The Villain Runs Wild

Ch 37 - Newest Top Celebrity x Washed Up Film Emperor: Teach Me?


That malice was abrupt and clear, and it became even more cutting paired with those raised eyebrows.

Yan Qin paused slightly, but did not reply.

Before his friend had come looking for him for this favour, he was already aware of what kind of temper the lead actor had, but hearing about it was just that, and now that he’d actually seen it, he was really not easy to get along with.

His appearance was beautiful, but while the outside was gilded, the inside was rotten.

This was not Yan Qin’s first day as an actor, and he’d not only met plenty of self-important people but had also rested for a few years, so his attitude had become all the more settled. Lin Sui wouldn’t infuriate him like this, so he simply watched Lin Sui brush past him quietly, and stopped to watch right where he was.

Lin Sui stood in front the spotlight, appreciating this world’s Yan Qin in his heart.

Adults were different from young men, but each had their own qualities.

Yan Qin was like a sword with a hidden edge, and somewhat gave off the feeling of someone who was neither thrilled nor saddened by material objects or experiences1. Even though he was also in his lowest point, it was entirely different from the low point he had when he was young in the last world.

Teasing a puppy was naturally to see him getting angry but not daring to say anything and being unable to control himself, but teasing an adult dog was, of course, to see him filled with forbearance but be unable to endure.

Lin Sui was delighted in his heart, and naturally his face carried a bit of a smile as well, which looked particularly attractive under the bright lights.

Even those who hated him would be a bit dazzled by this appearance.

Lin Sui was quickly finished taking pictures with the suit, and next were the ones with the changshan. When he headed to the dressing room, the assistant photographer came over to talk to Yan Qin.

“Mr. Yan2, why don’t you go to the second studio? The others are shooting over there, you might need to wait a while here.”

Because he didn’t know when the lead actor would return, and Yan Qin was just waiting here like this.

Yan Qin nodded and went towards the second studio next door.

When he returned from having finished taking his makeup photos, he just so happened to see Lin Sui, wearing a moon-white changshan, taking his second set of pictures.

Lin Sui still had the same expression as before. Off to the side, Director Liu commanded him to look ‘heartbroken’, ‘melancholy’ and ‘elegant’, and the young man’s expression changed as he listened. The corners of his mouth turned downwards in a somewhat stiff manner, he didn’t look like the melancholy star in the work, bur rather like a sulking, noble young master.

How was he able to perform in this drama with such poor acting skills?

Yan Qin frowned slightly as he thought about the person he was going to act with. He always looked down on this kind of person with poor acting skills who couldn’t recognise it themselves, but he’d already agreed to do this, and he naturally wouldn’t break the contract, so he could only hold his nose and get along with this person while on production.

In the studio, Lin Sui ‘struggled’ to ‘barely’ finish taking the makeup photos when he saw Yan Qin standing outside, and he didn’t need to look closely at his expression to know what he was thinking.

If an actor with such poor acting skills wanted to not destroy the work, then naturally he would need a good teacher to hand-feed him bits of knowledge.

After Lin Sui was done with the matter in front of him, he had nothing left in his itinerary. Although the original owner liked being the centre of attention, he didn’t like being too busy, so his agency didn’t arrange a full schedule for him and rather just let him do as he wished.

The official announcement came after the makeup photos were taken, and although there had been rumours on the internet from before, once the news came out, there were still many people saying that if Director Liu’s legendary name was destroyed, Yan Qin wouldn’t guarantee his reputation upon his return.

@Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon: The front row is full of critics making me look stupid. Honestly, what does Lin Sui have apart from his face? I can’t even begin to describe his acting skills tactfully, such a shame for this work.

@Precious Wealthy Woman: And a shame for Yan Qin, he was such an amazing and talented man back then, and now he is even more manly than before wuwuwuwu, so handsome, I hope he can get popular again.

@Small Window of Cold Night Rain: I understand the reasons, but what is phentolamine? I looked it up and it says it’s an alpha receptor blocker, is it for treating shock or something? What?

@Lin Sui’s Outside Girlfriend: Eh eh eh it’s the main ingredient in Viagra, it makes us rise in excitement. It doesn’t matter if it’s a suit or a changshan, baby, they both look good. New look new try, let’s go baby! Support “The Stand-In” oh!

