The second episode of ăLiang Shanbo and Romeoă was recorded in W County of A Province in the eastern part of the country . W County had an enchanting scenery, a long history, and a distinct cityscape . It was also an intangible cultural heritage . Therefore, the program group had already designed a new theme: âWuxia1â .
The recording would start at nine in the morning under the city wall of W County . It was a fine day . The sky was clear, the mountain ridges densely and continuously overlapped in the distance with a floating mist that was a warm green . The nearby verdant willows cast shade while the cicadas sang and the birds clamored . All of this allowed the guests who arrived early to enjoy the beautiful scenery while breathing the hard-to-come-by breath of fresh air, completely refreshing their spirits .
When Director Xu announced the theme âwuxiaâ, the group wearing their personal clothes exchanged glances: Although it was also written in the script⌠However, if it was wuxia, shouldnât there be costumes and props? When they were coming over, they also werenât informed to put on makeup, no?
The director didnât rush to answer everyoneâs doubts but continued to introduce the backdrop and rules of this episodeâs competition .
Because both Zhu Yingtai and Julietâs clans were strongly against their intolerable love, the two clans jointly sent out an assassin to hunt down Liang Shanbo and Romeo .
To complete the task, the assassin infiltrated amongst the six members . Everyoneâs team would be decided by drawing role cards . At the same time, the assassin role and secret task were also hidden inside the role cards . As a whole, there would still be two teams competing to finish tasks . The only difference was that the person who drew the assassin role card had to complete his secret task without being discovered .
At the final meetup, the members would cast votes on who they believed to be the âassassinâ . If the voting result was correct, the assassinâs mission would fail and the winning team would still get to take the goddess home . On the contrary, if the assassin escaped everyoneâs eyes and managed to complete his task, the killer would be declared victorious, and the goddess Zhu Yingtai/Juliet would die tragically under the assassinâs hands .
Boys! In order to protect the goddess, take action!
ââHearing the instructions up to there, the six guests finally understood . This was actually the rather common âWho is the spy?â game . There were only some changes here and there, such as the roles, while the process also became a bit more complicated . However, the basic playing method was still one word: Speculate . You speculate, I speculate, are-you-going-to-speculate⌠What one enjoyed was the heart beating and excitement from all the furtiveness .
So it was no wonder that they werenât informed to have their makeup done or told to change into costumes beforehand . It turned out that there were role cards that needed to be extracted on the spot .
Seeing the director display the six role cards one by one, it included âGuo Jing2â, âYang Guo3â, âDuan Yu4â, âLu Xiaofeng5â, âXimen Chuixue6â, and âJin Shiyi7â; it was almost a hodgepodge of characters from various classic wuxia novels . Â
These six characters each had their own unique characteristics: Guo Jing was loyal and righteous, Yang Guo was romantic, Duan Yu was infatuated, Ximen Chuixiao was cold, Lu Xiaofeng was outstandingly handsome, while Jin Shiyi was natural and unrestrained . You could say they were all models of male gods and could easily lead people to fall into a dilemma of choice .
Fortunately, the director narrowed down the scope for them . âThe guests who won last time can choose first . â
Kang Yifan, who was part of the winning team in the last episode, took the lead and stepped up, directly picking the role card of âYang Guoâ then turned back to the camera and gave a wink8 . âAs soon as I saw Yang Guo wronging lives9, I just knew he was for me . â
After Ye Mang went up, he struggled for a while and then chose âXimen Chuixueâ . He said with a smile, âThis one doesnât look as likely to be an assassin . â A staff member asked from off-camera, âYou donât want to be the assassin?â
He was stunned for a moment, then smiled and shook his head . âThe goddess is so beautiful, how can I bear to kill her?â In fact, from listening to his agentâs chatter here and there, Xia Rong also knew that Ye Mang was a pure peace-loving man and didnât like to be involved in those âglints and flashes of cold steelâ10 . When he was free, he would also make tea for the staff members on the set, completely a good old man .
When Su Chi went up, he seemed to have already made a decision while he was waiting early . He straightforwardly took âLu Xiaofengâ and said to the camera, âI, on the other hand, hope I would get the assassin role . In that case, I can challenge a different task route to success . â
However, at the very least, from then up until entering the dressing room to change into costumes, no one could open their role cards . So he wouldnât be able to learn whether or not his wish came true . Maybe, in the end, it was the last person who wanted to be the assassin that actually got it . These kinds of things couldnât be said for certain . By the time Xia Rongâs âdefeated trioâ came forward, only three role cards were left: Guo Jing, Duan Yu, and Jin Shiyi . The director didnât let them choose one by one anymore but just handed the cards directly to the group once they came forward . So, the three people divided up the three cards .
Zhang Xin took a look at the remaining role cards, patted his chest, and said in a rejoicing tone, âFortunately, Jin Shiyi was still left for me to choose . I want to choose him . Did either of you want him?â
Gao Junming replied ignorantly, âIn fact, that name sounds rather unfamiliar . I donât even know who he is . â
âJin Shiyi is a character in Liang Yushengâs novels . Regarding Liang Yushengâs wuxia, there werenât many adaptations into film or TV, so itâs normal that you didnât know . â Zhang Xin explained, but he obviously knew more about it . His tone didnât hold any contempt towards Gao Junming, instead, he patiently and kindly continued, âI think Guo Jing quite suits you, what do you think?â
With him having said this, a little bit of embarrassment appeared on Gao Junmingâs face and he reached for the âGuo Jingâ role card . âItâs more or less the same, haha, then Iâll choose Guo Jing . â
Zhang Xin then turned around to ask Xia Rong, âXia Rong, do you have someone you want to choose?â
Xia Rong casually answered, âEither is fine with me, I donât have a preference . â
So Zhang Xin happily took the âJin Shiyiâ role card . Xia Rong looked at the last role card, âDuan Yuâ, on the table and sighed in his heart: This⌠was probably fate . Who asked for this kidâs character setting to actually clash with him? They were both rich second generations, both were handsome, moreover⌠No matter where they went, there were still people who loved them .
