Isn’t money good?

Chapter 32

Yan Shiqiu looked at the candy, then at Ji Yunnian, and was stunned for a long moment. “…I’m not a child.”

He didn’t take it, asking, “Where did you get the candy?”

Seeing that he didn’t take it, Ji Yunnian put the candy away and sat down beside him. “Little Yue gave it to me.”

Little Yue was the young actress who had just played the girl. She was only five years old, but she had already acted in quite a few productions and was very talented.

“Her mother coaxes her to drink ginger tea this way.” Ji Yunnian looked at him with a half-smile, switching from coaxing to provocation. “Little Yue finished all of hers. Are you younger than her?”

Yan Shiqiu: “…”

“You win. I’ll drink it, okay?”

Frowning, he finished the ginger tea and immediately asked Zhou Yu for water, gulping down more than half a bottle, but still felt the ginger taste was particularly strong in his mouth.

He turned his face and stared longingly at the White Rabbit candy in Ji Yunnian’s hand.

Ji Yunnian handed over the candy and casually ruffled his wig, saying with a laugh, “Little Yan.”

Yan Shiqiu quickly unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth. The milky flavor covered the ginger taste, and only then did he look at Ji Yunnian again, retorting, “Who are you calling little?”

“Whoever eats candy is little.”

“Whoever gives candy is also little.”

“You are.”

“You are.”

“You.”

“You!”

Just then, Liu Xi walked over leisurely with coffee and dropped a line: “Stop arguing, you’re both little.”

Ji Yunnian: “…”

Yan Shiqiu: “…”

The two looked at each other, then both looked away. One picked up water to continue drinking, the other stared off into the distance, as if the childish behavior like “I know you are but what am I” had never happened.

Liu Xi leaned against the table, laughing with great amusement.

It was still raining outside, even harder than before. Chen Hangsheng wasn’t resting but was directing the camera crew to film empty shots for later use in post-production editing.

After ten minutes, Yan Shiqiu got up to change into another costume, had his makeup redone, and began filming another indoor scene.

His scene partner was Xie Zhaoli.

Xie Zhaoli played the Fourth Prince Chu Junyan, who was also the male lead of the drama.

Chu Junyan was born in the Cold Palace. His birth mother was Consort De, who had been demoted years earlier after being implicated in a witchcraft case. Only after Consort De died in the Cold Palace was he allowed to leave, but he was still just thrown into the most remote palace with only a young eunuch assigned to serve him.

Chu Junyan was despised by the Emperor and struggled to survive. Leftover food was considered good. Sometimes he didn’t even have any food, and even the palace eunuchs dared to bully him.

When Chu Yuexuan encountered him in the Imperial Garden, he was being bullied by several eunuchs.

Afterwards, Chu Yuexuan brought Chu Junyan back with him. When Consort Chen saw the seven-year-old Chu Junyan, she didn’t drive him away, and later even directly asked the Emperor to let her take care of Chu Junyan.

The Emperor doted on Consort Chen at the time and casually agreed with a wave of his hand.

From then on, Chu Junyan grew up together with Chu Yuexuan and the Third Princess Chu Xiyao. The three siblings had an excellent relationship.

Actually, Chu Junyan’s character wasn’t the traditional “righteous and heroic” type.

He didn’t care about anyone or anything, except for three people: Consort Chen, Chu Xiyao, and Chu Yuexuan.

As long as they were well, he was content.

However, the first time he discovered his own powerlessness was when his beloved sister was selected as a marriage alliance princess, and he could only watch helplessly as she put on red robes to marry.

The second time he felt powerless was when Chu Yuexuan ultimately chose to walk the “righteous path” but died under a rain of arrows because of his kind nature.

He even had to go to the mass grave to search through corpses.

Finally, he lost even his adoptive mother, Consort Chen.

Once again, he was left alone.

Only then did he finally make up his mind to overthrow this rotten-to-the-core regime and fulfill Chu Yuexuan’s wish to restore prosperity to Beichuan.

The scene they were about to film was the meeting between the two brothers after Chu Yuexuan returned to the capital.

After watching yesterday’s scene between Yan Shiqiu and Ji Yunnian, Xie Zhaoli had been looking forward to today. He was very excited now, feeling his blood boiling.

Who wouldn’t want to act opposite a skilled actor?

When your scene partner could not only respond to your performance but also help you get into character, that’s when filming becomes truly enjoyable.

