novelraw Chapter 130: The Victory Banquet After the Battle of Pengcheng
Chapter 130: The Victory Banquet After the Battle of Pengcheng
Li Jun opened his mouth, unable to utter a single word in rebuttal.
As the Head Screenwriter, he believed he had thoroughly digested all historical materials about Xiang Yu.
But his research had always remained at the level of replicating events and depicting character traits.
He had never thought to deconstruct a historical figure's inner world from such a lofty, overlooking perspective.
The gazes in the conference room involuntarily converged on Jiang Ci.
Wei Song's gaze was scorching.
Jiang Ci did not respond to the director's stare. Instead, he shifted his focus back to Head Screenwriter Li Jun.
"Teacher Li, historical records state that after Xiang Yu recaptured Pengcheng, he reclaimed all the treasures and beauties Liu Bang had plundered, and then 'held a grand feast, celebrating day and night,' correct?"
Li Jun nodded subconsciously.
"Correct, it's from the 'Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of Xiang Yu.' That is historical fact."Jiang Ci smiled.
The smile was faint, yet carried a power that seemed to see through everything.
"What he reclaimed were 'his' treasures, 'his' women."
Jiang Ci's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.
"This isn't called spoils of war."
His voice paused briefly, then he uttered four words that instantly drained the color from Li Jun's face.
"This is called returning lost property to its rightful owner."
"Returning lost property to its rightful owner"!
These four words slammed hard into everyone's heart!
Head Screenwriter Li Jun instantly understood!
That's right!
Pengcheng was originally Xiang Yu's capital city!
Those treasures and women were all stolen goods, taken by Liu Bang, the thief who snuck into his home while he was away!
Xiang Yu was merely taking back what rightfully belonged to him!
What kind of victory worthy of wild celebration was this?
This was simply recovering stolen goods after a theft! An annoying cleanup!
This interpretation was too cunning!
Yet so precise it sent a chill down one's spine!
Jiang Ci didn't stop.
He continued, "The so-called 'celebrating day and night' wasn't him celebrating."
"It was him sitting high on his throne, watching his generals reveling in what he saw as a matter of course, even somewhat boring, cleanup."
This interpretation completely shattered the image of the tyrant who swept away a thousand armies and was insufferably arrogant that everyone had in their minds.
This was not a tyrant.
This was an emperor who, because he was invincible, felt an extreme sense of emptiness.
People suddenly understood.
Why did Sima Qian break the convention of "Annals record emperors" to write a separate biography for Xiang Yu?
Perhaps it was because he saw in him this loneliness that transcended the ordinary!
Jiang Ci stood up from his seat.
He walked to the front of the conference room to the huge whiteboard.
Picked up a black marker.
Everyone held their breath, watching this young man draw a simple pyramid on the whiteboard.
At the very top of the pyramid, he drew a circle and wrote two words inside.
[Xiang Yu]
Then, next to it, he annotated.
—"Bored."
—"Overlooking."
Immediately after, at the bottom layer of the pyramid, he drew a dense cluster of small circles, representing those reveling soldiers and officers.
He annotated next to them.
—"Ecstasy."
—"Desire."
—"Dividing the spoils."
Throughout the entire process, he didn't say a word.
But this brutally simple psychological hierarchy diagram was more impactful than any lengthy discourse.
It pinpointed with deadly accuracy the suffocating truth behind that extravagant victory banquet.
In the entire conference room, only the "scratching" sound of the marker on the whiteboard could be heard.
In the corner, Zhao Yingfei, who had been silent all along, had eyes that were frighteningly bright.
As if sleep-talking, she spoke softly, adding the final piece to Jiang Ci's theory.
"So, amidst the deafening clamor, Yu Ji was the only one who could see the emptiness in his eyes."
The corner of Qin Feng's mouth, which had been tightly drawn, finally lifted into an almost imperceptible curve.
He picked up the cup of tea in front of him, long gone cold, took a small sip, closed his eyes, as if savoring some peerless fine wine.
"It was him sitting high on his throne, watching his generals reveling in what he saw as a matter of course, even somewhat boring, cleanup."
This kid was a monster.
"Thwack!"
A loud sound!
Wei Song slapped his thigh hard and sprang up from the head seat!
"Good!"
"This is it!"
"Damn it, this is exactly the feeling!"
He paced back and forth in the conference room, his eyes shining.
