After The Vicious Cannon Fodder Was Reborn

Chapter 11: Visually Impaired

After rejecting Wen Shijins proposal, Tao Mu changed into his costume in the dressing room, and waited for the stylist to put on his hairpiecebecause Tao Mu was the body double for the male protagonist and they won't be showing his face, added to the fact that the quality of the cosmetics used by the crew was not good, so Tao Mu often didn't even put on makeup. The most enviable thing was that he didn't even tan despite having no makeup or sunscreen protection. When the sun was at its hottest, his skin would only become red at most, but even if he got a sunburn it still only looked like an attractive blush. The sweaty and sexy look only made him even more attractive.

Yang Mei, who was in charge of styling him, said for the nth time: "Isn't your skin too good? How much sunscreen can be saved this year since you don't get tan no matter what. I think those big-name cosmetics should have you endorse them"

Tao Mu was silent. Yang Mei suddenly made a fuss and shouted: "Ah, Tao Mu, why is your hand bleeding?"

Tao Mu came back to himself and spread his palms. The palms of his hands seemed to have been pierced by his nails, and a few drops of blood dripped down the fingers, almost staining the costume.

Tao Mu took out a tissue from the tissue box on the dressing table and wiped his palms. His movements were so careless and rough Yang Mei couldn't help frowning, "Does it hurt?"

"It's nothing." Tao Mu raised his eyes and smiled, saying, "I saw Mu Huating just now. I had to resist the urge to beat him and accidentally hurt myself."

As he said this, Tao Mu deliberately lowered his voice. Approaching closer to Yang Mei he blinked playfully: "This is a secret between the two of us, don't tell anyone."

Yang Mei's face turned red at his smile, and she nodded in a dizzy state. Mu Huating slandered and made lies in front of the investor and everyone in the crew yesterday, causing Tao Mu to suffer something he shouldn't have. Everyone talked about this in private. Yang Mei felt that she could understand Tao Mu's mood. If it was her, she would also want to beat Mu Huating up.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely not say anything." Yang Mei thought for a while, and comforted: "Tao Mu, I think you will be popular. And very popular. So you don't need to pay attention to people like Mu Huating."

Tao Mu smiled as he looked at the young woman with a serious look on her face.

When Tao Mu left the dressing room and returned to the set again, everyone in the Shen family had already left.

Shen Yu sat on the prop box next to director Chen, his head tilted as he looked at the monitor with wide smiles. After seeing Tao Mu, his eyes brightened, and he waved at Tao Mu with surprise in his eyes: "Wow, Tao Tao, you are so handsome! Practically another level of handsome!"

The staff on the set also looked at Tao Mu. Hearing Shen Yu's words, they nodded involuntarily.

This statement was not wrong. From a week ago, probably due to having become familiar with the filming routine and ancient costume appearance, the impression Tao Mu gave to others changed day by day. Especially in front of the camera, the positioning was more precise, and the movements were more smooth, appearing both confident and elegant. These series of changes made the character played by Tao Mu appear even more layered when captured by the camera. Several times, when the camera accidentally captured Tao Mu's face, the completely natural aura stunned even director Chen. He really thought that the actor in front of the camera was not just an actor but the main character. He completely forgot the fact that Tao Mu was just a body double.

And to be honest, Tao Mu's interpretation of the role was much better than that of Shen Yu, who also had no experience in acting. Whether in terms of appearance, acting skills, or even saying the lines, Tao Mu was at a much higher level.

All of this caused director Chen to be unable to help sighing privately that Tao Mu was born to eat this bowl of rice. (TN: born to this profession)

Newcomers who joined the entertainment industry every year were as many as the crucian carps crossing the river. But there were not many lucky ones who could really make it. A newcomer like Tao Mu, who had an overly handsome appearance, martial arts that was amazing, and even flawless when speaking lines was very rare.

And don't forget the fact that Tao Mu had already been admitted to the Beijing Film Academy, and would be getting professional training and credentialsif he was lucky, he might even be able to join the Beijing social circle. Thinking about it this way, Chen Yiqian's heart jumped slightly, and his intentions to express goodwill became more obvious.

"Xiao Mu, let's shoot some closeups for the footage from yesterday's scene today. In the afternoon, there will be a fight scene between you and the male number three. When we finish filming you can go back and rest."

