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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}
There was no time to ask the other party what was wrong before the scene manager called on Rong Xu to start filming.
The confusion in his heart was temporarily suppressed, and Rong Xu handed his cell phone over to Luo Qian, walking towards the set up scene. Before walking away though, he thought for a moment and said solemnly to Luo Qian: “No matter what messages I receive later on my cell phone, Sis Xiao Qian, don’t look at it.”
Luo Qian was taken aback for a moment, but immediately put the phone in her small personal bag and answered earnestly: “Okay, Xiao Xu, don’t worry, I will definitely not look at it!”
Like this, Rong Xu left without worry.
With Luo Qian’s character, since she made a promise, then she definitely wouldn’t peek. Although Luo Qian didn’t have the password for Rong Xu’s phone, as long as a message came in, she would be able to see the message sent by the other party just by looking at the lock screen interface without even unlocking the phone — at least a good half of it.
Although Rong Xu didn’t know what Qin Cheng was going to discuss with him… En, private matters, but in any case, it was best not to let anyone else know about such matters.
Even until now, Luo Zhentao hadn’t told Rosie about “Rong Xu and Qin Cheng living together”. This matter, If one less person could know about it, then one less person should know about it. If this is actually exposed, it will cause both Rong Xu and Qin Cheng trouble.
Thinking of this, the youth paused briefly, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: Is it time to buy a house and move out?
However, this thought only briefly flashed in his mind for the moment, and even Rong Xu himself didn’t put much importance on it. He gently lifted the corners of his lips, and a helpless smile appeared on his face.
And so, this matter was once again thrown to the back of his mind by said person.
The crew of Maze City first shot the indoor scenes at Xiangshan Film and Television City. The prop team had set up all the indoor scenes a month and a half ago, and was currently working on setting up the outdoor scenes. After all, this was a modern drama, so there were not too many requirements in the creation of the scenes’ settings. The first scene being shot was the scene where Tan Yangxuan (Bo Xiwen) went to find his college classmate, so naturally, they also needed to film Xue Jiazhe’s (Rong Xu) teaching scenes.
The vice director had hired more than fifty extras to play Xue Jiazhe’s students.
These extras would wait every day near the Film City for job opportunities, and upon seeing celebrities, they weren’t overly excited. Only a few of them who were obviously newcomers couldn’t help but be curious, coming forwards excitedly to ask Rong Xu, Bo Xiwen and Ren Shuzhi for autographs and a group photo.
Rong Xu had only made his debut one year ago, and most of the temporary actors had been in the industry far longer than him. However, this circle was a harsh place. Many people have dreams of becoming so-called “horizontal drifters” or “drifters on a tailwind”[1], but end up having neither a good face nor a talent for acting. Thus, they could only become a temporary actor first and strive to improve their acting skills, hoping to mix deeper into the entertainment circle.
Ren Shuzhi only signed two names before retracting her smile from impatience and asking her assistant to dismiss these new extras. Meanwhile, Bo Xiwen dazedly autographed for every new extra and also took a group photo.
From a distance, Ren Shuzhi watched the two male protagonists in the crew and covered her lips, chuckling softly to her assistant: “See, I didn’t misjudge Rong Xu, he has good looks and also a good temper. His attitude towards the group is good, and he’s a much better person than I am.”
Her assistant smiled and said: “Sister Ren, he’s just ignorant. Since he came out with the “Lost Wings” album, then that means he wants to take on the music scene. If he builds a good relationship with you, it would only benefit him, not harm him.”
Ren Shuzhi retorted disapprovingly: “Are you so short-sighted?”
The assistant was stunned.
Ren Shuzhi curled up her red lips and tapped her fingers upon her beautiful face twice while examining Rong Xu’s body. She said meaningfully: “This is my favorite type. Compared to him, Ma Qi is really far away…”
Perceiving Ren Shuzhi’s gaze, Rong Xu raised his head to look at the other party. He nodded slightly, revealing a calm and genteel smile.
Ren Shuzhi immediately waved at him, blinked, and made a finger-heart gesture.
Before long, the lighting group and camera group were both ready, and the group of extras all sat in their seats. Director Yuan brought Rong Xu and Bo Xiwen over to discuss the details of filming the next scene, and then he sat back in his seat and raised his hand—
“Action!”
In that instance, the set quickly quieted down.
Bright lights illuminated the entire classroom. The extras began whispering softly to each other, imitating the scene of college students goofing off and laughing before class, and making it seem like they really had come to a youthful classroom. Eight cameras shot this scene from various directions until faint footsteps sounded from the corridor outside the door.
The sound was calm and unhurried, and it didn’t speed up. If you listened carefully, you would find that the interval between each footstep was exactly the same!
When the door creaked upon being pushed open, the classroom fell silent in an instant. Everyone’s eyes were on the man who opened the door and they all froze the moment they saw him. He was wearing a light-colored suit, holding a thin laptop in his right hand, and stepping into the classroom.
Close-fitting suit trousers outlined his slender and straight legs as he walked to the podium step by step. He placed down his laptop and raised his eyes to look at the group of students below the podium. All of his hair was fixed to perfection with hairspray, not even a single piece of loose hair could be found. It was as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder. His clothes were ironed neatly, and his narrow, beautiful eyes were hidden behind silver glasses, while his lips were pursed slightly, and his eyes were indifferent.
