Chapter 252: Additional Screen Time

“Huh? Oh no, you’re fine.”

Bai Zhi snapped back to reality as she felt her cheeks burn, but it wasn’t because she was feeling bashful as her eyes remained ablaze, glaring at Meng Fan. “Fan, what did you do this time? Why do I feel like you’ve gotten more attractive!”

She then reached out and squeezed his face. “I don’t feel any plastic surgery! It’s like you look the same, but your entire person is much more attractive!”

“Sister Bai, your hands are so greasy!”

Meng Fan touched his face, feeling the oil slicked on him. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He was nervous after all, but not because he was scared of Bai Zhi discovering something; it was more instinctive. After all, Charm was a metaphysical attribute. Even if it was Bai Zhi facing him, he still felt strange. He couldn’t describe it, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling, either.

“What do you mean got more handsome? Has my attractiveness increased by several tiers so it’s like I used to be really ugly or something? Your little bro is charming. Is this your first time noticing?” Meng Fan bellowed with laughter. “Sister Bai, have you gone mad from rehearsing your voice demo?”

“No, wait!”

Bai Zhi was not easy to trick. She shook her head and continued analyzing Meng Fan’s face, rattling all the while. “You little brat, you must be hiding something from me! There’s a secret inside you, brat — and a big one, too!”

Meng Fan was officially scared by this, but managed to maintain a nonchalant expression. He knew that people would suspect him, but as long as he remains quiet, nobody would actually think twice. Hearing Bai Zhi, he instinctively lowered his head and leaned forward, smiling. “Sister Bai, why don’t you check if I have horns on my head?” He then turned around and stuck out his behind. “Maybe there’s a tail here, too?”

Bai Zhi was fuming by now as she reached out and smacked Meng Fan on the behind. “Alright, get outta here! I’ll find your secret eventually!” She laughed.

Meng Fan clutched his butt. “Sister Bai, you can say this kind of stuff to me, but don’t ever say it to another man. Otherwise, they will take advantage of you.”

“Get the h*ll out! You dare make fun of your older sister!”

Bai Zhi gave Meng Fan a glare and continued to eat. She was still pondering how Meng Fan got to be so attractive all of a sudden, even causing her to be stunned for an instant.

Meng Fan chuckled to himself and quickly changed the subject, asking Bai Zhi how the rehearsal for her individual performances was going.

“It’s alright, I’ve gotten a lot better thanks to Professor Di’s help. I also started rehearsing the collaboration clips as well so you won’t berate me for not keeping up.”

Bai Zhi didn’t eat everything and split a portion of the food with her staff. This kind of street food was delicious, but for female celebrities, it could only satisfy a temptation; she didn’t dare to eat more.

Su Qingcen had let herself go completely tonight and had eaten to her heart’s content, but afterwards, she will be desperately compensating for her actions with added fitness exercises and intensive skincare regimens.

After she finished, Bai Zhi took a break before starting her rehearsal with Meng Fan immediately.

From the scripts she had selected, Meng Fan could tell Bai Zhi admired Mrs. Ning Jing greatly. Both film clips she had asked Meng Fan to choose from had featured Mrs. Ning Jing, where she was domineering and seductive, gentle yet bitter… Bai Zhi highly respected Mrs. Ning Jing’s acting skills, as well as the complexities and contradictions embodied in her roles. These were aspects that Bai Zhi had been working towards in her television and film career.

Perhaps it was because most of the roles she’d played since entering the industry had been very uniform that crews contact her with an existing trope in mind. Bai Zhi’s range of roles had been very tightly restricted and she had only been able to make some breakthroughs in the last two years.

In a way, she had wanted to prove herself and broaden the range of roles she could take on by attending this show again.

With Mrs. Ning Jing’s Zhu Yu as a foundation, it would be very difficult to play the role of Da Yuer with the same standard. Evidently, Bai Zhi had been preparing for this role and, from the beginning, her proficiency in practice had shown Meng Fan how hard she was willing to work to understand the character’s personality.

“Don’t be like this!”

After Meng Fan was able to dissect the role and read the script, Bai Zhi had a breakdown halfway through. She reached out and punched him lightly, visibly upset yet entertained. “Can you be a bit more serious? Are you trying to make me die of laughter?”

Even the staff members standing to the side had been paralyzed with laughter from Meng Fan’s imitation of the Pao Xiao Emperor’s Hong Kong accent.

“Isn’t this a better outcome?” Meng Fan said.

