CH 29

“Cut.”

The staff clapped the clapperboard. 

Wang Haisheng nodded in satisfaction.

Xie Luyu didn’t even need to be mentioned. He had always stood at the top. He completely dominated the entertainment industry. In this field, he was a complete tyrant.

What surprised Wang Haisheng was Gu Qingchi.

Although he didn’t have much contact with him, he had a good grasp of Gu Qingchi’s character. 

He liked quiet, he liked being alone, and his emotions didn’t change very much. He was very sensitive and very vigilant.

Wang Haisheng kept getting the feeling that he was like a stray cat. As soon as you point the camera at him, he would immediately be on his guard. He wouldn’t drop his guard until you left.

This kind of personality wasn’t really suitable for acting. Actors needed to let go. They needed to experience and express strong emotional fluctuations.

However, Gu Qingchi didn’t have any stage fright in the face of the camera. It was as if those five or six cameras didn’t exist to him. The people on set didn’t exist to him either. His movements were very natural. He wasn’t like a newcomer at all.

Gu Qingchi hadn’t quite gotten into character at first. He hadn’t displayed Ke Mu’s ignorance to the fullest extent. Some of his emotions were a little too cold. Everything else was above average.

However, once Wang Haisheng pointed these things out to him, he seemed to have been endowed with inspiration. He suddenly became a living and breathing Ke Mu.

As soon as Wang Haisheng laid eyes upon him, he realized that this was what Ke Mu was supposed to be like.

Rather than saying Ke Mu lived for Ke Chengqi’s sake, it would be better to say that he stuck with Ke Chengqi for the sake of living. For him, Ke Chengqi could have been anyone. 

Ke Mu was far too ignorant and far too clean. He didn’t know how to survive on his own. Before his mother died, she found a way out for him called Ke Chengqi.

So, Ke Mu went down that path, no matter how bumpy that path may be.

If Ke Chengqi had actually handed him over to the princess and pointed out a new path for him to follow, he probably would’ve embarked on that new path without hesitation.

God was merciful enough to bestow such a clean and pure person to the world, but he was also so cruel. 

This clean and pure person was destined to never respond to anyone.

That was why Ke Chengqi was so reluctant to let go of him. Perhaps he had already realized that, once he let go, he would lose Ke Mu. He needed to desperately keep a hold on this treasure of his. Otherwise, he would lose him.

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Gu Qingchi hadn’t had the chance to get up yet. He was half-kneeling and had taken off his top, revealing his back and shoulders. On his back, there were lifelike wounds that the makeup artists had drawn for him.

Xiao Ke went up to him and helped him pull his clothes back on.

Wang Haisheng lowered his voice and asked the assistant next to him. 

“Cough. Let’s see, how many cameras are turned on over there?”

The assistant cautiously shook his head.

Wang Haisheng frowned and clicked his tongue.

“No sense at all.” 

After saying this, he picked up the loudspeaker sitting next to him and started making stuff up.

“The lighting was off just now. Let’s do it one more time.”

By the time this scene was finished, it was already afternoon.

Wang Haisheng organized his things and prepared everything for the next scene. Then, he scooted over towards Xie Luyu. He even felt a little pleased with himself. 

“Don’t deny it. I saw you help him get into character while you guys were filming. He has a lot of potential. How does he compare to you back then?

Xie Luyu was pulling up the hem of his clothes and stuffing them into his waistband. The costume team and prop team had already warned him. The costumes were expensive as hell.

He still had scenes to film in the afternoon, so he couldn’t take it off. If he took it off, it would take at least half an hour to put it back on. He planned to have a quick lunch nearby. Then, he would go back to filming right away.

Xie Luyu smiled when he heard Wang Haisheng’s words. 

“To be honest, he has talent. He was born for this sort of thing. You have to pay him more.”

Wang Haisheng glanced at him and spoke, confused.

“Are you uncomfortable? Why are you suddenly being serious? You’re actually talking like a human being for once…”

Xie Luyu shot him a look but didn’t reply. 

He really hadn’t expected Gu Qingchi to have such a talent in this area. Even if Xie Luyu had never met him before, he still wouldn’t have been able to resist giving him a few pointers.

