Chapter 608

On his first night in Malaysia, Lu Yan He went to sleep very early.

Fortunately, he wasn't picky about his bed, nor was he the type who found it hard to sleep in a strange environment.

After having dinner together, Lu Yan He went for a walk nearby, but because he was unfamiliar with the place and it was in a remote area, even just walking around meant having five or six bodyguards following him. Lu Yan He lost interest and returned early.

After reading for a while, he went straight to sleep.

The next day, he had originally planned to wake up at seven, but he woke up at four-thirty in the morning.

One reason was that he had gone to bed early yesterday; another was perhaps because the environment was unfamiliar, so the subconscious thought of "sleeping in" didn't emerge.

June.

Because the air conditioning was on, there was no feeling of heat at all inside.

Lu Yan He walked out of the room, poured himself a glass of water, and gulped it down.

Outside the window, it was still pitch black, with only a few streetlights on.

He walked to the balcony.

As the glass door was pushed open, the natural breeze hit his face.

Out in the middle of nowhere, it was quite comfortable.

Lu Yan He sat on the balcony for a while, letting himself enter a state of complete emptiness.

Unexpectedly, while sitting on the small sofa on the balcony, he fell asleep again.

When he woke up again, it was to the sound of dog barking, birds chirping, and the wind, coming from who knows where.

He opened his eyes groggily and saw a sky that had already turned azure.

In the distance, there was actually a child leading a cow, walking through the fields.

The silhouette at that moment made Lu Yan He's heart skip a beat.

This was an unexpected scene.

Simple, with the texture of an oil painting.

Lu Yan He watched this scene before him quietly.

He had originally wanted to take a picture, but he felt that reaching for his phone at this moment to take a photo would ruin the clear, return-to-innocence state of mind this scene had brought him.

At seven in the morning, Lu Yan He finished his breakfast—a bowl of boiled dumplings—and got into the car on time to go to the "crew base camp" for character styling.

He arrived at the base camp at seven-thirty, and some staff members had already begun their work.

His dressing room was in a simple makeshift shed.

Unlike the base camps of many big-budget films, which were orderly, this place looked more like a corner of some factory.

Many equipment cases were stacked in the corner, and clothes, shoes, and other costumes were hung on racks like in those street-side shops from the last century, occupying a portion of the room.

There were several electrical wires crisscrossing the floor, power strips, a standing electric fan, and a large dining table that looked like it had been discarded by some restaurant and hauled back...

Lu Yan He had worked with so many crews and had also filmed small-budget movies like *Three Mountains* and *Late Spring*, yet he had never experienced such a simple dressing room.

There wasn't even a separate dressing room; they had just cordoned off a space in this room and placed a vanity table there so the makeup artist would have a place to style him.

However, as soon as he entered the door, the people already working on-site looked over at him, and at the same time, their faces revealed that typical look of surprise one gets when seeing a celebrity.

The looks they gave him revealed a kind of idol-like worship.

Unaccountably pure.

No one dared to speak up to greet him.

Lu Yan He nodded to them one by one and said, "Good morning. Do you understand Chinese?"

A slightly chubby girl said very slowly, "We can understand a little."

She looked like a local, with that slightly brownish-black skin tone typical of locals, and her figure was a bit plump, but her eyes and smile were clean and pure, possessing a sense of sincerity.

Lu Yan He greeted them and said with a smile, "I'll be counting on everyone from here on out. Let's work hard together."

"Okay, let's work hard together." The one who replied was still that slightly chubby girl; her tone felt a bit flattered.

The crew member assigned to be his liaison took him to meet the makeup artist.

The makeup artist was named Mahathir, a man in his thirties, also a local Malaysian.

He took out the styling photos that had been communicated beforehand to confirm with Lu Yan He.

On them was a model with a face shape and build relatively similar to Lu Yan He's, showing the "effect rendering" shot according to the prior communication.

After Lu Yan He confirmed, he nodded, sat down, and they began.

His hair needed to be shaved into a buzz cut, and his skin tone needed to be treated to be darker, to get that local, tropical feel.

Furthermore, his overall image needed to be treated to have a rougher feel—lean and rugged.

Actually, his look was easy to do. It was just a very everyday, local look; looking a bit like a "hoodlum" was enough.

Lu Yan He let the makeup artist work on him for about an hour; by around eight-forty, he had completely changed his appearance.

