Chapter 93 Springtime of First Encounters Again Wen Qi, you'll have a cameo role. ...

Zhu Qingzhi arrived at the film set the day after she got off the plane, and Wen Qi took over some of Xiao Zhou's work as a low-key "little follower".

Since his birthday had passed and his privileges were no longer valid, Zhu Qingzhi looked at him with undisguised sorrow during a break from his bad behavior last night.

Wen Qi wore a mask and an oversized hooded sweatshirt, the hood pulled low to cover the upper half of her face, leaving only her gentle eyes visible.

He slowly raised his hand, revealing a fresh, red, swollen bite mark on the web of his hand. Zhu Qingzhi was speechless for a moment, then reluctantly looked away.

Aside from exchanging glances, the two did not make any inappropriate moves. Most of the time, Wen Qi simply stayed quietly by his side.

Although his face was not clearly visible, his outstanding presence was captivating, and within half an hour, the set was buzzing with conversation about his identity.

"See that handsome guy? Broad shoulders and long legs, but he never shows his face. Is he going to be a disaster if he's seen in real life?"

"They say she's Zhu Qingzhi's newly hired assistant, but that doesn't seem like it. Could it be...?"

"He didn't do anything out of line. Besides, he's a boss, how could he be spending time with his wife like this?"

Finally, some staff members who couldn't contain their curiosity approached Xiaozhou to ask him questions.

Xiao Zhou, holding his thermos, remained expressionless: "Yes, a temporary worker on probation." He paused, then added with a touch of self-satisfied pride, "My brother-in-law."

The person who asked the question paused for a moment: "Oh, Xiaozhou, you have a sister?"

“Yes.” Xiao Zhou raised her chin and pointed in the direction of Zhu Qingzhi, who was performing in the scene. “There, is my sister.”

After a brief silence came an even more shocking silence, and when Zhu Qingzhi finished filming, she was greeted by the complex yet intense gazes of the entire crew.

Huh? What's going on?

She subconsciously searched for Wen Qi's figure, but couldn't see him. She only saw Xiao Zhou grinning with his big white teeth, waving frantically at her like a groundhog.

"Sis, Director Zheng is looking for us!"

Suddenly, a bad premonition struck the top of my head.

Sure enough, as soon as they entered the work booth, they saw Wen Qi standing behind the monitor with his hands in his pockets. His lazy and casual posture showed no signs of being an elite. Instead, he had a kind of unruly and unrestrained air about him, but also revealed a strange kind of obedience.

“Since you’re already here, don’t just sit around.” Director Zheng stood to the side, rubbing his chin. “You’re playing a cameo role; we were just having trouble finding someone.”

Director Zheng caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye, and a rare, vivid expression appeared on his usually serious face. "It's just a cameo role. The character Xu Yan is what young people call a 'white moonlight'."

Zhu Qingzhi: "..."

"Xiao Zhu, you shouldn't just sit around doing nothing. You two should train each other and find your rhythm."

Zhu Qingzhi twitched the corner of her mouth, wanting to turn around and leave.

Wen Qi looked over, equally helpless. Clearly, he had been tormented by Director Zheng for a long time, and most importantly, this was a Buddha, so he couldn't refute him.

He exhaled, lowered his head, and rubbed the tip of his nose with the knuckle of his index finger: "I can't act."

"Just two lines, 'Hello, classmate.' 'Thank you.' What kind of acting skills do you need? Besides, it seems to suit your personality perfectly."

Director Zheng put on a stern face, suddenly reached out and took off Wen Qi's hat, chuckled twice, and then carefully instructed, "But you need to be careful, this is where she admires you, not the other way around~"

The "ha~" at the end of the note was incredibly convoluted.

Wow, what a terrifying writing style.

Zhu Qingzhi got goosebumps all over. She held the script and calmly began to speak: "Director Zheng, today's schedule is full."

Director Zheng glanced at the schedule, his head slightly lowered, his reading glasses slipped down to the middle of his nose, and looked over with a very wise gaze: "Did I say today? Why the rush?"

