“The image is pretty good.” After all, he was a big director who had seen it all, so despite being quite satisfied with Tao Mu’s look he still acted noncommittal: “I heard Keping say that you have a stuntman background and know how to do martial arts. You can go talk to the stunt coordinator first, and when you audition later you will perform a set of moves.”

Tao Mu nodded and went to the stunt coordinator.

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

The team of stunt coordinators and choreographers on “The Legend of Heroes” is Zhao Xin’s personal team. The chief stunt coordinator, Duan Yufeng, had been by his side since Zhao Xin filmed his first film, so he can be said to be an old partner. After seeing Tao Mu, he smiled and greeted: “I have seen your performance in “Purple Cloud”. It is indeed quite good. I hope you can maintain this state in “The Legend of Heroes.”

As he said so he handed over the Wuming’s weapon.

This green python pliable jian was specially created by the crew based on the description in “The Legend of Heroes.” The material was a resin material that imitated jade so the appearance was the crystal clear emerald green of high quslity jade. The sword body had carvings that were in the appearance of snake scales while the hilt was a snake tail ending in a fierce snake head. When wrapped around the arm the head and tail would connect. Under the sunlight the green luster sparkled and looked particularly beautiful.

The stunt coordinator first buckled the green python pliable jian on his arm and then drew it out skillfully and swung it a few times. He explained to Tao Mu: “Because it is a pliable jian, we designed the martial arts movements based on Taiji sword and the chain whip. By the way, do you know how to use the whip?”

Tao Mu: “Does the whip used by the elderly during morning exercise count?”

The stunt coordinator laughed: “I think so. As long as you can wave it.”

As he said so, he buckled the green python pliable jian on Tao Mu’s arm: “Try it out first to find the feeling.”

The emerald jade-like green python pliable jian was clasped on Tao Mu’s arm and settled there comfortably like a strangely styled accesory. It emphasized Tao Mu’s white skin and well-proportioned bones. Tao Mu placed his other hand on the hilt that was over his wrist and his slender fingers stroked it lightly. Instantly, the green python pliable jian snapped out. Tao Mu recalled the whip-playing action in the morning exercises with the old man Song in his previous life. With a flick of his wrist the pliable jian made a figure 8 spin in front of him.

The stunt coordinator’s eyes lit up and he chuckled cheerfully: “Interesting.”

After a pause, he said: “When the actual shooting is done, this action can get a close-up. It’s quite handsome.” The stunt coordinator glanced at Tao Mu’s hands——fair complexion, like beautifully carved jade, bones Well-proportioned with defined joints and slender, tapering fingers. There was no need to digitally enhance their appearance at all in the later stage. Just a simple wrist flick and those who understood performing in front of the lens would immediately be able to sense something.

This kind of mysterious and unexplainable feeling, in the language of their martial arts trade it would be described as establishimg an effect. But the key was that this effect was difficult for ecen professional martial artists with frequent shooting and experience, let alone a newcomer like Tao Mu who barely performed in front of the camera.

Sure enough this is a……God given talent!

Duan Yufeng’s heart jumped slightly, and he smiled, “That’s the exact feeling. Keep it going, you will definitely be popular after this movie.” The subtext of these words seemed as if Tao Mu had already passed the audition and had entered the filming stage.

Tao Mu smiled and said, “Thank you for your words.”

The stunt coordinator felt that his eyes were dazzled in that moment, and he couldnt help but sigh——this young man was simply to good-looking. Despite half of his face having been drawn over with hideous scars by the makeup artist, the smile just now lit up his face in such brilliance, as if even the sun shone brighter at that very moment.

This was a boy who had theatre written all over his body.

Tao Mu practiced with the stunt coordinator for an hour before he officially began auditioning.

Zhao Xin sat in front of the monitor and looked at Tao Mu who had already entered the set. The surrounding cameras had all been set up, and the lights and photo reflectors were in place. The actors and group performers who were temporarily without any scenes to shoot surrounded the set on the outside, wanting to see the excitement.

Zhao Xin didn’t bother to utter any nonsense, and said directly: “You can just perform the section that old Duan taught you just now. Be careful to not step out of the camera line.”

Tao Mu stood in the middle of the set in preparation. As soon as the script supervisor shouted action, his slender fingers immediately touched the wrist on where the ploable jian was wrapped around and a touch of emerald green flashed before everyone’s eyes. Tao Mu’s wrist rotated, and the green python pliable jian pulled off a light and elegant figure eight. Then Tao Mu followed the movement of the jian with a side somersault——a bit similar to the Exploring Sea movement in classical Chinese dance but with a bit less gentleness and a bit more power. The pliable jian in his hand instantly pierced forward and in that moment, the air seem to whip, the pliable jian dancing through the air.

Although there were no special effects, no wires, and no post-editing, in the eyes of everyone the Tao Mu on the set was as slender and light as a crane dancing in the wind, all of his movements were clean and decisive. Especially when he whipped the pliable jian and made a variety of side flips, somersaults and spinning movements in mid-air, he appeared as if he would rise up into the air and ride the wind currents like a real crane. The superior physical control, solid martial arts skills, and the martial arts movements carefully polished by Duan Yufeng blended together to create a stunning visual impact that everyone on the set could feel.

So at the end of the audition many people around the set couldn’t help applauding, causing Tao Mu to feel like he had just put on a street acrobatic show under the bridge.

The male lead of “The Legend of Heroes” also stood in the crowd, a mild expression on his face as he looked at Tao Mu. The actor who played the male number two chuckled amd turned his head, “Quite a show stealer. I remember that Zhao Keping is your Summer Star’s agent? To specially find such a fellow from outside to play the role of Wuming, don’t tell me it is to deliberately overshadow you?”

Anyone with a discerning eye could see how much attacking power Tao Mu’s intimidatingly handsome face had through the camera lens. What was more important was that this kid not only had a face, but his martial arts were also pleasing to the eye. Although he was a newcomer, the screen presence was also not bad. In addition, every time the role of Wuming appears, it was always an oppositional scene with the male protagonist. The actor who played the second male lead could determine without hesitation that if such a fellow was really chosen to play Wuming, then after the drama was broadcasted the influence it would have on the male protagonist might not be very good.

“As far as I know, Zhao Keping seems to be very optimistic about him. This kid has made it clear that he will not sign with any talent agency in these two years, but Zhao Keping still spent the effort to find him an audition opportunity. He hasn’t even signed him yet but already shows such favoritism and shielding. The way I see it, when Zhao Keping really has signed him then the position of Summer Star Entertainment’s next Yi Ge will have nothing to do with you.”

The first male lead casted a cold look at the second male lead: “You know quite a lot.”

The second male lead sneered: “Who let the entertainment industry be just this big. Things one want to know, things one don’t want to know, both will eventually reach the ear.”

“But having said that, no matter what I hear, I’m just speaking it casually. At best, I’m just a bystander watching a good show. But you are different.” The second male lead said, pointing his chin in Tao Mu’s direction: “The real talent will finally be discovered and rise above others.”

Ning Yuan, who played the lead actor, had on a dark expression as he left without saying a word.

On the other side, Zhao Xin was also quite satisfied with Tao Mu’s audition performance. After Tao Mu stopped to take a few breaths, he said straightforwardly: “Sign the contract and join the crew tomorrow morning.”

Tao Mu hesitated: “Tomorrow morning I will have a scene to shoot for in “Purple Cloud”.”

Zhao Xin frowned. No matter which director, he wouldn’t have a good impression of the actors who ga xi (TN: actors who film several movies/TV dramas at once). What was more, Tao Mu was just a martial arts stuntman before this——not even an actor.

Zhao Keping immediately explained: “He only has three days left of scenes in “Purple Cloud”. And it’s just one scene tomorrow morning.”

Zhao Xin gave his old classmate face and said: “Then come over after the filming. In any case, what you will be filming in “The Legend of Heroes” are also action scenes so there is no need to worry about whether or not you are ga xi.”

Tao Mu couldn’t tell whether Zhao Xin’s words had sarcasm or not in it. However, it was true that he did not have many speaking lines in “The Legend of Heroes”. Under Bai Xiaosheng’s pen, Wuming, the assassin, was reticent and expressionless to the extent he seemed to have facial paralysis. The number of lines he had could be counted on one hand and there were hardly any lines longer than four words. So there were no requirements in terms of acting.

Zhao Xin’s only request to Tao Mu was to not make any facial expressions in front of the camera. In any case, it was just a small supporting role that won’t exceed more than a few minutes so Zhao Xin didn’t bother to do a deep character analysis.

In fact, in the many years director Zhao had been filming, what he hated most was to add lines or scenes for supporting roles at every turn. In director Zhao’s opinion, the original works were already very classic. If you want to add additional lines and scenes at every turn, to use a dog’s tail as a substitute for sable fur then why not shoot a complete original (TN: idiom for a worthless sequel to a masterpiece) lest you get scolded when the film don’t come out well.

It was precisely because of this thinking that director Zhao’s films had always been known for respecting the original work, and thus were widely welcomed by authors and fans. Of course, there were also some people who thought that Zhao Xin was too textbook and the films he made were just average and lacked any breakthrough. In addition, too much compliance to the style of the original book meant he had no personal style of his own.

Probably having been questioned too many times, in the past two years, Zhao Xin had also begun to think about making an original film to prove himself. Moreover, director Zhao was quite ambitious. He didn’t plan to make a TV series this time, but wanted to show off on the big screen.

However, because it was an original script written by Zhao Xin himself as well as it having broken away from the familiar field of TV dramas, many investors were not optimistic about it. So despite having two years passed, Zhao Xin had yet to convince a reliable producer or bankroller. Not to mention a film distribution company.

This time, one of the reasons Zhao Xin signed Tao Mu into the crew was the hope that Zhao Keping could help him convince some investors. After all, Zhao Keping was a top talent agent in the country, and his connections and resources were much more generous than Zhao Xin.

