Superstar Aspirations

Translator: Vian

Editor: Shem

Our ancestors once said: Since I, Zhou Yu am already born, why does the Heavens want a Zhuge Liang?

In "Vie for Supremacy", according to the second male lead Dongli Lan, he met an old life-long enemy, his own shidi—Wanqi Yao.

When they were younger, the two had a very deep friendship. But as they grew older, gossip ran amok among the soldiers in the barracks. Dongli Lan gradually lost to Wanqi Yao and had no means to retaliate. Their master already seemed to like his shidi more, teaching everything from his whole lifetime of painstaking toil to Wanqi Yao and in the end, even made him the next Master of Wang Qiu Pavilion.

That was why, the year before his Master gave Wang Qiu Pavilion to Wanqi Yao, Dongli Lan took the initiative to betray his Master's teachings and left so that he could disregard this shame. How much affection there was between the brothers before in the past was how much there would be resentment and jealousy now. When he saw the other person again in the battlefield, Dongli Lan stared into the distant at that shidi in the middle of the ten thousand army, only coldly sneering once and raise his sword.

"Whoever kills him will be rewarded ten thousand gold taels and the title of Marquis!"

If you asked who could take more heads from the ten thousand people, Dongli Lan was far superior than Wanqi Yao. However, if you say that it was ten thousand people battling in war, Dongli Lan wouldn't even see a slim chance of victory in front of Wanqi Yao.

___

This afternoon scene that was being filmed would be the first meeting between the two. Acting among a large number of people during filming was a very difficult thing to do, however, Rong Xu and Ye Qiao only NG twice before perfectly finishing this scene.

Director Guo watched the footage on the screen and knitted his brows, no one knew what he was thinking so deeply about.

That kind of innate evil feeling admitting from Ye Qiao's bones really was extremely suitable for Dongli Lan's role. So when the investors were pushing people out, Director Guo didn't reject him. As for Rong Xu……

Displayed on the screen was the young man who was dressed in white, standing there facing the wind and calmly looking at his own senior brother.

When he first chose to become Chu State's military advisor, Wanqi Yao naturally knew that he would sooner or later face this day. However, it was still reckoned that no matter how much his knowledge and wisdom is near otherworldly level, he would have never expected that on their first meeting Dongli Lan would've issued a military order of ten thousand gold taels and Marquis title as reward for his life to his soldiers.

In Rong Xu's performance, while his eyes appeared to be calm, it had a slight fluctuation. When Dongli Lan shouted out with that reward grant, his pupil quivered ever so slightly and his mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to say something but in the end, could only tightly pursed his lips together without saying anything.

This kind of astonishment and sadness that just used a little bit of details to deduce out such an expression caused even Director Guo to feel very concerned. He repeatedly watched this scene on the screen and waited until a bit later before calling the head of the screenwriter's studio, quietly opening a meeting: "Think about it for a bit. Give this minor support character a more major role and add a little bit of drama."

***

Naturally, no one knew about this meeting but Rong Xu soon received a new script.

He would play in two more episodes in this new script and although he still couldn't be regarded as a second male lead, he could already be said to be on par with the third male lead.

Rong Xu had never seen that third male lead. The other also appeared to have come in through the backdoor but didn't seem to have that big of a backer that Director Guo almost brushed him aside. The third male lead's scenes were all in the second half of "Vie for Supremacy" and wasn't related to Rong Xu in any way. So he could only wait until next month for the other person to enter the crew to meet him.

Without a manager or assistant by his side to discuss this with, Rong Xu could only silently contemplate over it in his heart. But when it was the afternoon, Tang Menglan went over to his side after she finished filming, she smiled from ear to ear and told him: "Make sure to act well, whether it's our whole crew that said something or Director Guo that said something that counted, the investors would all listen to this(DG) elder."

Rong Xu raised his head to look at Tang Menglan and after staring for a while, laughed: "Tang jie really treats me well."

Tang Menglan laughed: "You're someone Luo Zhentao brought into the crew. Luo Zhentao is also a manager at our Huaxia Entertainment, of course I would want to treat you well." Pausing for a bit, Tang Menglan sat down by Rong Xu's side and sneakingly stretched out her finger to point at Dong Zheng and Ye Qiao who weren't far away: "You see them? They're both at the top of the industry and our rivals. Your Tang jie wants to find some allies, so of course I can only find you, this little friend."

