A real killer playing a villain; the guy surnamed Zhen in Detective, run!

Lu Yuan, at the center of the storm, had no interest in trending topics.

He held a victory celebration banquet at home.

On the coffee table, a newly arrived can of "Supreme Peak" cat food was pried open.

Lu Yuan pushed the canned food in front of Lao Liu.

The sixth dog buried its head in its food, its tail slapping the floor.

Lu Yuan held his thermos and took a sip of goji berry water.

"Slow down, don't choke."

The sixth brother ignored him.

No matter how many people outside delete their accounts, apologize, or kneel in defiance, it has little to do with this old house.

The room only smelled of cat food, goji berries, and cardboard boxes from unpacked deliveries.

The phone rang; it was Su Qinghan.

Lu Yuan answered: "Director Su."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone before her voice came through.

"You made quite a commotion last night."

"Not bad, the garbage bags are selling well."

A very soft breathing sound came from Su Qinghan's side.

"The 'Faceless Man' project has been halted. Xingyao Capital's funds have been frozen, CEO Wang has been arrested, and the platform dares not continue with the process."

Lu Yuan patted the sixth brother's back.

"So you ate the Wagyu beef at the dinner party for nothing?"

Su Qinghan was taken aback by his words.

"Is this the key point?"

I didn't eat enough that day.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.

"I'll find you a new project. A clean one, a reliable one."

Lu Yuan watched as Lao Liu licked the can clean, then said, "Okay."

Su Qinghan said, "Also, everyone in the industry is afraid of you now."

"What are you afraid of me for?"

"I'm afraid that if you get upset, you'll send the investors to jail."

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, "If you operate within the law, you have nothing to fear."

Su Qinghan finally smiled.

Lu Yuan put down his cup and took the empty can away. "Director Su, the project isn't urgent. You should get some rest."

There was no response on the other end of the phone.

After a while, she hummed in agreement.

"The same to you."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Yuan lifted Lao Liu onto his lap.

The sixth child, his belly full, still wanted to reach for the freeze-dried bag on the coffee table.

Lu Yuan pressed it down, "The celebration banquet is over, what's left is tomorrow's share."

The sixth brother disagreed.

......

In the morning in an old residential area in the south of the city, the loudspeaker of the soy milk vendor downstairs was broken.

"Hot soy milk - fried dough sticks - hot soy milk - hot soybeans - "

Lu Yuan sat cross-legged on the worn-out sofa, with his phone, calculator, and several express delivery receipts spread out on the coffee table.

The sixth brother lay down next to him, burying his head in eating the "Supreme Peak" canned staple food.

Lu Yuan lowered his head to calculate the accounts.

"Cat Sticks commission, deducted from platform service fees."

"Garbage bag commission, tax deducted."

"Deduct the freeze-dried food that Lao Liu bought in revenge spending yesterday."

The calculator clicked away, and after calculating to the end, Lu Yuan looked at the balance and remained silent for three seconds.

"Sixth Brother."

The orange cat looked up, its mouth smeared with minced meat.

Lu Yuan said in a serious tone: "Our family was once wealthy."

Sixth Brother: "Meow."

"Don't meow, wealth ends quickly."

No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a knock on the security door, and Lu Yuan got up to open it.

Su Qinghan stood outside the door, wearing a long black trench coat and holding a file folder. When she entered the room, she glanced at the coffee table and saw the expensive can of food in front of Lao Liu.

"Has your lifestyle improved?"

Lu Yuan covered the calculator: "Short-term prosperity has no reference value."

Su Qinghan placed the file folder on the old coffee table. "I've agreed to your new project."

Lu Yuan opened it, and there were four words on the cover: "Dark Night Detective".

Su Qinghan sat down: "It's an S+ level suspense web series on the platform, twelve episodes long. The director is Liang Yu, and the cinematography, art direction, and set design are all top-notch. The male lead role has already been reserved for you."

Lu Yuan picked up the script.

My finger skipped over the story synopsis, character biographies, and creative explanations, and landed precisely on the contract appendix.

Su Qinghan looked at him: "Can't you at least respect the script?"

Lu Yuan picked up the calculator: "I'm respecting the client's wishes."

