Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Yao Yuanfeng is not optimistic about this cooperation for two reasons: first, because he believes that any rational actor wouldn’t take on the script Wen Bing has proposed, unless the director is Chen Zian; and second, he knows that Zhou Yun is more cautious in choosing films now than she was in the past. Plus, she’s about to start filming "Killing Song," so Zhou Yun will surely be preparing for that. How could she agree to Wen Bing’s new movie?

However, he won’t say this to Wen Bing.

He wants Wen Bing to hit the wall himself.

Yao Yuanfeng has never liked seeing Wen Bing and Zhou Yun so closely bonded. With them tied together, he doesn’t have much room to maneuver.

Just like during the filming of "Female Assassin," no matter how strong New Shield was, they couldn’t overpower those two.

Yao Yuanfeng appreciates their talent but doesn’t want them to overshadow him.

If he could get them to go their separate ways, that would be the best outcome for him.

Of course, no matter what, Yao Yuanfeng won’t go separate ways from them.

For both him and New Shield, Wen Bing and Zhou Yun are indispensable partners at this stage.

...

Wen Bing went to find Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun was stunned.

Wen Bing had never talked to her about this script.

"I wrote this a long time ago, but because there were too many scripts to shoot, I’ve never had the time to work on this one," Wen Bing said. "Now the second part of ’Two Tigers’ needs rewriting, so my schedule has opened up. I want to use this time to make this movie."

Wen Bing looked very enthusiastic.

Zhou Yun took the two pages and started reading.

Upon seeing this, Wen Bing shut his mouth and didn’t say anything more.

The script was very short and could be read in ten minutes.

Zhou Yun said in surprise, "Isn’t this just an outline?"

Wen Bing replied, "It’s a script. Since it’s about her living alone, there’s not much dialogue."

"Alright, I get it now," Zhou Yun somewhat understood Wen Bing’s idea. "You’re trying to depict a state of living alone, or?"

It’s impossible to see anything purely from this script.

Wen Bing explained, "I want to present a kind of... I don’t know how to express it exactly, but a loneliness deep inside people’s hearts. Many people say that even though there are a lot of people around them, they still feel lonely. After work, they go home alone, and after partying with friends, there’s that sudden desolation that hits them."

"But the place you’ve written about in the script is in the countryside."

"Yes," Wen Bing nodded, "I want to see whether, if someone is fed up with the hustle and loneliness of city life and chooses to return to the countryside, completely immersing themselves in real life, this sense of loneliness will be alleviated. I often see reports about people abandoning city life to live in remote mountain forests, enjoying the pleasures of nature. I don’t know if they truly enjoy it, but I want to know if their inner loneliness has been mitigated."

Zhou Yun said, "I understand what you mean, but if I’m not mistaken, you yourself don’t have the answer yet?"

"No," Wen Bing confidently shook his head, "If I had the answer, I wouldn’t want to make this film. You know, I like discovering things during filming, unlike ’Two Tigers’ and ’Female Assassin,’ where everything is set before shooting. Of course, New Shield spent a lot of money, so I can’t do whatever I want, but for this movie, I want to shoot it in my own way. I know you’re going to film ’Killing Song’ in December, so as long as you’re okay with it, we can shoot in November. It won’t take long, about twenty days, and we don’t have to finish it. We can continue filming after you’re done with ’Killing Song.’

Zhou Yun fell into silence.

Wen Bing saw Zhou Yun silent and got a bit nervous.

"What’s wrong?" Wen Bing asked, "You don’t want to shoot it?"

Zhou Yun shook her head, "It’s not that I don’t want to shoot it, it’s just that I’ve had a rough time recently. I’m wondering if it’s because I’m overworked, and I’m afraid suddenly taking on another film might upset the balance of the inner peace I’ve finally found."

Wen Bing looked at Zhou Yun in surprise.

"Huh?"

Zhou Yun said helplessly, "I’m not joking with you. It’s true, when I was shooting ’Moon Sinking at Sea,’ I felt really bad."