He stopped walking and scanned the room.
"Art Department! Scrap all the set design plans! I don't want opulence, I want emptiness! Use extreme opulence to contrast extreme emptiness!"
"Lighting! Give me the coldest light, focused on Xiang Yu's throne!"
Finally, his gaze locked firmly onto Jiang Ci.
"Jiang Ci! Perform it exactly as you said!"
He made the final decision.
"All original shooting plans are suspended! The first scene after the New Year holiday will be this 'Boring Victory Banquet'!"
Wei Song's order instantly threw the entire creative team into an uproar.
"Director Wei, this... this change is too drastic!"
"Scrap the set design plans? What about those custom-made props already in the warehouse?"
"The gorgeous dance dresses the Costume Department just finished, are they all not to be used?"
The faces of several core creative personnel, led by Head Screenwriter Li Jun, turned extremely ugly.
This wasn't minor tweaking; this was starting over from scratch!
Wei Song waved his hand sharply, cutting off all discussion.
"I'll handle the money issue."
"I'll have the producer coordinate the time issue."
"There's only one thing we need to do now."
He walked to the whiteboard and tapped his finger heavily on the circle representing "Xiang Yu."
"Take this 'boredom' of his and execute it to the extreme for us!"
In the conference room, no one dared to voice any more opposition.
The meeting adjourned.
The crowd dispersed noisily, each face bearing a mix of shock and bewilderment.
Just as Jiang Ci was about to leave, a figure blocked his path.
It was Zhao Yingfei.
She wore no makeup, but her eyes were brighter than all the lights on set.
"Can I talk with you?" she asked.
"About Yu Ji."
Jiang Ci looked at her and nodded.
The two didn't go elsewhere, simply walking to the end of the corridor outside the conference room.
Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling window was a gray, overcast sky.
"For the victory banquet scene," Zhao Yingfei spoke first, her voice suppressing excitement, "Yu Ji shouldn't dance."
"I know," Jiang Ci replied.
"She should sit in the place closest to him, yet farthest away." Zhao Yingfei's thoughts were completely immersed in the character. "Everyone is bowing to him, only she is watching him."
"Watching his boredom," Jiang Ci continued.
"Yes!"
Zhao Yingfei's eyes grew even brighter.
"She doesn't need to do anything, doesn't even need to have lines. She just needs to sit there, using her quietness to oppose the clamor filling the hall."
"Then, at a moment when no one else notices," the scene already forming in Jiang Ci's mind, "he will glance at her."
"One glance is enough."
Zhao Yingfei's breathing became slightly rapid.
"That one glance is their victory banquet, shared by just the two of them."
The corridor fell into a moment of quiet.
Zhao Yingfei looked at Jiang Ci and suddenly smiled.
That smile washed away all the aloofness and distance from her.
"I understand."
She said softly.
Then she turned and left without looking back, leaving Jiang Ci with a neat, decisive silhouette.
For the next two days.
The entire crew of "The Legend of Han and Chu" was plunged into an unprecedented state of high pressure.
Wei Song, as if injected with adrenaline, slept only three or four hours a day, pulling every department into meeting after meeting, finalizing every detail.
New set design blueprints were rushed out overnight.
The original gold and red color scheme symbolizing wealth and glory was replaced by large areas of bronze and black.
The design of the entire banquet hall became empty, lofty, carrying a sense of solemnity and lifelessness akin to a mausoleum.
The Props Team urgently removed those glittering jewels, replacing them with cold bronze vessels.
Li Jun locked himself in his room for two days and two nights, finally submitting the revised script.
The originally five-page-long victory banquet scene was cut down to just two pages.
Large chunks of dialogue were axed, replaced by copious amounts of blank space and atmospheric description.
Everything was setting the stage for that final, "boring victory banquet."
On the third day.
The Pengcheng Great Hall set was finally completed.
All actors, dressed in costume and made up, entered this utterly transformed film set.
When they saw that throne, set against a massive black backdrop, appearing incredibly lonely.
Everyone gasped.
No performance was needed.
Just this scene alone, that suffocating sense of loneliness, already hit them head-on.
Wei Song sat behind the monitor, looking at everything on the screen, and nodded with satisfaction.
He picked up the walkie-talkie, his voice echoing throughout the entire set.
"All departments, attention!"
"First scene after the New Year, first take!"
"Action!"