Huayu, my cheat code is a bit strange.

Chapter 78 Assistant, Reading Comprehension, Training (Please read on, recommend, anything is appreciated!)

Speedy Internet Cafe, storage room.

Gu Xiao's gaze passed through the stacked cardboard boxes and landed on the white gauze around Luo Rui's head, her brows furrowing slightly.

"What's wrong?" he asked Qiu Yuanyuan, who was leaning against the door frame.

Qiu Yuanyuan didn't say anything, but simply gestured with her chin towards the door before turning and leaving.

Gu Xiaoxin was puzzled, but she still followed him out.

The two went to the back alley of the internet cafe.

Qiu Yuanyuan leaned against the wall, briefly asked about Gu Xiao's audition, and then got to the point, briefly recounting the conflict between Luo Rui and his father, as well as the smashed computer.

Gu Xiao clicked her tongue in astonishment: "Is it really that extreme?"

Qiu Yuanyuan snorted, her tone ambiguous, whether it was mockery or self-deprecation: "There are far more people like this than you think."

Gu Xiao thought for a moment, then sighed, "That makes sense."

"So what do you want me to do when you come to me?" He could probably guess, but he needed her to say it herself.

Qiu Yuanyuan didn't mince words, "Aren't you about to go filming? Can Luo Rui stay at your place for a few days?"

"I need to ask my dad first, but there's a high chance it'll be fine."

Gu Xiao pondered for a moment, then smiled wryly and said, "But this is only treating the symptoms, not the root cause, isn't it?"

Qiu Yuanyuan fell silent, clearly aware of the problem as well.

Seeing her troubled expression, Gu Xiao suddenly had an idea and asked, "Is Luo Rui's mouth sealed?"

Qiu Yuanyuan didn't understand why he asked that, but she still replied:

“Give him a comic book or a game console, and he can stay silent for a whole day and night.”

Gu Xiao silently labeled Luo Rui a "veteran shut-in" in her mind, and then asked, "Is he an adult?"

Qiu Yuanyuan's expression turned strange. She straightened up and scrutinized Gu Xiao: "What are you going to do?"

Gu Xiao said, "I'll introduce him to a job."

……

……

Kunlun Hotel, Kunlun Hall South Hall.

More than a month later, Gu Xiao walked into the conference hall of the star-rated hotel again, and the treatment was completely different from when she first auditioned.

Last time, he was an auditionee with an uncertain future, waiting in the waiting area for his fate to be decided.

This time, as soon as he appeared at the door, staff members greeted him warmly.

"Teacher Gu, you've arrived! This way, please. Director Zhou and Director Zhao are already inside."

The staff member, with a perfectly respectful smile, stepped aside to lead the way.

Gu Xiao silently followed, while signaling to Luo Rui behind her not to fall behind.

The hall was still covered with thick wool carpets, but the long table had been replaced with a conference table.

Most of the main actors, including Hu Jun, Gao Hu, Liu Yifei, Liu Tao, and Chen Hao, had already arrived and were chatting quietly in small groups.

When Gu Xiao walked in, almost everyone's eyes were instantly focused on him.

Luo Rui had never seen anything like this before, and he froze on the spot, his hands and feet turning ice cold.

"Gu Xiao, over here!"

Zhou Xiaowen's voice broke the brief silence.

He sat in the main seat, smiling and waving at Gu Xiao.

"Find a place to sit on the outside."

Gu Xiao whispered something to Luo Rui behind her, then walked towards Zhou Xiaowen.

Luo Rui nodded nervously and quickly slipped to the most inconspicuous spot by the wall to sit down, wishing he could shrink himself into a ball.

"Who is it?" Zhou Xiaowen glanced in Luo Rui's direction. "He seems a bit dazed."

Gu Xiaoyan said succinctly, "It's the assistant I hired."

Zhou Xiaowen was somewhat surprised, and glanced again at Luo Rui, who was hunched over by the wall: "Can he be relied on?"

Gu Xiao sat down in the empty seat with her name on it and placed her backpack at her feet.

"Keep your mouth shut and be obedient, that's enough."

He said calmly, "It's better than finding someone from outside whose background I don't know."