From the body double without a name to the familiar Xiao Mu, the entire crew also understood what director Chen wanted to convey. Accordingly, there was a slight change from them as well when dealing with Tao Mu.

As for Tao Mu, he was himself as always. This calm and collected appearance inspired even more goodwill from the crew.

Shen Yu tilted his head and asked: "Tao Tao, your action scenes are so good, can you teach me? I actually want to do all kinds of cool martial arts in front of the camera too." Unfortunately, the Shen family wouldn't let him. Shen Yu grew up pampered and spoiled. The first time he went up in wires both his thighs and back got abrasions. When the Shen family came to visit the set and found that Shen Yu was bruised and swollen, they immediately banned Shen Yu's "self-harming" behavior.

Shen Yu, who hadn't developed a persistent mentality for acting and was also unwilling to worry his family, immediately agreed to the Shen family's request. But while he had promised, young people were young people after all, and they all liked to appear handsome and cool. Tao Mu's performance in front of the camera could even win over Chen Yiqian and those professional martial arts actors, so Shen Yu was no exception.

In the previous life, Shen Yu also yearned for doing martial arts with the wires after Tao Mu performed beautiful action scenes. After Tao Mu encountered Luo Yang's difficulties, in order to make Tao Mu happy, Shen Yu took the initiative to reveal Tao Mu as his body double for action scenes during the interview. After the interview, Shen Yu asked Tao Mu in private to teach him how to make cool moves while hanging on wires.

Tao Mu was very grateful to Shen Yu at that time, so he secretly taught Shen Yu and even showed Shen Yu little but useful tricks. But unexpectedly, there was an accident during their private rehearsal and the two entered the hospital together.

Tao Mu didn't want to mix with the Shen family anymore in this life so he simply refused Shen Yu's request: "I can't teach it. This is probably an inherent talent."

Shen Yu: ""

The setting up and the lighting of the props were almost ready. Tao Mu got up and entered the set, ready to shoot his scenes.

Regardless of the fantasies of fans and melon eaters outside the entertainment circle, filming was actually a very boring thing. What actors do the most in a day was to wait, wait for makeup, wait for the prop group to complete the set, wait for the camera crew and lighting crew to be in place. The director shouts action and the actors stand in position, if everything went smoothly it would end in ten minutes, and then wait some more for the scene lighting for the next scene to be in place. If it didn't go well, they would continue to grind. The short two or three minutes of footage in a TV series might take several hours or even months to shoot it on the set.

Because a lot of time was spent waiting, celebrities with a little status liked to drive into the crew in an RV. Especially after the advent of smart phones celebrities would wait for their scenes in the RV where they played with their smart phones, scrolling through Weibo, taking selfies, and making nine picture cute edits. But now, the entertainment industry had not yet formed that kind of studio atmosphere of immersing oneself in the smart phone and striving to be the king of head bowing. So when waiting for a scene, the most common thing seen would be a group of actors holding their copy of the script either reciting the lines by themselves or matching lines with each other. As for the group extras, they hid in inconspicuous corners and slack off in twos and threes.

Tao Mu stood in front of the set, and the prop master who was in charge of hanging the wire came over to help put on the wire suit, and the martial arts instructor was also beside him to talk about the movements. Mu Huating, who played the male number three, looked uncertain, probably because he was afraid that Tao Mu would avenge his private wrongs in the afternoon when they acted the confrontation scene. He went over to director Chen to discuss about using a body double for the afternoon scene.

The young master who was sought after by everyone stuck to Tao Mu's side and twittered incessantly. Tao Mu closed his eyes, not wanting to pay attention to him. Shen Yu stood next to Tao Mu and held his phone up to take a sneak shotthe kind where the owner showed half of his face in front of the camera so that it revealed Tao Mu on the wire behind him. Not satisfied with just that, he secretly posted it on Weibo, with the message "The little brother who is my body double, isn't he handsome?"

In 2008, Weibo was still a novelty. Many young and fashionable newbie celebrities would register accounts on Weibo to interact with fans. However, the slightly bigger celebrities were still accustomed to the traditional mysterious route, and they were well versed in the attractiveness of the unattainable and that a beauty appear more desirable from a distance.

