Li Feifei took a few pictures as Xu Qiao instructed and handed the phone to him.
In the photo, water marks were clearly visible on Xu Qiao's temples and face, his eyes were half-closed, and his face and lips were too pale. Anyone who saw him would know that he looked sick.
He was wrapped in a large towel, from neck to feet. Only a small piece of white cloth, half the size of a palm, appeared from the bottom of the towel. It blended with the color of the white towel and could not be seen unless you clicked on the picture to enlarge it.
"Brother, why are you filming this?" Li Feifei was a little puzzled, wondering if her brother was trying to gain sympathy by playing the victim.
Well, she does look quite pitiful.
Xu Qiao raised his eyes and spoke slowly, with a hint of genuine joy: "It will come in handy sooner or later."
It is better to be prepared sooner rather than later. When someone with ulterior motives takes it out in the future, it will be called "evidence".
After picking a picture and uploading it to Weibo, Xu Qiao added a "Come on" emoji as the caption, then put the phone aside and ignored it.
Li Feifei wiped his hair with a towel and shook Xu Qiao's hand, which was frighteningly cold: "Brother, go change your clothes quickly."
Xu Qiao rubbed her temples, and finally stood up and took dry clothes to the dressing room. A cold wind blew over on the way, and the coldness seemed to penetrate the bones through her wet white dress. Xu Qiao felt cold all over, and there was a numb pain in the back of her head.
His vision was a little dark, and his steps were unsteady. He held on to the locker room door and slowed down his breathing.
"Are you here to change clothes too?" A familiar voice came from behind.
Before Xu Qiao could even turn around, he fell down.
Before he lost consciousness, the man rescued him in time and put a pair of strong arms around his waist. Xu Qiao only felt his face pressed against the man's warm neck, and a smell of rum mixed with ginger and honey came, a little spicy and a little warm.
When I woke up again, it was pitch black outside the window.
While Xu Qiao was in a daze, he smelled a pungent smell of disinfectant and realized that he was in the ward.
The wet clothes on his body had been changed, and his cold hands and feet had also relaxed. Lying in the warm quilt, Xu Qiao felt lazy for a moment and didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to sleep a little longer.
However, he could hear the sound effects of the game, "good", "perfect", and "unbelievable". The sound was deliberately turned down, but once he woke up, in the quiet ward, it kept coming into his ears and he couldn't get rid of it, disturbing him and frowning with his eyes closed.
Xu Qiao thought it was Li Feifei playing games, so he muttered, "Turn down the volume."
The game sound effects were obediently turned off. Xu Qiao was just about to take a nap when suddenly a faint smell of perfume wafted into his nose.
Li Feifei doesn't use perfume. Thinking of this, Xu Qiao opened her eyes, and a familiar man's face suddenly appeared in front of her. The aroma of spicy ginger mixed with sweet honey quietly penetrated into her nose.
Xu Qiao was stunned for a moment, then suddenly turned over and sat up.
Xu Siyi sat on the edge of the bed with her long legs resting on the ground, her relaxed posture looking like she was posing for a magazine cover.
He looked at Xu Qiao and raised his lips slightly: "Awake."
"Where's Feifei?" Xu Qiao looked around the ward where they were alone, his eyes falling quietly on Xu Siyi. Realizing that he might not know this name, he changed the question, "Where's my assistant?"
Xu Siyi replied: "I went to buy you some food."
After getting the answer, the ward fell into a brief silence.
Recalling the faint smell of perfume before he fell into coma, Xu Qiao hesitated and said, "You brought me to the hospital?"
Xu Siyi hummed.
Xu Qiao paused and looked away: "Thank you."
Xu Siyi leaned forward, his slightly narrow eyes drooped slightly, and he looked at Xu Qiao with a smile.
Unlike Xu Qiao's long eyelashes, his eyelashes are not long, but very dense. His brow bones are well-shaped and slightly prominent, and his eyelids are sharp, making his eyebrows and eyes look deep and clean.
Xu Qiao didn't know what to say. Fortunately, at this moment, he heard the sound of the door handle being turned, and the vague embarrassment dissipated.
Li Feifei came in with porridge and was relieved to see Xu Qiao was awake: "Brother, you are finally awake."
Seeing Li Feifei coming back, Xu Siyi stood up, put on his cap and mask, and waved to the two of them: "I'm leaving first."
He was about to turn around, but then he thought of something and turned back: "Do you want the role of the little Taoist priest?"
When Xu Siyi found out that the final role was not Xu Qiao, he knew what was going on without having to think about it.
Xu Qiao was stunned for a moment. He didn't really care about not getting the role, and he didn't have many regrets. He was unhappy, but not because he didn't get the role, but because someone else took away his things. As for the role itself, he didn't have any obsession.
To be honest, he prefers the male protagonist in the Water Ghost chapter, but it is obvious that this role will not be his.
So Xu Qiao shook his head.
Xu Siyi looked at him, nodded, and turned away.
Li Feifei walked Xu Siyi to the door. Looking at his leaving back, she felt as if she had forgotten something. Thinking about Xu Qiao's health, she hurried back to the ward.
Sitting down next to Xu Qiao, Li Feifei opened the lid of the porridge and said, "Brother, you were too tired in the afternoon, and you fainted because of the cold and the wind. You still have a slight fever now."
"Director Jiang told you to return to the crew after you're well again, don't worry." Li Feifei handed the porridge to Xu Qiao and sighed, "It's just right to stay in the hospital for two days. We can go back after Guan Han leaves."
When it comes to Guan Han, Li Feifei couldn't help but get angry and rolled her eyes.
Xu Qiao took a sip of porridge and hummed.
"This time, it's all thanks to Xu Siyi." Li Feifei sighed and frowned, "I feel like I forgot something."
