"I, I definitely won't mind."
Within just a few breaths, Sun Qingqing had composed herself and answered through gritted teeth, "Th-thank you, Brother Xiao..."
Although she felt quite unwilling in her heart, Sun Qingqing didn't dare offend Xiao He. After all, Xiao He's career was currently booming with strong momentum, and he had the powerful Liu Rulan backing him. For someone like her—just an ordinary small fry—being able to squeeze into this dressing room was already an achievement; she certainly couldn't afford to oppose Xiao He.
Of course, the more important reason was—
This Xiao He guy just looked like someone you shouldn't mess with! Was that murderous aura for real? How could someone actually possess such terrifying eyes in real life...
Just meeting his gaze made Sun Qingqing feel like her legs were trembling uncontrollably, her fingers shaking involuntarily, and her eyes growing hot as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
Any thoughts she had been brewing were now completely scared away.
Xiao He curled his lips slightly, giving her a sarcastic look before leisurely withdrawing the deliberately revealed cold glare.
He hadn't really wanted to get involved in this kind of matter to begin with.
But if the film set became chaotic, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
As for exposing the matter right then and there? Xiao He hadn't considered that.
Sun Qingqing didn't carry any dangerous aura about her. Her deliberate cup-swapping was most likely just to steal a role or due to some personal grudge against Zhang Xiaoyu. No matter how big the fuss, it wouldn't lead to anything life-threatening—at most, Zhang Xiaoyu would suffer some discomfort.
If he directly called her out, today's work would definitely not proceed smoothly again. And given this crew's complicated situation, if any real problems emerged or major disturbances occurred that delayed filming, then according to some people's logic, they definitely wouldn't blame Sun Qingqing—the actual culprit—but would instead blame him for being troublesome and meddling in others' business.
During his time with the crew, Xiao He had come to understand clearly: some people's intelligence really wasn't suited for discussing deeper issues with them, and you shouldn't even expect them to have much moral bottom line.
They might not necessarily stand on the right side of who's right and who's wrong, but whoever delayed everyone's work would definitely be considered the sinner.
Xiao He chose to keep silent and turn a blind eye to avoid trouble.
Seeing that Xiao He had finally withdrawn his terrifying gaze and wasn't taking any further action to expose her, Sun Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief internally.
Thank goodness, thank goodness Xiao He didn't say anything...
Then Sun Qingqing shot a very resentful look at Zhang Xiaoyu's back.
—This girl was really lucky. How did she manage to dodge this so fortunately?
Damn it! If only she could have made this Zhang Xiaoyu have an allergic reaction and become unable to play that role, then the role would have been hers!
She was so close, she was almost successful!
"Qingqing, time to get your makeup done. What are you still standing there dumbfounded for?"
Completely unaware of the malice from the person beside her, Zhang Xiaoyu noticed the other hadn't sat down yet and immediately turned her head in confusion to ask what was going on.
Sun Qingqing snapped out of it, wiped the cold sweat that had seeped from her forehead, and put on a false yet intimate smile again as she sat down beside Zhang Xiaoyu, saying, "Got it, I'm coming!"
After finishing his makeup, Xiao He didn't pay any more attention to the plastic sister duo over there. Instead, he reached out and patted Xiao Chen's shoulder, praising him, "You're quite sharp, kid. You worked hard just now."
"Hehe." Xiao Chen scratched his head and gave an honest smile. "I'm glad I could help you, Brother Xiao. But what exactly happened?"
"This matter is rather complicated. I'll tell you later. Where's Sister Liu?"
"Sister Liu? She's not coming today." Xiao Chen explained, "She went to visit several producers in Beijing."
Xiao He: "...I see. Never mind then, I'll go film first."
He'd let Sister Liu handle this privately later. Keeping such a potential problem in the crew wasn't ideal anyway.
-
Today's scene was relatively simple fight choreography, which presented no difficulty for the current Xiao He.
Actually, if the system really had supernatural abilities like "scaling walls and running on roofs," Xiao He would have loved to try some qinggong for fun.
He also wanted to experience the legendary "protagonist-level" show-off treatment of people flying through the air with wire work chasing after them.
But in reality... hehe, that opportunity probably didn't exist.
Just as Xiao He was looking down and adjusting his wire work equipment with the wire technician, some commotion suddenly erupted nearby.
Xiao He sensed something and was the first to lift his head and look in that direction—
A crowd of people surged in from the set entrance, clustering around one person.
"What's going on?"
Xiao He initially thought Sun Qingqing had returned to her old ways and targeted Zhang Xiaoyu again.
But as the people drew closer, Xiao He began to see the situation clearly.
A group of actors and their managers were currently surrounding a portly man, talking while walking in this direction.
"Director Fan, we'll be troubling you to take care of things this time."
"Director Fan, our Sitong has always been very well-behaved. She's been looking forward to collaborating with you for a while now—we never expected this wish would come true today—"
"Director Fan, I wonder what your upcoming filming schedule looks like?"
"Director Fan, our artist has been working very hard recently. Do you think you could talk to Director Yan about..."
"Director Fan, will you be taking over the filming here next?"
"Director Fan..."
Xiao He: ...
To be honest, this scene felt somewhat absurd and ridiculous.
It was like a group of concubines who had gone mad from their long stay in the cold palace had finally seen the Empress Dowager return to the palace, all crowding around to complain and beg for her support.
To be fair, the film set wasn't usually this chaotic. Aside from those few troublemakers secretly scheming something every day and competing with each other, the crew's filming progress normally proceeded without any delays.
Although Yan Shaohan couldn't manage the crew's atmosphere and some people's petty schemes well, he was an absolute tyrant during filming—what he said went—and the quality of the filmed content was quite good. So the "Corner Also" crew wasn't exactly in dire straits waiting for a "savior."
But for certain people with poor acting skills who could only resort to petty tricks, they were indeed waiting for a "savior."
Yuan Sitong's manager, Tang Wenjuan, was speaking while subtly undermining Director Yan, following Director Fan's steps forward. She chattered on for a long time until her mouth felt dry, but Director Fan remained cheerfully smiling, making it impossible to discern his true thoughts, which left Tang Wenjuan feeling quite unsettled.
What did this Director Fan mean? After all that talking, why wasn't he giving a definite answer?
Over on the other side, Yan Shaohan had also paused what he was doing. Hearing that the assistant director had returned early with his team, he immediately looked up with pleasant surprise and greeted Fan Congwen with a smile: "Senior Brother Fan! You're finally back? You've worked hard, worked hard."
The smile on Fan Congwen's face became more sincere as he nodded slightly in response to Yan Shaohan: "Little junior brother, long time no see. Your side seems quite lively."
"Se-senior brother?"
Tang Wenjuan was dumbfounded.
Fan Congwen glanced sideways at her with a somewhat mocking smile and asked, "What's the matter? Director Yan and I are both students of Director Ning from Beijing Drama Academy. Calling him junior brother is quite normal, isn't it?"
"Ah, hahaha, I was just saying Director Yan's filming style felt familiar. So it's Director Ning's style."
Tang Wenjuan could clearly sense his protective tone and laughed awkwardly to cover her embarrassment.
Xiao He watched coldly from the sidelines.
Tsk tsk, some people's flattery had missed the mark completely.