After having his directing skills “discussed” by Tao Mu in a manner of concealing needles in silk (TN: idiom for hidden barbs), Cheng Baodong lost any desire to continue talking. He waved his hand to signal Tao Mu to return to the set to continue shooting.

Shen Yu and the others sat silently and obediently behind Cheng Baodong, watching Tao Mu filming his scenes. At noon, they also stayed to have lunch with the crew. After confirming again and again that Tao Mu would not go with them to sing karaoke or clubbing with them, Shen Yu and the others left disappointed.

After finishing work in the evening, Tao Mu returned to the rental house with his two childhood friends. For dinner, they just ordered a few dishes at sister Ping’s small restaurant. Halfway through the meal, Da Mao’s phone rang——it was a call from the girls they had met on Weibo.

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

“What, you have already arrived in H Town?” Da Mao put down his chopsticks, feeling a little surprised: “Why are you here so late?”

Don’t know what was said on the other end of the phone, but Da Mao replied helplessly: “Fine. You guys first take a taxi to the entrance of the Studio City. I’ll be there to pick you guys up.”

After putting down the phone, Da Mao explained to Tao Mu: “Didn’t we recently begin to post some entertainment gossip and H Studio City’s news on Tieba and Weibo. Many netizens got curious, and some people want to come and experience it during the summer vacation. The phone call I just received was from our fans. They are a couple of girls who had also just graduated from high school. They wanted to visit H Town before the beginning of school, and also visit the film sets of their idols. But, the plane was delayed and when they arrived at H Town it was already dark. The girls are a little scared and want me to pick them up.”

Xiao Pang added proudly: “We are more or less celebrities in the circle now. Everyone believes in us~”

Tao Mu nodded: “Then you go ahead. I’ll be upstairs resting first.”

“En!” Da Mao and Xiao Pang stood up and smiled ingratiatingly at Tao Mu: “You have a good rest, we’ll bring back some late night snacks.”

“Then come back with two pounds of spicy crawfish.” Tao Mu did not bother being courteous and ordered the dish. After the two had left, he went upstairs.

Though he said it was to rest, what he really did was actually lying on the bed after taking a shower, watching the Olympics while betting on the periphery and paying attention to the international oil futures market. In addition, he would also read some informational books related to financial regulations from time to time. After a while of multitasking, sleepiness hit Tao Mu and he fell asleep on the bed like that.

When Da Mao and Xiao Pang came back, what they saw was Tao Mu in bed with books and laptop surrounding him.

The two knew that Tao Mu had been very tired recently, so they didn’t want to wake him up. On tiptoes, they turned off the computer, put away the books, and put the freshly cooked spicy crawfish into the fridge. They didn’t even dare to take a bath and just took off their clothes and turned off the lights before going to sleep.

When Tao Mu woke up it was already the next morning. He hadn’t expected that he could sleep so soundly this time. For fear of the noise outside waking Tao Mu, Da Mao and Xiao Pang had closed the window tightly. There was only one electric fan and it was currently blowing slowly at the foot of Tao Mu’s bed so Tao Mu didn’t feel the heat either. In contrast, Da Mao and Xiao Pang had broken out into a sweat while sleeping and had awakened in the middle of the night from the heat.

“You’re awake!” Hearing Tao Mu’s movement, Da Mao and Xiao Pang, who were lying on their beds turned their heads and smiled, “What do you want to eat for breakfast, I will ask brother Feng to bring it up.”

“Soy milk fritters!” Tao Mu said. After seeing a cold bowl of mochi in the kitchen, he asked casually: “What time did you come back yesterday? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Why wake you. You finally fell into a deep sleep.” Da Mao disagreed. “By the way, we are going to take a few sisters to apply for acting licenses today. Let’s have a meal together tonight?”

Xiao Pang also winked at Tao Mu: “The three girls are all very pretty.”

Tao Mu frowned: “I don’t want to go.”

“Don’t!” Da Mao was anxious: “We already boasted to those girls, saying that our brother is handsome enough to break the skies. They are all waiting to see you!”

Xiao Pang flipped his hair and made a pose on the side: “Mu Mu gege, give us some face, let’s go~ Muah~~”

Tao Mu was disgusted enough: “Don’t use the ugly trap with me (TN: like honey trap, but instead of using beauty to get what you want you try to disgust others enough to get your way hence ‘ugly trap’ XD)! I won’t go!” He would rather stay in the rental house to watch the Olympics when he had that time.

“You have to. Let me tell you, these little sisters are truly really cute.” Xiao Pang sat directly on Tao Mu with all of his heavy weight and patiently persuaded: “I think you should also get in touch with people your own age. Mingling with that crowd of old fritters from the crew everyday, aren’t you feeling suffocated.”

“Go! Go! It’s just one meal. Then we’ll go home. If you want to watch the Olympics, you can watch the Olympics, and if you want to watch oil futures, you can watch oil futures. We’ll help you wash your feet and give you a massage. Okay?” Da Mao wheedled: “Anyway, you have to eat dinner, don’t you? It’s still eating no matter the location? And with pretty sisters to accompany you the food will be even tastier~”

Tao Mu was nagged by Da Mao and Xiao Pang so much he had no choice but to agree.

With excitement, Da Mao and Xiao Pang ran downstairs and borrowed the electric tricycle used by sister Ping to buy ingredients for the restaurant. After breakfast, they carried Tao Mu to the entrance of the Studio City.

Tao Mu knew that the two were trying to make up for yesterday’s mistakes, and couldn’t help but smile.

When Tao Mu arrived at the crew, he happened to see Wang Boyuan also stepping out of his nanny van. This inevitably caused Tao Mu to feel a little strange. Because according to today’s filming schedule, Wang Boyuan’s first scene was at ten o’clock in the morning but it was not even seven o’clock yet. Wang Boyuan seemed to have arrived a little too early.

Tao Mu nodded at Wang Boyuan and said hello: “Senior brother, morning.”

“Good morning.” Wang Boyuan looked at Tao Mu thoughtfully.

Honestly speaking, he didn’t sleep well last night. Wang Boyuan developed a vague impulse deep in his heart after hearing Da Mao and Xiao Pang’s words yesterday, and wanted to ask Tao Mu to help him.

In fact, he wanted to follow Da Mao and Xiao Pang’s topic and speak some more about it yesterday, but Tao Mu changed the topic before he could. The chance was fleeting, and he was too embarrassed to ask Tao Mu to help him in stocks afterwards. After all, the two of them hadn’t reached that point of friendship yet, and it might make it difficult for Tao Mu if he made such a request as it was a matter of money.

Besides, he also understood Tao Mu’s concerns. Indeed, if this kind of thing led to profits, then everyone would naturally be happy. But if money was lost, Wang Boyuan couldn’t guarantee that he would not take his anger out on Tao Mu. After all, in the past six months, Wang Boyuan had already lost a lot in the stock market, and he couldn’t afford to mess around anymore.

——Fortunately, Tao Mu steered them away from the topic in time.

Thinking of this, Wang Boyuan couldn’t help but look at Tao Mu again and started thinking about another thing. He wondered whether or not Tao Mu’s talent in the stock market was the real deal.

It was necessary to say that Wang Boyuan didn’t have much skills in financial stock trading, so he naturally relied on stockbrokers to do it for him. Every time he bought in and sold out, the most important thing was naturally to take the advice of stock brokers. Of course, sometimes there would even be a little bit of “inside news”. But it’s a pity that the domestic market had been extremely chaotic in the past six months, and the stockbrokers were also not sure about the situation, ending up losing Wang Boyuan’s savings over these many years.

Because of this Wang Boyuan couldn’t help but fantasize. If he had replaced his stockbrokers with Tao Mu as his investment advisor, he would not only not lose the tens of millions in the stock market, but he might even earn back seven or eight times more….. 

At that time, don’t even mention introducing a few roles for Tao Mu or take care of him in the entertainment circle. He would even be willing to give Tao Mu a big red envelope!

As Wang Boyuan’s thoughts wondered, he suddenly came back to himself. Immediately he smiled bitterly, he had really gone crazy from losing money. He didn’t know Tao Mu at all a few months ago. No matter how talented Tao Mu was in stocks, what did it have to do with him!

Tao Mu looked at Wang Boyuan’s face that seemed like a color palette, expression shifting like the colors of the rainbow. It did not seem like he was thinking over a character’s emotions.

“Senior brother?” Tao Mu interrupted Wang Boyuan’s fantasies and pointed to the direction of the public dressing room: “If there isn’t anything, then I’m going to get my makeup applied.”

“Ah? Oh!” Wang Boyuan came back to his senses with a sad smile: “Go ahead.”

Tao Mu: “…..”

——Although Tao Mu was one of the first to arrive at the crew every day, his scenes were not connected. Often he would have a few scenes in the morning and then a few in the middle of the night. The rest of the time was spent in the long waiting process. Because the best time slots must be reserved for the bigwigs and old veteran actors.

This was still the case today.

After filming the first scene in the morning, Tao Mu waited on the set with makeup, silently observing the scene with Wang Boyuan and Guo Yaning. The cameraman in charge of the second lens suddenly felt pain in his abdomen.

He looked around, but he didn’t find his assistant. He finally turned his attention to Tao Mu who was observing the set seriously, and whispered, “Tao Mu? Tao Mu?”

“Huh?” Tao Mu turned his head and raised his eyebrows at the cameraman.

“Do you know how to use this?” The camera guy asked quietly while carrying the camera. Probably because Tao Mu showed professional proficiency in various functions of various departments during his time in the crew, and every time he was able to help on point. Even if Tao Mu had never shown his photography skills, the cameraman still had a blind trust in Tao Mu.

“My stomach hurts and I can’t hold it anymore. Can you help me hold up for a while?”

While the actors on the set were NG-ed again, the cameraman clutched his stomach and begged Tao Mu: “Five minutes, help me hold up for five minutes. I will definitely come back.”

The camera guy was also out of solutions. The crew originally had a dozen videographers, most of whom performed their own duties, and a small part of them acted as assistants to help on rotation. But incidentally, he just couldn’t find any of them right now. Besides, diarrhea didn’t wait for people——as a grown man it was not like he could do the number 2 in his pants. As a result, he could only temporarily catch an idler and hope for the best.

Tao Mu glanced at the camera guy whose stomach hurt so much that he was sweating profusely, and smiled lightly: “All right. Five minutes.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” The cameraman handed the camera to Tao Mu, reached for a roll of paper, and hurriedly ran towards the bathroom.

Tao Mu aimed the camera at the heroine, and only waited for the clapper-loader to call “Action”, before zooming the camera slowly in.

Cheng Baodong, who was sitting in front of the monitor, let out a “Huh” and couldn’t help but straighten up.

In the screen of the monitor, a beam of sunlight struck down diagonally from above, and it happened to fall on the head of the heroine Guo Yaning. Guo Yaning, who was dressed up in ancient costume, stood in front of the camera with the bright sunshine pouring down her silhouette, making her silhouette softer and more delicate. Even the hair accessories on her head appeared cuter.

The tall Wang Boyuan stood beside Guo Yaning in a green robe, bowing his head slightly as he said lines. In order to cater to Wang Boyuan’s actions, Guo Yaning also looked over with a smile on her face.

Bright sunshine poured down over the two people, and encircled the two in the same frame under a halo of light. The lens suddenly seemed to have been applied with a filter effect. Not only did it set off the beauty of the two of them, but also emphasized the strong affection from the man and the shy and gentleness from the woman. One appeared romantic and suave, while the other was gentle and charming. The scene was so beautiful it could be used as a publicity poster.