Dark and thin, wearing loose shorts and a T-shirt, and sliding into a pair of flip-flops, he felt like he was about to pull out a cigarette and light it at any second.

He looked in the mirror for a long while, making a few expressions to check the effect.

He was already thin to begin with, and with his whole body painted dark, he looked even thinner.

Lu Yan He walked a few steps, feeling it wasn't quite right, so he asked Wang Biao to record him.

Once he saw it himself, he knew what was going on: he was walking too energetically and too stiffly; it wasn't the state of a slacker in real life.

At this time, Yuan Hai and Huang Tianlin came over together.

"Oh! A huge transformation!" Yuan Hai revealed a look of shock and pleasant surprise.

Huang Tianlin also looked at Lu Yan He with some surprise, seemingly not expecting that Lu Yan He would really let the makeup artist make him look like this, according to the character image discussed earlier.

Looking like this now, one couldn't say he wasn't handsome—the foundation of his features was still there—but compared to the youthful, handsome image Lu Yan He usually had, leaning towards a male god, school heartthrob, or prince, his current image presented a texture of life, a "unrefined, unadorned" ruggedness.

Lu Yan He smiled at them and asked, "Is this look okay?"

Yuan Hai turned his head to look at Huang Tianlin.

Huang Tianlin pursed his lips and said, "It's alright. It looks... quite like the idea."

Lu Yan He said with a smile, "I feel like if I put on a gold chain and two rings, I could go play a henchman for a gang boss."

Huang Tianlin noticed that by Lu Yan He's side, there were still only Wang Biao and Zou Dong.

On the way over, he had heard about it.

Lu Yan He had brought an eight-person bodyguard team with him on this trip to Malaysia.

He had originally prepared himself to see a grand, star-studded spectacle here, but he didn't expect things to be exactly as they were.

Lu Yan He asked Huang Tianlin, "Director, is there anything else that needs to be adjusted with my look?"

Huang Tianlin opened his mouth, seemingly a bit sullen: "Not for now."

When they set off for the set together, Huang Tianlin finally saw Lu Yan He's security team.

Two cars, one in front and one behind, sandwiching Lu Yan He's car in the middle.

Huang Tianlin and Yuan Hai were in one car.

Seeing this situation, Huang Tianlin said to Yuan Hai, "You told me he was a person who didn't put on airs. You call this not putting on airs?"

Yuan Hai teased him with a smile: "If you have the ability, when your net worth is in the hundreds of millions in the future, don't bring so many bodyguards when you go out. If kidnappers kidnap you for ransom then, don't call me; I can't afford it."

Huang Tianlin: "..."

"Stop pretending. When you saw Lu Yan He just now, weren't you very surprised? Didn't expect Lu Yan He would follow this image for his styling without any hesitation?"

Huang Tianlin didn't speak.

Yuan Hai: "To be able to achieve such results at a young age, no matter how easy it looks or how good the luck is, being able to handle such luck and display it so easily also shows his capability. You are a director. Whether you can dig out the best side of such an excellent actor is a test for you. If he flops in your movie, then as the director, you'll have to take half the responsibility."

Huang Tianlin glared at Yuan Hai.

"Don't use reverse psychology on me!"

Yuan Hai: "If you really didn't want to work with Lu Yan He, why did you go to the cafe to find him last time he met with you? Stop struggling with yourself and put all this energy into how to shoot the rest of the film well."

Huang Tianlin: "... You don't need to tell me; I'll shoot it well."

Yuan Hai: "Of course, on this point, I have never doubted you."

When Lu Yan He arrived at the set, everyone else had already arrived.

Perhaps someone had notified the entire crew long ago that Lu Yan He was coming to the set today. When Lu Yan He got out of the car and walked into the house used for filming, there were actually nearly thirty people in the house.

Before coming, Lu Yan He already knew that this was a crew of about forty or fifty people.

So, excluding the motorcade, logistics, costumes, styling, and other personnel, almost all the crew members were here.

And when Lu Yan He was surprised by so many people, they saw him and actually started clapping together, welcoming him with faces full of surprised smiles.

There were even a few people cheering and calling out his name.

Lu Yan He widened his eyes in disbelief.

This wasn't some celebration party he was attending after winning an award.