This one sentence placed her and Rong Xu on the same level.

Rong Xu really liked to talk with smart people and didn't refute but instead laughed again: "Ye ge and I are also hostile in the show."

Tang Menglan, however, didn't even think before shaking her head: "Hostile? What hostile? Would he hold you in his arms and cry bitterly after you died? Regretting for a long time, suffering till he had no appetite……oh, that's wrong, it's he doesn't eat or drink. And when he was defeated in the end and killed and all he thought about was you, this little shidi?"

Rong Xu could only spread out his hands in defeat.

En, well, you couldn't blame him, you could only blame that big hole inside the screenwriter's head.

The filming schedule processed on smoothly, and no one had any objections to the new script. After all, it was only Rong Xu's and Ye Qiao's scenes that had changed a bit. As for that third male lead that has yet to enter the crew, Rong Xu naturally didn't know the other's thoughts and even if he had an opinion on it, he certainly wouldn't be able to do anything to change Director Guo's mind. He could only suffer in silence and be unable to speak of his bitterness.

Half a month later, it was already time to film Rong Xu's last few scenes.

Early this morning, Rong Xu already came over to the crew. This time when Xu jie did his makeup, she was especially serious and was careful and prudent every time she applied the makeup. For the eye makeup, she also gave Rong Xu a deep and dark eye circles and used a pale color for the lips, making him appear somewhat pallid and haggard.

"Today should be the last time I would be doing your makeup. Wait till after your scenes are finalized, your Xie jie will also give you a yajing red envelope."

Yajing red envelopes were a unique custom within the entertainment industry. Whenever an actor was going to act out a death in a drama, they would usually receive a red envelope from the director, screenwriter, and fellow actors. Death wasn't a good thing so naturally there was a need to repress the bad luck and shock from it as to avoid making a taboo.

"Rong Xu, I'll also give you a yajing red envelope."

Just as Xu jie finished talking, a clear and pleasantly bright male voice came from the entrance of the dressing room. Rong Xu turned over to look and only saw Ye Qiao, not knowing since when he came in then sat down on a chair at the side to wait for Xu jie to start his makeup.

Xu jie laughed: "Your condition is quite good this time, the pimple on your face also disappeared. It seems Ye Qiao has already finished all preparations for today's scene ah. You guys have better do it well, I heard my family's Old Wang said that today's scene was one of the most important scenes and Director Guo values it very much."

The head of the makeup group Xu jie was different from the other staff here, her husband being assistant director Wang, Wang Zhao. She had already been in Director Guo's crew for more than a decade, her seniority and experience was even deeper than assistant director Wang and was also very famous in the TV drama circle.

Ye Qiao unreservedly promised this but when he looked at Rong Xu, he found that the latter's arched brows were highly handsome and was all smiles as Rong Xu looked at him.

Somehow, it made Ye Qiao's heart shudder. After half a day, he opened his mouth and asked hoarsely: "What is it, Rong Xu?"

Exquisite and beautiful people would always be narcissistic like this, causing anyone's soul to be somewhat dazed. Ye Qiao's heart was unavoidably a bit itchy at this but it couldn't really be counted as a beautiful thought. It was just that towards beautiful things, he would instinctively appreciate it.

Only after a moment did Rong Xu withdrew his gaze and said in a solemn tone: "Ye ge, after my death today, I'll also give you a yaqi red envelope."

Ye Qiao was surprised for a moment: "Ah? Yaqi red envelope? What kind of red envelope is that?

Rong Xu shook his head and with a serious face, said: "Today I will be implicating you to cry within an inch of your life. You'll give me one to pacify the shock, I'll give you one to steady out your breath and pray that we can pass in one take."

Looking at Rong Xu's appearance of acting as a profound thinker, it was only then that Ye Qiao remembered that the other was still a child that has yet to grow up. That last meandering thought in his heart completely dissipated at that moment as Ye Qiao waved his hand and helplessly said: "Then you better never give me this red envelope, I don't want to cry till I have to gasp for breath. We just need to pass in one take, I definitely do not want your crow's beak!"

At this time, Ye Qiao was just saying it. He wouldn't have thought that Rong Xu's words really would come true.

Most of today's scenes would be Rong Xu's.

___

Wanqi Yao laid out an empty city tactic in Ping City. It stands to say that Ping City should have twenty thousand soldiers and horses, but no one knew that out of these twenty thousand soldiers and horses only had a thousand left at this moment. The rest had all been arranged by Wanqi Yao to go to Du River and joined Chu State in fighting another army.

