"Yes, we're in the same class," Qi Hui said with a cheerful smile.
Not only Yang Mi, but also Yuan Shanshan, alongside Bailiuxie, the long-legged beauty, and the blind-date addict Zhang Xiaofei.
They were all classmates with Qi Hui.
Naturally, the biggest star among them was Yang Mi.
With the massive hit of Chinese Paladin 3, Yang Mi's portrayal of Tang Xuejian won her countless fans.
It was the role that truly made her a household name to the general public.
Yang Mi was named one of the Four Dan Actresses alongside Huang Shengyi, Wang Luodan, and Liu Yifei.
Right now, whether it was Yuan Shanshan, Zhang Xiaofei, or Qi Hui himself, they were all unknown nobodies.
They simply couldn't compare to Yang Mi at all.
"Mm, very nice," Zhang Jian nodded and said.
"Dad, why was the role you gave me a few days ago set to start shooting three months from now?" Zhang Ruoyun brought up business.
The production was starting in three months, and there was no telling when that supporting role would actually begin filming.
If his senior brother hadn't landed the male lead, he would practically starve to death waiting.
This wasn't very honorable.
Zhang Jian glanced at his son, his expression unchanged. "Is that so? I wasn't aware."
"There must have been a mistake."
He dodged responsibility completely, washing his hands of the whole affair.
"Then give my senior brother a new role," Zhang Ruoyun suggested. "He has plenty of time right now anyway."
Hearing this, Zhang Jian unwrapped the pack of Soft Zhonghua cigarettes Qi Hui had brought, cast a leisurely glance at Qi Hui, and said:
"I'll make a phone call."
With that, he made a move to take out his phone, though his actions were every bit as unhurried as before.
Sure enough, Old Zhang wasn't too fond of him... A flash crossed Qi Hui's eyes, and he quickly stopped him:
"No need, no need. I have to prepare for the male lead role, I don't have the energy right now."
With that, he grabbed Zhang Ruoyun and hurried away.
Exhaling a cloud of rich, fragrant white smoke, Zhang Jian watched Qi Hui and Zhang Ruoyun leave, flicking the ash off his cigarette with a faint motion.
He didn't care all that much for this son of his.
And he couldn't muster any interest in his son's friends either.
Elsewhere.
Qi Hui and Zhang Ruoyun came to a halt.
Zhang Ruoyun shook off Qi Hui's hand. "Senior brother, what are you doing?"
"I should be asking you that." Qi Hui shot Zhang Ruoyun an annoyed glare.
"Look... my dad really wasn't very honorable about this," Zhang Ruoyun said with some helplessness.
He hadn't figured out what his old man was plotting, but he knew he had unintentionally screwed Qi Hui over in this matter.
If he didn't do something to make up for it, he wouldn't feel right.
"Nonsense, nothing of the sort," Qi Hui retorted, immediately changing the subject before this kid started messing things up again:
"What is this Snow Leopard show about?"
The conversational pivot was a bit awkward, but Zhang Ruoyun enthusiastically began explaining it to Qi Hui.
Snow Leopard was adapted from an internet novel, telling the story of a wealthy young heir named Zhou Wen who joined the army, built a special forces unit, and fought the Japanese invaders to serve his country.
Qi Hui scratched his face, his expression turning somewhat peculiar.
Whether in the television show or the original novel, it depicted Zhou Weiguo learning special operations in Germany and befriending a special operations classmate named Tatsuro Takeshita.
In reality, however, German special operations started very late.
The Junkers aristocracy of Old Berlin's Black Eagle regiment looked down on so-called special operations from the very beginning.
They believed real men fought head-on, while petty thieves and backstabbers launching sneak attacks were mere vermin.
Besides, what use were special ops compared to the Blitzkrieg?
Could they make France surrender?
The first true special forces were actually created by the British, but why did everyone think Germany's special forces were the formidable ones?
Because of that man:
Otto Skorzeny.
Europe's most dangerous man!
The man stood one meter ninety-two, was built like a tank, excelled at fencing, and survived being hit by a Katyusha rocket without dying.
