Chapter 483: You Think I'm Just Messing Around With You (Refined)

"Grandpa, morning."

"Morning, ah, Ah Jun."

"Grandpa, come, let me carry that for you."

"Good, thank you, Ah Jun."

"It's nothing."

"You start work this early every day?"

"That's right."

"Got a girlfriend yet?"

"No."

"Such a handsome lad, how could you not? Want Grandpa to introduce you to one?"

"Thanks, Grandpa, no need."

"Haha."

This is an old-style public housing estate in the Tai Hang Sai Estate of Sham Shui Po.

Not yet 6 o'clock, the morning mist had yet to disperse, the sky presented a dim blue color, and the street lamps along the road had not yet been extinguished, resembling the stars in a Van Gogh painting, emitting clusters of hazy yellow light in this dim world.

From the mottled iron gate of the public housing unit walked out a young man with messy hair wearing a face mask, and an old man with white hair and a hunched back.

The young man was tall and very thin; the white shirt he wore felt empty on him, and the jeans on his lower body were washed to a pale white, the pant legs a bit short, revealing a small section of his lower legs above his worn-out sneakers.

His walking posture carried a strange rhythm; it was neither a limp nor a hobble, but rather more like he was missing a part inside his body, with every limb twitching lightly from time to time, giving people an indescribable sense of awkwardness when they looked at him.

He carried a plastic bag, walked to the entrance, and threw the bag into the tin trash can.

"Grandpa, I'm leaving." The young man turned his head and said to the old man behind him.

The old man raised his cloudy eyes and said with a chuckle: "Alright, alright, Ah Jun, come to my place for soup when you have time."

"Okay, Grandpa." The young man nodded, gave his word, and walked quickly across the alley entrance and away.

The old man stared at his back for a while, then with his hands behind his back, he slowly paced toward the small park at the other end of the alley.

The young man had moved in at the beginning of February; his accent didn't sound like a native Hong Konger, but he spoke Cantonese quite fluently. He was diligent and polite, and except for leaving for a few days at the end of February, he basically got up after five o'clock every day to work, better than many young people in Hong Kong today.

It was just that his physique looked really quite wrong.

What a pity.

Chen Nuo walked through this small alley; the air was filled with a damp, musty smell, and plastic clothespins on the iron windows clicked as they were blown by the wind. He kept his head down, avoiding the filthy puddles on the road, and walked step by step toward the street corner.

It was in this environment that every morning at 5:30, Xie Jiajun had to get up, leave this old government public housing building in Sham Shui Po, pass through trash heaps and tin doors, walk through streets and alleys, and step into the sleeping streets of Hong Kong to begin his day of "infantry" life.

In order to play the role of Xie Jiajun well, he wanted to experience the life of the lower class in Hong Kong, so Wen Yongshan took him to Tin Shui Wai and Sham Shui Po. After the full experience, he felt Sham Shui Po was better than Tin Shui Wai, and closer, so he finally chose this place.

The goodness of Sham Shui Po lies in its stalls.

Stalls are where citizens set up booths on the street to sell some old items they no longer use. Unlike professional street vendors in the mainland, the stalls in Sham Shui Po are more like a mobile flea market. Clothes, rice cookers, hair dryers, old phones, movie DVDs, cassette tapes... they have everything, selling them for a little money to supplement the household expenses.

The clothes he was wearing now were bought for him by Linghu at a stall on Pei Ho Street in Sham Shui Po. Ten dollars for a shirt, twenty dollars for a pair of jeans.

Is it necessary?

Gulinazha had probably asked this question more than three hundred times; from the beginning of February until now, she really couldn't understand why he had to be so self-abusive, suffering for no reason.

Chen Nuo didn't know how to explain it either.

He couldn't exactly say that he had been on the wrong path from the start, and developing to this day, if he didn't do this, he would feel uneasy and not grounded when filming. If there were a reliable director, that would be one thing, for example, if it were changed to Nolan or Wang Jiawei, he could be more at ease.

But Peng Haoxiang...

One can only say that one cherishes one's own director.

There were two directors in the company, one was Ning Tudou from the mainland, and the other was Fatty Peng from Hong Kong; both were the type who could write and direct, and in their early years, both were known as geniuses in their respective territories.

But now, because of "The Message" and "No Man's Land," Ning Hao wore the title of the highest-grossing domestic film director and an internationally renowned director, which could be said to be infinitely glorious.

