After The Vicious Cannon Fodder Was Reborn

Chapter 150: Recharging & First Scene

TN: bonus chapter!

Tao Mu wanted to make a phone call to Li Xiaoheng, but he was not sure whether or not Li Xiaoheng was busy on the other end of the line, so he sent a text through FlyNews first.

When he received the FlyNews text, Li Xiaoheng was at the negotiating table. The two sides were deadlocked over some details of the takeover, with little progress made during the two-hour negotiation. Everyone was feeling a little tired.

Li Xiaoheng simply let everyone take a break, and then went out with his mobile phone.

"What's the matter?" Li Xiaoheng asked with a warm smile: "You should be filming at this time, why did you suddenly think of calling me?"

Hearing Li Xiaoheng's voice, Tao Mu, who was still doubting his IQ just now, was slightly reassured and said, "Something happened, we are taking a break now."

Tao Mu recounted the inexplicable episode just now, and asked Li Xiaoheng, "Was I affected again?"

Indeed a bit. According to Tao Mu's normally tactful methods, when encountering such unreasonable things, he would have just advised Shen Yu to restrain his fans, rather than dishing out smack talk himself.

"But it doesn't matter." Li Xiaoheng smiled and said, "Giving this kind of person a verbal smackdown is no big deal. So long as you have vented your anger."

Always holding back would make one sick. Appropriate tantrums also contribute to physical and mental health.

Sure enough, he was still affected! Tao Mu frowned, touched the photo a little depressingly and complained, "Then your warding evil spirits effect still needs to be enhanced."

Li Xiaoheng chuckled lightly. Following Tao Mu's words, he promised, "En, I will try my best."

How can one try their best on this kind of thing? Tao Mu raised his eyebrows and wanted to say something, but then he paused and didn't say anything. Instead he asked, "Aren't you busy over there?"

"I'm also taking a break." Li Xiaoheng walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the busy and crowded Hong Kong streets: "..There are a few details that we're still stuck on, so we decided to put it aside for now. Take it slowly."

Li Xiaoheng said, and asked Tao Mu with some puzzlement: "You always say that you were affected? Affected by what? Did someone curse you?"

Li Xiaoheng knew that some people in the entertainment industry were superstitious and could do anything for the sake of being famous. For example, dealing in curses and voodoo arts. As soon as Tao Mu came to Hong Kong, his behavior became very different. Could it be that he was worried that he had been cursed?

Thinking of this, Li Xiaoheng's face darkened. Although he didn't believe in the supernatural, if someone dared to hold nefarious intentions against Tao Mu, don't blame him for being rude.

"No.." Tao Mu didn't expect big brother Li to have such a rich imagination, and he couldn't help but explain: "It's not as exaggerated as what you mentioned. I just feel that Shen Yu and I seem to be at odds with each other. Every time I see him, I become especially impulsive and blind."

So that's what happened.

Li Xiaoheng's frown smoothed out. Thinking of Tao Mu's old grudge with the young son of the Shen family, he had to admit: "The energies of you two really are at odds. Every time he encounters something about you, he would also become inexplicable."

Li Xiaoheng only remarked casually, but when Tao Mu heard it his ears couldn't help but twitch slightly: "You said that when Shen Yu encounters me, he would become different from usual?"

Li Xiaoheng pondered for a moment before he said, "I think so. Just like this incident when extreme fans insulted Yan Sheng, he could have personally stepped forward to restrain his fans, which is the best public relations move for the crisiswhen you were scolded by his fans before, wasn't that what he did. Listening to your words, he seems to have a very good relationship with Yan Sheng. So why hasn't he taken any action until now, but instead he came to you and asked you to ban the netizens? He should know that this kind of request is fundamentally unreasonable."

Having dealt with Shen Yu twice before, Li Xiaoheng had already noticed that it was not that Shen Yu did not understand other people, but that most of the time he was simply unwilling to listen to persuasion. He just wanted to do whatever he pleased. He wanted the whole world to accommodate him. But once he encountered a hard stubble, he would immediately change his attitude and bow his head and admit his mistake. But strangely enough, even though he had repeatedly hit a brick wall several times regarding Tao Mu, he still didn't repent. Not even the slightest lesson learned.

