“Brother Jiang? Brother Jiang?”
“What’s up with you? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
While Jiang Nian was spacing out, Li Cheng, standing across from him, noticed that Jiang Nian had suddenly gone silent and wasn’t speaking a word. He was completely baffled.
He felt that Jiang Nian was acting really strange today.
First, he had beaten Li Cheng up for no apparent reason, and now, in the middle of a sentence, he’d just clammed up without a peep.
“Did I do something to piss him off?”
Li Cheng muttered to himself, puzzled.
Jiang Nian snapped back to reality and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, I zoned out for a second. Brother Li, what did you need me for?”
Hearing the conversation steered back to the main topic,
Li Cheng didn’t dwell on what had just happened. “Oh, nothing much. The director’s looking for you. He said it’s time to shoot your last scene.”
“I see.”
Jiang Nian understood.
He had been with the crew for over two weeks now.
Thanks to his superb acting skills, this small-time villain—who only appeared in three episodes—was finally about to wrap up.
Whether the character Du Gao would be permanently unlocked or just temporarily unlocked was finally about to become clear.
“I’ll head over right away.”
Jiang Nian acknowledged and walked toward the set.
As the farewell scene for the small villain “Du Gao,”
the content wasn’t all that complicated. Basically, after the main character learned an incredible martial art, he came back to settle the score with Du Gao.
But due to the gap in their abilities, the main character still couldn’t beat Du Gao. Only after being encouraged by love did he barely manage to turn the tables and kill Du Gao.
It was a very classic passion-filled heroic scene.
It suited someone like Zuo Yuanliang, whose acting wasn’t that great, perfectly.
After all, he just needed to be a little more exaggerated with his emotions, a little more expressive with his face, and a little more intense with his movements—and there probably wouldn’t be any major issues.
Because of that, this scene went very smoothly.
They only had three NG’s before passing without a hitch.
“Great work, Teacher Jiang. You’ve worked hard.”
As the wire harness was lowered and Jiang Nian’s feet touched the ground again, the director walked up to him with a cigarette, smiling cheerfully.
Hearing that, Jiang Nian undid the gear on his body and gave a slight smile. “You’re too kind, Director. It’s all part of the job.”
“Haha, you’re still so humble. Here, have a cigarette.” The director handed over a fancy cigarette.
Jiang Nian didn’t stand on ceremony either. He took one and lit it.
“Inhale~ Exhale~“
The rich smoke filled his mouth.
The director lit one for himself too and said a bit wistfully, “Time flies, huh? I can’t believe you’re already done with your scenes, Brother Jiang. To be honest, I’m really going to miss you!”
Over these past two weeks, Jiang Nian’s performance had been a huge, pleasant surprise for him.
For the first time, the director realized that filming could be this easy.
He didn’t have to give directions or scold anyone.
The actor could fully understand the character himself and bring it to life perfectly.
To that, Jiang Nian just smiled and didn’t respond.
Because he had no idea what the director was really up to. He figured it was better to wait and see.
And the director, after chattering on for a while about all sorts of things related to Jiang Nian finishing his scenes,
finally got to the real point:
“Teacher Jiang, is your schedule… free?”
“Hmm?”
Jiang Nian let out a soft sound of surprise.
Schedule?
Did he even have one of those?
“Director, what do you mean by that?”
The director hesitated for a moment, as if he had made up his mind about something. “Well, here’s the thing. If your schedule is free, I’d like to add a few more scenes for you.”
This was a decision he had made after thinking it over carefully for several days.
Of course, he knew that casually adding scenes for a minor role wasn’t really reasonable. Not only would it slow down their filming progress significantly, but it might also change the drama beyond recognition and incur the wrath of the investors.
But the thing was, Jiang Nian’s acting was just too good.
In the director’s estimation, just the three episodes featuring Jiang Nian would bring in at least ten million views.
If he extended Jiang Nian’s storyline, that view count would certainly go even higher.
Therefore, whether out of a love for talent or for the sake of profit, the director really wanted to keep Jiang Nian around and let him shine on set.
Hearing this, Jiang Nian was a bit tempted.
After all, if the script was changed, the strength of the character Du Gao, whom he played, would definitely increase as well.
If that happened, his “Full Mastery” Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu would surely gain even more proficiency.
Plus, he’d have extra time to practice Du Gao’s other martial arts skills.
But…
Jiang Nian was just about to nod and agree.
But before the words could leave his mouth,
the system’s notification sound came first.
[Detected a change in the “Du Gao” script.]
[Du Gao has been locked.]
[Unlocking requires paying the price difference.]
[The price difference amount and character data will be updated synchronously after the script update.]
Upon hearing this sound,
the “Sure” that was on the tip of Jiang Nian’s tongue got choked right back down.
What the heck?
I have to pay the difference?!
“I’ll give you an egg instead!”
Jiang Nian cursed inwardly.
He had originally wanted to take advantage of a loophole in the system, but it seemed this path was completely blocked.
And since he couldn’t get stronger through Du Gao anymore,
agreeing to stay with the crew would just be a thankless hassle.
After all, without Du Gao’s subsequentm memories, even if the director gave him more scenes, he might not be able to act them well.
So, with that in mind…
“Director, I’m truly flattered by your offer, but I really can’t find the time right now.”
Jiang Nian declined politely.
Hearing that, the director was a bit reluctant to give up. “Really no time?”
“Really no time.”
“Ah… alright then. Brother Jiang, add me on WeChat. If we get a chance in the future, we can work together again.”
“No problem.”
Jiang Nian nodded, then took out his phone and added the director.
After doing all that, Jiang Nian looked at the director. “Director, since there’s nothing else for me to do here, I’ll be heading off now.”
“Okay, take care. Your salary will be transferred to your card shortly. It’s a total of fourteen thousand. Remember to check it.”
“Got it. I won’t disturb you all here anymore. Farewell!”
With that, Jiang Nian said goodbye to the director and headed to the makeup room.
He took off his costume, removed his makeup, and left without looking back.
On the way, Jiang Nian thought about it and opened the system panel.
[Movie & TV Martial Emperor System 1.0]
[User: Jiang Nian]
[Realm: Second-Class Martial Artist (Low Martial)]
[Skill: Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu “Full Mastery” (Cannot improve)]
[Attention: 49,573]
[Currently Playable Role: Eunuch]
[Unlocked Characters: Du Gao]
Jiang Nian’s personal stats panel had changed a lot.
Especially the attention.
It had gone straight from just over two hundred at the beginning to nearly fifty thousand now!
For such a change, Jiang Nian had Liu Kaiwei to thank.
If it weren’t for him coming to Yang Mi’s doorstep late that night, getting the crap beaten out of him by Jiang Nian, and posting it online,
after Du Gao’s scenes wrapped up, Jiang Nian probably would have fallen into a long awkward period.
After all, only his character had wrapped; the web series hadn’t even aired yet.
Under those circumstances, it would be hard for Jiang Nian to gain any attention.
And with his initial two hundred points of attention, there was obviously no way he could unlock another character.
“Liu Kaiwei is such a good guy!”