This was not Lao Er’s photography style!

Cheng Baodong subconsciously looked in the direction of the second camera, and at a glance he saw Tao Mu, who was holding the long lens alone.

“Why are you?” Cheng Baodong was surprised and curious: “You actually know photography?”

Wang Boyuan and Guo Yaning looked at each other and walked to the monitor to watch the playback.

After seeing it, Guo Yaning’s eyes lit up immediately: “Tao Mu, not bad, you can actually make me look so beautiful. What can’t you not do?”

Tao Mu smiled humbly: “Sister Ning is very beautiful so naturally you will look good no matter how the camera is shot.”

“Yeah, right.” Guo Yaning smiled and gave Tao Mu an eyeroll: “You only know to say nice words to make me feel good. I have been filming for so many years, and there were only a handful of photographers who could make me appear so beautiful with their cameras.”

And the most important thing was that Guo Yaning had a kind of unique charm that couldn’t be found elsewhere except in Tao Mu’s lens. Passionate and affectionate, charming and gentle, every move spoke of her joy or anger. The most important thing was that Guo Yaning, who was nearly 30 years old, looked like she was in her twenties in the camera. A twenty year old who was in her prime and with magnificent beauty.

Guo Yaning admired her own beauty again, and reached out to elbow Cheng Baodong: “Give me a copy of this video, I want to keep it for collection.”

After finishing speaking, she looked at Tao Mu and praised with admiration: “Yesterday you managed to leave director Cheng speechless when discussing his directorial skills, and today you showed us impressive photography skills. I think you are very interested in directing films? Why did you sign up for the acting program in the first place?”

Tao Mu smiled humbly: “Because I was born too handsome.”

“That’s true.” Guo Yaning nodded, and echoed with sincere feeling: “You are this handsome, it would be a shame not to show your face in front of the camera.”

Cheng Baodong grunted in an unconvinced manner. But there was no way for him to refute it.

When the cameraman came out of the bathroom, he saw that the large group of people were not filming their scenes but gathered around the monitor. Tao Mu, who was supposed to be in charge of the camera instead of him, was also surrounded in the middle, and was currently being asked questions by the crowd.

The camera guy’s heart jumped and he ran over quickly: “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? I just couldn’t stand the stomachache, so I asked Tao Mu to help me for a while. Don’t blame Tao Mu, director Cheng, it’s all my fault——I truly couldn’t hold back anymore.”

Cheng Baodong sneered: “Don’t tell me! If it wasn’t for your stomachache, we still wouldn’t know that someone had such a side to them. I think you should move over as the second camera. Guo Yaning even said that Tao Mu’s shots are much better than yours.”

“This is a fact, alright!” Guo Yaning gave Cheng Baodong an eyeroll, completely unintimidated by the other: “Tao Mu photographed me very beautifully. It just happens that I will be releasing an album in the second half of the year, and I plan to have Xiao Mu help me shoot a beautiful MV. “

Cheng Baodong chuckled contemptuously: “You mean that album that you use your face to sing?”

“You don’t have to point it out!” Guo Yaning glared at Cheng Baodong viciously. She just happened to be tone deaf. Who said that an actor who was tone deaf couldn’t make an album? Was it against the law?

Cheng Baodong continued to hehe, but he didn’t dare to stroke the tiger’s beard anymore.

Because of Tao Mu’s inadvertent reveal of his photography skills, he instantly conquered the biggest bigwig on the set, the heroine of the crew. Guo Yaning now often came up next to Tao Mu when she was not busy, and asked Tao Mu tips on how to take her pictures so beautifully.

——In fact, it was not only Guo Yaning, but most of the crew members were also very curious about this matter. Tao Mu didn’t hide his knowledge. He revealed everything from lighting, composition, proportions to physics. But in the end, this kind of skill still relied on talent——even though it was just taking pictures and videos in the same way as other cameramen and photographers, Tao Mu had the ability to capture the most beautiful and emotion filled shots of the actors. People who did not have the talent would naturally be lacking in comparison.

“We can only say that Xiao Mu, you were born to eat this bowl of rice!”

At the end of the consultation, the group of bigwig cameramen and photographers could not help but feel impressed. Fortunately, with Tao Mu’s good looks, he would never grab this bowl of rice from them. Although these professional cameramen and photographers were envious, they were not jealous.

After getting off work at night, Da Mao and Xiao Pang drove the electric tricycle of sister Ping’s to guard outside the Studio City.

Tao Mu couldn’t stand these two guys’ attentiveness: “Isn’t it just a meal. I already agreed. You don’t have to come and pick me up?”

“Brother Mu, you have it so rough from filming, how can we bear to let you walk all the way back. It’s better to sit. Just feel the breeze blow, look at the scenery and we will be there in five minutes.” Da Mao and Xiao Pang said, specially patting the wooden chair taken from sister Ping’s restaurant that was now placed on the electric tricycle: “Brother Mu, sit!”

It only took ten minutes to walk!

Tao Mu sighed helplessly, and stepped onto it with his long legs.

Guo Yaning, who was sitting in her nanny car and was about to return to the hotel, asked the driver to stop the car. She pulled down the window and smiled, “What is this for?”

Tao Mu explained with a smile: “My classmates are here to pick me up.”

When Da Mao and Xiao Pang saw Guo Yaning, they couldn’t help recalling their shameful and brainless behavior bragging about Tao Mu yesterday. They blushed and shouted, “Hello, sister Ning.”

“You guys really know to have fun.” Guo Yaning smiled and commented: “Get in the car, I will send you back.”

“No, no. We live very close, and it only takes five minutes.” Da Mao and Xiao Pang quickly refused: “Moreover, there are a lot of paparazzi in H Studio. It would be bad if we were photographed.”

“You think quite a lot.” Guo Yaning chuckled: “Okay. I’ll invite you to dinner another day.”

The last remark was for Tao Mu. It seemed that Tao Mu’s photography skills really impressed Guo Yaning.

After the nanny car left, Da Mao and Xiao Pang asked suspiciously: “Brother Mu, what did you do today? Why do I feel that Guo Yaning’s attitude toward you has changed drastically?”

Yesterday, when they were visiting the set, her attitude was just lukewarm at best. How come now she was acting like an old friend today?

“I helped the camera guy who had diarrhea to shoot some scenes for a while.” Tao Mu replied lightly.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang oh-ed in sudden realization——they knew about Tao Mu’s photography skills. When working in a photography studio, many young girls were charmed by Tao Mu because of this. It’s a pity that their brother Mu was a late bloomer and was not interested in the girls who tried to hit on him.

“If you knew this trick worked so well, you should show this hand earlier, brother Mu. I guarantee those female stars will be charmed by you.”

Tao Mu chuckled lightly. The crew was strictly hierarchical and some things could not be easily touched. For example, neither the director’s chair nor the camera could be moved casually by others. Besides, Tao Mu didn’t think that he would be able to hold the golden thigh just by taking two photos for someone. Instead of holding someone’s golding thigh, he was more interested in becoming the golden thigh.

“Didn’t you plan to meet the girls for dinner? Coming to pick me up at this time, is it okay?”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang didn’t realize that Tao Mu was deliberately changing the subject, and said with smiles: “We’ve already taken them over. They are waiting at sister Ping’s small restaurant.”

While talking, the electric tricycle had already arrived at the door of the restaurant. Da Mao locked the vehicle, and the three of them pushed open the door of the small restaurant. At a glance, Tao Mu saw three girls sitting at a round table by the window, and sister Ping was holding the menu and chatting with them.

“So you’re Tao Mu?” Seeing the three people enter, the girls immediately stood up, their eyes stuck to Tao Mu’s face subconsciously. One of the girls had on a white T-shirt, blue denim shorts and hair done in ponytails. She looked at Tao Mu in delighted surprise, holding her face in her hands and screaming quietly, “So handsome!”

The other two girls were also speechless by Tao Mu’s handsome appearance. Standing together, they elbowed and tugged at each other, faces flushed like three little quails in the beginnings of love.

Tao Mu had been handsome as a child and only got better looking as he grew older so he was long accustomed to the reaction of girls of his age. Da Mao and Xiao Pang looked at each other sadly: “Let’s have some introductions. This is our brother Tao Mu. Tao Mu, this is Yun Duo, Wu Xiaoxuan, and Zhang Hanya. They are all from Beijing No. 4 Middle School, and they have also just graduated from high school.”

The girls greeted Tao Mu with bright eyes and waved their hands to say hello.

Tao Mu smiled and said, “You’ve been waiting for a long time. Let’s sit down and eat first.”

Everyone was of the same age, so naturally they had much to talk about. Besides, Tao Mu was so handsome, even if there was no conversation, the girls would keep looking for topics.

Tao Mu did not have the habit of acting cold at gatherings. He patiently informed them of some of the unspoken rules that must be paid attention to while hanging out in H Studio City, especially as group extras.

“…..Generally, group extras are recruited in the place opposite the Qianhao Hotel and the service department. Some crews will also conduct interviews in the hotel. However, you are all girls, and you should try to avoid these kinds of messy venues. If you are truly interested in experiencing life as group extras, you can get up at four o’clock in the morning and stand downstairs. It’s easier to find scenes for female group extras. Especially as you are all such beautiful and lovely girls.”

The three beautiful and lovely girls were struck dizzy by Tao Mu’s praise. They nodded their heads like little chicks pecking grain. At the end of the dinner, they exchanged contact information with Tao Mu.

Tao Mu did not refuse, thinking that he would only stay in H Town for at most one week and when he returned to Beijing he would change his number.

After sending the three girls back to the hotel, Da Mao and Xiao Pang, who had been ignored by the girls the whole meal and instead served as important props for the human flesh background, both looked at Tao Mu with melancholy looks.

Tao Mu also replied with an innocent look: “I said I didn’t want to come——”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang let out sarcastic chuckles in unison. However, after returning to the rental house, they still kept their promise and helped Tao Mu wash his feet and gave Tao Mu a full body massage. It was just that they used extra strength when massaging, causing Tao Mu to feel both pain and comfort.

By their last week in H Town, Tao Mu was like a fish in the water in the crew of “Faraway Jianghu”.

On the one hand it was because both his acting skills and people skills were exemplary as well as the fact that the big celebrities and old veteran actors were happy to support newcomers; on the other hand it was because his photography skills and PS skills were impressive enough. Many female actresses especially appreciated Tao Mu——that’s right, after showing off his superb photography skills, Tao Mu also took the opportunity to show off his same superb photoshop skills and immediately conquered the female actresses in the crew.

In addition, Wang Boyuan had also kept thinking about Tao Mu’s stock trading skills. During the filming, he could not help but observe Tao Mu and talk with Tao Mu, trying to understand Tao Mu’s personality through conversation and other methods——not as a potential newcomer worthy of support, but as a cooperator of equal status when it came to money exchanges.——To put it bluntly, he was looking for an investment consultant.

Because of this intention, Wang Boyuan’s attitude naturally changed when he talked with Tao Mu.

What kind of person was Tao Mu? Growing up in an orphanage from a young age, he was used to observing words and feelings to figure out people’s hearts. He originally had intentions to make friends with Cheng Baodong and Wang Boyuan. Now that Wang Boyuan voluntarily approached by himself, he would certainly seize the opportunity.

——Although there was no mention of the sensitive topic of whether to serve as an investment consultant, Tao Mu still subtly inserted his analysis and views on the domestic stock market while chatting with Wang Boyuan.

