"Have you been waiting for a long time too?"
"Yeah, waiting till now, and nobody's answering the phone."
"The production crew probably ran into some trouble. My assistant has already gone to check, so we shouldn't have to wait much longer."
Perhaps because they were "in the same boat," sitting around here for so long, Bailiang naturally struck up a conversation with Guli Nazha.
Well, she was the one who initiated it.
Perhaps because Bailiang didn't shrink back at all in front of a rising female celebrity, the older brother sitting next to him gave him a mental thumbs-up.
Regardless of what this kid's background was, this attitude of his was truly impressive.
After all, just when Guli Nazha had smiled toward their side earlier, that older brother had felt his limbs grow slightly stiff, and the smile he instinctively squeezed out looked terribly awkward.
That was a manifestation of a lack of confidence.
Everyone loves beauty, but once a certain girl becomes beautiful to a certain degree, it actually makes people shrink back in hesitation.
This is what is commonly known as... so pretty that no one dares to pursue her.
It makes people can't help feeling inferior, as if there is a thick barrier between them.
On the contrary, girls with more ordinary looks and figures tend to be exceptionally popular because the vast majority of men feel such girls are the peak existence they can match, so naturally, they have hordes of simpers.
This phenomenon is quite fascinating!
Of course, Bailiang didn't harbor any inferiority complex, even though he couldn't scrape together five thousand yuan in his pocket right now, not even enough to treat the girl to a high-end restaurant.
He even felt that Guli Nazha wasn't quite a top-tier female celebrity and was just getting by for now. As for the three essential elements of being a wealthy and beautiful woman, she might still fall a bit short on the "wealth" part...
Girl, you've got to keep working hard!
Guli Nazha didn't notice anything strange; she just felt that this handsome guy looked exceptionally pleasing, his smile was very nice, and he spoke at an unhurried pace that made people feel quite comfortable.
At first, she had only asked a question out of curiosity, but unconsciously, they just kept talking more and more...
Fortunately, her assistant returned in time and brought back new information.
"Sister, it looks like a male lead in the production crew suddenly died of sudden cardiac death!"
"Ah?!"
This news was nothing short of explosive. Outside of life and death, nothing else is a big deal, and a casualty in the crew definitely counts as one of the most severe accidents.
Most crucially, it was a lead actor!
"Lin Genxin?!" Guli Nazha widened her eyes in shock, covering her mouth with her hand, a picture of absolute horror.
Lin Genxin, the male lead of God of War Zhao Zilong, had previously been in the same agency as her. Although he had left Chinese Entertainment, they were still acquaintances, and suddenly hearing such news...
"No, no..." the assistant junior quickly explained, "It's a Taiwanese actor."
Misunderstanding resolved.
Guli Nazha couldn't help slapping her assistant; beating around the bush like that scared people to death.
Although it felt a bit wrong to feel relieved, there is ultimately a difference between someone you know and someone you don't.
As it turned out, Guli Nazha was "happy" a bit too early.
Because that actor who had the accident had quite a few scenes opposite her.
She played Diaochan in God of War Zhao Zilong, and the one who had the accident was Lü Bu!
Mind completely blown!
Was the production going to shut down? Did that mean she was going to leave?
"Didn't they say he was rushed to rescue? He should be fine," Bailiang said, seeing her distressed look. He thought to himself that this girl was quite kind-hearted, worrying so much over a stranger, and kindly offered a word of comfort.
This actually made Guli Nazha feel a little ashamed. That's right, the guy was still lying in the hospital, and here she was worrying about the production schedule—it was simply too inappropriate.
"I hope he's alright."
"He'll definitely be fine."
After wishing him well a second time, Bailiang felt that since he had given his blessing like that, and sincerely at that, as long as that guy hadn't kicked the bucket right on the spot, he should be resuscitated successfully.
The trouble the crew ran into was pretty much identical to what they had managed to find out: indeed, a male lead had suddenly passed out while filming.
The incident had happened just this morning.
The producers and directors of the crew were even more shattered than Guli Nazha; their heads were about to explode.
From a personal standpoint, this was human life; from a production standpoint, when a lead actor has something like this happen, a complete shutdown of the crew is the least of it.
If the guy really died, heaven knows how many messes there would be to clean up afterward.
The only good news was that the crew happened to be shooting a scene requiring wire-work at the time, and medical staff happened to be nearby. First aid was administered relatively quickly, and the speed of getting him to the hospital was also quite fast.
At this moment, a bunch of people were still waiting outside the emergency room.
"The golden rescue time for sudden cardiac death is four minutes. The on-site medical staff handled it very quickly, so he should be fine."
The director, whose mouth was practically bubbling with anxiety from panic, hurriedly pursued the question upon hearing this: "Did the doctor tell you that?"
The assistant director, who was trying to calm everyone down, instantly felt immense pressure and didn't dare talk nonsense: "I looked it up on Baidu..."
"Damn it!"
Fortunately, at this moment, the light above the emergency room finally changed color, and with it came some good news.
The person had been resuscitated; he was alive.
After everyone let out a sigh of relief, they were finally able to ask about the specific situation.
At that moment, the artist's manager stammered and said, "He had a cold these past few days, and these last couple of days he was in a rush to join the crew for filming while also busy working out..."
A cold leading to a physical weakness, excessive consumption from heavy workouts, plus the rather intense shooting schedule of the past two days... this debuff stack was practically maxed out!
Quite a few people on the scene couldn't help shivering, figuring they would probably have a bit of a psychological shadow regarding fitness workouts from now on.
Suddenly, they felt that the saying "life lies in stillness" was spot on!
However, although the person was saved, and the doctor said the rescue was extremely timely so there wouldn't be any overly severe sequelae, continuing to film was definitely out of the question.
It was hard to tell whether he would even be able to leave the hospital by the time they finished shooting this drama.
Therefore, the problem currently facing the God of War Zhao Zilong production crew was: whom to find to replace the fallen comrade.
Relatively speaking, this problem was much simpler and lighter than a heavy human life.
But for Sun Qiang, the casting director specifically in charge of this matter, it was rather tricky.
The demand put forward by the director and producer was: find a suitable person within two days without affecting the crew's shooting schedule.
Finding a suitable actor wasn't difficult; the hard part was the extreme urgency.
Playing the role of a firefighter wasn't a job just anyone was willing to take on. One careless move, and it might just become a stain on one's career.
Time was tight and the task was heavy. Sun Qiang was still pondering who would be suitable after returning to the hotel.
On the way back, he had already called around to ask a few people, only to be turned down with excuses or finding they lacked availability. For a moment, he was really caught in a bind.
"Hello, Director, I am Bailiang. We just spoke on the phone."
Finally waiting for you...
Bailiang, who had been waiting at the hotel for over two hours, had after all managed to contact this casting director half an hour ago.
Knowing that the production crew had run into trouble, Bailiang didn't pay much attention anymore to the fact that he had been stood up.
Human life is paramount, after all!
Besides, having a pretty girl to chat with made time fly by quickly.
"Sorry about that, the crew had a bit of a minor situation..."
Sun Qiang wasn't being so polite because he valued this rookie Bailiang all that much; he was being polite because of Sister Yang behind Bailiang.
The other party was very familiar with an investor in God of War Zhao Zilong, so of course, he had to give this much face.
Mid-sentence, Sun Qiang suddenly stared at Bailiang for a solid several seconds, looking him up and down before saying, "Can you do a screen test now? Is it convenient?"
"Sure, why not~"
Bailiang didn't mind at all, except that Guli Nazha beside him still had questions she wanted to ask.
What on earth happened to Lü Bu? What should she, Diaochan, do now?