AFH – 001 – Applaud for the film emperor!

3 August, 2020 seshyApplaud for Happiness

Translator’s note: Hi, I’m Seshy.
I’ll be translating Applaud for Happiness (which I’ll be calling AFH).
The next update won’t be for a while because I want to build up a stock of ~5 chapters before posting the second chapter.
I’m posting this first one to make it clear that I’m taking on this project, so another translator won’t start posting while I’m building up my stockpile of chapters.

I’m discovering this story as I translate it, and took on the project based on the good reviews it had.
So future chapters will be as much as surprise for me as they are for you guys.

Since my Mandarin isn’t good enough yet for me to translate with it, I’ll be using machine translation, supplemented by a dictionary and my knowledge of Chinese grammar and my basic vocabulary.
This project is meant as a fun way for me to work on improving my Mandarin.

One thing I had trouble translating will appear as ‘fragmented world’ in this chapter.
It could also have been translated as ‘world fragment’.
Considering the context, I chose ‘fragmented world’.

The ‘Qi’ in Shen Qi’s name means ‘seven’.
People will be discussing his name briefly in this chapter, so I’m explaining it here to avoid confusion.

-o-

Under the scorching sun, Shen Qi was walking along the countryside with his suitcase in tow.
His upright posture, fashionable clothing and good looks, as well as the staff members carrying cameras trained on him all made it clear that this was clearly an actor recording for a show.

Shen Qi looked around and expressed his admiration:

“This really is the countryside.
The air is so clean.
Look at how blue the sky is and the white clouds…”　　

The cameraman adjusted the perspective.
In the shot was a delicate side profile with beautiful traits, handsome almost to the point of taking your breath away.
The two following scenarists next to him couldn’t help but show their love-struck faces.

Shen Qi opened his arms towards the sky in an attractive and artistic gesture.
In the next second, he quickly turned his head and put on his hat rather woefully.

“Ah, it’s hot.”

The contrast between the two kinds of behaviour was so strong that the scenarists and director, including the cameraman, were laughing.

Shen Qi didn’t care.
He shot a dazzling smile at the camera.
“The scenery is beautiful, but it’s way too hot.
Let’s get out of here.
I’m hungry from the drive over and I’m wondering what kind of food Brother Xie and the others had prepared.”

After he said that, he headed deeper into the village with big strides, pulling his luggage along.

The camera and the scenarists followed.

Shen Qi was a famous member of Team 3, an expert at taking on roles and pretending to be someone else.
He specialized in backstabbing and overthrowing so-called ‘protagonists’ who had accidentally landed in a fragmented world, and returning the world to its original course.

As the member at the top of the list of Team 3 for seven consecutive times, he was the representative of Team 3, the glory of Team 3.
No counter-attack mission has ever failed.

So after Group 7 and Group 3 jointly came up with a new project, he was entrusted with an important task and took on the project—

The objective for the assigned mission was a fulfilling love.

Simply put, he had a target he needed to take care of.
 He had to change a tragedy that the other person should not have suffered in the first place by turning a bad ending into a happy ending.

Shen Qi had meant to refuse but the team leader had cried and cajoled him, so he had had to take the job.

As the most experienced member of Group 3 or even the senior of all the groups, it wasn’t a difficult task for Shen Qi to form a strategy for a mission target, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t done so in the past.

But unlike his colleagues, he never uses one of those smart systems.
After the failure of his first mission with a system, he had never used a so-called intelligent system again, leaving only a framework of middling nor non-existent intelligence, entirely at his beck and call.

He wasn’t a big fan of systems that dictated what to do and how to do it.
It was annoying.

This was the first world of the new project.
The target he was going after was a film emperor surnamed Jiang and named Changshen.
In a life without Shen Qi’s appearance, he’d become romantically involved with a minor star.
Yet this little starlet was ambitious, just trying to use Jiang Changshen’s connections to get to the top.
He resolutely abandoned the film emperor after his rise to power, getting married and having children with an actress of lesser fame.
The film emperor was disheartened by this betrayal; he ceased to exist and lived a lonely life after that.

