178. The Work

Qi Le’an’s script reading meeting was going on in full swing, and he went out to work early and came back late at night every day. However, he didn’t look tired at all, as if he had taken some uppers.

“I’ve heard the soundtrack for the film today! It is such beautiful music! Wei Sama, Wei Sama! What if I can’t learn the song well?!”

“Emma, the goddess came today too! What a goddess! I’ve even taken a picture with her today!”

“Director Damien reformed the script today again…”

“Wei Sama! Listen to me please to see if I can sing well!”

“Wei Sama! Wei Sama!”

Every day, when Qi Le’an came back, he would excitedly share the news of that day with Wei Changfeng. And his enthusiasm for the work did not fade until a week later.

Wei Changfeng was keenly aware of Qi Le’an’s emotional change. That night, when he was driving Qi Le’an home, he asked, “What’s the matter? Are you unhappy? ”

Qi Le’an shook his head gloomily, “No, but…”

“But what is it?” Wei Changfeng urged. He was worried.

Qi Le’an sighed and then replied, “It is already 25th now…”

Wei Changfeng didn’t quite catch his meaning,” Yes?”

“Wei Sama is going to work in a few days…” Qi Le’an answered. He was apparently in a mood of despondency.

Until then did Wei Changfeng understand what Qi Le’an was thinking. He said with a smile, “I’m also in New York and I’ll go on picking you up when I get off work early.”

Qi Le’an said, “I will not be so busy next week and I can go and pick up Wei Sama after work!”

Wei Changfeng replied smilingly, “Okay.”

Next month, Qi Le’an’s movie was going to start shooting. And then he had to stay with the crew, and they two would inevitably be “separated”.

There were only a few days left before that, so Qi Le’an was not able to be so concentrated in the script reading meeting. What occupied his mind these days was only Wei Changfeng. On the day Wei Changfeng started his work, Qi Le’an was on his day off. He thus got up in the morning to send Wei Sama off to work. At noon, he actively got their meals ready at home for Wei Sama and waited for him to come back after work.

Director Spear was filming a science fiction, which needed a lot of computer-generated imagery (CGI) technology. To this end, he invited a special effects studio from New Zealand, and more than a hundred professional staff from the studio participated in the production of the film.

Wei Changfeng was responsible for the preparation of this part, that was, negotiating with the special effects team in New York. Director Spear took another assistant director to find views around the world. In this way, their preparations for the film officially began.

On September 1st, Damien’s musical was officially named “Lala Land”.

Qi Le’an found that for foreigners, the opening ceremony was not very special. They would not burn incense or worship Buddha-like Chinese directors. Director Damien just gathered everyone together for a dinner, which meant that the film had started. The whole film was shot in the order of the script. According to their plan, only Emma would be taking part in the filming in the first week.

However, Damien told Qi Le’an that he had to stay with the crew all the time. Apart from that, Qi Le’an was also asked to attend music classes while watching the filming.

In the evening, Qi Le’an secretly called Wei Changfeng and couldn’t help but complain about all these. Still, in the end, he had to admit, “Actually, the director is very good. The music master invited from Vienna teaches me for free and I learned a lot. But I miss you, Wei Sama!”

Both of them had only been separated for three days, but Qi Le’an felt it was as long as a lifetime.

Wei Changfeng was busy too. Everything was hard from the beginning, and the preparation in the early stages was the most torturous. He was an executive director, but he had to deal with personnel issues. The workers he met in New York were just as cunning as those he had worked with back in China, making him a very headache every day.

Besides being busy, he was always thinking about his own “child”, Qi Le’an.

It wasn’t easy to film in Hollywood. A few years ago, he acted as a supporting character and suffered from various hardships. At this moment, Qi Le’an even didn’t have an assistant around him, so Wei Changfeng was worried if he could handle it.

Wei Changfeng’s worries were not unnecessary. The week before “Lala Land” was shot, Qi Le’an could still take a small stool to sit on one side and watch the shooting. He could attend classes when he was not filming. It was quite an easy life. But during his second week, he felt his life like hell!

As he had no assistant or agent by his side, he had to get up at five a.m., pack himself up, put on makeup and read carefully the schedule for the day ahead. At six-thirty, he had to rush to the scene and wait for the start-up. They started shooting their musical at dawn. Damien’s working speed was ten times that of Guan Kai’s!

He would even re-shoot because he felt the hair blown by the wind was shaking in the wrong way!

Thankfully, Damien was shooting with electronic equipment. If this were to be shot with roll films in the past, who knew which company would be willing to invest in Damien’s movies!

Of course, filming wasn’t the worst for Qi Le’an. The worst part was that after filming, he still needed to attend classes.

Music classes were arranged at noon while dance classes were at night. All the classes couldn’t stop even if Qi Le’an had to work overtime. It was often over noon when Qi Le’an returned to the hotel.

Every day when he lay in bed, at last, he wished to have someone remove his makeup and take a shower for him. It was often the case that he had already fallen asleep before his hair was dry.

After suffering for a week, Qi Le’an was too busy to complain. Suddenly, Damien waved his hand and announced that he would change the script and that all the previous shots would be invalidated.

When Damien announced this news, Qi Le’an had just ended a scene with Emma. He was dumbfounded on the spot. His first reaction was to turn to see Emma.

The protagonist of “Lala Land” was Mia, and Emma had sacrificed a lot more than Qi Le’an in her role. Every day, Qi Le’an could still sit on a small stool and doze off occasionally, but Emma couldn’t even have time to sit down for a while.

What he didn’t expect was that Emma wasn’t surprised at these. She even smiled and asked Damien, “Enda, in that case, is there a holiday for us?”

Both Emma and Damien had known each other for a long time. Enda was Damien’s nickname and she was the only person in the crew who dared to address him that way.

