053 Fan Chubby: What's a lackey got to be so arrogant about?!

An unearned disaster!
Yan Li rubbed his forehead. Who could have imagined that an actor would actually dislike being reminded of their most famous role?
Well, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible. Yan Li suddenly thought of his own portrayal of Yuwen Chengdu.
If someone ever came up to him praising how well he played Yuwen Chengdu and talking about how much they loved the character, blah, blah, blah, Yan Li figured he probably wouldn't be in a great mood either.
However, that being said, Yan Li felt that an unintentional offense should be forgiven. His intentions were good, so it was one thing for the girl to be unhappy, but she was also acting somewhat resentful.
Narrow-minded. No wonder she couldn't compare to Xiao Yanzi and Lin Xiru!
Yan Li muttered inwardly, lowering his appraisal of Fan Xiaopang a notch.
Of the remaining pieces of intelligence, two were related to the stock market, two were internal information about The Basin of Wealth, and one was Liang Guanhua's opinion of Yan Li.
In stark contrast to Fan Xiaopang, Liang Guanhua's evaluation of Yan Li was quite high, filled with favorable impressions.
This time, Yan Li felt much better!
No one would naturally feel close to someone who disliked them, especially since Yan Li was a person who made a clear distinction between love and hate.
If there were ulterior motives, that would be one thing, but in normal interactions, if someone liked him and treated him as a friend, Yan Li would treat them as a friend in return. Conversely, if someone felt aversion or dislike toward him, Yan Li wouldn't lower himself to curry favor with them.
...
The next day, Yan Li went out for his usual morning run and boxing practice. Liang Guanhua had told him yesterday that the hotel had a dedicated fitness area.
However, Yan Li felt that outdoor exercise was much more comfortable, allowing him to enjoy the scenery while breathing in the fresh air.
He had no scenes scheduled for the morning. After practicing for a while and checking the stock market, he ate lunch and headed to the makeup room, where he ran into Pan Dan, the actress playing his on-screen "wife," Su Liliang!
How should he put it? This person was actually one of Yan Li's "old acquaintances."
Back in his youth, Yan Li had thoroughly enjoyed many of her Category III films, such as *The Imp* (*Xie Sha*), *Rapeous Desire* (*Jidu Shouxing*), *The Six Demon Bag* (*Liu Monv*), and *Triad* (*Sanhehui*), feasts for the eyes that truly satisfied him.
Even now, recalling them could only be summarized in one word—
Massive!
Unfortunately, perhaps due to the weather, styling choices, or simply because the budget wasn't high enough, Pan Dan did not showcase her greatest assets in the production of *The Basin of Wealth*.
Yan Li had learned his lesson this time. Instead of walking up and saying he was a massive fan of one of her specific movies, he engaged in standard, polite conversation.
To Yan Li's slight surprise, given that she had starred in Hong Kong Category III films, he had expected Pan Dan to have a bold, unrestrained, worldly personality.
Yet, once they started chatting, he discovered that although her disposition was quite bright and cheerful, her speech and manners were full of refinement—completely different from what he had imagined.
It just goes to show that a person's on-screen persona and their real-life personality can sometimes be vastly different.
Before long, Liang Guanhua arrived as well, joining them in the makeup room to chat.
Compared to Pan's contrast, Liang Guanhua was indeed very much like Zhang Damin from *The Happy Life of Zhang Damin*, with a kind temper and a fondness for light banter.
Yan Li really enjoyed chatting with someone like this; eloquent and witty, capable of joking back and forth, and blowing off a bit of steam. The atmosphere was pleasant and relaxed, making work enjoyable as well.
After finishing their makeup, the three of them went to the set to shoot. Yan Li's scenes weren't heavy, focusing mostly on how he, along with Liang and Pan, conspired against Shen Wansan.
As for Yan Li's character, Song Dian, Liang and Pan were undoubtedly the actors he shared the most scenes with in *The Basin of Wealth*, followed closely by the male lead, Zhang Weijian.
After them came Fan Xiaopang, who played the second female lead, Zhao Xue'e.
In the story, Song Dian constantly harbored feelings for Zhao Xue'e, wanting to win her back from Shen Wansan. When he was on the verge of death, he still ran to pay respects at Zhao Xue'e's grave, leading to his encounter with Shen Wansan and their eventual reconciliation.
Once filming commenced, Pan Dan played her part normally, while Liang Guanhua seemed intentionally to be testing Yan Li's mettle. His performance was much more nuanced than usual, possessing greater layering and explosive power, with quite a few alterations to his lines.
Yan Li had no idea how Liang Guanhua had been performing previously, assuming this was simply the everyday standard of a pillar actor from the Beijing People's Art Theatre.
Though surprised by the changes in the dialogue, Yan Li maintained his own rhythm and steadily caught and delivered his cues.
After working on *Conquest*, leaving aside how much his acting skills had improved, Yan Li's psychological endurance during performances when acting opposite powerhouse actors like Sun Honglei and Jiang Shan was clearly much stronger than before.