Zhu Qingzhi: "I..."

"But it's not impossible for you to make this request. Just shorten your rest time; half an hour will be enough."

"I......"

"Who told you to take a day off the other day? The crew is rushing to meet the deadline, you can understand, right?"

"I understand, but..."

"Just understand, both of you should take it seriously. I'll film this scene myself."

OK, Fine.

Zhu Qingzhi completely shut down. No wonder Wen Qi had a strangely obedient demeanor; it turned out she couldn't do anything about him.

Wen Qi remained silent throughout, afraid that if he opened his mouth, Director Zheng would kick him out of the film crew.

Director Zheng took off his reading glasses, grabbed Wen Qi and tossed him next to Zhu Qingzhi, adopting a businesslike attitude: "Take him to the dressing room, we'll shoot the next scene."

Zhu Qingzhi and Wen Qi turned around almost at the same time, leaving Director Zheng's rambling speech behind.

On her way to the dressing room, Zhu Qingzhi received even more and more exaggerated stares than before. She felt like she had been roasted alive, and her ears were so hot they didn't even feel like they belonged to her anymore.

Wen Qi was initially quite natural, but her reaction made her feel a little embarrassed. It seemed like her 188cm height was getting shorter and shorter, a change that Zhu Qingzhi noticed.

She strained to straighten her back, her voice forced out through clenched teeth: "Why are you copying me!"

Wen Qi was taken aback by her question, and then realized that he had subconsciously imitated her nervousness. He coughed lightly and his eyes flickered: "Temporary workers need to learn to read the boss's expression."

His tone was very calm, as if he were stating a perfectly normal fact.

Zhu Qingzhi glanced at him sideways and said irritably, "You're so good at talking, why didn't you say that to Director Zheng just now?"

"Even the boss can't argue with me, how dare I speak up?" Wen Qi lowered his head slightly, his gaze meeting hers, and he even looked somewhat innocent.

Zhu Qingzhi was at her wit's end, so she reached out and ruffled his hair: "If Mom and Dad find out you suddenly took a vacation to film a movie, let's see how you explain it!"

"Running free ads is a sure way to make money."

"Oh? As widely known as Ji Cen?" Even after so many days, she still couldn't help but laugh when she thought of that "spotted dog" photo.

"I won't allow you to talk about Director Zheng like that."

"......?"

What does this have to do with Director Zheng?

"You don't trust Director Zheng's cinematography skills?"

Zhu Qingzhi closed her eyes and quickened her pace.

Wen Qi persisted, taking larger steps to be half a body length ahead of her so she could see his expression clearly: "I won't allow you to talk about yourself like that either."

Zhu Qingzhi stopped in her tracks, crossed her arms, and looked at him with a half-smile. She wanted to see what he had to say.

Wen Qi casually brushed her disheveled hair back, revealing her deep-set features. A smile spread across her eyes like wildflowers: "You have excellent taste, after all, your husband..."

He leaned forward slightly, his voice carrying just the right amount of confidence, "I couldn't take a photo like that."

Zhu Qingzhi smiled, calm and gentle, and once again reached out and ruffled his hair.

The news that "Zhu Qingzhi's husband works as an assistant on the film set" spread like wildfire, but before the gossip-loving public could take any further action, the news that "Zhu Qingzhi's husband is Wen Qi" shocked everyone.

"Wen Qi? The Wen family's guy who's incredibly handsome? I knew it, he's definitely not the type to be unattractive in person."

"A real-life 'sugar daddy' scenario, tsk tsk tsk, I knew it! Why did the Wen family suddenly get into film investment?"

"What sugar daddy?! Zhu Qingzhi is the daughter of the Lu family! What sugar daddy does she need? She is herself."

"Holy crap, who remembers that picture from Katrina's press conference! I'm really starting to ship them."

The handsome men and beautiful women were perfectly in the same frame. Zhu Qingzhi and Wen Qi's several scenes together, including the transitions, were only filmed for half an hour, while the staff had nearly a hundred videos on their phones.

