Chapter 78: Good Morning, Sir (1)
When Li Sishi returned with the glory of being the runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant, the entire city of Hong Kong went almost crazy!
To put it bluntly, the mindset of this era is indeed somewhat "foreign worship and fawning," while desperately absorbing everything from those pioneers who have already made progress, they also eagerly anticipate being recognized as latecomers.
Beauty pageants, with their long history, are like the Olympics of the entertainment industry. Once someone from our own community wins a place or award in an international competition, a sense of pride and honor quickly spreads from that person who has gained "recognition."
It can be said that Li Sishi, who has made a glorious comeback, is now truly a beloved figure in Hong Kong, attracting immense attention and anticipation for her next move.
This level of attention naturally led to a surge in her market value. According to gossip tabloids' "speculation," Li Sishi's market value is now firmly established at the level of a second-tier to top-tier female artist. This is even with only one cameo role and two commercials. If she has the resources and the ability to handle them, she will soon become the fastest-rising first-tier female artist in the industry.
Moreover, the "beauty pageant legend" label might even level the playing field in terms of salary differences between male and female celebrities in the industry...
Of course, even if the tabloids do this, the agreed-upon fees from TBL TV will not increase because of this.
Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting were originally planning to explain the issue of remuneration to Li Sishi, but Li Sishi calmly stated: "I really enjoy acting, and I cherish the opportunity to play the lead role in the anniversary drama that Ms. Zhuang and Sister Ting secured for me. As for other things, they are not issues that I need to consider."
Hearing Li Sishi's sensible words, and considering that Li Sishi was about to become a wealthy heiress because of her biological mother's marriage into a wealthy family, Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief: Fortunately, Li Sishi's knowledge and family background meant she wasn't only concerned with immediate gains and losses. This way, they wouldn't need to spend too much effort dealing with the common troubles in the entertainment industry where artists suddenly become popular and their value skyrockets, leading to disputes with their agents and companies over profits.
Moreover, since Li Sishi is now "rich," she won't be so easily tempted by outside opportunities to make mistakes. Instead, she can honestly focus on her work and development. Apart from worrying that she might not be able to endure the hardships and leave the entertainment industry to become a rich heiress, everything is almost perfect.
But it's clear that Li Sishi now has a strong yearning for the entertainment industry and an extraordinary passion for becoming an artist.
The obedient and sensible Zhuang Menghua always gave her the greatest amount of love—just like when the 1994 Miss Hong Kong pageant finals stage arranged for Shang Hanyou, two Heavenly Kings, Ling Chen, and Luo Jiasheng, who became famous for playing the role of Yu Mao in "Qing Tian Gong An", to be her supporting actors. Even as a junior, the obedient and sensible Li Sishi received more love than her senior Huang Qianyan, who only had two Heavenly Kings as her supporting actors back then.
This reflects Zhuang Menghua's attitude towards the recent performance of his two favorite players.
So much so that some tabloids once compared the two stages, implying that Zhuang Menghua was using the obedient Li Sishi to discipline the disobedient Huang Qianyan...
This prompted Huang Qianyan to take the initiative to call Li Sishi amidst her busy schedule, telling her not to take these nonsensical rumors to heart.
Li Sishi couldn't help but smile as she recalled Huang Qianyan's hurried phone call during a break in filming.
"Although the TV series contract that has already been signed is difficult to change, I will have someone try their best to get you better treatment for the advertising offers later." Seeing that Li Sishi accepted the arrangement so calmly, Zhuang Menghua instructed Lu Yiting to pay more attention to the upcoming advertising offers and film opportunities.
"I will try my best to pay attention." Lu Yiting nodded to indicate that she understood, and then discussed with Zhuang Menghua the topic of getting more resources for "Mr. Morning".
Knowing that the TV station has now taken advantage of Li Sishi's popularity—after all, although everyone hoped that Li Sishi could achieve good results in the Miss Universe pageant, no one really expected that she could achieve such good results. So even someone as knowledgeable as Zhuang Menghua was a little slow to react to the question of Li Sishi's overnight rise in level.
