The end of filming party ended very late in the evening.

Li Xiaoheng had to work the next day. Several acquisitions of Xiaoheng Capital had already come to an end——although several of the B parties had been repeatedly going back and forth as if they suffered convulsions, Li Xiaoheng controlled the gossip secrets that Tao Mu revealed to him, such as the weaknesses of the shareholders of Party B, the company’s actual losses, as well as the real needs of the person in charge of Party B’s company. Therefore, the obstacle was broken down from within the company, dividing and attracting, and finally not only successfully completed the acquisition, but even the acquisition conditions were carried out according to the acquisition intention first proposed by Xiaoheng Capital. And now Party B has signed all the contracts. The rest that remained was the external contract signing ceremony, which was arranged within a week. After the contract signing ceremony, Li Xiaoheng would be able to return to Beijing with the negotiating team.

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It didn’t take long, so Tao Mu simply stayed in Hong Kong to accompany Li Xiaoheng, and then everyone returned to Beijing together.

And Tao Mu’s stay, of course, would not be a meaningless stay. Taking advantage of this week’s time, Tao Mu launched a lottery event in Hong Kong. It was to cooperate with the “Black and White” crew and share the finalized film stills of the “Black and White” film. One week later, 100 people would be selected from the netizens who shared, and they would be presented with movie tickets for the premiere of “Black and White”, as well as signed posters by Zhou Yanqing, Yan Sheng and Fang Ruoti.

On the one hand it was to promote FlyNews.com, so that FlyNews.com could be popularized and gain publicity in Hong Kong as soon as possible. And on the other, it could also promote the just-finished “Black and White”. This kind of plan that killed two birds with one stone and resulted in a win-win situation for both parties would naturally not be rejected by the “Black and White” crew.

So with Tao Mu’s help, the “Black and White” crew first registered an official account on FlyNews.com, and uploaded a lot of filming footage to attract netizens and fans. The final post was then the lottery FlyNews would be holding for netizens that share the photos taken of the end of filming party.

In order to let more people know about this lottery event, Tao Mu also cooperated with Hong Kong TV and Hong Kong Gossip Weekly to launch a wave of advertisements. Making sure that all people in Hong Kong could see this news from TV or newspaper, and then register on FlyNews.com to share for a chance at the lucky draw.

In fact, many young people in Hong Kong were no strangers to FlyNews.com, a social platform. Because Tao Mu was a man who made headlines wherever he went, as early as a few months ago, when Tao Mu came to Hong Kong Police Academy to experience life, FlyNews.com followed the footsteps of its boss to Hong Kong.

Afterwards, Tao Mu joined the crew “Black and White” and had various frictions with Shen Yu. In order to help its boss, FlyNews.com kept reporting all kinds of gossip and breaking news, and even maintained a good relationship with the entertainment media in Hong Kong. So he had already become familiar with people from Hong Kong who were interested in entertainment gossip.

But this was the first time that there was a large-scale publicity interaction aimed at the people of Hong Kong.

In fact, in later years, this kind of promotional activity of sharing for a lucky draw had already become a common thing, and there was nothing novel at all.

However, in 2009, when the major domestic social networking platforms were just emerging, and even the platforms themselves were just groping around in the dark, this kind of lottery activity was really new.

Tao Mu personally wrote the copywriting. First, he forwarded the official FlyNews posts from the crew of “Black and White”, and even included the thrilling title “If you forward this end of filming photo, you will be able to get intimate with a lot of celebrities.” And added onto that at the end was a particularly shameless “it’s a date, yeah?”. He then used his privileges on FlyNews.com to make this FlyNews post bold and put it at the top to ensure that netizens who log in to FlyNews.com could see it.

The result was incredible. It was Tao Mu’s group of die-hard fans with different attributes who first started to share the FlyNews. All kinds of smack talk fans, website fans, acting fans, face fans and even finance fans seemed as if they were competing on who had the fastest reflexes, all sharing it as soon as it was posted. Seeing this, other netizens also joined in the fun. The number of shares exceeded 6 million within an hour, and the level of activity directly shocked the entire media industry.

——Especially the Hong Kong media, which had never seen such a thing before, after all, one must know that the total population of Hong Kong in 2009 was only 6.97 million. The volume of Tao Mu’s FlyNews being shared actually reached 6 million within an hour, which was practically a fantastical phenomenon in the eyes of the people of Hong Kong at that time. Many people once again intuitively realized the huge population and market in the mainland and couldn’t help thinking, if these populations could be converted into consumption power, what a huge number it would be.

That a lottery event could actually make many people in Hong Kong, especially businessmen and people in the film and television industry, realize the strong spending power of the mainland, was something Tao Mu did not expect. After all, at the time of Tao Mu’s rebirth, the fact that China was the world’s largest consumer market was already known to even three-year-old toddlers.

However, in 2009, when Hong Kong was deeply caught in the economic crisis and had not yet recovered, this kind of recognition was not so common. The occlusion of information could also blind the IQ and vision to some extent. For example, many years later, there were still Taiwan people who really believed that mainland people couldn’t even afford to eat tea eggs.

All in all, FlyNews.com and the “Black and White” crew have jointly pulled off the promotion activity and have wrested a strong impression from the media industry of Hong Kong. In addition to allowing FlyNews.com to increase its Hong Kong users, it also greatly facilitated the contact between the people of Hong Kong, especially the young people, with the mainland.

After all, things like star chasing always know no borders. They were only divided into camps.

With a smile, he watched as the FlyNews users from Hong Kong skyrocketed. Seeing that fans of Zhou Yanqing, Fang Ruoti and others continued to recognize each other on FlyNews.com, and even set up fan support clubs voluntarily, Tao Mu was pleased and decided to give some benefits to these hardworking and simple fans who were like bees moving house.

He took the two FlyNews.com reporters sent to Hong Kong——yes, these two reporters didn’t return to Beijing either. Because the task they received at the beginning was to follow the boss and take a temporary station in Hong Kong. When the boss returned to Beijing, they could then return to the headquarters to report.

Previously, the two expatriate reporters went deep into the hospital to investigate the “car accident” incident, putting an end to the false accusation made by Shen Yu’s fans that “Shen Yu was abused by Tao Mu’s family, and left the studio while sad and suffered a car accident”. Causing Tao Mu to be deeply pleased. So that month, two reporters were given generous salary bonuses.

But who knew that Tao Mu’s skills fan didn’t want this bonus, he just wanted Tao Mu to personally guide his photography skills. He also wanted to be like Tao Mu, using only natural light to take the most beautiful photos. Although Tao Mu’s smack talk fan really wanted the bonus, he also hoped that their boss could send a few more FlyNews posts in his spare time. Smack talk fans like him truly loved to see their boss send out FlyNews to diss people.

Tao Mu certainly would not refuse the requests made by his own employees plus fans, especially those who have made contributions. But the bonus thing couldn’t be erased. What should be given was still given. As for the exchange of photographing techniques and dissing techniques, just treat it as the company’s business training.

Although this business training was a one-on-two training with only three people, the boss and the two employees.

At the time, when FlyNews Entertainment pushed the news about the conspiracy theory that “Shen Yu staged a fake car accident to guide public opinion to scold Tao Mu’s family”. In fact, it was a composite work of his skills fan taking pictures and smack talk fan doing the copywriting.

Tao Mu also read the post carefully, and deeply felt that the photo was really taken beautifully, just like from a photo shoot, which fully highlighted the slender and delicate youthful aura Shen Yu emitted. The article was also written sharply and meanly, drawing blood. All in all, very talented.

Therefore, when Tao Mu was teaching the two employees, he also focused on their personal characteristics, focusing on the artsy and mori aesthetic shooting concepts and photography styles to his skills fan. As for his smack talk fan, he relayed on the scolding essence of the later years which targeted those keyboard warriors and trolls. This could also be regarded as teaching in accordance with aptitude.

This time, Tao Mu brought the two reporters to visit Zhou Yanqing and the others. He had discussed with the bigwigs in advance, about wanting to shoot a short video, so that the celebrities from the “Black and White” crew could say hello to the fans. On the one hand, it could promote the “Black and White” crew, and on the other hand, it could be regarded as a fan benefit.

Zhou Yanqing and the others would certainly not refuse.

Actually, Tao Mu wanted to do a live broadcast. It was a pity that things were too rushed, and FlyNews.com’s technical department could not give absolute technical support. The most important thing was that FlyNews.com’s server might not be able to hold up either.

If he really wanted to do a live broadcast, with the fame of Zhou Yanqing, Fang Ruoti and others, and their status in the film industry, it was estimated that the servers must first be expanded.

Although he couldn’t play with the live broadcast this time, Tao Mu still took this matter to heart. He decided that after going back to Beijing, he would discuss with the technical department of FlyNews.com. If possible, on New Year’s Eve he could surprise all netizens and fans.

Tao Mu wrote this idea down on a notepad——still using the extremely second year junior high syndrome cipher text he made up.

After finishing writing, when Tao Mu went downstairs, he saw the two expatriate reporters already waiting at the entrance of the hotel.

Even from far away, Tao Mu felt that the car parked in front of the hotel was a little familiar. When he got closer, he saw Liang Shuwen smiling in the driver’s seat.

Tao Mu was a little stunned: “Why is Mr. Liang here?”

