The awards hall was already gradually filled with people.
Here, Xiao He unexpectedly encountered a few acquaintances.
He greeted Ning Jiaqi, then stood up and walked to another area.
"Hello Director Hou, hello Brother Zehang, it's been a long time since we last met."
Xiao He greeted the crew members on this side.
The people sitting here are all acquaintances I met during the "Killing Life" period.
Sitting in the very center is Hou Rongxuan, the director at the time. He was the one who pulled Xiao He to play Zhu Laosan on set.
The other person was an old acquaintance, Liu Zehang, who had already collaborated with Xiao He twice.
Liu Zehang and director Hou first collaborated on "Killing Life," where Liu played Zhu Lao Er. Later, director Hou established a new film crew and invited Liu to play the lead role, and the final film was successfully released earlier this year.
Although the box office performance of this work was far inferior to that of "No Bait" or even "Killing Life" back then, the overall quality was still quite good, so Director Hou and his team were also among the nominated film groups for the Baiming Awards this time.
In that sense, they should actually be considered competitors.
However, Director Hou has shown Xiao He a great deal of kindness in recognizing his talent, and Xiao He and Liu Zehang have been friends in the industry for many years, so this tense atmosphere is not so important.
"Xiao Xiao, come and sit down."
Hou Rongxuan was also deeply impressed by Xiao He, and immediately smiled and invited Xiao He to sit down.
Liu Zehang also made room for Xiao He.
"Thanks."
Xiao He sat down with a smile and greeted the other members of the film crew.
Interestingly, there is a lot of overlap between the crew members in this production and those in "Killing Life". Many of them are people he worked with in "Killing Life", and Xiao He looks quite familiar with them.
After asking around, I ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) learned that Hou Rongxuan's latest work is also a suspenseful crime thriller. Considering that everyone had a relatively pleasant collaboration during the filming of "Killing Life", Hou Rongxuan invited many old acquaintances to work together again.
Actually, Xiao He had been called before, but at that time he already had "No Bait" and was filming abroad. In addition, his career path at that time probably wouldn't repeat the role of a criminal like Zhu Laosan, so this matter was not mentioned again.
Xiao He nodded knowingly, his gaze sweeping over everyone, before he quickly noticed that someone seemed to be missing: "Where's Li Hanyue?"
He noticed that the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat tense when he asked the question.
Hou Rongxuan's smile faded slightly, and everyone else fell silent.
Li Hanyue played a victim in the movie "Killing Life". Later, because her image was too similar to that of the victim in the real case, she was targeted by the real culprit.
If Xiao He hadn't appeared and disrupted everything, Li Hanyue might have really been in mortal danger.
This incident did have some impact on her. Later, Li Hanyue stopped performing in film crews and instead chose to travel to relax and unwind.
These were Xiao He's final impressions of Li Hanyue.
Later, he moved too fast and went too far, and these people from his past gradually drifted away from his life. Xiao He simply didn't have the energy to maintain these relationships or care about other people's current situation.
However, in Xiao He's memory, Director Hou treated Li Hanyue quite well and intended to cultivate her. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let her play an important tragic role in "Killing Life" when she was still a performance student. Moreover, Li Hanyue's appearance is the delicate and innocent type, and her acting is unpretentious and exaggerated. She is the kind of actress who is more realistic. Such actresses are generally favored by directors of realistic films.
Therefore, Xiao He originally thought that after Li Hanyue returned from her trip, she would choose to work with Director Hou again, or even participate in the filming of this movie.
But... now that I think about it, it seems that I haven't heard much about Li Hanyue, not just on social media, but also on the internet.
The girl who started out very high and entered the entertainment industry at almost the same time as him seems to have completely disappeared from the industry.
—He seems to have said something wrong.
"Ahem, she's here too, but she seems to have gone out just now."
Liu Zehang coughed lightly, then took the initiative to introduce Xiao He: "Oh, right, this is our female lead this time! Let me introduce her to you! It's obvious you haven't seen our movie! That's really too much, I even contributed to the box office of 'No Bait' for you."
"Ha ha."
Xiao He hadn't actually watched Liu Zehang's movie. He gave a slightly embarrassed chuckle, then greeted the female lead with a smile, without mentioning Li Hanyue again.
But he always felt a heavy weight in his heart, as if something bad had happened.
After chatting with the crew for a while, Xiao He stood up and patted Liu Zehang next to him: "Brother Zehang, come with me to get something to eat next door?"
Liu Zehang roughly guessed what Xiao He was going to ask, and stood up as well: "Okay, I'll tell Director Hou."
He then walked over to Director Hou and whispered a few words in his ear. Director Hou sighed and waved his hand.
Xia Ze, who was once the screenwriter of "Killing Life" and is now the screenwriter of a new film, glanced at the two people leaving the hall, slowly withdrew his gaze, and looked ahead: "What a pity."
Hou Rongxuan didn't speak, but just shook his head: "It's all fate."
-
Over here, Xiao He and his companion walked out of the hall, but instead of going to the rest hall over there, they found a secluded corner and started talking about Li Hanyue.
"Did something happen to her?"
When Xiao He asked this question, he had mixed feelings.
After all, they had a pretty good relationship when they were filming, and they kept in touch on and off. But later, Xiao He got busy with his career, and Li Hanyue stopped contacting him. They gradually lost contact. Now, it has been exactly three years since their first encounter on "Killing Life".
The people of the past are no longer the same.
Liu Zehang brought bad news: "She later started dating someone, and her mental state wasn't very good."
Xiao He immediately frowned: "Depression? Tell me more."
The bad premonition came true, and Xiao He was genuinely worried.
"She had a boyfriend before, but it seems the relationship wasn't going well."
Because they were out in public, Liu Zehang spoke rather vaguely, only briefly recounting the events: "Then she went to get plastic surgery, but it failed. She kept getting more and more surgery... Now she's a bit obsessed."
"What?"
Xiao He found it hard to believe.
Li Hanyue, to put it bluntly, is at least a campus beauty in terms of looks. With such beauty, why would she need to get plastic surgery?
With her naturally delicate and innocent appearance, she's so adorable that everyone adores her. Isn't she satisfied with her beauty?
Xiao He then frowned, feeling that something was not right. Something flashed through his mind, but he couldn't grasp it.
The Li Hanyue he once knew shouldn't be like this.
What exactly happened in the past few years?
Why would something cause such a drastic change in a person?
Liu Zehang was about to say something when the two of them suddenly heard a commotion coming from the front hall of the venue in the distance.
The two exchanged a glance, both having a bad feeling, and immediately started running in that direction—