However, since both sides have reached an agreement, it's best to compensate her privately. In a society that values relationships, being too calculating is not conducive to maintaining the relationship between the two sides.
Li Sishi had no objection to the topics Zhuang and Lu were discussing. In any case, securing more resources for "Mr. Morning" would ultimately benefit her as the female lead, so she certainly wouldn't refuse such timely "kindness."
The only thing to be careful about is that once the resource level is raised, the guest stars will probably also be promoted – in that case, she will have to work even harder to understand everything about the character and try to perform better!
With this mindset, Li Sishi went through another period of extremely busy days, studying diligently and assiduously.
By the end of June, the port city was already bathed in sunshine; even standing in the shade, one could not escape the warmth of summer.
The opening ceremony for "Mr. Morning" was scheduled for a clear, sunny noon. After worshipping the gods and distributing the roasted meat, Li Sishi had barely taken a couple of bites when she could already feel a fine layer of sweat on the back of her neck.
After quickly wiping her face with tissues, Li Sishi went back to the dressing room and changed into a brightly colored dress that looked a bit old-fashioned. Then she went to the makeup hall to wait for the makeup artist to give her a more mature look.
After she finished her rather lengthy "housewife makeup," Luo Xuan and Cheng Erjian, who had come to visit her on set with iced lemon tea and egg tarts, arrived together.
Seeing the name of Good Luck Tea Restaurant on the egg tart box, Li Sishi nodded to herself: This thoughtful and considerate gesture of bringing afternoon tea to visit someone on set could not have been the work of the socially awkward Cheng Erjian, but rather the work of Luo Xuan, who had been honed into a smooth and sophisticated manager.
With just a few words, Cheng Erjian indeed showed a look of horror, as if to say, "How do you know everything?", which made Luo Xuan burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?" Ling Chen, who also had a tired look on and was wearing a cheap suit like a corporate slave, came over as well.
Fortunately, he was tall and straight, so even in such a cheap suit, he managed to look somewhat elegant, preventing him from looking like an insurance salesman.
For Cheng Erjian, a player who would occasionally run to the TV City's ancient costume street and early Republic of China street to play live-action shooting games when he wasn't working, before he became so famous that he could only sleep four hours a day, there was also a "glorious history" of him dominating TV City in the early hours of the morning.
.
Upon unexpectedly seeing his old friends, and knowing that these two handsome young men clearly knew Li Sishi, he instinctively walked over.
"Hey, long time no see! This is my friend Lok, he also loves playing video games. Let's have a match sometime." After introducing Luo Xuan to Ling Chen, Cheng Erjian turned to Li Sishi and said, "I heard that Lok has recently been spotted by the crew of 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' and might audition for the role of Yang An!"
"He's testing Yang An? What about Yang Si in the next installment?" Li Sishi glanced at Luo Xuan.
"If I could play Yang Si, I definitely wouldn't play Yang An. But it's a pity, I'm only the second choice. The first choice for Yang An is Zhang Zhichen." Seeing Li Sishi looking over, Luo Xuan quickly explained.
“I was also Huo Sheng’s second choice. If there’s a chance, it would be great if the two of us brothers could act in a period martial arts drama…” Cheng Erjian added.
"Wow, if you two really played Huo Sheng and Yang An, this version of 'The Heroic Swordsman' would be overflowing with handsome men! The crew members also..."
While setting up the set for today, Li Sishi, who had some rare free time, couldn't help but make a joke.
"What what what what handsome guy overloaded?" A voice suddenly came from behind, raised in pitch, making it sound somewhat comical and cute.
The voice changer was so distinctive that Li Sishi didn't even need to turn around to know who it was: "Are you here to visit Leo on set or to visit mine?"
"What do you mean by visiting the set? I'll make a cameo appearance!" Shang Hanyou strode over and put his arm around Ling Chen's shoulder. "The TV station and Leo both invited me, so how could I not come?"
