Chapter 146
At this point, not only had Chu Xiang adapted well into the production crew, but she was even doing a spectacular job at her role. Compared to Girl-number-three who initially had the role, Chu Xiang managed to genuinely breathe life into Xuan Ruo’s character.
Everyone was naturally relieved at her performance and quickly accepted her with their utmost kindness. After all, it would allow the production of the show to be finalized quicker, meaning that their job for the day would end earlier than usual.
As night fell, Chu Xiang returned back to the hotel for some well-deserved rest. Upon her arrival, she immediately concocted her usual medicine and prepared herself a medicinal bath. Meanwhile, her colleagues who came over to talk to her, including the assistant director and screenwriter, noticed the dense scent of medicine coming from her room. The news of her taking medicine quickly spread.
After looking further into the recent news about Chu Xiang, the screenwriter came over to visit her room for the second time and asked out of curiosity, “Chu Xiang, can those Chinese medicines that you’ve made really improve the condition of your skin?”
Chu Xiang nodded firmly. “They certainly can. Previously, the quality of my skin wasn’t very good. But ever since I decided to come out of retirement, I started to pay closer attention to the nourishment of my skin.”
Looking at her smooth and tender skin, the screenwriter exclaimed, “You don’t actually think that way, right? I reckon many people would kill to have skin as tender as yours.”
She touched her face. “Surely, it’s still far too early to receive such compliments. My skin a few weeks ago really was much coarser, and my appearance lacked any sort of vigor. But things have changed quite a bit since I started putting more effort into taking care of my skin.”
“Wow! Your medicine is that effective? How much does it cost?”
“It should cost around ten thousand yuan for a single day’s use. Initially, it was much cheaper. However, since I wanted to improve the quality of my skin even further, I had to spend more money to buy higher quality ingredients.”
Upon hearing the cost, the screenwriter’s switch immediately flicked off. “I originally wanted to ask you for the formula, but I’ve changed my mind after learning the price of the product. Anyways, why don’t we switch topics and talk about your role in the show instead? I too think highly of your stellar performance as you’ve successfully captured the entire essence of Xuan Ruo. Since that’s the case, I believe we should further deepen the depth of her character development. That way, the viewers would be more likely to remember and adore her role. Although Xuan Ruo may be the antagonist, I truly believe that she may be one of the most fascinating antagonists out there. While I didn’t initially utilize her character to her fullest potential, you, on the other hand, managed to pull out that personality of hers through your magnificent performance. I hope that we can have a deep discussion and work together to make her character even more interesting.”
“In that case, which direction are you thinking of taking her in? Why don’t you tell me your opinion first? I’ll tell you mine afterwards,” Chu Xiang suggested as she leaned back on the sofa, gathering the spiritual energy around the room to nourish her body.
The screenwriter truly had great affection and high hopes for Xuan Ruo as a character. Chu Xiang also felt extremely fortuitous to have stumbled upon such an outstanding production crew for her first show.
Throughout their entire conversation, the screenwriter talked non-stop about the script. Had Chu Xiang not interrupted her on a few occasions, she would most certainly have included every single good trope into Xuan Ruo’s character. Even then, most of her ideas were mere fantasies that would not tie in very well with the genuine mentality of a witch. Thus, they were all overruled by Chu Xiang.
After spending a decent amount of time to further polish the script, it had become a vastly improved version of its original. Furthermore, Xuan Ruo’s character had gone beyond the realm of a normal antagonist. Now, her backstory and character development would surely gain the sympathy of the viewers. However, as heart-rending as her situation was, Xuan Ruo herself didn’t need to receive anyone’s pity, for she had already resolved to achieve her goal with her own hands. Even if she would end up failing, at least she would not have any lingering regrets.
Since her husband had utterly ruined their relationship and betrayed her trust, she decided to cripple his cultivation in return. Similarly, seeing those pretentious traditionalists destroy her family incited her to expose their true colors for the whole world to see. Walking down that path, however, she would inevitably have many enemies trying to hunt her down, and so she naturally needed to wipe them all out along the way. In the end, as all her enemies finally perished under her hands, she stood staring on the edge of the cliff into the horizon. Right before walking past death’s door, she revealed one final smile, leaving the nuisances of this world for everyone else to solve on their own.
Throughout the entire story, Xuan Ruo would live her life staying true to her own ideals. Only after repaying the debt to everyone who wronged her did she finally feel satisfied with her life. After all, she would not tolerate anyone who treated her unfairly. Although she might be vicious and merciless in this respect, she nevertheless had a tender and soft side to her personality as seen before her husband’s betrayal. Despite being a strong person who remained fearless in the face of death, she was determined to kill all her enemies before being ready to accept her own end.
Typically, characters with such personalities — following what they believed to be the correct path without any hesitation — were usually the ones who attracted the most attention from the audience. In this case, Xuan Ruo would most definitely leave a great impact on the viewers as her entire character development was based on her ideals themselves.
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