All Shen Qi had to do now was to get to the film emperor before the little star and weave a perfect love with him.

He was now a newly-minted young actor, also known as a popular little idol.
He had only one movie and two TV shows under his belt.
The movie was a youth movie, and he got a lot of attention as the third male lead because of the value of his superb face.
And the two TV shows, one was just a cameo and didn’t make much of a splash, and the other hadn’t officially aired yet.
He was here today for this variety show, partly to draw fans, and partly to promote this drama starring him.

Of course, that was just the obvious part of his identity.
He was the younger brother of one of the top entertainment executives in the business and as for his name, it was Shen Qi.

Shen Qi never used anyone else’s body, nor did he possess anyone else’s, except on his first mission.

Every time he had entered a fragmented world after that, he would spend a large amount of points carefully editing and designing a suitable identity character for himself.

Right now, he was in just the right position to access Film Emperor Jiang Changshen.

Ever since he had opened his eyes, Shen Qi had been investigating all aspects of Jiang Changshen.
The system could give only the most basic descriptive outline, not even a detailed process.
Not to mention that human nature was very complex, and this fragmented world was still an entire world that could not be summed up in a sentence or two.

Luckily, Jiang Changshen was a celebrity and the film emperor.
Everything about him was easy to find out.

Jiang Changshen was thirty-six years old.
In today’s entertainment industry, this was the right age for male celebrities, especially actors.
Younger actors couldn’t get the title of film emperor no matter how good they were, as if you had to get past thirty to compete for the title.
Some even had to work until their 40s or 50s, like Jiang Changshen, who won the Best Actor award the year before last.

He was from a modest background and a single-parent family.
His parents divorced when he was a child and his father took the third child out of the country.
His mother was a music teacher.
She raised him and his brother, and his brother was now a little-known pianist.

Jiang Changshen never went to college.
He was recruited by a famous director in high school to act in a teen movie and from there he shot to stardom and into the entertainment industry.

Outwardly he had always been the picture of gentleness and refinement, respecting his seniors, promoting his juniors, and being extremely well-connected inside and outside the entertainment circle.
Everyone respected him.

As for now…

The handsome-looking man stood under the eaves of the house, greeting Shen Qi with a smile.
The smile couldn’t be more friendly, as if he weren’t seeing a stranger he’d only just met, but an old friend he’d known for a long time.

As expected of the film emperor.

Shen Qi squinted through the shade of the sun, then spread his lips in a bright and somewhat shy smile, his eyes shining.

“Jiang, Jiang, Film Emperor Jiang…” he stuttered.

In a moment, the bright and proud teenager was transformed into a little fanboy at the sight of his idol.
He wanted to restrain himself but couldn’t quite control his true feelings.
It seemed a little odd.
Oddly cute, even.

“Oh hey, it’s Xiao Qi!”

The curtain lifted and out stepped a tall, willowy man with a warm smile on his handsome face.

“Brother Xie.”

Shen Qi said hello.

Xie Jun was a senior in the entertainment circle.
He had started out as a presenter and now dabbled in all aspects.
He was currently handling three regular variety shows.
Six months ago Shen Qi went to one of his shows to promote a movie.
They were impressed with each other, and even added each other on WeChat.

“Come, come, let me introduce you.” Xie Jun knew that the two men probably did not know Shen Qi well, or even know of him at all.
So he acted as an intermediary and livened up the atmosphere.
“This is Shen Qi, just call him Xiao Qi.
Xiao Qi is a good boy, so you mustn’t bully him.”

“Little Seven? You wouldn’t happen have six brothers and sisters ahead of you, would you?”

Another gentle man in glasses came out, shaking a fan and smiling like a messiah.

(If you are reading this anywhere other than on seshy(dot)mangadex(dot)com, then the translation has been reposted without my consent.
Additionally, I translate for free, so if you are on a site that requires payment to read this, then you are being taken advantage of.)

Shen Qi bowed again.
“Good day, Director Liang!”

Liang Yu was a well-known director in the industry, better known for his acting skills.