No need to speak more. With the help of Zhao Keping, Tao Mu signed a contract with the crew of “The Legend of Heroes”. The remuneration was only 20,000 yuan, not as much as he got as a stand-in for Shen Yu in “Purple Cloud”. However, the assassin Wuming won’t make many appearances in “The Legend of Heroes” and add to the fact that this was his first screen role showing his face, it was not at all bad for Tao Mu, a pure newcomer who had no screen experience at all. Tao Mu also cherished this opportunity.

To appreciate Zhao Keping’s help, Tao Mu invited Zhao Keping to dinner after the audition, and directly divided 10,000 yuan for Zhao Keping at the dinner table.

Zhao Keping insisted on not accepting it so Tao Mu said with a smile: “Even for signed artists they must still divide their earnings with the company. You originally helped me find this audition opportunity. I can also tell that director Zhao didn’t make it difficult for me during the audition was allbon account of your face. This amount of money is certainly not much and it’s just to express my gratitude.”

Zhao Keping laughed and said, “Don’t be modest. Director Zhao used you because your performance was really good and your appearance fits the needs of the character. If you can’t win him over by yourself, it would be useless no matter what. If you want to thank me then let me sign you.”

Tao Mu also laughed: “If you can wait for me until my junior year, I’ll sign with you.”

Tao Mu really thought so. Although he was noncommittal about some of Zhao Keping’s methods, Zhao Keping was really a very powerful talent agent in terms of his work ability. And Summer Star Entertainment’s development status in the next ten years was also pretty good. In order to win over its artists, a few years later, it would launch a precedent for artists to open their own studios. Tao Mu felt that Zhao Keping was really suitable for him.

Zhao Keping smiled but remained silent. The situation in the entertainment industry was always changing. After two years, the dish might already be cold. He was not the kind of person who waited passively.

Tao Mu didn’t know what Zhao Keping was thinking. The news of his successful audition in “The Legend of Heroes” had spread and the martial arts stuntmen as well as the entire staff of “Purple Cloud” rushed over to congratulate him. Gou Rixin’s gang heckled and shouted for Tao Mu to treat them. Tao Mu was not stingy and when he stepped off work in the evening, he took a group of people to the barbecue stall opposite the studio city for supper. Fifty or so people ate more than 3,000 yuan worth of barbecue food. The 20,000 yuan that Tao Mu had just gotten was now left with only 7,000 after parting with 13,000 in a day.

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

Da Mao and Xiao Pang were both drunk and as they walked back to their rented house, they leaned heavily on Tao Mu while speaking of the future: “……I hope brother Mu will be a hit……become a big star……we’ll make a movie by ourselves……choose the heroine……”

Tao Mu finally got the two drunk childhood friends into the bed. He took a bath and also persisted on writing in his diary of today’s events and future events before he went to bed.

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The filming location of “The Legend of Heroes” was in the scenic spot of Qingming Shanghe Tu in H Studio City (TN: a filming location based on the painting of the same name by Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan, eng tl is Along the River During Qingming Festival). When Zhao Keping arrived on the set with Tao Mu, the director Zhao Xin was talking to the female second lead. The female second lead was another one who had an investor backing her. According to rumors, she used to sell Louis Vuitton bags and had no acting experience. Her expressions in front of the camera was rather terrifying——in any case, in Zhao Xin’s eyes, it might be more appropriate for her to change to a horror movie or a disaster movie based on the terrifying faces this woman kept making in front of the camera.

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

However, with the 10 million yuan check generously signed by the investor boss in his pocket, even if Zhao Xin was dissatisfied with the performance of the female number two, he had to be patient and teach her again and again.

When Zhao Keping brought Tao Mu to Zhao Xin, Zhao Xin was almost vexed to the point his high blood pressure nearly hit the roof by the wooden expressions female number two kept making. A piece of wood that couldn’t be taught no matter what, why the hell couldn’t she stay with selling her LV bags, or have the coal boss buy her a store so she could be a proprietress herself. Why did she have to come over and make it difficult for him?!

“Is this the newcomer you mentioned?” Zhao Xin glanced at Tao Mu with an angry look, and said: “He is indeed handsome, let’s hope he doesn’t just have a face. My crew is here to film a TV series not a ppt.”

The female No. 2 who was still at the scene flushed in embarrassment, nearly in tears.

Zhao Keping calmly patted Tao Mu on the shoulder, and laughed: “Didn’t director Zhao also see the video that director Chen sent to you. How is Xiao Mu’s expressiveness in front of the camera? I don’t need to say more about it. He should be enough to replace that cooked duck who flew away before, right?”

Definitely more than enough!

Zhao Xin glanced at Tao Mu’s face, and then recalled the video material that director Chen passed to him. It could be said that so long as Tao Mu could show one-tenth of his ability in the video during the audition, this role was without question his.

“Let’s try on the costume first!” Zhao Xin was not in a good mood at the moment and didn’t want to bother with useless talk. Of course, the more important reason was that Tao Mu’s current status had not yet reached the point where Zhao Xin needed to treat him carefully.

“You there, you take him to the fitting room to try on the costume.” Zhao Xin stretched out his hand to call over a production assistant. Although Tao Mu performed well as a stand-in in “Purple Cloud”, Zhao Xin still had to personally see Tao Mu in costume. After all, although many actors were very handsome, they could only be seen in certain styles. A perfect example would be those actors who looked very awkward or strange in ancient costume.

Zhao Xin was making a martial arts film, not a martial arts comedy film. Therefore, the bearing of the actors must mesh well with their roles——after all, not all actors were like the female second lead with an investor daddy behind them. (TN: investor daddy or bankroller, someone who invests in films or dramas for a kept celebrity. Usually there is a sexual relationship between the two)

Zhao Xin still had very high requirements for his works when the funds were ample and there were no investor daddy making it difficult.

Zhao Keping patted Tao Mu on the shoulder again, and said with a gentle expression: “Go ahead.”

He also said to the makeup artist amiably: “Then I leave it to you.”

The protection and support for Tao Mu was obvious in every word, so obvious that so long as one was not blind, one would definitely see it.

Zhao Xin waved his hand to signal the female number two to take a ten-minute break to adjust her mindset, and then gossiped with Zhao Keping: “What’s the matter, you’re optimistic about the newcomer? Summmer Star’s future target? Don’t tell me he has an investor mama behind him? “

Facing the malicious joke from his old friend, Zhao Keping just shook his head calmly: “Don’t talk nonsense, this kid has just turned eighteen.”

After a pause, he smiled and said, “I am very optimistic about him. It is a pity that his temperament is too proud and doesn’t hold much regard for a small temple like Summer Star.” (TN: small temple=small place)

Zhao Xin was a little surprised this time: “Even Summer Star Entertainment doesn’t impress him. Could it be he is Soaring Dragon’s artist? Are you ready to job-hop to Saoring Dragon?”

“He hasn’t signed a contract yet.” Zhao Keping sighed: “This kid has been admitted to Beijing Film. His heart and loyalty is toward his alma mater, ready to follow Beijing Film’s school rules, and will not take on acting jobs before his junior year.”

Zhao Xin chuckled: “This is a good thing.” Don’t think anyone could be an actor. In the past few years of filming, Zhao Xin had been fed up with entertainers who thought they could get away with shabby acting in front of the camera just because they have a decent looking face. Tao Mu having this mentality, made Zhao Xin develop good feelings towards him.

“It is a good thing for actors to have ambitions. Those who come out of professional schools will definitely go farther than those who have no foundation. I say, you talent agencies should not be too short-sighted, sometimes you have to care about the career planning of actors.”

Zhao Keping snorted coldly: “This is a good seedling. Not only me, but Wan Meihong and Wen Shijin are also staring at him.” It’s just that Zhao Keping was the first to make the move.

Having been friends for this many years, Zhao Xin immediately understood Zhao Keping’s thoughts, and instantly laughed: “The eager one loses out! Okay, based on the relationship between the two of us, I’ll pass the kid for you, so long as his performance is not too bad.”

As those words fell, Tao Mu also emerged from the dressing room.

“The Legend of Heroes” was a martial arts novel written in the 1990s. The author was Bai Xiaosheng, a famous martial arts genre writer from Taiwan. There had been countless remakes over the years, and the role of the assassin Wuming could be said to be the most brilliant supporting role apart from the main lead and several of his good friends.

The reason why he was seen as a brilliant and unforgettable character was because of the desgin of his character. In the book, Bai Xiaosheng set the assassin Wuming’s mother to be the No. 1 beauty in jianghu. Because of being defiled, she gave birth to Wuming. When Wuming was born, he was abandoned in the wild, and when he was attacked by wild animals, his cries alerted a green python that had lost its young. The green python rescued Wuming and raised him from then on. When Wuming was seven years old, he was discovered by an assassination organization and taken back to their headquarters where after training, he became their ace killer.

The reason why he was a minor character was because he did not appear too many times in the book, only three times in total. The first time he was ordered to assassinate King Xian, he was disrupted by the male protagonist and the operation failed. Then the male protagonist chased Wuming and what came after was an action scene that amazed and delighted book fans. This part of the plot was mainly for establishing the hero’s high martial arts, romantic and suave appearance, and cynical and unyielding character. Of course, as a foil for the hero, the character of Wuming couldn’t really be an unimpressive person. So Bai Xiaosheng unintentionally caused many book fans, especially female book fans, to immediately become obsessed with Wuming, who only had a few lines when he appeared but whose handsomeness and martial arts could match that of the male protagonist.

The second appearance of Wuming was when the male protagonist, with his lady friend and fellow brothers were trapped within a demonic cult. Wuming was ordered to assassinate the leader of the demonic cult. He was discovered by the male protagonist halfway, and was convinced by the male protagonist to inexplicably help him attack the demonic sect leader and save the trapped people. Meanwhile, Wuming, being loyal to his professional ethics, did not forget to personally kill the demonic leader himself. The demonic leader recognized the other half of Wuming’s face that was not disfigured before he died. In order to take revenge on Wuming, he revealed to Wuming his birth secret before dying——his biological father just so happened to be the leader of this demonic cult, and his mother was the number one beauty in jianghu.