This total of eighty thousand troops crossed the river overnight and at this moment, had already invaded Wei Country!

Among the three kingdoms, Liang Province's military strength was the strongest. After Liang Province inflicted many heavy losses and serious damage to Chu State, they began to decline in power. As for Wei Country, they had never involved themselves into the war between the two. They had always relied on Du river, this perfect moat to remain as an onlooker. Each year, Chu State would show good will to them. However, they would pretend to be neutral, causing Liang Province and Chu State to have some restraining fear and do not dare to make a move against them.

This move was called 'to threaten the east and strike to the west', while Liang Province's one hundred thousand army threatened the border, Chu State sent eighty thousand soldiers and horses and conquered five cities in Wei Country in one night. General Xiao really was an elite chosen out of ten thousand, she attacked straight into the core of Wei Country within three days with the fastest speed and stationed the soldiers outside Wei Country's capital, quartering the city.

And at this very same moment in Ping City, Liang Province's army had already broken into the city.

When they entered the city, they would have never thought no matter what that it was just this little one thousand army that could actually trap their one hundred thousand army for three whole days.

Ping City right now was an empty city, the commoners had already long been arranged to leave. These one thousand soldiers, all warriors who were prepared to die, one of the remainings was even a lieutenant who was loyal and devoted to Wanqi Yao and Wanqi Yao only.

At this time, Liang Province's general that was leading them learned from the news that Wei Country's capital was breached. He was furious and at once pointed his sword at Wanqi Yao: "You actually deceived us!"

Wanqi Yao was sitting before a chessboard, his head hanging down to look at that dead qi game and didn't answer.

Wei Country had lived in stability, their soldiers had long been accustomed to the peaceful days so how were there any opponents for these soldiers in Chu State. That was why breaking into the country within three days was a matter of course. In the past, it was because Liang Province and Chu State mutually restrained each other that made it possible for Wei Country to be firmly and securely survived on.

This Liang Province general completely didn't understand. Exactly what schemes did Wanqi Yao used to let Wei Country to be subjugated in three days!

He heard that there were many cities in Wei Country that didn't even wait for Chu State's army to move before they opened the gates themselves, which was what let their army reached the capital in three days.

This general was angry enough for a smoke to come out of his head, this change in situation caused Liang Province to be in a unfavorable situation. He used his sword to point at Wanqi Yao, determined to take him hostage and used him as a pawn.

Finally, Wanqi Yao spoke.

He held a jade white stone between his fingers and raised his clear limpid eyes, indifferently looking at this general before him whose rage was breaking through the skies right now.

He casually said in a light tone: "If she was someone that a single person contain, Xiao Xiang would not be Xiao Xiang, nor would she be the strong and determined woman who doesn't concede to men that is General Xiao."

Liang Province General who was still in the midst of deceiving others and deceiving himself: "You are someone Xiao Xiang invited for a thousand, ten thousand times over, she naturally could not care about your life and death!"

Wanqi Yao raised the corner of his lips, his bright eyes glistening with a radiance of trust: "However, she is Xiao Xiang."

Liang Province General finally broke down and collapsed.

Yes, he defeated one of Chu State's custom inspection pass—— Ping City, but Chu State had immediately captured Wei Country!

Did Liang Province win? Won, they won Ping City.

Did Liang Province lose? Lost, they lost Wei Country!

Liang Province General's eyes turned red. Seeing that the young man in front of him was actually still leisurely playing chess, he gritted his teeth and clenched the sword in his hand, a sharp and piercing cold glint quickly flashing past on the blade. He furiously said: "Who ever kills you will be rewarded ten thousand gold taels and a title of Marquis!"

In that instant, Wanqi Yao's hand that was still placing the stones stopped. His eyes slightly widened, as his elegant and exquisite face exposed a faint trace of stunned expression; he appeared as if he had finally remembered something, something that he had long forgotten in his heart and even acted as if it had never happened throughout.

From the beginning to end, he had forgotten that matter because he never wanted to find out, so he pretended as if it never existed.

Even for intelligent people, there were things they would want to ignore.

Xiao Xiang was indeed calm and rational but she would never really disregard Wanqi Yao's life and death. Before the Chu army set out, this female general came to Wanqi Yao's room late in the night and used a forceful interrogate him; if she left him by himself here, would or would not this move threaten his life.