Xu Qiao raised his eyebrows and asked casually, "Would you like an autograph?"
Li Feifei's face froze and he wailed. He forgot to ask for an autograph again. This happened twice. He was not a qualified fan!
When Xu Qiao recovered and returned to the crew, Guan Han had already left.
During the three days that she came to guest star, the entire crew was in an inexplicable low mood, and it took them a while to recover after she finally left.
Jiang Wen's face became uglier day by day. Others did not dare to offend him and acted very carefully, fearing that they would make mistakes and be scolded by the angry director.
After Xu Qiao came back, many people breathed a sigh of relief.
Everyone knows that Jiang Wen is very satisfied with Xu Qiao. Now that he is back, the director is in a better mood.
The assistant director reviewed Guan Han's shots over the past three days, his face wrinkled, and he sighed: "Director Jiang, Guan Han's schedule was too tight these three days, and she, uh, didn't perform well, so there are not enough shots available..."
What he said was considered polite, but Jiang Wen was not shy about it: "Poor performance? I don't think she even thought about acting well. You told me that her performance was poor after she acted so badly?"
The assistant director choked for a moment, not daring to continue the conversation, and then said, "Should we pay a little more money to invite the person back to shoot a few more scenes..."
Jiang Wen gave him a cold look and said, "I don't want to give her any more money."
OK. The assistant director shut up silently.
Jiang Wen paced back and forth in annoyance. Not only did he not want to pay her any more money, he even wanted to get back the salary he had paid her before.
What the fuck is this acting.
I regret it, I really regret it. I spent a high salary on this performance. It's a loss, a real loss.
He had heard from other directors that some actors, relying on their popularity, loved to act up, as if they would be unworthy of their "big names" if they didn't. For example, those who signed a contract for a few days but failed to complete the filming would often find ways to increase the money from the crew.
I can't tolerate her bad habits. I'm stingy and don't want to give her a dime more. Do you expect me to ask the great god to look down on you and spend money to buy it back? You're dreaming, don't you think I dare not release this shitty shot of yours
Jiang Wen rolled his eyes and felt a little comforted when he thought of Xu Qiao.
Fortunately, I have someone who is sensible and doesn't cause any trouble, so the money is worth it.
The assistant director continued to watch the camera and frowned, "Director, Xu Qiao's face is exposed in several frames. It's not very obvious, but you can see it if you really slow down the video. Let's see if we should cut it out or add a shot that doesn't show his face?"
"No need to cut." Jiang Wen said without hesitation.
"ah?"
Jiang Wen laughed, his laughter was a little cold: "What are you cutting? This shot is so beautiful."
The assistant director was apprehensive: "But... what if someone finds out it's a double?"
"It's just one or two frames, it can't be discovered." Jiang Wen patted his shoulder and comforted him.
If it is discovered, then it is discovered.
The director said so, what else can he do? The assistant director continued to review the shots, and after reviewing them, he was even more worried: "There are too few shots that can be used for Guan Han here, Director..."
Jiang Wen looked like he had given up and said, "Well, less is better."
The assistant director opened his mouth and thought, has Director Jiang given up on treatment
Jiang Wen looked at his worried expression, then moved his gaze to Guan Han's face in the camera and snorted again, "I advise you to be kind and to be a good person."
Jiang Wen was not afraid of what Guan Han would do to him. He had been shooting some small web dramas in the past few years. Whether it made money or not was another matter. It was always somewhat different from his original intention of studying directing. Jiang Wen had originally planned that if the response to "Liao Jiang" was still average, he would just change his career.
After having this idea, he didn't care whether he would offend Guan Han or not. So what if he offended her? I'm not in the entertainment industry anymore, you can do whatever you want.
The assistant came over and told him that Xu Qiao was back.
Jiang Wen's face looked better.
He watched Guan Han's film, and then opened Xu Qiao's film, from Jin Er's to the one where he was Guan Han's stand-in, acting in Meng Xuan's costume.
Jiang Wen took out a cigarette and lit it, holding it between his fingers without smoking, as if he was lost in thought. The assistant director glanced at him and felt that something was wrong with Jiang Wen today. Jiang Wen was a bit of a smoker, but he never smoked on the set before.
"Director Jiang...?"
Jiang Wen waved his hand to indicate that everything was fine, and paced back and forth, with many thoughts popping up in his mind.
"Liao Jiang" was the last chance he gave himself. If it didn't make a splash, he would quit the industry. Who didn't have some ambition when they first entered the industry? But opportunities and abilities are both indispensable. After so many years of ups and downs, he was still an unknown director, and he was always a little discouraged.
But after all, he has directed so many dramas, so his experience and vision are still there. He can see the charm of Xu Qiao in the camera, even if he doesn't have that many scenes, but as long as he is in the camera, even the male and female protagonists will be overshadowed.
It was a kind of attraction that could firmly catch people's eyes, just like a touch of bright color suddenly appearing in a black and white photo, which was too prominent. This also made Jiang Wen have a little more secret expectation and confidence in "Liao Jiang", a web drama that was destined to not make any splash.
Jiang Wen put out his cigarette and made a decision.
At one o'clock in the morning, after the filming of the day was finished, Jiang Wen asked Xu Qiao to stay. The screenwriter of "Liao Jiang" also stayed.
In the messy and crowded studio, all the lights were off, and only an incandescent lamp was left on above the heads of three people, drawing a striking circle of light in the darkness.
Xu Qiao saw Jiang Wen spread the script in front of him and the screenwriter. Jiang Wen pointed at the rough edges of the script and said in a steady voice: "Do you know why I kept you two here today?"
He left both himself and the screenwriter behind, and took out the script again, obviously he was going to change his play. Xu Qiao's eyes curled up beautifully, and his voice was a little tired and lazy: "Does the director think the script needs to be changed?"