After finishing his makeup touch-up, Xie Zhaoli came over and extended his hand to Yan Shiqiu. “Let’s give it our all.”

Yan Shiqiu smiled and shook his hand. “Alright.”

Chen Hangsheng took a sip of water and picked up the megaphone to address the entire crew about preparation. The script supervisor held up the slate.

“Alright, Scene 1 Take 1, Action—”

As soon as Chu Yuexuan returned to the mansion, he saw Chu Junyan sitting in the main hall waiting for him. He was stunned for a moment and was about to speak when Chu Junyan was already in front of him, hugging him tightly.

“You’re back.”

“Junyan?” Chu Yuexuan came to his senses, patted his back, and smiled gently. “I’m back.”

“Xiyao is dead.” His voice grew heavy.

Chu Yuexuan emerged from the embrace, lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly, and said softly, “Yes, I know.”

“I went to bring her back… I couldn’t bring her home.”

“It’s not your fault.”

In the camera, Chu Yuexuan’s eyes reddened. His hands at his sides clenched into fists, but his expression remained comforting as he led Chu Junyan to sit down. “How is Mother Consort?”

…

He Qian had no scenes in the afternoon, so she pulled Zhao Yutong over to watch.

The two watched the camera feed on the monitor after lighting adjustments, quietly whispering to each other.

“This pair is also very shippable, brothers with an age gap, so appealing!”

“No, I ship the older one with the younger one.”

“Double pure? I ship that too! Pure moonlight × pure moonlight, and both die, totally HE.”

He Qian nodded vigorously in agreement, then couldn’t help but sigh, “I can already foresee the ‘bloodbath’ when the TV drama airs. The two CP fan groups are going to fight.”

She thought about it and sighed, “I’ll probably be nameless by then.”

“Not at all.” Zhao Yutong affectionately linked arms with her. “You still have me. Yao Xue and Chu Fei have lots of sweet moments in the drama, yuri goodness, excellent.”

After this scene was finished, Yan Shiqiu had no more scenes for the evening.

He didn’t leave. After removing his makeup and changing back into his own clothes, he took an umbrella and walked around to Team B next door, planning to observe Ji Yunnian and Shen Lishan’s scene that evening.

As soon as he arrived at Team B, he heard the Team B director cursing furiously. Su Yu hung his head dejectedly while Ruan Lin stood nearby, lost in thought.

???

He walked over to Fu Baiqing and asked, “What happened?”

Fu Baiqing immediately filled him in: “Su Yu and Ruan Lin have been filming this scene for almost two hours. Su Yu keeps making mistakes, which has driven the director crazy. And this morning, Su Yu was very late, which meant they couldn’t film one scene and had to push it to tomorrow.”

Yan Shiqiu: “…”

After cursing for a long while, the director finally stopped. He was tired of scolding and didn’t want to continue, so he waved Su Yu away, indicating he should leave.

“You should go rest too.” The director also told Ruan Lin.

Because of the delays caused by Su Yu and Ruan Lin’s scene, Ji Yunnian and Shen Lishan’s scene was pushed back almost forty minutes.

Yan Shiqiu enthusiastically moved a small stool to sit in the corner, watching Ji Yunnian, who was getting his makeup touched up, with bright eyes. Sensing his gaze, Ji Yunnian looked back at him.

“Good luck.” Yan Shiqiu said silently with his mouth, resting his chin in his hands with his eyes crinkled in a smile.

Ji Yunnian watched him for a few seconds, then suddenly beckoned to an assistant nearby. The assistant ran over quickly but seemed confused after hearing what he said.

The assistant left with a head full of question marks. Ji Yunnian glanced at Yan Shiqiu again, then turned back around.

A minute later, the script supervisor clapped the slate.

An Mo had finally found a key witness, but before he could interrogate them, the Emperor summoned him to the palace.

The Emperor asked about the progress of the case. Learning that he had found a key witness, the Emperor suddenly told him not to investigate further. It was enough to establish that Minister of Revenue Li Zeyuan was the mastermind behind it all.

An Mo’s joy at finding the witness completely disappeared. He looked up, gazing deeply at the Emperor before him, filled with disappointment.

“Your Majesty, are you asking this minister to abandon the truth?”

The Emperor sat high above, looking down at him condescendingly. “Li Zeyuan is the mastermind of the corruption case. Beyond that, there is no other truth.”

