Since the song *Assassin* was scheduled as the final piece in Gu Qiuyi’s performance, Ye Chen didn’t rush to try on his stage costume right away.
He first stood below the stage, watching the two girls rehearse their designed interactions for their entrance, only after the first few songs had been run through did Gu Qiuyi approach him, “Brother Ye Chen, it’s almost time to change into the *Assassin* costume, your outfit’s ready too, come change with us?”
Ye Chen nodded casually and followed them backstage.
At that moment, Tawana’s stage director trailed alongside, explaining to the pair, “Since both of you will be switching to traditional Chinese costumes for this last song, there’ll be a moment when no one’s on stage, if it’s left empty, the live atmosphere might cool off, so we’re thinking of putting together a last-minute edit of today’s joint rehearsal footage tonight, we’ll play a five-minute behind-the-scenes clip on the screens to show how you two prepared for this performance.”
Tawana asked her, “The footage has been filming all along, right?”
“Exactly,” the stage director nodded, “We’ve had six cameras rolling on stage the whole time, we’ll just pull some clips from that later.”
Tawana turned to Gu Qiuyi beside her, “Why don’t you arrange for two cameramen to follow us to the dressing room for some extra footage, capture some chats from our prep phase too, it’d be best to give the audience the impression we’ve known each other for ages and are really close.”
The stage director, ever the professional, replied at once, “No problem, just try to act natural and friendly, throw in some laughs and casual banter, we’ll edit it into the footage and it’ll work perfectly.”
Tawana smiled, “Go grab us some coffee and snacks, it’ll feel more natural and lived-in that way.”
The stage director nodded, “Sure thing, I’ll sort it out right away.”
Gu Qiuyi then chimed in with a reminder, “Please make sure to tell all the editing staff not to include any shots of Mr. Ye.”
Tawana snapped to attention and added, “Our feng shui consultant, Mr. Ye, you know him, he doesn’t like the spotlight, so absolutely no footage of him.”
“Got it! I’ll double-check everything,” the director assured.
Ye Chen couldn’t help but marvel inwardly, Gu Qiuyi really was meticulous, always thinking of him and looking out for his comfort, it was genuinely touching.
The two women entered the same dressing room, while Ye Chen was ushered into the one next door.
His costume change was much quicker by comparison, since his look this time was a masked assassin, the outfit was a pre-Qin-style assassin’s garb with lightweight armour, paired with a mask mimicking a bronze texture, revealing only his eyes and nostrils.
Beyond the clothes, they’d designed a traditional topknot for him, his long hair combed up into a bun before cascading down the back, much like the heroic leads in wuxia films.
As for props, it was even simpler, the designer handed him a longsword, it looked imposing but was featherlight, made of some special plastic-like material.
Once he’d donned the costume, mask, and wig, he glanced in the mirror, his true appearance was completely unrecognisable, he reckoned even if his wife Xiao Churan saw the performance video, she’d never guess the assassin on stage was him.
