Chapter 40: *Lurk* Begins Airing (Seeking Favorites and Recommendations)

"Holy crap, that's awesome!"

"Wow, Oppa is so amazing!"

Xin Zi and Choo Ja-hyun widened their eyes, exclaiming subconsciously.

Zheng Yitong, on the other hand, scratched her head a bit; that move just now felt familiar, like the "Facing Palm" from the Taiji routine.

She was from Hebei Province, hailing from Handan, the hometown of Taiji.

The Handan from the idiom "the Handan walk."

Yang Luchan and Wu Yuxiang were both locals and had both taught boxing there.

Yang-style Taiji, Wu-style Taiji, and Zhaobao Taiji all originated there.

The *Taiji Master* starring Wu Jing was the story of Yang Luchan.

*Legend of Guangfu Taiji* starring Huang Shengyi and Yang Zi was also the story of Yang-style Taiji.

In that city, if you threw a brick, nine out of ten people could pull off a couple of Taiji moves.

The one who couldn't was probably a college student from out of town.

She could do it too, and she knew several types of Taiji, but only the routines that looked like broadcast calisthenics.

She didn't understand any force-generating techniques or combat skills at all, and she hadn't even learned the standard practice of pushing hands.

During her arts exam, when showing her form, everyone else did dance, but she did Taiji.

Qi Hui's move looked familiar to her; it was similar to her own half-baked style, and his movements weren't even as standard as hers.

But... why was the speed so fast and the power so great?

He clearly looked very thin... Zheng Yitong muttered to herself.

"Cut!" Director Lin jumped up abruptly and, together with the executive director, hurriedly helped Lei Jiayin stand up.

"Are you alright?" the two directors asked repeatedly.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Before Lei Jiayin could speak, Qi Hui spoke up.

Being knocked down all at once was entirely because Lei Jiayin's center of gravity had been unstable; his own punching motion had been too wide.

Of course, it could also be because his head was too big.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Lei Jiayin said repeatedly while patting his body to confirm he wasn't injured.

He was trying to prove he wasn't weak, trying to prove that just now was only an accident.

Seeing that he was indeed fine, Director Lin and the executive director finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If an accident had really happened, the filming would inevitably have been affected, and that would have been another round of trouble.

Thinking of this, Director Lin glared at Qi Hui.

Qi Hui spread his hands; it wasn't the trouble he had caused.

Director Lin felt a bit of a toothache; he knew, of course, that he couldn't blame Qi Hui—that moment just now was Lei Jiayin's fault.

But since Lei Jiayin had been smacked with a big slap, he couldn't very well scold him further, and after thinking about it, he just couldn't find a place to vent.

His gaze shifted, landing on the executive director.

Executive Director: "..."

Holy crap! What does this have to do with me?

"Alright, wrap it up. I've got things to do today, no more filming." Director Lin called out unhappily: "Assistant director, take the extras out."

"Props team, clean up."

"Leads, don't leave yet, stay behind."

"You, go book a private room at a restaurant. Something nice, something big, but don't spend too much money." Director Lin pointed at the executive director and ordered.

"Ah...?" The executive director looked bitter; weren't these requirements too contradictory?

"Is there a problem?" Director Lin glared.

"No..."

"Then why aren't you going?"

"Yes!" The executive director ran off, huffing and puffing.

This task should have gone to the production manager, not him, but... whatever, who told him to be the director?

When I get promoted, I'll do the same thing!

The executive director gritted his teeth in frustration.

Soon, the set was cleaned up, and the leads gathered together.

"Don't rush off, we're having a get-together later." Director Lin said straight to the point: "The second female lead and third male lead are joining the crew tonight, we're holding a welcome dinner for them."

"I've already had someone go book a place."

"Ah...!" Zheng Yitong and Xin Zi looked at each other, their eyes showing delight; there was a big meal to eat tonight!

Choo Ja-hyun was even more excited; she wanted to eat fish and meat!

No one present probably knew what she ate in South Korea: salted vegetables, kimchi, spicy salted vegetables, spicy kimchi...

Having pork belly with rice could be considered a state banquet.

She missed her home country, sure, but if you asked her to go back, she absolutely wouldn't!

Eating fruit over there was expensive as hell!

The middle-aged actors playing the fathers and mothers smiled, also feeling a bit expectant.

