Chapter 21: Old Classmate, Long Time No See

Sometimes, stealing the spotlight isn't difficult; he has spent enough time on film sets to see plenty of instances where someone overshadows the lead or usurps the host's role.

What is difficult is having the ability to steal the spotlight, yet still fulfilling one's duty.

Sun Honglei rubbed his nose; he always felt this kid didn't seem like a young man who had just stepped out of school.

Now, even Sun Honglei would have to remember his good deeds...

On the set, filming continued.

Qi Hui and Sun Honglei delivered their lines, clashing and probing each other both openly and covertly.

Mu Wanqiu, played by Zhu Jie, chimed in from time to time, secretly undermining her "husband" Xie Ruolin.

In this scene, Zhu Jie, the supporting actress, had some lines, while Yao Chen, the female lead, remained silent the entire time without a single word.

She could only eat her dumplings in silence.

"Mr. Xie, why are you so certain that I am from the Secret Service?" Yu Zecheng asked with a hint of innocence on his face, laughing softly.

Xie Ruolin, played by Qi Hui, still maintained an air of having everything under control, stuttering as he said: "This house... used to be lived in by a Japanese teacher. After the liberation, the Military Statistics Bureau was... was quick, so... Mr. Yu?"

"We live here too." Mu Wanqiu blinked her large eyes, her crisp, melodic voice interrupting Xie Ruolin: "Are we also from the Secret Service?"

"See, what your wife said is exactly what I..." Yu Zecheng let out a sigh of relief; the feeling of being suppressed the whole time was not pleasant, and he could finally breathe a little easier.

"Cut!" A voice calling for a stop rang out from not far away.

Sun Honglei’s lines, which he was halfway through, came to an abrupt halt.

"Huh?" He looked a bit dazed: "Did I mess up again?"

"Zhu Jie," Director Jiang called out: "You need to act out that slight sense of disgust, not like a young couple or newlyweds flirting with each other."

Zhu Jie’s face flushed, and she hurried over to Director Jiang’s side.

Jiang Wei played back the scene they had just filmed, letting her watch it for herself.

At this, even the tips of Zhu Jie’s ears turned red.

In the playback, her eyes were darting around, especially since she couldn't control her blinking, making it look like she was batting her eyelashes.

"Director, I’ll make an adjustment," Zhu Jie said, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

"I’ll give you 5 minutes," Director Jiang said: "If you really don't understand, go ask Yao Chen. She acts it well, especially that subtle, lingering sense of disgust toward Xie Ruolin."

Hearing this, Zhu Jie was slightly stunned; in fact... she always felt that Yao Chen wasn't acting.

However, she didn't ask Yao Chen. Zhu Jie was from the 2001 class of the Shanghai Theatre Academy and was quite capable herself; once she knew where the problem lay, it was easy for her to correct it.

The subsequent filming became very relaxed. Zhu Jie and Yao Chen exited, leaving only the confrontation between Qi Hui and Sun Honglei.

"You m... might not know, but Ji Weimin of our Party Affairs Bureau has fled with a large sum of money..."

"But, even if you catch him, you can't pocket his assets."

"Our Party Affairs Bureau has a h... high reward from above, just to prevent it from f... falling into the hands of your Secret Service."

"So that's how it is."

"That's why, brother, as l... long as you can find him, leave the rest to m... me to handle."

"Brother, I don't mean to be rude," Yu Zecheng refused again: "I get nervous holding that kind of money."

"Why are you nervous about this?" Xie Ruolin was both helpless and dissatisfied: "Look at those people now; their mouths are full of principles, but their hearts are all... business!"

"..."

"Very good, cut." After the scene finished, Director Jiang shouted from afar: "Prepare for the next one."

As the sun set in the west, the day's filming quickly drew to a close.

Qi Hui prepared to return to his rented apartment, but he didn't have a car, so he found the production manager to see if he could catch a ride.

However, he was informed by the production manager that the crew had already booked a room for him at the hotel.

Hearing this, Qi Hui was a bit surprised, but he still found a car to go back to his rented apartment.

What else could he do? He hadn't brought his daily necessities.

