The Common Man's Return in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 94 "An Artistic Life"

"Qingxu, long time no see!"

"Chaeyoung noona, oh Ryan's mom!"

Hearing Ji Qingxu greet her in Korean, Han Chae-young happily hugged Ji Qingxu and wouldn't let go.

"Ahem...that's enough, someone's watching."

Hearing Sun Feifei's reminder, Han Caiying reluctantly released Ji Qingxu and teased Sun Feifei, "Feifei, are you jealous again?"

Sun Feifei gave a forced laugh. "I'm just reminding you that we need to be careful about our words and actions during this time, so that reporters don't take any inappropriate photos. Didn't your local TV station remind you of that?"

Han Chae-young said regretfully, "I was reminded, and it hurts so much. The thought of not seeing Qingxu for so long and not being able to have a proper tender moment makes my heart feel cold, like cold, icy rain slapping my face."

When Ji Qingxu and Sun Feifei heard Han Chae-young use lyrics from Andy Lau's songs, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"It's okay, we'll find another opportunity next time. Come on, let's go out first, I'll take you to eat something delicious."

"Oh, hurry up! I could have tolerated it if we hadn't come to the capital, but after staying here for so long, I really can't stand eating kimchi, seaweed soup, and noodles with soybean paste every day. Go go go!"

Seeing Han Chae-young's impatient look, Sun Feifei, who had initially been somewhat resentful towards her, felt a pang of pity and decided to let it go and not argue with this woman who ate kimchi all year round.

After the people from the Korean side were settled in the hotel, Ji Qingxu took the two women to a restaurant that had been booked in advance, which specializes in Shandong cuisine.

After finishing the meal, Han Chae-young suddenly said, "Qingxu, Feifei, you two take me back to the hotel."

Upon hearing this, Ji Qingxu smiled and looked at Sun Feifei beside him. Seeing that the two of them were staring at her, Sun Feifei blushed and asked, "What are you two going to do?"

Han Chae-young said with a smile, "We're not doing anything. It's normal for us good friends to catch up after not seeing each other for so long."

66

1

Glancing at Ji Qingxu, who was looking on expectantly beside her, Sun Feifei rolled her eyes at him, embarrassed and annoyed, and stood up, saying, "Let's go, it's getting late, we have a show to record tomorrow."

Seeing Sun Feifei quickly walk outside, Ji Qingxu and Han Caiying exchanged a knowing, mischievous smile.

"Feifei, wait for me!"

Seeing Han Caiying quickly run over and hug Sun Feifei's arm, Sun Feifei gently pushed her away with a look of disgust, and Ji Qingxu couldn't help but smile.

"Please have a seat, I'll wash up first."

As soon as Han Caiying entered the room, she went straight to the bedroom. Seeing this, Sun Feifei couldn't help but punch Ji Qingxu, who was laughing beside her.

Ji Qingxu smiled and leaned closer, saying, "Sister Feifei, would you like to wash up?"

"I..

'

"Feifei, do you want to wash up?"

Hearing the sound coming from the bedroom, Sun Feifei punched Ji Qingxu again and then walked towards the bedroom.

A short while later, the sound of two girls laughing and joking came from the bedroom. Ji Qingxu smiled, turned on the TV and turned up the volume, then walked around the room and closed the curtains and other curtains.

"Qingxu, let's go together."

"it is good."

Upon hearing Han Chae-young's call, Ji Qingxu chuckled and began to take off his clothes.

"???"

Sun Feifei, who was rinsing her mouth, saw Ji Qingxu enter and Han Caiying couldn't wait to rush over and couldn't help but widen her eyes.

This woman must be starving.

Upon catching a glimpse of Han Chae-young's satisfied expression, Sun Feifei subconsciously sped up her rinsing.

After Sun Feifei finished rinsing her mouth, before she could even speak, Han Caiying stood up and said, "Feifei, here's your seat. I'll scrub Qingxu's back."

Seeing Ji Qingxu staring intently at her, Sun Feifei blushed, gave him a reproachful look, and slowly walked away.

"call!"

Hearing Ji Qingxu let out a sigh of relief, Sun Feifei subconsciously raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Han Chae-young!!!"

"Qingxu, hurry up, Feifei can't wait!"

"Let go of me."

Looking at Han Caiying pinning Sun Feifei down, Ji Qingxu grinned. This woman is really something else. I like her.

