Director Jiang was shocked when he saw Mei Xuandong.
She had an investment of 15 million in hand, and it was true that she was sincere enough to get 3 million to pay Mei Xuandong, but everyone from the director to the producer knew that what they had given was not enough.
This young singer, who was faintly ranked first in the new generation in the circle and whose singing skills were recognized by the general public, was better than traffic even if he didn’t follow the traffic route, and the value of traffic was more expensive than the other.
For the sake of this not-so-expensive film salary, asking someone to lose 20 catties quickly, even Director Jiang felt that this deal was not worthwhile for Mei Xuandong.
Of course, generally speaking, the acting skills of traffic wer not very good. It was not that Director Jiang was biased, but that traffic could live well without acting skills. Naturally, there was no need to improve their acting skills, let alone Mei Xuandong who sings, There was no need to delve into acting skills.
If Zhao Zhaoyan’s old friend hadn’t been a matchmaker, and Mei Xuandong’s life experience fit well with the character design of the script, Director Jiang would not have had the fate to cooperate with him.
But what she didn’t expect was that when they met again, Mei Xuandong really lost a lot of weight.
Mei Xuandong apologized: “I’m sorry, director, I only lost 18 catties, which is still a little short of 20 catties. I will continue to lose weight after joining the group.”
Long Zitan behind him took a deep breath, and lost 18 catties in two weeks, already losing weight regardless of health. The director told you to lose weight, but he didn’t tell you to lose weight so fast.
Director Jiang stretched out her hand to signal him to stop talking, raised her hand and gestured in the air, and then patted Mei Xuandong on the shoulder: “How tall and heavy are you now?”
Mei Xuandong: “I’m 1.92 meters tall, and my current weight is 122 catties.”
He used to be 1.9 meters, but this year he has grown by 2 centimeters. It was said that a man could still take a shot after the age of 20. His nutritional status was better than before, and he could feel longer for a while.
Director Jiang paused, and replied in a very gentle tone: “Well, okay, the visual effect of your current appearance is enough, don’t worry about the two pounds, take your time, don’t force it.”
It didn’t matter if the two catties were not lost, because Mei Xuandong already looked skinny!
For example, male volleyball star Qin Chunxiao was 1.76 meters tall, weighs less than 68 kilograms, had single-digit body fat, and a waist circumference of around 65. He looked thin and strong, and was a body management template recognized by coaches and fans , Newton even thought he was weak, and asked Qin Chunxiao to continue to build muscle to cope with more intense international competitions.
As for a tall person who was 1.9 meters tall, as long as his weight was less than 140 catties, he was already on the thin side. Mei Xuandong originally had a relatively broad frame, but after losing weight to 122 catties, he could be described as skinny.
No matter how good the acting skills were, Director Jiang had already been touched by Mei Xuandong’s professionalism. This cooperation is really right, this young man is so dedicated!
Then came the script reading session.
The so-called reading meeting means that before the shooting starts, the head of the filming team, namely the director, producer, screenwriter, etc., would take the lead to call all the participating actors over. No matter where the camera moves, the director would not turn on the camera. Everyone sat around with the script and read the lines first. Generally, the industry also calls this a sitting row, a script study meeting, and the like.
If it was an IP-adapted drama, the filming team would also invite the original author to tell everyone about the creative background of the character, so that the actor could write a biography of the character and study the character better. During this period, the screenwriter could also find out which lines do not sound right and perfect.
Now some celebrities in the entertainment industry will not participate in the seminars, because they have a lot of resources, and they have to run a lot of crews, that is to say, running a drama, running an extra crew is a few million more, so naturally they will not participate in such delicate preparations.
Mei Xuandong was more dedicated to work. For Director Jiang’s pre-tax three million, he put off a lot of work before the filming started, leaving a lot of spare time for this quasi-Spring Festival called “Bright Future” comedy movie.
And during the reading session, this person also asked an old drama player sitting next to him: “It’s my first time acting, and I know for the first time that the script needs to be polished, but I have already memorized the original script, do you want to recite it later?”
Lao Xigu was a grandmother surnamed Liu, who would play the role of Mei Xuandong’s dementia-stricken mother in the play. She was quite temperamental in her daily life. Holding her gold-rimmed glasses, she replied softly: “The director is not X Jiawei, the script will not be changed casually, just pay attention to the details.”
Sitting on the other side of Mei Xuandong was also an actor named Chai Xin, who played the role of the protagonist’s greedy, selfish but conscientious uncle.
Mei Xuandong: “Memorize it.”
When he was studying, he worked and sang while taking the first place in the school. If it weren’t for earning medical expenses for his mother and younger sister, and paying off his father’s gambling debts, he would also be expected to go to Tsinghua University and Peking University.
Even though his academic qualifications were still criticized nowadays, Mei Xuandong himself could recite a 200-page book in a single pass. It was also very easy to memorize scripts. After the end, he took the short biography to block the screenwriter and director, and then went to the studio to practice walking, previewing the first few scenes he was going to perform in advance.
If you want to change to a newcomer who has no filming experience, you may not be willing to show your side that you don’t know anything about.