This was him just joining a crew to film a movie. Since when does an actor get this kind of treatment just by joining a crew?!

Lu Yan He bowed thirty degrees to everyone several times to express his gratitude, and quickly waved his hands to indicate that such grandeur wasn't necessary.

Yuan Hai walked to his side and said, "Everyone is very much looking forward to your arrival."

"Thank you, you are all too enthusiastic. I don't know how to express how moved I am." Lu Yan He said this in English—it was truly because he couldn't say such mushy things in Chinese, but in this situation, not being mushy wouldn't be appropriate either.

Lu Yan He turned his head to look at Huang Tianlin, who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at the crowd noncommittally.

Lu Yan He couldn't help but smile.

For a moment, he suddenly understood Huang Tianlin's resistance toward him.

Lu Yan He suddenly thought of Chen Yu in his mind.

If it were a director with Chen Yu's emotional intelligence, they would definitely be leading the entire crew to welcome his arrival at this moment.

However, Huang Tianlin didn't have that kind of emotional intelligence; he would only feel that his crew was being invaded by another threatening person.

Lu Yan He had to briefly express his gratitude to everyone for joining the *Tropical Rainy Season* crew and, with an approachable demeanor, expressed his hope that they could become friends through this movie.

After the pleasantries ended, it was time to start normal filming.

Before normal filming, Yuan Hai and Huang Tianlin first took Lu Yan He to greet every actor and get to know each other.

Especially the male lead of this movie, twelve-year-old Huang Feng.

After meeting Huang Feng, Lu Yan He's first reaction was to look at Huang Tianlin with some surprise.

Because... Huang Feng looked quite a bit like Huang Tianlin.

"Is he—" Lu Yan He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are you related?"

Huang Tianlin looked at him with some surprise and explained, "He's my nephew."

"No wonder, you two look so much alike," Lu Yan He said.

Huang Feng had a pair of large, rolling eyes; he looked like a very smart and spirited child.

He was very young, but precocious. Seeing Lu Yan He, his first sentence was: "You're playing my older brother, so will you treat me to a popsicle?"

His Chinese was very good.

Lu Yan He smiled and said, "I can treat you to a popsicle, but first I have to get your mom and dad's permission."

Huang Feng's face immediately fell.

"You're so annoying, I don't like you."

He turned around and ran away.

Lu Yan He was left between laughter and tears.

Huang Tianlin also seemed to be made a bit awkward by his nephew's reaction.

"Sorry, that's just how kids are. Don't take it to heart."

Lu Yan He: "I won't. Compared to your temper, his temper actually isn't that bad."

Huang Tianlin looked at Lu Yan He in disbelief.

Lu Yan He smiled and patted his shoulder. "But it's all within my tolerance, so, it's fine."

Yuan Hai laughed out loud from the side.

They were only shooting one scene during the day today.

The content of the shoot was that the older brother, played by Lu Yan He, had a conflict with his younger brother and hit him. The younger brother wailed, and the mother came out of the kitchen, saw this scene, and slapped the older brother directly. The older brother was furious and slammed the door as he left.

This was also Lu Yan He's first appearance in the movie.

The actress playing the mother was a very famous actress locally in Malaysia. It was probably because this movie was about the story of a local Malaysian Chinese family that all the actors were Chinese.

The actress's name was Qin Shulan.

Lu Yan He didn't know her and hadn't seen her movies.

Given Lu Yan He's volume of films watched, if he hadn't seen Qin Shulan's movies, it could only mean that the movies Qin Shulan had appeared in hadn't yet entered the vision of the world film scene.

Malaysian cinema, in terms of the whole world, indeed still had a slightly weaker influence. Compared to neighboring Thailand, Singapore, and India, and other Southeast Asian countries, it didn't have much volume, and movies that caught the world's attention rarely appeared.

However, since she could be very famous locally in Malaysia, she must have the ability.

Lu Yan He went to communicate with Qin Shulan first.

Qin Shulan was very polite and said, "Thinking that I have to slap you in the face in a moment, I don't know what to do."

Actually, among professional actors, doing it for real wasn't anything strange.

But if actors could greet each other and exchange a few words before doing it for real, it would be easier to cooperate later.

Hearing her say this, Lu Yan He was able to say: "It's fine, just act according to your habit, and I'll cooperate with you."

For the slap, the active party was Qin Shulan.