Liang Shuwen opened the door and got out of the car. He walked around the car and stood in front of Tao Mu. Stretching out his hand, he said with a smile, “I happened to see the two reporters waiting for a taxi when I was driving by. I asked curiously and learned that they are waiting to go hold interviews with Mr. Tao, but couldn’t get a taxi. I was afraid that Mr. Tao would be in a hurry, so I simply sent them over.”

Tao Mu’s expression became strange, and he turned to ask his reporters, “Didn’t you rent a car?”

“The car broke down.” Tao Mu’s skills fan replied with a bitter face, “I don’t know what happened, but it couldn’t start this morning.”

They were afraid that they would be late and delay Tao Mu’s business, so they went out with the filming equipment and called a taxi. But they didn’t anticipate the awful traffic in Hong Kong——there was a traffic jam even on the weekends. They stood on the side of the road for more than half an hour, but still couldn’t catch a taxi.

Fortunately, they met Mr. Liang, who was eager to help others. Otherwise, they could only make a phone call to other fellow reporters in the entertainment industry to be rescued.

Tao Mu did not expect such a thing to happen. The first reaction was naturally to thank Liang Shuwen, and then he wanted to contact the hotel and ask the hotel to help send a car.

Seeing this, Liang Shuwen smiled: “In any case, I’m not busy now. If Mr. Tao doesn’t mind, I could take you there.”

What Tao Mu might mind was of course Liang Shuwen’s family background. Liang Shuwen had dealt with Tao Mu once before, and vaguely felt that Tao Mu didn’t seem to like him very much. However, Liang Shuwen knew that he did not offend Tao Mu, so after thinking about it, he could only blame it on his mafia background. Anyway, from childhood to adulthood, there was not a lack of people who kept a distance from him because of this. Liang Shuwen also got used to it.

Tao Mu always knew that Liang Shuwen felt very inferior about his family background. This was also an important reason why he liked Shen Yu so much in the previous life, but never took the initiative to pursue him seriously.

Tao Mu and Liang Shuwen had bad blood between them in their previous life, and they were not familiar with each other in this life. Although he didn’t know why a person should be ashamed of one’s birth which can’t be controlled, he was too lazy to ease his anxiety.

At the moment, he politely refused: “That would be too troublesome for Mr. Liang. How could I have the face. There is really no need. I’ll just ask the hotel to send a car.”

Liang Shuwen’s eyes dimmed. After thinking about it, he still tried his best and said: “Actually, it’s not troublesome at all. If it wasn’t for Mr. Tao’s connection, Mr. Li would never have passed the bidding document of Liang’s Logistics Company. Mr. Tao has helped us a lot. I just want to repay a bit. That’s also my father’s meaning as well.”

“Mr. Liang is too courteous.” When Liang Shuwen said it to such an extent, Tao Mu really couldn’t refuse. After all, the two now had business cooperation. Even if Tao Mu hated Liang Shuwen, with his high EQ and sophisticated temperament, he would not offend his business partner for no reason just based on only his mood.

Tao Mu pondered for a moment, then nodded and said with a smile: “In that case, I will take you up on your offer. I’ve bothered Mr. Liang.”

“No bother at all.” Liang Shuwen smiled slightly, and for fear that Tao Mu would go back on his words, he quickly opened the rear door for him.

At such a lowly and inferior posture, even Tao Mu was speechless. In the end, he really couldn’t regard Liang Shuwen as a driver. So Tao Mu smiled and pushed the door closed and sat in the co-pilot’s seat instead.

The two reporters watched the whole process. Seeing this, they also got in the car immediately. It was just that this time it was a bit weird, their boss was actually sitting in the co-pilot, and they were sitting in the back seat.

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The skills fan trembled while holding his camera. The smack talk fan looked at Liang Shuwen curiously. He felt that the white paper fan was really not like the gangsters he imagined. His speech was very polite and his temperament was quite gentle. Not at all like in the movies.

The smack talk fan’s brain convulsed, and he couldn’t help but ask: “Uh, Mr. Liang, do you guys also watch those gangster movies too?”

Liang Shuwen: “…..”

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TN: bonus chapter!💕

The end of filming party was arranged on the night the filming officially ended. The location was set on the yacht in which the mafia boss and Zhou Yuanting smuggled to Southeast Asia as seen in the film. A buffet was ordered directly from the five-star hotel and delivered to the yacht. Everyone could eat whatever they wanted. Director Xu was also preparing to host a swimsuit party on the yacht.

The reason for this inspiration was mainly because the weather was too hot during this time of the year, and everyone had gotten sweaty when filming outdoors. Especially in the last scene of the pier shootout, running around in the sun every day and having to endure the heat of the lights. The whole person was like a roast duck jumping in the oven. In Zhou Yanqing’s words, he just wanted to jump into the sea to cool off while filming.

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“I think the most comfortable part of the whole filming was the scene on the yacht. The sea breeze was blowing, and even the lights were not so hot.”

The last scene was over. When removing makeup, Zhou Yanqing leaned against the railing of the yacht, squinting and letting the wind blow——he didn’t even want to go back to the dressing room to remove makeup, he just did it on the deck, then undressed himself until only boxers remained, and while holding a lifebuoy, jumped into the sea and paddled around like a husky.

And with Zhou Yanqing’s lead, several other Hong Kong actors also happily undressed and jumped down, looking like a bunch of dumplings being dropped into the pot.

In contrast, Tao Mu, who finally remembered his idol baggage after filming, was more reserved. Although he was also very hot, Tao Mu still sat obediently and waited for his makeup to be removed. After removing his makeup, he went to the bathroom for a shower, then changed into beach shorts and a purple shirt.

Zhou Yanqing paddled in the sea, and when he looked up he saw Tao Mu in flower shorts and a rather gay purple shirt standing on the deck. On others it could only be a fashion faux-pas, but on Tao Mu it looked extraordinarily sunny and handsome. The very picky purple shirt made Tao Mu’s complexion even fairer and smoother. It even glowed a dazzling sheen under the sunlight. Tao Mu had big sunglasses on his face, his arms rested on the railing, and his upper half leaned forward to look at the sea. Wide shoulders, narrow back, slender waist and long legs, six-pack abs faintly visible. Behind him was the blue water and the sky, with the occasional seabird flying by. All the bright colors combined to make it seem like a shot for a fashion magazine cover.

“Wow, do you have to be so handsome!” A Hong Kong actor, who was swimming next to Zhou Yanqing, couldn’t help but sigh at Tao’s good looks.

“He wears purple, and I also wear purple. Tao Mu looks as handsome as a model on a runway show, but why do I look more like a walking purple potato that has become sentient?” The Hong Kong actor hugged his lifebuoy in depression, swearing to himself that he would never wear clothes that matched Tao Mu’s on any occasion in the future.

Zhou Yanqing also silently sighed that Tao Mu was really handsome. And it was the kind of handsome with fine facial features that did not appear feminine at all.

Good acting, handsome, and high EQ, and the most important thing was that he also had the capital and strength himself, without relying on a management company, Tao Mu could create resources to support himself into stardom. In addition, FlyNews.com was a publicity weapon. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Tao Mu’s future development was at least an A-list superstar. After all, Tao Mu was only nineteen years old this year.

There was never a lack of rich second-generation players in the entertainment industry who were young and had a lot of money, but there were not many investors like Tao Mu who invested in film and television dramas while filming in them himself. Not to mention Tao Mu’s ability and character were worthy of being befriended, and even if it was just for the sake of Tao Mu’s status as the investor, everyone was willing to befriend this kind of person.

Director Xu even proposed to Tao Mu that he could bring his family along when he was arranging the end of filming party. The reason why he said that was because Director Xu also knew that Tao Mu’s family was still in Hong Kong so he was happy to do a favor. One must know that Tao Mu’s family was also part of the senior management of FlyNews.com. The news that Meng Qi signed a film source broadcasting rights agreement with Hong Kong TV and several major film and television companies during his stay in Hong Kong had long spread.

So Director Xu also wanted to get to know Tao Mu’s family. Perhaps there was even a chance it might lead to investment in any future movies he made.

But what Director Xu didn’t expect was that that night, the family members Tao Mu brought with him were not only his Yao Dad, Xiao Qi Dad, and Grandpa Song, but also an uninvited CEO Li.

Don’t mention Director Xu, even the rest of the crew were shocked. What was this, openly coming out?

Fortunately, Tao Mu didn’t have any such high-profile intentions. Although his relationship with Li Xiaoheng was already a tacit secret in the industry, Tao Mu was still reluctant to expose his feelings and sexuality under the camera considering his acting career and screen image.

So Tao Mu’s explanation was: “Mr. Li was bored staying in the hotel alone. He came over after knowing that we were holding a party tonight.”

Everyone suddenly understood and pretended to believe what Tao Mu said.

Standing on the side, Shen Yu took a sip of beer unhappily. He also wanted to bring his family to the party. It was a pity that his father and older brother were not in Hong Kong, and Shen Yan was taken back to Shanghai by their father as well. So no one could accompany him.

Shen Yu felt a little lonely. He stood on the deck, the cool night wind blowing, and watched the entire crew gather around Tao Mu and flatter him. And Tao Mu also changed from the indifferent and eccentric image he had in H Town back then, chatting and laughing with everyone, and seeming to enjoy the taste of being sought after by others.

