novelraw Chapter 110: The "Correct" Way to Open a Love at First Sight
Chapter 110: The "Correct" Way to Open a Love at First Sight
Today, Jiang Ci finished filming his scenes early. After saying goodbye to Wei Song, he took Sun Zhou and returned directly to the hotel arranged by the crew.
The suite was quiet.
Jiang Ci lay on the sofa, replaying in his mind the "first encounter" scenario described by Zhao Yingfei.
Young Xiang Yu.
The market in Wuzhong.
The untamable Black Steed.
Yu Ji, coming to shop.
Love at first sight.
These four words tumbled through his mind.
He abruptly sat up from the sofa, strode over to the floor-length mirror in the suite.The person in the mirror, with delicate features and a cool temperament, was his own reflection.
He began trying to summon the emotion.
Love at first sight.
What should that look like?
Jiang Ci closed his eyes, then opened them.
Instantly, his entire aura underwent a dramatic transformation, becoming a paranoid mix of inferiority, fanaticism, and neurosis.
The person in the mirror was the spitting image of that lunatic Ma Lu from the stage play, the one who would sacrifice everything for "Ming Ming".
Wrong.
This was *Rhinoceros in Love*.
Jiang Ci immediately dispersed the emotion and tried again.
This time, he summoned the state that had seeped into his bones over the past few days of filming.
The eyes in the mirror held scrutiny and indifference, carrying a lofty, almost appraising gaze.
This was even less like love at first sight.
This was Xiang Yu looking down from the edge of the Mass Grave at the two hundred thousand wailing surrendered soldiers.
Jiang Ci irritably ran his fingers through his hair.
He realized he had fallen into a bizarre acting dilemma.
He could portray a person's breakdown and madness in extreme states, he could portray the indifference of viewing human life as worthless grass.
Yet he couldn't portray a young man, in a sun-drenched market, experiencing that sudden, unexpected, heart-skipping moment.
That kind of pure, unadulterated, heart-pounding attraction.
He couldn't act it out.
All his acting techniques were built upon intense dramatic conflict and deep character deconstruction.
But "love at first sight" was savage, direct, and followed no logic.
Jiang Ci understood clearly: if the "first encounter" scene was botched, if the meeting between young Xiang Yu and Yu Ji wasn't breathtaking enough,
then all the subsequent entanglements of love and hate, all the following unto death, would become rootless trees.
Ultimately, the "Po Zhen Wu" at Gaixia, on which he pinned such high hopes and planned to use to harvest massive amounts of Heartbreak Value, would also lose much of its impact.
Emotional resonance might still be there.
But that kind of bone-deep, unforgettable feeling that leaves the audience reeling for months, that immense "Unresolved Injustice", would absolutely fail to reach its peak.
He couldn't accept such an outcome.
Jiang Ci's consciousness sank deep within once more.
In his mind, he opened the *Complete Guide to Scumbag Quotes and Techniques*.
Rows of utterly outrageous titles flashed before his eyes.
[Three Hundred Golden Lines for Midnight Flirting (Essential for Late-Night Emotional Heating)]
[Top-Tier 'Push-Pull' Tension — The Seven Levels of 'Push-Pull' Technique]
[The Self-Cultivation and Management of Backup Options (Including: The Ecological Construction and Sustainable Development of the Fish Pond)]
[The Art of Breaking Up — How to Make the Other Party Feel She Wronged You]
Jiang Ci felt his eye twitch.
What kind of outrageous nonsense was this?
Suppressing the urge to rant, he continued flipping through.
Finally, his gaze was firmly locked by a chapter title with a completely different vibe.
[First Sight, Eternal Fate — How to Create a "Destined" Encounter]
This was it!
Jiang Ci's heart jolted, and his consciousness clicked on the chapter without hesitation.
The page unfolded.
There were none of the flashy sweet talk and routines he had imagined.
What greeted him was a type of logical analysis bearing the unique rigor of a technical approach, yet the words exuded a bewitching, almost magical power between the lines.