@Cosmos Rose: When I saw the words Lin Sui, Yan Qin, and The Stand-In trending I thought the two of them had had some sort of melodramatic entanglement scandal, but I clicked in and it turned out to be an advertisement for a movie. From the looks of it, don’t tell me it’s the classic showbiz story with a bigshot and a substitute and a white moonlight3? When did Liu Buqun start filming this kind of stuff?

@God Daydreams: Answering the previous post, according to the leaks, it’s a contemporary suspense mystery movie.

At that time, Lin Sui had also picked up the script titled “The Stand-In”, the name looked like that of a love-hate, passion and revenge story, but it was actually a suspenseful detective movie.

Director Liu Buqun had originally wanted to make a movie set in the modern times, but in the process of communicating with the scriptwriter, he eventually changed it to a fictional contemporary setting because a modern-day setting would make it very easy for people to think he was alluding to chaos in the entertainment industry, and he was likely to attract unnecessary trouble.

It was set in a time of transition from the old to the new, but the movies and television industry was particularly developed, equivalent to a mini version of the current entertainment industry. The idol industry had not been developed at that time, but there were movie stars and singers.

The whole story was told through the second male lead’s perspective. The second male lead, Xu Shuangxing, was an extremely famous detective who secretly accepted a request to investigate a missing person’s case.

When Xu Shuangxing and his assistant went to visit, they discovered that their employer was the President of Tian He Pictures, and the other party tasked them with investigating the whereabouts of the popular film star Ruan Qingqu.

Xu Shuangxing and his assistant didn’t understand why he wanted this, they had come in through the back door because the front door was blocked by an impenetrable crowd, and Ruan Qingqu had just gotten down from the car at that time and was blocked by fans. The person was at the entrance, so how could he be missing?

In the course of the employer’s explanation they learnt that the person at the doorway was a stand-in, a man called Shu Tang.

Ruan Qingqu had been in the industry for four years, he liked wearing moon-white changshans, and he could perform in everything from old, new, and foreign works. Prior to this, he was the pillar of his opera troupe, his voice clear and mellow. He had quite a reputation as an actor, and when he was a film star he became even more popular all over China, he had countless fans, so his disappearance was no small matter.

Xu Shuangxing wasn’t fond of watching plays, but his family was, and he’d heard about Ruan Qingqu over a million times. Shu Tang knocked on the door and came inside, he was wearing a changshan which made him look just like Ruan Qingqu himself, but upon closer inspection one could find the differences.

Although they both had elegant names, this Mr. Shu Tang did not give off the same melancholy, frail feeling that aroused people’s pity for Ruan Qingqu, and the restless feeling of his imitation was heavy. When he heard the two strangers were detectives that had come to find the other person, he simply stopped pretending, looking just like an ignorant, irritable, and superficial flower vase.

Xu Shuangxing’s assistant still found it a bit strange. Although he was supposed to be a stand-in, and one could make out mistakes in his actions and bearing, their appearance was too similar. It wouldn’t be too much to say that they were twins, even saying they were the same person would be no exaggeration.

Shu Tang sneered and wiped some makeup off his nose. It turned out he had a small mole on the bridge of his nose, which Ruan Qingqu did not have.

Still, Shu Tang casually pulled at his clothes facing Xu Shuangxing, telling him there were also places on his body that were different, and that he could feel free to take a look. This kind of frivolous attitude alongside Ruan Qingqu’s bright and honest face made people feel especially uncomfortable and annoyed. The face of Tian He’s President immediately sunk and he told him to stop that kind of disgusting attitude, and Shu Tang’s mouth twitched as he let go of Xu Shuangxing’s hand which he had been pulling on.

And so, the people in the room were all convinced that this person was really the unseemly stand-in.

Tian He’s President begged Xu Shuangxing to find Ruan Qingqu’s whereabouts, because Ruan Qingqu still had a lot of things to show up for. The signing parties and meet and greets could be handled by Shu Tang, but he couldn’t act in the new show they had to film a month later. Shu Tang had none of Ruan Qingqu’s skills, only his face, so he would surely be exposed if he appeared in front of the camera.

