"That night/You didn't refuse me/That night/I hurt you/That night/Your face was full of tears..."
The vulgar song wafted over from a distance, making one involuntarily tear up with emotion.
Deng Zhao squeezed the car keys in his hand.
He knew that hitting someone with a car was against the law...
"Hey, Hao!" Wang Baoqiang beamed a simpleton's smile at Qi Hao.
Both he and Qi Hao started in the industry as extras.
Qi Hao had been at it much longer than him.
When he was just starting out as an extra in the capital, Qi Hao had taken care of him.
Qi Hao was one of the few people in the entertainment industry who lent him money when he was broke.
"Come over here, I have something to ask you!" Qi Hao greeted Wang Yanhui, who stood next to Wang Baoqiang, and pulled Wang Baoqiang aside to a quiet spot.
"Tell me, are you the one spreading rumors about me and Gao Yuanyuan going to karaoke?"
Upon seeing Wang Baoqiang, Qi Hao didn't have a pleasant expression. He regretted ever considering this guy simple and honest, as he not only lent him money but also introduced him to numerous girlfriends.
"Uh, no," Wang Baoqiang was confused, and said, "You really went, didn't you?"
"For crying out loud, I wasn't the only one who went. Look at how the media writes about it, saying Gao Yuanyuan and I were out on a close rendezvous. What's so close about it? The whole large room was filled with people. How could we be close?"
Thinking about it gave Qi Hao a stomachache.
Many of his scandals materialized from nothing like this.
They said he was the third wheel between Nie Yuan and Huang Yi.
But actually, it was just that he and Huang Yi were filming "Married the Right Man" when Huang Yi and Nie Yuan broke up.
What did that have to do with him?
They said he and Sun Li read scripts together in a room at night, and Sun Li was shouting loudly.
Why didn't they mention the director and others were in his room doing a script read?
They said he and An Feng met the parents.
Come on, while filming "The Return of the Condor Heroes," An Feng's mom was on set all the time. It was impossible not to meet.
They said he and Fan Xuexue wore couple outfits.
That photo was obviously fake, and he didn't know how it got linked to him and Fan Xuexue.
And this time with Gao Yuanyuan going to karaoke.
With such a large group of people, they just had to focus the shot on him and Gao Yuanyuan, blatantly twisting the facts.
"I explained to the media, but they wouldn't listen!"
Wang Baoqiang was innocent in this; he had spoken honestly the whole time.
"When the media asked you what happened after karaoke, how did you respond?" Qi Hao wanted to strangle this guy.
"I said I didn't know; I left early, and I genuinely didn't know what happened afterward."
Wang Baoqiang recalled.
"Damn it, after karaoke, everyone went back to their own homes! Would saying everyone dispersed afterward kill you?"
If Qi Hao didn't already know Wang Baoqiang was genuinely clueless, he would have suspected this guy of seriously embodying a scheming persona.
"I... hey, what you said makes a lot of sense!"
Wang Baoqiang slapped his own forehead, almost knocking himself out.
"Stop dragging me into this next time, or I'll start suspecting you're the leader of my anti-fan club!"
"Don't worry, Hao!"
Wang Baoqiang vowed.
What else could Qi Hao do but forgive him, of course.
"Are you guys done chatting? Isn't it time to shoot?"
Deng Zhao fidgeted with the key ring in his hand, feeling a bit eager.
Though unlikely to be like-minded, Deng Zhao couldn't remain indifferent towards a man who was rumored to have been involved with his girlfriend.
He finally understood Chen Yixun's mindset when he drove into Wu Bai.
Exhilarating!
"Alright, let's get ready. Let's aim to nail it in one take and show Qi Hao our skills!" Cao Baoping, seeing that the set was more or less ready, called everyone to begin filming.
He had watched the movie "Heavenly Dog."
Qi Hao went all out to win Best Actor for the role, and his acting was indeed excellent.
But he still wanted to see for himself.
Qiu Shuitian and Qiu Huogui hitched a ride with Li Mi, stole Li Mi's magazines, including some hidden photos, and rushed to the riverbank to meet with the "contact" for money to flee.
And Qi Hao played this contact who was mistaken for the actual one.
Actually, he was a literary youth planning to jump off the bridge.
Even though it was a small role, Qi Hao chose to give it his all, practicing his lines repeatedly.
Especially when the makeup artist was styling him.