After the demonic sect leader died, news of Wuming assassinating his biological father was also spread by the demonic cult. The entire Central Plains martial arts circle was shocked. At that time, the number 1 beauty in jianghu, who was now the wife of the martial arts leader, could not bear the rumors and gossip and committed suicide. The martial arts leader lost his beloved wife and turned his anger onto Wuming and issued a kill order on him.

Wuming’s last appearance in the book was at the end of the book. At a martial arts conference, the male protagonist and his lady friend and good brothers exposed the martial arts leader and his plans to subvert the court. It was also revealed that the number 1 beauty of jianghu did not commit suicide, but was killed by the martial arts leader after she accidentally discovered his secret. The martial arts leader ordered the killing of everyone, but at a critical juncture of the battle, Wuming suddenly appeared to take down the martial arts leader with himself, sacrificing his life in a mutual destruction.

Under Bai Xiaosheng’s pen, there were only a few words describing the assassin Wuming. “The unbridled and unrestrained green robe, half demon and half immortal. Green python pliable jian, life worth only a coin.” It meant that the assassin Wuming always wore a very inconspicuous green robe every time he appeared, and his face, having been chewed on by wild beasts when he was young had half of it disfigured. But the other half showed that he had inherited the beauty of his mother and was as beautiful as an immortal. His weapon was a green python pliable jian, forged from ancient green steel. It could be as soft and pliable as a poisonous snake without bones. But after inputting internal force, it was as hard as unbreakable steel. Because of the uniqueness of his weapon, his swordsmanship was also vicious and deadly. And accompanying every appearance of the assassin Wuming was also the killing order issued by the assassin organization——an old bronze coin, thus the line life worth only a coin.

It was different from the large amount of descriptions for the male protagonist. And because Bai Xiaosheng’s words when describing the assassin Wuming was this concise, it could be said that every book fan had a different image of Wuming in their hearts. And exactly due to everyone having their own different image, after each version of “The Legend of Heroes” was screened, the actor chosen for the role of Wuming could never satisfy everyone. In order to create gimmicks, some crews would enrich the character of Wuming when adapting the script, and add him to the protagonist group. There was even a director who activated their wild imagination and directly changed Wuming’s gender, creating a lingering love story between a female Wuming and the hero. This angered the old man Bai Xiaosheng, causing him to protest fiercely during a reporter’s interview and announcing that he would never cooperate with that director again.

But Zhao Xin’s version of “The Legend of Heroes”, under the banner of respecting the original work, would naturally not add extra scenes to the role of Wuming. This was why despite the role of this character being so famous, yet few people were willing to audition for it. On the one hand, it happened too suddenly, and the crew who was left in the lurch by the original actor could not schedule appointments with other suitable actors.

On the other hand, Zhao Xin had too high demands on the actor to be chosen for the role——probably because the previous actor leaving them in the lurch really pissed him off, Zhao Xin required that the actor must be handsome as well as have martial arts skills. These two items basically passed over more than 90% of the auditioners.

Finally, the input was not proportional to the output. According to director Zhao’s respect for the original work, the role of Wuming would only appear in those three scenes. The actors who met the conditions would rather spend their time in other crews as a male one or male two instead of bothering with a minor role in “The Legend of Heroes”.

Because of the above reasons, including Zhao Xin, the entire crew of “The Legend of Heroes” did not have much hope for the actor of Wuming. But this thinking only remained until after seeing the Wuming played by Tao Mu——

It was the height of summer and the scorching sun roasted down on everyone. Tao Mu in an unrestrained and loose green robe walked over from the dressing room. Because it was a martial arts costume, Tao Mu also wore a head piece that was long and flowed over his shoulders in disheveled strands, perfectly capturing the unbridled and unrestrained manners of the knight-errants of jianghu. Under the careful work of the makeup artist, half of his face was painted with hideous disfigurement makeup. But it was exactly due to this hideous and ugly half that the handsomeness and defined features of the other half of the face appeared even more stunning. Under the light and shadow casted by the sunlight, there really did seem to exist a half demon and half immortal. The visual impact was both stunning and amazing in its beauty brought by the two contrasting halves.

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

The most important thing was that Tao Mu’s bearing and demeanor perfectly expressed the requirements of the role. As a result, the moment when director Zhao saw Tao Mu, a description of Wuming in “The Legend of Heroes” immediately flashed in his mind: “Wuming stood there motionlessly, his arms casually hanging by his sides, maintaining a harmless posture. The green python tail hilt of his pliable jian was softly wrapped around his wrist. A gust of wind blew by, and the shadows casted by the trees flickered. Wuming blended into the night like a poisonous snake waiting for an opportunity, for the prey to relax its vigilance so that he could leap forward and strike. Like the flash of lightning, the green python pliable jian slashed towards the new arrival, like a poisonous snake flicking its forked tongue, the light of the sword giving one a sinister chill.”

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Li Xiaoheng did not mention to Tao Mu the salary for being his personal consultant. It was not that Li Xiaoheng was stingy, but before the global economic situation became more clear, Li Xiaoheng felt that any price offered would be treating Tao Mu irreverently. Not quite suitable. And he also needed more time to observe Tao Mu’s personality——whether he was someone who he could cooperate for a long time with, or whether it would be a one time thing.

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

Tao Mu himself did not ask either. The main purpose of his friendship with Li Xiaoheng was not how much extra money he could make every month. In fact, Tao Mu only made friends with Li Xiaoheng because he regarded this person as a possible investor who could be fooled in the future. After being reborn, Tao Mu was fully aware of the concept of throwing a long line to catch a big fish and so was not in a hurry.

From a certain perspective, the thinking of the two seem to coincide.

At the end of the meal, Li Xiaoheng offered to send Tao Mu home but was declined by Tao Mu. Da Mao and Xiao Pang, who finally freed themselves from the boring meal, fully demonstrated the outspokenness of young people who were overly 2B (TN: SB or 2B is short for shabi, a slang meaning stupid or idiot). The words came out of their mouths without making it up to their brains: “……No need, no need, it’s not as if it’s the end of a date and about to send a girl home. There are so many of us, Li dage don’t need to worry.”

With Luo Yang’s stupid track record in front, an originally polite courtesy now seemed ambiguous when Da Mao and Xiao Pang made this comparison.

Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu subtly, and he was relieved to find that the other didn’t care at all. Tao Mu was a very talented young man in the financial field. It could be seen from just this short conversation that the two have similar temperaments. Li Xiaoheng didn’t want to make Tao Mu feel offended because of these trivial matters.

Noticing Li Xiaoheng’s glance, Tao Mu said with a warm smile: “Li dage, don’t mind them, they are always this loud-mouthed.”

“No.” Li Xiaoheng smiled and explained: “They are very lively and very good friends.”

The most important thing when making friends with people was to never evaluate each other’s friends when they were not yet familiar. The so-called social taboo of having a deep conversation with a conparative stranger.

Only after Li Xiaoheng drove away did Da Mao and Xiao Pang let out a few large sighs: “Aiya, I almost suffocated to death. This Li dage is pretty good everywhere, just too stern.”

That’s right, even though Li Xiaoheng was polite and courteous, the picture of a gentleman throughout the meal, but in the eyes of Da Mao and Xiao Pang, two prospective college students who had just left high school, Li Xiaoheng’s speech and behavior were still too mature and reserved. His whole person exuded the same imposing aura belonging to their parents.

Tao Mu smiled slightly: “Let’s go, go to the lottery booth with me and have a look.”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang were instantly bewildered: “You want to buy a lottery ticket?”

Tao Mu: “I just want to go see.”

After being reborn, Tao Mu had been troubled over how to make his first start-up capital. Because he was familiar with financial history, Tao Mu originally set his sights on both stocks and futures. However, his capital was too small, the market was too turbulent, and short selling was not allowed in the country. So no matter how he used his money on the stock market, it would still just be making pocket change.

Even though the saying goes that no matter how small mosquitoes were they were still meat, but for Tao Mu, he didn’t want to waste even a little time in his new life. After all, his ‘vision and wisdom’ only had a ten-year shelf life. In order to live up to his memory of these ten years, Tao Mu searched his brain and checked the information online every day to find possible opportunities. But he did not expect that when he saw news reports about the Olympics, several [Book Reviews] suddenly flashed in his mind once again.

It was these [Book Reviews] that gave Tao Mu the inspiration on where to find his start-up capital.

——The 2008 Olympic Games were held in Beijing. At this point in the previous life, Tao Mu, like all Chinese people, had also paid attention to this nationally celebrated event. After a lapse of ten years, although some memories were blurred, Tao Mu still vividly remembered the ownership of the more important medals during the Olympic Games. And he was reborn at this node before the opening of the Olympic Games and some things could indeed be open for manipulation.

——Unexpectedly, those inexplicable book reviews would actually be useful one day. Thinking about it this way, Tao Mu suddenly felt that these inexplicable comments that popped up in his head from time to time was slightly more acceptable.

It was a pity that only after Tao Mu entered the lottery station did he realize that knowing who won the Olympic medals in advance did not help much in buying sports lottery——it went by number selection. It seemed that he might have to go abroad to find those legal gambling platforms, and think of ways from the outside.

……

After the conversation with Li Xiaoheng, Tao Mu continued his routine as a stand-in body double. On Monday morning, while there was no scenes to be filmed, he sneaked out of the crew and went to a nearby securities company to open an account. According to the memory of the previous life, he bought a few stocks that would rise soon. He had limited funds, and the market was extremely unstable due to the impact of the global financial crisis. So the best way was to continuously speculate short-term.

Tao Mu’s memory was getting better and better. He remembered the financial information he had memorized in his previous life, and he still remembered the dark horses that broke through the overall decline of the stock market prices during the 2008 financial crisis and soared instead. Although occasionally there would be losses due to memory deviation and operating errors, but in general, his earnings were still very impressive.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang watched Tao Mu’s funds snowball in the stock market, and both immediately felt their blood rushing in excitement. The two smiled ingratiatingly and brought their private money in front of Tao Mu, asking Tao Mu to help them speculate. The three of them were brothers for two lifetimes, Tao Mu of course would not refuse. But before accepting, he forced them to write a three thousand word essay of praise each. It was to avenge his deep hatred when the two of them ‘cursed’ Tao Mu by saying he would lose all of his hard-earned savings when he first opened his account.

