The sisters Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede, favored by the entire palace, possessed distinct beauties.
The elder sister excelled at dancing, her grace surpassing even her looks.
The younger sister was exceptionally beautiful, her charm ingrained, and more adept in the arts of the bedchamber, thus earning more of the Emperor's affection.
Based on the sisters' traits, the makeup artist applied a light makeup to Yaya, emphasizing her ethereal elegance.
For Jiang Ling, a rich yet refined, alluring yet untainted makeup was chosen.
With their makeup perfectly complementing each other, one pure, the other captivating, they were like a white rose and a red peony, neither superior to the other, both dazzlingly beautiful.
When the two emerged, dressed in handmade Hanfu, shoulder to shoulder, everyone present watched with quickened breaths, sighing, "Fortunately, these two live in modern times; were they in ancient times, they would surely be femme fatales!"
"Alright everyone, take your positions, we're rolling!"
The assistant director, holding the clapboard, called out loudly.
Staff from all departments immediately sprang into action.
"A Tale of the Western Han Dynasty" centers on the protagonist Wang Zhengjun. Emperor Cheng of Han, Liu Ao, is her son. His complex love triangle with the Zhao sisters is set for the latter half of the series.
Jiang Ling, playing Zhao Hede, was not originally scheduled to film this early.
However, due to the influx of capital into the historical drama market in the past year or two, the Qin Royal Palace, as a major filming location for historical dramas, had become a highly sought-after spot.
With so many crews vying for filming time, wasting even a single day here meant burning money.
Wang Jianzhong, to save costs and allocate funds where they were most needed, had rearranged the filming schedule. He decided to have Jiang Ling and others first complete the grand scenes showcasing the splendor of the Western Han court, and then fill in the gaps according to the plot later.
Consequently, Zhao Hede's scenes were brought forward.
The first scene Jiang Ling was to film that day was where the Emperor, upon hearing from Zhao Feiyan that she had a sister named Zhao Hede who was even more beautiful than her, was instantly captivated.
The lust-struck Emperor, upon hearing this, immediately ordered Zhao Hede to be summoned to the palace.
Zhao Hede, however, told the palace attendants that she could not harm her sister and that if her sister did not consent, she would rather die than enter the palace.
This tactic of playing hard to get further inflamed the Emperor's desire, making him even more eager to meet her.
Thus, under Zhao Feiyan's arrangement, the Emperor finally met Zhao Hede in a lakeside pavilion surrounded by shimmering blue water.
It is often said that those who are pitied have their hateful aspects.
The primary reason the Zhao sisters harmed the imperial offspring and disrupted the inner palace was their impoverished upbringing; their parents had starved to death, and the sisters themselves barely had enough to eat or clothes to wear, nearly perishing in the wilderness.
Therefore, their obsession and greed for wealth and status were more intense than anyone else's in the palace.
Unable to gain status through having children, they could only desperately harm the imperial princes to secure their own safety.
The moment Zhao Hede, played by Jiang Ling, appeared, her captivating and peerless beauty, and the burning desire for wealth and status in her eyes, instantly drew the attention of everyone present.
Looking at her eyes, even without reading the script or knowing Jiang Ling's role, one could tell that this was a woman of immense ambition and deep desires, someone not to be trifled with.
Eye acting is the most challenging aspect of an actor's performance.
Skilled actors can speak through their eyes, conveying a myriad of emotions without uttering a word.
Just like Yuan Quan's回头, which spanned a thousand years in a single glance, even the formidable Chow Yun-fat admitted he almost couldn't keep up with the intensity of her gaze.
And acting with the eyes is precisely what Jiang Ling excels at.