Chapter 53: The World is Populated by All Sorts of People—Some Just Scurry, While Others Tremble

After Zhang Benyu left, the progress of filming picked up quite a bit.

Although Zhang Benyu's scenes had been rushed through first and there were still many remaining scenes to be made up later, the cast and crew had blended together for so long that their chemistry had greatly improved, and their understanding of their characters was deeply engraved in their hearts.

However, Zhou Le found that Han Han seemed to be acting somewhat like Jiang Wen, often loving to step in and demonstrate the acting himself right before shooting began.

Moreover, unlike other directors, Han Han always loved to stand in for Zhao Liying.

Although it was all for the sake of work, Zhou Le still found it rather awkward.

"Zhou Le, do you guys eat a lot of noodles up north?" Zhao Liying asked during lunch at the set after filming wrapped up that noon.

"Yeah, noodles are generally the staple food where we're from, though we eat rice often too."

"Sigh, can I make a suggestion? Could you eat a little less garlic when you eat meals from now on? Every time I have a scene with you, my eyes water from the smell. If we weren't on such good terms, I would have thought you hated me and were eating garlic just to ward me off."

Zhou Le laughed and said, "Ward you off? No way, Sister Zhao, I just love eating garlic. Besides, noodles without garlic lose half their flavor."

Just then, Han Han chimed in.

"Teacher Zhao, Le'er isn't trying to ward you off; he's warding me off."

He then looked at Zhou Le and said, "Alright, stop trying to ward me off and just act it out yourself from now on. I know you're good at acting, I don't need to teach you."

Zhou Le waved his hands. "Director Han, what kind of talk is that? I really didn't mean it that way."

Han Han smiled. "How about tomorrow when we shoot your kissing scene, the two of us practice first?"

Hearing this, Zhou Le froze for a moment, then directly popped a whole clove of garlic into his mouth and chewed vigorously.

"You absolute madman! How can you stand that?"

Tears were almost welling up in Zhou Le's eyes, but he forced himself to endure it. "Hiss—it's not spicy at all."

He was genuinely terrified.

He hadn't expected that Han Han, who usually looked like a refined and cultured literary youth, could also have such a mischievous and flirtatious side.

Afterwards, following Han Han's repeated guarantees that he wouldn't step in for the kissing scene personally, Zhou Le finally agreed to Zhao Liying's request not to eat garlic the next day.

However, just on that very evening, Zhou Le received a file sent by Li Ronghao.

*A Life Well Lived*

Zhou Le blinked in surprise when he saw it, then immediately called him back. "Brother, did your account get hacked?"

"What hacked? What are you talking about?"

"I mean you sent me a virus file on WeChat called something like *A Life Well Lived*, it looks rather suspicious."

Li Ronghao: "???"

"What on earth is going on in your head? Didn't I promise to give you a song earlier? That's it."

Only then did Zhou Le let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good. I thought it was one of those files where the moment you open it, everything goes stark white."

"What stark white? I have no idea what you're talking about. What I just sent you are the lyrics and the sheet music. I was just about to send you the track itself. I recorded it during my spare time out of town over the past couple of days. Have a listen, it should be quite easy to sing. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me."

"Got it, brother."

Hanging up the phone, Zhou Le opened the file.

He could read sheet music, and just by looking at it, he felt it was a lyrical ballad.

Then he looked at the lyrics.

"No wonder he didn't dare sing it. If he sang this, wouldn't Sister-in-law blow her top?"

Actually, Zhou Le didn't care much for Sister Li.

It had nothing to do with romantic feelings; he simply disliked some of the things she had said in the past.

Still, choosing a partner was a personal choice.

Immediately afterward, Zhou Le opened the music file sent by the other party.

The prelude was very soothing, and just by hearing the melody alone, one could tell this was a song tinged with sorrow.

"As expected of a master composer who can create entire complete songs by himself, he's truly awesome. I'm already drawn right into it," Zhou Le sighed with emotion.

*"The TV keeps flashing, our contact info hasn't been deleted yet..."*

Listening to the version recorded by Li Ronghao, Zhou Le became completely immersed in it.