Just when the three of them were addicted to stock trading, Tao Mu received a call from Zhao Keping to tell him of the audition——not the campus idol drama he had mentioned before but a supporting role in another martial arts drama.

“I know you are very stubborn. If you say you don’t want to violate the school rules of Beijing Film, you really would have the heart to refuse the invitation of a male No. 4 audition. I think Beijing Film really should give you a certificate of ‘the most obedient student’.” Zhao Keping didn’t hide his grievances. He had been in the industry for so many years, and he had never met such a stubborn little guy. Sure enough, the one who was more eager to seal a deal was at the disadvantage.

Zhao Keping snorted to himself and continued: “This time the situation is different. Although “The Legend of Heroes” is also a project invested by Summer Star, this film has been filming in Hengdian for more than a month. The actor who plays the male number three was foisted onto the crew by another investor. During filming, he sneaked out to audition for another movie. After the audition was successful, he kicked “The Legend of Heroes” to the curb. The crew was temporarily unable to find anyone, and the director also happened to be my old classmate so I felt that this was a good opportunity and I reported your name. It happened that Zhao Xin had also heard about you.”

The circling of news in the entertainment industry had always been fast. The gossip about Tao Mu’s amazing outbreak when the crew of “Purple Cloud” encountered trouble had been spread all over the industry. Basically, the directors and action stars who were filming in H Town knew that there was such a person. In addition, Chen Yiqian also had intentions to help Tao Mu out so when the director of “The Legend of Heroes” called him to verify, he spoke alot of nice things about Tao Mu. So on both fronts, the audition was settled without Tao Mu even knowing it.

“……At two o’clock this afternoon, you just go directly to the audition on the set of “The Legend of Heroes”……forget it, you’d better wait for me in the crew. I’ll drive you there.” Zhao Keping said very decisively: “I asked around for you already. The role is not too heavy. It is estimated that the filming will be completed in half a month, and it will definitely not delay your reporting to Beijing Film. Don’t have any pressure. This role is solely for the purpose of apologizing for the idiot Mu Huating. It has nothing to do with our cooperation.”

Before Tao Mu could speak, Zhao Keping threatened: “I have already worked around your scheduling problem very clearly. If you still want to refuse, then I can unilaterally think that you don’t want to forgive Mu Huating at all, and prepare to find a chance to do something shady against us?”

Was there ever such a forceful foisting of an audition on someone?!

Tao Mu had nothing to say to this and could only accept and thank him.

Zhao Keping hung up the phone quite proudly. In his opinion, Tao Mu’s situation was like some fledgling young actors. In the beginning, he stuck to his high moral pedestal and refused to accept the rules of the game in the circle. When one met this kind of person, one must first find a way to open up his appetite, give him some desserts to let him taste the sweetness, and then cut off the resources for a blow. After he felt the disparity in treatment before and after it was then relatively easy to persuade and train him patiently.

Of course, there were also the kind who simply had hard bones and would not bow their heads no matter what, refusing to compromise at all. But Zhao Keping believed that Tao Mu was not that kind of person.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yiqian also called Tao Mu over to give some advice: “Don’t be nervous when auditioning. I know that old Zhao is a bit temperamental, but he likes to support newcomers very much. I also chose some scenes of your performance in “Purple Cloud”, to send to him in a video. He knows your skills. The character you will be auditioning for is a ruthless killer. Originially the role doesn’t have much lines either so I guess you will mainly be considered for your appearance in ancient costume and your martial arts skills. Have you read the novel “The Legend of Heroes”? I remember it said in the book that this killer’s weapon was a p jian……” (TN: Chinese double edged sword)

Director Chen went on a long-winded speech. The central idea was only one——with Tao Mu’s appearance and martial arts skills, there was no need to worry about whether he could pass the audition and that he shouldn’t be afraid at all.

Of course Tao Mu was not nervous. But he could feel Chen Yiqian’s kindness and naturally appreciated it.

The news that Tao Mu was about to audition for a supporting actor role in “The Legend of Heroes” spread through the crew somehow. Everyone ran over to cheer him on, and even Mu Huating, that idiot, came over and said: “You have taken the role that brother Zhao introduced to you, and the matter between us will now be even. Can you speak to young master Luo and have him stop making difficulties for me?”

After the meal that day, Li Xiaoheng acted decisively and directly bought a ticket and flew back to country M to preside over the operation of Xiaoheng Capital in the international market. It was estimated that he also wanted to take advantage of the situation and make a fortune. Luo Yang stayed in H Town by himself and with no one to restrain him and no one to look after him——like a husky who broke free of its leash, he became more and more lawless.

Because of Mu Huating’s instigation, Luo Yang was so angry that he scattered all the fire on Tao Mu. Knowing afterwards that he was being used by others, of course with Luo Yang’s character he would not swallow his anger. So besides shamelessly apologizing to Tao Mu, he began to make trouble for Mu Huating. It had Mu Huating grumbling and complaining endlessly. The key was that Zhao Keping also deliberately wanted to teach Mu Huating a lesson, and he actually watched it all on the sidelines, too lazy to mediate. Mu Huating faced so much difficulty that he couldn’t help but run over and bow his head to Tao Mu.

It was just that his way of bowing his head was not very clever.

Tao Mu was not a person who repaid grievances with virtue. The most important thing was that he was in no position to ask Luo Yang to let Mu Huating go.

It was Shen Yu who sympathized with Mu Huating’s recent tragic experience, and gave him an idea: “How about you speak honestly to Luo Yang and see how he can let you go. If it doesn’t work, you should jump off the building in front of him. Of course, don’t forget to update your Weibo and make the whole thing clear before jumping off the building. Maybe your fans will help you out of sympathy and will help you scold surnamed Luo.”

Mu Huating: “……” Was this guy helping him come up with an idea or just eager to watch some more excitement?

Shen Yu chuckled and winked at Tao Mu: “You yourself can’t even go to extremes to help yourself, then don’t come and pester our Tao Tao. It is not our Tao Tao who instigated Luo Yang to teach you a lesson. You should look for Ye Yao instead of Tao Tao. “

After all, the two of them were official boyfriend and girlfriend. Although, they had been going back and forth on splitting up recently, their personal drama dazzling the eyes of all outsiders.

After Shen Yu’s words, Mu Huating was completely speechless.

After Mu Huating left, Shen Yu said to Tao Mu: “Don’t pay attention to this kind of person. He is an example of one who picks the softer persimmon.” (TN: expression for taking advantage of the more easy target)

Tao Mu didn’t say a word.

Shen Yu stared at Tao Mu’s slender but not skinny shoulders, and his arm suddenly felt an itch to move——in truth he truly wanted to throw his arm over Tao Mu’s shoulders and have a brotherly relationship with Tao Mu. But for some reason, Tao Mu seemed to be a little rejecting of him.

Fortunately, Shen Yu was originally quite good at finding amusement on his own and was also an enthisiastic and considerate person. Even if he kept getting rejected, he didn’t feel discouraged——don’t know why but if someone else dared to treat him so coldly, the little prince would definitely have a temper. But when it was Tao Mu, Shen Yu felt an inexplicable sense of indebtedness, like if he didn’t make Tao Mu happy his whole body would feel uncomfortable. The kind where even when sleeping at night he wouldn’t be free from anxiety.

“By the way, when do you have time, I would like to ask you to teach me how to pose. There will be a few wire scenes in a few days, and I want to personally——”

“No!” Tao Mu’s reflexively refused. When he came back to his senses, he casually said: “Hanging on the wires is very hard and dangerous. A young master like you should just act in speaking scenes.”

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Shen Yu looked at Tao Mu with bright eyes, acting like a baby cat looking for cuddles, “Are you worried about me?”

Tao Mu responded with a dark face followed by stomping away angrily.

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“Weren’t you studying acting, Tao Mu? When did you learn finance?” Knowing that his childhood friend was not a person who would strike up a conversation out of the blue, Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu with a dazed expression. He felt that the world was truly mysterious.

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Tao Mu was silent. He certainly could not say that he studied finance in his previous life.

Speaking of which, Tao Mu had to thank Shen Yu for him transferring from acting to finance in his previous life. At that time, he had just returned to the Shen family’s house and madly and inexplicably hated Shen Yu. He deliberately transferred to Shen Yu’s university, and specially applied for the finance major. At the beginning, the reason for doing this was to prove that he was not lacking when compared with Shen Yu.

As for why he didn’t choose the literature major that Shen Yu applied for, it was more to please the Shen family. After all, the Shen family had been in business for generations. Tao Mu believed that by studying finance himself, he could have more common language with the Shen family. Unfortunately, in the eyes of others, this approach was undoubtedly an ironclad proof of his greed and eagerness for instant benefit. Therefore, Shen Yan completely rejected him, treating him with cynicism and sarcasm, believing that he didn’t know his place and had delusions of fighting for the position of heir that belonged to Shen Chen.

Though, the events that happened afterwards proved that Shen Yan overestimated his IQ!

But having said that, Tao Mu gave up his theater major at Beijing Film University and plunged straight into the financial field that he was not familiar with. At first, he couldn’t even understand the algorithm formula. Every day, he only knew to memorize all of these things that he clearly wasn’t even interested in. In the eyes of others this was basically useless and ineffective with no practical use. He was ridiculed by fellow students and the news media as a modern two-legged bookcase……Unexpectedly, however, these materials became his most important asset in this new life. (TN: two-legged bookcase, or walking encyclopedia, someone who have read alot of books but cannot apply the knowledge to practical use)

Sure enough, as the old saying goes, the books that a person had read and the hardships he had experienced would all eventually be useful. Although this day might have come a little late for him, it being a lifetime and all.

“……Just speaking casually.” Tao Mu came back to himself and answered Luo Yang in a perfunctory manner.

Luo Yang snorted and didn’t believe Tao Mu’s words at all. Just talking casually would not cause Li Xiaoheng, a capitalist who wouldn’t act without incentive, to hand over his business card. This kid probably didn’t know how rare Li Xiaoheng’s business cards were.