Xu Shuangxing took the case, and as his investigation progressed, a few past events that couldn’t be known to the public emerged.

The stand-in, Shu Tang, had not been found by Tian He’s President, Xu Tingfang, after Ruan Qingqu’s disappearance, but had actually appeared three or four years ago specifically to act as Ruan Qingqu’s substitute. He handled most things for him outside of performing, and covered up Ruan Qingqu’s tracks. As for Ruan Qingqu himself, he was sent to the beds of various bigwigs by Xu Tingfang, and became part of the growth of Tian He Pictures.

This was also the reason for Ruan Qingqu’s switch from the opera to the movies. Xu Tingfang thought Ruan Qingqu’s voice was too hoarse from being so fiercely played with to go on stage, and people would likely discover something was wrong.

Who could have known that there was so much filth and corruption underneath the cool breeze and bright moon? Yet the stand-in, Shu Tang, was actually not contaminated by those things, firstly because those people looked down on his behaviour and thought he was simply inferior to Ruan Qingqu, and secondly because Shu Tang was a straight man who especially despised the business of selling his ass.

It wasn’t that Xu Tingfang hadn’t thought about also sending him to do those things, he had the face for it, after all, but Shu Tang would actually rather die than obey. He’d grown up in the marketplace and could say all kinds of obscenities, and was an orphan with no family and even less scruples. Xu Tingfang was worried he would ruin things, so he forgot about it.

Xu Shuangxing learnt a lot of things from Shu Tang, and also became suspicious of him when investigating Ruan Qingqu’s whereabouts.

Ruan Qingqu’s disappearance was really too strange. He and Shu Tang were going towards Yuzhu Shop from Dongsan Road, but he got off the car for a period of time to go into an old bookstore. Xu Tingfang’s people were watching him, but the man disappeared in the blink of an eye when was wandering around a pile of old books, leaving only the suit-clad Shu Tang inside the car, who met Xu Tingfang’s fury with bewilderment.

Xu Tingfang searched the area at once, even joining up with the municipal police and lower class people to turn the place over, stopping every train going out of Haicheng that day and searching them one by one, but they were still unable to find Ruan Qingqu.

Xu Shuangxing found a few leads, but his investigation still turned cold. However, Xu Shuangxing had another guess: perhaps Ruan Qingqu had never gone missing at all, and the missing person was actually Shu Tang.

On the surface, Shu Tang was Ruan Qingqu’s stand-in, but if Ruan Qingqu was currently standing-in for Shu Tang, who would be able to tell?

Just as he was preparing to prove it, Ruan Qingqu was found. Or rather, Ruan Qingqu’s body was found.

The corpse had been a bit damaged, but one could still clearly tell that the body didn’t have a mole on the bridge of his nose.

They were once again thrown into a delicate situation. Xu Tingfang was furious, and Xu Shuangxing’s commission also changed from finding Ruan Qingqu to finding his murderer.

As he pulled at the threads, Xu Shuangxing’s sights once again landed on Shu Tang. He still thought he was actually the real Ruan Qinqu, and most likely Shu Tang was the one who died.

In order to stop Xu Shuangxing from speaking, the fake-Shu-Tang-real-Ruan-Qingqu made some moves. Regardless of whether he had to persuade him or use other means4, he had to reinforce his identity as the stand-in.

Lin Sui closed the script, fingers tapping lightly on the paper.

This script was truly too perfect.

It was just that the process was a bit like a nesting doll; Ruan Qingqu, who was good at acting, was pretending to be Shu Tang, who was not good at acting, and Lin Sui was playing the role of the original owner, who was not good at acting, playing the part of Ruan Qingqu pretending to be Shu Tang.

It was a mouthful to say, but it was actually pretty clear.

The day of the ceremony marking the start of the shooting, Lin Sui sat in the centre with Liu Buqun and Yan Qin by his sides. Director Liu’s round face was unsmiling, and Yan Qin was his usual sullen self, but Lin Sui was actually in a pretty good mood, his eyes curved into a smile.

“My rule is to shoot intimate scenes first, it’s not easy to break character when you’re not skilled, so I hope you can quickly get into the swing of things.”

