Chapter 70 – Serious People Are Also Very Precious

TL Note: "The Missing City" will be changed to "Maze City". I will be going back to change the previous chapters for consistency.

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Black Clouds has just been released in less than a month, and the cumulative box office has been close to 10 billion. With this movie, Rong Xu was boosted in both popularity and status, reaching the peak since his debut.

Rong Xu was able to obtain a lead role in his first movie, and even receive such terrifying box office values and reputation. It could be said that Rong Xu is the most popular newcomer in recent years.

After Black Clouds, Luo Zhentao carefully selected four works for Rong Xu, each being commercial dramas with popular themes and excellent scripts. The themes included romantic comedies, large-production fantasy films, and road films[1] which was the recent popular movie trend. But in the end, Rong Xu read all the scripts and chose Maze City.

Maze City is a mystery detective film. Like many commercial criminal investigation films, this one had a dual male protagonist setting, filled with action and plot drama. As long as the script is qualified and the acting skills pass, the box office will not be low.

When Luo Zhentao learned that Rong Xu chose Maze City, he was quite surprised. "Xiao Xu, this movie has dual male leads. Didn't you tell me before that you wanted to attempt a lead role and choose a commercial film to prove your appeal in the box office?"

Hearing that, Rong Xu put down the script and asked with a small smile: "Brother Luo, since you know this is a dual male lead film, why do you show me the script?"

Luo Zhentao was struck dumb for a bit, and after a while, he shook his head and said: "It's because it's a good script..."

Yes, Maze City's script was indeed quite good.

In the entertainment industry, there are two forms of cast selection processes for film and TV drama crews. The first is that there is no required audition for the actors. The director or investor would directly decide on the actor for the role. The second is via audition, where several actors with a suitable image are selected to participate in auditions at the same time, and afterwards, it is decided which actor will play the role in the film.

When the Maze City crew sent the script to Luo Zhentao, they straightforwardly gave Luo Zhentao a statement: "We are inviting Rong Xu to play the leading role of Xue Jiazhe."

Not any other role, let alone a supporting character. Only Xue Jiazhe, it can only be Xue Jiazhe.

If Rong Xu is willing to take on the filming of Maze City, then he will directly act as Xue Jiazhe. If Rong Xu ends up unwilling to take on the filming of Maze City, or if he wants to play another role, the crew wouldn't accept it and would directly go look for another actor. The spot that the crew of Maze City left for Rong Xu is only Xue Jiazhe. It was decided on by the director based upon Rong Xu��s image, and this time, he didn't choose the wrong person.

When Rong Xu finished reading the script, he really only wanted to play Xue Jiazhe.

The entirety of Maze City revolves around a serial murder case. In the bustling and luxurious Hai Cheng[2], a perverted serial murderer suddenly appeared. This murderer's killing method wasn't original, but the corpses were handled very cleanly, and the victim's right hand was chopped off every time.

The knife's edge was deemed to be flat and smooth, and the cuts were even and polished, avoiding all the large bones of the human body, and slicing right in-between the joints.

The police had suppressed the case for a year because the murderer showed no regularity in their actions. He killed six people in a year. But, other than cutting off the right hand, the murder locations, times and methods were all different. Even the ages of the victims ranged from 23 to 64 years old, indifferent of gender.

Only after the seventh victim appeared was the police finally not able to suppress it any longer because this victim had died in a public space. The body was hung in the center of the busiest square in Hai Cheng, and suddenly, the whole port city was boiling.

The protagonist, Tan Yangxuan, is an elite police officer and the team leader for this case. After the case was made known to everyone, Tan Yangxuan, who was under great pressure, went to find his university friend, Xue Jiazhe, a university psychology professor who will be played by Rong Xu.

Xue Jiazhe analyzed the suspect's psychological processes and helped Tan Yangxuan finally catch the criminal.

The whole of the plot is the chasing battle between the police and the murderer. With the arrest of the criminal and the sentencing of death penalty, everything was finally over.

Well, if that was the case, Rong Xu would definitely not be interested in this script nor take on this drama with dual male leads. It was all because, at the end of the movie, there is a huge plot twist.