“Just now we ate the chicken feet that Mr. Tao personally grilled. To return this politeness, I would like to invite Mr. Tao to have a casual meal.” When faced with talents, Li Xiaoheng, who always liked to take the initiative, smiled gently. It was practically as gentle as a spring breeze: “I wonder if Mr. Tao can give me this face?”

Tao Mu frowned slightly but before he could even open his mouth, Li Xiaoheng said again: “I see that Mr. Tao you have your own thoughts on oil futures. To be honest, I am also paying attention to the international financial market recently, and I have many questions about futures. Hearing what you said today, I felt that many of my questions have been cleared up. I hope that Mr. Tao could give me some more advice.”

Being reborn to this point in time, it would be false to say that Tao Mu had no thoughts about this financial turmoil. Anyone who was familiar with financial history and got a chance to return to this era would very likely want to stir up a storm. However, Tao Mu’s pockets were rather empty. He may have valuable knowledge and enviable outlook but unfortunately no capital, and was powerless in the end.

Now that Li Xiaoheng actively invited him, Tao Mu felt that it wouldn’t hurt to discuss a little further. Even if after this conversation he wouldn’t get any real benefits. So long as he could form a good relationship with Li Xiaoheng, this connection might prove useful in the future——for example, finding an investor for a movie or something.

Thinking about it this way, Tao Mu no longer hesitated and immediately accepted Li Xiaohang’s invitation. Li Xiaohang showed his gentlemanly demeanor, a disguise he had learned during the years of studying abroad, and personally opened the door for Tao Mu. Looking at his gentle and attentive manner, Luo Yang couldn’t help snorting repeatedly, his eyeballs nearly rolling backwards into his head.

He put his hands in his pockets and raised his eyes to look up at the sky. He was about to get into the car, when he came face to face with his expressionless childhood friend: “Aren’t you going to visit the crew?”

Luo Yang: “……I haven’t eaten yet!”

“Go to the crew to eat. Didn’t you say that you lost your temper some time ago and offended the entire crew? You can take advantage of the opportunity to visit the crew today to send some delicious food to bribe the people’s hearts. Having the crew full of complaints and discontent won’t do you good either after all.”

Luo Yang once again couldn’t hold back and rolled his eyes a 108th time: This remark sure was high-sounding and righteous, as if he didn’t know the other wanted to get rid of him and go on a date with the little beauty alone.

Thinking of this, Luo Yang suddenly squinted his eyes and looked at Li Xiaoheng suspiciously, wondering if this old-fashioned bachelor since birth had finally become enlightened.

Unfortunately, since childhood, Li Xiaoheng had always been able to hide his emotions and thoughts, possessing a deep self-restraint. Luo Yang examined him several times, but he still couldn’t make out what Li Xiaoheng was thinking.

Li Xiaoheng’s thoughts were actually very simple. He was worried that Luo Yang would involuntarily change the topic when he was at the dinner table with them. After many years of friendship, Li Xiaoheng was quite aware of his childhood friend’s habit of ‘not engaging in proper business’.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang, aftering grabbing and eating several chicken feet, both quickly stood behind Tao Mu, showing their determination to be Tao Mu’s entourage.

Li Xiaoheng didn’t mind. Driving the car he brought everyone to a nearby five-star hotel.

“Don’t know what Mr. Tao likes to eat?” In the exquisitely decorated small private room, Li Xiaoheng handed the menu to Tao Mu and smiled softly.

Regarding the trend of the international oil futures market, Li Xiaoheng had been thinking a lot about it in recent months. He could faintly perceive the movements of international capital behind the scenes, as well as the increasingly severe economic situation. However, Li Xiaoheng was limited by the current situation and could not determine the extent to which this storm would evolve. And as a result he was unable to make up his mind. Hearing Tao Mu’s remarks today, Li Xiaoheng might not have received a sudden flash of insight, but some things did become clearer.

So he was perfectly happy and sincere about treating the other to this meal. Even if Tao Mu couldn’t say anything tangible in the dudation of this meal, just the words he had already spoken was worth his time eating this meal with the other.

Tao Mu unceremoniously ordered a few dishes that he loved. He was good at cooking and his taste buds were also picky. All the dishes he ordered were signature dishes that were both time-consuming and fire-consuming. These dishes had extremely high requirements for both ingredients and the chef’s craftsmanship.

Then, Li Xiaoheng politely handed the menu to Da Mao and Xiao Pang, and the two ordered two dishes. The menu once again went back to Li Xiaoheng’s hands.

Li Xiaoheng was not a foodie, and because of the professional self-cultivation of seizing every minute and second that financial professionals all had, he always preferred to eat simply and quickly. But just now after gnawing on Tao Mu’s grilled chicken feet, his taste buds were greatly stimulated. So now he even ordered some local dishes that would suit his appetite at Tao Mu’s suggestion.

If Luo Yang saw this, he would definitely be surprised.

Soon, the waiter had put away the menus and served up the tea and appetizers ordered by Li Xiaoheng.

Li Xiaoheng personally poured a cup of tea for Tao Mu, and smiled softly: “Don’t know if Mr. Tao likes tea or coffee. I have been studying abroad for many years, so I should be used to drinking coffee. But I love tea very much. Especially Pu’er tea.”

Tao Mu wasn’t picky on what he drank. In fact, he prefered to drink carbonated drinks. Milk tea was also good.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang both had bitter faces, staring at the pot of Pu’er anxiously. Li Xiaoheng smiled slightly: “I was negligent. Children your age tend not to like coffee or tea.”

It’s just that Tao Mu’s previous speech and behavior appeared rather mature and it gave Li Xiaoheng the illusion that he was communicating with a peer.

Li Xiaoheng criticized himself for his carelessness and then called the waiter over again, re-ordering a pot of freshly squeezed juice and three bottles of carbonated drinks.

As a result, Da Mao and Xiao Pang thought that Mr. Li was really a very good person.

The very good Mr. Li turned his head sideways, exchanged a few words with Tao Mu, and quietly shifted the topic to the current economic situation.

Tao Mu had intentions of making friends with Li Xiaoheng, and naturally wanted to display his talents in front of future benefactors. Although he didn’t dare to spill everything, but every word he spoke were like pearls and hit right at the heart of the matter. With just a few remarks, Li Xiaoheng’s original vague ideas and thoughts became clearer.

Only Da Mao and Xiao Pang remained completely bewildered, holding their drinks and sitting as quiet as pheasants.

“……Now the international situation remain changing and inconsistent, like the dark surging tides in the ocean. According to my own thoughts, I originally wanted to wait and see some more. However, Mr. Tao has such a deep understanding of the economic situation at such a young age.” Li Xiaoheng did not ask Tao Mu how he came about his insights. In his opinion, everyone could have their own secrets. What’s more, in such a big world, strange people and bizarre things were never lacking. When he was studying in country M, he had also seen a teenage genius who played the stock market so well he practically ran circles around everyone, wildly seizing billions of dollars. With just his strength alone he was able to stir up the global capital pool.

Although Tao Mu’s analysis of the international financial market was rather radical and sharp-edged, it was not just empty talk. There were still reasoning behind his remarks and clues to follow from. It could only be said that Tao Mu had unique insights and talents in the financial field. Thinking about it this way, Li Xiaoheng felt that it was a pity Tao Mu had such an obsession with being an actor.

“Don’t know if Mr. Tao——”

“Mr. Li can just call me Tao Mu directly.” Tao Mu calmly took a sip of tea. Living a lifetime again, and having been surrounded with Da Mao, Xiao Pang and the young people on the set for such a long time, he really wasn’t used to the serious style of Li Xiaoheng.

Li Xiaoheng smiled and said, “Then don’t call me Mr. Li. Just call me Li dage.” (TN: dage=big brother, will be using the Chinese pronunciation as it’s shorter and sounds better)

“Li dage.” Tao Mu readily followed the other’s suggestion. As soon as he called the other this, it made the communication between the two people appear even more rigid.

Looking at Tao Mu’s expression, Li Xiaoheng, for some reason, suddenly said, “I am only twenty-five years old this year.”

Tao Mu: “……”

Li Xiaoheng came back to his senses, and explained with some embarrassment: “I mean……we are considered close in age and I don’t feel any generation gap between us.”

Privately, Tao Mu thought that of course there was no generation gap. He was twenty-eight when he died in his last life!

But Tao Mu cleverly did not speak further on the subject. Although he didn’t know why, Tao Mu still faintly detected that Li Xiaoheng seemed to slightly mind his own age.

Li Xiaoheng didn’t know what came over him. After pausing for a moment and finally sorting out his thoughts, he continued: “I just wanted to say, Xiao Mu, do you want to switch to finance? I think you are very talented in this area. If you don’t, it would be quite a pity.” He also warmly suggested that if Tao Mu was really interested in finance, he could serve as an investment consultant in his Xiaoheng Capital.

Tao Mu looked at Li Xiaoheng with a little wonder: “As far as I know, the financial industry has always had high requirements for practitioners. I do not have any experience, nor am I a high-achieving student who graduated from a key university——”

“The ancients also knew that one must seek talents. I am not a fool. When I see a genius like Xiao Mu, I naturally have to try my best to win you over.” Li Xiaoheng smiled and picked up the shared chopsticks and added a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus duck to Tao Mu’s plate: “Just don’t know if Xiao Mu would give me this opportunity.”

“Thank you, Li dage, for your kindness, but I still like acting.” After rebirth, Tao Mu had already made plans for the future. Naturally, he wouldn’t make changes just because of a few words from Li Xiaoheng.

Li Xiaoheng didn’t quite understand why Tao Mu was obsessed with being an actor, but he didn’t comment on Tao Mu’s ambitions. He just smiled and said: “I see that you have your own insights and analysis on the international market. It can be seen that even if you want to act, you would not be opposed to doing some part-time jobs in this field. Then, can I take the liberty of inviting Xiao Mu to come and act as my personal investment adviser? You only need to be responsible to me. How about it?”