"If Shen Yu really cares about Yan Sheng, then this kind of behavior doesn't make sense logically. But think about it from another anglemaybe the reason why Shen Yu begged you was not for Yan Sheng, but in order to get close to you?"

When Li Xiaoheng said this, he suddenly thought of the inexplicable obsession the young son of the Shen family had towards Tao Mu. He couldn't help frowning and asked, "Could it be that he likes you?" So he tried desperately to prove that he was special in Tao Mu's heart. That Tao Mu would make an exception for him?

Tao Mu was frightened into shivers by Li Xiaoheng's guess: "Don't tell ghost stories in the daytime, okay? Saying that he likes me, the way I see it, he wants to kill me is more like it."

Li Xiaoheng didn't know about the plot halo, but Tao Mu knew it well. It was likely that Shen Yu himself was also affected by the halo of the plot, and sticking to him whenever he had a chance must be for the sake of the plot.

After a pause, Tao Mu teased again: "But CEO Li's brain circuit is also quite strange. You can actually think of this logic. Is it possible that CEO Li likes to watch dog blood idol dramas in private?"

"Well, no." Li Xiaoheng had just minored in psychology when he was studying in the U.S.: "People are unpredictable, and there are people with all kinds of brain circuits. If you don't care about him, then there is no need to try to figure out what he thinks."

As for why Li Xiaoheng minored in psychology, it was also to have more leverage when negotiating with people or in business communication. Of course, Li Xiaoheng believed that the biggest use of learning psychology was to successfully seduce their CEO Tao.

Considering that Li Xiaoheng was still at the negotiating table, Tao Mu didn't chat for too long and hung up in less than twenty minutes. Even so, Tao Mu still felt that his thinking was much clearer.

He felt that Li Xiaoheng's thinking was right. Regardless of whether the plot halo could affect his IQ, or even if the plot halo wanted to force Tao Mu to follow the plot, so long as Tao Mu could ensure that his actions were from his heart, would not cause too much negative impact on himself and would not result in hidden dangers that could not be dealt with, then he could just do whatever he wanted.

It was not a good thing to always suppress everything, since the plot wanted drama, then drama it would have. Anyway, he also noticed that the plot halo was quite utilitarian. It only focused on the results, not the process. In other words, no matter what kind of impression Shen Yu would leave on the people around him when he followed the plot, so long as he did in fact follow the plot at key points, then the plot halo did not care about other things and nor would it be too controlling.

If this was the case, then when Tao Mu faced Shen Yu in the future, he didn't have to only helplessly retreat and try to stay away. He could choose the right counterattack.

Tao Mu rubbed his chin and felt that his self-confidence was really getting more and more inflated. He actually wanted to use the plot halo to stir up drama of his own.

But what exactly should be done, Tao Mu was still uncertain. The next time Shen Yu couldn't help but come back to provoke him, he could then experiment slowly. Anyway, no matter how he hid away or avoided it, the plot halo was determined not to let him go.

Then he would just cross that bridge when he came to it. Counter every move as they came.

Tao Mu touched the photo of their CEO Li again. It was no big deal, after all, he could recharge from time to time!

After the phone call, Tao Mu, who had a very clear mind, felt much more reconciled with himself. But on the other side, due to the sudden departure of Yan Sheng and Shen Yu, the originally scheduled scene could not be filmed. Xu Musen called Yan Sheng a few times but no one answered, so he threw the phone angrily and had the props team prepare for the next scene.

Which was the scene where Tao Mu and his childhood friends go to a nightclub together and he ends up dancing with the glamorous proprietress played by Fang Ruoti, only to provoke the minor boss of the club and a group of bouncers. Both sides engaged in a group fight and were then locked into a holding cell.

Because of the cooperation between the crew and the police department, this episode was changed to be set during the eve of graduation. Zhou Yuanting, played by Tao Mu, secretly went out to drink and celebrate with his fellow buddies among the police students. When dancing with the glamorous proprietress played by Fang Ruoti, he was stopped by the minor boss and his group of bouncers. The two sides fought and were taken into the police station together.

Although the characters have changed slightly, the plot has not changed. So the props team was able to arrange it very quickly. The assistant director also called the police academy at the urging of Xu Musen, and asked the police academy to send over the police students to cooperate with the filming.