He assigned himself a role in each of his films, sometimes as the lead, sometimes as a supporting character, sometimes as a mere canon fodder.
Each role was acted brilliantly, and he had even won a trophy for best supporting actor, making him a source of great interest.

“I have one brother and one sister, but I have four other cousins, so I’m Shen Qi.”

The name Shen Qi was not a real name, of course.
Nowadays, a parent naturally wouldn’t give their child such a name.
Xiao Qi, meaning Little Seven, was his nickname.
When he entered the entertainment industry, he used his nickname as a stage name.

Liang Yu smiled.
“Not bad.
People thrive in big families.”

Shen Qi puffed out his chest proudly.
That was right, all six of his siblings were great!

His eyes drifted to Jiang Changshen.
Seeing the man looking at him with a smile, he instantly blushed.

“Wow, wow, wow, look at that.” Jun Xie shook his head and laughed.
“Look, another one obsessed with Film Emperor Jiang.
The charm, I’m impressed.
How thoughtless I was to join this show in the first place.
On the screen, everyone must have been paying attention to Xiao Jiang, so how could they still notice me? What a loss, a loss!”

Liang Yu waved his fan and laughed.

Shen Qi retracted his gaze in a flash.
“No no, Brother Xie’s handsome too.
I love you too; I’m a big fan.
I grew up watching your show!”

Xie Jun’s mouth was agape, holding his forehead.
“Are you trying to make me happy or unhappy?”

He was met with Shen Qi’s dazed, innocent little eyes and an earnest, serious look.

“Really, I’m not lying.”

Liang Yu laughed heartily.
“Haha, this kid is so funny…”

Shen Qi was confused, because he was telling the truth.
There was a small hint of distress in his shining eyes.
Instinctively, he looked at Jiang Changshen.

Jiang Changshen came up and took the suitcase from him.
“I’m going to show you around the place first, so relax and don’t worry about your stay here for the next two days.”

His smile was gentle, his tone kind.

Shen Qi just relaxed and gave him a big grin.
“Thank you, Brother Jiang!”

Jiang Changshen offered a warm, faint smile in return.

Shen Qi didn’t blush this time, but his reddened ears still betrayed him.

An outdoor reality show called “Countryside Life” was being recorded here.
It aimed to keep the cast members away from the city and in the countryside, close to nature and self-sufficient.

There were three fixed members: Clever director Liang Yu, ace show host Xie Jun and film emperor Jiang Changshen.

One to several guests would be added to each issue, and one issue was divided into more or less two episodes.

And the guests would be here for three days and two nights.

In other words, Shen Qi had three days and two nights to spend being close and personal with Jiang Changshen.
He had to impress Jiang Changshen for three days and two nights, or at least be so remarkable that Ning Yuntian could not surpass him later.

Ning Yuntian was the scum who wanted to use Jiang Changshen to get to the top.

He and Jiang Changshen first met because of this show.

All Shen Qi had received was a basic outline of the process.
He knew when the two people would meet, when they’d fall in love and when they’d break up.
But nothing was known about how they fell in love, why Jiang Changshen fell in love with Ning Yuntian, and what their personalities were.

He had to get the job done all on his own.

An interesting challenge.

It was a lot more fun than going against the grain with a detailed plot.

This was the real reason why Shen Qi had agreed to this project.

What would it take to impress Jiang Changshen in just three days?

From behind Jiang Changshen, he licked his lips as he watched the man’s back and listened to his warm voice describing everything in the house.

He should not get ahead of himself.
Jiang Changshen’s body was the type he liked.
Wide shoulders, strong waist and long legs, no flaw.

-o-

Translator’s note: I hope you liked it! If you want to support my work, then please leave a comment here or a review on Novelupdates to show your appreciation.
And if you find any errors I missed during editing, please point them out so I can fix them.

(If you are reading this anywhere other than on seshy(dot)mangadex(dot)com, then the translation has been reposted without my consent.
Additionally, I translate for free, so if you are on a site that requires payment to read this, then you are being taken advantage of.)