The most uncomfortable thing for Shen Yu was that his big brother Yan was also dragged by his agent to toast Tao Mu.

Zeng Yiheng dragged Yan Sheng to Tao Mu, and actually felt quite emotional. Before filming this movie, he also discussed with Yan Sheng how to strike a good relationship with Tao Mu, preferably to rub off on the popularity of FlyNews.com. It was a pity that the world was always changing, and Zeng Yiheng never thought that Yan Sheng would suddenly begin acting like he was possessed by evil spirits as soon as he entered the crew. Every day, he just focused on trailing behind Shen Yu, cleaning up troubles for Shen Yu. And even go up against Tao Mu for Shen Yu.

But asking a master to exorcise evil spirits turned out to be useless.

Although the ultimate goal was not achieved at all, Zeng Yiheng didn’t want Yan Sheng to offend Tao Mu. So taking advantage of the opportunity the end of filming party provided, he pulled Yan Sheng to toast Tao Mu with a glass of wine. He didn’t dare to expect that the two of them would be able to get along like best friends, but at least they should maintain an amicable colleague relationship. Whatever happened to Yan Sheng in the future, he didn’t expect Tao Mu to be the icing on the cake. It was fine so long as he didn’t kick him if he ever fell down on his luck.

As part of the entertainment industry, Zeng Yiheng knew too well about the power of FkyNews.com. To put it simply, FlyNews.com in Tao Mu’s hand was practically equal to an atomic bomb. So long as the artists in the circle wanted to film and make money peacefully, it was best not to offend Tao Mu.

Otherwise, Tao Mu only needed to instruct FlyNews Entertainment to expose the black material of whoever to the Internet.

Just like the conspiracy theory that Shen Yu staged a fake car accident to guide public opinion to scold Tao Mu’s family, in fact, everyone who was familiar with Shen Yu knew that even if this person was jealous and petty, he had no IQ to pull off such a scheme. But netizens didn’t know. They could only see the news and gossip reported by FlyNews Entertainment with pictures, facts and video interviews, and then under the subtle and deliberate guidance of FlyNews Entertainment, Shen Yu’s image of a scheming green tea b*tch had taken root in the hearts of most netizens.

If Shen Yu was not the young master of the Shen family, without the support of the Shen Group, to put it unpleasantly, it would even be possible for him to be blacklisted out of the entertainment circle from now on.

The sister and brother sibling pair of the Shen family were the first to provoke trouble yet were not as smart as others. In the end, Shen Yu was nailed to the green tea b*tch pole by FlyNews Entertainment. Zeng Yiheng did not feel sorry for Shen Yu. But Yan Sheng and Shen Yu were too close. Zeng Yiheng was worried that Tao Mu would spread his anger towards Shen Yu to his own childhood friend. So he had to find a way to show goodwill towards Tao Mu.

Fortunately, although Yan Sheng’s mind was not clear under the influence of Shen Yu, he could still understand at critical moments, not to offend people who shouldn’t be offended. Besides, Yan Sheng’s behavior had always been to be amiable and polite to others. Although he wanted to suppress Tao Mu’s screen presence before, he didn’t manage to do so in the end. Instead, he was suppressed by Tao Mu. Although he was not reconciled in his heart, it also inspired appreciation for Tao Mu’s acting skills.

So from Yan Sheng’s heart, he was willing to befriend Tao Mu. At least, he was willing to discuss with Tao Mu on matters related with acting.

It was a pity that Tao Mu really didn’t care about Yan Sheng. Always sneering and being sarcastic when they met before, expressing his dissatisfaction straight to the point. This led to the fact that whenever they filmed scenes together, the two opponents’ scenes were particularly tense and full of gunpowder. As for off-screen, Tao Mu was too lazy to say even a word to Yan Sheng.

The gossip that the two were incompatible with each other was even brought to the entertainment headlines by the Hong Kong paparazzi.

This time Zeng Yiheng dragged Yan Sheng to make a toast, Tao Mu did not refuse because of the happy atmosphere at the party. But that was about it. After drinking and seeing Shen Yu who was holding a glass of wine and approaching hesitantly, Tao Mu didn’t say a word, just turned around and listened to Mr. Song discussing tea ceremony with Luo Daming.

Finally getting a chance to communicate, only to be disturbed by Shen Yu. Zeng Yiheng felt that Shen Yu was becoming more and more of an eyesore, and he couldn’t help frowning and ask, “Why did you come here?”

Shen Yu also felt aggrieved: “I only came here when I saw big brother Yan was here. No one paid any attention to me during the whole end of filming party.”

Yan Sheng immediately held Shen Yu’s hand and said distressedly, “It’s okay, I’ll accompany you.”

Zeng Yiheng rolled his eyes with disgust, and he could only pinch his nose and walk away.

Li Xiaoheng was held up by Director Xu to discuss investing in movies. Xiaoheng Capital was in venture capitalism, and their investment objectives did not exclude certain industries over another, but only looked at potential. However, Li Xiaoheng had always believed in specialization. Their VC staff were only familiar with financial markets and commodities plus the Internet, so Xiaoheng Capital’s investment projects generally fell into these categories.

Now listening to Director Xu’s efforts, Li Xiaoheng said calmly, “I’m not very familiar with the film and television industry. However, the chief investment advisor of Xiaoheng Capital is Mr. Tao, and his vision has always been sharp. What Director Xu said about that movie, please wait for me to go back and ask our CEO Tao’s opinion first.”

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Xu Musen’s expression was suddenly a little strange——not because he was curious that Li Xiaoheng needed to consider Tao Mu’s suggestion. Tao Mu, as Li Xiaoheng’s investment consultant, proposed Xiaoheng Capital to short international oil as early as last July, when international crude oil futures were still skyrocketing. It prompted Xiaoheng Capital to earn tens of billions of dollars, and later became a partner of Xiaoheng Capital. It had long been known to everyone that the two of them had fiercely shorted the international financial market. No one would doubt Tao Mu’s investment vision.

Xu Musen just felt that Li Xiaoheng publicly calling Tao Mu ‘our CEO Tao’, disregarding everyone’s eyes and ears, in such a lovey-dovey manner without any intention of hiding his henpecked nature. Such self-righteously shameless behavior, it was no wonder that he was already a capital tycoon worth nearly 100 billion dollars at such a young age.

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There was an old saying that ten years of work off stage, one minute on stage. It was used to describe the need for an actor to persist and hone their skills for a long time in order to win the audience’s standing ovation in the few minutes on stage.

When Tao Mu accepted his role in the film “Black and White”, although he didn’t take ten years to prepare, but a few months of targeted training coupled with ten years of martial arts skills foundation still counted, and at this moment, it was all brought into full play.

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Because this scene was practically a one-man show of Zhou Yuanting gunfighting at the dock, about forty seconds in length. Director Xu originally wanted to shoot according to the conventional method, that is, to use various close-up shots to highlight Zhou Yuanting’s combat effectiveness.

However, after Tao Mu showed amazing action talent, Director Xu’s mind changed. He wanted to change the previous shooting method and use a long lens with one shot to the end. To best let the audience feel that kind of hearty, refreshing, blood-pumping adrenaline at its peak.

Director Xu’s idea was very cool. However, the one-shot shooting method had very high requirements on Tao Mu. There was also scene scheduling and group performance coordination. All required great levels of cooperation.

It could take more than half an hour for just the rehearsal before any shooting even began. Fortunately, the summer daylight was long, and Tao Mu still had a few hours to shoot.

In this scene, Zhou Yuanting followed the mafia boss to prepare to smuggle to Southeast Asia. As a result, on the pier, the mafia boss received news that their group was surrounded by the police. The two sides had no choice but to fight at the pier. The various large containers on the dock were the best shelter.

The fight scene Tao Mu needed to complete in front of the camera mainly involved him dodging into the dock immediately upon discovering the police, and using various large containers as bunkers to snipe the police.

Director Xu directed the camera to face Tao Mu, and kept following Tao Mu’s various tactical movements, advancing the camera for close-ups from time to time, and then pulling the camera back to take a full shot of Tao Mu’s whole body.

In the screen, Tao Mu held a Glock 17, hid behind a container with a blank expression, and shot a policeman in the head.

The sound of gunfire attracted the attention of other police officers. They quickly followed the sound and shot in the direction of Zhou Yuanting. Zhou Yuanting flipped onto the container, still expressionless, his movements very standard and sleek like he was a parkour master. And then with a gun in each hand, he stood on the container and sniped several police officers from high up. After a few shots, this police team was wiped out.

Zhou Yuanting jumped off of the container, rolled over to relieve the pressure, raised his right hand while getting up on one knee, and quickly hit the two special-op police officers who came to help. He did not forget to pick up their rifle gear and spare magazines. Then he hid behind another container once again.

What followed was a series of textbook-level individual combat performances that stimulated the adrenaline rush of anyone watching. All tactical actions were very standard and very handsome, from single shots to shooting consecutively without pause to changing magazines with one hand, dodging with his gun, looking for shelter, all kinds of running, jumping and flipping movements were neat and decisive, but the most important thing was that no matter what Tao Mu did, his arm holding the gun was as steady as a rock, as if he couldn’t feel the strong recoil of the gun at all.

