Chapter 158: Continuing the Filming
Miao Zhi did not believe that Lu Xu’s previous performance had any issues. After all, Lu Xu was already a very mature actor with his own unique style of acting. However, the Bai Qianshan that Lu Xu portrayed still had some differences from the Bai Qianshan that Miao Zhi had envisioned.
At first, Miao Zhi did not notice this issue. But as the filming of Fearless Life progressed, he gradually became aware of it.
The problem was minor and would not have a decisive impact on the quality of the film. However… it would be even better if it were adjusted.
That was why Miao Zhi assigned Lu Xu a new task.
The Bai Qianshan that Lu Xu portrayed felt a bit too heavy.
There was no doubt that he had presented the character with 100% perfection, but if the character appeared too grand or too mythical, it could create a sense of detachment for the audience.
The audience would feel that the character was too distant from them.
Even Bai Qianshan himself never considered himself a god. He was merely an ordinary person working alongside a group of remarkable individuals, constantly striving for their shared ideals.
In the new scene, Lu Xu added some subtle details, and Bai Qianshan’s character suddenly became more vivid and full of life.
He did make adjustments, but not drastic ones—just enough that Bai Qianshan still felt like the same person. Yet, even these tiny changes brought countless faces to Miao Zhi’s mind.
In the pursuit of their careers and aspirations, many people had sacrificed their lives. Many had set aside personal matters for the sake of the greater good. But perhaps because too much time had passed, or maybe because people today were bombarded with mixed and fragmented information, whenever such sacrifices were brought up, some instinctively questioned: Is this really something humans are capable of?
Of course, it was.
Just like in that moment, the choice Bai Qianshan made—many refused to believe it.
But that was the truth.
At that time, giving up lucrative opportunities overseas to return to the country was already a choice that many people could not understand. If they couldn’t even comprehend that, it was naturally even harder for them to understand Bai Qianshan’s decision to sacrifice himself to save others.
Watching the scene Lu Xu performed, Miao Zhi felt as if he could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his chest.
He had hoped for Lu Xu to make some changes, but the adjustments Lu Xu made ended up surprising him even more than he had expected.
In truth, Lu Xu’s performance had already exceeded Miao Zhi’s expectations. Over the years, Miao Zhi had maintained a low profile and had little interaction with people in the industry, though he had encountered quite a few young actors who enjoyed acting like divas.
He had initially assumed that Lu Xu would be one of them, but after working with him, he realized that the real troublemakers were actually others.
Miao Zhi thought for a moment—some people relied on acting arrogant to make their presence known.
Why did they feel the need to put on such an act? It was simply because they lacked confidence and a solid foundation. Without this kind of display, they would have remained unnoticed in the industry, mere nobodies.
In a way, the reason why the Fearless Life production had been so stable recently was because Lu Xu had managed to subdue all the scheming and troublemaking behind the scenes.
Of course, Miao Zhi had chosen Lu Xu as the lead in Fearless Life, but it was never about using him to get revenge on Liu Rennong. His conflict with Liu Rennong was personal—there was no reason to drag an outsider like Lu Xu into it.
It was true that Miao Zhi disliked Liu Rennong and had been suppressed by him before. Their grudge stemmed from Miao Zhi’s belief that Liu Rennong was insincere and preferred taking shortcuts. Back when they were younger, Miao Zhi actually had a stronger reputation. When they both competed for the same award, Miao Zhi’s work was objectively better, receiving higher praise and better reviews—yet, in the end, the award went to Liu Rennong.
Using that award as a stepping stone, Liu Rennong spent the following years attending international film festivals, representing domestic directors and building a strong reputation overseas. Meanwhile, Miao Zhi gradually faded into obscurity.
Miao Zhi was dissatisfied with some of Liu Rennong’s actions—his rival had not directed a film in years and was now focused entirely on promoting newcomers. Whether it was because he wanted to rest on his past achievements or had simply lost the motivation to move forward, Miao Zhi couldn’t tell.
However, the way Liu Rennong promoted newcomers clearly followed the same patterns he had used in his younger years—the very approach that Miao Zhi despised the most.
