Dressed As a Cannon Fodder For the Rich and Powerful

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Qi Xiaoyu finished trying on clothes in the cloakroom and waited for a while but didn’t see Xun Qian coming, so he hung the clothes back up, went downstairs to have dinner, and then went back to his room to rest.

He was going to shoot a commercial tomorrow morning, so he had to rest and recharge. After all, the asking price was 800,000 yuan, and he had to be worthy of the profit.

The next day, Qi Xiaoyu got up early and rushed to shoot.

The shooting location was in the northernmost suburb of S city, and the Xun family villa was in the western suburb. The distance was quite far—almost 60 kilometers by car on the highway.

Qi Xiaoyu considered it for a moment. Thinking that his relationship with Xun Qian seemed to be pretty good recently and that he served his creditor quite well, he asked Butler Cheng to borrow a car to go to the set.

When Butler Cheng heard Qi Xiaoyu’s words, he glanced at him somewhat awkwardly, as if deliberately trying to avoid his gaze. “The cars are all used today. I’m afraid we won’t be able to spare one for you.”

Qi Xiaoyu didn’t react on the surface, but he silently counted the number of cars in the garage. There was a sports car, two SUVs, a few luxury sedans, and an off-road vehicle. Xun Qian usually didn’t use cars often, and most of them were collecting dust in the corner. How come they were all occupied today?

Qi Xiaoyu had a head full of question marks, but when Butler Cheng said so, he understood and even said very nicely, “Okay, thank you, Uncle Cheng.”

It made Butler Cheng very embarrassed.

He thought that he could call a taxi himself, but it was just a bit troublesome.

This is a top-class villa area for rich people. Every household has more cars than they can count on two hands. How can any taxi be willing to come here to haul customers?

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Moreover, there are many checkpoints at the entrance. Unless they’re dropping people off, generally, the security guards won’t allow online cab hailing to go in.

Qi Xiaoyu walked almost three kilometers until he reached the main road outside before he hailed a taxi.

Today he went to shoot alone.

Yu Xiaosheng will not accompany him this time. After all, besides him, Yu Xiaosheng has several other trainees to take care of. Now that Qi Xiaoyu has made progress, he also has to find some work for other people to avoid favoritism.

The shooting location was a long-established middle school in the northern suburbs of S.C.

The teaching building has been cleared. A small white and green five-story building facing the playground stood in the cold wind, and the corridors were filled with staff wearing black down jackets, walking around to set up the venue and camera positions.

The female lead of this commercial, Xue Qingchu, was standing at the end of the corridor, holding a script in her hand, while facing the playground and the school gate. She looked at the script for a while, then looked up at the playground for a while, looking for the feeling of the female lead in the script.

Xue Qingchu is twenty-seven years old this year. She has a cute round face, chubby cheeks, round eyes, and a small nose. With her fair skin and delicate appearance, she overall gives people a non-aggressive and harmless impression, which is how she became popular.

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Coupled with her own hard work and good acting skills, the idol dramas she starred in became popular one after another, and the male actors who collaborated with her also skyrocketed.

Just like now, even if it’s a commercial with a simple plot, she’ll familiarize herself with the script and lines ahead of time to get into character.

It was windy in the corridor, so she stood for a while, and her assistant Taotao came over with a hand warmer and said, “Sister Qingqing, here you go, stop standing here, phew~ it’s really cold today… ugh, Sister Qingqing, look over there.”

Taotao raised her chin and pointed to a taxi outside the school gate. “Is the person who got out of the taxi the bargain that Manager Zheng stuffed in?”

Seeing Qi Xiaoyu get out of the taxi without even an assistant by his side, Taotao’s eyes opened even wider, and her thin lips cracked like spitting beans as she poured out words.

“Sister Qingqing, the company is getting more and more outrageous now. The people you worked with before were at least second- or third-tier male celebrities or capable actors with good acting skills. This time they throw you a freshly debuted talent show idol; what does that count for? And he’s so poor, my goodness; he doesn’t even have an assistant. What does Manager Zheng see in him? I thought he had some special relationship with the company’s top management before, but now I suspect it’s just the company trying to screw you. What a bully!”

Taotao huffed and puffed, “Sister Qingqing, why don’t we just leave? You’re on the rise right now, you’re popular, and you have a lot of masterpieces, so why are you staying with this company? There are plenty of companies out there that want to sign you. Isn’t it better than here?”

Xue Qingchu glared at Taotao.

Taotao shut up knowingly, but after a second, she began to complain softly, “Isn’t it because Jiang Sicheng pursued you and you didn’t agree? Relying on him being the son of President Jiang and you having a soft temper, do they bully you like that? Finding a poor rookie for you to lead Isn’t this a waste of your popularity?”

Xue Qingchu looked at Qi Xiaoyu, who got down from the cab, and her heart wasn’t in the right place either.

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However, her thoughts were different from those of her assistant, Taotao. She didn’t think that Qi Xiaoyu was a newcomer with nothing; on the contrary, she thought that he was far more complicated than he seemed.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to obtain this resource.

