When Ying Shi next visited the set, she happened to catch Zhou Qingning and Shen Xiao in a scene together.
When the audition notice for “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” first came out, the two of them had wanted to audition. But since they weren’t a good fit for the main roles, Ying Shi ultimately decided to have them make cameo appearances instead.
Shen Xiao played the heavenly general who pursued the plague demon at the beginning of the story. He had some scenes later as well, but not many—they could be filmed together quickly.
Zhou Qingning played a rogue immortal in the mortal world—one who had earned the recognition of the Heavenly Way but never took a post in the celestial court. Her path of cultivation was similar to Sanxiu’s, and she served as Sanxiu’s master in matters of cultivation.
Once it was decided that the two would make cameo appearances, Song Zhizhi added a scene for them to act opposite each other. Her reasoning: since they were coming anyway, might as well milk some CP popularity.
Ying Shi was quite pleased. During the collaboration on “Little Sweetheart,” she had thought Song Zhizhi was a purely literary type focused solely on her writing. She never expected Song Zhizhi to know how to ride a wave of popularity.
To this, the screenwriter’s response was: “I’ve been in the entertainment industry for a few years after all. I do understand these things…”
The scene went like this: the heavenly general spots the plague demon and gives chase to capture it. But the plague demon has already pledged allegiance to Sanxiu and serves as one of her essential medical tools.
With no other options, the plague demon flees to Sanxiu’s rogue immortal master for help. The rogue immortal steps in and defeats the heavenly general.
Song Zhizhi also explained that this scene laid the groundwork for the heavenly general’s later plea on Sanxiu’s behalf in the celestial court.
In the original setup, the heavenly general only agreed to report back to heaven because he discovered the plague demon was using it demonic powers to save people.
With this added scene, the heavenly general would start thinking ahead of time.
Why would a rogue immortal, also renowned in the celestial court, go out of her way to protect a plague demon who could only spread disease?
From there, he would begin to observe—and even reflect on—the distinctions between immortals and demons, between the celestial and the mortal. This would tie directly into the drama’s central theme: Sanxiu’s path to godhood.
Sanxiu’s path to becoming a deity was not determined by her birth, nor by her talents, but solely by her compassion and her state of mind.
She underwent no arduous cultivation, no tribulations, no ascension. She received no appointment from the celestial court, nor did she ever set foot on the exalted nine heavens. Yet in the end, she became a being revered even by all the gods of heaven.
After hearing this, Ying Shi could only marvel: this was the power of someone who wielded a pen for a living. Even a scene added on the fly to attract CP fans could be elevated to the level of reinforcing the core theme…
Zhou Qingning, Shen Xiao, and He Xinrou—who played the third female lead, Miss Wen—were getting ready to start filming.
Chen Ziyi, the actor playing the plague demon, simply squatted off to the side to watch.
The third female lead was called “Miss Wen” simply because she was the female form of the plague demon.
The director had intentionally left this as a mystery for the audience. Later, when the plague demon’s identity was revealed, the cast list would label it with both it male and female forms.
The plague demon was a demon born from the joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures of the sick and the diseases of the mortal world. It could be anyone—a child, an elder, a young man, or a young woman.
The two forms that appeared most often in the series were those of a young man and a young woman.
The plague demon’s first appearance in the story was in its male form.
But in this particular scene, the plague demon appeared in its female form.
The actor for the male form was also present, as required by the director. Since the two of them were playing the same character, they had to stay together, discuss how to portray the role, and observe each other’s performance style. This was to ensure that when the audience eventually learned that both were actually the plague demon, there would be no sense of incongruity.
In terms of screen time, the plague demon’s role was comparable to that of Madam Lin. But by splitting its scenes between male and female forms, each individual actor’s workload was significantly reduced.
Ying Shi watched them film from the sidelines, feeling completely satisfied. At one point, she glanced over at Chen Ziyi and noticed that he had been watching the three actors’ performances intently, his script in hand, scribbling notes on it.
She had heard from the director and screenwriter that Chen Ziyi was a talent-driven actor.
Chen Ziyi’s own personality was vastly different from the plague demon’s. He was cheerful, sunny, and almost goofy—like a husky. Yet he could portray the plague demon’s paranoia and resentment with astonishing vividness.
The plague demon was a suspicious, gloomy great demon. Its very birth was a mistake—a creature born from disease and death. It had done nothing wrong, yet faced the hatred and accusations of everyone around it. It had never lived a single day of peace, forever fleeing from the celestial court’s pursuit.
Sanxiu was the first and only person who asked it whether it could use its different human forms to simulate the symptoms of various illnesses…
The first time Ying Shi read this part of the story, she was left speechless by Sanxiu’s scientific research spirit.
Under Sanxiu’s intense, eager gaze, the plague demon’s mind went blank, and it nodded. Then it was reduced to being Sanxiu’s exploited experimental tool.
The plague demon could absorb and integrate newly emerging diseases, then transform into various forms to manifest their symptoms—all for Sanxiu to study and to test her medicines.
In Ying Shi’s view, the plague demon was just a rebellious child starved for affection. A few words of praise from Sanxiu, and it would lose all sense of direction—and end up selling itself out.
…
As usual, once the drama entered the filming phase, Ying Shi went into quiet, low-profile mode, focusing on her studies.
But her peace didn’t last long. Another storm broke out online.
The trigger was still “For Your Sake.” Both Director Zhang Shuo and the drama’s female lead, Qiao Cheng, had now joined “The Legend of Medicine Maiden.”
The director was one thing, but Qiao Cheng was by far the biggest talking point among the cast of “The Legend of Medicine Maiden.” Of the paparazzi and unauthorized photographers lurking around the set, a full eighty percent were there for her.