Due to the deep waters in the domestic stock market, Tao Mu actually did not recommend that Wang Boyuan continue to play in the stock market at this juncture——he himself also prepared to withdraw all his funds from the stock market before the end of the Olympic Games. In segments, he planned to invest the money in peripheral platforms, and after earning his first start-up capital, he would then switch to international futures.

However, after putting his view out there, Tao Mu also recommended a few stocks to Wang Boyuan, allowing Wang Boyuan to enjoy the pleasure and satisfaction of watching his stocks rise while the overall market plummeted. Of the tens of millions that were lost only one million was returned. Although he was still in a state of monetary loss, Wang Boyuan still felt strangely satisfied.

The other old veteran actors in the crew who had been secretly paying attention to Tao Mu also rode on Tao Mu’s coattails and managed to get themselves bonuses, making some pocket money that was without worries.

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

It was also for this reason that Tao Mu, who had become more and more valued and welcomed by everyone, received the treatment of a solo banquet and a farewell banquet on the day of his last scene. This wave of feedback was enough for Tao Mu to understand——these contacts and connections that he had been scheming for were estimated to be solid.

Sure enough, at the farewell banquet, the bigwigs and old veteran actors took the initiative to exchange contact information while drinking. While coaxing people with sweet words, Tao Mu’s fingers flew as he added phone numbers.

Just when he was so busy he could barely spare any extra energy, a text message came in with a ding.

The sender was an unknown number. The information was only one word——

“Help!”

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“If director Cheng isn’t busy filming, I’ll go to the bathroom first!” Tao Mu suddenly said, reaching out and beckoning the two currently feeling annoyed with themselves for bungling things up. He said, “You two come with me.”

Long Tianao raised his paws with a smile and siddled over with an ingratiating smile: “Me too——”

Before he finished speaking however, he was completely frozen in place by Tao Mu’s expressionless look. He didn’t dare to finish speaking, so he could only watch Tao Mu take the two childhood friends to the bathroom.

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

Cheng Baodong felt that he once again missed what had set Tao Mu off, so he looked around with bewilderment, “What’s the situation?”

No one responded. Only Wang Boyuan looked thoughtfully at Tao Mu’s back. He found that this child was very interesting, extremely clear on what was public and private and never ambiguous about the line in between. He also seemed to have a protective streak.

This was not in line with the slick and sophisticated manners he had always displayed.

…………..

“I say, what’s the matter with you two?” Under the guise of taking a bathroom break, Tao Mu dragged Da Mao and Xiao Pang into the bathroom. He raised his foot and kicked all the partition doors, confirming that there was no one inside before he asked them.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang seemed like two big dogs drenched by torrential rain. They glanced at each other dejectedly, and said with disappointed expressions: “We just want to help you.”

One was very tall and one was very wide, but at that moment both were trying to shrink themselves into a ball in the corner. Tao Mu felt both annoyed and amused.

“How do you want to help me?” Tao Mu raised his eyebrows and asked.

“Didn’t you say it before! Because your capital value is not high, those people don’t have any regard for you. The two of us discussed it and felt that this was indeed the case. So we thought of such a way——aren’t you particularly good in stock trading? If you can help those big celebrities and directors to make money in stock trading, they will definitely treat you well!”

Da Mao sniffled and confessed dejectedly: “I checked it all on the Internet. Wang Boyuan also likes stocks, but he was not lucky. This time the market fell, he lost tens of millions. Many entertainment media are reporting this matter. So we thought, if you can help him in the stock market, as an A-list superstar he can definitely look after you!”

What wishful thinking. Tao Mu chuckled, “What if I lost him money?”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang were full of confidence: “How can that be, brother Mu, you are such a genius and you have such a precise eye, you will definitely not lose it.”

“Do you think that the stock market was opened by our family?” Tao Mu looked at the two childhood friends. They both had kind intentions, but things weren’t done like this: “Have you two thought about it, what if I lose money for these bigshots in stock trading? Even if they can’t kill me, wouldn’t it be easy to join forces to ruin me in order to relieve their anger?”

There was actually such a possibility?

Da Mao and Xiao Pang were horrified and shocked. They finally realized the danger: “No way?”

They only felt that they had acted too hastily, which might affect the views of these big celebrities towards Tao Mu. They never thought that Tao Mu would lose money.

This kind of blind trust in Tao Mu was seriously…..who gave them such courage?!

“Why not?” Tao Mu snorted softly, but it wasn’t to scare the two of them.

The so-called money could shake one’s will. In the past and present life, Tao Mu knew very well how money, especially a huge amount of money, could push a person to the brink. There was a popular phrase in later years called “the rich can be willful”, and that was absolutely true. However, Tao Mu had lived for two lifetimes, and he had a deeper understanding of the phrase “the poor can only resign to fate”.

Before Wang Boyuan became a star, he was just from an ordinary family background. The savings of half his entire life were all lost in the stock market overnight, and directly transformed him from a state of “the rich can be willful” to “the poor can only resign to fate” without even a transitional period. To say that Wang Boyuan could still remain as calm as ever, he was afraid that even ghosts would not believe it.

At this critical point, Wang Boyuan would definitely be more sensitive on the issue of money. But it just so happened that Da Mao and Xiao Pang rushed right into it. Therefore, Wang Boyuan guessing that Da Mao and Xiao Pang were instigated by others, and then suspecting Tao Mu to have ulterior motives was very understandable.

It was precisely because of this that, although Tao Mu was very confident in himself, he did not want to provoke Wang Boyuan at this time——he wasn’t worried about anything else, but simply felt that him acting too eager would not reflect well on him.

In other words, even if Tao Mu was determined to use the method of stock investment to win over Wang Boyuan, it must be Wang Boyuan’s initiative and he could only reluctantly agree with it after careful consideration. Rather than the hasty self-recommendation that Da Mao and Xiao Pang made——

Of course, that Da Mao and Xiao Pang could think of opening up the situation from this area and helping Tao Mu to expand his social circle was a good starting point. But sometimes, good intentions might not be able to get things done, and more often, impatience lead to failure.

——After being reborn, with his gold finger Tao Mu only needed to take things steady. In fact, the start-up capital was already in front of his eyes. After waiting for another year and a half, Tao Mu was even confident that he could rake in hundreds of millions of capital for himself when operating in the negative global market situation. Although this money was still not a big deal to those wealthy groups and conglomerate business families. But it was enough for Tao Mu to build his own entertainment empire.

With such good prerequisites in hand, Tao Mu naturally didn’t have to rush to please anyone. Therefore, in the matter of accumulating contacts and forming a network to mingle into the Beijing circle, he had always maintained the basic method of “just becoming a familiar face”——keep it steady and gradual, tepid and lukewarm, while occasionally making his existence known from time to time. And on the way, he could also observe the personalities of these experienced and slick foxes of the Beijing circle. Just as Li Xiaoheng once observed him, Tao Mu also needed time to observe these bigshots from Beijing in order to determine who he could have a deeper friendship with and who he should only keep it business. Tao Mu naturally had different means to treat different people.

Speaking of, this kind of observer attitude was what Tao Mu learned from that very popular male escort. That person once told Tao Mu that everyone saw different scenery when facing a low period or a high period in their lives. The so-called various walks of life meant that different people would display different attitudes when facing a strong group and a disadvantaged group.

Before his rebirth, Tao Mu didn’t understand the usefulness of such observations. Of course, he didn’t have the mood to settle his mind and look at the world with an outsider’s eyes. After rebirth, Tao Mu found that this kind of bystander’s perspective was very interesting——not mentioning that these observation processes could ultimately be applied to acting. But in terms of observation results, it was enough for Tao Mu to be able to know how to artfully deal with people.

In this way, after Tao Mu’s capital and reputation have accumulated, he could target different groups of people, or take the initiative, or wait for those who wanted to make money to come knocking at his door. Then with the lure of favor and profit he could sort these contacts out and then use them as a stepping stone to further gain contact with the most powerful distributors and producers in the film and television industry. After he established his own network of connections, many things would become easy——whether it was investing in some good projects that laymen might not be able to access even with money, or making movies and TV series by himself, at least in terms of distribution and scheduling he would not be constrained by others.

People could be lured by the pursuit of profit. From this perspective, Tao Mu felt that there was nothing wrong with his two childhood friends’ thinking. It was just that their methods were not enough——in Tao Mu’s view, whether it was money or talent, it should be spent where it would be put to the best use. Blindly showing off wealth was certainly eye-catching, but it was too wasteful. It was better to do things subtly, gradually and silently. From there, many things would naturally follow like trickles of water flowing until it formed a canal.

To make it clearer. The so-called wealth could shake one’s will, since Tao Mu was a god of wealth who could help people make money, then he didn’t need to shamelessly offer himself——since it was to give money to people, then he should at least stand upon his dignity. Only when those who wanted to make money voluntarily come to his door, lower their posture and plead with him, could he slowly establish his status and influence in everyone’s minds.

This was also what junior high politics class spoke of, that economic foundation determined the superstructure.

When these words were told to the two, Da Mao and Xiao Pang finally realized. The two showed a thumbs up at Tao Mu, both with a face full of flattery, “You are really cunning.”

“Do you know how to talk! What cunning, this is resourcefulness! Resourceful, understand!” Tao Mu couldn’t help but pet the two dog heads: “So you two don’t have to worry. Since it is the economic foundation that determines the superstructure, no matter what you two say or do, as long as it is profitable and a win-win situation is guaranteed, it will be a good result in the end.”

So there was no need to worry about bungling things up.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang were once again enlightened. Then they said sheepishly: “Although it is like that. But we are still worried that our actions will make those people think about you badly…..”

Tao Mu snorted. So it was said that young people were too naive. What did the opinions of others matter? If you had the strength, people who had opinions about you would just have to hold it all back. If you were completely incapable, even if you had an extremely good personality, you would still be trampled under others’ feet.

The world admired the strong and pitied the weak. Just how respectful they were to the strong meant just how unscrupulous they would be to the weak. This was human nature. Da Mao and Xiao Pang didn’t understand now, but they would gradually understand later.

“Okay. Let’s go if there is nothing else. If we stay longer others will think we all have kidney problems!”

Seeing that Tao Mu really didn’t care much about this kind of thing, Da Mao and Xiao Pang, who had always trusted their brother Mu, also felt relieved. Da Mao scratched his chin, finally back in a mood to joke around: “You mean frequent urination, urinary urgency, and urine like rainwater?”

“What is that! Our state is obviously waiting to finish urinating!” Before Xiao Pang finished speaking, Tao Mu had already slapped his round head.

“Piss off, does it take you 20 minutes to finish peeing? Is this peeing the Yellow River?”

“Why is it the Yellow River?” Da Mao was confused when he heard the words, and then suddenly he realized, “Is it because the urine is yellow?”

Who wants to listen to you explain this! Tao Mu was speechless and pretended to kick the two out of the bathroom.

They were laughing and joking as they went back to the set. Mu Huating, who finally caught the opportunity, walked up to Tao Mu: “Tao Mu, brother Zhao wanted me to say a few words to you.”

Mu Huating had actually been following behind Tao Mu for a long time. It was just that Tao Mu’s aura was too strong just now, appearing somewhat dignified and intimidating. Even an arrogant and domineering hedonistic son of wealthy parents like Long Tianao didn’t dare to approach. Mu Huating also didn’t dare to follow too closely, just hovering a far distance outside the bathroom in a spot that wouldn’t let him hear the conversation between Tao Mu and his friends while also being close enough to catch any movement.

“I was keeping watch for you and no one went to the bathroom.” Mu Huating tried to awkwardly appease the other and then he hurriedly repeated what Zhao Keping had ordered him to: “Brother Zhao asked me to apologize to you on his behalf.”

