novelraw Chapter 151: "Yu Ji" Too Deep in the Role
Chapter 151: "Yu Ji" Too Deep in the Role
As the dance reached its climax, Zhao Yingfei executed a rapid spin.
The blade of the long sword in her hand actually grazed her own arm.
Behind the monitor, Qin Feng, who had been sitting calmly, abruptly stood up from his chair!
Liu Hanyu and Huang Shengqiu also leaned forward instantly, their pupils contracting sharply.
Fortunately, it was a prop sword with an unsharpened blade.
But the absolute resolve this action represented was more cutting than a real blade.
The veteran actors on set understood instantly.
Zhao Yingfei was using a ritual bordering on self-harm to completely merge herself with the character of Yu Ji.
"Post-production!"
Wei Song's voice carried determination."Old Li, we need to have the VFX team add blood to this scene!"
He turned to Head Screenwriter Li Jun beside him, who had long been struck speechless by the scene.
Outside the tent, the "Eight Thousand Souls" music reached its peak at this moment!
The drumbeats thundered like war drums, each beat a call to death!
Zhao Yingfei's dance steps became faster, her movements more forceful.
Her white dance costume tore through the dim candlelight, leaving behind desperate and tragic afterimages.
The dance ended.
Zhao Yingfei stood holding the sword, her chest heaving from rapid breaths.
There were no tears on her face.
Instead, as she looked towards the lonely figure at the tent entrance, she managed a smile of utter devastation.
Jiang Ci slowly turned around.
Their eyes met.
He spoke, delivering the script's long-determined line.
"Yu Ji, do you have any regrets?"
Zhao Yingfei shook her head.
That smile was tragically beautiful and proud.
"I follow my king, in life and death, without regret."
Her reply was filled with understanding, compassion for a hero's end, and... a final touch of madness.
The next second.
With a sorrowful smile, she mustered all her strength to shout a line that wasn't in the script at all!
"My king! For our sake! Break through the encirclement!"
The moment her words fell, she actually lifted the long sword and began walking towards the tent entrance!
Just as she was about to rush out of the great tent, Jiang Ci moved.
He took a single step, arriving later but faster.
From behind, he wrapped his arms around that figure, holding her tightly in his embrace!
"Urk..."
Zhao Yingfei struggled wildly in his arms.
The sword in her hand, due to this violent struggle, reversed its blade and slashed fiercely towards the arm holding her!
Jiang Ci did not dodge.
That unsharpened prop sword, under the immense force of her struggle, still deeply cut through his sleeve.
The fabric tore.
A real, bloody scratch quickly appeared.
Intense pain shot through him, but Jiang Ci ignored it completely.
He held her tightly, burying his head in the crook of her neck.
This embrace was the Hegemon's final tenderness.
It was also a man's deepest despair.
He could accept his own defeat, he could accept being betrayed and abandoned, he could accept dying in battle.
But he could not accept his beloved sacrificing herself for him in such a tragic way.
"Don't go..."
Jiang Ci's voice carried a sob he himself hadn't noticed, a sense of extreme fragility bursting forth.
"I beg you..."
This "I beg you" utterly shattered the last vestiges of strength in the person he held.
Zhao Yingfei's struggles gradually ceased.
She felt the uncontrollable trembling of the body behind her.
Her fingers slowly loosened.
"Clang!"
A crisp sound rang out as the long sword fell to the ground.
She turned her hands and, with equal force, embraced Jiang Ci.
Tears finally broke through the last dam, silently streaming down.
Amidst the swirling artificial snow and the Chu Songs from all sides, the two embraced.
But this warmth was fleeting.
Zhao Yingfei smiled sorrowfully again.
Her hand reached towards Jiang Ci's waist.
There, hung a short sword.
A short sword symbolizing "farewell."
The scene from the script was finally about to appear.
Zhao Yingfei delivered her final line.
"My king's spirit is spent, what life is left for this lowly concubine!"
The cold prop blade swept across her neck.
Dark red prop blood surged forth.
Instantly staining her plain white dance costume, and also staining Jiang Ci's arm, which was still bleeding as he held her tightly.
Zhao Yingfei's body slowly went limp in his arms.
Jiang Ci held Yu Ji's cold "corpse."
He did not throw his head back and roar in grief like in countless film and TV dramas.
He lowered his head, looking at the bloodless face in his arms, his entire body trembling uncontrollably and violently.
Finally, he forced out two disjointed syllables.
"Yu Xi..."
He could no longer utter the following "what am I to do?"
Because at this moment, Xiang Yu was already a man who had lost everything.
Any words were superfluous.
Behind the monitor, there was dead silence.
Wei Song's eyes were bloodshot, his fists clenched tightly.
He watched the scene on the monitor, one second, two seconds...
Until the trembling body in the shot finally released the last vestiges of emotion belonging to Xiang Yu.
Only then did he press the walkie-talkie button and roar with all his might three words.
"Cut! That's a wrap!"
As his voice fell.
The entire film set remained terrifyingly quiet, with only the howling simulated by the snow machines.
The crew members who had been cleared from the set earlier but couldn't resist sneaking a peek outside the tent now stood frozen in place, as if their souls had been sucked away.
Finally.
In a corner, a young female clapper loader could no longer hold back. Covering her mouth, she let out a sob suppressed to its extreme.
Instantly, the sorrowful atmosphere on the entire set was ignited, and suppressed weeping sounds rose and fell one after another.
However, in Jiang Ci's mind, it was a completely different scene.
The system's notification tones, absent for so long, flooded his consciousness once more.
[Heartbreak emotion detected... Heartbreak Value +125!]
[Heartbreak emotion detected... Heartbreak Value +98!]
[Heartbreak emotion detected... Heartbreak Value +155!]
...
[Ding! Congratulations, Host has obtained a total of 623 points of Heartbreak Value! Life span increased by 75 days!]
Simultaneously.
The [Emotional Isolation LV1] passive skill activated precisely.
The grief belonging to the character Xiang Yu slowly began to fade.
Jiang Ci's rationality gradually reclaimed its territory.
He was just about to get up from the floor and check his still-bleeding arm.
But he suddenly noticed that the person in his arms was in a somewhat abnormal state.
Zhao Yingfei's eyes were still tightly closed.
Her body was still trembling very slightly.
From the corners of her eyes, real tears were falling uncontrollably, drop by drop, landing on the back of his hand that held her.
Her entire being still radiated an aura of heartbroken despair.
Jiang Ci was momentarily stunned.
Zhao Yingfei... had immersed herself too deeply in the role and hadn't yet emerged from the tragedy of Yu Ji's sacrifice.
A thought quickly flashed through his mind.
The fact that he had reaped such a bountiful harvest this time was largely thanks to this partner.
As a conscientious "life-extension worker," he had an obligation to help.
More importantly...
This was a golden partner who could help him efficiently harvest Heartbreak Value.