Reborn in the Hong Kong entertainment industry in the 1980s

The company isn't afraid of a TV series having many episodes; they're afraid of it being poorly made. The more episodes a well-made, high-rated TV series has, the better.

Don't you see those popular TV dramas all getting sequels, and then more sequels, and then even more sequels? Some of the biggest hit dramas even get extra episodes filmed halfway through their run, filming and airing simultaneously.

Hu Xiaoxiao's face lit up when she heard Director Shao's words.

Sure enough, if you want more screen time, you have to ask the director.

After watching Hu Xiaoxiao's audition, Shao Yitao felt that the role of Murong Qianluo was a sure thing. But after watching Mingxu's training, he felt that it was not satisfactory.

"Can't we strive for perfection?" Shao Yitao said to Nie Jinlong.

Nie Jinlong said, "Mingxu is already doing very well. If things get any harder, I don't know if he can handle it."

"I can!" Mingxu unfastened the harness, gulped down a bottle of water to quench his thirst, and said breathlessly, "I have to hold on even if I can't!"

As the male lead, he can't lose to the female lead... well, he can't lose by too much.

Mingxu glanced furtively at Hu Xiaoxiao, who was still pondering her moves, and felt a lingering fear: In all his years in the business, he had never seen anyone more determined than her, especially a woman. When a woman gets ruthless, there's no way he, a man, can compete.

Mingxu gritted his teeth and said to Nie Jinlong, "I think I can increase the intensity a bit more."

At least when she's on screen with Murong Qianluo, she won't lose too badly.

"That's ambitious!" Nie Jinlong and Shao Yitao said in unison.

So, when Hu Xiaoxiao started rolling, Mingxu followed suit and kept rolling too.

Mingxu has been in the industry for several years, mostly filming action scenes. He already had a solid foundation in martial arts, and with a determined effort, he improved rapidly. Sometimes even Mingxu himself was surprised at how well he could achieve this.

He wouldn't have known he had so much potential if Hu Xiaoxiao hadn't provoked him.

Hu Xiaoxiao sat to the side, chewing on jerky, a white silk cloth wrapped around her arm, deep in thought. Mingxu rubbed his rumbling stomach, sat down next to Hu Xiaoxiao, took a piece of jerky from her snack bag, and chewed it while also thinking about how to make his martial arts scenes more exciting.

In the past, for martial arts scenes, there was a martial arts director who would design the scenes, and the actor would just practice according to the martial arts director's design without having to think.

Now Nie Jinlong is full of inspiration every day, constantly asking Hu Xiaoxiao to revise the martial arts scenes, striving for perfection. Mingxu can't help but follow suit and start thinking about whether he can use his own skills to revise the martial arts scenes to be more perfect and more entertaining.

After thinking it over, Mingxu concluded that his ground-based martial arts skills were adequate, but his aerial martial arts skills, specifically wire work, were still lacking.

Even the martial arts instructors couldn't match Hu Xiaoxiao's skill in wire-work stunts.

So, after finishing Hu Xiaoxiao's bag of jerky, Mingxu said to Hu Xiaoxiao, "Xiaoxiao, when I'm on wires later, can you give me some pointers?"

Hu Xiaoxiao agreed and said, "You'll have to help me practice the martial arts moves on the ground later."

Hu Xiaoxiao's first martial arts teacher was Mingxu. It was Mingxu who taught her the first real martial arts lessons.

The two hit it off immediately. One taught wire work, and the other taught martial arts. By combining their skills, they improved together.

When the two sparred, every move they made carried the air of a martial arts world. Nie Jinlong, watching from the side, nodded secretly and praised Mingxu a few times.

Mingxu got a little carried away by the praise and felt like he had finally succeeded.

Hu Xiaoxiao, however, poured cold water on his enthusiasm, saying, "Mingxu, your action scenes are fine, but what about your dramatic scenes? Don't forget the most important ones!"

A chill ran down Mingxu's spine, and he felt a cold shiver run through him: "Drama?"

However, he then asked Hu Xiaoxiao, "When are you going to start working on the dramatic scenes? We can practice together then."

Hu Xiaoxiao smiled with a hint of malice, "I don't need to practice dramatic scenes."

"why?"

"Because of the character design." Hu Xiaoxiao said with a smile, "The screenwriter designed my character to be as cold as ice, expressionless all year round, and all I have to do is recite my lines."

Because the character design emphasizes a fairy-like, aloof, and unapproachable aura, there is basically no dramatic emotional performance; most of the time is spent memorizing lines.

Practice your eye expressions occasionally, such as shock, joy, or anger.

Because she is a fairy, these expressions cannot be too big; they must be subtle.

So these past few days, Hu Xiaoxiao has been practicing martial arts at the film studio during the day, and at night at home, looking in the mirror, she feels a mix of slight shock, slight anger, and slight joy...

It doesn't matter if she can't perform well; as long as she's beautiful enough.

Her only tasks in this drama are to be both ethereal in action scenes and beautiful in person.

But Mingxu is different. Long Yijiang is a man burdened with a blood feud. He is a normal man who has to go through all kinds of dangerous struggles. He has many important scenes where he has to perform joy, anger, sorrow and happiness.

Mingxu had already read the script, and after being reminded by Hu Xiaoxiao, he felt like the sky was falling! Why did he have to learn so much?

How about we have the director change the title to "The Legend of Murong Qianluo"? Murong Qianluo goes on a revenge quest, and he can play a stoic, expressionless immortal.

The director obviously wouldn't agree. He liked Hu Xiaoxiao's excellent martial arts scenes and Mingxu's rapid improvement in martial arts scenes, so he decided not to cut them and to add more martial arts scenes for the two of them.

Adding action scenes has created new problems—

TV dramas should have a complete narrative and an interesting story. No matter how good it is, if it's just endless fighting, it will cause visual fatigue.

Therefore, if action scenes are added, dramatic scenes must be added as well.

Otherwise, too many action scenes will overshadow the main plot, making the whole series noisy and causing many viewers to lose patience. It's essential to combine dramatic and action scenes to achieve a delicate balance.

Director Shao immediately went to the scriptwriting department and asked the scriptwriters there to work overtime to add more dramatic elements to the story.

When Mingxu heard that he was being given more screen time, especially the kind of dramatic scenes he disliked the most, his face immediately turned ugly.

He gritted his teeth: I'll fight you to the death!

From that day on, Mingxu began practicing martial arts during the day and literary scenes at home at night. The little bit of weight he had painstakingly gained was quickly lost.

Charlie came over and praised him, saying, "You've become much more sensible. You know how to lose weight without me having to remind you. Keep it up!"

Mingxu's face turned green with embarrassment at the praise.

The director's face turned green.

He and Nie Jinlong had been focusing on the action scenes of the two main characters, neglecting the other actors. When they arrived at the training room that day and saw the other actors' martial arts, they found them all to be light and stiff, jumping around like rabbits, which was quite an eyesore.

"What are you practicing? You call this martial arts? It's more like gymnastics!" Director Shao pointed at them and berated them, "You don't want to be actors anymore, do you want to switch careers and become athletes? Are you thinking of representing Baogang in the next Olympics?"