According to Zhao Keping’s thoughts, he originally planned to leave Tao Mu high and dry for a few days after he was kicked out of The Legend of Heroes and wait for Tao Mu to come forward voluntarily after he could no longer take the huge gap from before and after. He would then give him a better audition opportunity than “The Legend of Heroes”. Zhao Keping was already familiar with this way of giving a slap and then handing over a sweet date——every artist under him had experienced the same thing.

However, he did not expect that bastard Ning Yuan to sow discord right after Tao Mu came out of “The Legend of Heroes.” Before Zhao Keping could come up with a countermeasure, Tao Mu had already entered the crew “Faraway Jianghu” under the introduction of Gou Rixin.

This series of events was so fast that Zhao Keping was left somewhat at a loss. On top of that, one of Zhao Keping’s artists provoked the TV station when he was shooting a variety show by acting like bigshot and in response the angry TV station leader planned to have all the media shut him out. Zhao Keping had to rush out to do damage control. This managed to delay him for another week.

After Zhao Keping settled these matters and returned to H Town, he didn’t know whether Tao Mu’s anger had cooled, so he asked Mu Huating, the only artist under him who had an interaction with Tao Mu, to see Tao Mu and get a hint of the situation.

Mu Huating actually didn’t like Tao Mu very much, especially after he was deliberately suppressed by Tao Mu in acting. Mu Huating always had the illusion that Tao Mu would violently hurt him at any time. But he didn’t dare to disobey Zhao Keping’s words——Wan Meihong was right. After Mu Huating was assigned to Zhao Keping by the company, over these years he was often trained by Zhao Keping. His original stubborn and mulish temper had long been smoothed out.

It was precisely because of this that even if Mu Huating was very intimidated by Tao Mu, he would still bite the bullet and come over on the orders of Zhao Keping,

“Brother Zhao said he wanted to invite you to dinner and have a good chat. He said that it was wrong of him to sit by and watch indifferently when you were kicked out of the crew of “The Legend of Heroes”. And especially since he also accepted your ten thousand yuan so now he wants to return this ten thousand yuan to you.”

Although he said that, what Zhao Keping really wanted was just an excuse to meet up with Tao Mu.

Tao Mu did not comment on this. But he really didn’t have time to deal with Zhao Keping now. Although Cheng Baodong don’t speak human words, one thing he said was right. Tao Mu was indeed a profit-seeking person. His energy and time would only be spent on people or things that he felt were worthwhile. But now, Tao Mu’s energy was focused on the people in the Beijing circle and the betting on the Olympics. In addition, he also had to take time to pay attention to the international futures market. There was no extra energy to deal with Zhao Keping’s emotions and pretend politeness with the other man.

“I can’t do it recently, I don’t have time. You go back and tell brother Zhao, I don’t care about the “Legend of Heroes”, and he doesn’t need to care either. I can understand and if there is a chance in the future, everyone can still cooperate.” Tao Mu dismissed Mu Huating with a few words.

Mu Huating looked at Tao Mu sheepishly, wanting to say something but in the end he didn’t say anything. He left early——after all, his original motive for following Shen Yu and the others over to the crew of “Faraway Jianghu” was not for visiting the crew.

On the other side, Zhao Keping, who received the call from Mu Huating, also sighed silently.

In fact, Zhao Keping had already begun to regret it when he saw Tao Mu’s remarkable composure when he was kicked out of the cast of “The Legend of Heroes”.

Tao Mu’s actions and manners were very different from the normal 18-year-old in Zhao Keping’s impression. He was neither youthfully impulsive nor frivolous and prideful. He was able to keep in mind the maximization of benefits despite facing such extreme injustices, and in the end managed to gain more than 100,000 yuan in compensation from Zhao Xin. Possessing this kind of scheming and methods meant that Tao Mu would be completely aware of his inaction on this matter.

Although there was nothing wrong with inaction, the key lay in Tao Mu’s maturity. Could he tolerate this after knowing his inaction?

Zhao Keping looked at others from his own perspective and felt that Tao Mu might not care about this. Because Zhao Keping maintained his belief that Tao Mu was the same kind of person as him. Self-seeking and ambitious, and most importantly, equally unscrupulous when achieving a goal. Compared to the methods, they were people who valued results more.

But judging from the information provided by Mu Huating, Tao Mu was actually so talented in stocks?

Zhao Keping was finally discouraged after he repeatedly confirmed this with Mu Huating. Because he knew very well that with Tao Mu’s profiteering personality, he really didn’t need to make false claims with him. So long as he could maintain his investment genius image as well as make some achievements in the stock market. Then with Tao Mu’s superb skills in making connections and gaining people’s hearts, he would soon be able to tie the interests of these people with his own interests. Then he would be able to take a step further with his personal connections. At that time he would never be at a disadvantage in the entertainment circle.

So Tao Mu really didn’t need to find a “partnership of the strong” with Zhao Keping. He alone could complete the transformation from a newcomer with no background to “I am the bankroller”.

And Zhao Keping, who claimed to be shrewd all his life, actually let such a genius slip out of his fingers. Whenever he thought of this, Zhao Keping would feel extremely upset. For the first time, he resented his own habit of manipulating other people.

Tao Mu naturally didn’t know Zhao Keping’s chagrin. When he returned to the set from the bathroom with two suddenly enlightened students, he found that the people who came to visit the set were all sitting behind Cheng Baodong on small stools, one by one they sat obediently in a row like kindergarten children waiting for their share of snacks——as for Cheng Baodong, he sat in the director’s chair in front of the monitor, watching the two acting masters Wang Boyuan and Guo Yaning pit their acting chops against each other.

Noting Tao Mu’s return, Cheng Baodong glanced at Tao Mu and unsurprisingly mocked: “Actually having kidney problems at such a young age and taking so long in the bathroom? Would you like me to introduce a few health supplements for you?”

Tao Mu laughed: “If director Cheng has any useful tonics, you can introduce them to me. It just so happens that our old man’s kidney is not very good so he always has to get up at night.”

Cheng Baodong questioned: “Aren’t you an orphan?” Where did the old man come from?

Then he immediately reacted. Furiously he exclaimed: “Who said I use this. My kidney is better than ever. Seven climaxes a night, got it!”

The loud roar was picked up directly by the live microphone and Wang Boyuan and Guo Yaning, who were speaking lines to each other, had to stop. In exasperation they looked in director Cheng’s direction.

Director Cheng’s face blushed and he said quickly, “Cut. Start over.”

He then turned his anger on Tao Mu: “Don’t talk to me all the time, there is a live microphone on, don’t you know.”

Tao Mu smiled and remained silent.

Director Cheng snorted and continued to stare at the hero and heroine.

Half an hour later, the speaking scene between the hero and heroine finally passed. Next, it was time for Tao Mu and the heroine’s body double to shoot the action part. Cheng Baodong didn’t say a word, turning his head to look at Tao Mu. Tao Mu walked into the set with a calm expression, and was immediately surrounded by the props group.

A large group of people surrounded Tao Mu and helped him dress in the wire suit. The stunt coordinator also took a storyboard to explain to Tao Mu about the scene. The young girl who served as a body double for Guo Yaning smiled and stood next to Tao Mu. Suddenly she thought of something and said with a smile, “Later just do it in a comfortable way, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Tao Mu had no idea how to respond to such misleading words. The prop masters who dressed Tao Mu in the wire suit laughed and joked: “The treatment of handsome guys is different.”

The young female body double blushed and said nothing. Wang Boyuan stood behind director Cheng looking at the monitor. He was thinking about Tao Mu’s huge profits in the stock market.

Cheng Baodong looked weirdly at his old partner who was rarely silent. He frowned and asked, “What are you thinking about, so deeply?”

“Nothing.” Wang Boyuan came back to himself and continued to stare at Tao Mu’s figure in the monitor in a daze.

Tao Mu was well-known among all the crews for his smooth and flowing martial arts movements that were handsome enough to break the sky. After the arrangement problem of the 100+ extras was solved, Tao Mu’s action scene was finished on the first take. His positioning and movements were so precise and beautiful that Cheng Baodong even got an illusion——that Tao Mu’s acting skills were seemingly even better than Wang Boyuan.

But how was this possible?

Wang Boyuan was an older actor who just won the Golden Crow Award, and Tao Mu was just a pure rookie without any professional training. No matter how talented he was, it should not reach such terrifying heights. Unless——

Cheng Baodong pondered for a long time, and couldn’t help but call Tao Mu over while the extras got NG-ed again, and revisited the old story: “I say, you really don’t know Yan Sheng?”

Tao Mu had no expression on his face: “I don’t know him.”

Shen Yu, who had been following Tao Mu’s movements, immediately answered: “Are you talking about the actor Yan Sheng? He’s my idol.”

“Yes, that’s him.” Cheng Baodong, who had always been a tyrant on the set, showed a rare kindly expression towards Shen Yu: “I think Tao Mu’s acting style is very similar to Yan Sheng.”

Cheng Baodong spoke while staring at Tao Mu out of the corner of his eyes. Despite knowing that Tao Mu hated other people mentioning Yan Sheng, he still asked questions again and again. On an index for being worthy of a beating, he rated ten stars. It was to get revenge on Tao Mu for framing him for “having a deficient kidney”.

Of course, apart from that, Cheng Baodong was also really curious.

Tao Mu frowned. He knew what Cheng Baodong was curious about, but he couldn’t say that the reason why his acting style was like Yan Sheng was because he had been suppressed by the f**ker for seven/eight years in his previous life. Whatever film he took the f**ker would also join in the same crew. And during filming, the f**ker would do nothing but suppress him with all his acting skills. And even had the nerve to say that he was doing it to get revenge for Shen Yu——  

Tao Mu would always feel angry whenever he thought of these incidents. It must be said, that he could hone his acting skills to the point of perfection in his previous life was all with the “help” of that f**ker. If it wasn’t for Yan Sheng bullying him too much, Tao Mu wouldn’t have polished his acting skills like a madman——shutting himself up in a dark room, imitating Yan Sheng’s scenes in front of the mirror, and trying his best to defeat Yan Sheng in his own game. In the end, he did defeat Yan Sheng in the pursuit of the Golden Crow Award.

Unfortunately, that was also the last highlight in his acting career. Because Tao Mu cursed at Yan Sheng, calling him Shen Yu’s footlicker at the awards ceremony as well as cursed at Shen Yu, calling him a shameless cuckoo who occupied the nest. This directly angered the fans of both as well as Shen Yu’s admirers. After the award ceremony, Tao Mu was driven out of the entertainment circle by Shen Yu’s admirers. With Yan Sheng leading, they retaliated by buying online marketing accounts and major media, continuously spreading Tao Mu’s black history on the Internet. Tao Mu naturally wouldn’t just roll over and take it. The two sides fought viciously and other forces also took the opportunity to fish in troubled waters (TN: take advantage of a crisis for personal gain). The melee of these several parties stirred up the smog in the entertainment industry, and eventually led to the CFA (China Film Administration) to directly ban a group of artists and marketing accounts who had black history. Tao Mu was among them.

Tao Mu really didn’t want to bring up such a deep hatred. Of course there was also no way to explain it. But it just so happened that Cheng Baodong kept trying to get to the bottom of it several times. Faced with such an oversized delinquent kid who he couldn’t even beat or scold, even someone as calm as Tao Mu would become a little impatient.

“Director Cheng!” Tao Mu said suddenly, his expression solemn and serious, with some newcomers’ anxiety and shyness thrown in: “Having been in the crew these days, it is thanks to your careful guidance that I now have some simple understanding of filming. If you don’t mind, I want to tell you my thoughts.”