And Peng Haoxiang joined the company around the same time as Ning Hao, but whether in terms of fame or achievements, they were far apart. Including the support Huanxin had given him over the years, it could be said to be basically non-existent. The two films he shot were both investments he had to pull himself, and it was inevitable that there was a feeling that the bowl of water wasn't held level.

Come to think of it, it was all his fault.

Back then, when he poached him, it was actually mostly out of the purpose of revenge against Huayi, and from the bottom of his heart, he didn't attach much importance to him.

But in fact, when he calmed down and watched some of Peng Haoxiang's films, this person definitely had talent. It was hard to say where the upper limit was, but the lower limit was not inferior to Ning Tudou.

The burial in his previous life was perhaps mostly due to the decline of the Hong Kong film and television industry itself. There was also a small part of the reason that this person's perspective had never been opened up. A petty-bourgeois love film like "Love in a Puff" should have been fine as one movie, but he actually made a trilogy just to make quick money, which was completely stagnant and spinning in place. This led to the loss of most of the spiritual energy of his early directorial career, which was actually a great pity.

He passed through the alley and walked to the street side, where a black Toyota Alphard was parked.

As soon as he arrived, the car door slid open silently and smoothly to the side.

Gulinazha's smiling face appeared in front of him, "Boss, good morning."

As for living in public housing with a female assistant.

If Chen Nuo heard the rumors circulating privately in the crew now, he would definitely feel very wronged.

He came to live in a pigeon cage for work; dragging Gulinazha into it would be called having ulterior motives.

"Good morning."

Chen Nuo looked back; it was early in the morning, and as usual, there wasn't a ghost in sight on this street.

After getting in the car, Linghu started driving steadily.

Chen Nuo took out a script that had already been flipped until it was tattered from the seatback pocket of the front seat.

The journey from Sham Shui Po to the studio in San Po Kong was about 30 minutes, and he planned to take this time to review today's scenes.

After all, the filming of the past few days was just an appetizer; starting today, it was the main course.

Amidst the loud assembly singing, Chen Nuo suddenly opened his eyes.

The camera was right above him, giving his deep, double-lidded phoenix eyes a two-second close-up. From dazed to focused, and then to shock, Chen Nuo's expression changed instantly, and the monitor clearly recorded it all.

Subsequently, he sat up abruptly, looking at the military green blanket covering him and the sportswear he was wearing, which looked like what Hong Kong high school students wore for physical education class.

Chen Nuo widened his eyes and looked left and right. The place where he was now was a sub-studio built by the crew with a huge investment of millions.

This 500-square-meter space was arranged into a giant dormitory, with four-story iron bunk beds densely arranged in the warehouse. Some people here were still fast asleep, while others climbed out of bed and walked toward the outside of the warehouse in the direction of the singing.

Chen Nuo was stunned for a few seconds, then got out of bed and followed the others toward the front. Walking to the bed at the very edge, he looked at the small door emitting white light at the warehouse entrance, seeing the men, women, old, and young wearing the same green sportswear walk past one by one and disappear into that doorway.

Chen Nuo stopped in place and started blinking again.

At this moment, an elderly voice came from beside him: "50, 52, 54..."

He turned his head and saw Qin Pei, who had dyed his hair white, wearing the same clothes as him, with a serious face, holding up a finger and pointing at the door while whispering.

Chen Nuo's expression became somewhat soft, and a trace of memory appeared in his eyes. It was as if there was an elder like "Grandpa" in his own circle who was very kind to him, occasionally made small jokes, and even wanted to introduce him to a girlfriend, which was why he showed such an expression.

Introverted, he hesitated for a moment before taking the initiative to speak: "That... Grandpa."

"Don't talk to me, I'll get confused!" Qin Pei said nervously, "61, 63, 66..."

Chen Nuo's expression became even softer, and he asked: "Grandpa, are you counting how many people there are?"

Qin Pei didn't look back, continuing to focus on his task, and whispered: "Yeah, don't talk to me."

"But..." Chen Nuo spoke again.

"But what? Are you annoying?" Qin Pei appeared somewhat impatient.

Chen Nuo pointed to a monitor on the wall, on which it was clearly written: Number of participants: 456.

"But it's written over there that a total of 456 people are participating."

