Chapter 52
A smoky musical sound flew out suddenly and then became thinner and sharper. It was like an invisible fish line that tightly held their nerves.
Shen Yan’s originally relaxed posture changed instantly and he looked at Xie Yang in an incredible manner. Everyone else on the set was also dumbfounded and stared at Xie Yang silently. This expression, this aura, this elegance combined with slightly crazy violin posture… wasn’t Xie Yang a singer? What was with this sudden outburst?
On the side, Xu Heng recovered from his consternation. He quickly went back to his position and pointed the camera at Xie Yang, his expression faintly excited. Long Shuyou on his left had already been staring at Xie Yang when Xie Yang set up the violin. At this time, he consciously leaned over and clenched his hands. On the other side, Xue Xian was dumbfounded and afraid.
Everyone was watching Xie Yang but Xie Yang’s gaze had fallen on Mu Zhouyi, sitting diagonally across from him in the rest area. The moment his eyes fell on Mu Zhouyi, he seemed like a hunter who had finally locked onto his prey. The actions of his hand tightened and accelerated.
The sharp sound of the violin abruptly sank, like a fishing line that had strangled the desired prey. It tightened foolishly and then loosened like a trick. It was erratic and treacherous, cold and bloody.
Xie Yang’s expression became more and more excited. He stared directly into Mu Zhouyi’s eyes and suddenly relaxed his smiling mouth. He stepped forward into the shadow created by the cabinet next to him and pulled the strings heavily.
The sound of the violin exploded like plasma, seemingly urging: Run, why don’t you run?
Mu Zhouyi was stunned. She finally recovered from the control of Xie Yang’s eyes and violin as she tried to look away. Then Xie Yang turned sideways and disappeared behind the thick clock beside him. The sound of the violin abruptly stopped.
Mu Zhouyi regained her mind and stared closely but she was uncontrollably nervous. She knew this person was still staring, he was staring at her.
The others on the set emerged from the violin sound and became restless. Xu Heng was even more excited as he pushed the camera forward. On the field, Shen Yan realized something and quietly withdrew from the scene.
There was a jingling. The wind chimes suddenly rang from a corner of the windless studio. The original clear sound in the quiet atmosphere gave a type of feeling that didn’t allow the feet to touch the ground.
Mu Zhouyi shivered. Where was it? Her eyes moved and her fists tightened as she couldn’t help looking for the wind chimes.
Jingle, jingle.
The wind chimes suddenly rushed and moved, as if a ghost was dragging a murder weapon in the darkness. The tumultuous crowd returned to silence. As everyone’s mind was caught by the wind chimes, the music box on the shelf suddenly popped open and a broken doll emerged, slowly turning along with the music.
Everyone was startled and glanced at the music box. Mu Zhouyi also couldn’t help looking at the music box. Then the next second, the violin played gently along with the rhythm of the music box.
People couldn’t help looking for the violin sound. Where was the source of the violin? It was on the right, no, the back—
There was a weird muffled sound and then the gentle sound of the violin grew louder and heavier. It hit the eardrums hard like a sledgehammer, causing breathlessness and increasing the heart rate. The rhythm of the violin became more urgent and higher. Once it broke through everyone’s heartbeat limit, it suddenly dropped and reached a critical point.
Everyone looked around in a panic. They could no longer tell where the music came from.
The fishing line became the demon’s palm, pulling at everyone’s heart. It tightened it again before releasing it playfully. The hoarse and agitated violin sound was like the demon’s grief and laughter. It stepped lightly out of the darkness and stretched out claws toward the prey who was unable to find the exit…
“Ah!”
Mu Zhouyi on the edge of the field screamed briefly. She looked pale at the corner of the set closest to her and got up in a staggering manner to hide behind the assistant.
The sound of the violin stopped. Xie Yang walked out of the set corner Mu Zhouyi had been looking at and told her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect to scare you.”
The illusion that the music produced disappeared and everyone’s minds returned. Then they were shocked. When had Xie Yang reached there?
Mu Zhouyi grabbed her assistant and stared at Xie Yang, who had returned to normal. She was so surprised that she couldn’t speak. Others might not feel much but she had been locked in by the piano sound. Yes, she was locked in by the music! Just now, all the sounds were approaching her little by little. Xie Yang’s figure loomed and the rhythm of the music was like a killer approaching with a murder weapon. Xie Yang’s eyes and expressions were… terrible, really terrible.
Xu Heng got up excitedly and shouted, “This is the feeling! This is how it is written in the script. The wind chimes, the music box, the violin and the sound approaching slowly. Ye Being was lured to this music store and flew around like a headless fly. Xie Yang, the music you just played is really great! Your expressions and body language were also excellent! Just use this, use this for the soundtrack!”
Xie Yang glanced at Xu Heng. “Then won’t I be grabbing Master Long’s work?”
“Work is always about ability. Your soundtrack is perfect. I can’t do anything better than this.” Long Shuyou stepped toward Xie Yang. He grabbed the violin in Xie Yang’s hand and tried to play a few notes himself. Then he asked excitedly, “Can you make me a copy of the score just now?”
“Yes.”
Shen Yan also came over and carefully examined Xie Yang. “I remember that you are an acting major?”
“Yes but my professional level is bad.” This was a fact. The original’s major truly wasn’t very good. Meanwhile, Xie Yang had never been in contact with acting during his previous life and his acting skills were basically absent.
Shen Yan shook his head in clear disagreement with Xie Yang.
Xu Heng had just come over and heard the conversation between Shen Yan and Xie Yang. He shook his head and patted Xie Yang’s shoulder energetically. “What are you talking about? You truly are from an acting background. Your expressions and emotions were just right. If it wasn’t for you being too young to fit the image of the musician, I would’ve thought that Yun Jia ran out of the script.”
