After finishing his makeup, Xiao He arrived at a scene constructed entirely of black fabric.
Zhuang Hongyi was directing his assistant to adjust the lighting, and when he saw Xiao He, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
"Not bad, I thought the white hair would make your hair look darker."
He then directed his assistant to remove one of the underlights on site: "Take that light away."
That lamp was used by Zhuang Hongyi to whiten Xiao He's skin, so that Xiao He wouldn't blend into the background and become a dark blob when filming in the shadows. Fortunately, after returning from Haishi, Xiao He was urged by Liu Rulan to do whitening treatments every day, which finally restored his skin to its previous condition.
Otherwise, with that white hair that easily makes him look darker, Liu Rulan would really have to ask the makeup artist to apply more "putty" to Xiao He.
After the assistant removed the lamp, Zhuang Hongyi gestured for Xiao He to go and sit down.
At first glance, the scene seemed quite rudimentary, but the background consisted of a lot of acrylic display stands filled with all sorts of figurines and trendy toys, most of which were modified and had a cool metallic color scheme. When all the items were placed together, it gave off a strange feeling of science fiction combined with anime. Xiao He's gaze involuntarily fell on a metallic robot on a nearby display stand, and he swallowed hard.
Holy crap, this is a mechanical assembly!
Holy crap, that cold, metallic sheen!
Holy crap, that height and presence are just outstanding...
As the saying goes, Gundam is a speed bump for men, but mecha is an unwavering romance.
Xiao He felt that he had finally found his ideal in life!
Ah~ it's so charming~
I wish you could come home with me...
"Cough cough cough—"
Liu Rulan coughed lightly to remind Xiao He.
Hey kid, get rid of that stalker look on your face!
Xiao He reluctantly shifted his gaze away from the towering structure.
The assistant next to him covered his mouth and chuckled, introducing to Xiao He: "These are all from Director Zhuang's collection. You guys were lucky this time. We had to go back to Beijing temporarily, so we could only make room for you to shoot here. So Director Zhuang simply moved all those models and figurines over as a temporary backdrop."
Xiao He exclaimed "Wow!"
However, looking at the overflowing collection on display, Xiao He seriously suspected that Director Zhuang had actually been waiting for this day for a long time. He came here to film for no other reason than to showcase his collection and make the whole country envious.
Xiao He felt he might have discovered the truth.
Without looking at the collection again, Xiao He sat down directly in the computer chair.
The computer had pre-downloaded hacking simulation software on it. Xiao He only needed to pretend to type a few things out. After Xiao He posed as Zhuang Hongyi instructed, the actual filming began.
Because Director Zhuang spoke very little and did not provide a detailed analysis of the character played by Xiao He, Xiao He himself did not know what kind of feeling he wanted, so he simply improvised on the spot, casually tapping and striking the objects.
Fortunately, after a period of learning, Xiao He's acting style is now basically mature. Even when improvising, he is not nervous at all. He interprets the hacker characters based on his understanding of other film and television works, which is more than enough for such a short scene.
The white-haired young man in the video is chewing gum, his fingers nimbly tapping on the keyboard, his eyes closely following the code data on the screen, even the faint light of the code letters reflected in his eyes.
"Smack—"
As the last character was typed on the Enter key, the phone next to me suddenly rang.
He glanced at his phone casually, and only answered it slowly when it rang again. He quickly pulled back in his chair, casually propped his legs up on the table, and gently swung them rhythmically: "Hello?"
"Shiji and the others have already infiltrated."
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them."
"OK."
After hanging up the phone, he finally looked away from the string of code and onto the surveillance footage next to him.
Seemingly having seen something amusing, he chuckled, put his leg down, and walked to the screen displaying the surveillance footage.
"Where did the employer pick up these two idiots from?"
This clumsy stealth technique is really a case of not treating surveillance as surveillance at all!
"Tsk."
Considering the tasks ahead, he clicked his tongue impatiently and tapped the keyboard, instantly losing all the surveillance footage that should have been recorded.
Then, the white-haired youth casually pushed back his chair, returned to his previous position, and continued typing away at the code in his hands.
In the dimly lit room, only his slightly pale face was illuminated by the light from the computer screen, making it appear even paler.
Then came a series of keystrokes—
...
Although they arrived in the morning, it was already dark when they finished filming. They had been busy here all day without realizing it.
Zhuang Hongyi invited Xiao He and Liu Rulan to stay for dinner.
Driven by curiosity about what kind of good food rich people could eat, Xiao He and Liu Rulan stayed behind.
So it was through this opportunity that Xiao He heard of "official cuisine" for the first time.
Official cuisine, also known as bureaucratic and scholar-official cuisine, as the name suggests, was a delicacy that could only be enjoyed by officials and their families during the feudal period. It was a symbol of status and a dietary privilege of the powerful and wealthy. It was about enjoying a sense of superiority and the scarcity of food, and it contained the three characteristics of "nobility, elegance, and luxury" that ordinary people could not afford.
But to be honest, Xiao He felt that he might be a bit like a wild boar that can't appreciate fine food. He only tasted the flavors of shark fin, bird's nest, and abalone. It was impossible for him to say that it was not delicious, as the flavors were indeed perfect in terms of color, aroma, and taste. However, he also felt that it was a bit bland in his mouth.
Of course, that's definitely his problem! Such expensive ingredients must be the best!
The meal was eaten in a very quiet manner. Considering that the wealthy people here might be particular about dining etiquette, Xiao He and Liu Rulan didn't dare to make a sound. They simply buried their heads in their food and didn't dare to say anything out of the ordinary.
After finishing the meal, Zhuang Hongyi took a sip of red wine before saying to Xiao He and Liu Rulan, "I was quite surprised to see Xiao He this time. His demeanor in real life seems much more restrained than in his previous photos."
Xiao He chuckled inwardly.
Of course, Liu Rulan had specifically reminded him when he came this time to change his usual demeanor and leave a different impression on the director, so that if the director had other roles in the future, he could be more suitable for Xiao He.
Sure enough, Director Zhuang took the bait.
Liu Rulan immediately switched into professional mode: "Thank you for your kind words, Director Zhuang. It is our honor that Xiao He can participate in your work this time. In fact, Xiao He himself is open to more diverse roles and is willing to try to explore the development space of different roles. If Director Zhuang has more opportunities, I would also like to help Xiao He get one."
Liu Rulan's words were straightforward and direct, decisively following Director Zhuang's lead.
Zhuang Hongyi stared at Xiao He, pondered for a moment, and suddenly said, "Smile?"
Xiao He: ?
Liu Rulan quickly nudged Xiao He with her elbow: "Smile."
Xiao He: ...
Xiao He knew that Zhuang Hongyi was testing him, and there was probably a role waiting for him, but his mind was racing and he didn't immediately show any expression.
Based on what Director Zhuang just said, he originally thought he would be too fierce to play other roles—so it can be deduced that the role Director Zhuang is playing must be completely unrelated to fierceness or evil.
Is that gentleness, kindness, warmth, and friendliness?
Xiao He silently repeated the character labels in his mind several times. When he looked up again, he had deliberately softened his gaze, his eyebrows slightly curved, and his eyes filled with a subtle smile. He tilted his head ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) slightly to look at Director Zhuang, and the corners of his mouth also turned up:
Is that so?
Zhuang Hongyi stared at Xiao He for a long time before finally looking away: "Alright, stop smiling like a big bad wolf."
Xiao He: ...
Xiao He was shocked and defeated.
—He's already tried his best to be friendly!