Lu Yan He's acting was all after being slapped, so Lu Yan He said he would cooperate with the reaction.

That moment, in itself, was also caught off guard.

What really made Lu Yan He a bit unsure was actually the scene with Huang Feng later.

The child wasn't a professional actor, and he was also very uncontrollable.

Lu Yan He had acted in so many plays, but he really hadn't acted in such a scene with emotional tension with a child in a serious way.

Before, it was at most just exchanging a few lines, very shallow scenes.

Thinking of this, he asked Qin Shulan: "Sister Shulan, you've already been acting with Huang Feng for a while, right?"

Qin Shulan nodded with a smile, clearly knowing why Lu Yan He was asking this.

She said: "Little Feng, this child, knows how to act; he's very smart and understands things instantly. However, sometimes when he throws a tantrum, you can only coax him; there's no other way. If he likes you, he'll cooperate with you very well; if he doesn't like you, he might even deliberately make trouble."

Lu Yan He shook his head, very helpless.

"Okay."

"Thank you, Sister Shulan."

Qin Shulan had actually given Lu Yan He a tip, telling him her experience in getting along with Huang Feng.

Generally speaking, a movie set is more relaxed than a TV drama set.

Because many times, on a movie set, they might only shoot one scene in a day, or even over several days, with plenty of time to polish the shots.

However, TV dramas, because of the massive amount of scenes to be shot, have to rush the schedule every day, and the pressure is huge; everyone spins like a top.

This is also one of the reasons why there's a saying that movies are more high-end than TV dramas—

Industry practitioners all know that the production model of TV dramas has determined that it cannot polish a shot or a scene as meticulously as a movie.

Of course, some movie crews, no matter how much you polish, are just stones. And some TV drama crews are a golden team; even if you can't polish it as meticulously as a movie production, what you polish out is still gold.

Before the first scene started, Lu Yan He chatted with this person and talked to that person.

He was also trying to find the state of his character.

The character of the older brother is uninhibited and slacker-like, but not in the way of a street hoodlum; the sense of proportion in between needed to be captured.

Therefore, when Lu Yan He was chatting with everyone, he was already putting himself into the character, looking for that state.

Seeing Lu Yan He arrive at the set and almost never stop, moving around like a social butterfly, Huang Tianlin couldn't help but frown in confusion.

Many actors, especially good actors, often sit in a corner by themselves on set to familiarize themselves with the character's state. How was Lu Yan He completely different?

However, his state today was completely different from when he came to participate in the film festival last time.

Today he was like a changed person, jumping around like a black-skinned monkey.

The cinematographer came over to communicate with him about the camera movement plan for later.

Huang Tianlin withdrew his gaze.

After a while, he couldn't help but look toward Lu Yan He again.

As a result, the person was no longer in the place he was just now; he had changed to chatting with someone else.

"How old is your son?" Lu Yan He was chatting with a middle-aged man from the art department of the crew. When the topic turned to his son, Lu Yan He immediately asked with a smile.

"About the same age as you, twenty-two."

"Did he just graduate from university?"

"It would be good if he had gone to university. This kid, he stopped studying after graduating from middle school." The man shook his head, looking very much like he was disappointed that his son hadn't lived up to expectations, and sighed. "At the time, I beat him and scolded him, but he just couldn't study."

This tone left Lu Yan He between laughter and tears.

Perhaps, having children study well is the obsession of all parents in the world.

Lu Yan He asked: "Then what is he doing now?"

"He's a DJ at a bar in Kuala Lumpur, spinning records."

"That's cool," Lu Yan He said.

"Cool my ass. Even if he went to a mediocre university and found a job, it would be better than living hand-to-mouth like now," the man said. "I really regret that back then, in order to make money, I went abroad to work, and as a result, I never went back, and I ruined my son here too. If we were in the country, he definitely wouldn't be as useless as he is now. His life is ruined."

Lu Yan He smiled and patted his shoulder, saying: "Do you know what my anti-fans often say to me?"

The man was taken aback, not understanding why he suddenly brought up anti-fans.

Lu Yan He said with a smile: "They often say, don't look at how good I am now; I'm only in my early twenties. Who knows when I'll start going downhill."

The man's brows furrowed even deeper.

Full of confusion.