Mei Xuandong, however, was able to sing in front of the vegetable market with a cardboard sign saying “Mother is seriously ill, please help from good-hearted people” and singing with an old stereo microphone that he didn’t know how many hands he had.
He had the experience of doing things like begging for a living, and now that he was doing a serious job, what could he not be ashamed of?
Mei Xuandong had a high tolerance for hardships and a strong ability to learn. Whenever he wanted to, he could charm others with sweet words, which allowed him to quickly learn a lot from the director and screenwriter. Miraculously, he passed with flying colors.
Grandma Liu told Director Jiang in private: “Sooner or later, this kid Xiaomei will have great success.”
Director Jiang smiled when she heard the words: “He is already very promising.”
It only took Mei Xuandong five years to grow from grassroots to music king, and his singing skills had also been trained to the first-line level in the circle. As long as there were no accidents, Mei Xuandong’s miserable first half of his life had come to an end, and the second half of his life would be very rich.
But when the reading session was halfway through, the filming crew was still surprised by Mei Xuandong.
“Bright Future” told the story of a boy from a mountain village who brought his mother to the city for medical treatment, and all kinds of ridiculous things that happened when he worked part-time to raise medical expenses. After the beginning, Mei Xuandong directly pointed out that several places were not “real” enough.
Director Jiang: “Xuan Dong, before the filming started, I have been on site for several months.” She has been pursuing the truth with great effort, why is there still something wrong?
Mei Xuandong was very helpless: “Director, a person with a monthly salary of 4000 would not rent a three-bedroom apartment in City G. Uncle’s house shouldn’t be so big.”
Uncle Chaixin, who was mentioned by him, scratched his head in puzzlement: “This house is fine, and the props team has specially made a lot of old places. Such a dilapidated house can be rented even with a monthly salary of 4,000.”
Director Jiang: “How can I not rent three bedrooms and one living room? My uncle’s family has four people. He and his wife share one room, his son has another room, and father has another room…”
Mei Xuandong said concisely: “One room, one living room.”
He told the director that it was impossible for a family with a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan to support children and the elderly to had enough money to rent a large house. It was more likely to rent a one-bedroom and one living room, where the couple live in the bedroom, and a two-story bed was placed in the living room. Sleep on it, the old man sleeps on the bottom.
He also pointed out: “This room cannot have a separate kitchen. The landlord prepares a communal kitchen, which is more or less shared by several families. If there are really three bedrooms and one living room, as far as my uncle’s conscience is concerned, he will not be so firm in it. I kicked my nephew and sister out of the house at first.”
Director Jiang took out his small notebook and asked sincerely, “What else?”
Mei Xuandong looked at the script and said, “Here, the director wants the protagonist to squat on the side of the street and eat boxed lunches under the sun. It’s meant to depict how miserable the protagonist is, but in reality, truly poor people would only buy steamed buns and water, which are filling and inexpensive. After a tiring day of work, I’d rather find a cool place to eat…”
Even though he was already very tired, he insisted on going to eat in the sun. Mei Xuandong felt that it was very retarded. He didn’t have enough money to buy sunburn ointment, so he could eat in the stairwell of a certain office building. He could lean on that for a while.
Many people were shocked when they heard the words, and they really did not expect such suffering in the world.
Director Jiang felt like a treasure, she felt that it was really right to ask Mei Xuandong to act in this play, he had suffered so much! In contrast, the director herself came from a family in the film and television industry. For her, living in three bedrooms and one living room is already very difficult.
As for the other actors in the group… To give a simple example, Grandma Liu’s daily meal allowance was 300, which is one of the lowest among the actors with a surname in the whole crew. The old man said that she didn’t like big fish and big meat.
Another second-tier actress had to eat at least four hundred a day, but they are all very simple characters in the circle.
Some big coffees had to have 2,000 a day for meal supplements, and the entourage had to have 2,000.
Mei Xuandong received a supplementary fund for meals, but he cooked and brought his own meals, focusing on a vegetarian diet to ensure effective weight loss. To prevent any nutritional deficiencies, he also purchased vitamin and calcium tablets as supplements. If he could keep his daily expenses to around a hundred yuan, he considered it to be quite good.
Under his interference, Director Jiang directly asked the screenwriter to revise the script again. At the beginning, the street was replaced by the stairwell of an office building.
In addition, the beginning of their scene was changed to the main character kneading dough in an old house in the countryside. According to Mei Xuandong himself, he felt that steamed buns costing RMB 1 each were too expensive, so they decided to steam them in a steamer.
The water was picked from the well, the firewood was cut by himself, and there was an acre of field behind the house to grow some side dishes. If he raised a few chickens, he could even be self-sufficient in eggs.
At the end, the screenwriter asked him cheekily: “By the way, Xuan Dong, it’s just… the protagonist’s mother is not conscious. You have experience in this area, but can you say something to supplement the script?”
Seeing him holding a pen, Mei Xuandong knew that the other party wanted to use it in the script, and Grandma Liu, who played the leading role’s mother, also looked at him.
