Chapter Seventy: Play Within a Play

  Lu Fei and Ruan Jing's little nest has been renovated and has reached the state of Lu Fei living alone, and will be adjusted later with Ruan Jing joining in.

  Director Jiang Jiajun has already arrived and the equipment is set up. When He Muxi walks over, the camera follows them.

  "Director Jiang, what's going on?" He Mu was shocked by Xiao Song's words that the director wanted to arrange for him and Shi Shi to live together while they were on their way, but when he asked Xiao Song about it, he just shook his head and said he didn't know anything.

  Jiang Jiajun pulled He Mu and the others onto the sofa and told them about Xiao Fang's arrangements.

  It was all a publicity stunt by the PR team, because this play's name contains the word "cohabitation" and it's about the romance between urban men and women who live together. To increase the play's topicality, the company decided to have He Mu and Shi Shi stay in the two-bedroom apartment used for filming, both on and off screen. The interesting parts of their daily life will be recorded by a camera crew and edited into short videos that tell the story of the two actors' funny moments off screen. These videos can be put online as promotional material later. This kind of publicity method has never been done before, and it's sure to have an amazing effect.

  "Then don't we have our own living space anymore?" He Mu frowned.

  Director Jiang explained, "No, the camera's shooting range is only in the living room and kitchen. We won't enter your bedroom to shoot without your consent. You just need to show your usual life state, the more real the better. Of course, for interest, it's best to design some segments, which would be even better."

  He sighed and it seemed that the remuneration of 10,000 yuan per episode was not so easy to get. Xiao Fang suddenly doubled his remuneration, probably because he already had a small reputation, but also because this play was not as easy to shoot as imagined. Other actors could leave after finishing their scenes, while he and Shi Shi had to continue performing in life after finishing the TV series, equivalent to double the workload. As a man, he didn't care, cohabiting was just cohabiting, but what about Shi Shi's thoughts as a girl?

  He Mu patted Shi Shi on the shoulder and said, "Hey, what's on your mind?"

  "I'll just go along with whatever the director and boss say," Liu Shishi said obediently, then whispered to He Mu, "You cook, I'll wash the dishes."

  He Mu looked at Shi Shi with disdain for five seconds.

  Upon hearing Shi Shi's attitude, Director Jiang was delighted. If the two new actors were to cause trouble and not cooperate with him, it would make him appear incompetent. Moreover, they were both treasures of the Tiger Wolf Company, and if there were conflicts between them, it would be difficult for the company to take sides. He had come from Hong Kong to Beijing to make a fortune, and now everyone was cooperating. "Alright then, let's settle on this: the two cameramen responsible for filming daily life can live in the adjacent room. They can play a guest role as a couple in the drama. Additionally, your two assistants can live downstairs at Ruan Jing's place."

  Director Jiang has arranged everything, and the empty building is now home to only three households, at least they have each other. He Mu and Shi Shi moved all their daily necessities in, and their cohabitation life officially began. After filming a segment of them moving in, staff members took Shi Shi to China Southern Airlines for training, while He Mu followed Director Jiang to the opening media conference.

  Before the opening shot, "Stewardess" had already attracted enough attention, so the press conference was very low-key. The media only notified a few heavyweight ones, and the crew side only attended by He Mu and the director, which also made the media grit their teeth, where is the female lead? Until now, she is still hiding, don't you know how much readers want to see who will replace Liu Yifei?

  The director's reason is also sufficient, because the heroine was confirmed very hastily, she hadn't undergone professional flight attendant training yet, so she had been busy all this time and didn't have time to participate in the crew's collective activities.

  No choice, the reporters shifted their focus to He Mu. Some asked him about his views on Liu Yifei, some asked him about his relationship with Yang Mi, and others asked him about his expectations for this new play.

  But most of the information was still obtained from him, and He Mu had already received instructions from the director not to announce the identity of the heroine for the time being, so he just kept playing Tai Chi with the reporters, turning around in circles without getting to the point.

  The publicity department of Hu Lu Jiang Shi has developed a good sense of hype after years of development and grinding. The promotional plan for the drama "Air Stewardess" from preparation to release is already in place, with the female lead's secrecy being one of them, followed by multiple sets of true and false Yan Jing's promotional plans, which will be released at intervals to ensure the exposure rate of "Air Stewardess", guaranteeing that people will see the name of this drama at regular intervals, making more people understand and look forward to it.

  After the press conference, most of the crew returned to the hotel, but He Mu was sent back to his apartment complex by the driver. He still had to spend some happy cohabitation time with Shi Shi.

  He Mu called Director Li Guoli again on the road and learned that Hu Ge had been transferred to a large hospital in Shanghai and was preparing for surgery. He Mu asked Director Li to inform him after Hu Ge's surgery, and he would bring Shi Shi to visit him. Thinking of this young idol who was only a few years older than him, full of sunshine and limitless prospects, He Mu couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy, that life is always unpredictable.