Seeing this, the instructor standing on the side couldn’t help shaking his head and sighing, thinking that even if Tao Mu was not an actor one day, if he changed career as a policeman, there was at least a half chance of joining the Flying Tigers.

Director Xu, who was sitting in front of the monitor, also felt a surge of adrenaline in his veins. His perfectionist streak striked again. Calling several NGs in a row, he planned to choose the best one to cut into the later stage of the film editing. He even prepared to invite the music production team to create a passionate soundtrack for this scene that echoed the atmosphere and style.

But these thoughts have nothing to do with Tao Mu. When Director Xu truly shouted “pass”, Tao Mu only felt that his shoulders were already too numb to feel.

In order to make the effect realistic, the “Black and White” crew used real guns when filming, but the bullets had no warheads, and only sparks and sounds were fired. Even though Tao Mu had been training at the police academy with a group of police officers for several months, he was not a real police officer after all. Without special training, such a tender flesh wouldn’t be able to stand it after so many shots!

“Ssss, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.” Tao Mu frowned and cried out in pain, a bottle of rubbing alcohol was sent by a martial artist extra who got along well with Tao Mu, and while massaging it into his shoulders, Tao Mu laughed and teased himself: “This afternoon spent entirely shooting gun, I think I am almost empty by now.”

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this, and Director Xu also walked over with a pleased face. He wanted to pat Tao Mu on the shoulder to show encouragement, but when he looked at Tao Mu’s red and swollen arm, he didn’t dare to do it. All he could say was: “You did a great job. You can now take a few days off.”

The shootout at the dock was the final climax of the film, and it was also the most grand scene in the whole film. After all, the protagonists were Yan Sheng and Zhou Yanqing. Tao Mu didn’t have many scenes as a supporting role, so he could rest for a few days after filming his scenes. Then all he had to do was wait for the supplementary shots of Zhou Yuanting and the mafia boss leaving by boat. Then the whole crew would finally be able to finish up for good.

Although Yan Sheng and Zhou Yanqing’s acting skills were good, they were not trained in martial arts after all. In this film, there were many shooting scenes that required actors to personally shoot and hold guns. Director Xu was also one to strive for perfection, and plus the challenge of scheduling group performances. It was estimated that this scene would take at least two or three days to shoot.

In other words, Tao Mu could rest for two to three days and did not need to come to the crew.

This was definitely good news.

Tao Mu would be able to take his Yao Dad, Xiao Qi Dad, and Grandpa Song to tour Hong Kong.

——That’s right, after Liu Yao and the others flew to Hong Kong to celebrate Tao Mu’s birthday, they hadn’t gone back since.

Originally, Liu Yao was thinking about Night’s business and wanted to go back after Tao Mu’s birthday. But then Meng Qi inadvertently met a certain higher up of a Hong Kong TV station while eating out. When the two were chatting, they inadvertently mentioned the current situation of Hong Kong film and television dramas——basically, they were critically acclaimed but did not do so well in sales. The other mentioned that TV dramas filmed by TV stations could only be broadcast a few times before collecting dust at the bottom of the storage box, unlike video websites that could broadcast their videos repeatedly. In addition, many video websites in the mainland do not pay attention to copyright at all, and directly uploaded all kinds of pirated discs. There were many Hong Kong movies and TV series that were popular in the mainland, but Hong Kong received no income from it at all.

The person speaking did not think much deeper but the listener did. Tao Mu handed over the management of FlyNews.com and BulletScreen.com to Meng Qi. In order to live up to the trust of his little cub, Meng Qi had been thinking about how to develop these two websites. The most old-fashioned and easiest way he thought of was to buy the broadcasting rights of various classic TV series, so as to attract netizens to watch and cultivate netizens’ loyalty to the site. Then use the method of interstitial advertisements to make profits and maintain the normal operation of the website.

Before this, Tao Mu had already come forward and signed a round of agreements with mainland film and television companies and TV stations for the rights to broadcast their films and dramas. The classic works in the mainland have basically been swept away by BulletScreen.com. Now that he was in Hong Kong, Meng Qi planned to use this opportunity to get in touch with Hong Kong TV stations and several film and television companies. See if he could get the rights to some Hong Kong TV series and movies. At that time, Hong Kong could get some profits, and BulletScreen.com could also enrich their video source.

The two sides hit it off. In the next few days, Meng Qi stayed in Hong Kong and continued discussing the specific matters of cooperation. He also called over FlyNews.com’s investment promotion department and purchasing department staff.

After more than a week of negotiation, the two parties finally decided that BulletScreen.com would invest 30 million yuan to purchase the five-year broadcasting rights of all the TV series of Hong Kong TV, and invest another 50 million yuan to cooperate with several other film and television companies to purchase five years of film broadcasting rights to their films. However, most of the films and dramas were from before 2004.

When Tao Mu got this news, he was dumbfounded. On the one hand, he admired Meng Qi’s negotiating skills, actually able to keep the price so low. On the other hand, he had to thank this era that had not yet entered inflation. Money was still worth something. Of course, thanks to the economic crisis in 2008, the entire Hong Kong economy was affected.

The economic downturn, coupled with the mainland’s restrictions on Hong Kong film and television dramas, made life difficult for TV stations and film and television companies in Hong Kong. Everyone wanted to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, but among the Internet companies in the mainland——to be precise, video websites, who had demand and the strength to negotiate with Hong Kong TV and major film and television companies about cooperation in the broadcasting rights of film sources, only BulletScreen.com checked the boxes.

Either don’t agree to BulletScreen.com’s proposal, and endure the mainland pirates making a lot of money from pirated DVDs, while they couldn’t even make a penny. Or agree to the cooperation proposal of BulletScreen.com.

When the buyer had an absolute advantage and the right to speak, even if Hong Kong TV and the several film and television companies were not satisfied with this condition there was nothing to be done about it.

“It’s good enough to make money. That is to say, BulletScreen.com is quite kind, upholding copyrights, and encouraging copyrighted works. Many video sites and small social platforms simply upload pirated DVDs to gain popularity. We have to put up with those pirated websites trying to rob us of registered users. But if we were to sue them for this, it’s really not worth it.”

So even if they spend money, they have to endure others infringing on their rights. Another way to think about it was to spend 80 million to find a source of anger for yourself. But this was Tao Mu, their little brat. With another person, Liu Yao could only describe them as an idiot.

Brother Yao back then, was also a man who had secretly opened a video room to broaden his subordinates’ horizons.

Because of the relationship between the times and limited resources, Liu Yao and Meng Qi’s generation had watched all kinds of pirated discs and pirated books since childhood. They had no so-called copyright consciousness at all. Only Tao Mu, a reborn person, would insist on doing a good job in terms of copyright, otherwise Meng Qi would definitely have no qualms about playing pirated discs to attract traffic.

Tao Mu smiled and hugged his Xiao Qi Dad, while attentively massaging his Xiao Qi Dad’s shoulders, he praised his Xiao Qi Dad’s awareness of copyright works.

“Don’t try fooling me.” Meng Qi didn’t miss Tao Mu’s handicapped appearance as soon as he entered the door: “What’s wrong with you?

“Nothing, it’s because the recoil of the gun is too great. After shooting for an afternoon, my shoulders are swollen. I’ll just rest for two days.” Tao Mu said, and slowly moved his shoulders: “Look, there’s nothing wrong. “

Liu Yao snorted, got up, walked forward, and patted Tao Mu on the shoulder: “Come here, I’ll massage it for you.”

Tao Mu froze all over, and said in a particularly anxious way, “It’s not necessary, is it?”

“Stop wasting time.” Liu Yao slapped Tao Mu directly down on the sofa. It was soon followed up by a horrific screech like a pig being butchered.

However, his Ya Dad’s craftsmanship was indeed pretty good. After his muscles were pressed and rubbed a bit, Tao Mu was indeed much more relaxed. When he woke up the next morning, his shoulder pain was completely gone.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Tao Mu had three days to rest, and Meng Qi’s work was just finished as well. So the family of four enjoyed themselves happily. Accompanied by the driver, Li Xiaoheng, they spent three full days touring Hong Kong. The five grown men also went to Disney for a day. Under the various looks and staring by the tourists, they tried all the rides contentedly.

On the fourth day, Tao Mu returned to the crew again, and after making up the scene with Zhou Yanqing’s mafia boss character escaping, the film was officially finished.

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The entire crew knew that Tao Mu was very good at leading and immersing people into the scene, and while it might be a bit exaggerated to describe him as being able to lead you to sink into your role in a matter of minutes. But so long as one’s acting skills were up to the usual standard, and was well prepared before filming, their emotions were indeed more easily catalyzed when acting a scene with Tao Mu.

Unfortunately, no matter how powerful the king was, even he couldn’t do anything for a hopeless case. With Shen Yu’s current acting skills, even if Tao Mu wanted to lead him, it also depended on whether Shen Yu himself was up for the challenge. After all, Tao Mu was just an actor, not a kangaroo.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

What was more, although Shen Yu really wanted Tao Mu to take him flying, there was only one scene left involving the two of them——the chaotic battle scene at the dock which takes place at the end of the film.

Yan Sheng’s undercover identity was exposed, and he led the police to the wharf to encircle and suppress the gangsters who wanted to abscond to Southeast Asia. During the shootout, Yan Yu blocked the bullet meant for Zhou Yuanting, and after leaving a last word, Zhou Yuanting abandoned the body and fled, leaving with the mafia boss.