Director Liu talked to Lin Sui in a harsh tone. He was so frustrated and annoyed on the inside that he wished he could quit every day, but he had no choice but to hold his breath.

He was also worried this amateur flower vase would complain and try to tell him how to film, but Lin Sui didn’t say a word, he just agreed lazily and went to sit on a shaded chair, putting on even more airs than the director.

“I think I’ll have to take two years off to recuperate after this film. I’ve never seen anyone so arrogant, if I didn’t know better I’d think the emperor himself had come to visit.”

Liu Buqun held his anger as he complained to Yan Qin, looking at the young man in the recliner surrounded by five assistants with a fierce-looking expression.

One was fanning him, one massaging his legs, one massaging his arms, one holding the script, and one feeding him fruit. In all his years directing movies, he’d never seen something so pompous, and in addition, his acting was really, extremely bad.

“Ah, Yan Qin, you’ll have to be a little patient and help him get into the role when the time comes, don’t let me lose my integrity in my old age because of this film.”

Liu Buqun was actually just in his forties, far from old.

Yan Qin looked at the script in his hands and glanced at the nearby young man, then spoke indifferently: “I’ll try my best.”

Liu Buqun heaved a deep sigh, and went to examine the installations and set decorations.

Lin Sui read the script for the scene and ate seasonal fruit with no expression on his face, making one unable to guess what he was thinking about at that moment.

In this scene, Ruan Qingqu discovered that Xu Shuangxing might know the truth, and so he goes to stop him from talking.

He first used Shu Tang’s attitude to try to worm the facts out of him, but when some crucial evidence was pointed out by Xu Shuangxing, he changed his face, pitifully begging Xu Shuangxing to not reveal the truth, and even taking his clothes off to seduce Xu Shuangxing.

Xu Shuangxing didn’t fall for the trap, but something was strange with his body. Something Ruan Qingqu had on him made him feel weak all over, and he couldn’t even make a sound.

Ruan Qingqu wanted to take advantage of the situation and silence Xu Shuangxing for good so he would stay quiet forever, but, at that moment, Xu Shuangxing’s assistant knocked on the door and was coming in.

Ruan Qingqu didn’t want to expose himself, so he grabbed Xu Shuangxing and put him on the bed, covering him with the quilt and making it look like the two of them were right in the middle of having a good time. Xu Shuanxing’s assistant thought he had just interrupted an intimate moment, so he left in a hurry.

This was actually not an intimate scene, but rather just one of light contact. After all, this was not a film about forbidden love.

When Yan Qin grabbed the script and went looking for Lin Sui to rehearse, Lin Sui was eating grapes.

Lin Sui took one last grape from his assistant and had him stand aside. He didn’t reply quickly when faced with Yan Qin’s words, but rather let Yan Qin sit in front of him and began to slowly peel the grape.

The white, slender fingers that ruptured the grape’s skin were quickly stained with a bit of juice, which emitted a sweet fragrance.

“Do you want a grape, Film Emperor Yan?”

The radiant young man leaned forwards slightly, bringing the green grape to the side of Yan Qin’s mouth.

This gesture of seeming goodwill contradicted his behaviour, which made one’s heart feel strange.

“Thank you, but no—oh…”

Yan Qin refused politely, but that grape was stuffed straight into his lips, and the tip his tongue even touched the young man’s finger.

Yan Qin pursed his lips tightly as the grape juice flooded his mouth, but that strange touch still lingered on the tip of his tongue.

“Sorry, I don’t really like it when people reject me.”

Lin Sui’s attitude was apologetic, but the words he spoke carried no sense of apology.

He used a wet wipe to casually clean his fingers, aloof and unconcerned.

Yan Qin took out a napkin from his pocket and spat the grape out on it, his expression indifferent as he turned to Lin Sui and explained: “I’m very sorry, I don’t like grapes.”

“That’s a real shame, it was a good one. If you had eaten grapes before going to the award ceremony back then, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten into a car accident and ended washed up.”

Using the other party’s wounds to attack them, he really was a despicable, loathsome person. Not even his good appearance could make up for it.

Unfortunately, the young man thought that was still not enough, so he continued rubbing salt on the other’s wounds: “I heard you injured your lower back, you should be fine, right?”

