novelraw Chapter 142: The First Great Assassination Plot in History, Action!
Chapter 142: The First Great Assassination Plot in History, Action!
The five days of rest passed in the blink of an eye.
When the core creative team of Group A gathered in the conference room again for the script reading session for the Hongmen Feast,
Wei Song looked much better. He wasn't scowling like before and even passed out a round of cigarettes to everyone, though only Qin Feng and Liu Hanyu accepted them.
"Everyone rested up?" Wei Song scanned the room.
Qin Feng held his thermos, blowing on the steam. "My bones were nearly rattled apart. If we hadn't taken a break, my old bones would have been left behind on that Gobi desert."
A ripple of good-natured laughter spread through the group.
"The Hongmen Feast is the pinnacle of the dramatic scenes in *The Legend of Han and Chu*, and it's also the first major turning point of the entire series." Wei Song lit his cigarette, his expression turning serious. "In the Battle of Pengcheng, we captured Xiang Yu's 'martial prowess', his domineering spirit. For the Hongmen Feast, we need to capture his 'arrogance' and his 'suspicion'."
He looked at Jiang Ci.
"Jiang Ci, this scene will be even more difficult for you than the Battle of Pengcheng."
The gazes of the entire creative team focused on Jiang Ci.Jiang Ci nodded quietly, saying nothing.
The script reading session officially began.
The conference room fell silent, save for the soft rustling of script pages turning and the actors reciting their lines in the most straightforward tones.
"Your servant has heard that Your Majesty intends to blame your servant. Your servant shares an old bond with Your Majesty and has never dared to harbor thoughts of betrayal."
Qin Feng spoke Liu Bang's first line, his voice deliberately laced with suppressed humility and unease.
Next came Zhang Liang, played by Liu Hanyu, and Fan Zeng, played by Huang Shengqiu.
The veteran actors' mastery of dialogue was bottomless. Even in this simple reading session,
the subtle pauses and inflections in their delivery clearly outlined their characters' positions and states of mind.
When it was time for Xiang Yu's line, Jiang Ci spoke.
His voice was flat, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
"That is what your Left Minister Cao Wushang said. Otherwise, why would I have come to this."
A plain explanation.
Yet, the several veteran actors present all looked up simultaneously.
From this line, they heard an unmistakable, barely-contained impatience.
The reading session proceeded smoothly. Wei Song and screenwriter Li Jun couldn't hide the anticipation on their faces.
During a break, Li Jun quietly said to Wei Song, "The state of these veteran actors is impeccable. It all depends on whether Jiang Ci can hold his own tomorrow."
"In the Hongmen Feast, the true protagonist is Liu Bang. Xiang Yu is the 'pressure field' applying the force. If this field isn't solid, the whole scene collapses."
Wei Song stubbed out his cigarette, a gleam in his eyes.
"He will surprise us."
...
The day of filming the Hongmen Feast arrived.
The crew had booked an entire complex of antique-style buildings as the filming location.
The core set was the massive military tent, replicated one-to-one based on historical records.
Before filming began, Wei Song used a megaphone to issue the strictest clearing order.
"All non-essential personnel, retreat beyond the cordon line!"
"All mobile phone signals on set are to be switched off! Any form of filming or recording is strictly prohibited!"
"For today's scene, I demand absolute quiet, absolute focus!"
The atmosphere instantly tightened to a critical point.
Several cameras were already in position. Lighting, sound recording, all equipment had undergone final checks.
Wei Song took off his signature director's vest and personally sat down behind Camera A, ready to operate it himself to capture the most crucial performances.
Inside the tent.
The featured actors playing the various Chu Army generals were already lined up on both sides. Each looked fierce and murderous, hands resting on their swords as they stood at attention.
Jiang Ci sat alone in the main seat.
It was a large chair draped with a complete tiger pelt.
He reclined against the backrest in an extremely relaxed, almost languid posture.
He wore the black robe Wei Song had prepared for his initial audition, the bronze longsword symbolizing power hanging at his waist.
One hand rested casually on his knee, while the other held a piece of silk, idly polishing a bronze wine vessel placed on the table before him.
He was completely immersed in his own world, utterly oblivious to everything around him.
Outside the tent, the clapper loader, watching Wei Song's gesture on the monitor, slapped the clapperboard.
"*The Legend of Han and Chu*, Scene 231, Take 1! Action!"
According to the script, Liu Bang, played by Qin Feng, accompanied by Zhang Liang, stepped into the great tent, one cautious step at a time.
Qin Feng's performance began the moment his foot crossed the threshold.
He hunched his shoulders slightly, his face plastered with a humble, almost fawning smile.
But his constantly shifting eyes betrayed the extreme tension and terror in his heart.
He walked to the center of the great tent.
A deathly silence filled the space.
The gazes of all the Chu generals felt like knives scraping over his skin.
And the figure in the main seat still hadn't looked up.
He was still polishing that wine vessel.
As if the person who had just entered wasn't his rival for the empire, but an insignificant ant.
The throat of Liu Bang, played by Qin Feng, bobbed with a difficult swallow.
He straightened his attire slightly and prepared to perform the deep bow of submission to Xiang Yu, a ritual he had rehearsed countless times, to show his surrender.
His waist began to bend slowly.
Just before he was about to complete the bow, to trample all his dignity underfoot in that final second,
the figure in the main seat finally moved.
Jiang Ci stopped polishing the wine vessel.
He slowly raised his head.
However, his gaze did not fall upon the bowing Liu Bang.
Instead, it drifted past him, lightly, and settled upon the calmly composed Zhang Liang standing behind Liu Bang.
He seemed more interested in Zhang Liang than in Liu Bang himself.
Then, he spoke.
An extremely faint, almost negligible curve flickered at the corner of his lips for an instant.
His voice was flat, devoid of any ripple.
"Ah, the King of Guanzhong has arrived."
This sentence instantly stripped Liu Bang of all his prepared speeches, nailing him firmly to the pillar of shame labeled "treacherous and faithless,"
without even giving him a chance to defend himself.
Behind the monitor.
Wei Song shot up from his chair!
Beside him, screenwriter Li Jun pumped his fist excitedly.
"Old Wei! That's exactly the feeling we need!" he hissed in a suppressed, fierce whisper to Wei Song. "That is utter, complete contempt!"
Inside the great tent.
Qin Feng froze completely.
As an experienced Film Emperor, he instantly recognized that Jiang Ci's performance was a stunning, brilliant improvisation.
He hadn't played by the script.
But the reaction he gave was more terrifying, more fitting for the utterly arrogant Conqueror of Western Chu than what the script called for!
He had to respond to this contempt as "Liu Bang"!
Meanwhile, Jiang Ci inside the tent, having done all this,
merely gestured with his chin towards the empty seat prepared beside him.
Then, two words emerged from his throat.
"Sit."
It didn't feel like he was entertaining an ally.
It felt like he was granting a position to one of his subordinates.
As a Film Emperor, Qin Feng immediately caught the thread of the scene.
His body trembled slightly.
He slowly straightened his back and raised his head.
His face vividly displayed all the unwillingness, fear, and desperate, groveling struggle of an ambitious leader at the end of his rope.
He spoke, his voice parched.
"Your Majesty... your servant... has come to present the maps and household registers of Guanzhong."
As he spoke, Liu Bang, played by Qin Feng, tremblingly produced two bamboo scrolls from his robe.
They were taken by Zhang Liang behind him, who then respectfully stepped forward to present them.
A Chu general stepped forward to receive them, turned, and offered them to Xiang Yu on the main seat.