ve sprayed half a bottle of mosquito repellent. I’m now a mobile mosquito-killing machine!”

The female host stopped on a flat piece of ground and read a few bullet comments: “Jiajia? Why is everyone shouting Jiajia’s name? Okay, okay, I feel your enthusiasm! In that case, let’s welcome our new actor—Xu Lingjia!”

Xu Lingjia walked over from the side and stood under the camera.

Almost immediately, the bullet comments stacked up layer by layer, and the interface lagged due to various gift-giving effects.

“——Ahhh, Jiajia! Sister misses you so much! Our Jiajia is getting more and more handsome!”
“——Baby, filming must be hard! You have to eat well!!”

Xu Lingjia waved his hands and greeted the camera with a smile, “Hello everyone, I’m Xu Lingjia. In this movie, I play a character who looks bad but is actually not that bad! Because the filming location is very remote and the filming is very busy, I can’t interact with everyone often. During this time, I hope my fans won’t ‘climb the wall’ to other idols, otherwise I’ll be very sad!”

The screen was filled with “Absolutely not” and various confessions of love.

The host asked, “A viewer is asking if Jiajia is wearing a costume, because your usual style is that of a fresh and sunny boy, and this is the first time we’ve seen you wear such dark-colored clothes.”

Xu Lingjia: “Yes, there’s a very difficult and important scene in a while, so I’ve changed my clothes and done my makeup and hair in advance, and I’m waiting at the filming site for the shooting to begin.”

“——Jiajia is really very dedicated! Looking forward to ‘Mountain Range Line’, looking forward to Jiajia’s screen debut!”

“——Jiajia looks great like this too! Mommy loves you!”

After asking a few more questions, the host bid farewell to Xu Lingjia and turned to the camera with the microphone. “Okay, we won’t take up any more of Jiajia’s time. I heard that Director Wan Shan is very strict. If he’s late, Jiajia will be criticized. We wish Jiajia a smooth filming!”

“I know everyone is very curious about Jiajia’s filming status, and so am I. We all grew up watching Jiajia, hahaha. I’ll go and apply in a while to see if I can take everyone to the filming site to have a look!”

As the host spoke, she continued to walk forward, saying as she walked, “The crew really went to the mountains on the border of the country to get the real scenery. The food and accommodation are very inconvenient, and the filming environment is also very harsh. Everyone in the crew has put in a lot of effort, but you can see that the atmosphere on site is very good, and everyone is seriously doing their job. Huh, Sister Yage? I didn’t expect us to meet again!”

At this time, a few bullet comments appeared in the live stream.

“——Host, behind you! Holy crap! My handsome guy radar is going off!”

“——Cameraman! The camera, the camera!”

“——Host, go and interview that person! The one in white! He just walked past!”

The host quickened her pace and greeted Wen Yage, “Sister Yage, it hasn’t been long, and we meet again! I just heard from Jiajia that the next scene is very important. Are you also going to the site now?”

“Yes, it’s about to start filming. I’ll go over after I’ve tidied up.” Wen Yage held a water cup. Seeing that a phone was attached to the camera, displaying the live stream, she leaned in curiously. “So this is what I look like to you in the live stream? Behind me? I see many people are saying there’s a handsome guy behind me. Is it true?”

As she spoke, Wen Yage turned around and saw Shen Xici passing by in the distance. She was a little surprised.

Everyone in the crew knew to some extent that Xu Lingjia had snatched Shen Xici’s makeup artist, deliberately preventing him from getting his makeup done, and that the producer was planning to suppress Shen Xici’s popularity. But Shen Xici was a newcomer, and no one would offend the producer and the investors for him, including her.

Wen Yage had originally thought that Shen Xici would be waiting in the makeup room, and it wouldn’t be until after filming started and the director realized someone was missing that a makeup artist would be sent to do his makeup. By then, the people on the cloud tour of the set would have already left, almost completely eliminating the possibility of Shen Xici appearing in the live stream.