Of course, in the mainland version, because this kind of ending with the death of the good positive characters, while the evil underworld forces got away was frowned upon, the crew was forced to add another scene to the film, that is, the mafia boss and Zhou Yuanting who wanted to abscond ended up being caught and sent to prison anyway. However, Director Xu thought that this change was not in line with the gist of the script and the deeper meaning of the film, and did not agree with this change. So the two sides were deadlocked and it wasn’t until a year later that the crew finally compromised.

However, pirated DVDs of “Black and White” have been rampant in the mainland. In the end, after the film was released in the mainland, the box office did not even exceed 10 million yuan.

This was also an important reason why when Director Xu invited Tao Mu to invest money into the crew, but Tao Mu politely declined.

Pier.

For the classic scene that appeared in many Hong Kong gangster movies, the props team and lighting/cameras were busy arranging the set.

Tao Mu and several bigwigs were sitting in the dressing room, getting makeup applied while waiting for the show.

Because it was going to be a gun fight scene, and it was the climax of the finale, everyone’s image was very cool. The mafia were all in black suits and black shirts, and the police were all in the special uniforms of the Flying Tigers.

As one of the main characters of this scene, Zhou Yuanting used a Glock 17 pistol, caliber 9 mm. The main features of this gun were the extensive use of plastic parts, small mass, reliable mechanism action, and large capacity.

However, it was basically unnecessary to consider this problem when filming a movie. As we all know, when filming gun fight scenes, even if the protagonist was holding a pistol that could only hold six bullets, it was a common occurrence that so long as the plot required it, the protagonist’s gun would always have bullets in it.

Those who come up short with bullets in their gun could only be in supporting roles.

For example, Tao Mu. When filming this scene, there would be a lot of shots of him one-handedly changing his handgun magazine. Tao Mu’s movements were very skilled and on point because he had been trained in the police academy for several months. Unlike the special forces instructors with rich practical experience invited by the crew, Tao Mu also had to consider the camera angle and character temperament when performing his movements. When he was training at the police academy, he designed a lot of tactical moves for Zhou Yuanting in combination with the plot. After a few months of silent training, now that he was in front of the camera, he couldn’t be anymore handsome.

To use film queen Fang’s teasing comment about Tao Mu to describe it, that is, Mr. Tao’s handsomeness was definitely at a professional level. So much so that even Zhou Yanqing and several other bigwigs couldn’t help but come over to ask Tao Mu for advice on various tricks in changing magazines and posing at the most attractive angle.

The filming location chosen by the crew was an abandoned pier. Considering that this shootout was the last climax of the entire film, the scene was very grand, involving more than 200 actors, and the scene scheduling was very complicated. So Director Xu decided to shoot in several parts. First the speaking parts, then the close-up parts of the single-person fighting scene, and finally the group fight part.

Because it was an on-location shoot, it took more than an hour just for lighting and sound.

Director Xu learned from the previous lessons and finished filming the scenes of Zhou Yanqing, Yan Sheng, Wang Jinsheng, Fang Ruoti and several other actors. It was only until the end that the filming of Tao Mu and Shen Yu’s scene began.

After the police and the Flying Tigers entered the dock, Yan Yu frantically searched for Zhou Yuanting, and finally found Zhou Yuanting behind a container. It was a scene where the two confronted each other with guns.

“Ah Ting!”

Zhou Yuanting turned his head and pointed his gun at Yan Yu. Tao Mu’s movements were very standard. He raised his gun to point between Shen Yu’s eyebrows, his arm was straight and motionless, and his finger was on the trigger.

Shen Yu did the same with him. It was just that Shen Yu’s physical fitness was not very good. He was holding the gun in both hands, and his arms still wavered. Subconsciously, his shoulders were also a little hunched, and his posture was simply very bad. The most important thing was that Shen Yu’s finger also hooked into the trigger, whether it was because of nervousness or other reasons.

Tao Mu noticed this scene and frowned unconsciously.

“Cut!” Director Xu stuck his head out from behind the monitor and asked Tao Mu, “What’s wrong?”

“The posture is wrong.” Tao Mu rotated the gun in his hand. The action was so crisp and neat it brightened people’s eyes. This dude was definitely used to amping up the handsomeness on the set.

“You have to put your index finger straight next to the trigger guard, and keep the muzzle down. Because in the script setting, Yan Yu doesn’t want to kill Zhou Yuanting.” When they were training at the police academy, the instructor repeatedly told them that they must never put their finger in the trigger guard before firing a shot.

Since Yan Yu didn’t want to shoot at Zhou Yuanting, and he was a proper police officer, so he naturally wouldn’t make such a mistake.

Don’t think that small details don’t matter, Tao Mu liked to use various details to reflect the character’s inner workings when interpreting the character. Especially this kind of micro action. And the advantage of these small detail designs was that it could also allow the audience to have a more intuitive understanding of the character’s inner portrayal when watching the movie. The most important thing was that it had nothing to do with the actor’s acting skills——it did not test one’s acting skills, it just required one to experience the role sincerely. To a certain extent, it was a particular shrewd way of acting.

If the acting skills were not enough, you could use such small details to make up. Just try to avoid close-ups of faces though.

When Tao Mu got the script and designed the biography of the character Zhou Yuanting, he proposed using differing fighting techniques to reflect the changes in the character’s inner level. It greatly inspired Director Xu. But at that time Tao Mu was trying to make Zhou Yuanting’s character more profound and three-dimensional.

Now Tao Mu was designing moves for Shen Yu. Although there was some suspicion of overstepping, everyone knew that Tao Mu really disliked Shen Yu’s poor acting skills that dragged down the crew. This kind of proposal was definitely meant to take advantage of strengths and avoid weaknesses.

Shen Yu looked sheepish and couldn’t help defending himself: “But this scene is going to be a shootout at the pier. If I don’t hook my finger in, doesn’t it not fit with the overall background?”

Tao Mu did not say anymore. He had already given the suggestion. Whether Shen Yu was willing to listen or not was his own problem.

Seeing Tao Mu ignore him, Shen Yu couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed. He asked pitifully: “Are you angry? Because I didn’t listen to your advice? I just think that my idea is also reasonable.”

Director Xu frowned and replayed the scene just now twice. He fixed his eyes on the close-up of Shen Yu’s face, pondered for a moment, and said, “Shen Yu, do as Tao Mu suggested.”

Obviously, instead of taking a close-up of Shen Yu’s face, he would rather zoom in on his hands. At least that way it could fully express Yan Yu’s mood at the moment.

In one shot, two gun-wielding hands faced each other. One had a finger hooked on the trigger, one didn’t. The visual impact and the inner conflict of the characters were instantly conveyed.

Shen Yu pursed his lips, a little unwilling. Recently, he had indeed rehearsed his parts well. Every night he practiced his lines until late at night, and he felt that he had made great progress. However, the director and the rest of the crew still prefered to trust Tao Mu.

Even big brother Yan, when practicing with him, kept telling him that he didn’t have to think too much when filming the last scene, just follow Tao Mu’s lead.

Even if it’s just for the sake of the camera effect, Tao Mu would not ignore him.

Before, Shen Yu was worried that Tao Mu would not lead him when he was filming, and he was always worried and afraid of not doing well. But now that Tao Mu really took the lead, Shen Yu was a little unwilling. He thought of the rumors circulating in the crew that Tao Mu was especially talented at immersing people into the scene. And had always worried that if he did well in this scene, others would put all the credit on Tao Mu, thereby obliterating his own efforts.

Shen Yu pursed his lips, feeling a little aggrieved for some reason.

However, on the opposite side, Tao Mu did not pay him any attention. He focused on adjusting his own emotions, waited for the clapper loader to call “action”, and immediately raised his gun.

Because there was a trace of hesitation and dissatisfaction in his heart, Shen Yu’s movements were half a beat slower than Tao Mu’s. On the monitor, it was sloppy and obvious to the naked eye.

“Cut!” Director Xu shouted unhappily, not understanding what was wrong with Shen Yu.

“Concentrate on filming.” Director Xu instructed and started again.

This time, Shen Yu had no problem. However, his movements were weak, and when he lifted up the gun the movement was too large, and he had to adjust the angle after raising it before pointing it at Tao Mu. The arms were even shaking slightly. Because the sun was too glaring, he also blinked subconsciously.

Compared with Tao Mu’s steady and resolute gun-raising action on the opposite side, it was obviously a big difference. It could only show that Zhou Yuanting was the one who came from the police academy.

Director Xu frowned, his perfectionist self breaking out again.

In the following, Tao Mu had to accompany Shen Yu for more than half an hour in the act of simply raising a gun. Fortunately, when Tao Mu was training at the police academy, he performed exceptionally well. Like the best police officer trainees, when he practiced raising his gun, he would hang a brick from the muzzle. So even if half an hour had passed, Tao Mu’s gun-raising movements were still standard and steady.

But Shen Yu couldn’t do it. His arms were already wobbling with a magnitude that was particularly large.

Director Xu could only shout “cut” and let everyone rest for ten minutes.

The makeup artist immediately stepped forward to touch up Tao Mu’s makeup. Hot weather, hot sun. Although Tao Mu’s movements were standard, his makeup did not hold up as well.

