Chapter 457

The death of Old Master Qi was just the beginning.

The first to suffer was the second son, Qi Hong. He had previously listened to his older brother and sold all his stocks, obtaining tens of millions in liquid capital, all of which he went "all-in" on a stock he favored.

Qi Hong had thought it through well; this stock was his final move for the next few months, and after making money, he would redeem it all to save up some liquid capital for himself.

But on the day Old Master Qi died, the stock Qi Hong bought was targeted by several major institutions working together to short it, dumping billions into it.

Qi Hong's capital was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot in the face of billions, unable to stir up even a ripple.

He watched with his own eyes as the tens of millions in his account turned into a few million, his blood pressure rising in his anxiety.

And this was just the beginning. Within a mere three days, the stock was investigated by the securities regulatory commission for financial fraud and was set to be listed in the ST (Special Treatment) sector!

The stock price, which had barely stabilized, plummeted again, and Qi Hong watched helplessly as his capital went from a few million to a few hundred thousand.

At this point, when he went to borrow money from his older brother, he found that his brother had no money left; he had to fill the holes in the company's taxes and was even asking him for money.

Qi Hong had no money to give him and fled overnight.

He was used to a life of squandering money; how could a few hundred thousand be enough?

He was unwilling to accept this, so he sold all his shares and went "all-in" on other stocks, hoping to make a comeback in one fell swoop.

However, his good luck in stock trading seemed to have vanished from him; whatever he bought, he lost money on, and he soon became penniless.

So he began to max out loans from major platforms. Because he previously had good credit, he managed to pull out over a million, only to throw it all into the stock market and lose it.

The platforms began frantically dunning him for debt, and some small platforms even sent people to his door to collect. While hiding from debt collectors, Qi Hong accidentally got into a car accident and died on the spot.

The eldest brother, Qi Zhan, didn't fare much better.

After his father died, the companies under his name were successively exposed for tax fraud and were investigated and punished by law enforcement departments. Not only did he face a triple maximum fine, but he also faced imprisonment.

Qi Zhan refused to accept this and hired a lawyer to defend himself, arguing that these tax issues were caused during his father's tenure and had nothing to do with him.

But besides the tax issues, his company had many other problems involving major illegal and disciplinary violations by officials, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison in court.

Qi Zhan still refused to accept it; that night, he drank a lot of alcohol, and in a daze, he walked onto the rooftop and jumped to his death.

As for the third son, Qi Tuo, because he had quickly transferred his assets, he preserved most of his wealth before the Qi family's great ship sank, and he successfully handled his immigration and bought a plane ticket abroad.

But on the day he boarded the plane, in the airport's VIP lounge, a guest suffering from mental illness suddenly went crazy, pulled out a small spring-loaded knife he was carrying, and mistook Qi Tuo for his enemy.

The guest grinned hideously and stabbed Qi Tuo more than a dozen times, and Qi Tuo died on the spot!

By the time Jin Li returned to the film crew, a month had passed since she left.

The half-month break Director Chu mentioned was still too conservative.

To allow the male and female leads to better integrate with the motion capture equipment, he spent nearly a month training them.

She left the crew at the end of October, and by the time she returned, it was already the end of November.

On the day she returned to the crew, she also heard about the Qi family's ending from Director Ye Weijie. Chen Qin and Driver Xiao Cheng heard it too and kept sighing with emotion.

Chen Qin: "They must have really offended the gods. I've never seen a family fall apart so quickly; it was over in less than a month."

Driver Xiao Cheng nodded repeatedly: "Man proposes, God disposes. The Qi family must have done many wicked things; this is retribution."

Jin Li wasn't interested in the Qi family's ending; she was more interested in Pond Village and urged Ye Weijie to hurry up and set the scene.

"This time when I return to the *Dawn* crew, my scenes aren't many; I might be able to finish in less than a month. I want to enter your crew as soon as possible."

Ye Weijie asked: "I'll rush the set design here; I should be able to let you join the crew seamlessly. But why are you in such a hurry?"

Jin Li: "After I finish filming your drama, I plan to turn down all engagements and focus on preparing for next year's college entrance exam."

She thought for a moment and said: "Perhaps you can push the progress of this drama further down; can we film after I finish the college entrance exam next year?"

Ye Weijie shook his head hurriedly: "No, no, this drama has been in preparation for too long; it can't be pushed back any further. Delays lead to changes; I'm afraid if we keep pushing it, we might lose Pond Village as a filming location."

"You don't know, ever since the Qi family's pond was returned to the village, some tourists have already noticed Pond Village. A few bloggers have even come to check in and edited the footage to put online, and it's become a little popular."