Oh, it rhymed quite well too . Â 11Xia Rongâs good mood lasted until everyone went into their individual dressing room and opened their role card .
The word âassassinâ written inside the âDuan Yuâ card was extremely clear and vigorous12 .
In fact, Xia Rong was quite at ease about whether he would become the âassassinâ . It wouldnât be a bad thing to just do the regular tasks, but it was also a good thing if he managed to get âassassinâ thus allowing him a new challenge . However, what he did not expect was, the real âassassinâ card was actually the one that no one wanted to choose and was thus picked by him, who didnât have a choice . This was the first reason for his surprise .
While the second reason for his surpriseâŚ
Inside the role card, in addition to the two big characters âassassinâ whose ink was still wet, there was also a line of small characters below itââ
Assassinâs special task: the assassin must touch the earlobes of all the other members and say to them âYou are really good-lookingâ before the final segment of the episode . If all the members were successfully collected and they hadnât become suspicious, then this mission would be judged to be completed .
âŚWhich gay on earth proposed this super-flamboyant task ah!!!
Xia Rong turned his head and looked at the camera with a dark face, âCan I choose to give up this task?â
The accompanying director had a beaming smile, âIf you go out now and shout âI am the assassinâ three times, then you probably wouldnât need to do the task . â
ââŚâ Xia Rong turned back and gnashed his teeth, ââŚYou guys are ruthless . âThe âDuan Yuâ style that the program group gave him was obviously based on the 2007 adaptation of âTian Long Ba Bu13â . A tall crown in his waterfall-like hair, adding a folding fan in his hand and elegant white clothes, he completely became a beautiful young man unversed with this turbid world .
After Xia Rong changed into this getup, he was vigorously praised by the group of makeup artists, artistic director and program director . Saying howâŚÂ How come they had never seen him in ancient costume before, and how it was actually so stunning, blablaâŚÂ Xia Rong was calm on the surface, but in fact, he was very happy in his heart . Taking the chance before anyone came in to announce that it was time to start shooting, breaking his usual style, he decided to have a change in pattern and asked a staff member to help him take some photos . So that in the future, it can be posted on Weibo to help with publicity .
He was still performing âLing Bo Wei Bu14â inside the room when suddenly, he heard someone push open the door and enter . He thought that it was only someone who came to tell him they were starting to film . But when he looked back, he unexpectedly found an old man who was approximately in his sixties .
The old man was dressed in a Tang suit, holding an ebony walking cane in his hand . His hair seemed to have been dyed, a sleek inky black . He looked very energetic, hale, and hearty . Seeing him come in, all the staff put down their things and called out âYu Laoâ or âYu Lao is here . â 15
From hearing âYu Laoâ, Xia Rong also understood who the person that came in was . This person called Yu Chengchang was a famous artistic director during the golden age of Xiangdao16Â films . He produced many classic and unimaginably beautiful Xiangdao films and could be regarded as a benchmark of that generation . After the decline of Xiangdao films, he turned to the mainland and began to invest in films . Because of his exceptionally good vision in investing, he made a lot of money and even founded his own brand . And every one of his occasional nominal films has also often been publicly praised for their box office successes, becoming an increasingly legendary figure in the circle, garnering him the nickname âBlessed Man17â .
One must know, while the entertainment circle was such a seemingly vain and flashy place, it was, in fact, extremely superstitious . When a crew began a production, they would have to choose an auspicious day and offer incense to the heavens . When people in the circle wanted to buy a house, they would also ask a master to take a look at the feng shui . Many stars would pray to the gods and chant to the Buddhas, and even be superstitious towards âqigong mastersâ or âattained mastersâ . Whatâs more, they would also run abroad to look for ways to âplace cursesâ or âprick villainsâ hoping their fortune would remain prosperous, while their obtrusive competitors would get hindered .
Although Xia Rong was a good young man with the five stresses and four beauties18Â of the new century and never engaged in feudal superstitions, except for following along when offering incense when the crew started up, this did not impede the overall environment of the entertainment circle . It was precisely because of his reputation as a âblessed manâ that Yu Lao was highly respected and sought after in the whole circle . With other investors, they would need to consider their conditions and negotiate with each other . However, that wasnât the case with Yu Lao . Some production crews would even prefer to reduce their budget and request for him to invest . But whether or not he was willing, it wasnât up to them . Â 19Essentially, all the crew would like for Yu Lao to invest no matter what to âborrowâ some of his luck . So while they are picky about other investors in general, they would rather lower their budget to bait Yu Lao to join instead .
ăLiang Shanbo and Romeoă was the first variety show Yu Chengchang invested in . When the staff in the dressing room saw him come to visit, they were all respectful and beamed with pleasure, hurriedly asking someone to drag a chair over for the elder to sit .
Yu Chengchangâs walking cane tapped on the ground twice . He did not walk in the direction of the chair that a staff member had brought, but straightforwardly walked towards Xia Rongâs side .
Xia Rong was pulling his sleeve but as he looked down, he saw this little old man in a Tang suit standing in front of him, looking at him seriously, who slowly askedâŚ
âYoungster, recently, have you felt that something⌠Around you didnât seem very normal?â