Chapter 12: Life Is a Play, All Depends on Acting

"Sorry, I need to take a call." Qi Hui cut off Zhang Jian's words, turned around, and answered the phone.

Zhang Jian frowned, displeasure rising in his heart.

This kid didn't seem to put him in his eyes at all.

"Hello, Brother?" Qi Hui chuckled and said warmly.

Ling Xiaosu's bright, clear voice came through the receiver: "Brother, I've got a supporting role here. Do you want to take it?"

"It won't take up too much of your time."

As the former male lead, Ling Xiaosu knew the shoot start date of the *Temptation to Go Home* crew very well.

Qi Hui had over three months of free time!

"Uh…" Qi Hui paused, his eyes flickered, and he asked: "What kind of role? I'm afraid I might not play it well…"

"You're overthinking it." Ling Xiaosu laughed heartily: "It's a supporting role, the billing isn't even in the top five males, and the screen time doesn't crack the top ten, so I don't want to play it."

"It's a spy drama. You're playing a Zhongtun agent, an information broker — not hard to act."

Hearing this, Qi Hui raised an eyebrow. Spy drama, Zhongtun agent, information broker — could it be…

"Which drama is it?"

"*Lurk*." Ling Xiaosu laughed: "Your sister-in-law's in it too, playing the female lead."

Qi Hui suddenly understood — it really was Xie Ruolin.

"Alright, Brother, I'll take this role." Qi Hui agreed on the spot.

Xie Ruolin, the little prince of golden lines.

Apart from Station Chief Wu of Tianjin Station, the king of golden lines, no one could outdo Xie Ruolin.

The only pity was that Xie Ruolin and Station Chief Wu had no scenes together; otherwise… probably even Family Man and Optimus Prime wouldn't have as many slick lines as these two.

Of course, it was the characters being slick, not him, Qi, being slick.

"Haha, I'll come pick you up in a bit. Where are you?" Ling Xiaosu laughed. The director of the *Lurk* crew had been pestering him relentlessly, constantly trying to get him to play this role.

He wasn't interested — little money, much hassle — and it had been driving him up the wall.

With Qi Hui taking over, he could finally push it off at last.

Qi Hui said: "The *Snow Leopard* crew. I'll wait for you at the gate in a bit."

"Oh… alright, see you later."

Hanging up the phone, Qi Hui looked at Zhang Jian and said with a smile: "Heh, Uncle Zhang, no need to trouble you with the recommendation. A senior brother of mine just happened to give me a supporting role."

"I appreciate your kind intentions."

Hearing this, Zhang Jian froze, then a surge of shame and annoyance rose in his heart.

He was rushing to offer it up, and the guy didn't even want it?

Immediately, the shame and annoyance turned to anger.

He had never been a good-tempered man, and he wanted nothing more than to open his mouth and curse on the spot.

But he simply couldn't do that.

He was the one in the wrong to begin with, and now so many people were watching.

Zhang Jian took a deep breath, and his fury turned into a chest full of pent-up frustration.

He couldn't swallow it down, couldn't spit it out — utterly miserable.

Nearby, Du Yuming and Chen Haowei exchanged a glance, then huddled together and quickly stuffed a red envelope.

They had to do something.

"Uncle Zhang, two directors, I'm heading out." Qi Hui waved and turned to leave.

"Hey, don't rush off." Du Yuming hurried after him: "I haven't paid you yet."

Saying so, he pulled out a bulging red envelope and tried to stuff it into Qi Hui.

"Hey, no no no, I'm just making a cameo as an extra, there's no need to talk about pay." Qi Hui kept backing away, calling out loudly — but his hand shot out and, very naturally, scooped the red envelope over.

After so many social engagements in his past life, Qi Hui was more than familiar with this routine.

"You kid — you don't want the role, you don't want the money, what do you want…" Du Yuming glared, his fierce expression paired with the glare making him look rather intimidating.

But before the words were even finished, his hand felt empty — the red envelope had already been pocketed by Qi Hui.

Du Yuming: "…"

Such practiced moves… luckily this kid doesn't work in a government office, or he'd definitely be a big-time corrupt official.

"Director Du, stay, stay — no need to see me off." Qi Hui kept saying: "Goodbye, Director Chen. Goodbye, Uncle Zhang."

With that, he headed outside.

