This actor has something

Chapter 492 The Game Between Senior Brothers

There weren't many things on the long table: two cell phones, a glass of warm water, a laptop, a voice recorder that was playing, and a large notebook.

He Daqi was engrossed in writing and drawing, pausing occasionally to ponder for a moment before continuing. Sometimes, when he was pondering for a long time or couldn't figure something out, he would open his notebook to look up some information. He didn't know if the information online was accurate, but as long as it looked similar, he would use it without much difficulty, not wanting to delay his progress in understanding the script.

After finishing another episode's script, He Daqi stretched, picked up his water glass, took a couple of sips, then put the glass down and lay back comfortably on the sofa.

His lazy gaze drifted to the table, where his usual cell phone floated up shakily and slowly flew into He Daqi's hand. The screen lit up, and He Daqi selectively replied to some of the messages on it before the phone floated back onto the table.

He closed his eyes, lay quietly, and let his mind rest for more than ten minutes. Then, He Daqi sat up straight, picked up his pen again, turned to a new page in his notebook, and began to write again.

Scene 1: The male protagonist is standing at the door entering the password when...

Just as he wrote a few words, the villa door was pushed open, and the two little rascals ran in as if they had been set free, laughing and carrying their little schoolbags. When they saw He Daqi sitting on the sofa, they grinned and went up to him, burying their heads in his body and starting to nuzzle him.

He Daqi put down his pen, patted his son and daughter's heads with one hand each, then helped them take off their schoolbags and asked gently, "What did you learn at kindergarten today?"

"The teacher taught us how to brush our teeth by ourselves."

"They also taught us how to fold paper frogs. My brother and I learned it in one go, but other kids had to learn it many times."

The two little ones tilted their heads proudly, waiting for He Daqi to praise them.

Before He Daqi could speak, Zhou Huimin strode into the villa in her high heels. As she changed her shoes at the door, she scolded, "Huanhuan and Lele, didn't your mother tell you not to run too fast after getting out of the car?"

Clearly, they entered one after the other at different speeds, and these two mischievous kids hadn't listened to Zhou Huimin's instructions, running away as fast as they could as soon as they got out of the car.

The two little ones weren't afraid of Zhou Huimin at this moment. They snuggled up to He Daqi, giggling and burying their faces in his arms, refusing to look at Zhou Huimin, hoping their father would protect them.

Zhou Huimin walked over in cotton slippers, looked at the two rascals, and gently smacked each of their little bottoms.

"Disobedient! Disobedient!"

The two little ones laughed and climbed onto the sofa, circling around behind He Daqi to the other side, using He Daqi's body to separate themselves from Zhou Huimin.

Zhou Huimin didn't want to argue with the children. Seeing that they had gone far away, Zhou Huimin was too lazy to care. She turned her head and picked up the large notebook on the table. She flipped through He Daqi's new work. After seeing that He Daqi had written another episode, she felt like she had no bones left. She leaned against He Daqi.

Poor He Daqi, he always has something clinging to him at home every day, either his two children or Zhou Huimin, and most of the time his wife and children are leaning on him at the same time.

"Daqi, how many episodes are there in total? It seems like you've been writing for so long and still haven't finished."

He Daqi thought for a moment before answering, "About forty episodes, each episode is about forty minutes long."

In fact, He Daqi had already finished reading the script once, but the background needed to be redesigned and some plots needed to be changed, so this is now the second version.

The original series had 21 episodes, each 60 minutes long. He Daqi made cuts and additions, and revised it repeatedly to make it more in line with mainland logic. He added a lot of plot points compared to the original series, so it became what it is now.

"Forty episodes...it must take several months to film, right? What were you thinking, just using our names as the male and female leads' names?"

"Don't you like it?"

He Daqi didn't have to answer every question from Vivian Chow. His comment about filming taking several months was clearly a monologue, so He Daqi directly asked Vivian Chow about her name.

“I like it!” Vivian Chow replied while flipping through her notebook.

Her gaze shifted back and forth between the notebook and He Daqi's face, already imagining what it would be like for He Daqi to play the protagonist in the story.

The two children nestled on the left, while Vivian Chow nestled on the right. He Daqi simply smiled gently, his arms occupied, so he simply sat up straight and didn't move.

