The entertainment industry: My 99 future timelines!

"I'm not crazy, I'm perfectly clear-headed. I know what I'm saying and what I'm going to do next."

Despite the strong reaction from Shen Ao and the others, Li Xu remained calm and spoke in a nonchalant tone.

Upon hearing this, Shen Ao immediately ignored his earache and jumped up from his stool, his voice trembling: "Li Xu, I don't think so! You're the director! The director! Have you even studied acting for a single day?"

Li Deyuan chimed in, forgetting about his notebook that had fallen to the ground, and said urgently, "Director Li! This is no joke, this is too reckless! It's not that a director can't direct and act, but that requires a mature director with solid acting skills. You...you're completely crossing over!"

"How are we going to explain this to the investors?"

As he spoke, Li Deyuan looked to Liu Yifei for help, hoping she would say something fair and control the madness of the chief director, Li Xu!

To Li Deyuan's disappointment, Liu Yifei didn't say a word.

She simply kept her eyes fixed on Li Xu, watching the reaction on his face.

Faced with this barrage of questions, Li Xu remained calm.

When he made this decision last night, he knew he would face criticism.

The level of skepticism he's facing is actually much better than he imagined; at least Liu Yifei, the major investor, hasn't joined in with her own skepticism.

After Shen Ao and Li Deyuan's voices subsided, Li Xu calmly looked at Liu Yifei and said in a composed tone:

"Senior, I know you have some doubts right now. May I ask you a question?"

"In our movie script, where is the first real interaction between Du Minghao and Song Qing?"

Hearing Li Xu ask her this question, Liu Yifei, though deeply doubtful herself, instinctively replied, "On a rainy night, Du Minghao suffered an anxiety attack after the celebration banquet and ran away. He unintentionally walked into a 24-hour bookstore, where my character, Song Qing, worked. I handed him a cup of hot water..."

As she spoke, Liu Yifei suddenly realized something, and her pupils contracted slightly.

"Yes, right there in that Time Capsule Bookstore."

"It sells books, coffee, and light meals, and it survives on regular customers who truly love the quiet atmosphere of the late night. The profits are not much, but enough for the owner to keep going. It's like a refuge in the city."

Li Xu picked up where Liu Yifei left off, his tone as if he were describing a real place.

"That night, Song Qing was on night shift organizing the bookshelves when Du Minghao burst in, soaked to the bone and looking utterly lost, like a stray animal stunned by a downpour."

When Li Xu suddenly brought this up, Li Deyuan couldn't help but try to steer the conversation back to the main topic, but Shen Ao immediately covered his mouth.

Following closely behind Liu Yifei, Shen Ao also figured out what Li Xu was up to.

At this moment, Li Xu spoke, and slowly stood up from his chair.

His posture began to change in an extremely subtle way; his shoulders curled in slightly, as if his body still retained the chill of the outdoors.

He walked to a relatively empty corner of the workshop, where there were no props, no set design, only an old sofa.

Li Xu walked over unsteadily, slowly sat down, and subconsciously tugged at his shirt collar, then ran his hand through his hair and shook his hand.

At the same time, his breathing was initially rapid, then gradually became deep and long, but there was a slight tremor at the end of each inhale, as if he was trying to suppress some kind of emotion that was about to burst forth.

Liu Yifei unconsciously held her breath.

She felt as if she were truly seeing a "Du Minghao" who was exhausted and soaked in the rain; Du Minghao seemed to have come back to life...

Subconsciously, Liu Yifei followed the scene in the movie script, got a cup of hot water from the water dispenser, and walked towards Li Xu.

"Here, you just got caught in the rain, have some hot water."

Li Xu's gaze swept lightly over Liu Yifei, just as if Du Minghao were scrutinizing Song Qing. His body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a brief moment, a reaction stemming from his celebrity status and depression, an instinctive wariness towards strangers approaching.

As Song Qing gently handed him a glass of water, Li Xu reached out and took the glass.

The rising steam from the hot water in the cup blurred his face.

But through the heat, Liu Yifei saw Li Xu's eyes.

It was a mixture of gratitude, doubt, curiosity, and a hint of embarrassment that he was trying hard to hide because his disheveled state had been seen by others.

Li Xu's lips moved, as if he wanted to force a polite social smile, but he failed, and it only turned into a slight, unnatural twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Finally, he lowered his eyes, looked at the water glass in his hand, and said in a low, somewhat hoarse voice, "Thank you."

After saying those two words.

As if he had exhausted all his strength, Li Xu stopped looking at "Song Qing" and simply sat quietly with his hands holding a cup of hot water, staring at a point in the void. He gradually sank into a quiet state of restorative isolation from the world.

The performance has stopped.

"call……!"

Li Xu let out a long breath, released the hot water cup in his hand, and the tense and fragile "Du Minghao" temperament that was originally on him quietly faded away.

He smiled slightly, his eyes regaining their usual clarity, though there was a faint dampness of sweat on his forehead.

However, at this moment in the studio, time seemed to stand still. Only Li Xu was alive and vibrant, while everyone else was in a state of "time stop".

Shen Ao seemed to be nailed to his chair, his mouth slightly open, all the doubts and dissatisfaction on his face vanished, leaving only disbelief.

Li Deyuan's eyes were completely glazed over.

Liu Yifei, on the other hand, had a wandering gaze, as if she were in a dream.

Liu Yifei has been in the industry for five years. She has met many good actors and veteran actors.

But even so.

Li Xu's performance just now relied entirely on a short line of dialogue, without any set design or extra background information, as well as subtle changes in his eyes, body language, breathing, and facial expressions.

In this simple studio, it seemed as if a rainy night bookstore had been built out of thin air, and a traumatized celebrity, Du Minghao, had been brought back to life. Even though she witnessed the whole thing, she still couldn't believe it.

This is no longer a question of whether or not someone can act!

This is a powerful sense of conviction, expressiveness, and infectiousness that only world-class top actors possess!

In the end, she couldn't even see "Li Xu" in Li Xu at all; there was only Du Minghao, only Du Minghao's loneliness and vulnerability.

The real Du Minghao that she had sketched out countless times in her mind every time she studied the script, but always felt there was a layer between her and him.

When Li Xu finally managed to say thank you with difficulty, she felt as if she were completely Song Qing. This was her first meeting with Du Minghao, and they left a deep impression on each other.

That's impressive acting.

It shocked her and even made her a little scared. She felt that even if she acted for five, ten, twenty, or even fifty years, she probably would never be able to reach the threshold of such natural acting skills.

"What's wrong, everyone? Was my performance not good enough? Or was it too good, that you all were stunned?"

Seeing the reactions of Liu Yifei, Shen Ao, and Li Deyuan, Li Xu couldn't help but smile and speak.