Lu Yan He: "Maybe your son will encounter a big opportunity tomorrow and start going uphill from then on. He's only in his twenties; how can you conclude that his life is ruined? You should encourage him and support him more."

The man smiled. "You took such a long detour just to get here."

Lu Yan He smiled shamelessly. "That's your son, after all. No matter how much you dislike him, you can't just throw him away."

Huang Tianlin had originally wanted to hear what Lu Yan He was chatting with others about, but as a result, hearing this, he was suddenly stunned.

"Director?" the middle-aged man from the art department suddenly looked behind Lu Yan He and called out.

Lu Yan He turned around.

Huang Tianlin nodded to them and said, "Yan He, come over here for a moment. I'll tell you about the shooting ideas for later."

Lu Yan He nodded, patted the man's shoulder again, lifted his chin at him, and said, "Brother, let's chat again later."

Lu Yan He turned around with a calm and composed manner, flicked his hand, and asked, "Director, where are we chatting?"

Huang Tianlin looked at him suspiciously: "Why are you talking like a delinquent youth now?"

Lu Yan He was taken aback and asked: "Did I overdo it? I'm looking for the state of the older brother character."

"Do less of those hand-flicking and lip-curling actions," Huang said. "It looks too strange."

Lu Yan He smiled.

"Okay."

Chen Siqi got off the plane, and just as she walked out of the airport, a wave of heat rushed toward her.

Her sun hat was almost blown off, and she pressed it down with a quick movement.

"Siqi, wait a moment. The driver said it will take three minutes to drive over," He Lan said to her.

Chen Siqi nodded.

"It's already this hot here in June." Chen Siqi raised her hand to cover her mouth and yawned lightly.

He Lan: "It's near the equator, after all."

"How long will it take us to get to the hotel later?"

"About forty minutes. After we get to the hotel, we'll rest a little. The people from Taihe Fund have already booked a restaurant at noon, and they will arrange a car to pick us up to have lunch with the people from HupLick Publishing."

Chen Siqi nodded: "I hope the negotiations go smoothly and we reach a cooperation."

"There shouldn't be a problem, right?" He Lan said. "Didn't the people from Taihe Fund say that HupLick's intention to cooperate with us is very strong?"

"That's all just talk. Who knows what their attitude will be when they actually get to the negotiating table? Before sitting at the negotiating table, don't believe that anyone will be a little lamb full of sincerity," Chen Siqi said. "After this negotiation ends, I'm going to Kuala Lumpur to find Yan He. Whether you want to play here for a few days or go back to the country first, it's up to your own arrangement."

He Lan nodded.

"I'll look around here. It's my first time here."

"Okay."

Chen Siqi nodded.

When Lu Yan He was rehearsing with Huang Feng, he finally saw how annoying a twelve-year-old boy could be.

The two of them started arguing as soon as they began.

If Lu Yan He was a professional actor who knew how to present his state, Huang Feng didn't know how.

Huang Tianlin could only use the most basic guidance method, which was to assume a situation for Huang Feng and then tell him what his reaction would be in such a situation; the rest was for Huang Feng to follow.

Lu Yan He's rehearsals with Huang Feng were never smooth.

Huang Feng would either forget his lines or act incorrectly, unable to enter the state of arguing and hating Lu Yan He at all.

Huang Tianlin had no choice but to pull him aside, explain the scene to him again, and tell him how to act.

You can't let a child figure it out on their own.

They don't have the social experience to understand; they can only empathize under the director's guidance.

Lu Yan He rehearsed with Huang Feng two more times and discovered the crux of the problem.

Huang Feng knew very clearly that they were just rehearsing and that it wasn't the official shoot; it was fake, so Huang Feng didn't take it seriously at all.

He always felt that it didn't matter if he made a mistake now.

Children might just have this mentality; when it's not the official time, they think about slacking off. Of course, it might not be a child's mentality, but Huang Feng's own mentality.

Lu Yan He thought for a moment, came up with a plan, and talked to Huang.

Huang Tianlin: "..."

He clearly didn't expect Lu Yan He to use such a tactic on a child.

Lu Yan He wanted to lose his temper directly at Huang Tianlin in front of Huang Feng, thinking that this was wasting and delaying his time. Through such a scene, he wanted to make Huang Feng realize that the current situation wasn't a time for him to throw a child's tantrum.

Recommend the old book *I Became a Scandal Heroine Overnight*