“Oh?” Cheng Baodong became interested, and looked at Tao Mu with a half-smile: “Then tell me.” He wanted to see what truths and insights Tao Mu, a high school student who had just graduated, could tell.

“Fine.” Tao Mu nodded. Combining his own reflections after watching “Faraway Jianghu” in his previous life, as well as professional film reviews written by major film weekly magazines and authoritative film critics, he talked about two-thirds of the film’s failure in directing——the remaining third being the parts that Cheng Baodong hadn’t started shooting yet. His attitude was tactful but words sharp, which was very in line with Tao Mu’s consistent style of being gentle and humble but striving for perfection.

Although he had always said he was optimistic about Tao Mu’s acting skills, Cheng Baodong actually didn’t take Tao Mu too seriously. But now he only felt his face heat up and heard a continuous “pa pa pa” sound of slaps to his face.

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

He looked at Tao Mu for a long while and finally said in suppressed anger: “Okay, I really didn’t see it, you are actually a wise person who doesn’t show off!”

Damn, acting like a little white rabbit all the time, but when angered, rather than biting he just “discuss” your various mistakes at work. The attitude was sincere and his critique reasonable, causing you to become angry but feel embarrassed to express your anger——as expressing it would have him labelled as unreasonable and deliberately confrontational.

Tao Mu smiled slightly, looking at director Cheng as he said in an even more sincere and humble tone: “It is director Cheng who taught me well.”

Cheng Baodong: “…..” I didn’t, I haven’t! 

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What do you mean?

Long Tianao was particularly sensitive and realized that Cheng Baodong was talking about him. He sneered very unhappily, and was about to open his mouth to retort back when the group of newcomers next to him all stood up straight, greeting the bigwigs in the entertainment circle with a very well-behaved attitude.

Shen Yu, who completely had no consciousness of being a part of said circle, asked for a group photo with his mobile phone out: “…..Brother Yuan, brother Yuan, let’s take a picture with the two of us. I am your fan.”

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

Wang Boyuan had never seen Shen Yu before now, but this did not prevent him from knowing that Shen Yu was the youngest son of the Shen Group. Speaking of, a certain luxury endorsement that Wang Boyuan just won at the beginning of the year was owned by the Shen Group. Just based on the face of his benefactor, Wang Boyuan would not refuse the young master of the Shen family.

With Shen Yu taking the lead, other people also rushed over to ask for a photo. The male and female protagonists of “Faraway Jianghu” were both domestic A-list superstars. Although the heroine, Guo Yaning, lost best actress awards several times, her box office performance was very eye-catching and had always been the target of cooperating on new films by the producers. Because of this, she was praised by the media as the uncrowned queen. The supporting actors and actresses in the crew were also well-known veteran actors and actresses in the circle. Out of respect for their predecessors, Shen Yu and the others also rushed over to ask for a group photo. The crew instantly became very lively.

Cheng Baodong originally hated the noisiness of the visitors who he felt would hinder the filming of the crew, but when he saw the joyous Shen Yu in the crowd, he didn’t say anything. With a calm face, he told Tao Mu to enter the set.

When the crew started to work, Shen Yu and the others finally calmed down and stood by to wait obediently.

This scene was about the grassland khan falling in love at first sight with the princess who was disguised as a jianghu girl martial artist when he snuck into the Central Plains. Then the grassland khan captured the princess and took her back to the enemy camp where he tried to force the heroine to marry him. In order to prevent the heroine from escaping, he also gave the heroine a medicine to restrain her internal force. The male protagonist hid his identity and first entered the enemy camp as a musician. He then directly exposed his identity at the banquet and after a series of fights he successfully rescued the princess.

Because it was a comedy movie, there was another part of the plot in this episode where the dance troupe in which the male protagonist snuck into encountered a problem. Their main dancer had eloped with someone so the owner of the dance troupe forced the male protagonist to pretend to be the dancer and perform on stage in her place. Therefore, the protagonist performed a fan dance at the banquet, and then the grassland khan was so captivated by the dancer played by the protagonist that he directly detained the protagonist, forcing the protagonist and the princess to follow the example of Ehuang and Nuying to marry him together (TN: two sisters who married emperor Shun, a legendary leader of ancient China). As a result, Ehuang rescued Nuying and eloped, leaving only the grassland khan behind with a dazed and bewildered expression.

——Although Tao Mu didn’t know how the logic of this comedy script was polished, as the hero’s body double, he must dress up as a woman and dance with a fan, and then use the fan as a weapon to fight with the grassland khan. Later he must then change the weapon to a sword to PK the grassland soldiers. Due to the complexity of the scene, director Cheng planned to finish the filming of the scene in ten days. And today, Tao Mu was going to film the scene in which the hero was back in men’s clothing and escaping with the heroine out of the enemy camp.

It was also the highlight of the whole movie with the largest number of fight scenes.

Director Cheng strived for perfection and even recruited more than one hundred extras to play the grassland soldiers. He also had the stunt coordinator arrange a battle formation based on the 8 divinatory trigrams in the Book of Changes for the group extras to coordinate with the male protagonist.

Unfortunately, the filming of this scene was not very smooth. It was not Tao Mu who had a problem here, but the group extras. For one thing, the martial arts actors who play against Tao Mu didn’t cooperate well with him. The action was either too early or too late. Sometimes when Tao Mu hadn’t even made a hitting motion they would have already fallen to the ground. It looked even more fake than people who fell in front of you on the streets in order to demand compensation. On the other hand, there were too many group extras that needed to be included in the lens. The assistant director in charge of this area wasn’t able to do the overall arranging of the people. The result being hundreds of people looking like a turbulent mob, all their movements chaotic and disorderly. It completely did not reflect director Cheng’s imagined effect of “the hero impressively breaking through the enemy army’s battle formation and defeating everyone”.

Cheng Baodong got angry and called the assistant director over to scold him and ordered him to train the group extras up to standards within half an hour. He then gave Tao Mu a half-hour break.

The props team got Tao Mu out of his wire suit. The female body double standing in for the leading actress was held in his arms the whole time. The girl looked at Tao Mu with blushed cheeks and misty eyes, saying without concealing her admiration. “Tao Mu, you are amazing. After so many scenes, I’m already so tired but you are still so steady and stable. No wonder director Cheng and brother Yuan said you were born to eat this bowl of rice.”

Tao Mu squeezed his sore arm that felt almost impossible to lift, and said with a warm smile, “Thanks to your thinness, it saves me a lot of energy.”

He wasn’t being completely truthful. Although the young female body double was light, Tao Mu must still pay attention to his actions during the filming such as not holding her too tightly. The whole time he had to control the strength of his arms so naturally, he was more tired than usual when they came down.

The female body double also knew this as well, and while others were not paying attention, she whispered: “Actually, you don’t need to be like this. It’s for filming after all so I can understand. You can hold me tighter while on the wire. You are already a gentleman.”

Unlike some male actors or male extras who deliberately took advantage of girls and copped a feel when filming, their salty pig hand fumbling everywhere.

It must be said that the young female body double was also worried when she started filming with Tao Mu. Even if Tao Mu was handsome, she was not that kind of casual person. But this morning, not only did Tao Mu not touch her inappropriately, he also spent a lot of unnecessary strength in order to avoid any issues. People’s hearts were all made of flesh and blood, and the young female body double also felt distressed about Tao Mu’s arms so she took the initiative to bring it up instead so as to prevent Tao Mu’s embarrassment.

Tao Mu lowered his head and chuckled, “Thank you for your understanding.”

The daylight was warm and Tao Mu’s smiling face under the sunlight caused her to blush, the only thought in her head being that Tao Mu was truly too handsome.

Seeing this, Ye Yao and the female N lead who ran over to strike up a conversation earlier both rushed over: “What are you talking about?”

The young female body double looked at Ye Yao and the female N lead: one was a recently popular idol, and the other was a new female rookie who could act a role in director Cheng’s film just after graduating from university. Both their appearances and starting points were much higher than her own. In contrast, she was just a little body double who had no reputation or background. Even if Tao Mu wanted to date he would never consider someone like her.

Thinking about it this way, the young female body double couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed and inferior.

Ye Yao puffed out her chest proudly and said with smug: “Tao Mu, what time do you finish work tonight, how about we go karaoke?”

“Not interested.” Because of the need to make progress, Tao Mu had to shoot at least ten hours a day. Almost all these ten hours were hung on wires and flew around. In the height of the summer, the heat in H Town could reach forty-eight or forty-nine degrees. Tao Mu practically felt like a roast duck in a spit oven. Finally, he could finish work early one day so of course he had to go home to watch the Olympics.

Ye Yao curled her lips: “You are really boring.”

While talking, Da Mao and Xiao Pang, who had been waiting for a long time, squeezed over and said excitedly: “Brother Mu, brother Mu, our stocks have risen again, and both have reached their daily limit. You are too amazing!”

Before Tao Mu could react, Xiao Pang pretended to complain: “I said it before, brother Mu has a good eye, and the stocks you choose will definitely make money. But against reason you yourself are not at ease, the profit only doubled a few times before you forced us to withdraw the principal. As a result now it’s less exciting to celebrate.”

Da Mao also echoed: “Right! How much interest can you earn if you put the money in the bank. At the moment, the stocks are rising so well, if our money is still in the stock market, I don’t know how many times it can be doubled. Unlike now, no matter how much we earned, it still feels like a loss.”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang really felt regretful about the lost money so they were very sincere when speaking their thoughts. It was a pity that Tao Mu had been hanging out with these two since they were children so how could he not know what bad things they were up to. Immediately he frowned: “You two——”

Before he finished speaking, he heard Wang Boyuan suddenly ask with a smile, “Tao Mu, you know how to play stocks?”

“Just making some pocket money by speculating.” Tao Mu said with a humble smile. He didn’t lie either. With his current capital, no matter how many brilliant moves he made in the stock market, he only made pocket money in the end. The real start-up capital will be from the Olympic Games.

Fortunately, the Olympic Games had already begun. He drew his funds in time before the opening ceremony and placed bets according to the medal ownership in his memory. In order to keep it confidential, Tao Mu started to make arrangements half a month in advance. He used proxy IP, registered accounts around the world to log in to the gambling platform, and began to inject the more than one million yuan earned from the stock market into major peripheral gambling platforms as the Olympics progressed. It was all carried out using several accounts and the money was also divided into smaller amounts. 

Moreover, because different gambling platforms set different odds on different items. After rebirth Tao Mu could now accurately remember the ownership of most medals and the scores of a small number of athletes due to his improved memory. So he simply put his insufficient funds on the items with big odds.

Of course, in order not to attract the attention of the platform, each of Tao Mu’s bet amounts would not be too high. Less than two million Chinese currency, converted into M dollars, euros and other currencies, spread across more than a dozen peripheral platforms, and bet on different items. As a result, the amount placed on each bet was only a few thousand, the highest no more than 20,000 M dollars. Tao Mu also deliberately bet wrong on some items with low odds. In short, his actions adhered to the beliefs that there must be sacrifices in order to gain anything and that being overly careful was better than not. He did not plan to give anyone an opportunity to develop doubts and then dig into his secrets.

Although this approach would make Tao Mu lose part of his profits. But in general, through this peripheral bet, Tao Mu alone could earn 2 million M dollars during the Olympics, which when exchanged was more than 10 million in Chinese currency.

Perhaps in the eyes of those wealthy groups and conglomerates, or even in the eyes of A-list giants such as Wang Boyuan and Guo Yaning, this ten million yuan was nothing. But for Tao Mu who “started from scratch”, this was definitely a lucrative pot of gold.