Suddenly, no student in the audience dared to speak nonsense, and the extra actor closest to him actually involuntarily opened the book in front of him and looked down in a very serious manner.
A strong and cold aura instantly diffused into the scene, and Luo Qian, who was observing next to the set while holding a towel and thermos, couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. She even wanted to take out her phone and secretly take a photo, but she quickly cut off that idea.
Not far away, Ren Shuzhi handed her water glass to her assistant, surprise flashing through her eyes, and she couldn’t help taking a few steps forward.
At this moment, a cold and noble voice sounded in the spacious classroom: “Who believes in horoscopes?”
One sentence broke the silence. Director Yuan sat enthusiastically behind the eight monitors, carefully examining the images on the screen. Ren Shuzhi had already walked over to the side of the set and stood beside Luo Qian. Her red lips curled up as she looked at Rong Xu who was standing very seriously in the center of the set.
No one had thought that when Rong Xu began acting, he would change completely.
When Director Yuan first decided to choose Rong Xu to play Xue Jiazhe, the screenwriter and producer were actually both opposed to it.
Rong Xu is too young and has very little filming experience.
Xue Jiazhe is the *oss (final boss) of “Maze City”. A 27-year-old, young associate professor. Xue Jiazhe is deep and introverted, indifferent in appearance, but possessing outstanding self-cultivation and wisdom. Not to mention whether or not Rong Xu could bring out Xue Jiazhe’s ‘duality’, but even the screenwriters found it very difficult to simply act as a university professor.
However, Director Yuan rejected all their opinions and just directly sent the script to Rong Xu.
When he’d tried on the makeup a few days ago, Rong Xu’s screen image was quite good and the styling effect was also very good, which satisfied the screenwriter and producer. Even until just then, the producer had quietly said to Director Yuan: “If he doesn’t perform well, there is still time to change actors.”
But now, a seemingly insignificant sentence fully captured the attention of the entire crew that was watching.
He was gentle and elegant, incomparable to anyone else. Rong Xu’s Xue Jiazhe was handsome and cool, unlike a rookie actor who was only barely 18 years old. His every action was sophisticated and restrained, and even his expressions had been slightly adjusted, making him appear more mature.
After he spoke, not few students raised their hands. As arranged in the script, Rong Xu looked towards the extra actor who was sitting closest to him, and the latter automatically and subconsciously stood up as she heard Rong Xu say lightly: “What is your zodiac sign?”
That female student looked at Rong Xu’s side profile as if she was in a daze. She looked exactly like a little child who was afraid of a professor’s majestic presence. Even She herself didn’t know what was going on. Just hearing Rong Xu’s words and looking at his expression, she subconsciously replied in a low voice: “Xue……Professor Xue, I am a Sagittarius.”
“Sagittarius?” The young professor reached out and pushed at the glasses frame on the bridge of his nose. “You desire to gain others’ attention, but tend to find fault with yourself. You appear cheerful and optimistic, but sometimes feel lonely that no one can understand you. Some of your ideas may be unrealistic, but even if you know this yourself, you would occasionally suddenly want to try realizing them.”
The student’s eyes opened wide and they nodded: “Yes! Professor, do you also study constellations?”
Without answering the female student’s words, Xue Jiazhe turned to look at a male student sitting next to her: “What zodiac sign are you?”
The classroom immediately boiled over.
A professor who would actually chat about horoscopes with the students! And it was even such a handsome professor!
At this moment, the back door of the classroom was quietly opened, and a young policeman in a black jacket sneakily entered the classroom. He had just sat down in a seat when he heard the man’s cold voice say: “Fourth seat in the third to last row. Wearing a black jacket and blue jeans, with hair that is sticking out randomly and not neatly combed that……male student, what is your zodiac sign?”
Tan Yangxuan, who had just entered the set, immediately laughed, and said to Xue Jiazhe in a joking manner: “Teacher, I don’t believe in horoscopes.”
Xue Jiazhe raised an eyebrow: “What is your zodiac sign?”
Tan Yangxuan said with a cheeky smile: “I am a Cancer.”
Xue Jiazhe gave him a deep look, and after a while, he calmly replied: “You believe that everyone can have their own secrets and should not be overly frank with others. You know you have shortcomings, but you also know how to make up for them……”
After this other phrase, Tan Yangxuan smiled and said: “Teacher, you are correct. That is quite similar to myself.”
The students in the classroom began discussing even more fervently. At some point, a few students asked “Professor, do you like constellations, too?”, but Xue Jiazhe never answered their questions from beginning to end. After he took the last student’s attendance, he calmly looked down at every person in the audience and said with a casual tone: “Just then, everything I said was just made up nonsense.”
“Ah?!!!” The students instantly wailed, only the young policeman sitting in the back sported an expression of “I knew it”.
At this moment, the bell signaling the end of class rang, and the young, handsome professor said gently: “The lesson from just then was about the Barnum effect[2]. For the next class, you must research on the Barnum effect and turn on an essay discussing your thoughts on it.”
A pause, “Not less than a thousand words.”
“Professor!!!”[3]
{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}
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