Qin Pei stretched his head from the bed to look outside, and after seeing the monitor, his expression stiffened, and he complained: "It's written so high, who can see it?" After finishing, he glanced at Chen Nuo and said: "Silly boy, your collar says number 456, what does that mean?"

Chen Nuo said: "This shows that I might be the last one to join the game. Grandpa, your collar says 001, I think you must be the first one to agree to join the game."

Qin Pei said with an incredulous face: "Hey, you say it so truly, do you know it all? Then is it possible that it's written randomly?"

Chen Nuo blinked his eyes.

At this moment, the camera gave his face a super-large close-up.

His eyes widened a bit, and under the lighting of the lighting technician, they seemed to be glowing. His whole face was also overflowing with a spirit completely different from the original dullness, as if he had changed into a different person, looking extraordinarily eye-catching.

He said: "It's possible, but, books say that usually a successful system will follow certain rules to arrange things. With such a big setup, getting to this point, it's impossible for everyone's number to be arranged randomly. Your bed is at the very front, my bed is at the very back, just corresponding to our number digits. Also, I only agreed to participate last night."

"So I think the possibility of using numbers to mark the time each person agreed to participate in the game for numbering is definitely much greater than it being written randomly."

Qin Pei shouted: "Wow, I ask one sentence and you say so much, silly boy, are you a college student?"

At this moment, Chen Nuo's face returned to how it was before, and he smiled foolishly: "No, Grandpa, I just finished primary school."

Qin Pei looked him up and down and asked: "Really or fake?"

Chen Nuo said: "Really, Grandpa."

"Silly boy, then tell me, should we go out and see?"

"This sound is telling us to go out and play the game. But..."

Qin Pei really portrayed a bad-tempered old man vividly; he was worthy of being an old veteran actor who could play both good and evil. Rolling his eyes, he said: "But what? Young and yet so wishy-washy, if you have something to say, just say it!"

Chen Nuo touched his head embarrassedly, "I'm a little scared."

Qin Pei was stunned for a moment, looking at Chen Nuo's appearance, his mouth twitched, and he suddenly shouted fiercely in a loud voice: "Scared of what? How can a man be scared? Silly boy, help me up!"

"Ah, okay Grandpa... Grandpa, what is this tattooed on your hand?"

"You little punk, you don't even recognize Guan Gong. When your Grandpa was young... Ouch, be gentle, my leg! Stop, stop for a second, carry me out on your back!"

When God closes a door for someone, he often opens a window for them. There is no need to question this; this is also the underlying rule of how this world operates.

If someone feels that their life is completely hopeless, there is a 99.9% chance it is an illusion. Likewise, if a person feels that they are omnipotent, that is also 99.9% an illusion.

Just as Caesar returned to Rome after conquering the world, there was also a slave who said to him: "Glory will always wither."

Conversely, can a former brain-damaged child really become a genius in some aspect?

You Naihai told Chen Nuo after reviewing seventeen medical documents that this was not impossible.

Among cerebral palsy patients worldwide, five percent possess extraordinary talent in certain specific fields, such as music, mathematics, art, or even calculation abilities; they are often able to attain perception and creativity that surpass those of ordinary people.

Xie Jiajun is deceived by women, by friends, and by the chef he works with; he has a physical disability, his fingers twitch unconsciously, and his way of blinking often appears strange... but he is actually a genius with high intelligence, strong perception, and a knack for logical reasoning.

This is the third attribute of Xie Jiajun in the script, beyond his kindness and silliness.

Just as Forrest Gump can run tirelessly, Xie Jiajun can also observe details that others easily overlook and make rigorous deductions.

And this is precisely the creative direction that one of the three screenwriters, You Naihai, excels at.

As a recognized eccentric talent in the Hong Kong screenwriting industry, this younger brother of Milkyway Image has loved writing intellectual battles since his debut; Hong Kong films like *The Mission*, *Cold War*, *Running Out of Time 1*, and *Running Out of Time 2* were all written brilliantly, and he even won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Screenplay for *Running Out of Time*.

Therefore, it is not at all strange to those who know him that he came up with such a protagonist this time.

This setting also makes *Eagle Catches Chicken* increasingly different from the original version.

The protagonist Seong Gi-hun in the original *Squid Game* was just a fool; he was only able to clear the levels and survive to the end by relying on luck and the help of others, such as the elderly player No. 001, who was his strategist in the original version.

Such a protagonist really cannot be said to have any charm at all.