Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years
Chapter 109 - 108: Beat You to Death, You Scoundrel (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 109: Chapter 108: Beat You to Death, You Scoundrel (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Gao Yang stood in the middle, while everyone else found their spots, resulting in a group photo with the Daoist to mark the start of filming.

By tradition, once the opening ceremony is over, filming should begin, at least with one scene.

The first scene chosen by the crew was a scene between Qi Hao and Xiaoran, the "third wheel."

The first few days, the crew prioritized filming Xiaoran and Gao Yuanyuan.

Both of them were guest stars, who couldn’t be delayed too long.

They won’t get paid, apart from covering round-trip airfare and a meal.

Qi Hao’s Li Chenggong was taking his mistress Manny to an arcade to win claw machine toys.

"Cut, uh, no need to be so..."

Ye Weimin didn’t want to call "cut"; being the first scene, as long as it wasn’t too outrageous, he preferred to let it go for good luck.

However, Xiaoran’s acting was over the top.

"What?"

Xiaoran looked bewildered, believing she acted just fine.

Though not a standout member of the Acting Faction, she considered herself competent enough to portray a character like this, surely not bad enough to mess up a claw machine scene.

"No need to act so provocative."

Qi Hao softly reminded her since Ye Weimin couldn’t say it directly. As her friend, he stepped in.

"Huh?" Xiaoran was shocked.

How can a mistress not be provocative?

Isn’t a man seeking a mistress because the wife lacks allure?

"That’s the movie’s premise..."

Qi Hao expressed his helplessness but did understand the scriptwriters’ intention.

"Lost on Journey," after various edits, was nicely streamlined but still had logical flaws.

Some discrepancies were downright absurd.

For instance, the mistress didn’t stir trouble, the wife didn’t mind her husband’s infidelity, a teacher begged on the street for students, ticket agents searched all hotels for a lost wallet owner, or farmers refused compensation after being hit...

While individually plausible in real life, having them all in one movie feels awfully fake.

Still, it’s a comedy, a piece of cinema.

If not aiming for boastful confrontations or justice defeating evil plotlines, there are unlikely to be complete villains.

Otherwise, the work’s worldview wouldn’t stand.

Qi Hao briefly explained the character setup to Xiaoran, who then grasped how to act.

Though Xiaoran’s mistress wasn’t supposed to stir trouble, her ambition to replace the wife was unchanged, thus persuading Qi Hao to divorce Gao Yuanyuan was essential.

"Hey."

"What’s up?"

"I’m pregnant."

"No way..."

"Oops, sorry, Qi Hao’s expression was too authentic, haha..."

The preceding shots were fine, but Xiaoran broke character laughing during the pregnancy reveal.

"Alright, take a break."

Ye Weimin was quite pleased with the filming speed.

"What’s there to laugh about, huh?"

Qi Hao felt helpless; such a serious moment.

The mistress claimed she was pregnant, a complicated mix of emotions — shock, panic, helplessness...

He believed his expression in that instant was textbook-worthy acting.

In his training space, he specifically honed this philandering character skill.

Then Xiaoran went on to mock him.

"I just thought about how you’d react if any of your rumored girlfriends suddenly told you she was pregnant."

Xiaoran couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Uh..." Qi Hao was speechless, what do I care if a rumored girlfriend claims she’s pregnant.

Could one get pregnant from phone calls?

"If your rumored girlfriend had your child, would you take responsibility?" Xiaoran curiously inquired.

"I don’t expect a rumored girlfriend to get pregnant," Qi Hao hadn’t considered this scenario.

"What if, hypothetically?"

"Your hypothetical..." Qi Hao broke into a cold sweat and reluctantly replied: "If by responsibility you mean marriage, I’d only marry for love, not obligation."

"Bah, scumbag!" Xiaoran rolled her eyes.

"Hey, looks like there’s a fight over there!" Qi Hao promptly changed the subject.

He wasn’t just making it up.

However, it wasn’t a fight for dominance or life and death.

Wang Baoqiang was practicing moves alongside the Daoist Master brought by Gao Yang, each demonstrating their own: Wang Baoqiang showcased some moves, the Daoist Master responded with his own.

Indeed, Wang Baoqiang learned martial arts at Shaolin Temple from an early age, it could be termed Shaolin Sect versus Wudang Sect battle.

Qi Hao had never witnessed Wang Baoqiang displaying top-notch martial skills until today.

Wang Baoqiang’s performance was indeed decent, manifesting a solid martial arts foundation.

Nonetheless, the Daoist Master was clearly superior.

If Wang Baoqiang’s display resembled modern martial arts competition routines, the Daoist Master’s was more akin to the authentic martial arts popular during the early years of the republic, which were later banned.

"Impressive, impressive!"

Wang Baoqiang courteously saluted, expressing genuine admiration.

"Yours is quite commendable actually, you know, if actors from your industry genuinely practiced some fundamental routines, the fight scenes would look way better than they do now."

The Daoist smiled, then upon noticing An Feng, he quickly added:

"I’m not referring to you, Miss An Feng is both stunning and impressive in her action scenes. I’m here for the opening ceremony just to meet my idol."

"Daoist, speaking so freely about beauties isn’t in line with the standards of monastic life, is it?"

Seeing Daoist Suiyun’s down-to-earth nature, Wang Baoqiang jokingly teased.

"Haha, my greatest hobby in life is admiring beauties. Following Boss Gao is for the purpose of saving money to marry a gorgeous wife."

