From a certain perspective, this script is actually quite inspiring.
Shu Yuxiu helped someone race cars and earned a huge bonus, successfully upgrading from an ordinary auto mechanic to a somewhat famous race car driver. Later, he continued to improve himself, going to learn various extreme sports, and during this process met many people who made significant contributions to Shu Yuxiu's subsequent career development...
—Before seeing this script, Xiao He had always thought that the all-round protagonist character Sister Liu mentioned must be someone from an excellent family background with extremely high status, but he never expected it to be just a very ordinary person... no, not exactly ordinary either. Someone who could learn and master these skills so quickly could never be an ordinary person—this was a genius!
With such learning ability, honestly, they could succeed at anything!
But Xiao He felt this story was a bit too smooth, with no major ups and downs in the overall plot development during the early stages. Later, Shu Yuxiu suddenly got targeted by his father-in-law's opponents, was framed with false accusations, and got arrested and detained by the police—this plot development felt particularly abrupt.
Moreover, the plot development in the script he currently had was very linear. Normally speaking, for a protagonist to learn and master these skills would take at least several years, but the script didn't highlight this—it could be that the screenwriter intentionally blurred the timeline.
Xiao He suspected that only by joining the production team and seeing the complete script would many of the inconsistencies be explained.
"Director Ning likes to hold back part of the script, only showing the complete version after you join the production team," Liu Rulan explained. "That's why you need to carefully study the script and analyze the plot. Director Ning really enjoys hearing actors' insights about the script during auditions."
Xiao He understood, and at the same time felt a strong interest rising within him.
So what's really going on with this script?
Could it be that the protagonist Shu Yuxiu... really killed his own wife?
"When can I audition?" Xiao He asked eagerly.
"The preliminary scheduled time is before Spring Festival," Liu Rulan said. "But more detailed timing still needs to be confirmed through notification."
Xiao He nodded: "Okay."
Liu Rulan also showed a smile: "This time the director is Ning Jiaqi, and his projects always have very large investment scales. I estimate that once the production team's preliminary preparations are mostly complete, the released role auditions will be highly competitive. You need to be mentally prepared."
After all, calculating carefully, Ning Jiaqi hasn't released any new movies in recent years. His last famous film was a commercial movie four years ago.
Speaking of which, Zhuang Hongyi could be considered Ning Jiaqi's disciple. Directors from their lineage are almost all very skilled at shooting commercial films, forming a relatively authoritative faction within the entire domestic entertainment film industry. Since Zhuang Hongyi began making his mark and gained absolute authority, Ning Jiaqi has been content to take it easy, rarely making big moves anymore.
What could reignite his passion for filming is probably this script that's been delayed for ten years.
"The age range for Shu Yuxiu's character is very broad, from 20 to 40 years old. As long as you don't look old and are handsome, basically anyone can play it. The competition you'll face might include many established actors and even award-winning actors," Liu Rulan continued. "Your biggest advantages right now are your youth, your many certifications, your skills being infinitely close to the protagonist's character setup, and the fact that you're currently in a project invested by Zhuang Hongyi—the advantage of proximity. Looking at these points, your chances are still quite good."
"I understand."
Xiao He responded, then seemed to understand something, looking at Liu Rulan with a knowing smile: "So Sister Liu, these so-called actor requirements are actually just your requirements for me, right?"
Thinking about it now, such strict actor skill requirements—how could anyone truly meet them completely? Requirements like knowing racing, motorcycles, diving, skydiving, plus singing, cooking, speaking foreign languages... Just these requirements alone could scare away ninety percent of the entertainment industry. Normally, actors would at most know one or two things, or learn the basic forms, almost impossible to truly master everything.
So this should be Liu Rulan's requirements for him.
"Correct."
Liu Rulan nodded quite frankly, not hiding the fact that she had previously deceived Xiao He: "Your current qualifications and fame can't reach the audition threshold for Ning Jiaqi's protagonist role, let alone compete with those award-winning actors who have been famous for years. So we can only start from other aspects, letting you have your own natural advantages to smoothly enter Director Ning's consideration range for actors."
Compared to those actors who have been famous for years, Xiao He has only been in the industry for one year. Although he has some recognition, he's truly too new to the industry.
Compared to those actors with many awards, Xiao He has no substantial achievements yet. Having him surpass these people isn't realistic.
So Liu Rulan could only take an unconventional approach, starting from the character setup—making Xiao He become the actor most like Shu Yuxiu!
"So my audition for Director Zhuang's 'The Phantom Thief Alliance' was actually another shortcut you planned in advance, right Sister Liu?"
"Yes, given the relationship between Zhuang Hongyi and Ning Jiaqi, as long as he's willing to put in a few words for us, we'd be half successful." Liu Rulan's expression showed satisfaction. "But I didn't expect that before I even had time to hint to Director Zhuang about this script matter, he already noticed you first and asked you to act in 'Corner Also'."
Xiao He really proved himself worthy too.
After hearing Liu Rulan's words, Xiao He fell into a long silence.
Honestly, he was genuinely somewhat shocked now.
He never expected that even before 'The Phantom Thief Alliance', Liu Rulan had already been planning this opportunity for him, thinking several steps ahead, helping him leverage connections from one resource to pursue bigger resources.
Even saying that as early as several months ago, she had already been monitoring the relationships and resource trends in this area for him.
Xiao He truly admired Liu Rulan.
"Alright, don't look at me with such worshipful eyes." Liu Rulan chuckled. "Director Zhuang said you should focus on filming the current script properly first. If you dare mess up 'Corner Also', don't even think about this audition."
"Of course not, Sister Liu—" Xiao He immediately responded with a laugh.
So in the following days, Xiao He worked even harder.
Filming normally during the day, and continuing to study the 'No Bait' script at night.
In the blink of an eye, it was mid-January.
Another busy evening arrived, and Liu Rulan brought Xiao He some new news—
'Sea Fog Pursuit' will premiere tomorrow on Penguin Video!
Hearing this news, Xiao He was momentarily dazed.
Sea Fog Pursuit? What's that?
...Oh, that drama he finished filming in two days to save the production!
He never expected that in the blink of an eye, so much time had already passed!
Xiao He still remembered—this was the latest work by Wang Xingyuan, the director of the previous 'Heart of Embers'!
As someone specialized in idol dramas, transitioning to shoot suspense-oriented TV dramas—everyone thought he was crazy at the time.
Even the actors ran away halfway through filming, forcing Wang Xingyuan to seek Xiao He's help for emergency rescue.
But honestly, although Xiao He was quite optimistic about this drama, he didn't have much tangible feeling about it.
If Liu Rulan hadn't reminded him, he would have completely forgotten about this drama long ago.
Mainly because the filming was too fast—he finished all his character's scenes in just two days straight. There were even parts where he himself hadn't fully understood the acting yet, but Wang Xingyuan was already rushing to call "Cut!" and move to the next scene. Xiao He worked non-stop for two days, filming scenes in fragments, and he couldn't even imagine what the final product would look like.
Now suddenly hearing that this drama was about to air, Xiao He felt somewhat anxious.
Oh no, how did he act back then? He hadn't even seen any finished product from Director Wang.
It's so soon!
"What do I need to do? Just help with promotion?"
Xiao He asked.
Liu Rulan: "I've already helped you forward the promotional posts, but the pre-release reception for this drama isn't very good currently."
"Not very good?"
Xiao He frowned slightly, then said: "Let me check online to see the situation."