He thought for a while, and gave him some useful advice: “When my mother was unconscious, she would often look for her son, and she would always say that she got good clothes and asked me to put them on for my grandpa to see.”
The screenwriter smiled: “She still loves you.”
Mei Xuandong shrugged: “Yeah, she always thinks I’m dead, then hugs me and cries, and sometimes hits me. If you want to make this into a comedy, I think it’s fine.”
After all, the core of comedy was tragedy.
When the reading session was over, Director Jiang looked at him very lovingly, and several seniors in the crew would bring him some delicious food.
Mei Xuandong accepted their kindness appropriately, and gave back some imported snacks recommended by Long Zitan, but he felt that such eyes were not precious.
If he was still dressed in the rustic way when he first debuted, and he often carries heavy furniture and made him habitually bend his shoulders when he sings, even if he had a good face and a good singing voice, he would only be said to be a lucky grassroots, even Disgusted by some people, saying that he was a tool man promoted by capital and used to deceive little girls.
If it weren’t for having a good face, a grassroots like Mei Xuandong who didn’t study would never be able to climb up to the current class in his life.
Mei Xuandong recognized the above sentence in his heart. He was originally from the earth, and he was discovered by scouts through luck. Otherwise, the best ending of his life would be to take his sister with him after dying for his mother. Hiding from usury everywhere.
And as he later took physical education classes and worked hard to cultivate his manners, more and more people called him the noble son of the music world. Gradually, no one said these things, even now some people would express sympathy and affection for him because of his hardships in the past, that was only an add-on after dressing up exquisitely.
Maybe for someone, he was also just a troublesome addition to the soulmate setup.
Today’s Xiaoqin team still didn’t go back to Brother Guan Dong on the Weibo.
Mei Xuandong closed the phone, inexplicably feeling a little melancholy. If Qin Chunxiao rushed to shut him down, pulled him to hype him up, or just sympathized with him like everyone else, he would definitely feel a little sad, but now Qin Chunxiao simply ignored him, He was left confused.
What is wrong with me that made the other party ignore me? Could it be that previous temptation annoyed Team Qin?
Leaving aside the soulmate connection, Mei Xuandong also liked and yearned for Captain Qin very much.
As he became popular on the Internet, after having a group of fans and fans, some people also passed Qin’s family eight times, and then netizens found that although his family was not rich, his father was an honest and knowledgeable researcher, and his mother opened a small business. The car repair shop had been doing well recently, and she had rented a big shop. Her career was on the rise, and his sister had passed the National People’s Congress.
Team Qin himself was also very good. He had been a sports genius since he was a child. Even if his sprint career did not go well, he quickly shined in the volleyball field and passed the key high school by himself.
He was born in a happy and harmonious simple family. His parents were loving and his elder sister was a top student. He had smooth progress in his studies and sports. He could sway his blood on the field with his teammates, as if his whole life had been bathed in the sun.
That was the life that Mei Xuandong longed for.
It may be that the intake of carbohydrates and sugar had been too low recently, so Mei Xuandong was occasionally surrounded by negative emotions. He couldn’t help but think, if he could have a family of origin like Team Qin, was it because of the kindness of others? He didn’t have to think about it. Even if he encountered setbacks, he could get up with the support of the people around him. The pain in the past would only leave a shallow scar in the end, and it would become a medal that you can be proud of in a few years.
Mei Xuandong couldn’t do that. He always felt that there was a string in his brain, which was always tense, and he didn’t know when it would break. Walking pain, back pain after shoulder pain, sleeping pills and painkillers are not curable.
This was also the reason why he was anxious to resettle his sister to the far north. Mei Xuandong thought, if he died suddenly one day, at least those relatives would not be able to cross most of China to find her for a while. With the deposit he left, she would be able to finish the book well.
This was good, the girl had read the book, and she wanted to get married because she wanted to get married, instead of being sold to another family in an uneducated state.
Mei Xuandong was serious about filming, and occasionally went online to look at the photos of athletes sent by Jiang Xiaohai, coach of the national youth team. Team Qin was always placed in the C position, so he was very recognizable. Netizens also paid the most attention to this blue-eyed little men’s volleyball team.
Mei Xuandong knew that with Team Xiaoqin’s foundation, if they could have a professional image package, the visual effect would not be worse than his own, but he also felt from the bottom of his heart that Team Xiaoqin still looks the best in its current form.
The healthy, sunny and natural athletic teenager looks very comfortable and happy standing on the court, whether he was catching and smashing the ball or high-fiving his teammates.
And on March 2, Qin Chunxiao’s birthday, Jiang Xiaohai posted a photo of him eating longevity noodles, and netizens sent their blessings one after another. Mei Xuandong also followed the trend and went to the comment area with a trumpet to say “Happy birthday , I wish you good health.”
Afterwards, Mei Xuandong got used to moving on the set, and he didn’t lose out when acting with the seniors. The whole crew, from the director to the passer-by, recognized him very much.
And the teenager who was suspected of being his soulmate successfully got the No. 2 uniform of the National Youth Team and was the vice-captain of the 12-man roster announced on the official website of the Volleyball Association.