  After returning home, Shi also came back, but she didn't guard the empty house as He Mu thought. Mi Min and Meng Ru, two assistants, one male and one female photographer were all there.

  That male photographer is He Mu's acquaintance, named Zhang Xiaobin. The short film of the meat factory was shot by him, and in this play he served as the executive photographer. The girl next to him is his apprentice Chen Tongtong, who is mainly responsible for filming He Muxi's life. His master assisted from the side, and the two of them will also make a guest appearance in the drama as Lu Fei Ruan Jing's neighbor.

  After He Mu returned, the cameraman also started to get busy. The focus of their filming was He Mu's and Shi Shi's life before bed. The most surprising thing was that He Mu could cook. Seeing Shi Shi eating without caring about her image, it seemed like she thought it tasted good. What's funny is that He Mu even interacted with Chen Tongtong who was holding the camera, asking if she wanted to eat, almost tempting her to throw away the camera. Zhang Xiaobin got angry and recited a few rounds of the "Tightening Spell". These off-screen voices were also recorded.

  ——————

  The next day, the director brought the crew over and He Muyi underwent a simple makeup session before entering the formal shooting phase.

  The poem is fine, after being remade by Director Du, her current image is already very close to Ruan Jing, and not much change is needed. However, He Mu can't do it. Because in the original book, Lu Fei was just an ordinary-looking, humorous, and witty IT nerd, and his plain appearance involved many plot points and dialogue, so he absolutely couldn't be too handsome. From this point of view, He Mu doesn't quite meet the requirements, but considering the audience's feelings, Lu Fei still has to look good, which will test the makeup stylist's skills. They have to conceal He Mu's handsomeness without making him look too ugly, and the director's requirement is to be a bit more handsome than an ordinary person, leaving a deeper impression.

  After repeated experiments, He Mu's image was finally finalized. Looking in the mirror, he indeed didn't shine as brightly as before, and his age seemed to show a bit more. The director also added a prop for him - black-framed glasses, telling him to wear them when playing with computers, and not to wear them at other times.

  The first scene of the formal shooting was the same as before. When Lu Fei entered the elevator and prepared to close the door, Ruan Jing pulled her luggage and ran over shouting. This was their first encounter. In the elevator, Shi Shi was in front and He Mu was behind. As for Shi Shi's flight attendant attire, He Mu wanted to look but felt embarrassed to stare openly, wanting to grasp that sneaky feeling while ensuring his gaze remained pure, without any hint of obscenity, simply appreciating beauty.

  And the poet in front is not just standing there, her face also needs to show alertness towards the view behind.

  Although it was only a height of about ten floors and a play time of tens of seconds, due to the narrow space and the elevator moving too fast, this scene was shot nearly ten times. Of course, Shi Shi's several expressions that were not up to par were also one of the reasons for shooting multiple takes.

  Today's scenes were almost all shot near the stairs, He Mu spent most of his time going up and down the stairs. In the play, Lu Fei hopes to meet the flight attendant again, so every time he reaches the 15th floor where the flight attendant is, he has to stop for a moment, then stick his head out to see if she's there. Once, he even got his head caught in the elevator door, but the flight attendant repeatedly brushed past him, and the two were unable to rekindle their romance in the elevator.

  For He Mu's performance in the elevator scenes, Director Jiang gave high praise. He indeed thoroughly analyzed the character, portraying the psychology of a homebody who has romantic thoughts but lacks courage to take action, and whose desire to meet beautiful women relies on chance encounters. Every expression is very vivid, making people laugh uncontrollably. No wonder Hu Ge highly recommends him; with time, he will definitely become a star.

  Compared to He Mu Yi, Liu Shi Ci is somewhat inferior. She has more NGs, but still within the acceptable range. Also, some of her performances are not very accurate and cannot accurately portray Ran Jing's personality. It can be seen that she also did her homework for the role, but it's still a bit off.

  Chiang is a patient director who speaks in Cantonese, repeatedly telling Cui Cui what's lacking here and there, and how to improve. He can see the progress of Cui Cui's performance every time, she's an actress with heart.

  In the afternoon, He Mu met the third actor in the crew, the captain of the flight attendants' team where Ruan Jing was, a handsome and tall rich man who was almost perfect. This character only appeared for a moment, but in the script, his role was greatly increased, positioned as Ruan Jing's confidant and blue-and-white friend, who had been pulled to be a shield after Ruan Jing and Lu Fei broke up.

  Today's scene is just Captain driving to send Ruan Jing back home, and Lu Fei sees them from downstairs.

  "Shao Feng, come and meet him, this is He Mu...He Mu, this is Feng Shao Feng."

  ……

  P.S: Thank you keer870825 for your reward, and I beg for everyone's recommendation votes support~~

  ;