He didn't return to his senses until the entire song finished playing, at which point he slowly let out a stale breath. During the process, he hadn't even realized how he had been breathing.

He found that a good song has the power to make everyone with similar experiences feel a sense of resonance.

Although this song was written by Li Ronghao for his ex-girlfriend, Zhou Le also found a trace of his own past experiences within it.

"Thank you, I really like this song too."

"Haha, as long as you like it, it's yours. Go register the copyright for it before releasing it later; people stealing songs is a huge problem nowadays."

"Got it, brother."

Right after that, Zhou Le contacted Su Yingxia.

Su Yingxia was already getting ready for sleep at this point.

Upon receiving Zhou Le's message, she immediately sat straight back up.

After understanding what Zhou Le needed, the next day at the set while Zhou Le was in makeup, she sat on a small stool pondering the wording for her call to the company.

As soon as office hours arrived, she immediately called the company to fight for the complete copyright of the song.

After all, it was a song gifted by Zhou Le's friend, and her goal was to bypass the company and make the song exclusively Zhou Le's own.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhou Le had also made all his preparations and was going over lines with Zhao Liying.

They were going to shoot an indoor kissing scene shortly, so they needed to build up the mood beforehand.

Gazing into each other's eyes, the two sat very close together.

"Zhou Le, actually I've always thought you were quite handsome. Ever since we met in Beijing back then, I thought you were a good guy..."

Zhou Le smiled, knowing full well in his heart that at least half of what the other person was saying right now was fake.

As for himself, given his natural disposition, he actually couldn't summon much interest in girls like this.

"Sister, I've always thought you were very gentle too. You probably don't even know this, but I first entered this industry because when I was about to graduate from university back then, I watched *Legend of Lu Zhen* starring you. That was my initiation into all this."

"Is that so? But why do I always feel like you're not telling the truth?"

"How could that be, Sister? Look into my eyes... There are all sorts of people in this world, and perhaps most people are lustful, but I am simply that rare exception."

Zhao Liying let out a chuckle. "Well, that's quite rare."

She looked into Zhou Le's eyes and noticed that his gaze was very affectionate. Originally, she indeed had some other thoughts, but at this split second, she couldn't bear to proceed.

Sure enough, some things were better left unknown to Zhou Le.

Even though Zhou Le was likewise a very good candidate.

Yet she saw clarity in the eyes of this guy who was seven or eight years younger than her.

"Youth is truly wonderful," Zhao Liying sighed from the bottom of her heart.

Shortly after, Han Han called them over to shoot the scene.

Zhou Le threw himself into it during filming, though he was crystal clear in his mind.

First, Zhao Liying was not his cup of tea; second, she was not someone he could casually mess with. Whatever happened in front of the camera didn't matter, but off-camera he needed to be extra careful.

After all, in this circle, there were far more things within reach.

Regardless, filming together was still a very pleasant experience.

"Many thanks to Young Master Han for showing mercy." After the scene was done in one take and Han Han called a wrap, Zhou Le immediately stood up, first thanking Zhao Liying for her hard work, and then seeking out Han Han to express his gratitude.

"Haha, no problem. Who told me to appreciate you? Your acting is indeed good, you have that aura about you, and you can definitely go a long way on this path in the future."

"Young Master Han, I believe your words. If I can't go far in the future, I'll come looking to you to provide for my retirement."

"Come on over then! Once you're here, I'll at least give you the second male lead role. Tell me which actress you fancy, and I'll figure out a way to arrange kissing and bed scenes for you. We can shoot a few extra takes."

Zhou Le's heart skipped a beat.

"Young Master Han, have you lost your mind?! You're just saying all this out loud? What if word gets out, how bad would that be? Just tell me in private next time."

He leaned in closer and whispered, "Forget about the bed scenes—what if those turn out to be fake? But the kissing can be real. Besides, I like Liu Yifei."

"You like her even though she's older?"

"Young Master Han, what kind of talk is that? Old or not, isn't she still Liu Yifei?"

Han Han chuckled. "Alright, I'll look into it."