"Brother, wait for me, I'll come with you and have a look." Zhang Ruoyun jogged after Qi Hui.

He had no scenes these few days, so he could do as he pleased.

Besides, his old man's whole string of moves today had left him feeling very uncomfortable.

Today he realized that his own father didn't seem as perfect as he'd imagined.

Going out to clear his head would be just the thing.

……

"Brother, I'm sorry." The honest kid Zhang Ruoyun apologized in a small voice.

Qi Hui opened the red envelope; a thick stack of red banknotes gave off a beguiling smell of ink: "Sorry about what?"

This red envelope was roughly ten thousand.

At the *Snow Leopard* crew, he'd worked less than an hour in total.

Ten thousand an hour — what was there to be sorry about?

He had to admit, the two directors were truly generous.

"Uh..." Zhang Ruoyun stared at the brand-new stack of banknotes and fell silent immediately.

Money was still very valuable back then; male leads in web novels showed off in increments of hundreds of thousands, far from the measurement units of "one Bing, one Shuang, one Weiya."

"You're just overthinking it," Qi Hui comforted him. "It's all work; Uncle Zhang didn't do anything wrong."

This statement was a lie meant for children; if not for Zhang Ruoyun's sake, Qi Hui would have already secretly stirred up trouble.

He now understood gunpowder; with a little tampering, it would be enough to give the producer Zhang Jian a hard time.

"Alright." Zhang Ruoyun nodded, putting aside the grudge in his heart.

While the two were talking, a black BMW M5 sedan drove up and stopped in front of Qi Hui and Zhang Ruoyun.

The window rolled down, revealing Ling Xiaosu's face behind sunglasses.

Immediately, the aura of wealth washed over them.

Qi Hui twitched his eyelids, wondering if his entire savings combined could even buy one wheel of this BMW.

Zhang Ruoyun wore an envious expression; although he acted in his own father's productions and was paid according to market rates,

in reality, he only took half, and the other half naturally went to his own father.

So, don't be fooled by him being a second-generation rich kid; in reality, he wasn't that wealthy.

Unfortunately, Little Zhang didn't know that his father was a son-scamming piece of trash.

"Little Zhang is here too," Ling Xiaosu said with a smile.

Zhang Ruoyun scratched his head: "Nothing much going on lately, so I'm coming along with you guys to have some fun."

"Get in the car," Ling Xiaosu waved his hand and said with a smile.

The shocked gazes of the two junior brothers just now satisfied him greatly; if one didn't return home in glory, wasn't that like wearing brocade clothes at night?

Pity the school didn't allow it, or he would have wanted to drive the car right into the Beijing Film Academy campus for a stroll.

This was a luxury car he had earned with his own hands!

The two got into the car, and Ling Xiaosu floored the accelerator, taking Qi Hui and the other person toward the set of "The Disguiser."

Qi Hui watched the scenery receding outside the window, paused, and asked, "Senior brother, why didn't you play the role of Xie Ruolin?"

"Too few scenes, too many things to do," Ling Xiaosu shrugged and said. "Besides, the character wasn't that outstanding anyway."

Qi Hui: "..."

Xie Ruolin isn't outstanding... Your taste is a bit lacking.

No wonder you didn't make a move later.

Qi Hui thought for a moment and abandoned the idea of persuading Ling Xiaosu again.

It was clear that Old Ling was dead set on not acting; saying more was useless.

Qi Hui immediately changed the subject: "Hasn't this drama finished filming yet?"

He remembered "The Disguiser" came out relatively early.

"Almost done," Ling Xiaosu said. "Hmm... right now it should be considered the late stage of filming."

"Is 'The Disguiser' an anti-Japanese war drama?" Zhang Ruoyun asked.

Ling Xiaosu: "It's a spy thriller; it has anti-Japanese war segments."

"The lead actors are Sun Honglei and your sister-in-law."

Qi Hui stroked his chin; he seemed to recall something very outrageous happening during "The Disguiser."

A real-life spy was hiding within the "The Disguiser" production crew.

That person was a wanted fugitive who had been on the run for over ten years.

After "The Disguiser" aired and became a huge hit, he was recognized.

Later, that person was caught and brought to justice, and even recited a doggerel on a legal affairs program:

Life is like a play, all depends on acting skills, but there is one rule: obey the law and discipline.

Don't say it, that's actually damn rhyming.