There were 12 young faces in that announcement, and Qin Chunxiao was ranked second at the top, with a smile on his face, bright eyes, a confident and happy expression, and he must be doing well.
In addition, the Volleyball Association also published a form with the name, date of birth, height, weight, position in the team, and place of origin of the national youth players.
Qin Chunxiao’s height changed from 174 cm to 177 cm, growing taller.
From confirming the suspected soulmate to now, Mei Xuandong also eagerly wanted to recognize each other from the beginning, and then established an intimate relationship that could be love or friendship, and now he had completely calmed down. He also realized that his eagerness before was not quite right.
Qin Chunxiao was an underage child, he had no need to respond to his desire for intimacy, not to mention that the other party still had so many important things to do, as a student, Qin Chunxiao had to stabilize his studies, as a player, he had to train and race.
Mei Xuandong murmured, “Why does it feel a bit like chasing and becoming an athlete?”
It was certainly desirable to have a new intimate relationship to ease a life that was too lonely, but as a fan watching the Xiaoqin team ride the wind and waves on the road of competition, it seems to be gratifying enough.
After chasing news about Team Xiaoqin for a while, Mei Xuandong experienced the joy of chasing stars for the first time in his life while not working hard on filming.
This year’s Men’s Volleyball World Youth Championship would be broadcast in the Czech Republic and the local station in G Province. At that time, Sir Lei, a volleyball commentator who was familiar with the Cantonese-speaking area, would also explain the game to the old fans.
Seeing the program list announced by the TV station’s official bib, Mei Xuandong counted the days and drew a red circle on the calendar, deciding to at least catch up with the Chinese team’s matches. Maybe he could follow all the way to the final.
So he decided to go out and eat a bowl of rice rolls. After all, when he was weighed this morning, he was only 119 catties. It doesn’t matter if he ate a little good.
The hotel where the film crew stayed was a four-star hotel. After Mei Xuandong ate rice rolls, he found that the H Island Agricultural Products Exhibition was being held nearby. There were many banners hanging at the entrance of the exhibition. The most conspicuous one had a row of regular script—— The first Chicken King Competition Festival in G Province.
What kind of hegemony is this chicken? Was it a crowd fighting?
Out of curiosity, Mei Xuandong walked in wearing a mask and found skinned chicken carcasses everywhere, and chefs from Island H were cooking these chickens in various ways, including but not limited to steaming, frying, fried, boiled, stewed…
Mei Xuandong saw Qin Chunxiao in front of a booth with the sign “Champion of the 3rd H Island Chicken King Fighting Festival of White-cut Chicken Group”.
He was sitting on a chair, holding a bottle of mineral water in his hand, while his U21 opponent and national youth teammate Fu Biyang stood in front of the booth, arguing with the boss about something.
Qin Chunxiao yawned, and boredly scanned the passing crowd, his eyes resting on a tall, thin man wearing sunglasses and a mask.
After sitting for half an hour, this person was the one who was dressed most in line with Qin Chunxiao’s aesthetics, right? How could he not wear a mask in such a crowded place?
Although Qin Chunxiao didn’t wear it himself because Fu Biyang, who invited him to play here, always felt that his behavior of wearing a pack of masks wherever he went was imitating a popular cleanliness character in a small volleyball manga.
They also had dark curly hair, which feels more like…
Qin Chunxiao stared at the thin and tall man, and found that he looked familiar.
Then he showed a dazed look, took out his mobile phone and operated it, got up and said, “Chicken, I’m leaving first.”
Fu Biyang replied straightforwardly, “Okay, I’ll ask my third aunt to pack a chicken for you. Even if you can’t eat out, let your uncle and aunt taste it.”
Mei Xuandong’s phone vibrated, and he took it out to check. He saw that Qin Chunxiao had mentioned him in a comment on his film Reuters video.
Qin Chunxiao V: The posture of carrying the refrigerator is very standard, and the protagonist gives off a resilient vibe. Looking forward to this movie.
The comment sparked a wave of responses from fans in the comment section.
Liuliumei: Whenever I have nothing to do, I come to Dongge’s super chat. I just realized that important people are finally paying attention to our Dongge. Dongge, have you seen it? Your idol has mentioned you! When will you mention me back?
Qingqing Grassland: “Never forget that there will always be an echo!” Congratulations to Team Xiaoqin for becoming the vice-captain of the National Youth Team. What do you mean by winning?
Bright salesperson: Brother Dong, come and see! Team Qin is following you!
It’s like getting close plus one.
Black swarthy: Hahaha, the reason for this attention. Brother Dong, you’re probably the first singer to be followed because of your ability to carry a refrigerator, right?
Miserable: I watched that video too. Brother Dong carried the refrigerator so well. Please don’t carry it again next time, it made me feel so distressed.
Green Pigeon: Brother Dong and Team Qin are both from the Cantonese-speaking area. In Cantonese, there is a word that means endurance and resilience. It signifies the ability to endure hardships and persevere, no matter how difficult the situation. As an athlete, Team Qin should appreciate this spirit greatly.
OCD Character of a certain volleyball manga, Kiyoomi Sakusa.