Once the case was over, Tan Yangxuan went to find his friend for a chat and to celebrate. However, after Tan Yangxuan got drunk, he didn't know... that Xue Jiazhe dragged him into the bedroom to let him rest, but when Xue Jiazhe opened the closet to help his old classmate grab a change of clothes, in a deep corner of the closet, a glass bottle holding a human specimen was slightly exposed.

Inside the faint green formalin solution[3], a right hand was suspended in the center with a gem ring hung on its thumb.

It was the relic lost by the fifth victim.

The movie ended here, but this reversal immediately complicated Xue Jiazhe's character.

A young and handsome university professor loved by all his students, elegant and gentle, and was even good friends with the senior police officers from the police station. But no one would have known what laid hidden behind the silver glasses and genteel smile. What kind of beast was hiding behind that costume.

Rong Xu has never played this kind of gentle villain before, which made him very interested and wanted to give it a try.

In his previous life, he played mostly protagonists. In this year's movies and TV series, the protagonists generally had positive images. Coming across a villain protagonist was already a significantly difficult occurrence. It wasn't that Rong Xu had never played a big villain in the past, but he had never played a role where he was a good guy on the surface, but a big villain in reality.

A villain with high IQ and also possessed good manners and sophistication. This was why Luo Zhentao handed over the script of Maze City to Rong Xu.

As for Rong Xu choosing Maze City, it was because he wanted to try and surpass himself and taste a different style of living[4].

In mid-May, Rong Xu arrived in Xiangshan Film and Television Town to meet with the entire crew. Other than him, the other male lead's actor had also arrived, he was Huaxia's named best film newcomer, Bo Xiwen.

The crew of Maze City rented out a modern filming zone in Xiangshan Film and Television City. The crew was super busy, and there were piles of unfinished props lying around everywhere. In three days' time, the filming of the movie will start, and within these three days, Rong Xu, Bo Xiwen and the other actors will hold a script reading meeting, where everyone will come together to discuss the script in order to help the actors more deeply understand the plot and characters.

At first, there were still some barriers between everyone, and Bo Xiwen always kept a straight face, looking forever serious and solemn.

At the script reading meeting, Rong Xu sat beside Bo Xiwen. A staff member poured out glasses of water and handed them to everyone. Rong Xu helped Bo Xiwen receive his water, causing Bo Xiwen to be taken aback for a moment. After a while, he nodded stiffly and said: "Thank you."

Seeing this, Rong Xu eyebrows quirked a bit, and the corners of his lips slightly curved up[5].

The script reading meeting was held for an entire day. Everyone took out their own scripts, and the screenwriters analyzed the characters one by one, highlighting the important points in the movie. Among them, the two male protagonists naturally had the most scenes. The heroine of this move didn't have many scenes and was pretty much just a flower vase role. The focus would be on the two male protagonists. Tan Yangxuan's role was mainly in charge of the action scenes, whereas Xue Jiazhe was in charge of the academic scenes.

After analyzing Bo Xiwen's character, the screenwriter looked at Rong Xu with the script in his hands, saying with a serious tone: "Xue Jiazhe's character has a semi-antisocial personality. He is not really completely antisocial, but because of his childhood experiences, he came to hate the father who ran away and abandoned himself and his mother in the earthquake, and also hated the kind of parents who abandoned their children."

Rong Xu wore a pair of plain glasses, smiled and nodded: "En, his hatred is clear, but he freed himself from sin. He knows he is committing a crime, but he doesn't think that he is at fault. Thus, he can kill with peace of mind, and even place the blame on another at the end."

The screenwriter was stunned for a bit before smiling and nodding: "Yes, he's like that. What you have to pay attention to is Xue Jiazhe's calmness and his strong mentality. He is a professor of psychology, so he understands people's minds well. He's very intelligent."

The director interrupted from the side: "Tomorrow and the day after, Rong Xu, the crew's arranged a university psychology professor for you. He'll come over and provide you knowledge on psychology and help you better understand the fundamentals regarding this. Learn from him and analyze how to properly act out Xue Jiazhe."

Rong Xu grinned: "Okay, Director Yuan."