"If I hadn't blocked some news here in advance, those bloggers would have already revealed that Pond Village is the filming location for your next drama. By then, your fans would swarm in, and I think you wouldn't even be able to film."

Jin Li smiled: "Since it's hard to push back, then hurry up and set the scene. We'll finish filming early and end early."

Ye Weijie: "Okay, Pond Village is very cooperative with the crew now; there shouldn't be any problems."

After hanging up the phone, Jin Li went to watch the performance of Xu Ting and Bai Jiang.

She had no scenes in the morning and wouldn't film until the afternoon, but she hadn't been back to the crew for a month and didn't know how the male and female leads were handling the special effects, so she came to take a look.

After nearly a month of training, Jin Li found that the two were becoming increasingly proficient with motion capture.

Perhaps because they hadn't seen each other for a month, she even felt that both of their acting skills had improved to a certain extent.

However, Director Chu's attitude toward the two actors seemed even stricter than in the past.

Just from what she saw, Director Chu lost his temper at the two leads twice in the morning, both times loudly telling them to concentrate, not to let their minds wander, and to get their movements right.

In the past, when Chu Chenliang was filming, there were rarely scenes of him shouting and yelling.

If an actor didn't perform correctly, he would first communicate with them and guide them properly.

But this time, Director Chu skipped the communication process.

But it must be said that this attitude was more applicable to the two leads; under every high-pressure situation, their performance would be better.

Xu Ting and Bai Jiang were acting very intently and only discovered Jin Li had returned to the crew after they finished filming.

Bai Jiang happened to meet Jin Li's gaze and took the initiative to greet her.

"When did you get back? It feels like I haven't seen you for a long time."

Jin Li: "I came back this morning. I haven't been to the crew for a month; I went elsewhere to study in seclusion."

Bai Jiang seemed to think of something and joked: "Right, I remember now. My assistant watches your study livestreams whenever he has time. He even uses it to spur me on, saying you're so hardworking every day, so I should be more hardworking too."

Jin Li was a little surprised; she felt Bai Jiang's attitude seemed friendlier toward her?

Bai Jiang continued: "I've also watched a few of your livestreams and looked at the math mind maps you summarized. I'm studying the content for the first year of high school, and the knowledge points you summarized are very useful."

Jin Li was even more surprised now. "Do you want to take the college entrance exam too?"

Bai Jiang shook his head: "No, I'm a graduate of a prestigious university; there's no need to take it again. I just think doing some math problems can exercise my thinking. Didn't you mention a method to train imagination before? I'm trying it out."

Jin Li recalled it; she had mentioned this method, but it was just a casual remark, and even she didn't know if it was useful.

Moreover, she believed that the method she mentioned of doing problems in her head exercised memory and logic more than imagination.

Jin Li didn't want to mislead anyone and quickly expressed her thoughts.

Bai Jiang didn't expect her to be so straightforward and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Jin Li said sincerely: "My imagination should be innate. There are many scenes I can preset in my mind, and I can think of many details.

The method I mentioned was just me trying to squeeze out time to study. Even if one really exercises according to this method, what improves should only be thinking and logic ability, not imagination."

Bai Jiang said embarrassedly: "I was just trying it out. I thought, maybe it would really be useful for me?"

Jin Li said kindly: "How about this? Let's add each other as friends. If I come across any videos that can train imagination, I'll push them to you?

Sometimes training imagination seriously is actually useless, but some methods provided by folk experts are very effective."

Take herself, for example; the channels through which she accesses knowledge outside her subjects are generally watching videos, both long and short.

Perhaps she is lucky; every time she goes online to slack off and watch videos, what she brushes against is what she loves to watch and what she happens to need to understand.

Many bloggers who share knowledge are not professionals in that field, but their views are very thorough. Unorthodox methods are actually better at pointing directly to the core essence, explaining things in a simpler and more straightforward way.

Bai Jiang immediately said: "I'll add you after I finish filming later. You can push any videos related to acting to me; I feel there are many places I need to learn."

The floor manager came over to call Bai Jiang to prepare for filming, and only then did Bai Jiang stop talking to Jin Li.

When Jin Li turned to leave, she noticed a very obvious malice from the side. She turned her head and saw Xu Ting whispering to her new assistant.

She raised her eyebrows, not feeling surprised, and slowly walked out of the filming set.

After walking outside, Driver Xiao Cheng and Chen Qin, who were following her, immediately began to gossip.

Chen Qin looked left and right, and seeing no one around, asked in a low voice: "Why has Bai Jiang's attitude changed so much after coming back this time?"

