"Sorry, I need to take this call." Qi Hui interrupted Zhang Jian, turning away to answer his phone.
Zhang Jian frowned, feeling quite displeased.
This kid had a bit of a cheek, acting as if he didn't respect him at all.
"Hello, Senior Brother?" Qi Hui said with a chuckle, his tone warm.
Ling Xiaosu's hearty voice came through the receiver: "Junior Brother, there's a supporting role over on my end. Do you want to play it?"
"It won't take up too much of your time."
As the former male lead, Ling Xiaosu knew the filming schedule of The Temptation to Go Home crew inside out.
The kid Qi Hui had more than three months of free time on his hands!
"Uh..." Qi Hui paused for a moment, his eyes rolling as he asked, "What kind of role is it? I'm afraid I won't play it well..."
"You're overthinking it." Ling Xiaosu laughed out loud. "It's a supporting role, not even in the top five for billing, and doesn't crack the top ten in screen time, which is why I don't want to do it."
"He's an agency official in a spy thriller, an intelligence peddler. It's not hard to play."
Hearing this, the outer corners of Qi Hui's eyebrows lifted. A spy thriller, an agency official, an intelligence peddler—could it be...
"What show is this?"
"Lurk." Ling Xiaosu laughed heartily. "Your sister-in-law is in it too, playing the female lead."
Qi Hui suddenly understood. It really was Xie Ruolin.
"Alright, Senior Brother, I'll take this role." Qi Hui agreed on the spot.
Xie Ruolin, the little prince of memorable quotes.
Aside from Station Chief Wu of the Tianjin Station, no one else could rival Xie Ruolin when it came to classic lines.
The only pity was that Xie Ruolin and Station Chief Wu didn't share any scenes together; otherwise... probably even Family Man and Optimus Prime wouldn't have been able to match the slick banter of those two.
Of course, it was the characters being slick, not him, Qi Hui.
"Haha, then I'll come pick you up in a bit. Where are you?" Ling Xiaosu said with a smile. The director of the Lurk crew had been badgering him endlessly, constantly trying to get him to play this role.
He had no interest in it—low pay, too much trouble—and it was driving him crazy.
With Qi Hui taking over, he could finally pass it off to someone else.
Qi Hui replied, "On the Snow Leopard set. I'll wait for you at the entrance in a moment."
"Oh... Alright, see you later."
Hanging up the phone, Qi Hui looked at Zhang Jian and smiled cheerfully. "Well, Uncle Zhang, no need to trouble yourself with a recommendation. A senior brother of mine just hooked me up with a supporting role."
"I appreciate your good intentions."
Hearing this, Zhang Jian froze, and a wave of humiliation and annoyance rushed to his heart.
He had practically offered the favor on a silver platter, only for the kid to turn it down?
Instantly, humiliation turned into anger.
He had never been a man of good temper and wanted nothing more than to start cursing right then and there.
Yet, for some reason, he couldn't do it.
He was clearly in the wrong to begin with, and besides, there were so many people watching.
Zhang Jian took a deep breath, his irritation turning into a bellyful of stifled frustration.
He couldn't swallow it, nor could he spit it out—it was thoroughly agonizing.
Nearby, Du Yuming and Chen Haowei exchanged glances, then quickly huddled together and hastily stuffed a red envelope with cash.
They had to do something.
"Uncle Zhang, Directors, I'll be leaving first." Qi Hui waved and turned to walk away.
"Hey, don't rush off." Du Yuming hurried over to catch up. "I haven't paid you your salary yet."
As he spoke, he fished out a bulging red envelope and shoved it at Qi Hui.
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly, I was just doing a cameo as an extra, talking about salary is going too far." Qi Hui backed away repeatedly, crying out loudly, but as soon as his hand reached out, he naturally scooped the red envelope right into it.
Having been through so many business dinners in his past life, Qi Hui was far too familiar with this routine.
"You brat, you don't want the role, you don't want the money, what do you even want..." Du Yuming glared fiercely, the ferocious look paired with his wide eyes quite startling.
Before he could finish his sentence, his hand felt empty—the red envelope had already been pocketed by Qi Hui.
Du Yuming: "..."
Such practiced movements... It was a good thing this kid didn't work in a government office; otherwise, he'd definitely be a massive corrupt official.
"Director Du, please stay, no need to see me out." Qi Hui said repeatedly. "Goodbye, Director Chen. Goodbye, Uncle Zhang."
With that, he headed toward the exit.
