Makeup and wardrobe passed in a blur. Even if Jiang Xin came over now and insulted all of Wen Rui's ancestors, he wouldn't notice, too hung up on the last text that Zhou Ye had sent.
[Good boy.]
He tried to shake his thoughts off it but it was impossible not to hear Zhou Ye's low voice, which always reminded him of the reverberations of cello strings, murmuring those two words.
…Wen Rui had never thought he would be the sort.
Back in high school, especially in third year when stress and testosterone levels were especially high, it wasn't uncommon for some of his classmates to bring a particular sort of magazine or comic to share. Sometimes they even had video clips stashed away in their phones too. Wen Rui had been too embarrassed to discuss sex with the other boys. It never seemed appropriate and pornography tended to objectify women, which his mother had always thought him not to do.
But it hadn't stopped him from coming into contact with some of it by accident. For example, he knew what a praise kink was.
Maybe he was being paranoid but the flush of pleasure he'd felt when he'd read that last text wasn't—
Well. It wasn't normal for him. And…okay. Say he had to have a praise kink, which perhaps was the result of losing both parental figures at an age where he still sought their validation. Shouldn't the person he wanted to receive praises and pampering from be some curvaceous older sister type?
Why Zhou Ye?
He felt at a loss.
"Wen Rui, Wen Rui? Are you listening?"
He snapped back to reality and blinked at the director, who was staring at him with a mix of frustration and concern.
"Sorry, Director Fu," he apologised with a chastised bow of his head. "I'm slightly nervous about the set." It didn't feel good to lie about this but he couldn't tell Director Fu that he was spacing out because he had nearly preened in delight over a couple of texts that had no right being that ambiguous.
Did Zhou Ye even realise what kind of message he'd sent? Probably not. One good look at him and Wen Rui knew this wasn't the typical member of the young generation. He was willing to wager that Zhou Ye had as much texting experience as his maternal grandmother. He didn't know how to moderate his tone and had given Wen Rui a bizarre impression. Wen Rui just needed to ignore it and pretend those messages had never happened.
"No need to be nervous," Director Fu reassured. "We know that it's your first time filming, mistakes are bound to happen, just try and learn as much as you can from them." Despite giving Wen Rui a stern impression, he seemed like a reasonable person to work with. Wen Rui was grateful for the patience.
Nodding, he gave himself a mental slap on the back of the head and forced himself to focus on the job at hand.
"Later on, when you're climbing that tree, it has to look effortless and carefree. How do you think your character is feeling at the moment?"
"Relaxed. He has put down all concerns that high school students have in favour of skipping class and taking a nap. Right now, he doesn't want to think about anything but enjoying a lazy afternoon."
It wasn't hard for Wen Rui to reflect on this. Chen Wen was a classroom archetype that Wen Rui was familiar with. He couldn't place it exactly but there were aspects of his personality that Wen Rui had caught glimpses of in some of his classmates, especially…Zhou Ye. Although Zhou Ye was a lot more severe than Chen Wen, who had a sunnier personality, they both enjoyed tucking themselves away in secluded parts of the school, even going so far as to break school rules. Zhou Ye had favoured napping on the restricted rooftops while Chen Wen liked scaling the trees in the old garden that no one went to anymore after rumours of it being haunted.
After reading the novel, Wen Rui interpreted Chen Wen's behaviour to be like this because his good-natured facade was partially an act that he sometimes grew tired of. Chen Wen ran away to escape from his classmates and find some time to be himself, just dropping all pretences to enjoy the mild sweet fragrance of the flowers in the spring wind.
Then…why had Zhou Ye done something similar? Had he also been exhausted by being so perfect all the time?
"There will be a close-up on your face at this point. Li Xue and Jiang Xin will be doing their own acting but I won't tell you about it in detail because you're not supposed to realise that they're there."
Wen Rui nodded. Coupled together with some of the advice that Li Xue had given him earlier about taking note of the camera positioning, he felt like he could make a decent first attempt. It wasn't that he was being over-confident but he wasn't the sort to get nervous in front of scrutiny. Despite the trouble it was causing him at the moment, growing up in a wealthy family had plenty of advantages. Wen Rui had been exposed to social events since a tender age and had long since learned to carry himself with poise even with others watching his every move.
Director Fu patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry too much, let's see how it goes." He was so understanding that Wen Rui couldn't help but feel touched. There were worse sets to begin an acting career on. The horror stories Li Xue had told him of unreasonable directors who only catered to the A-listers or those with backers that they couldn't risk offending had worried him a little, especially with Jiang Xin's earlier attitude.
The take went surprisingly well. Wen Rui didn't get it right the first time because his shoe got caught in a rough patch of the bark and the director made him try again because the action didn't seem smooth enough. But everyone was pleasantly surprised that he scaled the tree without much difficulty in the first place, including Wen Rui. This 21-year-old body of his didn't look like it had that much muscle on it but he supposed an idol whose career was built on rigorous dance practice would have some measure of fitness.
Once up the tree, it was easier to sink into the mindset of Chen Wen.
It was still early spring, the season where the peach blossoms were only starting to bloom and a drizzle often blanketed SH City in a fine mist. But the weather today was spectacular, with clear skies and bright sunshine. It was effortless for Wen Rui to lounge back against the large branch he was perched in, one hand behind his head and one leg dangling off the edge to swing idly in a natural show of youthfulness. He basked in the cosy warmth and inhaled deeply, settling into the position with a comfortable sigh. Although he didn't have the worries of a high school student to deal with anymore, he had other problems on hand and he tried to set these aside instead and just appreciate living in the moment.
This was the mentality he felt Chen Wen had, this urge to distance himself from troubles. He wasn't a perfect character, was far from it. Despite his popularity in school, Chen Wen was actually a very selfish individual, who didn't care about his classmates as much as they thought he did. It was only after meeting the female lead and getting dragged into her world by his emotions for her that he stopped detaching himself from those around him and learned to properly care for others.
Wen Rui felt that there were aspects of Chen Wen that he could relate strongly to. He'd been so caught up in himself back in high school that he hadn't noticed that his mother had needed him or that Zhou Ye could have been a good friend.
"Cut! Well done!"
Did time go by so quickly? He'd been so distracted with trying not to ruminate on the past that he hadn't even tried acting…when did they take the close-ups?
"Wen Rui, hang on, we'll prepare a ladder for you to come down!"
He blinked and sat up, throwing both legs over the edge of the branch. "It's fine," he tried saying. "It's not that high, Director, I can—"
Director Fu shook his head furiously. "Don't try anything funny, just be patient and wait. If you get injured, I don't know how to answer for it."
[I'm sure Manager Qu will pat you on the back for a job well done,] Wen Rui thought wryly. But he listened to instructions because he didn't want to think about how sarcastic Zhou Ye would undoubtedly be if Wen Rui broke his leg on his first day at work. That was the sort of luck he was living with nowadays.
"Wait, wait!" The director called suddenly, stopping the flurry of people beneath from shifting the ladder over. He gazed up thoughtfully at Wen Rui. "This angle is surprisingly aesthetic," he decided. "Wen Rui ah, hang on for a second longer, let's take a promotional shot of you like this, for you to upload on your social media."