He plays Feng Yuxiu, and his girlfriend is a fairy-like beauty.

Liu Weiqiang's arrival did not affect the subsequent filming.

Director Ye called "Action!"

The stage manager claps the clapperboard.

Ye Mo turned out of the alley, his white suit still stained with the blood from the previous incident, and his blond hair gleaming coldly white under the light.

He hadn't taken off his sunglasses, and his lips were pursed into a thin line.

When he reached the middle of the alley, Zeng Zidan suddenly crashed into him from the side—the thud of their bodies colliding made the microphone vibrate.

He drew the dagger from his waist and gripped it in a reverse hand.

The blade moved upwards along Zeng Zidan's ribs, and Zeng Zidan blocked with an elbow strike, the sound of metal clashing exploding out.

Using the force of Zeng Zidan's block, Ye Mo switched hands, twirling the dagger half a circle between his fingers, changing from a forehand to a backhand, and thrusting the tip of the dagger downwards towards Zeng Zidan's shoulder.

The entire sequence of movements takes less than three seconds.

"Cut!" Ye Weixin stood up. "Passed! Passed!"

He turned to look at the monitor, about to boast, when he noticed that Liu Weiqiang's expression was off.

Liu Weiqiang did not watch the surveillance footage.

He was looking at Ye Mo.

It's not something you can just look at casually.

He was staring intently. The eyes hidden behind black-rimmed glasses were narrowed, as if appraising something that had just been unearthed—their value was uncertain, but his intuition told him he couldn't look away.

"Did he really do that set of moves himself?" Liu Weiqiang asked.

“From beginning to end,” Wilson Yip said, “the stunt double was in place but we didn’t use him. That kid has had this rule since the first day of filming—if he can do it himself, he will never find a stunt double.”

Liu Weiqiang did not respond.

Ye Mo was squatting on the ground, helping Zeng Zidan check his protective gear.

Zeng Zidan waved his hand and said it was nothing, but Ye Mo still re-wrapped the brace on his elbow.

The movements were very natural, as if they had been done a hundred times.

"What's his name?" Liu Weiqiang asked, turning to Hong Jinbao.

"Ye Mo." Sammo Hung held up a cup of Pu'er tea, his tone flat. "He's from the mainland, and he's acted in a few movies, all as villains."

"From the mainland? I've never heard of that."

"How long has it been since you last visited mainland China?"

Liu Weiqiang didn't answer the question. He was still looking at Ye Mo.

Ye Weixin leaned closer, lowering his voice but unable to suppress his boastful tone: "Director Liu, let me tell you—this kid is the most worry-free actor I've had in my twenty years of filming. He doesn't need to be taught how to move, he doesn't need to rehearse his blocking, and he understands the script so well that he can revise the lines for the screenwriter. In that chase scene just now, he designed six blocking points himself, and they were all correct. When I film other action actors, I have to call out ten takes, but he gets it in two. And he's never late. When he arrives, he sits next to the monitor and watches the playback. If something is wrong, he figures it out himself."

Ye Weixin was speaking so fluently that his spittle was practically flying out of his mouth.

Sammo Hung slowly chimed in from behind, "Little Ye, the way you praise someone back when you were praising bullets wasn't this enthusiastic."

"The bullet is reliable, but this kid is—is—" Ye Weixin searched for the right words for a long time, "He's just born that way."

Liu Weiqiang remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he picked up his phone.

"I'll go search it."

Hung Kam-po and Yip Wai-shun exchanged a glance but neither of them stopped him.

Ye Mo was gesturing something to the martial arts director in the middle of the arena, twirling a prop dagger in his hand, occasionally pausing to draw an arc in the air, while the martial arts director nodded and took notes.

Zeng Zidan stood to the side, also gesturing, the two of them simultaneously dissecting the connection points for the next fight scene.

Liu Weiqiang looked down and searched for three words: Ye Mo.

The first search result was a video.

The title reads: "A One-Man Kung Fu World" - Feng Yuxiu battles the entire arena, determining both the victor and the loser, and deciding life and death.

He clicked on it.

The video quality isn't very good; it's probably a screen recording by a netizen.

In the picture, a disheveled man stands in the container yard, his eyes wide open and a creepy smile on his lips.

Fan Shaohuang stood opposite them, and the two collided between the iron frames.

Feng Yuxiu punched the rusty steel pipe with his bare hands, bending it and leaving his hands covered in blood, but he was still laughing.

"It not only distinguishes between superior and inferior, but also determines life and death."

Seven words squeezed out of his throat.

It's not the way you read lines.

It's a sound dug out from some very deep place that shouldn't be touched.

The video's comments section was flooded with messages like, "Holy crap, goosebumps, I can't watch this alone, is this for real?"

After reading it, Liu Weiqiang's thumb remained on the screen for a long time without moving.

Then he looked up and glanced again at the young man in the center of the arena who was chatting with the action director.

The blond-haired man, wearing a white suit and with an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, laughed heartily as he talked to the action director, revealing a row of white teeth.

Is he the same person as the violent madman in the video?

"Old Hong," Liu Weiqiang said, slamming his phone face down on the table, his voice low, "where did you find this Ye Mo?"

Hong Jinbao put down the Pu'er tea in his hand and drew a circle on the table with the bottom of the cup.