"Senior Brother, wait for me, I'm coming with you to check it out." Zhang Ruoyun trotted to keep up with Qi Hui.
He didn't have any scenes these past few days and was free to do as he pleased.
Besides, his old man's series of maneuvers today left a very bad taste in his mouth.
Today he realized that his own father didn't seem as flawless as he had imagined.
Going out for a breath of fresh air was just what he needed.
...
"Senior Brother, I'm sorry." The honest boy Zhang Ruoyun whispered an apology.
Qi Hui unwrapped the red envelope, and the thick stack of red banknotes emitted a charming ink scent. "What are you apologizing for?"
This red envelope contained close to ten thousand yuan.
On the Snow Leopard set, he hadn't even spent an hour working from start to finish.
Ten thousand yuan an hour—what was there to be sorry about?
He had to admit, the two directors were truly generous.
"Uh..." Zhang Ruoyun looked at the brand-new stack of bills and instantly fell silent.
Money still held serious value back then; web novel protagonists would throw around hundreds of thousands with ease, long before units of measurement like Yibing, Yishuang, and Yiwei existed.
"You're just overthinking it." Qi Hui consoled him. "It's all just business, Uncle Zhang didn't do anything wrong."
That was just to comfort a kid; if not for Zhang Ruoyun's sake, Qi Hui would have already pulled some sneaky stunts behind the scenes.
He knew all about gunpowder now—even the slightest tampering would have been enough to give Zhang Jian the producer a world of trouble.
"Alright." Zhang Ruoyun nodded, letting go of the knot in his heart.
As the two were talking, a black BMW M5 sedan drove up and stopped right in front of Qi Hui and Zhang Ruoyun.
The car window rolled down, revealing Ling Xiaosu's face behind a pair of sunglasses.
Instantly, an aura of wealth washed over them.
Qi Hui twitched his eyelid, wondering if his total savings put together could even buy one wheel of this BMW.
Zhang Ruoyun wore an expression of envy. When he acted in his own father's productions, although his salary was paid at market rates, he actually only kept half, while the other half naturally went right back to his dear old dad.
So, despite being a second-generation rich kid, he wasn't actually all that wealthy.
Too bad Little Zhang didn't realize that his father was a scammer who constantly fleeced his own son.
"Little Zhang is here too," Ling Xiaosu said with a smile.
Zhang Ruoyun scratched his head. "I've got nothing going on, so I'm coming along to tag along."
"Get in the car." Ling Xiaosu waved a hand and said with a smile.
The looks of shock on his two junior brothers a moment ago left him quite satisfied. What was the point of achieving wealth and success if you didn't flaunt it back home?
Too bad the school didn't allow it, or else he would have loved to drive the car right into the Beijing Film Academy campus for a spin.
This luxury car was something he had earned with his own two hands!
The two got into the car, and Ling Xiaosu stepped on the gas, driving Qi Hui and the other toward the location of the Lurk crew.
Qi Hui looked at the receding scenery outside the window, paused for a moment, and asked, "Senior Brother, why aren't you playing Xie Ruolin's role?"
"Screen time is too short, and there's too much hassle." Ling Xiaosu shrugged. "Besides, the character isn't all that brilliant."
Qi Hui: "..."
Xie Ruolin isn't brilliant... Your taste is a bit lacking, my friend.
No wonder you faded into obscurity later on.
Qi Hui thought better of it and gave up any notion of trying to persuade Ling Xiaosu further.
It was clear that Old Ling had made up his mind not to act in it, and saying any more would be a waste of breath.
Qi Hui immediately changed the subject. "Hasn't this show finished filming yet?"
He remembered that Lurk seemed to have come out quite early.
"Almost done," Ling Xiaosu said. "Hmm... right now it should be considered the post-production phase of filming."
"Is Lurk an anti-Japanese drama?" Zhang Ruoyun asked.
Ling Xiaosu: "It's a spy thriller, with some anti-Japanese elements."
"The leads are Sun Honglei and your sister-in-law."
Qi Hui rubbed his chin. He seemed to remember a truly absurd incident happening with Lurk.
A real-life secret agent had actually infiltrated the Lurk crew.
That guy was a wanted criminal who had been on the run for over a decade.
After Lurk aired and became a massive hit, he was recognized.
When that person was finally caught and brought to justice, he even rattled off a rhyming couplet on a legal affairs TV program:
Life is like a play, relying entirely on acting, but above all else, obey the law and keep the rules.
You have to admit, it actually rhymed as hell.