80 Mysterious Visitor
When he wakes up again, it is already early the next morning. The light in the room is still on, and Yuan Ge finds that he has fallen asleep on his desk, spending the night amidst the paper and ink, but thankfully the ink was not printed on his face.
He stands up to freshen up, but feels the clothes on his back slip off. On closer inspection, what draped over his shoulders is a cloak from the props room.
How?
Wasn't he the only one left in the entire mansion last night?
Did someone come by?
Yuan Ge looks around; it is still early morning and there is no sign of the staff coming to work. He wonders if someone has seen that he had fallen asleep and has draped this cloak over him.
Pale dawn light shines in through the window; a fragrance permeates the room, rather like the ambergris[1] favoured by the ancient nobility, faint if at all, but with a pleasant effect on the mind and body. In addition to the few calligraphic pieces he had written for today's scene, there are several more on the right side of the desk, which appears to have been written not long ago, and the ink has not yet completely dried. The handwriting is elegant and skilful and appears to have been written by a renowned calligrapher, whose grammar and style look like the work of a literati of the Qing dynasty. On closer inspection, there is a faint water stain in one corner of the paper, looking like a teardrop.
Yuan Ge is a bit puzzled. What is this all about?
Could he have been possessed by Rong Qing in his dream and written a more perfect essay?
That seems unlikely. He has only slept shallowly for a few hours, and he has not seen him in his dream.
Could it have been the little loony boy?
Looking at the slight grip mark on his right wrist, he remembered that the little lunatic always seemed to need a 'recharge' when he was around. He had clutched his wrist like that at home that night - this guy, if he was here, why didn't he show up to meet me. Didn't he know I was worried about him?
In any case, looking at the perfect piece of calligraphy work on the table, Yuan Ge suddenly feels uplifted - no matter how Yin Fenghua behaved, there will always be people in this world who understands me.
Art, no matter what era it is in, has its faithful makers and believers, and will never lose its lustre just because someone else has tarnished it. Qingqing is my work of art, the fruit of my heart and soul, and no matter how many difficulties I have to overcome, I will make it right!
After clearing his mind, Yuan Ge goes back to work, organising scenes and making notes on the day's shooting schedule. It may be easier for Yin Fenghua to perform a purely emotional scene, and perhaps he will be more committed to it.
***
"Mr. Yin, I know we have our differences and that the previous scenes haven't been satisfactory for either of us, but this scene we are shooting today is the first major emotional scene in this film. It is the first scene of physical intimacy between Qiuchen and the man he loves, Liang Zitang. It's a delicate moment that needs to be handled subtly in order to reveal the rich inner emotions of the character. I hope you will take it seriously and do your best to convey the layers of the character's changing emotions."
When Yin Fenghua looks around and see that the set has been cleared of people, he can't help but laugh, "Director Yuan, you always talk in such a roundabout way. You mean we are gonna do a bed scene, right? You can just say so! I'm not a child, so no issues from me. But this amateur actor of yours, will he be able to handle it?"
Yuan Ge turns his gaze to Stephen, whose face has turned red from Yin Fenghua's sarcastic remarks.
He ignores Yin Fenghua's words and says to Stephen soothingly, "Your character Liang Zitang is a poor scholar who has gone to the capital to take his imperial exams. He had the chance to see Qiuchen perform on stage and was so impressed by his art that he was determined to win his affection. As a famous actor with lofty ideals, Qiuchen is way beyond your reach, and under normal circumstances you could never dream of meeting him. But as fate would have it, Qiuchen favoured you, and not only does he not care about your down-and-out lowly status, but he also uses the money he has saved to fund your studies … From an emotional standpoint, you greedily enjoy his infatuation with you, and gradually become tempted to take advantage of it. You want to woo him and possess this pure and innocent body that even a man like the Third Lord cannot have. So when you perform, you have to pay special attention to how to convey your complex feelings with your eyes, both covetous and grateful, making all sorts of promises with flowery words, but knowing in your heart that what you are giving is not the same as the soul-binding love that Qiuchen craves …"
Stephen listens carefully to the director's analysis. As a highly talented graduate of the Capital University of Technology, his ability to learn and grasp the essence is quite remarkable. Seeing that he keeps nodding in comprehension, Yuan Ge is confident that he will be able to act out Liang Zitang's complexity.
Yin Fenghua listens and interjects from time to time, "Director Yuan, how far should we go in this physical intimacy? It's too complicated the way you explain the scene. Why don't you just tell us how far you want us to go. That'd be a lot easier for us actors."
"Only to the point where the intention is expressed. I will instruct Jinghai to make the images aesthetically pleasing and the angles as subtle as possible. After all, this is not pornography we are filming." Yuan Ge replied, somewhat frustrated by Yin Fenghua's attitude.
However, Yin Fenghua says, "But last night, Brother Run also made it a point to tell me that we should be more daring when shooting bed scenes. Don't shrink back and get all arty, going for aesthetics, otherwise the film will do poorly at the box office."
This Fat Chow, what a load of nonsense he was talking about!
Yuan Ge recalls that when they had agreed to form Dragon Dreams Pictures together, he had stressed the premise - that he did not want his creative ideas to be interfered with too much. Watching his growing obsession with making money, it seems that he has forgotten the promise he made to him in the first place.
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[1] Ambergris, or grey amber, is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.
China was one of the first countries in the world to discover ambergris. In the Han Dynasty, fishermen found some greyish-white waxy floating material in the sea. It had a strong fishy smell, but when it was dried it gave off a long-lasting fragrance that was even more fragrant than musk when lit. Some local officials contributed it as a treasure to the emperor, used it as a spice in the palace, or as medicine. At the time, no one knew what this treasure was, so they consulted the alchemists in the palace, who believed it to be the saliva of a "dragon" from the sea, which flowed out during sleep, dripped into the sea water and solidified. Its name therefore means "dragon's saliva" in Chinese.
