After discussing the general situation, Xiao He sat down to begin his makeup application.
However, at that very moment, an awkward problem suddenly emerged—according to the script's setting, Mo Tun had a buzz cut.
But because of filming "Law of the Jungle," Xiao He had been keeping his hair short for easier styling. Furthermore, although "Law of the Jungle" had been shooting for a long time, the story actually all took place on the same day. Xiao He's hair had been continuously maintained by the hairstylist from the "Law of the Jungle" crew to prevent inconsistencies on camera.
Therefore, coming to the "Sea Fog Pursuit" set this time, it was impossible for Xiao He to specifically get a buzz cut just for this two-day role.
Upon discovering this situation, the hairstylist immediately went to discuss it with Wang Xingyuan.
Wang Xingyuan hadn't anticipated this scenario either and hurried to the makeup room to assess the situation.
Looking at the person in front of the makeup mirror, Wang Xingyuan pondered with frustration: "First, let's sweep the front hair back and try a slicked-back hairstyle?"
The makeup artist immediately complied.
Neither Xiao He nor Liu Rulan spoke, quietly following the arrangements.
Once the slicked-back hairstyle was done, the person indeed appeared much more mature and fierce compared to the previous style, but it still felt like something was missing, not quite resembling someone who lived on the edge, risking their life across several countries' borders.
Wang Xingyuan rested his chin on his hand: This wasn't quite the Mo Tun he had imagined...
Just then, Xiao Song quietly suggested: "How about... trying medium-length hair?"
Lengthening is better than cutting short.
Mo Tun actually wasn't Chinese; his appearance and style were quite different from the commonly perceived image of a national. Moreover, he drifted on the sea year-round, so he probably didn't get haircuts often. Even if he did groom himself, he'd most likely use his own small knife to cut his hair rather than letting others help.
Therefore, his hair should be somewhat long, somewhat messy and frizzy, appearing slightly wavy.
After hearing Xiao Song's analysis, Wang Xingyuan's eyes lit up, and he heavily patted Xiao Song on the shoulder: "You kid! After being by my side for so long, you've finally improved a lot!"
Xiao Song scratched his head and chuckled.
Thus, when Xiao He officially appeared on set, he had slightly wavy, medium-length hair that reached just to his shoulders. Simultaneously, he wore a dark-colored beach shirt and black shorts, with flip-flops on his feet. Chewing gum, he leisurely walked over to Director Wang's side.
In the story, Mo Tun chewed betel nut, but as everyone knows, if you don't use it, never start, and if you do, quit as soon as possible. Xiao He couldn't joke about his health either, so he chewed gum as a substitute. Even if a few shots required it in the story, versatile props could easily handle it, making it quite simple to manage.
Wang Xingyuan excitedly nodded repeatedly upon seeing Xiao He's appearance: "Good, good, this is exactly the effect I wanted!"
Now, Xiao He almost perfectly matched the Mo Tun in his mind!
At this moment, Su Ji, the actor playing the protagonist Mu Wen, also walked over.
"Wow, is this the actor coming to save the scene?"
Seeing Xiao He, he walked over somewhat excitedly.
Xiao He also nodded slightly towards him: "Hello, Brother Su."
Su Ji was one of the male actors who debuted around the same time as Liu Zehang and was also quite skilled in acting. However, compared to Liu Zehang, his resources were much worse. Basically, he had to fight for lead roles himself, scramble for resources himself, and rely on fans for promotion, while the small studio attached to his small company happily collected money behind the scenes, doing nothing.
Su Ji's fans had protested, argued, and gone crazy, but undoubtedly, nothing changed.
If Taidong Entertainment was cultivating Liu Zehang as the top acting talent among the younger generation, hoping to promote him as the next Grand Slam film emperor and make him their future main representative, then the small company behind Su Ji was eager to leech off Su Ji every day, completely disregarding his well-being. As long as they could make money, they would accept any role.
Because of this, Wang Xingyuan managed to successfully invite Su Ji to play the male lead in his crew, which was rumored in the industry to be headed for a "major flop."
Xiao He had previously heard Liu Zehang's evaluation of this person: he said Su Ji himself was indeed very good, but he chose a relative as his agent, was easily influenced, relatively easily controlled by his agent and agency, and had almost no opinion of his own.
This situation was somewhat different from Liu Zehang's case back then. Liu Zehang understood his position and had the desire to change the status quo, while Su Ji... might be quite content with the current situation.
However, these matters weren't important to Xiao He anyway. As long as Su Ji didn't affect his filming schedule, it was fine. He was only filming for two days; he would leave once done, so there was no need for too much interaction.
Since the filming schedule was tight, everyone didn't have much time for small talk. After Wang Xingyuan gave a few instructions to the crew staff, the entire team immediately entered a state of preparation to start shooting the first scene featuring Mo Tun's appearance.
This scene mainly depicted the protagonist Mu Wen, through deliberate flattery and ingratiation, finally becoming good brothers with a land transport worker. On this day, problems arose on their transport route, so this good brother simply asked Mu Wen to help with the transport run.
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Thus, on a ship docked by the coast, he finally met the legendary man—
"Sorry, boss, we had some trouble on the road today, so we're a bit late."
Wan Shan, Mu Wen's newly-made good brother, rubbed his hands together as he looked at the worker in front of him, his face wearing an extremely obsequious smile: "But fortunately, the goods have safely arrived here. Please don't hold it against us."
The worker, while signaling others to move the goods onto the ship, impatiently glared at Wan Shan: "Got it, got it. It's already very late now. Hurry up and tell your buddy to help with the loading. Stop dawdling!"
"Ah, right away."
Wan Shan glanced back at Mu Wen and gave him a look: "Quick, come help load up!"
"Oh, oh."
Mu Wen immediately acted somewhat dumbfounded and started helping move things.
It was a small yacht, with wooden crates the same size as the ones they transported placed all over the deck.
As soon as Mu Wen boarded, his eyes fixated, his gaze irresistibly drawn to a wooden crate nearby.
Perhaps it was inconvenient to pack, or perhaps the wooden crate simply couldn't hold it, but the item wasn't placed inside a crate like the other goods. Instead, it was casually placed on top of a crate outside. And with almost just one glance, Mu Wen recognized it as a well-preserved golden nanmu carved beam, possessing both historical and collectible value.
This item should have originally belonged to some ancient structure, serving as one of the main components of the building's framework, an important carrier of ancient art passed down to the present. But he didn't know where these people had gotten it from; they had actually directly cut the beam, sawed it into sections of different sizes, and were transporting it roughly. Many areas of the exquisite, fluid carvings already showed severe damage.
Looking at the carved depiction of a celestial court banquet, with several small figures damaged due to axe chops, Mu Wen felt heartache watching it.
A perfectly good golden nanmu beam, and you just chop it up like ordinary wood?
These people are really™ crazy!
Because of this, Mu Wen unintentionally lingered a moment too long.
Just then, a man dragged someone from the ground out of the ship's cabin.