As a rich fuerdai who was very good-looking, had a very good personality and also entered the entertainment circle for fun, Shen Yu had already amassed nearly 100,000 followers on Weibo. The most important thing was that these 100,000 fans were all "living people" who were active and keen to socialize. After Shen Yu posted the photo, all kinds of likes and comments came in. Some praised Shen Yu as being more handsome than Tao Mu, some agreed that Tao Mu was really handsome, and some asked for Tao Mus identity information and Weibo account. If one dont look at the data, the level of activity was no worse than that of the celebrities who have millions of fans and followers in the later years.

Shen Yu immersed himself in social media, while Tao Mu was called up to go before the camera.

The crew of "Purple Cloud" was actually very willing to film Tao Mu's scenes, especially in the past week. The young man seemed to have a cheat sheet in hand, none of the NGs were because of his own reasons. It directly led to the smooth and rapid shooting progress of the whole drama. The original plan was to shoot two and a half months of action scenes. But according to the current progress, it was estimated that the filming would be completed in less than two months.

During the lunch break, Ye Yao's agent and Mu Huating's agent found him again. In order to win Tao Mu over, Mu Huating's agent offered to give Tao Mu an audition opportunity even before signing the contract with Summer Starthe audition was for a modern school idol drama that was about to start filming at H Studio City. Tao Mu could play the male number four in it.

"I wanted to help you get the male number two. Unfortunately, you are not an artist of the company, so my hands were tied." Mu Huating's agent still did not forget to lobby Tao Mu: "But then, if you are willing to join the company, don't even mention just a male number two, even if it is the male number one lead, I can help you fight for it."

Tao Mu emphasized again: "Thank you brother Zhao for your kindness. But I have already said that I have been admitted to the Beijing Film Academy. The school stipulates that filming is not allowed before the junior year." It was now mid July and he would have to report to school on the 26th of August. If Tao Mu took over the role introduced by Zhao Keping, it was likely that he would not be able to report in time because of the schedule conflict. This was not in line with Tao Mu's future plans.

"It's not that strict." Zhao Keping said, "Our company has also signed a student of Beijing Film. If you are interested in joining the company, we can discuss the shooting schedule with the school."

Tao Mu: "But I think the school's regulations are quite good. Freshmen and sophomores can concentrate on studying at school to lay their foundation. I don't want to violate the school's regulations."

This was a bit too stubborn.

Zhao Keping's smile sank, and he felt that Tao Mu was really ignorant of favors handed to him: "Young people think simple, you have to know that many opportunities are not always available. As the saying goes, you have to get famous early, and this is true in the entertainment industry. Think about it, if you really follow the school rules, you will be in your twenties when you can finally take acting jobs. How can you guarantee that you will be popular?"

Tao Mu remained silent but smiling.

Zhao Keping was really full of anger. But looking at Tao Mus face, he really couldnt bear to let such a potential star go, so he could only retreat: If you insist on this, its not impossible. The company can negotiate with the school to arrange notices and scripts for you during the winter and summer vacations. The best of both worlds."

Zhao Keping was really optimistic about Tao Mu, and his sincerity was quite obvious. Even if Tao Mu had made up his mind and did not want to join a management company, he still felt a tiny bit of guilt refusing Zhao Keping's kindness at this moment. He could only say tactfully: "Then I will think about it again." If a refusal came even after careful consideration, he imagine Zhao Keping would likely no longer continue to insist.

Hearing Tao Mu's underlying refusal, Zhao Keping frowned. He didn't understand why Tao Mu resisted so much: "Is it because of Mu Huating?"

Mu Huating, who was caught off guard from suddenly being brought up, felt his chest squeeze and he looked at Tao Mu expressionlessly.

Although Tao Mu was sick of Mu Huating's methods, he did not have him take the blame. He shook his head: "It's not because of him. I am not ready to sign on to a company myself."

After a pause, Tao Mu explained: "I don't really want to be an idol." I just want to be my own boss.

Then that meant he wanted to be an actor? Zhao Keping suddenly came to a realization. He had seen so many newcomers with lofty ambitions. Tao Mu was not the first, nor the last.