Driver Xiao Cheng nodded: "I don't spend much time on the crew, but every time I come to the crew with Sister Jin Li to film, Bai Jiang and Xu Ting basically don't talk to Sister Jin Li when they are resting."

Chen Qin said what was on her mind: "Actually, it's normal not to talk. Sister Jin Li often holds a copy of *5-3* in the crew; she's either looking at problems or doing problems. Talking to her feels like it would affect her studies, so not disturbing her is the best way to get along."

Jin Li said "Hmm," "Bai Jiang has no malice toward me."

She had felt it since she joined the crew; Bai Jiang's attitude toward her was neutral, but he was very friendly toward Xu Ting.

When she and Xu Ting had a conflict, Bai Jiang's attitude remained neutral, but she felt that Bai Jiang would eventually lean toward Xu Ting's side, so she didn't care about him and didn't put effort into maintaining the relationship.

After all, they would be filming together for several months; if she could have a better relationship with the actors in the crew, Jin Li would be happy too.

This way, they could occasionally talk while waiting to film, and the atmosphere in the crew could be more relaxed, without being so tense all the time.

Driver Xiao Cheng asked: "Then why did he suddenly talk to Sister Jin Li?"

Jin Li couldn't figure it out either. It couldn't be because his relationship with Xu Ting had worsened, so he wanted to have a better relationship with her?

Thinking about it this way, she was amused by the idea instead.

Bai Jiang wasn't a three-year-old child; he had long passed the age of needing companions. Moreover, he was the male lead in the crew, and she was a supporting role with few scenes, so there was no need to curry favor with her.

Chen Qin said suspiciously: "It couldn't be that he thinks Sister Jin Li's acting is good, so he wants to get close to Sister Jin Li and learn more from her, right?"

Everyone also felt this was unlikely because Bai Jiang didn't look like a male star who was very eager to learn.

Little did they know, Chen Qin's guess was exactly what Bai Jiang was thinking.

He wanted to get on good terms with Jin Li, and it really was because of Jin Li's acting!

After the floor manager called him, Bai Jiang came to the position marked for him by the stand-in. Xu Ting stood on his right, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something, but the next second, Director Chu's clapperboard sounded:

"3, 2, 1, Action!"

The expressions of the two instantly became serious, staring at a large dinosaur doll in front of them; this doll would be processed into a powerful big boss in post-production.

Facing the dinosaur doll, Xu Ting couldn't mobilize any sense of tension at all, but Bai Jiang beside her was very serious, his expression acting a bit forcefully.

Every time Xu Ting's peripheral vision looked at Bai Jiang, she would involuntarily become solemn and follow the movements he passed on.

A few dozen seconds later, Director Chu suddenly shouted: "Bai Jiang, Xu Ting, you two are in danger, hide behind the iron pillar!"

Bai Jiang immediately took action; Xu Ting was half a beat slow and hurried to catch up.

Fortunately, Xu Ting was already at a distance from Bai Jiang, so her slow reaction wasn't noticeable.

Director Chu gave several more instructions to change locations, demanding higher acting ability from the actors, with very rapid emotional shifts.

Bai Jiang reacted the fastest and caught on every time. Xu Ting gritted her teeth secretly; she didn't want to break down and forced herself to keep up.

"Cut!"

After this scene was filmed, Xu Ting walked quickly to the camera to check her recent filming. There were several moments when her mind went blank, and she didn't know what kind of expression she would have.

But after watching, she was surprised to find that the effect was unexpectedly quite good.

Bai Jiang also walked over to check his performance and asked the director if there were any parts that weren't filmed well.

Director Chu said with satisfaction this time: "You handled it very well and are gradually adapting to the rhythm. Xu Ting also handled it well this time; you were completely driven by him."

Xu Ting felt a bit uncomfortable; Director Chu gave all the credit to Bai Jiang.

Although in the performance just now, she did subconsciously look at how Bai Jiang was acting first.

Xu Ting said: "Director Chu, why was the scene added so temporarily this time? Didn't we usually film scene by scene before?"

Chu Chenliang said lightly: "The time you take to adapt to the motion capture equipment is a bit long. To speed up the crew's progress, I plan to use this method to film more shots and save time."

He added: "You need to adapt as soon as possible; I will be adding scenes temporarily from now on."

Bai Jiang nodded; he had no problems.

Xu Ting wanted to say something, but Director Chu's words were reasonable. If she didn't accept it, wouldn't it make her seem incompetent?

So she didn't speak in the end.

After this scene, the crew went to eat. Xu Ting specifically walked to Bai Jiang's side.

She said in a normal tone, with a slight smile: "It seems like this is the first time I've seen you take the initiative to greet Jin Li, and you were chatting very happily."