Tao Mu’s original purpose for eating this meal was to develop this connection with Li Xiaoheng. Now that Li Xiaoheng took the initiative to make friends, he certainly wouldn’t refuse. It’s just that before accepting the invitation, he had to humbly and politely say: “……My insights and views are all theoretical, and I have no actual practical experience. Li dage asking me to be an investment consultant is taking a big risk.”

“It just so happens that I do financial investment, and what I do best is to control risks.” Li Xiaoheng smiled and stretched out his hand: “Then, may we have a pleasant cooperation.”

“May we have a pleasant cooperation.”

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

Two hands shook in mid-air. Li Xiaohang keenly noticed that Tao Mu had many thin calluses on his hand, and it was not as smooth and flawless as it looked on the surface. However, this hand was slender and strong, and the palm was dry and warm. Like its owner, the more one had contact with him, the more at ease one felt.

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The next morning, Tao Mu was awakened by brother Feng slamming on the door.

“It’s been soaking for a whole night. What should we do next?” With wide bloodshot eyes, brother Feng looked at Tao Mu with extreme excitement. That appearance was of a man who hadn’t slept all night.

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“Next, don’t do anything.” After finally falling asleep only to be woken up, Tao Mu said with a stern face: “Let it be marinated in the pot. When it’s noon, I’ll roast the chicken feet. I’ll need cumin, white sesame and chili flour. Do you have them in the store?”

Brother Feng nodded fiercely: “We have all the condiments. Only, there is no oven. I’ll go to the skewers shop next door to borrow one later. Their shop will not open until four o’clock in the evening.”

Tao Mu left these small details to the other.

Approaching noon, Tao Mu, Da Mao and Xiao Pang went downstairs after sleeping well. The small restaurant was noisy and almost all the tables were full.

Tao Mu directly went into the back kitchen and opened the big iron pot simmering chicken feet, and found that the marinated chicken feet in it were reduced by more than half.

Tao Mu turned to look at brother Feng. Brother Feng scratched his face embarrassedly, and grinned stupidly: “Aha, it was so fragrant, I couldn’t hold myself back, so I gnawed on a few.”

After speaking, he even suggested to Tao Mu: “Eating rice mixed with that marinade sauce is very delicious. You should try it too.”

Tao Mu: “……”

With the help of brother Feng, Tao Mu moved the remaining half of his chicken feet to the entrance of the restaurant. Sister Ping specially borrowed the skewers stove next door and set it up outside the restaurant. Brother Feng rolled up his sleeves and burned charcoal to make a fire, fanning the rising smoke away with a big fan.

Tao Mu returned to the back kitchen to prepare barbecue ingredients. Sister Ping and brother Feng helped to string the remaining chicken feet on bamboo sticks.

The chicken feet had soaked in the secret marinade sauce for a whole night and by itself it exuded a strong fragrance. When it was put over the fire and the meaty braised chicken feet were gradually licked by the flames, an even more attractive barbecue fragrance bursted out instantly. Then sprinkle it with cumin, sesame and chili flour. When the dripping hot oil fell down the bamboo skewers, the fire in the stove leaped up, and the white smoke filled the whole street with a strong aroma. The entire street was permeated with the aroma of grilled chicken feet.

Luo Yang, who insisted on pulling his childhood friend to visit the film set, sniffed his nose and turned the steering wheel, following the smell to find the entrance of the small restaurant. At a glance, he saw Tao Mu, who was standing in front of the skewers stove as a chef.

“Hey, I didn’t expect you to have this craft.” Luo Yang opened the door and got out of the car. Looking at Tao Mu’s skillful movements, and smelling the rich smell of meat from the skewers stove, it made him more and more curious. He approached Tao Mu and asked with a smiling face, “How much is one stick, give me a hundred yuan worth for now.”

“We eat it ourselves, it’s not for sale.” Tao Mu said concisely, staring at the chicken feet on the grill attentively. He grabbed a handful of spices to sprinkle on it occassionally while also maintaining control of the heat.

Unwilling to give up, Luo Yang continued to dawdle: “Then give me two sticks. Everyone is a friend here and talking about money does hurt feelings.”

“I say, why are you so thick-skinned!” Da Mao couldn’t bear it anymore, and he opened his mouth, “And you even dare to mention the word ‘friends’. Have you forgotten that time you used the fire hose against our brother Mu.”

“Don’t mention it anymore, I also regret this thing very much. Aren’t I here to make amends? You have to give me a chance to show my apologies at least.”

As Luo Yang spoke, his eyes fell on the grilled golden chicken feet and he frantically hinted: “How about we forget our grudges with two chicken feet?” (TN: play on expression to forget our grudges with a smile)

“Pei!” Da Mao almost laughed in anger: “You have average looks but you dream beautiful dreams. Even saying to forget grudges with two chicken feet. Have you forgotten that you were the one who wronged our brother Mu? Now you want to cheat us of two chicken feet. You must take us as fools!”

“You want to eat chicken feet, right? Okay then. If you bark twice like a dog, we’ll give you two chicken feet.”

This was a bit too much. Sister Ping and brother Feng, who had been standing by to help with the chicken feet, frowned. They looked at Luo Yang dressed in brand name clothes from head to toe, with just a look one could guess he was from an extraordinary background. They then looked at the luxury car parked at the door with a value of at least tens of millions and their faces changed. Just as they were about to mediate, they saw Luo Yang touching his chin and asking thoughtfully: “Two dog barks are two chicken feet. Does this mean that a dozen dog barks would be a dozen chicken feet?”

“Of course.” Da Mao crossed his arms and sneered. He had long wanted to make up for Tao Mu’s face. It was Tao Mu who stopped him and said it was unnecessary. But now it was not him who went to find trouble but Luo Yang himself who came looking for trouble himself. Even if he couldn’t pull a sackcloth over his head, he could at least humiliate Luo Yang a bit.

Da Mao judged others from his own perspective, thinking that Luo Yang would definitely not be able to swallow this down. When the time came, whether it turned into a group fight or a one-on-one, then that was another matter.

Luo Yang ignored Da Mao and looked at Tao Mu, who had not spoken the whole time: “You think so too?”

Tao Mu glanced at Luo Yang but his hands kept moving: “There are so many restaurants on this street, and there is also a five-star hotel five kilometers east of this street. You can eat wherever. So don’t make a scene here.” Tao Mu expected that with the background of Luo Yang and his childhood friend, they would not eat this kind of street stall snack.

“That won’t work. I said that I want to eat chicken feet, and I must eat them today.” Luo Yang looked at Tao Mu, then squinted at the chicken feet. After being silent for a while, suddenly: “Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!

Tao Mu’s hand shook slightly and he looked at Luo Yang in surprise.

Luo Yang ‘woof’-ed on his own for a while and then said: “So? How many barks were there? Are your chicken feet enough for me to eat?”

Tao Mu: “……”

Li Xiaoheng, who was sitting in the car the whole time, wiped his face speechlessly. Did he have to go this far just for a bite!

Tao Mu glanced at Da Mao. Wang Ye didn’t expect Luo Yang to be so shameless, and his whole body stiffened.

Xiao Pang collapsed with a wail: “We can’t give him all! What would we eat if we give him all of it!! Both brother Feng and sister Ping did not eat either!!!”

No, they had already eaten half the pot. Tao Mu thought dryly and wondered how to solve this ‘debt problem’ for Da Mao. He then heard a swiping sound. Li Xiaohang, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, had lowered the window of the car and persuaded with exasperation, “Stop making trouble. Who makes amends this way.”

“The matter has progressed to this point, and it has nothing to do with making amends anymore.” Luo Yang said with a serious expression: “It is me using my skills (dog barking) to earn the chicken feet, now they shamelessly don’t want to hand over the chicken feet!”

On the dignity of a foodie, Luo Yang did not plan to fool around, “I want my chicken feet.”

In order to express his dissatisfaction, Luo Yang specially added emphasis on ‘my’.

Tao Mu separated two chicken feet in his hand and handed it to Luo Yang. Then he glanced expressionlessly at classmate Da Mao who tried to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it——although Da Mao caused the trouble, but obviously Tao Mu had to solve it himself. (TN: to try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off)

Tao Mu’s solution was also very simple——

“Just now Da Mao promised you that, not me.” Tao Mu said, “If you still want to eat, then let Da Mao make the chicken feet for you.”

“Brother Mu——” A miserable cry echoed across the sky. Da Mao looked at Tao Mu miserably: “I don’t know how to grill chicken feet!”

Tao Mu didn’t say a word.

Luo Yang, who finally got his two chicken feet, held the fruits of his labor and knocked on the window frame with a smile: “Don’t be so uptight. I have something delicious, this brother will share one with you.”

Li Xiaoheng, who was sitting in the passenger seat, sighed helplessly. Throwing the laptop into the rear seat, he opened the door and got out of the car.

Luo Yang handed the chicken feet over, muttering under his breath: “What is that expression on your face. If you were anyone else, I wouldn’t share it with you at all.” This was the chicken feet he had used his dignity to exchange for.

Li Xiaoheng sighed again. He was not a foodie, and naturally he couldn’t understand the logic of his childhood friend, making such a fuss for chicken feet. Perhaps, with a cold look over at Tao Mu, Li Xiaoheng speculated in his heart that Luo Yang, this kid, might being trying to ingratiate himself with the beauty in a roundabout way.

Tao Mu also noticed the inexplicable man wearing a three-piece suit on such a hot summer day but he didn’t care much. Because in the previous life, Li Xiaoheng was not a plot character. Tao Mu only knew that this person was the eldest son of the Li family. He founded his own financial investment company while studying abroad and rarely returned to China.

