Hidden Marriage

«Yes, have you seen Shakespeare's ‘Twelfth Night'?" Chen Mian asked.

Ning Xi's eyes shone and immediately, she nodded. "I have.».

That was one of Shakespeare's classic comedies, and Ning Xi's favorite out of all his comedic works. It was about a pair of twin siblings who got separated during a shipwreck and had both thought the other was dead. The younger sister disguised as a man to replace her brother and became the servant to a Duke's family. She even fell in love with the Duke, but the Duke loved another Lady.

The sister helped the Duke run away to propose to the Lady, but sadly, the Lady had fallen in love with the sister, who was disguised as a male, and the Duke was rejected.

The most important character in the entire play was the brave, passionate, and pure sister. She had disguised as a male to be by the side of the person she loved, quietly loving him to help him get the person he liked, yet hinting to him from time to time that she loved him too.

The other female character in the play was the Duchess for whom the male lead had fallen in love with. She was beautiful and smart, kind at heart, and someone who valued friendship. She was loyal, brave and persistent. She rejected the elegant Duke's love, yet she had taken a liking for the servant twin sister. At last, she gathered her courage to confess her love for the person she had mistaken for as the girl's twin brother. Ultimately, both the female leads obtained their desires and gained their own happiness.

This was a very positive and beautiful piece of work.

«This script is an adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', except that the context has been changed to modern day to fit with the current day's aesthetics and flavor. However, I don't want to shoot it as a simple city drama, so my demands of the actors would be very high," Chen Mian explained.

Ning Xi nodded to indicate she understood. At the same time, her heart was suddenly been set ablaze. Chen Mian's script was definitely much better than the one she had seen before!

She had mostly liked the earlier script for the numerous exciting scenes, so she still had her own motives. However, for this one, the storyline to the message was a few levels higher than the one before. Besides, Chen Mian had worked on it for three years!

Chen Mian watched the twilight out his window in a daze. He was only in his thirties, yet the expression on his face seemed to have gone through many hardships, as if all of his passion had been depleted...

He mocked lightly, "When I first entered the industry, I had a gut full of passion for the art, for the dream...and now...do you know how everyone shoots movies? To decide on what to shoot is not for the director to say, not even the scriptwriter, but the investors! And the directors? They're not creators, at most a puppet, just a laborer! Artist? All that is bullshit!».

As she listened to Chen Mian's words, Ning Xi did not know what to say. The current situation could not be changed by one or two people in the industry.

Even a talented director like Chen Mian had to compromise but it was obvious that his heart was still unwilling!

"Ning Xi, there are some things that are best if I clarify beforehand. I plan to shoot this independently and not accept any investments, so my compensation for you will not be too much.

"In fact, I will be using an entire cast of newbies including you, so the risk would be pretty high. It could flop, and even your hard earned reputation from 'The World' could be damaged. So, whether or not you want to accept this, you should consider it carefully," Chen Mian said as nervousness fished across his eyes.

He had finally met Ning Xi, and he was ready to burn his bridges for once, but he had no right to ask anyone else to be crazy with him...