He might have really seemed a bit concerned if he didn’t have a smile on his face.

“I’m fine, thank you, let’s rehearse.”

Yan Qin’s face didn’t change as he spoke, he wasn’t angered at all.

The young man seemed to have lost interest, so he picked up the script and rehearsed with him.

When the show began, the clapperboard announced the start of the performance, and multiple cameras were set up from a few different directions aiming at the courtyard.

Lin Sui was wearing a western suit and playing with a sachet in his hands, he got into character from the moment he stepped into the room.

Compared to playing a role well, it was probably more taxing to perform while pretending to be a bad actor. His performance was deliberately flawed, but behind the camera, Liu Buqun let out a relieved sigh.

Liu Buqun muttered: “Fortunately, he’s not that much of an eyesore.”

Inside the half-lit room, the suit-clad young man stood out in the open with a slightly astonished smile.

“Mr. Xu, what kind of joke is this? Ruan Qingqu doesn’t have a mole, but I do. You’re saying I’m Ruan Qingqu, and the one who died is Shu Tang, but I can’t just wipe the mole off my face, and the person who died didn’t have a mole.”

The man in the black dress shirt narrowed his eyes at the visitor in the room, saying: “I think that Shu Tang never had a mole at all, did he?”

“As for the mole on your face… Xiao Wan’er, who did odd jobs for you back when you were in the opera troupe, scraped a living as a wandering magician5 before being taken into your care, so moles shouldn’t be anything difficult for him.”

“As for Shu Tang, whether or not he originally disappeared of his own accord is still up for debate, but there is a hidden cellar behind that bookstore which is big enough to hide a person.”

“You might not know that Shu Tang has a girlfriend, and not know what he promised her, so you simply didn’t go looking for her after you killed Shu Tang. If you were really Shu Tang, why would you abandon your lover?”

There was a bit of pity in Xu Shuangxing’s eyes: “Mr. Ruan, as long as I bring that person in front of Mr. Xu, everything will be made clear.”

“Admittedly, you are pitiful, but that’s no reason for you to hurt anyone.”

Seeing as his scheme might have been exposed, the young man sitting on the bed spoke with a moving, pitiful appearance: “Mr. Xu…”

“Cut! Stop stop stop!”

Liu Buqun yelled in exasperation, shouting at the actor as usual: “What are you doing? You’re pretending to be pitiful after discovering your plan might be exposed, with such a vicious expression, aren’t you afraid the other person will find out you want to kill him? Can you act pitiful or not?!”

He still had some more choice words, but Liu Buqun remembered who this person was and forcefully held back.

Lin Sui waved his hand half-heartedly: “Sorry, director Liu. I’ve only ever had others acting pitiful towards me.”

As he sat up on the bed, even his delicate pitifulness seemed superficial, and his feigned helplessness carried a hint of mockery, like a poisonous flower swaying in the wind.

Director Liu gnashed his teeth: “Then you better learn! Didn’t you perform well just before?!”

“Thank you, director Liu, I was just being myself.”

“Do you think I was complimenting you?! Hurry up and practice it again!”

Lin Sui looked at Yan Qin, and dragged out the ends of his words as he spoke: “I can’t, ah, I’ll have to trouble Mr. Yan to teach me.”

“Teach me how to look wretched.”

Almost everyone could make out Lin Sui’s malice towards Yan Qin, but no one found it strange. If a normal person suddenly targeted another normal person, it may be sick, but did a sick person need a reason to target anyone?

Yan Qin, seeming as though he hadn’t heard his mocking, began to seriously teach him how to act.

“If you haven’t experienced that kind of emotion, just imagine yourself being utterly isolated and on the verge of dying by another’s hands. You’ve exhausted all of your tricks just to win a chance to live.”

This analogy, whether it was a lesson or a satirical metaphor, was like a tactful rejection.

As Yan Qin looked at the pensive appearance of the young man in front of him, his hand was suddenly gripped. Yan Qin subconsciously wanted to take it back, but the grip was very tight.

The soft palm was tightly pressed against his own palm, making him feel particularly uncomfortable.