At night, led by the production manager, Qi Hui checked into the hotel room.

It was a standard room, not comparable to the luxury suites of the leads, but Qi Hui didn't mind.

Back when he worked in construction, he had lived in shipping containers, and with several people sharing one at that.

Sweat, athlete's foot, the smell of smoke... compared to that environment, the hotel was already as good as it could get.

After showering and eating, Qi Hui opened his laptop.

As soon as he logged on, he saw many discussions and news reports about himself, like Hiroshima at 8:15 on August 6, 1945.

"Tsk tsk... ten years from now, I’d at least be doing a livestream to sell products," Qi Hui laughed with a tsking sound.

Clicking on Weibo, Qi Hui was surprised to find that his follower count had reached five digits.

Although it wasn't much, considering there wasn't even a mobile Weibo client yet, the significance was clear.

After thinking for a moment, Qi Hui posted a photo of himself wearing a blue Zhongshan suit.

Soon, people began to comment.

"Came here by reputation."

"Me too."

"Damn, this outfit is so handsome!"

"Indeed, it makes me want to get one to try on."

"Isn't this much better than a suit?"

"A suit? That's just for bartenders or salespeople."

"To the person above, the Zhongshan suit is formal wear; you can't just wear it casually."

"Came here by reputation."

"What formal wear? It's just a knockoff copied from Japanese student uniforms."

"Oh, right, right, right. Only your Japanese student uniforms aren't copies, they were adapted from kimonos."

"Not just that, it was also copied from Japan."

"Hahaha, hilarious."

"23333..."

"Damn it, who are you cursing?"

"Oh my, someone's getting anxious!"

"..."

Qi Hui looked at the comments, speechless. As expected of the silly netizens, they were either keyboard politicking or on their way to keyboard politicking.

Beep beep beep~

At this moment, the QQ notification sound suddenly rang out.

Qi Hui looked at the bottom right corner and found a friend request popping up: [Old classmate, long time no see.]

Looking closely, he discovered it was actually Yang Mi, added through the class group.

Qi Hui raised an eyebrow. In his memory, Yang Mi had been quite aloof at school.

Hunan Province

In a hotel room, Yang Mi was lying on the bed, her two fair feet swinging back and forth.

Jade feet... not quite jade.

Yang Mi had smelly feet.

Of course, it was mainly her self-deprecating humor that drew so much attention.

Even years later, when she got married, Yang Mi didn't forget to poke fun at herself.

However, it wasn't entirely self-deprecation.

When filming "Chinese Paladin 3," staff members had revealed that the shoes Yang Mi wore were particularly smelly.

"Why hasn't he accepted it yet?" Yang Mi muttered, looking at the computer screen.

She rarely added classmates on QQ; usually, it was the classmates adding her.

Especially after "Chinese Paladin 3" became a massive hit, everyone in the class had added her QQ, except for Qi Hui.

Yang Mi felt a bit depressed. Currently, Qi Hui’s popularity and level of discussion on the internet could rival Nagasaki at 11:02 on August 9, 1945, which had caused the discussion around "Chinese Paladin 3" to be less intense than before.

And that was despite Qi Hui not having a single show out yet.

At this moment, the interface on the screen moved; the friend request had been accepted.

Yang Mi’s eyes lit up. The entertainment industry isn't just about fighting and killing; it's about human relationships and social graces.

She needed to start building connections and getting closer to him.

On the other side, Qi Hui looked at the chat interface on the screen, rubbed his chin, and a mischievous smile appeared in his eyes.

His fingers tapped, and a line of text was sent over.

"Hello, Teacher Yang, I'm Qi Hui, your fan."

Yang Mi: "..."

Looking at the line of text that appeared on the screen, she fell silent.

Yang Mi had just been reminiscing and pondering about university life.

But... the many memories of university life that she had been brewing and conceiving in her mind seemed to have become a bit inappropriate.

For a moment, she didn't know how to reply to this message.

"Ah... is this jerk a conversation killer?" Yang Mi exclaimed in frustration.

The current Yang Mi is still quite green, not yet having reached the high level she would later attain.

————

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