Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Zhou Yun said, "Then I’ll send her back first, and come back later to clean this up."

What he meant by "clean this up" was the leftover food on the table.

"No need, no need, I can tidy up myself." Zhou Yun waved her hand with a smile. "You should get some rest early, you’ve all been tired out for One Day."

Zhou Yun saw them off, then turned back to tidy up the house.

The whole process was simply captured by the camera.

Only when she’d finished washing all the bowls did Wen Bing call cut.

"That’s good."

Wen Bing came over and said, "Not easy, you really worked hard today."

Today Zhou Yun really had worked hard.

She had to watch her own acting while also keeping an eye on how everyone else was acting.

Zhou Yun said, "Will I get to sleep in properly tomorrow?"

Wen Bing said, "Didn’t we set up with Chen Zhuo and his sister to go up the mountain and pick fruit tomorrow?"

Zhou Yun: "Ah, right."

Wen Bing: "Usually you shoot one scene after another; on this film you’re practically in the story from morning till night, it wears you out."

Zhou Yun: "I just wonder, with all this footage we’re shooting, how much you’ll end up using."

Wen Bing: "I’ll definitely use it, it won’t be wasted."

Zhou Yun: "Well then I’ll just do what you say. I’m already on this pirate ship with you anyway."

A lot of people think that when actors are shooting a film, they already know what kind of film it will be.

In reality, it’s not like that, especially with certain films—art-house films. What the actors see on set and what the director finally puts on screen can even end up being two completely different things.

Zhou Yun had long since gotten used to this.

Just like back then with Life.

When Zhou Yun was shooting, it never crossed her mind that Wen Bing would cut it together like that.

That’s why people say film is the director’s art.

Zhou Yun just shot according to Wen Bing’s ideas.

During the actual shoot, Wen Bing, as the director, was almost invisible.

He didn’t call "Action," and he didn’t call "Cut."

Yi Zhe had more presence than he did.

But no one could ignore Wen Bing’s presence.

The reason this film was shot this way was exactly because Wen Bing wanted it so.

Wen Bing wanted this kind of massive amount of real, unvarnished footage, and then to extract from it what he needed.

Zhou Yun could vaguely sense what that "something" was, but not clearly.

You had to wait until the film was completely edited to see clearly.

Early the next morning, Zhou Yun went up the mountain again with Chen Zhuo and Xiuxiu to pick fruit.

The fruit grew on a tree on the mountain and was a bit sour.

Zhou Yun didn’t know what it was called; the locals just called it wild fruit.

After confirming it was edible, Zhou Yun tried a bite; it was so sour her eyebrows scrunched up.

"How can it be this sour?"

Everyone burst out laughing.

At noon, the group ate at Xiuxiu’s house as usual, then went back to the riverbank where they’d caught crabs yesterday.

Heaven be praised, the weather today was about the same as yesterday.

Today the focus was mainly on shooting Zhou Yun.

They’d specially reminded Chen Zhuo yesterday that he had to wear the same clothes today that he’d worn then.

Today Chen Zhuo was only there to play against Zhou Yun, and they’d basically hardly be shooting him.

Wen Bing did write a few slips of paper for Zhou Yun, with several lines of dialogue on them.

Chen Zhuo had very few lines; basically he was just there to react, barely needed to act.

Zhou Yun read them, rolled her eyes straight at Wen Bing, and thought to herself, You closet perv.

"Do you want to rehearse twice with Chen Zhuo in advance?" Wen Bing asked.

Zhou Yun thought for a moment, then said, "Forget it. If we rehearse beforehand he’ll probably just get more nervous. Let’s just go straight in—his reactions will be better the more real they are."

Same setup as yesterday: after the two of them were tired out from catching crabs, they sat on the rocky shore.

The cameraman had to squat in the river to shoot them, because that was the only way to get them from the front.

Zhou Yun took a drink of water, looked into the distance, and her eyes simply ignored the cameraman and the lens.

The wind blew gently.

She brushed back the strands of hair blown loose, then turned her head toward Chen Zhuo.

"Xiao Zhuo, do you have a girl you like?"

Chen Zhuo blinked in surprise, a bit dazed, looking at Zhou Yun at a complete loss.

Zhou Yun didn’t need him to answer; she only needed a reaction from him, and then she would carry it forward. She smiled and continued, "If there is someone you like, you have to really treasure the days when you can still see her, okay?"

Chen Zhuo was about to speak but held back.

He was just about to say something, when he looked up at Zhou Yun and froze.

Because at that moment, Zhou Yun’s gaze seemed to stretch infinitely far, so far it felt empty.

He didn’t know when her tears had gathered.

With a soft plop, a tear fell.

She raised her hand and gently wiped it away.

Coming back to herself, she smiled and said, "Sorry."

Chen Zhuo just sat there stunned, unable to recover for a long time, not knowing what to do.

It was the state needed in the scene, and also his real state outside the scene.

In that moment he forgot about the camera too.

He was completely scared dumb by Zhou Yun.