When he looked again, there a slight moisture had emerged in Lin Sui’s eyes. He leaned close to Lin Sui to examine the expression on his face, which made it easier for Lin Sui to press up close to him at that moment.

“Mr. Yan, like this?”

He quietly whispered next to his ear.

Those brows were still the same, and those eyes were still the same, but they were suddenly even more graceful.

It was as if he wasn't asking someone to let him live, but rather to take pity on him and let him go to rest.

After his question, the young man’s brows once again let out some if his brash, arrogant temperament which, mixed with that graceful air, seemed like a snow white sword edge which dazzled the eyes in a flash.

Yan Qin suddenly took his hand back, lowering his eyes as he said: “It’s still wrong.”

Since they were shooting an intimate scene, there weren’t many staff members on set. Liu Buqun didn’t think anything strange when he heard them talking about it being right or wrong, and just thought it was a lesson, so he hoped Lin Sui would understand everything quickly.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t lowered his standards, it was actually that those acting skills wouldn’t be able to stand up to the test of the big screen, they hurt the eyes too much.

After a few reshoots, the first scenes were finally over, so they switched to a different scene.

Lin Sui loosened his shirt, exposing his shoulders and collarbone, and the shirt slid down to his arms, and that was the end of it.

The rest of the scene continued under Liu Buqun’s defeated guidance.

After Xu Shuangxing discovered something was wrong, his body swayed, and he fell to the ground in a bit of a sorry state.

The aggrieved, pitiful young man who had sat on the bed controlled his expression, but didn’t gather up his clothes, he just watched the man sitting on the ground.

“Mr. Xu, you really are as clever as the rumours say, but you shouldn’t be so smart. You want to hand me over to the police, but I’ll just end up back in Xu Tingfang’s hands in the end. Both of you surnamed Xu are really a family.”

“Mr. Xu, do you want to live?”

The young murderer sitting on the bed played with the sachet in his hands, smiling as he watched the detective on the ground.

He threw down the sachet by the man’s hands as if he were playing with a dog, whistling.

“If you bring it back, I’ll let you live.”

The young man’s voice was mellow and pleasant, as if he were saying something endearing.

He was like a flower whose root system spread wantonly, frantically growing and letting it’s branches sway as it firmly wrapped them around its prey.

At this moment, he was neither Ruan Qinqu nor Shu Tang, but rather the most authentic, malicious, twisted soul with two identities.

“Come.”

That soft and slender hand swayed lightly under the lights, and Lin Sui’s voice and expression suddenly turned cold.

“Crawl over.”

Yan Qin realised something was wrong when Lin Sui changed his dialogue at the last second. This scene was actually not in the script, the script should have been Ruan Qingqu telling Xu Shuangxing to choose a way to die.

But Liu Buqun didn’t call for them to stop, and Yan Qin knew the two of them must be thinking the same thing. Sometimes, when an actor entered their role, they would interpret the plot in their own way, which could actually have a surprising result.

Xu Shuangxing didn’t move, he just quietly faced Ruan Qingqu, and the atmosphere between them was frozen.

The actor playing Xu Shuangxing’s assistant was completely unaware of the situation, he simply counted the seconds to get to the door and knock to go in.

Liu Buqun watched the screen with a stiff frown. According to the script, Ruan Qingqu should immediately put him on the bed and start pretending, so why was Lin Sui starting to undress?!

 

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1 The attitude of the ancient sages, who did not let external objects or personal experiences affect them emotionally, maintaining constant indifference regardless of failure or success. Top.

2 Note that the cn text says ‘燕老師’, Yān lǎoshī. Laoshi means ‘teacher’, but it can also be used to address a person who is learned and can give others advice. In this case it’s bc Yan Qin is a very skilled actor. Top.

3 A white moonlight is usually someone’s cherished, pure, and unattainable first love. Top.

4 Original text was censored at ‘攻心還是□□; persuade him or □□’, again I just filled it in with something vague. The first word literally means to ‘attack the heart’, aka. to use psychological tactics like persuasion or demoralisation, so I’m guessing the censored second part probably had to do with a more physical attack, but idk. Top.

5 Magician more in the sense of someone who does healings and divinations rather than someone who pulls rabbits out of hats. Top.