"Core Theory: Love at first sight is never the instantaneous eruption of emotion. It is the implantation of the fallacy of 'we were meant to meet' into the other person's subconscious through a series of precise micro-expressions and behavioral cues."
"Remember, the key lies in 'performance', not 'falling in love'."
Reading this, Jiang Ci's entire being perked up.
Yes!
This was exactly what he needed!
He continued reading.
The cold text seemed to come alive, constructing a complete performance system in his mind.
"Core Technique: The Three-Stage 'Gaze of Fate'."
"Stage One: The Momentary Daze After the Fleeting Glance."
"Key Points: Within 0.5 seconds of visual contact with the target, all facial muscles instantly relax, entering a 'blank' state lasting 1 to 2 seconds. During this period, your breathing must have one barely perceptible pause."
"Principle: Through the physiological instant 'shutdown', you transmit a signal to her — 'Your appearance has momentarily stopped my world from turning.' She will subconsciously believe she witnessed the moment your soul was struck."
By this point, Jiang Ci was already unconsciously mimicking in front of the mirror.
Muscles relaxed, breathing paused.
The him in the mirror looked a bit silly.
He continued studying.
"Stage Two: The Imperceptible Self-Doubt and Confirmation."
"Key Points: After ending the 'daze', avoid switching to passionate intensity. You must have a quick internal withdrawal process."
"The visual focus quickly moves down from her eyes for 0.5 seconds to the tip of her nose, then swiftly returns to her eyes. Accompany this process with an extremely slight, self-negating shake of the head."
"Principle: This creates a sense of internal struggle: 'What did I see? Is this an illusion?'"
"This process makes the other party feel you are not frivolous or lecherous, but are genuinely shocked by the reality of this encounter. The downward shift of gaze is key to creating the 'push-pull' tension of 'I want to see through you, yet fear offending you'."
Jiang Ci felt like he had found a treasure trove.
He immediately began practicing this combo in front of the mirror.
"Daze... pause... shift gaze down... back to the eyes..."
First try: the downward gaze was too slow, making him look creepy, as if he was inspecting someone's nostrils.
Failure.
Second try: the head shake was too pronounced, making him look like a Parkinson's patient.
Failure.
Jiang Ci wasn't discouraged.
He began adjusting repeatedly.
The angle of facial muscle relaxation.
The duration of the breathing pause.
The speed and trajectory of the eye movement.
He even began controlling the degree of contraction in his orbicularis oculi muscles, striving to achieve that sense of destiny described in the manual: "Amongst thousands of people, I saw only you."
Time ticked by.
Three o'clock in the morning.
In the hotel suite, Jiang Ci was still in front of the mirror, repeating this seemingly simple set of actions over and over.
He had completely immersed himself in this extreme control of the body.
Finally.
After who knows how many hundred attempts.
When he lifted his head again and looked at his reflection in the mirror.
That feeling was right.
He performed the complete "Three-Stage Gaze of Fate" for the mirror.
Stage One: The young man in the mirror, upon seeing "her", seemed to have all his vitality drained away for a second, the world turning to nothingness.
Stage Two: As if jolted from a dream, with a dazed expression, his gaze quickly confirmed, accompanied by a subtle movement as if trying to deny this unreal moment.
Stage Three: When he confirmed "her" real existence again, all the previous emotions settled down.
Ultimately transforming into a gentle certainty, like dust finally settling.
The entire process flowed seamlessly, lasting a mere three or four seconds.
Yet it completely portrayed the entire journey of an innocent young man: from being struck by fate, to confirming fate, to accepting fate.
That gaze, clear yet profound.
Perfect.
Jiang Ci let out a long sigh of relief, his entire body relaxing.
Yet, as he looked at the version of himself in the mirror still maintaining that "love at first sight" state, an extremely strange feeling rose in his heart.
Using the most scumbag techniques in the world to portray the purest love.
That was probably just him.
He raised a hand to rub his somewhat stiff face.
The deep affection forged through the most precise muscle control was, in the end, a moon reflected in water, a flower in a mirror.
He didn't know if, when the camera focused on Zhao Yingfei's face, he could still... perfectly replicate it.