Wanqi Yao calmly and unhurriedly replied: "I know that General doesn't agree with me serving as a hostage. After Dongli Lan comes, I am assured that I will not die."

But in the end, he never waited till Dongli Lan came.

A penetrating cold sword pierced through his chest causing fresh blood to splatter out, prominently showing on the black and white chessboard. That desperate Liang Province General pierced through his heart in one strike, the blood flowing out from his chest with a gurgling 'gugu'. Blood stuck in the back of his throat and overflowed down from the side of his lips.

At this moment inside the studio, everyone's line of sight was gathered on that young man in white.

A deathly pale face and a helpless look, yet at this time, he actually didn't even have a little bit fear nor was there any trace of hate. Rong Xu's clear and beautiful eyes reflected a panicked and fearful general; that man pulled out his sword, agitatedly muttering: "This way I won't die. This way his Highness will reward me, and definitely won't punish me."

But a short, short quarter of an hour later, a handsome man in purple brocade robe strode into the room. His face originally held an impatient expression and his lips revealed a mocking smile, not knowing whether or not he was currently secretly ridiculing that self-righteous shidi of his in his heart. However, when he walked in the entrance of the room and saw the situation inside in one glance, his smile stiffened and he stupidly stood there at the doorway.

The General saw him, almost crawling as he ran over: "Your Highness! This lowly one didn't know of this plan! Your lowly one didn't know!"

Dongli Lan's eyes widened, looking at that young man sitting in front of the chessboard, whose whole body was covered in blood.

There was a horrid amount of red blood that spread over the board, making the black stones appear even deeper in color, and gave the white stones a vivid contrasting harshness. He shed too much blood, his face and lips lost all color, but he still smiled and looked up at him despite the blood color gradually steeping in and tainting his white brocade.

That young man extended his hand to him as he said: "Shixiong, I haven't seen you in a long time."

Dongli Lan's heart suddenly trembled, he couldn't lift his feet nor did he have any way to move. He stared as if in a trance at that dreadful scene inside, watching that young man and heard him saying regretfully: "That year before you left, there was a chess game that you didn't finish with me. In this world……cough…cough……"

A mouthful of blood suddenly spurted out, interrupting Wanqi Yao's words.

Ye Qiao never thought that when he really faced this scene, he would actually feel that his body was out of his control.

Seeing Rong Xu coughing up blood, he unconsciously took a step forward. Shouting in a shrill and mournful voice: "Shidi!"

Rong Xu raised his head to look at him again.

That kind of pure and simple smiling expression caused Ye Qiao to almost collapse. He suddenly felt his heart hurt, prickling in pain. He seemed to have became Dongli Lan in that moment, and understood what kind of grief and despair Dongli Lan felt when he saw this scene. He obviously was just thinking about how to humiliate this shidi a moment ago, but when he acutely saw the result of him saying "kill Wanqi Yao for me" a thousand, ten thousand times over before, and genuinely understood that he was going to lose this shidi of his forever, he realized exactly how helplessly heartbreaking it truly was.

Now, there was already no longer a Rong Xu, only a Wanqi Yao.

Wanqi Yao fondly smiled at him, as if everything was still like ten years ago; before when he had yet to betray Wang Qiu Pavilion, before when he and his shidi liked to play chess together. He would always lose and his shidi would always win. His shidi would say to him: "In this world, only shixiong can play chess with me."

But Dongli Lan would always think in his heart: So what if only I can, I still can not win against you.

Now, he heard that line from Wanqi Yao once again: "In this world, only shixiong can play chess with me. This game has waited for ten years, shixiong, can you accompany me to finish it……would that be okay?"

The weak voice that was gradually fading caused Dongli Lan's last strand of reasoning to finally break as Ye Qiao quickly ran over to catch Wanqi Yao's falling body. Wanqi Yao appeared as if he still wanted to say something, but the blood blocked his throat to the point that he couldn't even speak.

In the very last moment of his life, he gently gazed at his shixiong. He wanted to lift his hand to caress the other's handsome face, but was only able to weakly raise his hand halfway before he slowly closed his eyes……

No matter how much you thought, you would have never thought that this life didn't die in the stronger hands of anyone else, but died in the hands of a long forgotten reward from him.

Dongli Lan's eyes slowly widened in shock. His hands tightened as he brought the gradually cooling body into his bosom and tightly hugged him close, as if to rub the other into his bones. His tears finally fell as Wanqi Yao finished taking his last breath.

