Chapter 115.1: Filming Begins, a Delivery Arrives
Fang Chengxing: “?”
Liang Cheng: “?”
What on earth did Shen Xiu mean by that?
Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng stared at each other in confusion, a series of question marks slowly popping up in their minds.
The two exchanged glances, completely baffled.
After Shen Xiu finished speaking, he waited a few seconds, only to see Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng look at each other in silence. Neither of them responded, and the awkwardness made his toes curl with secondhand embarrassment.
Great. He’d probably startled them by suddenly showing up and speaking out of the blue—they must think he’s really weird.
The silence was getting unnervingly heavy. As the one who’d accidentally caused this “accident,” Shen Xiu felt it was his responsibility to break the ice. Forcing himself to speak again, he said stiffly, “I mean… please take care of me going forward.”
Teacher Sun Yue once said that good acting has the power to elevate the performance of your scene partners.
She never set the bar too high for him, probably because she was good friends with Teacher Jiang and didn’t want to be too harsh. She always complimented him politely.
Shen Xiu thought to himself, ‘It’ll be better once I’m on set.’
In a proper crew, everyone he’d act with would be strangers. If he didn’t perform well, unlike Teacher Sun, they wouldn’t hold back—they’d call out his flaws without a second thought.
Just like something he’d secretly read in a group chat from Xiang Yueting—
“When familiar people or those with personal ties make mistakes, we tend to excuse or go easy on them. But when it comes to strangers, people don’t hesitate to point out errors bluntly.”
Take his little Lucky, for example. Even when Lucky knocked a cup off the table, Shen Xiu—who knew him well—just found the behavior childish in an adorable way. The mistake didn’t even seem like a real mistake. He wouldn’t dream of scolding him.
He probably came off just as childish as Lucky when acting in front of Teacher Sun Yue—that’s why she never said anything harsh to him.
Fang Chengxing mumbled, “Take… care of you?”
Hearing someone finally respond, Shen Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed up, “Yes. I just want you both to be mentally prepared.”
Not wanting to be the one who dragged the whole production down on his first real acting job, Shen Xiu looked seriously at Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng, giving them a clear heads-up in advance.
But the moment he said that, both Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng couldn’t help but recall the terrifying “Demon King Xiu” back in training camp.
Wait a second… Was he telling them to mentally prepare—to get scolded?
Now it made sense. When Shen Xiu said his own acting was “poisonous,” he definitely didn’t mean it literally. He was warning them: if their acting ended up being poisonous and burned his eyes, he wouldn’t go easy on them.
Liang Cheng: “…Alright.”
Fang Chengxing: “…Okay.”
Hearing their replies, Shen Xiu finally relaxed, offering a sincere, “Thank you.”
He’d given them fair warning. When filming officially began, if his acting fell short, at least the team would be mentally prepared.
Liang Cheng and Fang Chengxing sat up straight, nodding in unison. “No problem, it’s… it’s only right.”
What was this?
A cold, almost intimidating display of manners? A polite form of psychological warfare?
Whatever it was, they both understood one thing clearly now: with K Corp investing, and Shen Xiu personally involved, nobody in the Immortal Path production was going to get away with slacking off.
They’d originally assumed that, with a rookie director at the helm, Immortal Path might be a relatively relaxed project.
Clearly, they’d been too naive.
Then again—
They’d coasted for long enough. Sure, there’d been some minor splashes, but not a single breakout hit to their name. If this time, giving it their all could actually pay off… they were willing to give it a shot.
After all—
This was Shen Xiu we’re talking about.
Ever since his debut—or rather, before his official debut—he had already made waves in the industry purely on the strength of his own ability. He was the kind of guy who trended on social media every single time he appeared on screen!
If they could manage to hitch a ride on the luxury cruise ship that was Shen Xiu, it would be their honor.
After quickly coming to this realization, both Liang Cheng and Fang Chengxing felt a lot more at ease.
Relaxed now, Liang Cheng grew a bit bolder and couldn’t help sneaking a curious glance at Shen Xiu.
“Bos—cough cough—Shen Xiu, if I may ask… Is Teacher Sun Yue really as strict as people say? Like, so serious it’s kind of scary to be in her class?”
Shen Xiu, recalling her lessons, replied honestly, “Teacher Sun is very gentle.” Then he paused, puzzled. “Wait, are you sure you’re not mixing up teachers?”
Where were these rumors even coming from? They were ridiculous.
Teacher Sun Yue had absolutely nothing to do with “scary”!
Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng: “……”
Shen Xiu’s words reminded them of the top students and academic gods back in school.
Of course. In the world of straight-A overachievers, even the scariest teacher would come across as “gentle.”
They really should’ve known better than to ask Shen Xiu that question.
“Ahem… Then I must’ve heard wrong,” Liang Cheng said, trying to save face.
Shen Xiu nodded calmly. “Mm.”
With that, awkward silence fell over the three once again. Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng stood there stiffly, not sure what to say, while Shen Xiu, seeing them just silently staring at him, felt the awkwardness closing in again like a slow suffocation. He instinctively wanted to flee.
Right at that moment, Xuan Ji walked by, talking on the phone.
Spotting his “savior,” Shen Xiu seized the opportunity and said, “You two go ahead and chat—I’m going to talk to Director Xuan.”
After all, Xuan Ji was in the middle of a call. There was no way he’d actually stop to talk to him.