A few quick slaps, and the actor's salary is deducted, taxes are deducted, agent's share is deducted, and miscellaneous expenses are deducted.

A seven-digit number popped up on the screen.

Lu Yuan sat up straight. "Director Su."

Seeing his expression, Su Qinghan assumed he wanted to talk about the role.

Lu Yuan then asked, "What's the meal allowance for the film crew?"

Su Qinghan's eyelids twitched slightly. "You asked about this first?"

"This affects job stability."

Lu Yuan flipped through the attachments, "How many meat dishes are there for lunch? Are there chicken legs? Will they provide hot soup for night shoots? If the boxed lunch gets cold, can we ask the production assistant to exchange it?"

Su Qinghan leaned back on the sofa and raised her hand to press her temple.

She shouldn't have had any expectations!

"Every meal has it."

"drumstick?"

"have."

"Not those frozen chicken drumsticks?"

"I put the production manager in charge of the production separately."

Lu Yuan closed the script. "Then this project shows sincerity."

Su Qinghan rubbed her forehead: "The first script reading is in a few days. I'll take you there. Don't be late, don't bring the cat, and don't bring fruit platters to the meeting room."

Lu Yuan thought for a moment: "Can't the fruit platter be packed up?"

Su Qinghan stood up: "No."

The sixth brother looked up from in front of the can and looked at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan patted its head: "Did you hear that? Capitalists won't let you eat fruit."

……

Time flies, and the first script reading session for all members of "The Dark Detective" has begun.

The main creators sat on both sides of the long table.

The team includes director Liang Yu, producer Xu Zhou, platform project manager, director of photography, editing consultant, and a group of actors.

The project name is projected onto the wall.

Early script readings are crucial.

Actors need to work out the relationships between their characters in advance, directors need to set the tone for the performances, and screenwriters need to make a final revision of the script based on feedback from the audience readings.

When Lu Yuan followed Su Qinghan into the room, the noise in the conference room subsided.

The man who has been trending on social media for "triggering criminal charges" walked in today wearing an old windbreaker and carrying a thermos.

The contrast is too great!

Producer Xu Zhou immediately stood up and said, "Director Su, Teacher Lu, thank you for your hard work."

Director Liang Yu also came over to greet him, "Teacher Lu, please have a seat here."

After Lu Yuan sat down, he casually picked up an orange from the fruit plate.

Su Qinghan turned her head to look at him.

Lu Yuan whispered, "No takeout, we'll eat it here."

At the other end of the long table, a middle-aged man wearing black-rimmed glasses glanced at him.

The lead screenwriter is Lao Mai. He's known in the industry for writing suspense novels, has won awards, and has also criticized many actors.

He dislikes traffic stars the most.

In his view, whether an actor is famous or not is one thing, but whether they can understand complex narratives is another!

Especially popular celebrities like Lu Yuan. They become famous quickly and generate a lot of buzz.

They have a large following and love to give orders at creative meetings.

The male lead in "The Dark Detective" is a character he wrote over three years.

A highly intelligent detective, calm, morbid, and insightful about human nature, cannot be portrayed by a young person who rose to fame through trending topics as someone who only knows how to pose for cool photos.

Liang Yu clapped his hands.

"Everyone's here, let's begin. Today we'll mainly go over the first two episodes, focusing on the first case."

Old Mike opened the script, "Case number one: a locked room dismemberment case."

The young actors immediately sat up straight.

Old Mai cleared his throat and began to speak.

The victim was a financial company executive who was found dead in a private room at a private club.

Doors and windows were locked from the inside, surveillance footage showed no intrusion, and a large amount of dry ice remained inside.

After the body was dismembered, it was thrown into the city's sewer system in three different segments.

The killer was a highly intelligent surgeon who used blind spots caused by backlighting and surveillance cameras to carry out the transfer.

Old Mai spoke with great enthusiasm.

Several actors nodded repeatedly.

The producer also praised, "The opening of this case is very gripping."

Director Liang Yu added, "The suspense is very strong."

At the end of the long table, Lu Yuan bent down and peeled an orange.

He peeled the orange very carefully, tearing off the white pith one by one and placing it on a tissue, almost too cleanly.

Old Mike paused when he talked about the murderer's dismemberment tools.

He looked at Lu Yuan, "Teacher Lu."