Seeing Sun Feifei pushing Han Caiying while glaring at him, Ji Qingxu chuckled and moved closer.

"Snap!"

Hearing the door close behind him, Ji Qingxu glanced at the time—12:30—smiled, and strode towards the elevator door.

After exiting the elevator, Ji Qingxu saw Zhang Zhong waiting in the hotel lobby and said with a smile, "Brother Zhong, let's go back."

"it is good."

After leaving the hotel lobby, Ji Qingxu asked, "Have you seen any reporters?"

"I saw two or three, but I don't know if there are any more."

Upon hearing this, Ji Qingxu looked around and was not surprised to see no one. Reporters who could be easily spotted by him would not be waiting here in the middle of the night.

"Let's go back."

"it is good."

Early the next morning.

"Yawn, I'm so sleepy, Feifei."

Seeing Han Chae-young rest her head on her shoulder after speaking, Sun Feifei pushed her away in disgust, "You stinky woman, if it weren't for you..."

"Does going crazy make you sleepy? Serves you right!"

"Hmph, I'm going crazy? Aren't you crazy too? You were still holding my darling last night..."

9

Seeing Han Chae-young raise an eyebrow with her arms crossed in front of her, Sun Feifei said in embarrassment and annoyance, "Are you crazy? Don't talk nonsense."

Seeing that Sun Feifei was getting a little angry, Han Caiying chuckled and stopped teasing her.

Sun Feifei rolled her eyes at her, annoyed. "Today's program is extremely important. Don't make any mistakes, and don't give anything away. Do you hear me?"

"I know, I know. My agent reminded me before I came that I must be careful about my words and actions."

Upon arriving at the TV center, Ji Qingxu, Sun Feifei, Han Caiying, and An Qixuan were led into a room by the staff.

A short while later, a familiar face knocked on the door and came in.

"Teacher Zhu Jun! ×2"

Ji Qingxu and Sun Feifei smiled and stood up to greet the newcomers, while Han Caiying and An Qixuan also stood up.

"Teacher Zhu Jun! ×2"

"Hello everyone, it's nice to meet you all. I'm here to say hello and go over the script with you."

"Please, Professor Zhu Jun, have a seat here."

"Don't be shy, come on, everyone, sit down and relax."

After sitting down, Zhu Jun smiled and said, "Have you received the scripts?"

"received."

"Okay, let's talk this over first. If there's anything you don't understand or anything that's inconvenient, just let me know."

"it is good."

The five of them then had a brief discussion about the script, which took about half an hour, before Zhu Jun left the lounge.

Watching Zhu Jun's departing figure, Ji Qingxu let out a soft sigh and shook his head. Life is unpredictable. Fortunately, it's 2004 now, not 2024. Those demons and monsters of the future... tsk!

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Sun Feifei looking at him with curiosity, Ji Qingxu smiled and said, "It's nothing. This is my first time participating in an interview program, so I have some feelings about it."

Upon hearing this, Sun Feifei also remarked, "This is also my first time participating in such an important interview program. Come on, let's go over the lines again, otherwise it will be embarrassing if we say something wrong."

"Alright, Chaeyoung, Ahn Chil-hyun, come on, let's go over our lines."

"it is good."

After waiting for nearly two hours and having memorized all the lines, the staff finally opened the door to announce that the recording of the program would begin immediately.

So Ji Qingxu and the other three followed the staff toward the recording hall.

"Hello everyone watching on TV, our guests today are..."

99

Listening to Zhu Jun's opening remarks on stage, Ji Qingxu leisurely looked around. It was a very ordinary environment, nothing special.

"Splash!"

Hearing the applause coming from inside the hall, Ji Qingxu immediately snapped out of his reverie and smiled, gesturing for Sun Feifei and Han Caiying to go first. The two exchanged a glance and smiled as they walked forward, with Ji Qingxu and An Qixuan following behind.

"Welcome, everyone. Please say hello to our audience."

"Hello everyone, my name is Ji Qingxu..."

"Hello everyone, my name is Sun Feifei..."

"Hello everyone, viewers of Huaxia, my name is Han Caiying, from..."

"Hello everyone, viewers of Huaxia, my name is An Qixuan, and like Han Chae-young, I come from..."

