Chapter 26

Beijing Capital International Airport

Passengers from a flight dispersed at the exit. Xiaoning took a luggage cart, and Xi Tang helped her load the several large suitcases onto it. They pushed the cart towards the exit, one in front of the other. Ni Kailun returned with coffee, handing each of them a cup. Then she said to Xiaoning, “Go out and have a look.”

Xiaoning went out to scout the situation and quickly returned, reporting, “There are fans waiting at the gate.”

Ni Kailun asked, “Not many, right?”

Xiaoning replied, “The fan club was notified last night, and about a dozen came.”

Ni Kailun nodded, “Then let’s use the passenger exit.”

Finally, she glared at Huang Xitang, “Smile, remember to be friendly.”

Xi Tang put on her sunglasses, striking a pose. The assistant pushed the luggage cart, and the manager followed behind. They walked out of the airport exit.

As soon as they appeared at the exit, and since it was unusual for a normal person to wear sunglasses in an airport during the daytime, the fans’ built-in search system quickly spotted Xi Tang. Screams erupted immediately, “Huang Xitang!” “Xiye! You look so beautiful!”

Xi Tang slowed down, took a large bouquet of flowers that a young boy had handed her with all his might, and waved to them with a smile.

At that moment, a group of young girls suddenly appeared from nowhere, holding up Zheng You Tong’s signs and shouting wildly. In an instant, the warm interaction between the female star and her small group of fans turned into a chaotic scene of a big star arriving. The noise was so loud that it attracted the attention of the surrounding passengers. Amidst the chaos, a female voice screamed at the top of her lungs, “Miss Huang! Please take good care of Tongge!”

The entire hall burst into laughter, and Xi Tang almost burst out laughing too.

Zheng You Tong had already gone to Hong Kong and was probably spending a fortune at some casino with his sugar mommy.

Xiaoning stood in front of her, constantly speaking with a friendly smile, “Sorry, everyone, be careful, please watch your step...”

Ni Kailun held her arm and walked towards the business car by the roadside. A large group of fans chased after them. The veteran agent in the circle remained calm, as she had waited for this day for too long.

The car door closed, shutting out all the noise. Ni Kailun glanced at Xi Tang. All the words she wanted to say were reduced to a simple, “Baby, it’s all starting now.”

Xi Tang didn’t answer her. At that moment, her gaze drifted out the window, and through the tinted glass, she saw the last gray glow of dusk on the distant horizon.

In the deep autumn of her twenty-sixth year, Xi Tang returned to Beijing to start work after a gap of five full years. She brought an assistant and officially joined the crew of “The Last Imperial Concubine.”

Looking back at her entire acting career, this could almost be considered the most important drama of her life. It officially started filming in Beijing on October 6th of that year.

Acting.

Xi Tang loved it with all her heart.

In one messy dressing room after another, where she wandered for a lifetime, colorful powder boxes and rouge were scattered everywhere, and in front of a large mirror, Xi Tang sat in a chair, watching the makeup artist’s skillful hands delicately manipulating, patting, smearing, and drawing on her face. With powder white, light pink, and lake blue, her black hair was like clouds, piled high in a bun. Xi Tang looked at the face in the mirror and saw it slowly changing, gradually bringing her soul into the body of another person. Since the first day she entered the acting department of the film academy, she had been through countless crews and stages. Every time she walked through the chaotic backstage and passed through that dimly lit passageway, standing in the small, black waiting area behind the stage curtain, she would close her eyes slightly, shutting out the surrounding noise, and the surroundings would become a dark and silent space. She breathed slowly, inhaling and exhaling, focusing her mind, gradually forgetting herself, and entering another person’s world.

In that moment, before her eyes were mountains and moonlit shadows, a world of swords and martial arts. She heard her inner voice, like the roar of the deepest part of the ocean.

Xi Tang slowly opened her eyes. The on-set director counted down in her earpiece, and she heard the stage music again, or the clapperboard of the film set, crisply calling out “action.” She adjusted her skirt and turned around, making an appearance, meeting the eyes of the actor she was acting with. The lights in their pupils instantly ignited, and the applause of the audience surged like clouds.

Jin Shunjin, the eldest Miss of the Jin family, with delicate eyebrows, high forehead, phoenix eyes, and a sorrowful and aloof demeanor.

She had become another person, and the performance began.

This was the thing she loved most in her life. For the sake of doing what she loved, she felt happy no matter how much hardship she endured.

“The Last Imperial Concubine” was adapted from Ye Guangcen’s novel, which Xi Tang had read when she was in university and loved very much. The screenwriter was a big name in the industry, and the director was Feng Gansu, the famous director who had directed “The Back” and “The Great Tang Dynasty.” On the first day of filming when Xi Tang went to the set to try on costumes, she met the art director, Zhang Hongpo, in the makeup room.

Their conversation was full of scholarly and masterful exchanges.

She vaguely knew that her life was about to change.

The main photography studio for the crew was built in the Huai柔 Film City, and they would also be filming in the Prince Chun’s Garden in the urban area and in the suburbs of Beijing. On the first day of official filming, the entire crew gathered in the courtyard to burn incense and pray to the gods. Suddenly, the journalists who had come to interview started to stir. Xi Tang stood behind the director and seemed to see a flash of light. When she looked closely, she saw a handsome man in a gray Armani suit, surrounded by assistants and managers, walking towards them with a smile.

Yin Nan first shook hands with the director, then turned to face Xi Tang, and with a faint smile, extended his arm, calling out, “Xiye, how have you been?”

Xi Tang took a step forward, tilted her head slightly, and smiled. Yin Nan extended his arm and leaned down to embrace her. Xi Tang smiled lightly and leaned against his shoulder, “Nan Ge.”

The cameras of the media behind them clicked incessantly.

Yin Nan used to be a popular male star at Xingyi Entertainment, but later he shifted his focus to Beijing and then jumped to Fenghua Company. Xi Tang had worked with him at the company. Having been in the entertainment industry for so many years, male stars came and went like a revolving door, but Yin Nan’s talent was still the best she had ever seen. He was tall and slender, with an almost perfect face, and he naturally had a suave and debonair demeanor. In Ni Kailun’s words, he was born to be an actor. Yin Nan had acted in many wuxia period dramas in the early days, and later transitioned to acting in films. After a hiatus of several years, he had taken on this TV series again. He loved reading history and philosophy, and Xi Tang had occasionally had tea with him in the company crew in Hengdian.

She had never dared to imagine that there would come a day so soon when she would be acting with Yin Nan. He would play her husband, Song Jiashi, the son of the chief of the Beijing Police Department in the drama.

During the lunch break, Yin Nan asked her with a smile, “When will you write another good lyric for A-Yuan?”

Yin Nan’s girlfriend, Lin Yuanhong, was a famous Taiwanese pop music producer who wrote extremely poignant love songs. She had produced albums for several female singers in the industry. During the most difficult period of her plastic surgery recovery, Xi Tang was in Shanghai without any formal work. At that time, Yin Nan met her at the company, and the two of them hit it off. Xi Tang used Lin Yuanhong’s melody to write a few lyrics, and unexpectedly, as a newcomer, her songs became instant hits and even won the annual Golden Melody Award.

Xi Tang smiled awkwardly, “I haven’t written any more.”

Yin Nan looked a little regretful, “Xitang, sigh, A-Yuan praises your talent.”