After the money was received, Tao Mu planned to invest all of it in the futures market and sell it short. In terms of the status quo of the international financial market, after his money was in the futures market for half a year, it was likely that even a god would not be able to track all his trades and dealings in the financial market. At that time, he could then take out the money to build his entertainment empire.

More importantly, it could also create a reputation of being a financial genius for him.

Tao Mu believed that if he used the aura of “investment genius” to contact investors and bigwigs in the circle it would be easier for his career than if he was just a pure actor.

It was just that this matter involved the most important secret of Tao Mu’s rebirth, and he couldn’t let anyone know about it. Even in the face of Da Mao and Xiao Pang, he must be tight-lipped.

It was precisely for this reason that Da Mao and Xiao Pang only knew that Tao Mu suddenly drew out most of his capital and most of his own funds on the stock market. As for what Tao Mu was going to do, the two of them were completely unaware.

Although the two did not know Tao Mu’s deliberate calculations and schemes, the two knew the truth that “money could shake one’s will”. The two of them had rehearsed in advance before they came to the crew of “Faraway Jianghu”.

In response to Wang Boyuan’s seemingly curious question, the two of them practically lit up, and regardless of whether Tao Mu wanted it or not, they immediately began to brag in front of everyone: “…..brother Wang, don’t listen to our brother Mu being humble, our brother Mu is actually very amazing. He has a good eye and decisiveness. Just in half a month or so, our brother Mu has nearly earned enough money from the stock market to marry a wife, let alone pocket money.”

Hearing these words, Shen Yu and the others all looked over together. Mu Huating, who had not said anything yet, sneered: “You are quite precocious that you are thinking about a wife at such a young age.”

“What’s it to you!” Da Mao glared at Mu Huating: “My dad bought my wedding house before I was born. It is just waiting for me to grow up and marry a wife. So what!”

The coal boss who had a mine at home was rich and could act willfully, so what’s a young actor to do?

Mu Huating chuckled twice sarcastically and held a glaring contest with Da Mao and Xiao Pang. When the corner of his eye swept over the expressionless Tao Mu, he finally remembered that he still shouldered a heavy responsibility. In order to avoid being interrupted and vexed by Da Mao and Xiao Pang when he talked to Tao Mu later, Mu Huating restrained himself and said no more.

Ye Yao blinked her eyes and asked Tao Mu curiously: “They sound so mystical and mysterious. Just how much money did you make on the stock market?”

Without waiting for Tao Mu to answer, Da Mao and Xiao Pang, with their own wallets bulging, eagerly said the numbers, their pride and satisfaction practically visible to all.

“It’s just that little! It’s not even enough for me to endorse an ad.” Ye Yao frowned in disappointment, her tone very unimpressed.

Da Mao could not allow anyone to say that Tao Mu was not good. He immediately became anxious: “Don’t you understand anything? On this kind of thing you can’t just look at how much we earn. You have to calculate how much it cost us, and then divide the total by the cost. And then look at the rate of return! For example, our brother Mu has doubled the principal by seven or eight times in just half a month. This return rate of nearly seven to eight hundred percent is comparable to those of large domestic investment companies and much better than those so-called well-known stock brokers, okay?”

Ye Yao suddenly realized and she giggled stupidly, “Ohhh, so it seems to be like this.” As she said this, she couldn’t help but glance at Tao Mu again. The more she looked at him, the more she felt Tao Mu deserved to be the man she liked. Sure enough, he was both handsome and talented.

When Wang Boyuan heard this rate of return, he was also taken aback: “That’s really amazing. To be honest, I also like to trade stocks occasionally. It’s just that the market has been sluggish recently, and the stocks I bought are basically trapped in the stock market. So I can only work hard and sell myself to pay off the debt.”

In fact, it was not just Wang Boyuan himself. Over the past six months, the domestic stock market had been affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, and the market had plummeted. Don’t know how many people and financial institutions became trapped in the stock market. Bankruptcy was happening everywhere.

After Wang Boyuan said that, he became more sad: “The way I see it, this stock market is really not affordable for normal people. The gains in the first half of the year were quite good, and the Shanghai index even exceeded 6,000 points. But I did not expect it to fall like this in the second half of the year. I almost got an arrhythmia over the loss.”

Attracted by the conversation everyone was having, Guo Yaning, who had not spoken much, also echoed: “Isn’t it? Clearly the stocks were going up very well, but then it plummeted without any warning, not even giving us any time to prepare psychologically.”

Several other old veteran actors also nodded, full of grief. It could be seen that they all had their stocks trapped in the stock market.

Tao Mu only discovered that at some point, everyone had gathered around him.

Da Mao and Xiao Pang were very extroverted people. Seeing so many people join in the more proud and excited they felt: “So our brother Mu is very amazing! So many people have lost money, but our brother Mu made a lot of money. A guaranteed seven to eight hundred percent return. Even in normal times, those large financial institutions and investment advisors can’t do it, right?”

Tao Mu slapped Da Mao’s head and smiled humbly: “My classmate likes to exaggerate. In truth, the pocket money we earn is nothing really. It can’t even compare to the pay you all get for a single movie.”

Several old veteran actors with superb acting skills but low pricing heard these words and laughed out loud: “You are talking about the A-list superstars such as Boyuan and Yaning. We old bones don’t make so much.”

Wang Boyuan and Guo Yaning also smiled and shook their heads: “You can’t count it like that. But I really didn’t expect that Xiao Mu, you are not only handsome and have good martial arts skills, you are also proficient in financial stocks.”

Wan Meihong finally saw an opportunity and said with emotion: “That’s right. There are also many highly educated actors in the circle. However, it is really rare to be talented in financial stocks like Tao Mu. I think that if Tao Mu continues like this you will be a real life domineering CEO.”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang deeply agreed: “That’s right. Our brother Mu is made for being a domineering CEO. You don’t know how handsome he is when he is trading in stocks! Now with the market situation so bad, we never expected that brother Mu could make money. When we first saw brother Mu open an account, we were actually worried that he would lose everything! But the result turned out to be Tao Mu earning to the extent that we even feel a bit jealous.”

Xiao Pang also followed up: “Actually, the two of us don’t know how to trade stocks. We just saw brother Mu making money, so we handed him our pocket money and let him invest for us. I really didn’t expect brother Mu to be so good.”

Da Mao sighed: “When I handed the money to brother Mu, my dad also warned me that the stock market is risky, so I should invest with restraint. If I lose too much, he will cut my pocket money in the second half of the year. But who knew that not only didn’t I lose, I made so much. This soaring rate of return even made my dad jealous. He calls me every night to inquire about the stock market. I estimate that soon he will be handing over his private money to brother Mu and have brother Mu be his investment advisor.”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang’s intentions were practically visible to all. Listening to this, Tao Mu frowned and returned to the previous topic calmly: “Actually, I am also very worried. So after making enough I asked them to withdraw their principal. As for the remaining money, If it can make a profit then that’s great, but if not I won’t be too distressed. Just take as paying tuition.”

Wang Boyuan smiled bitterly: “Your thinking is very rational.” If he could be so rational, he would be able to sit back and relax now after having sold the stocks when the market was still good in the first half of the year.

Xiao Pang was not convinced: “What rational! Our brother Mu just has a knack for making money. The way I see it, brother Mu, you have this talent so why still be an actor! Just help people make money in stocks, and be your own boss.”

Tao Mu was speechless. It just so happened that a silly big nephew with a lot of money also followed along and said: “I think it makes sense! How about I give you my pocket money, Tao Mu, and you also help me invest it?”

One after another, were they doing a comedy routine!

Under the amused eyes of the crowd of bigwigs Tao Mu practically wanted to roll his own eyes up to the heavens.

This level of shame was no less than public humiliation.

Tao Mu said with irritation: “I have to shoot every day until 2am, where the hell do I have the M country time to help you trade stocks!”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang seemed to realize that Tao Mu’s repeated humility was not because of shyness.

The two looked at each other, rubbed their noses and grinned sheepishly, “…..We just think you are very amazing, brother Mu.”

Shen Yu, who had been watching, looked at Tao Mu with admiration: “I feel the same way. Tao Tao, you are really amazing. I thought my brother was good. But his foresight is still not as accurate as yours. I think if you both are together there will definitely be a lot to talk about.”

Tao Mu didn’t respond. He felt from the bottom of his heart that he had absolutely nothing to talk about with the Shen family in this life.

“It’s almost time, right?” Tao Mu turned to look at Cheng Baodong: “Director Cheng, when shall we shoot?”

“Aw no, this conversation is just getting interesting, what are you in a hurry for!” Cheng Baodong sneered, playing with the script in his hand. He raised his eyebrows and asked: “You should tell us which stocks you bought that are so amazing and let us all broaden our horizons as well.”

As soon as he said this, everyone heard the strangeness underlying the words. No matter how stupid Da Mao and Xiao Pang were, they also realized that they seemed to have caused trouble for Tao Mu. Instantly, they looked over at Tao Mu, feeling at a loss.

Tao Mu smiled reassuringly at the two and casually said the names of a few stocks, and patiently explained: “But since the market is unstable, we are all short-term speculation.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Da Mao and Xiao Pang quickly echoed: “The market is really unstable. In the past two months, we have changed several stocks already. But brother Mu has a precise eye and can usually sell ​​the stock before the stock price drops.”

After finishing talking, the two looked at Tao Mu together, trembling like two large dogs who knew they were in trouble but didn’t know how to please their owner and needed their owner to pet their fur in comfort.

“…..Tao Mu, are we friends?” Ye Yao who stood on the side suddenly piped up. The young girl blinked and looked at Tao Mu with big shiny eyes: “Since everyone is a friend, why don’t you help me trade some stocks?”

“I don’t have much time recently, so let’s talk about it later if I have a chance.” Tao Mu said absentmindedly.

It must be said that Da Mao and Xiao Pang’s approach completely disrupted Tao Mu’s plan. It was estimated that in the eyes of these experienced and slick people, Tao Mu’s label of being someone with deep scheming and tendency to seek instant benefits could not be removed. Of course Tao Mu didn’t care about the opinions of these people. He only felt annoyed that Da Mao and Xiao Pang took the liberty without asking him as it would place him in a passive position in certain future layouts.

——In Tao Mu’s original plan, his talent for investment could be revealed in a more natural way. Towards these bigwigs he could also use profit to tempt them in a more subtle way. But Tao Mu could also understand Da Mao and Xiao Pang. The two children must have been scared after the incident in “The Legend of Heroes”. That was why they wanted to praise him more in front of the bigwigs in “Faraway Jianghu” and improve his value in the hopes that Tao Mu would receive more attention and stand in front of everyone with a more equal status.

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

Unfortunately, how could two children who had just graduated from high school be able to play against these experienced and slick people who had seen ups and downs for many years. It was likely that as soon as Da Mao and Xiao Pang spoke, this group of people already knew what they wanted to say and what they wanted to do. As for whether they would think that the two of them were instigated by Tao Mu, Tao Mu didn’t know. Of course he didn’t care too much either. After all, the adult world was never completely white or black, right or wrong. Tao Mu was confident that so long as he could bring more benefits to everyone, no matter how clumsy Da Mao and Xiao Pang’s methods were, how simple their words were, and how transparent their intentions were, these people would all be considerate and give the most perfect and fitting ladder that would let Tao Mu walk down it comfortably.

Therefore, the most urgent thing at the moment was for Tao Mu to find a quieter place and quickly comfort the two who were so embarrassed by the atmosphere that they were practically about to burst into tears.