Xiao Zhou successfully infiltrated the group and sent three selected clips to Zhu Qingzhi: "Sister, uncut direct shots!"

Zhu Qingzhi didn't have time to watch at all and immediately went to film on location, while Wen Qi was kept by Director Zheng next to the monitor.

"I told you to tone it down. Look at this part. Cutting even one more second would make it a waste of footage." Director Zheng repeatedly dragged the progress bar, exasperated.

Wen Qi shrugged, not accepting his criticism: "I told you I can't act, but you wouldn't listen."

"You little rascal." Director Zheng was used to his sarcastic remarks and didn't argue with him. He frowned and watched it a few more times, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "Doesn't this scene resemble the one where you two first met?"

"Mmm." Wen Qi looked at the image of Zhu Qingzhi's bright smile frozen on the big screen, and it felt as if time had turned back to that spring.

"I'll export the original footage and keep it for your wedding to play?" Without waiting for Wen Qi's response, she imported the clip into the hard drive.

While waiting, Director Zheng sighed and spoke the truth, "Luckily, this is an art film. If it were a commercial film, with both the male and female leads having scandals during filming and the female lead even having a secret marriage, the box office would definitely have been a flop."

"I see."

"When are you planning to announce it? I feel there's no need to hide it anymore." Director Zheng looked at the progress bar, picked up his teacup, and took a sip of tea.

"If we get photographed, we'll make it public." Wen Qi dragged a chair over and sat down, not avoiding the question for the first time.

Director Zheng knew this must be Zhu Qingzhi's idea, because according to Wen Qi's idea, he couldn't wait to announce the marriage to the world on the day of the marriage.

He nodded: "Don't worry about the crew, nothing will leak out, but there's one thing I should mention in advance."

He was so serious and focused that he even stopped drinking his tea. Wen Qi held his breath, waiting for him to continue.

"Invest more; hush money is very expensive."

*

Meanwhile, the movie "Beauty" entered its promotional period.

In just one afternoon, the three-minute trailer went viral across the internet, and it almost monopolized the splash screen ads and trending topics on major platforms.

【Beauty】is a story about chivalry and justice in the martial arts world. In the trailer, Xiao Tang is dressed in red, wielding a sword and fighting fiercely. The action scenes are gorgeous and dazzling, with amazing special effects.

[The trailer for "Beauty" ignites anticipation; the pinnacle of true martial arts returns!]

[With sword in hand, she embodies the spirit of a true heroine!]

[#XiaoTangMovieBeauty# The Legend of the Condor Heroes 5.10 See you there!]

The visuals are stunning! Anything directed by Xu is guaranteed to be a masterpiece!

Despite the official, appropriate publicity, some overly enthusiastic fans couldn't contain their fervor. On various social media platforms and forums, Xiao Tang's fans began to make comparisons:

[Isn't that production crew a bit too stingy? Look at our sister's action scenes, that's what you call a big-budget production!]

Is there still a market for art-house films? Are they still making those slow-paced, boring movies?

In terms of actual results, some people really should feel a bit threatened.

[They're definitely feeling threatened. Didn't they use my sister's boyfriend to create hype just a few days ago?!]

Although these disparaging remarks do not represent the official stance, they ignited a war among fan groups. Zhu Qingzhi's fans were naturally not to be outdone, and the two sides engaged in a lively back-and-forth exchange.

The public outcry didn't escalate quickly, but the official Weibo account of [Jiaren] posted a message that greatly angered Xiao Tang's fans:

[Movie Beauty V: The world is vast enough to accommodate all heroes; only with a multitude of excellent works can we build a prosperous film industry. [Beauty] respects every filmmaker who creates with dedication and looks forward to bringing wonderful performances to audiences together with [The Knot]. @MovieTheKnotV]

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Author's note: Qingzhi [resting her chin on her hand]: Shuan Q.

Wen Qi [shrugs]: To keep as a memento.

Director Zheng [glasses]: Doing good deeds should not only leave a name, but also leave money.

Ah Mei [sunglasses]: Tremble, my little universe!

P.S.: Did you guys enjoy watching this? [crying emoji]