Chapter 1244: Chapter 1235 Unexpected (1)
"Back in the Dance Academy, I practiced tirelessly every day for a dance performance. Unfortunately, I could never reach the teacher’s level and had to give up dancing to pursue acting instead. But even in acting, the brilliance of my predecessors is like a towering mountain, difficult to surpass."
She didn’t post a picture of Wen Qunxiao dancing, nor a photo, but rather a clip from her participation in the national dance competition back at the Dance Academy, where she performed Wen Qunxiao’s self-choreographed dance "Hundreds of Birds Worshipping the Phoenix."
Later, Wen Qunxiao’s first film, which won her the Best Actress award, was also related to this "Hundreds of Birds Worshipping the Phoenix" dance. By today’s standards, it somewhat resembles a musical. Yet back then, this type of film was very innovative, so with her debut film, she won Best Actress.
After Shang Feifei posted this on Weibo, Xia Siyu, in between filming, as usual, put on a disguise to browse Weibo and came across her post.
"Hundreds of Birds Worshipping the Phoenix" is very challenging. Needless to say, the lead dancer must be outstanding, with a particularly difficult segment involving the "Thirteen Spins" turn and jump. As far as Shang Feifei knows, no one since her has been able to perform it as exquisitely as she did back then. Furthermore, with a name like "Hundreds of Birds Worshipping the Phoenix," the accompanying dancers must look good too. Both elements are essential, which is why, for the past thirty-plus years since its creation, even though generations of Dance Academy teachers and students have passed down this piece, they can no longer capture its original brilliance.
Back then, Shang Feifei truly followed her idol’s path to learn dancing, but realizing she couldn’t reach her idol’s level no matter what, she switched to her second choice, acting. Even now, although she has won awards, there is still a gap compared to the acting of the past. Though she holds a Best Actress award in her hands, she finds that the gap between her and her predecessors hasn’t diminished; it has always existed. There is no frustration, only more hard work.
Shang Feifei’s fans are unaware of this history or who she was referring to, and simply leave comments below to control the narrative:
"Fei’er, you are excellent!"
"Aww, the dance was amazing! It’s another day of tears for Fei’er."
"The more outstanding a person, the more humble they are. Useless people only bring others down. Yes, I mean you @Xia Siyu."
Due to a previous conflict over a lead role, Xia Siyu’s fans and Shang Feifei’s fans became arch-enemies, with fans praising one while taking a jab at the other. However, Xia Siyu had no interest in arguing with fans, her eyes remained fixed on the scene where Shang Feifei spun around in her dance.
She watched for a long time, until Director Ji next to her called out to her repeatedly, bringing her back from her daze: "Siyu, the next scene is very important. Are you sure you can shoot it yourself?"
By this time, Director Ji had finished shooting the domestic scenes a long time ago, and Xia Siyu had followed the crew overseas for on-location shooting. The initial stages were the same, with plenty of dialogue scenes abroad. First literature, then action — by the time the romance reality show was airing, she was conveniently in the crew shooting the critical action scenes in the last few days.
"Oh, yes, I can." Xia Siyu nodded, still looking a bit lost.
Director Ji had been working with Xia Siyu for some time. She was usually fussy, but could endure a lot when it came to work, especially when discussing how to shoot an upcoming scene; she was particularly diligent. It was rare to see her so distracted. He leaned over for a glance, just in time to see the Weibo post from Shang Feifei’s fans mocking Xia Siyu, and assumed she was upset about it.