Internally, Shen Xiu apologized profusely for using Xuan Ji as an escape route.
Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng both exhaled in relief. “Alright, see you!”
“Bye!” Shen Xiu called out as he turned and strode away from the awkwardness that still clung to the air behind him.
Watching his retreating figure, Liang Cheng whispered, “According to students at Shanghai Academy of The Performing Arts, Teacher Sun Yue has been personally teaching Shen Xiu’s acting classes lately. And apparently, she told her students herself that Shen Xiu’s been reviewing super seriously.”
Fang Chengxing: “Of course the big shots are taught by other big shots… Wait, did you say reviewing?!”
Liang Cheng nodded. “Yep. That’s exactly the word Teacher Sun used.”
Fang Chengxing: “…Unbelievable. Shen Xiu already has acting skills most people dream of, and he’s still reviewing before filming starts.”
Liang Cheng gave him a look that said “you’re new here”: “He’s the God of the Grind™. Wouldn’t live up to the title otherwise.”
Fang Chengxing, who had already graduated from Southern Theatre Academy three years ago, felt thoroughly crushed by Shen Xiu’s work ethic. He asked nervously, “You think it’s still possible for me to get a teacher and cram some last-minute review?”
Liang Cheng mercilessly shattered that hope: “Too late. Once the opening ceremony ends, we start shooting for real.”
Fang Chengxing: “The heavens have forsaken me!”
Liang Cheng patted Fang’s shoulder with mock sympathy. “Look on the bright side. Shen Xiu doesn’t have many scenes. Most of them are scheduled for weekends. Today’s Sunday, which means we won’t see him again for another five days.”
Liang Cheng held out a hand, giving him a formal shake. “Congratulations. You’ve got five days to secretly cram and blow him away with your progress. You got this!”
Fang Chengxing: “…Translation: I’ve got five days left before Shen Xiu murders me with his eyes. Slowly. Painfully. From all angles.”
—
After leaving, Shen Xiu secretly kept an eye on Fang Chengxing and Liang Cheng from afar—only to confirm his suspicions. The moment he left, they started chatting away like normal.
So… it really was his presence that had made things so awkward.
Running a mental recap of the whole interaction, Shen Xiu concluded he had used up his entire daily quota of social energy. Pleased with himself, he decided he’d try again next Saturday and Sunday.
With everything arranged, Shen Xiu felt completely at ease.
…
Xuan Ji finished his phone call, wrapped up his tasks, and walked over to the group.
“Get ready. It’s almost time for the incense offering.”
The incense-burning ceremony for the shoot’s opening had been scheduled with a fortune-teller beforehand, and the cast had been notified in advance. But since this was Xuan Ji’s first time directing, he wasn’t taking any chances—he came to personally remind them again.
For Shen Xiu, standing around awkwardly making small talk was far less appealing than getting back to work. So the moment Xuan Ji spoke, he answered promptly and walked off with a noticeably lighter step.
Watching him leave, Liang Cheng whispered to Fang Chengxing:
“I don’t think I’ll ever understand how these grind gods stay so passionate about work all the time.”
“Same. But honestly, I don’t want to understand. I’m a salted fish—no desire to flip over.”
Since Shen Xiu wasn’t one of the leads and had relatively few scenes, he didn’t have to appear in costume for the incense ceremony. Only the lead actors, Liang Cheng and Fang Chengxing, showed up in full character styling.
Everyone naturally assumed Shen Xiu was attending the opening ceremony in his role as an investor.
But deep down, Shen Xiu still dreamed of becoming a director, so he paid very close attention to every detail of the process—down to the last incense stick.
So much so that Xuan Ji, the head director himself, started feeling self-conscious—as if they were working on a multi-billion-dollar blockbuster. He didn’t dare zone out even for a second.
Shortly after the Immortal Path opening ceremony wrapped up, the production team released photos from the event.
@ImmortalPathOfficial: Auspicious beginnings and smooth sailing ahead!
@FangChengxing @LiangCheng @ShenXiu
[8 photos]
The images included character portraits of the two lead actors, as well as group shots of the entire crew offering incense.
As soon as the production account posted, all three—along with their respective studios—retweeted the post immediately.
In the Immortal Path production crew, although Shen Xiu was the only one without prior acting experience, he still outshone the two lead actors in terms of popularity and public interest. So naturally, after the opening ceremony photos were released, Shen Xiu became the center of attention.
— Ahhh! Fresh new pics of Boss Xiu!
— Look at where he’s standing… so today he’s here as Investor Xiu?
— Kinda disappointed we didn’t get to see Boss Xiu’s character, Li Yang, in costume… but considering this drama started off as a web series and only the leads got styling shots, that’s understandable. K Corp came on board super late, and the whole opening ceremony seemed rushed anyway.
— The two leads don’t seem very famous… their faces aren’t striking at first glance, but the more I look, the more likable they are. Wait—the director… is a first-timer??
— Whatever. Even if the director’s new, it’s fine. Because Demon King Xiu’s in it! If he’s on the cast, I’m all in—fully hyped!
Although fans were a bit disappointed that Shen Xiu’s character Li Yang didn’t have a released styling photo, no one complained too much.
After all, Li Yang truly was a minor role in Immortal Path, with limited screen time. Not revealing a costume photo in advance was entirely reasonable.
After attending the ceremony, Shen Xiu returned to his regular schedule of classes and training.