Li Xiaoheng keenly detected Tao Mu’s glance. For some reason, Li Xiaohang, who almost never ate at roadside stalls, took the chicken foot and under Tao Mu’s gaze he took a bite——suddenly, the only thing he could feel was a strong aroma of meat permeating his mouth. The skin was soft and sticky but also had a crispy texture. The chicken tendons and meat was tender and chewy. And even the chicken bones were soft and edible. With just a bite, the marinade sauce that had soaked down to the bone marrow bursted in his mouth. The aroma of grilled chicken, the aroma of marinated meat over an entire night, and the aroma of cumin, sesame, and chili flour all perfectly combined. Among all the flavors, the rich and mellow taste of the Shaoxing yellow wine perfectly harmonized all of the flavors. It caused the chicken foot to exude a faint fragrance of wine from the bone marrow so when one ate it there was no greasy feeling at all.

It was delicious, it was so delicious.

Luo Yang felt that he had barely tasted it thoroughly when the chicken foot was eaten up, from the meat down to the bones, leaving only a mouthful of lingering fragrance. His mouth was so sticky that he almost couldn’t open it, and the aroma was so strong that it could practically raise his skullcap.

“This is too delicious. How did you make it?” Luo Yang felt that he had never eaten such delicious grilled chicken feet even in a five-star restaurant before. Not only did this little body double look good, he even cooked so deliciously. This was talent!

Li Xiaoheng, who followed after his childhood friend in mooching on food and drink, couldn’t help but look at Tao Mu as well. He just felt that the boy in front of him gave him too many delightful surprises.

Tao Mu was too lazy to pay any heed to these two freeloaders, and handed the roasted chicken feet to brother Feng, who was waiting for a long time, and then went to the back to wash his hands. Da Mao and Xiao Pang rushed to brother Feng to divide up the culinary delicacies. All the tormented diners also looked anxiously at the plate of chicken feet that still exuded a strong fragrance, the situation that of many monks and not much gruel (TN: not enough to go around).

“I say Xiao Tao Mu~” With an extremely thick face, Luo Yang tagged behind: “You have such good craftsmanship, why do you want to enter the entertainment circle? Just open a barbecue shop to sell chicken feet, and then partner with someone to open a snack processing factory. Just like selling spicy gluten, your company can be floated on the stock market in minutes. How about we three cooperate?”

Tao Mu picked up a clean white towel and wiped his hands seriously, turning a deaf ear to Luo Yang’s words.

A person like Luo Yang, towards beautiful people, always had a strong tolerance and patience regardless of gender. Seeing Tao Mu being cold and indifferent, he didn’t feel bothered at all, finding a topic and blabbering away by himself. Seeing the noon news being broadcasted on TV, he striked up a new conversation with a smile: “Hey, this international oil has broken through 148m a barrel. This brother will give you a suggestion, you can just buy some oil. This thing is rising very well, and if you buy in now, in just two years, don’t even mention being an actor, you can have the riches to even be an investor.”

Tao Mu felt a headache coming on from Luo Yang’s incessant pestering and he couldn’t help but say: “If you aren’t afraid of going bankrupt and then forced to jump off a building, go right ahead. The price of oil now is obviously a result of people behind the scenes acting together to push it up and find a scraps-picking hero to……what kind of look is that.” No wonder in the last life he was driven out of the house by the eldest miss of the Luo family and bullied to the extent he couldn’t even stay in the country. It would seem he didn’t know anything except picking up girls. (TN: scraps-picking hero is a person who buy stocks at high prices, or literally means the large stocks accepter and later came to represent the person who is cheated and takes over some awful/horrible mess or some troublesome things unwittingly)

No, that’s not completely accurate. Tao Mu thought of Luo Yang’s affairs with both women and men in his previous life, as well as the foolishness of coming out of the closet for Shen Yu and angering father Luo to death……Basically, it could be concluded that this guy not only knew how to pick up girls, but also pick up men!

“Excuse me——” Li Xiaoheng, who hadn’t said anything the whole time, suddenly spoke up. Looking at Tao Mu with scorching eyes he said: “How did you see that there are international capitalists manipulating the market, and how did you conclude that international oil futures prices will fall in the short term?”

Tao Mu casually refrenced some financial news. Although everyone was still in the stage of being unable to see clearly due to being closely involved, but ten years later international experts and scholars have thoroughly studied the global financial crisis of now. Many information that was absolutely confidential at the time of the incident were also repeatedly disclosed by the news media.

Therefore, for Tao Mu, answering this kind of question was like already knowing the answer to a riddle. Using the known results to deduce the course of events, naturally he could point out the shortcomings of the contemporary problems and provide an analysis with substance.

With just a few words, Tao Mu thoroughly expressed his thoughts. In order to keep his secrets, all the evidence he cited was already reported by the financial media at this time.

But in the eyes of Li Xiaoheng, it was as if a high school student who had not yet gone to college was able deduce the clues from news reports and was able to skillfully analyze the game being played among the international capital markets. Moreover, from his words he could even speculate on the direction of the world economic situation, though deemphasized but still containing much substance and not at all shallow talk. What was even more frightening was that Li Xiaoheng actually agreed with Tao Mu’s words from the bottom of his heart.

As a professional in finance, Li Xiaoheng trusted his judgment very much. His firm belief stemmed from his solid knowledge and keen financial insight. But the question was, where did Tao Mu’s confidence come from?

“Hello!” Li Xiaoheng’s heart jumped slightly, and he became curious about Tao Mu. He took out a personal business card and handed it to Tao Mu: “I am Li Xiaoheng, the founder and CEO of Xiaoheng Capital. I am very interested in the analysis of the international oil futures market that you just said. If you are also interested, I think we can find a quiet place to have a good chat.”

Ai? Ai ai? Ai ai ai!!!

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

With a bewildered expression, Luo Yang looked at his childhood friend and then looked at Tao Mu. Right now, 10,000 grass mud horses seemed to be whizzing past in his heart! What the——just where was this direction being taken in?!

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Tao Mu’s afternoon scene was a scene where the male protagonist sneaked into the demonic sect with a mask hiding his identity, but was discovered by Mu Huating, who played the leader of the demonic sect, and the two preceded to fight each other. Because the face of the male number three was to be photographed in this scene, in order to strive for the best shooting effect, the crew’s intention was to have Mu Huating personally fight him.

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

Mu Huating argued all morning but failed to get director Chen to agree to his request for a stand-in. When wearing the wire suit, his expression looked ugly, as if he had constipation. He looked at Tao Mu nervously, for fear that he would use the scene to beat him up and take revenge for earlier.

As a result, during the filming, whenever Tao Mu made a piercing action with a sword, Mu Huating would definitely scurry backwards like a rabbit, and even the camera could only manage to capture an afterimage at the speed he moved. There was none of the proud arrogance and intimidating presence that the demonic sect leader should have.

——Being timid to this extent, how could this scene be filmed?

Chen Yiqian couldn’t endure it anymore. After yelling “cut” eight times in a row, he held a loudspeaker and shouted, “Mu Huating, are you here to make a comedy drama?”

Mu Huating was both fearful and aggrieved, yelling: “Don’t blame me. Tao Mu deliberately scared me.”

Tao Mu stood in place with no expression on his face.

The whole crew had their arms crossed, eyes rolling in exasperation. Did he take them all for the blind? Tao Mu obviously didn’t do anything. It could be seen that Mu Huating not only had a bad character, but also had a terrible habit of pushing blame onto others.

Mu Huating, who was questioned by the entire crew, felt quite aggrieved. He insisted that Tao Mu had malicious intentions, and would definitely take the chance to beat him up while filming. If he hadn’t run fast every time, he would have already been beaten to the ground by Tao Mu at this moment.

Chen Yiqian could no longer put up with Mu Huating’s wild fantasies. In order not to delay the shooting process, he finally pinched his nose and agreed to Mu Huating’s request to use a stand-in.

Mu Huating breathed a sigh of relief and took off his wire suit as quickly as possible. He stared at Tao Mu and raised his chin to demonstrate. His face was full of arrogance, as if to say “what can you do to me now?”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang, who were playing the roles of demonic sect cannon fodders, were so angry they itched to pull a sackcloth over Mu Huating in a small alley and beat him up immediately.

Tao Mu stood with a sword in hand and without any expression on his face. He didn’t even spare Mu Huating a look.

The body double who became Mu Huating’s stand-in was a martial artist actor from Gou Rixin’s team, named Da Luo. They even had a drink together last night. After seeing Tao Mu, he lowered his voice and voiced his outrage on behalf of Tao Mu: “……You are too honest. If it was me, I would have definitely taken this opportunity to beat him severely. Let’s see if he’ll splash dirty water on others again……”

“It’s not necessary.” Tao Mu replied mildly. When a person was bitten by a dog, it wasn’t as if he could bite back. If he really did that, then how different was he from the idiot Mu Huating? Besides, there were so many people watching on the set, even if he wanted to secretly land some hits, how much could he even injure Mu Huating?

Since he was too lazy to even bother pulling a sackcloth over the other’s head, naturally he wouldn’t do something that would leave a weakness in the sight of others——he just casually amped up his film emperor-level acting skills against Mu Huating during the scene, substituting the emotions of the perverted murderers he played in his previous life into the emotions he displayed during the scene. The feeling it gave when his eyes stared at Mu Huating was like that of a butcher looking at a slab of pork on a cutting board. Sure enough, Mu Huating couldn’t help but become frightened, scaring himself into a neurotic person.

However, yaxi was quite mysterious and difficult to put into words (TN: refers to disparity in the acting skills between two actors with the more skilled actor using their acting skills to crush their co-actor). Except for the person involved, it was hard to say whether other people have this keen sense of what was going on as well. But it didn’t matter if they could see it——he relied on his better acting skills to psychologically suppress Mu Huating, and Mu Huating could only blame himself for not having the skills to match up against Tao Mu.

Da Luo looked at Tao Mu and said, “That’s true. I heard that Zhao Keping introduced to you an audition opportunity for a male number 3 role. If you really pass, the wrongs you suffered will not be in vain.”

Tao Mu didn’t say a word.

With the cooperation of Da Luo, the filming of this scene went smoothly.

After the end of the filming, Tao Mu approached director Chen and wanted a copy of the action scene video shot yesterday: “For my resume, it might count as field work credit later.”

