Face to Face

In the morning, Fish Head Xu was once again lured awake by the aroma of various foods.

"Chu, you bought so much food again first thing in the morning? Don't you ever need to sleep!"

A drowsy-looking Fish Head Xu stared at the meal on the table, yawning as he pulled out a chair to sit down.

"I woke up early, went for a swim, and then bought breakfast."

After Fish Head Xu sat down, Yang Chu handed him a pair of disposable chopsticks, unwrapped a pair for himself, and opened the takeout box in front of him.

The breakfast variety wasn't as extensive as yesterday's, but the portions were still substantial, and there was even extra fruit.

Fish Head Xu took the chopsticks from Yang Chu and opened a container; the rich aroma of stir-fried beef noodles instantly swept away his sleepiness. He picked up the box, shoveled in a few mouthfuls, and asked casually, "Swimming? Where did you go to swim so early? Don't tell me you went to the beach? You'd better be careful; the currents are strong."

As for the morning swimming, Yang Chu had already used the excuse that he couldn't function without a swim to explain it to Fish Head Xu when he went to the Sham Shui Po Park Swimming Pool yesterday.

People are different; some need a shower in the morning, others a soak at night. Fish Head Xu had seen plenty of strange things in his circles, so he didn't mind.

He was just a bit curious about where Yang Chu had gone.

"Didn't go to the beach. I saw a pool near Victoria Harbour Bay and went for a lap," Yang Chu said casually.

He hadn't gone for the swimming, of course, but for the sleep. Half an hour or an hour of sleep in the water was enough to keep him clear-headed for the entire day.

Yang Chu had originally intended to go to the Sham Shui Po Park Swimming Pool, which was actually quite close to Tongzhou Street Park, but he had finished his workout at four in the morning. It was too early, and the pool hadn't opened yet.

He could have snuck in, but considering that Uncle Kin, who managed the pool, might arrive at five to open up and clean, he risked being discovered while in his deep, unconscious state of sleep, so he didn't venture in.

Later, on his way back, Yang Chu passed the high-end residential buildings at Victoria Harbour Bay and saw the sign for a private pool. He simply climbed over the wall, snuck into the complex, and slept in the private pool for over an hour. After waking up, he quietly put his clothes back on, left the complex, and bought breakfast on the way.

"If you like swimming so much, earn some real money, buy a big house with a pool, and swim from dawn till dusk..."

Fish Head Xu shoveled in his beef noodles, looked up at Yang Chu, and suddenly paused, calling out in surprise, "Chu, you look a bit different today compared to yesterday? It's like—"

"Fatter?" Yang Chu swallowed a small steamed bun and asked with a smile.

"Yeah, that's it." Fish Head Xu nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, his cross-eyed gaze scanning Yang Chu up and down, his eyes full of wonder.

"I eat this much every day, I'm bound to put on some weight, right?!" Yang Chu ignored Fish Head Xu's gaze and said calmly.

"That's true." Fish Head Xu thought about it and didn't see any problem with that.

Besides, the change in Yang Chu's physique wasn't overly dramatic; only someone who spent the entire day with him would notice.

After finishing breakfast, the two of them headed out.

Yang Chu first had Fish Head Xu take a detour to the public library on Po On Road. Perhaps due to a shift change, Xu Xi wasn't there that morning. Yang Chu used the fake ID card he carried to borrow three books, and only then did he and Fish Head Xu rush to the film set on Fu Shan Road.

There was a night shoot today, and the filming was expected to last a while. Yang Chu didn't want to be idle on set; he had developed a great interest in reading, and through it, he was further coming to understand himself.

When they arrived at the Fu Shan Road set, filming hadn't started yet, but quite a few people had already gathered.

"Big Brother, Jia Le!"

Fish Head Xu led Yang Chu to meet the burly, fat director and the martial arts choreographer, Jia Le.

The two were standing between the camera and a crowd, gesturing as if conceptualizing action sequences. Seeing Fish Head Xu and Yang Chu arrive, the burly director showed a faint smile. "Xu, Chu, you're here quite early."

"We're here because of your care, Big Brother. We naturally have to be early; we can't hold up your work."

Fish Head Xu chuckled and pointed at Yang Chu. "Chu is a bit of a mute; he won't talk in front of you, but he was urging me to hurry the whole way here."

"I can tell. You know me, I don't stand on ceremony."

The burly man waved his hand dismissively. Having seen Yang Chu yesterday, he already knew the man was a man of few words, maintaining a faint sense of detachment from everyone, and wasn't the type to grovel or play politics.

But he didn't really care about that. In the world of stuntmen, real skill was what mattered; no matter how good your tongue was, if you couldn't perform on set, you were useless.

"Master, Black Skin Sha and his crew are here."

The tall, lean young man Yang Chu had seen earlier approached the burly director from the crowd and whispered.

"Got it. Jia Le, take the crew to the location shoot. Today's scenes are all night shoots."

The smile vanished from the burly director's face, replaced by a hint of irritation. He spoke to the choreographer Jia Le, then patted Fish Head Xu and looked at Yang Chu. "You two follow Jia Le to the location and get to work."

"Big Brother San Bao!"

Just then, a somewhat roguish voice drifted over from afar.

Walking toward the set were five or six figures in suits and sunglasses, their presence quite unbridled.

Leading them was a man of about thirty with a silver earring in his left ear and stubble on his chin. Seeing the burly director, he took off his sunglasses and, without a hint of restraint, opened his arms, moving to embrace him warmly.

The burly director shifted slightly to avoid the hug, his tone tinged with disgust. "Ah Sha, your scenes are at night. Why are you here so early?"

"Oh, Big Brother San Bao, look at you. Am I the kind of person to throw my weight around?"

The man called Ah Sha shrugged his shoulders. He didn't mind being dodged; instead, he naturally draped an arm over the director's shoulder and laughed. "We've invested in this film, so I naturally have to be diligent. Big Mouth Wai used to run errands and learn filmmaking on your sets, too. Now that he's kicked the bucket, I, Ah Sha, am naturally the same."

"Fine, just keep your people away. Don't disrupt the crew..."

The director, known as San Bao, brushed the arm off his shoulder again, his face showing a touch of helplessness.

"Of course, of course. My brothers are here to help, if anything." The suit-clad man retracted his arm, his face still full of smiles.

While they were talking, Yang Chu watched from a distance for a moment. Afterward, he and Fish Head Xu followed the choreographer Jia Le and a group of stuntmen to start moving equipment, preparing to head to the night's location.

Several trucks left the set, and Fish Head Xu's beat-up Toyota naturally followed behind.

"Is the director's name San Bao?!" In the car, Yang Chu recalled the burly fat man being addressed as "Brother San Bao," and turned to ask Fish Head Xu.

"That's just Big Brother's nickname. Back when he was still performing Qingyi roles in Peking Opera, that's what his master called him. Later, when Peking Opera lost its future, Big Brother entered the industry as a stuntman, and everyone just kept calling him that," Fish Head Xu replied casually while driving.

"What about those other guys?" Yang Chu thought of the men in suits he had seen on set and asked, feeling a bit puzzled.

"Hoodlums," Fish Head Xu curled his lip. "Don't let their fancy suits fool you; they're all lowlifes. Running drug dens, collecting protection fees, hacking people—they've done it all. Sigh, come to think of it, who hasn't been affiliated with a gang? There were plenty in our class too, though most of them quit later on."

At this, Fish Head Xu paused, his tone dropping a notch. "Big Brother must have had those people invest in this film; he didn't have much choice. He isn't as influential as he used to be, so we should just focus on doing our own jobs."