Anyone who was familiar with the production of film and television dramas knows that the filming was not actually shot chronologically according to the plot line, but by scenes.

The background setting of the previous scene where the male protagonist was drinking himself away in a bar while Zhou Yuanting tried to get him to spill what he knew was the same as the scene when Zhou Yuanting met Fang Ruoti. So the two scenes were originally shot side by side. Now that Shen Yu and Yan Sheng had run away, Director Xu could only film the second scene first.

Fang Ruoti was already ready when she came over early in the morning. She lay on her lounge chair and waited for two hours before her scene was next. She was now sitting on the lounge chair at the moment, letting the makeup artist touch up her makeup.

The actor who played the minor boss was called Du Ze, and he was also a famous Hong Kong actor. He hadn't played a leading role once despite many years having passed since his debut, and instead often played supporting roles in various movies. He was the kind of actor that the audience was familiar with but couldn't name. He was barely 1.7 meters tall, with a round figure and even a shaved bald head.

Because the filming site of the crew was in the same area as the police academy, Jiang Jingwen and the others set off immediately after receiving the call, called a taxi, and arrived on the set in less than 20 minutes. As soon as they arrived, they went directly to Tao Mu's side like a trail of imprinted ducklings.

They have never acted before, and they were afraid that they would delay the filming if they were not good at acting. Tao Mu was more relaxed and just smiled, "Just like when we skipped class and went to the club last time, it's fine just acting yourself."

As for the action part, that was even easier. The police students have fighting lessons every day. Even for a thing like striking poses, justbNG three or five times and one would be familiar with it.

Du Ze looked curiously at Tao Mu who was surrounded by a group of police students. Noticing Du Ze's scrutiny, Tao Mu said with a warm smile, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Du Ze came over and said hesitantly, "I just wanted to say that with your temperament being so gentle, I'm afraid that you won't be able to act that kind of hostility when you're filming. I just want to tell you, when it starts, I'm going to be aiming to hit you on the head with a bottle of syrup while you block it with your arm. It really doesn't hurt."

The crew of "Black and White" had started filming already for more than half a month, and everyone had already joined the crew. Only Tao Mu, who went back to school for half a month after the launch conference, joined the crew after he finished with his finals performance. So today's scene involving Shen Yu, Yan Sheng and Tao Mu was also Tao Mu's first scene after joining the crew. None of them had ever seen Tao Mu act before, so they were not sure. But because of Tao Mu's identity, they also really wanted to befriend Tao Mu.

Du Ze was no exception. So he told Tao Mu about the plot well in advance, and was worried that he would scare Tao Mu when they were actually filming.

Although due to his appearance, Du Ze had never been the protagonist. But Du Ze felt that his acting was not bad. He didn't want to offend Tao Mu for acting too well.

Even Fang Ruoti, who had finished her makeup, turned around in a charming manner, blew a kiss in Tao Mu's direction, and teased with fluttering eyes, "Don't worry, Mr. Tao, I can be your lead."

Although the mainland entertainment media often report that Tao Mu's acting skills were good, even comparable to Yan Sheng. But they have never seen it with their own eyes, so they only think that the media were just overpraising Tao Mu. After all, Tao Mu's identity was different from that of ordinary actors.

They believed that Tao Mu should have some talent for acting and also a serious attitude. The overall quality should be good. But to say that Tao Mu's acting skills were so good that it would move heaven and earth, they didn't quite believe it. They always feel that the mainland newspapers must be exaggerating too much. After all, Tao Mu was only nineteen years old this year, and had just finished his freshman year. Yan Sheng, such a stunning and talented person, was twenty years old when he made his first movie. One should not underestimate the age difference. This represented an extra year of hard work. What was more, Yan Sheng's talent was not something jist anyone could compare to.

There were so many newcomers in the entertainment industry every year, and only one Yan Sheng managed to appear after so many years. It was not that they underestimate Tao Mu. But they really felt that even if Tao Mu had talent, he would not perform better than Yan Sheng back then.

Facing the careful advice and appeasing attitudes from his acting colleagues, Tao Mu only smiled.

It seemed that he was underestimated.

Tao Mu calmly walked to his position. He was ready.