“It’s a great outcome, but I can’t control myself from laughing!”

This wasn’t Bai Zhi being unprofessional. Meng Fan’s voice was really just poisonous. He had been purposefully exaggerating a Taiwanese/Hong Kong accent.

“Alright, I’ll change it up. I won’t try to copy Godfather Ma’s voice. Hold on, let me find the feeling.”

Meng Fan fooled around a bit and regained his composure. Based on his understanding of the role, he figured out a suitable tone different from Godfather Ma but recognizable enough for people to know it was the ambitious and affectionate Duo Ergun from “Xiao Zhuang Mishi.”

Meng Fan let his emotions overwhelm his ambition, so in this ‘Yu Er curse me’ scene, he managed to depict the repression and pain. Once he got it right, Meng Fan was able to turn the voice of Duo Ergun into a powerful, deliberate, yet careless character who was willing to dig out his heart for the person he loved and completely open up this character he’d created to Bai Zhi.

After finding his direction, Bai Zhi was also able to enter into her zone as well. She was able to express the cruel emotions and the miserable, wounded nature of Xiao Zhuang in this scene.

Whoosh!

In their first run-through, Bai Zhi had been laughing uncontrollably; yet, after the second round, everyone was left crying. They were fully immersed in the scene.

“Let me take a breath.”

Bai Zhi rested for five minutes and continued where she left off.

She had already prepared enough for this role, but Meng Fan had never practiced it before. Technically speaking, Bai Zhi should have been the one leading Meng Fan. However, after running through the script a couple more times, Bai Zhi realized that Meng Fan had been the one leading her, even slowing down for her.

Meng Fan was her support throughout the entire scene. From the first reading until the last, he had supported her according to her state and expression. He was able to keep the density of his expression on par with her, like an evenly matched chess opponent. To be blunt, Meng Fan was reducing his energy output to stay in level with her.

“How good are you?!”

After rehearsing several times, Bai Zhi could take it no more. Each time, Meng Fan was able to bring her current state of emotion to a climax, which consumed a large amount of both physical and emotional energy.

Bai Zhi had run out of breath. “Let’s take a break, I don’t want to try this verse anymore. If we keep practicing it, I’m going to die.”

They took a break, but did not continue rehearsing “Xiao Zhuang Mi Shi.” Instead, they swapped to the ‘I’m-Sherlocked’ scene from “Sherlock.”

Both of them had to dub this scene in English. Out of admiration for this scene and the series, Bai Zhi had practiced the voice clip beforehand as well. She had considered the characters and the way they pronounce certain words. She even used a very accurate British accent to articulate the script.

Relatively speaking, this series had given Cumberbatch more lines and more drama than Irene. The male role was more significant in this case and Bai Zhi had selected this scene for one very simple reason: It would place the spotlight on Meng Fan.

Cumberbatch’s script was terrifying. Everyone who’s seen the show — and even those who didn’t — would know how charming a tenor voice can be and how incredible it was that he could speak so rapidly. Although this particular scene did not feature many dense monologues, a few lines still required a certain speed in order to complete.

After the first reading, Bai Zhi was stunned. “Why is your English so good?”

Meng Fan had also read the script in a British accent. His pronunciation was flawless — that’s a given — but he sounded very superior as well. He was a pleasure to listen to. Bai Zhi felt that he must have lived in London for at least five years.

Meng Fan smiled. “If you asked me to communicate in English, then you’d know how little I actually speak. But to read a script in English, I’ll be alright since there are skills I can imitate.”

Meng Fan was not being modest. His English skills were actually quite weak, but with his voice acting talent, it was simple enough to just imitate the original audio so that he could grasp the details for pronunciation.

It’s like when people choose to sing Cantonese songs at karaoke and sing them accurately with ease. But if you asked them to speak in Cantonese, they could probably only utter a few sentences before revealing their true skill level.

“How’s it going?”

Professor Di had been making rounds with the other contestants and their guests to provide assistance. She had made her way back to Bai Zhi’s room. She was also very curious as to how Meng Fan had been performing in the other two clips and specifically arrived early to check on them.

After hearing the two rehearse the clip from “Sherlock,” Professor Di’s eyes lit up once again. She called Director Sun over and discussed it through. She felt it was possible to give Meng Fan some additional screen time once the collaboration segment of the show is finished. “Meng Fan, can you speak even faster? Like Cumberbatch’s speedy deductive reasoning in ‘Sherlock.’ Do you think you can do that?”