Chapter 165: Keep Arguing

The filming progressed smoothly.

During this period, the Long siblings caught thieves, paparazzi, prop saboteurs, robbers, and even passing smugglers, among other things. In short, the two of them were never idle for a single moment.

Director Wang could only remark that paying for their favor was entirely worth the cost.

From detaining culprits to handing them over to the police, they provided a one-stop service. Sometimes, things would be completely resolved before anyone else even realized what had happened.

It was wonderfully worry-free.

The shooting itself went smoothly as well. Aside from acting, the cast and crew's favorite pastime was watching the screenwriter and Old Deng bicker.

As one was the original author of the story and the other was the adapter, friction was inevitable.

Take the ending of the story, for instance: the screenwriter insisted on letting A-Shui discover that he and Ten-Face Buddha were biological brothers, followed by a showcase of A-Shui's internal conflict and psychological activity.

Old Deng refused, arguing that A-Shui stayed true to himself from beginning to end, and Ten-Face Buddha's death should simply be a death, making the tragedy much more profound.

Over this single issue, the two of them went at it again, and the battle lines quickly extended from the director to Mofei.

Wu Miao's script hadn't mentioned their brotherhood at all. It was only as filming progressed and the plot advanced that Mofei realized this hidden plot twist had been buried all along.

Shooting a movie felt just like following a serialized drama.

"Mofei, you're the one playing the role. Tell us, wouldn't it be better if A-Shui found out about this?" the screenwriter asked, his face flushed. "The audience wants to see it!"

"If you just film whatever the audience wants to see, aren't we right back to the old beaten path?" Old Deng retorted, his face red and neck bulging. "Leave things unsaid! Do you understand the beauty of blank space? Look at all those classic works—how many of them spelled out everything you wanted to see?"

Caught right in the middle, Mofei turned his head and cast a pleading look toward Director Wang.

Director Wang stared fixedly at the studio ceiling, pretending not to see him.

These two had already argued in front of him countless times.

Since both of them had completely valid points and he was experiencing a massive headache himself, he had simply brought over the actor who played Ten-Face Buddha to weigh in together.

Seeing that both Old Deng and the screenwriter were staring at him, Mofei pondered for a moment before replying, "Well, regarding this matter, he could know, or he might not know. Not knowing is just not knowing, but if you want him to know, you have to carefully arrange how he finds out. If the arrangement isn't logical, it's better if he never knew at all."

Old Deng scratched his ear. "W-what?"

The screenwriter understood immediately: "That's a complete load of nonsense."

"Asking you was a waste of time anyway."

The two exchanged glances. Though they both found the other's stubbornness unbearable, at least the other spoke words that made human sense. They promptly abandoned Mofei and resumed their bickering.

Mofei let out a sigh of relief.

A quiet life is better than a complicated one. This story had always been a tug-of-war between the screenwriter and Old Deng, with Director Wang steering the ship; for him to chime in would have been out of line.

Besides, he felt both directions were viable, each with its own merits.

Even from the perspective of Ten-Face Buddha, one couldn't say for absolute certain that he wanted A-Shui to learn the truth.

Hesitation is simply the default state when faced with multiple-choice questions.

Holding his script, Wu Miao sidled up to Mofei. "Are they fighting again?"

It was hardly a rare occurrence. If the script weren't confidential, the entire crew probably would have been drafted to cast votes on it.

"Yeah," Mofei sighed.

"What is it about this time?" Wu Miao gossiped. "Are they trying to rewrite the script to soften the tension between our characters?"

"Do they even need to soften it?" Mofei chuckled, shaking his head. "Didn't you watch the playback? Director Wang even made you stand further away from me."

Mentioning this caused Wu Miao to sigh. "I just got used to it."

It was rare for a young man to find a companion on set, and the crew's atmosphere was exceptionally good, so he couldn't help letting his true nature slip a little.

He could mostly keep it under control while filming, but certain micro-reactions and subconscious gestures were so subtle that even the director hadn't noticed them at the time. Only during the playback did things feel slightly off, yet trying to reshoot never quite captured that same spontaneous vibe.

Most of their NGs were due to this exact issue.

"Never mind them. Even if the sky falls, the director's tall enough to hold it up." Wu Miao's moods came and went quickly; excitedly, he pulled out a new deck of cards to show Mofei.

Both of them were still in costume—Wu Miao in a leather jacket and jeans, and Mofei in a tailored suit and leather shoes. Neither lacked in the looks department, making the sight of them sitting together quite pleasing to the eye.

Watching from the side, Wu Miao's sister pulled out her phone and snapped a few shots. Whether they would be used or not, having a keepsake could never hurt.

Ji Xingyu and the others had already departed shortly after completing Ma He's graduation film project.

They had originally just dropped by to shoot some footage, but when Zhong Yan was doing Mofei's makeup, it had drawn Wu Miao over. Then came Wu Miao's sister, then a crew member, and eventually nearly half the entire film crew had gathered around.

Artists might be somewhat shy at other times, but when they were working, they could completely block out all surrounding noise and focus entirely on the task at hand.

The final photographs looked thoroughly satisfying on the camera screen. Wu Miao had even offered to pay Ma He and his team to shoot a dedicated portfolio for him.

Had Ma He not been in a rush to return and finish his graduation project, he might well have agreed on the spot.

From paying others for photo shoots to being paid for them, only a single masterpiece collection separated the two.

Looking at those fiercely intense photos, Mofei could only mentally give a thumbs-up to [The Joker].

Out of all the cards he had used thus far, this one was by far the smoothest. Full marks!

During the filming period—likely because the previous incident had blown up to such a massive scale—the card system had remained silent. For a long time, it hadn't dealt him any troublesome prank cards, providing only relatively normal and reliable ones like [The Pianist], [The Violinist], and [The Guitarist].

Piecing together the retained skills was almost enough to unlock a [Mastery of Western Musical Instruments] achievement. It was actually quite fortunate.

Especially since several cards now shared a common skill—[Frequent Accidents].

*Frequent Accidents (No performance proceeds without a hitch; the probability of mishaps occurring is drastically increased.)*

Wasn't this simply an enhanced Plus version of Murphy's Law?

Thank goodness he hadn't retained this skill during those few instances, or Mofei would have wanted to delete his account even without the option of a restart.

At present, photography had moved from real-world locations into the soundstage. What remained were mostly minor touch-up shots and small narrative patches.

Glancing at her phone, Lu Chunqiu wore a rather serious expression.

During a break, she walked over to Mofei and asked, "Do you remember those people who helped you back on that ship in international waters?"

"I definitely remember, though it seems I haven't seen them since," Mofei replied, his impression of that eventful day remaining quite vivid.

When the ship docked, he had been carried off piggyback, leaving him no time to pay attention to the three of them.

However, since the military officer surnamed Jiao never brought the matter up afterward, the people had presumably been released.

"Do you know who sent those people?" Lu Chunqiu didn't bother beating around the bush and delivered the answer directly. "Ji Xingjian."

"Little Ji's older brother?"

Strictly speaking, Mofei's relationship with Ji Xingjian couldn't be described as close; it practically didn't exist at all.

Had it not been for the sheer coincidence of saving Ji Xingyu's life, they shouldn't even have crossed paths.

"Indeed. He just sent a message saying that since you saved his younger brother once, and he has now helped you once, we're even," Lu Chunqiu said with a helpless smile.