"So, am I one of the reasons you had to come?" Li Sishi asked.
"You..." Shang Hanyou smiled strangely and mumbled, then pointed to the set that was still being set up, "It's not my reason for coming, it's his."
Everyone subconsciously followed Shang Hanyou's gaze and saw Huo Gucheng, who had just finished "inspecting" the set, also turning his head to look in their direction.
"Hey, something seems off about the set design here?" Huo Gucheng ran over, his voice tinged with grievance. "There aren't any beds!"
"What bed?" Li Sishi asked, a little confused.
Knowing the inside story, Ling Chen helplessly rubbed his forehead.
With his haggard makeup, he really did look like a corporate slave crushed by heavy workload: "Hanyou tricked him into doing a cameo..."
"What lie? Is there something wrong with this character?!" Huo Gucheng immediately became agitated. "Didn't you say that my character this time is a very mature man with a lot of 'sex scenes' that can be shown in public..."
"I accepted the role without even reading the script because you told me it was all sex scenes!"
Since the disbandment of the Big Cats band in Taiwan, Chen Zhiyong, the "Space Whirlwind," has also begun to prepare for a transformation. As a pawn initially used to counter these youthful stars, he naturally had to quickly change his image and move towards becoming a "mature man."
He even planned to change his classic mushroom haircut, which he had used for many years, a little later.
The problem is that his previous boyish image and somewhat childish face have dragged him down. He's been trying so hard to change his image, but the roles he's been offered lately are all still youthful roles...
This won't do. If this continues, how will he make a living from his youth when he's no longer young in three to five years?
The only thing left to do was accelerate the transformation—just then, Shang Hanyou, his usually reliable older brother, suddenly called him, asking him to make a cameo appearance in a show with many beds.
The mature male character in the play...
This role is so challenging, he would love to take it no matter how you look at it!
He was probably manipulated by his mindset and his excessive trust in Shang Hanyou, so when Huo Gucheng heard the utterly absurd reason that "the script will be available on the day filming starts," he agreed without a second thought...
And so, this friendship has capsized so easily.
"Look, isn't that bed?" Shang Hanyou slowly stretched out his hand again, pointing to a newly set up hospital ward scene in front of him.
That exceptionally white and clean hospital bed, just like Shang Hanyou's, seemed to be silently mocking his idiocy and foolishness...
"A hospital bed?!" Huo Gucheng immediately had a bad feeling. "Didn't you say that the person I'm acting opposite this time is a beautiful woman with fair skin and clean features?"
"Am I not white and clean enough?!" Shang Hanyou retorted.
Huo Gucheng was speechless for a moment: "Me and you... acting in a sex scene?"
“Yeah, we’re still brothers, isn’t that exciting enough?” As soon as Shang Hanyou finished speaking, you could see the look of despair in Huo Gucheng’s eyes as he learned the cruel truth.
In contrast, Cheng Erjian, who was silently observing the situation, revealed a strange, gloating glint in his eyes...
"What about Hua Zai? What role does he play?" Huo Gucheng asked again.
"No, I couldn't get him to come. Can you call him? He'll definitely come if you do!" Shang Hanyou said.
Huo Gucheng remained silent for a while, then took the script handed to him by Shang Hanyou, flipped through it twice, and immediately selected a cameo role for Hou Beihua.
"There's no reason why the three of us are here but he isn't. If we're going to die, we'll all die together!" Huo Gucheng muttered to himself, his face contorted with suicidal intent, as he dialed Hou Beihua's cell phone. "Hey, Huazi, it's me. I have a film project here, could you spare some time to come and do a cameo for me..."
"Yes, there are a lot of bed scenes, it's quite challenging! And the person you're acting opposite is a youthful, lively, and beautiful woman..." Obviously, the more people fall into a pit, the less the person who fell in front feels the pain.
After receiving a definite answer from Hou Beihua over the phone, Huo Gucheng immediately shouted, "Quick! Quickly add another bed next to my bed, I want to act out a 'bed scene' with Huazai!"
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