But who would have thought that Shen Xici, a newcomer with no backing and no background, would actually find a way to get his makeup and styling done, arrive at the filming site before the shooting started, without any mistakes, without being late, making it impossible for anyone to find fault.

In that case, she didn’t mind giving him a hand.

Wen Yage raised her voice and shouted, “Teacher Shen, over here!”

Shen Xici, who was walking forward quickly, paused, turned around, saw Wen Yage, and walked over, the hem of his white robe fluttering.

“Teacher Wen, you called me?”

Not being able to tell whether Shen Xici genuinely didn’t know about the live stream or was acting, Wen Yage said, “The art team is still setting up the scene. You’ll just have to wait on the side if you go now. Come, Starsea Live is visiting the set. Say hello to the viewers in front of the camera.”

Shen Xici did as he was told, looked at the camera, and smiled, “Hello everyone, I’m Shen Xici. The ‘Xici’ from ‘My old friend bids the west farewell at Yellow Crane Tower’.”

The bullet comments paused for two seconds, then suddenly exploded as if the screen had glitched.

“——Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! Who is this person!! A critical hit of beauty!”

“——I just forgot to breathe! My god! Holy crap!”

“——Ahhhhhhhh, beautiful! So beautiful!”

Seeing the excitement of the audience from the screen full of bullet comments, although the interview list did not include the name “Shen Xici,” the host immediately sensed that this would definitely be a big highlight of this live stream. She directed the topic to Shen Xici, “Sister Yage, may I ask if this is a newcomer to the crew? Could you introduce him to us?”

“Yes, he got into the crew through an open audition. Although it’s his first time filming, his acting is not like a newcomer at all. In fact, it’s quite amazing. The next scene is mainly about him, so his makeup is more beautiful than ours, which really makes one feel unbalanced.” Seeing the camera focus on Shen Xici’s makeup and styling, Wen Yage added, “He has another amazing skill. Teacher Shen, how about playing a tune?”

Shen Xici immediately understood that Wen Yage was deliberately giving him a chance to perform and leave an impression on the audience. He did not refuse. He reached out and casually picked a leaf from a nearby branch, held it to his lips, and played a local tune that his grandmother had taught him.

“——Holy crap, a leaf can actually make a sound? It sounds so good!”

“——So bewitching, so enchanting!! Hello, will you marry me?”

“——Love is restraint. I’m trying my best to restrain myself from making any lewd comments, damn!”

“——Those lips, that leaf, hiss, so sexy, so beautiful!”

Seeing that Shen Xici immediately understood her intention and showed no stage fright, the red and white drawn at the corner of his downcast eyes were like a phoenix spreading its wings, and the red mark between his eyebrows and the winding pattern on the back of his hand added a touch of demonic beauty.

Paired with the clear, melodious, and ear-catching tune, he looked just like the young man dancing a sacrificial dance at a mountain god festival.

Wen Yage stood lazily, thinking, some people just need one opportunity to make it big. If not this time, then the next. How could they be stopped?

Before long, under the topic #Starsea ‘Mountain Range Line’ Set Visit Live Stream#, a large number of contents related to Xu Lingjia were pushed down. The constantly increasing number of screenshots and screen recordings were all of the same person.

“——So stunning. I really stared at the screen for a long time before I recovered, especially the scene where he was playing the leaf with his eyes closed. It was like a high priest communicating with the gods!”

“——Doesn’t anyone think that this newcomer looks very much like the Son of the Mountain God that the bird-watching grandpa photographed! [Image][Image] This has to be the same person! With this kind of looks, could there really be two of them?”

“——A beauty! A great beauty! ‘My old friend bids the west farewell at Yellow Crane Tower,’ he is the Yangzhou of fireworks in March!”

“——I’m so obsessed! After going crazy in the live stream, I’m here to go crazy again. Which character is Shen Xici playing? What’s his Weibo name? Hurry up and give us the information, I’m begging you!! Official account, come out and do your job @MovieMountainRangeLine”