Director Jiang was shocked when he saw Mei Xuandong.
She had an investment of 15 million in hand, and it was true that she was sincere enough to get 3 million to pay Mei Xuandong, but everyone from the director to the producer knew that what they had given was not enough.
This young singer, who was faintly ranked first in the new generation in the circle and whose singing skills were recognized by the general public, was better than traffic even if he didn’t follow the traffic route, and the value of traffic was more expensive than the other.
For the sake of this not-so-expensive film salary, asking someone to lose 20 catties quickly, even Director Jiang felt that this deal was not worthwhile for Mei Xuandong.
Of course, generally speaking, the acting skills of traffic wer not very good. It was not that Director Jiang was biased, but that traffic could live well without acting skills. Naturally, there was no need to improve their acting skills, let alone Mei Xuandong who sings, There was no need to delve into acting skills.
If Zhao Zhaoyan’s old friend hadn’t been a matchmaker, and Mei Xuandong’s life experience fit well with the character design of the script, Director Jiang would not have had the fate to cooperate with him.
But what she didn’t expect was that when they met again, Mei Xuandong really lost a lot of weight.
Mei Xuandong apologized: “I’m sorry, director, I only lost 18 catties, which is still a little short of 20 catties. I will continue to lose weight after joining the group.”
Long Zitan behind him took a deep breath, and lost 18 catties in two weeks, already losing weight regardless of health. The director told you to lose weight, but he didn’t tell you to lose weight so fast.
Director Jiang stretched out her hand to signal him to stop talking, raised her hand and gestured in the air, and then patted Mei Xuandong on the shoulder: “How tall and heavy are you now?”
Mei Xuandong: “I’m 1.92 meters tall, and my current weight is 122 catties.”
He used to be 1.9 meters, but this year he has grown by 2 centimeters. It was said that a man could still take a shot after the age of 20. His nutritional status was better than before, and he could feel longer for a while.
Director Jiang paused, and replied in a very gentle tone: “Well, okay, the visual effect of your current appearance is enough, don’t worry about the two pounds, take your time, don’t force it.”
It didn’t matter if the two catties were not lost, because Mei Xuandong already looked skinny!
For example, male volleyball star Qin Chunxiao was 1.76 meters tall, weighs less than 68 kilograms, had single-digit body fat, and a waist circumference of around 65. He looked thin and strong, and was a body management template recognized by coaches and fans , Newton even thought he was weak, and asked Qin Chunxiao to continue to build muscle to cope with more intense international competitions.
As for a tall person who was 1.9 meters tall, as long as his weight was less than 140 catties, he was already on the thin side. Mei Xuandong originally had a relatively broad frame, but after losing weight to 122 catties, he could be described as skinny.
No matter how good the acting skills were, Director Jiang had already been touched by Mei Xuandong’s professionalism. This cooperation is really right, this young man is so dedicated!
Then came the script reading session.
The so-called reading meeting means that before the shooting starts, the head of the filming team, namely the director, producer, screenwriter, etc., would take the lead to call all the participating actors over. No matter where the camera moves, the director would not turn on the camera. Everyone sat around with the script and read the lines first. Generally, the industry also calls this a sitting row, a script study meeting, and the like.
If it was an IP-adapted drama, the filming team would also invite the original author to tell everyone about the creative background of the character, so that the actor could write a biography of the character and study the character better. During this period, the screenwriter could also find out which lines do not sound right and perfect.
Now some celebrities in the entertainment industry will not participate in the seminars, because they have a lot of resources, and they have to run a lot of crews, that is to say, running a drama, running an extra crew is a few million more, so naturally they will not participate in such delicate preparations.
Mei Xuandong was more dedicated to work. For Director Jiang’s pre-tax three million, he put off a lot of work before the filming started, leaving a lot of spare time for this quasi-Spring Festival called “Bright Future” comedy movie.
And during the reading session, this person also asked an old drama player sitting next to him: “It’s my first time acting, and I know for the first time that the script needs to be polished, but I have already memorized the original script, do you want to recite it later?”
Lao Xigu was a grandmother surnamed Liu, who would play the role of Mei Xuandong’s dementia-stricken mother in the play. She was quite temperamental in her daily life. Holding her gold-rimmed glasses, she replied softly: “The director is not X Jiawei, the script will not be changed casually, just pay attention to the details.”
Sitting on the other side of Mei Xuandong was also an actor named Chai Xin, who played the role of the protagonist’s greedy, selfish but conscientious uncle.
Mei Xuandong: “Memorize it.”
When he was studying, he worked and sang while taking the first place in the school. If it weren’t for earning medical expenses for his mother and younger sister, and paying off his father’s gambling debts, he would also be expected to go to Tsinghua University and Peking University.
Even though his academic qualifications were still criticized nowadays, Mei Xuandong himself could recite a 200-page book in a single pass. It was also very easy to memorize scripts. After the end, he took the short biography to block the screenwriter and director, and then went to the studio to practice walking, previewing the first few scenes he was going to perform in advance.
If you want to change to a newcomer who has no filming experience, you may not be willing to show your side that you don’t know anything about.
