That very night, they immediately moved on to Xiao He's first scene.
In the world of "The Phantom Thieves," there is a fictional ranking of master thieves.
The white-haired hacker codenamed "blank," while possessing top-notch hacking skills capable of silently erasing his own traces and tracking down treasures, has only average physical abilities and often requires team assistance. Therefore, based on the overall ranking, he can only be ranked third.
Even so, his initial appearance exuded an air of superiority, making him seem like a high-level big shot compared to Lu Xiaokong and Shi Ji, who were ranked outside the top 100.
However, as a comedy film, even the most sophisticated character personas can't last a second.
"Not male guests?"
Shi Ji looked the person in front of him up and down, a look of disbelief on his face. "So that's a transvestite?"
White-haired hacker: ...
Lu Xiaokong: ...
What the hell is this guy, not a male customer!
"It's blank! blank! How dare you, someone who can't even speak English properly, come all the way to France alone?"
The white-haired hacker was furious.
"oh--"
Shi Ji drew out the words, not really understanding, but cleverly changed the way he addressed her: "Then I'll call you Xiao San! Your name is really awful, it's better to just call you Xiao San, it will also highlight your position in the ranking."
The white-haired hacker clutched his chest, on the verge of vomiting blood.
Being number three for so long is his eternal pain!
Goodness, the moment they met, Shi Ji started dancing wildly on his sore spots.
Lu Xiaokong also recalled how his uncle had tricked him into selling himself in the White Elephant Kingdom. He looked at the white-haired hacker with great sympathy and appropriately stopped his uncle from stirring up hatred: "Uncle, please say less."
The white-haired hacker was also furious: "Are you going to do this deal or not? If not, I'll find someone else!"
"Let's do it!"
Shi Ji tried to reach out and hook his hand around the white-haired hacker, but the hacker nimbly dodged it. Shi Ji could only awkwardly withdraw his hand and then lowered his voice to say, "But you've taken too much money! How about this, I have a lot of resources in White Elephant Country! As long as you help us find perfume this time, we'll split the money three for you and seven for me, and I'll take you there for a massage later!"
The white-haired hacker rolled his eyes, turned and walked away, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.
"Eh eh—"
After the negotiations failed, Shi Ji extended Er Kang's hand, saying, "Then you get four and I'll get six—"
"Let's talk some more—"
"Alright, alright!"
Lu Xiaokong felt ashamed and held his forehead.
Damn it, who can take his uncle away?
Shi Ji was also very dissatisfied: "Why aren't you saying anything?"
Lu Xiaokong: "...You've already offended everyone to death, what else can I say?"
He then walked along the empty street.
Shi Ji quickly followed up: "Hey, how dare you talk to your uncle like that? I even held you when you were 1258 days old—"
"Oh right, when I was three years old, you took me to play mahjong. You got so engrossed that you didn't even realize I had a fever, and you almost made me stupid!"
"Huh? Cough cough, you have a pretty good memory, kid. But doesn't that just prove that there's nothing wrong with your head?"
"..."
-
During the day, Grasse is a beautiful town with an exotic atmosphere, but at night the streets are not so brightly lit. In many places, it is not even as bright as the streets of an ordinary town in China. In particular, many of the alleys here twist and turn, weaving through the narrow gaps between buildings and extending to different places.
These alleys are completely dark on weekdays, forming a stark contrast with the main street in front. So often, in the front, there are exquisite shops filled with fragrance, while turning into the alley behind reveals damp walls and haphazardly piled garbage.
Even though the location chosen by their crew for filming was very close to the town center, next to the bustling streets during the day, many of the alleys there were still gloomy. Some of them were even narrow alleys that had been preserved from the Middle Ages and had not been fully renovated. The crew members would even deliberately avoid those "gaps" when they walked around.
Only the actors filming the scenes had to walk straight into the deepest part of one of the alleys—emphasis in parentheses: referring only to Xiao He.
The road had been roughly cleaned by staff during the day, but Xiao He still smelled some strange odor when he left. Combined with the road's eerie atmosphere, it made people imagine some dangerous crime scene.
But who exactly is ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Xiao He?
He wasn't afraid of the environment; in fact, he felt a sense of comfort and ease as he merged into the darkness.
After refusing to be followed by the staff, Xiao He walked alone into the depths of the alley.
Behind him were the film crew's crane lights and camera lenses.
Director Zhuang finally yelled "Cut!" only after Xiao He's figure completely disappeared from the camera's view.
The sound of him shouting "Crack!" through the megaphone easily reached Xiao He's ears through the narrow alley.
This also means that Xiao He's filming for tonight has finally come to an end.
Xiao He calmly walked out of the darkness, returned to the crew members, and thanked them: "Thank you, everyone, you've all worked hard."
"Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Xiao."
A staff member responded with a smile.
Xiao He then walked over to Director Zhuang, Chen You, and Xie Jingshi to view the results of tonight's filming.
To be honest, in that slightly comedic scene just now, Shi Ji, played by Chen You, spoke in a somewhat awkward and unlikable way.
After all, someone who talks about sex and money all the time can't be considered a good person.
However, Chen You's portrayal of Shi Ji, with his varied intonation and expressive face, made people feel neither offended nor at all, but rather amused.
In fact, Xiao He's performance seems somewhat out of place in this context.
How to put it? It's like two people from different worlds have been forcibly paired together. One can spout vulgarities and jokes, while the other can't even be very convincing when he says "I am Laozi".
Fortunately, in terms of character design, the hacker and Shi Ji are indeed from two different worlds. This sense of separation, when combined, makes the story more interesting.
Only Xiao He fell into a brief silence after watching the footage of this scene.
Although this performance happened to fit the requirements of the plot, it was not Xiao He's original intention.
He simply hadn't expected that there would be such a stark difference between himself and an actor like Chen You.
This disparity left Xiao He somewhat disappointed.
However, he quickly adjusted his mindset and began to observe Chen You's performance.
It's obvious that even Xie Jingshi, who plays Lu Xiaokong, can't fully keep up with Chen You's pace when everyone is joking around, but fortunately, that's how the characters are, so the two of them together don't seem out of place.
This made Xiao He feel a little better.
That's good; at least he felt somewhat at ease knowing that he was on par with his peers.
But while I feel at ease, I still need to improve the areas that need improvement.
After watching the video, Director Zhuang briefly explained the situation to Xiao He and Xie Jingshi.
Actually, this acting skill was more than enough for "The Thieves 2". However, Xiao He and Xie Jingshi are both serious people who are eager to improve, so Director Zhuang did not hesitate to spend his time analyzing some problems with their acting skills.
Xiao He and Xie Jingshi nodded repeatedly as they listened.
Chen You, on the other hand, remained rather indifferent. Even when dealing with Xie Jingshi, who was working with him for the second time, and the renowned director Zhuang Hongyi, he was not very familiar with them. When Director Zhuang was giving instructions to the two of them, he would sit quietly to the side and listen, smoking a cigarette in his hand, looking somewhat melancholy.
Xiao He couldn't help but take a quick glance, feeling a mix of emotions.
It seems that comedians who dedicate themselves to the stage often have a melancholic and aloof personality.