"Summer Star Entertainments Yi Ge and Yi Jie are both award winning actor and actress (TN: literally number 1 brother and number 1 sister, terms to refer to the leaders among the artists within a talent agency that gets the most resources and have the most senior standing). Let me tell you, even if you want to be an actor, you cant just do pure acting. For things like competing for the best actor awards, you need help from the company to do public relations. Its a good thing that you have ambitions, but you cant do it alone. Think of it this way, after you sign to the company, the company will help you screen the script and arrange the scheduling. You only need to analyze the script and work hard to play a good role. I'll take care of the rest. Isn't it better this way?"

Zhao Keping skillfully drew a big pie, if Tao Mu was really a fledgling newcomer, he really wouldn't be able to hold up against him.

Wan Meihong, who was a step late, became anxious and hurried up to disrupt the situation: "Although Summar Star Entertainment has a film king and a film queen, but it is precisely because their Yi Ge and Yi Jie are both so in demand now, the company's best resources must be given to them first, and only the rest that's picked over would be given to you. But that also does not mean that you can get the remaining resources. In fact, there are many A-list and B-list male stars who signed with Summer Star. The agents of these people must also help their artists fight for resources. You are a newcomer who has no background or fan base. It is easy to be buried in this kind of company. So it is better to join Qin Dynasty Entertainment. At least at Qin Dynasty Entertainment there is only a Yi Jie, not a Yi Ge. If you are willing to join Qin Dynasty, with your conditions, I can certainly persuade the company to make you into the Yi Ge."

Zhao Keping sneered when he heard this: "Who doesn't know that your TV dramas produced by Qin Dynasty Entertainment are all major heroine centric dramas. Why did Wang Miao leave Qin Dyansty Entertainment? Wasn't it because of the lack of opportunities to further his career? And now you want to pull Tao Mu under the water, you simply don't have any consideration for newcomers' futures."

With a headache, Tao Mu looked at the two agents who were currently battling it out fiercely and slipped away under the guise of needing to pee.

"Tao Mu, wait, I have something to tell you."

Tao Mu paused and looked at Ye Yao who had followed him to the restroom. He raised an eyebrow and motioned for a certain someone to speak quickly.

Ye Yao blushed: "Do youdo you like me?"

Tao Mu: "???"

Ye Yao was feeling both shy and delighted: "I just knew it, yesterday you were willing to stand up to Luo Yang for me. You must like me. Although you don't say it with your mouth"

"Stop! Stop!" Tao Mu hurriedly interrupted a certain someone's words: "I say, can't you wish me some good for once?"

Ye Yao could not accept this: "How can you say this. Is it a bad thing to like me?"

"What do you think?" Tao Mu snorted and waved his hand impatiently to shoo her away: "Don't make trouble for me, go back to Luo Yang. If you keep on fighting, the two of you will really break up." You would suffer a lot if no one was there to protect you, and then you would be pushed into revealing your dark side.

"So what if we break up!" Ye Yao said with bravado, "I wanted to break up with him a long time ago. Listen to what he said yesterday. I treat him as a boyfriend, but he treats me as a kept little plaything. If I continue to like this kind of person, then wouldn't that make me someone with poor eyesight?"

Tao Mu thought privately, you don't just have poor eyesight. The men you become interested in were either a scumbag or a gay, just how visually impaired could you be!

"Okay, okay, okay, I don't have the energy to care about who you like. But, just don't like me."

Tao Mu had a headache and a stomachache, and thought to himself that this little episode hadn't happened in his previous life. However, even Tao Mu did not expect the differences to come from a different playing out of events. In his previous life, Tao Mu did not handle his performance well under the water hose, ending up being thrown on the set like a dead dog. Afterwards, he became the object of everyone's ridicule. Ye Yao was a young girl experiencing her first crush. Seeing that Tao Mu was so inadequate, she would be too busy feeling embarrassed, let alone admit that she liked him.

But Shen Yu, unable to watch it any longer, stood up for him. As a result, after their birth situation was exposed, and Tao Mu insisted on forcing Shen Yu to leave the Shen family, the Shen family never accepted him because of this matter. Thinking about it carefully, some of his behaviors in his last life were really inexplicable and possessed.

Sure enough, in this life, the best idea would be to stay far away from them. They were a nice, happy family together, and an outsider like him had no business sticking his nose in!