Chapter 653: Chapter 653

Just as Cheng Xiaohua’s thoughts were scattering and she was about to deny again, suddenly, her phone buzzed twice in her hand. She looked down to see a message from Sheng Yan—

She opened the WeChat message Jinxia had sent previously, asking if he had any free time.

Cheng Xiaohua’s mind went blank, at this moment she hadn’t even considered what mood to use; her heart was racing, and she quickly typed out a line—

[Hello, Jinxia said she’s gone to film and has asked you to chat later.]

Her hands trembled as she pressed send.

After sending the message, she stared at her phone without blinking, fearing she might miss God Sheng’s reply. Once God Sheng replied, she would have to run and inform Jinxia.

Sheng Yan didn’t keep Cheng Xiaohua waiting for long and replied with two words—

Cheng Xiaohua’s anxious heart immediately relaxed. Instead of sending another message, she locked her phone screen and hurried towards the location where Jinxia was filming.

When she arrived at the filming site, she saw Jinxia was already in the middle of shooting and couldn’t find an opportunity to report back right away. It was only while Sister Xiao Hua was waiting that she had a chance to check her own condition, touched her forehead, and found it covered in sweat.

Cheng Xiaohua couldn’t help but shake her head gently; chatting with an idol just once felt like waging a massive battle. It wasn’t a matter of being unlucky but fearful of occasionally experiencing situations like today, which would be utterly draining!

After all, knowing about Jinxia’s relationship with Sheng Yan was one thing, but sending messages to Sheng Yan on Jinxia’s behalf was a first for her!

Cheng Xiaohua felt this texting experience could definitely be written into the top ten most thrilling moments of her life!

Emma, I still feel so shy, what should I do...

There were staff members standing nearby who saw Cheng Xiaohua giggling with her head down and shaking her body. They couldn’t help but silently step back a few paces, keeping their distance from this assistant.

They couldn’t help but think that this assistant seemed a bit... crazy?

The scenes He Jinxia had to shoot in the evening were a continuation of the morning’s shoot, primarily consisting of fight scenes.

Suspended by wires, her body spun around in mid-air. Jinxia tried her best to overcome the dizziness she felt, performing the movements when needed and maintaining a serious expression, all while posing against several green-clad human figures.

Because the so-called "demons" and monsters sealed in the Mirror World were to be added later through special effects, there were no real-life models for them, which significantly increased the difficulty of shooting.

Jinxia had to imagine an enemy in her mind and then project that enemy onto the green figures.

At first, she struggled to get into the right state and after three or four takes, she finally found her rhythm. The shooting went smoothly from there, much to the relief of the entire crew.

Initially, when they saw He Jinxia’s struggles, they thought they were going to work overtime for the first time that evening. As it turned out, He Jinxia’s acting skills were indeed formidable! ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel-fire.ɴet

Qiu Zhenze also had scenes in the evening, but unlike He Jinxia, his expressions didn’t need to be too rich, and the hand gestures for suppressing demons and monsters didn’t need to be too complicated.

For a Great Emperor endowed with mighty mana, most of his appearances involve a mere wave of his sleeve, and various demons and monsters would be utterly annihilated. This is considered a natural suppression that high-level cultivators have over those of lower rank.

He Jinxia watched from the side, feeling quite envious. Qiu Zhenze had it so easy!

Unlike her, just memorizing the gestures to channel mana made her somewhat dizzy.

Sometimes she couldn’t understand how Xiao Xiangyu, with such weak mana, could possess so many strange and unique spells?

According to the script, Xiao Xiangyu hadn’t systematically learned these spells, but after entering Qingmu Emperor Palace, she saw immortal maids using them and managed to figure them out on her own after mulling over them in secret. This was considered a formidable learning talent.

Such a talent was usually found in warring races, not something a natural elf could possess. It was also because of this uniqueness that Emperor Qingmu grew increasingly curious about her.

There’s a saying that goes , "Curiosity is the beginning of affection."

The more curious Emperor Qingmu was about Xiao Xiangyu, the more his internal scales tipped in her favor, subtly providing her with benefits.

He was the type who only allowed himself to bully her, and wouldn’t let others do so; in the end, Xiao Xiangyu became Emperor Qingmu’s disciple, someone he would take everywhere with him.

At that time, Emperor Qingmu didn’t realize this was a manifestation of possessiveness. Fortunately, by the time he came to his senses, it wasn’t too late.

Overall, "Xiao Xiangyu’s Many Sorrows" maintained a fairly cheerful atmosphere. Its agonizing points lay not in the romance but in the tribulations and setbacks of growth, with the romance being quite cute and pampered.

This script also represented a new venture for Director Liu, hoping to break new ground in the cliché-ridden romance market with it.

Once the final scene featuring the backward flight was completed, the filming for the day would wrap up nicely.

When He Jinxia finished shooting, she landed on the ground feeling as if in a dream state, unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy, utterly exhausted.

Cheng Xiaohua drove her back to the hotel. Only then did He Jinxia slowly come back to her senses, remarking reflectively, "Now I understand the hardships of actors in martial arts films. It’s truly like being a man of the air."

Cheng Xiaohua quietly added, "It’s not just martial arts films. Any movie that requires a lot of post-production effects will involve plenty of scenes in the air. For example, the Xianxia film you’re shooting now, since you’re immortals from the heavens, you rarely walk and mostly fly, with a focus on an ethereal fairy-like presence."

"Then there are the popular fantasy dramas in recent years, where characters can walk on walls and are omnipotent, where one punch could break the heavens. Filming such shows is an enormous challenge to the actors’ physical and stamina capacities, and also to the investors’ finances. The more the post-production effects, the more money burned."

"Nowadays, netizens are very picky. They won’t settle for shoddy work, but to achieve high-quality effects, investors absolutely must pour in a lot of money.

If the investment pays off, it’s all fine, but if it ends up being criticized as worse than a half-a-dollar effect, with viewing figures not going up and advertisement revenues not being recouped, then it’s really embarrassing."

He Jinxia nodded, drawing a conclusion: "Investors who aren’t financially well-off shouldn’t easily get involved in films that require a lot of special effects."

Cheng Xiaohua seemed to think of something and mentioned, "Right, I heard from the crew that the biggest investor for this film is our Tonghua Entertainment, and that the company will also handle the post-production special effects. I wonder how the final movie will turn out."

As they talked, they got out of the car and entered the hotel room. As Jinxia went into her room, Sister Xiao Hua couldn’t help but ask.

"Jinxia, today I heard from Brother Luo that you gave Director Liu a super bargain friend-price for this film, totally mismatched with your current market value. If you were to act in other similar genre TV dramas, you could earn several times more. Do you think it’s worth it?"