Chapter 613: Chapter 613
The setting of this story was created by a Peony Fairy, whose duty was to guard a replica Reincarnation Mirror. At first, it was quite novel, but as time went on, the days became very boring.
Even though it was just a replica, its power was still immense, especially for some newly awakened elves, who could even lose their lives if they wandered into the mirror by mistake, so she could not leave the watchful hall. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveIꜰire.net
To make her days less boring, she would occasionally allow some low-mana spirits to enter the Mirror World, transforming into handsome men to roam the Mortal World and entertain her.
The longer one lives as an immortal, the more one tends to enjoy melodramatic love dramas, and the Peony Fairy was no exception.
Since she personally manipulated the mirror, the elves wouldn’t face any danger inside, and some even queued up to enter the Mirror World to amuse the Peony Fairy, after all, the peony nectar brewed by the Peony Fairy was a unique delight in Heaven!
If you wanted peony nectar, one of the ways to obtain it was to enter the Mirror World and perform an enticing play for the fairy, and once you came out, if the fairy was happy, she would reward the spirit with peony nectar!
In the beginning, the Peony Fairy was very happy to see so many spirits lining up to enter the Mirror World.
But as the elves entered more and more often, they lacked imagination, and performing the same few routines over and over again soon wearied the Peony Fairy, who would rather not watch at all than to irritate her own eyes.
Late,r the Peony Fairy came up with a solution and specifically let the newcomers to Qingmu Imperial Palace enter the Mirror World. These elves, not having been tainted by "clichés," performed with vitality and brought freshness to the Peony Fairy’s viewing experience.
Some were heartbreakingly tragic, others joyously endearing; even if some lived ordinary lives, within that ordinariness was a hint of charm.
Some spirits who had ascended from the Mortal World showed the Peony Fairy the myriad aspects of the world and the multitude of human flavors, evoking sorrow in those who smelled and tears in those who listened!
The only pity was that the Qingmu Emperor Palace didn’t often recruit new spirits. Emperor Qingmu had a rule that he would only traverse the Three Worlds once every thousand years to take spirits who had cultivated into human form to Heaven.
Some spirits lived so freely and comfortably in the Mortal World that they didn’t want to ascend to Heaven and serve in the Imperial Palace, and Emperor Qingmu didn’t force them, simply reminding them not to commit evil deeds in the Lower Realm before letting them go.
The Peony Fairy waited and waited, and this time she had waited two thousand years just to welcome the newcomers because the last time, Emperor Qingmu had not brought any spirits that had cultivated human form.
After observing the newcomers for several days, the Peony Fairy chose Yuxin.
She thought Yuxin was purely kind, smart, lively, and cheerful, like a little sun, so she pulled her into the Mirror World without any warning, not expecting Emperor Qingmu to arrive at that moment!
As the clapperboard sounded, the actress playing the Peony Fairy hurriedly walked back and forth in the glittering Immortal Palace hall, looking anxious and occasionally biting her lip, conveying her difficulty and panic very well.
This actress, He Jinxia, had a vague impression that she remembered seeing her playing a supporting role in a modern film when she had just transmigrated.
The actress looked very young, but in reality, she was nearly thirty years old and had plenty of acting experience, performing well in what was not a difficult shoot.
Director Liu, seeing that the scene was about right, yelled "Action!"
The Peony Fairy, reminded, immediately slapped her forehead and said in annoyance, "Why would Emperor Qingmu suddenly appear beside Yuxin, oh, what am I going to do now? After the Great Emperor comes out, he will definitely punish me!"
She turned her head to look towards a section of the floor covered with green cloth, which through post-production would become a smooth mirror, and the mirror would display Yuxin and Bai Ze.
"No, no, that’s not right, I shouldn’t be thinking about punishments right now, but what is the Great Emperor going to do in the Mirror World? The script I set for Jinxia has her as the only male in that world, with everyone else being female! The Great Emperor, he... the Great Emperor..."
Peony Fairy gasped for air, as if recalling something, and comforted herself, "It’s okay, the Great Emperor’s mana is so strong, he must be able to find a way to break free, right, he must! I... I’ll go ask Yuan Miao for some advice!"
As Peony Fairy slowly left the great hall, trailing her red flamboyant dress behind her, Director Liu also called out, "Cut!"
He replayed the scenes on his camera back and forth several times, and after a while, a smile appeared on his face, saying, "It’s a pass!"
At this announcement, the entire crew’s spirits were lifted, successfully completing the first scene in one take is a great start!
With Peony Fairy’s scene wrapped up, it was now the turn for He Jinxia and Qiu Zhenze to enter the stage.
One played the ordinary and plain leaf spirit Jinxia, while the other played Emperor Qingmu - Bai Ze, who ruled over the natural world.
He Jinxia looked over at Qiu Zhenze, who still stood ’coldly’ off to one side, and a faint smile crossed her lips involuntarily.
It had to be said, Qiu Zhenze’s cross-dressing appearance wasn’t jarring. Although seeing him in person on set still felt a bit strange, after the post-production beauty filter was applied, that strangeness would surely vanish.
After all, Qiu Zhenze had a pretty good facial foundation to begin with.
He didn’t look rugged; it seemed hard to find male actors with square or round faces these days, most of them had the sharp jawlines of goose-egg faces.
When it comes to the pursuit of the perfect face shape, male actors are no less dedicated than female actors, which is why some male actors cross-dressing could pass without feeling out of place.
Of course, if they could also flatten the Adam’s apple that belongs to male characteristics, I believe there wouldn’t be much difference between men and women in appearance anymore.
Qiu Zhenze heard a hint of laughter near his ear, his face grew even darker. He tried to keep his face tightly drawn, his hand clenched slightly inside his wide sleeves, suppressing the urge to turn around and leave right then and there.
He wasn’t actually holding a grudge against He Jinxia for laughing at him; after all, aside from her, the crew members on set were almost all staring, occasionally whispering to each other, with some even blatantly not hiding their stares—Qiu Zhenze felt utterly embarrassed!
He felt like he had lost face big time!
He had been completely tricked by Director Liu!
Before he had decided to take on this role, just from reading the script, he had already seen the part about cross-dressing. Though the plot setup was interesting, Qiu Zhenze couldn’t help but sense a strong flavor of mischief.
Even though he was a star in the open-minded entertainment circle, Qiu Zhenze himself was somewhat traditional. He wouldn’t say much to a lady, but regarding himself, he was strict. If something didn’t align with his personal code of conduct, then he simply wouldn’t do it.
When he first read that part of the script, he nearly closed it up and told his agent, righteously, that he was passing on the role!
Qiu Zhenze felt this was a drama made to please the market, solely for the sake of being silly, and he was disappointed thinking, even the highly reputable Director Liu in the industry would engage in such speculative practices.