Marvel's Red Skull was modeled after him.
This man led glider airborne raids to rescue Mussolini; he drove deep behind enemy lines to capture Miklós Horthy, the Regent of Hungary.
Especially the rescue of Mussolini—an event hailed as the first special operation in human history.
Not only that, he also devised a plan to decapitate Josip Broz Tito in Yugoslavia, and prepared to go to Tehran to wipe out the Big Three of the Allied forces while they were meeting.
Simply terrifying!
However... as awesome as it sounded, Otto Skorzeny was actually just an ordinary guy at heart.
His favorite thing to do was slack off, especially during wartime.
That mission to eliminate the Allied Big Three? Otto didn't do it at all, choosing to outright disobey orders instead.
Hitler knew the mission had a billion points of difficulty, so he didn't pursue the matter either.
As for the mission to assassinate Tito, Otto did go, but... it failed, and all he managed to grab was one of Tito's military uniforms.
Like Qi Hui, the man came from humble, impoverished roots with a family as poor as church mice.
He originally wanted to study medicine and become a doctor, but his family had no money, so they pushed him into engineering.
Just like Qi Hui, this most dangerous man in Europe, the pioneer of global special operations, was actually an engineer.
Of course, there were ways he differed from Qi Hui.
For instance, Otto wasn't just an engineer; he was also a kept man who married into wealth.
Had it not been for the annexation of Austria and the invasion of Poland, this man might still have been working as a capitalist in his father-in-law's factory, exploiting surplus value.
Listening to Qi Hui's account, Zhang Ruoyun was left utterly dumbfounded.
Such a thing actually existed?
Qi Hui shrugged. This wasn't the information-explosion era more than a decade later.
Even 3G networks had only just begun rolling out, and channels for the public to obtain information were limited; it was completely normal for Little Zhang not to know.
As the two chatted along the way, they inadvertently arrived at a set that was currently being prepared for filming.
In the distance, Qi Hui spotted a shiny, bald head that looked fierce and menacing.
The man was holding a director's megaphone—he was clearly the director.
"Oh?" Qi Hui looked surprised. "Isn't that... the guy who always plays major villains?"
Qi Hui couldn't recall the bald man's name at the moment, but he did recognize his role in Snow Leopard.
Zhu Ziming, Boss Zhu, the bandit leader of Qingfeng Stronghold on Tiger Head Mountain.
"That's Teacher Du Yuming," Zhang Ruoyun explained. "He often plays bald villains alongside Teacher Ji Chunhua and Teacher Li Ming, but right now he's our director on this production."
"Haha..." Qi Hui wiped the sweat from his brow, recalling a picture online featuring three bald men together: "That's a bit scary."
"Indeed it is," Zhang Ruoyun laughed heartily, sharing an interesting anecdote:
"When Wen Zhang's wife, Ma Yili, brought their child to visit the set, the kid caught a glimpse of Teacher Du and got so scared she burst into tears, hahaha..."
Hearing this, Qi Hui couldn't help but chuckle.
Sure enough, actors who played bad guys really knew their craft.
...
On the set.
Wen Zhang, having changed into his costume, was chatting about the scene with the female lead, Tao Feifei. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he inadvertently caught sight of Qi Hui and Zhang Ruoyun chatting in the distance.
Looking at Qi Hui's tall, well-proportioned figure and striking looks, Wen Zhang subconsciously raised an eyebrow.
"Another connections hire?"
He hadn't forgotten how Zhang Ruoyun had tried to snatch the male lead role from him last time.
If the investors hadn't backed him firmly, he might really have lost this leading role.
And now another fair-skinned, clean-looking pretty boy had shown up, and he was on such good terms with the producer's son.
It made suspicion inevitable.
Just as Wen Zhang was muttering to himself, he saw Zhang Ruoyun leading that pretty boy straight toward the director.
Wen Zhang frowned, a flicker of disdain crossing his eyes.
Sure enough, just another person who got in through the back door.
Meanwhile, beside Wen Zhang, the female lead Tao Feifei's eyes lit up slightly. Ah... who is that person?
He looks quite handsome and sturdy.