Chapter 24: Refusing to Accept the Pie
In order to shape the character image, Qin Qi went to the extras recruitment office of the film and television base and observed for a day.
Qin Qi changed into ordinary quick-drying sportswear, messed up his hair deliberately to look like the character in the play, squatted among a group of extras who were eager to find a role, and chatted with a young man at random.
"Brother, have you done any squatting work today?"
The man looked at him hesitantly for a while, "You look familiar, but I don't remember where I've seen you before. Do you hang around here often?"
Who would have thought that such a great movie star would dress up like he couldn't afford to eat and come here to experience life.
"Yes, I come here often, but no group wants me."
The young man snorted. "Come on, go find a toilet and look at yourself in the mirror. It's strange that a production manager would like you. Unless it's a war movie recruiting refugees to act in the extras, you won't be suitable even if you don't have to put on makeup."
"Brother, please show me the way. I really have no money to eat."
The young man sighed, with a look of disappointment as if his talent was not recognized. "Can someone show me a way out? I've been squatting here since this morning, and seven or eight groups of people have been picked up, but it's still not my turn."
Seeing Qin Qi's pitiful look, the young man took out a Snickers bar from his pocket and handed it to him, "Here, this is for you. My girlfriend packed it for me."
Qin Qi hurriedly took it, tore open the bag and stuffed it into his mouth while saying thank you.
Seeing that he seemed to be really hungry, the other party kindly gave him a tip, "If you're hungry, just find a crew to squat and wait for them to serve you food. Generally, the crew will have extra lunch boxes. You can just mingle with the extras and get them. You don't have this common sense, and you're still here to eat for free?"
Qin Qi thanked them and moved on to the next target. He imagined that he was just an extra who came out to work to make a living and was really desperate and couldn't afford to eat. He tried five people in this way, but no one recognized him.
A stagehand picked him and asked him to play a corpse, paying him eighty dollars a day, with meals provided.
Qin Qi pretended to go to the bathroom and slipped away.
After returning to the crew, Qin Qi took off his mud-stained sportswear, washed off the shadows and stains on his face used for camouflage, and returned to his usual clear, handsome, and godlike appearance of aloofness and indifference.
After changing his makeup, Qin Qi told the director that he had found the feeling of the character.
The director looked unhappy, not excited at all. Unlike his usual enthusiasm, he just nodded calmly and told him to go to rest. "You can't shoot the next two scenes. We'll make up two night scenes tonight. Go back to the hotel and rest first."
Qin Qi called Xiao Liu and asked him what happened during the time he was away. Xiao Liu repeated what happened with a gloating look.
The filming was going well. In the plot, Shen Xiaomin and Du Ran had a physical scene that required slapping each other. As a result, Du Ran failed to control the strength and slapped Shen Xiaomin to the ground, scratching her hand.
Shen Xiaomin insisted on going to the hospital, and the director tried to contact her agent to coordinate but was unable to get through.
It was well known that the two actresses had always been at odds with each other, and now the situation was getting out of control. Even though the director was angry, he had to give Shen Xiaomin some face and temporarily adjusted the shooting order.
Qin Qi's next two scenes were scenes where he played against Shen Xiaomin, but Shen Xiaomin refused to act, so the filming naturally could not take place.
Qin Qi returned to the room and wanted to make a video call with Kong Nanzhu, but was directly rejected by the other party.
Qin Qi:?
In his memory, even if Kong Nanzhu didn't answer his call, it would just be that no one answered it temporarily, or the ringing would end automatically. She had never directly rejected the call like this.
Qin Qi changed his call and this time the call was connected after five rings.
"Where are you?"
Kong Nanzhu lowered her voice and said, "Honey, I'll call you back later, okay? I'm talking to someone outside."
Qin Qi suddenly realized that under normal circumstances he was filming during the day, and only after finishing filming at night would he and Kong Nanzhu have a truly long conversation.