The Daoist felt no embarrassment, showing no intent to hide his true self.

Qi Hao knew, Daoists come in many types.

Some Daoists, like monks, cannot marry or have children, nor can they eat meat; while some Daoists are no different from ordinary people.

And this Daoist Master Suiyun clearly belongs to the latter category.

"Daoist Master is insightful!"

Wang Baoqiang felt he had met a kindred spirit, as he also liked beautiful women, and his wife was very beautiful.

Qi Hao continued shooting the scene.

The first day basically involved filming scenes with him, Li Xiaoran, and Gao Yuanyuan.

If it could be finished in a day, that’d be best; if not, it was no big deal.

Soon they switched to an indoor setting to shoot Li Chenggong’s family scenes.

The actors in the scene included Qi Hao, Gao Yuanyuan, and some elderly and young girl extras.

The venue was borrowed by the crew.

The director of photography, Li Shaojiang, was a local, and also a second-generation rich.

His home was nicely decorated, perfectly fitting the successful person profile of Li Chenggong.

Not only did they borrow his home, but even his mother and daughter were enlisted as well.

Being a photographer, his family members had a good sense of the camera, at least not dragging down the performance.

Earlier, the mistress portrayed by Li Xiaoran told Qi Hao she had met the wife, so a guilty Qi Hao returned home to find his wife and daughter.

Just when he thought everything was ruined,

his wife, daughter, and mother came back from shopping.

"Guoguo!" Qi Hao went out to greet them.

"Daddy, you finally came back!" the photographer’s little girl ran toward her new daddy.

"Oh, you’re getting heavier, did you miss Daddy? Come, give Daddy a kiss, another one, my little darling~ oh~"

Qi Hao lifted the little girl affectionately, perfectly exhibiting that sense of relief at regained happiness.

The photographer felt uncomfortable watching this.

He regretted letting his daughter appear on camera.

His little darling calling someone else daddy and smiling so happily, without the usual shyness with strangers.

Is it that even a five or six-year-old girl can’t resist someone handsome?

"You’re back?"

Gao Yuanyuan carried the purchased items, closed the door, and approached.

Qi Hao held the child, looking at her with a complex expression—having cheated, he couldn’t ease his conscience.

Playing to this point, Qi Hao admonished himself:

Never cheat in the future!

If you can’t control your lower body, how can you achieve great things?

But he immediately realized:

He didn’t even have a steady girlfriend; was it a bit too anxious to worry about cheating?

"You still know to come back, it’s already the first day of the year, where have you been, and the phone’s off, both mom and I were so worried. Where exactly did you go?"

Gao Yuanyuan had a long monologue, and she was evidently well-prepared, reciting it word for word.

However, she still received a ’NG’ from the director.

Ye Weimin spoke warmly:

"Ms. Gao Yuanyuan, your character is gentle, but she already knows her husband has someone outside, so being gentle is enough, you can add a little emotion, but you can’t act coy..."

He wondered if Gao Yuanyuan often acted coquettishly with Qi Hao in private.

Being so naturally coy.

"Sorry, sorry~" Gao Yuanyuan apologized repeatedly; having acted for many years, she had no problem handling this bit of emotion.

However, doing it again didn’t prevent another NG; this time, thinking of Qi Hao cheating behind her back made it hard for her to stay gentle, overcorrecting from being coy to being sarcastic.

After this part finished, it was already meal time.

Everyone should theoretically go eat now.

Gao Yang, Daoist Suiyun, Li Xiaoran who had already finished her parts for the day, and An Feng who hadn’t yet filmed, were all waiting for dinner.

But Ye Weimin thought, since Qi Hao and Gao Yuanyuan had found their feelings and were cooperating well,

It might be better to finish shooting their parts before eating, which would mean at most an extra one or two hours of overtime.

Gao Yuanyuan washed vegetables in the kitchen, and Qi Hao went over to chat with her, first massaging her shoulders, then wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

"Cut, cut, cut, Gao Yuanyuan..."

"Sorry, sorry, I know where I went wrong." Gao Yuanyuan knew her acting had a problem.

When Qi Hao hugged her, she hadn’t expressed the resentment and endurance.

"OK, continue." Ye Weimin wanted to finish quickly.

They definitely couldn’t finish Gao Yuanyuan and Li Xiaoran’s scenes today and would have to shoot more tomorrow.

But shooting as much as possible is never wrong.

"There’s a girl who’s been following me, she’s quite pretty, she thinks I don’t know, but I’ve known for a while."

Qi Hao let go of his wife in confusion.

Gao Yuanyuan turned around, took out a letter from her pocket, and said, "She wrote you a letter and left it in the flower bed at the door, have a look~"

Qi Hao’s expression instantly became very complex.

It was a cold winter, yet he was sweating profusely.

"Don’t worry, I didn’t read it~"

Gao Yuanyuan smiled.

This time Ye Weimin didn’t call cut.

Seeing Gao Yuanyuan like this, no man could bear it.

It’s foreseeable that when the movie is released, Qi Hao will be scolded fiercely as a scumbag by many people.

With a wife like Gao Yuanyuan, why would you still cheat, you bastard.

Ye Weimin joked during dinner last time, saying that when the movie premieres, they’ll distribute eggs at the ceremony.

Everyone attending the premiere would get twenty eggs.

If you’re not satisfied with the movie, you can throw eggs at the creators.

Qi Hao was now very worried that someone would throw eggs at him, and that all the eggs would be directed at him.

Just because he had failed Gao Yuanyuan.