He would have preferred Liu Rennong to keep making films.
After all, in the eyes of the industry, he was considered far inferior to Liu Rennong. There was no need to argue the point—just the box office performance of How Much Do You Know alone was something he could never surpass. Even if he were to create a film of the same quality, he wouldn’t be able to secure the same level of theatrical screenings.
Miao Zhi did not expect Fearless Life to surpass How Much Do You Know. The overheated film market had cooled down in recent years, and breaking 3 billion yuan at the box office had become increasingly difficult. Only a cast that the audience inherently trusted, coupled with solid quality, had a chance of achieving high numbers.
His goal was simply to make Fearless Life as well as he could. After all, this was a story about Bai Qianshan.
And as a filmmaker—as a person—Miao Zhi did not want to ruin this story.
…
The filming of Fearless Life continued at a steady and intense pace.
Lu Xu spent a week listening to stories about Bai Qianshan. In the following shoots, he worked to absorb and internalize these stories.
To better connect with the character, Lu Xu rarely stayed on set when he had free time. Instead, he would visit the places where Bai Qianshan had worked, standing on the same mounds of earth where Bai Qianshan had once stood.
In the field of science, Lu Xu was a complete outsider. Yet, even though he had no understanding of the principles behind the knowledge, he could still feel the overwhelming impact of witnessing a vast world built from nothing.
How had Bai Qianshan managed to accomplish this?
Or rather—how had he even dared to dream it?
Just imagining Bai Qianshan standing on this barren land, his thoughts stretching upward into the vastness of the universe and outward into the decades and even the endless future, was enough to make one tremble from the depths of their soul.
Lu Xu naturally developed deep respect for this character.
He could even say that no matter how well he portrayed Bai Qianshan—enough to satisfy the director, the screenwriter, and the rest of the crew—he would still remain far from the real Bai Qianshan.
But he was getting closer.
In the later part of Fearless Life, despite facing a crisis that put the entire experiment in danger, Bai Qianshan was fortunate enough to survive. However, the incident left the project leaders deeply shaken—so much so that they even considered shutting the project down.
But Bai Qianshan refused to accept that.
He had barely recovered from his hospital stay when he heard the news, and the moment he did, he exploded.
His reasoning was simple: You brought me back for this project. How could I possibly leave before it’s finished?
“Fine, if you all leave, then I’ll pitch a tent here and live like a wild man. But I’m not going anywhere.”
The project had already burned through an immense amount of funding and had overcome countless challenges in its early stages. To abandon it now—no one would be willing to accept that.
Because of Bai Qianshan’s persistence, the project was allowed to continue. But without a doubt, the road ahead would only become even more difficult.
For these scenes, Lu Xu was completely immersed in his performance.
On set, he could be casually chatting with the crew about the weather one moment, listening to the director’s instructions the next—but the instant the director called for action, he would fully and completely step into his character.
Lu Xu was actually younger than Bai Qianshan at the time of his return to the country. However, after countless experiments and endless contemplation, the real Bai Qianshan had appeared far more exhausted. During filming, Lu Xu seemed to transform into a completely engrossed, sleepless, and self-forgetting Bai Qianshan—capturing his stubbornness, his persistence—bringing all of it to life.
One scene depicted Bai Qianshan so immersed in his experiments that he failed to notice a collapsing wall outside. He walked right past a warning sign without realizing the danger. When filming this scene, Lu Xu perfectly conveyed Bai Qianshan’s dazed immersion. At that moment, a piece of debris unexpectedly fell and hit him directly, startling the props crew, who feared something serious had happened to the lead actor.
Lu Xu was indeed in pain from the impact, but he simply waved it off, saying, “Doesn’t this make the scene look even better?”
“Better?” The usually mild-tempered Miao Zhi, upon hearing this, lost his temper completely. “Do you want to break a hand or a leg? Are you willing to throw away your body just for a better shot?!”
“You think you can take it because you’re young now, but you’ll regret it when you’re older.”
