369: Chapter 369 It's it!

Lin Chuyan's life these past few days had been very routine.

It basically consisted of driving with his girlfriend, followed by practicing the horse stance and single-leg balancing exercises exactly as Master Huang had taught him.

It wasn't that he expected results in just a few days; he was just practicing for the sake of it. Many things are like that—you might think it's futile effort, but if you persevere, it suddenly comes in handy one day.

The only regret was that since he'd been driving a lot, his footing felt a bit unsteady when doing the horse stance and single-leg balancing... It felt a bit like getting half the results with double the effort.

Three days passed just like that, and no matter how reluctant he was, it was finally time to join the cast of lotus lantern.

He traveled light to Zhejiang Province, accompanied only by Wu Yue and Xia Zhi.

Lin Chuyan still remembered his last trip to Hengdian to film drama; it had only been a year, and he was already back, his status having transformed from an unknown to an Asian top-tier star...

And it seemed the journey was much shorter, too?

"Aren't we going to Hangzhou first?"

"No need, Brother. Yiwu has an airport now. Once we arrive, it's just a fifty-minute light rail ride to Hengdian."

"Sounds good, sounds good."

It was already afternoon when they reached Hengdian. After dropping off his luggage, Lin Chuyan went straight to the set.

Today was mainly for makeup and costume fittings.

Lin Chuyan had done his homework before coming and had his own ideas about the costumes.

Director Lin had been communicating with him about everything regarding lotus lantern, so naturally, that included the various looks for Erlang Shen.

While looking over the costumes Director Lin had sent him, Lin Chuyan thought about Jiao Enjun's look from the lotus lantern of his past life. Comparing the two, he offered his own opinions and suggestions.

The trickier part was Erlang Shen's third eye; they both had their own ideas. Director Lin hadn't finalized it yet, saying he had prepared many styles and planned to have him try them one by one after he arrived.

Lin Chuyan had no objections.

They had chatted a lot these past few days, and there was one point they both agreed on: this version of Erlang Shen had to be sufficiently handsome.

To be honest, a big reason why Director Lin approached Lin Chuyan was because of this—the kid was damn handsome. What was even rarer was that despite his young age, his acting skills were good, and he could actually portray a sense of majesty, which was no small feat.

Director Lin had his own ambitions; he wanted to film a version of Erlang Shen that would never be surpassed.

Upon arriving at the set, Lin Chuyan was welcomed in by the staff, only to run straight into Director Lin berating someone... He didn't know what the staff member standing in front of him had done wrong.

But he had seen this kind of thing plenty of times; Director Du Qiyu had a similar temper on set.

Gentle? That was only towards him, and that was because he always followed the rules and was sufficiently professional on set, which was how he had earned their respect.

"Director Lin!"

Director Lin, upon turning his head and seeing Lin Chuyan, finally put away his sour expression. He waved his hand to dismiss the staff and started talking to Lin Chuyan: "Xiao Yan, you came a day early."

"I'm used to it. Only with sufficient time can I have enough leeway. Accidents happen easily on set, so it's essential to do the best I can."

"Very good, you're always the most worry-free." Director Lin's mood improved a little. "It's getting late, let's go. Head upstairs, follow the makeup artist, and I'll come check on you in a bit."

"You got it."

"If we're efficient today, we might be able to finalize all the costumes, and I'll post on Weibo to promote you properly."

"Haha, does Director Lin want to trend?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"If you want to trend, I can post on Weibo too."

Director Lin: "...Is trending that easy?"

"It should be."

"Great!" Director Lin finally brightened up. He nodded and ordered the others, "Someone come here! Didn't you see the lead actor arrived? Take a few bottles of water to the makeup room!"

There were two makeup artists for Lin Chuyan, a man and a woman. Upon seeing him, they spoke cautiously: "Teacher Lin Chuyan, come with us, let's get started with your makeup."

"Alright, alright, thank you, for your hard work. Please lead the way."