Director Xu looked at Shen Yu whose arms were sore and trembling slightly, and complained to the stunt coordinator who was sitting beside him with special regret: “Why didn’t I agree with Shen Yu’s use of a body double back then!”

It was just simply making trouble for himself, as well as for the crew.

The stunt coordinator sat on the little stool and laughed. He leaned into Director Xu’s ear and whispered a few words.

After ten minutes, filming resumed.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

This time, Director Xu asked the cameraman to find the right angle and directly shot a close-up of the hands. He also asked the prop master to hang a wire for Shen Yu to pose for a shot. Only then was the scene finally over. And it even turned out quite successfully.

Director Xu happily shouted “Okay”, resolutely not shouting “once more”, but tilted his head out from the monitor, and said to Tao Mu: “Come on, Tingzi, next up is your time to look handsome.”

“Don’t be courteous with me, please!”

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TN: bonus chapter!💕

Hong Kong was very small, so news traveled fast. The Liang family’s father and son pair had also heard about the relationship between Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng. But they didn’t expect Li Xiaoheng to care this much about Tao Mu.

The next morning of the dinner, Liang Qiusheng received a call from Assistant Jiang. Hearing that the online shopping platform actually chose Liang’s Logistics Company as a partner, Liang Qiusheng was both surprised and delighted. While having breakfast, he didn’t forget to comment to Liang Shuwen: “As expected of a wealthy business genius in the mainland, CEO Li is really decisive and resolute, and very generous as well.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

But it was not blind generosity. This one year contract was also an assessment period. If it worked well, they would continue to cooperate in the future. The Liang family could also take the opportunity provided by the situation to expand its market share in the mainland. But if it didn’t work well, no one could say anything with a one-year contract to repay the favor.

Liang Qiusheng was convinced by Li Xiaoheng’s method. He even prepared to personally oversee the collaboration. The other side was generous, and they themselves must not disappoint. As the white paper fan of the gang, Liang Shuwen, a top student at Hong Kong University, was also Liang Qiusheng’s most valued son, and naturally he had to assist his father to complete this cooperation. Liang Qiusheng even told Liang Shuwen to get along well with Tao Mu and try his best to win Tao Mu’s favor.

Liang Shuwen agreed seriously. But deep down, he always felt that Tao Mu didn’t seem to like him, and even felt a little bit irritated and wary towards him. However, it was the first time the two met, and Liang Shuwen felt that he was polite in manner and did not offend Tao Mu. After thinking about it, he could only attribute Tao Mu’s vigilance to his underworld background.

After all, they were gangsters. Even if they were whitewashed now and want to do business in a law-abiding way, their previous sins could not be wiped out. It was no wonder that ordinary people want to keep their distance when they see them.

Thinking of this, Liang Shuwen couldn’t help but feel gloomy.

Tao Mu naturally didn’t know what the Liang family’s father and son pair thought. He woke up the next morning and realized that Li Xiaoheng had signed a one-year provincial logistics channel cooperation contract with the Liang family’s logistics company.

Knowing that Li Xiaoheng was paying back his favor, Tao Mu still felt a little depressed.

That Liang Shuwen bit him like a mad dog in his last life, why should he still do business with the Liang family in this life. Tao Mu was not happy. Tao Mu also felt like throwing a tantrum. But Tao Mu couldn’t voice any of it. After all, what happened in the previous life had not happened in this life, so if he said it he would be taken as a lunatic.

Li Xiaoheng saw this, but mistakenly thought that Tao Mu was angry that he didn’t discuss with him before making a decision. He quickly pulled Tao Mu to him, put his arms around Tao Mu’s waist and apologized to him: “…..It’s all my fault. I should have discussed it with you in advance. The married couple must have a mutual relationship if they are to live together. I was wrong, can you forgive me this time? I will never dare to do so again in the future.”

That attitude couldn’t be more correct, and that tone couldn’t be more sincere. Just short of kneeling on the washboard and raising the whip. It was simply not giving any care to face and dignity at all. But what kind of appellation was ‘married couple’?

Tao Mu glanced at Li Xiaoheng. Seeing a certain decisive CEO lowering his head and drooping his ears, peering at him like a large dog. Even if he knew that Li Xiaoheng was acting, Tao Mu couldn’t help but feel his heart soften.

And he didn’t want Li Xiaoheng to misunderstand the reason for his anger.

Thinking of this, Tao Mu hesitantly said: “I’m not angry with you. I just had a dream last night. I dreamed that Liang Shuwen became Shen Yu’s suitor. In order to help Shen Yu vent his anger, he bit at me like a mad dog, making me suffer a lot. So when I woke up this morning and heard that the online shopping platform signed a one-year logistics contract with their family I was a little unhappy.”

Dream?

Li Xiaoheng blinked his eyes subtly. He was keenly aware that although Tao Mu was speaking in terms of dreams, his vigilance and grudge against Liang Shuwen was not fake.

“Then how did he make things difficult for you?” Li Xiaoheng rubbed his cheek against Tao Mu’s forehead, like a large dog being affectionate with its owner.

Tao Mu did not keep up a guard, and spilled out all the little things that Liang Shuwen did in his previous life. What sending subordinates to intimidate him, picking fights with him to protect Shen Yu’s honor, and instructing the Hong Kong gossip tabloid to expose the black material that he bullied Shen Yu. Although Liang Shuwen was from the underworld, he had always hated the mafia life, and Tao Mu was the biological son of the Shen family after all. Due to the power of the Shen family, Liang Shuwen did not dare to go too far. But even these small actions disgusted Tao Mu enough.

But later Liang Shuwen died at the hands of Liang Qiusheng’s enemy. Although the Liang family washed their hands of the mafia life, the blood debts over the years could not be cleared. Liang Qiusheng’s enemies couldn’t find a chance to attack him, so they naturally set their sights on Liang Shuwen instead. At that time, the Liang family had already undergone whitewash, and there was not much power left in the gang. The Liang family believed that this choice was correct, but some elders in the gang did not buy it. They didn’t like doing business the proper law-abiding way.

Liang Qiusheng’s enemy bribed the elders of the gang, and designed to kidnap Liang Shuwen and extort Liang Qiusheng for a huge sum of money. But in the end they killed the hostage. Liang Qiusheng lived in fought and killed all his life, but when he got old, he had to send off his child before himself. Under the grief, he chose to die together with his enemies, and even handed over all the criminal evidence of the gang to the police.

And Liang Shuwen’s death also catalyzed the relationship between Shen Yu and Yan Sheng. At that time, Shen Yu was already an A-list superstar in China, and Yan Sheng also began to move onto the international stage. Because of less meetings and more separation, the relationship began to cool down. But as soon as the news of Liang Shuwen’s death came out, Shen Yu and Yan Sheng immediately felt that life was fleeting and you should cherish the people in front of you more. So Yan Sheng confessed directly to Shen Yu at the Oscar ceremony, causing an uproar.

And when Tao Mu first saw Liang Shuwen, the reason why he didn’t have much reaction was because he didn’t want to bother with the dead.

Li Xiaoheng thoughtfully observed Tao Mu’s micro-expression. Being able to explain what Liang Shuwen did so clearly, and with such complete emotions, it really didn’t seem like a dream.

It was as if he had experienced it himself.

Thinking that Tao Mu had always claimed that he was not a genius, but always had a keen insight into various trends in the international financial market and the domestic economic market, the financial analysis reports written for him were as accurate as a prediction, and the data given were also incredibly detailed. Knowing so many gossip and secrets, and the partnership agreement that could only be maintained for ten years. And that Zhuo Yan, who he obviously exhibited strong emotion towards despite meeting each other for the first time——

Li Xiaoheng’s heart jumped, but he did not continue to pry. The arm around Tao Mu exerted a little more force, pulling the person into his arms. He rubbed the tip of their noses intimately, and prepared to do morning exercises.

“Biting you like a mad dog? How fierce was it?” Li Xiaoheng wanted to make Tao Mu happy, and pressed a kiss to Tao Mu’s lips while asking vaguely, “As fierce as me?”

“Don’t fool around.” Tao Mu recalled the bad things in his previous life, and he was in a bad mood. But after being so pestered by Li Xiaoheng, he immediately let go of all negative feelings.

After all, it was a past life thing. His life now was a good one, at least he was very happy right now. Since he was reborn, there was no need to always think about the unhappy things in his previous life.

——It could only be said that Mr. Li was too good at boiling frogs in warm water. Tao Mu, who had always been shrewd and perceptive, didn’t even realize that his most tightly guarded secret had already been detected.

Tao Mu was very happy when he got from the hotel to the studio. Then he found that Shen Yu and Yan Sheng were also very happy. The two got out of the nanny car together in a lovey-dovey manner. Shen Yu stopped in front of Director Xu, and with a change from his previous timid manner, offered to reshoot last night’s scene.

“I know that my performance was really bad. I didn’t have any intentions to act seriously before, I was wrong. I will correct this attitude. I hope Director Xu will give me this opportunity. Please hold me up to the strictest standards. I will try my best to act this role well.” Shen Yu bowed 90 degrees to Director Xu, and said very seriously: “Big brother Yan will also help me act this role well.”

“I don’t want to hold back the crew. I really like acting, not just casually.”