The life he could imagine Kong Nanzhu was nothing more than taking photos, recording videos, live streaming, and shopping with Xu Qingqing.
If Kong Nanzhu didn't tell him actively, then he seemed to have no idea who she was going to meet or what she was going to do during the day.
Just like now, if it wasn't a very important conversation, Kong Nanzhu would definitely not reject his video, nor would she talk to him in such a sneaky and low voice.
Qin Qi felt an inexplicable irritation in his heart. This feeling of not being able to control everything was very bad.
He has always been under the control of Shen Jun and has tried his best to fight against him, so for Qin Qi, the sense of control over people or things has almost become one of his most basic needs.
In the past, Kong Nanzhu would tell him everything through messages, share interesting experiences, and report what she did during the day. He never asked Kong Nanzhu to do this, but he always enjoyed this feeling.
He had a fixed time every day to read Kong Nanzhu's messages, which almost became his only mental relaxation during the busiest period of his work in the past two years.
When did this start to change ?
Qin Qi recalled that since one day when he stayed up all night to reshoot scenes and did not reply to Kong Nanzhu's message that day, Kong Nanzhu never shared her daily life with him in such detail again.
The call didn't last long. After hanging up, Kong Nanzhu walked back to her seat, straightened her skirt, and gave the person on the other end an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry, it's my husband's call. You rejected so many calls just now, which really makes me look very impolite."
Dong Jian was surprised that she was already married, but he still expressed his understanding, "No, of course, family calls come first. The phone that just rang was my work phone, but I'm dealing with the most important work matter in my heart right now."
Kong Nanzhu picked up the teacup and deliberately lowered his head to avoid Dong Jian's gaze.
This person is very aggressive, and his words and deeds are sincere, but also a bit aggressive.
Kong Nanzhu was not good at communicating with strangers. When she met someone like this, her toes kept curling up and shrinking nervously in her shoes.
I almost tore the soles of my shoes apart.
In the past hour, she had rejected Dong Jian's invitation to join the company many times, but after each rejection, he would immediately propose a more tempting and further cooperation plan. Kong Nanzhu felt that in this situation, silence was the best response.
"Our cooperation will definitely bring you a more efficient experience..."
I don’t want to listen, it’s just a turtle chanting sutras.
"I will strive to obtain a certain amount of resources for you..."
Count the stars, one, two, three, four, five, seven.
Dong Jian patiently persuaded, and when he got excited, he gestured with his hands in the air. Seeing that Kong Nanzhu had not spoken for a long time and seemed to be lost in thought, he confidently stretched out his right hand, "Ms. Kong, please trust your own judgment."
Kong Nanzhu felt relieved, thinking that if you had given me this opportunity earlier, you wouldn't have to waste so much saliva. "Great, I believe in myself, I refuse."
Dong Jian: …
You are confident, but you make me lose confidence.
This was the first time in Dong Jian’s ten years of career that he began to doubt his own persuasive abilities.
He doubted the true identity of the woman in front of him. Either she was stupid and didn't understand what kind of opportunity to rise to prominence was before her; or she was disdainful and felt that these things were not worthy of her attention.
It's not that he hasn't checked Kong Nanzhu's background information during this period, but he was able to find out very little. This made Dong Jian more certain of the special nature of her identity. It's impossible for the information of ordinary people to be encrypted and protected so carefully.
After sending Kong Nanzhu to the car, Dong Jian took out his cell phone to check the call. He knew it was the crew calling him, and once he picked up the call, he didn't know when it would end, especially since Shen Xiaomin had been disobedient recently, he was a little too lazy to take care of her.
Sure enough, after dialing the phone, the assistant director explained the situation clearly and concisely, and in a not-so-pleasant tone, he asked him to persuade Shen Xiaomin.
Dong Jian took off his glasses and pressed the sides of his nose. His eyes revealed fatigue, with a hint of viciousness flashing across them.