Gu Qingchi’s scenes were pretty much done for the day. He changed out of his costume. Then, he changed into his day-to-day clothing, a white tee and jeans. There was a simple circular pattern on the front of the shirt, and he wore a leather rope necklace with the same pattern.

He was currently sitting in a chair off to the side. His pants were slim-fit and a little on the shorter side. Gu Qingchi’s long legs were bent at the knee, revealing a portion of his ankle.

The other chairs next to him were piled up with miscellaneous items. The prop team left a ton of junk here, like a garbage dump. He sat on the chair farthest from the mess. 

Gu Qingchi didn’t live on location with the crew. Instead, he went home to sleep. It just so happened that the house assigned to him by the company was nearby.

Xiao Ke had gone to contact the driver. The driver was setting off from the company, so it would take about twenty minutes for him to arrive.

Gu Qingchi was a little tired at this moment. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and breathed softly. His neckline extended into a beautiful angle. The little rubber band that was holding his hair had become loose, and a few strands of his wavy hair slipped down.

The background behind him was a chaotic array of miscellaneous items. 

There was a special staff member on the crew in charge of filming behind the scenes footage. A few of them would be used as easter eggs and presented to the audience at the end of the film.

The actors had already been notified about this. They would not film the actors’ private lounges without permission, but anything else was fair game.

Gu Qingchi’s current demeanor just happened to be captured on camera.

The staff member accidentally came across this scene and was instantly stunned. He held his breath and carefully zoomed in on the camera. 

Although it was already afternoon, the lighting was pretty good.

The image was very clear. The camera highlighted each and every strand of his hair.

His hair was dark. He’d never dyed it before, and it shone beautifully under the sun. He had his head leaned back. His neck was long and graceful. The sun shone on his face.

The camera just so happened to capture his side profile. The camera’s image was as still as a photo. However, once Gu Qingchi’s hair slipped from his pigtail, it became clear that this wasn’t a retouched image, but a video. 

Gu Qingchi seemed to have picked up on something. His half-closed eyes turned towards the camera. His eyes blinked slowly. The camera picked up on each individual eyelash as they swept across his cheeks.

At that moment, he turned his head towards the camera. Maybe he was still drowsy from his nap, but it took him a few seconds to recognize that someone was filming him. Then, he revealed a smile.

The staff member suddenly fumbled the camera, and it almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, he managed to grab onto its strap at the last moment.

He was clearly just doing his job, but the staff still hurried away in a panic. 

Afterwards, he looked over the video. He had the faint sense that, if he handed in this video, it would be the biggest easter egg of this entire movie.

The entertainment reporter pulled out all the information on Gu Qingchi he had gathered and frowned.

All of the information he could find only added up to a few brief pages. A large part of it was information that Gu Qingchi had released online after he began his activities.

It wasn’t normal. There were far too few traces. He was starting to doubt whether Gu Qingchi had actually been married or not. 

The colleague who had come to help him was a little impatient.

“Are we going to keep investigating? Are you sure your information’s correct? Even if it’s true, he’s just a newcomer who hasn’t even debuted. It won’t make much of a splash. There’s no point in continuing this investigation.”

The entertainment reporter pointed at a photo of Gu Qingchi on the computer. It was a screenshot of Gu Qingchi’s variety show appearance. Gu Qingchi was wearing the punk clothing required by the show crew, and he looked unbelievably attractive.

There were other people in the photo, but it was this exact reason that made Gu Qingchi stand out even more. 

Gu Qingchi wasn’t even standing in the middle. Rather, he was standing at the side, but he was the one who attracted the most attention.

“As long as someone like him is in this industry, he’ll make his mark sooner or later.”

The entertainment reporter was very sensitive in this aspect.

“I don’t think that person lied to me. There was no reason for him to lie. Let’s continue investigating. Sooner or later, we’ll be able to get our hands on a scoop—” 

He pointed at Gu Qingchi’s photo.

“And get some hush money out of him.”

“Just think about it. The more famous he is, the better. Once that happens, we’ll be able to make a profit.”