Director Mu felt there was a problem.
There's a big problem.
When it happened, he wasn't thinking much about it, or rather, he didn't realize he had made such a misleading sound, but afterwards...
Director Mu: Ah, my lifelong reputation, my integrity, my... is there any way to salvage this?
Director Mu's face went blank for a moment. Feeling the comfortable sensation as if his body had become several pounds lighter, he couldn't bring himself to feel any ill will towards Xia Zhiyi had caused this outcome—the child didn't do it on purpose! The child meant well!
Finally, under the intentional or unintentional gazes of everyone, Director Mu cleared his throat and said, "What are you all standing there for? Do you all want to give it a try? Xiao Xia is here to film a movie, not to give you massages!"
"Hurry up, go do what you're supposed to do. If you really want to try, find a masseur yourself after filming this drama. Xiao Xia is still a child, don't bully him." As he spoke, Director Mu waved everyone away, then pulled Xia Zhiyi aside and muttered, "You're too nice-tempered. It's obviously Zhao Ziwang's doing. He has low emotional intelligence and no sense of propriety. Don't agree to everything he says, or you'll end up being used as a free masseur by these people."
As he spoke, Director Mu paused, recalling his recent experience, and took out his phone to say to Xia Zhiyi, "Your skills are amazing! Come on, Uncle Mu hasn't given you a gift yet, so I'll make it up to you today."
As he spoke, Director Mu turned and shouted at Zhao Ziwang, " Zhao Ziwang! You're taking advantage of a child! You get to experience their skills for free, and then you drag others along to take advantage of you too! How can you be so shameless!"
"Hurry up, we can't forget to give at least one red envelope when we meet!"
Xia Zhiyi blinked, still wanting to refuse, but he couldn't refuse the elder's request to add him on the contact list.
So Xia Zhiyi but to accept Director Mu's friend request, and immediately received a 5,000 yuan red envelope from him.
After Director Mu sent it, he added, "Please accept it, please don't refuse, otherwise I'll feel embarrassed."
After saying that, he lowered his voice and said to Xia Zhiyi, "You'll be coming over every weekend from now on, right? How about you give me a massage then?"
Xia Zhiyi: "..."
ah.
It feels like something has broken.
Director Mu whispered, "Ah, considering the timeline, if everything goes smoothly, it might take another two months to finish. A few weeks is indeed a bit too short..."
Xia Zhiyi quickly said, "No, no, no, you're too kind. It's just a small matter..."
Director Mu: "Then you should accept it."
Xia Zhiyi: "..."
Director Mu: "You can't just refuse things given by your elders. Xiao Xia, I genuinely like you. You wouldn't refuse to be my junior, would you?"
Xia Zhiyi silently accepted it.
Zhao Ziwang, standing to the side, watched this scene with a complicated expression. " Director Mu, what do you mean by this?"
Director Mu: "It doesn't mean anything. I just find Xiao Xia pleasing to the eye and like him, so what?"
As he spoke, Director Mu looked at Xia Zhiyi and said with a smile, "While we're on set, you can still call me Director. But outside of the set, you can call me Uncle Mu, okay?"
Xia Zhiyi: "... Okay?"
Zhao Ziwang's eyes widened.
What kind of approach is this?
It was just a simple press of the button.
ah?
So massage has this effect?
Zhao Ziwang rubbed his hands together eagerly. " Director Mu, how about I give you a massage too?"
To be honest, he also wants an uncle like Director Mu!
Director Mu rolled his eyes at him. "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think I'm the kind of person who would covet someone's skills? I just like Xiao Xia! What do you know!"
As he spoke, he looked at Zhao Ziwang and asked, "Where's your red envelope?"
Zhao Ziwang: "..."
Zhao Ziwang didn't think he couldn't give the money, after all, he had just dragged Xia Zhiyi into doing a lot of work for free because of his curiosity.
Even if Director Mu didn't say it, Zhao Ziwang would still try to compensate Xia Zhiyi in other ways; he's not really lacking in emotional intelligence.
However, while adding Xia Zhiyi, Zhao Ziwang muttered to himself, " Director Mu, you usually call me Fu Mingyang on set, why the sudden change?"
Director Mu sneered, "Look at what you just did, do you think Fu Mingyang would do something like that? You've gone out of character, don't you realize?"
Zhao Ziwang: "..."
That makes a lot of sense.
Fu Mingyang, an upright, decisive, serious, and decent second male lead, not only won't make innocent teenagers do free work for everyone, but will also take the initiative to remind others not to take advantage of the teenager's good temper!
The veteran actor playing the mastermind behind the scenes passed by, carrying a thermos, and looked at them with a smile, "Hey, Old Mu, I heard it was quite lively here just now."
Director Mu, pulling Xia Zhiyi, said with a smile, "That's right, I just met a junior. Look, my nephew, Xiao Xia, isn't he handsome?"
Veteran actor. "Ah..."
Director Mu: "Red envelope."
Xia Zhiyi & Zhao Ziwang: Director Mu, something on you really has broken off.
On this day, Xia Zhiyi gained an uncle and received several red envelopes from him, while Zhao Ziwang gained a new friend and a new impression of Director Mu.
That evening, at Xu Chen's prompting, Xia Zhiyi saw the costume photos posted online by the production team.
[Oh, is this the actor who came to save the day? He seems quite suitable for the role. Is he a newcomer from some company? He looks a bit unfamiliar.]
[He's a handsome young man! A fresh and handsome young man! Looking forward to it!]
[ Xia Zhiyi? Why does she look so familiar?]
[ Xia Zhiyi! Xia Zhiyi! Teacher Xia, ahhhhhh!]
[So he's really joining a film crew? I guessed when I watched the show that this "ordinary person" was just a publicity stunt before entering the entertainment industry, and it turns out I was right.]
[ Teacher Xia! It's a fresh new Teacher Xia! Looking forward to Teacher Xia's portrayal of Yan Yan! When I heard the rumors before, I felt that this role was perfect for Teacher Xia, and I didn't expect the production team to actually invite Teacher Xia to play the role. Awesome!]
Who is this? Has this person had any previous work?
[Heh, yet another one with connections.]
Xia Zhiyi rested in the hotel room arranged by the production crew, watching a video call with Fu Chi while scrolling through the comments on the production crew's Weibo account, her expression calm.
On the other end of the video call, Fu Chi was processing the documents that his Old Master Fu had given him after returning home that day.
Although the two didn't communicate much, they only occasionally glanced at the screen, and being able to clearly see each other on the other side of the video seemed to satisfy them.
Xia Zhiyi wasn't too surprised when she saw that some people in the comments had started stirring up trouble and were subtly targeting her.
After all, no one had expected that the role of Yan Yan would fall to him, a complete newcomer.
Although the role was decided after Director Mu contacted Xia Zhiyi directly through Fu Yunyi, and after some discussion between the two parties, Xia Zhiyi passed the audition, it wasn't that Xia Zhiyi simply got the role by asking Director Mu for it.
But in some people's eyes, Xia Zhiyi has stolen their cake and cake.