Chapter One: Unfulfilled Ambition

  "I know him, of course I know him." Manager Qian said with a bit of gritted teeth, his tone unpleasant.

  Cami gazed thoughtfully at Lin Xiao.

  "Often heard that side of the person say, there is a movie emperor and queen applauding newcomer, always wanted to see, today finally saw." Li Ruijin, who is 1.78 meters tall, is slightly shorter than Lin Xiao, with a face that has a very distinctive flavor, thick eyebrows and big eyes, but unfortunately has a hooked nose and thin lips, making this face look sharp no matter how you look at it.

  "Li Rui has arrived? I've long admired your great name." Lin Xiao stretched out one hand to shake, and the two of them laughed like long-lost brothers.

  "Director Xu, we still have some things to collect, so I won't keep you company for now. My artist is in your hands." CAMI said with a smile, waving goodbye.

  "Of course, would you like us to help?" Xu Ziyao asked.

  "No need, we can just pick it up ourselves."

  "That's good, when you're free, sit down and chat more. After all, we are alumni, one day I'll be the host, and everyone will get to know each other better."

  After finishing speaking, the five people dispersed. CAMI glanced at Lin Xiao "Have you and Qian Zhong had a falling out?"

  "Is it Manager Qian?" Lin Xiao thought for a moment and said "Nothing much, he wanted to take advantage of me since I'm an acquaintance, so there's some grudge."

  "Can't you just be honest for once? You have to offend all the powerful people here before you're satisfied?" CAMI rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache. "And that Li Ruijin, I hate people like him the most. He's always so righteous on the surface but does all sorts of sneaky things behind people's backs. But people like him are also the hardest to guard against, you'd better be careful yourself."

  Lin Xiao nodded and CAMI accompanied him to find a room before leaving.

  The room is partitioned, and sometimes a film crew comes to shoot here. The villagers have skillfully divided the room into small compartments, which can be considered as small single rooms. Sometimes three or four members of the film crew live in one room.

  Just as he was about to rest, his phone rang. He opened it and saw a notice from the crew that they would be filming scenes with Yan Zong and Wei Dongting tomorrow night.

  What's the hurry? Lin Xiao smiled faintly and turned off his phone to rest.

  Li Ruijin also received this message at the same time.

  "Director Xu, tomorrow there's a scene with him and me." His eyes shone with a fierce light. "Tell me, if I were to crush him here, who else could take my place in this play?"

  "Don't overdo it." Xu Ziyao hummed, "Speaking of which, you're still my distant relative. Let me remind you that woman is not simple, her social circle is very wide. Who knows, maybe one day you'll come knocking on her door for help."

  "If you can suppress his momentum, then suppress it. Don't make any other small moves, at least not when that woman is around." He glanced at Li Rui and said "You're still too green, I'm afraid you'll do something that can't be cleaned up. Remember, after eating, wipe your mouth clean. Don't make me have to clean up after you."

  "Understood, Director Xue."

  The next day, the formal shooting started. The scenes here were either in the tent or on the grassland. The weather on the grassland was very good and didn't require any supplementary lighting. The area around the filming location had already been cordoned off due to the start of formal shooting.

  This morning, we shot a martial arts scene. However, in this type of drama film, the martial arts scenes are just passable. The only difference is that the production scale is larger. Chen Jialin somehow gathered hundreds of extras, each paid 20 yuan, and insisted on shooting a large-scale war scene.

  Newcomers, of course, are discussing on the periphery, this big production is not something that every movie can encounter.

  "Lin Ge'er, you have a show tonight." Cai Dechuan asked with some concern, "Nothing's wrong, is there?"

  "Don't worry." Lin Xi watched with relish as several hundred people formed a battlefield, this was also his first time in two lifetimes.

  Here, cliques have already begun to form. New actors are best at dividing cliques by school, one group from one school and another group from another school, those without schools formed their own groups.

  In these larger circles with more influence, there are some smaller circles with less influence, mostly centered around a certain person, such as Li Ruijin. He was also on set today, and Lin Xiao observed him for a day, getting wind of some news that this person might have some connection to the investors.

  At least he had never seen a newcomer surrounded by several people and occasionally consulted with makeup artists.

  As his gaze swept past, Li Ruijin's gaze also swept over, and the two men's lines of sight flashed by in mid-air, both pretending to be nonchalant and looking away. But when Li Ruijin saw that there were actually several people standing next to Lin Xiao, his eyes narrowed slightly, almost imperceptibly.

  "Li Ge, that little guy is Lin Xiao." The person next to him said, pointing at Lin Xiao.

  Li Rui sank into silence for a moment, then smiled. "No rush, let me take a look at his foundation first. There are plenty of opportunities, I've checked out all the scenes he has on this side - one small martial arts scene, one rain scene. If it's really just a case of 'no tiger in the mountains' from the Xiangfu side, then that's fine, but if he really has some skills..."

  A flash of sinister intent flickered in his eyes as he said fiercely, "No one can stand in the way of my rise to power!"

  "But didn't General Xu tell everyone not to pick a fight?"

  "That's on the surface." Li Ruijin sneered, "Are there not enough dirty things in this circle? If you don't put it out, who would notice?"