She inquired and found out that this commercial was originally scheduled for her alone. It’s the company’s senior management who negotiated with the brand, which resulted in this buy-one-get-one-free situation and forced Qi Xiaoyu in.

To be able to make the company’s top management do such a thing for him, either Qi Xiaoyu had someone behind him or his means were brilliant.

In addition to this, she also looked at Gu Lei’s circle of friends.

Gu Lei was in the same company as her, and as coworkers, the two, of course, added WeChat.

In the circle of friends, Gu Lei complained that he’d been framed by a villain, which had brought him to the point where he now had not made a single announcement and couldn’t even log on to Weibo freely.

She had heard some things about Gu Lei. Although Qi Xiaoyu had a great victory in this matter, as an insider, she knew that the more this happened, the more obvious and powerful connection was at play.

Combined with all that she knew, it was hard not to think that Qi Xiaoyu was a scheming person.

On the other side, Qi Xiaoyu got out of the taxi and went to the director to report. After receiving the script, he was taken to the dressing room to put on makeup and change clothes.

The makeup artist was surprised that Qi Xiaoyu came to report alone without even an assistant. However, he felt relieved when he saw that Qi Xiaoyu was slim and handsome and could achieve the script effect without much makeup.

This film is very long, with a script of more than ten pages.

Banana Milk has good annual sales and is a national brand in the beverage industry. The brand owner has money and plans to make this into a short film.

In the story, the female lead, played by Xue Qingchu, is a daughter from a wealthy family, while the male lead, played by Qi Xiaoyu, is a poor student, so poor that he only eats steamed buns and pickles for three meals a day.

The good thing is that although the male lead is poor, he is motivated, has good grades, and has a gentle personality.

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The female lead secretly has a crush on the male lead, so she puts a box of banana milk on his desk every day.

After graduating from high school, the two went their separate ways.

Ten years later, the male lead has a successful career, while the female lead, whose family has fallen on hard times and struggles to make a living in the metropolis, has become a subordinate in the male lead’s company.

When they meet again, the male lead recognizes the female lead but doesn’t directly reunite with her. Instead, he places a bottle of banana milk on her seat every day, silently encouraging and accompanying her.

A simple but warm romantic love story with a simple plot and little difficulty in interpretation, it mainly portrays the contrast between the characters’ youth as well as the sourness and sweetness of secret love.

The teenage years were filmed first.

The makeup artist changed the two into their school uniforms and applied very light makeup—just foundation, eyeshadow, and a little lip balm.

The blue and white school uniform was washed white and loose, but when worn by Qi Xiaoyu, it didn’t feel disheveled or sloppy at all—only the nostalgic breath of youth.

His long neck was exposed from the collar of his school uniform, and his brows and eyes showed the stubbornness and silence of a poor boy. Through the open zipper, you could see the boy’s raised collarbone and delicate skin.

Next to him, Xue Qingchu wore a school uniform jacket and pleated skirt, with her hair combed into a high ponytail.

With the round eyes and chubby face, it immediately takes people back to their high school days when they were fifteen or sixteen years old.

The assistant director immediately praised them: “Not bad, not bad; the feeling is very spot on.”

Then he called the assistant next to him, “Xiao Zhang, quickly take a photo of the male and female leads together to commemorate the occasion.”

When Qi Xiaoyu heard this, he took a step next to Xue Qingchu.

Taotao was staring closely at Qi Xiaoyu. Upon seeing this, she darted between the two and smiled at the assistant director. “Director Liu, you see, it’s so cold today, and Sister Qingqing is wearing so little. Let’s not take pictures and start shooting quickly.”

The assistant director looked at Xue Qingchu’s frozen red cheeks and nodded. “It’s me who didn’t think it through; Xiao Zhang quickly got the venue ready; we’ll start filming right away.”

Taotao took a down jacket and put it on Xue Qingchu while glaring back at Qi Xiaoyu. She said in a voice that was not loud but that they could all hear, ”In the future, when you’re not filming, don’t get so close to our sister Qingqing. Don’t think that just by filming a small commercial, you can start a scandal with Sister Qingqing. Dream on.”

Qi Xiaoyu touched his nose but said nothing.

He’s someone who’s fresh off the boat and is filming for the first time. Since he was in the taxi, he had warned himself to do more, talk less, and do whatever the director asked.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly after filming started.

It was not difficult for Qi Xiaoyu to play the role of a poor student. He was already quite poor when he was a child. When eating pickled vegetables and steamed buns, he could naturally act like he was swallowing hard to satisfy his hunger.

In addition, he is only in his early twenties and has just graduated from college, so his youthful student feeling is still there.

On the contrary, Xue Qingchu had a plot that kept going.

Xue Qingchu was used to playing the role of a young girl. She is cute and has round cheeks. Even at the age of 27, she doesn’t feel out of place playing a girl in movies and TV dramas.

