On set.
"Why hasn't this guy aged? Could it be that he's discovered the secret of immortality like us?"
Wu Wu pointed at the magazine in his hand, his expression very serious.
Yin Qi looked at the person in the photo, casually propping his chin with his hand as he turned to Yin Lan: "Sister, maybe this guy is working with those people, aiming to lure us out. I don't think he's any good."
Recently, a singer had suddenly become explosively popular, and his appearance was very familiar, resembling their former test subject companion.
But the other person was clearly very young, showing no signs of aging at all. On stage, he performed various skilled fan service and smiles, completely embodying a young, handsome pretty boy—a heart-arsonist who captivated thousands of young girls.
If they hadn't spent over a hundred years with this guy and become extremely familiar with his appearance and mannerisms, they probably wouldn't have dared to believe this was their former companion Huang Daquan.
However, an even bigger question emerged—
Why hadn't this guy aged at all?
Had he also discovered the secret of the meteorite fragments?
Or... had he collaborated with that organization, making this a blatant trap?
After discovering this situation, the main characters exchanged glances, their expressions all looking quite unpleasant.
"Regardless, we need to meet him face-to-face. He's too conspicuous, and our appearances have likely already been identified by that organization," Yin Lan said very seriously.
From how that organization had precisely located her bookstore, it was clear someone among them had already betrayed them and sold everyone out.
Thus, their appearances were no longer a secret.
Now this guy was openly exposing his own appearance so boldly—it went without saying that he would quickly attract the organization's attention.
Whether this was a trap or not, they had to go check it out and confirm the situation!
"If he has betrayed us—"
Yin Lan wasn't someone who hesitated indecisively either. Pausing at this point, she looked at her companions before her, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes.
Wu Wu sneered coldly, cracking his knuckles with audible pops, his face showing clear brutality: "I naturally won't go easy on him!"
Yin Qi also nodded obediently: "Okay! I'll definitely listen to my sister!"
Anyway, they're all going to die~
----------------------
"Oh, fuck!"
When his face got stepped on by Yuan Sitong yet again, Li Haoxuan finally couldn't hold back his anger anymore.
Actually, the scene they were filming today was quite simple—it involved the three main characters ganging up on one person. The three were Xiao He and Guo Xinya playing the siblings, and the other was Yuan Sitong playing Wu Wu.
And the target of their "gang-up" was naturally Li Haoxuan.
—Thus, Li Haoxuan was having a terrible time.
Xiao He and Guo Xinya were experienced veterans. After a brief explanation from the martial arts director, they knew how to choreograph movements, fake fights, and use camera angles...
But Yuan Sitong didn't know!
She kept occasionally kicking here, punching there a bit extra, and when hoisted by the wire work, she lost her balance and accidentally left a footprint on Li Haoxuan's face.
Li Haoxuan: ...
Everyone: ...
Xiao He: ...Dead lips, hold it in, absolutely don't laugh.
By the end of filming, Li Haoxuan finally snapped.
Li Haoxuan had been relatively low-key in the crew, not causing much trouble (likely largely due to the language barrier). So he usually left right after filming and arrived on time, with few people interacting with him, and no one knew what his original temper was like.
But it was clear that this time he had reached his limit. Pointing at Yuan Sitong's nose, he started spouting foreign garbage talk.
Even though no one could understand what he was saying, based on his gestures and the occasional "fuck" mixed in, it was obvious he wasn't saying anything nice. Yuan Sitong didn't indulge him either, directly crossing her arms and rolling her eyes dramatically: "Can't understand, speak my language."
"F*&#..."
"Don't understand, don't understand, don't understand, you big dumbass."
"&*%￥——"
Xiao He: ...
Xiao He's mouth twitched as he looked at Guo Xinya beside him: "Uh, should we go break this up?"
Guo Xinya shrugged: "How? Their conversation is completely mismatched. It's a miracle they can even argue."
To be honest, if she were Li Haoxuan, she'd be angry too.
After all, Director Yan had notified them earlier to train in advance.
Li Haoxuan was a newcomer who joined the crew temporarily and wasn't very skilled with wire work—they could understand that. But Yuan Sitong had acted in several xianxia and historical romance dramas already, yet still couldn't handle wire work? That was just ridiculous. Could it be that previous crews used body doubles for her?
Such unprofessional people were like a piece of rotten meat spoiling the whole pot.
She advised Xiao He: "Don't meddle in others' business either. There are plenty of conflicts within the crew right now—better to avoid trouble than invite it."
Xiao He spread his hands: "Don't worry, Sister Xinya, I can't understand anything anyway."
Don't ask—the answer is he can't understand either language.
He'd better just focus on his own work obediently.
About twenty-something minutes later, the crew finally resumed work.
Looking at Fan Congwen's dark expression and Yuan Sitong's bitter face, Xiao He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Great, having Director Fan around actually served some purpose after all.
He'd better just focus on his own work honestly.
Carrying heavy gifts in hand, she looked at the two people sitting in the living room, her face brimming with smiles: "My visit today is rather abrupt—I didn't realize Director Ning had guests today."
Then, while handing the gifts to the butler with both hands, she feigned surprise as she looked at Zhuang Hongyi on the sofa: "So it's Director Zhuang! What a coincidence—"
Zhuang Hongyi put down his teacup, glanced at Liu Rulan, and vaguely guessed that she had intentionally chosen the day he was visiting to come. He felt somewhat displeased.
Xiao He's agent was quite well-informed, actually managing to find out he would be visiting his teacher today.
Unfortunately, she miscalculated one thing—he absolutely wouldn't speak up to help Xiao He today.
The industry had too many people trying to climb the ladder using connections. Zhuang Hongyi had seen such tactics many times and didn't like this kind of blatant exploitation. So he just nodded faintly, not intending to engage with Liu Rulan's conversation.
Fortunately, Liu Rulan had always been thick-skinned. Without attempting to converse further with Zhuang Hongyi, she walked over to Ning Jiaqi's side, her tone cheerful: "Mr.Gao mentioned that Director Ning hasn't been feeling well recently, so I came to visit. I hope Director Ning doesn't mind."
Ning Jiaqi had interacted with Liu Rulan a few times before and had a fairly good impression of her. Smiling genially, he gestured for Liu Rulan to sit and chat.
Liu Rulan didn't stand on ceremony either, sitting directly across from Zhuang Hongyi, her flow of compliments never ceasing as she maintained a very harmonious chatting atmosphere with Ning Jiaqi.
Zhuang Hongyi: "..."
Although somewhat bothered by Liu Rulan's exploitation and boundary-crossing, Zhuang Hongyi didn't plan to deliberately cause trouble either, simply lowering his head to play with his phone.
Sure enough, as Liu Rulan chatted, she gradually steered the conversation toward scripts.
"Speaking of which, the last time I visited Director Ning's home seemed to be for matters related to 'No Bait'," Liu Rulan said with a beaming smile, though her tone carried more sentiment.
Ning Jiaqi fell silent for a moment, somewhat helpless: "You're quite well-informed indeed."
The script for "No Bait" had just passed review, and she immediately came knocking—even Ning Jiaqi had to admire such efficiency.
"But if I recall correctly, Shu Han is now developing his career in Hollywood, right?"
Ning Jiaqi didn't particularly dislike Liu Rulan coming to him with clear goals to seek opportunities; he just unhurriedly lifted his teacup from the table and took a sip.
Liu Rulan's smile remained unchanged: "Yes, this time I'm seeking this opportunity for my current artist, Xiao He."