Xu Heng suddenly looked at Mu Zhouyi and frowned. “What was your reaction just now? You actually screamed. Don’t be in this state when filming later. Take another five minutes and we will start shooting in five!”
Everyone went back to their spots, many of them secretly watching Xie Yang. Xue Xian was also watching Xie Yang. He squeezed the script tightly with cold fingers. If the soundtrack just now was Xie Yang’s highest level then… he couldn’t compare.
Five minutes later, the shoot resumed.
In order to pursue realism, Xu Heng simply replaced Shen Yan and let Xie Yang play the violin toward Mu Zhouyi according to the positioning in the script. He planned to take several important close-up scenes of Ye Bing.
Mu Zhouyi stood in the middle of the set, watching Xie Yang hidden in a corner of the set and took a deep breath to adjust her emotions.
Xie Yang raised the violin.
“Cut! What about your anger? What are you afraid of?”
“Cut! Is this anger? Your eyes were filled with fear.”
“Cut! Give her some makeup. Why is her face so white!
……
“Cut! Fine! Mu Zhouyi will go to rest. Find someone to ask Wang Xiong to shoot the supporting role first today.”
The atmosphere in the studio was bad. Everyone looked at Mu Zhouyi with doubt and dissatisfaction. It was clear that she specialized in acting so how could she be getting worse? What’s more, a singer who wasn’t a professional actor got into the play quickly. What was going on?
Mu Zhouyi clenched her fists, apologized to everyone again and turned to hurriedly leave the studio with her assistant.
Xie Yang put down his violin and walked outside the set.
“Xie Yang.”
Xie Yang stopped and saw Shen Yan.
Shen Yan asked, “Can we have a chat?”
Xie Yang raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Yes.”
The two of them found Xu Heng and told him they wanted to temporarily leave the studio on the grounds of discussing the character’s feelings. Then they entered Shen Yan’s dressing room.
Shen Yan had his assistant guard the door and asked Xie Yang to take a seat on the short sofa. He took a chair and sat opposite Xie Yang. He hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth. “I want to ask, do you and Mu Zhouyi know each other from before?”
Sure enough, he wanted to ask this.
Xie Yang avoided answering. “Senior, are you asking this because of the words I said yesterday? Sorry, I was drunk. Don’t believe everything I said. You don’t need to care about it.’
Shen Yan saw that Xie Yang didn’t answer the question and considered something before frankly speaking about his plan to help Mu Zhouyi sign with Huanyu. Then he explained, “I don’t want to explore private matters. I just want to get an objective evaluation of Mu Zhouyi from others. My understanding of Mu Zhouyi seems to be too one-sided.”
“Senior Shen, if you want to do some research before signing her then I suggest you find a professional evaluation team to go to Huangtian to learn about Senior Mu’s business value.”
He wouldn’t fall for this cunning question.
Shen Yan looked at the other person who was calm, thoughtful and completely different from a 20 year old. He changed his method and asked, “If it was you, would you sign Mu Zhouyi to Yang Xing?”
Xie Yang was blunt. “No.”
“Why?”
Xie Yang stared at Shen Yan silently.
Shen Yan actually understood Xie Yang’s meaning and felt a bit amused and a bit helplessly. “If Yang Xing needs anything then Huanyu can be your partner at any time.”
Very good.
Xie Yang was satisfied and stopped avoiding the key point. “I won’t sign Mu Zhouyi because Mu Zhouyi is a troublesome person whose ability goes up and down. She is very powerful in grabbing resources and drawing people’s hearts quickly. Signing her to my company isn’t conducive to the development of other artists under my banner. In addition, she is likely to become the girlfriend of my relative so I have to avoid suspicion.”
Shen Yan frowned. “What do you mean by she is very strong at grabbing resources?”
Xie Yang didn’t give a proper answer and just hinted, “Senior Shen, how many actresses do you know in Huangtian who have a more stable performance than Senior Mu? Crazy Musician is such a good audition opportunity. Why did it fall into Senior Mu’s hands?”
Shen Yan was suddenly reminded of this blind spot and froze for a moment as he frowned deeply.
***
Mu Zhouyi finally came back after lunch at noon. She bought fruits and drinks for everyone and once again apologized for her poor condition in the morning.
These people weren’t the type of pick at faults and they all said it was okay. They also comforted Mu Zhouyi by saying it was normal not to find the right mood after a long break.
Xie Yang felt that the aura around Mu Zhouyi after she returned was a bit wrong. She was too relaxed. He realized something and took out his phone to check Weibo. He soon found what he wanted on the hot search.
#Mu Zhouyi donated to build Hope Primary School#
He glanced at Mu Zhouyi, who was surrounded by a crowd of people, and lowered his head to look at the topic.
A Mu Zhouyi official support club had made a recent public service Weibo post. The contents showed that an hour ago, Mu Zhouyi donated to three Hope Primary Schools through a charity.
Doing charity was the fastest way to earn goodwill. The comments below this post rose rapidly. Many people were praising Mu Zhouyi’s beauty and kindness while some passersby said they had become fans.
Sure enough, she found a way to increase her love value.
Xie Yang put down his mobile phone and glanced in Mu Zhouyi’s direction. He saw that she was walking toward Xu Heng and Shen Yan while holding two drinks. Then he couldn’t help reaching out to grab the apple that Long Shuyou had just picked up and took a bit from it.
Long Shuyou stared at him.
“This is a poisoned apple.” Xie Yang placed the lunch box distributed by the crew into Long Shuyou’s hands and patted him on the shoulder. “Have a good meal and don’t take drugs.”