Director Xu looked at Shen Yu in surprise. He had lost his temper so terribly last night, and the main reason was that Shen Yu’s inattentive attitude when filming angered him.

Director Xu had been in the industry for many years and had long been accustomed to various unspoken rules. There never lacked cases of rich second-generation kids with money and capital entering the entertainment circle to play around, and it was not uncommon for capital to be forceful and pushy. No matter which movie Xu Musen filmed, there were always actors being forcibly inserted into his cast by the management. It was useless for Xu Musen to get angry, even if he were to die of anger nothing would be different.

He was just unwilling to waste such a good script, such a good crew, and such a good cast, and let everyone’s hard work be ruined by Shen Yu’s shortcomings.

Director Xu also knew that he really went a little too far last night. If Shen Yu really went to the Lin family to complain, he would not be able to explain it in front of old madam Lin. Director Xu was already prepared to be reprimanded by the Lin family, even be accused of being ungrateful.

But he didn’t expect that Shen Yu’s attitude changed drastically when he woke up. Instead of complaining to the Lin family, he actually came to him to make amends.

Director Xu was a little confused. He looked at Yan Sheng subconsciously.

Yan Sheng smiled and said, “I chatted with Xiao Yu last night. It’s no wonder Director Xu was angry, his performance had been unsatisfactory recently. Of course, I am also in the wrong. Today, I also want to apologize to Director Xu. I was too impulsive that night.”

It didn’t matter if there was a problem with Yan Sheng’s head. His attitude towards acting was still as serious as before. He also seriously loved acting, and hoped to create a film that would be a classic. If it was said that Shen Yu approaching the Lin family for help only made Yan Sheng feel a little embarrassed, then Shen Yu’s indifference to acting completely touched Yan Sheng’s inverted scale. (TN: below the throat of a dragon are inverted scales and will kill anyone touching them)

The biggest reason why Yan Sheng was so good to Shen Yu back then was because Shen Yu’s performance had potential. Although he did not have professional training, he worked very hard. As for the abuse of the use of body doubles, most of the body doubles used by Shen Yu were for martial arts and stunts. Moreover, the crew that Shen Yu and Yan Sheng met happened to be during the time when Shen Yu’s birth secret was revealed. From the noble young master of the Shen family to the adopted son who no one cared about, Shen Yu had experienced quite a bit of scolding and bullying by others. Yan Sheng had played the hero saving the beauty several times, which only increased his pity and tenderness for Shen Yu.

Afterwards, the Shen family used their status as an investor to put Shen Yu into the cast of “Black and White”. Although there was a suspicion of exerting force through capital, that Shen Yu could go to the police academy to experience life a few months in advance and prepare for the filming, Yan Sheng was also quite pleased. He just didn’t expect that after Shen Yu joined the crew, he would perform so poorly.

Last night, Shen Yu was left on the set by everyone and cried a lot. In the end, Yan Sheng still couldn’t be ruthless and leave Shen Yu on the street alone. So he had his assistant call Shen Yu into the nanny car.

Shen Yu didn’t even change out of his clothes, he sat in the car and cried all the way. Yan Sheng also ignored him. In the end, Shen Yu apologized to Yan Sheng first. Only then did Yan Sheng express his dissatisfaction. Shen Yu cried and promised to act properly in the future. Shen Yu was really frightened by Yan Sheng’s attitude, and cried and hiccupped. Seeing this, Yan Sheng was also very distressed and quickly held him in his arms. Eventually comforting moved to the bed and the two became completely reconciled.

In the second half of the night, Yan Sheng dragged Shen Yu up to practice acting all night. It was the scene where Yan Yu learned of the news of Ah Ze’s death, as well as a few other scenes to be filmed today. Yan Sheng carefully analyzed the mentality of the characters for Shen Yu, and even gave Shen Yu a demonstration. He made an expression and asked Shen Yu to copy the expression. It was like playing with a puppet for hours. After a long time it was finally passable.

Then came this morning. To recharge for filming, Yan Sheng also ordered coffee and sandwiches. The two entered the crew after breakfast and the first thing was to apologize to Director Xu.

Yan Sheng and Shen Yu didn’t come too early. Anyway, when they arrived on the set, most of the staff had already come to arrange the venue, arrange the set, arrange the cameras. So they all saw the apology.

Director Xu felt that he got back a lot of face, so he didn’t bother to quibble over this issue anymore. Everyone came out to work not to get angry. So long as the filming could be done well, even if Director Xu had to swallow down even more anger, he didn’t care. It was not that he had never seen a crew tyrant who had a bad temper and liked to act like a diva.

But it was always a pleasure to work with good-natured people.

Yan Sheng’s EQ with people and things have fallen below the standard recently, and Director Xu even thought that after this cooperation, he would never film with Yan Sheng again. But he didn’t expect Yan Sheng to realize it by himself, and such a big film king would actually apologize to him in front of everyone, so Xu Musen couldn’t say anything else.

“As long as the filming is treated seriously.” Director Xu waved his hand, his face very amiable: “Shen Yu’s scene yesterday was really not very good. Then we’ll move it to tonight’s filming. Anyway, it is a night scene. If Shen Yu doesn’t mind, after today’s progress is completed, everyone will work overtime and stay in the crew to make up for yesterday’s scene.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Shen Yu nodded again and again, and said quickly: “I don’t mind, I don’t mind at all. Director Xu, please be strict with me, I will work hard. I will minimize the NGs. I have memorized all the lines I am going to perform from yesterday and today’s scenes.”

As Shen Yu spoke, he turned to look at Tao Mu, who was passing by and was going to the dressing room: “As long as Tao Mu can lead me a little during the scene today.”

Tao Mu, who was was minding his own business but got hit with a stray bullet, glanced at Shen Yu and left with a blank expression.

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In order to catch up with the progress, Director Xu had been filming from morning to night until all the scenes were filmed. Only then did he have no choice but to film Shen Yu’s plot scene.

It was the scene where Yan Yu, who was patrolling the streets with his colleagues, saw the news being broadcasted on the shopping mall LCD TV about the gang fight in the Causeway Bay area. Instantly, he was stunned.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

He still remembered that this hoodlum was locked in the police station holding cell because he was involved in a gang fight, and wasn’t released until noon today. However, in less than a few hours, that hoodlum died in an alley in Causeway Bay. Ah Ze and Zhou Yuanting left together. Ah Ze was dead, so what about Zhou Yuanting?

Yan Yu watched the news and realized for the first time that Zhou Yuanting’s environment was not as simple as he had imagined before. In addition to gang fights, watching the territory, picking up girls, people really could get killed.

This plot scene should show Yan Yu’s empathy, and Yan Yu’s shock at realizing that life could really pass away so easily. It reflected Yan Yu’s concern and worry about Zhou Yuanting, and laid the groundwork for the plot point of Yan Yu’s guilt after learning the truth of Zhou Yuanting’s involvement in the mafia, and finally resolutely dying in Zhou Yuanting’s place.

It could be said that this scene was an important turning point in Yan Yu’s psychological state. If it was an actor with very delicate and superb acting skills, he could handle it very well with just one expression and one look from the eyes.

For example, the look Zhou Yuanting gave Ah Ze during the filming that noon. The charm of actors lay in this, many things did not need to be verbalized, just one look and one gesture could very fully convey an emotion to the audience.

But in terms of Shen Yu’s current acting skills…..even if it was just to make a shocked expression, there was really no need to widen your eyes, open your mouth, gape like a fish, and almost burst into tears, right? Yan Yu was a policeman, not an idol drama heroine who had never seen the world!

Director Xu, who was sitting in front of the monitor, shook his head expressionlessly. He didn’t bother to pay anymore attention to this piece of rotten wood, which was not talented enough and didn’t work hard enough. He casually called “pass” and told everyone to call it a day.

The depressed and lethargic cameramen, lighting engineers, and props engineers had already prepared to NG 180 times. But they didn’t expect Director Xu to pass it after one take——the scene just now, anyone with eyes could see what kind of acting Shen Yu had done. Director Xu, who had always had high standards and strict requirements, actually passed it on the first take?

It couldn’t be? Were they hallucinating?

All the camera guys looked at each other, and even the lighting engineer holding the lighting board was stunned.

“What are you doing, pack up!” Director Xu got up from the director’s chair impatiently and told everyone to call it a day.

Even Shen Yu himself felt something was wrong. He asked anxiously, “Director Xu, but I don’t think I did well just now——”

“You also know that you didn’t do well?” Xu Musen snorted coldly and interrupted Shen Yu rudely: “Like Tao Mu, you have been in the police academy for several months, right? In the face of emergencies, how should a policeman act at that time? Even if you have not seen a policeman you should have seen your instructor right. Ever heard of knowing how to run like a pig without eating pork? What kind of sh*t performance did you just give us?”

Shen Yu didn’t expect Director Xu to be so mean, and immediately burst into tears: “I’m sorry, I know that my poor acting skills are a drag on everyone——”

“Is this an issue of poor acting skills?” Director Xu had sat in front of the monitor for an entire day of filming, and his butt was numb. Now seeing Shen Yu’s tears, he suddenly became extremely irritated: “Do you even have any intention of acting? Everyone was filming for a day, but you stood there for a day without doing anything. If you have the heart, you would at least think about how you want to act, right?”