Maze City's director, Yuan Ke, is a well-known first-tier commercial film director in Huaxia. The films that he directs all have common characteristics: their box office values would usually not be low (the lowest being no less than 500 million), and every year he would definitely get a Best Director award.

Yes, not Best Film Award, nor the Best Male or Female Lead Awards, only Best Director!

Regardless of whether it's a first-tier award or a second-tier award, Yuan Ke was sure to get one. In the past seven or eight years, rain or shine, even if there were no film awards ceremonies being held that year, Yuan Ke would still surely win at least one Best Director Award from out of dozens of film awards worldwide. Thus, in the circle, Yuan Ke also had a nickname: The Director Yuan Award…

But this is just a tangent, no need to mention it for now.

After the script reading meeting, all the actors got ready to try on makeup and styling. The two male protagonists stayed to exchange their views on the role with Director Yuan.

Rong Xu closed his script book gently, and calmly analyzed: "Xue Jiazhe, because of the shadow from his childhood, came to hate parents who abandoned their children. After his mother died, he began to kill one by one. The reason he goes after their right hand is because of his father who (during the earthquake) had originally extended his right hand to the mother and son when he was young, but because he was frightened by the aftershocks, his father retracted his right hand and left both mother and son under the boulder."

Director Yuan rolled up his script and propped his chin up, looking at the boy in front of him with interest. He smiled: "Continue."

"Xue Jiazhe is not strictly a bad person, it's just, based on what he said to the other patients, his heart is also ill, and has been ill for many, many years."

A serene and gentle smile slowly bloomed on the handsome face. With clear eyes, Rong Xu continued calmly: "So, I think that when I am playing him, I will..."

The youth's endless eloquence made the light of appreciation in Yuan Director's eyes grow brighter and brighter, and next to Rong Xu, Bo Xiwen's eyes showed more and more surprise. Once Rong Xu finished speaking and it was Bo Xiwen's turn to analyze, Bo Xiwen was silent for a duration before spitting out a single sentence: "I am probably mainly there for plot support, to trust my friend and solve the case."

Rong Xu froze for a moment, but Director Yuan laughed out loud: "Don't force yourself, Xiao Bo, learn well from Rong Xu when you have time and your acting skills may improve by leaps and bounds."

Bo Xiwen nodded honestly. After Director Yuan left, Rong Xu was packing his things to prepare for his styling when he heard a faint voice sound out beside him: "...Rong Xu, can you lend me your script book to look at?"

Rong Xu was slightly surprised and smiled at Bo Xiwen: "Is something the matter?"

Bo Xiwen turned his gaze away awkwardly, whispering: "I…I don't really know how to do a script analysis. I want to borrow your script to see what it should be like. If you don't want to, it's fine. Troubling you."

There really were all kinds of people in the entertainment industry. This was the first time Rong Xu has seen such a shy, first-tier male actor.

He looked at Bo Xiwen in deep contemplation and saw that Bo Xiwen had his head bowed stiffly as he was preparing to leave.

At this moment, Bo Xiwen saw Rong Xu directly squeeze the script into his hands. The script was filled with notations and strokes, with various thoughts and points of attention written on it in delicate handwriting.

Bo Xiwen was stunned into a daze, and quickly raised his head to look at Rong Xu, only to see the youth smiling back at him: "Anyways, I have to go study psychology with the professor before filming, so I don't have much time to read the script. You can return it to me after we start. You already said you'd be 'troubling me', so how can I not let you trouble me for a bit?"

Bo Xiwen nodded quickly: "Thank you! I will definitely return it to you when we start filming. It will be in perfect condition! Really, thank you so much."

"It's nothing much, no need for thanks." After a pause, the youth added with a grin: "Oh yes, by the way, I enjoy coffee very much, especially latte."

Bo Xiwen froze briefly and then suddenly understood. Half an hour later, just as Rong Xu was putting on his makeup, Bo Xiwen's assistant came over and brought him a cup of coffee. Although it wasn't a latte, it was still a very similar tasting mocha.

