The following days could be described as calm and uneventful.
The online public opinion had not affected the actual filming. After clarifying the "bullying" rumors, Su Shengxi didn't dare to provoke Xiao He anymore, and both sides returned to a state of mutual non-interference.
Xiao He was quite content with the peace, focusing seriously on filming with the crew.
Until one day, he received a message from He Junhao.
"Wow, bro, how are you planning to handle your graduation project? My head's about to go bald from stress!"
"Huh?"
At that moment, Xiao He realized he had forgotten something—
Holy shit, my graduation thesis!
"I had drafted a topic earlier, but then I got busy with filming and forgot about it."
Xiao He said very awkwardly.
He Junhao actually felt like this was expected: "Ahhh, we're doomed! What are you going to do? I forgot about it too until recently! My advisor just contacted me to urge me."
Xiao He felt his scalp go numb: "Of course we need to hurry up and do it! My advisor is the associate dean of our college!"
The advisor was randomly assigned, and during that period he happened to be at his unluckiest—with one bad draw he got the most terrifying advisor in their entire college.
At the time, his dorm mates had already presented him with little white flowers in advance, mourning his about-to-be-ruined graduation season.
"Ah—"
Xiao He let out a miserable cry, "I can't talk now, I need to go check my messages immediately."
He then hung up the phone and without stopping found his advisor's chat window—
Sure enough, his last conversation with his advisor was from last year, and the newest message was his advisor's "smiling with dead eyes" emoji.
Cold sweat broke out on Xiao He's forehead as he hurriedly searched for his previously prepared thesis topic and preliminary draft.
Yikes—
Looking at his previous thesis topic and direction, Xiao He felt completely confused like the black guy with question marks meme.
Sometimes you really can't empathize with your past self...
The current Xiao He looking at his previous thesis felt like he was looking at complete garbage.
He suddenly could empathize with his thesis advisor—this particular piece of crap really did taste quite bitter.
So Xiao He didn't dare delay any further, directly taking out his computer to revise his thesis topic and direction, attempting to gain his advisor's forgiveness.
...
For the next month, Xiao He busily juggled between his graduation project and the film crew's shooting schedule.
Their filming progress finally reached the point where Meng Zetian's character exits the story.
This was exactly the scene Xiao He had performed during his audition.
That time had been imaginary object performance, with Zhang Mo (who played Li Shuo) temporarily playing Bai Mingchuan to act alongside Xiao He. But this time, it was Xiao He formally performing this scene with Su Shengxi.
After this period of acting, Xiao He had gained a deeper understanding of this character, expressing even more genuine emotions during his performance.
Moreover, Xiao He had now discovered the wonderful utility of his newly acquired "Art of Lies" skill—this skill allowed him to deliver lines with greater infectiousness, making his character integration skyrocket.
This resulted in some people on set feeling somewhat dazed after hearing his various sophistries justifying his previous treasonous actions, almost feeling like "Meng Zetian" wasn't wrong—
He was just born in the wrong era. Without omniscient perspective, he chose the path he wanted to take.
Perhaps in his view, people like Bai Mingchuan were the crazy ones, throwing themselves into a cause without visible hope.
But the next moment, Meng Zetian lying on the ground let out a mocking laugh, his eyes filled with scorn and disdain, showing absolutely no signs of remorse—only endless resentment and hatred.
At that moment, the surrounding onlookers broke out in cold sweat, startled to realize they had almost started sympathizing with a traitor.
—To survive, he had even harmed his own compatriots. Someone who would betray his country would have no conscience left, no morality whatsoever?
Everything from before was merely a "halo" constructed by a dying fraud for himself.
He absolutely deserved to die!
A thousand deaths wouldn't be enough—his bones should be crushed to ashes!
Zhang Mo, who had been watching Xiao He's performance from the side, let out a long sigh and said with great emotion: "His acting has improved again. When he performed this scene during the audition, his emotional expression was still quite awkward, but now he can completely infect others with his emotions."
"He really has remarkable talent." Yi Man'er said while fanning herself with a fan, wearing a bright red qipao.
For an actor, infectiousness is extremely important, and sometimes you really have to admit that this thing heavily relies on natural talent. Systematic learning can sometimes backfire, making one lose that infectiousness instead. While relying solely on intuition and immersion is mentally exhausting and quite limited.
What surprised both of them most was that Xiao He, a newcomer without formal training, had never undergone systematic learning. He usually just sought advice from seniors in the crew and studied books on his own, yet he could completely handle the filming with the remaining reliance on feeling—outperforming that Su Shengxi beside him by several times.
—Although Xiao He himself didn't understand what this meant, thinking everything he did relied on "acting according to his nature," as a veteran, Zhang Mo could already see Xiao He's boundless potential.
"Sigh, it seems I need to keep working hard too. It would be really embarrassing if I got surpassed by a junior later." Zhang Mo said half-jokingly, half-reflectively.
Yi Man'er opened her fan and light laughed: "Well then Mr. Zhang needs to work hard~ I'm not in the same lane as you all, so I'll just take it easy~"
Both Yi Man'er and Zhang Mo belonged to Taidong Entertainment and had collaborated several times already, so Zhang Mo wasn't offended by such teasing. Instead he encouraged: "You should work hard too, strive to reclaim everything you lost this year."
Yi Man'er gave a bitter smile and shook her head: "We'll see. It's still too early to talk about these things now."
Speaking of which, it was some kind of twisted fate. After her film setbacks, Yi Man'er transitioned to television dramas, but unexpectedly Xu Youyou also moved to television dramas. The two had truly fought from the film circle to the television circle, with their fans constantly in a state of irreconcilable opposition.
Though of course, this had some benefits—at least when they fought, both fans and casual viewers loved to watch, which to some extent helped maintain heat for both of them.
Zhang Mo sighed and just said: "I heard through the grapevine that this June, Director Feng is preparing a new film. You should try out for it then."
Yi Man'er was surprised: "Is it that Director Feng I'm thinking of?"
Didn't he already retire from the industry? He's actually making a comeback this time?
Zhang Mo shook his head, not making any guesses, and just said: "The competition will definitely be fierce then. You should prepare yourself."
Yi Man'er nodded: "Okay, thank you Teacher Zhang."
"Don't mention it."
While the two were talking, Xiao He's scenes officially wrapped.
Su Shengxi hypocritically reached out to help Xiao He who was lying on the ground. Xiao He smiled and directly gripped Su Shengxi's hand with his own blood-covered one, using the other's strength to stand up.
Su Shengxi got blood all over his hand from Xiao He, his smile becoming somewhat strained as he still had to say: "Congratulations on wrapping up, Teacher Xiao."
"Thank you."
Xiao He replied with an equally insincere smile.
Liu Rulan walked over, handed Xiao He wet wipes, and glanced at Su Shengxi: "Teacher Su has worked hard during this period. We'll take our leave first."
Su Shengxi looked at his former manager, pursing his lips slightly: "Mm, goodbye, Sister Liu."
"Let's go."
The two turned and left.
While wiping the blood from his hands, Xiao He glanced sideways at Liu Rulan and asked curiously: "Sister Liu, could part of the reason you went independent be because of this Su Shengxi?"
Liu Rulan seemed to avoid Su Shengxi like the plague, appearing quite disgusted with him.
Liu Rulan gave him a sidelong glance, remained silent for a moment, then finally said: "When you work in a toilet, you might think it stinks, but you can grit your teeth and bear it. But if shit from the toilet accidentally gets on you, then you stop caring about everything else and just want to quit and leave immediately."
"That was exactly my state at the time."
Xiao He: "..."
Okay, understood.