  Seeing them whispering to each other, Lin Xiao didn't rush, carefully observing every famous actor's performance. Before long, it was evening.

  "Dinner at 8 o'clock. The scene of taking a secret meeting with Wei Dongting is ready. Lin Xiao, Li Ruijin, you two get ready." The stage manager sent out the notice.

  The two of them responded in unison, their eyes colliding again for a brief moment before gently shifting away.

  At six thirty, Lin Xiao entered the dressing room.

  "Ah, you're here." A makeup artist with a habit of tilting her ring finger and swaying her hips like a snake looked at him as he entered and smiled with a pair of cunning eyes.

  Unfortunately, "she" is male.

  "You can call her Yiyi." Yiyi covered her mouth and started laughing, her eyes constantly turning around Lin Xiao.

  "Brother..."

  "Good kid." Yiyi giggled and asked with one hand supporting her chin, "I'll just say it straight out, I don't know if you want to draw well or poorly?"

  Before Lin Xiao could respond, Yiyi smiled and said "Don't worry, I've drawn for Huan Zhu Ge Ge before, dealing with you newcomers isn't a problem."

  "Of course it's a good thing." Lin Xiao said calmly, almost everyone had guessed what was going to happen next, similar things, Li Hao had encountered several times in his previous life.

  "You really understand." Yiyi stood up, he pinched Lin Xiao's shoulder and praised "Really wide, good figure."

  He smiled and handed over a name card after circling around "Let's have a good chat tonight."

  "Sorry, Yiyi Ge." Lin Xiao's expression didn't change as he pushed the door card back "I have something to do tonight."

  Yi Yi didn't respond, and his face immediately turned cold. He raised an eyebrow and stared at Lin Xiao, only speaking after a few seconds: "You're just a newcomer, you need to understand the rules."

  "I don't have this hobby." Lin Xiao replied calmly.

  "You know what status makeup artists and lighting engineers have?"

  "Sorry, Yiyi Ge." Lin Xiao's attitude remained calm and composed.

  Neither of them spoke, and after a minute, Yiyiyang quickly picked up the access card. "Alright, you win."

  Then, as if nothing had happened, he wore a pair of high boots and made "clattering" sounds. "I'll go to the bathroom and come back to make you up."

  The door closed with a bang, and Yiyang had just stepped out of the door and leaned against the wall to send a short message.

  Li Ruijin picked up her phone and took a look, then smiled.

  "Willow's beauty has captivated your heart, right? He's just a third-rate makeup artist, who would make an exception for him?"

  "Then why did you introduce him to Lin Xiao for makeup?" someone next to him asked suspiciously.

  Li Rui sneered, "Although he's not good in private, his makeup skills are still top-notch. Do you remember when the prince came to the mansion, Liu Yiyi was asking about the person who did the makeup for Yan Yun?"

  "This isn't going to work? Even if you want to give him information, Li Ge, it's not like you can just blurt it out." The people around them were even more perplexed.

  "It's impossible to succeed." Li Rui played with his phone and said lightly, "However, since he didn't give Liu Yiyi face, it will be more convenient for him to ask Liu Yiyi for help in the future. And whether it succeeds or not, Liu Yiyi has to return me this favor."

  He turned his head and smiled at the person next to him, saying "Do you remember that Lin Xiao had a waterproof makeup rain scene?"

  "You mean..." Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

  "Makeup... is the key to Rain's play, right?" Li Ruijin smiled and added, "But if I crush him today, then there's no need for all this fuss."

  Liu Yiyi entered again when the cloud was light and the wind was gentle. He sent two words to Li Ruijin: "Not yet."

  Then he skillfully picked up the tool and started drawing Lin Xiao. At first, Lin Xiao was worried that he would play some tricks, but later found out that the other party didn't move at all.

  After the earlier interruption, nobody spoke a word. After finishing the painting, Yiyi patted him on the shoulder and said "Alright."

  Lin Xiao stood up and walked out of the dressing room in a few steps.

  When he arrived on the scene at 6:50, Li Ruijin was already there. Seeing him coming over, Li Ruijin's mouth curled up and smiled at him.

  "Everyone is here, Teacher Jia, tell them about the play." Chen Jialin hasn't arrived yet, but his assistant, who often follows him around, has already come.

  Teacher Jia is actually the deputy director of this play, and for newcomers to talk about the play, Chen Jialin doesn't have so much time.

  Three people sat together in harmony, I asked and you answered, like the calm before a storm.

  At 7:50, Chen Jialin arrived. There were still many people around him. Lin Xiao took a look and saw that Qian Zhong was also there.

  On the other hand, Xu Ziyao was drinking mineral water and blowing a fan while watching. The weather had already warmed up, and since their residence was far from here, there were no new people around, only a few old actors chatting.

  Chen Jialin glanced at the two of them and asked, "No problem now?"

  "No problem." They both replied in unison.

  Chen Jialin nodded and sat down in the director's chair, picked up a loudspeaker and shouted "Everyone get into position."

  Lighting engineer, camera operator, stagehand, clapperboard, and so on. All arrived within a few minutes. He then shouted "A!"

  Li Ruijing quietly turned around and glanced at Lin Xiao, asking with a double meaning "Are you ready?"