After Uncle Li finished setting up the props, Xiao He officially began filming.
Initially, everyone was worried that Xiao He wouldn't adapt well to the camera or match the performances of the other two actors. But from start to finish, Xiao He remained steady and completely immersed in his role.
The character he portrayed, "Zhu Third Brother," was vicious and sinister. The way he chopped pork leg bones looked exactly like he was dismembering human bones - it was as if the real murderer had been resurrected, sending chills down everyone's spines.
In contrast, Liu Zehang, who played Second Brother, messed up several takes due to being affected by Xiao He's presence and was severely scolded by Hou Rongxuan.
Now no one dared treat Xiao He as just an ordinary amateur actor anymore.
It was reasonable to suspect - this guy might be a real murderer!
The next day, Xiao He moved to another location to film the school bullying scenes.
To Xiao He's surprise, the actress playing the victim "Wu Xiaohua" was none other than Li Hanyue, who had been talking with Uncle Li yesterday.
Now dressed in tattered school uniform with a deathly pale face, Li Hanyue truly looked like a pitiful white flower that had suffered abuse, evoking involuntary sympathy.
In the plot, the character she played, "Wu Xiaohua," indeed had a tragic fate - not only enduring severe school bullying but also being dragged by Third Brother to a secluded corner of campus and raped, before ultimately being chopped up and fed to pigs.
What concerned Xiao He more was that Uncle Li seemed to treat her differently.
Did she have some secret?
Holding these suspicions, Xiao He initiated conversation with her.
Li Hanyue turned out to be very talkative and cheerful. Through their chat, Xiao He learned she was the same age as him, also a senior majoring in acting at Shanghai Theater Academy, specially recruited by Director Hou for this important role.
Xiao He couldn't detect anything unusual from her words.Which was strange...
"Xiao He, Li Hanyue, get ready!"
Hou Rongxuan called while gesturing for unrelated personnel to leave the set.
Seeing the suddenly emptied location, Xiao He who previously lacked real sense of the situation suddenly remembered the upcoming scene and felt tremendous pressure.
Oh no, now he really had to play a "beast."
But he had no idea how!
Xiao He started panicking.
He had a premonition that Director Hou would be furious with him today.
Sure enough, Xiao He kept messing up takes all morning.
"Cut cut cut! What the hell are you doing Xiao He? You're supposed to drag her into the woods! Not drag her to bury a corpse - what's with that look in your eyes?"
"Cut! Expression! Where's your expression? Who are you trying to kill with that face?"
"Stop! Are you filming a dismemberment scene?!"
After yelling several times, Hou Rongxuan felt his blood pressure rising and called for a break. While smoking, he gestured for Xiao He to come over.Knowing he was at fault, Xiao He hung his head and approached: "Sorry, Director Hou."
Exhaling smoke with a complicated expression, Hou stared at Xiao He for a long time before finally sighing: "It's alright. I was too impatient. Seeing how well you usually perform, I didn't think to provide psychological preparation beforehand. That's on me."
Though playing the victim, Li Hanyue had professional training and mental preparation. Plus seeing Xiao He more nervous than her actually calmed her down. She comforted Xiao He with a smile: "It's okay. For someone with zero experience, you're already doing great."
Xiao He didn't expect to be comforted by the "victim." Blushing, he wished he could disappear into the ground.
Hou Rongxuan didn't think Xiao He was being overly sensitive either. Taking another puff, he said: "This scene focuses entirely on the 'Third Brother' character. Your current state isn't meeting the standard."
Xiao He could only apologize again: "Sorry, Director."
Hou sighed deeply: "Sometimes I really wonder if you've actually killed people before."
Desire? Sorry, none of that - just overwhelming urges to stab people.
Xiao He: "..."
"Forget it, let's take a break. I'll figure something out." Hou waved helplessly.
Xiao He also sighed in relief.
In the following days, Xiao He continued filming slaughterhouse scenes with the crew.
To Hou's satisfaction, Xiao He performed excellently in other scenes, nailing the required cold-blooded cruelty in single takes without needing direction.Xiao He was pleased too. The Third Brother character basically committed atrocities daily - bullying schoolmates, threatening competitors of the family slaughterhouse, peeping, robbing the weak... Though these were fragmented scenes that might not make final cut, they still counted as various criminal acts that earned points.
Only director-approved performances counted for points - repeated takes didn't. But Xiao He still earned small amounts daily, making life increasingly "judicial."
Due to his outstanding performance, actors who worked with him often showed friendliness. Li Hanyue even lent him her acting notes from college, while Liu Zehang, driven mad by retakes, privately asked Xiao He how to project killing intent.
Xiao He who passively emitted killing intent: "Uh... if I say it's natural talent, would you believe me?"
Liu Zehang's face showed clear disbelief: "Heh, what do you think?"
Xiao He shrugged: "Then I can't help you."
He really couldn't teach this!
During filming, Xiao He also secretly observed the man named Li Zhicheng.
The guy was seriously suspicious!
Normally diligent as an ox, working hard with a smiling nice-guy attitude toward everyone. But Xiao He noticed Li Zhicheng showed particular enthusiasm only toward Li Hanyue.
He'd chat longer when bringing her water, watch her film during breaks. But if there was a problem, even Li Hanyue herself didn't notice.
Probably only Xiao He persistently observed Li Zhicheng's movements. Others were too busy with their own work to care about an ordinary crew member.
Without his passive skill's prompt, Xiao He wouldn't have monitored Li Zhicheng either.But the question remained - how to expose this without implicating himself?
"Ms.Li, your package arrived at the gate. I happened to see it and brought it over—"
Li Zhicheng placed Li Hanyue's package on the table.
Li Hanyue looked surprised, then awkwardly thanked him: "Oh no, I forgot to change the address when ordering—thank you, Uncle Li."
As Li Zhicheng looked at Li Hanyue and seemed about to say something, Xiao He immediately rolled his chair over: "Ms. Li, help me check how to perform this next scene—"
"Eh? Okay—"
Their conversation instantly cut off Li Zhicheng's intended words.
Then Xiao He deliberately glanced up at Li Zhicheng: "Uncle Li, anything else?"
Li Zhicheng stared coldly at Xiao He, hands unconsciously clenching, before forcing a smile, shaking his head, and silently walking away.