"Chen Desheng was the first to use it, in the filming of 'Kung Fu Jungle,' where he played the villain Feng Yuxiu."

"I went to see the premiere, and afterwards I asked someone to invite him for a late-night snack." Sammo Hung said slowly, as if he were describing how to cook a dish. "At that time, I felt that this kid had something. It wasn't the kind of routine that comes from formal training, but something that was in his bones. Later, he took on Lu Yang's 'Brotherhood of Blades' and played Ding Xiu. Lu Yang told me something—after Ye Mo auditioned, Lu Yang directly changed all the pages of the script about Ding Xiu. It wasn't Ye Mo who asked for it; Lu Yang watched his performance and felt that he had written it wrong."

"Was it written incorrectly?"

"I wrote it wrong." Sammo Hung repeated, "Then Ye Mo came to me. The first thing he talked to me about on the day of the audition wasn't the salary or the schedule, it was the styling."

"He said Ah Jie should have blond hair, a white suit, and sunglasses. What I was thinking at the time was—this kid isn't acting, he's just deconstructing the character. If an actor can deconstruct a character, he's not an actor."

Hong Jinbao looked at Liu Weiqiang.

"They are creators."

Liu Weiqiang took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with the corner of his clothes.

The movement was slow, as if giving himself time to think.

He spoke as he put his glasses back on.

"Old Hong, I won't lie to you—I'm currently preparing for a film."

Hung Kam-pao nodded, signaling him to continue.

"The script has been polished for a year and a half. It has a dual male lead structure, one is a policeman and the other is an undercover agent. The policeman's role is basically finalized, but I'm still looking for the undercover agent." Liu Weiqiang paused, "The script for the undercover agent character is the best written."

He stopped and took a sip of water.

"This role requires an actor who can handle this level of complexity. The first ones I wanted to invite were the award-winning big names. I talked to them one by one—it wasn't that they didn't want to act, but either their schedules clashed or we couldn't agree on the fees."

"Did the salary exceed the budget?"

"The current budget is already at its limit." Liu Weiqiang shook his head. "The cast itself is strong, with police officers, villains, and supporting actors—including the sister-in-law and psychologist with limited screen time—all of them are well-known."

"The salaries of these characters alone have already eaten up most of the budget. If the salaries of the undercover agents are also set at the level of big stars, the whole film will go into deficit. Production costs, locations, post-production—all of these will have to be cut."

After listening, Hung Kam-pao remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he put the cup in his hand on the table.

"So you came to see me about the martial arts industry?"

"Originally, there were a few action scenes that needed choreography, and I wanted you to help me with the stunt team's arrangements," Liu Weiqiang said. "However—"

His gaze then drifted to the center of the field.

Ye Mo was standing on the ladder, adjusting the hook of the wire harness to a higher setting.

The martial arts instructor shouted from below that it was high enough, and he looked down to confirm before climbing down.

"But now I feel that besides the martial arts, there might be other gains."

Hung Kam-po followed his gaze.

You mean Ye Mo?

"Yes, he does have acting skills—I watched a few clips of Feng Yuxiu that I just searched for, and he definitely has something. His eyes, body language, and the rhythm of his lines are not at the level of an ordinary newcomer. He is no worse than many A-list actors. But he has never been in a big commercial production, and his exposure is not enough."

Liu Weiqiang's expression was complicated.

It's not a denial, it's a weighing of options.

"My character needs to carry the box office," he said. "It would be difficult to convince the investors to cast a newcomer as the male lead."

Hung Kam-po waited for him to finish speaking, then slowly smiled.

"Weiqiang, I have a question for you."

"Go ahead and ask."

"Back when you filmed 'Young and Dangerous,' you cast Ekin Cheng as Chan Ho-nam. Who was Ekin Cheng back then? He came from idol dramas, and his acting had been criticized in several films. What did the investors say?"

Liu Weiqiang remained silent.

"The investors definitely disagreed, but you still used it," Hung Kam-po said. "And how many years did Chan Ho-nam remain popular afterward?"

Liu Weiqiang remained silent, but his expression changed.

It wasn't that I was persuaded, but that I began to waver.

Sammo Hung stood up and patted him on the shoulder: "I'm not saying you absolutely have to use him, but I think you should at least give him a try, let him audition for a scene. After the audition, whether you think he's good or not is your judgment. If you don't even try, what if you miss out?"

Liu Weiqiang glanced at him.

"You have that much confidence in him?"

"I wouldn't call it confidence." Hung Kam-pao looked at him seriously. "But there's one thing I'm sure of—this kid always surprises me. From the first time I met him until now, he has never once made me feel like I've trusted the wrong person."

Liu Weiqiang picked up the cup of tea on the table and took a sip.

The Pu'er tea had gone cold, but he didn't seem to notice.

On the other side of the set, Ye Mo walked to the monitor and discussed the lighting positions for the next take with Ye Weixin.

He gave two suggestions, and after listening, Yip Wai-shun slapped his thigh and called over the lighting technician to readjust the settings.

Ye Mo stepped back two steps to make room, then squatted down to watch the replay of the previous match.

The cold light from the screen reflected on his face, and his expression was as focused as if he were defusing a time bomb.

Liu Weiqiang stared at him for a long time.

Then he put the teacup down.

"You can give it a try!"

......