TN: 4 bonus chapters coming up!

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Yan Sheng, a top super popular superstar in China, was the youngest Golden Crow Award best actor in the history of Chinese film, and was a superstar of film, television, and music. At the age of 20, he won the Golden Crow Award for Best Actor, at the age of 22, he won the Golden Lily Flower for his first TV series, and at the age of 25 he won the Golden Elephant Award and the Golden Chime Award for Best Actor at the same time with a mainstream movie. Practically overnight he had become the youngest grand slam award winning actor in China. In the next ten years, he would also successively win three international awards and become a recognized national treasure-level actor in the global film industry. He would also receive a lifetime achievement award from the Oscars on his thirty-fifth birthday. Then at the awards ceremony, he would announce his withdrawal from the entertainment industry and marriage to his same-sex partner Shen Yu.

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

Ten years back in time, even if Yan Sheng had not yet become the godfather who dominated the global entertainment industry in later years, and was still unknown globally, he was still the top star most admired by most Chinese actors.

To tell a joke, basically in the last two years, every young actor liked to say that his idol was Yan Sheng when interviewed by the media.

Cheng Baodong thought that Tao Mu was also this type of person——at least Tao Mu’s characteristic of “being benevolent to others” that he had always shown fit this style of behavior. And he was indeed very similar to Yan Sheng in terms of his acting style. But he didn’t expect Tao Mu to have such a cold attitude after hearing Cheng Baodong’s question: “I don’t know him.”

Not long after Cheng Baodong and Wang Boyuan had contact with Tao Mu, they had gained a deep understanding of Tao Mu’s scheming personality. They knew that this person had always had good social skills and was excellent at covering up his emotions. In other words, no matter what Tao Mu felt in his heart, he had always done a good job of putting up a polite facade on the surface.

But in the face of Yan Sheng, a top superstar with “high utilization value”, Tao Mu’s reaction was not to pull some sort of connection with the other, but rather looked extremely indifferent——and even had a hint of impatience and hostility——

You must know that this kid could respectfully call the lighting technicians “lighting teacher” when facing them. At first, everyone was a little nervous, but after getting along for a long time everyone finally figured it out——the “teacher” that came from Tao Mu’s mouth was used in a wholesale manner, calling practically anyone he came across as “teacher”. It was a universal title, and there was absolutely no specific meaning to it.

Anyway, starting with Tao Mu, the use of the teacher title on the crew had become extremely rampant! However, when the subject became a well-known and proper “teacher” like Yan Sheng, Tao Mu did not try to make any connection.

There was something! There must be something here!

Cheng Baodong and Wang Boyuan looked at each other. Cheng Baodong wanted to ask a few more questions, but looking at Tao Mu’s expressionless face he didn’t dare to ask in the end.

This time, Cheng Baodong was finally sure that this kid did indeed have a temper! It was just his source of temper….was a bit confusing!

However, in any case, Tao Mu managed to win the recognition of most of the crew in “Faraway Jianghu” by virtue of his film emperor-level acting skills.

After the initial getting used to each other period, Tao Mu also realized the terrifying aspects of Cheng Baodong, the film set tyrant——

In order to keep up with the progress, “Faraway Jianghu” had been divided into two groups, A and B during filming. Cheng Baodong and the big celebrities of the crew were in the A group, which was responsible for shooting big action scenes and speaking scenes that needed to be polished. The assistant director and martial arts body doubles like Tao Mu all belonged to group B. The main task of group B was to shoot some mid-range and long-range action scenes as stand-ins.

Generally speaking, the shooting atmosphere of group B would be more relaxed. However, this relaxed category did not include Tao Mu. On the contrary, Tao Mu was tossed around because of this arrangement. For example, Tao Mu was often called to group A by Cheng Baodong when there was none of his scenes to shoot. After going to group A there was nothing much to do but squat behind Cheng Baodong and watch the monitor while listening to director Cheng explaining to other actors about their scenes. Fortunately, the shooting venues of group A and B were both in H Studio City, otherwise Tao Mu would really suffer from having to go back and forth.

In addition, because Tao Mu showed a good knowledge of the functions of the various departments of the crew during the audition, it also made everyone aware of Tao Mu’s ambitious aspirations. In addition to filming, Cheng Baodong also talked about some set scheduling and personnel disputes with Tao Mu, including all kinds of troubles that the director and the producer and investors must deal with while also carrying out a power struggle with each other.

——Although everyone was from Beijing, Cheng Baodong was different from Tao Mu who had no father or mother and no background. Director Cheng grew up in the villa compound when he was young. Even though his parents didn’t make much contributions, they were born loyal and raised up in the proper way. Cheng Baodong also had relatively good luck, his career had been going smoothly since he first started it. He had made several box office and critically acclaimed masterpieces one after another. Naturally, he was put on a pedestal and treated with respect by the investors and actors around him. This more and more fed into Cheng Baodong’s prideful personality——it would even be considered an understatement to say that he was arrogant and domineering.

Therefore, those thoughts and experiences that he lectured Tao Mu with, Tao Mu only listened to out of politeness. If he really did follow suit, then he would basically single handedly push himself into ruin.

Cheng Baodong saw Tao Mu’s disagreement and he suddenly felt aggrieved by “having his kind intentions being disregarded”: “I say, you are particularly boring, do you know? If I have your acting skills and your face then whoever dares to sneer at me, I will definitely be tough with them!”

Tao Mu looked at Cheng Baodong very calmly and wondered politely: “What director Cheng means is that I should be tough with you now?”

Cheng Baodong stopped talking. After a long while, he waved his hand angrily: “Go! Go! Go!”

Tao Mu was already immune to Cheng Baodong’s personality; that was an example of “only the state officials are allowed to set fires and the people are not allowed to light the candles” (TN: holding double standards). Hearing this, he just calmly stood up from the stool and slowly took a detour to the restroom. Looking at the other, Cheng Baodong felt extremely vexed. He was beginning to feel that Tao Mu was no longer the Tao Mu who was a “docile pushover” when he first joined the group.

Sure enough, when the time had passed long enough the truth would be revealed! Sure enough, the scheming ran deep!

Cheng Baodong turned his head and glared at Wang Boyuan: “Isn’t what I said right?”

Wang Boyuan touched his nose and selectively analyzed: “I don’t think it’s a big deal. You speak so badly, and yet Tao Mu didn’t get angry. He just asked about your suggestion politely.”

Cheng Baodong had a mouthful of old blood stuck in his throat and the corner of his eyes swept across the monitor where, for the 108th time, the female N lead had forgotten her lines and been NG-ed but was still shamelessly laughing. Instantly, he shouted angrily: “What are you doing! What are you doing! How can you forget your lines when we’re filming! How many times have you NG-ed over and over again with just those few lines? Why can’t you memorize the lines in advance? Does film not cost money! Do you have f**king Alzheimer’s and old age amnesia? Can you act! If you can’t act then get out of here! Don’t think that you having investor backing means that I won’t dare to yell at you!”

The young girl in the center of the set was caught off guard by the rabies infected director Cheng and bursted into tears from the scolding!

……………..

Just a week after Tao Mu entered the crew, and seeing that Tao Mu and the crew were familiarized with each other more and more, Cheng Baodong finally decided to move the highlight of this movie to the front of the schedule for shooting.

“…..Our scene today is Chang Feng going deep into the enemy camp to rescue the princess. Tao Mu, you have to pay attention to your position, make sure your face is not captured by the camera.” Director Cheng told Tao Mu and said to Wang Boyuan who was standing by: “Is your waist okay?”

Wang Boyuan was clutching his waist, grimacing without any regard for his image. He had accidentally strained his waist when he was filming the horse riding scene yesterday and couldn’t make much movement. However, there were a lot of close-ups in today’s scene that required him: “I will try my best.”

As Wang Boyuan was speaking, the corner of his eye swept over Tao Mu who was standing on the side. He stretched his arm and hooked it over Tao Mu’s shoulders: “The effect of the medicinal alcohol you gave me is quite good. I didn’t dare to move since I was injured yesterday. But today I can even walk around.”

Tao Mu curved a corner of his mouth: “It was also given to me by other martial arts brothers.”

“Da Gou?” Wang Boyuan scratched his chin: “Speaking of which, that you can join the crew was because he introduced you. But Da Gou is not brotherly enough! He only gave you such a good thing and not me?” At any rate, their friendship was one built on doing overtime and eating vendor food together.

Tao Mu didn’t know how to respond to that.

Wang Boyuan chuckled and muttered to Tao Mu: “Tell me again how you turn your fan. I feel that I did not look as good as when you did it. You fellow, you aren’t hiding your techniques, are you?”

“No.” Tao Mu turned his eyes to Wang Boyuan’s wrist, and said straightforwardly: “Your wrist is too stiff and you have no flexibility. It will naturally be inferior when you make the movements. I suggest you practice yoga in your free time.”

Wang Boyuan: “…..”

Wang Boyuan reached out and rubbed at Tao Mu’s hair piece: “It’s not cute to tell the truth.”

The stylist next to him screeched in shock: “Brother Yuan, don’t touch Xiao Mu’s hair piece, it’s crooked now ahhhhhhh——”

Cheng Baodong, who was explaining the scene to the heroine, turned around and glared at Wang Boyuan: “Can you be still for a moment?”

Wang Boyuan rubbed his nose aggrievedly, and reached out to straighten Tao Mu’s hair piece. However, it was of no use and the stylist pulled Tao Mu aside with a cold face to redo it again.

The young girl who played the female N lead in the movie came over: “Tao Mu, you seem to know director Cheng and brother Yuan very well. I often listen to brother Yuan and director Cheng discussing your scenes during breaks, saying that your performance in front of the camera is very good.”

The young girl originally thought that her words would definitely arouse Tao Mu’s curiosity. But Tao Mu just smiled: “Director Cheng and brother Yuan are very good and especially like to help the newcomers. The teachers in the crew are also the same so I have benefited a lot.”

Tao Mu’s way of speaking had always been airtight without any weakness to be caught. He believed it would be better to be verbose than to leave out one person.

The young girl smiled, her eyes glued to Tao Mu’s face that was so strikingly handsome after putting on makeup: “I also think director Cheng and brother Yuan are very good to us. Especially brother Yuan, who is a big A-list celebrity but is so down to earth. And he often invites everyone for drinks and meals. Unlike sister Ning, who always stays in the RV when she has no scenes. It is very difficult to see her.”

Tao Mu’s expression became weird for a while, but after thinking about it he decided to mind his own business.

But the young girl didn’t notice anything wrong with her words. She continued to ask Tao Mu, “I heard that you were also admitted to Beijing Film? Then you are in the same school as director Cheng and brother Yuan? You are so handsome, so good at acting, and you are so valued by director Cheng. I think you will definitely have the opportunity to formally cooperate with them in the future.”

Tao Mu was dragged by the stylist who was still redoing his hair piece and did not dare to move his upper body. Hearing these words he just smiled: “Then I thank you for your lucky words.”

In the hot summer season the heat was nearly unbearable. Tao Mu was wearing a thick ancient costume and a hair piece so sweat began to bead on his forehead very soon. The young girl took out a silk handkerchief from her sleeve and said enthusiastically: “Your sweat is almost dripping into your eyes. Let me wipe it off for you.”

Tao Mu tilted his head and avoided the young girl’s silk handkerchief in time.

The stylist standing behind Tao Mu looked at the young girl with a half-smile, and reached out to pat Tao Mu’s head: “Don’t move.”

The young girl looked at Tao Mu with an aggrieved expression. Tao Mu turned a blind eye.

