CH 16

March 8, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 16: National Stage Invitation

Translated and Edited by KChandra

The most important thing for the young crew was to be lively, so they often went out to eat in groups, although the director and agents were constantly reminding them to pay attention to their body shape. However, there was too much food in the vicinity of the film and television city. If they weren’t careful, someone would sneak out and steal food and drinks.

“I weighed in today. The drama isn’t finished and I’ve gained five pounds. After seeing the weight chart, my manager’s face is green,” Mi Yue inhaled the richly scented hot pot on the plate, her face full of struggle, “When the crew returns from shooting, I will definitely be escorted by him to work out.”

“I think you’re quite thin,” Zheng Lei rolled up his sleeves and swished the beef, “no need to reduce your weight, right?”

“No way, in order to make the face look smaller on camera, we must be as thin as possible,” said Mi Yue looking at Zheng Lei and Gongxi Qiao with envy, “You two eat a lot of food all day long, how come you haven’t gained any meat?”

Gongxi Qiao smiled at her words and continued to fish out the meat from the pot and eat in silence.

Mi Yue looked at Gongxi Qiao and Zheng Lei, hesitated for a moment and said, “Have you heard the news that the Xi Group has recently invested heavily in an eastern cultivation film?”

Zheng Lei’s hand that was boiling slices of meat gave a slight pause, and then looked at Mi Yue: “I didn’t hear the agent mention this matter.”

“Because it’s in the pre-production stage. I’ve only heard the gossip,” Mi Yue was considered a rich white beauty in the circle. Her family had some assets, and her grandmother’s family was on speaking terms with the prestigious families’ circle, so she got a little wind of it. It was only because of the close relationship with several people in the crew that she mentioned this matter.

In the case of such a powerful family as the Xi family, a movie investment was a plaything. Who knew, maybe the head of the Xi family had read a novel about Immortal cultivation and just decided to find someone to make a movie for fun?

What those in rich families lacked wasn’t money but interest. For entertainers, it was a great opportunity, but for a certain class of people, it was just a fun game.

So when Gongxi Qiao heard this news, he didn’t feel anything special. He fished out a quail egg at the bottom of the pot and rolled it in the oil dish, then ate it calmly: “You’re interested in joining this film?”

Mi Yue laughed dryly: “I’m interested, but I can’t. Those who can act in this kind of big production must be big names. I’m a second-or-third-tier artist, I can’t even think of a supporting role.”

The few people present knew it was too remote, so they laughed and joked about it.

“Zheng Lei, what’s wrong with you? I see you haven’t eaten much tonight,” after eating, Mi Yue looked at Zheng Lei with concern, “Is it that you’re not feeling well?”

“Nothing, just a little sleepy.” Zheng Lei showed a somewhat tired smile.

Mi Yue nodded with understanding. Recently, director Zhu had been rushing the schedule in order to have the drama released around the Spring Festival, and sometimes they even shot the scenes until midnight.

Now it was already autumn. In order to capture an immortal feeling, they all wore beautiful costumes, from the first episode to the last episode but in reality they had only one feeling, and that was, cold! Especially those who needed to shoot some scenes in the mountains and forests. That kind of freezing feeling was simply impossible to describe.

To say they were tired, Gongxi Qiao was probably more tired. The last two months were spent running back and forth between the two crews. Now that ‘Lord Brother-in-Law’ finally finished, he had free time to come out to eat and drink with everyone.

From its name, ‘Lord Brother-in-Law’ was a typical Chinese New Year comedy film. But the Chinese New Year period had always been the battlefield for major films. ‘Lord Brother-in-Law’ originally didn’t have a very high investment. It was said that the funding gap was supplemented by Gongxi Qiao’s money, so Gongxi Qiao wasn’t only the second male lead in this movie, but also one of the investors.

Therefore, the director found an actor like Gongxi Qiao. Good acting skills and rich. And not to mention he was rich, he was also a generous person. In the event that money ran out after the filming, there was no need to worry about being unable to continue supporting the production team.

The fact that Mi Yue had a good impression of Gongxi Qiao had nothing to do with appearance, but with Gongxi Qiao’s general demeanor and behavior. Good looks tended to make a good impression at first glance, but real good feelings were built up over time.

Gongxi Qiao seemed to be born with a kind of elegance. When he looked at you, you would feel that you were all that he saw. He would politely pull open the door for women, and would very naturally help the women in the crew to carry some heavy things regardless of their appearance or what their status was.

Some male artists were polite on the surface, but they couldn’t avoid it feeling “deliberate”. Gongxi Qiao was different. His politeness was engraved in his bones, and his words and actions made people feel like a spring breeze. Even the auntie who gave out boxed lunches was especially good to Gongxi Qiao, as evidenced by the fact that the fruit given to Gongxi Qiao after each meal was bigger than the others.

You could say that such a man was the public enemy of the same sex, but Gongxi Qiao again refreshed her perception. The reason was that Gongxi Qiao was so good at conducting himself with integrity that all the male artists in the crew had a good relationship with him. When they found something delicious and interesting, they wouldn’t forget to ask Gongxi Qiao to join them, and Gongxi Qiao never spoiled the mood and could have fun with those people.

‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’ catered to an audience of mostly young people, so the internet publicity was strong and the cast posted photos on Weibo of people dining on gourmet food late at night, mistreating their stomachs late at night in a fancy way.

Unlike other artists who posted half food photos and half photos of themselves, Gongxi Qiao would really take pictures of the food from all angles. Of course, there were also netizens who developed a new hobby under these microblogs, and that was seeing whether the tycoon Qiao Shao changed his phone again.

Every time, as soon as the latest model of cell phone was released, they would see Qiao Shao’s Weibo cell phone account also change the corresponding name, so Gongxi Qiao had another nickname, the “cell phone maniac”.

Of course, netizens didn’t know that the real cell phone maniac wasn’t Gongxi Qiao, but Mama Qiao.

Gongxi Qiao looked down and posted the food photos he took today on Weibo. Seeing a group of fans wailing in the comments, he put away his phone with a smile and turned his head to see Zhao Yikun walking at the back with his head hunched, so he waved at him: “Junior brother, come and walk with senior brother.”

As soon as Zhao Yikun saw the smile on Gongxi Qiao’s face, he felt scared. Although Zhao Da Shao[1] wasn’t a dominant figure in the circle, at least he was considered to be standing on his own. However, he didn’t know that he would encounter a despotic flower wearing the skin of a small white lotus.

The first day of shooting he was crushed by his opponent’s acting skills, not to mention that the next day was even worse. As long as he did something excessive on the set, he would be taken care of by Gongxi Qiao “like a spring breeze”, but even his agent felt that Gongxi Qiao was really taking care of him, without ulterior motives.

After living for more than 20 years, Zhao Yikun finally experienced what frustration and humiliation meant, so now whenever he saw Gongxi Qiao smiling at him, he felt scared and couldn’t help but breathe carefully.

“Brother Qiao, what’s the matter?” He didn’t want to call him “Brother Qiao” at all, but his mouth didn’t obey him, always faster than his brain.

“Nothing. I have a fight scene with you tomorrow. It’s very physically demanding, so you should go to bed early tonight and stop playing handheld games, okay?” Gongxi Qiao explained with a beaming smile.

When the people next to him heard this, they sighed with emotion: look at that person Qiao Shao, what a good heart, he has such a good relationship with a rich playboy like Zhao Yikun.

“I know, Brother Qiao.”

Tonight was a night destined for sleeplessness.

Gongxi Qiao knew some sword skills. Although these sword skills, if compared to the famous “Immortal of Poetry” Li Taibai [2], wouldn’t even be worthy enough to carry his shoes, it was enough for filming.

Zhao Yikun was not well-behaved on several occasions and was cleaned up by him several times. For example, when filming the scene, he was hit with seemingly very light movements that caused him immense pain.

Even Zhao Yikun himself couldn’t understand how his opponent could make him hurt like that with his light movements.

The worst thing was that half a month ago he wanted to hire someone to teach Gongxi Qiao a lesson, but Gongxi Qiao didn’t leave the hotel that night, so the fighter he hired didn’t have a chance to do anything. The next day, he was given a friendly sword fighting match with Gongxi Qiao in the scene.

At the end of that day’s shooting, Director Zhu praised him repeatedly for his painful expressions that were very well acted. There was no sign of fake fighting at all. He went back and complained to his manager Sun Xiang about Gongxi Qiao using the scene to attack him, but he got a facepalm from Sun Xiang.

Everyone in the crew saw that Gongxi Qiao’s movements against him were on point, and he didn’t have any marks on his body, so who would believe that Gongxi Qiao had played a dirty trick on him?

After a few times, Zhao Da Shao, who felt betrayed by the world, finally became honest and even called out to Gongxi Qiao every time he saw him to show his respect.

Zhao Yikun’s good behavior was satisfactory. Gongxi Qiao nodded with a smile. What was scary about an arrogant rich second generation? As long as he was taught a few more lessons, it would be fine.

In his previous life, he was able to tidy up those who looked down on him for his low birth and cursed him behind his back, let alone a rich playboy who was only in need of a spanking.

A month later, the ‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’ crew finished production. Gongxi Qiao returned home to play comfortably for a few days before Senhe’s agency received an audition invitation that took them by surprise.

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The invitation was sent by the National Channel[3], which had recently been preparing a patriotic film. The roles were basically set, except for one role of a returned from overseas Chinese character who had not yet been cast.

This repatriated Chinese emigrant existed in modern history. This celebrity was born into a wealthy family, received a good education abroad, and was highly valued abroad because of his outstanding abilities. But because of his love for the motherland, he finally insisted on returning to his country.

If that was all, the actor for this role would not be particularly hard to find. Unfortunately, this celebrity had another characteristic: he was particularly handsome. Even the black and white photos in history textbooks could not hide his handsomeness. It was rumored that when this grand handsome man was abroad, there were many beautiful women who were smitten with him. After he returned to the country, he even attracted countless celebrities to fall for him, which showed how handsome this celebrity was.

The reason why Gongxi Qiao received the invitation, besides his temperament, was that his eyes and eyebrows were similar to this celebrity. That was why the National Station, which had always been famous for its rigor, sent this invitation to Senhe Entertainment.