Trembling At A High Altitude

"You aren't stationed here permanently? We were informed directly to report to this production team, but the whereabouts of the others are unclear," Elsa and Liu Yin said, somewhat disappointed after hearing Li Teng's words. They thought Li Teng would be here permanently too!

"Have they all dispersed? What a pity," Li Teng sighed.

"What? Missing Gao Fei already?" Elsa glanced at Li Teng.

"Not really, it's just that without Huang Xun, the happy-go-lucky guy, it feels like something's missing," Li Teng laughed.

"Haha…" The two women laughed together.

Li Teng looked around the briefing room, realizing that aside from himself, the entire production team was female.

The other women were very quiet, not talking much, each sipping the tea in front of them, and it seemed they weren't very familiar with each other.

Their appearances and figures were quite good, as if they were deliberately selected, definitely not the Luo Bijiao type.

"This is a newly formed production team, we were transferred here, but it seems like it's their first scene in Film and Television City," Elsa guessed what Li Teng was wondering and whispered to him.

"A new production team made of all actresses? That's odd," Li Teng puzzled.

"It is strange, usually the male-to-female ratio should be about equal," Elsa agreed.

As the three of them were talking, the female director walked in from outside.

The female director was tall, wearing glasses that seemed quite thick.

Her commanding presence reminded Li Teng of his junior high school headteacher.

"Is everyone here?" the female director asked everyone.

"Yes we are," the actors obediently answered in unison.

Isn't that obvious? Can't she count?

Of course, Li Teng just muttered in his mind, his face always encased in that mysterious, mesmerizing smile that could charm most women.

"Alright then, let me introduce myself. My last name is Xia, and my first name is Xia Zhihui. You can just call me Director Xia," the female director introduced herself rapidly, her manner reminding Li Teng of his junior high school headteacher as well.

"Direct Misguide? That's a creative name, looks like the director is pretty capable," Li Teng continued his internal commentary.

"Don't think that just because I lead this new production team that I am a new director. In fact, I am a very seasoned director who has shot many blockbusters. Due to some malicious complaints from some very ugly senior male actors, I was demoted and assigned to this new production team. So, you new actors have the opportunity to work with a seasoned director like me on your very first performance. That's an honor for you," Xia Zhihui continued rapidly.

"It's our honor," the actors chimed in harmoniously.

Li Teng couldn't help but feel a level of respect for Director Xia. Meeting a bunch of strangers and declaring that knowing her was an honor — that takes confidence!

"To be honest, I don't like actresses much. In a production, two actresses are usually enough; the rest should be handsome men, that makes for better chemistry. I guess it's because those ugly men complained that I deliberately sabotaged them with the script that Film and Television City refused to assign male actors to me, resulting in our team being all actresses. This really messes up writing the script," Xia Zhihui complained further.

All the actors swiftly echoed in agreement.

Li Teng couldn't help but worry about the script for "Deserted Island Mysteries" that was to come.

The way Director Xia spoke, babbling incoherently and without focus, could she really lead to a good script? Of course, it also depended on the level of scriptwriters she had, but he hoped they wouldn't be as disorganized as her.

"It's all female actors here, you're not comfortable, right? Who wouldn't want a handsome guy by their side when acting? It's so pleasing to the eyes! Most importantly, the audience likes handsome guys, right? If all the male actors in the drama are uglier than one another, who would want to watch that drama?" Xia Zhihui started to complain.

Li Teng really wanted to remind her that the show was about to start and it was time to discuss the plot.

But he decided to let it go, why offend the director over something trivial?

"I am a very thoughtful and ambitious person, and I take everything I do very seriously and with meticulous care, including filming. Filming is like conducting oneself, if you can't even behave properly, you definitely can't film well. For you, to be a good actor, the first step is also to be someone of character—without your own character, the roles you play will definitely lack personality and therefore, won't have any appeal."

"Most of you here are new actors, so I'm saying this a bit more. It's your good fortune if you listen, and if you don't, well, your path in Film and Television City may get narrower—a reminder from me, at the end of the day how you proceed is still up to you..."

"..."

"Alright, let's talk about today's drama, 'Deserted Island Mysteries.'"

After a long ramble, Xia Zhihui finally got to the main topic.

Li Teng, who was nodding off, immediately perked up and listened carefully.

Every scene was particularly critical when the director explained the plot.

Even to the point where every word was key.

Just like the scene he acted with Guo's mother.

The difference between the word 'act' and 'is' was a matter of life and death.

So, it was fine to ignore what the director said before, but he must listen carefully to the plot.

"Originally, I wanted to film another movie called 'Mr. President, I Love You So I'll Take You Home,' the script was excellent, really excellent, I liked it as soon as I saw it! But as I didn't have enough male actors, I couldn't make it, so I gave it to a good sister of mine."

"Then, out of necessity, I picked up the script for 'Deserted Island Mysteries.' The biggest advantage of this script is that it only needs one male actor, which somewhat suits our crew, not exactly because we don't have a male actor, so I borrowed one from outside..." Xia Zhihui began to ramble off-topic again.

Li Teng pressed his forehead... Director Yuan, who are these people in your social circle?

"I digress, now let's talk about the script of 'Deserted Island Mysteries.'" After a lengthy digression, Xia Zhihui finally got back on track.

Li Teng immediately perked up his ears again, it was a crucial moment, he couldn't afford to miss anything.

"This 'Deserted Island Mysteries' script, um, the screenwriters just finished it last night and sent it to me, I haven't had the chance to take a close look at it, and I'm not very clear about the content, there might be some plot and dialogue prompts later that you can just follow."

"Also, be careful not to die on the island, as there's no reward for that."

"You all understand what I've said, right?" Xia Zhihui paused and looked at the actors