Since Chen Yiqian wanted to express goodwill towards Tao Mu, he would naturally not refuse this little thing. After all, Tao Mu did not sign a confidentiality agreement in this life. Just before giving the video, he still habitually warned: “Before the TV series is broadcast, don’t pass the video out. It will affect the normal shooting of the crew.”

After a pause, he added: “It won’t be too long. There will be a promotional video posted by the crew in two days, and it is estimated that there will be this section. You can judge when to show it yourself.”

Tao Mu nodded.

Seeing that Tao Mu had finished discussing business with director Chen, Shen Yu walked up with a smile, holding an Apple mobile phone box in his hand: “Tao Tao, happy birthday.”

Tao Mu glanced at the gift Shen Yu prepared, and politely refused: “I already have it, it was given by Xiao Pang. And I didn’t prepare your gift.”

In other words, you don’t have to give me a birthday present.

The distant attitude and refusal was clear.

Shen Yu didn’t care: “Then tell me the phone number and I will save it.”

Tao Mu: “I haven’t registered it yet.”

Shen Yu: “Do you have a Weibo? Let’s follow each other? Fans on my Weibo want to know your information.”

Before Tao Mu could speak, Shen Yu said again: “It’s useless if you refuse. I have already exchange follows with Wang Ye and Pang Yue. Even if you don’t tell me, I can go back and look through their friends list, and sooner or later I’ll find your Weibo.”

Tao Mu glanced at Shen Yu and did not refuse anymore.

Shen Yu searched for Tao Mu’s Weibo with a grin, and saw that his Weibo nickname that was both elegant and not at all affected. He couldn’t help but glance at Tao Mu in surprise.

Tao Mu had no expression on his face: “What?”

“Nothing.” Shen Yu said with a smile: “I think your name is quite imteresting. I heard Wang Ye and Pang Yue say that you gave them their Weibo nicknames, how about you make one for me too?”

Tao Mu did not say a word, obviously unwilling.

Shen Yu smiled and didn’t press on. He thought Tao Mu was very interesting. He looked fierce and unreasonable, but actually had a warm and caring side. As long as you treat him nicely and smile brightly at him, even if he was seriously annoyed at you, he won’t turn away from you. He was just like the large cats with beautiful fur that he had seen on the African grasslands. One needed to approach cautiously, please gradually, and carefully smooth the fur before one could actually pet it.

But he didn’t know Tao Mu’s actions were a result of his worry that a bad attitude towards Shen Yu would receive a backlash from the plot power.

These days in his second life, Tao Mu had carefully analyzed it based on his previous life experience and the [Book Reviews] that appeared from time to time in his head: So long as it was someone Shen Yu liked or someone who really liked Shen Yu, then this person’s luck and ending were usually not too bad; but if a person did not like Shen Yu, especially those who maliciously targeted Shen Yu, always had bad luck and a worse ending. As for those who had little communication with Shen Yu, or those who Shen Yu didn’t pay much attention to, the [Book Reviews] didn’t disclose much information about them.

In summary, Tao Mu concluded that Shen Yu’s protagonist halo also had a limited scope. The closer people were to Shen Yu, the more they must restrain their dislike of Shen Yu. Otherwise, it would result in inexplicable bad luck.

Tao Mu was destined not to like Shen Yu because of his birth situation and previous life experience. Due to the strong power of the plot, Tao Mu couldn’t be as hostile to him as he was in his previous life. After thinking about it, Tao Mu felt that the only thing he could do was to restrain his emotions towards Shen Yu. It was best to be able to stay away completely, but even if he couldn’t, he should still try to keep a distance.

After getting off work, Tao Mu waited for Da Mao and Xiao Pang for a bit, and the three of them went home together. The two young people who were committed to being melon eater big V went straight to the computer when they got home, just like a teenager with a serious internet addiction.

“Aiyo, I’m so happy that I got three thousand fans in one day.” Da Mao and Xiao Pang stared at the Weibo page with silly grins on their faces: “He’s worthy of being called a celebrity. Just exchanging follows with him brings so many benefits.”

Having said that, he didn’t forget to ask Tao Mu: “Didn’t you also exchange follows with the little prince? How many fans have you gained?”

“I don’t know.” Tao Mu replied boredly. In his heart he thought, who cared about a group of fans who turn their faces faster than the pages in a book. (TN: turn face=to fall out, to be hostile with somebody)

“Ai, where are you going!” Da Mao and Xiao Pang looked at Tao Mu, who was getting ready to go out after picking up his wallet.

“Go buy chicken feet.” Tao Mu said: “Didn’t I say I’ll be roasting chicken feet for you guys on Saturday.”

The two teenagers with a severe internet addiction immediately got up from having their butts stuck to the computer chair: “We’ll go too.”

In the end, Tao Mu didn’t go to the market, but went to sister Ping’s restaurant downstairs to ask about the supply channel: “Can I order ten catties of chicken feet? I’m not familiar with the place here, and I don’t know who has better quality.”

The lady boss made a gesture: “No problem. Do you want it tomorrow morning?”

“It’s best tonight. So I can make it at noon tomorrow.”

The lady boss didn’t say anything more and immediately called to order.

Half an hour later, fresh chicken feet were delivered to the door. The boss, brother Feng, specially alerted Tao Mu: “The shop will be closed at nine today. When the time comes, brother will give you the kitchen, so make yourself at home.”

Tao Mu: “……”

Brother Feng was particularly enthusiastic: “Do you need this brother to help you?”

“No need.” Tao Mu particularly hated others helping when he cooked. Because it would disrupt his rhythm and it was more like a hindrance than helping.

Brother Feng smiled, and he didn’t know if Tao Mu really didn’t need help, or he was afraid of outsiders stealing his secret recipe.

However, brother Feng still kept his promise and handed over the kitchen to Tao Mu at nine o’clock. He and sister Ping waited for him while watching TV and eating melon seeds.

At nine o’clock in the evening, the nightlife outside had just begun. But in the corner of the back kitchen, it was quiet as if everything had fallen asleep.

The noisy kitchen had quiet down, and Tao Mu was the only one in the kitchen. He stood standing in front of the faucet wearing an apron, washing the chicken feet over and over again. Tao Mu used running water, the rushing water pouring over the chicken feet and thoroughly washing them clean. At the same time, the cold water also made the chicken skin more crisp. After washing the ingredients, Tao Mu put the chicken feet in a large iron pan and stir-fryed them for two minutes, then rinsed them with cold water again. This would remove the smell and excess greasy fat.

Immediately afterwards was making the luwei. This step needed to use the fesh meat oil from good pork belly. Then add special spices and seasonings into the oil to stir fry. Tao Mu learned the exclusive secret recipe from Old Song Tou, which he taught to him when he was very young. The old man once said that a cook should be calm and steady when he was cooking, so that he could carefully judge the heat levels and be worthy of the ingredients themselves.

It’s a pity that Tao Mu was never calm and steady when he was cooking in his previous life. Because the dishes he cooked in his previous life were either to please the Shen family or to win over business partners. As a man he was utilitarian so his cooking lacked a purity and spark.

Many people said that he had too many distractions when cooking, and the dishes he made were not as pure as Shen Yu’s.

Although Tao Mu himself didn’t know what karmic connection there was between what he was thinking when cooking and the taste of the dishes.

A tempting fragrance gradually spread in the kitchen. It was a bit like braised pork, but the taste was fresher and the aroma was stronger.

The diners sitting in the front hall couldn’t help but sniff their noses. Old Feng said in awe, “Tao Mu’s skills, not bad!”

“Of course.” Da Mao and Xiao Pang said proudly: “My brother Mu is amazing!”

“It’s so damn fragrant.” The old diners who spend every evening watching TV in the restaurant while enjoying the air-conditioning touched their bellies. They were once again hungry even after having dinner just now.

Brother Feng couldn’t bear it, and motioned to Da Mao and Xiao Pang to go in and ask: “Can we have some to try first?”

“It’s not done yet!” Da Mao and Xiao Pang were also struck with craving, and sneaked to the kitchen door secretly: “Brother Mu, can you give us a few mouthfuls first?”

“I haven’t finished it yet!” Tao Mu rebuffed: “You help me ask brother Feng, is there Shaoxing yellow wine in the kitchen?”

“Yes——” Before Da Mao and Xiao Pang could speak, brother Feng stood up immediately: “On the shelf above the sink, there is a black jar with a piece of red paper pasted on it.”

“I see it.” Tao Mu replied and spilled half the jar of Shaoxing yellow wine. The iron pan sizzled audibly and the rich aroma spread with the steam. The scent rushed to the front hall, and the saliva of the old diners flowed all over the floor.

“No, I can’t take it anymore.” Someone rushed out the door and went to the skewers shop next door to order 30 yuan worth of skewers.

Tao Mu was still making the luwei sauce patiently. After half an hour, Tao Mu threw the stir-fryed chicken feet into the iron pan and simmered it over a small fire.

The simmering would take half an hour. After that, the simmered bones and meat of the chicken feet would become tender, the skin soft and chewy.

A large number of old diners in the front hall have all been KO-ed by the delicious scent by now.

Brother Feng looked at Tao Mu with bright eyes: “What shall we do next? Xiao Mu, please give me any instructions, and this brother will help you.”

What would happen next?

Tao Mu casually threw the simmered chicken feet into the newly made luwei to marinade and soak: “……In fact, there is nothing else but to let it soak in the flavor.”

“Do you need to use any special technique to massage the chicken feet during the soaking period?” Brother Feng’s imagination went wild. From the secret recipes passed down by the palace chefs to the secret techniques passed down by the folk people, at this moment he was preparing to feast his eyes and widen his horizons.

But Tao Mu said with an exasperated expression on his face: “No.”

Brother Feng: “……”

Flames of excitement instantly became extinguished by a basin of cold water. Brother Feng gave Tao Mu a pensive look, “Then you can go upstairs and rest.”

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

Brother Feng looked at Tao Mu and wanted to inquire about the luwei recipe, but after thinking about it, he still didn’t say anything in the end. Just after the restaurant closed, he dragged sister Ping into the back kitchen to examine the ingredients, wondering how many seasonings and spices Tao Mu used——

But in the end they didn’t find anything at all.

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