It was no wonder the crew acted this way; many hadn't expected lotus lantern to be able to hire him... As for the other actors, let alone first-tier, many couldn't even squeeze into the second tier—their acting might be good, but the entertainment industry wasn't a circle that only looked at acting skills.

As the absolute lead actor of the lotus lantern production, and with a star power that crushed the other leads, everyone treated him like the moon surrounded by stars since they didn't know his temperament. Lin Chuyan didn't mind; they would get along fine once they spent more time together. Without a word, he had Xia Zhi order afternoon tea for the crew as usual.

"Teacher Lin Chuyan, have a seat."

The makeup artists surrounded him from left and right and began their work.

"Teacher Lin Chuyan, your face is truly... tsk tsk."

Lin Chuyan smiled without replying. He was long used to being complimented...

However, no matter how good-looking he was, the whole process would take an hour. After all, he was transforming into Erlang Shen, not just an ordinary character.

Base makeup. Lin Chuyan didn't really need much concealer, but choosing a foundation that matched his skin tone was important—or rather, a skin tone that matched the crew's imagination of "Erlang Shen," which needed to look a bit more natural and healthier.

Eyebrow grooming. The eyebrow shape needed to be more rugged, appearing thicker and more heroic.

Eye makeup. If it were an ordinary ancient character, this part could be skipped, but as mentioned, Erlang Shen was a mythological figure; a bit of eyeliner could enhance his divine aura.

Contouring. Actually, Lin Chuyan's facial features were already sufficiently defined, but to achieve perfection, the makeup artists still applied shadow under his cheekbones and on his chin, and highlights on his forehead and nose bridge, making his whole face even more sculpted.

Next came trimming the sideburns, putting on the wig... After a series of operations, only the final step remained in the entire makeup process. The third eye.

Lin Chuyan sat perfectly still, letting them fuss over him, while his eyes darted to the table—the small box on the table contained no less than 20 eyes of various sizes... wide, narrow, thick, thin, and even the size and color of the pupils inside varied.

The crew had really put in the effort... It just looked a bit creepy...

Lin Chuyan looked again and, sure enough, found a silver sticker in the shape of a flowing cloud pattern in the corner of the box. It really was there.

He had originally planned to drag the director and prop master over to draw one for them after arriving. After all, in this world, nobody had ever drawn it like this before; they always just used a "real eye."

But Lin Chuyan believed that the pioneering third-eye look from the lotus lantern on Earth was exactly the masterstroke that made Teacher Jiao Enjun's performance approach perfection.

However, he wasn't in a hurry right now; he would let Director Lin see it first. It wouldn't be too late to speak after there was a comparison.

Speak of the devil, someone knocked on the makeup room door, and Director Lin entered.

"How is it? Is it ready?"

"Choosing the eye, Director Lin. You pick one?"

"I won't pick. I'll look at every single one."

Although he said that, after the first eye, Director Lin didn't think so anymore: "Don't use the ones that are too wide. I want one that's narrower and thinner."

Lin Chuyan nodded silently; that one indeed wasn't very suitable.

He remembered the Erlang Shen from journey to the west in his previous life; he recalled that the actor had a very, very wide face, so a wider third eye looked quite good. He couldn't do that; his face shape was on the narrower side, more like Jiao Enjun's style.

Director Lin continued to have the makeup artist apply the third eye.

"These ones are actually quite nice, Xiao Yan. What do you think?"

"I think... how about trying that one without the pupil?"

"Come on."

The makeup artist applied the cloud-shaped silver sticker to the center of Lin Chuyan's forehead.

Director Lin looked at him and pondered, "Is this really good? It was originally just an alternative. I just thought about whether we should break through the image and give people a fresh feeling, but I always felt it was a bit risky..."

Lin Chuyan kept his head perfectly still, half-lowered, letting the makeup artist secure it. Hearing Director Lin's words, his originally lowered eyes couldn't help but slowly lift, glancing at him...

Director Lin's voice suddenly cut off. Holy crap, so handsome?

"What do you think, Director?"

"That's it! That's the one!"