The two little ones couldn't sit still. They snuggled against He Daqi on the sofa for a while before jumping down and running wildly all over the villa. Zhou Huimin put the notebook back on the table and still hugged He Daqi's arm, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Da Qi..."

"what happened?"

"In your story, the male protagonist is an alien. Are you an alien yourself?" Zhou Huimin asked softly, staring longingly at He Daqi's profile.

"How could that be? That's just a story."

"In that story, the male protagonist eventually returns to his hometown and separates from the female protagonist. Will you ever want to return to your hometown someday? Just like in the story collection, you can fly away in a spaceship in a flash."

Feeling Zhou Huimin tighten her grip on his arm, He Daqi chuckled, turned his head, reached out and pinched Zhou Huimin's nose, looking her in the eye as he said, "There are no aliens in this world. This is just a fantasy story. Are you getting too caught up in the script and already thinking about how to play the female lead?"

"Just consider this me getting into character," Vivian Chow hummed, rubbing her face against Ho Tai-kei's shoulder.

……

……

Lu Yang looked at the strangely shaped actors surrounding Ning Hao and felt a little uneasy.

He had read the new script He Daqi gave Ning Hao. It was darkly humorous, bizarre and funny, and every character was very compelling. However, when he actually saw the actors in person, Lu Yang couldn't quite imagine what they would be like when they portrayed the characters.

He nudged He Daqi, who was engrossed in writing, with his elbow and whispered, "Senior, why do these people's costume photos look so strange? Do Chinese people in Chinatowns abroad really dress like this?" "No, oh! Right! You haven't been abroad much, let alone to Southeast Asia, so there are some things you don't know. Actually, it's very dangerous there. What I wrote in the script is just the tip of the iceberg. The Chinese who can gain a foothold there either don't leave Chinatown, or they're bloodsuckers. So the special costumes are to show their difference, not because the local Chinese people actually dress like this."

He Daqi's eyes never left the script as he wrote and answered Lu Yang's questions.

He came here specifically to find Lu Yang. Right now, Lu Yang is the only reliable director in Asia who is available, so He Daqi can only ask Lu Yang about some issues related to script design and changes.

Lu Yang was also quite helpless.

The original plan was for the three of them to film "Phantom Prison Break" together. However, after filming was completed, the other two helped edit the normal scenes and then left without a care, leaving Lu Yang to oversee the post-production special effects for "Phantom Prison Break".

This requires constant communication and collaboration; it's not something that can be done by agreeing on a plan beforehand and then having the special effects company just work on it in silence.

Ning Hao is now happily preparing for the Detective Chinatown case, Zhang Yimou is happily working on Under the Hawthorn Tree, and only Lu Yang is still stuck here, wandering between Ya Yue and Tu He Se Cai every day.

The arrival of He Daqi, who asks all sorts of questions every day, makes Lu Yang feel less bored. It's nice to have someone to chat with.

As time went on, Lu Yang also began to take He Daqi's new script seriously. Although it was a TV series, judging from how dedicated He Daqi was, it was clear that he was preparing to make a big production.

Speaking of which, it seems that since Lu Yang joined Ya Yue, Ya Yue has never produced a big-budget TV series. He Daqi did produce one before, but that was a long time ago.

"Senior, you're involved in movies, variety shows, and now even TV dramas. Oh, and I heard you recorded a song recently. It seems like you've suddenly become so much more diligent?"

"Isn't it good to be diligent? Being diligent will earn you more money." He Daqi still didn't look up, smiling as he wrote and answered.

"I heard from a rumor that you had a fight with your wife, and because of that, your allowance was taken away. That's why you're now focused on making money. Is that true?" Lu Yang asked in a low voice, his eyes full of inquiry and curiosity, as if he was ready to hear some juicy gossip.

"Which bastard spread this rumor?" He Daqi was dumbfounded. Then he turned to look at Lu Yang and felt that it was absurd. What kind of rumor was this?

"It's just a rumor... Senior brother, you know what I mean. I don't know who said it." Lu Yang awkwardly touched his nose, but in the end, he didn't betray his other senior brother.

Lu Yang had no idea that the moment he touched his nose, He Daqi's mind started racing. After a little thought, he figured out which bastard had spread this bullshit rumor.