"

After exchanging greetings, at Zhu Jun's suggestion, Ji Qingxu and the other three sat down in chairs. The two women sat in the middle, with Ji Qingxu and An Qixuan on either side. There were no sofas, just ordinary office chairs.

Zhu Jun said with a smile, "When I heard Han Chae-young and Ahn Chil-hyun greeting each other earlier, their Chinese sounded quite fluent. Did you two learn Chinese specifically for this drama?"

Han Chae-young gestured to Ahn Chil-hyun to let him speak first. Ahn Chil-hyun smiled and nodded, "Yes, in order to film this drama, we hired a Chinese teacher to help us train in Chinese six months in advance. My Chinese is pretty fluent, right?"

"Haha, very skilled, you can tell from the sound that you've put in a lot of hard work."

"Thank you, thank you for the compliment!"

"Miss Han Chae-young, I noticed you gestured for Mr. Ahn Chil-hyun to speak first. Is there another reason?"

Han Chae-young smiled and looked at Ji Qingxu and Sun Feifei beside her. "Yes, I also studied for a while like Senior An Qixuan, but after coming to China, I found that my Chinese was not very good. So I asked Qingxu and Feifei to teach me. Before filming started, after we finished reading the script every day, we took me to tour the streets and alleys of Beijing. We spoke in Chinese the whole time."

"This method is good; integrating learning into daily life is more effective than simply studying on its own."

"Yes, even though it was only a short period of study, I found my Chinese improved by leaps and bounds. I can even speak some Beijing dialect now. 'Have you eaten yet?' 'Where are you going?' 'Oh, are you busy?'"

Upon hearing Han Chae-young's Beijing accent, the audience burst into laughter, clapping as they laughed.

Zhu Jun chuckled and said, "Your Beijing dialect is very authentic. It seems you've been to some very local places."

Ji Qingxu said with a smile, "This is my fault. Once on our way back, we met a kind driver. I thought, why don't we let her talk to the driver and get used to Chinese? And that's how it happened."

Upon hearing Ji Qingxu's explanation, the audience laughed even louder. Taxi drivers in Beijing know what I mean; they're always good at chatting.

Even Zhu Jun couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Qingxu, you really know how to find a teacher. You know what, if Miss Han Caiying chats with the driver every day, she might be able to learn fluent Beijing Mandarin very quickly. Qingxu, I heard that you speak Korean very well. You even worked as a translator while filming this drama, answering questions for the actors from both countries in the crew."

Before Ji Qingxu could reply, Han Caiying and An Qixuan each gave him two thumbs up.

Seeing this, Zhu Jun smiled and said, "It seems that Qingxu, your Korean language ability doesn't need much proof. Miss Han Chae-young and Mr. Ahn Chil-hyun have already proven it for you."

Ji Qingxu smiled and thanked her, "Thank you. Well, my Korean is actually similar to Chaeyoung's Chinese. I also know some authentic Seoul accent."

"Hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, everyone remembered Han Caiying's Beijing accent earlier, and they were all amused.

Zhu Jun smiled and asked, "Feifei, do you speak Korean?"

Sun Feifei replied with a smile, "I only know a little bit of the simple stuff; I'm not very good at the complicated stuff. I've also learned some from Caiying..."

Upon hearing this, Ji Qingxu glanced at Han Caiying subtly. The Korean that Han Caiying had taught Sun Feifei was, well, something that could only be understood intuitively.

"This time you're filming a TV series together. What were some of the differences you noticed during filming, or what impressed you most?"

"Yes, there are many differences. For example... the words that impressed me the most were those of Qingxu."

Upon hearing Ji Qingxu's name, Zhu Jun asked curiously, "Can you tell us about him?"

Han Chae-young and Ahn Chil-hyun exchanged a glance, and Han Chae-young said with a smile, "The pressure is too much."

"A lot of pressure? You mean Qingxu put a lot of pressure on you?"

They both nodded at the same time.

Han Chae-young continued, "Yes, I still remember the first time we met. After we got to know each other, we started reading the script together under the director's guidance."

At this point, Han Chae-young said excitedly, "Do you know what? Qingxu actually memorized the entire script. The most amazing thing is that during our script reading, Qingxu also acted as a translator, switching freely between Chinese and Korean to help us communicate. He not only memorized his own lines, but also ours, without making a single mistake. We were all stunned at the time."

"Splash!"

Upon hearing Han Chae-young's story, the entire audience erupted in enthusiastic applause.