A day off and a big meal—who wouldn't look forward to that?

"Sss... Director, you didn't set up a welcome banquet when I arrived." Qi Hui glanced at Director Lin and teased.

He, the male lead, had no status at all.

"Isn't it set up now?" Director Lin said irritably: "A welcome banquet for all of you together, just a few days late."

Qi Hui shrugged: "Alright, alright, I'll follow your arrangements."

Beside them, Lei Jiayin kept his head down, silent, trying his best to be invisible.

It was a bit embarrassing; he didn't want to talk.

"Alright, go wander around." Director Lin checked his watch: "Come back in an hour, we're heading to the restaurant."

With the order given, everyone dispersed.

Qi Hui found a sofa to sit on and checked his phone, but saw no new messages from Jing Tian.

However, the QQ group was quite lively.

The *Lurk* QQ group.

This was built by Station Master Wu... ah no, by Mr. Feng Enhe.

He often stole vegetables on QQ Space, so he pulled everyone into a group to make it easier for him to add people and steal vegetables.

Director Jiang didn't understand these young people's things at first, but he thought it was pretty good, so he registered for QQ under Mr. Feng Enhe's guidance.

Later... later, the two of them began happily stealing vegetables.

Qi Hui rarely looked at this group because the topic was basically just stealing vegetables.

Qi Hui had long since passed the age for stealing vegetables.

However, today's topic was a bit different: *Lurk* had started airing.

Qi Hui looked around the coffee table, found the remote to turn on the TV, and found *Lurk* currently playing.

The first episode of *Lurk* was the heart-pounding plot where Yu Zecheng almost gets exposed while covering for Zuo Lan, followed by his superior taking him to the puppet government's capital to carry out an assassination mission to protect him.

Xie Ruolin, played by Qi Hui, wouldn't officially appear until around the fourteenth or fifteenth episode.

Even his first on-screen appearance was when Yu Zecheng and Mu Wanqiu were having dinner together.

He only had one line: [Qiu, who is this gentleman?]

However, Mu Wanqiu didn't pay much attention to Xie Ruolin.

Hearing the TV, the actors immediately gathered around.

In this day and age, mobile phones weren't fun, and computers had no internet without a cable, so the best form of entertainment was still watching TV.

"Huh?" Director Lin looked at the TV screen in surprise and asked Qi Hui: "Is this the show you acted in?"

"Yeah... cough, right, right." Qi Hui nodded repeatedly, influenced by Jing Tian's verbal tic.

Hearing Director Lin's words, several people among the group cast slightly surprised looks at Qi Hui.

Sometimes a show is filmed but might not necessarily air, like Fan Bingbing's *Win the World*.

Qi Hui was so lucky that the first show he filmed could actually air?

Everyone couldn't help but be curious, curious about what this "lurking" *Lurk* was about.

Soon, everyone was attracted by the thrilling plot of *Lurk*.

The heart-pounding nature of the covert front, the scheming between numerous characters, and the suspenseful moments when the protagonist Yu Zecheng is discovered by his superiors for leaking information.

Although there were no big scenes, it was incredibly engaging.

Director Lin rubbed his nose; he was attracted too.

To be honest, the director's skill in this show was very strong; from his own ability, he couldn't find any faults.

"Huh? Isn't that Liu Huaqiang?" Zheng Yitong said in surprise; it wasn't until halfway through that she realized.

She was from Hebei Province, and the story of Liu Huaqiang, including the prototype for Liu Huaqiang, had all taken place in Hebei.

Never mind a few years ago, even now... cough cough, never mind, let's not talk about that, I won't add to the negative image of my hometown.

"It really seems to be him," Xin Zi said in surprise.

"I almost didn't recognize him with glasses on."

"Qi Hui, how come I don't see you?" Director Lin asked, deliberately picking at a scab.

Qi Hui darkened his face: "I am a supporting character; I only appear in the second half of the TV series."

Is this old man doing this on purpose?

"If you're in a hurry, you can look at the closing credits," Qi Hui said irritably.

Before the words had even faded, the closing credits appeared.

Qi Hui was listed among them, ranked 9th, and 5th among the male actors.

"Alright, time is up," Director Lin looked at his watch: "Let's go, head to the restaurant."

"To welcome our second female lead and third male lead."