In the entertainment circle, it's best not to owe anyone a favor. Thus, Rong Xu deliberately used this method to allow Bo Xiwen to pay back this favor. This was already considered giving the other party face[6].

The assistant seemed to be as shy as his own artist. He lowered his head and spoke in a low voice to Rong Xu: "Really, thank you so much, Rong Rong...can you give me an autograph?"

Rong Xu received the other's paper and pen, and said softly: "Of course."

The little assistant was immediately starry-eyed and nodded excitedly.

The crew of Maze City has already gathered most of their main creative staff. Only the Female Lead had yet to join up with the group, and was still participating in a singing program abroad. All of the staff were wholeheartedly preparing for the starting of the filming process.

Luo Zhentao still stayed with the crew on the first day. Looking at such a busy scene, he couldn't help but sigh: "Speaking in general, Xiao Xu, of all the film crews you have participated in, only the crew of Ambush was a bit worrisome."

Rong Xu was noncommittal. He glanced at all the dedicated crew members: "En, everyone is very good."

Then came a pause as he smiled and added: "Bo Xiwen is also a very interesting person."

Luo Zhentao was taken aback at first. Following that, he turned around to take a good look at the young actor who was currently working hard over Rong Xu's script, and then exclaimed in agreement: "Yes, ah, such a serious and hard-working actor is a rare sight within the circle. Xiao Xu, I remember when you were filming Black Clouds, didn't Qin Cheng rarely look at his script book? He seems to have a very good memory, and had memorized all his lines?"

Seemingly not expecting his agent to mention Qin Cheng's name, Rong Xu, after a brief moment of surprise, recalled the scene of studying the script with that man a few days ago. He smiled and said softly: "Yes, ah, Qin Cheng is a very talented person, a born actor. But, I don't dislike Bo Xiwen, this type of person, who works hard. People who work hard are also very precious."

—

B City, Capital's Airport.

A stern and tall man was about to board the plane but then suddenly sneezed.

Xu Jin turned around and said cheerfully: "Caught a cold? Who told you to wear so little. I already told you there'd be a cold wave in the last few days. When participating in the Golden Phoenix Award, you should've worn a base shirt under your dress shirt. You didn't listen. Now, this is great. Caught a cold, huh. Want popularity, but not warmth. Your family's person didn't even participate in the Golden Phoenix Award ceremony. Do you think he'd watch your live broadcast?"

Qin Cheng lifted his eyes and gave him a glance, asking with an indifferent tone: "You are glad I caught a cold?"

Xu Jin spread his hands: "I didn't say it like that."

Qin Cheng's thin lips perked up: "Oh, I have a cold. The progress of the movie filming will be delayed. When you arrive in the United States, go have a talk with Director Liu. Maybe he'll have a lot to say to you."

Xu Jin: "..."

"You definitely must not ever catch a cold! If the progress is delayed even more, Director Liu will definitely pick a fight with me!!!"

The roar of the gold-tier agent gradually dispersed into the clouds. The plane flew steadily into the cloud layer, and soon disappeared into the clear blue sky.

Three days later, the female lead officially joined the crew, and the entire cast of Maze City was accounted for, signaling the start of the filming.

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The author has something to say:

Sis Fu: Orange Qin, if you keep being so hesitant and secretive, be careful Rong Rong's heart will be stolen away!

Orange Qin: Rong Rong will only love Baby. There is no one better than baby, humph ╭ (╯^ ╰) ╮

Rong Rong: Bo Xiwen is quite good. Hardworking and serious, and is even so shy.

Orange Qin: QAQ RONG RONG!!! DON'T LOOK AT HIM, QUICK, LOOK AT BABY!!! BABY IS BETTER THAN HIM 10,000 TIMES!!!

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[1]Road films: main character embarks on a journey to self-discovery or adventure

[2] Hai Cheng: City of Hai, or "Ocean City"

[3]Formalin is a diluted solution of formaldehyde, usually yellow-green, and is used as a fixative for tissue studies. Preserves organic tissue samples for dissections, too. It stinks ;w;

[4]Different style of living: try something he's never tried before

[5] RX finds Bo Xiwen's temperament amusing.

[6]Giving face: being considerate or being partial to another party's image