This point was actually quite crucial!
Many young actors who graduated from professional academies still possessed sufficient basic performance skills, at least capable of handling most ordinary plots without overly demanding requirements, provided they performed at their normal level.
Some young actors failed to perform well not merely due to a lack of ability, but more importantly, because of poor psychological states.
They would panic upon arriving on set, get intimidated at the sight of the camera, and cower before even acting when facing veteran actors. Their minds would become a chaotic mess, forgetting most of their lines and character traits, while their limbs and facial expressions refused to obey them. It would be a miracle if they acted well in such a state.
Therefore, compared to just "knowing how to act," the most crucial thing for a newcomer was to "dare to act."
Yan Li had an advantage in this regard. With a naturally strong personality and plenty of boldness, coupled with the system backing him up, he felt even more confident.
After being tempered through *Heroes of Sui and唐* and *Conquest*, minor hurdles couldn't scare him anymore.
People with better acting skills than Yan Li might overshadow him during a scene, but they wouldn't throw him off or cause him to suffer a psychological collapse leading to mistakes.
After the director shouted "Cut," Liang Guanhua gave Yan Li a thumbs-up and offered a few words of praise.
For his age group, Yan Li wasn't the most exceptional young actor Liang had ever seen, but he definitely ranked near the top.
Compared to those young actors full of ethereal inspiration and innate genius, Yan Li's strengths lay in his solid foundational skills and a certain degree of innate talent. Thus, his performances were both steady and exceptional, granting him a wide acting range and a high baseline.
Liang Guanhua even felt the urge to encourage Yan Li to try out for stage plays at the People's Art Theatre. Some of the veteran masters in their troupe simply adored promising newcomers with such steady acting foundations.
If Yan Li had known what was running through Liang Guanhua's mind, he certainly would have politely declined.
He didn't reject stage acting, but he didn't want to perform the exact same role over and over again. Instead, he preferred the medium of film and television, where he could try out different characters and stories, and then pour his all into bringing them to life and letting them bloom—that was the performance style he favored.
Of course, working in film and television also offered higher earnings and greater fame, which were undoubtedly factors that could not be ignored.
Yan Li's scenes for the day were light, and after filming a few segments, he wrapped up. Liang and Pan were still busy, so Yan Li greeted them and went to the makeup room on his own to take off his makeup.
Upon arriving at the makeup room, he found Fan Xiaopang and another middle-aged actress—presumably the one playing her mother in the show—getting their makeup applied, likely preparing for a night shoot.
Yan Li offered his standard, polite smile, nodded in acknowledgment, then found a seat, closed his eyes to rest, and let the makeup artist remove his makeup.
Since she had a lukewarm impression of him and wasn't an important person worth cultivating a deep relationship with, they could simply keep their distance from one another to avoid being an eyesore to each other.
Fan Xiaopang looked at Yan Li, who sat with his eyes closed, and slightly furrowed her pretty brows.
Although this guy wasn't very articulate when they first met, his attitude had been reasonably friendly. Why was he so cold today?
Feeling puzzled, but recognizing him as merely a colleague she had met once, Fan Xiaopang didn't dwell on it and continued applying her makeup.
A few minutes later, the makeup room grew slightly noisy. Fan Xiaopang looked back and saw that Cheng Li, the production's producer, had entered the room.
Just as Fan Xiaopang opened her mouth to greet him, she saw Yan Li, who had been resting with his eyes closed just moments before, beam with a radiant smile and briskly walk over to welcome him.
"President Cheng, what brings you here?"
"I was passing by and dropped in to check on everyone."
Cheng Liyong smiled and patted Yan Li's arm. "How does it feel on your first day of shooting today?"
"It's great. Teacher Liang and Sister Pan Dan have been taking good care of me. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to keep tabs on me."
"..."
Yan Li and Cheng Liyong chatted animatedly. After Cheng finished greeting the others, the two of them even stepped outside the door to smoke a cigarette and chat for a few more minutes before Cheng Liyong left.
Upon returning to the makeup room, Yan Li noticed Fan Xiaopang looking at him with eager interest as she asked,
"Are you quite close with Director Cheng?"
*Ha,* she hadn't made a peep earlier, but the moment she saw he was familiar with the producer, she started initiating conversation.
"Pretty much."
Yan Li felt a mild annoyance in his heart and brushed her off casually. Fan Xiaopang pressed further: "How do you two know each other?"
"A friend introduced us."
"What kind of friend? Are they also in our industry?"
"Mm."
Fan Xiaopang looked like she wanted to dig deeper, but Yan Li couldn't be bothered to waste words. He offered another standard, polite smile, turned to speak with his makeup artist, and then closed his eyes to rest once more, making it abundantly clear that he had no intention of entertaining Fan Xiaopang's inquiries.
"..."
Being outright ignored left Fan Xiaopang's peach-blossom eyes glaring daggers at Yan Li in fury, her white teeth clenched tight.
What's so great about being a lapdog to a producer?!