Nicky (left) goes all out in "Xiao", the right being Athena Chu.

Nicky really goes all out this time in his new TV drama "Xiao Shiyi Lang"! Not only did he have to wear air-proof leather tops and pants under the high temperature of 40°C, while others get sun stroke, he still persist in hanging on, when faced with difficult stunt actions, he would try not to use the stunt stand-in so as to achieve good effect. Hence, in the two months of filming, he was full of numerous wounds. Once, the director wanted him to jump from the ground to the top of a wooden house. Nicky made the jump and smartly went up the roof and finished the scene with one take. However, when the other workers are changing Nicky's clothing and the background for the next scene, they found that Nicky's palms were full of small splints with blood flowing out. They quickly helped him to pull out the splints, but Nicky did not bother about his hands injury and even went after the director asking whether they should take the scene again. He said he could jump even better.

As to working with Athena again this time, Nicky said," Athena is now a very happy woman. It is not easy to get her to take up a film offer. What's more, this time the filming in China will take 3 to 4 months. Because she is clever, alert and becoming more and more like a mature woman, she is the best choice for the female lead in this drama."

Filming an ancient show in the hot summer is a very miserable thing. The temperature in Suzhou went up to around 40°C. Everyone complains miserably and falls sick one after another. And with a fake hair top, air-proof ancient clothings, with additional leather coat and pants, both Nicky and Athena are soaked with sweat everyday. Nicky and Athena joked,"We are like frogs and crickets! Once it is time, we would drink water, so as to prevent dehydration." This time, Nicky even engaged a house-keeper who once learned cookery in Taiwan to take care of his daily life, reducing his tiredness in filming.

Actually, the most difficult and miserable part in filming this drama is not riding the horse but jumping into the water. The script writer knew that Nicky has a diving licence and wanted to give him opportunities to show off his skills, but the local river is very unhygienic and bitter; there are even many unknown worms swimming in it. But still Nicky looked on the brighter side and said that to be able to be in the water under such hot weather is a very enjoyable thing! Although it is much cooler filming in the night, there are many NGs. This NG is not because of the casts but because there would be many moths at night being attacted by the lightings and flying to join in the crowd. Some of them were even as big as the size of a hand palm. They would fly towards the cast, making Athena so frightened that she could not even finish her dialogue with Nicky, fearing those frightening creatures would fly into her mouth. The crew had to keep burning smoke to drive away those unwelcome visitors.