“But then again, I can understand it. You are the young master of the Shen family. So what if you are not good at acting? Anyway, it’s not like you rely on acting to support your livelihood. So you can just act casually and do whatever. You must be having a good time.”

Unfortunately, while you may be having a good time, we don’t have the energy to play with you. Director Xu sneered and asked loudly, “What are you still doing? Call it a day and go home!”

Director Xu’s remarks towards Shen Yu were precisely what the crew members wanted to say but didn’t dare to say after hearing what Shen Yan said. Now that Director Xu said it in front of everyone, even those who heard it felt vindicated.

The entire crew responded with a roar, and even the action of packing up became something to be done with elation.

Only Shen Yu stood there awkwardly, crying out loud in grievance.

Liang Qiusheng came out of the teahouse with his son Liang Shuwen and a group of brothers, and inadvertently saw Shen Yu who was crying particularly hard across the street, and he had some impression: “Isn’t that the son of the Shen family that you bumped into? What happened? “

“It seems that he was scolded by the director for not acting well.” Liang Shuwen replied.

After filming the mafia negotiation scene, the Liang family wanted to invite Tao Mu to dinner. So they simply stayed in the restaurant, waiting for Tao Mu to remove his makeup and change his clothes.

Tao Mu was covered in blood and sweat for filming. His whole person was fishy and smelly so he washed in the bathroom for over half an hour. When he got dressed and came out of the dressing room, he saw that the entire crew had started to call it a day.

Instantly, he felt a little puzzled. He pulled over a script supervisor and asked about it, and then found out that Director Xu couldn’t help getting angry again.

Tao Mu didn’t want to comment on anything related to Shen Yu. Cinoming to a stop in front of Liang Qiusheng and his son, he smiled warmly: “I called CEO Li. CEO Li said he is free in the evening. I don’t know where we should go to eat.”

Liang Qiusheng immediately smiled and said, “I’ve already booked a place. It’s my honor that Mr. Tao and Mr. Li are willing to give face.”

“Mr. Liang, please don’t say that.” Tao Mu said politely: “For the Hospital Authority and the media, it is all thanks to Mr. Liang’s help. Otherwise, FlyNews.com would be in trouble.”

“Mr. Tao is too courteous. Even if I don’t take action, with FlyNews.com’s status and influence, there would be no trouble in facing this kind of accusation. After all, the news media has the right to report the truth to the public.” Liang Qiusheng also expressed humility. Because he knew that this favor was originally something that was done with little effort.

Because they both know that this complaint could not shake FlyNews.com’s status in the news media industry. If the matter really became serious, they could just make an apology in the newspaper at most. Anyway, it neither hurt or itched, and many Hong Kong newspapers did this.

However, Liang Qiusheng deduced that with Tao Mu’s temperament, even if he really faced charges, he would not apologize. After all, FlyNews.com paid the money used to bribe the doctor and nurse to take the initiative to break the news, rather than sneaked into the doctor’s office to take pictures and steal.

So the Liang family father and son really didn’t take this matter to heart. Of course, there was no intention of exacting any favors for it. However, it was still very cost-effective to be able to use this matter to show goodwill to Tao Mu, and even befriend Li Xiaoheng.

Knowing that Tao Mu liked to eat at tea restaurants, the restaurant that Liang Qiusheng booked was the most famous one in Hong Kong with antique decoration style. When it was time for dinner, the hall was very lively. Liang Qiusheng booked a private room on the second floor, which was very elegantly decorated. There was also a musician playing the guzheng.

When the three of them arrived, Li Xiaoheng had not yet arrived.

Liang Qiusheng deduced that Tao Mu must be hungry after filming for a day and ordered a few tiers of refreshments. Among them was Tao Mu’s favorite shrimp dumplings.

Tao Mu also did not bother with courtesies, he could eat five tiers by himself. He just felt like he couldn’t get tired of eating it no matter how much he ate.

When Tao Mu finished eating the five-tier shrimp dumplings, Li Xiaoheng also arrived. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Tao Mu sitting at the dining table, eating with bulging cheeks that moved like a hamster’s.

Li Xiaoheng smiled: “You eat so many shrimp dumplings, what about dinner later?”

Tao Mu expressed fearlessness: “We martial arts people have a big appetite. And I’m only nineteen years old.”

Li Xiaoheng chuckled lightly. He stretched out his hand and said with a smile, “Hello, Mr. Liang, I’m Li Xiaoheng.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” The father and son of the Liang family stood up. Liang Qiusheng reached out and shook Li Xiaoheng’s right hand slightly. This statement was absolutely from the heart. Even without mentioning the identity of Li Xiaoheng’s father, the huge profit that Xiaoheng Capital raked in when he was shorting the Hong Kong stock market last year was enough to make people look at him with admiration.

The two sides met, and after a few words of greetings, Li Xiaoheng sat down beside Tao Mu.

Liang Shuwen took the initiative to pour tea for Li Xiaoheng but was stopped by Tao Mu. He poured a cup of hot water for Li Xiaoheng. Tao Mu explained: “Mr. Li has a bad stomach, so he doesn’t drink tea at night.”

Li Xiaoheng laughed. He smiled and looked at Tao Mu. Tao Mu also turned his head and glanced at Li Xiaoheng casually. As soon as the eyes of the two met, the Liang family father and son sitting on the other side of the dining table immediately felt a kind of atmosphere.

The Liang family father and son looked at each other subtly. Then Li Xiaoheng turned his head and nodded solemnly: “Yes, I don’t drink tea at night.”

His appearance the image of utter obedience.

Liang Qiusheng muttered “henpecked” secretly, and then smiled: “I didn’t expect CEO Li to start focusing on maintaining good health at such a young age.”

Li Xiaoheng smiled slightly and raised his tea cup: “Although I don’t drink tea, I will still use water to toast instead of tea. Thank you Mr. Liang for your careful advice and help towards FlyNews.com in dealing with the aftermath.”

Liang Qiusheng also drank the tea in his cup with a smile. When Li Xiaoheng said this, it was clear that he was standing on the same line with Tao Mu. Liang Qiusheng also understood that if it wasn’t for the Liang family’s help in handling the aftermath for FlyNews.com, with Li Xiaoheng’s status, he would never have agreed to Liang Qiusheng’s invite.

During the meal, Li Xiaoheng chatted and laughed, his words humble. At the dinner table, his attitude seemed friendly and polite but in actuality it was also a way of maintaining distance. But Liang Qiusheng didn’t mind. Even the Hong Kong families might not be able to have much respect for his background. What was more, Li Xiaoheng was from the mainland. Liang Qiusheng knew very well that the rich and wealthy in the mainland liked to be red-topped businessmen, and least liked to be too involved with people like them. But he was also a proper businessman in his own right now.

No one talked about business at this meal. Just casually chatting about the customs of Hong Kong and the changes in the mainland, and then Liang Qiusheng and Tao Mu discussed acting, which turned out to be quite a fun chat.

After the dinner, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng returned to the hotel. In the car, Tao Mu said apologetically, “Actually, you needn’t have come here.”

He was worried that the father and son of the Liang family would take the opportunity to cling to Li Xiaoheng, so he was reluctant to let Li Xiaoheng come forward. Only to find that Li Xiaoheng warmly took over the dinner table, and pushed him, the protagonist, to the back.

Hearing this, Li Xiaoheng said with a smile, “Why not? The Liang family’s father and son pair invited the two of us to come, which shows that they see us as one. If I didn’t come I wouldn’t have known that the food in this restaurant was also this delicious. Much better than the tea restaurant we went to last time. We should bring Uncle Yao, Uncle Xiao Qi and Mr. Song together tomorrow.”

“Alright.” Tao Mu nodded, leaning on the co-pilot’s seat tiredly.

Seeing this, Li Xiaoheng couldn’t help but slow down the speed of the car: “Aren’t you very tired from filming today? Go to sleep for a while. I’ll wake you when we get there.”

Tao Mu hummed and simply put the seat down to lie back.

That night, after returning Tao Mu to his room, Li Xiaoheng walked into the study and called Assistant Jiang: “I remember that Liang’s logistics company had always wanted to enter the mainland market. It had also bid for the logistics channels of online shopping platforms before.”

“That’s true.” Assistant Jiang gave a positive answer: “But Mr. Li, you said before that the logistics channels of the online shopping platform were all set up by ourselves. Even if we have to sign cooperation agreements with other logistics companies temporarily, the Liang family’s logistics company is only based in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province. They also do not meet our bidding requirements.”

To be able to cooperate with Li Xiaoheng, even suppliers and distributors must have the strength to establish business outlets nationwide. A provincial logistics company that was not even the most powerful logistics company in the province, there was really no need for cooperation.

“Then give him an opportunity.” Li Xiaoheng said directly: “You contact him directly. Sign a one-year contract first. Tell our people to keep an eye on it. It’s fine if he does well, if he doesn’t do well then there is no need to continue the cooperation.”

He had already given the opportunity. Whether it could be grasped or not depended on what the Liang family did.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

“I see.” Assistant Jiang paused slightly and asked, “Is it because of the matter related to Mr. Tao’s FlyNews.com?”

“Is there a problem?” Li Xiaoheng said in a deep voice, “Your CEO Tao is originally one of the shareholders of the online shopping platform.”

The logic might be this. But Assistant Jiang was just curious, what kind of appellation was ‘your CEO Tao’?

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