He not only needed to memorize them but also had to say them in the Yunnan dialect, which was no easy task, delivering the lines smoothly in a local accent.
The system mentioned some kind of training system, but who knows how it worked.
But clearly, it was unfeasible to operate now.
"Places everyone, the camera moves forward, three, two, one, action!"
Cao Baoping announced the start of filming.
In the long shot, Qi Hao now relied on the railings of the overpass, waiting until Qiu Shuitian and Qiu Huogui approached, then he sat on the railing.
He smiled at Qiu Shuitian and Qiu Huogui.
Qiu Shuitian and Qiu Huogui saw the smile, mistaking him for the contact, so they went up to greet him.
Qi Hao looked at them, pressing his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose.
Ignoring their self-introductions, he began reciting those few lines of poetry calmly.
"The lake bottom is bottomless to itself, the shore is shoreless to itself; its water is neither wet nor dry to itself, its waves have no singular or individual essence; these waves softly whisper around stones big and small, softly, softly..."
Finally, he leaned back to complete his first scene.
The safety rope securely held his body, suspending him mid-air, and the next scene would be him falling onto Deng Zhao's car hood.
The crew quickly set up for the next scene.
Deng Zhao was about to appear driving the car, then he could avenge his wife-stealing grievance — even though Qi Hao and Sun Li had an affair, it was Deng Zhao who took Sun Li from Qi Hao.
Qi Hao rested against the railing.
Once everything was ready, he let go, under the guidance of the wire, crashing towards the slowly approaching car.
The moment he hit the car, Qi Hao was pulled and rolled off the vehicle.
Even his wig was thrown off.
Cao Baoping carefully checked, ensuring no issues, thus Qi Hao's scene was wrapped up.
He completed it all without a single NG, getting it right in one take.
As Cao Baoping announced, Qi Hao also received a prompt from the Superstar System.
Task completed!
[Task One completed, reward: Acting +10, script "That Man, That Mountain, That Dog"]
[Completion of task grants training opportunity]
[Choose one NPC for training: Deng Zhao / Zhou Xun / Wang Baoqiang]
[New task issued now]
[Task Two: Star in a spicy snack commercial, difficulty: 3 stars, time limit: 30 days]
[Task completion reward: Stamina +10, script "Married the Right Man (original by Xi Juan)"]
[Task failure penalty: Electric shock three times]
Spicy snack... spicy snack... spicy snack?
Although he knew the new task would definitely be absurd, it was only after seeing it that he understood what absurdity really meant.
Currently, Qi Hao doesn't have many endorsements.
But they are basically top-tier endorsements for phones, high-end clothing, cars, luxury watches, and such.
He long stopped endorsing items like spicy snacks.
Endorsing spicy snacks is worse than endorsing a mop.
Moreover, endorsements aren't chosen casually; they relate to a star's business positioning.
If you endorse high-end products, you'll attract more high-end business.
If you endorse low-end products, high-end business will naturally steer clear of you to preserve their product image.
As for the reward, it's as nonsensical as ever.
"Married the Right Man" was originally starred by Qi Hao, and there were rumors with Huang Yi, marking Qi Hao's first time being known as a "third party."
Perhaps only the Stamina +10 has some real intrigue.
Now the new task is another headache.
Ignoring it isn't an option.
If at the beginning Qi Hao had gritted his teeth to let the system take a crack at electrocuting him, maybe he could gauge the power of the shock.
However, in the end, he chickened out.
Since he's already following the system's pace, he doesn't have the courage to resist anymore.
The only option left is to find a way to endorse spicy snacks.
Aside from the new task, there's also the reward from the last task.
Forget about the script.
"That Man, That Mountain, That Dog" premiered in 1999, and now it's 2007; what's the point of having this script?
The Acting +10 might be useful, but it's unclear how useful it really is.
The system hasn't mentioned how many acting points he currently has.
Surprisingly, after task completion, Qi Hao received access to a daily training feature, which allowed him to select a training NPC.
Wang Baoqiang is a friend with whom he can always exchange insights, so he's ruled out first.
Deng Zhao's skills are alright, but Qi Hao has already won the Golden Rooster Best Actor, so he doesn't really look up to him.
So the choice seems to lean towards Zhou Xun.
The so-called daily training unfolds in a dream-like form, to be conducted during sleep.
Qi Hao planned to try it with Zhou Xun when going to sleep that night.