Damien nodded. “Let’s have a rest first. I’ll call you back after I’m ready.”

The good-mannered Emma nodded with a smile, ready to leave.

Damien’s gaze swept over Qi Le’an, and Qi Le’an couldn’t help but stand up straight.

“You can go back and rest too,” Damien said, “As for the music and dance courses… you can manage them yourself.”

After saying that, Damien let his assistant wake up the scriptwriting team, while he went into his car, preparing to go home.

Qi Le’an stood there dumbfounded. What would he do and what could he do?

A fiery-red sports car rushed to stop in front of Qi Le’an. The car window went down and Emma with sunglasses asked, “Are you going home? I can give you a ride!”

Qi Le’an’s eyes brightened and he said, “Yes, great!”

Emma’s image had always been sexy, delicate, kind, and beautiful as if the word “goddess” was tailored for her. After working together with Emma these days, Qi Le’an also felt that his goddess was cheerful and enthusiastic, and she was just flawless!

“Where do you live?” asked Emma.

Qi Le’an gave the address and Emma smiled, “I used to live on that street.”

“Really? What a coincidence! “Qi Le’an’s eyes lit up.

Emma nodded and then said, “The coffee shop on the corner of the street always doesn’t add sugar to their coffee… And it’s very bitter.”

“Yes, yes!” Qi Le’an nodded wildly and agreed, “Even their cakes are bitter!”

The distance between the two of them got closer after this interaction. Then Emma asked smilingly, “Isn’t it particularly tiring to work with Enda?

Qi Le’an did not know how to respond. Emma complained, “He’s a workaholic. When I worked with him for the first movie, I wanted to poke my high heels in his face every night!”

Qi Le’an still did not know what to say, but in his heart, he marveled, ‘This is too ruthless, but it’s cool!’ while imagining the exciting scene.

“However, the effect of the shooting was really good too,” she smiled again. “I didn’t feel any loss when I thought about it.”

Qi Le’an smiled. He knew Emma was once nominated for the award for Best Female Lead, and the film’s director of that movie was exactly Damien.

At that time, Emma was just a singer. Her transformation then was very important and meaningful to her.

Talking all the way, they two soon arrived downstairs at Qi Le’an’s house. Emma reminded him, “Remember to keep your phone on 24 hours a day. Enda once called the crew back to film at two o’clock in the middle of the night.”

Qi Le’an felt sad to hear this, but he replied calmly, “Okay!”

Seeing Qi Le’an’s expression, Emma suddenly gave an evil smile and favored Qi Le’an a flying kiss, “Goodbye, my shy boy!”

Qi Le’an, “…”  He was confused about what happened just now, ‘Wei Sama, I didn’t cheat you! I didn’t!’

“I’m already married!” Qi Le’an hurriedly told Emma, “And I am not a boy!”

Emma just shrugged and whistled, “Your diamond ring is so flashing. Everyone has seen it!”

Qi Le’an’s face turned red again.

Then, Emma drove away and Qi Le’an happily went upstairs. He thought that it was only three o’clock and Wei Sama couldn’t have been back.

He could prepare supper and then go to pick up Wei Sama from work. He wanted to give his Wei Sama a surprise!

Thinking about it, Qi Le’an was very excited. Right away, he called the hotel to order a cake. Being so tired, he quickly took a shower. It seemed that Wei Changfeng had not lived at home for the past few days and the room seemed quite deserted.

Qi Le’an then watered the flowers on the balcony, after which he went to the corner of the street to buy roses. Then he drove to Spear’s studio.

When he arrived downstairs, it was just six o’clock. He took out his phone and sent a message to Wei Changfeng.

“Wei Sama! I’m having a rest! ”

Wei Changfeng quickly replied, “So early today? Are you going to the dance class later?“

Qi Le’an wanted to skip the class, so he returned, “No class today. I miss Wei Sama. What are you doing?”

Wei Changfeng replied, “I’m finally done with work today. I’m going back to water flowers after work.”

Qi Le’an was very excited. He was just about to laugh out!

He quickly fixed his hair in the rearview mirror, took out the roses in his hand, and waited for Wei Changfeng there.

Ten minutes later, Wei Changfeng did appear.

Qi Le’an impatiently pressed the horn of the car.

Wei Changfeng looked up. And Qi Le’an saw the shock on his Wei Sama’s face! Wei Changfeng had originally walked out of the building with his colleagues, but now he ran over this side regardless of his proper image!

Qi Le’an got out of the car with the roses and laughed, “Wei Sama! Surprise! ”

Wei Changfeng was indeed surprised, “Why are you here?”

Qi Le’an handed the roses to Wei Changfeng. Wei Changfeng held the roses in one hand and held him in the other. Looking at him, he said with a touch of sadness, “You’re thinner.”

“The director said he will make some change in the script and let everyone off!” Qi Le’an said, “Fortunately, Wei Sama doesn’t need to work overtime today!”

Wei Changfeng pinched Qi Le’an’s hand and replied, “But you don’t have to run over… You must be very tired.”

He had found that his Le’an looked tired every time he called. There were a few times he even fell asleep when talking on the phone.

However, Qi Le’an was very happy to have come over today. He answered promptly, “I am not tired at all as long as I can see Wei Sama!”

Wei Changfeng’s eyes were full of affection.

“Let’s go home. Wei Sama will make you delicious food.” However, Wei Changfeng suddenly thought of something and looked back.

Qi Le’an followed his eyesight and found a man with a big hooked nose standing across the road.

Seeing both of them were looking at him, the man with a hooked nose came over and greeted Qi Le’an. Then he turned to Wei Changfeng, “Fynn, is this your lover?”

At that very moment, Qi Le’an could smell some unfriendly scent from that man’s speech.