Zhou Xiaowen thought about it and felt it made sense, so she stopped asking questions and instead pushed a thick script in front of him.

Gu Xiao took the script, flipped through a few pages casually, and said as if no one else was around, "Hasn't Producer Zhang arrived yet?" Zhou Xiaowen replied calmly, "He's busy with the publicity for 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes.' He won't arrive until the opening ceremony."

Gu Xiao exchanged a glance with him, everything understood without a word.

……

……

"Yifei, Yifei?"

Jiang Xin waved his hand. "What are you looking at?"

Liu Yifei was taken aback, then hurriedly looked away, picked up her water glass, took a sip, and said to cover it up, "No, it's nothing."

Sitting on her other side, Liu Tao followed her gaze and smiled knowingly: "Looking at Gu Xiao?"

Liu Yifei's ears burned slightly, and she gently shook her head: "No."

"Still denying it," Liu Tao teased, nudging her shoulder. "Your eyes are practically glued to other people's bodies."

Jiang Xin also realized what was going on and lowered her voice curiously, "Speaking of which, you two worked together on 'The Story of a Noble Family' before, right? What's he like as a person? I heard he's quite arrogant?"

Liu Yifei instinctively wanted to retort, but recalling Gu Xiao's usual aloof and indifferent attitude towards everyone, she realized that Gu Xiao was not exactly friendly.

"He," Liu Yifei carefully chose her words, "is just not very talkative."

Chen Hao, who plays A Zi, also joined in the gossip at some point: "Is he really that close to Wang Fei? When did they meet?"

The girls immediately perked up and began asking questions, their words filled with curiosity.

Liu Yifei replied casually, but her gaze involuntarily drifted back to the other side of the conference table.

Gu Xiao was looking down at the script, her profile under the light showing her intense focus.

Just then, Zhou Xiaowen clapped his hands and said loudly, "Alright, everyone's here, let's begin."

The meeting room immediately fell silent.

"First of all, welcome to the cast and crew of 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils'."

Zhou Xiaowen looked around, his gaze lingering briefly on Gu Xiao. "In the coming months, I hope everyone will work together sincerely to create a classic."

After a brief opening, the script reading officially began.

……

……

"Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" truly lives up to its reputation as a large-scale production spearheaded by CCTV. The intricate relationships between its characters far surpass those of period romance dramas like "The Story of a Noble Family."

The three-day script reading was just the beginning; the photo shoot was even more grueling.

They put on elaborate ancient costumes and adjusted their poses in front of the camera time and time again, which took two whole days and two nights.

However, all of these become insignificant when faced with movement training.

In martial arts dramas, action scenes are the soul.

Every morning at seven o'clock, the bus carrying the lead actors would leave the hotel on time and take them to a professional martial arts training center in the suburbs.

The morning session consisted of practicing basic movements and routines.

Martial arts instructor Zhao Jian and his team have extremely high standards.

A simple starting stance, a sparring routine that lasts only a dozen seconds, often needs to be repeated hundreds of times until it becomes muscle memory.

At 2 p.m., everyone dragged their tired bodies back to the hotel. After a short lunch break, they would follow the etiquette teacher to learn various ancient etiquette and manners.

From bowing with hands clasped to kneeling and kowtowing, not a single mistake can be made.

Then came the dialogue rehearsals, where, under the supervision of the director and script supervisor, the emotions and rhythm of the lines were repeatedly refined.

This is not finished.

At 5 p.m., the bus will take them back to the training hall again.

The next project was the wire training that everyone hated.

Wearing a wire harness, with steel cables fastened around their waists and backs, they were repeatedly lifted off the ground by stuntmen and made to perform various movements.

The initial novelty was quickly replaced by physical discomfort.

At the end of the day, when the lead actors, including Hu Jun and Gao Hu, took off their wire harnesses, their shoulders, waists, ribs, and groins were all chafed and red.

No matter how hard it was, the two of them gritted their teeth and persevered without complaining.

Firstly, since I'm in this industry, I don't want to be known as someone who "can't endure hardship";

Secondly, with a "king of currying off" standing right next to me, I don't even have the right to complain.

(End of this chapter)