Under Ye Qiao's interpretation, he wailed and cried out bitterly. His crying was completely different from his previous performance of Dongli Lan. Because he had subconsciously wanted to cry out like this. He felt that if it was Dongli Lan, there absolutely wouldn't have been any kind of rationality at this moment and would only use the most primitive way to express his grief.

However, when it went on for too long, Director Guo had to shout cut.

___

Ye Qiao cried and cried, and even cried out a few hiccups, so Rong Xu could only helplessly crawl out of his arms and rubbed away the blood on his lips.

Ye Qiao also seemed to have felt that he performed enough too so he threw a guilty look at Rong Xu, then turned to look at Director Guo: "Director Guo, don't worry, I'll make sure to hold back a bit more next time."

Who knew that once he heard these words, Director Guo immediately glared straight at him: "Hold back a bit? Ah? With the way you cried just now, you actually dare to say hold back a bit?! You actually gave me real crying, can you actually cry or not in the end? You know what it means to cry till you lose your voice? How many times you will NG right now will be exactly how many yajing red envelopes you give to Rong Xu. Now, you immediately give me the strength you used to suck your mom's milk and CRY!"

Ye Qiao: "……"

Rong Xu: "……"

No need for red envelopes, we just want to finalize it, can't we?

Since I, Zhou Yu am already born, why does the Heavens want a Zhuge Liang?– Use to lament the fact that there is someone better than you who outshines you at every turn.

To threaten the east and strike to the west – to create a diversion

Shidi – young disciple of the same master, junior brother

Shixiong – senior male fellow student or apprentice

Crow's beak – A person who makes an inauspicious remark

Yaqi – Repress air (roughly) vvv

Yajing – Repress shock (roughly) vvv

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Yajing 壓(ya) 驚(jing)– Repress shock (roughly)

壓(ya) here means to push down, to keep under (control)

驚(jing) would be surprise, shock

So(well, it’s explained in the ch but) the red envelope is to repress the shock of dying so that there wouldn’t be an bad luck which can cause you to make a mistake/taboo and so.

Yaqi 壓(ya) 氣(qi) – Repress air (roughly)

壓(ya) is the same character in yajing, same meaning as well

氣(qi) means air, breath

Kinda hard to understand but Rong Rong was basically saying that he will give Ye Qiao some breathing room when he runs out of breath from crying to hard.

And by the way, I actually tried to find English-ish equivalents for the two when I was translating this ch. before I thought to ask you guys whether you would prefer pinying or English. Pinyin won as you can see. But it was: (Yajing) Conciliation red envelope and (yaqi) Consolation red envelopes. As you can see, I even got the sound play quite nicely.

Suffering till he had no appetite [茶飯不思] vs. doesn't eat or drink [不吃不喝] – The first one means to be melancholic and suffering to where you have no appetite while the second one literally means to not eat or drink. I guess it's just that fine line between having no appetite to eat (but could still probably force yourself to eat) vs. actually refusing to eat and drink

And last but not least- Another Romance of the Three Kingdom's quote!

Since I, Zhou Yu am already born, why does the Heavens want a Zhuge Liang? –

The original would be [既生瑜，何生亮] (Jì shēng yú, hé shēng liàng)

Already (既) born (生) Yu (瑜), Why(何) born (生) Liang (亮)

The 瑜 (yu) refers to Zhou Yu (courtesy name Gongjin), a military general and strategist that served under the warlord Sun Ce in the late Eastern Han dynasty that is later on the Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms.

The 亮 (liang) refers to Zhuge Liang (courtesy name Kongming), a Chinese politician, military strategist, writer, engineer and inventor. He served as the Imperial Chancellor and regent of the state of Shu Han (Three kingdoms).

Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are both depicted as rivals in the novel with Zhou Yu being extremely jealous of Zhuge Liang's talents and would always be overshadowed by him. Zhou Yu would relentlessly attempt to outwit Zhuge Liang but had never succeeded.

Zhou Yu's death was dramatised in the novel and was intentionally triggered by Zhuge Liang. He had sustained an earlier arrow wound during the Battle of Jiangling, and his condition deteriorated after he was infuriated by Zhuge Liang who foiled his plans on three different occasions later on. On the third time, Zhou Yu coughed up blood and died as he said these last words according to the novel.

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