An Mo’s expression was serious. “Your Majesty, the southern floods affected hundreds of thousands of people, all because someone embezzled funds when building the riverbanks years ago, using substandard materials, which led to the river breaking its banks.

If we don’t uncover the truth, how can we account to the disaster victims? If we let this person go free, what will happen when the same thing occurs again?!”

The Emperor was furious. “How dare you!”

But An Mo showed no fear. He stood straight, his gaze fixed directly on the Emperor, neither humble nor arrogant, insisting on only one thing: “Your Majesty, Li Zeyuan is not the mastermind. Behind him, there is someone else.”

“Please allow this minister to continue investigating the truth.”

…

Yan Shiqiu watched intently when his shoulder was suddenly tapped, startling him.

Turning around, he saw it was Ji Yunnian’s assistant. He looked puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

The assistant handed him a small fan and a box of prepared fruit. “Teacher Ji asked me to give these to you.”

“?”

Yan Shiqiu was even more confused.

He pointed to himself, confirming again, “For me?”

The assistant nodded. “Yes.”

After hesitating for a moment, Yan Shiqiu accepted them and politely thanked him, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, you should thank Teacher Ji.” With that, the assistant turned and left.

As soon as the assistant left, his stomach made a gurgling sound.

Quite loud too.

Fortunately the assistant had left and there was no one else nearby, or it would have been quite embarrassing.

Yan Shiqiu felt slightly relieved, then looked down at the box of fruit in his arms. After two seconds of silence, he decisively opened the box and began eating happily.

Half an hour later, Ji Yunnian finished his scene and walked over to him.

Yan Shiqiu had just eaten a piece of apple, his cheeks puffed out. Ji Yunnian asked, “Does it taste good?”

“It would be even better with some sour plum powder.”

Yan Shiqiu casually picked up a cherry tomato with his fork and offered it to him. “Want some?”

Ji Yunnian’s eyes flickered slightly, then he reached out to him. “Give me the fork.”

Yan Shiqiu handed it over.

“Thanks.” He shook the preservation box that was now half empty. “I was just getting hungry.”

Ji Yunnian hummed in acknowledgment.

Due to scheduling constraints, Ji Yunnian could only stay with the crew for two weeks, so time was tight. He still had a night scene to film later.

Yan Shiqiu didn’t stay to watch. He wasn’t feeling well. His throat hurt a bit, like the early signs of a cold. So after Liu Xi finished dinner and came over, he left with her.

Back at the hotel, he opened a packet of cold medicine, drank it, and went to bed.

Drowsiness gradually overcame him.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next day.

After sleeping through the night, his cold symptoms were more pronounced. Yan Shiqiu sat up slowly while hugging his blanket, felt his forehead, and found he had a low fever.

He tried making some sounds and confirmed his voice was still relatively normal, which put him at ease.

Otherwise, if he couldn’t speak, he wouldn’t be able to film today.

After washing up, he made another cup of cold medicine and drank it before picking up his bag and going out.

Liu Xi and Zhou Yu were already waiting for him downstairs.

Getting into the van, Liu Xi saw his listless expression and put away her phone to ask, “Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

“No, I have a bit of a fever.”

“You’re sick?” Liu Xi frowned. “Aren’t you going to ask for leave?”

Yan Shiqiu waved his hand. “It’s just a low fever, nothing serious. Plus I took medicine. It should go down soon.”

“Let me rest a bit more, wake me when we arrive.” He told Zhou Yu.

The hotel wasn’t far from the filming location. After more than ten minutes, they arrived, and Zhou Yu called out to Yan Shiqiu.

Yan Shiqiu opened his eyes, his voice hoarse. “We’re here?”

“We’re here.”

Yan Shiqiu nodded and patted his cheeks, forcing himself to perk up.

Getting out of the car, the sun was particularly harsh. He quickly walked into the filming location and discovered the crew’s atmosphere wasn’t good, especially Chen Hangsheng, whose face was completely dark.

The producer was nearby, also looking very displeased.

Zhao Yutong spotted him and waved him over. Yan Shiqiu walked over.

“What’s wrong with Director Chen and the others?”

Zhao Yutong quietly told him, “Su Yu quit. He says he’s not feeling well and wants to withdraw from filming.”

At the same time, on an anonymous forum, a post with a long title appeared:

“Latest gossip! An actor with surname S has quit a major ancient costume production that recently started filming. Apparently it’s because the S-surname actor offended a certain rising newcomer on set…”

T/N — What do you think of the changes in their relationship?