"Teacher Xiao, please wait a moment!"
Xiao He was stopped, looking somewhat puzzled, but still managed a smile: "What's wrong? Does Director Li have any other questions?"
Seeing Xiao He stop, Li Qing rubbed his hands together and said somewhat apologetically, "Teacher Xiao, I'm really sorry, I know you've been quite busy lately, but I really have something I want to discuss with you. Could you give me another ten minutes? I promise to keep it brief."
Xiao He paused for a moment, then glanced at the aisle next to him where people were coming and going, and nodded: "Sure, Director Li, let's go to a quieter place to talk."
"Okay, okay, thank you, thank you so much."
Li Qing's face lit up with joy, and he hurriedly led Xiao He in another direction.
Xiao He, however, whispered to Xiao Chen beside him, "Go outside and call Sister Liu over."
"good."
Xiao Chen quickly walked outside.
Generally, the directors of these gala performances are invited directors from within the industry, with variety show directors being one of the most frequently invited groups. This is mainly because the variety shows they are responsible for often also have related stage presentations, so most variety show directors are invited to be in charge of the gala performances for these short-term large-scale events in addition to being in charge of their own variety shows.
Director Li Qing, for example, is in charge of some variety shows and usually deals with variety show artists and announcements. However, Xiao He, as a pure actor, has hardly ever been in contact with this type of director and does not know much about these directors, as well as the program content they are good at and responsible for.
However, since they were all in the same industry, Xiao He naturally wouldn't give these directors a hard time. Even though they suddenly stopped him and seemed to want to talk to him about work, Xiao He didn't refuse.
Finally, guided by Li Qing, Xiao He arrived at a temporary rest room.
As soon as he sat down, Li Qing couldn't wait to say what he was there for: "Teacher Xiao, I'm very sorry for my abruptness. I have a variety show script that I'd like to invite you to act in, but I haven't received a reply yet. We're in a bit of a hurry, so I came directly to you. I'm really sorry."
No reply?
Xiao He raised an eyebrow.
They've most likely already been rejected.
After all, it's a variety show invitation... To be honest, Xiao He really has no interest in it.
Moreover, at this stage, Xiao He's acting career is on the rise, and he already has scripts for next year booked until the second half of the year. Xiao He really doesn't have time to waste on variety shows.
But this one seems like she hasn't given up yet...
"I'm so sorry, Director Li."
After considering for a moment, Xiao He politely declined, saying, "To be honest, my work schedule for next year is mostly overseas, and I don't currently have any plans to take on variety shows."
"So—" I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you...
Before Xiao He could finish speaking, Li Qing quickly explained, "Teacher Xiao, I know you're currently very busy with work and have no intention of becoming a regular on variety shows. However, we genuinely want to invite you to film a concept teaser short for our variety show. The script we sent to your company is for this short film, which is completely different from the script for a regular variety show. You should really consider it."
"A teaser short film for a variety show concept?"
Xiao He was somewhat puzzled.
What is ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) this?
Seeing Xiao He's blank expression, Li Qing immediately realized that they hadn't explained things clearly, and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Xiao, we probably didn't make it clear when we sent out the invitation. Actually, we wanted to invite you to film the promotional trailer for our variety show 'Ace Chase,' where you would mainly play the murderer in the first case."
"I see." Xiao He suddenly realized. "So I'm not going to be a guest on the show, or a NPC?"
“Yes, it’s actually a short film, similar in length to a micro-movie,” Li Qing explained quickly. “The script is very simple, and the filming time isn’t very long. As long as you’re willing to come, we can start filming anytime.”
After Li Qing's explanation, Xiao He finally understood what was going on.
Actually, Li Qing and his team didn't want to invite Xiao He to be a guest on the variety show. Instead, they wanted to film a short preview of the murder case for the first episode of the show.
Li Qing's show, to put it bluntly, is a live-action version of Werewolf, a detective-style reasoning show. There have been many variety shows like this in recent years, and Xiao He could understand most of it without Li Qing having to explain much.
However, although Xiao He was not interested in participating in this kind of variety show, he was still somewhat interested in the filming invitation that Li Qing mentioned.
To put it bluntly, this is basically making him play the murderer!
If it were anything else, Xiao He would have refused outright, but... who could refuse to play a murderer in the spare time?
To be honest, it's been a long time since he's played a role like this, and now that he's suddenly back to his old profession, he's really itching to get back to it...
Before Xiao He could answer, Liu Rulan knocked on the door and came in.
Upon seeing Li Qing, Liu Rulan smiled and said, "Director Li, it's been a long time."
Li Qing was surprised by Liu Rulan's arrival so quickly, and he stood up somewhat awkwardly to greet her: "Manager Liu, it's been a long time."
"Sit down, sit down, there's no need to be so formal."
As Liu Rulan spoke, she sat down on another sofa next to Xiao He, then smoothed a stray hair behind her ear and asked calmly, "What's going on here? Would you mind letting me hear about it?"
“Of course I don’t mind.”
Li Qing quickly sat down and then repeated everything he had just said to Xiao He.
At the same time, he looked at Xiao He with hope, hoping to gain Xiao He's approval.
However, Xiao He was not stupid. Although he was interested in playing a murderer, he was offered scripts to play murderers all the time. He was not really at the point where he would not be picky about any murderer. Therefore, Xiao He did not immediately respond to Director Li's praying look, but instead focused his attention on Liu Rulan.
He wasn't really familiar with Director Li, so Liu Rulan knew more about him.
Sure enough, Liu Rulan spoke up: "I heard that the Hunan TV station next door is about to start a detective-themed variety show. What's your relationship with them?"
A hint of hesitation appeared on Li Qing's face.
Xiao He narrowed his eyes.
Haha, there was definitely something wrong! No wonder he came to find him first instead of Sister Liu.
Look at him, so young, he's easy to fool, isn't he!
Seeing Xiao He's displeasure and Liu Rulan's aggressive demeanor, Li Qing gave a wry smile and said seriously, "Our program has nothing to do with that variety show, so please don't worry. It won't involve any copyright issues. We were just unlucky; we happened to run into it when we were starting the project."
There was no script-stealing or any grudges or rivalries arising from who came first. It was simply that two unrelated production teams both set their sights on this field, and their schedules clashed precisely, making them destined to fight each other in the future.
From now on, it's destined to be a head-to-head competition—comparing publicity, cast, script, viewership, and final results.
However, compared to the other program's lavish spending, their program was rather meager. Although they also hired first- or second-tier celebrities, the other program started with a bang, directly bringing in classic villains from Hong Kong films to participate in the filming of their promotional trailer, while their start was rather unremarkable.
So, after careful consideration within the production team, they set their sights on Xiao He.