Mei Xuandong, however, was able to sing in front of the vegetable market with a cardboard sign saying “Mother is seriously ill, please help from good-hearted people” and singing with an old stereo microphone that he didn’t know how many hands he had.
He had the experience of doing things like begging for a living, and now that he was doing a serious job, what could he not be ashamed of?
Mei Xuandong had a high tolerance for hardships and a strong ability to learn. Whenever he wanted to, he could charm others with sweet words, which allowed him to quickly learn a lot from the director and screenwriter. Miraculously, he passed with flying colors.
Grandma Liu told Director Jiang in private: “Sooner or later, this kid Xiaomei will have great success.”
Director Jiang smiled when she heard the words: “He is already very promising.”
It only took Mei Xuandong five years to grow from grassroots to music king, and his singing skills had also been trained to the first-line level in the circle. As long as there were no accidents, Mei Xuandong’s miserable first half of his life had come to an end, and the second half of his life would be very rich.
But when the reading session was halfway through, the filming crew was still surprised by Mei Xuandong.
“Bright Future” told the story of a boy from a mountain village who brought his mother to the city for medical treatment, and all kinds of ridiculous things that happened when he worked part-time to raise medical expenses. After the beginning, Mei Xuandong directly pointed out that several places were not “real” enough.
Director Jiang: “Xuan Dong, before the filming started, I have been on site for several months.” She has been pursuing the truth with great effort, why is there still something wrong?
Mei Xuandong was very helpless: “Director, a person with a monthly salary of 4000 would not rent a three-bedroom apartment in City G. Uncle’s house shouldn’t be so big.”
Uncle Chaixin, who was mentioned by him, scratched his head in puzzlement: “This house is fine, and the props team has specially made a lot of old places. Such a dilapidated house can be rented even with a monthly salary of 4,000.”
Director Jiang: “How can I not rent three bedrooms and one living room? My uncle’s family has four people. He and his wife share one room, his son has another room, and father has another room…”
Mei Xuandong said concisely: “One room, one living room.”
He told the director that it was impossible for a family with a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan to support children and the elderly to had enough money to rent a large house. It was more likely to rent a one-bedroom and one living room, where the couple live in the bedroom, and a two-story bed was placed in the living room. Sleep on it, the old man sleeps on the bottom.
He also pointed out: “This room cannot have a separate kitchen. The landlord prepares a communal kitchen, which is more or less shared by several families. If there are really three bedrooms and one living room, as far as my uncle’s conscience is concerned, he will not be so firm in it. I kicked my nephew and sister out of the house at first.”
Director Jiang took out his small notebook and asked sincerely, “What else?”
Mei Xuandong looked at the script and said, “Here, the director wants the protagonist to squat on the side of the street and eat boxed lunches under the sun. It’s meant to depict how miserable the protagonist is, but in reality, truly poor people would only buy steamed buns and water, which are filling and inexpensive. After a tiring day of work, I’d rather find a cool place to eat…”
Even though he was already very tired, he insisted on going to eat in the sun. Mei Xuandong felt that it was very retarded. He didn’t have enough money to buy sunburn ointment, so he could eat in the stairwell of a certain office building. He could lean on that for a while.
Many people were shocked when they heard the words, and they really did not expect such suffering in the world.
Director Jiang felt like a treasure, she felt that it was really right to ask Mei Xuandong to act in this play, he had suffered so much! In contrast, the director herself came from a family in the film and television industry. For her, living in three bedrooms and one living room is already very difficult.
As for the other actors in the group… To give a simple example, Grandma Liu’s daily meal allowance was 300, which is one of the lowest among the actors with a surname in the whole crew. The old man said that she didn’t like big fish and big meat.
Another second-tier actress had to eat at least four hundred a day, but they are all very simple characters in the circle.
Some big coffees had to have 2,000 a day for meal supplements, and the entourage had to have 2,000.
Mei Xuandong received a supplementary fund for meals, but he cooked and brought his own meals, focusing on a vegetarian diet to ensure effective weight loss. To prevent any nutritional deficiencies, he also purchased vitamin and calcium tablets as supplements. If he could keep his daily expenses to around a hundred yuan, he considered it to be quite good.
Under his interference, Director Jiang directly asked the screenwriter to revise the script again. At the beginning, the street was replaced by the stairwell of an office building.
In addition, the beginning of their scene was changed to the main character kneading dough in an old house in the countryside. According to Mei Xuandong himself, he felt that steamed buns costing RMB 1 each were too expensive, so they decided to steam them in a steamer.
The water was picked from the well, the firewood was cut by himself, and there was an acre of field behind the house to grow some side dishes. If he raised a few chickens, he could even be self-sufficient in eggs.
At the end, the screenwriter asked him cheekily: “By the way, Xuan Dong, it’s just… the protagonist’s mother is not conscious. You have experience in this area, but can you say something to supplement the script?”
Seeing him holding a pen, Mei Xuandong knew that the other party wanted to use it in the script, and Grandma Liu, who played the leading role’s mother, also looked at him.