The young girl didn’t give up and continued to talk: “Can you teach me how to act? I may have graduated from Shanghai Film but actually, it’s the first time I have acted and I don’t know anything. I’m especially worried about my bad acting and delaying the filming schedule.”

Tao Mu smiled humbly: “I also don’t know how to act. Although I was admitted to Beijing Film, I haven’t reported there yet——”

Before he could finish his words someone interrupted with a laugh and said, “That’s right! Tao Mu hasn’t reported to the school yet. How can he know how to teach little girls how to act? Why don’t I teach you instead!”

Everyone turned their heads and saw Da Mao, Xiao Pang, Shen Yu, Ye Yao, Wan Meihong, Mu Huating, and their assistants standing far behind. What surprised Tao Mu most was that the “big nephew” who replaced him on the crew of “The Legend of Heroes” was also there.

How did this group of people get together?

Seeing Tao Mu looking over, Ye Yao crossed her arms, raised her chin and snorted, looking at Tao Mu and the young girl in front of him with a fake smile. In a sarcastic tone she said: “You really attract little girls everywhere you go!”

Tao Mu asked with surprise: “Why are you guys here?”

“Didn’t I say that I will come to visit you on set!” Shen Yu said with a grin. He also complained: “I call you and you never answer, I send text messages to you, and you never reply. You also pretend not to see when I add you on Weibo. Do you really think that after you have taken me off the blacklist and then give me the silent treatment I won’t continue to bother you?”

Tao Mu sat there feeling extremely exasperated and didn’t even want to give Shen Yu even half a glance.

The “big nephew” also complained: “Didn’t you say you will teach me to be cool? I have waited for you for so long and you haven’t contacted me so I can only come and find you.”

Tao Mu felt even more exasperated: “I really don’t have time.” He didn’t expect that “big nephew” would actually take his casual polite remarks seriously.

After a pause, Tao Mu asked “big nephew”: “Coming here to visit my set so randomly, don’t you need to film?”

The “big nephew” snorted very arrogantly: “The crew is invested by my family. I shoot when I want to, and I am not afraid if I don’t. Anyway, I am not the only one in the crew. Aren’t there others to film except for me? “

“Furthermore. Before you left, didn’t you sell all the videos you made to Zhao Xin? It just so happens that Zhao Xin doesn’t believe me, so let him edit and cut the videos himself, and I can just casually do some poses later!”

The “big nephew” said this very righteously, and everyone present could only look at each other and pity Zhao Xin, the director who was willing to throw his morals for investment.

Ye Yao squinted at “big nephew” and pretended to complain as well: “Speaking of which, we originally planned to go to the set of “The Legend of Heroes” to find you. But when we arrived, we heard people say that your role was stolen so we found you here.”

The “big nephew” who was directly responsible touched his nose and finally felt a little guilty: “I didn’t know Tao Mu before taking the role.”

And for fear of what Ye Yao would say, he looked at Tao Mu pitifully: “When will you teach me to be cool?”

Tao Mu had a headache.

Ye Yao still did not let it drop, looking at “big nephew” indignantly: “Anyway, your crew “The Legend of Heroes” is too much. If it weren’t for you going back on your words, Tao Mu would not change from a proper role to a stand-in for others.”

Truly, picking the kettle that was not boiling! (TN: expression that indicates that someone is saying or doing something that shouldn’t be mentioned in front of others, or that someone is bringing up a sensitive subject) This was the film set of “Faraway Jianghu”!

Shen Yu frowned and looked at Ye Yao, then at Tao Mu and changed the subject with a smile: “Tao Mu, you look handsome in this costume. Why don’t we take a picture?”

Wan Meihong, who was preparing to sow discord, could only shut up patiently when she saw this. She glanced helplessly at Shen Yu.

Shen Yu didn’t pay attention to Wan Meihong’s feelings at all. His whole heart was on Tao Mu. For fear that Tao Mu would not agree with him to take the photo, before Tao Mu could even speak he had already moved to Tao Mu’s side with his mobile phone, and began to snap selfies. Tao Mu was held in place by the stylist and dared not move. He could only warn with exasperation: “Don’t post it on Weibo.”

His current look was that of the male protagonist in “Faraway Jianghu”. The crew hadn’t released the final film stills yet, and Tao Mu couldn’t leak the main actor’s image first.

Shen Yu nodded with a grin. He looked at Tao Mu’s expressionless face in the photo, and whined with dissatisfaction: “You could at least smile.”

“I don’t want to smile.” Tao Mu had a sullen face, thinking in his heart that he couldn’t even cry when he looked at the other!

Shen Yu also didn’t mind. Sitting next to Tao Mu with a smile he motioned to the assistant to hand everyone food.

Wan Meihong finally found a chance and said to Tao Mu with a smile: “How are things recently?”

“It’s okay.” Tao Mu also smiled: “The gathering of big celebrities in the crew really satisfies my desire to take photos with the celebrities and get autographs. Moreover, the director, senior brother and sister Ning are all very good and taught me a lot of acting skills.”

Wan Meihong looked at Tao Mu with a half-smile. It was quite rare to say such perfunctory flattery so sincerely but Tao Mu managed it. Sure enough, he was a born actor.

“We have heard about you in “The Legend of Heroes”. To be honest, Zhao Keping and Summer Star Entertainment did not do right by you. If you change to our Qin Dynasty, this kind of thing will never happen. We at Qin Dynasty Entertainment cherish our talents very much. It will never be willing to let a genius like you suffer such a grievance.”

Wan Meihong praised Tao Mu with words “talent” and “genius” in one sentence. If she said anymore it was likely she would be able to raise Tao Mu out of the global village and put him directly shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

Tao Mu could not help but be impressed at this kind of ability to create opportunities for awkward conversation without ever missing a chance.

Fortunately, in addition to Wan Meihong, there was also a “big nephew” who was also stubbornly trying to make small talk: “I am unaware whether we at Summer Star Entertainment value talents or not. But I can guarantee that if Tao Mu is willing to sign with Summer Star Entertainment, I will persuade my uncle to support him.” So long as Tao Mu could teach him all kinds of tricks to be cool!

As “big nephew” said this he suddenly turned to Tao Mu: “At that time whatever role you want to play just tell me directly. As long as it is a project invested by Summer Star, you can pick whatever you like.”

Wan Meihong’s heart jumped. She never would have thought that her pitch hadn’t even started yet, but already an interloper had jumped out.

“This gentleman…..” Wan Meihong looked at the “big nephew” and asked politely: “What is your name?”

The “big nephew” raised his chin and looked at Wan Meihong with his nostrils, and sneered: “Long Aotian!” (TN: Chinese equivalent to Mary Sue/Gary Stu)

All the people were speechless.

Tao Mu sighed softly, suddenly feeling a little tired.

Not wanting to be named in front of Wan Meihong, “Long Aotian” classmate continued to pester Tao Mu: “When can you teach me to be cool? I told you that my role is almost finished.”

Tao Mu continued to have a headache: “I really don’t have time. How about this. I will be able to finish this film in less than ten days. When I finish filming, before I return to Beijing, I can find some time to teach you how to do it, okay?”

“Long Aotian” suddenly asked: “When will you return to Beijing?”

“I am going to book a ticket for August 24.”

“Long Aotian” made a decisive decision: “Then wait until you return to Beijing. It just so happens that I am going back to Beijing too, and the two of us just happened to be on the way.”

Tao Mu: “…..”

Tao Mu struggled weakly: “Not necessarily. I don’t think we’ll be on the same flight.” With the acting skills of “big nephew”, Tao Mu felt that when he returned to Beijing, the “big nephew” might not even be able to finish filming his scenes yet.

“We will.” Long Aotian vowed: “Just tell me your itinerary. I will arrange the rest.”

You arrange a fart!

Tao Mu nearly let out a stream of vulgar curses. After thinking about it, he still decided to ask according to polite social procedure: “What is your name anyway?”

“Long Aotian” looked at Tao Mu with a melancholy expression for a long while, and then complained in a melancholy tone: “We both already have this kind of relationship, yet you don’t even know what my name is!”

What relationship! Tao Mu was speechless. He was just about to say something when he saw “Long Aotian” standing up with chest puffed out and head raised high to report his identity: “Long Tianao.”

Tao Mu paused in a daze. He then saw “Long Tianao” classmate explode: “I really am called Long Tianao. Do you know Longkodo? That is our ancestor.”

Tao Mu was bewildered: “Isn’t Longkodo a surname?”

“In any case it is that Long!” Long Tianao explained impatiently: “Anyway, it’s decided. Let’s go back to Beijing together on the 24th.”

Wan Meihong watched on the side for a long time and couldn’t even edge in into the conversation, her whole person becoming restless: “Tao Mu, don’t be fooled by him. He is just a relative of Summer Star Entertainment’s major shareholder, and he can’t even talk about the daily operation and management of the company. If you really join Summer Star Entertainment, you will definitely be assigned to Zhao Keping. I know you must have been saddened by Zhao Keping’s shameful tricks this time. Ai, I must say that Zhao Keping was a right bastard. All the artists under him were played by him like this. Don’t look at how obedient and docile Mu Huating is right now. When he was first assigned to Zhao Keping, there was no shortage of——”

“I say, sister Hong,” Mu Huating said helplessly: “Just speak if you want to speak, but don’t use me as an example. I think brother Zhao is still very good to me.”

“You were abused by Zhao Keping to the extent you have Stockholm.” Wan Meihong did not hesitate to diagnose Mu Huating: “Did you forget how you yelled and cursed at Zhao Keping in front of the media?”

Mu Huating really couldn’t win with Wan Meihong, so he could only shut up.

Long Tianao was indignant: “Who are you looking down on? It’s no big deal, after Tao Mu joins the company, I will apply to be his agent. I want to see who dares to grab resources from me, xiaoye will slap him to death!” (TN: literally “little master”, an arrogant way of calling oneself same like the japanese “ore”)

This was practically a case of a wild fist killing the master (TN: someone who does things without any order or rules accidentally winning a fight). Wan Meihong argued with exasperation: “I wouldn’t put it that way——”

“Why can’t it be put that way? I want to say just that! I won’t just say it, I will even do it!” Long Tianao said, grabbing Tao Mu’s sleeve: “You tell me, do you believe me?”

Tao Mu’s headache continued to increase.

Just when it devolved into a fierce argument, Da Mao and Xiao Pang also siddled over to Tao Mu, hinting at him that they had something to say.

Tao Mu wanted to avoid Wan Meihong and Long Tianao. On the way, he found an excuse to drag his two childhood friends into the corner.

“What’s the matter.”

Da Mao and Xiao Pang were flushed with excitement: “Brother Mu, the stocks we bought in the past few days have gone up extremely sharply, practically reaching their daily limit almost every day. The stock market is crazy. Many people are following along and buying. The way I see it, we should invest some more money.”

When the two said this, they couldn’t help but complain: “I really don’t understand. The market is so good, why do you have to force us to withdraw the principal——”

Before they could finish speaking, they saw Wang Boyuan waving from afar.

Tao Mu frowned and interrupted the two: “We’ll talk about it later.”

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

After finishing talking, Tao Mu walked towards Wang Boyuan’s direction: “Senior brother?”

Wang Boyuan, who had been hanging out in the crew the whole time, pointed to the crowd of people who came to visit the set, and asked with a smile: “Xiao Mu, your friends are visiting the set?”

Cheng Baodong, who was sitting in the director’s chair, also craned his neck and glanced at Shen Yu and the others. He looked piercingly at Long Tianao a few times and snorted in a sarcastic manner: “You really aren’t picky with your friends!”

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