The production team had always maintained good secrecy, but with promotion in mind, not everything could be kept under wraps.
Among the leaks, Qiao Cheng’s styling and her demeanor on set sparked a wave of discussion.
In the past, she had always played cool, noble, and aloof characters. This time, Du Zelan was a lively, extroverted, proud, and slightly tsundere young lady.
Once the leaked photos were released, they received quite a bit of praise. Even some fans who had been skeptical of “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” slowly began to warm up to the drama.
Because in this drama, Qiao Cheng appeared much more vivid—every smile, every glance, every gesture was lively and beautiful.
At the same time, “For Your Sake” was inevitably dragged into the comparison. Now that both the director and the female lead had ended up in a rival production, the male lead and the producer who had spoken out earlier naturally became the targets of concentrated fire.
And as luck would have it, that producer and the male lead, Fang Kaiyun, had recently collaborated on a new drama together. So inevitably, friction arose between that new drama and “The Legend of Medicine Maiden.”
At first, it was just a dispute between fans, with neither side paying it much attention. Given time, the matter would have faded away.
But for some reason, that producer—the same one who had previously attacked Director Zhang—posted another ambiguous message on Weibo, stirring up another wave of sympathy from Fang Kaiyun’s fans.
[Xiao Yi V: Actors who are used to staying silent always end up at a disadvantage. Fortunately, the hardships are behind us now. Eventually, you meet a crew that’s a good fit, and then all you need to do is focus on memorizing your lines—everything else is worry-free.]
Attached below were a few photos of Fang Kaiyun reading his script.
The comment section was filled with sympathy.
[Our Xiao Fang has really suffered, having to deal with a former coworker like that.]
[Anyone with eyes can see that the female lead is the real capital. How could a small actor like ours have been able to change the script? Now the director and the female lead are ganging up together—just bullying a powerless actor!]
[So tragic. An actor who just wanted to focus on his craft gets bullied by the director and the money, and then gets slandered on top of it. In the end, the real wrongdoers get to slip away unscathed.]
“They’re probably trying to stir up some buzz since their drama is almost finished filming,” Su Manwen explained to Ying Shi.
There was really no good way to handle this kind of situation. The other party hadn’t named any names—if you responded, you were admitting guilt; if you stayed silent, you were conceding by default. Either way, they’d get their attention.
Ying Shi simply looked curious. “They want attention that badly?”
Su Manwen: “…”
Ying Shi shook her head helplessly. “What a shame. I’m so kind-hearted and love helping others.”
She opened Weibo and began composing a post.
Su Manwen: “…”
It took a while for her to finish composing the Weibo post. When it finally refreshed, Su Manwen opened it immediately.
[Procrastinating Drama Watcher V: I’ve finally confirmed that I’m an introvert. So I need to learn from others and constantly encourage myself, striving to achieve the following—]
What followed were over twenty trending topics.
#GuanjunScriptUnderstanding#
#GuanjunDiscussesPlotWithDirector#
#ScreenwriterPraisesGuanjunForIndependentThinking#
#GuanjunRefinesTheScript#
#DirectorAcknowledgesGuanjun’sBrilliantPlotAdaptations#
#……
At first, the audience was completely confused. Then the comment section explained: just replace “Guanjun” with a certain actor surnamed Fang, and it would all make sense.
[…]
[I’m at work. Do you really have to make me laugh right now?]
[A person who’s “used to staying silent” managed to express their “brilliant” insights into the script across over twenty trending topics (laughing crying emoji).]
[Precision sniping. Ying Men is unstoppable.]
[Haha, if that guy is “used to staying silent,” then how could our Mushroom not be considered an introvert!]
[When you put it that way, the Eldest Miss didn’t actually make it onto the “script-changing” trending list that many times, did she?]
[When the drama flopped and everyone was going after the male and female leads, the female lead’s fans already did the math. Before the drama aired, aside from a few promotional posts from the production team, there were no trending topics about the female lead changing the script. It wasn’t until the drama started airing and the criticism came in that discussions about her changing the script suddenly surged.]
[So Miss Qiao didn’t change the script?]
[She did. You can tell from the behind-the-scenes footage. But at least she didn’t think her changes were good, and she didn’t go around bragging about them.]
[There are things the Eldest Miss doesn’t dare to do?]
[My guess is the studio shut it down. They probably realized the changes ruined the plot, but they couldn’t control the Eldest Miss…]
[I heard the Eldest Miss and FKY didn’t get along, yet she still gritted her teeth and finished the drama.]
[So they really are rival CPs?]
[If we’re talking rival CPs, look no further than ‘the spoiled pretty young lady x cool, aloof little medical maiden’! The “Xiu Lan CP” is a worthy investment!]
[What the heck? Have CP fans really made their way all the way over here?]
Ying Shi was also surprised. Based on the setup and the name, was this about Yao Sanxiu and Du Zelan?
She couldn’t help but search for it, and that’s when she learned that it all started with Qiao Cheng’s leaked set photos.
The actor Qiao Cheng had the most scenes with was Xia Wenxin. As the two spent more time together, their relationship gradually became more harmonious.
In several photos, the two were rehearsing their lines. Qiao Cheng, script in hand, was delivering her lines with animated exuberance, while Xia Wenxin held her script in one hand, the other clasped behind her back, looking at Qiao Cheng with a gentle smile.
The lighting, the angles, the bustling crowd around them—her quiet and composed, her lively and animated…
It really did have a strong narrative feel to it.
Ying Shi couldn’t help but click her tongue in admiration. She had known that “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” would be a drama where fans could ship all kinds of couples.
When every character is given flesh and blood, audiences naturally become drawn to the interactions between them.
But she hadn’t expected that the first pairing to break out would be these two.
It just went to show that chemistry was truly a mysterious thing.