He thought for a while, and gave him some useful advice: “When my mother was unconscious, she would often look for her son, and she would always say that she got good clothes and asked me to put them on for my grandpa to see.”
The screenwriter smiled: “She still loves you.”
Mei Xuandong shrugged: “Yeah, she always thinks I’m dead, then hugs me and cries, and sometimes hits me. If you want to make this into a comedy, I think it’s fine.”
After all, the core of comedy was tragedy.
When the reading session was over, Director Jiang looked at him very lovingly, and several seniors in the crew would bring him some delicious food.
Mei Xuandong accepted their kindness appropriately, and gave back some imported snacks recommended by Long Zitan, but he felt that such eyes were not precious.
If he was still dressed in the rustic way when he first debuted, and he often carries heavy furniture and made him habitually bend his shoulders when he sings, even if he had a good face and a good singing voice, he would only be said to be a lucky grassroots, even Disgusted by some people, saying that he was a tool man promoted by capital and used to deceive little girls.
If it weren’t for having a good face, a grassroots like Mei Xuandong who didn’t study would never be able to climb up to the current class in his life.
Mei Xuandong recognized the above sentence in his heart. He was originally from the earth, and he was discovered by scouts through luck. Otherwise, the best ending of his life would be to take his sister with him after dying for his mother. Hiding from usury everywhere.
And as he later took physical education classes and worked hard to cultivate his manners, more and more people called him the noble son of the music world. Gradually, no one said these things, even now some people would express sympathy and affection for him because of his hardships in the past, that was only an add-on after dressing up exquisitely.
Maybe for someone, he was also just a troublesome addition to the soulmate setup.
Today’s Xiaoqin team still didn’t go back to Brother Guan Dong on the Weibo.
Mei Xuandong closed the phone, inexplicably feeling a little melancholy. If Qin Chunxiao rushed to shut him down, pulled him to hype him up, or just sympathized with him like everyone else, he would definitely feel a little sad, but now Qin Chunxiao simply ignored him, He was left confused.
What is wrong with me that made the other party ignore me? Could it be that previous temptation annoyed Team Qin?
Leaving aside the soulmate connection, Mei Xuandong also liked and yearned for Captain Qin very much.
As he became popular on the Internet, after having a group of fans and fans, some people also passed Qin’s family eight times, and then netizens found that although his family was not rich, his father was an honest and knowledgeable researcher, and his mother opened a small business. The car repair shop had been doing well recently, and she had rented a big shop. Her career was on the rise, and his sister had passed the National People’s Congress.
Team Qin himself was also very good. He had been a sports genius since he was a child. Even if his sprint career did not go well, he quickly shined in the volleyball field and passed the key high school by himself.
He was born in a happy and harmonious simple family. His parents were loving and his elder sister was a top student. He had smooth progress in his studies and sports. He could sway his blood on the field with his teammates, as if his whole life had been bathed in the sun.
That was the life that Mei Xuandong longed for.
It may be that the intake of carbohydrates and sugar had been too low recently, so Mei Xuandong was occasionally surrounded by negative emotions. He couldn’t help but think, if he could have a family of origin like Team Qin, was it because of the kindness of others? He didn’t have to think about it. Even if he encountered setbacks, he could get up with the support of the people around him. The pain in the past would only leave a shallow scar in the end, and it would become a medal that you can be proud of in a few years.
Mei Xuandong couldn’t do that. He always felt that there was a string in his brain, which was always tense, and he didn’t know when it would break. Walking pain, back pain after shoulder pain, sleeping pills and painkillers are not curable.
This was also the reason why he was anxious to resettle his sister to the far north. Mei Xuandong thought, if he died suddenly one day, at least those relatives would not be able to cross most of China to find her for a while. With the deposit he left, she would be able to finish the book well.
This was good, the girl had read the book, and she wanted to get married because she wanted to get married, instead of being sold to another family in an uneducated state.
Mei Xuandong was serious about filming, and occasionally went online to look at the photos of athletes sent by Jiang Xiaohai, coach of the national youth team. Team Qin was always placed in the C position, so he was very recognizable. Netizens also paid the most attention to this blue-eyed little men’s volleyball team.
Mei Xuandong knew that with Team Xiaoqin’s foundation, if they could have a professional image package, the visual effect would not be worse than his own, but he also felt from the bottom of his heart that Team Xiaoqin still looks the best in its current form.
The healthy, sunny and natural athletic teenager looks very comfortable and happy standing on the court, whether he was catching and smashing the ball or high-fiving his teammates.
And on March 2, Qin Chunxiao’s birthday, Jiang Xiaohai posted a photo of him eating longevity noodles, and netizens sent their blessings one after another. Mei Xuandong also followed the trend and went to the comment area with a trumpet to say “Happy birthday , I wish you good health.”
Afterwards, Mei Xuandong got used to moving on the set, and he didn’t lose out when acting with the seniors. The whole crew, from the director to the passer-by, recognized him very much.
And the teenager who was suspected of being his soulmate successfully got the No. 2 uniform of the National Youth Team and was the vice-captain of the 12-man roster announced on the official website of the Volleyball Association.