But in this film, she is, after all, ten years older than the character, plus she’s in bad shape because of her period today. The scene where she poked her head out from behind the horizontal bar and peeked at Qi Xiaoyu eating lunch was rejected almost ten times. None of it was good.

According to the director’s words, “The little girl’s heartbeat and palpitation are missing.”

Qi Xiaoyu has already eaten four cold steamed buns.

The cold wind has caused the crew to become a little restless, and as the sky gradually turned dark, everyone frowned. They just wanted to finish filming the playground scene early and switch to the classroom scene. Xue Qingchu herself was so cold that her hands and feet were numb, and she felt that her abdomen was falling down because of the pain.

After another NG, the director behind the camera joked, “Come on, Qingqing, why are you being outclassed by a newcomer?”

Xue Qingchu’s face suddenly turned paler. She was usually good-tempered, but at this time she was a little worried. She felt that she was dragging everyone down and was being compared to a newcomer.

Qi Xiaoyu still had a bulging bun in his mouth. Hearing this, he said with a smile, “Which is not true; today it’s all because Sister Qingqing acted so well that she was able to bring me into the scene.”

Then he joked with the cameraman, “Is it because my back view is not handsome enough and it’s hard to make people’s hearts flutter? Otherwise, I’ll turn around a little bit to take a side shot. I think it’s easier to make girls’ hearts flutter at this angle of mine.”

In fact, from the camerman’s perspective, Qi Xiaoyu’s entire back is blurred. It doesn’t matter at all if he is handsome or not, whether he looks good or not.

But one sentence helped Xue Qingchu get out of the situation, showing the newcomer’s humble attitude and revitalizing the originally awkward scene.

Xue Qingchu glanced at Qi Xiaoyu with a slight surprise but said nothing.

She put aside her initial prejudice, forgot about her discomfort, put on a little more makeup, and stood in front of the camera again.

She gripped the cold bar with both hands and poked her head out to look at the teenager off-camera.

Qi Xiaoyu was wearing a washed-white school uniform and sitting on the steps next to the playground. He lowered his head and ate steamed buns while humming softly. The sun in the early winter afternoon fell on the tips of his fine hair, glowing with golden light.

Xue Qingchu lowered her head and smiled, showing an excited but shy expression.

“Cut!” This scene is finally complete!

Because this short film is relatively long, it’s expected to take almost half an hour to edit, so it cannot be finished in one day and must be continued the next day.

Qi Xiaoyu did not return to Xun’s house that night and stayed in a hotel arranged by the director’s team.

As soon as he returned to the hotel, after removing his makeup and taking a hot bath, Qi Xiaoyu lay down on the bed and fell asleep, with his phone still stuck on the alarm setting screen.

This was his first time filming. He went out at 6 a.m. and finished filming at 11 p.m., working for more than ten hours. He doesn’t have an assistant around him, so he has to handle small things such as getting boxed meals and room cards himself. It’s really tiring.

*****

On the third floor of Xun’s house, Xun Qian’s bedroom was, as always, buried in layers of darkness.

Butler Cheng stood outside the door holding a dinner plate and took two deep breaths.

Except for the last argument with Mrs. Xun, Xun Qian hadn’t been like this for several days, smoking, not talking, and locking himself in the room.

Normally, Butler Cheng wouldn’t care.

But Xun Qian didn’t eat all day today. He just heard Xun Qian coughing again, so he probably didn’t take any medicine.

The doctor said that Xun Qian’s disease has become very serious over the years, so he must consistently take four courses of medication without stopping.

It’s rare that Xun Qian starts to get better; he can’t go back to being liberated all of a sudden.

Butler Cheng took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to knock on the door.

There was no movement inside, and it took a long time before two suppressed coughs came.

Butler Cheng said, “Third Master, do you want to eat something? Mr. Qi made some dumplings two days ago. There are still some dumplings left. I asked Mama Li to cook them. They are still hot. Do you want to try one or two?”

Still silent.

Butler Cheng could only push the door open and go in by himself.

The room was very dark, with no lights on. Through the light from the corridor, Xun Qian could be seen half-leaning on the bed.

Butler Cheng walked in and put the dinner plate on the bedside. He turned to look at Xun Qian and said casually, “Mr. Qi went to film a commercial and won’t be back tonight.”

Xun Qian said nothing and showed no expression, but the atmosphere was not good.

Butler Cheng licked his lips, walked to the desk, took out the medicine, and went to fetch a cup of hot water, placing it by the side of the dinner plate. “Sir, it’s time to take the medicine.”

Xun Qian still didn’t respond.

Butler Cheng said, “Although Mr. Qi didn’t come back, he sent a message specifically to ask about your situation, Third Master.”

Xun Qian finally sneered softly.

Butler Cheng had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to make things up. “You see, it’s Mr. Qi who reminded Mama Li to cook the dumplings. The appearance and taste of these dumplings are just different. Which chef outside can compare with his skills?”