Chapter 21: Old Classmate, Long Time No See

Sometimes, stealing the spotlight isn't hard; upstaging the host and turning the guest into the master—having spent so much time on film sets, he had seen plenty of such things.

The hard part is having the ability to steal the spotlight yet still doing one's duty.

Teacher Zu Feng rubbed his nose; he always felt this young man didn't seem like someone who had just graduated from school.

Now even Sun Honglei would remember his kindness...

On the set, filming continued.

Beside Qi Hui Hui and Sun Honglei exchanged lines, clashing openly and covertly, probing each other.

Zhu Jie, playing Mu Wanqiu, occasionally interjected, subtly undermining her "husband" Xie Ruolin.

For this scene, the supporting actress Zhu Jie had some lines, while the lead actress Yao Chen remained silent throughout, not a single word.

She could only silently eat dumplings.

"How did Mr. Xie decide I'm from the Bureau of Investigation?" Yu Zecheng's face wore an air of innocence as he chuckled.

Xie Ruolin, played by Beside Qi Hui Hui, still looked as if he had everything under control, stammering: "This house... was previously occupied by a Japanese teacher. After the liberation, the Kuomintang Intelligence Bureau moved in quickly, so... Mr. Yu?"

"We live here too." Mu Wanqiu blinked her large eyes, her clear and melodious voice cutting off Xie Ruolin: "Are we from the Bureau of Investigation too?"

"You see, what your wife says is exactly my..." Yu Zecheng breathed a sigh of relief; being suppressed the whole time was unpleasant, and he could finally relax a bit.

"Cut!" From not far away, the voice calling for a stop rang out.

Sun Honglei's line, spoken halfway, came to an abrupt halt.

"Ah?" He was somewhat dazed: "Did I make a mistake again?"

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

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

Director Jiang directly played back the previous scene for her to watch carefully herself.

Now, even Zhu Jie's ears turned red.

In the playback, her eyes darted about, and especially, she couldn't help but blink, as if casting a coquettish glance.

"Director, let me adjust," Zhu Jie said somewhat awkwardly.

"I'll give you five minutes," Director Jiang said: "If you really don't understand, go ask Yao Chen; she acts it well, especially that vague sense of disgust toward Xie Ruolin."

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

However, she didn't ask Yao Chen; Zhu Jie was from the 2001 class of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, was not lacking in ability herself, and once she knew the problem, correcting it was easy.

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

"You may... may not know, Ji Weimin of our Party Communications Bureau fled with a huge sum of money..."

"But even if we catch him, we cannot embezzle his assets."

"Our Party Communications Bureau has a high... high reward from above, precisely to prevent... prevent it from falling into your Bureau of Investigation's hands."

"So that's how it is."

"So, brother, as long as... as long as you can find him, leave the rest to... to me to handle."

"Younger brother, don't be embarrassed by my words." Yu Zecheng refused again: "I feel uneasy taking such money."

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

"..."

"Very good, cut." After the scene ended, Director Jiang shouted from a distance: "Prepare for the next scene."

The golden sun set in the west; the day's filming quickly neared its end.

Beside Qi Hui Hui prepared to return to his rental apartment, but since he had no car, he found the unit manager to see if he could get a ride.

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

Hearing this, Beside Qi Hui Hui was somewhat surprised, but he still found a car to return to his rental apartment.

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

At night, under the unit manager's guidance, Beside Qi Hui Hui moved into the hotel room.

It was a standard double room, not comparable to the luxury suites for the lead actors, but Beside Qi Hui Hui didn't mind.

In the past, when he was working in construction, he had lived in shipping containers, and several people shared one.

Sweat odor, athlete's foot smell, cigarette smoke... compared to that environment, the hotel couldn't be better.

After showering and eating, Beside Qi Hui Hui opened his laptop.

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

"Tsk tsk... if this were ten years later, there'd surely be a live-streamed sales pitch," Beside Qi Hui Hui chuckled with a "tsk tsk" sound.

Opening Weibo, Beside Qi Hui Hui was somewhat surprised to find his follower count had reached five digits.

Although not many, given that even the Weibo mobile client didn't exist yet, the value was evident.

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

Soon, people began commenting.

"Came here because of your fame."

"Me too."

"Holy crap, that outfit is so cool!"

"Indeed; watching it makes me want to get one and try it on."

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

"Western suit? Just a bartender or a salesman."

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

"Came here because of your fame."

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

"Ah, right, right, right. Your Japanese student uniform isn't copied; it was modified from a kimono."

"Not only that, he copied it from Japan too."

"Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter."

"23333..."

"Damn it, who are you insulting?"

"Oh my, he's getting angry, he's getting angry!"

"..."

Beside Qi Hui Hui looked at the comments, somewhat speechless. As expected of internet trolls; they are either engaging in keyboard politics or on their way to do so.

Beep beep beep~

At this moment, QQ's notification sound suddenly rang out.

Beside Qi Hui Hui glanced at the bottom right corner and saw a friend request pop up: 【Old classmate, long time no see】

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

Beside Qi Hui Hui raised an eyebrow slightly. In his memory, Yang Mi was quite aloof at school.

Hunan Province

In a hotel room, Yang Mi lay on her bed, her two Bai Xi feet swinging back and forth.

Jade feet... not a single bit of jade.

Yang Mi's feet stink.

Of course, this mainly drew such huge attention because she roasted herself.

Even at her wedding a few years later, Yang Mi didn't forget to roast herself.

However, it wasn't entirely self-roasting.

When filming "Chinese Paladin 3", staff members revealed that the shoes Yang Mi wore smelled particularly bad.

"Why hasn't he agreed yet?" Yang Mi muttered while looking at the computer screen.

She rarely added classmates on QQ; usually, classmates added her.

Especially after "Chinese Paladin 3" exploded in popularity, everyone in the class added her QQ, except for Beside Qi Hui Hui.

Yang Mi felt somewhat depressed. Now, Beside Qi Hui Hui's online heat and discussion volume could rival Nagasaki at 11:02 on August 9, 1945, causing the discussion volume for "Chinese Paladin 3" to be not as high as before.

Beside Qi Hui Hui hadn't even acted in a single drama.

At this moment, the interface on the screen shifted; the friend request was accepted.

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

She needed to start building connections and drawing closer.

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

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

"Hello, Teacher Yang. I am Beside Qi Hui Hui, your fan."

Yang Mi: "..."

Looking at this line of text appearing on the screen, she fell silent.

Yang Mi had been recalling and pondering university matters just now.

But... the many memories of her university days brewing and taking shape in her mind suddenly seemed somewhat inappropriate.

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

"Ah... is this bastard a conversation killer?" Yang Mi went crazy.

The current Yang Mi was still quite innocent, not as high-level as she would be later.

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