It's definitely Ning Hao! There's no one else!
Regarding the issue of pocket money, this concept only came about when He Daqi started his business. Now, very few people know about it, and among those who still know about it at Ya Yue, there are only two: Liu Ying and Ning Hao.

Liu Ying obviously wouldn't gossip, and she also knew some of He Daqi's financial situation, so she couldn't possibly still view He Daqi with old eyes.

Thinking of this, He Daqi was both amused and exasperated. If he didn't know the truth, Ning Hao would think that He Daqi's sudden change, with all this and that, was just like back then, with Zhou Huimin holding his economic power and only able to do projects to earn pocket money.

"Sigh..." He Daqi sighed, looking like he was too lazy to explain, and said quietly, "This is obviously imagining me as Ning Hao. The person who spread this rumor probably thinks that I am like Ning Hao, also being strictly controlled by my wife, having to kneel on the washboard every day when I get home, washing my wife's feet, and cooking, washing dishes and cleaning the house after work. So, rumors are not credible."

"Huh?" Now it was Lu Yang's turn to be confused.

He opened his mouth wide and hesitated for a long while before finally asking tentatively, "Senior brother, do you mean that Senior Brother Ning Hao goes home every day..."

“Yes, that’s exactly what you think!” He Daqi nodded righteously, then explained to Lu Yang:

"Speaking of which, Ning Hao had a tough life! Did you see the big gold chain around his neck? That was a gift from my uncle years ago. Before, Ning Hao often didn't have enough to eat, and his wife had to support him every day. He didn't even dare to raise his voice to her."
Later, when he helped me film "Balala the Fairies," wasn't it filmed at my uncle's factory? Back then, even my uncle, a capitalist, felt sorry for Ning Hao and gave him a big gold chain. You can tell by the fact that he's still wearing it to this day; he's afraid he'll forget the hardships he endured.

He Daqi spoke with such conviction that he even brought up Ning Hao's ever-present gold chain as a pretext, making it impossible for Lu Yang not to believe him.

Good guy! What a great guy!
Lu Yang gasped. He had believed Ning Hao's stories about He Daqi to some extent before, but now that He Daqi had rambled on like this, he couldn't help but believe that Ning Hao was just using his own experiences to speculate about He Daqi's life.

"I knew it! How could such an outrageous guess be true!" Lu Yang looked at Ning Hao chatting with a group of actors in the distance and clicked his tongue as he muttered to himself.

"What guess? What did you say?" He Daqi actually heard clearly, but he pretended to be hard of hearing, as if he had stuffed donkey hair in his ears.

"It's nothing..." Lu Yang shook his head, still not wanting to betray Ning Hao.

"Lu Yang, what do you think about me spending 300 million to make this TV series? The special effects will be like a movie, and all the supporting actors will be big names. Do you think it's a good idea?"

He had just been spreading rumors about Ning Hao's tragic past to Lu Yang, saying that Ning Hao couldn't even afford to eat, and then he turned around and said he would spend 300 million to make a TV series. The huge leap in the middle made Lu Yang take a while to react.

"A TV series? Three hundred million? Senior brother, how do you think you can break even?" Lu Yang asked in surprise, his eyes wide.

"I'm going to throw money around and have fun! How am I supposed to recoup my investment?" He Daqi looked even more surprised than Lu Yang, as if he couldn't understand what Lu Yang was so surprised about.

In order to quickly dispel the rumors about pocket money, He Daqi said that throwing out 300 million would be a piece of cake.

Seeing He Daqi's nonchalant attitude towards money, Lu Yang no longer believed the rumors Ning Hao had told him. However, he didn't want to talk to this pretentious He Daqi any longer, so he chuckled, made an excuse, and got up to leave He Daqi's side.

With nowhere to go, I thought I'd better go to the restroom and then get something to drink at the water bar. So I strolled out of the Asia-Pacific Film and Television Production Center, stopping to greet Ning Hao and the others cheerfully as I passed by.

Especially towards Ning Hao, Lu Yang sighed earnestly, "Senior brother, you... have suffered so much!"

After Lu Yang finished speaking, he turned and left, leaving Ning Hao speechless.

What the hell? What's wrong with Lu Yang?

As Ning Hao frowned and scratched his head, He Daqi, in the distance, grinned like a fool.

(End of this chapter)