There were 12 young faces in that announcement, and Qin Chunxiao was ranked second at the top, with a smile on his face, bright eyes, a confident and happy expression, and he must be doing well.
In addition, the Volleyball Association also published a form with the name, date of birth, height, weight, position in the team, and place of origin of the national youth players.
Qin Chunxiao’s height changed from 174 cm to 177 cm, growing taller.
From confirming the suspected soulmate to now, Mei Xuandong also eagerly wanted to recognize each other from the beginning, and then established an intimate relationship that could be love or friendship, and now he had completely calmed down. He also realized that his eagerness before was not quite right.
Qin Chunxiao was an underage child, he had no need to respond to his desire for intimacy, not to mention that the other party still had so many important things to do, as a student, Qin Chunxiao had to stabilize his studies, as a player, he had to train and race.
Mei Xuandong murmured, “Why does it feel a bit like chasing and becoming an athlete?”
It was certainly desirable to have a new intimate relationship to ease a life that was too lonely, but as a fan watching the Xiaoqin team ride the wind and waves on the road of competition, it seems to be gratifying enough.
After chasing news about Team Xiaoqin for a while, Mei Xuandong experienced the joy of chasing stars for the first time in his life while not working hard on filming.
This year’s Men’s Volleyball World Youth Championship would be broadcast in the Czech Republic and the local station in G Province. At that time, Sir Lei, a volleyball commentator who was familiar with the Cantonese-speaking area, would also explain the game to the old fans.
Seeing the program list announced by the TV station’s official bib, Mei Xuandong counted the days and drew a red circle on the calendar, deciding to at least catch up with the Chinese team’s matches. Maybe he could follow all the way to the final.
So he decided to go out and eat a bowl of rice rolls. After all, when he was weighed this morning, he was only 119 catties. It doesn’t matter if he ate a little good.
The hotel where the film crew stayed was a four-star hotel. After Mei Xuandong ate rice rolls, he found that the H Island Agricultural Products Exhibition was being held nearby. There were many banners hanging at the entrance of the exhibition. The most conspicuous one had a row of regular script—— The first Chicken King Competition Festival in G Province.
What kind of hegemony is this chicken? Was it a crowd fighting?
Out of curiosity, Mei Xuandong walked in wearing a mask and found skinned chicken carcasses everywhere, and chefs from Island H were cooking these chickens in various ways, including but not limited to steaming, frying, fried, boiled, stewed…
Mei Xuandong saw Qin Chunxiao in front of a booth with the sign “Champion of the 3rd H Island Chicken King Fighting Festival of White-cut Chicken Group”.
He was sitting on a chair, holding a bottle of mineral water in his hand, while his U21 opponent and national youth teammate Fu Biyang stood in front of the booth, arguing with the boss about something.
Qin Chunxiao yawned, and boredly scanned the passing crowd, his eyes resting on a tall, thin man wearing sunglasses and a mask.
After sitting for half an hour, this person was the one who was dressed most in line with Qin Chunxiao’s aesthetics, right? How could he not wear a mask in such a crowded place?
Although Qin Chunxiao didn’t wear it himself because Fu Biyang, who invited him to play here, always felt that his behavior of wearing a pack of masks wherever he went was imitating a popular cleanliness character in a small volleyball manga.
They also had dark curly hair, which feels more like…
Qin Chunxiao stared at the thin and tall man, and found that he looked familiar.
Then he showed a dazed look, took out his mobile phone and operated it, got up and said, “Chicken, I’m leaving first.”
Fu Biyang replied straightforwardly, “Okay, I’ll ask my third aunt to pack a chicken for you. Even if you can’t eat out, let your uncle and aunt taste it.”
Mei Xuandong’s phone vibrated, and he took it out to check. He saw that Qin Chunxiao had mentioned him in a comment on his film Reuters video.
Qin Chunxiao V: The posture of carrying the refrigerator is very standard, and the protagonist gives off a resilient vibe. Looking forward to this movie.
The comment sparked a wave of responses from fans in the comment section.
Liuliumei: Whenever I have nothing to do, I come to Dongge’s super chat. I just realized that important people are finally paying attention to our Dongge. Dongge, have you seen it? Your idol has mentioned you! When will you mention me back?
Qingqing Grassland: “Never forget that there will always be an echo!” Congratulations to Team Xiaoqin for becoming the vice-captain of the National Youth Team. What do you mean by winning?
Bright salesperson: Brother Dong, come and see! Team Qin is following you!
It’s like getting close plus one.
Black swarthy: Hahaha, the reason for this attention. Brother Dong, you’re probably the first singer to be followed because of your ability to carry a refrigerator, right?
Miserable: I watched that video too. Brother Dong carried the refrigerator so well. Please don’t carry it again next time, it made me feel so distressed.
Green Pigeon: Brother Dong and Team Qin are both from the Cantonese-speaking area. In Cantonese, there is a word that means endurance and resilience. It signifies the ability to endure hardships and persevere, no matter how difficult the situation. As an athlete, Team Qin should appreciate this spirit greatly.
OCD Character of a certain volleyball manga, Kiyoomi Sakusa.