Miao Zhi had no choice but to assign extra crew members to keep a close eye on Lu Xu.
No one had anticipated the accident, but if Lu Xu had divided his attention just a little during filming, it wouldn’t have happened. However, he had been so deeply absorbed in his role that he simply had no room to notice anything else.
Lu Xu went to the hospital for a check-up, and fortunately, he was fine. Still, Miao Zhi insisted on giving him two days off.
When the director later reviewed the footage, he had to admit—on screen, Lu Xu had completely transformed into Bai Qianshan. That unexpected moment had made the scene even more authentic.
And with each passing day, Lu Xu was becoming more and more like Bai Qianshan.
Miao Zhi had made up his mind to direct Fearless Life because, in his heart, he had a clear vision of Bai Qianshan. He had meticulously outlined the character in his mind, and now, he could see that Lu Xu was gradually aligning with that vision.
Because of Lu Xu’s dedication, the footage Miao Zhi captured far exceeded even his own expectations.
It was clear to him—Lu Xu wasn’t putting in this effort to win awards or to boost his own fame. He was doing it purely out of respect for Bai Qianshan, wanting to bring out the beauty of the character and present it to the audience through Fearless Life.
This deeply moved Miao Zhi.
Though he never said it outright, he became even more meticulous in guiding Lu Xu. As an experienced director, Miao Zhi had worked with many actors, and while Lu Xu appeared to be just a young performer on the surface, he possessed the soul of a seasoned actor. When discussing filmmaking, their ideas often aligned effortlessly, making them a perfect creative match.
Screenwriter Jiang Tang, observing their dynamic, couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s been years since I’ve seen Old Miao talk this much.”
Having collaborated with Miao Zhi for many years, Jiang Tang knew that in recent times, Miao Zhi had grown increasingly unwilling to engage in lengthy conversations. Frankly, Jiang Tang understood why—Miao Zhi simply found too many people dull.
“If you have to explain something several times and they still don’t get it, what’s the point of even trying?”
But now, Miao Zhi was speaking with enthusiasm.
From Jiang Tang’s perspective, he, too, felt that Lu Xu had portrayed Bai Qianshan exceptionally well.
It wasn’t just about physical resemblance—Lu Xu seemed to have captured Bai Qianshan’s very soul.
With an actor like this bringing the character to life, there was no doubt that audiences would wholeheartedly embrace Fearless Life.
Lu Xu added Miao Zhi as a WeChat friend—something that was quite rare, as it was said that Miao Zhi usually disliked adding contacts. In the film crew, he typically conveyed his instructions through group chats or addressed them in person. Because of this, others often assumed he was mild-tempered and easy to push around.
However, Lu Xu saw it differently. He felt that the director had deliberately distanced himself from the complexities of the entertainment industry. From this perspective, Miao Zhi wasn’t necessarily gentle—if anything, he was somewhat indifferent.
That said, his passion for filmmaking remained strong, and he had firm convictions about how actors should deliver their performances.
During one particular scene, Lu Xu and Miao Zhi had a disagreement. They ended up debating over WeChat for more than an hour until screenwriter Jiang Tang came knocking on Lu Xu’s door to remind him that the director had high blood pressure—only then did the argument come to a temporary halt.
But by the next morning, the two of them picked up right where they had left off.
Miao Zhi never raised his voice in an argument. Instead, Lu Xu came to experience his true debating style—an unrelenting, soft-spoken persistence that slowly wore down his opponent’s resistance. He would keep pressing until the other person ran out of patience and had no choice but to concede.
Lu Xu: “……”
In some ways, Miao Zhi was the most stubborn director he had ever worked with.
Of course, every director had their own unique personality, and in the end, Lu Xu ultimately couldn’t win the argument.
It wasn’t because he feared Miao Zhi or was trying to curry favor with him. Rather, after he, Miao Zhi, and Jiang Tang sat down and thoroughly reviewed the entire script of Fearless Life, Lu Xu had to admit that, while his approach worked for that particular scene, Miao Zhi’s vision was better suited to the film as a whole.
