421: Chapter 421 20 Days

Rogueishness + sharpness. Director Du Qiyu was certain: this was the Ah Lai he had envisioned.

Lin Chuyan seemed to retain a touch of the neuroticism of Gao Qisheng from the knockout, but that was as far as it went. In terms of temperament, he was very different from Gao Qisheng.

At this moment, Lin Chuyan walked toward Director Du Qiyu.

This walk alone made Director Du Qiyu raise an eyebrow.

Lin Chuyan had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his torn jeans, elbows jutting outward, the hem of his shirt swaying gently, revealing a glimpse of a belt buckle that glinted faintly.

He sauntered slowly, not in the least bit hurried, his toes occasionally scuffing the ground as if ready to kick away any annoying little pebble at any moment.

The corners of his mouth drooped, carrying a rogueish air that screamed, "Don't mess with me."

"Director Du..."

Director Du Qiyu suddenly recalled that when Lin Chuyan had first arrived, he had greeted him the exact same way, yet the impression these two greetings left on him was completely different.

The first time, the tone had been upbeat; this time, it was downward, sounding much more composed.

What was it like...

It was like a leopard that hadn't bared its claws yet—quiet, yet commanding enough that no one dared to underestimate it, as if in the next second it could pull a knife from its pocket and catch you off guard.

When Lin Chuyan reached Director Du Qiyu, he made a move; he took the cigarette from his lips and tucked it behind his ear, then pushed his tongue against his cheek, looking as if he were chewing gum or perhaps holding back a curse he hadn't yet uttered.

"How's that?"

"Good, good, good! Awesome! Nickname, keep this state—you must keep it!"

How should he put it? Director Du Qiyu had to be thankful that lotus lantern hadn't been released yet.

Otherwise, looking at him now, who could imagine that this was supposed to be the First War God of the Three Realms, Erlang Shen?

Director Du Qiyu began calling people over to take Lin Chuyan's makeup test photos.

"Pick... two more outfits. Just make sure one of them is a suit. If you have any ideas, feel free to put them together yourself."

"Okay."

Two outfits it was.

Lin Chuyan turned and went back into the room.

One was a black tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt with a dragon and tiger pattern printed on the abdomen. Lin Chuyan had no objections to this.

The other was a suit, but the shirt underneath...

"Mary, let's change the shirt color. Do you have anything that pops more? White is too plain."

"Brother, do you want to pick one?"

"Hmm... let's go with royal blue."

"How about we flip the collar out? Let's not make it too formal."

"That works. This is the feeling I wanted."

A movie with no script—how should it be filmed?

As a director-in-training, Lin Chuyan got a headache just thinking about this question. Fortunately, this wasn't something he needed to worry about; he would just watch how Director Du showed off his skills.

The next day, all the actors had arrived.

"You all know each other, right?" Director Du Qiyu called all the leads together. "Boss Brother Wen, Second-in-command Ah Nan—these two are the high-level members of the gang. The Boss is the target you need to protect."

"Next is The Five-Man Group." Director Du Qiyu pointed to them one by one. "Ah Gui, Ah Fei, Ah Mike, Ah Xin, and Ah Lai."

"Right, everyone just address each other by your character names in the film."

A man's drama, an ensemble piece.

With this group sitting together, the atmosphere of the movie seemed to materialize instantly.

These individuals, including Lin Chuyan, had many works under their belts and were all old acquaintances in the industry, so Director Du Qiyu didn't bother introducing them to each other, only stating their names in the play.

Except for Ah Fei.

He was called 'Fat', but he was actually okay—just a bit chubby. But that's how this business is; if you're even slightly overweight, you look ten pounds heavier on camera.

"Ah Fei is taking on a role with such a heavy workload for the first time, so please take care of him." Director Du Qiyu finished the introduction in one sentence. "Time is limited, and I have only one requirement for everyone: except for Ah Fei, everyone else should try their best not to NG. Aim to get it in one take."

The few people looked at each other, saying nothing.

Director Du was very pleased. "Very good, then it's settled."

Since Director Du had already said as much, what else could they say?

"For today's opening ceremony, there's just one scene where every member of The Five-Man Group will appear. As for the script, don't worry, there will definitely be time left for you to prepare. I've already written tomorrow's plot and Lines, which means everyone will be able to get the scenes for the next day on a daily basis."

Thanks to Director Du, everyone could at least have some preparation time.

However, Director Du Qiyu's next sentence came immediately: "But for this first scene today, everyone just improvise. I won't be giving out a script."

Everyone: ...

Director Du Qiyu wasn't panicking anyway—these people's acting skills were so damn good, what did he have to panic about?

He continued to explain the scene to everyone.

"Don't worry, it's very simple. I'll arrange for Ah Fei to enter first. He walks down the street... passes a barbershop, the camera cuts inside, and Ah Gui, who has retired from the underworld, is giving someone a haircut, hinting at his identity as a retired master hiding from the world; Ah Fei continues to walk past a nightclub, the camera cuts to the entrance, Ah Mike is a pimp, arranging for a customer to take a lady into a car, his expression somewhat unwilling—who would have thought he'd be a sharpshooter; Ah Fei continues to walk, passes a bar, the camera cuts inside the bar..."

Director Du Qiyu looked at Lin Chuyan. "Ah Lai is watching the place inside. At this moment, the police come to find trouble. Here, I will arrange for Ah Xin to appear, and incidentally set up a scene where the officers get snubbed. You need to act a bit cocky here to show that you guys are doing well on this turf."

"With that, Ah Fei, Ah Gui, Ah Mike, Ah Lai, and Ah Xin—The Five-Man Group will all have been introduced through Ah Fei's perspective."

Everyone continued to look at each other, but this time the feeling was a bit different: it seemed... actually quite reliable?

The opening ceremony was highlighted by a grand setup—Hong Kong places great importance on this.

First, today was an auspicious day chosen by a Feng Shui master; secondly, everyone in the crew would take turns stepping forward to burn incense and pay respects to the gods.

After that, Director Du Qiyu found Lin Chuyan. "Nickname, you go ahead. Usually, this is the lead actor's job."

Lin Chuyan didn't refuse. He went up and sliced the roasted pig in one stroke from head to tail, symbolizing a good start and finish, and smooth sailing.

Finally, the props team started handing out red envelopes to the actors and staff present. The amount of money was arbitrary, usually quite small, primarily to bring good luck.

Lin Chuyan inexplicably felt that the movie's budget had all been spent on this...

Once the opening ceremony was done, the lead actors took a group photo.

Director Du Qiyu immediately had someone post the photo to Weibo.

"Director Du, we don't have an official account."

"Damn, I forgot about that."

Lin Chuyan volunteered. "Director Du, I'll do it."

"Great!"

Originally, Director Du Qiyu didn't plan on doing much promotion, but then Wu Yue gave him a very tempting suggestion...

Post it, it must be posted.

The hype must also be maximized.

"Nickname, other than the content of the film, it doesn't matter what else you say. Write whatever you want."

He had witnessed Lin Chuyan's ability in promotion.

"Director Du, even if I wanted to talk about the film, I couldn't—you don't even have a script."

"Hahahaha!"

Lin Chuyan posted on Weibo.

He uploaded the photo and edited the text: "Collaborating with Director Du again, and still the male lead. New film, the mission. Stay tuned. Also: No script, filming for only 20 days."

Director Du Qiyu leaned his head over. "When did I say 20 days? It's a month."

"It's fine, the extra ten days will count as overtime for the shoot."

Director Du Qiyu: "... Awesome, you really know how to play."